| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08948589B2 |
Apparatus and method for testing fibers in a PON
A manner of providing for testing of access fibers in a PON (passive optical network) using OTDR (optical time-domain reflectometry). According to the invention, a PON includes an optical splitter module having one or more optical couplers that combines downstream light from 1×N optical splitter directing the output of an OLT (optical line terminal) and a cyclic AWG (arrayed waveguide grating) for transmission toward one or more ONUs (optical network units). The splitter module is preferably formed on a single semiconductor chip, such as a PIC (photonic integrated circuit) chip and may reside in an outside plant of the PON. |
| US08948586B2 |
Method and apparatus for laser overlap detection
There are disclosed systems and methods for detecting whether an Optical Network Unit (ONU) in a network may be causing a communications interference due to laser overlap. In one embodiment, an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) selects a pair of ONUs suspected of possibly causing laser overlap. The OLT then grants a first window to a first ONU for transmitting a first message, and grants to another ONU different from the pair of ONUs a second window for transmitting a second message. If the first message is not received by the OLT, then the OLT indicates that the first ONU may be causing laser overlap. In another embodiment, the OLT grants to an ONU a window for transmitting a message to the OLT. If the message is not received by the OLT when expected, then the OLT indicates that the ONU may be causing laser overlap. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08948583B2 |
Information processing apparatus, method of controlling the same and camera
This invention provides an information processing apparatus for allowing a user to perform operation without any confusion concerning a device which implements a plurality of functions for one operation member in accordance with operation methods for the operation member. A system controller performs control to execute a predetermined function in response to the start of operation on an operation member and terminate execution of the predetermined function in response to the end of the operation. A timer function unit measures the time from the start of operation on the operation member. When a given operation finishes before the time measured by the timer function unit exceeds a predetermined time after the start of the operation, a notification about the operation method for the operation member is output. |
| US08948582B2 |
Heat medium heating device and vehicle air conditioner including the same
In a heat medium heating device 10 in which a heat exchange element 20 formed by stacking multiple flat heat exchange tubes 21 and multiple pairs of PTC heaters 26 in multiple layers is fastened and fixed into a casing 11 including heat medium outlet and inlet paths 15 and 16, connection portions 48 and 49 between a power supply HV harness and a control LV harness 44 are provided on an outer surface on one surface side where the heat medium outlet and inlet paths 15 and 16 of the casing 11 are provided, and a control substrate 33 that controls energization to the PTC heaters 26 is disposed on an inside on the same side as a surface on which the connection portions 48 and 49 of the casing 11 is provided. |
| US08948579B2 |
Infrared radiation cooker
Provided is an infrared radiation cooker in which heat from an infrared lamp is directly applied onto food being grilled, to thus cook the upper and inner parts of the food, as well as onto a rotatable pan, to thus simultaneously cook the lower part of the food. As a result, the food cooks evenly throughout without burning or creating residual odors from above to below as well as from outer to inner, and further the rotatable pan of respectively different structures can be selected depending on an intended cooking purpose, to thereby adjust height of the rotatable pan, which changes a heat intensity, to thus vary a cooking style, and which can be used to boil, grill or roast foods as one would like. |
| US08948577B2 |
Hand-held hot air device with a digital operating device with a universal operating element
The hand-held hot air device, preferably for the local heating of thermoplastic materials, with a housing that forms a wand-shaped handle part with air inlet openings, and with an air guidance tube that protrudes from the handle part and radially delimits an air canal, with an electric heating element contained in the air guidance tube and an electric motor with a fan wheel contained in the handle part, and with an electronic control system arranged inside the handle part with one semiconductor power switch each arranged upstream of both the heating element and the electric motor, and with a display screen and an operating device for the hand-held hot air device arranged on the outside of the handle part. The electronic control system is implemented as microprocessor control system, the display screen as an electronic digital display, and the operating device as a digital operating device, with the digital operating device comprising a single universal operating element that is movable in at least two directions relative to the handle part for the purpose of switching the hand-held hot air device on and/or off and for determining control data of the microprocessor control system. |
| US08948576B2 |
Compact air handler system
An air handler system comprising a cabinet housing a blower unit and a heat exchange unit. The blower unit and the heat exchange unit are located in a substantially same lateral dimension in the cabinet. The blower unit and the heat exchange unit are separated by a distance that provides for a substantially uniform flow of air through a vertically-orientated plane of the heat exchange unit when the blower unit is in operation. |
| US08948571B2 |
Receiver, shutter glasses, and communication system
A receiver allows controlling a device to be controlled such as a display device based on reference timing acquired from reception data without delay and with low power consumption, and includes: a communication device receiving data incoming intermittently; a first control circuit analyzing the data received by the communication device to identify the presence of a predetermined reference timing signal pattern in the data; and a timer for counting a clock from an initial value, generating a control signal for the device to be controlled according to a resulting count value, and if the count value reaches a predetermined interval value, resuming counting the clock at the initial value. The timer changes the initial value to reduce a count of the clock between the initial value and the interval value if the first control circuit identifies the predetermined reference timing signal pattern to be present. |
| US08948570B2 |
Video display system, video display method, and computer-readable medium
An image capturing system that records on a video recording unit a video captured by an image capturing apparatus and displays the video thus captured on a display unit comprises a change recording unit that records information of the time when, and the region where, a change of status occurs when the change detection unit detects such a change of status, and an extraction unit that extracts a partial region of video from the video thus recorded for displaying on the display unit. The extraction unit switches the video that is displayed on the display unit by extracting a video of the region of the change of status when the imaging time of the video that is displayed on the display unit reaches a time before a time prior to change that is preset, from the time when the change of status occurs. |
| US08948565B2 |
Method and system for utilizing storage in network video recorders
The subject matter discloses a method, comprising obtaining a current retention time of storage associated with a digital recorder; obtaining current bitrates of channels used to transmit video captured by edge devices communicating with the digital recorder. The method then determines change in compression rates to be allocated to at least a portion of the channels according to the current retention time and the current bitrates and transmits the change in compression rates to be allocated to the channels to edge devices communicating with the digital recorder. The method can be implemented in a system in which several digital recorders use the same storage. |
| US08948557B2 |
Universal remote radio unit fiber optic cable assembly
A fiber optic cable has a cable core that includes at least one optical fiber coupled to a fiber optic connector. A cable adapter sleeve is axially mounted on the cable core to surround the cable core, the cable adapter sleeve including a body portion that has a first outer diameter, a collar that has a second outer diameter that is greater than the first outer diameter, and a stop that has a third outer diameter that is greater than the first outer diameter. |
| US08948554B2 |
Slot-line waveguide optical switch system and method
A slot-line waveguide optical switch system and method are disclosed. An optical switch system can include a slot-line waveguide optical switch that includes a plurality of wall portions that are each formed from a high refractive-index material and that are arranged to form a channel portion comprising an electro-optic material interposed to extend between the plurality of wall portions. The channel portion can include an input channel to receive an input optical signal and plural output channels to receive the input optical signal from the input channel. A channel switching system can provide a voltage to an electrode coupled to a corresponding wall portion to change a relative refractive index in the output channels via the electro-optic material and thereby switch the input optical signal to one of the output channels. |
| US08948548B2 |
Polarization diverse demultiplexing
A method for demultiplexing an optical signal includes receiving a multi polarization optical signal, separating the multi polarization optical signal into a first polarization optical signal and a second polarization optical signal, rotating a polarization of the first polarization optical signal to match a polarization of the second polarization optical signal, routing the first polarization optical signal and the second polarization optical signal to a common demultiplexing device, outputting a channel of the first polarization optical signal and the second polarization optical signal to a common photodetector. |
| US08948546B2 |
Optical frequency shifter and optical modulator using the same
An object of the present invention is to provide a temperature-independent optical frequency shifter for generating sub-carriers with a miniaturizable configuration, as well as to provide an all-optical OFDM modulator using the same that is compact, has low temperature dependence, and is even compatible with different frequency grids. Provided is an optical frequency shifter and an optical modulator using the same, the optical frequency shifter comprises one input optical port, a 1-input, 2-output optical coupler optically connected thereto, two Mach-Zehnder modulation units individually optically connected to the two outputs thereof, a 2-input, 2-output optical coupler optically connected to the individual outputs thereof, and two output optical ports optically connected to the outputs thereof, wherein the two Mach-Zehnder modulation units are driven by periodic waveforms at the same frequency whose phases differ from each other by (2p+1)π/2 (p: integer). |
| US08948543B2 |
Exposure condition decision support system and method
A console of an X-ray imaging system functions as a query receiver and a retrieval section to support decision on an exposure condition. The query receiver receives a retrieval query such as an exposed body portion and an exposure direction. The retrieval section refers to an exposure date of image files having the same patient ID number, and calculates an exposure interval between a pair of prior and subsequent image files the exposure dates of which are the nearest to each other. The exposure interval is compared with a threshold value. If the exposure interval is less than the threshold value, neither image file is assigned as a model image file. If the exposure interval is the threshold value or more, the subsequent image file is assigned as the model image file. The retrieval section retrieves the image file matching the retrieval query out of the model image files. |
| US08948541B2 |
System and apparatus for media customization
An amusement park attraction including customizable media. The amusement park attraction includes at least one ride vehicle configured to seat one or more guests, the at least one ride vehicle including at least one first computing device with a display. Additionally, the amusement park attraction includes an imaging device positioned to capture at least one image of the at least one or more guests. The at least one first computing device is configured to display customized media comprising a stock media altered to include the at least one guest image. |
| US08948540B2 |
Optimized orthonormal system and method for reducing dimensionality of hyperspectral images
A method for reducing dimensionality of hyperspectral images includes receiving a hyperspectral image having a plurality of pixels. The method may further include establishing an orthonormal basis vector set comprising a plurality of mutually orthogonal normalized members. Each of the mutually orthogonal normalized members may be associated with one of the plurality of pixels of the hyperspectral image. The method may further include decomposing the hyperspectral image into a reduced dimensionality image, utilizing calculations performed while establishing said orthonormal basis vector set. A system configured to perform the method may also be provided. |
| US08948539B2 |
System and method for image improvement and enhancement
System and method for image improvement comprising providing a series of frames; summing pixel values to obtain frame intensity; computing average frame intensity; determining frame intensity deviation for each frame by subtracting average frame intensity from frame intensity; determining an array of average pixel values (AAPV) and subtracting AAPV from the pixel value arrays to determine positive or negative pixel deviation values; grouping frames in first or second groups depending positive or negative frame intensity deviation; selecting all pixel values having a positive or negative deviation value and creating subgroups of positive or negative pixel deviation value frames, multiplying the pixel deviation value frames in each subgroup by frame intensity deviation to create first product arrays, which are summed together and divided by total number of frames to obtain second product arrays for each subgroup; selecting one or more of second product arrays to generate an image. |
| US08948536B2 |
Dynamic contrast enhanced MR imaging with compressed sensing reconstruction
The present invention relates to a method of performing dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of an object (10) with signal separation for water and fat, the method comprising acquiring magnetic resonance datasets in the k-space using Dixon acquisition in a chemical shift encoding space and dynamic time resolution in a dynamic time space, wherein the dataset acquisition is performed employing undersampling, wherein the method further comprises: applying a compressed sensing reconstruction technique in the k-space, the chemical shift encoding space and the dynamic time space, said compressed sensing reconstruction resulting in reconstructed datasets, —performing Dixon reconstruction on the reconstructed datasets and dynamic contrast analysis on the Dixon reconstructed datasets. |
| US08948531B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An image processing apparatus includes a viewing situation analyzing unit configured to obtain information representing a user's viewing situation of 3D content stored in a certain storage unit, and, based on a preset saving reference in accordance with a viewing situation of 3D content, determine a data reduction level of content data of the 3D content stored in the storage unit; and a data conversion unit configured to perform data compression of the content data of the 3D content stored in the storage unit in accordance with the determined data reduction level. |
| US08948526B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding binary image using adaptive template and method and apparatus for decoding the same
Provided are binary image encoding and decoding methods and binary image encoding and decoding apparatuses using an adaptive template. The binary image encoding method includes: applying a window having a predetermined size and shape to a predetermined number of previous pixels and peripheral pixels of the previous pixels, and acquiring correlations between the previous pixels and the peripheral pixels within the window; determining relative locations having high correlation with the previous pixels within the window based on the acquired correlations; generating a template based on the determined relative locations; and performing binary arithmetic encoding on a current pixel by using the generated template. |
| US08948525B2 |
Transferring system for huge and high quality images on network and method thereof
A transferring system for huge and high quality images on network and a method thereof are disclosed, wherein various individual image data are converted into high quality image data to be converted into layered image data, and classified into a plurality of sub cells, then stored in database as a compressed form. A client system connected to a server requires information, immediately downloads the required information, releases the compression, and then displays on a screen real time. In the present invention, a user can fast see only his wanted part since images of a newspaper and a magazine are converted as they were. Also, various additional information is provided with image, thereby providing multimedia digital publication services on wire or wireless network. |
| US08948524B2 |
Joint image compression method and apparatus
A joint image compression system and method compress a target image and a reference image under a selected transform to produce a compressed difference image. The joint image compression system includes a computer readable media and a computer program stored on the computer readable media. The computer program includes instructions that implement selecting a transform from among a plurality of transforms that includes a subset determined projective (SDP) transform, where the selected transform minimizes a cumulative mapping error (CME) for corresponding feature points in each of a target image and a reference image. The instructions further implement applying the selected transform to one of the target image and the reference image; forming a difference image under the selected transform and compressing the difference image to produce a compressed difference image. |
| US08948521B2 |
Method and apparatus for assessing image quality using quantization codes
Provided is a method for assessing image quality using quantization codes, which includes: filtering an original image and a distorted image; generating phase quantization codes from the filtering result; calculating a Hamming difference between the phase quantization code of the original image and the phase quantization code of the distorted image; and assessing image quality of the distorted image by using the calculated Hamming difference. According to the present disclosure, since pixel values of the original image and the distorted image are mapped onto a quantized complex plane and then binary code operation is performed, it is possible to easily implement image quality assessing hardware and also ensure excellent image quality assessing performance. |
| US08948520B2 |
Image categorization based on comparisons between images
In an example embodiment, a method is provided for image categorization. Here, images are displayed. In turn, a user input that describes a characteristic shared between the images from a comparison between the images is received. The user input may then be classified into categorization data. |
| US08948519B2 |
Linear mark detection system, linear mark detection method, and non-transitory computer readable medium storing linear mark detecting program
A linear mark detection system includes a filter value calculation unit, a filter value threshold processing unit, and a feature value output unit. The filter value calculation unit calculates, for each pixel of an image, filter values corresponding to each of a plurality of linear mark widths using pixel values inside and outside the linear mark. The filter value threshold processing unit selects the most suitable value from filter values corresponding to each of the plurality of linear mark widths as a feature value. The feature value output unit outputs, for each pixel of the image, the feature value computed by the filter value threshold processing function as the feature value corresponding to the linear mark. |
| US08948518B2 |
Scalable query for visual search
A system and a method for progressive queries, which are a sequence of queries for visual search of an image, sent from a sender to a receiver of a communication network, are disclosed. Queries based on a set of feature points and their associated locations of an image may be selected in sequence. A sender sends a first query to a receiver, wherein the first query comprises a number of feature points which is a subset of the set of feature points of the image invariant to rotation and scaling in creating the image. The sender receives a feedback from the receiver, wherein the feedback is generated by the receiver based on searching an image repository using information from the first query. The sender then decides whether there is a match of the image in the image repository based on the received feedback. |
| US08948516B2 |
Method for regenerating the background of digital images of a video stream
The invention relates to a method for regenerating the background of digital images of a video stream comprising steps consisting in: —setting an initial background image, —cutting the unit images of the video stream into blocks b (i, j, t) and of the background image into corresponding blocks Bo (i, j, t). The method is essentially characterized in that it further includes steps consisting in: —selecting one block Bo of the background image and/or b of the frame image, and •calculating the space correlation thereof, with: •at least one block Bo of the background image at a time (t), and/or at another time (t−a), and/or •at least one block b of the frame image at a time (t), and/or at another time (t−a), and/or—updating the background image according to the calculation of the space correlation. |
| US08948512B2 |
Methods, systems, and media for image processing using hierarchical expansion
Methods, systems, and media for image processing using hierarchical expansion are provided. More particularly, the hierarchical expansion can include a merge expansion and/or a refine expansion. In some embodiments, a method for image processing, comprising: receiving a plurality of images, wherein each of the plurality of images has one of a plurality of resolutions; for a first image from the plurality of images that has a first resolution, determining a first set of labels corresponding to each pixel of the first image; and for a second image from the plurality of images that has a second resolution, generating a second set of labels corresponding to each pixel of the second image based on the first set of labels. |
| US08948511B2 |
Automated document processing system
An automated document processing system is configured to normalize zones obtained from a document, and to extract articles from the normalized zones. In one configuration, the system receives at least one zone from the document, and applies at least one zone-breaking factor, thereby creating normalized sub-zones within which text lines are consistent with the at least one zone-breaking factor. The normalized sub-zones may be evaluated to obtain a reading order. Adjacent sub-zones are joined if text similarity exceeds a threshold value. Weakly joined sub-zones are separated where indicated by a topic vectors analysis of the weakly joined sub-zones. |
| US08948510B2 |
Method for merging the regions in the image/video
The present invention relates to a method for merging regions in the image/video, capable of merging plural of image regions into an image merging region. In the disclosed method, these image regions are first sequenced basing on their compactness value. Then, one of these image regions is designated as a reference image region, and a merging test process is executed by merging the reference image region with one of the nearby image regions thereof in sequence, for forming a temporal image merging region. Later, the compactness value of the temporal image merging region is compared with the compactness value of the two consisting image regions thereof, respectively. When the compactness value of the temporal image merging region is larger than either one of the compactness value of the two consisting image regions thereof, the temporal image merging region is designated as an image merging region. |
| US08948506B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, and program
A device and method for generating RGB arrangement data from an imaging signal by a photograph imaging device having an RGBW arrangement are provided. An edge detection unit analyzes an output signal in the RGBW arrangement from the imaging device, and thus obtains edge information corresponding to each pixel, and a texture detection unit generates texture information. Furthermore, a parameter calculation unit performs an interpolation process of converting an application pixel position according to the edge direction corresponding to a conversion pixel. A blend process unit inputs a parameter which the parameter calculation unit generates, edge information and texture information, and determines a conversion pixel value by performing a blend process by changing a blend ratio of the parameter which the parameter calculation unit calculates, according to the edge information corresponding to the conversion pixel and the texture information. |
| US08948503B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, and image pickup device
Disclosed herein is an image processing device including a subband dividing section configured to perform subband division of image data of a color whose pixel positions are alternately shifted from each other, the image data being included in image data output from an image pickup element of a pixel arrangement in which the pixel positions of at least one color of three primary colors are alternately shifted from each other in one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, with pixels of two upper and lower lines adjacent to each other or pixels of two left and right columns adjacent to each other as a unit. |
| US08948499B1 |
Method for online learning and recognition of visual behaviors
Described is a system for object and behavior recognition which utilizes a collection of modules which, when integrated, can automatically recognize, learn, and adapt to simple and complex visual behaviors. An object recognition module utilizes a cooperative swarm algorithm to classify an object in a domain. A graph-based object representation module is configured to use a graphical model to represent a spatial organization of the object within the domain. Additionally, a reasoning and recognition engine module consists of two sub-modules: a knowledge sub-module and a behavior recognition sub-module. The knowledge sub-module utilizes a Bayesian network, while the behavior recognition sub-module consists of layers of adaptive resonance theory clustering networks and a layer of a sustained temporal order recurrent temporal order network. The described invention has applications in video forensics, data mining, and intelligent video archiving. |
| US08948496B2 |
Dynamic transfer of three-dimensional image data
A method for transferring volumetric image data from a server to at least one client comprising: transforming said volumetric images into a hierarchical representation comprising a plurality of coefficients, said hierarchical representation comprising a plurality of levels of essentially non-redundant data, wherein a level of said hierarchical representation comprises transform data sufficient to reconstruct said images at a resolution corresponding to said level; partitioning said coefficients into a plurality of voxels, each voxel comprising “n” coefficients in a horizontal direction, “m” coefficients in a vertical direction, and “P” coefficients in a depth direction; requesting, from a client to a server, transform data in the form of voxels from one or more levels of said hierarchical representation necessary to reconstruct at least a portion of said source volume; transferring, from a client to a server, a request for coefficients of at least a portion of said volumetric image; transferring, from said server to said client, at least one voxel in response to said request; and reconstructing, at said client, volumetric views of said volume images from said transferred at least one voxel. |
| US08948487B2 |
Non-rigid 2D/3D registration of coronary artery models with live fluoroscopy images
A method for non-rigid registration of digital 3D coronary artery models with 2D fluoroscopic images during a cardiac intervention includes providing a digitized 3D centerline representation of a coronary artery tree that comprises a set of S segments composed of QS 3D control points, globally aligning the 3D centerline to at least two 2D fluoroscopic images, and non-rigidly registering the 3D centerline to the at least two 2D fluoroscopic images by minimizing an energy functional that includes a summation of square differences between reconstructed centerline points and registered centerline points, a summation of squared 3D registration vectors, a summation of squared derivative 3D registration vectors, and a myocardial branch energy. The non-rigid registration of the 3D centerline is represented as a set of 3D translation vectors rs,q that are applied to corresponding centerline points xs,q in a coordinate system of the 3D centerline. |
| US08948486B2 |
Method to process radiological images
A method to process radiological images is provided. The method comprises partitioning a radiological image of a region to be treated into a superimposition of layers, the region to be treated comprising at least one first structure and a second structure, wherein one layer solely comprises part of the first structure to be isolated from the remainder of the image, the layer solely comprising that part of the first structure to be isolated from the remainder of the image being determined by means of a parametric model of the first structure. The method further comprises determining an image of the region to be treated from the layering thus obtained, in which the isolated part of the first structure is omitted. |
| US08948480B2 |
Image reconstruction using redundant Haar wavelets
A method for image reconstruction includes receiving under-sampled k-space data, determining a data fidelity term of a first image of the under-sampled k-space data in view of a second image of the under-sampled k-space data, wherein a time component separated the first image and the second image, determining a spatial penalization on redundant Haar wavelet coefficients of the first image in view of the second image, and optimizing the first image according the data fidelity term and the spatial penalization, wherein the spatial penalization selectively penalizes temporal coefficients and an optimized image of the first image is output. |
| US08948479B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method and computer readable recording device
An image processing device includes: a feature data calculator configured to calculate the feature data of each pixel in an image; an approximate shape calculator configured to calculate an approximate shape approximating a profile of a distribution area in which the feature data is distributed in a feature space having the feature data as an element; and an abnormal area detector configured to detect an abnormal area in the image based on the approximate shape and the profile of the distribution area. |
| US08948476B2 |
Determination of cardiac geometry responsive to doppler based imaging of blood flow characteristics
A system and method for identifying a location of a physical structure in a body is provided. The system includes an electronic control unit configured to register a first image of a portion of the body in a three-dimensional coordinate system. The electronic control unit is further configured to identify the location of the physical structure in the three-dimensional coordinate system responsive to flow of a fluid shown in the image. The fluid may comprise blood. In one embodiment, the electronic control unit is further configured to generate a second image, such as a three dimensional model, incorporating a representation of the physical structure within a larger physical environment in the three-dimensional coordinate system. |
| US08948473B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
A plurality of sets each including part information representing a human body part and a schema image serving as the schematic view of the human body part are held. A captured image representing the interior of the body of a patient is acquired. Hierarchical structure information is acquired, which contains part information globally representing a part corresponding to a designated portion on the captured image and part information locally representing the part corresponding to the designated portion. A set including the part information contained in the hierarchical structure information is acquired. A schema image included in the acquired set is output. |
| US08948470B2 |
Photographing apparatus, method and program
Processing for judging whether a face is included in a frame is performed, in a predetermined interval, on each of frames included in a moving image of a subject, displayed on a monitor, until the judgment becomes positive. If it is judged that a face is included in a frame, the facial position is detected in the frame, and stored. Then, judgment is made as to whether a face is included in the next frame after predetermined time. If the judgment is positive, the facial position is detected. The previously stored facial position is replaced by the newly detected facial position, and the newly detected facial position is stored. These processes are repeated until photographing operation is performed by operating a release unit. |
| US08948468B2 |
Modification of viewing parameters for digital images using face detection information
A method of modifying the viewing parameters of digital images using face detection for achieving a desired spatial parameters based on one or more sub-groups of pixels that correspond to one or more facial features of the face. Such methods may be used for animating still images, automating and streamlining application such as the creation of slide shows and screen savers of images containing faces. |
| US08948466B2 |
Biometric identification and verification
In real biometric systems, false match rates and false non-match rates of 0% do not exist. There is always some probability that a purported match is false, and that a genuine match is not identified. The performance of biometric systems is often expressed in part in terms of their false match rate and false non-match rate, with the equal error rate being when the two are equal. There is a tradeoff between the FMR and FNMR in biometric systems which can be adjusted by changing a matching threshold. This matching threshold can be automatically, dynamically and/or user adjusted so that a biometric system of interest can achieve a desired FMR and FNMR. |
| US08948462B2 |
Texture identification
Technologies are generally described for determining a texture of an object. In some examples, a method for determining a texture of an object includes receiving a two-dimensional image representative of a surface of the object, estimating a three-dimensional (3D) projection of the image, transforming the 3D projection into a frequency domain, projecting the 3D projection in the frequency domain onto a spherical co-ordinate system, and determining the texture of the surface by analyzing spectral signatures extracted from the 3D projection on the spherical co-ordinate system. |
| US08948459B2 |
Image capture and identification system and process
A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object. |
| US08948451B2 |
Information presentation device, information presentation method, information presentation system, information registration device, information registration method, information registration system, and program
An information presentation device includes an object information acquiring unit and an information presentation control unit. The object information acquiring unit acquires object identification information and relative positional information on the relative position between an object and a camera. The object identification information and the relative positional information are obtained by performing processing for detecting and identifying the object for image data. The information presentation control unit controls presentation of information on the basis of the object identification information and the relative positional information. |
| US08948450B2 |
Method and system for automatic object detection and subsequent object tracking in accordance with the object shape
A method and system for automatic object detection and subsequent object tracking in accordance with the object shape in digital video systems having at least one camera for recording and transmitting video sequences. In accordance with the method and system, an object detection algorithm based on a Gaussian mixture model and expanded object tracking based on Mean-Shift are combined with each other in object detection. The object detection is expanded in accordance with a model of the background by improved removal of shadows, the binary mask generated in this way is used to create an asymmetric filter core, and then the actual algorithm for the shape-adaptive object tracking, expanded by a segmentation step for adapting the shape, is initialized, and therefore a determination at least of the object shape or object contour or the orientation of the object in space is made possible. |
| US08948449B2 |
Selecting visible regions in nighttime images for performing clear path detection
A method provides for determining visible regions in a captured image during a nighttime lighting condition. An image is captured from an image capture device mounted to a vehicle. An intensity histogram of the captured image is generated. An intensity threshold is applied to the intensity histogram for identifying visible candidate regions of a path of travel. The intensity threshold is determined from a training technique that utilizes a plurality of training-based captured images of various scenes. An objective function is used to determine objective function values for each correlating intensity value of each training-based captured image. The objective function values and associated intensity values for each of the training-based captured images are processed for identifying a minimum objective function value and associated optimum intensity threshold for identifying the visible candidate regions of the captured image. |
| US08948448B2 |
Method and apparatus for trajectory estimation, and method for segmentation
A trajectory estimation apparatus includes: an image acceptance unit which accepts images that are temporally sequential and included in the video; a hierarchical subregion generating unit which generates subregions at hierarchical levels by performing hierarchical segmentation on each of the images accepted by the image acceptance unit such that, among subregions belonging to hierarchical levels different from each other, a spatially larger subregion includes spatially smaller subregions; and a representative trajectory estimation unit which estimates, as a representative trajectory, a trajectory, in the video, of a subregion included in a certain image, by searching for a subregion that is most similar to the subregion included in the certain image, across hierarchical levels in an image different from the certain image. |
| US08948446B2 |
Vision based zero velocity and zero attitude rate update
A method comprises receiving a first frame from at least one imaging device, receiving a second frame from the at least one imaging device, analyzing at least a portion of the first frame and at least a portion of the second frame, and indicating when at least one of a zero velocity update and a zero attitude update should be performed based on at least in part on the analysis of the at least a portion of the first frame and the at least a portion of the second frame. The first frame is captured at a first vantage point and the second frame is captured at a second vantage point. |
| US08948445B2 |
Embedding visual information in a two-dimensional bar code
A two dimensional barcode containing encoded information can be embedded with an image with a high visual quality. The encoded information within the barcode is meaningful to machines, while the image is meaningful to humans. The two dimensional barcode embedded with the image is designed such that machines can decode the information encoded within the two dimensional barcode even with the distortion from the image. The subject application describes various systems, methods and devices that can facilitate embedding the image within the two dimensional barcode, detecting the two dimensional barcode embedded with the image within a practical environment, and decoding the encoded information from the two dimensional barcode even with the distortion from the image. |
| US08948439B2 |
Acoustic conversion device and acoustic conversion device assembly method
An acoustic conversion device includes: a driving unit including a pair of magnets disposed so as to face each other, a yoke to which the pair of magnets are attached, a coil to which driving current is supplied, a vibrating portion which vibrates when driving current is supplied to the coil, and an armature disposed between the pair of magnets with the vibrating portion being passed through the coil; and a diaphragm unit including a diaphragm, and a beam portion for propagating the vibration of the vibrating portion to the diaphragm; with a coil attachment portion to which the coil is attached, located in a state in parallel with the vibrating portion, being provided to the armature. |
| US08948437B2 |
Audio speaker assembly including 360° speaker rod such as for incorporating into a watercraft and including portable support module with remote cloud storage and retrieval capabilities
An audio speaker assembly for providing a 360° all around audio output. A speaker rod includes an upper audio output portion and a lower extending insertion tube portion. A holder includes a longitudinally extending inner passageway for receiving the rod in inserting fashion, with an electrical output signal representative of a succeeding audio output being communicated to the holder and rod. |
| US08948436B2 |
Loudspeaker system
The present invention comprises a loudspeaker system that includes a loudspeaker and a detachable mount. In one or more embodiments, the loudspeaker and mount include electrical connectors that are engaged when the loudspeaker is attached to the mount. In one or more embodiments, the loudspeaker and mount comprise mating mounting structures that support the loudspeaker on the mount when the mounting structure of the loudspeaker is engaged with the mounting structure of the mount. In one or more embodiments, mating electrical connectors are incorporated in the mounting structures such that engaging the mounting structures simultaneously engages the electrical connectors. In one or more embodiments, the loudspeaker comprises a locking mechanism that positively retains the loudspeaker on the mount. In one or more embodiments, the locking mechanism is hidden behind a flexible grill of the loudspeaker such that pressing on a corresponding location on the grill releases the locking mechanism allowing the loudspeaker to be detached from the mount. In one or more embodiments, the mount is configured to be mountable to a standard US or European electrical wiring box. In one or more embodiments, the mating mounting structures are configured to be engageable with a reduced amount of travel. In one or more embodiments, multiple configurations of the mount are provided that allow the loudspeaker to be mounted with a variety of orientations with respect to the mounting surface. |
| US08948431B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling an electronic system
According to a first aspect, a method of controlling an electronic system includes the step of receiving by a first device a plurality of receivable wireless signals that are intended to control functions of a second device. The first device transmits a wireless signal that prevents a subset of the plurality of receivable wireless signals from controlling the second device. |
| US08948430B2 |
Hearing aid with an elongate member
A hearing aid includes a housing for accommodation of a signal processor for processing an audio signal into a processed audio signal compensating a hearing loss, and a receiver that is connected to an output of the signal processor for converting the processed audio signal into a sound signal, wherein the housing extends through a central part of an earpiece part, and is coupled to the earpiece part, the earpiece part configured to be placed in an ear canal of a user. |
| US08948428B2 |
Hearing aid with histogram based sound environment classification
A hearing aid includes a microphone and an A/D converter for provision of a digital input signal in response to a sound signal received at the microphone in a sound environment, a processor that is configured to process the digital input signal in accordance with a signal processing algorithm to generate a processed output signal, a sound environment detector for determination of the sound environment based at least in part on the digital input signal, and for providing an output for selection of the signal processing algorithm, the sound environment detector including (1) a feature extractor for determination of histogram values of the digital input signal in a plurality of frequency bands, (2) an environment classifier configured for classifying the sound environment into a number of environmental classes based at least in part on the determined histogram values from at least two of the plurality of frequency bands, and (3) a parameter map for the provision of the output for the selection of the signal processing algorithm, and a D/A converter and an output transducer for conversion of the processed output signal to an acoustic output signal. |
| US08948427B2 |
Hearing aid fitting procedure and processing based on subjective space representation
A system for hearing assistance devices to assist hearing aid fitting applied to individual differences in hearing impairment. The system is also usable for assisting fitting and use of hearing assistance devices for listeners of music. The method uses a subjective space approach to reduce the dimensionality of the fitting problem and a non-linear regression technology to interpolate among hearing aid parameter settings. This listener-driven method provides not only a technique for preferred aid fitting, but also information on individual differences and the effects of gain compensation on different musical styles. |
| US08948420B2 |
MEMS microphone
A MEMS microphone. The MEMS microphone includes a substrate, a transducer support that includes or supports a transducer, a housing, and an acoustic channel. The transducer support resides on the substrate. The housing surrounds the transducer support and includes an acoustic aperture. The acoustic channel couples the acoustic aperture to the transducer, and isolates the transducer from an interior area of the MEMS microphone. |
| US08948416B2 |
Wireless telephone having multiple microphones
The present invention is directed to a wireless telephone having a first microphone and a second microphone and a method for processing audio signal in a wireless telephone having a first microphone and a second microphone. The wireless telephone includes a first microphone, a second microphone, and a signal processor. The first microphone outputs a first audio signal, the first audio signal comprising a voice component and a background noise component. The second microphone outputs a second audio signal. The signal processor increases a ratio of the voice component to the noise component of the first audio signal based on the content of at least one of the first audio signal and the second audio signal to produce a third audio signal. |
| US08948414B2 |
Providing audible signals to a driver
A method for providing audible signals (such as speech) to a driver of a vehicle which appear to originate from a virtual sound source in front of the driver, so that it will feel normal for the driver to respond interactively by speaking without turning the head to the source of the audible signal. The driver's head position is estimated according to data provided by sensors in the driver's seat, and this position data, together with acoustical characteristics of the vehicle interior, is used to derive a transfer function for filtering electrical audible signals to the loudspeakers to simulate a virtual sound source in front of the driver. |
| US08948412B2 |
Automatic detection of the wearing style of a convertible headset
A system for adjusting an audio setting for a headset, comprises a communications device, a detachable headband containing a detectable element that can be coupled to the communications device, a sensor coupled to the communications device configured to determine whether the headband is coupled to the communications device and a processor configured to adjust the audio setting for the headset to a headband mode when the headband is coupled to the communications device. The processor may also adjust the audio setting of the headset to a non-headband mode based on the sensor detecting the headband being disconnected from the communications device. |
| US08948411B1 |
Ergonomic tubular anechoic chambers for use with a communication device and related methods
Disclosed, in general, are devices that provide an air-tight chamber over a sound source while absorbing all fields of sounds from the sound source. In general, the devices feature: an anechoic chamber that is configured to receive a sound source in an air-tight manner; and an anechoic channel that is in fluid communication with the ambient atmosphere. Suitably, the anechoic chamber is adapted to capture air containing sound energy generated by the sound source, and distribute the air about an internal surface area on the inside of the chamber, wherein the internal surface area is sufficiently large to dampen or otherwise absorb the sounds energy. Preferably, the air is directed from the anechoic chamber through an anechoic channel extending therefrom to the ambient to further dampen or absorb the sound energy. In one configuration, the outer wall of the apparatus is configured to reflect ambient sounds. |
| US08948406B2 |
Signal processing method, encoding apparatus using the signal processing method, decoding apparatus using the signal processing method, and information storage medium
Provided is a signal processing method for processing a bitstream, an information storage medium including the bitstream, an encoding apparatus, and a decoding apparatus. The signal processing method includes: receiving a bitstream including additional information; extracting first information which is information associated with extraction of the additional information and is included in at least one of additional bitstream information, a skip field, and auxiliary data bits, which are included in the bitstream; and extracting and decoding the additional information by using the first information. |
| US08948405B2 |
Binaural multi-channel decoder in the context of non-energy-conserving upmix rules
A multi-channel decoder for generating a binaural signal from a downmix signal using upmix rule information on an energy-error introducing upmix rule for calculating a gain factor based on the upmix rule information and characteristics of head related transfer function based filters corresponding to upmix channels. The one or more gain factors are used by a filter processor for filtering the downmix signal so that an energy corrected binaural signal having a left binaural channel and a right binaural channel is obtained. |
| US08948404B2 |
Apparatus and method encoding/decoding with phase information and residual information
Provided is an apparatus and method of encoding and decoding multiple channel signals based upon phase information and one or more residual signals. |
| US08948402B1 |
System and method for estimating channel condition based on filtered pilot energy signal
A receiver may estimate a channel condition based on a difference between a pilot energy signal and a filtered pilot energy signal. The receiver may further switch to a stereophonic mode when both the difference and an energy level of the pilot energy signal satisfy a predetermined requirement of the receiver, and switch to a monophonic mode when either the difference or the energy level of the pilot energy signal fail to satisfy the predetermined requirement of the receiver. |
| US08948400B2 |
Host device
the host device being configured to receive, from a key issuer who issued the medium device key (Kmd_i) and the medium device key certificate, a host device key (Khd_i) and a host device certificate (Certhost), the host device being configured to execute authentication with the information recording device using the host device key (Khd_i) and the host device certificate (Certhost), the host device being configured to receive second controller identification information (IDcntr) from the information recording device, the second controller identification information being generated by executing a one-way function calculation based on the controller key (Kc) and the first controller identification information (IDcu), and the host device being configured to decrypt the encrypted content data stored in the information recording device, in response to reception of the second controller identification information (IDcntr) from the information recording device. |
| US08948399B2 |
Dynamic key management
Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to receive a public key associated with a public/private key pair at a key distribution handler, after a new workload and an associated key agent are created within a network of nodes. The associated key agent may be used to generate the key pair. Additional activity may include distributing, by the key distribution handler, the public key to other key agents associated with permitted workloads operating in the network. The public key may be used to overwrite or delete prior public keys for an authenticated workload identity associated with the new workload. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08948397B2 |
Major management apparatus, authorized management apparatus, electronic apparatus for delegated key management, and key management methods thereof
A major management apparatus, an authorized management apparatus, an electronic apparatus for delegated key management and key management methods thereof are provided. The major management apparatus generates a first delegation deployment message and a second delegation deployment message, which are transmitted to the authorized management apparatus and the electronic apparatus, respectively. The authorized management apparatus encrypts an original key management message into a key management message by an authorization key included in the first delegation deployment message. The original key management message includes an operation code and a key identity. The electronic apparatus decrypts the key management message into the original key management message by the authorization key included in the second delegation deployment message. The electronic apparatus selects an application key according to the key identity and operates the application key based on the operation code. |
| US08948396B2 |
Method for a communication device to operate with multiple key management facilities
A method for operating with KMFs includes a communication device having a memory device: receiving a designation of a primary KMF for the communication device, wherein only one primary KMF is designated for the communication device at any given time instance; receiving a designation of a secondary KMF for the communication device; storing, within the memory device, a first and a second set of crypto groups, wherein each crypto group within each set of crypto groups comprises at least one keyset, wherein each set of crypto groups is associated, within the memory device, to only one KMF identifier; associating, within the memory device, the first set of crypto groups to an identifier for the primary KMF; and associating, within the memory device, the second set of crypto groups to an identifier for the secondary KMF. |
| US08948386B2 |
Authentication of a mobile device by a network and key generation
There are disclosed systems and methods for authenticating a mobile device by a network and/or for generating one or more keys that can be used for securely transmitting data between the mobile device and the network. In one embodiment, the following operations are performed by a mobile device: (i) the mobile device participates in at least a portion of a key agreement protocol with a network to compute a secret value; (ii) the mobile device obtains a response value derived from the secret value; and (iii) the mobile device sends the response value to a verification entity for use in authenticating the mobile device. There are also disclosed systems and methods for authenticating a network by a mobile device. |
| US08948383B2 |
Printing system, printing method, terminal, and computer-readable storage medium for computer program
A printing system is provided with a terminal sending print data; a printer performing printing based on the print data; and a transfer device transferring the print data to the printer responding to a request from the printer. The terminal includes a transmission portion configured to, when communication with the transfer device is possible, send the print data to the transfer device, and configured to, when the communication is impossible, send the print data in association with a command for authentication print to the printer without via the transfer device. The printer includes a requesting portion configured to, when user authentication of a user of the terminal is successful, request the print data from the transfer device, and a printing portion configured to, when the user authentication is successful, perform the printing based on the print data received from the transfer device or the terminal. |
| US08948382B2 |
Secure protocol for peer-to-peer network
A wireless computing device operating as a controller of a peer-to-peer group configured to generate unique master keys for each device joining the group. The wireless computing device may use the unique master keys to selectively remove remote devices from the group such that the remote device cannot later rejoin the group. Other remote devices, each possessing a master key that remains valid, can disconnect from the group and later reconnect to the group without express user action. To support such behavior, the wireless device may provide a user interface through which a user may manage connected remote devices by providing commands to selectively disconnect or remove remote devices from the group. |
| US08948379B2 |
Architecture of an open local area network for audio service support between users of partitioned domains
The invention relates to a system for data exchange between at least two communication networks using the IP Internet protocol, a first network having a security level N1 higher than the security network N2 of a second network, and several terminals being connected to the first and second networks, characterised in that it comprises at least the following members: means for marking the flows based on their security level, a gateway between the first network (1) and the network (2) for carrying out a protocol interruption, and means for filtering the data flows suitable for checking the marking and to give authorisation for the broadcasting of the flow based on the relevancy between the marker and the sensitivity level of the communication, and visual means on the terminal for indicating to the user whether or not he communicates on a secured media. |
| US08948376B2 |
Format-preserving encryption via rotating block encryption
Methods and systems are described for format-preserving encryption. Format-preserving encryption on an entire format F may be achieved by performing format-preserving encryption on one or more subsets of F and then applying one or more permutation rounds in such a way that all elements of F enter a subset to be encrypted. A predetermined number of encryption rounds and a predetermined number of permutation rounds may be interleaved until all elements are thoroughly mixed. The resultant output data may be saved in a database in the same format as the original input data, meet all constraints of the database, and pass all validity checks applied by software supporting the database. |
| US08948375B2 |
Systems for embedding information in data strings
A data processing system is provided that includes applications, databases, encryption engines, and decryption engines. Encryption and decryption engines may be used to perform format-preserving encryption on data strings stored in a database. Applications may be used to embed information in data strings. Information may be embedded by using a character set that is larger than a character set being used by a data string. A data string may be converted into a larger character set, analogous to converting a number from a lower base to higher base. Such a conversion may shorten a data string, allowing information to be embedded as appended characters. |
| US08948373B2 |
System and methods for outbound dialing in multi-campaign and blended environment of virtual contact center
A method for determining a number of calls to generate for a specific outbound campaign in an automated contact center based upon a prediction of agent occupancy in a future time period, wherein the automated contact center processes one or more outbound campaigns. The estimates a total number of outbound agents available to the one or more outbound campaigns. By using the total number of outbound agents, an effective number of agents for the specific outbound campaign is determined according to a ratio. The effective number of agents is used to determine a number of outbound calls to generate for the specific outbound campaign according to a dialing method. Calls are then generated for the specific outbound campaign based upon the determined number of outbound calls to generate. |
| US08948371B2 |
System and method for managing hold times during automated call processing
A system and method for managing hold times during automated call processing is provided. A call is received from a caller and assigned to a call session. Data is obtained from the caller and evaluated for caller attributes related to the call session. Hold times are identified during the call session. Response content is customized for at least one of the hold times using the caller attributes. The customized response content is provided to the caller during that hold time. |
| US08948370B2 |
System and method for telephone call routing using a relational routing matrix
A system, method, apparatus, means, and computer program code is provided wherein a telephone call is received. A telephone call routing matrix is accessed, from a relational database platform, to select a service representative for the received telephone call. It may then be arranged for the received telephone call to be routed in accordance with the selected service representative. |
| US08948369B2 |
Method and system for optimizing performance within a contact center
A method and system for improving performance within a contact center are provided. The method includes monitoring one or more Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) corresponding to the contact center having one or more agents associated thereto. The method further includes determining a weighted sum of the KPIs based on a weight assigned to each key performance indicator. Further, the method includes modifying one or more parameters within the contact center to improve the weighted sum of the KPIs when the weighted sum of the KPIs crosses beyond a threshold level. |
| US08948368B2 |
System and method for storing call recordings in a call center
A system and method for storing call recordings in a call center is provided. Incoming calls to a call center are monitored. Retention criteria are obtained and ordered by importance. The retention criteria are applied to each of the calls. Those calls that match at least one of the retention criteria are identified. The identified calls that include one of a single highly important criteria and two or more less important criteria are selected for retaining in the call center. Recordings of the selected calls are stored in the call center. |
| US08948365B2 |
Systems and methods for providing answering services
The present invention includes a method and system for the management and routing of telecommunications information on data and telephone lines. In one exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a flexible system whereby business information is correlated to a user's telephone number is provided. In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides an on-line answering service in which the identification information of the called party can be maintained during call forwarding and/or diversion. In another exemplary embodiment, the identification information of the user called can be detected by the answering system. In addition, in another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides answering services access to information about the called party as well as the calling party in order to facilitate the answering services' responses on behalf of their users. |
| US08948364B2 |
Communication management feature
A method for screening incoming communications includes the steps of receiving an incoming communication intended for a communication device or a recipient and identifying a sender of the communication and a communication type, which can includes an email. The method also includes the steps of identifying screening settings based on the sender and the communication type and determining whether the communication is allowed in accordance with the identified settings. Further, the method includes the steps of notifying a recipient of the communication, if the communication is allowed. In addition, the method includes the step of processing the communication without notifying a recipient, if the communication is not allowed. |
| US08948362B1 |
Increasing the likelihood that a conference call will occur
Methods and products are provided for facilitating a conference call. One embodiment includes receiving an incoming call from a participant who is to participate in the conference call but who does not have authority to start the call, identifying a chairperson who does have authority to start the conference call, and automatically notifying the chairperson that the participant is waiting for the conference call to begin. |
| US08948359B1 |
Extension monitoring in a distributed telephony system
A telephony system is presented that enables one user to monitor another user's extension and perform functions on calls destined for the other user's extension. The system includes a server with a telephony management software (TMS) unit, a telephony application programming interface (TAPI) unit, and an application unit. The application unit includes a control module, association module, presentation module, park module, monitoring device interface module, and storage interface module. A server sends information to a monitoring device regarding the status of a monitored extension and calls offering on that extension. A server also enables a user to navigate through multiple calls offering and park a selected call. |
| US08948357B2 |
Method and system for non-traditional directory assistance
A directory assistance service includes a database and an interface module. The database stores a set of audio advertisements, and the audio advertisements are priced based on a tiered pricing model. The interface module is in communication with the database and receives a directory assistance request from a caller, plays the caller one or more audio advertisements from the database, and charges an advertiser for playing the audio advertisements based on the tiered pricing model. |
| US08948352B2 |
Multi-channel interactive message response system
The current application is directed to a multi-channel interactive message response system that allows for interaction between users and the multi-channel interactive message response system through many different types of devices, communications protocols, and communications media. The multi-channel interactive message response system, in one implementation, is implemented within an automated communications system that organizes and facilitates information exchange between members of organizations and between organizations and individuals outside the organizations. |
| US08948351B2 |
Methods, systems and computer program products for enhanced call screening
This disclosure details the implementation of methods, systems and computer program products for enhanced call screening (hereinafter, “ECS”). ECS systems implement a live call screening application whereby users may hear voicemail messages in real time as they are being recorded, decide whether or not they wish to talk to the caller leaving the message, and engage the caller in two-way communications by indicating interest in doing so. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed, comprising: receiving a voicemail recording phase indicator, wherein the voicemail recording phase indicator indicates initiation of a recording phase for an incoming voice message by a voicemail server; establishing a communicative connection between the voicemail server and a call recipient device in response to the voicemail recording phase indicator; instructing transmission of a data stream from the voicemail server to the call recipient device via the communicative connection, the data stream comprising the incoming voice message in real-time recording progress. |
| US08948349B2 |
Communication apparatus and control method thereof
In a communication apparatus including a base unit provided with an answering machine function and a cordless handset wirelessly connected to the base unit, a wireless unit that communications with a setting unit that sets the answering machine function and the cordless handset requests the setting unit to set the answering machine function, if the wireless unit receives a command to set the answering machine function from the cordless handset while a communication control unit that detects an incoming call on an outside line is detecting an incoming call on an outside line. |
| US08948345B2 |
X-ray tube high voltage sensing resistor
A high voltage sensing resistor disposed on a cylinder that at least partially surrounds an evacuated enclosure of an x-ray tube. |
| US08948336B2 |
Shift register and driving method thereof, gate driving apparatus and display apparatus
A shift register and driving method thereof, a gate driving apparatus and a display apparatus, the shift register comprises a pulling-up unit(21), a precharging and resetting unit(22), an output signal terminal at present stage(OUTPUT), a pulling-down unit(23), an input terminal connected to an output signal terminal of a shift register at previous stage(OUTF), an input terminal connected to an output signal terminal of a shift register at next stage(OUTL), and a scan control signal input terminal(INPUT), wherein: the precharging and resetting unit(22) precharges a gate of a first thin film transistor(T1) included in the pulling-up unit(21) and resets its potential; the pulling-down unit(23) pulls down a potential at the gate of the first thin film transistor(T1) and the output signal at present stage after the precharging and resetting unit(22) resets the potential at the gate of the first thin film transistor(T1), so that the pulling-up unit(21) is turned off and the output signal at present stage is at a low level. The present shift register realizes a bidirectional gate driving scan from up to down or from down to up by a conversion control for high-low levels of input signals. |
| US08948335B2 |
System for dampening vibration
An embodiment of the present invention takes the form of a system that may reduce the level of flow-induced vibration (FIV) experienced by a jet pump assembly or other similar object within a pressure vessel. Essentially, an embodiment of the present invention may reduce the slip-joint leakage, which may be a cause of the FIVs, by adding a flow-limiting component to an outlet of the slip joint. This component may take the form of a collar, channel, and/or other component that may be connectable to a component of the jet pump assembly. After installation, an embodiment of the present invention may lower the amplitude of, and/or change the frequency of, the FIVs experienced by the jet pump assembly. |
| US08948334B2 |
System and method for testing the steam system of a boiling water reactor
A system and method for predicting acoustic loads expected on a boiling water reactor (BWR) may include a BWR scale model, a test fixture for generating air flow in the scale model, and one or measurement devices for monitoring system behavior to predict how acoustic loads may affect plant operation for the BWR being evaluated. |
| US08948332B2 |
Method of static phase offset correction for a linear phase detector
A method for calibrating a clock and data recovery circuit may include configuring a phase detector as a bang-bang phase detector. The bang-bang phase detector may be used to determine a phase difference between a sampling clock provided by an interpolator and a calibration signal. The phase detector may also be configured as a linear phase detector. While using the linear phase detector, a linear phase detector parameter may be adjusted such that the phase difference between the calibration signal and the sampling clock is zero, while keeping the phase of the sampling clock fixed. |
| US08948330B1 |
Systems and methods for performing variable structure timing recovery
In accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure, systems and methods are provided for aligning signals in a timing recovery system. In certain implementations, a coarse phase error indicative of a phase offset between a reference signal and a signal is identified. The signal is transformed based at least in part on the coarse phase error, and operation of a phase-locked loop is initiated based at least in part on the coarse phase error. |
| US08948326B2 |
Circuit architecture for I/Q mismatch mitigation in direct conversion receivers
An electrical circuit includes a local oscillator configured to generate a first reference signal and a second reference signal having a predetermined phase shift with the first reference signal, an I-channel mixer configured to inject the first reference signal to an incoming signal and generate a first output, a compensation mixer configured to multiply the first output with a constant factor to generate a second output, a first low pass filter configured to approximately attenuate frequencies in the second output to generate a third output, and a first correcting filter configured to filter the third output to generate a fourth output. The first correcting filter is configured to reduce a channel impulse response mismatch between the first low pass filter and a second low pass filter, which is configured to attenuate frequencies in a Q-channel of the incoming signal. In specific embodiments, the phase shift includes 45°. |
| US08948325B1 |
Method and apparatus for digital post-distortion compensation of signal non-linearities
A method and apparatus to digitally remove in-band non-linear signal distortion caused by a radio frequency (RF)/intermediate frequency (IF) receiver circuit that has non-linearities, which are further affected by low-IF ADC sample aliasing. |
| US08948323B2 |
Method and device for suppressing interference in communication networks using frequency switched transmit diversity coding
Devices and methods for suppressing interference in inter-cell and intra-cell network communication. First and second received signals are received at a communication device, the first and second received signals comprising, respectively, reference signals and data signals. Estimated channel vectors are calculated from the first received signals, and estimated data covariance matrices are calculated from the second received signals. A plurality of combining weight vectors are determined based on the estimated channel vectors and the estimated data covariance matrices. The second received signals are then combined with the plurality of combining weight vectors to obtain a plurality of combined signals, wherein interference in the second received signals has been suppressed in the plurality of combined signals. |
| US08948317B2 |
Receiver apparatus, reception method, communication system, and communication method
A receiver apparatus includes a channel estimator (b106) to perform channel estimation. The channel estimator includes an interim channel impulse estimating unit (b106-1) that calculates an interim channel impulse response estimation value, a path extracting unit (b106-3) that extracts a path for use in calculation of a channel impulse response estimation value from among paths forming the interim channel impulse response estimation values, a channel impulse response estimating unit (b106-4) that calculates the channel impulse response estimation value using the path extracted by the path extracting unit, and a frequency response estimating unit (b106-5) that converts the channel impulse response estimation value into a frequency response estimation value by time-frequency transforming the channel impulse response estimation value. In this way, a receiver apparatus capable of performing accurate channel estimation results. |
| US08948315B2 |
Receiver comprising a device for correcting doppler effect
A OFDM digital communication receiver having channel estimate and correction means and inter carrier interference cancellation means based on the use of a temporal digital filter comprising a set of digital coefficients. The receiver includes n Look-Up Tables LUT(n), each corresponding to a given set of digital coefficients and an entry pointer. |
| US08948313B2 |
Method and apparatus for adjusting a symbol decision threshold at a receiver in a communication network
A method and apparatus for adjusting a symbol decision threshold at a receiver in a communication network enables the receiver to be adapted to more correctly receive symbols as transmitted by a transmitter. In one embodiment, a received bit imbalance is detected by a receiver prior to error correction and after error correction to determine whether an error component of the received signal contains larger numbers of ones or larger numbers of zeros. Where the transmitter scrambles the signal prior to transmission, the receiver will also scramble the signal after error correction and prior to counting the number of zeros or ones. Any imbalance between the number of transmitted and received ones or zeros is used as feedback to adjust threshold values used by detectors to fine tune the manner in which the receiver interprets incoming signals. |
| US08948312B2 |
Wideband interference mitigation for devices with multiple receivers
Certain disclosed embodiments pertain to suppressing interference in a wireless communication system. For example, a method of suppressing interference can include receiving one or more first signals including components from a plurality of sub-channels. Each of the first signals can be converted into a respective plurality of first sub-band frequency components. A respective spatial filter can be determined for each frequency sub-band using one or more corresponding first sub-band components for each respective spatial filter. One or more second signals including components from the plurality of sub-channels can be received. Each of the second signals can be converted into a respective plurality of second sub-band frequency components. A corresponding plurality of filtered sub-band components can be generated by applying the respective spatial filters to the corresponding second sub-band components for each of the second signals. |
| US08948311B2 |
Receiver and method for determining a time measure depending on a time of arrival of a pulse signal
A receiver for determining a time measure depending on a time of arrival of a pulse signal having a sequence of pulses from a transmitter includes an integrator having a variable and controllable integration window, extending from a starting point to an integrator sampling point, an integrator controller for controlling the integration window in a time-successive way so that the sampling points of successive integration windows are changed by a time delay from a current integration window to a later integration window, wherein the time delay is smaller than half of the integration window, and an output processor for generating the time measure as an indication indicating which later integration window has a sampled integrator value exceeding a threshold or being larger than a sampled integrator value for a timely preceding or timely succeeding integration window. |
| US08948310B2 |
Use of RDS data to select matching network
Devices and methods for dynamically selecting a matching network for an antenna are provided. In one example, an electronic device capable of selecting such a matching network may include an antenna, several selectable matching networks, a radio receiver, and matching network control circuitry. The radio receiver may couple to the antenna via one of the selectable matching networks to receive a radio signal with both an analog and digital component. The matching network control circuitry may select the matching network from among the several selectable matching networks based at least in part on a characteristic of the digital component of the radio signal. |
| US08948307B2 |
Ask signal generator
According to one embodiment, an ASK signal generator includes a differential oscillator, a first modulator, a second modulator, a first transmission line, a second transmission line and an impedance adjustment circuit. The differential oscillator generates first and second signals having an opposite phase, and outputs the first and second signals from first and second output terminals. The first modulator connected to the first output terminal is set in the normally off state. The second modulator connected to the second output terminal is turned on or off according to a digital signal. The first and second transmission lines connected to the first and second output terminals have a length equal to a ¼ wavelength of the oscillation frequency of the differential oscillator. The impedance adjustment circuit is operated together with the second modulator according to the digital signal. |
| US08948305B2 |
Transmission method, transmission apparatus, reception method and reception apparatus
All data symbols used in data transmission of a modulated signal are precoded by hopping between precoding matrices so that the precoding matrix used to precode each data symbol and the precoding matrices used to precode data symbols that are adjacent to the data symbol in the frequency domain and the time domain all differ. A modulated signal with such data symbols arranged therein is transmitted. |
| US08948304B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving data in a communication or broadcasting system using linear block code
Provided is a method for transmitting data in a communication or broadcasting system using a linear block code by generating a codeword by encoding input information data bits, interleaving the codeword; outputting modulation signal-constituting bits by bit-mapping the interleaved codeword using a bit-mapping table predetermined depending on a modulation scheme and a coding rate, outputting a modulation signal by modulating the modulation signal-constituting bits and transmitting the modulation signal via a transmit antenna. |
| US08948295B1 |
Preamble generating device, preamble generating method, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program
A first calculator generates first computational data by reordering elements in at least one of either a real data sequence or an imaginary data sequence constituting a data sequence having a number of elements determined according to a number of elements in a preamble model. A second calculator generates second computational data in which elements of data obtained by applying a fast Fourier transform to the first computational data are spaced apart by a designated number of elements. A preamble generator generates a preamble by multiplying each element of the second computational data by an element of the preamble model at a same position as the each element. A preamble determiner determines on the preamble as a preamble of the transmit signal in a case in which a peak-to-average power ratio of data obtained by applying an inverse fast Fourier transform to the preamble matches a predetermined criterion. |
| US08948293B2 |
Downlink multiple input multiple output enhancements for single-cell with remote radio heads
A base station selects a subset of at least one geographically separated antennas for each of the plurality of user equipments. The base station forms at least layer of data stream including modulated symbols, precodes the data stream via multiplication with the NT-by-N precoding matrix where N is the number of said layers and NT is the number of transmit antenna elements and transmits the precoded layers of data stream to the user equipment via the selected geographically separated antennas. The base station signals the subset of the plurality of geographically separated antennas via higher layer Radio Resource Control or via a down link grant mechanism. The base station optionally does not signal the subset of the plurality of geographically separated antennas to the corresponding mobile user equipment. |
| US08948292B1 |
Phase angle mapping for phase modulation
In determining an angle for a phase modulation scheme, a key is generated from a prescribed set of bits contained in a symbol. The symbols have an in-phase (I) data word and a quadrature phase (Q) data word that identify coordinates of the symbols in a complex number plane. An angle is retrieved from a memory table from a storage location identified by the key. Each angle in the memory table is established in accordance with constraints under which the memory table was populated so as to be mapped to a phase angle identifying other coordinates in the complex number plane that are within a specified neighborhood about the coordinates of each of the symbols. A signal is generated to convey the symbols as phase differentials at each sample time between a reference phase and the phase angle. |
| US08948289B2 |
Method and device for codebook generation and downlink signal transmission in a wireless communication system supporting multiple antennas
The present invention relates to a method in which a base station transmits a downlink signal using 8 antennas may comprise the steps of: mapping a downlink signal to N (1≦N≦4) layers; precoding the signal mapped to the N layers, by using a specific precoding matrix selected from a pre-stored codebook; subjecting the precoded signal to processing for OFDM symbol generation; and transmitting OFDM symbols through 8 antennas. The pre-stored codebook may comprise precoding matrices for the respective ranks corresponding to N, the pre-stored codebook may consist of 16 codebook indexes, and a portion of the precoding matrices for high ranks in the 16 codebook indexes may be generated from the precoding matrices for low ranks. |
| US08948288B2 |
Generation and use of LDCs in wireless communication systems
A method for generating a Linear Dispersion Code (LDC) for use in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication system in which M transmit antennas are used to transmit a codeword over T time slots, each codeword encoding Q constellation symbols, is provided. The method includes determining M, T and Q, wherein M, T and Q are real numbers, generating a first matrix having 2Q columns and a predefined number m of rows, each column including a plurality of elements, each element being a real number within a respective predefined range for the respective row, deriving a second matrix having 2Q columns and m rows from the first matrix such that the elements of one row of the second matrix are dependent upon the corresponding elements of a corresponding row of the first matrix, and upon M and T, and deriving a set of 2Q LDC dispersion matrices, each including dimensions T×M, from the second matrix. |
| US08948287B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data in broadcasting system
Methods and apparatus are provided for transmitting data in a broadcasting system. Input data is encoded by an encoder. A first demultiplexer generates first transmission symbols using the encoded data. The first transmission symbols are modulated, and the modulated first transmission symbols are transmitted. A second demultiplexer generates second transmission symbols using at least a portion of the encoded data. The second transmission symbols are modulated and the modulated second transmission symbols are transmitted. |
| US08948283B2 |
Sounding packet format for long range WLAN
In a method for generating a null data packet (NDP) sounding packet for transmission via a communication channel, a signal field and one or more long training fields are generated. The signal field and the long training fields are modulated using a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. Symbol duration of each OFDM symbol of the plurality of OFDM symbols is at least 8 μs. The NDP sounding packet is generated to include the plurality of OFDM symbols. The NDP sounding packet omits a data payload portion. |
| US08948282B2 |
Mapping a transmission stream in a virtual baseband to a physical baseband with equalization
Embodiments include processes, systems, and devices for reshaping virtual baseband signals for transmission on non-contiguous and variable portions of a physical baseband, such as a white space frequency band. In the transmission path, a spectrum virtualization layer maps a plurality of transmission components associated with a transmission symbol produced by a physical layer protocol to sub-carriers of the allocated physical frequency band. The spectrum virtualization layer then outputs a physical transmission symbol composed of time-domain samples derived from the mapped frequency components and a cyclic prefix. In the receive path, a time-domain symbol received on the physical baseband is reshaped and equalized by the virtual spectrum layer in order to recompose a time-domain samples of a transmission stream in the virtual baseband. |
| US08948281B2 |
Method and apparatus for scheduling in multiple-input multiple-output communication system
In a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication system, a serving evolved Node B (eNB) receives a channel covariance matrix of the serving eNB and a channel covariance matrix for a first neighbor eNB with the highest interference among neighbor eNBs, from a User Equipment (UE). Received signal power information is generated for each subband-beam pair. Interference signal power information is generated for each subband-beam pair for the first neighbor eNB. The generated interference signal power information is exchanged with the first neighbor eNB for each subband-beam pair. Beam coordination information indicating a use status of each beam in each subband is generated for the UE, using the interference signal power information of the first neighbor eNB. The generated beam coordination information is exchanged with the neighbor eNB. Scheduling is performed on the UE using the generated beam coordination information and the beam coordination information of the first neighbor eNB. |
| US08948279B2 |
Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
A control and processing system for use with an interrogator and an interrogation system employing the same. In one embodiment, the control and processing system includes a correlation subsystem having a correlator that correlates a reference code with a reply code from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and provides a correlation signal therefrom. The control and processing system also includes a decision subsystem that verifies a presence of the RFID tag as a function of the correlation signal. |
| US08948276B2 |
Semiconductor device and data transmission method
In a semiconductor device, a transmitting circuit generates a delayed data signal and a first delayed retransmission request signal by delaying a data signal and a first retransmission request signal, respectively, and outputs a pulse signal at an edge of the delayed data signal and the first delayed retransmission request signal and prohibits output of the pulse signal at an edge of the first delayed retransmission request signal during a specified period across an edge of the delayed data signal. |
| US08948273B2 |
Method and apparatus for wired signal transmission
A method and apparatus for high quality signal transmission, which utilizes normal-mode current flow and produces an audio output signal with suppression of normal-mode voltage amplitude, comprising transmitting an audio input signal source though (1) a buffer amplifier; (2) a modulated current source; (3) a pair of wires; (4) a current transformer; and (5) a receiver amplifier for said current transformer. |
| US08948270B2 |
Power and computational load management techniques in video processing
Techniques for power and computational load management in video processing and decoding are provided. In one configuration, an apparatus comprising a processor having a set of instructions operative to extract and compile information from a data stream having video is provided. The processor is operative to prioritize a set of parsing or decoding operations to process the data stream referred to as power management (PM) sequences based on the information and calculate projections of at least one of power and computational loading for each of the prioritized PM sequences. |
| US08948263B2 |
Read/write separation in video request manager
A video request manager comprises a first state machine. The first state machine commands a memory controller to fetch reference pixels for a first portion of a picture. The second state machine commands a memory controller to write a second portion of the picture. |
| US08948258B2 |
Video coding with large macroblocks
Techniques are described for encoding and decoding digital video data using macroblocks that are larger than the macroblocks prescribed by conventional video encoding and decoding standards. For example, the techniques include encoding and decoding a video stream using macroblocks comprising greater than 16×16 pixels. In one example, an apparatus includes a video encoder configured to encode a coded unit comprising a plurality of video blocks, wherein at least one of the plurality of video blocks comprises a size of more than 16×16 pixels and to generate syntax information for the coded unit that includes a maximum size value, wherein the maximum size value indicates a size of a largest one of the plurality of video blocks in the coded unit. The syntax information may also include a minimum size value. In this manner, the encoder may indicate to a decoder the proper syntax decoder to apply to the coded unit. |
| US08948256B2 |
Reference picture list management syntax for multiple view video coding
A picture reference list ordering process is defined for a multiview coder for coding moving pictures, where the picture list has the coding order of reference pictures used to code a picture specified in relationship to whether a picture to be coded is associated with a view. The ordering of the picture list will therefore change the coding order of the reference pictures in the picture reference list depending on the temporal relationships the reference pictures have with the picture to be coded and views associated with the reference picture. |
| US08948254B2 |
Video signal transmitting device, video signal transmitting method, video signal receiving device, and video signal receiving method
ObjectTo transmit well a video signal of a desired bit rate within a transfer bit rate of a transfer path.Solving MeansA control unit 111 controls the operation of data compression units 121-1 through 121-n and switch unit 122. When the bit rate BR of a non-compressed video signal output from a codec 117 is within the transfer bit rate BR2 of an HDMI transfer path, the control unit 111 supplies the non-compressed video signal output from the codec 117 to the HDMI transmitting unit 102 as a video signal to be transmitted. On the other hand, when the bit rate BR1 is greater than the bit rate BR2, the control unit 111 selects a compression method that can be handled on the receiving side performs compression processing so that the bit rate BR1 becomes lower than the bit rate BR2, and supplies the compression video signal to the HDMI transmitting unit 102 as a video signal to be transmitted. Also, the control unit 111 transmits compression information (control information of the switch unit 122 and data compression units 121-1 through 121-n). |
| US08948252B2 |
Moving picture transmission apparatus, moving picture transmission system, moving picture transmission method, and program
In a moving picture in which data corresponding to one picture is required for display, data corresponding to one picture is divided into line blocks including a predetermined number of pixel lines and captured as block data. A compression rate of each block data is dynamically set according to a capture point in time of each block data. Each block data is compressed at the set compression rate and transmitted to a reception apparatus through a transmission path. On a plurality of block data, a series of processes including the capture and the transmission of each block data is performed in parallel while shifting only a time required for the capture. Block data that is late in start order of the capture, among the data corresponding to one picture, is set to be lower in compression rate than block data that is early in start order of the capture. |
| US08948250B2 |
Systems and methods for video/multimedia rendering, composition, and user-interactivity
An interactive video/multimedia application (IVM application) may specify one or more media assets for playback. The IVM application may define the rendering, composition, and interactivity of one or more the assets, such as video. Video multimedia application data (IVMA data may) be used to define the behavior of the IVM application. The IVMA data may be embodied as a standalone file in a text or binary, compressed format. Alternatively, the IVMA data may be embedded within other media content. A video asset used in the IVM application may include embedded, content-aware metadata that is tightly coupled to the asset. The IVM application may reference the content-aware metadata embedded within the asset to define the rendering and composition of application display elements and user-interactivity features. The interactive video/multimedia application (defined by the video and multimedia application data) may be presented to a viewer in a player application. |
| US08948248B2 |
Tiered signal decoding and signal reconstruction
A decoder decodes a first set of data and utilizes the first set of decoded data to reconstruct the signal according to a first level of quality. The decoder further decodes a second set of data and identifies an upsample operation specified by the second set of decoded data. The decoder applies the upsample operation identified in the second set of decoded data to the reconstructed signal at the first level of quality to reconstruct the signal at a second, higher level of quality. To enhance the reconstructed signal, the decoder retrieves residual data from the second set of decoded data. The residual data indicates how to modify the reconstructed signal at the second level of quality subsequent to application of the upsampling operation as discussed above. The decoder then modifies the reconstructed signal at the second level of quality as specified by the residual data. |
| US08948244B2 |
Image-processing apparatus and method
An image-processing apparatus is configured to read encoded video data from a recording medium, decode the encoded video data, and re-encode the decoded video data. Further, the image-processing apparatus is configured to record information about a viewing-operation-history relating to the encoded video data and determine a target bit rate of the re-encoding based on the information about the viewing-operation-history. An image-processing method includes reading encoded video data from a recording medium, decoding the encoded video data, detecting information about a viewing-operation history relating to the encoded video data, re-encoding decoded video data obtained at the decoding step, and determining a target bit rate of the re-encoding performed at the encoding step based on the information about the viewing-operation-history. |
| US08948242B2 |
Encoding device and method and multimedia apparatus including the encoding device
An encoding device and method of using a bit rate control method which accurately predicts a target bit amount, provides excellent quality, and is applicable to a real-time environment through a simple mechanism, and a multimedia apparatus including the encoding device. The encoding device includes a group-of-pictures (GOP)-based bit assigning unit for assigning a GOP-based bit amount targetGOP, a macroblock-based bit assigning unit for assigning a macroblock-based bit amount for all macroblocks included in the GOP, a quantizing device for checking a current buffer state, determining a quantization parameter (QP) by using an alternating current (AC) coefficient obtained by transforming a macroblock if a buffer occupancy rate is lower than a predetermined limit rate, and performing quantization by using the determined QP, and a variable length coding (VLC) unit for performing VLC. |
| US08948236B2 |
Radio terminal device, radio base station device, radio ranging system, and radio ranging method
Disclosed are a radio terminal device and the like, which achieve an improvement in the accuracy of ranging between a UWB reader and a UWB tag regardless of whether an active method or a semi-passive method. In a terminal (300), a timing control unit (340) outputs, to a transmission amplifier (350), a control signal for performing on-off control such that on the basis of the reception timing of a pulse signal transmitted from a base station (200) and a representative value of a circuit delay time required from when a reception pulse signal is received until a transmission pulse signal generated in response to a detection signal of the reception pulse signal is transmitted, the transmission amplifier (350) amplifies a reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the pulse signal transmitted from the base station (200); and a re-reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the reradiation pulse. |
| US08948221B2 |
External cavity wideband tunable laser with dual laser gain media coupled by a thin film filter including
The invention relates to an external cavity wideband tunable laser with dual laser gain media coupled by a thin film filter. The laser comprises: a first laser gain medium, a first laser cavity end mirror arranged on the first laser gain medium, a first intracavity collimating lens, an active optical phase modulator, a tunable acousto-optic filter, an intracavity reflection mirror, an etalon and a total reflection mirror, which are all arranged sequentially inside the laser cavity. The laser further comprises a second laser gain medium, a second laser cavity end mirror arranged on the second laser gain medium, a second intracavity collimating lens, a thin film optical filter for coupling the output light beams emitted from the first laser gain medium and the second laser gain medium, a radio frequency signal source, pumping sources for the two laser gain media, an active optical phase modulator drive source and a laser drive control circuit. The invention expands the output spectrum range of a single tunable laser and is capable of covering C and L spectrum bands. The laser has reliable performance with stable output and compact size, low cost for volume production and easy installation. |
| US08948220B2 |
Wavelength-stabilized microcrystal laser
A microcrystal laser assembly including a gain-crystal includes a frame having a high thermal conductivity. The frame has a base with two spaced apart portions extending from the base. The gain-crystal has a resonator output minor on one surface thereof. The gain-crystal is supported on the spaced-apart portions of the frame in the space therebetween. Another resonator minor is supported in that space, spaced apart from the output mirror, on a pedestal attached to the base of the frame. The pedestal and the frame have different CTE. Varying the frame temperature varies the spacing between the resonator minors depending on the CTE difference between the pedestal and the frame. |
| US08948219B2 |
Laser system with nonlinear compression
The invention relates to a laser system with a passively Q-switched laser 1, a spectrally widening element 3, and a compression element 4. Laser systems of this kind are utilized for generating ultra-short laser pulses. Systems, mode-coupled solid-state lasers known from prior art allow for generating laser pulses in the sub-10 ps range only with complicated and alignment-sensitive free-beam arrangements. Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to create a laser system that generates pulse durations of less than 10 ps and which is simple and compact to produce at the same time. In order to achieve this object, the present invention proposes that the passively Q-switched laser 1 is provided with a longitudinally monomode output radiation which is spectrally widened by means of the spectrally widening element 3 by self-phase modulation and is temporally compressed by the compression element 4. |
| US08948216B1 |
Use of previously buffered state information to decode in an hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) transmission mode
In the various embodiments, decoders, methods, systems and devices exploit state information associated with transmitted packets to facilitate decoding operations. Specifically, in at least some embodiments, packets are received by a receiver. If the packet is unable to be decoded because of corruption, state information associated with that packet is buffered at the receiver and used for subsequent decoding. A retransmitted packet is then received, checked for corruption and, if not corrupted, is decoded leveraging the previously-buffered state information associated with the corrupted packet. In an event that one or more retransmitted packets are corrupted, this process can be repeated a number of times. |
| US08948212B2 |
Memory controller with circuitry to set memory device-specific reference voltages
An integrated circuit device includes a transmitter circuit operable to transmit a timing signal over a first wire to a DRAM. The DRAM receives a first signal having a balanced number of logical zero-to-one transitions and one-to-zero transitions and samples the first signal at a rising edge of the timing signal to produce a respective sampled value. The device further includes a receiver circuit to receive the respective sampled value from the DRAM over a plurality of wires separate from the first wire. In a first mode, the transmitter circuit repeatedly transmits incrementally offset versions of the timing signal to the DRAM until sampled values received from the DRAM change from a logical zero to a logical one or vice versa; and in a second mode, it transmits write data over the plurality of wires to the DRAM according to a write timing offset generated based on the sampled values. |
| US08948205B2 |
Method and apparatus for mapping and de-mapping in an optical transport network
The embodiments of the present invention disclose method and apparatus for mapping and de-mapping in an optical transport network, where the mapping method includes: constructing an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) according to an amount M of time slots of a High Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) to be occupied by a Low Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU); mapping the LO ODU to a payload area of the ODTU in a M-byte granularity; encapsulating overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU; and multiplexing the ODTU, which has been mapped the LO ODU and encapsulated with the overhead information, to the HO OPU, so as to provide a high-efficient and universal mode for mapping the LO ODU to the HO OPU. |
| US08948192B2 |
Data switch
A data switch for an integrated circuit comprising at least one link for receiving input data packets from an independently modulated spread spectrum clock (SSC) enabled source having predetermined spread spectrum link clock frequency characteristics, and at least one output for transmitting the data packets after passage through the switch, the switch further comprising at least one receive buffer having a link side and a core side for receiving the SSC modulated input data packets from the link, at least one transmit buffer and a core clock, wherein the core clock operates at a given frequency between predetermined error limits determined by oscillation accuracy alone and is not SSC-enabled, the core clock frequency being set at a level at least as high as the highest link clock frequency such that the receive buffer cannot be filled faster from its link side than it can be emptied from its core side. |
| US08948191B2 |
Intelligent traffic quota management
A network element acts as a gateway to a data network for a subscriber end station. The network element includes control plane operable to communicate with a first network processing unit (NPU) and a second NPU, which are operable to communicate with the subscriber end station. The control plane includes a quota management module, which determines a quota amount to be assigned to the first NPU and the second NPU. The quota management module assigns a portion of the quota amount to the first NPU and another portion of the quota amount to the second NPU. The quota management module may determine to change the distribution of an unconsumed quota amount between the first NPU and the second NPU, determine the unconsumed quota amount, and assign a portion of the unconsumed quota amount to the first NPU and another portion of the unconsumed quota amount to the second NPU. |
| US08948189B2 |
System and method for scheduling reservation requests for a communication network
A process for scheduling reservation requests among a plurality of nodes on a network, includes examining a level of network communication activity of a first node to determine whether the first node is active; allocating a reservation request to the first node, but only if the first node is determined to be active; and repeating the process of examining and allocating for one or more subsequent nodes on the network. In one embodiment, the process can utilize thresholds to determine whether a network device is active and the thresholds can be based on, for example, recent network activity for the node being evaluated. |
| US08948184B2 |
Embedded system development platform
A modular development platform is described which enables creation of reliable, compact, physically robust and power efficient embedded device prototypes. The platform consists of a base module which holds a processor and one or more peripheral modules each having an interface element. The base module and the peripheral modules may be electrically and/or physically connected together. The base module communicates with peripheral modules using packets of data with an addressing portion which identifies the peripheral module that is the intended recipient of the data packet. |
| US08948183B2 |
Enterprise collection bus
Systems and methods are presented to collect raw data from a plurality of servers and nodes on a network. A Distributed Enterprise Collection Bus (DECB) architecture is employed at various points on a network. The DECB comprises a collector unit that is protocol agnostic, an orchestration unit, a rule database, a filtering unit, and a distribution unit. Packets of raw data such as Call Detail Records (CDRs) generated by switching centers are received, and distributed to relevant destinations. Relevant destinations include data warehouses, mediation, analytics, etc. The goal is to alleviate collection and filtration duties of the source and destination. |
| US08948182B1 |
Method and system for verification
Aspects of the disclosure provide a method. The method includes receiving a first processed transaction unit output from an egress port of a first design of a switching device. The first processed transaction unit corresponds to a transaction unit that enters the first design by an ingress port. The method further includes extracting a property in the first processed transaction unit, determining the ingress port based on stored property-ingress port association information, identifying a memory element configured to store processed transaction units output from a second design of the switching device based on the ingress port and the egress port, and comparing the first processed transaction unit with a second processed transaction unit from the memory element. |
| US08948179B2 |
Method of multiprotocol label switching encapsulation for united router farm forwarding
A network component for supporting packet forwarding in a United Router Farm (URF), the network component comprising a processor configured to receive a packet, encapsulate the packet using a URF header comprising a URF Layer Two (L2) header that indicates Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of current and next hops, an outer label that indicates a tunnel to a destination node in the URF, and an inner label that indicates an egress port on the destination node, and send the packet to a next hop in the URF after encapsulating the packet. |
| US08948177B2 |
Policy based routing
According to an example, a method for policy based routing may include receiving a data packet, and generating a weight table including an index corresponding to a weight based distribution of a plurality of redirect hosts. The method may further include generating a hash table including an index corresponding to a random distribution of the weight based distribution, using an IP address of the data packet to determine a corresponding index value in the hash table index, determining an availability status of a redirect host of the plurality of redirect hosts corresponding to the index value, and routing, by a processor, the data packet to the redirect host if the availability status is determined to be available. |
| US08948176B1 |
Distributed fibre channel forwarder
A distributed Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Forwarder (FCF) and a distributed Fiber Channel Switch are described. The Distributed FCF is realized by instantiating respective connections between at least one Controlling FCF and a plurality of FCoE Data-Plane Forwarder (FDF) devices and between individual FDF devices. The Distributed FC Switch is realized by instantiating respective connections between at least one Controlling Switch and a plurality of FC Data-Plane Forwarder (FCDF) devices and between individual FCDF devices. The components of the distributed FCF or Switch are collectively represented by a single Domain identifier (Domain_ID), and thus the distributed FCF or Switch appears to outside entities as a non-distributed FCF or Switch. |
| US08948169B2 |
Mechanism for E-VPN interoperability with VPLS
In one embodiment, a network device in a set of network devices obtains a pseudowire label for a Provider Edge (PE) device, where the pseudowire label corresponds to a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) on the PE device. In addition, the network device obtains a set of one or more MAC addresses reachable via the PE device, wherein the set of network devices support Ethernet Virtual Private Network (E-VPN) and are in the same redundancy group such that the set of network devices are coupled to the same customer edge device. The network device stores the pseudowire label in association with the set of one or more MAC addresses. The network device uses the pseudowire label to encapsulate traffic associated with the VLAN that is received from the customer edge device and destined to the set of MAC addresses reachable via the PE device. |
| US08948165B2 |
IP telephony on a home network device
In one embodiment, a method for providing voice communications in a packet switched network protocol through a home network is provided, the method comprising: receiving, at a first home network device, an incoming call in the packet switched network protocol; notifying a second home network device of the incoming call; receiving an indication from the second home network device that the second home network device accepts the call; and forwarding the incoming call to the second home network device. |
| US08948164B2 |
Terminal, method and system for performing combination service using terminal capability version
A terminal, method and system for providing a CS service, a SIP-based service, or a CSI service, are provided. According to an embodiment, the terminal includes a controller to receive a terminal capability version of at least one target terminal, to compare the received terminal capability version with a previously stored terminal capability version of the at least one target terminal, and to determine whether to request for terminal capability information of the at least one target terminal based on the comparison result, wherein the terminal capability version identifies a version of capabilities of the at least one target terminal. |
| US08948163B2 |
Method for managing voice calls during packet-switched sessions, and mobile communications network implementing the method
A method of managing circuit-switched calls in a mobile communications network supporting packet-switched sessions is performed as follows: upon reception by the mobile communications network of a circuit-switched call for a user of the mobile communication network, the network ascertains whether the user is engaged in a packet-switched session. In the affirmative case, the network closes the packet-switched data exchange session prior to attempting to route the call to the user. |
| US08948160B1 |
Controlling services in a circuit-switched network from a packet network
The present invention relates to providing services for circuit-switched calls from an Internet Protocol (IP) based packet network. In essence, a call originating from or intended for a subscriber that is served by a telephony switch, such as an end office or mobile switching center, in a circuit-switched network is intercepted and routed by the telephony switch to a service node via a subscriber emulator. The subscriber emulator acts as a liaison between the telephony switch of the circuit-switched network and the service node of the packet network. Preferably, the subscriber emulator presents itself to the service node as a user agent, which acts on behalf of a subscriber that is served the telephony switch. The service node provides any requisite processing of the call to implement services for the call. |
| US08948158B2 |
Methods of multiple point HSDPA transmission in single or different frequencies
Disclosed herein are methods and systems for uplink control feedback design in relation to the high speed dedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH). First uplink data may be transmitted on a HS-DPCCH to a first serving cell and a second serving cell, where the first serving cell may be used as a timing reference cell for the uplink transmission. The first serving cell may be associated with a first NodeB and the second serving cell may be associated with a second NodeB. First downlink data may be received from the first serving cell and second downlink data may be received from the second serving cell. A timing reference for uplink transmission may be changed such that the second serving cell may be used as the timing reference cell. Second uplink data may be transmitted on the HS-DPCCH using the second serving cell as the timing reference cell. |
| US08948157B2 |
Method and apparatus for distributed synchronization in femtocell networks
Aspects disclosed herein relate to facilitating synchronizing frequency and/or timing of a wireless network. In an example, with a femto node configured to receive one or more signals from one or more anchor sources, determine that at least one of the one or more signals are received at least at a threshold signal quality, determine whether a difference in a local frequency and/or a local timing is within a threshold difference to a signal frequency and/or a signal timing determined based on the at least one of the one or more signals, and advertise an anchor status where the difference is within the threshold difference. |
| US08948156B2 |
Method and system for generating timed events in a radio frame in an E-UTRA/LTE UE receiver
A mobile device coupled to a common system clock receives a signal comprising a primary synchronization sequence (PSS) and a secondary synchronization sequence (SSS) in a radio frame. Sample counts are generated for timed events based on corresponding operating bandwidths. The timed events are detected at modulo sample counts of the generated sample counts according to corresponding operating bandwidths. PSS symbol timing determined via the PSS synchronization is aligned to the generated sample counts based on corresponding operating bandwidth. The generated sample counts are bit-shifted relative to the aligned PSS symbol timing for other timed events based on corresponding operating bandwidths. The one or more timed events are determined via performing modulo counting after the bit-shifting. Timing operations are performed at the determined timed events and the determined one or more timed events are refined, accordingly. |
| US08948147B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling enhanced CQI update frequency
A method and apparatus for facilitating downlink data transmission in a TD-SCDMA system is provided. The method may comprise receiving, from a Node B, a channel quality indicator (CQI) request, wherein the CQI request is not associated with a payload transmission. |
| US08948146B2 |
Femtocell, femtocell gateway and access rejection method thereof
A femtocell, a femtocell gateway and an access rejection method thereof are provided. A wireless network system comprises a wireless device, a plurality of the femtocells, the femtocell gateway and a core network server. The wireless device has a Subscriber Identification and the core network server stores a Closed Subscribers Group Identification of the femtocells. The femtocell gateway receives an access rejection message corresponding to the Subscriber Identification of the wireless device from the core network server, and transmits the access rejection message to the femtocells. Each femtocell records the Subscriber Identification in a rejection list thereof, and it is capable of adding/deleting Subscriber Identifications in its rejection list. When each femtocell receives the Subscriber Identification of the wireless device again and determines that the Subscriber Identification has been recorded in the rejection list thereof, each femtocell immediately terminates a wireless connection from the wireless device. |
| US08948145B2 |
Wireless mobile communication device with autonomous Wi-Fi control based on usage of battery in device
A wireless mobile communication device may include a Wi-Fi data communication system, an operational condition detection system, and a Wi-Fi activation system. The operational condition detection system may include a battery use detector. The operational condition detection system may be configured to detect an operational condition of the wireless mobile communication device, other than actuation of a user-operated control, including when the battery use detector detects that the wireless mobile communication device is not operating on battery power or is operating while the battery is being charged. The Wi-Fi activation system may be configured to autonomously turn power on to the Wi-Fi data communication system upon detection of an operational condition of the wireless mobile communication device by the operational condition detection system, other than actuation of a user-operated control, including when the battery use detector detects that the wireless mobile communication device is not operating on battery power or is operating while the battery is being charged. |
| US08948144B1 |
System and method for creating a preferential ad-hoc network
A system and method are provided for identifying participants for a preferential ad-hoc network using a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and then establishing the ad-hoc network with the identified participants. In general, an initiating peer node provides a request for participants for an ad-hoc network to the P2P network, wherein the request includes content information describing content stored at the initiating peer node. The content information is used by the peer nodes receiving the request to determine whether to join the ad-hock network. The peer nodes receiving the request that decide to join the ad-hoc network respond to the initiating peer node via the P2P network. All or select ones of the peer nodes responding to the request are identified as the participants for the ad-hoc network. Once the participants are identified, the initiating peer node dynamically establishes the ad-hoc network with the identified participants. |
| US08948143B2 |
Scrambled transmission method and device thereof
Disclosed are a scrambling transmission method and device thereof. The method comprises: a user terminal generates the message to be sent and modulates the message to be sent to generate the data modulation symbols; the user terminal scrambles the data modulation symbol using the cell-specific scrambling sequence, to generate the scrambled data modulation symbols; and the user terminal sending the scrambled data modulation symbols via a DFT-S-OFDM transmission structure with a time domain spreading. The present invention can reduce the interference among different user terminal data on the same resource in adjacent cells, thus improve the detection performance of uplink control signals. |
| US08948137B2 |
Internetworking of cellular radio networks and wireless data networks
A method is disclosed for assisting a handover of a data session from a first routing path, associated with a first access network, to an alternative routing path, associated with an alternative access network. Data is routed over the first access network to a UT by binding a session identifier to a first routing identifier. The session identifier and the first routing identifier are defined in accordance with a standard protocol routing scheme of the first access network. The method comprises receiving a capability message uniquely identifying the UT according to both a standard protocol routing scheme of said first access network, and an alternative standard protocol routing scheme of said alternative access network. The method further comprises creating an alternative routing identifier complying with the alternative standard protocol routing scheme, associating the alternative routing identifier with the UT, and associating the session identifier with the alternative routing identifier. |
| US08948134B2 |
Techniques for establishing a communication handoff threshold using user feedback
Examples are disclosed for user feedback to enable a handoff profile for a dual-mode hybrid mobile device. In some examples communication link handoff logic may be executed by the processor component to receive user feedback during a test voice call mediated with a call server, the user feedback pertaining to one or more Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication link parameters for the communication link between the hybrid mobile device and the call server. The communication link parameters are correlated with a call quality threshold based on the user feedback and a handoff profile is established for the hybrid mobile device based on the call quality thresholds, the handoff profile operative to establish criteria for switching the VoIP communication link to a communication link over a different network. |
| US08948128B2 |
Method and apparatus for handover by changing zones in a wireless communication system
A method for a terminal to perform a handover including transmitting a ranging request message, containing a field requesting a zone change from a first type of terminal support zone to a second type of terminal support zone of the second type of target base station, to the second type of target base station via the first type of terminal support zone; receiving a ranging response message, containing a field indicating the omission of a capability negotiation message in the event of network reentry, from the second type of target base station via the first type of terminal support zone; and transmitting a second type of capability request message to the second type of target base station via the second type of terminal support zone. |
| US08948127B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program for supporting a session identifier in case of a transfer between different radio access networks
A method and application server for supporting a communication established between a first mobile terminal towards a telecommunications network that includes first and second radio access networks. When a session setup is initiated with respect to the first mobile terminal, the application server receives a session identifier. The application server enters the identifier into an identifier list comprising one or more identifiers for identifying sessions with respect to the first mobile terminal. If the application server receives an indication of a session transfer from the first radio access network to the second radio access network, the application server provides the identifier list to the second radio access network in response to the indication. |
| US08948123B2 |
Enhanced control signals multiplexed with data signals
According to one embodiment, a method includes scheduling at least one time and at least one set of subcarrier frequencies to be used to transmit each of a plurality of data signals. Control signals may be addressed to at least one endpoint and may indicate at least one time and at least one set of subcarrier frequencies to be used to transmit one or more of the data signals to the at least one endpoint. For each control signal, at least one time and at least one set of frequencies selected from the frequency range to be used to transmit the control signal may be scheduled. At least one of the plurality of control signals and at least one of the plurality of data signals are scheduled to be transmitted simultaneously by the transceiver. The data signals and the control signals are transmitted to the plurality of endpoints. |
| US08948121B2 |
Method and device for transmitting a downlink reference signal in a wireless communication system supporting multiple antennas
A method for a base station to transmit a channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports includes mapping, in accordance with a predetermined pattern, the channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports onto a data region of a downlink subframe having an extended cyclic prefix (CP) structure, and transmitting the downlink subframe onto which the channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports has been mapped; and, in the predetermined pattern, the channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports in mapped onto 2 OFDM symbols on the data region of the downlink subframe, with a definition for mapping onto at least one of 4 subcarrier wave positions in each of the 2 OFDM symbols, and the 4 subcarrier wave positions defined in the predetermined pattern can be disposed at 3 subcarrier wave intervals. |
| US08948120B2 |
Exploiting hybrid-channel information for downlink multi-user scheduling
A method for determining an optimal network utilization maximization in a communication system with wireless links in which current and coarse channel state information CSI is available from all users, along with a limited amount of fine CSI by way of a frame based entails a scheduling and feedback under which a virtual queue is associated with each user with virtual rates being determined at start of each frame and policy of each frame being determined by solving a decision process. |
| US08948117B2 |
Control channel signaling using a common signaling field for transport format and redundancy version
The invention relates to a method for providing control signalling associated to a protocol data unit conveying user data in a mobile communication system and to the control channel signal. The invention also provides a mobile station and a base station and their respective operation in view of the newly defined control channel signals. To reduce the control channel overhead, the invention suggests defining a common field for the transport format and redundancy version in the control channel information format. According to one approach, the common field is used to jointly encode transport format and redundancy version therein. According to another aspect, one shared field is provided on the control channel signal that indicates either a transport format or a redundancy version depending of whether the control channel signal relates to an initial transmission or a retransmission. In another embodiment, further enhancements to a HARQ protocol are suggested for addressing certain error cases. |
| US08948110B2 |
Apparatus and method for scheduling in carrier aggregated communication systems based on a transmit-receive-frequency gap band
An apparatus, method, system and computer program product is configured for avoiding base station self-interference due to transmit intermodulation in carrier aggregated communication systems. Physical downlink communication channels are allocated to respective component carriers per time interval according to a communication service in which communication is performed on an aggregation of component carriers of one or more frequency band such that component carriers to be used for transmission are separated from component carriers to be used for receiving by a transmit-receive-frequency gap band. However, not all available component carriers to be used for transmission are allocated in the same time interval. Rather, in each time interval, the physical downlink communication channels to be allocated for transmission are allocated to the available component carriers to be used for transmission such that, in each frequency band, the overall emission spectrum does not reach beyond the transmit-receive-frequency gap band. |
| US08948108B2 |
Resource reservation in multiple accesses
The present invention relates to a method for enabling resource allocation for a service data flow between a user equipment (14) and a gateway in a multiple access environment. The method comprises the steps of:—A resource reservation device (10,19) receives reservation instructions from a policy control node (13). The reservation instructions require dedicated access resources to be reserved for the service data flow.—The resource reservation device (10,19) reports the result of the resource reservation required by the reservation instructions to the policy control node (13). What particularly characterize the method are the steps of:—The resource reservation device (10,19) requests reservation of the resources required by the reservation instructions in a plurality of accesses (11,12).—The resource reservation device (10,19) reports the selected single access (11,12) that enables the requested resources to the policy control node (13). This is reported when the access (11,12) is selected. |
| US08948105B2 |
Method and system for dynamic adjustment of downlink/uplink allocation ratio in LTE/TDD system
A method and system for dynamic adjustment of downlink/uplink resource allocation ratio in a long-term evolution (LTE) time division duplex (TDD) system is disclosed. The method includes replacing at least one uplink subframe in a subframe pattern with at least one of a mute subframe and a mute uplink pilot timeslot (UpPTS), within a geographical guard area that isolates at least two areas having different TDD allocation patterns. The method further includes scheduling an uplink transmission from at least one mobile terminal such that the at least one of the mute subframe and the mute UpPTS are unused. A simple solution or a TDD configuration index substitution solution, or any combination thereof, may be used to control the uplink transmission involving a mute subframe or a mute UpPTS. |
| US08948104B2 |
Method and apparatus for feedback in multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communication system
Provided is a feedback method and apparatus in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. A terminal may determine a preferred pre-coding matrix for a neighboring terminal, based on a reference rank determined by a base station and a preferred pre-coding matrix of the terminal. The terminal may calculate a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on the preferred precoding matrix for the neighboring terminal, and may feed the CQI back to the base station. |
| US08948101B2 |
Client-server communications in mobile radio communications device
The invention provides for a method of communication within a mobile radio communications device between a chip-card in server mode and any one or more of a plurality of clients each having the same IP address, the method including the steps of creating for each of the clients a socket, wherein each socket is bound to a client port allocated by the device, associating a client identifier to each of the bound client ports, and making each said client identifier available to the chip-card whereby the chip card can distinguish between messages from the plurality of clients. |
| US08948095B2 |
Interference management in a wireless communication system using frequency selective transmission
Interference that occurs during wireless communication may be managed by determination of a selected transmit waveform exhibiting a preferred channel quality. A method, apparatus and medium of communication determine a transmit waveform from among a plurality of allocated waveforms of an unplanned access point to an associated access terminal. The transmit waveform exhibiting a highest channel quality with an associated access terminal over others of the plurality of allocated waveforms is determined. Signals are transmitted according to the transmit waveform from the unplanned access point to the associated access terminal. |
| US08948088B2 |
Method for transmitting a sounding reference signal in a wireless communication system, and apparatus for same
The present invention relates to a method in which user equipment transmits a non-periodic sounding reference signal in a wireless communication system. In detail, the method comprises: a step of receiving a downlink control channel from a base station; a step of decoding a downlink control information (DCI) format contained in the downlink control channel; a step of checking a non-periodic sounding reference signal transmission instruction in the DCI format; and a step of transmitting a non-periodic sounding reference signal to the base station in accordance with the transmission instruction. Preferably, if the downlink control channel is received via an nth subframe, the non-periodic sounding reference signal is transmitted via an (n+k)th subframe (where k≦4). |
| US08948084B2 |
Systems and methods for data path control in a wireless network
In various embodiments, the data plane may be abstracted from a control plane in a wireless network such as WiMax, WiFi, LTE or the like. In some embodiments, a method comprises a receiving control data at a control server from a source device, generating routing instructions at the control server regarding routing network data based on the control data, providing the routing instructions to a routing device, configuring the routing device based on the routing instructions, receiving network data from the source device, and routing the network data from the source device to a target device using the configured routing device. |
| US08948078B2 |
Apparatus and methods for relay-assisted uplink communication
A relay device for supporting communications between a terminal device and a base station in a wireless communications system is described. The relay device comprises a transceiver arranged to at least receive an access request message from the terminal device; and a control processor operably coupled to the transceiver and arranged to process the access request message, extract information and determine therefrom a power delta value that is not based on a determination of pathloss between the relay device and the terminal device, generate a control element comprising the power delta value; and for relaying at least the control element to the base station. The control processor is further arranged to receive subsequently at least one physical uplink channel message from the terminal device wherein a transmit power level of the at least one physical uplink channel message is based at least on the power delta value. |
| US08948077B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing interference handling overhead
Various methods for managing interference handling overhead are provided. One example method includes generating interference overload indication information and causing the interference overload information to be transmitted on a broadcast channel for relay nodes, wherein the transmission via the broadcast channel indicates that the interference overload indication information is for a donor cell. Similar and related example methods and example apparatuses are also provided. Additional example methods and apparatuses are also provided. |
| US08948076B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving reference signal in wireless communication system
Methods and apparatus are provided for transmitting processing reference signals in a mobile communication system. A base station determines a reference signal pattern comprising at least one resource element, generates a bitmap indicator indicating whether zero transmission power is assigned to the at least one resource element of the reference signal pattern, and transmits the reference signal pattern and the bitmap indicator to a terminal. The terminal receives the reference signal pattern and the bitmap indicator, and processes a reference signal extracted according to the reference signal pattern and the bitmap indicator. |
| US08948075B2 |
Apparatus and method for supporting different system in a broadband wireless communication system using multi-hop relay scheme
An apparatus and method for supporting a different system in a broadband wireless communication system using a multi-hop relay scheme are provided. A DownLink/UpLink (DL/UL) frame of a Base Station (BS) includes a legacy access zone for communicating with a legacy Mobile Station (MS), a relay zone for communicating with a legacy Relay Station (RS), and a new zone for communicating with a new MS. A DL/UL frame of an RS includes a legacy access zone for communicating with a legacy MS and a legacy relay zone for communicating with a new BS by legacy standards. |
| US08948068B2 |
Wireless station, interference avoidance method, and system for interference avoidance
A wireless station in a second communication system, with at least a portion of a first frequency band used in a first communication system and a portion of a second frequency band used in the second communication system being shared or neighboring, the wireless station including a waveform characteristic quantity extracting unit that extracts a waveform characteristic quantity which shows a statistical characteristic of a signal received from the first communication system; a communication parameter determining unit that determines communication parameters to be used for the wireless station in the second communication system depending on a determination result of whether the extracted waveform characteristic quantity is of a predetermined waveform characteristic quantity for reducing an interference; and a transmission and reception unit that transmits and receives a wireless communication signal in the second communication system in accordance with the determined communication parameters. |
| US08948066B2 |
Method for performing a HARQ process and apparatus using same
The present description relates to a method for performing a HARQ process operation in a wireless communication system and to an apparatus using the method. A base station device which performs a HARQ process operation comprises a transmitter which transmits to a relay an uplink (UL) grant in a downlink backhaul subframe n which is a subframe having an index n among the allocated downlink backhaul subframes, and transmits, if downlink data sent from the relay in accordance with the uplink grant is not successfully received, a non-acknowledgement (NACK) signal in a downlink backhaul subframe n+N which is a downlink backhaul subframe that comes after N which is a predetermined number of HARQ processes counted from the downlink backhaul subframe n among the allocated downlink backhaul subframes. |
| US08948064B2 |
Method and apparatus for long range private broadband wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for long range private broadband wireless communication system is provided. The communication system provides bi-directional Point-to-Multipoint (PtMP) data communication between a Network Operating Center (NOC) and many Subscriber Stations (SS) which may be either Mobile Stations (MS) or Fixed Stations (FS) or both. The system infrastructure consists of Base Stations (BSs) which may be located at the PLMR tower sites and backhaul communication infrastructure connecting the BSs to the Network Operating Center (NOC). The system infrastructure at the NOC includes a central router, a Network Management System (NMS) server, a DHCP server, a TOD server, an AAA server and may also include a Base Station Controller (BSC). |
| US08948063B2 |
Method and system for real-time calibration and reporting of processing delay
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for estimating transmit chain and receive chain processing delays by a first wireless device. In a particular implementation, a first signal may be wirelessly transmitted from a first wireless device and at least a portion of the first signal may be received by a receiver of the first wireless device during transmission of the first signal. A first transmit processing delay and a first receive processing delay associated with the first signal may be measured or determined based at least in part on the receipt of the at least a portion of the first signal during the transmission of the first signal. |
| US08948059B2 |
Conference endpoint controlling audio volume of a remote device
Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and devices for improved audio, video, and data conferencing. The present invention provides a conferencing system comprising a plurality of endpoints communicating data including audio data and control data according to a communication protocol. A local conference endpoint may control or be controlled by a remote conference endpoint. Data comprising control signals may be exchanged between the local endpoint and remote endpoint via various communication protocols. In other embodiments, the present invention provides for improved bridge architecture for controlling functions of conference endpoints including controlling functions of the bridge. |
| US08948054B2 |
System and method for discovering multipoint endpoints in a network environment
An example method is provided and may include multicasting a discovery packet in an overlay network, which includes a Layer 2 scheme over a Layer 3 network; and identifying endpoints based on their respective responses to the discovery packet, where the endpoints are coupled across a multicast backbone. In more specific embodiments, the method may include identifying disconnected endpoints in the overlay network based on a lack of responses from the disconnected endpoints. |
| US08948052B2 |
Topology aware MANET for mobile networks
Systems and methods provide adaptability in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET), based on an existing protocol, such as adaptive hybrid domain routing (AHDR). The systems and methods are especially suited for fast changing topologies that may change after a reactive route discovery has been completed. |
| US08948049B2 |
Method and systems for determining path of a virtual connection through a network
Networks and devices may communicate with each other using virtual connections. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented model is generated and includes a representation of the path of a virtual connection. The path of a virtual connection, such as an IP tunnel, is traced between its source and destination. The physical connection corresponding to such IP tunnels are found by tracing through the device configuration and routing tables at routers in the network. The path between the source and destination devices is traced until the path is terminated at the destination device, or at an interface to an external network. If the path ends at an external network, the path is traced from the destination device toward the source device until a corresponding interface to the external network is reached. |
| US08948047B2 |
Device managing apparatus and program thereof
A device managing apparatus that can easily communicate under a proper communication configuration, through a network may be provided. A managing apparatus is provided with a storage and a controller (management program). The storage stores multiple different communication configurations. The controller controls the communication with the device. The controller carries out the following processes: (1) repeating a communication trial toward the device using one of stored communication configurations that are stored in the device managing apparatus, in which the communication configuration to be used is changed for each communication trial; (2) monitoring a response which is sent to the device managing apparatus from the device in a case where the communication trial has succeeded; and (3) displaying a plurality of areas, each of which is linked to each of the stored communication configurations; and displaying a symbol image representing the device in the area that is linked to the communication configuration with which the communication trial has succeeded. By using the device managing apparatus, the user can easily recognize, at a glance of the screen, devices at which the same communication configurations are set. |
| US08948046B2 |
Routing method and system for a wireless network
A method and system for selecting a route in a wireless network for the transmission of a data packet between wireless nodes in said network using a modified link-state routing algorithm wherein only a limited number of broadcast messages are generated to synchronize the link-state database throughout the wireless network. A subset of nodes called portal nodes within the network are elected to do the broadcasting for the entire network. Each portal node broadcasts an announcement of its identity to all of the wireless nodes. Each wireless node responds to these broadcasts to select one of the portal nodes as its root portal node. It then identifies a unicast route back to its root portal node, and sends a link-state register message to this portal node. These link-state register messages received by each portal node are aggregated by them and are broadcast to each of the wireless nodes for storage. When a data packet is thereafter received by a wireless node from a neighboring node, it detects if the data packet satisfies one of a plurality of predetermined conditions and rebroadcasts the data packet to neighboring wireless nodes if none of the conditions is satisfied. |
| US08948045B2 |
Communication system and method of configuring a communication interface
A network element has one or more logical communication interfaces each of which has a data set defining parameters for the interface. A data storage medium stores a profile containing information for an interface, the profile having a profile identifier for identifying the profile. The data set associated with an interface includes a profile identifier for enabling the communication interface to access information in the profile by referring to the profile identifier. The profile may include information relating to neighbor discovery communications between one network element and another, and the same profile may be accessed by any number of interfaces. |
| US08948043B2 |
Method and apparatus for normalizing cellular communications network data
A method, computer readable medium and apparatus for normalizing cellular communications network data are disclosed. For example, the method collects a data packet from the cellular communications network, modifies a time stamp of the data packet in accordance with a promotion delay time from the time stamp of the data packet to create a normalized data packet and processes the normalized data packet to optimize state machine configurations. |
| US08948042B2 |
Predictive caching of IP data
Disclosed is a technique for predictively caching IP content data for a mobile device. In the mobile device, a content request is sent to an intelligent cache server over an IP network, the content request indicative of recurring IP content data of interest to the mobile device. The intelligent cache server retrieves the requested IP content data from content servers and queues the requested IP content data in a buffer associated with the mobile device. A notification message is sent to the mobile device indicating that the requested IP content is queued. The mobile device determines whether it is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point and automatically downloads the queued IP content data from the intelligent cache server when connected to a non-cellular IP network. The IP content data is stored in a cache memory in the mobile device. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08948032B1 |
Pseudowire packet loss measurement
In general, techniques are described for measuring service-specific packet data unit (PDU) loss for individual pseudowires that interconnect two or more L2 customer networks in a L2 virtual private network (L2VPN), such as a VPLS instance. In one example of the techniques, for every pseudowire of a VPLS instance pseudowire mesh, a pseudowire label policer at each of the pseudowire endpoints maintains respective counters for the number of PDUs transmitted and received at the endpoint. The pseudowire label policer may identify service-specific PDUs transmitted and received over individual pseudowires of the VPLS instance by mapping pseudowire labels for the PDUs to the VPLS instance. |
| US08948030B2 |
Transmitting node B load status information in a self organising network
The application relates to wireless transmission of load status information for load balancing among Home Node Bs (HNB) or Local Area Node Bs (LNB) for which an X2 interface is not available. In particular, an LNB may pretend to be a user equipment with a specific predefined user equipment ID value. A neighboring LNB which receives a data packet with this user equipment ID value knows that the data packet contains load information monitored, by a neighboring LNB. |
| US08948027B2 |
Method and system for wireless network management
Methods and systems for wireless network management are described. In one embodiment, a radio measurement of a characteristic of a wireless access technology may be taken. The wireless access technology may enable data communication through a wireless network when connected to an access point. A report may be transmitted through an alternate access technology. The report may be based on the radio measurement. Additional methods and systems are disclosed. |
| US08948023B2 |
Enhancing mtrace to detect failure in multicast diverse paths
In one embodiment, a network device may receive an mtrace query, where the mtrace query identifies two or more multicast routing paths. The network device may generate two or more mtrace requests using at least a portion of information obtained from the mtrace query such that each of the two or more mtrace requests identifies a different one of the two or more multicast routing paths. The network device may send each of the two or more mtrace requests via a different one of the two or more multicast routing paths. The network device may then receive at least one response including information pertaining to the two or more multicast routing paths. |
| US08948021B2 |
Methods and apparatus to monitor border gateway protocol sessions
Example methods and apparatus to monitor border gateway protocol sessions are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes detecting a failure of a first BGP session, initiating a sustained-down timer and a reset-timer in response to detecting the failure, identifying a sustained-down condition in response to the sustained-down timer exceeding a first time threshold, identifying a flapping condition in response to counting a threshold number of BGP failures and corresponding BGP re-establishments during a second time threshold of the reset-timer, and identifying a continuous flapping condition in response to detecting the flapping condition consecutively for a threshold number of instances. |
| US08948019B2 |
System and method for preventing intrusion of abnormal GTP packet
Provided are a system and method for preventing the intrusion of an abnormal GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) packet. The system includes: a system management unit including a monitoring unit which monitors a state of the system and a mode changing unit which changes an operation mode of the system based on the state of the system; a packet capture unit including a packet management unit which stores information about a GTP packet based on the operation mode of the system and a detection result checking unit which determines whether to drop the GTP packet; and a packet detection unit including a packet parsing unit which parses the information about the GTP packet and a packet analysis unit which analyzes the parsed information about the GTP packet, wherein the operation mode of the system is an intrusion prevention system (IPS) mode or a bypass mode. |
| US08948017B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting management information in wireless local area network system
A method of transmitting management information in wireless local area network system is provided, The method includes transmitting, to a station, a frame including a BSS load in-formation element, the BSS load element including a multi user(MU) multiple input multiple output(MIMO) capable STA count field and a spatial stream utility field, wherein the MUMIMO capable STA count field indicates the total number of STAs with MU reception capability currently associated with the candidate BSS and the Spatial Stream Utility field indicates under utilized spatial streams for busy time of wireless medium. |
| US08948016B2 |
Communication network monitoring
Techniques described herein generally include methods, devices and systems related to monitoring a flow of data packets in a communication network. Some example devices may include one or more of a stream capture unit, and/or an analyzer. The stream capture unit can be coupled to a communication network, and configured to monitor a flow of data packets associated with communication steams in the communication network, and identify a first stream of data packets and a second stream of data packets from the monitored flow of data packets. The first stream and the second stream are associated with a single destination. The analyzer can be coupled to the stream capture unit and configured to identify an event associated with from the first stream identified by the stream capture unit, identify information related to the identified event from the second stream identified by the stream capture unit, and determine a response based on the event and the information related to the event. |
| US08948004B2 |
Fault tolerant communication in a trill network
Each of first and second bridges of a data network having respective external links to an external node implement a network bridge component that forwards traffic inside the network and a virtual bridge component that forwards traffic outside of the network. A virtual bridge is formed including the virtual bridge components of the first and second bridges and an interswitch link (ISL) between the virtual bridge components of the first and second bridges. Data frames are redirected via the ISL in response to a link-down condition of one of the external links. |
| US08947992B2 |
Combined echo and crosstalk cancellation
Combined echo and crosstalk cancellation is provided. Frequency domain adaptive filters are used to remove or reduce the effects of echo and crosstalk for a multi-channel and full-duplex communications system. Data from each transmit channel is buffered and converted to the frequency domain. The frequency domain data is multiplied by crosstalk coefficients to obtain a frequency domain correction signal for each channel. Adaptation of the crosstalk coefficients is based on correlations between the error signals and the data from each of the transmit channels. A single frequency domain transform engine, such as a Fast Fourier Transform engine, is employed for all calculations to save power and area. |
| US08947988B2 |
Efficient access to storage devices with usage bitmaps
Upon receiving a request to allocate a storage region, a storage device may initialize the contents of the storage device to default values (e.g., zero) in order to avoid problems arising from unknown data stored in the locations of the storage region (e.g., upon writing a data set to a location involved in a mirroring relationship, uninitialized data in the corresponding mirror location may result in a mismatch that jeopardizes the written data). However, initializing the storage device may be time-consuming and inefficient. Instead, a usage bitmap may be generated that, for respective location sets of the storage region, indicates whether values exist in the location. A read request may be fulfilled by examining the usage bitmap to determine whether values exist in the specified location, and if not, the default value may be returned without accessing the storage device. Other efficiencies may also be achieved using the usage bitmap. |
| US08947983B2 |
Dial for a timepiece
Dial (1) for a timepiece (100) comprising a front face (2) which forms a visible display surface and is opposite a back face (3), characterized in that the dial includes, either at least one cavity (4) extending into at least one portion of the thickness of said dial (1) between said visible surface (2) and said back surface (3), or at least one peripheral surface (40) extending into at least one portion of the thickness of said dial (1) between said visible surface (2) and said back surface (3). At least one said cavity (4) or at least one peripheral surface (40) includes at least one undercut surface (5), extending into at least one portion of the thickness of said dial (1) between said visible surface (2) and said back face (3). |
| US08947982B2 |
Method and apparatus for setting alarm in portable terminal
A method and apparatus for setting an alarm in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes receiving a message for requesting the setting of the alarm from a peer terminal, confirming a right of the peer terminal to set an alarm, determining, if the peer terminal has the right to set the alarm, an alarm generation time according to a transmission time of the alarm setting request message, and setting the alarm for the alarm generation time. |
| US08947981B2 |
Attenuating mass for an ultrasonic sensor, use of epoxy resin
Temperature stability at the temperatures prevailing in a motor and stability that is required over an entire temperature range are provided by an attenuating mass. This enables continuous use at temperatures of approximately 150° C. while providing ultrasonic attenuation at low temperatures. |
| US08947979B2 |
Transducer mounting blocks and method of use thereof
A mounting block for fastening equipment such as a sonar transducer onto the hull or transom of a boat which consists of a flat body portion formed into a predetermined size and shape, the body further having a front face and a back face, the back face further having one or more channel grooves for retaining an adhesive, the channel grooves further having internal surfaces to provide mechanical grip to the hardened adhesive thereby preventing mechanical separation between sonar transducer or other equipment and the mounting block. |
| US08947978B2 |
System and method for estimating the direction of arrival of a sound
A system and method for estimating the direction of arrival of sounds. One method including the steps of: forming a reference signal; detecting sound with two or more spatially separated, directional or spatially separated directional, microphones to produce two or more output signals; calculating the relationships between each of the two or more output signals and the reference signal; and estimating the direction of arrival based on differences between the relationships. |
| US08947975B2 |
Time-variable gain for correction of fluid attenuation in downhole acoustic tools
An apparatus for use in a wellbore is provided that in one embodiment may include at least one transmitter configured to generate acoustic signals in the wellbore, at least one receiver configured to receive acoustic signals from a formation surrounding the wellbore in response to the transmitted acoustic signal and also configured to provide electrical signals representative of the received acoustic signals, a circuit configured to apply a time-variable gain to the electrical signals to amplify the electrical signals, and a processor configured to process the amplified electrical signals and provide a property of interest. |
| US08947973B2 |
Active detection of marine mammals during seismic surveying
An embodiment according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure for conducting a marine survey includes towing a survey spread comprising a plurality of receivers and an energy source along a selected course; emitting a signal from an energy source; receiving backscattered acoustic signals at the receivers; and actively detecting a cetacean from the received data. |
| US08947968B2 |
Memory having power saving mode
A memory has a normal mode and a power saving mode. The memory has bitline precharge circuitry which during the normal mode selectively couples a pair of bitlines to a precharge node to charge the bitlines to a given voltage level. During the power saving mode the bitlines are isolated from the precharge node. Voltage control circuitry is provided to maintain the precharge node at a first voltage level during the normal mode and at a second voltage level less than the first voltage level during the power saving mode. By reducing the voltage level at the precharge node during the power saving mode, the amount of inrush current occurring when switching from power saving mode to normal mode can be reduced, and this enables the wakeup time to be reduced when returning from power saving mode to normal mode. |
| US08947966B2 |
Power gated memory device with power state indication
A memory device comprises one or more power gates and state signaling circuitry. Each of the one or more power gates is configurable such that a respective portion of the memory device is powered down. The state signaling circuitry is operative to produce a power state output signal indicative of when the one or more power gates are configured such that the memory device is fully powered up. |
| US08947964B2 |
Current sense amplifiers, memory devices and methods
A current sense amplifier may include one or more clamping circuits coupled between differential output nodes of the amplifier. The clamping circuits may be enabled during at least a portion of the time that the sense amplifier is sensing the state of a memory cell coupled to a differential input of the sense amplifier. The clamping circuits may be disabled during the time that the sense amplifier is sensing the state of a memory cell at different times in a staggered manner. The clamping circuits may be effecting in making the current sense amplifier less sensitive to noise signals. |
| US08947958B2 |
Latent slow bit detection for non-volatile memory
In accordance with at least one embodiment, a non-volatile memory (NVM) and method is disclosed for detecting latent slow erase bits. At least a portion of an array of NVM cells is erased with a reduced erase bias. The reduced erase bias has a reduced level relative to a normal erase bias. A least erased bit (LEB) threshold voltage level of the least erased bit (LEB) is determined. An erase verify is performed at an adjusted erase verify read threshold voltage level. The adjusted erase verify read threshold voltage level is a predetermined amount lower than the LEB read threshold voltage level. A number of failing bits is determined. The failing bits are bits with a threshold voltage above the adjusted erase verify level. The NVM is rejected in response to the number of failing bits being less than a failing bits threshold. |
| US08947953B2 |
Bit cell internal voltage control
Among other things, techniques for facilitating a write operation to a bit cell are provided. A pulse generator initializes lowering of an internal voltage level associated with a bit cell that is to be written to by a write operation. In this way, the bit cell is placed into a writeable voltage state, such that a potential of the bit cell can be overcome by the write operation. A voltage detector sends a reset signal to the pulse generator based upon the pulse generator lowering the internal voltage level past a reset trigger level. Responsive to receiving the reset signal, the pulse generator initializes charging of the internal voltage level to an original voltage level. In this way, the lowering of the internal voltage level is controlled so that one or more other bit cells are not affected (e.g., suffer data retention failure) by the relatively lower internal voltage level. |
| US08947952B2 |
Input-output line sense amplifier having adjustable output drive capability
An input-output line sense amplifier configured to drive input data signals over an input-output signal line to an output driver circuit, the input-output line sense amplifier having an output driver stage having a plurality of different programmable output drive capacities to tailor the output drive of the sense amplifier. |
| US08947951B2 |
Semiconductor memory devices
A semiconductor memory device includes at least one memory cell connected to an internal voltage line that receives a cell power supply voltage and a write assist circuit connected to the internal voltage line. The write assist circuit lowers a level of the cell power supply voltage to a target level during a first period of a write operation on the memory cell and maintains the level of the cell power supply voltage at the target level during a second period of the write operation based on a write assist control signal. The second period succeeds the first period. |
| US08947949B2 |
Mode changing circuitry
A circuit includes a memory cell having a ground reference node, a switch coupled to the ground reference node, and a mode changing circuit having an output coupled to the switch. The mode changing circuit is configured to change a logic state of the output between a first output logic state and a second output logic state in response to a change in an operational voltage and/or temperature, thereby set the memory cell in a first mode in which the ground reference node is at first reference level or in a second mode in which the ground reference node is at a second reference level different from the first reference level. |
| US08947944B2 |
Program cycle skip evaluation before write operations in non-volatile memory
A non-volatile memory system is disclosed that evaluates during a read before write operation whether to skip programming of portions of group of memory cells during a subsequent write operation. By evaluating skip information during a read before write operation, the write operation can be expedited. The additional overhead for evaluating skip information is consumed during the read before write operation. By performing a skip evaluation during the read before write operation, a full analysis of the availability of skipping programming for memory cells can be performed. Skip evaluations in different embodiments may be performed for entire bay address cycles, column address cycles, and/or sense amplifier address cycles. In some embodiments, some skip evaluations are performed during read before write operations while others are deferred to the write operation. In this manner, the number of data latches for storing skip information can be decreased. |
| US08947943B2 |
Memory system and control method therefor
A memory system includes a plurality of memory devices having data terminals that are commonly connected to a memory controller. Each of the memory devices includes a data output circuit that outputs read data that is read from a memory cell array in response to a read command to the data terminal, and an output-timing adjustment circuit that adjusts an output timing of read data that is output from the data output circuit. The memory controller sets an adjustment amount of adjustment performed by an output-timing adjustment circuit such that delay times from when the read command is issued until when the read data is received match in the memory devices, by issuing a setting command to each of the memory devices. |
| US08947939B2 |
Low voltage programming in NAND flash
A memory device includes a plurality of memory cells arranged in series in the semiconductor body, such as a NAND string, having a plurality of word lines. A selected memory cell is programmed by hot carrier injection. The program operation is based on metering a flow of carriers between a first semiconductor body region on a first side of the selected cell in the NAND string and a second semiconductor body region on a second side of the selected cell. A program potential higher than a hot carrier injection barrier level is applied to the selected cell, and then the drain to source voltage across the selected cell and the flow of carriers in the selected cell reach a level sufficient to support hot carrier injection, which is controlled by a switch cell adjacent the selected cell. |
| US08947938B2 |
Two-transistor non-volatile memory cell and related program and read methods
A memory device includes an N-channel transistor and a P-channel transistor. A word line is electrically connected to a drain terminal of the N-channel transistor, and a source terminal of the P-channel transistor. A first bit line is electrically connected to a source terminal of the N-channel transistor. A second bit line is electrically connected to a drain terminal of the P-channel transistor. Gate terminals of the N-channel transistor and the P-channel transistor are electrically connected and floating. |
| US08947935B2 |
Integrated circuit and apparatuses including the same
An integrated includes a memory cell, a bit line connected to the memory cell, a boosting circuit to boost the bit line up to a boosting voltage during a pre-charge operation pre-charging the bit line, and a regulation circuit connected between the bit line and an output terminal and determines a logic level of the output terminal according to the voltage of the bit line. |
| US08947934B2 |
Sharing local control lines across multiple planes in a memory device
Memory devices, methods for accessing a memory cell, and memory systems are disclosed. One such memory device includes a plurality of planes of memory cells. Each plane of memory cells includes series strings of memory cells that each have a select gate drain transistor. Control gates of corresponding select gates are coupled together by a shared local control line. Each of a plurality of global control lines are coupled to their corresponding local control line with only a single global select gate. |
| US08947929B1 |
Flash-based soft information generation
The present disclosure describes techniques for flash-based soft information generation. In some aspects a flash-memory device includes a soft information generator configured to determine soft information for a data value stored by a flash-memory cell. The soft information includes fewer bits than a number of data bits read from the flash-memory cell from which the soft information is generated. When the flash-memory device transfers the soft information to a memory controller, fewer bits per data value are transferred. By so doing, an efficiency of a data link between the flash memory device and the memory controller may be improved. |
| US08947924B2 |
Data readout circuit of phase change memory
A data readout circuit of phase change memory, relating to one or more phase change memory cells, wherein each phase change memory cell is connected to the control circuit by bit line and word line; said data readout circuit comprises: a clamp voltage generating circuit, used to generate a clamp voltage; a precharge circuit, used to fast charge bit line under the control of a clamp voltage; a clamped current generating circuit, used to generate a clamped current to keep bit line at clamped state under the control of a clamp voltage; a clamped current operation circuit, used to perform subtraction and multiplication on clamped current to increase the difference of clamped current between high resistance state and low resistance state; a sense amplifier circuit, used to compare the operated clamped current and the reference current and output the readout result. Compared with the prior art, the data readout circuit of phase change memory provided by the present invention can effectively enhance the data readout speed, decrease the misreading window between high resistance state and low resistance state, reduce the crosstalk of data readout, and improve the reliability of data readout. |
| US08947922B2 |
Method and apparatus for reading a magnetic tunnel junction using a sequence of short pulses
A magnetic random access memory (MRAM) array having a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) to be read using a magnetic state of the MTJ, the MTJ being read by applying a current there through. Further, the MRAM array has a reference MTJ, a sense amplifier coupled to the MTJ and the reference MTJ, the sense amplifier operable to compare the voltage of the MTJ to the reference MTJ in determining the state of the MTJ; a first capacitor coupled to the sense amplifier at a first end and to ground at a second end; and a second capacitor coupled to the sense amplifier at a first end and to ground at a second end, the first capacitor storing the, wherein short voltage pulses are applied to the first end of each of the first and second capacitors when reading the MTJ thereby makes the current flowing through the MTJ there through for small time intervals thereby avoiding read disturbance to the MTJ. |
| US08947918B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a buffer configured to hold data input to an input/output circuit and to hold data read from the memory cell array, and a controller configured to receive a first command and an address from the outside and to read data, in response to the first command, from a memory cell group coupled to a selected word line designated by the address to the buffer. The controller receives a second command which is input after the first command and indicates a last command of a group of commands including write commands and/or read commands, and starts a write operation from the buffer to the memory cell array in response to the second command. |
| US08947915B2 |
Thermal spin torqure transfer magnetoresistive random access memory
A thermal spin torque transfer magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) apparatus includes a magnetic tunnel junction and a tunnel junction programming circuit. The magnetic tunnel junction includes a reference layer having a fixed magnetic polarity, a tunnel barrier layer, and a free layer on an opposite side of the tunnel barrier layer from the reference layer. The free layer includes a first layer having a first Curie temperature and a second layer having a second Curie temperature different from the first Curie temperature. The tunnel junction programming circuit is configured to apply a current through the magnetic tunnel junction to generate a write temperature in the magnetic tunnel junction and to write to the free layer of the magnetic tunnel junction. |
| US08947907B1 |
Current source circuits and methods for mass write and testing of programmable impedance elements
An integrated circuit device can include a plurality of memory cells, each including at least one element programmable between different impedance states by application of a voltage or current; a plurality of bit line groups, each bit line group including multiple bit lines, each bit line being coupled to multiple memory cells; a plurality of current source circuits coupled to the bit line groups, each current source circuit configured to couple the bit lines of its respective group to at least a first bias node or a second bias node. |
| US08947903B2 |
Memory chip with more than one type of memory cell
A semiconductor memory chip that has word lines driven by respective word line drivers and bit lines to carry signals to respective bit line amplifiers/drivers with memory cells at intersections of the word lines and bit lines memory cells. The semiconductor memory chip including various memory cell types, the type of memory cell at an intersection based on a position of the intersection among the word lines and bit lines. |
| US08947900B2 |
Stable SRAM cell
SRAM cells and SRAM cell arrays are described. In one embodiment, an SRAM cell includes a first inverter and a second inverter cross-coupled with the first inverter to form a first data storage node and a complimentary second data storage node for latching a value. The SRAM cell further includes a first pass-gate transistor and a switch transistor. A first source/drain of the first pass-gate transistor is coupled to the first data storage node, and a second source/drain of the first pass-gate transistor is coupled to a first bit line. The first source/drain of the switch transistor is coupled to the gate of the first pass-gate transistor. |
| US08947897B2 |
Current-source power converting apparatus
A current-source power converting apparatus in an embodiment includes a current-reference generating unit, a polarity determining unit, a PWM-pulse-signal generating unit, and a drive-signal generating unit. The current-reference generating unit outputs a phase current reference and a line-to-line current reference. The polarity determining unit determines a polarity of the phase current reference. The PWM-pulse-signal generating unit generates a PWM pulse signal by comparing the line-to-line current reference and a carrier signal. The drive-signal generating unit generates a drive signal that drives each of a plurality of switching elements, based on the PWM pulse signal and a polarity of the phase current reference. |
| US08947883B2 |
Low profile wire bonded USB device
A low profile USB flash memory device, and methods of forming same, are disclosed. The USB flash memory device includes an integrated circuit memory portion and a USB connector. The memory portion and the USB connector may be integrally formed on the same substrate. The USB flash memory device includes a substrate on which is mounted one or more flash memory die, a controller die, passive components and an LED for indicating when the memory is being accessed. In contrast to prior art USB memory devices which used TSOP packages mounted on a printed circuit board, the semiconductor die of the present invention are affixed to the substrate and wire bonded in a SIP configuration. Omitting the encapsulated TSOP packages allows a reduction in the overall thickness of the USB flash memory device. |
| US08947881B2 |
Housing for an on-board electronic card
A housing (1) for at least one electronic card (2), designed for the aeronautics field, of the type having a standardized width and including two lateral guides designed to work together with slides provided on the inner surfaces of an electronics bay, includes two half-shells, upper (4) and lower (5), pressed together at the lateral guides; the lower half-shell includes at least one bearing area (10) forming the housing for electronic cards; elements (19) for pressing each electronic card (2) in each corresponding housing and for pressing at least one heat sink (16) against the upper surface of at least one electronic card; the function of the body (5) is to take into account the mechanical stresses linked to the electronic cards hosted within the housing, and the function of the cover (4) is to ensure adequate thermal conductivity to allow heat produced by an electronic card in operation to be dissipated. |
| US08947879B2 |
Portable computer server enclosure
A container that holds rack mountable electronics equipment includes a plurality of rack enclosures and a corresponding plurality of enclosure cooling units. Each rack enclosure is movably mounted in the container such it can move from a position abutting a front of an enclosure cooling unit to a maintenance and access position spaced apart from the enclosure cooling unit. Each enclosure cooling unit is capable of providing varying amounts of cool air to the rack enclosure it abuts, so that the interior of each rack enclosure can be maintained at a different temperature. |
| US08947875B2 |
Portable device
A portable device includes a first unit including a guide member with a groove; a second unit including a sliding member that slides in the groove of each guide member; and a shield member that shields a boundary portion formed when the second unit is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the first unit in an extended state. The groove of the guide member includes a curved section that makes the first unit incline at a predetermined angle with respect to the second unit. One end of the shield member is rotatably supported at an end of the second unit, and the other end is slidably engaged with the groove of the guide member. |
| US08947873B2 |
Immersion-cooled and conduction-cooled electronic system
A cooled electronic system and cooling method are provided, where an electronics board having a plurality of electronic components mounted to the board is cooled by an apparatus which includes an immersion-cooled electronic component section and a conduction-cooled electronic component section. The immersion-cooled section includes an enclosure at least partially surrounding and forming a compartment about multiple electronic components of the electronic components mounted to the electronics board, and a fluid disposed within the compartment. The multiple electronic components are, at least in part, immersed within the fluid to facilitate immersion-cooling of those components. The conduction-cooled electronic component section includes at least one electronic component of the electronic components mounted to the electronics board, and the at least one electronic component is indirectly liquid-cooled, at least in part, via conduction of heat from the at least one electronic component. |
| US08947870B2 |
Sliding and rotating apparatus and device having same
Disclosed is a sliding and rotating apparatus for connecting two components of a device, such as a portable electronic media player, and a device having the same. The apparatus provides has a base member, a sliding member, and a rotating member. The sliding member is coupled to the base member so as to permit sliding thereon in a first linear direction and between first and second positions, and the rotating member rotationally coupled to the sliding member. The rotating member and base member are configured such that when the sliding member is forced into the second position the rotating member is rotated in a first angular direction. The apparatus also may contain a sliding mechanism that biases the apparatus in either the first or second position. |
| US08947867B2 |
Sliding-type electronic apparatus with strengthening force structure
A sliding-type electronic apparatus with a strengthening force structure includes a body served as a system terminal and an upper cover disposed on the body and having a surface configured with a touch screen. A sliding and cover-lifting member constituted by a sliding rail, a sliding member and a pivot shaft device is at least disposed between the body and the upper cover. In a normal state, a supporting device, together with the sliding and cover-lifting member, is horizontally and supportively placed in a preset concave chamber space of the body. The auxiliary supporting devices can be formed as an inclined auxiliary support structure on the rear surface of the upper cover when the upper cover is lifted, thereby effectively increasing the screen touch resistance to inhibit screen wobble in an operation process and to promote the support effect and operation stability of the screen. |
| US08947865B2 |
Mobile terminal device
A mobile terminal device includes a case that forms a storage space for storing a component and that includes an open section at a first surface, a display module that is stored in the open section of the case and that includes a display surface for allowing information to be displayed thereon adjacent to the first surface, a plate that is fixed to an inner surface of the case and that partitions the storage space into a space for storing the display module and a space for storing a component other than the display module, a panel that covers the open section of the case and that supports the display module such that the display module is sandwiched between the panel and the plate, and an adhesive that adheres the panel and a surrounding region of the open section of the case. |
| US08947864B2 |
Flexible hinge and removable attachment
Fabric outer layer techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an apparatus includes, an input portion having one or more keys configured to generate signals to be processed by a computing device as inputs, a connection portion that is configured to be removable attachable to the computing device and including at least one communication contact configured to form a communicative coupling with the computing device to communicate the generated signals, a flexible hinge that is configured to flexibly and communicatively connect the connection portion to the input portion, and first and second outer fabric layers that are configured to act as an outer surface of the one or more keys of the input portion and the flexible hinge and are physically secured to the connection portion. |
| US08947861B2 |
Tablet computer
A tablet computer is composed of a tablet component and a keyboard component. The tablet component houses all of the essential hardware of tablet computer including the central processing unit (CPU), the memory, the power supply, and a touch screen display. The keyboard component is a simple peripheral device that offers no computing functionality unless connected with the tablet component. The tablet component and keyboard component can mate to form a notebook-type computer. The tablet component and keyboard component can mate in an orientation allowing use of only a tablet computing user interface. The tablet component is removable from the keyboard component and functions independently as a tablet computing device. The keyboard component has a counterbalance armature to oppose the moment of inertia due to the changing center of mass of the tablet computer as the tablet component is moved from a closed to an open position. |
| US08947860B2 |
Lightweight audio system for automotive applications and method
A lightweight radio/CD player for vehicular application is virtually “fastenerless” and includes a case and frontal interface formed of polymer based material that is molded to provide details to accept audio devices such as playback mechanisms (if desired) and radio receivers, as well as the circuit boards required for electrical control and display. The case and frontal interface are of composite structure, including an insert molded electrically conductive wire mesh screen that has been pre-formed to contour with the molding operation. The wire mesh provides EMC, RFI, BCI and ESD shielding and grounding of the circuit boards via exposed wire mesh pads and adjacent ground clips. The PCB architecture is bifurcated into a first board carrying common circuit components in a surface mount configuration suitable for high volume production, and a second board carrying application specific circuit components in a wave soldered stick mount configuration. The major components and subassemblies are self-fixturing during the final assembly process, eliminating the need for dedicated tools, fixtures and assembly equipment. The major components and subassemblies self-interconnect by integral guide and connection features effecting “slide lock” and “snap lock” self-interconnection. The radio architecture includes improved push buttons employing 4-bar living hinge linkage and front loaded decorative trim buttons. |
| US08947859B2 |
Modular power distributor
A power distributor for use in vehicles is provided. The power distributor includes a base module having a central power feed and at least two universal modules, thereby forming a modular structure of the power distributor. The universal modules have defined geometries and are mechanically and electrically removably connectable to corresponding locations on the base module. Each universal module includes at least one electrical component. The base module includes a printed circuit board having at least one of current conducting paths and at least one bus bar. The base module comprises contact connectors for connection to loads of the vehicle. An electrical component is also provided as a semi-finished product for further processing in vehicles. The electrical component includes a bus bar and a lamellar contact attached thereto. |
| US08947858B2 |
Crimped leadwire for improved contact with anodes of a solid electrolytic capacitor
A capacitor containing a solid electrolytic capacitor element that includes a sintered porous anode body and an anode lead assembly is provided. The lead assembly is electrically connected to the anode body for connection to an anode termination. The lead assembly contains at least a first lead wire comprising at least one notch that is located on an embedded portion of the first lead wire. The at least one notch can be formed by crimping the lead wire prior to embedding the lead wire within the anode body. The at least one lead wire is embedded within the anode body and extends from a surface of the anode body in a longitudinal direction. The resulting geometry of the lead wire increases the points of contact between the anode body and the lead wire after post-sintering shrinkage of the anode body to improve the electrical capabilities of the solid electrolytic capacitor. |
| US08947846B2 |
Device for protecting piping from lightning
A device for protecting piping from lightning. The piping includes tubular metal sections connected to each other by connection parts, a first portion of the connection parts being plastic material parts and a second portion of the connection parts being metal parts. |
| US08947845B2 |
Solid state protector module
A protector module for use with a communication system, such as a telephone system having a tip line and a ring line, includes a base member and a plurality of electrically conductive pins mounted on the base member. A first electrical contact is fixedly mounted on the top surface of the base member and is in electrical communication with one of the tip line and the ring line. A movable second electrical contact is connected to a ground pin mounted on the base member and is situated in alignment with the first electrical contact. A solder pellet, which may melt in high current, long duration power surges, and a solid state device, are positioned between the first and second electrical contacts. |
| US08947843B2 |
Fast breaker failure detection for HVDC circuit breakers
A breaker failure detection device for a direct current (DC) circuit breaker (200) is provided. The circuit breaker comprises a circuit breaking element (204) and a non-linear resistor, e.g., a surge arrester (205), connected in parallel. The breaker failure detection device comprises a current sensor (212, 213, 214, 215), for measuring a current commutating from the circuit breaking element (204), and a breaker failure detection unit (211). The breaker failure detection unit (211) is arranged for comparing the measured current to desired values and deciding that an internal commutation process of the circuit breaker (200) does not proceed as desired if the measured current deviates from the desired values. The present invention makes use of an understanding that an improved detection of breaker failures may be achieved by monitoring the internal commutation process of the circuit breaker. Further, a method of breaker failure detection is provided. |
| US08947839B2 |
Enhanced immunity from electrostatic discharge
Enhanced electrostatic discharge (“ESD”) protection for an integrated circuit is described. An embodiment relates generally to a circuit for protection against ESD. The circuit has an input/output node and a driver. The driver has a first transistor and a second transistor. A first source/drain node of the first transistor is coupled to the input/output node. A second source/drain node of the first transistor forms a first interior node capable of accumulating charge when electrically floating. A first current flow control circuit is coupled to a discharge node and the second source/drain node of the first transistor. The first current flow control circuit is electrically oriented in a bias direction for allowing accumulated charge to discharge from the first interior node via the first current flow control circuit to the discharge node. |
| US08947835B2 |
Tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) read sensor with a long diffusion path and ex-situ interfaces in a sense layer structure
The invention provides a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) read sensor with a long diffusion path and ex-situ interfaces in a sense layer structure. The sense layer structure comprises a first sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Co—Fe film, a second sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Co—Fe—B film, and a third sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Ni—Fe film. The sense layer structure has a long diffusion path (defined as a total thickness of the first and second sense layers) and ex-situ interfaces for suppressing unwanted diffusions of Ni atoms. Alternatively, the sense layer structure comprises a first sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Co—Fe film, a second sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Co—Fe—B film, a third sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Co—Fe—B—Hf film, and a fourth sense layer preferably formed of a ferromagnetic Ni—Fe film. |
| US08947834B2 |
Method and apparatus for chemical-mechanical polishing
In accordance with certain embodiments, a method can be utilized that includes depositing a backfill material layer over a reader stack; depositing a chemical-mechanical-polishing stop layer above the layer of backfill material; and depositing a sacrificial layer on top of the chemical-mechanical-polishing stop layer. |
| US08947830B1 |
Method of forming electrical connections from solder posts
A method for forming an electrical interconnection between a slider pad and a suspension pad that is adjacent to and positioned at an angle relative to the slider pad, which includes the steps of forming a solder bump on a first surface of the slider pad, reshaping the solder bump into a protrusion having an ellipsoidal shape that extends from the slider pad and contacts the suspension pad, and applying a laser to the ellipsoidal protrusion to reflow the solder bump while simultaneously applying a downward pressure to the solder bump in order to form a solder fillet between the slider pad and the suspension pad. |
| US08947827B1 |
Stitched pole having a tapered tip
In one general embodiment, a magnetic head includes a stitch pole; and a main pole formed adjacent the stitch pole, wherein an end region of the stitch pole closest to an air bearing surface of the head tapers towards the main pole. In another general embodiment, a magnetic head includes a stitch pole being a laminate of at least two magnetic layers separated by a nonmagnetic layer; and a main pole formed adjacent the stitch pole. An end region of the stitch pole closest to an air bearing surface of the head tapers towards the main pole. An average angle of the taper of the end region of the stitch pole is between about 20 and about 45 degrees. Such head may be implemented in a data storage system. |
| US08947826B2 |
Surface treatment method to develop a durable wear resistant overcoat for magnetic recording systems
A durable wear-resistant coating consists of an atomically mixed layer on the surface of the head or media which is developed by bombardment of the surface with energetic C ions with optimized parameters. This mixed layer is covered with a hard DLC overcoat. This mixed interlayer is able to strongly bond the overcoat to the head or media substrate and improve the tribological properties of the overcoat. In this method a very thin layer of a carbide former material can be used as an interlayer before bombarding the surface with C ions which provides a composite interlayer containing C and species from interlayer and substrate. This composite interlayer bonds the DLC overact to the ceramic substrate of the head or the metallic substrate of the media. This interlayer by itself is protective enough to protect the head media of the hard drives against wear and corrosion. |
| US08947825B2 |
Low cost high performance hard drive base
The present invention relates to a HDD base comprising: at least two anchor formations for anchoring at least two parts of a HDD; and a rigid member configured to retain anchor formations in a fixed position relative to each other. |
| US08947821B1 |
Detecting a servo pattern using a data channel in a magnetic tape drive
According to one embodiment, a system for processing data includes an equalizer configured to use servo coefficients for processing servo data and data coefficients for processing non-servo data, wherein the equalizer includes a finite impulse response (FIR) filter configured to process data read with a magnetic tape channel using the servo coefficients to generate equalized data, one or more low-pass filters with aggressive frequency characteristics configured to filter the equalized data to output filtered data, the one or more low-pass filters with aggressive frequency characteristics being configured to remove high frequency noise from the equalized data, a peak detector configured to process peaks in a waveform of the filtered data, and at least one servo pattern detector configured to detect a servo pattern in the filtered data. Other systems and methods for processing data are described in more embodiments. |
| US08947813B2 |
Emergency power off (EPO) island for saving critical data to non-volatile memory
Approaches for an emergency power off (EPO) power island, for saving critical data to non-volatile memory in the event of an EPO condition, for use in a hard-disk drive (HDD) storage device. The EPO power island includes a controller for detecting an EPO condition. A voltage regulator supplies power from spindle motor back EMF only to the EPO power island and to the non-volatile memory. Thus, the remainder of the hard drive controller (HDC) is isolated from the EPO power island so that it will not corrupt the data as the HDC's power supply is decaying. Using the power provided by the voltage regulator, the EPO power island transfers critical data from a memory internal to the island to a non-volatile memory external to the island, such as to a flash memory chip. |
| US08947810B1 |
Bit-locked interface for magnetic recording
Techniques are provided for performing bit-locked operations on media. A first control signal is received from a first source, and a second control signal is generated at a second source in response to receiving the first control signal. The media is accessed according to the second control signal. One or more synchronization markers are located during the accessing of the media, and bit-level synchronization between the second source and the media is achieved based, at least partially, on the one or more synchronization markers. A control operation is performed on the media with bit-level synchrony between the second source and the media. |
| US08947809B2 |
Encoding scheme for bit patterned media
A bit patterned media (BPM) encoded recordable medium includes a servo control field including servo bits. Each servo bit is represented by a servo bit pattern of dots and gaps on the recordable medium. In the servo bit patterns, substantially no two dots are placed immediately next to one another, and substantially all servo bit patterns start with a gap and/or substantially all servo bit patterns end with a gap. |
| US08947805B1 |
Low complexity inter-track interference cancellation receiver for magnetic multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) channel
A receiver utilizes a plurality of read elements, each generating a read-back signal in response to a data track positioned beneath the read element. The plurality of read-back signals are each provided to at least one space-time interference cancellation filter, which generates a filtered output that maximizes a signal associated with one of the plurality of data tracks. The filtered output is provided to a one-dimensional Viterbi detector, which is configured to generate in response an output representative of a data sequence written to one of the plurality of data tracks. |
| US08947803B1 |
Data storage device and data erasing method
A data storage device includes a recording medium including a data region for recording data and a nonvolatile recording unit distinct from the data region. In response to a request for executing erase processing with respect to the recording medium, first time information corresponding to initiation of the erase processing in the nonvolatile recording unit is stored, the erase processing after storing the first time information is executed, and second time information corresponding to completion of the erase processing is stored in the nonvolatile recording unit. |
| US08947801B1 |
Multi-track asymmetric read-back signal correction
Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward an apparatus, such as a disc drive, including a disc having multiple tracks, a magneto-resistive transducer assembly, and multiple-track signal correction circuitry. The multiple-track signal correction circuitry compensates for asymmetry in a readback signal of read data stored in at least one of multiple tracks based on different correction coefficients for respective ones of the multiple tracks. |
| US08947796B2 |
Telecentric optical assembly
The present disclosure provides a telecentric optical assembly comprising a first portion of a telecentric optical link including a first kinematic mount having alignment structures, where the first kinematic mount can be attached to a first substrate having a first array of active optical elements; and a second portion of the telecentric optical link including a second kinematic mount having recesses configured to mate with the alignment structures, where the second kinematic mount can be attached to a second substrate having a second array of active optical elements. Additionally, the first and second kinematic mounts, when mated, can align optical beams between the first array of active optical elements and the second array of active optical elements. |
| US08947791B2 |
Large aperture zoom optical system and image pickup apparatus
A large aperture zoom optical system and an image pickup apparatus have a five-lens-group arrangement of positive-negative-positive-negative-positive refractive powers. At the time of zooming, the fifth lens group is fixed, and at least the second lens group, the third lens group and the fourth lens group are moved. The third lens group for use in focusing is composed of a single lens element. |
| US08947790B2 |
Imaging lens assembly
An imaging lens assembly includes five lens elements with refractive power, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element has positive refractive power. The third lens element has refractive power. The fourth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface, wherein both of an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fourth lens element are aspheric. The fifth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface, wherein at least one inflection point is formed on the image-side surface of the fifth lens element, and both of an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fifth lens element are aspheric. |
| US08947782B2 |
Wavelength variable interference filter, optical module, and light analyzer
A wavelength variable interference filter includes: a first movable mirror disposed on a first substrate; a second movable mirror disposed so as to be opposed to the first movable mirror with a predetermined gap interposed therebetween; and an electrostatic actuator which varies the length of the gap between the mirrors. The first substrate has a first movable portion on which the first movable mirror is disposed, and a first linkage portion which holds the first movable portion in such a manner that the first movable portion can shift in the thickness direction of the substrate. The second substrate has a second movable portion on which the second movable mirror is disposed, and a second linkage portion which holds the second movable portion in such a manner that the second movable portion can shift in the thickness direction of the substrate. |
| US08947774B2 |
Catadioptric optical system and image pickup apparatus having the same
A catadioptric optical system includes a first imaging optical system that includes a catadioptric part that collects a light beam from an object to form an intermediate image of the object, and a second imaging optical system that includes a refractive part that images the intermediate image on an image plane. The first imaging optical system includes a first optical element, a second optical element, and a negative lens in an optical path between the first and second optical elements, and the first and second optical elements are disposed so that reflection parts of the first and second optical element face each other. A power φn of the negative lens, radii of curvature R1n and R2n of lens surfaces of the negative lens at an object side and an image side, respectively, and a power φ1 of the first imaging optical system are appropriately set. |
| US08947770B2 |
Systems and methods for measuring power levels in an optical device
An apparatus for monitoring optical equipment in an optical circuit is disclosed in which the apparatus may include an optical device situated to receive an optical input signal and to reflect a portion of the energy of the received optical input signal, thereby providing a reflected input signal; a first photodiode located along a path of the reflected input signal, and operable to receive optical energy from the reflected optical input signal and from ambient optical power; a second photodiode located substantially outside the reflection path of the optical input signal; and means for calculating a magnitude of a power level of the optical input signal from values of outputs from the first and second photodiodes. |
| US08947769B1 |
Tunable three level terahertz magnon laser generator with antenna
An apparatus for tunable generation of terahertz photons is provided. The apparatus comprises a three level magnon laser, an injection means, a terahertz antenna, and a tuning means. The terahertz antenna further comprises a magnon gain medium that supports generation of nonequilibrium magnons. The magnon gain medium is selected from the group consisting of: a ferromagnetic semiconductor; a dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS); a half-metallic ferromagnet (HMF); and a ferromagnetic conductor, with a gap in the density of states of the minority electrons around the Fermi energy. |
| US08947768B2 |
Master oscillator—power amplifier systems
The invention provides fiber-optic light sources such as cladding-pumped master oscillator—power amplifier (MOPA) systems which use double-clad optical fibers (DCF). The inner cladding of the first DCF used in the master oscillator section has a circular cross-section in order to enable the formation of low loss optical splices in the integrated MOPA structure. The inner cladding of the second DCF in the output amplifier section has a shaped non-circular cross-section in order to enhance the absorption of the pump light in the doped core of the second DCF. |
| US08947767B2 |
Excitation light source for raman amplification, raman amplifier, and optical transmission system
An excitation light source, for Raman amplification, includes a polarization beam splitter (PBS) for splitting a laser beam from an excitation laser into two polarization components, and a polarization beam combiner (PBC) for combining the two polarization components, and a time difference generator provided between PBS and PBC. The time difference generator generates a difference in propagation time between the two polarization components. |
| US08947764B1 |
High-speed photonic modulator designs
An optical device includes a microdisk optical resonator element. The microdisk resonator element is formed on a substrate and has upper and lower portions respectively distal and proximal the substrate. An arcuate semiconductor contact region partially surrounds the microdisk resonator element. A first modulator electrode is centrally formed on the upper portion of the microdisk resonator element, and a second modulator electrode is formed on the arcuate contact region. A laminar semiconductor region smaller in thickness than the microdisk resonator element separates the arcuate contact region from the microdisk resonator element and is formed on the substrate so as to electrically connect the arcuate contact region to the lower portion of the microdisk resonator element. |
| US08947760B2 |
Thermotropic optical shutter incorporating coatable polarizers
A thermotropic optical shutter device incorporates coatable, thin-film polarizers with a thermotropic depolarizer. The coatable polarizers provide a mechanism for adjusting the polarizer properties (i.e., absorption, reflection, or diffusion) by changing the thickness of the coating. For example, a thicker film may have a higher relative polarizing efficiency while a thinner film may have a lower relative polarizing efficiency. Using the same base materials and manufacturing process, the contrast ratio and other properties of a thermotropic or thermochromic shutter device (e.g., a liquid crystal-based smart window film) may be adjusted in real time on the manufacturing line. |
| US08947758B2 |
Electrochromic mirrors and other electrooptic devices
This invention focuses on automotive electrochromic (EC) mirrors. There are several ways to improve the attribute of this product and also use superior processing methods. This invention improves on busbars which are used to power these devices. This discloses novel busbar designs, materials and busbar deposition methods. This invention also addresses the composition of transparent conductor coatings which can be used in an advantageous configuration for third surface mirrors, and corrosion resistant reflective coating compositions for EC mirrors. Processing methods to deposit coatings for third surface mirrors are also disclosed. Insignias may also be incorporated in EC mirrors by using conductive materials deposited on the second surface of an EC mirror configuration that is formed by two substrates. |
| US08947755B2 |
Optical scanning device and image display apparatus
An optical scanning device includes a rotationally-moving mirror on which a reflection plane is provided in a rotationally-movable manner, and a sealing unit over which a light-transmissive cover is provided, a first plane of the light-transmissive cover, a second plane of the light-transmissive cover, and the reflection plane of the rotationally-moving mirror within a rotationally-moving range being non-parallel to each other, the first plane being on the opposite side to the side of the rotationally-moving mirror, the second plane being on the side of the rotationally-moving mirror. |
| US08947753B2 |
Imaging device for an image reading apparatus, and image reading method
An imaging device includes a plurality of light-receiving units configured to perform photoelectric conversion for different colors, respectively, each light light-receiving unit including a plurality of pixels; a plurality of output units provided for the light-receiving units, each output unit sequentially converting charges of the respective pixels produced by the photoelectric conversion into voltages and sequentially outputting the voltages; a switching unit configured to switch between signal paths so as to alternate output of the voltage between the output units in accordance with a switching signal input from an external device; and an electric-potential applying unit configured to apply an offset potential to the voltages output by the output units until a predetermined time has elapsed since switching between the signal paths by the switching unit. |
| US08947751B2 |
Image reading device and image forming apparatus
An image reading device, which can be included in an image forming apparatus, includes an image pickup device, a transparent member, a traveling body, and a housing. The traveling body includes a light source to emit light and guides the light reflected from a surface of the document to the image pickup device while moving in a sub scanning direction along the document surface on the transparent member. The housing accommodates the image pickup device and the traveling body, and includes a base member including a rectangular bottom surface and a side surface, and a rail member including a rail surface and a first vertical surface. The rail member further includes a fixing part that is a surface to be fixed to the bottom surface of the base member and to extend from one end of the rail member in the sub scanning direction to the other end. |
| US08947749B2 |
Image reading apparatus, control method of image reading apparatus, and storage medium
A method includes reading an image of a document obtained by a reading unit exposing the document to light with an exposure unit, causing the reading unit to perform first reading processing for reading first information obtained by causing the exposure unit to perform exposure with a first light amount, and second reading processing for reading second information obtained by causing the exposure unit to perform exposure with a second light amount that is smaller than the first light amount while no document is placed at a reading position of the reading unit, and detecting a foreign matter existing at the reading position according to a difference between the first and second information. |
| US08947747B2 |
Erecting equal-magnification lens array plate and image reading device
An image reading device includes: a document table on which a document G is placed; a line light source configured to illuminate the document G; an erecting equal-magnification lens array plate configured to receive light reflected from the document G and form an erect equal-magnification image on a predetermined image plane; and a line image sensor configured to receive the erect equal-magnification image formed by the erecting equal-magnification lens array plate. The erecting equal-magnification lens array plate includes: first and second lens array plates formed with a plurality of lenses on both sides thereof; a first shielding member provided on the first outer side surface of the first lens array plate; and a light-shielding wall provided upright on the top surface of the first light-shielding member and configured to shield light reflected by the document table. |
| US08947744B2 |
Spectral visible edge marking for steganography or watermarking
A print media (200) comprises paper or other substrate, on which image content, whether text or images are printed with accompanying hidden data (220). The image content is printed with one or more normal printing process visible colorants (340), while the hidden data (220) is printed with spectral edge markers (320). The spectral edge marker materials (320) have a substantial spectral absorption just outside the human visible spectrum, and only slight visible absorption, which is masked by the visible colorants (340). Although the hidden data is nominally visually imperceptible, an image capture device (250) having a visible spectral response that extends into a spectral region just outside the visible spectrum where the spectral edge marker absorption occurs, can then detect the hidden data. |
| US08947743B2 |
Parallel rip processing for sheet images that include graphics defined by a job ticket
Systems and methods are provided for processing a logical page in parallel with graphics for the sheet that are defined in a job ticket. The system includes multiple parallel Raster Image Processors (RIPs) and a control system. The control system receives print data and a job ticket, identifies a graphic that is associated with a logical page and defined in the job ticket, and transmits the logical page to a parallel RIP for processing. The parallel RIP determines page dimensions from the logical page, transmits the page dimensions, and rasterizes the logical page. The control system determines a location for the graphic based upon the transmitted page dimensions, and directs another RIP to rasterize the graphic in order to generate a rasterized graphic in parallel with the RIP that is rasterizing the logical page. |
| US08947742B2 |
Image forming apparatus for increasing combined-color reproduction accuracy for superimposed colors
A control device mounted in an image forming apparatus includes a region searching for unit searching for a region adapted to measure colors in an image; a color measurement unit configured to measure colors of the superimposed color toner image in the region; a storage unit storing measured colors and densities proportional to area ratios of primary color toner images in the superimposed color toner image in the region; and a correction amount determination unit determine correction amounts corresponding to the setting values expressing the tone reproduction curves to minimize the difference between the measured colors and the reference colors. |
| US08947739B2 |
Printing condition setting apparatus, printing condition setting method, and non-transitory storage medium
Color conversion conditions corresponding to medium types belonging to the same group as a selected representative type are collectively updated based on calibration results. It is judged whether or not there is a fluctuating factor concerning color reproduction characteristics between a print medium that is used at present in the calibration and a print medium that was used in the past. If a fluctuating factor is determined to exist, then only the color converting condition corresponding to the representative type is updated. |
| US08947737B2 |
Image processing that generates and density corrects ink amount data
An image processing device adjusts black separately from chromatic colors and applies density adjustment capable of controlling the amount of color material according to the density. Such image processing device, capable of communicating with an image recording device, includes a color conversion unit that converts image data expressed in a first color space to color material amount data expressed in a second color space used by an image recording device; a density adjustment unit that increases or decreases the color material amount data based on a specified adjustment value; a dot breakdown unit that converts the increased or decreased color material amount data to dot quantity data expressed as a dot quantity for each of different sizes of dots formed by the image recording device; and a halftone process unit that converts the dot quantity data to data denoting whether or not the dots are formed. |
| US08947735B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method for performing error diffusion processing for each region of an image
When the pixel of interest exists at a pixel position where reference of an error buffer is necessary, a quantization error generated in a region having undergone error diffusion processing is obtained from the error buffer. A quantization error generated in error diffusion processing in a region containing the pixel of interest is obtained from an error memory. Diffusion errors are calculated from the quantization errors using an error diffusion matrix. The value of the pixel of interest and the diffusion errors are added, and the addition value is quantized into the quantization value of the pixel of interest. The difference between the quantization value and the addition value is calculated as a quantization error to be stored in the error memory. When the pixel of interest exists at a pixel position where write in the error buffer is necessary, the quantization error is stored in the error buffer. |
| US08947733B2 |
Color conversion apparatus, color conversion method, and recording medium
Device color signals are converted such that a total amount of used color materials in the first image area, in which image granularity is more important, is not reduced from a total amount before the device color signals are converted, and/or such that a total amount of used color materials in the second image area, in which cost of the used color materials is more important, is not increased from a total amount before the device color signals are converted. |
| US08947731B2 |
Imaging unit, color measuring device, image forming apparatus, color measuring system, and color measuring method
An imaging unit includes a frame having an opening; a sensor unit that captures, via the opening, a subject located outside the frame; a reference chart unit that is arranged on the frame and is captured by the sensor unit together with the subject; and a cover member that covers the opening. |
| US08947727B2 |
Image processing system, image processing method therefor, and storage medium
An image processing system comprising: a color conversion unit configured to perform color conversion from color data in a first color space into color data in a second color space by using a color profile; a correction unit configured to perform correction for the color data in the second color space by using correction data; a printing unit configured to print on a printing medium in accordance with the color data in the second color space that is corrected by the correction unit; a first changing unit configured to change the color profile; a second changing unit configured to change the correction data; and a selection unit configured to select, based on a color measurement result of a color chart for correcting a color of an image printed on the printing medium, one of processes including change of the color profile and change of the correction data. |
| US08947726B2 |
Method for image-display
A screen image displaying image-data items in list form is displayed over a predetermined time period. Then, the display color of an image-data item of the image-data items, the image-data item corresponding to predetermined classification information, is changed so that the image-data item can be differentiated from other image-data items. Consequently, a user can clearly identify the classification of the image-data items and easily find an image-data item satisfying a condition without performing a complicated operation. |
| US08947725B2 |
Printer
A label printer prints a QR code on print areas (labels) sequentially arranged along a sheet of paper while maintaining the QR code in a state in which its data can be restored. The label printer determines, in the course of separating the printed label and suspending and resuming movement of the paper and while printing on each label of the paper, whether or not both of two finder patterns aligned along one side of the QR code in a following print area are at a position to be printed when a boundary portion between a leading label that has been printed and the following label reaches a cut position. A print operation correcting control controls printing when both of two finder patterns aligned along one side of the QR code are in position to be printed, but not printed at the same time. |
| US08947724B2 |
Image capturing unit, color measuring device, image forming device, color measuring system, and color measuring method
An image capturing unit includes a sensor section that images a predetermined range including a subject; a reference chart section that is imaged by the sensor section with the subject; and an illumination light source that illuminates the subject and the reference chart section. The illumination light source is arranged at a position where a mirror reflection region that mirror reflects light entering from the illumination light source to the sensor section is outside a region of the subject and the reference chart section. |
| US08947721B2 |
Image forming apparatus, backup and restore processing method
An image forming apparatus operates according to setting information, and includes a storage unit for storing the setting information; an interface for connecting a portable storage medium; a processing unit for reading/writing the setting information from/to the storage unit, and reading/writing the setting information from/to the portable storage medium via the interface, and a log creating unit for creating a first processing result log indicating a first processing result of a reading/writing process when the processing unit reads the setting information from the storage unit and writes the setting information in the portable storage medium, and storing the first processing result log, and creating a second processing result log indicating a second processing result of a reading/writing process when the processing unit reads the setting information from the portable storage medium and writes the setting information in the storage unit, and storing the second processing result log. |
| US08947717B2 |
Print data processing apparatus
A print data processing apparatus is provided which includes: a generation unit configured to generate image information and attribute information from print data; a conversion unit configured to convert an attribute of a first area included in the attribute information, wherein an attribute of a second area included in the attribute information is not converted; a compression unit configured to compress the image information and the attribute information in which the attribute of the first area has been converted by the conversion unit; an area information generation unit configured to generate area information indicating the first area having the converted attribute; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the image information compressed by the compression unit, the attribute information compressed by the compression unit, and the area information generated by the area information generation unit, to a printing apparatus as transfer data. |
| US08947712B2 |
Image data processing device, program, and management device that are able to manage various types of information in a centralized manner
An image data processing device may be configured to be used in a system. The system may comprise the image data processing device, a management device and a plurality of electronic devices. The image data processing device may comprise a communication unit configured to communicate with the electronic device by using the first communication scheme. The image data processing device may cause, in a case where the communication unit receives the judgment information from the electronic device, a storing unit to store the received judgment information. The image data processing device may execute the image data processing in a case where it is determined that the processor is able to execute the image data processing based on the judgment information stored by the storing unit. |
| US08947710B2 |
Image processing apparatus that performs reproduction synchronization of moving image between the same and mobile information terminal, method of controlling image processing apparatus, storage medium, and image processing system
An image processing apparatus capable of facilitating synchronization of a maintenance moving image between an image processing apparatus and a mobile information terminal, thereby making it possible to more efficiently show the moving image to a user who performs a maintenance operation. The mobile information terminal is registered as a distribution destination of the moving image. The moving image for current reproduction and display on the apparatus and information of the reproduction position of the moving image are distributed to the terminal to thereby cause the terminal to reproduce and display the moving image from the position. The position is changed based on information of a change in the reproduction position received from the terminal. When the position is changed on the image apparatus, information of a change in the position is transmitted to the terminal, to thereby cause the terminal to change the position. |
| US08947709B2 |
Printing apparatus which is capable of editing printing data, and a printing method for use with the printing apparatus
A printing apparatus, including a user input unit which receives a first user command to initiate a printing operation, a display unit which displays information relating to the printing operation, a printing unit which performs printing with respect to printing data, and a controller which controls the display unit to display reference information of the printing data before the printing, and which controls the printing unit to perform the printing according to a second user command. |
| US08947701B2 |
Server apparatus, terminal apparatus, and printing system and data conversion method thereof
For a web application requiring a time to execute processing, it is necessary to maintain Internet connection between a web browser and the web application until the processing is completed. Conventionally, the connection is maintained by causing the web browser to inquire a web application server about the execution state of the processing at regular intervals. In this case, however, the web browser cannot execute another different web application until the processing in the web application server is completed. In this invention, a web application server provides processing of converting from document data into print data as a software process asynchronous to a web application and the web application only accepts an execution request for the conversion processing. |
| US08947698B2 |
Moving a portion of a print job from one printer queue to another printer queue
One or more methods, systems and computer program products enables selectable management and queuing of print jobs across multiple available printers available to a device generating the print job. One or more embodiments present a smart print queue with document level view and printer-level transfer of queued print jobs. |
| US08947697B2 |
Printing DIRECT2D-rendered items
Technology described herein is directed to converting display-rendering instructions (e.g., DIRECT2D) into print-rendering instructions (e.g., EMF, WMF, XPS, and SVG). For example, a request to print an item (e.g., document) is received, the item being displayable on an output device when display-rendering instructions are executed. A print render target is created that includes an instructions converter. The display-rendering instructions are routed to the print render target. The instructions converter maps the display-rendering instructions to the print-rendering instructions, which are usable to print the item. |
| US08947696B1 |
Apparatuses, methods and systems for rich internet/cloud printing and print product traffic control management
This disclosure details the implementation of apparatuses, methods and systems for a Rich Internet Printing and Print product traffic control Manager (hereinafter, “Manager”). The high volume and varied makeup of modern printing needs may render some confused as to the best printing mode for a given job. Often, individuals will settle into a routine of using the same printer, printing mode, printing service, and/or the like for all jobs regardless of whether a different printing method may be preferable or more nearly suited to the job at hand. The Manager may serve as an intermediary agency to direct print jobs to one or more particular printing methods, internal or external document production agencies, printers, and/or the like that are deemed most suitable for the printing job at hand. In an embodiment, the Manager may comprise a single print driver that may be installed on a local computer system. Once installed, a Manager print option may appear among the other printer options in a print menu. By selecting the Manager print option and issuing a print command, a user may direct his or her print job directly to the Manager for analysis and routing to an appropriate printing method, printer, agency, and/or the like. |
| US08947678B2 |
Method for correcting three-dimensional measurements of a spherically mounted retroreflector
A method of measuring spherically mounted retroreflector (SMR) with a 3D coordinate measurement device such as a laser tracker. The SMR includes an open-air cube corner retroreflector having a vertex point located near a sphere center of the SMR. Measurements of the SMR to the vertex point are moved to the SMR sphere center by accounting for SMR depth error and SMR runout error. |
| US08947676B2 |
Aspheric surface measuring method, aspheric surface measuring apparatus, optical element producing apparatus and optical element
The method includes: measuring a first wavefront of a reference light on a sensor by using the sensor; calculating a second wavefront of the reference light on the sensor by using a parameter of an optical system; changing an optical system parameter in calculation such that a difference between rotationally symmetric components of the first and second wavefronts becomes smaller; calculating, by using the changed parameter, a magnification distribution of rays of the reference light between on the sensor and on a sensor conjugate surface; measuring a first ray angle distribution of the reference light by using the sensor, and measuring a second ray angle distribution of a measurement light by using the light-receiving sensor. The method calculates the profile of the measurement object aspheric surface by using the profile of the reference aspheric surface, the first and second ray angle distributions and the magnification distribution. |
| US08947673B2 |
Estimating thickness based on number of peaks between two peaks in scanning white light interferometry
Disclosed is a method of measuring thickness or a surface profile of a thin film layer formed on a base layer through a white light scanning interferometry, the method including: preparing simulation interference signals corresponding to thicknesses by assuming a plurality of sample thin film layers different in thickness from one another and simulating interference signals with respect to the respective sample thin film layers; acquiring a real interference signal with respect to an optical-axis direction of entering the thin film layer by illuminating the thin film layer with white light; preparing a plurality of estimated thicknesses that the thin film layer may have on the basis of the real interference signal; comparing whether the simulation interference signal having thickness corresponding to the estimated thickness is substantially matched with the real interference signal; and determining the thickness of the simulation interference signal substantially matched with the real interference signal as the thickness of the thin film layer. |
| US08947671B2 |
Method and system for detecting optical ring resonator resonance frequencies and free spectral range to reduce the number of lasers in a resonator fiber optic gyroscope
A resonator fiber optic gyroscope (RFOG) is provided. The RFOG includes a gyroscope resonator having a clockwise input port and a counter-clockwise input port; a first laser configured to couple a clockwise optical beam into to the clockwise input port; a clockwise Pound-Drever-Hall modulation generator to modulate the clockwise optical beam with a resonance tracking modulation before the clockwise optical beam is coupled into the clockwise input port; bias correction electronics; FSR-detection-and-servo electronics including a switch communicatively coupled to the clockwise Pound-Drever-Hall modulation generator; a clockwise transmission detector configured to receive an optical beam output from the counter-clockwise input port and output signals to the bias correction electronics and the FSR-detection-and-servo electronics; and a second laser configured to couple a counter-clockwise optical beam into to the counter-clockwise input port, wherein the FSR of the gyroscope resonator is measured based on the Pound-Drever-Hall modulation of the clockwise optical beam. |
| US08947669B2 |
Optical gas detector
A gas detector including: an assembly of two coaxial parabolic reflective caps having opposite concavities, and a wafer arranged in the focal plane of the two caps, at the center of this focal plane, comprising, back-to-back: a diverging light emitter directed towards the first cap and a light receiver directed towards the second cap, wherein the two caps are distant substantially by the sum of their focal distances plus the thickness of the wafer. |
| US08947667B2 |
Spectrophotometer
The spectrophotometer of the present invention measures a spectral reflectance of an object to be measured to thereby determine a color value of the object to be measured based on a color-matching function of an XYZ color system and the spectral reflectance. The spectrophotometer includes an irradiation unit configured to irradiate the object to be measured with light having a spectral intensity distribution in which a relative intensity at a wavelength at which the value of z reaches its peak in the color-matching function is equal to or greater than 0.5. |
| US08947664B2 |
Apparatus and method for aligning a wafer's backside to a wafer's frontside
Structures of a backside of a wafer can be aligned to structures of a frontside of the wafer for a lithographic treatment of the backside. The wafer is transparent for electromagnetic radiation of a specific wavelength. The wafer is placed on a wafer stage such that the frontside is facing the wafer stage and the backside is facing alignment optics. The backside is illuminated with electromagnetic radiation of the specific wavelength in a dark-field configuration, such that the electromagnetic radiation propagates through the wafer towards three-dimensional structures of a three-dimensional alignment target located at the frontside or inside the wafer and is scattered at the three-dimensional structures. The scattered electromagnetic radiation is captured with the alignment optics, and the backside is aligned to the frontside of the wafer based on the scattered electromagnetic radiation. |
| US08947660B2 |
Method and device for carrying out an optical comparison between at least two samples, preferably by comparing sections that can be selected
An improved method and an improved device for carrying out an optical comparison between at least two samples, preferably by comparing sections that can be selected, is characterized by the following characteristics: the sample (UR, LE, I) that is to be examined and is characterized by a non-uniformity in the structure and/or color is illuminated by diffused light; from the light reflected by the sample (UR, LE, I) to be examined, an interference spectrum is created by means of a spectrometer; the interference spectrum created by the spectrometer is depicted on a camera; the interference spectrum obtained in this way and/or values of the sample (I) to be examined derived therefrom are used as sample values which are compared to sample values of a reference sample (UR, LE) obtained accordingly. |
| US08947656B2 |
Smartphone biosensor
A mobile computing device that includes an image sensor may be used to detect the result of a biomolecular assay. The biomolecular assay may be performed in an optical assay medium that provides an optical output in response to light from a light source, with the optical output indicating result. A wavelength-dispersive element may be used to disperse the optical output into spatially-separated wavelength components. The mobile computing device may be positioned relative to the wavelength-dispersive element such that different wavelength components are received at different locations on the image sensor. With the mobile computing device positioned in this way, the image sensor may be used to obtain one or more images that include the separated wavelength components of the optical output. A wavelength spectrum of the optical output may be determined from the one or more images, and the result may be determined from the wavelength spectrum. |
| US08947646B2 |
Photoelectric conversion element, light receiving device, light receiving system, and distance measuring device
A first photoelectric conversion element for detecting light and converting the light into photoelectrons comprises one buried photodiode formed in a semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of MOS diodes each having an electrode formed on the semiconductor substrate with an insulator interposed therebetween. The buried photodiode has a comb shape, in which a plurality of diverging portions are disposed to diverge from one portion, when viewed from the top thereof, and the respective electrodes of the MOS diodes are disposed so as to be nested between the plurality of diverging portions of the buried photodiode when viewed from the tops thereof. |
| US08947643B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and method controlling parameter drift by performing multiple patterning passes on reference substrate
A method produces at least one monitor wafer for a lithographic apparatus. The monitor wafer is for use in combination with a scanning control module to periodically retrieve measurements defining a baseline from the monitor wafer, thereby determining parameter drift from the baseline. In doing this, allowance and/or correction can be to be made for the drift. The baseline is determined by initially exposing the monitor wafer(s) using the lithographic apparatus to perform multiple exposure passes on each of the monitor wafer(s). An associated lithographic apparatus is also disclosed. |
| US08947639B2 |
Exposure method and apparatus measuring position of movable body based on information on flatness of encoder grating section
A drive unit drives a wafer stage in a Y-axis direction based on a measurement value of an encoder that measures position information of the wafer stage in the Y-axis direction and based on information on the flatness of a scale that is measured by the encoder. In this case, the drive unit can drive the wafer stage in a predetermined direction based on a measurement value after correction in which a measurement error caused by the flatness of the scale included in the measurement value of the encoder is corrected based on the information on the flatness of the scale. Accordingly, the wafer stage can be driven with high accuracy in a predetermined direction using the encoder, without being affected by the unevenness of the scale. |
| US08947630B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A method controls scanning function of a lithographic apparatus. A monitor wafer is exposed to determine baseline control parameters pertaining to the scanning function. The baseline control parameters are retrieved from the monitor wafer. Parameter drift is determined from the baseline control parameters. Compensation is performed based on the determination. A different parameterization is used for control of the scanning control module than for communication between the scanning control module and the lithographic apparatus. |
| US08947629B2 |
Cleaning device, a lithographic apparatus and a lithographic apparatus cleaning method
An immersion lithographic projection apparatus having a megasonic transducer configured to clean a surface and a method of using megasonic waves through a liquid to clean a surface of an immersion lithographic projection apparatus are disclosed. A flow, desirably a radial flow, is induced in the liquid. |
| US08947622B2 |
Apparatus and method of fabricating alignment layer for liquid crystal display using a nano pattern mold
Disclosed are an apparatus and method for fabricating an alignment layer for liquid crystal displays, capable of shortening process time, preventing scratches of alignment layers and decreasing black luminance. The method includes coating an alignment agent on a substrate, arranging a nano pattern mold with a groove and a protrusion to contact the alignment agent, pre-curing the alignment agent, separating the nano pattern mold from the alignment agent, and hard-curing the alignment agent separated from the nano pattern mold to form an alignment layer. |
| US08947619B2 |
Photoluminescence color display comprising quantum dots material and a wavelength selective filter that allows passage of excitation radiation and prevents passage of light generated by photoluminescence materials
A photoluminescence color display comprises a display panel that displays red, green and blue pixel areas, an excitation source operable to generate excitation radiation for operating the display, and a photoluminescence color-element plate. The color-element plate comprises at least one photoluminescence material, such as a phosphor material or quantum dots, that is operable to emit light corresponding to red, green and blue pixel areas of the display in response to said excitation radiation. Additionally, the photo-luminescence color display comprises a wavelength selective filter that is provided between the color-element plate and the excitation source. The filter has a transmission characteristic that allows the passage of excitation radiation from the excitation source to excite the at least one photoluminescence material whilst preventing the passage of photoluminescence light back to the excitation source thereby prevent cross contamination of light among the different pixel areas of the display. |
| US08947617B2 |
Backlight assembly and liquid crystal display
Disclosed herein are a backlight assembly and a liquid crystal display (LCD) having the same, wherein the backlight assembly includes a light guide panel having a plurality of lateral sides; and a plurality of light source units each emitting light to a respective lateral side of the plurality of lateral sides, wherein at least two lateral sides of the plurality of lateral sides, which receive light emitted from two respective light source units of the plurality of light source units, are neighboring lateral sides, and wherein at least one lateral side is longer than an incident surface which receives light emitted from the light source unit. |
| US08947609B2 |
Active matrix driving display device and image displaying method using the same
LCD device includes two substrates, a first and second color filters, two liquid crystal layers. The first color filters are formed on portions of the second substrate corresponding to border area The second color filters are formed on portions of the second substrate corresponding to the display area except the border area. A first liquid crystal layer between the first and the second substrate is comprised in border area, and a zero electric field is formed on the first liquid crystal layer so as to completely transmit light incident into the first liquid crystal layer therethrough. A borderline having various colors can be displayed by forming various patterns of color filters having various colors on portions of the second substrate corresponding to the border area under normally white mode, thereby producing picture frame effect while images are displayed on the screen. |
| US08947607B2 |
Active matrix substrate and display device
A storage capacitor counter electrode (22) provided on an active matrix substrate (100) includes a first portion (22b) creating a storage capacitance with a storage capacitor bus line (12), a second portion (22a) interposed between the first portion (22b) and a drain electrode (24), and a third portion (22c) being provided opposite from the second portion (22a) with the first portion (22b) sandwiched therebetween and protruding from the first portion (22b). The third portion (22c) is disposed so as not to overlie any pixel electrode other than a pixel electrode (30) that is electrically connected to the drain electrode (24). |
| US08947605B2 |
Image data placement method for a time multiplexed autostereoscopic display
An autostereoscopic display in which image data, in the form of grey level information for red, green, and blue components of pixels in multiple images representing multiple perspective views of a scene, are recombined into a second set of images generally consisting of parts of all the original multiple perspective images, arranged within the second set of images in such a way that a 3D image is seen when the second set of images are displayed in sequence. |
| US08947604B2 |
Cholesteric liquid crystal writing tablet with spacer controlled sensitivity
A cholesteric liquid crystal writing tablet includes a first substrate that is transparent and flexible on which a writing pressure is applied and a second substrate spaced apart from the first substrate. One electrically conductive layer is in contact with the first substrate and is transparent and another of the electrically conductive layers is in contact with the second substrate. The electrically conductive layers are separated from each other by a cell gap. Cholesteric liquid crystal material is disposed between the electrically conductive layers. Spacers are disposed in the liquid crystal material that control the cell gap. The spacers have a size and concentration in the liquid crystal material that restricts flow of the liquid crystal material when the cell gap is reduced upon application of the writing pressure. |
| US08947600B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for detecting scene changes in a video
A method, system and computer-readable media for detecting scene changes in a video that includes providing by one or more computing devices a plurality of passes through the video where a plurality of detected scenes from a first pass in a conventional method are identified and a second pass through the detected scenes are provided by the computing device. A plurality of scene boundary differences corresponding to the detected scenes, a fixed average, and a varying average are computed by the computing device. The scene boundary difference is compared with the fixed average and the varying average and if the scene boundary difference is less than the fixed average and the varying average, the detected scenes are combined else the detected scene being an abrupt scene change is determined. The steps of computing a varying average to combining the detected scenes are repeated by the computing device. |
| US08947593B2 |
Solid-state image sensing apparatus and electronic apparatus to improve image quality of an image
A solid-state image sensing apparatus includes a solid-state image sensing device, signal processing circuit device, and a multi-layer wiring package. The solid-state image sensing device has a pixel in an image sensing area thereof. The pixel receives incident light and generate a signal electric charge. The signal processing circuit device is arranged to face the image sensing area and applies signal processing to a signal output from the solid-state image sensing device. The multi-layer wiring package has wiring layers, the solid-state image sensing device, and the signal processing circuit device. Each of the wiring layers is laminated via an insulator. The multi-layer wiring package is formed such that a first wiring layer provided between the solid-state image sensing device and the signal processing circuit device has a greater thickness than second wiring layers and has heat conductivity higher than or equal to heat conductivity of the second wiring layers. |
| US08947591B2 |
Solid-state imaging unit, method of manufacturing solid-state imaging unit, and electronic apparatus
A solid-state imaging unit includes: a solid-state imaging device mounted on a substrate; a bonding wire which electrically connects a pad formed on the solid-state imaging device and a lead formed on the substrate; a frame member having a frame shape which surrounds side portions of the solid-state imaging device; and an optical member having optical transparency and mounted on the frame member so as to face an imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device, wherein the frame member has a leg portion which protrudes from an optical member side toward the imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device, and the frame member and the solid-state imaging device are integrally fixed to each other in a state where the leg portion comes into contact with an intermediate area which is located between an imaging area and a pad forming area on the imaging surface. |
| US08947590B2 |
Vision system camera with mount for multiple lens types
This invention provides a vision system housing having a front plate assembly that accommodates a plurality of lens mount types. The front plate includes a central aperture that is located at a predetermined axial (camera axis) distance from a plane of an image sensor. The aperture is stepped from a wider diameter adjacent to the front to a narrower diameter more adjacent to the sensor. This arrangement enables threaded mounting of a plurality of lens mount types, for example M12 and C-Mount. The exterior (front) surface of the front plate includes threaded holes and a removable spring clip arrangement constructed to accommodate a liquid lens positioned over the aperture with an associated lens assembly mounted within the aperture and in optical communication with the liquid lens. The lens is operated using an electrical connection provided by a cable that interconnects with a multi-pin socket positioned on the front plate. |
| US08947589B1 |
Imaging device
An imaging device includes a communication part that transmits an image data to an external display device, an outer barrel, an imaging element, and first and second coupling parts that are configured to be coupled to an installation device which is attachable to and detachable from the display device. The first and second coupling parts are disposed at a rear surface part of the outer barrel, and a storage part that stores a battery is provided between the first coupling part and the second coupling part in the rear surface part of the outer barrel. |
| US08947588B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, image processing program
A flash detection unit calculates a line average luminance of each line of the current screen of image data and a screen average luminance of a past screen at least one screen before the current screen and compares the calculated line average luminance with the calculated screen average luminance to detect whether the current screen includes a line of high luminance due to a flash. A holding unit holds the past screen of the image data. A flash correction unit, if it is detected that some lines of the current screen have high luminance, replaces the lines having high luminance in the current screen with corresponding lines of the past screen held in the holding unit to correct the image data. |
| US08947587B2 |
Imaging device holding structure and imaging device
A holding structure 100 for an image pickup device includes a back-incident type image pickup device 1 and a holding member 51 that holds the image pickup element 1, and the image pickup device 1 has an image pickup element 11 that performs imaging and a wiring board 12 electrically connected to the image pickup element 11. The holding member 51 is freely attachably and detachably attached to a side face 27 of the wiring board 12, at each of the opposing side faces 27a, 27a in the wiring board 12, a to-be-fitted portion 28 is formed, and the to-be-fitted portion 28 and a fitting portion 54 formed at the holding member 51 are fitted together. This relieves, even when an impact is applied to the image pickup device 1 during an inspection, delivery, etc., the impact to be applied to the wiring board 12 and the image pickup element 11 by the holding member 51 while suppressing the holding member 51 from coming off. Further, handling of the image pickup device 1 is facilitated, and an unnecessary impact to be applied to the image pickup device 1 is suppressed. |
| US08947584B2 |
Apparatus, and associated method, for a camera module of electronic device
A camera module is provided for an electronic device, such as a wireless mobile station or standalone device. The camera module includes a low F-stop lens assembly that is translatable into a desired position. An image of a subject is provided to an EDOF assembly, including a sensor assembly, and an extended-depth-of-field processor. The extended-depth-of-field processor provides for formation of a resultant, recorded image that exhibits improved depth of field characteristics. |
| US08947580B2 |
Auto focusing apparatus and control method
The invention includes steps of setting a main area set within the frame of a photographed image signal, and a plurality of auxiliary areas each of which is smaller than the main area, selecting one or a plurality of focus detection areas from the main area and the auxiliary areas in accordance with the in-focus position of a focus lens based on the focus signals of the main area and the auxiliary areas, and controlling the focus lens to move to the in-focus position of the focus lens in the focus detection area selected in the selecting step. |
| US08947578B2 |
Apparatus and method of capturing image
An apparatus for capturing an image of a scene including an image capturing unit and a data processing unit. The image capturing unit may generate light field data and may include a first optical having at least two portions with at least two different fields of view, a sensing unit having a plurality of photosensors, and a second optical unit interposed between the first optical unit and the sensing unit. The data processing unit may perform at least one of change of view of the image and refocusing the generated light field data. The sensing unit may be configured to obtain an image with at least two magnifications corresponding to regions of the scene. |
| US08947574B2 |
Imaging device and imaging method and program
An imaging device includes a display on which a captured image of a subject is displayed, a first corrector to correct a first parameter related to shooting of the subject, a second corrector to correct a second parameter related to image processing to the captured image, and an automatic correction controller to determine a correction amount for the second parameter on the basis of a correction amount for the first parameter corrected by the first corrector, and control the second corrector to correct the second parameter by the determined correction amount. |
| US08947570B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system providing a rectilinear pixel grid with radially scaled pixels
Pixels in an imaging device pixel array are sized according to their geographic location in the pixel array to compensate for various optical characteristics/issues. In one example, pixel size is increased according to the distance of the pixel from the x-axis and/or the y-axis of the pixel array to correct for lens shading. |
| US08947567B2 |
Image pickup apparatus having photoelectric conversion function
An image pickup apparatus that makes it possible to achieve both high picture quality and a wide dynamic range is provided. Each pixel unit included in the image pickup apparatus includes: four photodiodes; four transfer transistors; a charge storage portion (four floating diffusions) for storing electric charges generated at the photodiodes; an amplification transistor; a select transistor; and a reset transistor. The image pickup apparatus further includes multiple coupling transistors. Each coupling transistor couples together the charge storage portions of two pixel units of the pixel units. A scanning circuit switches on or off the coupling transistors according to read mode. |
| US08947558B2 |
Digital photographing apparatus for multi-photography data and control method thereof
A method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus includes obtaining first data and second data from a single event, storing the first and second data as multi-photography data, and generating a multi-photography folder that includes a first image corresponding to the first data and a second image corresponding to the second data. |
| US08947552B2 |
Method and device with camera for capturing an image based on detection of the image
A portable telephone is provided with a camera module (13) for outputting a captured image as image information, a memory (105) for storing the image information, a face registration unit (504) for holding information relating to a face image, a face extraction unit (501), a face parameter extraction unit (502), and a matching determination unit (505) which serve as the configuration for detecting the face image held in the face registration unit (504) from the captured image, and an image-capturing control unit (506) for executing control processing for image capturing. The image-capturing control unit (506) stores the image information in the memory (105) on the basis of the fact that after the face image held in the face registration unit (504) is detected, the face image becomes undetected, and the face image is then detected again. |
| US08947548B2 |
Camera body and interchangeable lens
A camera body at which an interchangeable lens, holding a plurality of sets of optical characteristics data, each expressing specific optical characteristics in one of a plurality of representation formats, can be detachably mounted, includes: an identification information reception unit that receives lens-side identification information from the interchangeable lens, which indicates the plurality of representation formats; an identification information storage unit in which body-side identification information indicating each representation format that the camera body is capable of recognizing among the plurality of representation formats, is stored; a selection unit that selects a single representation format included in both the lens-side and the body-side identification information, among the plurality of representation formats; a request unit that issues a request to the interchangeable lens for the optical characteristics data corresponding to the selected representation format; and an optical characteristics reception unit that receives the requested optical characteristics data from the interchangeable lens. |
| US08947541B2 |
Lens apparatus controllable via multiple control sources and image pickup system including the lens apparatus
A lens apparatus includes: a switch for switching between single and plural modes for using lens apparatus singularly and plurally, respectively; a communication unit to communicate with external device; a unit to set all elements to first state in single mode and set the respective elements to second or third state in plural mode; a control source output unit to output, for each state of the elements, control source information for determining a control command to drive the element; and a unit to determine a command for controlling drive of the elements based on the control source information determined by the control source output portion, wherein in the second state, control commands for corresponding elements are output to other lens apparatuses through the communication unit, and in the third state, the control source output portion outputs control source information different from that in the first and second states. |
| US08947535B2 |
Transaction management for racing entertainment
A system and method are provided to perform operations for racing entertainment, including providing each of multiple racers with a device to capture images and sounds as perceived by the racer during a race, obtaining information pertaining to each of multiple users such as account information and selection of a racer whom the user wants to got connection with, managing transactions, processing the images and sounds, and transmitting the processed images and sounds from the racer to a client terminal of the user who selected the racer. The present system and method may be configured to allow users to play a racing game based on the captured images and sounds by actual racers. |
| US08947528B2 |
Container-classification identification using directional-antenna RFID
A classification of a container is identified using a mobile station including an image capture device and an RFID reader having a reader antenna. The container has two RFID tags affixed thereto at respective, different locations. Each tag has a directional antenna steered in a different direction, so that a reader location is defined in the intersection of the antenna propagation patterns. Using the image capture device, one or more images of the container are captured. A controller determines, using the captured image data, whether the mobile station is in a candidate reader location. When the mobile station is in the candidate reader location, the RFID reader attempts to read both tags. If both tags are read while the mobile station is in the candidate reader location, the controller determines the classification of the container is a classification corresponding to the candidate reader location. |
| US08947518B2 |
Cell observing apparatus and cell incubation method
User's time and labor required for performing manipulations with respect to cells which exist in an incubation container, are reduced. To achieve the above, a cell observing apparatus includes an observation stage supporting an incubation container that houses cells, a micro imaging optical system forming, on an imaging device for micro imaging, an image of the cell in the incubation container disposed at an observing position of the observation stage, a macro imaging optical system forming, on an imaging device for macro imaging, an image of an area wider than that captured by the micro imaging optical system in the incubation container, and a controlling unit controlling an operation of a manipulation needle that manipulates the cells in the incubation container, in which the micro imaging optical system is disposed on a side facing the macro imaging optical system with the observation stage being located therebetween. |
| US08947512B1 |
User wearable viewing devices
An apparatus includes a user wearable viewing device for assisting the user to view a representation of three dimensional content. The user wearable viewing device is assigned a unique identifier to provide a private viewing experience for the user. |
| US08947510B2 |
Functional imaging of cells with optical projection tomography
A method for 3D imaging of a biologic object (1) in an optical tomography system where a subcellular structure of a biological object (1) is labeled by introducing at least one nanoparticle-biomarker. The labeled biological object (1) is moved relatively to a microscope objective (62) to present varying angles of view and the labeled biological object (1) is illuminated with radiation having wavelengths between 150 nm and 900 nm. Radiation transmitted through the labeled biological object (1) and the microscope objective (62) within at least one wavelength bands is sensed with a color camera, or with a set of at least four monochrome cameras. A plurality of cross-sectional images of the biological object (1) from the sensed radiation is formed and reconstructed to make a 3D image of the labeled biological object (1). |
| US08947502B2 |
In camera implementation of selecting and stitching frames for panoramic imagery
A system, method, and computer program product for selecting qualifying frames from an image sequence for use in subsequent stitching into a composite panoramic image are disclosed. Incoming frames from any source may be cropped and downscaled prior to evaluation against qualifying criteria relating to image overlap and local motion. Qualifying images are saved and/or output. The resulting panoramic image generally uses fewer qualifying images and appears smoother and has fewer artifacts than those of the prior art. The qualifying criterion for image overlap is a predetermined overlap margin or percentage between a current image and a previous image from the sequence. The qualifying criterion for image motion includes a maximum amount of local motion, often due to passing objects. The embodiments may process incoming images in real time or from stored sequences. Problems may trigger user warnings. |
| US08947501B2 |
Scene enhancements in off-center peripheral regions for nonlinear lens geometries
A technique of enhancing a scene containing one or more off-center peripheral regions within an initial distorted image captured with a large field of view includes determining and extracting an off-center region of interest (hereinafter “ROI”) within the image. Geometric correction is applied to reconstruct the off-center ROI into a rectangular frame of reference as a reconstructed ROI. A quality of reconstructed pixels is determined within the reconstructed ROI. Image analysis is selectively applied to the reconstructed ROI based on the quality of the reconstructed pixels. |
| US08947495B2 |
Telepresence apparatus for immersion of a human image in a physical environment
A telepresence device allows a remote meeting participant to establish a telepresence at a remote meeting location. The telepresence device provides a video image of the remote meeting participant on a video display screen at a meeting location To enhance the visual sensation that the remote person is present at the meeting location, the telepresence device may display the silhouette image of the remote meeting participant without the image of the background scene of the remote participant's location (e.g., office, home or home office). Further, the telepresence device may be equipped with a rear-facing camera that captures a video image of the background scene behind the telepresence device at the meeting location. The silhouette image of the remote meeting participant may be superimposed on the video image of the background scene at the meeting location, which is captured by the rear-facing camera. |
| US08947492B2 |
Combining multiple bit rate and scalable video coding
Video streams are generated using a combination of Multiple Bit Rate (MBR) encoding and Scalable Video Coding (SVC). Capabilities and requests of the clients are used in determining the video streams to generate as well as what video streams to deliver to the clients. The clients are placed into groups based on a resolution capability of the client. For each resolution grouping, MBR is used for generating spatial streams and SVC is used for generating temporal and quality streams. |
| US08947489B2 |
Video call service
A videophone apparatus includes a communication interface for communicating with a system server and a peer; at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code cause the videophone apparatus to connect the videophone apparatus via a first wireless connection to the system server; transmit authentication information from the videophone apparatus to the system server via the first wireless connection for initiating account generation for at least one video call service; and receive client information from the system server. The videophone apparatus further determines a client application based on the received client information; establishes a peer-to-peer connection between the videophone apparatus and the peer over a second wireless connection; and triggers a video call service over the peer-to-peer connection utilizing the determined client application and the account generated by the system server. |
| US08947488B2 |
Display apparatus and display method thereof
A display method is provided, which includes displaying content on a screen; and if a user motion having directivity is recognized, dividing the screen into plural screens according to the directions of the user motion. |
| US08947485B2 |
Drawing control device, laser-light emitting system, drawing method, and computer program product
A drawing control device includes: a fill-stroke generating unit that generates a fill stroke that includes a plurality of strokes that fill a drawing area; a shape-stroke generating unit that generates a shape stroke which is a stroke of a shape to be formed on the drawing area; a first detecting unit that detects an overlap portion where the fill stroke and the shape stroke overlap with each other; a modifying unit that removes the overlap portion from the fill stroke to modify the fill stroke to obtain a drawing stroke; a drawing-instruction generating unit that generates a drawing instruction for drawing each stroke in the drawing stroke; and a drawing control unit that controls a drawing device by using the drawing instruction to cause the drawing device to draw the drawing stroke on an object. |
| US08947481B2 |
Printer, printing control program, and printing method
The disclosure discloses a printer comprises a print object receiving portion, a first, a second, and a third increment mode receiving portion, a first and a second image generating portion. The print object receiving portion receives an input operation of the print object comprising a print identifier. The first increment mode receiving portion receives a setup operation of the print identifier, an increment interval, and an increment execution count. The first image generating portion generates first printed matter images using a plurality of different types of increment patterns. The second increment mode receiving portion receives a selection operation of the plurality of types of increment patterns. The second image generating portion generates second printed matter images using a plurality of different types of assignment patterns. The third increment mode receiving portion receives a selection operation of any one of the plurality of types of assignment patterns. |
| US08947472B2 |
Pixel array
A pixel array includes a first color pixel unit, a second color pixel unit and a third pixel unit, and the first, second and third pixel units respectively include a scan line, a data line, an active device electrically connected to the scan line and the data line and a first pixel electrode electrically connected to the active device. The first pixel electrode has at least one first slit, and a first acute angle is formed between an extending direction of the first slit and an extending direction of the scan line. Any two of the first acute angle of the first color pixel unit, the first acute angle of the second color pixel unit, and the first acute angle of the third color pixel unit are different. |
| US08947470B2 |
Method of controlling backlight device and display apparatus using the same
In a display apparatus, a display panel is divided into dimming areas and a backlight device includes light source blocks providing light to the dimming areas. Average gray-scale values and maximum gray-scale values respectively corresponding to the dimming areas are generated based on image signals provided to the dimming areas. Whether the average gray-scale values and the maximum gray-scale values are respectively within first and second reference ranges are checked. One of at least two parameters is selected according to a checked result, and representative brightness values respectively corresponding to the dimming areas are determined using the selected parameter. Duty ratios of the light source blocks are controlled based on the representative brightness values. As a result, power consumption is reduced when applying a dimming device to the display apparatus. |
| US08947469B2 |
Display device and display control device
A display device includes a display panel on which images are displayed and which includes a plurality of display regions; a plurality of driving units that display the images in the plurality of display regions; a displayable region detecting unit that detects a displayable region at a time of abnormality of the display panel; an abnormality-time display image generating unit that generates an abnormality-time display image according to the displayable region detected by the displayable region detecting unit; and an abnormality-time display control unit that displays the abnormality-time display image generated by the abnormality-time display image generating unit in a displayable region while causing a driving unit of the plurality of driving units of which a corresponding display region is the displayable region to display an image in the corresponding display region. |
| US08947466B2 |
Display panel, method for driving the display panel, and display apparatus for performing the method
A display panel includes first and second substrates. The first substrate includes a light blocking layer having an opening through the light blocking layer. The opening is arranged in a pixel area. The second substrate includes first and second transistors, first and second driving electrodes, and a shutter. The first transistor is turned on in response to a low level control voltage. The second transistor is electrically connected to the first transistor and is turned on in response to receiving a low level voltage from the first transistor. The first driving electrode is electrically connected to the first transistor, and the second driving electrode is electrically connected to the second transistor. The shutter exposes or covers the opening by moving to the first driving electrode or the second driving electrode according to the relative levels of voltages applied to the first and second driving electrodes. |
| US08947462B2 |
Apparatus and method for changing user interface of portable terminal
An apparatus for changing a user interface of a portable terminal, by which a user interface and an operating system are automatically changed according to folding of a folding display unit of the portable terminal, and a method for changing a user interface of a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a folding display unit and a controller for performing a control operation for changing a user interface according to a screen size of the display unit, the screen size of the display unit being varied through folding of the display unit. |
| US08947457B2 |
Method for providing information on object which is not included in visual field of terminal device, terminal device and computer readable recording medium
The present invention relates to a method for providing information on an object excluded in a visual field of a terminal in a form of augmented reality (AR) by using an image inputted to the terminal and information related thereto. The method includes the steps of: (a) specifying the visual field of the terminal corresponding to the inputted image by referring to at least one piece of information on a location, a displacement and a viewing angle of the terminal; (b) searching an object(s) excluded in the visual field of the terminal; and (c) displaying guiding information on the searched object(s) with the inputted image in a form of the augmented reality; wherein the visual field is specified by a viewing frustum whose vertex corresponds to the terminal. |
| US08947456B2 |
Augmented reality process for sorting materials
Systems and methods for processing materials for a recycling workstream are disclosed. The system may include one or more sorting surfaces on which sortable items may be placed. Illumination sources may be provided to illuminate both the items and the sorting surface(s). A variety of sensor systems may also be provided. The outputs of the sensor systems may be supplied to a computing system for determining the composition of the items and their location on the sorting surface(s). The computing system may also control the surface(s), illumination sources, and sensor systems. Additionally, the system may include one or more augmented reality interface devices used by sorters at the sorting facility. The computing system may communicate data streams to the augmented reality interfaces to provide the users augmented reality sensations. The sensations may give the users information and instructions regarding how to sort the items into one or more sorting bins. |
| US08947454B2 |
Display device for vehicle
In a display device for a vehicle displays information on a second layer of a first display screen when a display state is changed, the display device displays, on the second layer of the second display screen, an icon corresponding to the information, the display device displays a predetermined image so that the predetermined image displayed on the first layer of the first display screen is different from the predetermined image displayed on the first layer of the second display screen, thereafter, the display device gradually changes the image displayed on the first layer of the first display screen so that a part of or the entirety of the predetermined image displayed on the first layer of the first display screen is the same as the predetermined image displayed on the first layer of the second display screen. |
| US08947452B1 |
Mechanism for displaying visual clues to stacking order during a drag and drop operation
Disclosed are various approaches for displaying graphical objects. In one approach, first and second graphical objects are displayed in a first state. In the first state a portion of the second graphical object that is overlapped by a portion of the first graphical object is completely obstructed from view by the portion of the first graphical object. When in a second state, the first and second graphical objects are displayed in a manner different from the first state. In the second state the portion of the second graphical object that is overlapped by the portion of the first graphical object is represented as being visible along with the portion of the first object and with muted visibility relative to a portion of the second graphical object that is not overlapped by a portion of the first graphical object. |
| US08947449B1 |
Color space conversion between semi-planar YUV and planar YUV formats
A system and techniques for converting a source image frame in a particular YUV format to another YUV format is presented. The system can include a texture component, a luminance component, and a chrominance component. The texture component can be configured to generate luminance input pixels and chrominance input pixels from the source image. The luminance input pixels can each include a luma component and the chrominance input pixels can each include a first chroma component and a second chroma component. The luminance component can be configured to generate luminance output pixels, where the luminance output pixels can each include a group of luminance input pixels. The chrominance component can be configured to generate chrominance output pixels, where the chrominance output pixels can each include a group of first chroma components or a group of second chroma components. |
| US08947448B2 |
Image processing device, image data generation device, image processing method, image data generation method, and data structure of image file
A parallax representation unit in a displayed image processing unit uses a height map containing information on a height of an object for each pixel to represent different views caused by the height of the object. A color representation unit uses, for example, texture coordinate values derived by the parallax representation unit to render the image, shifting the pixel defined in the color map. The color representation unit uses the normal map that maintains normals to the surface of the object for each pixel to change the way that light impinges on the surface and represent the roughness accordingly. A shadow representation unit uses a horizon map, which maintains information for each pixel to indicate whether a shadow is cast depending on the angle relative to the light source, so as to shadow the image rendered by the color representation unit. |
| US08947443B2 |
Information processing apparatus and information processing method
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus including: a first drawing processing block configured to generate a video signal by executing predetermined signal processing on entered image data; a second drawing processing block having a higher drawing processing power than the first drawing processing block and being configured to generate a video signal by executing predetermined signal processing on entered image data; a workload measuring block configured to measure at least one of a workload in the first drawing processing block and a workload in the second drawing processing block; a storage block configured to store an application; and a control block configured to select the first drawing processing block or the second drawing processing block to execute the application read from the storage block, on the basis of at least one of the measured workload in the first drawing processing block and the second drawing processing block. |
| US08947438B2 |
Reducing font instructions
One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for reducing font execution instructions for a font, and thereby a file size for the font. The font execution instructions can be scanned (e.g., by examining tables) to identify one or more common instruction sets in the font execution instructions. A function can be defined for a common instruction set, and the instances or appearances of the common instruction set in the font execution instructions can be replaced with a call to the function. Because the call is generally smaller (e.g., comprises fewer lines of code) than the common instruction set it replaces, the number of execution instructions for the font is reduced. |
| US08947437B2 |
Interactive navigation environment for building performance visualization
A tool for providing a visualization of a system may reveal an interactive navigation environment for building performance observation and assessment. The tool may be associated with a processor. The environment may incorporate a treemap, a graph pane, a treemap filter, a graph pane selector, a selected units box and a date/time control mechanism. A visualization of the environment, among other things, may be presented on a display. The treemap may exhibit a building geometry and/or equipment units hierarchically, along with some data information. Units may be interactively selected from the treemap and placed in the box for analysis. The graph pane may show a configuration and display of unit analysis. Selection of detailed views for units in the box may be provided by the graph pane selector. Date and time intervals for analysis may be selected by the control mechanism. |
| US08947435B2 |
Host apparatus connected to image forming apparatus and information displaying method thereof
Disclosed are a host apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus and an information displaying method thereof. An information displaying method of a host apparatus which receives a data of at least one image forming apparatus including: receiving a data of the image forming apparatus; displaying a User Interface (UI) screen including a data area displaying the data by item and a graphic area displaying a graph of the data in the data area; adding a data of an item in the data area to the graphic area; determining whether the data of the item added is graphicalizable; and graphicalizing and displaying the data of the item added in the graphic area according to the determination result. With this, the host apparatus provides a user with convenience in facilitating graph reprocessing and data expansion as the user needs with regard to a web solution or an application to control information of the image forming apparatus. |
| US08947433B2 |
Spatiotemporal visualization of sensor data
An apparatus for visualizing data includes memory for storing sensor data and a processor. The processor is configured to generate a map of a geographic area, and to display at a first location on the map at least one icon graphically representing a measurement of the sensor at the first location over a period of time and graphically representing the period of time. |
| US08947430B1 |
System and method for rendering a particle-based fluid surface
A method for rendering a particle-based fluid surface includes generating a depth image of a plurality of particles which form a fluid surface, and smoothing the depth image to generate a smoothed depth image. From the smoothed depth image, a smoothed surface position and a smoothed surface normal for each of a plurality of pixels included within the smoothed depth image is determined, and a shaded surface of the fluid is rendered as a function of the smoothed surface positions and the smoothed surface normals. |
| US08947429B2 |
Gestures and tools for creating and editing solid models
A modeling tool is activated in a 3D modeling application executing on a multi-touch device. A visual representation of a grid system tool is displayed in an active modeling plane and has three separate regions that determine the type of operation to be performed. An existing 3D form is displayed on the tool. A starting touch event of a gesture is received over the existing 3D form within one of the regions. As the gesture is received in the computer, the 3D form may be dynamically extended by adding 3D geometry to the 3D form (thereby adding faces to the 3D form). Alternatively, the 3D form may be scaled (i.e., if the starting touch event occurs over a visual scale grip. Alternatively, if the gesture consists of two taps, a bridge may be created joining the two tapped locations. |
| US08947428B2 |
Method and system for displaying stereoscopic detail-in-context presentations
A method for generating a stereoscopic presentation of a region-of-interest in a monoscopic information representation. The method includes the steps of: (a) selecting first and second viewpoints for the region-of-interest; (b) creating a lens surface having a predetermined lens surface shape for the region-of-interest, the lens surface having a plurality of polygonal surfaces constructed from a plurality of points sampled from the lens surface shape; (c) creating first and second transformed presentations by overlaying the representation on the lens surface and perspectively projecting the lens surface with the overlaid representation onto a plane spaced from the first and second viewpoints, respectively; and, (d) displaying the first and second transformed presentations on a display screen to generate the stereoscopic presentation. |
| US08947427B2 |
Systems and methods of object processing in virtual worlds
Systems and methods of virtual world interaction, operation, implementation, instantiation, creation, and other functions related to virtual worlds (note that where the term “virtual world” is used herein, it is to be understood as referring to virtual world systems, virtual environments reflecting real, simulated, fantasy, or other structures, and includes information systems that utilize interaction within a 3D environment). Various embodiments facilitate interoperation between and within virtual worlds, and may provide consistent structures for operating virtual worlds. The disclosed embodiments may further enable individuals to build new virtual worlds within a framework, and allow third party users to better interact with those worlds. |
| US08947421B2 |
Method and server computer for generating map images for creating virtual spaces representing the real world
A method and server computer for generating map images and providing the map images to users through the Internet are described. Web sites are automatically and recursively visited and downloaded through hyperlinks. Content items containing address and establishment information are retrieved from the information as downloaded from the visited web sites. The content retrieved items are indexed to associate the address information items contained therein with the establishment information items contained therein about establishments which are located in the addresses associated therewith respectively. A visual indication indicative of the establishment corresponding to an establishment information item is superimposed on a map image in a position corresponding to the address of this establishment with reference to the indexed content items. The map image is transmitted to a user through the Internet in response to a request message from the user. |
| US08947419B2 |
Display controller, display device, display system, and method for controlling display device
In one embodiment of the present application, a display controller is capable of changing a refresh rate, indicative of how often a screen displayed on a display device having a plurality of pixels is switched, between a low refresh rate of 40 Hz and a normal refresh rate of 60 Hz and generates (i) a dot clock (reference clock) serving as a timing signal indicative of a timing of operation in the display device, (ii) video data indicative of an image to be displayed on the screen, (iii) Hsync for defining a horizontal period of a display on the screen, and (vi) Vsync for defining a vertical period of the display on the screen, so as to supply the dot clock, the video data, Hsync, and Vsync to the display device, wherein the display controller includes a dot clock generation circuit for generating the reference clock whose frequency is constant without depending on a change of the refresh rate. This makes it possible to provide the display controller which can suppress occurrence of noise also in switching the refresh rate and which does not allow any screen derangement which is caused by the noise. |
| US08947412B2 |
Display driving system using transmission of single-level embedded with clock signal
A display driving system includes a timing control section having an LVDS receiving unit for receiving data signals, a data processing unit for temporarily storing the data signals, processing the data signals and outputting processed data signals, a timing generation unit for generating clock signals and timing control signals, and a transmission unit for transmitting the data signals; and a panel driving section having row driving units for sequentially emitting gate signals toward a display panel and column driving units for receiving the signals transmitted through signal lines from the transmission unit and supplying the received signals to the display panel. In the timing control section, the transmission unit has driving parts which embed the clock signals between the data signals at the same level and generate and output single level transmission data. |
| US08947410B2 |
Power calibration of multiple light sources in a display screen
A display device with multiple light sources includes a first detector for detecting a brightness of one or more different portions of the image formed on the display device, a second detector that measures output intensities of the light sources, and a controller that records correlation values that correlate input power settings of the light sources with the detected brightness and the measured output intensities. During operation of the display device, the controller applies the correlation values to determine the proper input power settings of the light sources so that brightness uniformity among the multiple light sources can be achieved. |
| US08947409B2 |
Display panel
A display panel has an amorphous silicon gate driver. A variable capacitor is formed at one end of a gate line to prevent the deterioration of display quality due to high temperature noise. A predetermined level of capacitance is provided to the variable capacitor to the reduce ripple of gate voltage and eliminate the high temperature noise. |
| US08947408B2 |
Source driver and method for updating a gamma curve
A source driver includes a first drive channel circuit, a voltage controller and a first programmable voltage buffer unit. The first drive channel circuit receives a first pixel data from the timing controller via a data bus, converts the first pixel data to a first drive voltage according to a first reference voltage group, and drives a display panel by the first drive voltage. The voltage controller receives a voltage command from the timing controller, generates and changes a first reference voltage configuration data according to the voltage command. The first programmable voltage buffer unit is coupled to the voltage controller and the first drive channel circuit, and receives the first reference voltage configuration data to generate and adjust the first reference voltage group for applying to the first drive channel circuit. Furthermore, a method for updating a new gamma curve by the source driver is also provided. |
| US08947407B2 |
Low cost LED driver with integral dimming capability
A distributed system for driving strings of series-connected LEDs for backlighting, display and lighting applications includes multiple intelligent satellite LED driver ICs connected to a an interface IC via serial bus. The interface IC translates information obtained from a host microcontroller into instructions for the satellite LED driver ICs pertaining to such parameters as duty factor, current levels, phase delay and fault settings. Fault conditions in the LED driver ICs can be transmitted back to the interface IC. An analog current sense feedback system which also links the LED driver ICs determines the supply voltage for the LED strings. |
| US08947402B2 |
Touch sensitive image display
We describe a touch sensitive image display device for projecting a touch sensitive displayed image at an acute angle onto a surface on which the device is placed. The device comprises: light sources to project two-dimensional first and second light distributions in respective first and second planes; and a multi-pixel sensor system to remotely detect touch of an area of said surface within or adjacent to the displayed image by detecting light from the first distribution to provide a detected touch signal. The multi-pixel sensor system also remotely detects presence of an object within the second light distribution to provide a detected presence signal. The device is configured to multiplex projection of the first light and second distributions. A controller has an input to receive the detected touch and detected presence signals and is configured to control the device responsive to these signals. |
| US08947397B2 |
Electronic apparatus and drawing method
According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a display detects a position of a first contact in which an area of contact with an object is equal to or smaller than a first threshold value, and a position of a second contact in which an area of contact with an object is equal to or larger than a second threshold value, a corrector corrects the position in which the first contact is sensed, and a drawing module draws at least one of a locus of a position corrected by the correction module, and a locus of the position of the first contact. The corrector corrects the position in which the first contact is sensed, by using at least one of whether the second contact is sensed, and a positional relationship between the first contact and the second contact. |
| US08947395B2 |
Control circuit for sensing capacitive changes of a touch panel and a method thereof
The present invention relates to a control circuit and control method for detecting the capacitance of a touch panel. The control circuit comprises: a signal-detecting circuit for charging a sensing wire of the touch panel to obtain an intensity signal of the sensing wire; an intensity/frequency conversion unit for converting the intensity signal into a frequency signal, the frequency of which corresponds to the level of the intensity signal; and a frequency-analyzing unit for analyzing the frequency signal to obtain a signal amount of the corresponding sensing wire. The control circuit for the capacitive touch panel has a good SNR, which will not be affected or lowered by noise signals in the circuit environment, and is constituted of simple components to reduce the occupied area on the chip and lower the cost. |
| US08947392B2 |
Multi-driver touch panel
A novel capacitive touch system includes a first controller having a plurality of channels, a first sensor row having a first discrete sensor element and a second discrete sensor element, a second sensor row having a first discrete sensor element and a second discrete sensor element, a first sensor column, a second sensor column, and a first signal line electrically coupling one of the plurality of channels of the controller to both the first and second discrete sensor elements of the first sensor row. In a particular embodiment, the first controller includes a second channel electrically connected to both the first and second discrete sensor elements of the second sensor row. In another particular embodiment, the capacitive touch system includes a second controller having a plurality of channels, the first sensor column includes a first discrete sensor element and a second discrete sensor element, and a first channel of the second controller is electrically coupled to both the first and second discrete sensor elements of the first sensor column. |
| US08947383B2 |
User interface system and method
The user interface system of the preferred embodiments includes a sheet that defines a surface on one side and at least partially defines a cavity on an opposite side; a volume of a fluid contained within the cavity; a displacement device that modifies the volume of the fluid to expand the cavity, thereby outwardly deforming a particular region of the surface; and a sensor that detects a force applied by a user that inwardly deforms the particular region of the surface. The user interface system has been specifically designed to be used as the user interface for an electronic device, more preferably in an electronic device that benefits from an adaptive user interface, but may alternatively be used in any suitable application. |
| US08947382B2 |
Wearable display device, corresponding systems, and method for presenting output on the same
An electronic device can include detectors for altering the presentation of data on one or more displays. In a wearable electronic device, a flexible housing can be configured to enfold about an appendage of a user, such as a user's wrist. A display can disposed along a major face of the flexible housing. A control circuit can be operable with the display. A gaze detector can be included to detect a gaze direction, and optionally a gaze cone. An orientation detector can be configured to detect an orientation of the electronic device relative to the user. The control circuit can alter a presentation of data on the display in response to a detected gaze direction, in response to detected orientation of the wearable electronic device relative to the user, in response to touch or gesture input, or combinations thereof. Secondary displays can be hingedly coupled to the electronic device. |
| US08947381B2 |
Display device
A display device according to an embodiment includes a touch panel, a plurality of detecting units, a blocking unit, and a calculating unit. The display device is incorporated in a vehicle, and the touch panel receives a pressing operation. The plurality of detecting units detect a pressure value on the touch panel. |
| US08947379B2 |
Inductive charging for active stylus
In one embodiment, a stylus includes one or more electrodes and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying logic for transmitting signals wirelessly to a device through a touch sensor of the device. The stylus also includes inductive-charging components in or on the stylus for charging or powering the stylus with electromagnetic radiation from inductive-charging components in or on the device. The inductive-charging components in or on the stylus may also charge or power the device by transmitting electromagnetic radiation to the inductive-charging components in or on the device. |
| US08947376B2 |
Desktop reveal expansion
A dual-screen user device and methods for revealing a combination of desktops on single and multiple screens are disclosed. Specifically, a determined number of desktops is displayed to at least one of the screens of the device conditioned upon input received and the state of the device. Where a screen of the device is determined to be inactive, the desktop is not displayed to the screen, but is stored in a virtually displayed state by the device. Upon receiving input that the inactive screen is active, the device can actually display the desktop to the screen. |
| US08947374B2 |
Electronic medical system touch phrase technology
Electronic medical system touch phrase technology includes a method comprising initializing a touch phrase button by a processor such that the initializing associates a first text with the touch phrase button; receiving an input associated with the touch phrase button; updating a state of the touch phrase button based upon the input including associating a second text with the touch phrase button; and communicating the state of the touch phrase button to a memory device. |
| US08947373B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing coupled noise influence in touch screen controllers
A method and apparatus for reducing influence of noise for touch screen controllers employing noise listening synchronization, delay lines, filtering and sensing selected touch screen electrodes. |
| US08947370B2 |
Touch panel and method for manufacturing the same
A touch panel includes a plurality of first electrode patterns being serially connected by a plurality of first connection patterns; a plurality of second electode patterns being serially connected by a plurality of second connection patterns; and a plurality of routing lines; wherein at least two of the plurality of first electrode patterns are connected to at least one of the plurality of routing lines. |
| US08947368B2 |
Touch screen panel
A touch screen panel includes a transparent substrate; a plurality of first sensing patterns at a first side of the transparent substrate and coupled to each other along a first direction; a plurality of second sensing patterns at the first side of the transparent substrate and coupled to each other along a second direction, the second sensing patterns being alternately arranged with the first sensing patterns not to overlap with the first sensing patterns; and a phase difference compensating layer at the first side of the transparent substrate and adapted to compensate for a birefringence phase difference of a liquid crystal layer in a liquid crystal display panel at a second side of the transparent substrate. |
| US08947363B2 |
Adjustable keyboard and electronic device employing adjustable keyboard
A keyboard includes an upper frame, a main body, a lower frame, and an adjustment mechanism. The two frames cooperate with each other to sandwich the main body. The lower frame includes a bottom plate defining a though hole. The adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust an inclined angle of the keyboard, and includes an adjustment member, a supporting member, a driving member and a position stopper. The adjustment member is operated by a user. The supporting member protrudes from the bottom plate via the through hole to support the keyboard on a supporting surface. The driving member drives the supporting member to move along a central axis of the through hole to adjust a protruding distance of the supporting member when the adjustment member is operated. The position stopper resists the supporting member to secure the supporting member when the adjustment member is free. |
| US08947360B2 |
Set of handheld adjustable panels of ergonomic keys and mouse
A set of handheld, adjustable panels including a plurality of ergonomic keys which function as a keyboard and mouse to allow a user to easily input data to an electronic device. The handheld keyboard and mouse includes two handheld components. Each component comprises a base that fits into the user's palm, a plurality of adjustable finger panels, and an adjustable thumb portion adjacent to the finger panels. The finger panels include a plurality of keys so as to function as a keyboard, and the thumb portion also includes a plurality of keys and acts like a mouse. Each component may also include clips or straps for securing the component to the user's hand, as well as a stand for supporting the component when it is not in use. In addition, at least one of the components may include a display means. |
| US08947357B2 |
Position detecting device, information processing device, position detection method, information processing method, and computer readable medium
A position detecting device includes a device specifying unit, a motion obtaining unit, and a relative position detecting unit. The device specifying unit specifies plural information processing devices that have been brought into contact with one another. The motion obtaining unit obtains information about a motion of any one of the plural information processing devices. The relative position detecting unit detects, on the basis of a motion produced when the any one of the plural information processing devices specified by the device specifying unit is brought into contact with another of the plural information processing devices, relative positions of the plural information processing devices specified by the device specifying unit. |
| US08947340B2 |
Backlight unit and display apparatus having the same
A backlight unit includes a plurality of light sources, a boost circuit, a plurality of balance circuits, and a plurality of first resistors. The boost circuit boosts an input alternating current voltage and applies a driving alternating current voltage to the light sources. Each of the balance circuits includes a first capacitor and is disposed between an output terminal of the boost circuit and the light sources. Each of the first resistors connects two balance circuits among the balance circuits. |
| US08947337B2 |
Display device
An object is to provide a display device that performs accurate display. A circuit is formed using a transistor that includes an oxide semiconductor and has a low off-state current. A precharge circuit or an inspection circuit is formed in addition to a pixel circuit. The off-state current is low because the oxide semiconductor is used. Thus, it is not likely that a signal or voltage is leaked in the precharge circuit or the inspection circuit to cause defective display. As a result, a display device that performs accurate display can be provided. |
| US08947334B2 |
Liquid crystal display device including drive section for controlling timing of pixel switching elements, driving method of the same and electronic equipment
The present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display device including: for each pixel, a first switching element provided in common for a plurality of subpixels making up a pixel, the first switching element having its one end connected to a signal line; for each pixel, a plurality of second switching elements one provided for each subpixel, each of the plurality of second switching elements being connected between the pixel electrode of one of the plurality of subpixels and the other end of the first switching element; and a drive section adapted to turn ON and OFF the plurality of second switching elements in sequence during the ON period of the first switching element and turn OFF the second switching element that turns ON last in sequence first, and then turn OFF the first switching element. |
| US08947329B2 |
OLED display wherein the storage capacitor is charged by a second power source according to inverted emission control signals
An organic light emitting display includes a scan driver for driving scan lines and emission control lines, a data driver for driving data lines, a display unit including pixels at crossing regions of scan lines and data lines, first power source lines coupled to a first power source configured to supply a first voltage and coupled to pixels in columns, horizontal power source lines extending in a direction parallel with scan lines and coupled to pixels in rows, and a second power source line coupled to the horizontal power source lines and to a second power source configured to supply the same voltage as the first power source, each of the pixels being configured to store a voltage corresponding to voltages of the second power source and a data signal and to control an amount of current that flows from the first power source in accordance with the stored voltage. |
| US08947327B2 |
Display apparatus, driving method thereof, and electronic system
A display apparatus includes: a pixel array section including a row of scanning lines, a column of signal lines, and pixels in a matrix, each of the pixels disposed at an intersection of both of the lines; and a drive section. The drive section performs line progressive scanning on the pixels. The pixel includes a light emitting device, a sampling transistor, a driving transistor, a switching transistor, and a holding capacitor. The sampling transistor samples a video signal in the holding capacitor, the driving transistor changes the device to a luminous state, the switching transistor becomes ON in advance of the sampling of the video signal to change the light emitting device to a non-luminous state, and the sampling transistor takes in the OFF voltage from the signal line to the driving transistor, thereby preventing a penetration current from flowing from the power source toward the fixed potential. |
| US08947323B1 |
Content display methods
Methods and systems involving a graphic display in a head mounted display (HMD) are disclosed herein. An exemplary system may be configured to: (1) at a computing system associated with a head-mountable display, receive head-movement data indicative of head movement; (2) use one or more context signals to determine a first activity associated with the head-mountable device; (3) determine a head-movement interpretation scheme corresponding to the first activity; (4) apply the determined head-movement interpretation scheme to determine input data corresponding to the received head-movement data; and (5) provide the determined input data for at least one function of the head-mountable display. |
| US08947320B2 |
Method for indicating location and direction of a graphical user interface element
In a particular embodiment, a method includes receiving a user input at a first display surface of an electronic device to move a graphical user interface element displayed at the first display surface. The electronic device includes a second display surface separated from the first display surface by a gap. The method also includes determining that at least a portion of the graphical user interface element is to be moved beyond an edge of the first display surface into the gap such that the at least a portion of the graphical user element will not be displayed at the first display surface. The method further includes displaying the at least a portion of the graphical user interface element at the second display surface based on a location and a direction of movement of the graphical user interface element at the first display surface. |
| US08947318B2 |
Antenna apparatus
An antenna apparatus that includes a first antenna having a first feed point, a second antenna having a second feed point, and a first non-feed element grounded at a first ground point disposed at a first predetermined distance from the first feed point and the second feed point. |
| US08947307B2 |
Shark fin type car antenna assembly
A car antenna assembly includes an outer cover, an antenna unit, a fixing seat, a locking bar, a control board, and a base. The antenna unit is made of a metallic strip which is bent freely to form a plurality of antenna elements which are connected successively. The outer cover covers the antenna unit and the fixing seat. Thus, the height of the antenna elements is increased gradually from the front end toward the rear end of the antenna unit, while the antenna elements have a constant spacing so that the bandwidth of the antenna elements is increased so as to increase the receiving effect of the AM and FM signals. The car antenna assembly has a shark fin shape to reduce the air drag and air shear noise. |
| US08947302B2 |
Antenna system with antenna swapping and antenna tuning
Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and first and second antennas. An electronic device may include a housing. The first antenna may be located at an upper end of the housing and the second antenna may be located at a lower end of the housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the housing and may be used in forming the first and second antennas. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may have a transmit-receive port and a receive port. Switching circuitry may connect the first antenna to the transmit-receive port and the second antenna to the receiver port or may connect the first antenna to the receive port and the second antenna to the transmit-receive port. |
| US08947301B2 |
Multi-band loaded antenna
A planar antenna for wireless information transfer can include a planar loading portion electrically coupled to a driven node of a wireless communication circuit, and a folded conductive strip portion coupled to the planar loading portion, the folded conductive strip portion comprising at least two segments laterally offset from each other and at least partially laterally overlapping with each other. The planar loading portion can be configured to establish a specified bandwidth of a second operating frequency range, leaving a first specified operating frequency range substantially unchanged. |
| US08947298B2 |
GNSS receiver and positioning method
A GNSS receiver includes: a first correlation peak detecting unit (1102) that detects a peak of a correlation value between a positioning signal and a C/A code replica signal; a second correlation peak detecting unit (1104) that detects a peak of the correlation value through a multipath error reduction technique; a signal intensity detecting unit (110, 112) that detects a signal intensity of the positioning signal; a switching unit (108) that inputs the positioning signal to the second correlation peak detecting unit (1104) when the signal intensity is higher than or equal to a threshold, and inputs the positioning signal to the first correlation peak detecting unit (1102) when the signal intensity is lower than the threshold; a pseudo-range calculation unit (114) that calculates a pseudo-range based on the detected correlation peak; and a positioning calculation unit (116) that calculates a location of the GNSS receiver based on the pseudo-range. |
| US08947295B2 |
Low clutter method for bistatic RCS measurements
A bistatic radar measurement system is provided having a radar source configured to produce a radio frequency signal. A transmitting antenna is configured to transmit the radio frequency signal toward a target. A receiving antenna is configured to receive a reflected radio frequency signal from the target. A support system is configured to support the receiving antenna. The support system includes a plurality of low scattering dielectric strings configured to orient the receiving antenna. |
| US08947293B2 |
Radar apparatus
Provided is a radar apparatus that can detect the failure of the transmission switch. The radar apparatus includes: a plurality of transmission antennas; transmission switches that select a transmission antenna for transmitting an electromagnetic wave from among the plurality of transmission antennas; a plurality of reception antennas that receive a reflected wave which is the electromagnetic wave reflected from a target as a reception signal; a signal processing unit that detects the target based on a sampling signal obtained by sampling the reception signal; and a failure judgment unit that compares first reception signals transmitted from one of the plurality of transmission antennas and received by the plurality of reception antennas, with second reception signals transmitted from another of the plurality of transmission antennas and received by the plurality of reception antennas, and judges whether or not any one of the transmission switches has failed based on a comparison result. |
| US08947290B2 |
Successive approximation AD converter
A higher-order DAC and a lower-order DAC each have a plurality of capacitive elements having capacitance values weighted with a binary ratio and are configured so that a first terminal of each of the capacitive elements is connected to a common node and a second terminal thereof is connected to either a first or second voltage selectively. The higher-order DAC and the lower-order DAC are coupled by a coupling capacitor. A higher-order DAC control circuit outputs either a correction control signal or a digital signal output from a successive approximation circuit selectively to the higher-order DAC. The lower-order DAC has at least one variable capacitive element of which a first terminal is connected to the common node and a second terminal is connected to either the first or second voltage selectively depending on a higher-order bit of the digital signal output from the successive approximation circuit to the higher-order DAC. |
| US08947286B2 |
Analog/digital converter
An analog/digital converter includes: a first analog/digital conversion unit that performs digital conversion on received first analog input voltage in a first time period; a second analog/digital conversion unit that performs digital conversion on received second analog input voltage in a second time period that is different from the first time period; and a first coupling capacitor that connects the first analog/digital conversion unit and the second analog/digital conversion unit, and wherein the second analog/digital conversion unit receives, through the first coupling capacitor, first residual voltage that is remaining voltage of the first analog input voltage on which digital conversion is performed in the first analog/digital conversion unit, as the second analog input voltage. |
| US08947282B1 |
Method and apparatus for a current control
A current controller includes impedance elements coupled to form at least one impedance ladder circuit which exhibits a fixed impedance at an input and current divider steps each differing in a current magnitude by a multiple of three with respect to the current magnitude in an adjacent less significant step. Single pole triple throw (SPTT) switchably couple an associated step in the impedance ladder circuit to one of three outputs. Three discrete current sources or sinks are each coupled to a corresponding one of the outputs of each of the SPTT switches. The digital driver is coupled to each control input of each SPTT switch to additively deliver selected ones of the stepped currents from each step of the impedance ladder circuit to a corresponding selected one of the current sources or sinks. |
| US08947277B2 |
Multi-channel sample-and-hold circuit and analog-to-digital converter using the same
A sample-and-hold circuit including an operational amplifier configured to output a result signal to the ADC; a feedback capacitor connected between an input terminal and an output terminal of the operational amplifier to form a feedback path; a plurality of sampling capacitor blocks each connected to one of a plurality of channels and configured to sample and hold an analog signal input to each of the channels; a plurality of controllers each connected between one of the sampling capacitor blocks and the operational amplifier; and a reset unit connected between a reference voltage source and the input terminal of the operational amplifier to reset the operational amplifier when the operational amplifier does not perform a holding operation. The plurality of controllers configured to switch the sampled signal so that held signals for the respective channels are sequentially input to the operational amplifier. |
| US08947270B2 |
Apparatus and method to accelerate compression and decompression operations
A processor is described that includes an instruction execution pipeline having an instruction fetch unit to fetch and decode an instruction. The processor also has an execution unit to execute the instruction. The execution unit has a state machine and content addressable memory (CAM) circuitry. The state machine is to receive a pointer to a stream of DEFLATE encoded information, fetch a section of the DEFLATE encoded information and apply the section of the DEFLATE encoded information to the CAM to obtain decoded DEFLATE information. |
| US08947269B2 |
Key input unit and key input method
A digital processor having a key input unit and a key input method are disclosed. The key unit includes: a base that is fixed at the central position of the key unit; a slider that horizontally moves in parallel to the horizontal plane of the base by the user's operation; a frame that supports the slider so as to horizontally move; and a restoration unit that gives a resistive force against the horizontal movement of the slider and restores the horizontally-moved slider to an original position. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the number of keys by increasing the number of information to be input by the use of a single key. |
| US08947265B2 |
Signal timing coordination system for crosswalk beacons
A signal or lighting system synchronizes the flashing of multiple signal or lighting assemblies. When one of the assemblies is triggered, it broadcasts a temporally staggered sequence of signals, each signal instructing the receiving assemblies to initiate flashing of their beacons a given countdown time after that particular signal is transmitted. The countdown times of the various signals all count down to the same flashing start time so that the originating and receiving beacons all being flashing at the same time. The temporal diversity of the signals enhances the ability to overcome potential interference as at least one of the signals in the sequence is likely to be received by the destination assemblies. |
| US08947258B2 |
Reliable, long-haul data communications over power lines for meter reading and other communications services
A system, method and computer program product provides for power line communications (PLC) over electric power lines includes a device mountable near an electrical distribution transformer (DT) to provide a high speed interface and communicates with one or multiple access devices, which provide low speed interfaces for analog signals or digital signals over RS 232, RS 485, optical, wireless and Ethernet. The device transmits data to/from these access devices over the electric lines to other repeaters over one or more wires of an electrical line or over multiple lines, and serves to strengthen and improve signal quality. Upon detecting a wire or line is having problems carrying data, the data is sent over other wires, and upon power line failures, wireless backup to mobile/GSM and WiMax networks is utilized. The device permits utilities and others to read electric meters, monitor the power quality of the distribution grid and detect power losses/failures/outages, and permits telecom service providers and others to provide a communications link to cell phone towers, WiFi Access Points and enable broadband Internet and telephony in rural, remote or sparely populated areas. |
| US08947255B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating a predetermined type of ambient lighting
A predetermined type of ambient lighting is generated in which the influence of each of a plurality of luminaries on a predetermined type of ambient lighting is determined (203) and illumination of each of the plurality of luminaries is controlled (209) to generate said predetermined type of ambient light based on the determined influence of each of the plurality o f luminaries. |
| US08947247B2 |
System and method for detecting and preventing cable theft in electric vehicle supply equipment
A system and method is provided for preventing cable theft in electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). A sensor may be configured to sense a short between at least two components of a cable in the EVSE. A processor may be configured to determine that the cable is being cut in response to the sensing. The processor may be further configured to generate an alert in response to a determination that the cable is being cut. |
| US08947242B2 |
Gas valve with valve leakage test
This disclosure relates generally to valves, and more particularly, to gas valve assemblies. In one example, a valve leakage test may be performed on a valve assembly including a valve body with a first valve and a second valve, where the valves may be positioned across a fluid path in the valve body with an intermediate volume between the valves. A pressure sensor may be in fluid communication with the intermediate volume and may sense a measure that is related to the pressure in the intermediate volume. The pressure sensor may communicate with a controller to determine a measure that is related to a pressure change in the intermediate volume and compare the measure that is related to a pressure change to a first and/or second threshold value. The controller may output a signal if the measure meets and/or exceeds the first and/or second threshold value. |
| US08947238B2 |
System and method for multi-media experience capture and data transfer
A system and method for multi-media experience capture and data transfer includes a system for transferring data including a first wireless communication system located on a moveable amusement attraction, a second wireless communication system located on the moveable amusement attraction, and logic to operate the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system based on a changeable parameter of the moveable amusement attraction. |
| US08947236B2 |
Sensing properties of a material loading a UHF RFID tag by analysis of the complex reflection backscatter at different frequencies and power levels
An RFID device for sensing the properties of a material in proximity to a UHF tag. The RFID device includes a microchip, an antenna operatively coupled to the microchip, and an impedance transforming section operatively coupled to the microchip and to the antenna. Changing an electrical characteristic of at least one component of the RFID device results in a complex reflected signal at a reader device representing a sensed state of a material in proximity to the RFID device. |
| US08947233B2 |
Methods and systems of a multiple radio frequency network node RFID tag
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tag that contains multiple Radio Frequency (RF) network nodes that may include memory storage for the RFID tag, the memory storage may include one time programmable (OTP) memory and many time programmable (MTP) memory and the storage of the information may be within the OTP and MTP memory. |
| US08947229B1 |
Method and apparatus to control operations of a device based on detection of a predetermined chemical substance
In an embodiment, an apparatus includes a removable portion having a material and a chemical detection system coupled with the removable portion. The chemical detection system can obtain an amount of the material from the removable portion and determine whether the amount of material obtained from the removable portion includes a predetermined substance. In response to determining that the amount of the material obtained from the removable portion includes the predetermined substance, the chemical detection system can provide a first signal to initiate a first operation of the apparatus. Additionally, in response to determining that the amount of material obtained from the removable portion does not include the predetermined substance, the chemical detection system can generate a second signal to display an alert that indicates the material is not approved by at least one of a manufacturer of the apparatus or a supplier of the apparatus. |
| US08947223B2 |
Warning and scene lighting system
A lighting system for use with an emergency vehicle comprises at least one elongated lighting bar mounted to an exterior surface of the emergency vehicle, the lighting bar comprises a plurality of lighting elements operable to emit light, the at least one lighting bar operable to be placed in a first substantially horizontal lowered position and a second substantially vertical raised position, and a controller electrically coupled to the at least one lighting bar and configured to receive user input and controllably place the at least one lighting bar in one of a raised and lowered positions in response to the user input, the controller further configurable to operate the plurality of lighting elements in a predetermined repeating on/off sequence involving increasing number of lit lighting elements and increasing light intensity over time. |
| US08947222B2 |
Methods and apparatus to detect mobile devices
Example methods and apparatus to detect mobile devices are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus includes a processor and a memory in communication with the processor having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processor to determine whether a first wireless transceiver is in communication range of a vehicle. The first wireless transceiver is to provide an identifier associated with a person. When the first wireless transceiver is not in communication range of the vehicle, a second wireless transceiver in the vehicle is transitioned from a first power transmission mode to a relatively lower power transmission mode. |
| US08947220B2 |
Speech recognition functionality in a vehicle through an extrinsic device
Speech recognition in a vehicle through an extrinsic device includes detecting, via the vehicle, a presence of a mobile communications device that is configured with a speech recognition component. A vehicle processor encodes data lists stored in the vehicle and transmits the data lists and a vehicle identifier to the mobile communications device. In response to receiving a request to initiate a voice recognition session, the vehicle transmits the request and the vehicle identifier to the mobile communications device that causes activation of the speech recognition component. The mobile communications device retrieves the data lists via the identifier. In response to a voice command received by the speech recognition component, the speech recognition component interprets the voice command, determines an action by evaluating the voice command in view of the data lists, and transmits an instruction to the vehicle processor directing the vehicle to implement the action. |
| US08947217B2 |
Human machine interface for an automotive vehicle
A human machine interface (HMI) for an automotive vehicle comprises an instrument cluster and at least one head-up display for displaying information. The HMI includes at least one picture generation unit, each of which includes a laser for generating a modulated laser beam and a micro-electromechanical scanning minor arranged in the optical path of the laser beam for sweeping the laser beam over a diffuser in a two-dimensional Lissajous pattern. The HMI further comprises a central control unit that may be interfaced with a vehicle's on-board computer and/or another on-board device. A processor of the central control unit is configured to determine the pictures to be generated by the at least two picture generation units and to calculate, for each picture generation unit, the two-dimensional Lissajous pattern and the modulation of the at least one laser beam, the combination of which results in the respective picture to be displayed. |
| US08947214B2 |
Anti-identity theft and information security system
The anti-identity theft and information security system process includes storing secure information in association with an electronic device having a communication circuit for sending and receiving data. Biometric information is read with a scanner so that the identity of a user can be authenticating in connection with the supplied biometric information. Once approved, a data communication line is established with a remote device and access to the secure information is unlocked. Thereafter, the secure information may be transmitted between the electronic device and the remote device. |
| US08947212B2 |
Active electronic tag and signal modulation method thereof
An active electronic tag and a signal modulation method are provided herein. The active electronic tag includes an antenna, a first amplifier, an automatic gain control circuit, a phase synchronization locking circuit, a control unit, a tag unit and a second amplifier. The antenna receives a detecting signal transmitted from a reader, in which the detecting signal is carried on a first carrier. The phase synchronization locking circuit generates a second carrier. The control unit generates a response signal, in which the response signal is carried on the second carrier. By utilizing a phase difference of the first carrier and the second carrier, the response signal cancels the first carrier on the reader so as to transmit the information stored in the active electronic tag. |
| US08947211B2 |
Communication data protection method based on symmetric key encryption in RFID system, and apparatus for enabling the method
A communication data protection method based on symmetric key encryption, and an apparatus for enabling the method are provided. A communication data protection method using a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, the method including: receiving, from a tag, tag information including security parameter information and an encrypted Unique Item Identifier (UII); extracting the UII based on the security parameter information; transmitting, to the tag, a request message including a challenge value for replay prevention; and performing a tag authentication by receiving, from the tag, a response message including a handle and the challenge value. |
| US08947208B2 |
IC tag searching apparatus
An IC tag searching apparatus capable of changing the shape of its searching board in a simple manner in accordance with the situations of a location to be searched, said location includes wide to narrow areas and areas in the corners, at the time of searching the positions of wireless IC tags those which are embedded in a concrete construction and the like, efficiently detecting the positions of the embedded wireless IC tags and performing reading and writing of information from/to the wireless IC tags is provided.The IC tag searching apparatus 10 according to the present invention comprises a plurality of plate members 2, 3 each having an antenna built-in, said plate members may be joined with each other in a direction of those flat surfaces, respectively, a joining means provided to the plate members having an antenna built-in and information transmission/reception section 11 for performing data transmission/reception between the plate member having an antenna built-in and the R/W main body 9. |
| US08947203B2 |
Aftermarket sound activated wireless vehicle door unlocker
An aftermarket, sound activated, wireless, vehicle door unlocking device comprising a sound sensor, processor, memory, and an RF transmitter, transponder, or transceiver capable of generating an unlocking signal, and method of using the device. The device may be easily installed by unskilled users without modifying the vehicle wires or structure. The operator of the device will program the device with an unlocking sound sequence, and the RF unlocking codes needed to unlock the vehicle door. The device continually monitors the sensor for unlocking sounds, and delivers a door unlocking signal when this sound is detected. Various embodiments, including embedded RF key embodiments, solar powered embodiments, and alternative ways of programming the device are also discussed. |
| US08947199B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling communication between a first device and at least one further device
A controller node for an entertainment control network, comprises controller logic arranged to be paired with at least one controlled device over a wireless interface. The controller logic is further arranged to provide pairing information for the at lease one controlled device with which it is paired to a further node within the entertainment control network. |
| US08947193B2 |
Resistance component and method for producing a resistance component
A resistance component includes a stack of ceramic layers and inner electrodes. Inner electrodes of a first type are electrically conductively connected to a first external contact and inner electrodes of a second type are electrically conductively connected to a second external contact. The inner electrodes of the first type are arranged such that there is no overlap with the inner electrodes of the second type. An inner electrode of a third type, which is electrically conductively connected neither to the first external contact nor to the second external contact, at least partially overlaps the inner electrodes of the first type and the inner electrodes of the second type. |
| US08947191B2 |
Reactor
A small reactor capable of appropriately measuring the temperature of a coil is provided. The reactor includes a coil 2 including a pair of coil elements 2a and 2b and a magnetic core including a pair of inner core portions 31 disposed in the respective coil elements 2a and 2b and outer core portions that connect the inner core portions 31 to form a closed magnetic circuit. Each of the coil elements 2a and 2b has an end face shape having a rounded corner portion 21, which is a corner portion of a rectangle that is rounded. A temperature sensor 7 is disposed in a trapezoidal space between the rounded corner portions 21 of the coil elements 2a and 2b that face each other. The temperature sensor 7 is pressed so as to contact the rounded corner portions 21 by the sensor holder portion 54 provided on an insulator, and is capable of appropriately measuring the temperature of the coil 2. When the temperature sensor 7 is disposed in a region in which the inner core portions 31 are not disposed in the respective coil elements 2a and 2b, the coil elements 2a and 2b can be positioned near each other and the size of the reactor can be reduced. |
| US08947190B2 |
Planar transformer
The present invention relates to a planar transformer, the transformer including a core provided to induce formation of a magnetic field, a bobbin coupled to a core, at least one primary winding interposed between the core and the bobbin to supply a power signal, a first insulation unit provided to the at least one primary winding to insulate the at least one primary winding, at least one secondary winding provided to the first insulation unit and insulated by the first insulation unit to transform the power signal, and a second insulation unit provided to the at least one secondary winding to insulate the at least one secondary winding. |
| US08947187B2 |
Inductor apparatus and method of manufacture thereof
The invention comprises an electrical apparatus and method of manufacture. The apparatus includes a substantially annular inductor comprising an inductor core composed of at least a distributed gap material. The distributed gap material includes particles of alternating layers of magnetic and non-magnetic materials separated by a gap material. The particles comprise an average layer thickness of less than about one hundred micrometers, where a majority of said layered particles comprise an average cross sectional size of less than about one millimeter. The inductor is cooled using at least one of: a thermally conductive potting material, a liquid coolant in direct contact with the inductor, a cooling line through the potting material or liquid coolant, and a chill coil in a container about the potting material and/or the liquid coolant. |
| US08947186B2 |
Wireless energy transfer resonator thermal management
Described herein are improved configurations for a wireless power transfer. Described are methods and designs to reduce and manage heating and heat dissipation in resonator structures. Configuration and orientation of magnetic material as well as heat sinking material with respect to the dipole moment of the resonator is used to reduce and control thermal properties of the resonator structure and reduce the effects of heating on the performance of wireless power transfer. |
| US08947184B2 |
Compact superconducting cyclotron
The present disclosure relates to a cyclotron. Embodiments of the present disclosure may include an upper and lower magnet pole, an upper and lower superconducting coil arranged around each of the magnetic poles, a ring-shaped magnetic return yoke, a beam chamber between the upper and lower magnetic poles having one or more electrodes configured to accelerate ions moving substantially in the median plane, and a cryostat. The ring-shaped magnetic return yoke and the coils may form a cold mass contained within the cryostat. Further, the cryostat may not contain the upper and lower poles. |
| US08947182B2 |
Release for an electrical switching arrangement
A selective release with a moving element is disclosed. The moving element is here mounted such that the moving element, in addition to the motion about its swivel axis, is guided in its motion by way of a brace. As a result of this, the moving element is mounted such that the trajectory of the blocking element essentially runs in a plane which extends transversely to the direction of flow of the flow channel. |
| US08947180B2 |
Signal transmission device, electronic device, and signal transmission method
A signal transmission device includes: a transmitting device that transmits a transmission subject signal through a first waveguide as a wireless signal; and a receiving device that receives the wireless signal of the transmission subject signal transmitted from the transmitting device through a second waveguide, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted between the transmitting device and the receiving device in a state where the first waveguide faces the second waveguide. |
| US08947178B1 |
Dielectric core tunable filters
A dielectric core tunable filter for microwave frequencies of 0.5-30 GHz. The filter includes a low loss machined dielectric having multiple channels a portion of which are terminated in micro-electromechanical variable capacitors to realize coupled resonators. The machined dielectric is metalized with a material, such as copper, silver, or gold, and then patterned to provide ring shaped recesses at the ends of preselected channels. |
| US08947176B2 |
Electromechanical resonator with resonant anchor
An electromechanical resonator produced on a substrate, and a method of producing thereof, including: a suspended structure produced at least partly from the substrate, configured to have a vibration imparted to it such that it resonates at least one natural resonance frequency of the suspended structure; an anchor structure to anchor the suspended structure, by at least one area of its periphery, to the remainder of the substrate, and dimensioned to resonate at the resonance frequency; a mechanism to excite the suspended structure, to cause it to vibrate at the resonance frequency; and a mechanism to detect the vibration frequency of the suspended structure. |
| US08947175B2 |
Low-pass filter
A low pass filter includes a laminate including a plurality of insulating layers stacked in a z-axis direction and a mounting surface on a negative side in the z-axis direction. An external electrode is disposed on a lower surface of the laminate and is grounded. The laminate houses a substantially spiral coil having a central axis extending in the z-axis direction. Via-hole conductors extend from the end on the positive side in the z-axis direction of the coil toward the negative side in the z-axis direction. The external electrode and the end on the positive side in the z-axis direction of the coil are electrically coupled to each other through the via-hole conductors. |
| US08947170B2 |
Spin-torque oscillator
According to one embodiment, a spin-torque oscillator includes a non-magnetic unit, one or more first magnetic unit, and a second magnetic unit. The non-magnetic unit is formed of a non-magnetic body. The one or more first magnetic unit is connected to the non-magnetic unit and generates a pure spin current indicating the flow of the electron spin that does not accompany an electric charge current. The second magnetic unit is connected to the non-magnetic unit in a manner such that a distance between the second magnetic unit and the first magnetic unit is shorter than a spin diffusion length indicating a distance that an electronic spin polarization is maintained in the non-magnetic unit. The second magnetic unit oscillates by the pure spin current. |
| US08947169B2 |
Oscillating device and electronic apparatus
An oscillating device includes an atomic oscillator, an oven controlled crystal oscillator, a correcting unit configured to correct an output signal of the oven controlled crystal oscillator on the basis of an output signal of the atomic oscillator, a housing configured to house the atomic oscillator and the oven controlled crystal oscillator, and a temperature adjusting unit configured to adjust the temperature in the housing to a predetermined temperature. |
| US08947159B2 |
Reference voltage generation circuit
Provided is a reference voltage generation circuit that has a flat temperature characteristic even when there are fluctuations in manufacturing step. After a semiconductor manufacturing process is finished, electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device are evaluated. Temperature characteristic of each reference voltage (VREF) of three unit reference voltage generation circuits (10) is evaluated. Then only a unit reference voltage generation circuit (10) having the most flat temperature characteristics is selected from among the three unit reference voltage generation circuits (10). Only fuses (13, 14) of the selected unit reference voltage generation circuit (10) are not cut, but other fuses (13, 14) are cut. Accordingly only the selected unit reference voltage generation circuit (10) operates, and the other unit reference voltage generation circuits (10) do not operate. |
| US08947158B2 |
Semiconductor device and electronic device
To reduce a variation in the electrical characteristics of a transistor. A potential generated by a voltage converter circuit is applied to a back gate of a transistor included in a voltage conversion block. Since the back gate of the transistor is not in a floating state, a current flowing through the back channel can be controlled so as to reduce a variation in the electrical characteristics of the transistor. Further, a transistor with low off-state current is used as the transistor included in the voltage conversion block, whereby storage of the output potential is controlled. |
| US08947157B2 |
Voltage multiplier charge pump buck
DC to DC converter circuitry includes a dual phase charge pump and at least one pair of multiplier phase circuits. The dual phase charge pump is coupled to each one of the at least one pair of multiplier circuits and adapted to receive a DC input voltage and only four control signals, and produce a stepped-up output voltage. Each one of the at least one pair of multiplier phase circuits are adapted to receive the stepped-up output voltage, a cross-coupled control signal from the other multiplier phase circuit in the pair of multiplier phase circuits, and a different one of the control signals and further multiply the stepped-up output voltage to produce a multiplied stepped-up output voltage with a magnitude that is approximately three times that of the DC input voltage or greater. |
| US08947156B2 |
High-voltage bulk driver using bypass circuit
This application discusses, among other things, apparatus and methods for driving the bulk of a high-voltage transistor using transistors having gates with low-voltage ratings. In an example, a bulk driver can include an output configured to couple to bulk of a high-voltage transistor, a pick circuit configured to couple the output to an input voltage at an input terminal of the high-voltage transistor or an output voltage at the output terminal of the high-voltage transistor when the high-voltage transistor is in a high impedance state, and a bypass circuit configured to couple the output of the bulk driver to the output voltage when the high-voltage transistor is in a low impedance state. |
| US08947153B2 |
Electronic circuit comprising thin-film transistors
An object is to provide a semiconductor device that can realize a function of a thyristor without complication of the process. A semiconductor device including a memory circuit that stores a predetermined potential by reset operation and initialization operation is provided with a circuit that rewrite data in the memory circuit in accordance with supply of a trigger signal. The semiconductor device has a structure in which a current flowing through the semiconductor device is supplied to a load by rewriting data in the memory circuit, and thus can function as a thyristor. |
| US08947152B2 |
Multi-chip package
A multi-chip package having a plurality of slice chips coupled through a through-via, at least one slice chip may include an input unit suitable for receiving a slice activation signal, and outputting the slice activation signal to the through-via in response to a slice identification corresponding to the slice chip, a first output unit suitable for outputting the activation signal transferred through the through-via to an internal circuit of the slice chip in response to the corresponding slice identification, and a second output unit suitable for selectively outputting the activation signal transferred through the through-via to the internal circuit of the slice chip in a predetermined activation mode for the multi-chip package. |
| US08947151B2 |
Frequency mixing circuit and method for suppressing local oscillation leakage in frequency mixing circuit
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a frequency mixing circuit and a method for suppressing local oscillation leakage in the frequency mixing circuit, where a mixed input signal and a local oscillation signal are involved, and local oscillation leakage can be effectively reduced by using a frequency mixing circuit whose structure is simpler and is easier to be implemented. The frequency mixing circuit includes a direct current bias circuit, where the direct current bias circuit includes a direct current bias voltage source used for reducing a local oscillation current. The frequency mixing circuit is mainly applied to frequency mixing, and especially to a case where an intermediate frequency signal is mixed with a local oscillation signal to output a radio frequency signal. |
| US08947149B1 |
Stacked clock distribution for low power devices
Embodiments of a clock distribution device and a method of clock distribution are described. In one embodiment, a clock distribution device includes a stacked clock driver circuit configured to perform clock signal charge recycling on input clock signals that swing between different voltage ranges and a load circuit. The stacked clock driver circuit includes stacked driver circuits configured to generate output clock signals that swing between the different voltage ranges. The load circuit includes load networks of different semiconductor types. Each of the load networks are configured to be driven by one of the output clock signals. Other embodiments are also described. |
| US08947147B1 |
Apparatus for high rotation rate low I/O count phase interpolator
Methods and apparatuses for high rotation rate low I/O count phase interpolation are disclosed, including techniques to reduce redundant phase interpolation coding and method steps by modifying phase mapping and generation with pluralities of amplifiers. I/O reduction count is achieved while maintaining resolution and allowing scalability in phase interpolation. Control circuits include techniques to interpolate phases at a high rotation rate while reducing discontinuities and risk for logic hazards. |
| US08947146B2 |
Pulse-based flip flop
A pulse-based flip-flop that latches a data input signal to convert the data input signal into a data output signal in response to a first clock signal and the second clock signal. The pulse-based flip-flop includes a pulse generator and a data latch. The pulse generator includes a first inverter and a signal delay circuit to receive the first clock signal and generate the second clock signal; the data latch includes a delivery circuit, a latch circuit and a control circuit. The data latch is used to latch the data input signal and output the data output signal in response to the first and the second clock signals. |
| US08947145B2 |
PWM signal generation circuit and processor system
A PWM signal generation circuit according to the present invention includes a duty setting unit (10) configured to generate a duty control signal designating a duty ratio corresponding to each period of a PWM signal on the basis of an initial duty setting signal, a target duty setting signal, a slope setting signal, and a clock signal, a period setting unit (20) configured to output a period setting value, and an output control unit (30) configured to generate the PWM signal having a period corresponding to the period setting value and having a duty ratio corresponding to a value of the duty control signal. The duty setting unit (10) increases the value of the initial duty ratio to the value of the target duty ratio each time the number of a clock pulse of the clock signal reaches the period setting value reaches the slope setting value. |
| US08947144B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for duty cycle adjustment
Apparatuses and methods for duty cycle adjustment are disclosed herein. An example apparatus may include a node, a phase mixer, and a duty cycle adjuster circuit. The phase mixer may have a first step duty cycle response and may be configured to provide a first output signal to the node in accordance with the first step duty cycle response. The duty cycle adjuster circuit may have a second step duty cycle response complementary to the first step duty cycle response and may be configured to provide a second signal to the node in accordance with the second step duty cycle response. |
| US08947143B2 |
Duty cycle corrector
The duty cycle corrector for correcting a system clock signal comprises a duty cycle detector and a duty cycle adjuster. The duty cycle detector is configured for detecting a system duty cycle of the system clock signal and generating the first control signal and the second control signal, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are complementary to each other. The duty cycle adjuster comprises an inverter and the duty cycle adjuster is configured for delaying a change in an input status of the inverter and adjusting of the inverter in accordance with the first control signal and the second control signal. |
| US08947140B2 |
Continuous adaptive training for data interface timing calibration
Circuits and methods for implementing a continuously adaptive timing calibration training function in an integrated circuit interface are disclosed. A mission data path is established where a data bit is sampled by a strobe. A similar reference data path is established for calibration purposes only. At an initialization time both paths are calibrated and a delta value between them is established. During operation of the mission path, the calibration path continuously performs calibration operations to determine if its optimal delay has changed by more than a threshold value. If so, the new delay setting for the reference path is used to change the delay setting for the mission path after adjustment by the delta value. Circuits and methods are also disclosed for performing multiple parallel calibrations for the reference path to speed up the training process. |
| US08947138B2 |
Phase adjustment circuit and interface circuit
In a phase adjustment circuit, a first phase adjuster has a plurality of parallel-connected first inverters that receives an input signal to be phase-adjusted, wherein a first inverter to be activated is selected by a first control signal. A second phase adjuster has a plurality of parallel-connected second inverters that receives the input signal with a predetermined delay time, wherein a second inverter to be activated is selected by a second control signal. An output circuit receives output signals of the first and second phase adjusters and outputs a signal whose phase is adjusted within a range of the delay time. The second phase adjuster further includes transistors connected to the second inverters. During the delay time, these transistors block a current path between the first and second phase adjusters, under the control of the input signal. |
| US08947137B2 |
Core voltage reset systems and methods with wide noise margin
Presented systems and methods facilitate efficient reset operation. In one embodiment, a system comprises a core domain portion an I/O domain portion and a core reset I/O by-pass component. The core domain portion is configured to operate at a nominal core domain voltage level. The I/O domain portion configured to operate at a nominal I/O domain voltage level. The core reset I/O by-pass component configured to forward a reset indication to the core domain independent of the I/O domain. In one exemplary implementation the core reset I/O by-pass component is operable to receive an input reset indication at a high domain voltage level and to convert the input reset indication to a core reset signal that is less than or substantially equal to the nominal core domain voltage, wherein the high domain is voltage higher than the core domain voltage level. |
| US08947136B2 |
Systems and methods of signal synchronization for driving light emitting diodes
System and method for signal synchronization. The system includes a first selection component, a first signal generator, a second signal generator and a first gate drive component. The first selection component is configured to receive a first mode signal and generate a first selection signal based on at least information associated with the first mode signal. The first signal generator is configured to, if the first selection signal satisfies one or more first conditions, receive a first input signal and generate at least a first clock signal based on at least information associated with the first input signal. Furthermore, the first gate drive component is configured to, if the first selection signal satisfies the one or more first conditions, receive at least the first clock signal and output a first drive signal to a first switch. |
| US08947134B2 |
Decoupling circuit and semiconductor integrated circuit
A decoupling circuit includes an inverter. The inverter includes i (i is an integer of 1 or more) PMOS transistors each having a first gate electrode, and j (j is an integer of 0 or more) PMOS transistors each having a second gate electrode. The inverter includes m (m is an integer of 1 or more) NMOS transistors each having a third gate electrode, and n (n is an integer of 0 or more) NMOS transistors each having a fourth gate electrode. The first to fourth gate electrodes are coupled to an input end of the inverter. A total area of the first and second gate electrodes is different from a total area of the third and fourth gate electrodes. |
| US08947133B2 |
Systems and methods for multi-level termination calibration for voltage mode drivers
A voltage mode driver system includes a plurality of VMD cells, a plurality of auxiliary cells, a control logic and an output node. The plurality of VMD cells are configured to generate a first output. The plurality of VMD cells are configured to generate a calibrated effective resistance at different signal levels according to a calibration signal. The plurality of auxiliary cells are configured to generate a second output. The output node combines the first output and the second output into a driver output. The control logic is configured to control the plurality of auxiliary cells and the second output according to a selected level. The plurality of VMD cells may be configured to generate a calibrated effective resistance at different signal levels according to a calibration signal. A calibration component is configured to determine a voltage dependence effect and to generate a calibration signal according to the determined voltage dependence effect. |
| US08947132B2 |
Semiconductor device and semiconductor system including the same
A semiconductor device includes a normal code generation unit capable of generating a normal code, a test code output unit capable of storing a plurality of preliminary test codes to output a test code in response to a test control signal, and a reference voltage generation unit capable of generating a normal reference voltage in a normal operation mode and generating a test reference voltage in a test operation mode in response to the normal code and the test code. |
| US08947128B2 |
Semiconductor device having input receiver circuit that operates in response to strobe signal
Disclosed herein is a device that includes an input receiver circuit activated by a strobe signal to generate an output signal by comparing a potential of an input signal with a reference potential, and a noise canceller cancelling noise superimposed on the reference potential due to a change in the strobe signal. |
| US08947127B2 |
Discharge path circuit of an input terminal for driver IC
Disclosed is a discharge path circuit of input terminal for a driver IC (Integrated Chip), the circuit providing a discharge path to the input terminal of the driver IC including a power input port connected to a first input and an operation mode selection port connected to a second input, the discharge path circuit including an LC (Inductance Capacitance) filter interconnected between the first input and the power input port to filter noise on a power source, and a resistance element interconnected between the first input and a ground terminal, wherein the resistance element provides a discharge path for discharging power charged by the input terminal of the driver IC. |
| US08947126B2 |
System, drivers for switches and methods for synchronizing measurements of analog-to-digital converters
A driver for a switch includes a primary side having a trigger input and a secondary side comprising an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The primary side and the secondary side are separated by a galvanic isolation barrier and communicate via a communication circuit. The primary side is configured to receive a trigger signal at the trigger input and forward the trigger signal to the ADC of the secondary side of the driver via the communication circuit. The ADC is configured to start a measurement upon receiving the trigger signal. |
| US08947122B2 |
Non-volatile latch structures with small area for FPGA
A latch circuit and method includes providing a first tri-gate non-volatile device, providing a second tri-gate non-volatile device, coupling the first tri-gate non-volatile device to the second tri-gate non-volatile device, erasing the first tri-gate non-volatile device, programming the second tri-gate non-volatile device, and latching an output node of the latch device to a logic state determined by respective thresholds of the first and second tri-gate non-volatile devices. Coupling the first tri-gate non-volatile device to the second tri-gate non-volatile device can include direct coupling, or indirect coupling through a cross-coupled circuit. |
| US08947121B2 |
Programmable logic device
A programmable logic device that verifies whether configuration data is stored correctly is provided. The programmable logic device includes a configuration memory storing configuration data input to a first wiring and a switch controlling conduction or non-conduction between a second wiring and a third wiring in accordance with the configuration data stored in the configuration memory. Further, whether the configuration data input to the first wiring agrees with configuration data actually stored in the configuration memory is verified by comparing the potential of the second wiring with the configuration data input to the first wiring. |
| US08947120B2 |
Latch array utilizing through device connectivity
A circuit for implementing latch array functions on an integrated circuit. Portions of the logic devices included in the implementation of the latch array functions that are controlled by a common signal, may be arranged in a particular alignment. A single layer uni-directionally conductive material may connect the common signal to the logic devices. |
| US08947108B2 |
Precision target methods and apparatus
A method for determining and retrieving positional information includes forming a grid by locating a plurality of first conductive elements on a surface and a plurality of second conductive elements on the surface. A second grid is coupled to the surface and electrically isolated from the grid. The surface is penetrated with a projectile and a first location of a first penetration of the surface is electronically determined based on a first change in a first electrical measurement. A plurality of third and fourth electrical measurements are performed in a second plurality of locations of the second grid and the location impact is electronically determined. |
| US08947101B2 |
Method and system for measuring the resistance of a resistive structure
Method and system for measuring the resistance of a resistive structure having at least three nodes. A first calibration signal is determined by measuring a voltage at an output of the resistance structure when no calibration current is injected into a third node between the first and second nodes of the structure. A calibration current is then injected into the third node and a second calibration signal is determined. The absolute value of the difference between the first calibration signal and the second calibration signal is determined, the absolute value being proportional to a product of the resistance of the resistive structure and the calibration current. |
| US08947100B2 |
Electronic device, and open circuit detecting system, detecting method thereof
An open circuit detecting system configured to connect to an object circuit for getting an electrical signal through a virtual ground induced by characteristic impedance of a parasitic capacitor and determining whether the object circuit is open according to the electrical signal. |
| US08947099B2 |
Equivalent power method of reducing the affects of voltage variation during active material actuation
An equivalent power method for reducing the effects of voltage variation during at least one active material actuation event, includes determining an applied real output based on the ideal voltage of a voltage source, the corresponding ideal output of a controller, and a measured real voltage, and for providing voltage out of bounds compensation, by further determining a difference based on the maximum available power output of the controller during said at least one event, and applying the difference to determine the applied real output during subsequent event(s). |
| US08947096B1 |
Trailer light tester
A new portable, self-contained device for testing the full cycle of trailer light modes without additional manual actuation by the user and for identifying where and what type of specific error occurred, if any are detected. The inventive device generally comprises a compact portable housing with a fixedly attached handle and a removable housing top. Within the compact portable housing is a self-contained, rechargeable 12 volt power source to power all functionality over a sustained period of time. Also within the compact portable housing is a light mode control means that allows the device to cycle through multiple light modes for testing, and an error detection analysis means that indicates where and what type of fault is detected. The outside surface of the compact portable housing contains an on/off switch means, a light mode selector switch to select from individual light modes or a cycle mode that rotates through all light modes at a predetermined interval, and fault detection indicators to indicate when, where, and what type of fault has been detected. Attached to a side of the housing is a connection port for connecting the device to a trailer light wiring harness. |
| US08947093B2 |
Electromagnetic survey using naturally occurring electromagnetic fields as a source
Methods and related systems are described for measuring naturally occurring electromagnetic fields both at the earth's surface as well as downhole. These fields originate from currents in the ionosphere above the earth, and are the same fields as employed by known magnetotelluric geophysical methods based on surface measurements. Some embodiments are especially useful in horizontal wells that are uncased at depth, although some embodiments are also useful in normal vertical wells that are both uncased or cased with a conductive liner. The method includes receiving downhole electromagnetic survey data of the naturally occurring electromagnetic fields obtained using a downhole receiver deployed at a first location in a borehole. A second set of electromagnetic survey data of the naturally occurring electromagnetic fields is also received that has been obtained using a receiver deployed at a second location. A transfer function is estimated between the first and second locations for portions of the electromagnetic fields based on the two sets of electromagnetic survey data. |
| US08947089B2 |
Magnetic field shimming adjustment: reducing magnetic distribution errors by obtaining current potential distributions of MRI apparatus
A measured error magnetic field distribution is divided into eigen-mode components obtained by a singular decomposition and iron piece arrangements corresponding to respective modes are combined and arranged on a shim-tray. An eigen-mode to be corrected is selected in accordance with an attainable magnetic field accuracy (homogeneity) and appropriateness of arranged volume of the iron pieces. Because the adjustment can be made with the attainable magnetic field accuracy (homogeneity) being known, an erroneous adjustment can also be known, and the adjustment is automatically done during repeated adjustments. As a result, an apparatus with a high accuracy can be provided. In addition, there is an advantageous effect of being able to detect a poor magnet earlier by checking the attainable homogeneity. |
| US08947088B2 |
MR slide coil
The present embodiments relate to a method and a local coil for a magnetic resonance tomography system. The local coil has an upper part and a lower part. The upper part and the lower part each have an inclined guide. When the upper part is positioned on the lower part, the upper part and the lower part may be displaced relative to each other along the inclined guides using an adjustment of a distance of the upper part from the lower part. |
| US08947084B2 |
Antenna device and magnetic resonance imaging device
Manufacture cost and maintenance cost of RF coils of MRI devices are reduced without any limitation concerning size of the coils. By constituting an antenna device for magnetic resonance imaging devices with a cylindrical outer conductor, a looped ribbon-shaped conductor disposed inside the cylindrical outer conductor along the cylindrical surface, and a feed point for transmission and/or reception between the cylindrical conductor and the ribbon-shaped conductor, and disposing the ribbon-shaped conductor so that length thereof can be readily adjusted, there is provided an antenna device for magnetic resonance imaging devices that generates a magnetic field component perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder at a desired resonance frequency and shows sensitivity without using capacitors and without being imposed any limitation concerning size in the diametral direction of the cylinder. |
| US08947077B2 |
Rotary position sensor
A rotary position sensor having a transmitter coil excited by a high frequency signal source. A first and second receiver coil, each having at least two oppositely wound loops, are rotatably positioned electrically 90 degrees relative to each other. The receiver coils are positioned so as to be inductively coupled with the transmitter coil while a coupler constructed of an electrically conductive material is rotatably positioned over and inductively coupled with the first and second receiver coils. The outputs from the first and second receiver coils are coupled through a high pass filter and a low pass filter, respectively, thus creating a 90° phase shift in the resultant signals. These signals are summed together and coupled as an input signal to a PWM circuit together with a signal from the transmitter coil. |
| US08947071B2 |
Noise reduction system and method
A system and method for measuring frequency which reduces the impact of noise. The system and method includes the steps of sampling a signal train over a first signal portion of the signal train, determining a first average period for the first signal portion (t1) of the signal train, sampling the signal train over a second signal portion (t2) of the signal train, wherein, the second portion of the signal train overlaps with the first signal portion, determining a second average period for the second signal portion (t2) of the output signal train, and then determining the average of the determined average periods. |
| US08947067B1 |
Automatic bandgap voltage calibration
Disclosed is bandgap voltage reference generator having a programmable resistor. The programmable resistor can be programmed to provide a proper ratio between the PTAT current and the CTAT current to reduce the effect of process variations on the bandgap voltage. The bandgap voltage reference generator includes a calibration circuit that programs the programmable resistor. |
| US08947063B2 |
Power converter with the function of digital error correction
An output voltage regulator of step-down switching power converters is described, with the regulator provided with digitally adjusted output voltage. It solves the problem of low regulation due to low error amplifier (EA) gain. This invention includes a power converter with the function of Digitally Error Correction, having Logic Control, EA, PWM comparator, Driver, power devices and passive components. A Digital Calibration Circuit whose input terminal is connected to the output voltage and output terminal is connected to the error signal. When the output voltage exceeds the tolerance range, this Digital Calibration Circuit will increase or decrease the error signal step by step, keeping the output voltage in the tolerance range. The Digital Calibration Circuit can be applied not only in nanometer scale process, but also in traditional process. For those power converters in traditional process, it is also quite promising in applications. |
| US08947060B2 |
Regulator over-voltage protection circuit with reduced standby current
An embodiment of the invention relates to a power converter formed with an error amplifier and a related method. In an embodiment, a first switch is coupled in series with an error amplifier compensation capacitor. Upon detection of a current level greater than a threshold level, the compensation capacitor is decoupled from the error amplifier by opening the first switch. In an embodiment, a second switch is coupled in parallel with the compensation capacitor, and the current-sensing circuit enables conductivity of the second switch to discharge the compensation capacitor upon detection of the current level greater than the threshold level. The second switch is opened upon detection of the current level less than the threshold level. In an embodiment, the current-sensing circuit controls an output current of the power converter at a current-limit level upon detection of the internal current level greater than the threshold level. |
| US08947059B2 |
Symmetrical output switch-mode power supply
The invention relates to a switched-mode power supply delivering a first (VPOS) and a second (VNEG) voltage which are symmetrical. It comprises a power stage (30) comprising an inductor (L), and switches (A, B, C, D, E) controlled by control signals. It also comprises a control circuit (34), coupled to the power stage (30), that is able to produce error signals (Verr1, Verr2) as a function of the difference between a reference voltage (Vref) and the first (VPOS) and second (VNEG) voltages. The power supply comprises a synchronization circuit (38), coupled to the power stage (30) and to the control circuit (34), for generating the control signals in a manner that applies a control strategy adapted to minimize error signals, maintain a non-zero amount of energy in the inductor (L), and maintain the absolute value of the first (VPOS) and second (VNEG) voltages at substantially equal values. |
| US08947057B2 |
Inverting buck-boost using single-inductor boost and charge pump with a grounded switch
The disclosed methodology for buck-boost inverted voltage conversion uses a boost stage coupled to a charge pump stage at a switch node controlled by a transistor switch coupled between the switch node and ground. The boost stage includes a boost inductor coupled between an input supply voltage and the switch node, and the charge pump stage includes a charge pump capacitor coupled between the switch node and a pump node which is coupled to the load and an output capacitor in parallel with the load. The regulated inverted output voltage is supplied to the output capacitor and the load by: (a) in a first phase, switching the transistor switch to conducting to couple the switch node to ground, and thereby (i) transferring energy from a source of input voltage source to the boost inductor, and (ii) transferring energy from a charge pump capacitor to the output node, and (b) in the second phase, switching the transistor switch to non-conducting and clamping the charge pump capacitor at a positive reference voltage, and thereby transferring energy from the boost inductor to the charge pump capacitor. In one embodiment, the positive reference voltage is the input voltage (i.e., during the second phase, the charge pump capacitor is clamped to the input voltage). |
| US08947056B2 |
Control circuit for step-up switching regulator
A switching transistor is arranged between a switching (SW) terminal and the ground terminal. An error amplifier amplifies the difference between the feedback voltage VFB that corresponds to the output voltage VOUT with a predetermined reference voltage VREF so as to generate an error voltage VERR. A pulse modulator generates a pulse signal SP having a duty ratio that is adjusted according to the error voltage VERR. A driver drives a switching transistor according to the pulse signal SP. An overvoltage detection circuit generates an overvoltage protection (OVP) signal which is asserted when the voltage at the switching (SW) terminal becomes higher than a predetermined threshold voltage. When the OVP signal is asserted, a control circuit performs a predetermined protection operation. |
| US08947050B2 |
Charging of vehicle battery based on indicators of impedance and health
A method for charging a battery may include determining a degradation condition of the battery based on impedance parameters of the battery, altering a default charge profile for the battery based on the degradation condition, and charging the battery with the altered charge profile. |
| US08947048B2 |
Power supply system with charge balancing
A power supply system includes a first charge storage. A series circuit with a plurality of n charge storage modules is connected between load terminals. A second charge storage includes load terminals. A charge transfer arrangement includes at least one charge transfer unit coupled between one of the charge storage modules and the load terminals of the second charge storage. The charge transfer arrangement is configured to transfer upon request electrical charge from the one charge storage module to the second charge storage. |
| US08947044B2 |
Wireless charging system and related method for transmitting data
The invention discloses a wireless charging system for transmitting data. The wireless charging system includes a charging device for wirelessly transmitting a source signal and adjusting a current corresponding to the source signal according to a transmitted datum, and a receiving device which includes a first coil for receiving the source signal according to the electromagnetic effect and generating a corresponding AC current signal, and an output module for obtaining the transmitted datum according to the AC current signal. |
| US08947043B2 |
Light with integrated inductive charger base station
A light comprises a lamp and an integrated inductive charger for coupling to a device having an inductive charger receiver connected thereto. The inductive charger receiver receives an electrical charge to charge a battery in the device. The lamp of the light provides illumination. The integrated inductive charger and the lamp are both electrically connected to a power supply. The integrated inductive charger can charge the battery in the device when the lamp is turned off. The lamp can be turned on without the integrated inductive charger providing an electrical charge. Alternatively, the integrated inductive charger can charge the battery in the device while the lamp is also turned on. |
| US08947040B2 |
Universal Charger
A universal charger includes a portable charger housing, an universal charging arrangement, and an energy input device. The universal charging arrangement includes a charging circuitry for managing electricity charging of the rechargeable battery, and a plurality of charging terminals movably provided in the battery compartment of the portable charging housing, wherein the charging terminals are adapted to move in the battery compartment to accurately and adjustably align with the battery terminals of the rechargeable battery. The energy input device is electrically connected with the charging circuitry, which is capable of charging a wide variety of electronic devices by acquiring power through a convention USB port. |
| US08947037B2 |
Method for estimating a torque of a three-phase drive motor for a vehicle
A method for estimating a torque of a three-phase motor for a vehicle includes measuring a respective current strength in at least two of three phase lines, wherein the three-phase motor is supplied with power by a converter, and wherein the three phase lines lead from the converter to the three-phase motor of the vehicle, measuring a respective voltage at each of the three phase lines, determining a rotating field frequency as a function of the measured current strengths or the measured voltages; and determining an estimated value for the torque as a function of the measured current strengths, the measured voltages and the determined rotating field frequency. |
| US08947032B2 |
System and method for estimating the position of a wound rotor synchronous machine
A system for estimating a rotor position may include a synchronous machine, including at least one stator winding pair configured to create a magnetic field when an input voltage is applied and a rotor having a field winding and configured to rotate within the magnetic field created by the at least one stator winding pair. The system may include a phase detector configured to determine a phase difference between the input voltage and a field voltage induced in the field winding of the rotor. The system may also include a processor configured to receive a signal from the phase detector indicative of the phase difference between the input voltage and the field voltage, and to estimate the rotor position based on the phase difference. |
| US08947024B2 |
Battery operated electric motor in a work apparatus
An electric motor includes an arrangement of windings provided for driving the rotor, with the windings being connected to an energy source to develop torque which drives the rotor. The electric circuits of corresponding ones of the windings each have a potential point, the voltage (UL, UG) of which is supplied to an evaluation unit via an adaptation device. The adaptation device can be operated in two switchable adaptation stages and is connected to a drive circuit that operates in dependence upon the rotational position of the rotor. The drive circuit switches the adaptation device into the first stage having a high sensitivity or into the second stage having a low sensitivity in dependence upon the rotational position of the rotor of the motor, such that the number of required analog inputs at a microprocessor in the evaluation unit can be kept low. |
| US08947021B2 |
Accelerator and cyclotron
An accelerator includes an inflector through which a beam entering from an ion source passes and which introduces the beam to an acceleration orbit. The inflector includes a beam convergence unit that converges the beam passing through the inflector. A cyclotron, which accelerates a beam in a convoluted acceleration orbit, includes magnetic poles, D-electrodes, and an inflector. The magnetic poles generate a magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the acceleration orbit. The D-electrodes generate a potential difference, which accelerates the beam, in the acceleration orbit. A beam, which enters in an incident direction perpendicular to the acceleration orbit, passes through the inflector, and the inflector bends the beam so as to introduce the beam to the acceleration orbit. The inflector includes a beam convergence unit that converges the beam passing through the inflector. |