| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09008848B2 |
System and method for injecting a fluid additive into a fluid dispensation system
A method for operating a fluid additive control system to inject a fluid additive into a fluid dispensation system is provided. The method includes receiving a first control signal indicating that a fluid dispensation device within the fluid dispensation system is active, and determining a fluid additive quantity based upon the identity of the fluid dispensation device. The method also includes activating a fluid additive injection system, where the fluid additive dispensation system injects the fluid additive into the fluid dispensation system in response to the activation. The method further includes receiving a second control signal from the fluid additive injection system when the fluid additive quantity for the zone has been injected into the fluid dispensation system, and deactivating the fluid additive dispensation system in response to the second control |
| US09008846B2 |
Lock-setting thermostat with flash-memory key
Property-management or lock-setting thermostats have maximum and minimum set points locked in to prevent abuse of management-provided heating and/or air conditioning. An ePROM or similar internal memory device stores heating and cooling limit parameters that are set in by a technician at the time of installation. A plug-in flash memory module contains an unlock code to match the unlock code stored in said ePROM, to unlock the thermostat and allow the settings to be adjusted; when said flash memory module is removed the thermostat reverts to its lock condition. The thermostat can also respond to unusual rates of change of temperature to block furnace or A/C operation temporarily. |
| US09008844B2 |
System and method to route airflow using dynamically changing ducts
The invention generally relates to ventilation systems and methods, and more particularly to selectively configurable climate control systems and methods for use in data centers and the like. A method includes receiving or obtaining input data, generating at least one actuation signal to change a flow configuration of a re-configurable duct system based upon the input data, and transmitting the at least one actuation signal. |
| US09008841B2 |
Robotic picking of parts from a parts holding bin
A robot system (10) for picking parts (41) from a bin (40) uses the image from one or more cameras (38) to determine if the robot gripper (24) has picked one part or more than one part and uses one or more images from one or more cameras (38) to determine the position/orientation of a picked part. If the robot (12) has picked more than one part from the bin (40) then attempt is made to return the excess picked parts to the bin (40). The position/orientation of a picked part that does not meet a predetermined criteria is changed. |
| US09008840B1 |
Apparatus and methods for reinforcement-guided supervised learning
Framework may be implemented for transferring knowledge from an external agent to a robotic controller. In an obstacle avoidance/target approach application, the controller may be configured to determine a teaching signal based on a sensory input, the teaching signal conveying information associated with target action consistent with the sensory input, the sensory input being indicative of the target/obstacle. The controller may be configured to determine a control signal based on the sensory input, the control signal conveying information associated with target approach/avoidance action. The controller may determine a predicted control signal based on the sensory input and the teaching signal, the predicted control conveying information associated with the target action. The control signal may be combined with the predicted control in order to cause the robotic apparatus to execute the target action. |
| US09008839B1 |
Systems and methods for allocating tasks to a plurality of robotic devices
Methods and systems for allocating tasks to robotic devices are provided. An example method includes receiving information associated with task logs for a plurality of robotic devices and in a computing system configured to access a processor and memory, determining information associated with a health level for the plurality of robotic devices based on the information associated with the task logs. A health level for a given robotic device may be proportional to a current level of ability to perform a function, which may change over a lifespan of the given robotic device. Information associated with a plurality of tasks to be performed by one or more or the robotic devices may also be determined. According to the method, the computing system may optimize an allocation of the plurality of tasks such that a high precision task may be allocated to a robotic device having a greater current health level than another robotic device. |
| US09008832B2 |
Diamond sorting system
A diamond sorting system comprising a diamond source for supplying one or more diamonds to be graded by a vision system having one or more cameras arranged to take one or more images of the diamond, and a processor arranged to receive the image data and execute an algorithm on the data to grade the diamond. The sorting system further comprising a diamond collection unit arranged to receive a graded diamond from the vision system and an electromechanical diamond transporter arranged to transport a diamond to be graded from the diamond source to the vision system, and further arranged to transport a graded diamond from the vision system to the diamond collection unit. |
| US09008829B2 |
Inventory system with connectable inventory holders
A system includes a first mobile drive unit and a second mobile drive unit. The first mobile drive unit is operable to dock with a first item holder at a first end of a column of connected item holders. The second mobile drive unit is operable to dock with a second item holder at a second end of the column of connected item holders. The system also includes a management module that is operable to instruct the first mobile drive unit and the second mobile drive units to transport the column of connected item holders from a first location to a second location. |
| US09008821B2 |
Servo control system capable of improving processing accuracy
A servo control system capable of using an angle-based synchronization learning control, even when a reference position is not given, while maintaining the advantage of the angle-based synchronization method. The servo control system has X-, y- and z-axes servo controllers, each configured to control x-, y- and z-axes servomotors, respectively. Each of x- and y-axes servo controllers has a reference signal generating part configured to generate a reference signal which monotonically increases or varies in one direction, based on the position command of each axis transmitted from a higher-level controller. |
| US09008817B2 |
Substrate positioning apparatus, substrate processing apparatus, substrate positioning method, and computer readable medium having a program stored thereon
Disclosed is a substrate positioning apparatus capable of accurately performing positioning of a center of a circular-shape substrate with respect to a rotating shaft. The substrate positioning apparatus includes: a substrate disposing part; a first positioning mechanism including a first reference part contacting a side of the substrate; a second positioning mechanism including a second reference part contacting the side of the substrate; a first driver configured to drive the first positioning mechanism; a controller configured to control the drive of the first positioning mechanism. In particular, the second reference part contacts the substrate at a contact part and includes an elastic part that applies force in a moving direction of the first driver to the contact part and a detector that detects position information of the second positioning mechanism. |
| US09008816B2 |
Build up edge monitoring method
A build up edge monitoring method is provided for performing online real-time detection and suppression of abnormal build up edges of cutters occurred in a CNC manufacturing process. Signal variation analysis and fast Fourier transform are used for analyzing signals and establishing an algorithm of diagnosing build up edges to improve the efficiency and reliability of the cutting abnormality diagnostics. A vibration acceleration signal is captured and filtered to a frequency exceeding 1.1 times of a blade passing frequency, and an occurrence of accumulated chips is determined according to a sudden increase of the vibration acceleration and whether the main vibration frequency of the current vibration signal determined by a fast Fourier transform analysis matches with the frequency of the build up edge characteristic, and a shutdown instruction is issued to a CNC controller to shut down a cutting machine. |
| US09008815B2 |
Apparatus for monitoring pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
An apparatus for monitoring data generated by a device adapted for use in a pharmaceutical manufacturing environment are described and disclosed herein. The method creates a historic record of the pharmaceutical manufacturing process and provides it to an end user or a plurality of end users. Consequently, the methods provide a means to track the frequency of hazards associated with said device and thereby perform quality control on an integrated level whereby a pharmaceutical manufacturer can ensure data and product integrity and minimize cost. |
| US09008812B2 |
Method and apparatus for using selected content tracks from two or more program channels to automatically generate a blended mix channel for playback to a user upon selection of a corresponding preset button on a user interface
A method and apparatus are provided for generating a personalized radio channel playlist by simultaneously buffering multiple received channels from one or more source streams, and then selecting songs or tracks to playback from the buffered channels. Users can specify favorite channels for building their personal playlists, or multiple default playlist channels can be provided by genre or channels related in some other way. Navigation tools permit users to skip ahead and backward in the playback stream. A personalized radio channel playlist can be implemented as (1) content selected from buffered channels based on user preferences for artists, songs and the like, or (2) as a Mix Channel in which content from selected buffered channels is automatically mixed for playback in response to selection of a preset button assigned to the Mix Channel. |
| US09008811B2 |
Methods and systems for adaptive time-frequency resolution in digital data coding
Embodiments are described for a system and method for implementing an adaptive time-frequency resolution in audio and video coding systems. A method of adaptively transforming the time-frequency resolution for a defined spectrum comprises dividing the spectrum of the input signal into a into plurality of bands; determining, for each band of the plurality of bands, a characteristic of the content (e.g., tonal or transient content); modifying the time-frequency resolution value to one or more bands of the plurality of bands to increase either a time resolution of the band or a frequency resolution of the band depending on the characteristic of the content; determining a cost associated with modifying the time-frequency resolution value of the one more bands based on an entropy measure of the bands, and altering the modified time-frequency resolution values in a manner that accounts for the coding cost. |
| US09008810B2 |
Coding apparatus and method, decoding apparatus and method, and program storage medium
In order to obtain coded data which does not strike viewers and listeners as being incongruous, when plural audio data are to be coded, a coding program groups the respective audio data into one audio data, codes the grouped audio data in sequence with a predetermined number of samples being treated as units, and sets delimitations corresponding to the delimitations of the plural audio data in the coded data at coding units of the coded data. |
| US09008808B2 |
Control system for safely operating at least one functional component
A system includes a functional control unit and a controller. The functional control unit is configured to enable and disable operation of a functional component. The controller is configured to receive a sensor signal, evaluate safety quality of the sensor signal, generate an evaluation parameter representing the safety quality of the sensor signal, and output the sensor signal with the evaluation parameter as a pair for receipt by the functional control unit. The functional control unit is configured to control operation of the functional component depending on the safety quality indicated by the evaluation parameter. |
| US09008807B2 |
Method of large scale process optimization and optimal planning based on real time dynamic simulation
This invention provides a system and method of Advanced Process Control for optimal operation of multi-unit plants in large scale processing and power generation industries. The invention framework includes the following components: continuous real time dynamic process simulation, automatic coefficient adjustment of dynamic and static process models, automatic construction of transfer functions, determination of globally optimal operating point specific to current conditions, provision of additional optimal operating scenarios through a variety of unit combinations, and calculation of operational forecasts in accordance with planned production. |
| US09008801B2 |
Wearable therapeutic device
A wearable therapeutic device that includes a garment configured to contain an external defibrillator. The garment is configured to house at least one of an alarm module and a monitor and to house a first therapy electrode and a second therapy electrode. The garment is also configured to releasably receive a receptacle that contains a conductive fluid proximate to at least one of the first therapy electrode and the second therapy electrode, and to electrically couple the receptacle with the garment. |
| US09008800B2 |
Separated-interface nerve electrode
Example ionic coupling electrodes are described. One example ionic conducting electrode includes a first portion that can be coupled to a single phase current source. The first portion carries current flow via electrons. The electrode includes a second portion to apply a current to a nerve tissue. The second portion carries current flow via ions. The second portion is positioned between the nerve tissue and the first portion to prevent the first portion from touching the nerve tissue. The current applied to the nerve tissue is produced in the second portion in response to a current that is present in the first portion. The current present in the first portion is provided from a single phase current source. The electrode may be used in applications including, but not limited to, nerve block applications and nerve stimulation applications. |
| US09008795B2 |
Catheter handle assembly
A catheter handle assembly includes a holder having a proximal end and a distal end. An electrode sheath carrier is arranged at the distal end of the holder. A shape imparting element carrier is removably mountable to the proximal end of the holder, the shape imparting element carrier having at least one mounting formation for mounting at least a part of a shape imparting element. A slide is displaceably arranged in the holder with a distal end of the slide mounting the electrode sheath carrier and a proximal end of the slide terminating in proximity to the shape imparting element carrier. |
| US09008784B2 |
Device and methods for preventing knee sprain injuries
Devices and methods for preventing knee sprain injuries. To protect the knee joint from knee sprain injuries, the device comprises a sensing part configured to sense data associated with knee motion; an analyzing part configured to analyze the knee motion data to determine a knee articulation; and a stimulating part configured to stimulate one or more lower limb muscles to initiate an earlier muscle reaction than would naturally occur in response to the determined knee joint articulation. The determined knee joint articulation may include knee joint articulation or a particular type of articulation such as a knee sprain movement associated with knee sprain. The methods involve sensing data associated with knee joint motion, analyzing the data to determine a knee joint articulation; and stimulating one or more lower limb muscles to initiate an early muscle reaction within the determined knee joint articulation. |
| US09008782B2 |
Occipital nerve stimulation
An implantable medical device comprises one or more electrical stimulation generators, and a housing that contains the one or more electrical stimulation generators. The implantable medical device also includes a first medical lead no greater than about 6 inches in length, and a second medical lead no greater than about 6 inches in length. The housing includes a first connector block that electrically connects the first medical lead to at least one of the one or more electrical stimulation generators, and a second connector block that electrically connects the second medical lead to at least one of the one or more electrical stimulation generators. The implantable medical device may be part of an electrical stimulation system implanted beneath the skin and inferior to the inion of a patient to deliver stimulation therapy to at least one of an occipital nerve and a branch of the occipital nerve. |
| US09008781B2 |
Method and system for treatment of mobility dysfunction
Effective systems and methods for improving neural communication impairment of a vertebrate being and affecting motor activity of a peripheral body part including a first signal providing component configured to provide pulsed peripheral stimulation signals at the peripheral body part, a second signal providing component configured to provide a pulsed motor cortex stimulation signal to a motor cortex area, a substantially DC signal providing component configured to provide direct current spinal stimulation signal at a neural spinal junction and a controller component configured to control timing of the pulsed peripheral stimulation signals and the pulsed motor cortex stimulation signal. |
| US09008780B2 |
Methods and associated neural prosthetic devices for bridging brain areas to improve function
Methods for bridging brain sites between which there is substantially no effective communication, and associated neural prosthetic devices, are provided. A neural spike in a first neural site in a subject is detected, and a stimulus to a second neural site in the subject is delivered within a defined period of time after the detection of the neural spike, wherein there is substantially no effective communication between the first and second neural sites. The method forms an artificial bridge between the two neural sites, and establishes lasting communication between the two sites. The present disclosure provides, among other things, a neural prosthetic device comprising an integrated circuit that comprises a recording front-end comprising a plurality of recording channels; a processor unit; and a stimulus delivering back-end comprising a plurality of stimulation channels. |
| US09008779B2 |
Insulator for a feedthrough
A hermetic feedthrough for an implantable medical device includes an insulator body and a ferrule. The insulator body includes ceramic material and one or more electrically conductive conduits extending through the insulator body. The insulator is disposed in an opening of the ferrule. The insulator body includes a plurality of substantially flat surfaces that each include a plurality of edges. A rounded corner extends between adjacent edges of any two adjacent substantially flat surfaces. Each corner between any two adjacent substantially flat surfaces that face toward the ferrule has an average radius that is less than approximately 25% of a length of the corresponding edges. |
| US09008778B2 |
Implantable electrical stimulation systems with shielded control module and methods for making and using
An implantable control module for an electrical stimulation system includes a header coupled a sealed body. The header includes at least one connector assembly. The control module also includes a conductive shield disposed over at least a portion of the connector assembly or connector assemblies of the header. The conductive shield is provided to hinder generation of current in the header or in a portion of a lead received in the header in response to application of an external radiofrequency (RF) or magnetic field. A similar shield can also be used to shield a connector assembly disposed on the end of a lead extension or any other component of the electrical stimulation system. |
| US09008769B2 |
Methods and systems for lowering blood pressure through reduction of ventricle filling
Methods and devices for reducing ventricle filling volume are disclosed. In some embodiments, an electrical stimulator may be used to stimulate a patient's heart to reduce ventricle filling volume or even blood pressure. When the heart is stimulated in a consistent way to reduce blood pressure, the cardiovascular system may over time adapt to the stimulation and revert back to the higher blood pressure. In some embodiments, the stimulation pattern may be configured to be inconsistent such that the adaptation response of the heart is reduced or even prevented. In some embodiments, an electrical stimulator may be used to stimulate a patient's heart to cause at least a portion of an atrial contraction to occur while the atrioventricular valve is closed. Such an atrial contraction may deposit less blood into the corresponding ventricle than when the atrioventricular valve is opened throughout an atrial contraction. |
| US09008766B2 |
Medical device adjusting operation when used with non-authenticated patient parameter collecting accessory
Embodiments are directed to a medical device, such as a defibrillator, for use with an accessory capable of collecting a parameter of a patient. The medical device is capable of at least performing a basic functionality, an advanced functionality, and of defibrillating the patient. The medical device includes an energy storage module within a housing for storing an electrical charge that is to be delivered to the patient for the defibrillating. The medical device includes a processor structured to determine whether a data set received from the accessory confirms or not a preset authentication criterion about the accessory. Although when the accessory is coupled to the housing the medical device is capable of the defibrillating and the basic functionality, the medical device is capable of the advanced functionality only when the accessory is coupled to the housing and it is determined that the preset authentication criterion is confirmed. Embodiments also include methods of operation and a programmed solution. |
| US09008753B2 |
Look-locker IR-SSFP for cardiac MR imaging with simultaneous generation of cardiac T1 maps, cine images and IR-prepared images
The present invention is directed to a method for use in conducting cardiac MR imaging which allows for reconstruction of T1 maps, cine images and IR-prepared images from one raw data set, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a) acquisition of raw data by use of an ECG-triggered, segmented, inversion recovery (IR) -prepared Look-Locker type pulse sequence for data acquisition, wherein the pulse sequence encompasses more than one shot, wherein each shot comprises: i) an ECG-triggered inversion pulse; ii) SSFP cine data acquisition of radial segmented profiles over more than one RR-interval for a predefined acquisition duration AD; and iii) a relaxation duration RD, during which no data is acquired; b) retrospective gating of raw data by sorting acquired raw data for each RR-interval into a pre-determined number of heart phases by definition of specific time windows within the RR-intervals and sampling of raw data acquired during the time windows respectively; c) image reconstruction, wherein the retrospectively gated raw data is used for reconstruction of T1 maps, cine images and/or IR-prepared images. |
| US09008750B2 |
Method for determining the ventilation of a lung
In a method for determining the ventilation of a lung of an object under examination by magnetic resonance imaging, at least two first lung-representing image data sets are acquired at different intervals of the breathing phase. The density change of the lung tissue is automatically determined from the signal difference between the image signals of the first image data sets in at least one corresponding region of the first lung-representing image data set. The lung or the thorax volume is automatically determined using at least two of the first image data sets, or using at least an additional second lung-representing image data set in a breathing phase that corresponds with the breathing phase of a first image data set. The localized, quantitative ventilation of the lung is automatically calculated depending on the density change of the lung tissue and the change of the lung or thorax volume. |
| US09008749B2 |
Apparatus and method for influencing and/or detecting magnetic particles in a field of view having an array of single-sided transmit coil sets
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for influencing and/or detecting magnetic particles in a field of view. To increase the field of view and, at the same time, allow access to the patient during imaging, the apparatus comprises two or more transmit coil sets (200) wherein neighboring coil sets are partially overlapping, a transmit coil set comprising: a pair (210) of concentrically arranged selection field coils (211, 212) for generating a magnetic selection field (50) having a pattern in space of its magnetic field strength such that a first sub-zone (52) having a low magnetic field strength and a second sub-zone (54) having a higher magnetic field strength are formed in the field of view (28), and at least one pair (220, 230) of drive field coils (221, 222; 231, 232) for changing the position in space of the two sub-zones (52, 54) in the field of view (28) by means of a magnetic drive field so that the magnetization of the magnetic particles changes locally, said at least one pair (220, 230) of drive field coils being arranged parallel to said pair (210) of selection field coils (211, 212) and being formed by two neighboring coil loops. |
| US09008746B2 |
Method and apparatus for localizing myocardial infarction during catheterization
A catheter with a tissue property sensor provides for localization of myocardial infarction (MI) by utilizing one or more differences between properties of infarcted myocardial tissue and properties of normal myocardial tissue. The tissue property sensor is to be placed on endocardial wall or epicardial wall during catheterization to sense at least one tissue property allowing for detection of MI. In one embodiment, the tissue property sensor includes a contractility sensor and senses a tissue property in various locations on endocardial wall or epicardial wall and detects substantial changes in the tissue property that indicate a boundary between infarcted tissue and normal tissue. |
| US09008744B2 |
Method and apparatus for continuous analyte monitoring
Embodiments of the invention provide analyte sensors and sensor systems such as amperometric glucose sensors used in the management of diabetes as well as optimized methods for monitoring analytes using such sensors and sensor systems. |
| US09008741B2 |
Superconducting structure comprising coated conductor tapes, in particular stapled perpendicularly to their substrate planes
A superconducting structure (1) has a plurality of coated conductor tapes (2; 2a-2o), each with a substrate (3) which is one-sided coated with a superconducting film (4), in particular an YBCO film, wherein the superconducting structure (1) provides a superconducting current path along an extension direction (z) of the superconducting structure (1), wherein the coated conductor tapes (2; 2a-2o) provide electrically parallel partial superconducting current paths in the extension direction (z) of the superconducting structure (1), is characterized in that the coated conductor tapes (2; 2a-2o) are superconductively connected among themselves along the extension direction (z) continuously or intermittently. A more stable superconducting structure with which high electric current strengths may be transported is thereby provided. |
| US09008739B2 |
Terminal structure of superconducting cable conductor and terminal member used therein
In a terminal structure of a superconducting cable conductor, a terminal portion of the superconducting cable conductor is connected with a terminal member of a good conductor. The terminal portion includes a superconducting layer disposed on an outer periphery of a central support; and an insulating layer surrounding the superconducting layer. The insulating layer and the superconducting layer are partially removed to expose the central support and the superconducting layer in this order from an end of the superconducting cable conductor. The terminal member includes a metal sleeve which includes a first cylindrical portion whose inner surface is in close contact with an exposed portion of the central support; a second cylindrical portion which is soldered around an exposed portion of the superconducting layer; and a third cylindrical portion into which the insulating layer is inserted. |
| US09008737B2 |
Mobile terminal and an antenna for the mobile terminal
A mobile terminal includes a terminal body, an antenna module coupled to the terminal body and including a radiator for transmitting and receiving radio signals, a circuit board electrically coupled to the antenna module for processing the transmitted and received radio signals, and at least one coupling member positioned proximate to and spaced from the radiator a particular distance for coupling the antenna module to the terminal body. The at least one coupling member is coupled to the radiator. |
| US09008735B2 |
Runtime selection of most energy-efficient approach for services requested by mobile applications
An energy conservation module may be included in a mobile communication device that receives requests for services from application programs running in the device. For each request, the energy conservation module may determine which of different, selectable ways of performing the request is likely to be the most energy efficient. The energy conservation module may then cause the request to be performed in this most energy-efficient way. This determination may be dynamic and based on current operating conditions. Middleware between the application programs and an operating system may be included that presents various APIs to the application programs to allow them to easily invoke this functionality. The different, selectable ways of performing the services may be of any type, including different, selectable computer network interfaces (e.g., Wi-Fi and cellular) and whether a complex computation should be performed within or outside of the mobile communication device. |
| US09008732B2 |
Mobile communication terminal and method for operating the same
A mobile communication terminal and a method for operating the same are disclosed. The mobile communication terminal can be connected to first and second communication networks. The first communication network may be a legacy network and the second communication network may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The mobile communication terminal is also capable of displaying a two-dimensional (2D) image and a three-dimensional (3D) image. The mobile communication terminal reproduces a 2D image, receives a display mode switch request signal from a user, determines whether 3D image reception is available according to an environment of a current connected mobile communication network, receives a 3D image from a server, if 3D image reception is available and a 2D image from the server if 3D image reception is not available, and displays the received 3D image or 2D image. |
| US09008731B2 |
Mobile terminal
A mobile terminal as broadly described herein may include a first body, and a second body formed of a transparent material and attached to the first body. The second body may include a recess formed on a surface of the second body and recessed away from the first body, a transparent display provided in the recess and formed of a transparent material, and configured to display visual information thereon, and a filler material provided in the recess at a gap between the transparent display and the recess. The filler material may be formed of a transparent material. |
| US09008727B2 |
Radio communication system, radio communication method, base station device and terminal device
A base station broadcasts a message saying that transmittable ranging codes are limited by antenna IDs to limit antennas and the ranging codes to be searched, thereby reducing a processing load of the search. In a cellular radio communication system in which a base station device is connected to plural antennas, and antenna IDs for identifying the antennas are transmitted from the respective antennas, the base station device broadcasts a message saying that a group of ranging codes transmittable by a terminal device is limited by the antenna IDs, the terminal device receives the message, identifies the antenna ID, selects the ranging code from the group of the ranging codes corresponding to the antenna ID, and transmits the selected ranging code. |
| US09008726B2 |
Base station apparatus, mobile station apparatus, communication system, base station apparatus control method, mobile station apparatus control method, and recording medium storing program
To enable a mobile station, when a base station carries out a measurement of a radio signal coming from an adjacent cell while suspending at least one of radio transmission to and radio reception from the mobile station when a base station's own cell is in operation, to recognize that the adjacent cell is being measured. A home base station 1 carries out a measurement of a radio signal coming from an adjacent cell while suspending at least one of radio transmission to and radio reception from a mobile station 3-1 when a base station's own cell (home cell) is in operation. Further, the home base station 1 notifies, prior to beginning the measurement, advance notice information indicating an execution of the measurement to the mobile station 3-1. |
| US09008725B2 |
Strategically located touch sensors in smartphone casing
A wireless or handheld device or phone is equipped with corner sensors which control functioning of the device. The corner sensors are configured based how a user holds the handheld device while utilizing the corner sensors. The corner sensors may also be configured based on a spatial orientation of the handheld device. The corner sensors may be configured based on which hand or hands control the corner sensors, the dexterity of the fingers controlling the sensors and/or the spatial orientation of the device. The corner sensors may include a touch sensor, a trackpad and/or a pressure sensor and may detect various single sensor inputs or simultaneous gestures. The device may sense when it is held in a hand and may disable the corner sensors when it is not held. |
| US09008721B2 |
Broadcast reception mobile terminal
There is provided a broadcast reception mobile terminal capable of improving both electric power saving and user-friendliness includes a broadcast reception mobile terminal that is constructed to be foldable as a result of a lid body arranged to be rotated with respect to a main body, and includes a main LCD panel (202a) on an inner surface side of the lid body and a sub LCD panel (202b) on an outer surface side of the lid body. A CPU (209) detects that the lid body is opened or closed by a signal from an opening/closing detection switch. In addition, the CPU (209) obtains from an earphone connector (203) information indicating whether or not an earphone is connected. In a case that the CPU (209) detects the lid body being closed during television viewing on the main LCD panel (202a), and performing a TVOFF process if the earphone is not connected, and stopping video display but continuing output of received audio if the earphone is connected. |
| US09008720B2 |
Method and system for small cell discovery in heterogeneous cellular networks
A method and a user equipment in a network having a macro cell and at least one small cell, the method in one embodiment receiving a measurement restriction over a broadcast channel from the macro cell; and applying the restriction for a corresponding measurement at the user equipment. In one embodiment the method includes receiving a small cell list from the macro cell; and measuring at least one of a reference signal receive power and a reference signal received quality based on the received small cell list. The method includes, in one embodiment, receiving a neighboring small cell configurations from the macro cell; and utilizing the received small cell configurations to attach to a small cell. The method includes, in one embodiment, receiving an s-measure offset value over a broadcast channel from the macro cell; and applying the s-measure offset value to an s-measure for neighbor cell discovery. |
| US09008717B2 |
Method for transferring base station energy-saving information and method and system for implementing energy-saving
The invention discloses a method for transmitting energy-saving management information. The method includes: a base station and its neighboring base station encapsulating and transmitting the energy-saving management information through an interface message. The invention further discloses a corresponding method for implementing base station energy saving, a system for transmitting the energy-saving management information, and a system for implementing base station energy saving. The invention can be used to solve transmission of the energy-saving information between base station devices of a network, and avoid the problems, for example, handoff and coverage loss caused by the base station being required to be shut off due to reasons such as energy saving, etc., thus guaranteeing network performance and user experience when the base station is performing the energy saving operation. |
| US09008716B2 |
Mobile station
In a mobile station UE, a PHR transmission unit transmits a PHR to a RAT#1 when “prohibitPHR-Timer_up” is interrupted and when an increment in transmission power or P-MPR in second communication exceeds “dl-PathlossChange” compared with a value in finally transmitting the PHR. When “prohibitPHR-Timer_down” is interrupted and when a decrement in transmission power or a decrement in transmission power or P-MPR in the second communication exceeds “dl_PathlossChange”, the PHR transmission unit transmits the PHR to the RAT#1, and “prohibitPHR-Timer_up” is ended in a period shorter than that of “prohibitPHR-Timer_down”. |
| US09008713B2 |
Method of cutting off a transmission signal of a main transmitter relayed by a cell of a base station and associated system
Method of cutting off a transmission signal of a main transmitter relayed by a cell of a base station and associated system. According to this method, the transmission signal is cut off:—if the power of the transmission signal emitted by the main transmitter is greater than the power of each transmission signal of other transmitters relayed by the same cell of the base station, and—if the power of the transmission signal of the main transmitter does not decrease after several identical successive transmitted-power regulating commands (TPC) emitted by the base station. |
| US09008712B2 |
Method and communication device for handling time offsets between communication device and transmission points
A method of handling a plurality of time offsets between a communication device of a wireless communication system and a plurality of transmission points of the wireless communication system is disclosed. The method is utilized in the communication device, and comprises obtaining the plurality of time offsets by using a first reference signal; and transmitting the plurality of time offsets to the plurality of transmission points, respectively; wherein the plurality of transmission points compensate the plurality of time offsets, respectively, when communicating with the communication device. |
| US09008710B2 |
Controlling communication between whitespace devices
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for controlling communication between whitespace devices are provided. Embodiments include identifying, by a base-station array controller, a user whitespace device within a coverage area of a base-station array, wherein the base-station array includes a plurality of base-station whitespace devices of varying power consumption profiles; identifying for each base-station whitespace device, by the base-station array controller, transmission channels available to the base-station whitespace device; selecting from the plurality of base-station whitespace devices, by the base-station array controller, a base-station whitespace device based on the power consumption profiles and the identified available transmission channels corresponding to the plurality of base-station whitespace devices; and instructing, by the base-station array controller, the selected base-station whitespace device to communicate with the identified user whitespace device on one of the identified available transmission channels. |
| US09008709B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing a WiFi network information service
An approach is provided for providing a WiFi network information service. A configuration client processes and/or facilitates a processing, by at least one module of at least one access point, of configuration data stored at the at least one access point to determine network information. The configuration client then causes a transmission of the network information by the at least one module to at least one server. A location client also determines at least one request, from at least one client, for network information associated with at least one access point, at least one location, or a combination thereof. The location client then processes and/or facilitates a processing of the at least one request to cause a generation of at least one query for the network information from at least one server, wherein the network information is determined from at least one module of the at least one access point. |
| US09008707B2 |
Method and arrangement for reducing interference and enhancing coverage
In a method of controlling downlink transmitting power and antenna coverage of base stations in a communication system, the system comprising a plurality of base stations and a plurality of user equipment each associated with at least one of the plurality of base stations, providing (S10) interference and noise information for each of at least a subset of the plurality of user equipment. Subsequently, identifying (S20) at least one interfering base station for at least one user equipment of the subset, and jointly analyzing (S30) the provided interference and noise information for the subset together with the identified at least one interfering base station. Finally, jointly adapting (S40) a transmitting power level and/or an antenna beam of the at least one identified interfering base stations based on the analysis, to provide reduced power consumption and increased coverage in the communication system. |
| US09008703B1 |
Ubiquitous voice messaging
Methods and apparatus for providing ubiquitous and configurable communications between users is provided. Ubiquity and other features are provided using a common identifier linking two or more users. In one embodiment, a common identifier is automatically provided when call forwarding is directed to a designated phone number. In another embodiment, a user can cause a common identifier to be created linking the user with a user of their choice by sending an SMS text message to a designated address. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the disclosure contained herein. This Abstract is submitted with the explicit understanding that it will not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims. |
| US09008702B2 |
Base station and method of controlling the same
Provided is a base station capable of maintaining a communication quality of a communication terminal (mobile station) having registered its position with the base station itself, even if an operating frequency is changed. According to the present invention, the base station includes a transmission and reception unit 102 configured to transmit and receive signals at the operating frequency for communication with the communication terminal, a pilot beacon transmission unit 104 configured to transmit a pilot beacon to a communication terminal, in communication with another base station, at an operating frequency of the another base station in order to allow the communication terminal to detect the operating frequency of the base station itself, and a control unit 101, if changing the operating frequency of the transmission and reception unit 102, configured to control the pilot beacon transmission unit 104 to change the frequency of the pilot beacon to transmit therefrom to the operating frequency of the transmission and reception unit 103 before changed and transmit the pilot beacon at this frequency. |
| US09008700B2 |
Methods and apparatus for position location in a wireless network
Methods and apparatus for position location in a wireless network. In an aspect, a method is provided that includes determining whether a symbol to be transmitted is an active symbol, wherein the symbol comprises a plurality of subcarriers, and encoding identification information on a first portion of subcarriers if it is determined that the symbol is the active symbol. The method also includes encoding idle information on a second portion of subcarriers if it is determined that the symbol in not the active symbol. In an aspect, an apparatus includes detector logic configured to decode a plurality of symbols to determine identification information that identifies a plurality of transmitters, and to determine a plurality of channel estimate associated with the plurality of transmitters. The apparatus also includes position determination logic configured to calculate a device position based on the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of channel estimates. |
| US09008695B2 |
Method, system and/or device for adjusting expected received signal strength signature values
Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for application of determining position information for mobile devices. In specific implementations, measurement of a signal travel time and a signal's strength may be combined to characterize a transmission power of the signal's transmitter. The characterized transmission power may be applied to affect expected signal strength signature values for use of the signal's transmitter may be updated in order to enhance a location based service where location may be effected by accuracy of a transmitter's power. |
| US09008691B2 |
Systems and methods to provide an advertisement relating to a recommended business to a user of a wireless device based on a location history of visited physical named locations associated with the user
In general, the invention relates to methods and systems that record the location of a user and determine the corresponding physical named location (e.g. business location) visited by the user. The system further provides suggested or recommended destinations and targeted content, which may include advertisements, to the user. A network includes a server programmed with a database of location information, a database of user information, payment account information, and a wireless communication system capable of communicating with the user's mobile device. The location of the mobile device is ascertained and recorded. The system determines the physical named location (e.g. business location) visited by the user and stores the information in a location history including specific businesses visited by the user. The system further provides suggested or recommended businesses of interest, and may also additionally provide advertisements, based on the user's current location and location history. |
| US09008688B2 |
Calendar matching of inferred contexts and label propagation
Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for calendar matching of inferred contexts are described. In one potential embodiment, a mobile device may use context information to generate a calendar of inferred contexts. Label information from raw calendar data may be used to update an inferred context within a calendar of inferred contexts. Additionally, the label may be propagated to future contexts and entries in an inferred context calendar. |
| US09008686B2 |
Collaborative location/orientation estimation
It is inter alia disclosed to estimate at least one of a location and an orientation of a first-type device (11) at least based on respective location estimates for one or more signal sources (10), wherein at least one location estimate for a signal source (10) of the one or more signal sources is determined at least based on respective signals from the signal source (10) received at one or more second-type devices (12) and respective locations of the one or more second-type devices (12), and respective position relationships between the one or more signal sources (10) and the first-type device (11). |
| US09008682B2 |
Performance monitoring of location-based service in a mobile telecommunications network
A method, a device and a system are provided for monitoring Location-based Service of a mobile telecommunications network. A passive monitoring method is applied processing both positioning and Location-based Service information of different interfaces. In the system, a monitoring device is attached at the standard interfaces of the network calculating Key Performance indicators and/or measures of network usage from the combined information. In a preferred embodiment, traffic of Le and Gi interfaces (106, 107) of a 3GPP GPRS network (102) are monitored, however the invention can be applied to both circuit-switched and packet-switched telecommunications network supporting positioning. |
| US09008681B2 |
Method and system for controlling station operation mode
A system for controlling a station operation mode is provided. The system for controlling a station operation mode, including: a distance information generation unit measuring a distance between a first communication station and a second communication station and generating distance information; a distance information comparison unit comparing the distance information and a predetermined threshold distance; and an operation mode determination unit determining any one of an active mode and an idle mode as an operation mode of the second communication station, based on a comparison result of the distance information comparison unit. |
| US09008664B2 |
Redirecting handovers in LTE networks
An architecture that can redirect communications upon detection of a handover failure in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network is described. The architecture can obtain information indicative of a handover failure that is available in a first portion of the LTE network (e.g., a serving gateway) that has no control over the communication path. The architecture can utilize the information to instruct a second portion of the LTE network (e.g., a mobility management entity), one that can control the communication path but conventionally has no access to the handover information, to reroute the communication path to avoid unresponsive or failing network entities. |
| US09008663B2 |
Mobile station and method for mobile communication system
A mobile station includes a measurement unit that measures radio qualities for a serving cell and a candidate switching target cell; a cell switching determination unit that determines whether the radio quality of the serving cell is less than a reference quality corresponded in advance with a predetermined throughput, wherein, when the radio quality of the serving cell is less than the reference quality, the cell switching determination unit determines whether the serving cell is to be switched to the candidate switching target cell by comparing the radio quality of the serving cell with that of the candidate switching target cell; and a radio communication unit that transmits a signal for requesting the switching of the serving cell, and that receives a signal for instructing the switching of the serving cell from a network apparatus. |
| US09008661B2 |
Systems and methods for service in multimedia broadcast multicast services
A method for providing service among a plurality of Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Networks (MBSFNs) that are providing multimedia broadcast services, includes storing a pointer in data to be transmitted by a base station corresponding to a serving of a first MBSFN. The pointer points to either a location of a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) control channel or a location of MBMS data in a second MBSFN. |
| US09008657B2 |
Centralized context awareness through network association
A user's context is determined based on the wireless network to which the user is connected. Targeted information, based on the determined context, is then delivered to the user. A centralized mechanism associates identifiers of wireless access points to one or more providers, such as retail establishments, that have set up those access points and have been registered by the centralized mechanism. The providers also provide targeted information that they wish to have delivered to users whose context indicates that they are in or near that provider's store. The centralized mechanism further has information associating the wireless computing device with contact information that can be utilized to deliver targeted information. The targeted information can be delivered to the user via the wireless network, a cellular network or through other communicational mechanisms. The provider, or retail establishment, can also be informed of the presence of the user near its premises. |
| US09008656B2 |
Method and apparatus of searching for operator network in a multi-radio access technology environment
A method and apparatus of searching for an operator network in a multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) environment are provided. The method, calculating a length of a sleep interval to perform background Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) searching, comparing the length of the sleep interval with a predetermined reference parameter, if the length of the sleep interval is larger than the reference parameter, performing background PLMN searching of a passive RAT during the sleep interval, and if the length of the sleep interval is equal to or smaller than the reference parameter, performing background PLMN searching of an active RAT during the sleep interval. |
| US09008654B2 |
Auto IMSI switch for international roaming
The invention concerns a method for automatically switching from a Home IMSI to a Roaming IMSI and vice versa, said Home IMSI and Roaming IMSI being contained in a SIM card adapted to be used in a mobile station and adapted to comprise elementary files, wherein it comprises the step of triggering the switch from one IMSI to another when detecting an update of the elementary file comprising forbidden public land mobile networks (EFFPIMN). |
| US09008652B2 |
Method and system integrating geographical location information and bluetooth technology for relaying electronic business card
Provided in the present invention are method and system for delivering an electronic business card by combining geographical location information and Bluetooth technology. The method comprises: a requesting user submitting the current geographical location information, the name of a Bluetooth communication device, and a list of the names of other detected Bluetooth communication devices to an electronic business card delivery server by using a mobile client, acquiring a list of users corresponding to neighboring mobile clients as well as the user's condensed identity information, the neighboring mobile clients being located within a predetermined distance range and located within a detection range of the Bluetooth communication device; selecting a user from the user list, sending an electronic business card delivery request to the electronic business card delivery server; the electronic business card delivery server transmitting the request to the mobile client corresponding to the selected user, and when receiving corresponding confirmation information, responding to the request so as to deliver the electronic business card. Compared with the prior art, the present invention allows for the delivery of large quantity of electronic business cards, simplified operations, and ensured accuracy and security of electronic business card contents. |
| US09008651B2 |
Wireless communication devices
A telecommunication network is described in which information relating to access to resources such as the world wide web, may be transferred between wireless communication terminals at least one of which is a client of a server connected to the network and providing access to the resources. A method of transfer and a terminal suitable therefor are described. |
| US09008647B2 |
Mobile radio communication network device, mobile terminal, and method for transmission/reception of control information
A mobile radio communication network device is described including a receiver configured to receive control information from a mobile terminal, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the control information in a first mode or in a second mode, wherein in the second mode, less of the control information is received in time from the mobile terminal than in the first mode, and a controller configured to control the receiver to receive the control information in the first mode if the mobile terminal is associated with a first mobile terminal mobility class and to control the receiver to receive the information in the second mode if the mobile terminal is associated with a second mobile terminal mobility class. |
| US09008644B2 |
Dynamic geographic beacons for geographic-positioning-capable devices
In one embodiment, a mobile device may receive information on entities socially connected to a user of the mobile device. The information may comprise a location for each of the entities, an affinity score with respect to the user for each of the entities, and a relevancy score for any advertisement corresponding to each of the entities. The user may be socially associated with the entities through an on-line social network. For each of the entities, the affinity score may be adjusted based on the relevancy score. The mobile device may periodically determine a current location of the mobile device, a radius from the location of each entity (based on the adjusted affinity score for the entity), and whether the current location is within an area defined by the radius. If the current location is within the one of the radii, then the mobile device may be woken. |
| US09008639B2 |
Controlling audio of a device
Techniques and tools are described for controlling an audio signal of a mobile device. For example, information indicative of acceleration of the mobile device can be received and correlation between the information indicative of acceleration and exemplar whack event data can be determined. An audio signal of the mobile device can be controlled based on the correlation. |
| US09008638B2 |
System and method for deploying application program components having a service sector to wireless devices
A communication system includes a development sector for registering a plurality of wireless devices, a business sector for controlling utilization of an application program and for receiving application data, a service sector for deploying the application program and for providing the application data to the business sector in accordance with communication with at least one wireless device of the plurality; and a mobile sector comprising the plurality of wireless devices, each device for receiving the application program deployed by the service sector, executing the application program in response to the business sector, and communicating with the service sector to support provision of the application data to the business sector. The wireless device, such as a cell phone, personal digital assistant, or palm top computer may include an auxiliary device such as a bar code scanner, a magnetic stripe card reader, or a printer. The business sector or service sector may monitor or limit utilization of the auxiliary device. Deployment of application programs may be controlled by the business sector or the development sector by rendering an application program or auxiliary device available for use only after a particular time or after receipt of a message. Distributed processing application programs having components in the business, service, and mobile sectors may thereby be updated in an orderly manner. An application program on a wireless device may assist confirmation of an order made by a buyer via a web site. The wireless device is expected to be operated by the buyer. Fraud reporting is accomplished by comparing data obtained by registration of the wireless device with data provided in the confirmation. |
| US09008637B2 |
Call forwarding system and method for forwarding a call to a terminal through near-field wireless communication
In a call forwarding system, a management apparatus of the call forwarding system determines service terminals capable of near field wireless communication within a reception range of near field wireless communication, generates a terminal list, and receives a call event message reporting the receipt of a call from a reference terminal. The management apparatus may transmit a call report message including the terminal list to the reference terminal and the service terminals. The management apparatus may forward the call initially received by the reference terminal to a terminal which transmitted a receipt request message by transmitting a call forwarding request message to the reference terminal. The management apparatus may transmit, to the reference terminal and the service terminals, a receipt report message reporting the call was forwarded. According to a change receipt message or upon non-receipt by an intended terminal, the call may be reforwarded to another terminal. |
| US09008631B2 |
Providing context information during voice communications between mobile devices, such as providing visual media
A system and method for providing context information along with a voice call is disclosed. In some examples, a calling device receives context information from a user and transmits the context information when establishing a voice call with the user. The context information may include various types of media, such as pictures or videos taken by a calling device. In some examples, a destination mobile device receives a voice call that does have context information and sends a request to a calling mobile device for information related to the voice call. |
| US09008628B2 |
Interactive voice access and notification system
An interactive voice access and notification method includes monitoring one or more notification events associated with one or more recipients identified by a user to detect a trigger of the notification event(s). The method also includes initiating a call to the recipient(s) in response to detecting the trigger of the notification event(s). The method also includes playing back an interactive audible notification message received from the user in response to confirming the recipient(s) are on the call. The method further includes sending a confirmation response to the user when a response from the recipient(s) to the interactive audible notification message triggers a confirmation response. |
| US09008627B2 |
Mobile communication terminal and information providing system
Information that is no longer valid due to the passage of time is not provided to a user. When a stock price information server acquires updated stock price information from a securities market network, a message that instructs that a predetermined application be started up and to which a term of validity has been attached is sent to a user terminal over a paging channel via an SMS server. When the user terminal receives the message, it determines whether or not the message is within the term of validity, and if it determines that the message is within the term of validity, starts up the instructed application from among a plurality of applications that are stored. The stock price information server then sends to the user terminal the stock price information that is requested by the started up application. |
| US09008625B2 |
Fraud prevention techniques
System, apparatus, computer program products and methods for preventing fraud attacks (e.g., on a virtual PBX service provider) are disclosed. In some implementations, a set of fraud evaluation processes are performed, an overall fraud evaluation score is incremented as each of the set of fraud evaluation processes are performed and a step result is obtained. A user request (e.g., account activation) can be denied or accepted based on the overall fraud evaluation score. In some implementations, the set of fraud evaluation processes can include one or more of: an internal fraud evaluation process, a process for checking multiple trial accounts associated with a common account parameter, a process for geolocation verification of multiple account parameters, a process for device type verification for a contact phone number, a process for credit card verification, and a process for placing a contact number verification call. |
| US09008623B2 |
Dynamic device naming and connection in wireless communication system and method thereof
A dynamic device naming and connection in a wireless communication method includes the following steps: firstly, a first device changes a first name of the first device according to a first state, and then a second device searches the device which has a second name according to a second state. Afterwards, whether the second name is equal or relative to the first name or not is determined. If the second name is equal or relative to the first name, the first device may communicate with the second device. |
| US09008618B1 |
MRCP gateway for mobile devices
A system and method for securely bridging mobile-originated Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) transactions with at least one Media Resource Server. A mobile device initiates TCP/IP requests to a MRCP Gateway Server over at least one of the wireless and mobile broadband capabilities of the mobile device. The MRCP Gateway Server includes TCP/IP-based ingress, and the MRCP Gateway Server is arranged in front of the at least one Media Resource Server. The Media Resource Server supports MRCP communication. A secure channel may be established between the mobile device and MRCP Gateway Server, and the mobile device may pass authorization credentials, media resource requirements, and additional user-defined data to the MRCP Gateway Server over the secure channel. |
| US09008613B2 |
Connection and data application billing
A server and related method embodiments for determining usage on a wireless network are described. The server includes a connection detector, a connection classifier connected with the connection detector, and a usage tracker connected with the connection classifier. The connection detector detects a connection from a mobile station. The connection classifier determines the type of the detected connection. The usage tracker determines usage for each detected connection based on the connection type. A connecting mobile station for accessing the server includes a session controller for controlling a session with the server, a connection controller for controlling a connection related to the session, and an application assigner for controlling assignment of an application executed by the client to a particular connection. |
| US09008603B2 |
Integrated circuit comprising an integrated transformer of the “BALUN” type with several input and output channels
An integrated circuit includes an integrated transformer of the balanced-to-unbalanced type with N channels, wherein N is greater than 2. The integrated transformer includes, on a substrate, N inductive circuits that are mutually inductively coupled, and respectively associated with N channels. |
| US09008592B2 |
Low power multi-band, multi-mode transmitter
A transmitter includes a power amplifier driver connected with a first transformer and a second transformer. The first transformer is configured for a first band mode and the second transformer is configured for a second band mode. The power amplifier driver drives both the first transformer and the second transformer. |
| US09008590B2 |
Liquid MEMS component and RF applications thereof
A radio circuit includes a front-end module, a board, a liquid MEMS component, and a coupling component. The front-end module is implemented on at least one integrated circuit (IC) die and includes a variable circuit. The variable circuit is adjustable to facilitate an operational adjustment of the front-end module for a given operational condition of the radio circuit. The board supports the liquid MEMS component and supports, at least indirectly, the at least one IC. The coupling component electrical couples the liquid MEMS component to the variable circuit, wherein, based on a control signal, one or more characteristics of the liquid MEMS component is changed, which adjusts the variable circuit. |
| US09008588B2 |
System and method for the calibration and verification of wireless networks with control network
In a system and method computerized devices are connected to each other over a wireless network and to a controller over an additional network. The devices perform antenna beam angle testing of the wireless network. The controller receives, over the additional network, transmitted and received test signal data acquired during such testing. Based on the test signal data, the controller calculates calibration data, which indicates, for each pair of devices, different path loss amounts associated with different transmitted test signal beam angles and a single transmitted test signal power level. The controller generates calibration matrices corresponding to each pair of devices using the calibration data; analyzes the matrices to determine, for each pair, an optimal antenna beam angle that results in the least amount of path loss; determines an optimal power level for the pair based on the path loss; and communicates the optimal specifications to the pair. |
| US09008587B2 |
Systems, methods, and devices having databases for electronic spectrum management
Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for automated identification of baseline data and changes in state in a wireless communications spectrum, by identifying sources of signal emission in the spectrum by automatically detecting signals, analyzing signals, comparing signal data to historical and reference data, creating corresponding signal profiles, and determining information about the baseline data and changes in state based upon the measured and analyzed data in near real time, which is stored on each apparatus or device and/or on a remote server computer that aggregates data from each apparatus or device. |
| US09008586B2 |
Methods and apparatus to collect wireless information
Example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to collect wireless information are disclosed. A disclosed example method involves installing an operating system and a data collector to execute outside a context of the operating system on a wireless handheld device. A testing process is performed to ensure functionality of the wireless handheld device. An application is installed on the wireless handheld device to execute in the context of the operating system. The data collector is to collect usage information regarding the application and to provide the usage information to a network provider. |
| US09008585B2 |
System and method for wireless communications measurements and CSI feedback
Measurements and Channel State Information (CSI) feedback are configured using communications between a network and user equipment (UE). The communications includes a first signaling from a network component to the UE indicating one or more reference signal (RS) resource configurations, a second signaling indicating one or more interference measurement (IM) resource configurations, and a third signaling indicating a CSI report configuration, wherein the CSI report configuration indicates a subset of the one or more RS resource configurations and a subset of the one or more IM resource configurations. The UE establishes a RS based measurement according to the subset of the one or more RS resource configurations and an IM according to the subset of the one or more IM resource configurations. The UE then generates and sends to the network a CSI report in accordance with the CSI report configuration and using the RS based measurement and the IM. |
| US09008584B2 |
Environment estimation in a wireless communication system
A method and system are described for estimating an environment surrounding a wireless communication system, the environment including at least one inflector that inflects transmitted signals. An observation generator receives an input signal transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver via a wireless communication channel and also receives system state information pertaining to at least one of the receiver, the transmitter and the inflector. An observation processor uses observations from the observation generator to estimate at least one property of the inflector based on the received input signal and the system state information. |
| US09008581B2 |
Radio devices and methods for controlling radio devices
In an embodiment, a radio device is provided. The radio device may include a signal transmitter configured to transmit a plurality of signals, the signals being transmitted with different intensities; a response receiver configured to receive a response message to one of the transmitted signals from a radio communication device having received the respective transmitted signal of the plurality of transmitted signals, the response message identifying the received message; and a assessment circuit configured to assess the reachability of the radio communication device from the radio device based on the intensity of the signal to which the radio communication device has responded. |
| US09008579B2 |
System and method for transmitting data between communication terminals
A system and method for transmitting data between at least two communication terminals includes handling useful address data by a switching unit and handling useful data records by a data exchange node. A spatial distance of the at least two communication terminals is calculated. A time interval of communication inquiries to the switching unit in order to initiate a data transmission between the at least two communication terminals is determined. The data transmission is controlled depending on predeterminable threshold values of the spatial distance of the at least two communication terminals and the at least one time interval between the communication inquiries. |
| US09008576B2 |
Mobile communications device providing NFC applet compatibility features and related methods
A mobile communications device may include a near field communication (NFC) device, and a processor coupled with the NFC device. The processor may be configured to operate a first NFC applet and a second NFC applet, determine whether concurrent enabling of the first NFC applet and the second NFC applet will cause a compatibility conflict, and concurrently enable the first NFC applet and the second NFC applet for communicating data via the NFC device based upon a determination that concurrent enabling of the first NFC applet and the second NFC applet will not cause the compatibility conflict. |
| US09008575B2 |
Portable mobile communication device and method of controlling near field communication
A portable mobile communication device (10) has a mobile host processor (104) permanently installed in the portable mobile communication device (10) and a near field communication circuit (100) comprising a non-volatile memory (101). Configuration data is maintained in the non-volatile memory (101) of the near field communication circuit (100), for control of communication dependent on the configuration data. Prior to communication between the near field communication circuit (100) and the mobile host processor (104) a session identity value is tested. If the session identity value does not match a reference value, at least part of the configuration data for the communication channel is initialized, after which the session identity value and the reference value are equalized after setting up the configuration data. If the session identity value matches the reference value, the mobile host processor (104) proceeds with communication without said initialization. In this way wear of the non-volatile memory due to superfluous initialization after unintentional power downs or resets of the mobile host processor (104) is prevented. |
| US09008572B2 |
Touch sensitive screen information apparatus that includes close proximity or near distance radio frequency field communication
A touch sensitive screen mobile information apparatus having a wireless communication unit for wireless device discovery is herein disclosed. Close proximity wireless device discovery is enabled by wireless searching near distance via radio frequency field for a wireless device, receiving information from the wireless device over the near distance wireless communication, and storing the received information at the information apparatus for future wireless connections. Authentication or pairing of devices may be eliminated due to close proximity of the direct wireless device discovery. After wireless device discovery, the information apparatus and the wireless device may become locked or paired for subsequent wireless communication over any number of wireless communication protocols or standards (e.g., Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, 2.4GHz) without the need to repeat wireless discovery or pairing. Examples of information apparatus include smart phones, digital camera, laptops, or information pads. Examples of wireless devices include televisions, audio output devices, or printers. |
| US09008569B2 |
Image forming system having function to permit staple processing for job including small size sheet based on page position of small size sheet in a job, and image forming method for the same
An image forming system includes an image forming unit to print an image on a sheet based on a job, a postprocessing unit to carry out postprocessing to the sheet based on the job, and a control unit to manage the job, and to control the print and the postprocessing, the control unit can determine whether the postprocessing execution job includes an applying prohibition sheet or not, and if a predetermined condition such as a page other than first and last pages is satisfied in predetermined postprocessing such as bundle processing, permits the job for the predetermined postprocessing to carry out an output such as insertion of the applying prohibition sheet, for which the postprocessing is prohibited in applying due to a difference in sheet size from a prescribed size and the like, into a bundle of applying permission sheets. |
| US09008560B2 |
Slide member for fixing device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus
A slide member for a fixing device includes a fluororesin layer having a slide surface dotted with recesses. The recesses in the slide surface are arranged in an array having parallel hexagons as unit cells. |
| US09008558B2 |
Separator and separation device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A separator includes a front edge disposed opposite an outer circumferential surface of an endless belt. The front edge contacts and separates a recording medium from the endless belt. A separation plate mounts the front edge. A contact plate projects from the separation plate in an axial direction of the endless belt and contacts a belt holder that supports the endless belt. A bracket projects from the separation plate in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the contact plate projects from the separation plate. The bracket includes a notch that engages the belt holder. The contact plate contacting the belt holder and the notch of the bracket engaging the belt holder produce an interval between the front edge of the separator and the outer circumferential surface of the endless belt. |
| US09008555B2 |
Image forming apparatus including toner case, driving mechanism, and installed part and toner case therefor
An image forming apparatus includes a toner case, a driving mechanism and an installed part. The toner case includes a container main body, a rotating member and a transmission coupling. The container main body is provided with a discharge port configured to discharge a toner. The rotating member is installed into the container main body. The transmission coupling is connected with the rotating member. The driving mechanism includes a drive coupling and a drive unit. The drive coupling is detachably connected with the transmission coupling. The toner case has a lever supported onto the container main body. The driving mechanism has a movement mechanism which works in accordance with the operation of the lever, in a state of installing the toner case into the installed part, to move the drive coupling from a disconnecting position to a connecting position with the transmission coupling. |
| US09008553B2 |
Developer conveying device, and developing device and image forming apparatus provided with same
A developer conveying device includes a housing, a developer conveyance path and a conveying member. The developer conveyance path extends between the pair of wall portions of the housing. The conveying member conveys developer from one wall portion toward the other. The conveying member includes a spiral member, shaft portions, a rib member, a supporting member and a projecting portion. The spiral member is formed by connecting spiral pieces in a conveying direction of the developer and includes a hollow interior formed by the connected spiral pieces. The rib member extends in the conveying direction and bridges adjacent ones of the spiral pieces of the spiral member. The supporting member connects an end part of the rib member in the conveying direction and the shaft portion. The projecting portion projects from the end part of the rib member more toward the wall portion than the supporting member. |
| US09008551B2 |
Electrophotographic photoreceptor
An electrophotographic photoreceptor is removably installed and used in a device main unit of an electrophotography application device so as to form a process cartridge. The device main unit includes a driving-side power transmission portion. The photoreceptor includes a photosensitive drum including a cylindrical conductive base having a photosensitive layer containing a photoconductive material. A flange is fitted to the photosensitive drum. The flange includes a driven-side driving force transmission portion that has a cylindrical member and engaging protrusions. The flange transmits to the photosensitive drum a rotational driving force from the driving-side power transmission portion. A center of the cylindrical member is disposed on a central axis of the photosensitive drum. The protrusions are parallel to the central axis at positions on the outer periphery of the cylindrical member that trisect the cylindrical member. Each protrusion protrudes in a radial direction and engages the driving-side power transmission portion. |
| US09008548B2 |
Fixing device provided with reinforced nip member
A fixing device includes a metal plate, an endless belt, a rotating body, and a stay. The metal plate has a main part comprising a first end portion, a second end portion, and a center portion positioned therebetween and having rigidity higher than that of the first end portion and the second end portion. The endless belt has an inner peripheral surface configured to be in sliding contact with the metal plate. The main part is aligned with the rotating body in a direction from the metal plate to the rotating body. The stay is disposed opposite to the nip region with respect to the metal plate. The stay and the main part of the metal plate are deformable upon application of the load to the stay such that the main part provides a convex shape protruding toward the rotating body. |
| US09008547B2 |
Moving device and image forming apparatus including the moving device
A moving device includes a rotary member rotatably supported by a frame of the image forming apparatus to move a latent image forming device between a first position at which the latent image forming device forms a latent image on a latent image bearing member and a second position at which the latent image forming device is separated from the latent image bearing member, a biasing member for biasing the rotary member, and a restriction member for restricting rotation of the rotary member in a state in which the latent image forming device is at the first position. A direction of the force of the biasing member is changed from a stopping direction in which rotation of the rotary member is stopped to a direction opposite the stopping direction while the rotary member is rotated to move the latent image forming device from the second position to the first position. |
| US09008546B2 |
Image carrier, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
An image carrier includes a tubular image carrier body to carry an image on an outer circumferential surface thereof, a shaft disposed inside the image carrier body, a first flange mounted on the shaft, and a second flange spaced apart from the first flange in an axial direction of the image carrier and mounted on the shaft. Each of the first flange and the second flange includes a through-hole contacting the shaft, a first engagement portion to engage a lateral end of the image carrier body in the axial direction of the image carrier, and a second engagement portion, constituting at least a part of the through-hole, to engage the shaft. The second engagement portion is disposed inboard from the first engagement portion in the axial direction of the image carrier. |
| US09008538B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a lubricant applying member located opposite a contact portion of a cleaning blade with an image bearing member below in the vertical direction, an opposed position of the lubricant applying member opposite the contact portion of the cleaning blade with the image bearing member below in the vertical direction being located upstream of a contact position of the lubricant applying member with a cleaning member in the rotational direction of the lubricant applying member, and a carrying member configured to carry the toner removed from the lubricant applying member, the carrying member being disposed at a position on a tangent to an outer circumference of the lubricant applying member at a contact position with the cleaning member and on a vertical line extending from a contact position of the lubricant applying member with a solid lubricant member. |
| US09008537B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a roller pair, a paper dust collecting member, a scraping member, and a paper dust receiver. The paper dust collecting member can be drawn out from the apparatus main body and is disposed along an axis direction of the roller pair so as to collect paper dust adhered to one roller of the roller pair. The scraping member scrapes off paper dust adhered to the paper dust collecting member when the paper dust collecting member is moved in a draw-out direction. The paper dust receiver is disposed below the scraping member so as to receive the paper dust scraped off by the scraping member. |
| US09008533B2 |
Processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, processing method and computer readable information recording medium
A processing apparatus that an uninterruptible power supply system supplies power to and carries out a process. The processing apparatus includes an electric energy amount determination part that determines, based on a charged amount of electric energy in the uninterruptible power supply system, an amount of maximum electric energy that the uninterruptible power supply system can supply; and a function selection part that selects, depending on the amount of maximum electric energy, functions that can be used for carrying out the process. |
| US09008531B2 |
Constant current-type high-voltage power supply apparatus and method of controlling power output from the same
A constant current-type high-voltage power supply apparatus which is used in an image forming apparatus includes a leakage current detection unit that detects a leakage current leaked from at least one output terminal of the constant current-type high-voltage power supply apparatus and outputs the detected leakage current, a direct current voltage output unit that outputs different direct current (DC) voltages according to whether the leakage current detected by the leakage current detection unit is input, and a power control unit that controls power supply to the constant current-type high-voltage power supply apparatus according to the output DC voltage. |
| US09008530B2 |
Image forming apparatus and power control method thereof
An image forming apparatus and a power control method thereof, the power control method of an image forming apparatus which includes a finisher to perform at least one of finishing jobs including arranging, sorting, grouping, folding, stapling, binding, and punching a print medium which is ejected after an image is formed thereon, the power control method including: determining whether or not a power mode of the image forming apparatus meets requirements for entering a power save mode in which power supplied to a part of elements of the image forming apparatus is shut off; determining whether or not the image forming apparatus has an ongoing job if the requirements for entering the power save mode are met; and entering the image forming apparatus in the power save mode while the power supply to the finisher is maintained if the image forming apparatus has the ongoing job. |
| US09008529B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming system, non-transitory computer readable medium, and image forming method
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit. The fixing unit performs a fixing process selectively using a first fixing energy and a second fixing energy. The first fixing energy is used for a transparent recording medium having thereon an image and a light-shielding layer superposed on the image, the light-shielding layer being substantially impervious to light. The second fixing energy is used for a transparent recording medium having the image thereon but not having the light-shielding layer thereon. The first fixing energy is lower than the second fixing energy. |
| US09008528B2 |
Induction heating fusing device and image forming apparatus
An induction heating fusing device and an image forming apparatuses that may control even a very small current region by tracking a resonance frequency to perform PWM control and phase control without considering a deviation of a part constant or a temperature change are provided. The induction heating fusing device includes: a serial resonance circuit having an induction coil and a condenser; a phase comparator, a phase controller, a resonance frequency tracking oscillator, and a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal generator. The phase comparator compares a phase of a pulse outputted by the PWM signal generator with a phase of current flowing through the induction coil, outputs a comparison result obtained by the comparing to the phase controller when controlling the phase, and outputs the comparison result to the resonance frequency tracking oscillator when performing PWM control. |
| US09008524B2 |
Image forming device having a toner supply control portion
For each of N imaginary regions divided at predetermined intervals in the direction of the rotation shaft of a developer roller (12), the amount of toner consumed when an image is formed is previously calculated. Then, the same amount of toner as a toner consumption amount calculated for each imaginary region is supplied to a development device (2) earlier by a time in which the toner supplied from a toner hopper (5) is transported to each imaginary region than at the time of the development. Thus, it is possible to maintain a toner concentration within the development device within a predetermined range without the toner being dispersed and an image formation speed being reduced even if an image having a high print rate is formed. |
| US09008523B2 |
Image forming apparatus, method of controlling the same, and storage medium
An image forming apparatus capable of distinguishing whether paper material retained in a sheet conveying path is an original or a recording material. An image forming apparatus includes an image reading unit that reads an original, a photosensitive drum that forms an image on a recording sheet, and a main motor and a double-sided-printing drive motor which convey the original and the recording sheet. Paper sheet sensors detect an occurrence of a jam of the original or the recording sheet. When a paper jam is detected, a CPU controls a display section to display a plurality of sheets retained in a conveying path, in a manner distinguishing between the original and the recording material. |
| US09008522B2 |
Developing cartridge having housing and developing roller
In a developing cartridge, a first supporting member is attached to a housing and has a first developing supporting portion and a driving-force-receiving-member supporting portion, the first developing supporting portion being configured to rotatably support a first part of a rotational shaft, the driving-force-receiving-member supporting portion being configured to rotatably support a driving-force-receiving member. The second supporting member is attached to the housing and has a second developing supporting portion and a detection-rotational-body supporting portion, the second developing supporting portion being configured to rotatably support a second part of the rotational shaft, the detection-rotational-body supporting portion being configured to rotatably support a detection rotational body. |
| US09008520B2 |
Visible light communication system and method
Disclosed is a visible light communication system including a transmission device, including multiple light emitting units emitting light of different colors and mapping transmission data to a chromaticity point, calculating luminescence of each of the light emitting units, generating a preamble signal for channel matrix estimation, and emitting light based on the preamble signal and calculated luminescence amount. A reception device of the visible light communication system includes multiple light receiving units and estimates a channel matrix based on a corresponding optical signal when an optical signal corresponding to the preamble signal is received in each light receiving unit, compensates the optical signal corresponding to the chromaticity point for a propagation path based on the estimated channel matrix, detects a chromaticity point on the chromaticity coordinates based on a signal after the propagation path compensation, and demodulates the transmission data. |
| US09008518B2 |
Optical transmitter and receiver circuit arrangement
A system includes an optical transmitter package comprising an optical transmitter to generate optical transmission signals based on electrical transmission signals. The system also includes an optical receiver package comprising an optical receiver to generate electrical reception signals based on optical reception signals. The system further includes a printed circuit board (PCB) on which the optical transmitter package and the optical receiver package are mounted. The PCB includes a heat generating circuit component. The optical transmitter package can be mounted to the PCB to subjected to less heat from the heat generating circuit component than the optical receiver package. |
| US09008509B2 |
Measurement of optical performance for passive WDM systems
A system, a device, and a method include a network interface device that measures optical power of a passive optical device; generates optical power data, and stores the optical power data. The system, the device, and the method, also includes generating alarms based on the optical power data and communication with remote network interface devices via the passive optical device. |
| US09008504B2 |
Transmission apparatus and method for serial and parallel channel interworking in optical transport network
A transmission apparatus and method for serial and parallel channel interworking in an optical transport network are provided. The transmission apparatus for serial and parallel channel interworking ensures interworking between parallel optical modules or between parallel and serial optical modules, regardless of a protocol, without having to add logics or with only a minimum number of logics, in order to manufacture a small-size optical module with low power consumption. |
| US09008501B2 |
Network and method for providing redundancy in an optical distribution network
Disclosed herein are optical distribution networks and corresponding methods for providing physical-layer redundancy. Example embodiments include a head-end passive optical splitter-combiner (OSC) to split optical signals from an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) onto primary and secondary optical paths for redundant distribution to optical network terminal(s) (ONTs), a passive access OSC for tapping the redundant signals, and an optical switch for selecting between the redundant signals and providing an ONT access to the selected signal. Example optical distribution networks and corresponding methods provide multiple drop points, a fully cyclical path, and autonomous protection switching, all at low cost. A further advantage of these networks and methods is that where faults may occur, maintenance may not be required for a certain time. |
| US09008499B2 |
Optical viewfinder
An optical viewfinder is configured to be attached to a camera body with an interchangeable lens. The optical viewfinder includes: a Keplerian viewfinder optical system 301 including a scalable objective lens group 330; a stepping motor 305 configured to drive the objective lens group 330 along an optical axis; and a control circuit configured to control driving of the stepping motor 305 based on a result of detection by a PI 306. When a variable focal length lens (an interchangeable lens) is attached to a camera body, the control circuit controls driving of the stepping motor 305 in accordance with a focal length of the variable focal length lens and displays at least a photographing frame on an EVF panel 307. |
| US09008496B2 |
Probe
A probe including a liquid sample channel through which a liquid sample flows in a specified direction; a nebulizer gas channel through which a nebulizer gas flows in a specified direction, formed at the outer circumference of the liquid sample channel so as to have a round annular outer circumference and be coaxial with the liquid sample channel; a heating gas channel for injecting an assist gas in a specified direction, wherein a heating gas injection port is formed around the outlet end of the nebulizer gas channel so as to have a round annular outer circumference and be coaxial with the nebulizer gas channel; and a heating element which is arranged inside the heating gas channel and heats the assist gas for injecting through the heating gas injection port. |
| US09008493B2 |
Information processing device, information processing method, and program
The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program, whereby playback of PG and TextST images can be controlled from a BD-J application. There are defined a mono PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image that is a mono image serving as a 2D image, a stereo PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image that is a stereo image serving as a 3D image, and a PG/TextST stream for offset of a PG/TextST image that is a mono image to be used for generating a stereo image along with an offset value for giving disparity to the mono image, as a PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image. An stream selecting API selects a mono PG/TextST stream, a stereo PG/TextST stream, or a PG/TextST stream for offset. The present invention may be applied to a BD player configured to play a BD, or the like. |
| US09008491B2 |
Snapshot feature for tagged video
A method takes a snapshot of a video sequence containing a video tag. The method comprises causing a display device to present a video sequence for a period of time and causing the display device to display at least one video tag contemporaneously with the video sequence. The method further comprises accepting, at a moment during the period of time, an input associated with a user action signifying taking a snapshot of the video sequence with a video tag of interest displayed with the video sequence at the moment. The method further comprises storing, in response to acceptance of the input, data sufficient to reproduce a still image from the video sequence with video tag of interest at approximately the moment. Optionally, the method may further comprise causing the display device to display the still image at a later time or including the still image in an email message. |
| US09008488B2 |
Video recording apparatus and camera recorder
A video recording apparatus preferentially transmits important video data, while reducing user's operational burdens. An operating section receives operation instructions of a first recording video image. A video recording section records a second recording video image, and records the first recording video image in accordance with the operation instructions input to the operating section. An overlapping period detection section generates overlap information indicating temporal overlap between the recording video images, from an output of the operating section. The video recording section divides the second recording video image into blocks at timing based on recording operation of the first recording video image, and determines priority of the divided blocks based on the overlap information. |
| US09008487B2 |
Spatial bookmarking
Methods, apparatuses and computer-readable media for creating a spatial bookmark are provided. A method includes performing an action at a near location which causes a spatial bearing parameter corresponding to a real-time video image captured by a video-camera platform at a remote location to be stored in a computer-readable memory, wherein the video-camera platform has a controllable LOS. Performing an action at the near location that designates to a computer an image displayed on a screen, wherein the image is representative of the real-time video image, thereby causing the computer to retrieve the spatial bearing parameter from the computer-readable memory, and performing an action causing the computer to aim the video-camera platform along a LOS, wherein the video-camera platform captures a real-time video image that is received at a screen for display at the near location. |
| US09008482B2 |
Optical cable terminal box
An optical cable terminal box for distributing an optical cable with a plurality of cores to subscriber lines is provided. The optical cable terminal box may include a housing having a slot, the slot having a first receiving groove formed at an edge of the slot. The optical cable terminal box may also include a cover member coupled to the housing to close the slot, and the cover member may have a second receiving groove formed at an edge of the cover member. When the cover member closes the slot, the first and second grooves may be coupled to each other to form a wiring hole that is configured to pass an optical cable therethrough. |
| US09008481B2 |
Arrangement for processing optical waveguides
An arrangement for processing at least one optical fiber that includes a first processing element and a second processing element for processing at least one optical waveguide. The first and second processing elements have a common base element and a common actuating element for simultaneously actuating the first and second processing elements. The actuating element is capable of moving relative to the base element. |
| US09008480B2 |
Method of manufacturing optical waveguide core, method of manufacturing optical waveguide, optical waveguide, and optoelectric composite wiring board
In order to provide a method of efficiently manufacturing an optical waveguide core having an endface inclined at a predetermined angle, the following method of manufacturing an optical waveguide core is employed. The method includes: a core material layer forming step of forming a core material layer formed of a photosensitive material on a surface of a cladding layer that has been formed on a substrate; a high refractive index substance covering step of covering a surface of the core material layer with a substance having a refractive index higher than 1 by bringing the high refractive index substance into close contact with the core material layer surface; an exposure step of pattern exposing the core material layer in a predetermined core-forming shape to from a core by irradiating the core material layer on a side covered with the high refractive index substance with exposure light inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the cladding layer surface; a high refractive index substance removing step of removing the high refractive index substance from the surface of the core material layer exposed in the exposure step; and an development step of developing the core material layer from which the high refractive index substance has been removed in the high refractive index substance removing step so as to form the core having an inclined endface. |
| US09008476B2 |
Polarization conversion device
A polarization conversion device includes: a directional coupler that includes an input side optical waveguide and an output side optical waveguide which are disposed in parallel to each other and each of which has a core. Assuming that a direction in which the input side optical waveguide and the output side optical waveguide face each other is a width direction and a direction perpendicular to the width direction is a height direction in a cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of each of the input side optical waveguide and the output side optical waveguide, and the directional coupler is configured to couple first light guided through the input side optical waveguide to second light guided through the output side optical waveguide, the polarization direction of the second light is perpendicular to that of the first light. |
| US09008474B2 |
Optical module having focused optical coupling system for single fiber
An optical module is disclosed, in which the optical module installs a plurality of optical devices each optically coupling with a single fiber in the focused beam coupling system. The optical module includes a condenser lens, and respective optical devices install an individual lens. One of the beam waists of the condenser lens locates on the end of the optical fiber and the other of the beam waist locates on the outer wall of the coupling unit to which the optical devices are attached. One of the beam waists of the individual lens in the optical device substantially aligns with the other beam waist of the condenser lens, while, the other of the beam waist of the individual lens aligns at the semiconductor optical device. |
| US09008473B2 |
Optical transmission-reception system and light-receiving unit
An optical transmission-reception system includes: a light-emitting element having a first semiconductor multilayer structure with a ring- or disk-like shape and generating a first optical signal and a second optical signal rotating in a direction opposite to the first optical signal; a first optical waveguide optically coupled with the light-emitting element and propagating the first optical signal; a second optical waveguide optically coupled with the light-emitting element and propagating the second optical signal; and a light-receiving element having a second semiconductor multilayer structure with a ring- or disk-like shape, optically coupled with the first and second optical waveguides, and optically receiving the first and second optical signals. The first optical waveguide has a spiral shape at a coupling part with the light-receiving element, and the second optical waveguide has a spiral shape winding in the same direction as the first optical waveguide at a coupling part with the light-receiving element. |
| US09008471B2 |
Optical circuits and circuit elements
Circuits and circuit elements adapted to function at optical or infrared frequencies are made from plasmonic and/or nonplasmonic particles disposed on a substrate, where the plasmonic and nonplasmonic particles have respective dimensions substantially smaller than a wavelength of an applied optical or infrared signal. Such particles are deposited on a substrate in a variety of shapes and sizes from a variety of plasmonic and/or nonplasmonic materials so as to form resistors, capacitors, inductors and circuits made from combinations of these elements. |
| US09008470B2 |
Method and apparatus for wavelength selective switch
Apparatus and method embodiments are provided for implementing a wavelength selective switch (WSS). The embodiments use combinations of switchable polarization grating (SPG) and LC cells and combinations of polymer polarization grating (PPG) and LC cells to achieve 1×N WSS systems. An embodiment optical switch includes a liquid crystal cell and a SPG cell adjacent to the liquid crystal cell. The SPG includes liquid crystal material between two photo-alignment layers, an electrode layer overlying each photo-alignment layer, and a glass substrate overlying each electrode layer. An embodiment method includes polarizing an incident light beam at a circular polarization before diffracting, at a polarization grating, the polarized incident light beam in a determined angle that corresponds to a diffraction order in accordance to the circular polarization of the incident light beam and a hologram pattern direction formed inside the polarization grating. |
| US09008468B2 |
Electro-optic modulator of large bandwidth
An electro-optic modulator includes a substrate, a waveguide lens, a Y-shaped waveguide, and electrodes. The waveguide lens and the Y-shaped waveguide are formed in the substrate. The Y-shaped waveguide connects the waveguide lens and includes a first section dedicated for transmitting TE mode and a second section dedicated for transmitting TM mode. The electrodes are configured to modulate outputs of the waveguide lens, the first section, and the second section. |
| US09008464B2 |
Media data customization
Techniques and systems for media data customization system are provided. In one embodiment, a media data customization system includes a resource allocator that receives media data and a media data customization request and that allocates customization resources for a service of the media data customization request, a pipe repository that stores pipe filter modules, and a pipe manager that retrieves pipe filter modules stored in the pipe repository based on the media data customization request, that integrates the retrieved pipe filter modules to form a pipe group, and that applies the pipe group to the media data using the customization resources to generate customized media data. |
| US09008455B1 |
Adaptive MPEG noise reducer
The disclosed technology provides a system and a method for adaptive MPEG noise reduction. In particular, the disclosed technology provides a system and a method for reducing blocking artifacts and mosquito noise in an MPEG video signal. An overall MPEG noise detector may be used to determine the presence of noise in one or more frames of a video signal. When a sufficient amount of noise is detected in the one or more frames of the video signal, portions of the video signal that contain noise may be located and filtered to reduce the amount of noise present in the video signal. |
| US09008453B2 |
Blur-kernel estimation from spectral irregularities
A method for deriving a blur kernel from a blurred image is provided herein. The method may include the following steps: obtaining a blurred image B, being a product of a blur kernel k applied to an original image I; calculating fθ(x)=Rd*Pθ(B)(x) for every angle θ, wherein R denotes an autocorrelation operator, Pθ denotes a projection operator of based on angle θ, and d denotes a one dimensional differentiation filter; estimating spectral power of the blur kernel based on a given support parameter; estimating the blur kernel k using a phase retrieval algorithm, based on the estimated spectral power of the blur kernel; updating the support parameters; and repeating the estimating of the spectral power, the estimating of the kernel and the updating of the support parameters in an iterative, to yield the blur kernel. |
| US09008450B1 |
Directional cross hair search system and method for determining a preferred motion vector
A system and method for determining a preferred motion vector is provided, which may be used to estimate motion in a series of video image frames. The system may include a video encoder having a motion vector selector. The motion vector selector may include a first generator to generate a cost associated with motion vectors in a first direction, a selector to set a cross over point corresponding to a lowest cost motion vector in the first direction, a direction indicator to sample a set of motion vectors about the cross over point to select a preferred direction, and a second generator to generate a cost associated with the motion vectors in the preferred direction. The method may include determining a final motion vector having the lowest cost within a search window. |
| US09008445B2 |
Solid-state image capturing element and method for driving solid-state image capturing element
A solid-state image capturing element includes: a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of which outputs an electric signal corresponding to an amount of received light; a plurality of column signal lines each of which is disposed for a corresponding one of columns of the pixels and sequentially transfers the electric signal provided from the corresponding one of the columns of the pixels; and a plurality of holding circuits each of which is disposed for a corresponding one of the column signal lines and holds the electric signal transferred via the corresponding one of the column signal lines. Each of the holding circuits includes a circuit element including an input capacitance, and holds the electric signal in the input capacitance. |
| US09008444B2 |
Image rectification using sparsely-distributed local features
This invention is a method for rectifying an input digital image including warped textual information. The method includes analyzing the input digital image to locate a plurality of local features, at least some of the local features including textual features. A sparse set of local image regions are located corresponding to reliable combinations of spatially-consecutive local features, and corresponding local orientations are determined. A global deformation function is formed by interpolating between the determined local orientations and is used to form a rectified image. |
| US09008442B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer program
There is provided an information processing apparatus including an image acquisition unit configured to acquire images captured from a plurality of observation points for a predetermined object, a feature point extraction unit configured to extract a feature point in each of the images acquired by the image acquisition unit, a correspondence relationship acquisition unit configured to acquire a correspondence relationship of the feature points based on images from among adjacent observation points, and an information presentation unit configured to quantitatively present information about the correspondence relationship acquired by the correspondence relationship acquisition unit. |
| US09008439B2 |
Image processing method and system
A method of comparing two object poses, wherein each object pose is expressed in terms of position, orientation and scale with respect to a common coordinate system, the method comprising: calculating a distance between the two object poses, the distance being calculated using the distance function: d sRt ( X , Y ) = d s 2 ( X , Y ) σ s 2 + d r 2 ( X , Y ) σ r 2 + d t 2 ( X , Y ) σ t 2 . where X is the object pose of one object and Y is the object pose of the other object, d s ( X , Y ) = log ( s ( X ) s ( Y ) ) , d r ( X , Y ) = R ( X ) - R ( Y ) F , d t ( X , Y ) = t ( X ) - t ( Y ) s ( Y ) , s(X) and s(Y) are scalar functions representing the scale of the object poses X and Y respectively, R(X) and R(Y) are matrices expressing the rotation of object poses X and Y respectively, t(X) and t(Y) are vectors expressing the translation of object poses X and Y respectively, and σs, σr and σt are weighting factors for ds, dr and dt respectively. |
| US09008436B2 |
Image recomposition from face detection and facial features
A computer implemented method for modifying a digital image comprising identifying two or more individual regions in the digital image that each include a human face, and digitally defining at least one combined region that includes the two or more individual regions wherein at least one border of the at least one combined region is collinear with a border of one of the individual regions. |
| US09008433B2 |
Object tag metadata and image search
Techniques are disclosed for ordering images. The technique includes receiving a request, the request including keywords and parameters specifying desired image characteristics. Further, the technique includes identifying a set of images responsive to the request based on a match of the keywords to tags associated with objects depicted in the set of images. Finally, the technique includes determining an ordering of the identified set of images by comparing the received parameters with metadata fields associated with respective tags of the objects and returning an indication of the set of images and the determined ordering of the images. |
| US09008431B2 |
Character string extraction method and character string extraction device
In a character string extraction method, a character portion, a rim portion, a character frame, and a character string frame are set, a feature value of each image in the character portion and the rim portion is calculated for each character frame, a character string frame evaluation value is calculated based on the feature value for the character string frame, a position of the character string frame is moved on the paper sheet image, and the image in the character portion is extracted by using the character string frame at a position at which the character string frame evaluation value reaches a maximum. |
| US09008430B2 |
Identification method and apparatus of confusable character
An identification method and apparatus of confusable character are provided. The method involves: the detected character image is identified to gain the initial character information which is corresponding to the character image; the step change times of the corresponding external outline of the character image are counted if the initial character information is the confusable character; the final character information corresponding to the character image is confirmed according to the step change times; The final character information of the character image can be known conveniently according to the step change times, therefore the corresponding correct character information of the character image can be identified more precisely. The possibility of wrong identification of the character image because of the appearing confusable character can be reduced, and the identification precision rate of the confusable character can be improved. |
| US09008426B2 |
Generating an image presegmented into regions of interest and regions of no interest
A camera system (10) is provided for generating an image presegmented into regions (106a-b) of interest and of no interest, having an evaluation unit (20) which is designed to divide the raw image into part regions (106a-b) to calculate a contrast value for each part region (106a-b) and to decide with reference to the contrast value whether the respective part region (106a-b) is a region of interest (106a) or a region of no interest (106b). In this respect, the evaluation unit (20) has a preprocessing unit (22) which is implemented on an FPGA, which respectively accesses the pixels of a part region (106a-b) and generates summed values (a), b) for the respective part region (106a-b) and has a structure recognition unit (24) which calculates the contrast value of the part region (106a-b) from its summed values (a, b) without accessing pixels of the part region (106a-b). |
| US09008422B2 |
Methods of content-driven image cropping
A method of cropping an image based on a content of the image according to one example embodiment includes identifying image features in the content of the image, determining horizontal histogram frequencies and vertical histogram frequencies of the identified image features, determining borders of a document bounding box based on the determined horizontal histogram frequencies and vertical histogram frequencies, and cropping the image according to the document bounding box. |
| US09008415B2 |
Automatic image adjustment parameter correction
Techniques are disclosed relating to modifying an automatically predicted adjustment. In one embodiment, the automatically predicted adjustment may be adjusted, for example, based on a rule. The automatically predicted adjustment may be based on a machine learning prediction. A new image may be globally adjusted based on the modified automatically predicted adjustment. |
| US09008413B2 |
Processing method for a pair of stereo images
A processing method for a pair of stereo images is provided. The method includes: extracting a pair of edge images from the stereo images, each edge image having edge pixels, each edge pixel of one of the edge images being associated with an overlap record and a disparity record; providing a plurality of image lateral shifts to sequentially determine a plurality of overlap levels between the pair of edge images; and updating the overlap record and the disparity record associated with a selected edge pixel to a maximum overlap level and a most-likely disparity, respectively. The maximum overlap level is a maximum among a plurality of associated overlap levels to which the selected edge pixel contributes. The most-likely disparity corresponds to the maximum overlap level. |
| US09008412B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method and recording medium for combining image data using depth and color information
To enhance the accuracy of the search of a corresponding point in a plurality of sheets of images photographed by a camera array and to acquire more pieces of color information on a subject. First color information is calculated from pixel values of the plurality of pieces of photographed image data photographed by the camera array, and the first color information is used to calculate a corresponding point between images indicated by the plurality of pieces of photographed image data. The calculated corresponding point is used to calculate information on the depth of the subject in the image indicated by the photographed image data. Second color information that is used for reproducing the color of the subject faithfully is calculated from the pixel values of the plurality of pieces of photographed image data. The calculated depth information and second color information are used to combine the plurality of photographed images. |
| US09008403B1 |
Method of compensating ultrasound image
A method of compensating ultrasound image comprising demarcating a plurality of a main material regions of an ultrasound image; executing a full compensation process to generate a full compensation image according to a first attenuation curve of the main material region; generating a brightness comparison table including a plurality of brightness zones which are correspond to a plurality of brightness compensation values according to a plurality of first pixel brightness values of the ultrasound image and a plurality of second pixel brightness values of the full compensation image; executing a linear sum process to generate a compensation image including a second attenuation curve according to the brightness compensation values; generating a compensation curve according to the first and second attenuation curve; and executing space comparison process to the compensation image to generate a better compensation image according to the compensation curve. |
| US09008398B2 |
Template matching method for image-based detection and tracking of irregular shaped targets
An image processing method includes: obtaining an input image; enhancing an object in the input image; and after the input image is enhanced, applying a low-pass filter using a processor to obtain a processed image. A computer product includes a non-transitory medium storing a set of instructions, an execution of which causes a method to be performed, the method comprising: obtaining an input image; enhancing an object in the input image; and after the input image is enhanced, applying a low-pass filter to obtain a processed image. |
| US09008394B2 |
Methods and apparatus for determining brain cortical thickness
Methods and apparatus for determining brain cortical thickness are provided. One method includes determining an intensity profile at each of a plurality of cortical surface points of an imaged brain using brain tissue image data and calculating a cortical thickness based on a parametrically determined transition point of each intensity profile. |
| US09008391B1 |
Systems and methods for processing retinal images for screening of diseases or abnormalities
Embodiments disclose systems and methods that aid in screening, diagnosis and/or monitoring of medical conditions. The design includes a system and method for accessing retinal images related to a patient, each retinal image including a plurality of pixels. For each of the retinal images, the system designates a first set of the plurality of pixels as active pixels including interesting retinal image regions and computes a first vector of numbers comprising pixel-level descriptors for each of the active pixels. The system computes a second vector of numbers for each of the retinal images and provides a second classification using supervised learning. |
| US09008388B2 |
Information processing system and information processing method
[Object] To provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing method more excellent in convenience for the user.[Solving Means] An information processing system according to a first aspect of the present technology includes: an acquisition unit to acquire image data obtained by capturing a slide on which a plurality of sections obtained by cutting a single specimen in the same direction are discretely placed; a detector to detect a plurality of specimen areas in the acquired image data and to calculate position information relatively indicating positions of the individual specimen areas in a coordinate space of the image data, the plurality of specimen areas having the same shape and including the individual sections; a first storage unit to store the calculated position information; and a controller to switch display between the specimen areas based on the stored position information. |
| US09008385B2 |
Systems, devices, and method for determining treatment compliance including tracking, registering, etc. of medical staff, patients, instrumentation, events, etc. according to a treatment staging plan
Systems, devices, and methods are described for tracking, registering, etc. of medical staff, patients, instrumentation, events, or the like according to a treatment staging plan. For example a medical apparatus includes a right-patient verification device having an interrogation interface device that elicits at least one of identification data, authorization data, or treatment plan data from a medical procedure authorization device associated with a patient; and a right-site verification device that generates patient-specific treatment staging data consistent with the at least one of the identification data, the authorization data, or the treatment plan data. |
| US09008382B2 |
Method and system for analysing tissue from images
Disclosed is a method of analyzing tissue from an image comprising providing an electronic image of tissue (100, 400, 450, 600, 800, 1100), determining a reference value from the image (1070, 1170, 1270), establishing an hint representation (500,700) of the image, and using the hint representation in analysis of the tissue to quantify the breast and compute a calibration error. Also disclosed is a system which runs an inner breast edge detection algorithm (1310) on the electronic image to detect the inner breast edge on the image (1315), and refined the inner breast edge location (1340) if a calibration error is not acceptable (1324). Also disclosed is automatic estimation of breast composition and temporal analysis of images. |
| US09008378B2 |
Arrangement and imaging of biological samples
High-resolution three-dimensional imaging of a specimen is facilitated. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a series of very thin slices from a specimen are serially and robustly arranged on an imaging device such as a microscope slide. The slices are imaged and the images are used to reconstruct a three-dimensional image having high resolution at depths into the specimen. The serial arrangement of the slices facilitates the proper ordering of images for reconstruction. Further, the robust nature of the slice arrangement facilitates treatment of the slices and, in some applications, multiple treatments with corresponding imaging sequences for each treatment. Various embodiments are directed to methods and arrangements for three-dimensional characterization of biological specimen and to data that is accessible and/or executable by a computer for linking different images together in order to characterize such biological specimen in three dimensions. |
| US09008377B2 |
System and method for identifying an individual
The present invention provides a system for identifying an individual provided with a portable communication device. In a system for identifying an individual using a portable communication device with a display, the display is a sensor-incorporated display, the sensor-incorporated display reads the biological information of a user, and, based on the read information, identifies an individual. |
| US09008376B2 |
Ultra-thin sensing device with flat contact surface
An ultra-thin sensing device with a flat contact surface comprises a package substrate, an interposer structure, a vertical electrical connection structure and a sensing chip. The interposer structure disposed on the package substrate comprises connection pads and second bonding pads electrically connected to the connection pads and first bonding pads of the package substrate. The vertical electrical connection structure disposed on the interposer structure comprises vertical conductors electrically connected to the connection pads. The sensing chip disposed on the vertical electrical connection structure comprises a chip substrate, and sensing members, sensing circuit cells and vertical through electrodes, which are formed on the chip substrate. The sensing member senses specific features of an organism to obtain sensing signals, processed by the sensing circuit cells into biometrics feature signals transmitted to the first bonding pad through the vertical through electrode, the vertical conductor and the second bonding pad. |
| US09008374B2 |
Method of improving orientation and color balance of digital images using face detection information
A method of generating one or more new spatial and chromatic variation digital images uses an original digitally-acquired image which including a face or portions of a face. A group of pixels that correspond to a face within the original digitally-acquired image is identified. A portion of the original image is selected to include the group of pixels. Values of pixels of one or more new images based on the selected portion are automatically generated, or an option to generate them is provided, in a manner which always includes the face within the one or more new images. Such method may be implemented to automatically establish the correct orientation and color balance of an image. Such method can be implemented as an automated method or a semi automatic method to guide users in viewing, capturing or printing of images. |
| US09008373B2 |
Device, system and method for transit testing of samples
Disclosed herein is a method and device for testing an agricultural product for the presence of an unwanted residue including a reader-incubator combination that can utilize onboard motor vehicle systems, such as an onboard microprocessor and onboard power supply. |
| US09008368B2 |
Method for identifying and defining basic patterns forming the tread pattern of a tyre
A method for inspecting tire tread, having circumferentially juxtaposed elements separated by identically shaped boundaries and having patterns arranged in a predetermined sequence, includes: acquiring an image of a surface of the tire tread, the image including pixels associated with a light-intensity level; transforming the image by circumferentially offsetting pixels located axially at a same distance (x1, x2) from a given circumferential reference (OY), by an inverse (−y1, −y2) of a circumferential offset (y1, y2) with respect to an axial line (OX) of a point (P1, P2) located on a boundary line of known shape at the same axial distance (x1, x2) from the circumferential reference (OY), such that boundaries between elements appear as straight traces orientated in an axial direction; and analyzing the image to identify points located on an axially orientated straight line, the points being treated as points located on a boundary line between two elements. |
| US09008367B2 |
Apparatus and methods for reducing visibility of a periphery of an image stream
Apparatus and methods are described for imaging a portion of a body of a subject that undergoes a motion cycle, including acquiring a plurality of image frames of the portion of the subject's body. A given feature is identified in at least some of the image frames. At least some image frames are image tracked with respect to the feature, and the image frames that have been image tracked with respect to the given feature are displayed as a stream of image frames. Visibility of a periphery of the displayed stream of image frames is at least partially reduced. Other applications are also described. |
| US09008365B2 |
Systems and methods for pedestrian detection in images
System, apparatus, and method embodiments are provided for detecting the presence of a pedestrian in an image. In an embodiment, a method for determining whether a person is present in an image includes receiving a plurality of images, wherein each image comprises a plurality of pixels and determining a modified center symmetric local binary pattern (MS-LBP) for the plurality of pixels for each image, wherein the MS-LBP is calculated on a gradient magnitude map without using an interpolation process, and wherein a value for each pixel is a gradient magnitude. |
| US09008362B1 |
Correlation of 3-D point images
A method and system is disclosed for tracking object clusters. The method comprises obtaining a first sensor image and a second sensor image. Angular measurements between objects of the first sensor image are determined. Angular measurements between objects of the second sensor image are also determined. Angular measurements from the first sensor image are compared to angular measurements of the second image, and correlated object clusters are identified. The sensor system includes a command and decision unit that receives a first sensor image and a second sensor image. The command and decision unit determines angular measurements for the first sensor image, and determines angular measurements for the second sensor image. The command and decision unit compares the angular measurements for the first sensor image to the angular measurements for the second sensor image, and identifies correlated object clusters based on the comparison. |
| US09008360B2 |
Authentication system, and method for registering and matching authentication information
A certain amount of unique data of a target is extracted from image information that was read, and it is determined whether or not the target is valid on the basis of the extracted unique data. Processes are executed by means of an image reading unit which extracts an image by scanning a target, an individual difference data calculating unit which calculates individual difference data from the obtained image, an individual difference data comparing unit which compares the calculated individual difference data, and a determination unit which determines whether or not to grant validation. |
| US09008359B2 |
Detection of static object on thoroughfare crossings
Foreground object image features are extracted from input video via application of a background subtraction mask, and optical flow image features from a region of the input video image data defined by the extracted foreground object image features. If estimated movement features indicate that the underlying object is in motion, a dominant moving direction of the underlying object is determined. If the dominant moving direction is parallel to an orientation of the second, crossed thoroughfare, an event alarm indicating that a static object is blocking travel on the crossing second thoroughfare is not generated. If the estimated movement features indicate that the underlying object is static, or that its determined dominant moving direction is not parallel to the second thoroughfare, an appearance of the foreground object region is determined and a static-ness timer run while the foreground object region comprises the extracted foreground object image features. |
| US09008358B2 |
Encoding a specific area with higher quality than a non-specific area
An image of a prescribed frame of images of respective frames is set as a target image, and an area including a prescribed pattern is detected from the target image as a specific area. An image other than the target image is set as a non-target image, and the specific area in the non-target image is predicted. The images of the respective frames are encoded so that the specific area is encoded to have higher image quality than an area other than the specific area. In encoding, the images of the respective frames are encoded so that the specific area in the non-target image is not referred to from another frame. |
| US09008357B2 |
Target detection method and apparatus and image acquisition device
A target detection method including the following steps controlling a modulated light emitting device to emit optical pulse signals with a first light intensity and a second light intensity to a target to be detected and a background, controlling an image sensor to acquire images of the target to be detected and the background, and distinguishing the target to be detected and the background, using the first frame image and the second frame image. |
| US09008351B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing image, and medical imaging system employing the apparatus
A method of processing an image is provided. The method includes estimating a thickness of an object that includes at least two materials, from a radiation image taken with radiations of at least two energy bands; and generating an image by comparing the estimated thickness to a thickness of a local region and extracting a region of interest. |
| US09008350B2 |
Loudspeaker, electronic device and mobile device both including the same, and method of producing the same
A magnetic circuit includes an upper plate, a magnet, a lower plate, and a center pole. The outer circumference of a frame is coupled with a diaphragm. One end of a voice coil is coupled with the diaphragm, and the other end is inserted into a magnetic gap formed between the upper plate and the center pole. The frame is provided with a through hole. An insertion part provided on the outer circumference of the upper plate is inserted into the through hole. The frame is coupled with the upper plate by bending the insertion part. |
| US09008349B2 |
Speaker diaphragm, speaker, and electronic equipment and mobile device using the speaker
A speaker diaphragm of the present invention is formed by mixing polylactic acid as a plant-derived resin, bamboo fibers and a natural binder. It is thereby possible to realize a speaker diaphragm capable of obtaining sufficient sound velocity, while having low environmental load and high sound quality. |
| US09008346B2 |
Articulating headphones with biased arm positions
A headphone with articulating earpieces includes a headband, a hinged fork, and earpieces connected to the fork in a manner allowing the earpieces to articulate relative to the fork as a hinge on the fork articulates. The earpieces are arranged on the fork in a manner allowing them to face each other while articulating from a folded position adjacent the headband, to an unfolded position for listening. When unfolded for listening, the earpieces are adapted to fully extend into a biased open position with an audible click. Similarly, when articulating the earphones to a closed position, they are biased against the headband with an audible click. |
| US09008344B2 |
Systems and methods for using a speaker as a microphone in a mobile device
In accordance with methods and systems of the present disclosure, a mobile device may include an enclosure adapted such that the enclosure is readily transported by a user of the mobile device, a speaker associated with the enclosure for generating sound, and a controller within the enclosure, communicatively coupled to the speaker. The controller may be configured to receive a signal from the speaker, the signal induced at least in part by sound incident on the speaker other than sound generated by the speaker and process the signal. |
| US09008343B2 |
Annular diaphragm compression driver
An annular diaphragm compression driver for electro-acoustic conversion has an annular diaphragm, which bears a moving coil, and a compression driver housing with a closed housing base. Opposite the housing base is a sound wave routing element having a sound discharge channel. The compression driver also has an annular magnet system unit, which has an annular magnet gap (M) and a compression chamber, adjoining the magnet gap (M), for the annular diaphragm. The open exit end of the sound discharge channel is in slot form and its entry start is annular. The sound path between the compression chamber and the entry start contains an annular collecting space. The collecting space and the sound discharge channel contain a central sound guidance body having a portion which merges to match the slot-like exit end. The sound discharge channel is formed between the sound guidance body and the sound wave routing element. |
| US09008342B1 |
Waterproof speaker system
Disclosed herein is a waterproof speaker system for use in residential and commercial applications. The disclosed speaker system is particularly applicable to wet conditions such as greenhouses, gardens, boats, and other outdoor installations or where traditional speakers are negatively affected by water and humidity. The waterproof speaker system generally comprises a solid water impermeable cast rear and side casing, and internal front frame member housing the speaker drivers and in some cases a simple electronics or amplification circuit, and a water impermeable front face panel sealed to the front frame member and/or the rear casing to completely enclose the speaker driver from contact with moisture. |
| US09008336B2 |
Condenser microphone
The present invention has: a condenser microphone unit which performs electroacoustic conversion according to a change in an electrostatic capacitance between a diaphragm and a fixed pole; a non-inverting amplifier which is connected to one of the diaphragm and the fixed pole, and which has an impedance converter which converts an output impedance of the microphone unit into a low impedance; an inverting amplifier which receives an input of an output signal of the non-inverting amplifier through an input resistance, and which has a feedback resistance; and a variable resistor which is connected between an output of the non-inverting amplifier and an output of the inverting amplifier, and in which a wiper is connected to the diaphragm or the fixed pole, whichever is not connected to the non-inverting amplifier, and the sensitivity changes according to the position of the wiper of the variable resistor. |
| US09008332B2 |
Processing chip for a digital microphone and related input circuit and a digital microphone
A processing chip for a digital microphone and related input circuit and a digital microphone are described herein. In one aspect, the input circuit for a processing chip of a digital microphone includes: a PMOS transistor, a resistor, a current source, and a low-pass filter. The described processing chip possesses high anti high-frequency interference capabilities and the described input circuit possesses high high-frequency power supply rejection ratio. |
| US09008331B2 |
Equalization system to improve the quality of bass sounds within a listening area
Frequency equalization system substantially equalizes the room frequency responses generated by at least one loudspeaker within a listening area so that the frequency responses in the listening area are substantially constant and flat within a desired frequency range. The frequency equalization system uses multiple microphones to measure the impulse responses of the room and uses the impulse responses to design filters to process the audio signals of one or more subwoofers to achieve an improved bass response that is flat across the relevant frequency range. The system employs an algorithm that is a closed-form, non-iterative, mathematical solution and features very short computation time. |
| US09008329B1 |
Noise reduction using multi-feature cluster tracker
Provided are methods and systems for noise suppression within multiple time-frequency points of spectral representations. A multi-feature cluster tracker is used to track signal and noise sources and to predict signal versus noise dominance at each time-frequency point. Multiple features, such as binaural and monaural features, may be used for these purposes. A Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is developed and, in some embodiments, dynamically updated for distinguishing signal from noise and performing mask-based noise reduction. Each frequency band may use a different GMM or share a GMM with other frequency bands. A GMM may be combined from two models, with one trained to model time-frequency points in which the target dominates and another trained to model time-frequency points in which the noise dominates. Dynamic updates of a GMM may be performed using an expectation-maximization algorithm in an unsupervised fashion. |
| US09008328B2 |
Headphone, headphone stand and headphone system
A wireless headphone system 102 includes a headphone 144 and a headphone stand 104. The headphone 144 has two ear cups 150a and 150b. The ear cup 150a incorporates a receiving coil L3 and a capacitor C3. The ear cup 150b incorporates a charge controller 138 and a secondary battery 112. The headphone stand 104 incorporates a feeding coil L2. When the headphone 144 is set in the headphone stand 104, AC power is supplied from the feeding coil L2 to the receiving coil L3, and the secondary battery 112 of the headphone 144 is charged with the AC power. |
| US09008319B2 |
Sound pressure level limiter with anti-startle feature
Sound pressure level limiter with anti-startle feature for audio systems are disclosed. The anti-startle feature may be implemented with a delta incident detector for detecting delta acoustic incidents that exceed a predetermined acoustic startle boundary, a delta limiter for determining an anti-startle gain, and an amplifier to apply the anti-startle gain to the input signal. The delta incident detector may detect delta incidents based on an estimated true SPL delivered by a transducer to a predetermined datum point. The estimated true SPL may be determined by based on a measured receiving frequency response of the transducer. An SPL limiter may also determine an SPL gain in response to detecting an SPL acoustic incident that exceeds a predetermined SPL threshold, and an amplifier may apply the SPL gain to the input signal to reduce it below the threshold. |
| US09008311B2 |
Method for encryption and decryption of messages
A communication system that includes a sender computer and plurality of designated receiver computers coupled to the sender through a communication link. Each one of the receiver computers is equipped with computational resources stronger than the computational resources of an adversary computer. There is provided a method for sending a secret from the sender computer to a designated receiver computer. The sender computer defining a succession of computational tasks having respective solutions. The computational tasks are so defined such that the duration of solving each task by the receiver computer is shorter than what would have been required for the adversary computer to solve the task. Next, the sender computer sending through the link the succession of tasks encrypted by previous solutions and the receiver computer receiving the tasks and is capable of decrypting the secret faster than what would have been required for the adversary computer to decrypt the secret. |
| US09008309B2 |
Circuit arrangement and a method for roaming between a visited network and a mobile station
According to various aspects of this disclosure, a circuit arrangement is provided. The circuit arrangement may include: a memory configured to store a first encryption key for generating a first authentication vector for authentication between a mobile station and a home network of the mobile station; and a key-generator configured to derive a second encryption key from the first encryption key, the second encryption key for generating a second authentication vector for authentication between the mobile station and a visited network. |
| US09008307B2 |
System and method for delivering satellite services at multiple security levels
The disclosed embodiments relate to a system and method for delivering satellite services at multiple security levels. More specifically, there is provided a method comprising determining a level of security supported by a first set top box (22a), encoding a first IP packet containing a satellite service using the level of security supported by the first set top box (22a), transmitting the first IP encoded packet to the first set top box (22a), determining a level of security supported by a second set top box (22b), wherein the level of security supported by the second set top box (22b) is different from the level of security of the first set top box (22a), encoding a second IP packet containing a satellite service using the level of security supported by the second set top box (22b); and transmitting the second encoded IP packet to the second set top box (22b). |
| US09008304B2 |
Content protection key management
This disclosure is directed to content protection key management. In general, devices may include secure processing resources configured to derive content keys (e.g., for use in decrypting secure content) using key ladders. In one embodiment, a device may comprise, for example, at least a secure processing module to derive content keys for use in decrypting secure content. The secure processing module may include, for example, a key ladder storage module and a secure key storage module. The key ladder storage module may be to store at least one key ladder for use in deriving at least one content key. The secure key storage module may be to store the at least one content key derived using the key ladder. |
| US09008301B2 |
System and method for modifying or disabling the ringtone for an incoming call based on the existence of nonexistence of previous calls from the same caller
The present invention provides a system for managing and disabling phone ring tone profiles, the system comprising: a. a storage system comprising (a) a plurality of ringtones adapted to be activated when an incoming call is made; and, (b) at least one list of identified callers; b. processor to execute at least one data processing system, said at least one data processing system comprising: i. an acquiring module operable to read an identifier of said incoming call or an incoming message; ii. a detecting module operable to detect if the identifier exists in said at least one list in the system, to determine the caller from said list, and to detect how many incoming calls have been made within a predetermined period of time; and iii. a disabling module adapted to either activate or disable said ringtones. |
| US09008300B2 |
Complex recording trigger
Complex recording triggers are provided. As an example of a system and method, the volume of call records can be reduced by complex recording triggers, thereby reducing the storage space allocated for call records. |
| US09008299B1 |
Mutual assistance routing system for improved utilization of customer service resources
The invention disclosed is a new system and method for providing the mutual sharing of resources devoted to customer service. The system utilizes a telecommunications switching apparatus to rout incoming customer contacts to one or more pools of customer service agents. The system provides for a universal customer service interface that allows customer service agents to assist customers of other related companies. The automated system for sharing customer service resources includes a mutual assistance routing system in communication with requesting users of customer service agents, responding providers of customer service agents, databases containing customer information, thereby allowing customers who contact the requesting user to be served by shared agents. |
| US09008298B2 |
Automatic denial of call request
A method may include receiving, from a network, a call request in a communication device, the call request including an identification of a calling party; notifying a user of the communication device of the call request; receiving an indication to deny the call request; prompting the user of the communication device, in response to receiving the indication to deny the call request, regarding automatically denying call requests having the identification of the calling party; receiving, from the user, an indication to deny call requests having the identification of the calling party; and sending an instruction to the network to automatically deny the call requests having the identification of the calling party. |
| US09008297B2 |
Methods, computer program products, and systems for providing called party initiated priority marking
Methods, computer program products, and systems for providing called party initiated priority marking are provided. The method includes receiving a request from a called party to mark a telephone call currently in session as a priority telephone call. The telephone call is initiated by a calling party and received by the called party. It is determined if the called party has authorization to mark the telephone call as a priority telephone call. The telephone call is marked as a priority telephone call if it is determined that the called party has authorization to mark the telephone call as a priority telephone call. |
| US09008291B1 |
Method and system for providing information for identifying callers
Embodiments of the present invention include a caller identification system and method for identifying a caller with a partial phone number look-up table. The caller identification system comprises a database that stores received calls and can be personalized to include information specific to partial phone numbers. In one embodiment, the caller identification system disclosed can be integrated into a cellular phone. In this embodiment, an incoming call initiates a search in a database to retrieve information about the caller. If a match is found, the identity of the caller is displayed. When an exact match is not found, a search for a partial match is executed with wild card values and information about the partial match is displayed. Information for a partial match can be personalized or pre-programmed into the caller ID system such as the city associated with a particular area code or prefix. |
| US09008290B1 |
Method and apparatus for increased call revenue collection
A call revenue enhancement system for a prison telephone system allows prisoners to make and initial call to a dialed number, and automatically prompts the called party to set up a credit card to be billed for future calls from the inmate. Additional phone numbers may also be specified to which the inmate may make calls which will be automatically charged to the credit card provided by the called party. |
| US09008289B2 |
Determining communications charging
A system for determining a communication charge comprising a charging equation determiner, an inflection point determiner, and a charge determiner. The charging equation determiner for determining a charging equation based at least in part on a normalized set of inputs. The inflection point determiner for determining an inflection point based at least in part on a charging structure database. The charge determiner for determining a communication charge based at least in part on the charging equation and the inflection point. |
| US09008287B2 |
Data communication
A method of establishing a communications session for communication of data with respect to at least two user devices in a data communications network. Call party details of a telephone call are received. The telephone call involves at least a first telephony user device and a second telephony user device. The call party details include a first identity associated with the first telephony user device and a second identity associated with the second telephony user device. At least one of the first and second identities comprises a telephone dialing number. A separate communications session is established on the basis of the first and second identities received in the call party details. The communications session is separate from the telephone call, for the communication of data to and/or from the at least two user devices. |
| US09008282B2 |
Cordless telephone system and monitoring system
Provided is a cordless telephone system including a base unit (100) connected to a telephone line and a handset (200) configured to transmit and receive radio waves to and from the base unit (100) via wireless channel, wherein the base unit (100) or the handset (200) includes a strength measurement unit (20) configured to measure a strength of received radio waves, and a signal processing unit (10) configured to perform a prescribed security action based on a result of measurement performed by the strength measurement unit (20). |
| US09008277B2 |
Continuous contact X-ray source
An x-ray device utilizes a band of material to exchange charge through tribocharging within a chamber maintained at low fluid pressure. The charge is utilized to generate x-rays within the housing, which may pass through a window of the housing. Various contact rods may be used as part of the tribocharging process. |
| US09008263B2 |
Apparatus and method for imaging breast
An apparatus and method for imaging a breast are provided. The apparatus includes an X-ray emission unit that emits an X-ray of a first energy spectrum and an X-ray of a second energy spectrum from above a first region of a breast and emits an X-ray of a third energy spectrum from above a second region of the breast different from the first region of the breast; an X-ray detection unit that generates a plurality of image frames related to the breast by detecting the X-rays emitted and passed through the breast; and an image generation unit that generates image data related to the breast by combining the plurality of image frames. |
| US09008262B2 |
X-ray CT apparatus and image processing apparatus
According to one embodiment, an X-ray CT apparatus includes an generation unit, detection unit, processing unit, and reconstruction unit. The generation unit irradiates an object with X-rays. The detection unit includes detection elements corresponding to a plurality of channels, which output detection signals upon detecting X-rays. The processing unit smoothes projection data constituted by numerical values corresponding to signals output from the elements so as to more strongly smooth a portion exhibiting a larger amount of change in the numerical value. The reconstruction unit reconstructs an image by using a plurality of projection data smoothed by the image processing unit. |
| US09008257B2 |
Electromagnetic flow regulator, system and methods for regulating flow of an electrically conductive fluid
Disclosed embodiments include electromagnetic flow regulators for regulating flow of an electrically conductive fluid, systems for regulating flow of an electrically conductive fluid, methods of regulating flow of an electrically conductive fluid, nuclear fission reactors, systems for regulating flow of an electrically conductive reactor coolant, and methods of regulating flow of an electrically conductive reactor coolant in a nuclear fission reactor. |
| US09008256B2 |
Method and system for in situ depositon and regeneration of high efficiency target materials for long life nuclear reaction devices
Aspects of the invention relate to several methods to deposit and regenerate target materials in neutron generators and similar nuclear reaction devices. In situ deposition and regeneration of a target material reduces tube degradation of the nuclear reaction device and covers impurities on the surface of the target material at the target location. Further aspects of the invention include a method of designing a target to generate neutrons at a high efficiency rate and at a selected neutron energy from a neutron energy spectrum. |
| US09008250B2 |
Method, modem, and system for canceling adjacent channel interference
A method for canceling adjacent channel interference includes: receiving signal of a first channel, where an interference signal of a second channel remains in the signal of the first channel, and the second channel and the first channel are adjacent channels; receiving a cancellation signal provided by the second channel for canceling the interference signal; filtering the received cancellation signal; adjusting a frequency of the filtered cancellation signal; multiplying the cancellation signal with the adjusted frequency by a gain factor to obtain a signal to be cancelled; and subtracting the signal to be cancelled from the signal of the first channel, and canceling the interference signal to obtain a signal to be decoded. According to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention, interference signals of adjacent channels are cancelled, and the signal to noise ratio is improved. |
| US09008248B2 |
Variable low IF receiver for multi-channel applications
Systems and methods for demodulating a plurality of contiguous channels contained within a bandlimited portion of a radio-frequency (RF) input signal are provided. In an embodiment, the bandlimited portion of the RF input signal is down-converted to baseband. After down-conversion, the bandlimited portion overlaps at baseband with a mirror image of the bandlimited portion. The plurality of contiguous channels within the down-converted signal similarly overlap at baseband and subsequently occupy a bandwidth substantially equal to half that required before down-converting. Image rejection is performed in the digital domain to recover each of the plurality of overlapping channels. |
| US09008244B2 |
Method and system for a combined signal detection for physical layer communication devices
Communication devices coupled via a communication link may comprise physical layer devices that may be operable to determine presence of a received signal and to mitigate noise in the signal prior to processing and/or validating the signal. Analog and/or digital signal processing may be utilized to process the signal and/or mitigate noise in the signal. Noise mitigation may comprise near-end crosstalk cancelling and/or echo cancelling and/or may utilize local transmit signal information. Subsequent to noise mitigation, samples of the noise reduced signal may be accumulated and/or an average signal strength and/or average signal power level may be determined. The average signal strength and/or average signal power level may be compared to one or more thresholds which may be configurable and/or programmable. |
| US09008239B2 |
Collision detection using a multiple symbol noncoherent soft output detector
Systems and methods for detecting collisions in radio frequency tags in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a receiver system includes a receiver configured to receive and sample a phase modulated input signal, and a multiple symbol noncoherent soft output detector configured to receive the sampled input signal and to generate a soft metric indicative of the reliability of a detected symbol based upon observations over multiple symbols, a collision detector configured to calculate a decision metric from a set of soft metrics generated by the multiple symbol noncoherent soft output detector and detect a collision when the decision metric satisfies a predetermined criterion. |
| US09008237B2 |
Method and device for symbol detection
A method for symbol detection includes assigning a received symbol to at least one particular candidate symbol of a set of candidate symbols of a finite candidate symbol alphabet based on a metric between the received symbol and the at least one particular candidate symbol, the metric comprising contributions with respect to channel-based information and contributions with respect to a priori information. |
| US09008232B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting frequency-quadrature amplitude modulation in wireless communication system
A method for generating a decoding metric in a wireless communication system includes receiving an FQAM symbol and determining transmission probabilities of FQAM symbol candidates from a received value of the FQAM symbol, wherein the transmission probabilities of the FQAM symbol candidates are determined by multiplying a probability that a QAM symbol included in the FQAM symbol is mapped to each of candidate values in one frequency and a probability that a signal is not transmitted in the other at least one frequency. An apparatus in a wireless communication system for supporting FQAM, the apparatus comprising an RF processing unit configured to receive an FQAM symbol, and a modem configured to determine transmission probabilities of FQAM symbol candidates from a received value of the FQAM symbol. |
| US09008229B2 |
Device and a method for obtaining a radio controlled clock signal
A device for obtaining a RCC signal and related methods are described herein improves the reliability of the RCC signal reception and demodulation. In one aspect, a device configured to obtain a RCC signal includes: a receiving circuit to receive an analog AM RCC signal and to process said analog AM RCC signal to generate a digital AM RCC signal; and a demodulation circuit in connection with said receiving circuit, to demodulate said digital AM RCC signal to generate the RCC signal. In another aspect, a method for obtaining a RCC signal includes: processing a received analog AM RCC signal to generate a digital AM RCC signal; and demodulating said digital AM RCC signal to generate said RCC signal. Since the digital processing method is more reliable than the analog processing method, the reliability of RCC signal reception and demodulation are improved. |
| US09008226B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmit signal pulse shaping
A method and apparatus for transmit signal pulse shaping. Automotive vehicle manufacturers that incorporate electronic components into an automotive vehicle must consider emission requirements masks that can be dependent on particular geographic markets as well as the other electronic components contained within a particular automotive vehicle design. A physical layer device is provided that can be configured to operate in multiple emissions configurations using configurable parameters. |
| US09008225B2 |
Pre-coding method and pre-coding device
Disclosed is a precoding method comprising the steps of: generating a first coded block and a second coded block with use of a predetermined error correction block coding scheme; generating a first precoded signal z1 and a second precoded signal z2 by performing a precoding process, which corresponds to a matrix selected from among the N matrices F[i], on a first baseband signal s1 generated from the first coded block and a second baseband signal s2 generated from the second coded block, respectively; the first precoded signal z1 and the second precoded signal z2 satisfying (z1, z2)T=F[i](s1, s2)T; and changing both of or one of a power of the first precoded signal z1 and a power of the second precoded signal z2, such that an average power of the first precoded signal z1 is less than an average power of the second precoded signal z2. |
| US09008221B2 |
Spurious frequency attenuation servo
A spurious frequency attenuation servo is provided. The spurious frequency attenuation servo includes a first function generator that generates a first signal at a first frequency and at a spurious frequency; a second function generator that generates a second signal in-phase with the first signal and at the spurious frequency; a third function generator that generates a third signal ninety degrees out-of-phase with the first signal and at the spurious frequency; in-phase and quadrature-phase mixers to input a feedback signal and the second and third signals, respectively; in-phase and quadrature-phase error accumulators; an in-phase and quadrature-phase multiplier to multiply an output from the in-phase and quadrature-phase error accumulators with the second and third signals, respectively; and a summing node to sum the first signal with output from the in-phase and quadrature-phase multipliers to form an output signal that is fed back to the in-phase mixer and the quadrature-phase mixer. |
| US09008220B2 |
Frequency reuse in wireless point-to-point communication systems
A method for interference reduction in transmission of at least two single carrier frequency continuous communication beams including producing a first communication signal for a first digital communication link, producing a second communication signal for a second digital communication link, transmitting the first communication signal over a first continuous communication beam at a first frequency, transmitting the second communication signal over a second continuous communication beam at the first frequency, characterized by modifying the first communication signal using transmitter interference cancellation.A method for interference reduction in reception of at least two single carrier frequency continuous communication beams including receiving a first received signal from a first digital communication link, receiving a second received signal from a second digital communication link, modifying the first received signal, adding the modified first received signal to the second received signal, thereby producing a reduced-interference second received signal, characterized by the modifying of the first received signal being based, at least in part, on reducing an error rate of the reduced-interference second received signal.Related apparatus and methods are also described. |
| US09008219B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting data in multiple-antenna system
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and an apparatus for transmitting data in a multiple-antenna system, which are applied in a transmit diversity mode. The method includes: in a data transmission period, determining, according to transmission quality of the system, the number of antennas to be turned off and turning-off time; and in the turning-off time, turning off the determined number of antennas, turning on remaining antennas other than the antennas that are turned off, and transmitting, through the remaining antennas, the data to be transmitted; and during the remaining time of the data transmission period excluding the turning-off time, turning on all antennas and transmitting, through all the antennas, the data to be transmitted. According to the embodiments of the present invention, power consumption may be decreased while at the same time dynamic transmission performance of the system is considered, decreasing implementation complexity. |
| US09008218B2 |
Broadcast signal transmitter/receiver, and broadcast signal transceiving method
Disclosed are a broadcast signal transmitter, a broadcast signal receiver, and a method for transceiving a broadcast signal in the broadcast signal transmitter/receiver. A method for transmitting a broadcast signal comprises the following steps: signaling in-band signaling information to at least one of a service component physical layer pipe (PLP) including at least one service component of a broadcast service, a first information PLP including first service information applied to one broadcast service and a second information PLP including second service information applied commonly to a variety of broadcast services; performing the FEC encoding on data included in each PLP; performing time-interleaving on the FEC encoded data; generating a transmission frame including the time-interleaved data; and modulating the transmission frame and transmitting a broadcast signal including the modulated transmission frame. |
| US09008213B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting control information for interference mitigation in multiple antenna system
A multiple antenna system including a mobile station and a base station are operable to perform a method for transmitting control information for interference mitigation. A Mobile Station (MS) can transmit control information for interference mitigation. The MS determines a first Precoding Matrix Index (PMI) and a second PMI for interference from an adjacent Base Station (BS). Based on a correlation level from correlation values between one of the first PMI and second PMI and the remaining PMIs in the codebook, the MS determines a level of a subset of PMIs, and feeds back information indicating the correlation level. |
| US09008210B2 |
Method for providing information of access point selection
A method for providing information of access point (AP) selection in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method including receiving from candidate APs the AP selection information including channel correlation information for other stations associated with the candidate APs; and selecting one AP from candidate APs according to the channel correlation information corresponding to the candidate APs. Accordingly, a gain of multi-user multiple input multiple output (MIMO) can be increased, and an AP suitable for a terminal can be selected. |
| US09008209B2 |
Method in a wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a method including signalling by a receive node at least one first transmission rank r to a transmit node, where 1≦r ≦R, wherein R is a maximum available rank for a transmission, and at least one predefined precoding matrix corresponds to the first transmission rank r, determining by the transmit node a second transmission rank r′ for transmitting data from the transmit node to the receive node, where 1≦r′ ≦R, defining at least two subsets of precoding matrices for at least one of the at least one first transmission rank r, selecting one of the at least two subsets of precoding matrices in accordance with a channel quality estimate for a radio channel, and signalling the selected one subset of precoding matrices, wherein the selected one subset of precoding matrices is associated with said the at least one predefined precoding matrix. |
| US09008204B1 |
OFDM of signals onto a same RF port
An apparatus relates generally to OFDM. In this apparatus, modulators are coupled to receive data inputs. Each of the modulators includes IDFT blocks coupled to output a first and a second N-point transform, and a 2N-point transform to provide discrete time domain signals for the data inputs. A switch and frequency translation block is coupled to receive the discrete time domain signals. RF ports are coupled to the switch and frequency translation block. The switch and frequency translation block is configured to allocate a combination of outputs from two or more of the IDFT blocks to a same RF port of the RF ports and to translate frequency of at least one of the outputs from the two or more of the IDFT blocks to provide the OFDM of the outputs from the two or more of the IDFT blocks onto the same RF port of the RF ports. |
| US09008197B2 |
Current loop voltage modulator for communication interface
Systems for communicating over a communication interface are provided. An integrated circuit includes circuitry for monitoring a current flowing between two terminals of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit also includes a voltage driver circuit for modulating a voltage between two terminals of the integrated circuit. The voltage driver modulates the voltage across the two terminals of the integrated circuit to encode data according to the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer protocol. |
| US09008191B2 |
Video compression encoder
A video compression encoder which does not require a video frame buffer is disclosed. Without a frame buffer, incoming pixels can not be compared to pixels previously sent to the decoder. Instead, the disclosed encoder only stores check values for groups of pixels sent. If a group's check value has not changed, the encoder sends a command to the decoder not to change that pixel group. Also, without a frame buffer, an incoming video frame can not be captured and later sent to the decoder as network throughput permits. Instead, if throughput is insufficient to send an encoded group of pixels, the encoder leaves the check value for that group unchanged and sends a command instructing the decoder not to change those pixels. This defers updating that group until the next screen update is sent to the decoder. Grouping of pixels can be done in any fashion, for example; a group can be a single video line, a portion of a line, multiple lines or screen rectangles containing portions of multiple lines. |
| US09008190B2 |
Apparatus for processing images and method thereof
An apparatus for processing images may include a de-multiplexer that receives a data stream and de-multiplexes a video signal and channel information from the data stream, a first decoder that provides a decoded video signal, a thumbnail generator coupled to the first decoder to generate at least one of a still picture thumbnail or a moving picture thumbnail based on the decoded video signal, and an encoder coupled to the thumbnail generator and the de-multiplexer. The encoder encodes the thumbnail with the channel information to provide a thumbnail data stream to provide thumbnails of moving pictures and/or still pictures on a display. |
| US09008189B2 |
Methods and devices for context modeling to enable modular processing
Methods of encoding and decoding for video data are described for encoding or decoding coefficients for a transform unit. In particular, the significant-coefficient flags for a coefficient group are encoded and decoded based upon a context determination, and the context is determined based upon the values of neighboring flags. The neighborhood used to determine the context varies depending on whether the significant-coefficient flag to be encoded or decoded is in the right column or bottom row of the coefficient group or not. If it is in the right column or bottom row one of the alternative context neighborhoods is used to avoid relying on significant-coefficient flags in other coefficient groups except for the flags immediately adjacent the right border and bottom border of the coefficient group, and the flag diagonally to the lower-right. |
| US09008188B2 |
Apparatus and method for decoding signals
New capabilities will allow conventional broadcast transmission to be available to mobile devices. A method of decoding a bitstream is described including receiving a demodulated bitstream, the demodulated bitstream encoded using a byte-code encoding process, arranging a portion of the demodulated bitstream into a subset of bits, reordering the subset of bits, and decoding the subset of bits based on a property of the subset of bits and the encoding process. An apparatus includes means for decoding a bitstream based on a property of the subset of bits and the encoding process. |
| US09008187B2 |
Moving image distribution server, moving image reproduction apparatus, control method, program, and recording medium
A moving image distribution server selects an intermediate value map of at least one channel during execution of a rendering processing of a subsequent stage for a first screen, and determines, for each set block, whether to perform inter-frame coding by referring to a corresponding intermediate value map generated for a second screen rendered before the first screen. The moving image distribution server performs coding in accordance with the determination result and sends coded moving image data to an external device after the rendering processing of the subsequent stage for the first screen has ended. The determination result is sent to the external device before generation of the coded moving image data of the first screen is completed. |
| US09008184B2 |
Multiple sign bit hiding within a transform unit
Methods of encoding and decoding for video data are described for encoding or decoding coefficients for a transform unit. In particular, the sign bits for the non-zero coefficients are encoded using sign bit hiding. Two or more sets of coefficients are defined for the transform unit and a sign bit may be hidden for each set, subject to satisfaction of a threshold test. The sets may correspond to coefficient groups that are otherwise used in multi-level significance map encoding and decoding. |
| US09008183B2 |
Method of determining motion vectors for bi-predictive image block
In one embodiment, the method includes determining a motion vector of a current image block equal to a motion vector of an image block based on a reference picture index indicating a reference picture for the image block. For example, the motion vector of the current image block may be equal to the motion vector of the image block if the reference picture index indicates a long-term reference picture for the image block. |
| US09008173B2 |
Image encoding and decoding apparatuses, image encoding and decoding methods, programs thereof, and recording media recorded with the programs
A method for encoding an image using an intraframe prediction is provided which includes selecting a gradient of a pixel value that is indicated by an image signal to be predicted among a plurality of gradient candidates, generating a predicted signal by applying a gradient in accordance with the distance from a prediction reference pixel based on the gradient, intraframe-encoding the image signal to be predicted based on the predicted signal, and encoding information indicating the size of the selected gradient. Alternatively, the method includes estimating the gradient of a pixel value that is indicated by an image signal to be predicted based on an image signal which has already been encoded, generating a predicted signal by applying a gradient in accordance with the distance from a prediction reference pixel based on the gradient, and intraframe-encoding the image signal to be predicted based on the predicted signal. |
| US09008171B2 |
Two pass quantization for CABAC coders
This disclosure describes techniques for quantizing coefficients of a video block for a video coding process that supports context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC). A method may comprise estimating a last non-zero coefficient of the video block, and generating a set of quantized coefficients for the video block based on an assumption that the estimated last non-zero coefficient is actually the last non-zero coefficient of the video block. |
| US09008167B2 |
Methods and arrangements for phase tracking for multi-mode operation in wireless networks
Logic may comprise a single phase tracking implementation for all bandwidths of operation and the logic may adaptively change pre-defined and stored track parameters if the receiving packet is 1 MHz bandwidth. Logic may detect a packet and long training fields before performing a 1 MHz classification. Logic may auto-detect 1 MHz bandwidth transmissions by a property of the long training field sequences. Logic may auto-detect 1 MHz bandwidth transmissions by detecting a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulated first signal field symbol rather than the Quadrature Binary Phase Shift Keying (QBPSK) associated with the 2 MHz or greater bandwidth transmissions. Logic may perform an algorithm to determine an estimated phase correction value for a given orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol and several embodiments integrate this value with an intercept multiplier that may be 0.2 for 1 MHz transmissions and, e.g., 0.5 for 2 MHz or greater bandwidth communication. |
| US09008166B2 |
Filter calculating device, transmitting device, receiving device, processor, and filter calculating method
A filter calculating device includes a first equalization filter calculating section that generates at least a first conversion matrix and a first triangular matrix based on a channel state of a first channel; a first quasi-orthogonalization section that calculates a first unimodular matrix based on the first triangular matrix; and a second equalization filter calculating section that generates at least a second conversion matrix and a second triangular matrix based on a channel state of a second channel and the first unimodular matrix. |
| US09008161B1 |
Calibration method and calibration apparatus for calibrating mismatch between I-path and Q-path of transmitter/receiver
A method for calibrating mismatches of an in-phase signal path and a quadrature signal path of a transmitter, including: additionally configuration at least one mixer calibration coefficient at a transmitting part of the transmitter; obtaining at least one mixer testing signal from the transmitting part via loopback for spectrum analysis to derive at least one mixer spectrum analysis result; adjusting the mixer calibration coefficient of the transmitting part according to the mixer spectrum analysis result; and additionally utilizing an in-phase signal path finite impulse response filter and a quadrature signal path finite impulse response filter to calibrate mismatches between a low pass filter of the in-phase signal path of the transmitting part of the transmitter and a low pass filter of the quadrature signal path of the transmitting part of the transmitter. A similar mismatch calibration operation may be applied to a receiver. |
| US09008158B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting and receiving signal in communication system
Disclosed uses a digital to analog converter and an analog to digital converter that process a low bit for processing of a data signal at high speed according to analog to digital conversion and digital to analog conversion in a communication system and an analog to digital converter that processes high bit for processing of a signal for synchronization acquisition at low speed. |
| US09008152B2 |
Method, apparatus, and computer program product for wireless signaling
Embodiments of the invention provide signaling mechanisms for wireless networks composed of a large number of stations. An example method embodiment comprises: storing, by a wireless device, a prior channel estimate that was previously transmitted to another wireless device in a wireless network; receiving, by the wireless device, a request message from the other device, to determine a distortion between a current channel estimate and the prior channel estimate and compare the determined distortion to a distortion threshold value, the request message being a broadcast request message or a measurement request message and the distortion value being either included in the request message, received in another message, or a preconfigured value; determining, by the wireless device, the distortion between the current channel estimate and the prior channel estimate and comparing the determined distortion to the distortion threshold value; and transmitting, by the wireless device, one or more parallel or sequential messages to the other device, indicating presence of the determined distortion greater than the distortion threshold value or indicating an inability to determine a distortion in channel estimates. |
| US09008149B2 |
Synchronous access method, and communication device and system in frequency hopping radio communication
A method performs synchronous access between a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device adopts N frequency hopping channels and performs frequency hopping in a predetermined frequency hopping sequence and at a predetermined frequency hopping time interval. The first communication device sends a broadcast beacon over the N frequency hopping channels with a cycle of M times the predetermined frequency hopping time interval. The broadcast beacon carries general information including synchronization information. M and N are both natural numbers. The second communication device receives the broadcast beacon over any one frequency hopping channel of the N frequency hopping channels to acquire the synchronization information. The second communication device exchanges information with the first communication device for access. This flexible, simple and easy-to-implement synchronous access solution achieves high-efficiency utilization and good anti-interference of a bandwidth, and allows rapid and reliable synchronization with low power consumption. |
| US09008148B2 |
Refining and casting apparatus and method
A method for refining and casting metals and metal alloys includes melting and refining a metallic material and then casting the refined molten material by a nucleated casting technique. The refined molten material is provided to the atomizing nozzle of the nucleated casting apparatus through a transfer apparatus adapted to maintain the purity of the molten refined material. An apparatus including a melting and refining apparatus, a transfer apparatus, and a nucleated casting apparatus, in serial fluid communication, also is disclosed. |
| US09008144B2 |
Low noise optically pumped laser structures utilizing dispersion elements
A refractive optics-based dispersion control structure for a low-noise solid state laser standing-wave resonator has at least one dispersive element, a gain medium, and a frequency doubling element disposed in the resonant beam path. The dispersive element provides geometric-based laser bandwidth control that minimizes the laser output power noise. The dispersive element in certain embodiments may be a prism. The dispersive element in certain other embodiments may be integrally formed with the gain medium. Numerous different architectures using these elements are disclosed. |
| US09008138B2 |
Laser diode device
A laser diode device is specified, comprising a housing having a mounting part and a laser diode chip based on a nitride compound semiconductor material in the housing on the mounting part, wherein the laser diode chip is mounted directly on the mounting part using a solder layer, and the solder layer has a thickness of greater than or equal to 3 μm. |
| US09008136B2 |
Laser system chiller
A laser system includes a laser element, a pump source configured to input light to the laser element, a first cooling circuit and a second cooling circuit. The first cooling circuit includes a first pump configured to drive a first flow of cooling liquid through a first fluid pathway, a first primary heat exchanger configured to cool the first flow of cooling liquid, and a laser element heat exchanger configured to remove heat from the laser element using the first flow of cooling liquid. The second cooling circuit includes a second pump configured to drive a flow of cooling liquid through a second fluid pathway, a second primary heat exchanger configured to cool the second flow of cooling liquid, and a pump source heat exchanger configured to remove heat from the pump source using the first and second flows of cooling liquid. |
| US09008129B2 |
System and method for frequency division multiplexed high speed physical layer devices
A system and method for frequency division multiplexed high speed physical layer devices. A next generation Ethernet device can be generated through reuse of existing architectures. Multiple instantiations of an existing architecture can be supported on a given wire pair by frequency division multiplexing on a number of carriers. The multiple instantiations can enable multiple modes that can support different configurations, variable rates, and energy efficient Ethernet. |
| US09008125B2 |
Method and system for MAC and PHY synchronization for energy efficient networking
Aspects of a method and system for MAC and PHY synchronization for energy efficient networking are provided. In this regard, an interface that enables communication between a MAC controller and a PHY device may be configured to operate in an energy saving mode. While the interface is operating in an energy saving mode, synchronization between the MAC controller and the PHY device may be maintained by one or both of adjusting a clock generated for the interface and/or communicating dummy data via the interface. The clock may be adjusted by one or more of adjusting a frequency of the clock, adjusting an amplitude of the clock, and/or duty cycling the clock. The MAC controller and/or the PHY device may generate the dummy data. The PHY device and/or the MAC controller may discard the dummy data upon receiving the dummy data. |
| US09008122B2 |
Method and apparatus for triggering bandwidth upspeeding within an existing reservation
In one embodiment, a method includes reserving a first amount of bandwidth with respect to a path in response to a reservation request from a sender. The reservation request specifies a plurality of acceptable amounts of bandwidth including the first amount of bandwidth and a second amount of bandwidth. The first amount of bandwidth is less than the second amount of bandwidth. The method also includes determining, after reserving the first amount of bandwidth, that additional bandwidth sufficient to accommodate the second amount of bandwidth is available, and automatically providing a first indication that the additional bandwidth is available. Automatically providing the first indication that the additional bandwidth is available includes providing the first indication to at least the sender. Finally, the method includes obtaining a second indication, the second indication being arranged to indicate whether the second amount of bandwidth may be accommodated with respect to the path. |
| US09008118B2 |
Multicast data delivery over mixed multicast and non-multicast networks
In one embodiment, a relay device of a network, which is reachable by a source device via only a non-multicast network, receives a non-multicast that encapsulates a multicast message. The relay device is connected to a sub-network of one or more devices. The relay device decapsulates the unicast message to determine the multicast message, re-encapsulates the multicast message as a relay-sourced multicast message, and multicasts the relay-sourced multicast message to the one or more devices within the sub-network. |
| US09008113B2 |
Mapped FIFO buffering
A network interface device for connection between a network and a data processing system, the network interface device comprising: an I/O interface for connection to a data processing system; a set of physical data ports for connection to a network; a unified memory comprising a plurality of buffers; a plurality of ingress ports operable to receive data packets for buffering at the unified memory, a first subset of the plurality of ingress ports being configured to receive data packets on a transmit path from said I/O interface, and a second subset of the plurality of ingress ports being configured to receive data packets on a receive path from said set of physical data ports; a memory manager configured to store representations of a plurality of virtual queues held in the unified memory, each virtual queue being a linked logical sequence of buffers of the unified memory; and an ingress interface configured to service the ingress ports in a predetermined order and write data packets received at the ingress ports to buffers of the unified memory selected by the memory manager; wherein the memory manager is arranged to select buffers of the unified memory so as to cause the ingress interface to populate the plurality of virtual queues with data packets, and the ingress interface is arranged to contiguously write data packets into the linked logical sequence of buffers representing each virtual queue. |
| US09008110B2 |
Method for multiplexing control signals and reference signals in mobile communications system
A reference signal multiplexing method for multiple mobile stations includes: grouping together control signals for the multiple mobile stations; and multiplexing reference signals corresponding to the control signals by CDM over the same bandwidth as that of grouped control signals. |
| US09008107B1 |
Conferencing and meeting implementations with advanced features
Meeting and conferencing systems and methods are implemented in a variety of manners. Consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for operating an audio conference system that includes at least one logic circuit and a caller interface involves receiving incoming telephony calls at the caller interface. A logic circuit is used to authenticate incoming telephony calls. Menu options are provided to authenticated, incoming telephony calls. In response to a selection of the menu options, an incoming telephony call is prompted to select a callback number. The logic circuit monitors for a trigger event. A participant is called back using the selected call back number in response to detecting the trigger event. The called-back participant is then placed into a conference. |
| US09008102B2 |
Redundancy of network services in restricted networks
Methods, systems, and devices are described for managing virtual network services provided to a network. Network services may be provided to a client network having a first network fabric at a self-contained network services system implementing a number of redundant instances of a network service application. The self-contained network services system may have a second network fabric. The second network fabric may be adapted to distribute network service tasks received from the client network which are associated with the network service application among the redundant instances of the network service application. |
| US09008099B2 |
Method and system for sliding window processing of a datagram
A method for sliding window processing of a datagram split into packets, may include processing entire strings of adjacent consecutive packets of the datagram regardless the order of the packets using parallel processors. The method may also include processing adjacent ends of the strings of the adjacent consecutive packets while maintaining the order of the adjacent ends to correspond to the order of the consecutive packets. |
| US09008095B2 |
System and method for hardware-based learning of internet protocol addresses in a network environment
A method is provided one example embodiment and includes receiving a packet including a source /32 address and a destination /32 address. The source /32 address can indicate an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a source host that sent the packet. The destination /32 address can indicate an IP address of a destination host to which the packet is destined. The method may also include looking up the destination /32 address and the source /32 address in a Forwarding Information Base/adjacency (FIB)/(ADJ) table implemented in a hardware of a leaf switch in a network. Additionally, the method may include adding the source /32 address and corresponding adjacency information to the FIB/ADJ table if the destination /32 address is found in the FIB/ADJ table, and the source /32 address is not found in the FIB/ADJ table. The method may also include forwarding the packet to the destination host. |
| US09008091B1 |
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for improved multicast scaling through policy based redirection
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for improved multicast scaling through policy based redirection are disclosed. According to one method, a packet belonging to an Internet protocol multicast (IPMC) stream is received, where the packet includes packet routing information. A lookup is performed in a IPMC forwarding database (FDB) and, in response to failing to locate an entry in the IPMC FDB, an attempt is made to insert the packet routing information in the IPMC FDB. In response to failing to insert the packet routing information in the IPMC FDB, a packet redirection rule is created based on the packet forwarding information. |
| US09008081B2 |
Serving gateway proxies for non-SIP speakers in a next generation network
Methods and systems for extending the IMS/SIP architecture of the NGN to provide QoS service to generic bearer flows. QoS treatment of a bearer flow destined to a non-SIP client attached to the network via an attachment segment connected to an attachment gateway is supported. A SIP-INVITE message is received in respect of the bearer flow. The SIP-INVITE message contains a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) identifying the non-SIP client as a destination of the bearer flow. An attempt is made to install a QoS policy on the attachment segment in accordance with a Traffic Specification (T-Spec) identified in the SIP-INVITE message, and the result of the installation attempt detected. A appropriate SIP messaging is generated on behalf of the non-SIP client, to either accept or refuse the bearer flow, based on the detected result. |
| US09008079B2 |
System and method for high-performance, low-power data center interconnect fabric
A system and method are provided that support a routing using a tree-like or graph topology that supports multiple links per node, where each link is designated as an Up, Down, or Lateral link, or both, within the topology. The system may use a segmented MAC architecture which may have a method of re-purposing MAC IP addresses for inside MACs and outside MACs, and leveraging what would normally be the physical signaling for the MAC to feed into the switch. |
| US09008077B2 |
Method for quick map recovery in case of error in MoCA
A method comprises receiving a predetermined length of information, the information including a first MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) being of variable length and including at least one Sub-MPDU; independently decoding the first Sub-MPDU and a plurality of additional portions of the received information, each portion having a length equal to the length of one Sub-MPDU; processing data from the first Sub-MPDU; and determining from the processed data how many of the other decoded portions constitute Sub-MPDUs of the received MPDU. |
| US09008073B1 |
Routing for power line communication systems
A power line communication (PLC) system includes a source node, a plurality of intermediate nodes and a destination node. Each of the source node, the plurality of intermediate nodes and the destination node comprise a PLC interface including a medium access control (MAC) module and a physical layer (PHY) module. A transformer is located between the source node and the destination node. Routing modules of the source node, one or more of the intermediate nodes, and the destination node establish a route from the source node to the destination node via one or more selected ones of the plurality of intermediate nodes. The route is selected using a route cost that is calculated based on link costs of a plurality of hops in the route from the source node to the destination node. The link costs are based on forward link costs and reverse link costs. |
| US09008072B2 |
Method of performing uplink synchronization in random access procedure
A method and device for performing a contention based random access procedure by a mobile communication terminal in communication with a base station. The method according to an embodiment includes transmitting a random access preamble message to the base station; receiving a random access response from the base station, the random access response including a timing advance command; determining a status of a mobile communication terminal time alignment timer; and ignoring the timing advance command if the mobile communication terminal time alignment timer is determined to be running in the determining step. |
| US09008069B2 |
Method of utilizing resources efficiently in a reverse link transmission
A method of transmitting data by at least one access terminal (AT) in a wireless communication system is disclosed. More specifically, the method includes ceasing all transmissions by the at least one AT during a duration corresponding to a duration used by an access node (AN) to transmit a superframe preamble, wherein the superframe comprises a plurality of physical frames. |
| US09008068B2 |
Wireless terminal apparatus and wireless base station apparatus
Both a wireless terminal apparatus and wireless base station apparatus are provided that can, in an operation of encoding the control signals of the upstream link transmitted from the multiple terminal stations while encoding with regard to each of the terminal stations, increase a number of the terminal stations to which different codes are respectively assigned. A wireless terminal apparatus includes: an encoding information receiving portion receiving encoding information which is used at the wireless terminal apparatus from the base station; a phase-shifting unit which conducts a phase-shifting operation on a predetermined first code based on the encoding information; a code selection unit which, based on the received encoding information, selects a second code from multiple codes orthogonally crossing each other; and a control signal encoding portion which conducts an encoding operation on the control signal that is going to be transmitted to the base station by using both the first code on which the phase-shifting operation has been conducted and the second code. |
| US09008067B2 |
Method for allowing terminal to transmit power headroom information in wireless communication system and device therefor
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more specifically, to a method for allowing a terminal to transmit power headroom information in a wireless communication system and a device therefor. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for allowing a terminal, in which at least one serving cell is set, to transmit power headroom information comprises the steps of: generating said power headroom information; and transmitting the power headroom information to a base station. In this case, said power headroom information includes a first field that includes a plurality of indicators, and at least one second field that indicates a power headroom level, wherein each of the plurality of indicators is capable of indicating whether at least one said second field for at least one of each of the serving cell exists. |
| US09008064B2 |
Method of constructing a coexistence protocol message
Disclosed is a radio technology independent method for coexistence among dissimilar or independently operated TV Band Device (TVBD) networks and dissimilar TV Band Devices. A coexistence protocol message construction method is disclosed, which comprises steps of generating the coexistence protocol message with a format having a coexistence header field, an information type field, and a payload field, where the information type field differentiates type of the coexistence protocol message. |
| US09008062B2 |
Systems and methods for AP discovery with FILS beacon
A method and apparatus are disclosed for supporting access point (AP) discovery by a handset/station (STA) using a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame. An embodiment method includes transmitting a plurality of FILS discovery frames at faster time intervals than designated for transmitting standard AP beacons, wherein the FILS discovery frames have a smaller size than standard AP beacons. An embodiment apparatus includes a processor and a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to broadcast a standard AP beacon for advertising a basic service set (BSS) repeatedly at subsequent time intervals, and broadcast a FILS discovery frame for advertising the BSS repeatedly at faster subsequent time intervals than for the standard AP beacon, wherein the FILS discovery frame has a smaller size than the standard AP beacon. |
| US09008058B2 |
Techniques for spatial reuse in wireless personal area networks based on virtual time divisional multiple access
An embodiment of the present invention provides a method, comprising configuring a transceiver for special reuse using a virtual time division multiple access (TDMA) technique in a wireless personal area network that allows additional non-interfering transceivers to perform concurrent transmissions with said transceiver. |
| US09008057B2 |
Gateway apparatus and presence management apparatus
One aspect of the present invention will provide a first gateway apparatus configured to be connectable to a local network and an external network, to obtain presence information of a device apparatus on the local network and to provide the obtained presence information to a presence management apparatus on the external network, the first gateway apparatus comprising, an obtaining unit configured to obtain the presence information of the device apparatus, a transmitter configured to transmit the presence information to the presence management apparatus via the external network, and a receiver configured to receive, from the presence management apparatus, a suppression instruction of the presence information transmission, wherein the transmitter further configured to suppress the transmission of the presence information to the presence management apparatus after the reception of the suppression instruction. |
| US09008054B2 |
Resource management for a mobile telephone terminal
A resource management unit for a mobile telephone terminal, with the terminal comprising radio transmission/reception means for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals corresponding to bursts of symbols during allocated time slots, and a device able to operate in a first mode and in a second mode, said device interfering less with the transmission/reception of radio frequency signals when it is in the first mode than when it is in the second mode. The resource management unit is able to cause the device to change from one of the first and second modes to the other of the first and second modes during the same time slot. |
| US09008053B2 |
Adjusting link layer control frame to facilitate data throughput
A base station subsystem includes logic to change the modulation and coding scheme for radio communications, and logic to communicate with a switching GSM to cause a change in link layer control frame size to reflect the change in modulation and coding scheme. |
| US09008051B2 |
Automatic reverse channel assignment in a two-way TDM communication system
A method and apparatus for communication is disclosed. Information is transmitted on a downlink channel in a time interval. On a condition that an explicit allocation of a first uplink channel is transmitted, feedback information regarding the transmitted information is received on the first uplink channel, wherein the feedback information is received with user data on the first uplink channel. On a condition that an explicit allocation of the first uplink channel is not transmitted, feedback information regarding the transmitted information is received in a time interval on a second uplink channel, wherein an explicit allocation of the second uplink channel is not transmitted, wherein the time interval on the second uplink channel is a pre-determined time period away from the time interval on the downlink channel. |
| US09008049B2 |
Forward link frame generation in a machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless wide area network (WAN)
Methods, systems, and devices are described for managing wireless communications in a machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless Wide Area Network (WAN). A physical layer frame is generated. The frame being used for wireless M2M communications on a forward link in the M2M wireless WAN. The frame including no more than three channels. The physical layer frame including a first channel including paging channel, a second channel including a traffic channel, and a third channel including an acknowledgment (ACK) channel. A time division multiplexing (TDM) operation is performed on pilot symbols and data symbols to obtain a TDM pilot burst. At least one TDM pilot burst is inserted into each channel of the physical layer frame. The physical layer frame is transmitted on the forward link at a low data rate. |
| US09008042B2 |
Controlling uplink transmit power responsive to combination of received power control commands during soft handover in a communication system
A method by a user equipment node controls uplink transmission power during soft handover of the user equipment node from a first base station to a second base station. A transmission power control command is received by the user equipment node from each of the first and second base stations during the soft handover. Uplink transmission power by the user equipment node of a high-speed dedicated physical control channel is controlled responsive to the received transmission power control commands. |
| US09008039B2 |
Mobile phone/docking station call continuity
A mobile device establishes a first network connection via a first communication interface when the mobile device is in a first docking status with a docking station. The mobile device sends Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) traffic associated with a VoIP call via the first network connection, and activates a second network connection via a second communication interface when the mobile device is in the first docking status, where the second network connection is different than the first network connection. The mobile device re-directs the VoIP traffic via the previously activated second network connection based on a change in docking status of the mobile device with the docking station to a second docking status. |
| US09008038B2 |
Resource release at source system during handoff to multi-radio access technology target system
Aspects describe coordination of resource release on a source system. An aspect relates to a network based coordination. Another aspect relates to a mobile device based coordination. Also provided is a network and mobile device coordinated approach. An un-coordinated approach is also provided. |
| US09008034B2 |
Base station and broadcast channel transmission method
A disclosed base station transmits a broadcast channel to a user device a predefined number of times in a predetermined cycle for communication with the user device. The base station includes a repetition unit configured to repeat the broadcast channel, after the broadcast channel is channel-coded, for the predefined number of times to generate multiple broadcast channels; and a signal waveform changing unit configured to process the generated broadcast channels such that the processed broadcast channels have different signal waveforms. Positions of the broadcast channels in the order of transmission in the predetermined cycle are associated with the signal waveforms of the broadcast channels. |
| US09008033B2 |
Apparatus and methods for network assisted hybrid network operation
Methods and apparatus for minimizing scheduling collisions between networks. In one embodiment, the networks are substantially unsynchronized, and during hybrid network operation (e.g., LTE and CDMA 1× operation), a mobile device can place CDMA 1× voice calls while registered with the LTE network. However, since the LTE and CDMA 1× networks are not coordinated, the mobile device will experience scheduling collisions. In one variant, the LTE network accounts for predictable behaviors (such as CDMA 1× paging), and schedules low priority tasks during likely time interval conflicts. Consequently, even though the mobile device must tune away from the LTE network to check CDMA 1× pages, overall LTE network performance is minimally affected. |
| US09008028B2 |
Multimedia broadcast multicast service channel mapping and multiplexing
A system is provided for mapping multimedia broadcast multicast services. The system includes one or more processors programmed to map a plurality of multicast transport channels (MCHs) to a plurality of multicast/broadcast single frequency networks (MBSFNs) such that any one of the MBSFNs has only one MCH and further where each one of the MCHs is different. |
| US09008027B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling transmit power in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus of controlling transmit power in a wireless communication system is provided. A wireless apparatus selects one transmit mode among a plurality of transmit modes, and determines the transmit power on the basis of the selected transmit mode. The wireless apparatus transmits an uplink channel by using the transmit power. |
| US09008025B2 |
Method of controlling transmit power of UE in wireless communication system and apparatus for the same
Disclosed herein is a method of transmitting a signal at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. The method includes receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message from a network; determining a preference value relating to power saving after receiving the RRC configuration message; and transmitting the determined preference value relating to the power saving to the network. |
| US09008022B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, allocated resource notifying method and data allocating method
Provided are a radio transmission apparatus and a radio transmission method whereby the increase of number of signaling bits can be suppressed and further the flexibility of frequency scheduling can be improved. A notified RBG calculating unit (203) that adds a predetermined offset value of “1” or “−1” to one of the start RBG number and the end RBG number of allocated RBG number information (b′i) output by a scheduling unit (201), thereby calculating notified RBG number information (bi). An RBG total number setting unit (204) calculates the total number of RBGs, which is to be notified, by adding “1” to the total number of allocated RBGs. A notified information generating unit (205) applies the notified RBG number information (bi) and the notified total number of RBGs (Nrb′) to a predetermined formula, thereby generating and transmitting, to terminals, notified information (r). |
| US09008021B2 |
Mobile communication system, base station apparatus, mobile station apparatus and communication method
In a system where two or more bands the channel state information of which is to be measured can be configured, measurement target of the channel state or the transmission resource is flexibly configured. In a mobile communication system in which a base station apparatus and a mobile station apparatus communicate with each other using a plurality of component carriers configured by the base station apparatus, the base station apparatus transmits, to the mobile station apparatus, a downlink control information format which is used for scheduling of a physical uplink shared channel on a certain uplink component carrier and, the mobile station apparatus transmits, to the base station apparatus, the channel state information for a downlink component carrier corresponding to the certain uplink component carrier in case that downlink control information included in the downlink control information format is set to request a transmission of the channel state information. |
| US09008019B2 |
Mobile terminal apparatus and method of transmitting an uplink control information signal
To suppress and minimize changes from the method of transmitting an uplink control information in the LTE system, while supporting increases in the system band and increases in the transmission layer when there is a PUSCH signal transmitted in the same subframe, provided is a configuration for generating a UCI signal for a base station apparatus (20) in a mobile communication system having a system band comprised of a plurality of component carriers, multiplexing the UCI signal into a PUSCH signal transmitted in the same subframe as the UCI signal in a user specific component carrier used in transmission of a PUCCH signal, and transmitting the PUSCH signal into which the UCI signal is multiplexed to the base station apparatus (20). |
| US09008017B2 |
Wireless communication device and wireless communication system
According to one embodiment, an allocating unit of a wireless communication device finds for each user an unallocated radio channel having maximum communication quality as a first radio channel, and calculates a first metric matching a communication state using communication quality in the first radio channel, selects one user from the plurality of users based on the first metric and allocates the first radio channel to the selected user. Further, the allocating unit repeats allocating an unallocated radio channel adjacent to a radio channel allocated to the selected user on a frequency domain until predetermined conditions are satisfied. |
| US09008016B2 |
Data transmission method and system
A method and apparatus are provided for allocating carriers from a list of carriers in a telecommunication network. Each of the carriers allow transmission of a transmission control frame, each of said transmission control frame has a data block corresponding to a data stream and an indication of the previous carrier allocated to the data stream. The method includes, for a transmission control frame and a carrier selected for allocation to the transmission control frame in the list of carriers, the steps of determining the number of binary bits needed to identify the number of carriers in the list of carriers, coding the indication based on the determined number of binary bits, and removing the allocated carrier from the list of carriers. |
| US09008015B2 |
Apparatus and method for mobile assisted reverse link interference management
Techniques are provided for mobile assisted reverse link interference management. For example, a method for providing mobile assisted reverse link (RL) interference management includes requesting at least one pilot strength measurement from a user device. The method may include receiving at least one macrocell pilot strength measurement or femtocell pilot or beacon strength measurement from the user device in response to the request. The method may include determining a data rate allocation for the user device based at least in part on the at least one macrocell pilot strength measurement or femtocell pilot or beacon strength measurement. The method may include transmitting the data rate allocation to the user device, thereby controlling RL interference caused by the user device to at least one non-serving cell. |
| US09008011B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting HARQ ACK/NACK signal in multi-antenna system
A method and apparatus of transmitting an ACK/NACK signal for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in a wireless communication system is provided. A first ACK/NACK resource index and a second ACK/NACK resource index based on resources used to transmit a downlink control channel is determined. An ACK/NACK signal for a downlink transport block is transmitted through a plurality of antennas using first ACK/NACK resources obtained from the first ACK/NACK resource index and second ACK/NACK resources obtained from the second ACK/NACK resource index. An HARQ ACK/NACK signal can be reliably transmitted through a plurality of antennas. |
| US09008008B2 |
Method for communicating in a MIMO context
The present invention relates to a method for communicating from a primary station with an array of transmit antennas to a secondary station on a downlink channel, said method comprising steps of, at the primary station, (a) configuring the downlink channel, step (a) being subdivided into steps of: 5 (a2) computing a precoding to be applied during a corresponding transmission from the primary station to the secondary station for each of an array of transmit antennas; (a3) applying a reversible transform to the precoding, thus ascertaining a set of precoding coefficients substantially representative of the precoding in a transform 10 domain; (a4) computing a set of parameters comprising at least one parameter, said parameter being substantially representative of the coefficients obtained at step (a3); (a5) signaling the set of parameters to the secondary station; 15 (b) transmitting data to the secondary station substantially according to the precoding computed at step (a2). |
| US09008007B2 |
Method for signaling MU-MIMO parameters
Methods for signaling multi-user multiple-input multiple output (MU-MIMO) parameters for Evolved-UTRA (E-UTRA) are disclosed. Example signaling format methods are presented that allow use of distributed virtual resource blocks (DVRB) or support of four wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) but maintaining a predetermined signal format size. A signaling format is also presented that signals transmission precoding matrix indexes used by all co-scheduled WTRUs. |
| US09008005B2 |
System and method for providing intelligent gateway selection in a network environment
An apparatus is provided in one example embodiment and includes a gateway configured to be coupled to a profiling function that evaluates past end user behavior in order to make a point of attachment determination in a network for the end user. In cases where the end user had previously operated as a nomadic user, the profiling function triggers the gateway to define an Internet Protocol (IP) service for the end user and the point of attachment is the gateway. In more specific embodiments, if the end user is determined to be mobile, the gateway establishes a mobility tunnel to a hierarchical gateway, which acts as the point of attachment to the network for the end user. In still other embodiments, the profiling function includes querying a database that includes a profile for the end user. A profile for the end user can be identified in a RADIUS accounting request. |
| US09008004B2 |
Method for sending RLC PDU and allocating radio resource in mobile communications system and RLC entity of mobile communications
Disclosed is a transmission of a RLC STATUS PDU using a limited radio resource by MAC and RLC layers in a long term evolution (LTE) system. In case where the MAC entity prioritizes logical channels for allocating the radio resource to each logical channel, the MAC entity is allowed to allocate radio resources based upon the size of a RLC STATUS PDU to be sent from the RLC layer and also the RLC layer is allowed to use the STATUS PDU prior to RLC data PDUs upon using the allocated radio resource, such that RLC protocols can be avoided from coming in a deadlock situation due to a non-transmission of the STATUS PDU. |
| US09008001B2 |
L1 control signaling for UTRAN HSDPA
A Level-1 (L1) signaling flag is mapped to unused (invalid) bit sequences in Part 1 of the HS-SCCH—that is, Part 1 bit encodings that are not defined in the UTRAN specifications—and a corresponding L1 command is encoded in Part 2. This allows UE (18) to detect early that the HS-SCCH is pure L1 signaling, and the UE (18) may avoid wasting power by not processing an accompanying HS-PDSCH. Alternatively, in CPC HS-SCCH-less mode, the UE (18) may blind decode the HS PDSCH. In one embodiment, a general DRX mode is defined and controlled via L1 signaling. In one embodiment, a UE (18) acknowledgement improves the L1 signaling accuracy. In one embodiment, a L1 signal and UE (18) acknowledgement protocol are utilized to “ping” a UE (18). |
| US09007998B1 |
VoIP application for a loyalty program
A method and system for providing voice based host services with CRM data without an end user's phone number for loyalty program is disclosed herein. A VoIP application is resident on a mobile communication device of an end user. The VoIP application allows the end user to control how the loyalty program will identify the end user (without the end user's phone number) when the end user requests loyalty program services from the loyalty program using the end user's mobile communication device. |
| US09007997B2 |
Method for setting a carrier indication field in a multi-carrier system
Disclosed is a method for setting a carrier indication field indicating an element carrier in a multi-carrier system using a plurality of element carriers. The method includes: transmitting a value of a carrier indication field (CIF) and first CIF setting information that indicates a first mapping relationship between element carriers; transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including a carrier indication field; and transmitting a value of a CIF and second CIF setting information that indicates a second mapping relationship between element carriers, wherein the carrier indication field is a field indicating any one of the plurality of element carriers, and at least one element carrier is mapped with the same carrier indication field value in the first and second mapping relationships. |
| US09007987B2 |
Method for transmitting an uplink signal and feedback information, and replay apparatus using the method
The invention relates to a method of transmitting an uplink signal at a communication apparatus in a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system can receive pattern information of downlink subframes for a base station (BS)-to-the communication apparatus transmission as a bitmap; receive resource block (RB) information associated with a control channel for the BS-to-the communication apparatus transmission; receive the control channel from a fourth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the downlink subframe n corresponding to a downlink subframe index n based on the RB information and the pattern information, the downlink subframe n comprising at least one downlink subframe other than downlink subframe 0, downlink subframe 4, downlink subframe 5 and downlink subframe 9; receive a data channel in the downlink subframe n; and transmit feedback information associated with the data channel to the BS via an uplink subframe for the communication apparatus-to-the BS transmission. |
| US09007985B2 |
Mobile communication system, relay station, and control method and program for relay station
In order to properly operate a fixed relay station and a mobile relay station even under the circumstance where the fixed relay station and the mobile relay station are connected to the same base station, each of relay stations (20—1 and 20—2) forming a mobile communication system (1) notifies a base station (10) of type information which indicates a type of whether or not each relay station is a movable relay station. The base station (10) performs, for each of the relay stations (20—1 and 20—2), at least one of configuration and control according to the type. Further, when the type indicates the movable relay station, the base station (10) notifies information on the at least one of configuration and control to a neighboring base station via an upper layer control device. |
| US09007983B2 |
Channel characterization and training within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications
Channel characterization and training within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications. Within such communication systems, there can be a number of devices (e.g., STAs) that communicate with a single device (e.g., AP). A multi-cast sounding frame may be transmitted from a transmitting device to a number of receiving devices. Appropriate scheduling or ordering of feedback signals from some or all of the receiving devices may be performed explicitly (e.g., sounding frame sent from the transmitting device to a receiving device) or implicitly (e.g., control information sent from the transmitting device to the receiving device, sounding frame sent to the transmitting device from the receiving device). Such characterization and training is with respect to a channel or path in which data will subsequently follow. Such characterization and training can be performed in accordance with group membership (e.g., with respect to only some of the receiving devices). |
| US09007982B2 |
Frequency layer convergence method for MBMS
A method to control cell selection and/or re-selection in a communication system comprising a plurality of cells with which terminal devices may communicate, the method including the steps of: determining that a terminal device is to start a session for a certain service, the service using a reception frequency; based on that determination, changing at least one cell selection and/or re-selection parameter in respect of the terminal device with the effect that a subsequent cell selection and/or re-selection performed by the device would favor cells that use the reception frequency used in the service session over other cells. |
| US09007980B2 |
Multicast-unicast handoff services
A system may receive, from a user device, a request to receive content via a first base station, where the content was previously being received, as multicast content, via a second base station; determine, in response to the request, whether the first base station can process multicast content; transmit a copy of the content, to the user device via the first base station, as multicast content, based on a determination that the first base station can process multicast content; and transmit the content, to the user device via the first base station, as unicast content, based on a determination that the first base station cannot process multicast content. |
| US09007978B2 |
Method and apparatus for improved multicast service
Various methods and devices are provided to address the need for improved multicast operation. In one method, a station transmits (401) a multicast packet to a plurality of mobile devices and to a group of monitoring stations (MSs). An indication of whether the multicast packet was received by that MS is received (402) from each monitoring station (MS) of the group of MSs. When this indication indicates that the multicast packet was not received, the multicast packet is retransmitted (403) to the plurality of mobile devices and to the group of MSs. |
| US09007976B2 |
Dynamic adjustment of keep-alive messages for efficient battery usage in a mobile network
Systems and methods for dynamic adjustment of keep-alive message intervals in a mobile network are disclosed. One embodiment of maintaining an IP connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network includes, detecting a rate with which the client-slide request are made from the mobile terminal, detecting a rate with which the client-slide request are made from the mobile terminal, sending, by the network node, keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node, and/or further optimizing the time intervals between the keep-alive messages based on a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network. |
| US09007973B2 |
Methods and systems for dynamic switching, uplink power control and synchronization in wireless networks
Dynamic switching of uplink power control and synchronization in wireless networks involves switching a user equipment (UE) from a transmission point common (TP-common) mode to a transmission point specific (TP-specific) mode in a wireless network. The UE transmits at a high power level in a TP-common mode to compensate for a larger path loss between the UE and the TPs and at a low power level in a TP-specific mode to save battery power based on a smaller path loss between the UE and a specific, nearby TP. |
| US09007971B2 |
Method and system for holistic energy management in ethernet networks
Aspects of a method and system for energy management are provided. In one embodiment based on expected activity in one or more nodes in a network, processing capabilities in the network may be matched with expected processing loads. Processing loads in a network node may be determined based on deep packet inspection of traffic transmitted/received by the node, inspection of data exchanged between subsystems in the node, a state of an operating system running in the node, data processed or waiting to be processed in the node, information exchanged between an energy management entity in the node and an energy management entity in one or more other nodes, computing tasks delegated to the node, and/or instructions transmitted along with a computing task delegated to the node. |
| US09007970B2 |
Antenna swapping methods including repeatedly swapping between antennas, and related wireless electronic devices
Antenna swapping methods for a wireless electronic device may include repeatedly swapping back and forth between activating a first antenna and activating a second antenna, and measuring an antenna performance characteristic of the wireless electronic device, during a time period of repeated swapping. The methods may include comparing the antenna performance characteristic of the wireless electronic device during the time period of repeated swapping and an antenna performance characteristic of the wireless electronic device before the time period of repeated swapping. The methods may include, in response to determining that the antenna performance characteristic of the wireless electronic device during the time period of repeated swapping is stronger than the antenna performance characteristic of the wireless electronic device before the time period of repeated swapping, swapping once between the first and second antennas. Related devices are also described. |
| US09007969B1 |
Automatic time slicing of beacon intervals in high density wireless LAN
A wireless LAN station having a MAC address and receiving beacon frames indicating a beacon interval selects a sub-interval from the beacon interval for transmission and reception of wireless signals. The beacon sub-interval used by each set of stations for transmission and reception is preferably ½n of the beacon interval, where n is the number of device-unique assignment bits, such as MAC address. Each station thereby self-assigns itself one of the sub-intervals as a segment for transmission and reception, thereby reducing collisions and re-transmissions in a congested access point. |
| US09007962B2 |
Deadlock-free routing using edge-disjoint sub-networks
An aspect includes deadlock-free routing on arbitrary network topologies using edge-disjoint sub-networks. A network topology of a network is identified. The network includes a plurality of links between a plurality of switches. Each of the links is identified as an edge. A plurality of edge-disjoint sub-networks is constructed from the network topology of the network by routing configuration logic. The plurality of edge-disjoint sub-networks is formed by edges between the switches such that the edges are disjoint relative to each of the edge-disjoint sub-networks. The switches are configured to route traffic on the network with each route staying entirely within one of the plurality of edge-disjoint sub-networks within the network. |
| US09007955B1 |
Systems and methods for mapping network topologies
A computer-implemented method for mapping network topologies may include (1) identifying a network including a plurality of network switches and a plurality of host systems, (2) identifying a host system within the plurality of host systems connected to the network via a network switch within the plurality of network switches, (3) refreshing an address of the host system within the network switch, (4) allowing the address of the host system to expire from each network switch within the plurality of network switches except the network switch, (5) transmitting a probing frame from a probing host system within the plurality of host systems to the address of the host system, (6) identifying a subset of host systems within the plurality of host systems that received the probing frame, and then (7) mapping a topology of the network based on the identified subset. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US09007950B1 |
Estimation of direct channel and interference channel
A mobile station including an input configured to receive input signals via a channel, a noise measuring module, and a control module. The noise measuring module is configured to measure noise based on the input signals, and generate information in response to measuring the noise based on the input signals. The control module is configured to determine, depending on whether the noise measuring module is able to (i) measure the noise based on the input signals and (ii) generate the information in response to measuring the noise based on the input signals, whether to use a first procedure to estimate a gain of the channel or a second procedure to estimate the gain of the channel, where the first procedure to estimate the gain of the channel is different than the second procedure to estimate the gain of the channel. |
| US09007947B2 |
Grant utilization based other cell interference estimation
Mobile broadband traffic has been exploding in wireless networks resulting in an increase of interferences and reduced operator control. Networks are also becoming more heterogeneous putting additional demand in interference management. Scheduler schedules uplink transmissions from UEs based on a load prediction algorithm that typically assumes worst case. However, UEs do not always use full power granted, and thus, much of granted radio resources are wasted. To address these and other issues, technique(s) to accurately predict/estimate other cell interferences and thermal noise separately and to accurately predict/estimate grant utilization probability and variance is(are) described. Inventive estimation technique(s) can be used to schedule UEs to more fully utilize available radio resources. Extended Kalman filtering can be adapted for use in estimation providing low order computational complexity. |
| US09007942B2 |
Iterative covariance inversion based on linear receiver designs
A method of wireless communication includes receiving a wireless signal at a linear receiver, and iteratively computing an inverted covariance matrix in frequency domain, one channel code at a time. The method also includes computing receiver demodulation coefficients based on the inverted covariance matrix and the frequency domain channel estimate or time domain channel estimate. The method further includes deriving a transmitter symbol based on a received signal vector and the coefficients. |
| US09007940B2 |
Determining and selecting levels of power reduction for signals to be transmitted from a mobile communications device
Levels of power reduction for signals to be transmitted from a mobile communications device via radio channels in a digital wireless communications system, where each signal is modulated according to one of a number of modulation configurations, are determined. For each modulation configuration a first estimate of a power reduction is calculated (101), and the calculated first estimates are storied (102) in the device. The method comprises the steps of determining (103) a limited set of modulation configurations, said limited set comprising modulation configurations that have been determined likely to be used in practice; calculating (104) for each modulation configuration of the limited set an optimized estimate of a power reduction; and storing (105) the calculated optimized estimates in the device. In this way the power consumption of the device is reduced while keeping a look-up table at a reasonable size. |
| US09007939B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling secondary usage of licensed cellular spectrum
A method and apparatus for a secondary wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to use of secondary cellular spectrum are provided. The secondary WTRU monitors transmissions of a primary WTRU; determines whether to provide assistance to the primary WTRU; and in response to a determination to provide assistance, performs cooperative communications with the primary WTRU for its transmission of data to a base station. If the assistance results in the data being transmitted to the base station faster than it would have with out assistance, the secondary WTRU may utilize uplink resources originally intended for the primary WTRU. |
| US09007938B2 |
User equipment, base station, communication control method, and radio communication system
User equipment performs radio communication with a base station over a communication channel formed by aggregating a plurality of component carriers. The user equipment measures a channel quality of the communication channel, and creates a measurement report using a result of the measurement and sends the measurement report to the base station. Each data signal is classified into two or more classes depending on a QoS requirement. The user equipment further receives control information related to a mapping between the plurality of component carriers and the class of each data signal from the base station, and controls at least one of the measurement and the sending of the measurement report, according to a procedure which varies depending on the control information. A base station allocates data to component carriers based on channel quality criteria for different data classifications. |
| US09007933B2 |
Channel quality indicator reporting
A method, computer program and apparatus operate when resuming data transmission/reception upon activation of a serving cell, or after a long in-device coexistence interference avoidance gap, to determine whether to report to a network access node an in-device coexistence interference indicator value and send the in-device coexistence interference indicator value to the network access node, The in-device coexistence interference indicator value is reported to the network access node for a certain period if any periodic channel quality indication resource is configured for the cell, or if an aperiodic channel quality indication for the cell is requested from the network access node. |
| US09007932B2 |
Method for controlling medium access in a mesh network using allocation vectors and station carryng out such method
The present invention relates to Method for controlling medium access in a mesh network comprising the following steps: a station of the network receiving a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) setting frame indicating a period of time during which the station cannot access the medium,—the station setting a Network Allocation Vector expiration timer based on the received setting frame, the station detecting a least one reservation made by two other stations in the network, and setting a respective Reservation Allocation Vector (RAV) expiration timer based on the duration of the detected reservation, and storing the identity of the two stations as owners of the reservation, the station updating the NAV expiration timer as the latest of the NAV expiration time of the NAV setting frame and all set respective RAV expiration timers. |
| US09007925B2 |
Remote testing and monitoring to a cell site in a cellular communications network
Systems and methods provide remote performance monitoring and testing to a cell site in a cellular communications network. The systems and methods include a network management center having remote monitoring and testing capabilities utilizing an intelligent customer service unit that traps and makes available alarm information on the transport link. |
| US09007914B2 |
Methods and apparatus for enabling rate adaptation across network configurations
Systems and methods for implementing explicit congestion notification (ECN) across disparate networks, configurations, and protocols are disclosed. Local rate adaptation using ECN may be provided without relying on other operators to upgrade or ensure their networks are ECN transparent or ECN capable. |
| US09007912B2 |
Serial clustering
Serial clustering uses two or more network devices connected in series via a local and/or wide-area network to provide additional capacity when network traffic exceeds the processing capabilities of a single network device. When a first network device reaches its capacity limit, any excess network traffic beyond that limit is passed through the first network device unchanged. A network device connected in series with the first network device intercepts and will process the excess network traffic provided that it has sufficient processing capacity. Additional network devices can process remaining network traffic in a similar manner until all of the excess network traffic has been processed or until there are no more additional network devices. Network devices may use rules to determine how to handle network traffic. Rules may be based on the attributes of received network packets, attributes of the network device, or attributes of the network. |
| US09007911B2 |
Method and system for implementing direct interface between access network nodes
The disclosure provides a method and a system for implementing a direct interface between access network nodes. The method includes: establishing, by an access network node, a direct interface with a proxy node (300); exchanging, by the access network node, information with an access network node managed by the proxy node through the established direct interface (301). By establishing a direct interface between access network nodes and performing a direct interface flow through a proxy node, the disclosure simplifies the establishment and maintenance of the direct interface on the premise that the handover speed is increased and the signaling load of a core network is decreased, thereby reducing the complexity of the establishment and maintenance of the direct interface. |
| US09007910B2 |
Load balancing across a link aggregation group
A system includes a network element. The network element includes multiple egress ports configured as a LAG, an ingress port, and a distributor. The ingress port is configured to receive multiple packets including at least one flood domain. Additionally, the distributor is configured to access a virtual local area network identifier (VID) of each flood domain. Based on the VID and the number of egress ports in the LAG, the distributor is configured to select a representative egress port from the multiple egress ports. The distributor additionally forwards packets of each flood domain to the egress port of the LAG which is selected as the representative egress port for that flood domain. |
| US09007907B1 |
Method and system of reverse-link transmission
An access terminal in a coverage area of an access network may be monitoring a level of loading on the coverage area's reverse link, such as by monitoring a series of reverse activity bits sent by the access network. The access terminal may then detect new data for transmission to the access network and responsively select a reverse-link data rate based on the monitored level of loading. In this respect, the access terminal may select (a) a first data rate (e.g., a reverse-link data rate at which the access terminal last transmitted data) if the access terminal detects a low load, and (b) a second data rate (e.g., a minimum available reverse-link data rate) if the access terminal detects a high load, where the second data rate is lower than the first data rate. The access terminal may also consider its location in selecting the reverse-link data rate. |
| US09007903B2 |
Managing a network by controlling edge and non-edge switching elements
Some embodiments provide a network system that includes several non-edge switching elements that are each for forwarding network data to other non-edge switching elements. The network system includes several edge switching elements that are each for (1) coupling to a set of network hosts and (2) forwarding network data to the non-edge switching elements and to the set of network hosts. Each of the non-edge switching elements of the several non-edge switching elements is further for forwarding network data to the several edge switching elements. The network system includes a set of network controllers for (1) receiving a definition of a logical switching element that couples to the sets of network hosts and (2) managing the several edge switching elements by configuring the several edge switching elements to forward network data between the sets of network hosts based on the definition of the logical switching element. |
| US09007899B2 |
Quality of service treatement for applications with multiple traffic classes
A system may receive a connection request, from a user device, that includes information identifying a particular application; identify that the particular application is associated with a group of classes of traffic; establish a group of bearer channels that are associated with the group of classes of traffic, the group of bearer channels being associated with a group of different levels of quality of service (“QoS”); process, via a first bearer channel and according to a first level of QoS, first traffic associated with the user device and the particular application; and process, via a second bearer channel of the group of bearer channels, according to a second level of QoS, second traffic associated with the user device and the particular application, the second bearer channel being different from the first bearer channel, and the second level of QoS being different from the first level of QoS. |
| US09007895B2 |
Method for routing data packets in a fat tree network
In a method (400) for routing packets between a plurality of top switches (110a-110n) and a plurality of leaf switches (120a-120n) using a balancing table (204, 208, 210) in a fat tree network (100), a failed link between at least one top switch (110n) and at least one leaf switch (120n) is detected (402). In addition, the balancing table (204, 208, 210) is modified (406) based on the detected failed link, and the packets are routed (408) between the plurality of top switches (110a-110n) and the plurality of leaf switches (120a-120n) in the fat tree network (100) based on the modified balancing table (204, 208, 210). |
| US09007891B2 |
System and method for path state determinations
A system and method for determining a state of a communications system. A determination is made whether a communications path is fully functional, impaired, or non functional. A maximum capacity available to the communications path is determined in response to determining the communications path is impaired. The communications path is limited to a maximum capacity available in response to determining the maximum capacity of the connection as impaired. |
| US09007890B2 |
Restoring aggregated circuits with circuit integrity checks in a hierarchical network
A system and method is disclosed that assures component circuits transported in aggregated circuits restore correctly after an aggregated circuit fault. The system and method implements component circuit tail segment integrity checks whenever an aggregated circuit is restored in a higher level of a network hierarchy. Switches at both ends of an aggregated circuit perform circuit integrity checks of the tail segments of every component circuit. A failure of the component circuit integrity check on any component circuit causes that component circuit to be released and restored end-to-end. |
| US09007887B2 |
Wireless communication system and communication method therefor
Disclosed is a communication method comprising: determining the length, N, of a random access sequence on the basis of system configuration information, where N is less than or equal to the number of available subcarriers; determining a cyclic shift parameter collection and a cyclic prefix on the basis of a system coverage area as designed; acquiring and on the basis of a MAC address of a central access point (CAP), or of a physical layer identifier thereof, and of a predetermined generator polynomial, generating a PN sequence of length N, then constellation-mapping and subcarrier-mapping the PN sequence; cyclically shifting, on the basis of the cyclic shift parameter, the constellation-mapped and subcarrier-mapped sequence, then orthogonally transforming the cyclically shifted sequence; acquiring the sequence needed, adding the cyclic prefix thereto, acquiring a random access signal; and performing subsequent processing then transmitting to a receiving-end. Also provided in the present invention is a corresponding communication system. The present invention provides improved support for wireless communication system random access, and improved system stability and reliability. |
| US09007886B2 |
Method and apparatus for implementing preamble generation
The disclosure involves a method and an apparatus for implementing preamble generation. The method comprises: obtaining a first parameter value according to a root sequence number of a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence; obtaining an initial value of a first sequence, according to a length and a cyclic shift value of the ZC sequence and the obtained first parameter value; performing iterative calculations on the first sequence according to the initial value of the first sequence and the first parameter value; performing iterative calculations on a second sequence according to the iteratively calculated values of the first sequence and a preset initial value of the second sequence; performing Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) on the iteratively calculated values of the second sequence. The method and apparatus in the disclosure can achieve low complexity and high calculation precision in the calculation process and greatly reduce the amount of calculation and storage. |
| US09007884B2 |
Optical recording medium
The present technology relates to an optical recording medium for realizing an optical recording medium capable of high-capacity recording. A groove and a land are formed, the groove being concave and the land being convex when seen from a side of a laser light incident surface, both of the groove and the land being recording tracks where recording or reproduction of information is performed. According to this recording layer, a pitch between the groove and the land that are adjacent recording tracks is within a range of 250 nm to 200 nm. Moreover, recording or reproduction of information is performed with respect to the recording tracks by irradiation of laser light whose wavelength is 400 nm to 415 nm by an optical system whose NA is 0.85±0.1. |
| US09007882B1 |
Heater to keep reader head in stable temperature range
Technologies are described herein for utilizing a head heater to test temperature stability of a head of a storage device and to prevent the head from operating in an unstable temperature condition. A first power level may be applied to a head heater of a head in a storage device, the first power level configured to simulate a temperature condition in the head. An instability of the head is determined and the temperature condition and the instability of the head are recorded in a memory. The process may be repeated to develop a range of temperature conditions in which the head exhibits instability. The range of temperature conditions and the head heater may then be utilized to prevent the head from operating in an unstable temperature condition during normal operation. |
| US09007869B2 |
Ultrasound imaging system
An ultrasonic imaging system for generating an ultrasonic image of a motion status of an object according to at least an ultrasonic motion signal generated by detecting the motion of the object is provided. The ultrasonic imaging system includes a demodulation module, an analog sub-array beamformer, a filter, an analog-to-digital converter and an image processing module. The demodulation module receives and demodulates the ultrasonic motion signal so as to generate and send at least a demodulated signal. The analog sub-array beamformer receives the demodulated signal, generates and sends an analog sub-array beam signal according to the demodulated signal. The filter receives and filtering the analog sub-array beam signal. The analog-to-digital converter converts the analog sub-array beam signal filtered by the filter into a digital sub-array beam signal. The image processing module receives the digital sub-array beam signal so as to generate an ultrasonic image of the motion of the object. |
| US09007862B2 |
Reducing memory refresh exit time
Components of a memory system, such as a memory controller and a memory device, that reduce delay in exiting self-refresh mode by controlling the refresh timing of the memory device. The memory device includes a memory core. An interface circuit of the memory device receives an external refresh signal indicating an intermittent refresh event. A refresh circuit of the memory device generates an internal refresh signal indicating an internal refresh event of the memory device. A refresh control circuit of the memory device performs a refresh operation on a portion of the memory core responsive to the internal refresh event, at a time relative to the intermittent refresh event indicated by the external refresh signal. |
| US09007860B2 |
Sub-block disabling in 3D memory
Some embodiments relate to apparatuses and methods associated with blocks of memory cells. The blocks of memory cells may include two or more sub-blocks of memory cells. One such sub-block may comprise a vertical string of memory cells including a select transistor. An apparatus may include a sub-block disabling circuit. The sub-block disabling circuit may include a content-addressable memory. The content-addressable memory may receive an address, including a block address and a sub-block address. The content addressable memory may output a signal to disable a tagged sub-block if the received address includes the block address and the sub-block address associated with the tagged sub-block. The sub-block disabling circuit may further include a plurality of drivers to drive one or more of the select transistors based on the signal. Other apparatus and methods are described. |
| US09007859B2 |
Far end resistance tracking design with near end pre-charge control for faster recovery time
A wordline tracking circuit and corresponding method are disclosed, and include a tracking wordline having an impedance characteristic associated therewith that models a row of memory cells in a memory device, wherein the tracking wordline row has a near end that receives a wordline pulse signal having a near end rising pulse edge and a near end falling pulse edge. The tracking wordline also has a far end. A tracking cell component is coupled to the far end of the tracking wordline that receives the wordline pulse signal. Lastly, the circuit includes a tracking bitline pre-charge circuit coupled to the tracking cell that is configured to pre-charge a tracking bitline associated with the tracking cell using the near end wordline pulse signal. |
| US09007858B2 |
SRAM global precharge, discharge, and sense
An SRAM includes a global bit line, an SRAM cell, precharge logic, discharge logic, and sense logic. The SRAM cell stores a first logical value or a second logic value and is coupled to the global bit line. The precharge logic may charge the global bit line to a precharge voltage for a non-read operation and a boosted voltage that is greater than a reference voltage for a read operation. The discharge logic may either maintain the global bit line at the boosted voltage for the first logical value or discharge the global bit line to a discharge voltage that is less than the reference voltage for the second logical value. The sense logic may output the first logical value when the global bit line has the boosted voltage or may output the second logical value when the global bit line has the discharge voltage. |
| US09007850B2 |
Page buffer, memory device comprising page buffer, and related method of operation
A page buffer comprises a static latch configured to store data received from an external device, and a dynamic latch configured to receive the data stored in the static latch through a floating node, the dynamic latch comprising a storage capacitor, a write transistor configured to write the data of the floating node to the storage capacitor, and a read transistor configured to read the data of the storage capacitor, and the write transistor and the read transistor sharing the floating node. |
| US09007847B2 |
Flash memory device and method for handling power failure thereof
A flash memory device. In one embodiment, the flash memory device includes a flash memory, a diode, a controller, and a capacitor. The flash memory has a voltage source pin. The diode is coupled between a voltage source and the voltage source pin of the flash memory. The controller is coupled to the flash memory via a data bus. The capacitor is coupled between the voltage source pin of the flash memory and a ground, and supplies power to the flash memory to enable the flash memory to complete writing of at least one data page when the level of the voltage source is lowered. |
| US09007846B2 |
Non-volatile semiconductor storage device
According to one embodiment, there is provided a non-volatile semiconductor storage device including a memory cell and a control unit. The memory cell has a gate electrode including a control gate and a charge storage region on a semiconductor substrate and has a channel region under the gate electrode in the semiconductor substrate. The control unit, during an erase operation where electric charges written in the charge storage region are extracted to the channel region, periodically varies a voltage which is to be applied between the control gate and the channel region. |
| US09007843B2 |
Internal data compare for memory verification
A method and apparatus to program data into a row of a non-volatile memory array and verify, internally to the non-volatile memory array, that the data was successfully programmed. The verification includes comparing the programmed data from the row of the non-volatile memory array to data in the plurality of high voltage page latches that were used to program the row. |
| US09007842B2 |
Retention detection and/or channel tracking policy in a flash memory based storage system
A method for determining a retention time in a solid state device (SSD), comprising the steps of providing a plurality of write operations to a memory, determining a reference voltage for each of the write operations, determining a difference between (i) the reference voltage after each of the write operations and (ii) a target reference voltage and if the difference is above a predetermined value, generating a flag indicating an excessive retention has occurred. |
| US09007841B1 |
Programming scheme for improved voltage distribution in solid-state memory
Systems and methods are disclosed for reducing programming interference in solid-state memory using a program suspend command. A data storage system includes a non-volatile memory array including a plurality of non-volatile memory devices and a controller configured to partially program a first cell coupled to a first word line. When a programming criterion associated with the first cell is met, the controller executes a program suspend command after which a second cell coupled to the first word line is at least partially programmed. Programming of the first cell is resumed following said at least partial programming of the second cell. |
| US09007840B2 |
Semiconductor memory apparatus and program verification method
A non-volatile memory apparatus includes a memory cell array, a power supply configured to generate an operation voltage according to an operation mode and provide the memory cell array with the operation voltage, and a controller configured to provide the memory cell array with a first verification voltage and a second verification voltage in a program verification operation, detect a high speed program cell by the first verification voltage and the second verification voltage from selected memory cells to be programmed and set the high speed program cell to be in a program inhibition state, and detect a low speed program cell by the second verification voltage. |
| US09007839B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device performing read operation with variable read voltage
A method of reading a nonvolatile memory device comprises applying a read voltage to a memory cell array to read selected memory cells, counting a number of the selected memory cells that have a threshold voltage higher or lower than the read voltage, and comparing the counted number with a reference value to determine a number of bits stored in the selected memory cells. |
| US09007830B2 |
Semiconductor memory device having faulty cells
A nonvolatile memory apparatus includes a control unit, a main storage medium with an electrically reloadable nonvolatile memory adapted to be operable even when faulty memory cells exist therein, and a storage region storing registered address values of faulty regions of the main storage medium containing the faulty memory cells. Data which is stored in the electrically reloadable nonvolatile memory is divided into blocks, each block having a plurality of data to be administrated and which is assigned an access address by the control unit. An administrative information region is provided in each block. The control unit carries out access requests of the main storage medium and the administration of faulty regions and the number of occurrences of reloading of respective memory cells of the main storage medium. |
| US09007826B2 |
Non-volatile semiconductor memory device
In one embodiment, a control circuit executes a first page writing operation, a first verify operations, a second page writing operation, a second verify operations, a step-up operation. The control circuit executes the first page writing operation which forms an intermediate distribution, and a first read operation which reads data form the intermediate distribution by using a determine voltage higher than a first verify voltage with a first value, and changes a second verify voltage based on the result of the first read operation. |
| US09007825B2 |
Reduction of read disturb errors
Methods and apparatuses for reduction of Read Disturb errors in a memory system utilizing modified or extra memory cells. |
| US09007824B2 |
Boosting memory reads
A memory device comprises memory elements that are arranged in an array. The array includes rows associated with wordlines and columns associated with bitlines. The memory elements in a row share a wordline and memory elements in a column share a bitline. For each wordline, a wordline driver circuit is associated with the wordline. The memory device comprises a boost circuit that has an output coupled to the wordline driver circuits. The boost circuit is configured to provide a negative voltage to the wordlines during a read operation of the memory device such that unselected wordlines are held at a negative voltage below a ground potential while a selected wordline is held at a supply voltage during the read operation. |
| US09007820B2 |
Device consisting of various thin films and use of such a device
A device comprising: an assembly consisting of two, respectively upper and lower thin layers each forming a ferromagnetic element and separated by a thin layer forming a non magnetic element, said assembly being made up so that the layers forming the ferromagnetic elements are magnetically coupled through the layer forming a non magnetic element; an electrode, a layer forming a ferroelectric element in which the polarization may be oriented in several directions by applying an electric voltage through said layer, said layer forming a ferroelectric element being positioned between the layer forming a lower ferromagnetic element and the electrode; said device being configured so as to allow control of the magnetic configuration of the layers forming ferromagnetic elements by the direction of the polarization in the layer forming a ferroelectric element. |
| US09007809B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A control circuit controls a voltage applied to a memory cell array. A first electrode contacts to a first surface of a variable resistance element, while a second electrode contacts to a second surface of the variable resistance element. The first electrode is configured by a metal, and the second electrode is configured by a P type semiconductor. The control unit, when performing a setting operation of a memory cell, applies a voltage such that a current flows in a direction from the first electrode toward the second electrode. |
| US09007804B2 |
Circuit and system of protective mechanisms for programmable resistive memories
Programmable resistive memory using at least one diodes as program selectors can be data protected by programming protection bits in a non-volatile protection bit register. The data stored in the protection bit register can be used to enable or disable reading or writing in part or the whole programmable resistive memory. The data stored in the protection bit register can also be used to enable or enable scrambling the addresses to allow accessing the programmable resistive memory array. Similarly, the data stored in the protection bit register can be used to scramble data when writing into and descramble data when reading from the programmable resistive memory. Keys can be provided for address or data scrambling. The non-volatile protection bit register can be built with the kind of cells as the main array and/or integrated with the main array in the programmable resistive memory. |
| US09007803B2 |
Integrated circuits with programmable electrical connections and methods for fabricating the same
Methods and apparatus are provided for an integrated circuit with a programmable electrical connection. The apparatus includes an inactive area with a memory line passing over the inactive area. The memory line includes a programmable layer. An interlayer dielectric is positioned over the memory line and the inactive area, and an extending member extends through the interlayer dielectric. The extending member is electrically connected to the programmable layer of the memory line at a point above the inactive area. |
| US09007799B2 |
Low power content addressable memory system
A content addressable memory (CAM) system includes one or more CAM cells, each including a bit cell to store a bit and a complementary bit, and a compare circuit to compare a reference input to the stored bit and to the stored complementary bit. The compare circuit may be implemented to compare a single-ended reference input to each of the stored bit and the complementary bit. The compare circuit may include a pass circuit to selectively provide the reference input to an output under control of the stored bit and the stored complementary bit, a pull-up circuit to selectively pull-up the output under control of the reference input and the stored complementary bit, and a pull-down circuit to selectively pull-down the output under control of the reference input and the stored bit. The reference input may be provided to multiple CAM cells, which may share compare circuitry. |
| US09007797B2 |
Selective activation of programming schemes in analog memory cell arrays
A method for data storage includes defining a first programming scheme that programs a group of analog memory cells while reducing interference caused by at least one memory cell that neighbors the group, and a second programming scheme that programs the group of the analog memory cells and does not reduce all of the interference reduced by the first programming scheme. One of the first and second programming schemes is selected based on a criterion defined with respect to the analog memory cells. Data is stored in the group of the analog memory cells using the selected programming scheme. |
| US09007796B2 |
Power conversion with current sensing coupled through saturating element
An architecture for current-modulating power-handling circuits, such as power converters, where a small saturating inductance is used to obtain a pulse edge when the main current value crosses zero. |
| US09007791B2 |
Digital slope control for switched capacitor dc-dc converter
Representative implementations of devices and techniques minimize switching losses in a switched capacitor dc-dc converter. The slope of the charging and/or discharging phase may be modified, smoothing the transitions from charge to discharge and/or discharge to charge of the switched capacitor. |
| US09007790B2 |
Frequency converter and method for identifying and blocking a fault current in a frequency converter
In a frequency converter operated for safety of personnel and/or fire protection via a ground fault interrupter is frequently not able to distinguish between an actual fault current and an operationally generated leakage current. The proposed method addresses this problem by determining a course of a magnitude of a current flowing through the frequency converter, predefining a signal portion which is independent of switching processes within the frequency converter while the frequency converter operates fault-free, checking whether the determined course satisfies a criterion that is predetermined depending on the signal portion, and interrupting the current the determined course fails to satisfy the predetermined criterion. |
| US09007789B2 |
Electric circuit for high voltage power conversion
The present invention provides an electric circuit wherein a multi-phase bridge is connected in series with a plurality of single-phase bridges. The multi-phase bridge is composed of a plurality of 3-level diode clamped legs, while the single-phase bridges each is composed of two 3-level diode clamped legs. The present invention also provides control strategy for synthesizing multi-level voltage waveforms from output voltages of the multi-phase bridge and the plurality of single-phase bridges. |
| US09007788B2 |
Excitation control circuit and electrically excited wind power system having the same
The present invention provides an excitation control circuit and the electrically excited wind power system having the same. The excitation control circuit includes a plurality of full-power converters, each of which has a generator-side converter and a grid-side converter; a DC excitation module including a plurality of DC-DC converters; and a control module, controlling or switching any DC-DC converter working normally, and controlling excitation switch turning ON or turning OFF. |
| US09007786B2 |
Switching controller for flyback power converters without input capacitor
The present invention proposes a switching controller of a flyback power converter. The switching controller includes a switching circuit, a sample-and-hold circuit, a voltage detection circuit, an oscillation circuit, and a comparator. The voltage detection circuit generates a holding signal when a level of an input voltage of the flyback power converter is lower than a low-threshold. The oscillation circuit limits the maximum frequency of switching signal. The maximum frequency is increased in response to a decrement of a modulation signal. The modulation signal correlated with a level of the input voltage is used to generate a control signal when the level of the input voltage is lower than an ultra-low-threshold. The control signal is enabled to operate the flyback power converter in continuous current mode operation. Therefore, an input capacitor can be eliminated and manufacturing cost is saved. |
| US09007784B2 |
Device for self-aligning and affixing of a microchannel plate in a micro-system and method the same
A device and/or method mount and affix a microchannel plate in a micro system. The device and/or method has at least one conductive spring structure, formed to accept a microchannel plate, for aligning, fixing and making electrical contact with the microchannel plate. The device and/or method also has at least one stop against which the microchannel plate is pushed or pressed when affixed by at least one conductive spring structure, wherein the at least one conductive spring structure and the at least one stop are being applied on a non-conductive substrate. |
| US09007779B2 |
Electronic apparatus and hard disk drive
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a case, a printed circuit board contained in the case and having a through-hole, and a fixing member including a shaft portion inserted in the through-hole and a head portion located at one end of the shaft portion. The electronic apparatus also includes copper foil provided on the printed circuit board, and a cover film including an opening portion configured to expose part of the copper foil. The opening portion is located at a position which is to be covered with the head portion, and the cover film covers the copper foil at positions other than the position where the opening portion is located. The electronic apparatus further includes a conductive material provided on the copper foil inside the opening portion and configured to electrically connect the head portion and the copper foil to each other. |
| US09007776B2 |
Electronic module
An electronic module includes a first circuit board having a first surface, a second circuit board having a second surface, first electronic components on the first surface, second electronic components on the second surface, a first conductive fence, and a second conductive fence. The first conductive fence encloses the first electronic components and has a first opening exposing the first electronic components. The second conductive fence encloses the second electronic components and has a second opening exposing the second electronic components. The first opening of the first conductive fence joints the second opening of the second conductive fence, such that the first electronic components and the second electronic components are surrounded by the first circuit board, the second circuit board, the first conductive fence, and the second conductive fence. At least one of the first electronic components is higher than the first conductive fence. |
| US09007774B2 |
Electronic apparatus
An electronic apparatus 1 includes a flat cable 70, an end 70a of which is bonded to the front surface of a sub-board 30 through an anisotropic conductive film 79, engaged portions 74A and 74B formed in the flat cable 70, and an intermediate frame 40 that engages with the engaged portions 74A and 74B to restrain the movement of the engaged portions 74A and 74B in a direction away from the electrode on the sub-board 30. Consequently, it is possible to realize a reduction in costs while maintaining connection stability between a flat cable and a circuit board. |
| US09007771B2 |
Multi-row thermosyphon heat exchanger
A thermosyphon heat exchanger includes a first set of first conduit elements for heat absorbing and a second set of second conduit elements for heat releasing. A first end of the first set can be connected to a first end of the second set by at least one manifold and a second end of the first set is connected to a second end of the second set by at least one other manifold. At least one first set of first conduit elements and the at least one second set of second conduit elements are at least partially arranged such that a stack is formed. |
| US09007766B2 |
Storage enclosure with pivotably mounted midplane assembly
The invention provides storage enclosure, comprising an enclosure housing; one or more drawers slidably arranged within the enclosure housing, wherein each drawer has a pivotably mounted midplane having storage media coupled thereto wherein the storage media are coupled to both sides of the pivotably mounted midplane. |
| US09007765B2 |
Server system and method for controlling the same
A server system has an air inlet side and an air outlet side. The server system includes two server rack modules arranged side by side and a controller electrically connected to the server rack modules. Each server rack module includes a cabinet having a first side close to the air inlet side, multiple server hosts detachably disposed in the cabinet and a fan component. The fan component, disposed at the first side, includes multiple fans electrically connected to the controller. The first side of one of the cabinets abuts against the second side of the other cabinet. When the fan components operate, an air flow is formed in the cabinets. The server hosts are located in the flow path of the air flow. When one of the fans is failed, the controller is adapted for increasing a rotational speed of the fan component close to the air outlet side. |
| US09007758B2 |
Portable electronic device case
A protective case for housing a wireless communication device is provided. The protective case may include integral wireless communication circuitry independent of the wireless communication device. The wireless communication circuitry may be configured to enable communication between the protective case and one or more remote communication devices via a short range network. The protective case may further include an integral speaker configured to reproduce audio signals received by the integral wireless communication circuitry and an integral power source configured to provide power to at least the integral wireless communication circuitry and the integral speaker. The integral wireless communication circuitry and the integral speaker may be capable of functioning independently of the wireless communication device. |
| US09007757B2 |
Information processing device
An information processing device that includes a first housing for accommodating a calculating means; a second housing for accommodating a display means; a third housing for accommodating an input means and a power supply means; a first connection means for connecting the first housing with the third housing; and a second connection means for connecting the second housing with the third housing. |
| US09007753B2 |
Cover for a portable electronic device
A cover for a portable electronic device includes a keyboard for electrically communicating with the portable electronic device. The cover includes a back cover body for coupling to a back side of the portable electronic device, and a front cover body coupled to the back cover body and foldable relative thereto. The back cover body is movable relative to the portable electronic device such that a first portion of the back cover body slides away from a back side of the portable electronic device. The front cover body is foldable to stack a keyboard portion, on which the keyboard is disposed, and a support portion of the front cover body. The first portion of the back cover body, the support portion, and the keyboard portion are stacked when the keyboard is exposed for use. |
| US09007752B2 |
Interlocking system for connecting a programmable logic controller and a power supply
An interlocking system for connecting a programmable logic controller and a power supply of an industrial control and automation system is provided. The interlocking system includes features configured to facilitate coupling with a panel or rail and a plurality of vertical slots and a latch disposed on a side surface of the power supply. The latch includes a first attachment feature disposed along a flexible tongue cantilevered proximate an opening in a housing of the power supply such that the tongue can flex into the opening. The interlocking system also includes a plurality of hooks and a second attachment feature formed on a side surface of the programmable logic controller. The plurality of hooks are configured to slide along and engage with the plurality of vertical slots such that the programmable logic controller and the power supply are held together horizontally and the second attachment feature is configured to couple with the first attachment feature to resist disengagement of the plurality of hooks and the plurality of vertical slots. |
| US09007750B2 |
Electronic device housing
A housing of an electronic device includes a bottom cover and a front panel detachably secured to the bottom cover. The bottom cover includes at least one first sidewall and a locking portion perpendicularly set on the at least one first sidewall. The front panel includes a fixing portion and a blocking portion adjacent to the fixing portion and spaced from the locking portion. The fixing portion defines a through hole for receiving the locking portion. The fixing portion and the blocking portion abut opposite sides of the at least one first sidewall for preventing the at least one first sidewall from leaving a gap between the at least one first wall and the locking portion. |
| US09007749B2 |
Electronic device enclosure
An electronic device enclosure includes a top panel and a handling device. The top panel defines a mounting opening. The handling device includes a handling member, a cover member, and an elastic member. The handling member is mounted to the top panel. The handling member defines a receiving opening corresponding to the mounting opening. The cover member is pivotally mounted to the handling member and is received in the receiving opening. The elastic member elastically resists an inner side of the cover member. The cover member is received in the receiving opening in a first position. The elastic member elastically resists an inner side of the cover member in the first position. The cover member is configured to rotate inward to move from the first position to a second position. The elastic member is deformed when the cover member is in the second position. |
| US09007748B2 |
Two-shot knuckles for coupling electrically isolated sections of an electronic device and methods for making the same
Two shot knuckles include a first shot component and a second shot component. Both shot components are composed of different dielectric materials, where the first shot is composed of a relatively high strength structural material and the second is composed of a cosmetic material. The first shot component can physically couple two conductive sections together by interfacing with a coupling structure of that section. The first shot component includes second shot retaining regions and a cosmetic region. The second shot component occupies the cosmetic region and anchors itself to the first shot component using the second shot retaining regions. The second shot may be the only part of the two-shot knuckle visible to a user of an electronic device and can exhibit any desired color. |
| US09007747B2 |
Slider case for portable electronic device
A case for a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device having a first portion that slides away from a second portion. The case includes a first portion and a second portion that fit over the respective portions of the portable electronic device. The two portions of the case are coupled together in a sliding relationship so that the case portions slide along with the respective portions of the portable electronic device. The case portions are coupled to each other by interfacing structures such as rails and channels. |
| US09007741B2 |
Capacitor
A capacitor includes a dielectric layer, a first external electrode layer, a second external electrode layer, a first internal electrode portion, a second internal electrode portion, and an adsorbing portion. The first internal electrode portion is provided on a first through-hole portion, one end of the first internal electrode portion being connected to the first external electrode layer. The second internal electrode portion is provided on a second through-hole portion, one end of the second internal electrode portion being connected to the second external electrode layer. The adsorbing portion adsorbs the first external electrode layer and the second external electrode layer, the adsorbing portion being provided on a third through-hole portion. |
| US09007739B2 |
Lightning strike protection system
A protective system is provided including a material comprising a first and second surface opposite one another and a thickness, and where the first surface has a low-electrical resistance and the second surface has a high-electrical resistance that is higher than the electrical resistance of the low-electrical resistance surface, and the material conducts charge from the first surface to the second surface through the thickness. This can be provided in a bilayer structure where a first protective layer having a low-resistivity is disposed upon a second protective layer having a high-resistivity. This protective system is particularly useful for dissipating electrical charge, for example as a lightning strike protection system for composite aircraft. |
| US09007738B2 |
Transistor protection circuit
Provided is a transistor protection circuit capable of appropriately protecting a transistor even when a switching frequency is high. A transistor protection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention is a transistor protection circuit for protecting a voltage-driven transistor that is switch-controlled by the application of a high-potential-side voltage or low-potential-side voltage of a power supply to a gate terminal of the transistor by a drive circuit. The transistor protection circuit has a power supply controller that gradually lowers the high-potential-side voltage of the power supply upon receiving a protection command for executing protection of the transistor. |
| US09007737B2 |
Overvoltage protection circuit and method thereof
The overvoltage protection circuit in accordance with the present invention includes a resistor divider, a reference voltage supply unit, a comparator, and an inverter, wherein the inverter consists of a series-parallel combination circuit of first to third semiconductor switching elements which are driven by receiving an output of the comparator and the first semiconductor switching element and the second semiconductor switching element or the third semiconductor switching element are driven by receiving the output of the comparator, output an external voltage when the external voltage is within the range of the voltage required for an internal circuit, and flow the external voltage to a ground and thus make the voltage supplied to the internal circuit 0(zero)V to protect the internal circuit from an external overvoltage when the external voltage is a voltage (overvoltage) higher than the required voltage for the internal circuit. |
| US09007733B2 |
Travelling-wave based fault protection of high-voltage transmission lines
An improved method of fault detection in a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission line is provided. The fault detection is based on fault-induced travelling waves. The method comprises estimating an amplitude of fault-induced travelling waves at the fault location, and calculating a fault resistance (Rf) based on the estimated amplitude, an estimated pre-fault voltage at the fault location, and a surge impedance of the transmission line. The estimated fault amplitude and the estimated pre-fault voltage are calculated from voltage measurements performed at both ends of the transmission line. Further, a fault detection device is provided. |
| US09007728B1 |
Method and system for fabricating magnetic transducers with improved pinning
A method comprises providing a magnetic element including a free layer, a pinned layer, a nonmagnetic spacer layer between the free and pinned layers, and a pinning layer adjacent the pinned layer. The free layer is biased in a first direction. The pinned layer has a first layer having a first magnetization, a second layer having a second magnetization, and a nonmagnetic layer between the first and second layer. The first magnetization is pinned parallel to a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction and substantially perpendicular to the ABS. The second magnetization is antiparallel to the second direction. The pinning layer is oriented along the second direction. The method further comprises providing a hard bias structure having a hard bias magnetization, initializing the hard bias magnetization along the second direction, performing at least one thermal treatment, and resetting the hard bias magnetization substantially along the first direction. |
| US09007727B2 |
Magnetic head having CPP sensor with improved stabilization of the magnetization of the pinned magnetic layer
A magnetic head having a CPP read head sensor that includes a layered sensor stack including an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer, a pinned magnetic layer, and a free magnetic layer. The pinned magnetic layer is comprised of a high, positive magnetostriction material and has a thickness t and a height (H), such that the ratio (t/H) of the thickness t to the height H of the pinned magnetic layer is fabricated to be within the range of from approximately 1/10 to approximately 1/500. Ion milling is conducted at a grazing angle to the surface of the layer upon which the pinned magnetic layer is fabricated, where the ion beam is oriented in the direction of the desired magnetization of the pinned magnetic layer. |
| US09007726B2 |
Disk drive suspension assembly having a partially flangeless load point dimple
Various embodiments concern a suspension assembly of a disk drive. The suspension assembly includes a load beam comprising a major planar area formed from a substrate. The load beam further comprises a window in the substrate, a dimple formed from the substrate, and a flange. The flange is a region of the major planar area that extends partially around the dimple but does not extend along an edge of the dimple. The edge of the dimple is adjacent to the window. The dimple is in contact with the flexure. A HAMR block or other element can extend through the window. The lack of a full flange can minimize the necessary clearance between the dimple and the HAMR block or other element and thereby allow the window to be enlarged to accommodate the HAMR block or other element. |
| US09007725B1 |
Sensor with positive coupling between dual ferromagnetic free layer laminates
A magnetic sensor includes first and second ferromagnetic free layers that are not magnetically pinned, and a non-magnetic spacer layer disposed between them. The first ferromagnetic free layer comprises a first plurality of ferromagnetic sub-layers that includes a first cobalt iron sub-layer that is in contact with the non-magnetic spacer layer, and a first amorphous cobalt boron sub-layer that is not in contact with the non-magnetic spacer layer. The second ferromagnetic free layer comprises a second plurality of ferromagnetic sub-layers that includes a second cobalt iron sub-layer that is in contact with the non-magnetic spacer layer, and a second amorphous cobalt boron sub-layer that is not in contact with the non-magnetic spacer layer. Each of the first and second cobalt iron sub-layers has a composition Co(100−x)Fe(x) with x being in the range of 10 to 90 atomic percentage. |
| US09007724B1 |
Head structure with electric damage protection for a microwave-assisted hard disk drive
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to the data storage field and hard disk drives (HDD) using microwave assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) technology. Aspects of the preferred embodiments are to prevent the breakdown of spin torque oscillators (STO) due to large amounts of current flowing through the STO during head/disk contact. A magnetic head slider is disposed above and spaced apart from a disk. A STO is formed on a section of the magnetic head slider. Two electrodes are coupled to the STO, and one electrode has a higher potential than the other electrode. A preamplifier is adapted to send a current through the two electrodes, resulting in the higher potential electrode protruding closer to the disk than the lower potential electrode. Current then flows from one electrode to the disk without flowing through the STO, and breakdown of the STO is prevented. |
| US09007720B2 |
Magnetic recording device
A magnetic recording device includes: a magnetic recording medium containing a plurality of recording layers; a magnetic recording head for conducting magnetic writing of information in the magnetic recording medium; and a magnetic reproducing head for conducting magnetic reading out of the information from the magnetic recording medium; wherein the magnetic recording head includes a high frequency oscillator for magnetically assisting the magnetic writing of the information so as to change a magnetization of at least one of the plurality of recording layers of the magnetic recording medium, thereby recording a plurality of information different from one another in the magnetic recording medium commensurate with a total amount of magnetization of the plurality of recording layers. |
| US09007718B2 |
Write head having a device for reducing the effects of stray flux
A magnetic write head with a flux opposing structure for opposing stray flux from an external source. The write head includes a yoke with two poles and a non-magnetic gap formed there between, and functions to write data to a magnetic storage medium. The flux opposing structure is proximate to the first pole and has a separation from an exterior surface of the first pole. A current applied to the secondary coil to create a secondary flux field with an opposite polarity of a first magnetic flux. The secondary flux field opposes the stray flux associated with the primary flux field of the magnetic write head and/or a neighboring magnetic write head. |
| US09007711B1 |
Sequential-access of storage media
The present disclosure describes apparatuses and techniques of improved sequential-access of storage media. In some aspects an indication that a storage media interface failed to access a block of storage media is received during a sequential-access of the storage media and the storage media interface is caused to attempt to read a next block of the sequential-access subsequent the sector failed to be accessed during the same sequential-access. |
| US09007710B1 |
Rewrite operation for recording bands
Systems and methods are disclosed for performing a rewrite operation on recording bands of a data storage medium. In some embodiments, data may be read from a target band including a plurality of tracks, and modified. A portion less than all of the modified data is stored to a nonvolatile memory, and all of the modified data is written to the target band. In some embodiments, modified data corresponding to the first two tracks of the target band is stored to the nonvolatile memory, and modified data corresponding to the third track of the target band is written back to the first physical track. Each track may be written in order, ending with the modified data corresponding to the first two tracks. The result may be that data for each track in the band has shifted up two tracks, with data for the first two tracks moved to the end. |
| US09007708B2 |
Magnetic disk apparatus and data refresh method
According to at least one embodiment, a magnetic disk apparatus includes a disk, a random number generator, a determination module, and a refresh module. The disk includes a plurality of tracks. A random number generator generates a random number within a range of N integers in accordance with writing to a first area of a first track of the plurality of tracks. A determination module determines whether the generated random number includes a predetermined number. A refresh module refreshes a second area of a second track near the first track based on a result of determination of the determination module. The second area corresponds to the first area. |
| US09007705B2 |
Lens barrel
This lens barrel includes a first frame, a second frame, a third frame, an annular portion, and a bayonet portion. The bayonet portion protrudes to both sides beyond the width of the rectilinear guide portion in the peripheral direction, and is divided by a plurality of slits. The bayonet portion is supported on the second frame at two or more places including both sides of the rectilinear guide portion in the peripheral direction. |
| US09007703B2 |
Imaging lens, optical apparatus equipped therewith, and method for manufacturing imaging lens
An imaging lens SL comprising, in order from an object side: a first group G1 having positive refractive power; an aperture stop S; a second group G2 having positive refractive power; and a third group G3 having negative refractive power; upon focusing from infinity to a close object, the first group and the second group moving independently along an optical axis toward the object side, the first group including, in order from the object side, a front group having negative refractive power, and a rear group having positive refractive power, and the front group consisting of, in order from the object side, a positive lens and a negative lens, thereby providing an imaging lens capable of obtaining excellent optical performance upon focusing from infinity to a close object, with downsizing the optical system with a simple lens construction, an optical apparatus and a method for manufacturing the imaging lens. |
| US09007700B2 |
Thin-type wide-angle imaging lens assembly with four lenses
A thin-type wide-angle imaging lens assembly comprises a fixing diaphragm and an optical set including four lenses. An arranging order from an object side to an image side is: a first lens; a second lens; a third lens; a fourth lens; and the fixing diaphragm disposed between an object and the second lens. By the concatenation between the lenses and the adapted curvature radius, thickness/interval, refractivity, and Abbe numbers, the assembly attains a big diaphragm with ultra-wide-angle, a shorter height, and a better optical aberration. |
| US09007699B2 |
Lens position adjustment apparatus, projector, lens position adjustment method, and lens position registration method
A lens position adjustment apparatus includes: a transmission unit that is displaced in a first direction oriented from one end point toward the other end point or a second direction oriented from the other endpoint toward the one endpoint to transmit power of a drive source; a conversion unit that moves a lens by using the power supplied from the transmission unit; a drive control unit that controls the drive source; a position detection unit that detects a current position of the transmission unit; and a storage unit that stores a registered position and a registered direction, wherein the drive control unit controls the drive source in such a way that a final displacement direction is the second direction in case that the registered position is within a predetermined amount of displacement from the one end point, and that the final displacement direction is the registered direction otherwise. |
| US09007698B2 |
Zoom lens and imaging apparatus
A zoom lens includes: a first lens group having a positive refractive power; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; a third lens group having a positive refractive power; and a fourth lens group having a negative refractive power provided in this order from an object side. All of the lens groups move along an optical axis such that the distance between the first lens group and the second group gradually becomes greater, the distance between the second lens group and the third lens group gradually becomes smaller, and the distance between the third lens group and the fourth lens group gradually becomes greater when changing magnification from a wide angle end to a telephoto end. The fourth lens group practically includes a lens having a positive refractive power, a lens having a negative refractive power, and a lens having a positive refractive power. |
| US09007695B2 |
Spectral image sensor device
A spectral image sensor device comprises a first optical system 47 and 48 including an objective lens, a luminous fluxes selecting member 55 for allowing a part of the luminous fluxes to pass via the first optical system selectively, an optical member 58 where the luminous fluxes selecting member is disposed so as to be at focal position on an object side or approximately at focal position on an object side, and an interference membrane is formed, and wavelength range of the luminous fluxes for passing through the luminous fluxes selecting member is selected, depending on position of the luminous fluxes selecting member, a second optical system 49 for guiding the luminous fluxes toward the optical member, and an image sensor 52 for receiving a light in wavelength range as selected by the optical member. |
| US09007694B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus including a display unit, a first reflector, a second reflector, a third reflector and a lens unit is provided. The display unit emits an image beam. The first reflector is disposed on a transmission path of the image beam. The second reflector is disposed on the transmission path of the image beam from the first reflector. The third reflector is disposed on the transmission path of the image beam from the second reflector. The lens unit is disposed on the transmission path of the image beam from the third reflector. The image beam emitted from the display unit passes through a space defined between the second reflector and the third reflector and is transmitted to the first reflector. Afterward, the image beam is sequentially reflected by the first reflector, the second reflector and the third reflector, and then passes through the lens unit. |
| US09007689B2 |
Method and apparatus for forming multiple images
Disclosed are method and apparatus for forming multiple images of an object comprising a plurality of depth segments. An optical system comprises an infinity optical subsystem and a multi-image optical subsystem. The infinity optical subsystem is configured to receive light from the object and form a first image focussed at infinity. A multi-image optical subsystem is configured to receive the first image and form multiple images via multiple focussing lenses. Each multiple image can correspond to a different depth segment. A portion of the light from the first image can also be filtered before entering a focussing lens. Multiple images under different filtering conditions, corresponding to different depth segments or to the same depth segment, can be formed. |
| US09007688B2 |
Light redirecting fabric and method of making the same
A flexible sheet-form optical system, referenced to as a light redirecting fabric, which has a fabric-like behavior and light redirecting properties. The light redirecting fabric comprises a soft and flexible sheet of optically transmissive material, such as plasticized polyvinyl chloride. A surface of the flexible sheet includes a plurality of parallel slits having spaced-apart walls configured to reflect light by means of a total internal reflection. At least a portion of daylight incident onto the sheet is internally redirected at angles other than the angle of incidence which is exploited to enhance daylight harvesting and illumination of a building interior. Disclosed also are a method and apparatus for making the light redirecting fabric. The method includes steps of mechanical slitting of the flexible sheet with a blade, elastic stretch-elongation of the sheet along a direction perpendicular to the slits, and making at least a portion of the sheet elongation irreversible. |
| US09007687B2 |
Thin film emitter-absorber apparatus and methods
Methods and apparatus for providing a tunable absorption-emission band in a wavelength selective device are disclosed. A device for selectively absorbing incident electromagnetic radiation includes an electrically conductive surface layer including an arrangement of multiple surface elements. The surface layer is disposed at a nonzero height above a continuous electrically conductive layer. An electrically isolating intermediate layer defines a first surface that is in communication with the electrically conductive surface layer. The continuous electrically conductive backing layer is provided in communication with a second surface of the electrically isolating intermediate layer. When combined with an infrared source, the wavelength selective device emits infrared radiation in at least one narrow band determined by a resonance of the device. In some embodiments, the device includes a control feature that allows the resonance to be selectively modified. The device has broad applications including gas detection devices and infrared imaging. |
| US09007684B2 |
Microscope and microscope light source unit
A microscope includes: a first epi-illumination light-source unit to perform fluorescence observation; a second transmitted-illumination light-source unit to perform transmission observation, the second transmitted-illumination light-source unit including a light source provided with a light emitting element that emits excitation light and a fluorescent substance that emits fluorescence upon irradiation with the excitation light; and an incidence limiting section configured to limit an incidence of light on the light source from an outside of the second light source unit during a light-off period of the light emitting element. The incidence limiting section is configured to remove an incidence limitation of the light from the outside while the light emitting element is being lit. |
| US09007680B2 |
Controller which controls a variable optical attenuator to control the power level of a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal when the number of channels are varied
An optical amplifier which amplifies a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal having a variable number of channels associated with different wavelengths and outputs the amplified WDM optical signal. The optical amplifier includes a first optical amplifier which amplifies the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal and outputs the first optical amplifier amplified wavelength division multiplexed optical signal; a variable optical attenuator which controls a level of the first optical amplifier amplified wavelength division multiplexed optical signal and outputs the controlled wavelength division multiplexed optical signal; a second optical amplifier which amplifies the controlled wavelength division multiplexed optical signal and outputs the amplified, controlled wavelength division multiplexed optical signal; and a controller which controls the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal to be amplified with a constant gain. |
| US09007679B2 |
Wavelength sweep control
Methods and apparatus for the active control of a wavelength-swept light source used to interrogate optical elements having characteristic wavelengths distributed across a wavelength range are provided. |
| US09007676B1 |
MEMS electrostatic display
An electrostatic display employing MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) technology is disclosed. The transition from white to black pixel color occurs as two cantilevers covering the pixel area are electrostatically turned from their position parallel to the substrate plane to the position normal to the substrate plane. Four electrode pixel control circuits are used to form row and column matrix. This matrix employs a bi-stability effect resulting from the difference in voltages needed to move the cantilever into an upright position and hold the cantilever in this position. |
| US09007673B2 |
Electrochromic device including metal lines
An electrochromic device includes: a first electrode unit including a first electrode layer, a plurality of spaced apart metal lines that are formed on the first electrode layer, and a plurality of insulator strips that cover the metal lines, respectively; a second electrode unit spaced apart from the first electrode unit and including a second electrode layer; and an electrochromic unit sandwiched between the first and second electrode units and including an electrochromic layer and an electrolyte layer. The electrochromic layer is formed on the first electrode layer. The electrolyte layer is disposed between the electrochromic layer and the second electrode layer. |
| US09007672B2 |
Transmitter optical module
Disclosed is a transmitter optical module which includes an electro-absorption modulated laser modulating a light into an optical signal through a high-frequency electrical signal; a first sub-mount transferring the high-frequency signal to the electro-absorption modulated laser; and a second sub-mount receiving the high-frequency signal from the electro-absorption modulated laser to terminate the electro-absorption modulated laser. A length of a first wire connecting the first sub-mount and the electro-absorption modulated laser is different from a length of a second wire connecting the second sub-mount and the electro-absorption modulated laser. |
| US09007670B2 |
Injection moldings, injection-molding apparatus and method thereof
Disclosed are injection moldings, an injection-molding apparatus and a method thereof. The injection-molding apparatus comprises: a cavity mold having a cavity; a core mold having a core surface to form a molding space for injection moldings when being joined to the cavity mold; a heating unit for heating the cavity mold or the core mold; a cooling unit for cooling the cavity mold or the core mold; and a patterning stamp having a micrometer or nanometer sized pattern and provided on an inner surface of the molding space. According to the injection-molding apparatus, a micrometer or nanometer sized pattern is formed on a surface of injection moldings so as to have a super-hydrophobic characteristic and an optical characteristic, and a micrometer or nanometer sized pattern of a complex structure can be implemented. |
| US09007669B2 |
Security element and method for producing the same
The present invention relates to a security element (12) for protecting valuable articles, having a thin-film element (30) that has a color-shift effect and that includes an absorber layer (36) having gaps (38) in the region of which no color-shift effect is perceptible, and a relief pattern (26) that is arranged only in gapped absorber layer regions (38) below the thin-film element (30). |
| US09007668B2 |
Image reading system, information processing apparatus, and storage medium
In an image reading system, when an automatic determination mode is designated as a color mode, a scanner does not determine the color of the read image but applies gamma correction to the image data of the image using the first correction characteristic. The scanner transmits the resultant image data to a PC. The PC determines the color of the image indicated by the received image data. When the determined color does not correspond to the first correction characteristic, the PC performs gamma correction of the received image data in accordance with the inverse characteristic of the first correction characteristic and then performs gamma correction using the second correction characteristic corresponding to the determined color. |
| US09007666B2 |
Determining whether an image is color
Erroneous determination of an image caused by color shift is prevented. Image data is divided in a sub-scanning direction into a first region where color shift hardly occurs and a second region where color shift easily occurs. There are detected a first color line drawing extending in a main-scanning direction in the first region, a second color line drawing extending in the main-scanning direction and having a width larger than that of the first color line drawing in the second region, and a third color line drawing extending in the sub-scanning direction in the image data. On the basis of the detected first, second, and third color line drawings, it is determined whether a document is a color document or not. |
| US09007665B2 |
Method for detecting the width and position of documents using image information in a large-format scanner system
Documents in a large-format scanning system are scanned by coarsely recognizing longitudinal or transverse transition regions between a reflector roller and a document by the substeps of dividing the scanning image transversely into uniform image strips, determining statistical parameters for each image strip, examining the scanning image in the image strips with fixed threshold values for deviations such that, if a value of one the statistical parameters of an image strip exceeds the threshold value, this region is recognized as being a transverse transition region between the reflector roller and the document, and examining the image strips to determine the longitudinal transition region by line-by-line generation of an average value and determining sufficiently strong and steep edges, the image strips being rotated incrementally from the transverse of the document to an acute angle. Then longitudinal or transverse document edges within the transition regions detected by coarse recognition are finely recognized. |
| US09007658B2 |
Inspection apparatus, inspection method, and program
Color shift detection requires additional processing as compared to detection of other items, and thus increases the load on the inspection processing. Conventional inspection apparatuses have a problem that the processing speed associated with inspection is affected and the costs of the inspection processing apparatus are raised. In a case where an inspection setting specified by a user includes color shift detection (YES in S406), scan image data of a printed material for a test print is determined to be a reference (S407). Then, comparison is made between scan image data obtained by scanning the printed material associated with a print job and the scan image data of the printed material for the test print. |
| US09007654B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes an image reading portion, an image processing portion, a storage portion, a storage selector portion, an image forming portion, and a control portion. The storage portion includes a first storage portion and a second storage portion with greater vibration resistance than the first storage portion, and stores image data scanned by the image reading portion and processed by the image processing portion. The storage selector portion selects one of the first storage portion and the second storage portion based on the strength of mechanical vibrations during an operation of the apparatus, and a data size of the image data. The control portion causes the image data to be stored in the storage portion selected by the storage selector portion, and controls the image forming portion to read the stored image data and form an image. |
| US09007653B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method for printing an image using colored ink and clear liquid
Provided is an ink jet printing apparatus that, without causing an increase in apparatus size, can print an image having high evenness in both of image clarity and glossiness regardless a gradation or gamut of the image. For this purpose, on the basis of input image data, pieces of multivalued color data respectively corresponding to colored inks, and first multivalued data and second multivalued data that correspond to image enhancing liquid are generated. On a print medium, the colored inks and the image enhancing liquid according to the first multivalued data are printed at nearly the same timing, and after the printing of them has been completed, the image enhancing liquid according to the second multivalued data is printed. In doing so, gloss properties appearing on the print medium can be made to fall within certain ranges, respectively, independently of input image data. |
| US09007652B2 |
Printing device and method of producing printing material
A basic color to be printed in achromatic colors (a layer superimposed with another layer) is changed in response to the brightness of a pixel indicated by the original image data. |
| US09007651B2 |
Threshold matrix generation method, image data generation method, image data generation apparatus, image recording apparatus, and recording medium
In the generation of a threshold matrix for Nx speed writing, first and second areas are set, the first area being a cluster of a plurality of first partial areas substantially evenly distributed in a matrix space, and the second area being an area of the matrix space excluding the first area. Next, at least two writing elements in each of the first partial areas are allocated occurrence numbers and changed into determined elements. Then, at least one writing element in the second area is allocated an occurrence number and changed into a determined element. Thereafter, the other writing elements are allocated occurrence numbers and changed into determined elements. In accordance with the occurrence numbers, the threshold value of each writing element is determined to obtain a threshold matrix for Nx speed writing. This results in a reduction in the graininess of an image in a highlight area. |
| US09007650B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes: a reception portion that receives a first image; a selection portion that selects a head to perform pre-ejection; a generation portion that includes the selected head and generates patterns for detection of a transport speed of a sheet; an output portion that synthesizes the generated patterns with the received first image to output a second image on a sheet; a reading portion that reads the second image; an extraction portion that extracts the patterns from the read second image; and a control portion that analyzes the extracted patterns and controls the transport speed of the sheet at the output portion. |
| US09007648B2 |
Updating old media with configurable entities
The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can provide configurable entities in connection with electronic archival of print-based media. In accordance therewith, print-based media can be archived electronically (e.g., by imaging or scanning the print-based media) in a remastered form that provides for displaying the original work with readily modifiable entities, such as advertisements. Media or entities can be selected based upon the original advertiser, the original product, or another element or feature of the print-based media, and can also be selected based upon a profile associated with the media consumer. |
| US09007644B2 |
Method, apparatus, and computer product for managing image formation resources
Common portions of applications are extracted as common system service. A platform is formed by the common system service and a general purpose OS. A printer application, a copy application, and various applications are mounted on the platform. As a result, each software (application) corresponding to a printer, a copier, a facsimile device, and so on can be developed efficiently and the productivity of the apparatus as a whole can be improved. |
| US09007643B2 |
Communication apparatus
A communication apparatus includes: a processor; and a memory storing computer readable instructions causing the communication apparatus to: store a condition information in the at least one memory, the condition information representing a condition to transmit data and including a data identification information, and time information representing a target time; perform a determining process corresponding to the condition information, the determining process being performed every time the target time represented by the time information elapses and determining whether a value of the target data represented by the data identification information changes between the previous target time and the current target time; transmit the value of the target data to the management system when the value of the target data changes; and not transmit the value of the target data to the management system when the value of the target data does not change. |
| US09007642B2 |
Authenticating printers prior to pairing with portable electronic devices
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates the execution of a print job. During operation, the system receives, at a printer, a signal from a portable electronic device indicating the printer has been selected for the print job. Next, in response to the selection, the system generates an output that facilitates identification of the printer by a user of the portable electronic device. The system also provides a mechanism for confirming physical access to the printer by the user. Upon confirming the physical access to the printer by the user, the system establishes a connection between the portable electronic device and the printer, wherein the connection is subsequently used by the portable electronic device and the printer to perform the print job. |
| US09007640B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication device, and communication control program
A wireless communication system includes: a first communication device, which has a first controller coupled to a first interface; and a second communication device, which has a second controller coupled to a second interface, wherein at least one of the first controller and the second controller is configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting data from the first communication device to the second communication device; determining whether the wireless communication connection is terminated during the data transmission; suspending the data transmission if it is determined that the wireless communication connection is terminated; determining whether another wireless communication connection is established after suspending the data transmission; and transmitting a part of the data to the second communication device via the another wireless communication if the another wireless communication connection is established, wherein the part of the data includes at least remaining data that was not received. |
| US09007639B2 |
Information providing device, information providing method, and information providing system that specify a region where an information processing terminal is and specify one or more information processing apparatuses which are in the region
An information providing device, which is capable of communicating with an information processing terminal and one or more information processing apparatuses executing processing responding to a request from the information processing terminal, including a position data obtaining unit configured to obtain position data of the information processing terminal and the information processing apparatuses; a specifying unit configured to specify, based on the obtained position data of the information processing terminal, a region where the information processing terminal is, and specify, based on the obtained position data of the information processing apparatuses, one or more of the information processing apparatuses which are in the region; and an instruction unit configured to, responding to the request from the information processing terminal, instruct an information processing apparatus of the specified information processing apparatuses specified by the specifying unit and specified by the request to execute the processing also specified by the request. |
| US09007625B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, and information processing system
An information processing apparatus transmits a print job to a printer after performing print setting processing for variable print data. An operation information setting unit receives print setting information in which the leading page of each of the records is specified as the first page for a page or a page range in each of the records to perform print setting. A job ticket generation unit sets print setting information to a job ticket in accordance with the instruction which a hot folder manager gives that detects and manages print data. A print data transmission unit generates a print job and transmits it to a printer. The printer analyzes the received print job, and repeatedly applies the print setting information set to one record to each of the records to thereby execute print processing. |
| US09007624B2 |
Image processing system for facsimile data transmission, processing method therefor and storage medium of the same
An image processing apparatus requests a server apparatus selected from a first server apparatus and a second server apparatus to transmit image data, and after the request for the facsimile transmission, determines whether the requested facsimile transmission is completed. If the image processing apparatus determines that the requested facsimile transmission is not completed, it requests a server apparatus different from the selected server apparatus to execute the facsimile transmission. When the facsimile transmission becomes unavailable after receiving the request for the facsimile transmission, the server apparatus determines whether the requested facsimile transmission is completed by another server apparatus in response to a recovery from the unavailable status. If the server apparatus determines that the requested facsimile transmission is completed by another server apparatus, it cancels the requested facsimile transmission. |
| US09007622B2 |
Replaceable printer component including a memory updated atomically
A replaceable printer component includes a memory device and a communication link. The memory device includes a memory and a circuit configured to atomically update data stored in the memory. The communication link is configured to communicatively link the memory device to a printer controller when the replaceable printer component is installed in a printing system. The circuit is configured to receive a write request including data, a data length, and an address from the printer controller; copy the data length of data stored at the address to a backup area of the memory; store the data length and the address in the memory; set a write state stored in the memory to a first state; update the data length of data stored at the address with the received data; and set the write state stored in the memory to a second state. |
| US09007620B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method of controlling the same
An image forming apparatus and a method of controlling the same, the method including: determining whether the extension of a data file is registered as a printable extension in an image forming apparatus; analyzing header of the data file to determine whether the data file is printable, if the extension is not registered as a printable extension in the image forming apparatus; and registering the extension in the image forming apparatus as a printable extension, if the data file is determined to be printable. |
| US09007619B2 |
Printing apparatus, non-transitory computer readable medium used for printing apparatus, and method of controlling printing apparatus
A printing apparatus includes a job receiver, a printing unit, a command receiver, a processor, and a memory. The printing apparatus is caused to determine whether the printing apparatus is in a secure mode when the command receiver receives a cancel command, perform a secure cancellation process when the command receiver receives the cancel command and the printing apparatus is in the secure mode, and perform a non-secure cancellation process when the command receiver receives the cancel command and the printing apparatus is not in the secure mode. The secure cancellation process includes analyzing a print job received by the job receiver and whose analysis is not finished, determining whether an analyzed print job is a secure print job or a normal print job, maintaining printing of the analyzed print job that is the secure print job, and cancelling the printing of the analyzed print job that is the normal print job. |
| US09007614B2 |
Printing system including a printing apparatus and an information processing apparatus which communicates with the printing apparatus
A printing system comprising a printing apparatus and an information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus comprises a unit configured to transmit a status acquisition request to the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus comprises: a timeout processing unit configured to manage a timeout of a job to be processed; a determination unit configured to determine whether the status acquisition request contains an identifier of the job; and a unit configured not to reset a lapse of the timeout time of the job by the timeout processing unit when the determination unit determines that the status acquisition request does not contain the identifier of the job, and to reset the lapse of the timeout time of the job by the timeout processing unit when the determination unit determines that the status acquisition request contains the identifier of the job. |
| US09007612B2 |
Insertion of printer operator instructions onto separator pages in a print shop environment
Systems and methods are provided for notifying operators of tasks to perform on printers by inserting operator instructions onto separator pages that are placed between print jobs. One embodiment is a print server that includes a control system and a page generator. The control system is operable to identify a print job, and to identify an operator instruction for the print job indicating a physical task for an operator to perform on a printer before the print job is printed. Also, the control system holds the print job responsive to identifying the operator instruction. The page generator generates a separator page comprising the operator instruction that indicates the physical task to perform on the printer, and transmits the separator page for printing to inform the operator of the task before the print job is printed. |
| US09007611B2 |
Non-transitory computer-readable recording medium and information processing device having a sharing function of processing data
An information processing device may be configured to have data, which is outputted by a first application, be processed by a second application, which is selected from among a plurality of applications. The information processing device may send execution instruction information that instructs an execution of the scan process to the image processing device. The information processing device may acquire the one or more image data from the image processing device. The information processing device may acquiring property information indicating an execution property of the scan process. The information processing device may extract one or more supporting applications supporting the execution property. The information processing device may display identification information for identifying the one or more supporting applications on the display. The information processing device may receive an input indicating a selection of the second application and process the one or more image data by the selected second application. |
| US09007610B2 |
System-speed switchable image forming device
An image forming device switches a system speed when assignment of a license has been accepted, and stores switching information of the system speed. The image forming device performs two-stage image stabilization for determining a setting value of a parameter relating to an image formation process of the image forming device when the switching information of the system speed is stored, and performs single-stage image stabilization for determining a setting value of the parameter relating to the image formation process of the image forming device when the switching information of the system speed is not stored. |
| US09007600B2 |
Laser radar system
A laser radar system includes: a scanner for transmitting a pulse toward a target while two-dimensionally scanning a transmitting beam, and outputting scan angle information; a lens of the receiver for receiving received light; a high aspect photo detector array for converting the received light into a received signal; a transimpedance amplifier array for amplifying the received signal; an adder circuit for adding the received signal from each element of the transimpedance amplifier array; a distance detecting circuit for measuring a light round-trip time to the target of an output signal from the adder circuit; and a signal processing unit for causing the scanner to perform a two-dimensional scanning operation in association with the scan angle information, to determine distances to multiple points on the target based on the light round-trip time and a speed of light and measure a three-dimensional shape of the target. |
| US09007595B2 |
Lamp temperature management systems and methods for liquid chromatography analyzers
A liquid sample analyzer includes a flow cell, a light source, and a lamp temperature management system. The flow cell is configured to receive a flow of a liquid sample from a liquid sample source. The light source includes a lamp configured to emit light to illuminate the flow of the liquid sample in the flow cell. The lamp temperature management system includes: an air flow generator operable to generate a turbulent air flow to cool the lamp; a thermally conductive primary housing encapsulating the lamp such that a primary air gap is provided between the primary housing and the lamp; and a thermally conductive secondary housing surrounding the primary housing and configured to deflect the turbulent air flow away from the primary housing. |
| US09007593B2 |
Temperature response sensing and classification of analytes with porous optical films
Methods and systems of the invention can determine the identity and quantity of analytes in a vapor. In preferred methods, a porous optical film is exposed to vapor which contains analyte. The porous optical film is heated and its optical response is monitored during heating. An optical response observed via heating can determine the identity and/or quantity of the analyte. In preferred embodiments, optical response during a thermal pulse is compared to a database of sensor responses that are characteristic of various analytes. Preferred methods are conducted a relatively low temperatures, for example below about 200° C. In preferred methods, a heating and cooling cycle produces a hysteresis curve in the optical response that is indicative of analytes. In preferred embodiments, a thermal reset pulse resets the porous optical film for later use and also provides an optical response that can be used for sensing. |
| US09007590B2 |
Apparatus for measuring transmittance
An apparatus for measuring transmittance which can realize reliability for measurement of the transmittance of a piece of patterned glass by post dispersion of light. The apparatus includes a light source which is disposed in front of an object that is to be measured, and directs light into the object. An integrating sphere is disposed in the rear of the light source and integrating light incident thereinto. The object is mounted on the front portion of the integrating sphere. A light dispersing part is disposed in the rear of the integrating sphere, and disperses light that has been integrated by and then emitted from the integrating sphere. An optical receiver is disposed adjacent to the light dispersing part, and receives light that has been dispersed by the light dispersing part. |
| US09007589B2 |
Co-located porosity and caliper measurement for membranes and other web products
Dual mounting head scanners measure the thickness of flexible moving porous webs and employ an air clamp on the operative surface of the lower head to maintain the web in physical contact with a measurement surface. As the web is held firmly by the clamp, the vacuum level that is established is indicative of the porosity of the membrane. As compressed air is supplied to a vacuum generator at a given operational pressure, the rate of airflow through the web can be inferred from the vacuum pressure measurements. The rate of airflow through the membrane and therefore the porosity of the membrane are related to the vacuum level. It is not necessary to measure the airflow through the membrane. From the vacuum pressure measurements, the membrane's permeability can also be determined by correlation to empirical data. Thickness measurements are effected by optical triangulation and inductive proximity measurements. |
| US09007587B1 |
Determining true surface color from multiple camera images providing conflicting color information
A set of images of an object are captured from a set of lenses positioned at different angles. A common point is determined, which has a color value that differs among the images. Color at the point is mathematically expressed as a set of equations. The equations comprise a recorded color value for the point, an ambient contribution, a diffuse contribution, and a specular contribution. The ambient and diffuse contributions are set as equal across the equations. The specular contribution is determined, such as by quantifying the light sources and solving for the specular contribution using a Phong lighting model equation. True color for the point, which is based on the ambient and diffuse contribution, is determined by solving a set of simultaneous equations once the specular contribution is known. An image is created where the point has the true color as determined above. |
| US09007581B2 |
Inspection method and inspection device
An inspection method and an inspection device, or apparatus each capable of conducting composition analysis of a defect detected by elastic or stokes scattered light, an inspection surface or defect on the surface of the inspection surface, or a defect on the surface of the inspection object and its internal composition. A surface inspection method for optically detecting elastic or stokes scattering or inelastic or anti-stokes scattered light from inside the surface of the inspection object, for detecting existence of defects of the inspection object and features of the defects, for detecting positions of the detected defects on the surface of the inspection object, classifying and analyzing the detected defects in accordance with their features on the basis of the positions of the defects and the features of the defects or the classification result of the defects. |
| US09007572B2 |
Multifunction solid-state inspection system
An inspection system includes optical components for operating the inspection system in an interference fringe imaging mode and a microscope imaging mode. The inspection system further includes at least one optical light source configured to emit a first wavelength of light to operate the inspection system in the interference fringe imaging mode and configure to emit a second wavelength of light to operate the inspection system in the microscope mode. The first wavelength of light is different from the second wavelength of light. |
| US09007571B2 |
Measurement method of overlay mark
A measurement method of an overlay mark is provided. An overlay mark on a wafer is measured with a plurality of different wavelength regions of an optical measurement tool, so as to obtain a plurality of overlay values corresponding to the wavelength regions. The overlay mark on the wafer is measured with an electrical measurement tool to obtain a reference overlay value. The wavelength region that corresponds to the overlay value closest to the reference overlay value is determined as a correct wavelength region for the overlay mark. |
| US09007569B2 |
Coherent doppler lidar for measuring altitude, ground velocity, and air velocity of aircraft and spaceborne vehicles
A Doppler lidar sensor system includes a laser generator that produces a highly pure single frequency laser beam, and a frequency modulator that modulates the laser beam with a highly linear frequency waveform. A first portion of the frequency modulated laser beam is amplified, and parts thereof are transmitted through at least three separate transmit/receive lenses. A second portion of the laser beam is used as a local oscillator beam for optical heterodyne detection. Radiation from the parts of the laser beam transmitted via the transmit/receive lenses is received by the respective transmit/receive lenses that transmitted the respective part of the laser beam. The received reflected radiation is compared with the local oscillator beam to calculate the frequency difference therebetween to determine various navigational data. |
| US09007568B2 |
Distance detecting induction device
A distance detecting induction device includes a casing, a circuit board within the casing, and a pair of focusing lenses provided at respective openings in the casing. The distance detecting induction device further includes an emitting device including an infrared light emitting diode for emitting infrared light rays to the emitting lens and a receiving device including a distance detection induction module for inducing reflected light rays focused by the receiving lens. The distance detecting induction device further includes an emitting light ray guiding device arranged between the emitting lens and the emitting device. The guiding device includes a small circular hole provided at a position of the emitting device and a big circular hole provided at a position of the emitting lens. |
| US09007564B2 |
Exposure apparatus including light blocking member with light condensing part
An exposure apparatus includes an irradiating part which irradiates light, a light blocking member including a light condensing part at a side of the light blocking member, where the light condensing part condenses the light, a mask which is spaced apart from the light blocking member by a first distance, and a transporting part which transports a target substrate in a first direction. |
| US09007551B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A high resolution, wide viewing angle, low power consumption liquid crystal display device which utilizes nematic liquid crystal and which can attain both the memory effect and wide-viewing-angle display characteristic. A liquid crystal display device that utilizes nematic liquid crystal and includes a pair of transparent substrates; a group of electrodes for applying to a liquid crystal layer disposed between the pair of substrates an electric field having a component substantially parallel to the surfaces of the substrates; and an alignment layer disposed between the liquid crystal layer and at least one of the pair of substrates and having been subjected to liquid crystal anchoring treatments in plural directions. The plurality of liquid crystal anchoring directions of the alignment layer form substantially equal angles relative to one another, and a rising angle in each of the liquid crystal anchoring directions with respect to the corresponding substrate surface is substantially zero. |
| US09007543B2 |
Edge-lit LED backlight module, liquid crystal display device and method for fixing reflection sheet
This invention discloses an edge-lit LED backlight module, a liquid crystal display device and a method for fixing a reflection sheet. This backlight module comprises a backplate, a sidewall connected to the backplate, a light guide plate arranged on the backplate, a light-emitting device arranged on the backplate, and a reflection sheet arranged between the backplate and the light guide plate; wherein the light guide plate has a light-exiting top surface and a light-entering side adjacent to the light-exiting top surface, and the light-emitting device is located between the light-entering side and the sidewall. This backlight module further includes at least a first tension member and a second tension member with their both ends respectively connected to the reflection sheet and the backplate. The backlight module herein can effectively prevent the reflection sheet from warping caused by thermal expansion and further improve the optical quality of the backlight module. |
| US09007542B2 |
Thin-film transistor array substrate, method of manufacturing same and liquid crystal display device
A vertically aligned thin-film transistor array substrate in which there is no reduction in aperture ratio includes an etching-stop layer formed on an insulating layer; a passivation layer formed on the insulating layer that includes the etching-stop layer; a depression formed in the passivation layer and hollowing the passivation layer to the surface of the etching-stop layer; and a pixel electrode, which is recessed in conformity with the depression, formed on the passivation layer that includes the depression; wherein the etching-stop layer comprises a transparent semiconductor. |
| US09007538B2 |
Barrier functional film and manufacturing thereof, environmental sensitive electronic device, and display apparatus
A barrier functional film that includes a substrate, at least one side wall barrier structure, a releasing film, and an adhesive is provided. The side wall barrier structure is located on the substrate. The releasing film is located above the substrate, and the side wall barrier structure is located between the substrate and the releasing film. The adhesive covers the side wall barrier structure and is located between the substrate and the releasing film. An environmental sensitive electronic device, a display apparatus, and a manufacturing method of a barrier functional film are also provided. |
| US09007537B2 |
Capacitive touch module and display having capacitive touch module
A capacitive touch module includes a first glass layer, a second glass layer, a liquid crystal layer, a first insulating layer, a second insulating layer, a plurality of first electrodes, second electrodes and third electrodes. The liquid crystal layer is arranged between the first glass layer and the second glass layer. The first insulating layer is formed between the first glass layer and the liquid crystal layer. The second insulating layer is formed between the liquid crystal layer and the second glass layer. The plurality of first electrodes are formed between the liquid crystal layer and the first insulating layer along a first axis. The plurality of second electrodes are formed between the second insulating layer and the second glass layer along the first axis. The plurality of third electrodes are formed between the first insulating layer and the first glass layer along a second axis. |
| US09007531B2 |
Methods and apparatus for expanding a field of view in a video communication session
Methods and apparatus for expanding a field of view of an image during a video communication session. In some embodiments, a method includes transmitting a first video image having a first field of view during the video telecommunication session. The methods and apparatus further capturing a first set of background images, at least some of which are combined to form a first composite background image having a second field of view that is greater than the first field of view. Further, superimposing at least a portion of the first video image over the first composite background image to form a second video image having a same field of view as the first composite background image and transmitting the second video image during the video telecommunication session. |
| US09007530B2 |
Channel scan device and method, and program
The present technique relates to a channel scan device and method, and a program configured so that high-speed channel scan is enabled.The power spectrum extracting unit 31 of the decoding unit 22 extracts a power level for each frequency of an input signal as a power spectrum, and supplies the power level to the channel scan processing unit 23. The channel scan processing unit 23 extracts a trapezoidal band, which constitutes a power spectrum waveform, in a power spectrum as a channel candidate, and extracts a channel, for which synchronization of a clock and synchronization of a TS required for reproduction of audio and video can be confirmed, as a valid channel. The present technique can be applied to a television receiver. |
| US09007527B2 |
Imaging device, imaging system and imaging method
An imaging device, an image system and an imaging method in which proper image correction processing is carried out on a video signal are provided. An imaging device includes: a video signal input unit which inputs a video signal; and an image processing unit to which the video signal is inputted and which carries out correction of the video signal and outputs a corrected video signal. The image processing unit includes a histogram detection unit which divides an image area termed by the acquired video signal into plural areas, acquires a per-area histogram that is a histogram or the video signal in each of the plural areas, and finds per-area histogram data for each area based on the per-area histogram. The image processing unit carries out correction of the video signal based on a cumulative value of the per-area histogram data. |
| US09007526B2 |
Upgradeable display device and method for controlling the same
A display device and a method of upgrading the same are disclosed. The display device, such as a Smart TV, may include a broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast signal, a demultiplexer for demultiplexing the received broadcast signal, a decoder for decoding the demultiplexed broadcast signal, and a display for displaying the decoded broadcast signal. The display device may also include an external device interface for receiving upgrade data from an upgrade device. A controller may be configured to process the received broadcast signal for display on the display and to upgrade the display device using the received upgrade data. The upgrade data may include at least one function. A control module may be configured to assign the at least one function to at least one of the upgrade device or the controller to execute the function on the display device. |
| US09007525B2 |
Audio and video communications apparatus and communications method thereof
An audio and video communications apparatus eliminates a system clock frequency difference, freeing a user from unconformable feeling of audio and video. The audio and video communications apparatus includes: a transmitting unit and a receiving unit (106/108) transmitting and receiving audio and video via a network; a PTS correction timing determining unit (111) determining timing to update a correction amount of a PTS according to information of the audio or the video to be transmitted and received, the PTS being given to the received audio or the received video; a PTS correcting unit (112) correcting the PTS by updating the correction amount at the timing determined by the PTS correction timing determining unit (111); and an audio and video output unit (113) outputting the received audio and the received video corresponding to the corrected PTS found at a current time indicated by the audio and video communications apparatus. |
| US09007518B2 |
Image pickup system, image capturing method, and computer-readbale storage medium storing program for performing image capturing method
An image pickup system causes a first illumination unit to emit light toward a subject at a first angle without causing a second illumination unit for emitting light toward the subject at a second angle different from the first angle, and causes an image pickup unit to capture the image of the subject so as to obtain a first captured image. The image pickup system causes the second illumination unit to emit light without causing the first illumination unit to emit light, and causes the image pickup unit to capture the image of the subject so as to obtain a second captured image. The image pickup system associates the first captured image with the second captured image. |
| US09007515B2 |
Lens-interchangeable camera system, lens data transmission method and lens data acquisition program
A lens-interchangeable camera system includes: an interchangeable lens unit storing lens characteristic data corresponding to parameters of lenses in a discrete manner; and a camera body unit to which the lens characteristic data is transmitted from the interchangeable lens unit when the interchangeable lens unit is mounted. The camera body unit includes an acquisition data storage unit storing the transmitted lens characteristic data, a closest data acquisition processing unit, a close data acquisition processing unit, and an unacquired data acquisition processing unit. Processing is performed in the order from the closest data acquisition processing unit, the close data acquisition processing unit and the unacquired data acquisition processing unit. |
| US09007513B2 |
Imaging device and method of controlling the same
A document camera has an automatic focus function, and performs the automatic focus process for automatically adjusting the focus lens to the focal position in accordance with the subject distance when the document camera is started up, or when the focus key of the input operation section is operated. Further, when performing the automatic focus process, the document camera is arranged to detect the focal position in the state in which the zoom lens is temporarily moved to the telephoto end with shallow depth of field, and then restore the position of the zoom lens to the original position. |
| US09007512B2 |
Focusing method of photographing apparatus and photographing apparatus adopting the focusing method
A focusing method includes operations (a) through (d). In (a), a maximum focus value generated during a searching is set as a first maximum focus value. In (b), the focus lens moves to a first position that is the position of the first maximum focus value. In (c), a focus value generated when the focus lens moves to the first position is set as a second maximum focus value. In (d), if it is determined that a difference value between the first maximum focus value and the second maximum focus value is greater than a first set allowance value, a position of a focus value, whose difference value from the first maximum focus value is less than a second set allowance value, is searched for within a second range that has the first position as its center and is narrower than the first range. |
| US09007510B2 |
Optical apparatus
An optical apparatus is configured to execute a manual focus mode in which focusing is performed by an operation of a manual operating unit by moving an image pickup optical system configured to form an optical image of an object. The optical apparatus includes a diaphragm configured to adjust a light quantity, and a controller configured to control a movement of the image pickup optical system in accordance with an operating amount of the manual operating unit so that a unit moving amount that is a moving amount of an in-focus position of the image pickup optical system per unit operation of the manual operating unit corresponds to a product between a diameter of a minimum confusion circle of the image pickup optical system, a diaphragm value of the diaphragm in the manual focus mode, and a coefficient that is a natural number or a reciprocal of the natural number. |
| US09007507B2 |
Camera system for adjusting displayed image according to an aperture value
A camera system includes an imaging optical system, an imaging unit, a reflecting mirror that is in a first state of being positioned in an optical path extending from the imaging optical system to the imaging unit or in a second state of being retracted from the optical path, an aperture adjustment unit, an image adjustment unit, a release button, and a control unit. The imaging unit performs focusing by detecting contrast in an image of the subject, and while the reflecting mirror is kept in the second state, the image adjustment unit increases the brightness of the image on a display when the aperture adjustment unit changes the aperture value of the imaging optical system to a larger aperture value, and by operation of the release button, the imaging unit performs the focusing, and then the photographing of the subject is started. |
| US09007502B2 |
Solid-state imaging device including a photodiode configured to photoelectrically convert incident light
A solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of unit pixels. Each unit pixel has a photodiode, a reading transistor, a floating diffusion, a capacitance adding transistor, and a reset transistor. The reading transistor reads signal electric charges from the photodiode. The floating diffusion accumulates the signal electric charges read from the reading transistor. The capacitance adding transistor selectively adds capacitance to the floating diffusion. The reset transistor resets an electric potential of the floating diffusion. |
| US09007500B2 |
Programmable global shutter timing to mitigate transient glitching
An image sensor system using a circuit that automatically provides a multiple point output which represents, in a first mode, each of the multiple points receiving outputs at substantially the same time delayed only by a transit time across a wire connecting the multiple point outputs, and in a second mode, each of the multiple points producing outputs that are delayed by a delay time, where each output is delayed relative to each other output by said delay time in the second mode. |
| US09007498B2 |
Solid state imaging device and imaging apparatus having a plurality of addition read modes
A plurality of kinds of color filters are disposed at each of pixels in accordance with a color array of two rows and two columns at a pixel section of a solid state imaging device. A first signal outputting circuit and a second signal outputting circuit each perform an addition read of electrical signals from the pixels of one/the other color included in a line to be read. An addition controlling circuit shifts sampling positions of the pixels which are added at a time of the addition read by a unit of the color array between the first signal outputting circuit and a second signal outputting circuit. |
| US09007497B2 |
Three-mirror anastigmat with at least one non-rotationally symmetric mirror
A three-mirror anastigmatic with at least one non-rotationally symmetric mirror is disclosed. The at least one non-rotationally symmetric mirror may be an electroformed mirror shell having a non-rotationally symmetric reflective surface formed by a correspondingly shaped mandrel. |
| US09007492B2 |
Image processing device and imaging device
Provided is an image processing device including: a 3D-NR unit that performs, using first image data and second image data obtained by capturing images at temporally different times, 3D noise reduction (NR) processing for reducing noise in the first image data; an edge detection unit that detects an edge strength in an image indicated by the 3D-NR processed image data; and a synthesization unit that determines, based on the detected edge strength obtained by the edge detection unit, a synthesis ratio of the first image data and the 3D-NR processed image data, synthesizes the first image data and the 3D-NR processed image data, using the determined synthesis ratio, and outputs synthesized image data obtained by synthesizing the first image data and the 3D-NR processed image data. |
| US09007482B2 |
Image processing method, image processing apparatus, image pickup apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
An image processing method of performing an image restoration processing of an image, includes the steps of generating a plurality of first optical transfer functions depending on a position of the image using coefficient data depending on an image pickup condition of the image, generating a plurality of second optical transfer functions by rotating the first optical transfer functions around a center of the image or around an optical axis of an image pickup optical system, generating an image restoration filter based on the first optical transfer functions and the second optical transfer functions, and performing the image restoration processing of the image using the image restoration filter. |
| US09007479B2 |
Imaging apparatus and evaluation value generation apparatus
An imaging apparatus and an evaluation value generation apparatus can include an image data interface unit that outputs image data according to a pixel signal input from a solid-state imaging device as first image data, an image data reading unit that reads image data stored in a storage unit and outputs the read image data as second image data, an evaluation value generation unit that generates an evaluation value based on input image data, an image data selection unit that selects one of image data based on the first image data and image data based on the second image data as image data to be input to the evaluation value generation unit, and an image data writing unit that stores the image data based on the first image data in the storage unit. |
| US09007469B2 |
Lens barrel and image pickup device
Provided is a lens barrel having, in order from an object side to an image side, a first to a third group lens, the lens barrel including: a fixed frame; a cam frame supported by the fixed frame so as to be rotationally movable in a optical axis direction between a forward and a backward movement ends; and a shutter frame which moves in the optical axis direction in a rotation restricted state, through the rotation of the cam frame, in which: a third group frame is fixed to the shutter frame so that the object side of the third group lens is arranged on an inner peripheral side of the shutter frame; and the second frame is configured so that the image side of the frame is stored on the inner peripheral side of the shutter frame when the cam frame is positioned at the backward movement end. |
| US09007468B2 |
Image stabilization control apparatus and imaging apparatus with correction value based on outputs of first and second vibration detection units
An image stabilization control apparatus including a mechanism which causes a vibration when the mechanism moves is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a vibration correction unit configured to correct image shake occurring due to vibration applied to the image stabilization control apparatus. A correction value of an angular velocity of the vibration is calculated based on signals based on the angular velocity and an acceleration of the vibration, frequency bands of the signals are narrowed. During the mechanism is moving, the image shake is corrected by driving the vibration correction unit based on the angular velocity of the vibration which is corrected by the corrected value calculated before the mechanism moves. |
| US09007462B2 |
Driving assist apparatus, driving assist system, and driving assist camera unit
A driving assist apparatus acquires vehicle information which includes a gear state and speed of a vehicle; judges a state of preparing for movement, a state of starting movement, and a state during movement; generates a wide-angle image that is an image that can see a wide range although having distortion when the vehicle state is the state of preparing for movement or the state of starting movement; and generates a no-distortion image that is an image in which the distortion due to the lens shape and the distortion by the projection system are eliminated from the camera image when the vehicle state is the state during movement. |
| US09007459B2 |
Method to monitor an area
A method to monitor an area (18) and a monitoring device (10) to implement the method are presented. In the method, using a camera (11) at least one image of the area (18) is recorded and compared with a reference image assigned to the area (18). |
| US09007455B2 |
Image recording system for vehicle and reflection unit
There are provided an image recording system for a vehicle and a reflection unit thereof. The image recording system includes a vehicle in which a storage space is provided, a camera that is installed in the storage space, and a reflection unit that is installed on a window or a ceiling of the vehicle to reflect image information from a forward or rearward direction of the vehicle into the camera. |
| US09007452B2 |
Magnification observation device, magnification observation method, and magnification observation program
Provided are a magnification observation device, a magnification observation method, and a magnification observation program in which connected image data can be efficiently obtained in a short period of time when re-imaging an object to obtain the connected image data corresponding to a plurality of unit regions. A plurality of unit regions on a surface of an observation object are imaged, and a plurality of pieces of image data respectively corresponding to the plurality of unit regions are generated. An image of the object including the plurality of unit regions is displayed as a region presentation image. When any of the plurality of unit regions is selected by a selection instruction from a user, the selected unit region is re-imaged, to generate image data corresponding to the selected unit region as re-imaged data. |
| US09007450B2 |
Video imaging system with detachable storage device
A video imaging system that allows a user to save select image data to at least one detachable storage device, the image data presented on a display for the user, where the user is provided with various control interfaces for saving and appending information to the saved image data. The at least one detachable storage device also including user settings data that is used to adjust the settings of the camera control unit according to the user preferences. |
| US09007448B2 |
Video-assisted customer experience
A video-assisted customer experience is disclosed. Generally, the experience includes a communications link between a user and a business representative facilitated by an external apparatus such as an ATM, mobile device, user's workstation, teleconferencing system, etc. The communications link may be a one or two-way video link such that the user may view video of the business representative or a representation of the business representative. The experience utilizes speech-recognition technology to incorporate subtitles in the video stream. |
| US09007442B2 |
Stereo image display system, stereo imaging apparatus and stereo display apparatus
The stereo display apparatus displays parallax images to present a stereo image. The apparatus acquires the parallax images and information on a maximum pixel shift amount and a minimum pixel shift amount of the parallax images, calculates maximum and minimum relative parallax amounts corresponding to the maximum and minimum relative parallax amounts, by using the information on the maximum and minimum pixel shift amounts and a display condition, and determines whether or not at least one of the maximum and minimum relative parallax amounts exceeds a fusional limit criterion value. The apparatus determines whether or not a difference between the maximum and minimum relative parallax amounts exceeds a fusional limit range amount if the at least one of the maximum and minimum relative parallax amounts exceeds the fusional limit criterion value. |
| US09007432B2 |
Imaging systems and methods for immersive surveillance
Security guards at large facilities, such as airports, monitor multiple screens that display images from individual surveillance cameras dispersed throughout the facility. If a guard zooms with a particular camera, he may lose image resolution, along with perspective on the surrounding area. Embodiments of the inventive Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) solve these problems by combining multiple cameras in one device. When properly mounted, example ISIS systems offer up to 360-degree, 240-megapixel views on a single screen. (Other fields of view and resolutions are also possible.) Image-stitching software merges multiple video feeds into one scene. The system also allows operators to tag and follow targets, and can monitor restricted areas and sound an alert when intruders breach them. |
| US09007429B2 |
Image processing device capable of generating wide-range image
The CPU of a digital camera according to the present invention acquires a plurality of panoramic images, and generates a wide-range image by combining the acquired panoramic images. |
| US09007428B2 |
Motion-based image stitching
Systems, methods, and computer readable media for stitching or aligning multiple images (or portions of images) to generate a panoramic image are described. In general, techniques are disclosed for using motion data (captured at substantially the same time as image data) to align images rather than performing image analysis and/or registration operations. More particularly, motion data may be used to identify the rotational change between successive images. The identified rotational change, in turn, may be used to generate a transform that, when applied to an image allows it to be aligned with a previously captured image. In this way, images may be aligned in real-time using only motion data. |
| US09007425B1 |
Software-controlled lighting for video visitation devices
Systems and methods for providing software-controlled lighting for video visitation devices are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving a message over a network indicating that a video visitation session is being established between at least a first user and a second user, and illuminating at least one of the users in response to the message and/or independently of a physical position of a telephone handset or the like. The method may also include detecting a security violation in one or more video images captured during the video visitation session, where the security violation includes the presence of one or more of: gesturing, signing, or an object. The method may further include determining an amount of lighting to be emitted by a lighting device as a function of the security violation, and controlling the lighting device to produce the determined amount of lighting. |
| US09007416B1 |
Local social conference calling
Provided are systems and methods for communicating between mobile devices. Such methods involve establishing a communication session between the mobile devices using a local network, such as a Wi-Fi network. The methods also involve transmitting data streams from one mobile device in the group to all other mobile devices using this local network. The data streams may include audio and/or video data generated by the mobile devices. For example, mobile device users may conduct a teleconference through the local network and/or share media. The mobile devices may be interconnected using a star or ring topology, which may depend on distances between participants and/or alarm features that reflect connection losses between the mobile devices. Each mobile device may be equipped with one or more microphones for collecting audio signals from its user. A mobile device may also include an audio processing system for noise suppression and/or echo cancellation. |
| US09007407B2 |
Controller of electro-optical device, control method of electro-optical device, electro-optical device, and electronic apparatus
When changing a pixel to white in the middle of a writing operation for writing the pixel in black, a new writing operation for writing the pixel in white is started. When changing a pixel to black in the middle of a writing operation for writing the pixel in white, a new writing operation for writing the pixel in black is started. In addition, when a difference between the number of times of application of a first voltage applied to change the pixel to white and the number of times of application of a second voltage applied to change the pixel to black is not a predetermined value at a predetermined timing, the first voltage or the second voltage is applied to the pixel until the difference becomes a predetermined value. |
| US09007403B2 |
Projector, projecting system comprising the same and automatic image adjusting method thereof
A projector, a projecting system comprising the same and an automatic image adjusting method thereof are provided. The projector co-operates with a server of the projecting system and projects an initial image at a first orientation. The projector senses an angle difference value generated while the first orientation of the projector is changed to a second orientation, and generates an angle signal according to the angle difference value. The projector transmits the angle signal to the server so that the server generates a rotated image signal according to the angle signal and transmits the rotated image signal to the projector. The projector converts the rotated image signal into a rotated image, and projects the rotated image at the second orientation. |
| US09007400B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method and computer-readable medium
An object of the present invention to enable easy display of a virtual object toward a direction desired by a user, when performing a superimposed display of the virtual object in a captured image containing an augmented reality marker. In the present invention, a CPU identifies the direction of an AR marker detected from within an actual image captured in an image sensor as an imaging direction, rotates the virtual object so that the front side of the virtual object is directed toward the imaging direction in a state where the front side of the virtual object is directed toward a reference direction (for example, front side direction) of the AR marker, and performs a superimposed display of the virtual object on the area of the AR marker. |
| US09007399B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method for generating image of virtual space
In an information processing apparatus, a virtual object shape storage unit acquires the position of an operation unit, sets a virtual plane at the acquired position in the virtual space, and records the trajectory of the operation unit after the virtual plane is set. The virtual object shape storage unit then obtains a projection trajectory by projecting the trajectory onto the virtual plane, and records the obtained projection trajectory as contour data representing the contour of a target virtual object on the virtual plane. And then, the apparatus acquires a position and orientation of a viewpoint of the user, and generates and outputs an image of the virtual space seen from the viewpoint on the basis of the acquired position and orientation, the virtual space including the virtual plane and the virtual object having the contour represented by the contour data. |
| US09007398B1 |
Rotated rectangle drawing
Methods for drawing an aligned rectangle or rotated rectangle on an electronic device are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a first user input at a first location of a movable indicator in a graphical user interface includes an x-y axes, and determining whether the movable indicator has moved from the first location prior to receiving a second user input. The method also includes providing, for display, a rectangle based on coordinates of the first location and the second location and aligned to the x-y axes. The method further includes providing, for display, a first rotated rectangle, based on coordinates of the first location and a third location of the indicator, which is rotated about the x-y axes based on an angle calculated from the first location and the second location. Systems, graphical user interfaces, and machine-readable media are also provided. |
| US09007388B1 |
Caching attributes of surfaces without global parameterizations
Surfaces without a global surface coordinate system are divided into surface regions having local surface coordinate systems to enable the caching of surface attribute values. A surface attribute value for a surface region may include contributions from two or more adjacent surfaces. Sample points may be arranged at the corners, rather than centers, of surface regions and include prefiltered values based on two or more surfaces. A renderer may sample the surface attribute function using these prefiltered values without accessing any adjacent surfaces, even if the renderer's filter crosses a surface boundary. A multiresolution cache stores surface attribute values at different resolution levels for surface regions of one or more surfaces, which may be discontiguous. Two or more resolution levels may have the same number of sample points but have values based on filters with different areas and spatial frequency limits. Resolution levels may be selected based on geodesic distance on a surface. |
| US09007387B2 |
Drawing processing apparatus and method
A drawing processing apparatus is disclosed. A graphic index of a graphic included in a display screen or graphic description information which includes a setting parameter to be applied to the graphic is determined for each of regions dividing the display screen. A data size of the graphic description information is aggregated for the regions. A start address in a memory is determined to store the graphic description information into a successive storage area in the memory, based on the aggregated data size. The data size of an area of an overflow occurrence target is stored when the overflow occurs. The graphic description information of the regions is successively written from the start address when the overflow does not occur. A write process is stopped, and resumed from the area of the overflow occurrence target by using the data size when the overflow occurs. |
| US09007381B2 |
Transition animation methods and systems
An exemplary method includes a transition animation system detecting a screen size of a display screen associated with a computing device executing an application, automatically generating, based on the detected screen size, a plurality of animation step values each corresponding to a different animation step included in a plurality of animation steps that are to be involved in an animation of a transition of a user interface associated with the application into the display screen, and directing the computing device to perform the plurality of animation steps in accordance with the generated animation step values. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. |
| US09007380B1 |
Animated 3D buildings in virtual 3D environments
Systems, methods, and computer storage mediums are provided for animating a static structure rendered in a three-dimensional environment. A method includes accessing mesh data associated with the static structure. The mesh data describes primitives used to render the static structure in the three-dimensional environment. Once the mesh data is accessed, the static structure is rendered in the three-dimensional environment such that the mesh data associated with the static structure is used to represent the static structure. Animation data associated with the static structure is also accessed. The animation data includes a transform that includes a motion type and a description of the group of primitives from the mesh data that the motion type is applied to. Once the animation data is accessed, the group of primitives is animated such that the motion type is applied to the group of primitives. |
| US09007378B2 |
Location tracking system
Provided is a location tracking system in which a main terminal and a plurality of sub-terminals are configured to conduct wireless communication within a preset distance range which the sub-terminals should keep from the main terminal, and in which the main terminal has a plurality of display parts displaying the respective sub-terminals, whereas each sub-terminal has a warning sound output part. Thereby, when any sub-terminal deviates from a boundary of the preset distance range, the sub-terminal deviating from the boundary of the preset distance range is configured to be immediately displayed on the main terminal and to output a warning sound. Thus, during an outdoor group event (e.g., domestic or foreign travel, mountain climbing, an excursion, etc.), both a leader and participants are able to easily recognize the deviation from the boundary, and any participant can be prevented from becoming accidentally separated from a group. Further, a schedule for the group event, information (e.g. tourist resort) corresponding to the schedule, and a list of the participants are stored in the main terminal and each sub-terminal so as to be readable. The leader and the participants are able to easily read the schedule for the group event at any time, and the participants can maintain closer familiarity through the reading of information among them. |
| US09007377B2 |
System and method for displaying parameter independence in a data analysis system
A system for performing a data analysis is provided. The system includes a curve fit module that determines a curve fit function for a data set. A parameter dependence determination module determines a dependence value for a parameter of the curve fit function. A parameter independence determination module determines an independence value for the parameter of the curve fit function based on the dependence value for the parameter. A graphical indicator generation module generates a graphical indicator for the parameter. The graphical indicator corresponds to the independence value for the parameter. |
| US09007375B2 |
Systems and methods for presenting results of experiments
A method of automatically analyzing data from at least one data set including a plurality of process factors of interest and a process output of interest to determine the relationship between the factors of interest and the output of interest at a given significance level and preserving model hierarchy. The method includes the steps of calculating the effects of the factors of interest against the process output of interest, developing a model including the significant factors of interest and respective estimated coefficients and omitting the insignificant factors of interest, generating a representation of the model, and generating at least one graphical representation of the factors of interest. |
| US09007374B1 |
Selection and thematic highlighting using terrain textures
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, that enable selection and individual feature highlighting in detailed three-dimensional ground infrastructure models such as, for example, three-dimensional terrain surface models that are composed from a large number of distinct ground assets such as individual roads, land parcels, and water areas. |
| US09007373B2 |
Systems and methods for creating texture exemplars
A system, method and a computer-readable medium for creating texture exemplars from images are provided. The texture exemplars are created by receiving an image containing a plurality of pixels representing a plurality of textures, wherein each texture in the plurality of textures is configured to be selectable by a user, determining a desired texture in the plurality of textures contained within the image and defining a scale of the desired texture, generating a heat mapping of the image, wherein the heat mapping indicates location of the desired texture, generating, based on the heat mapping, a plurality of tiles corresponding to the defined scale of the desired texture, and generating an exemplar of desired texture. |
| US09007367B2 |
Wagering game system with stereoscopic 3-D graphics
This document describes techniques for processing graphics in wagering game systems. Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter use stereoscopic 3-D graphics and 2-D graphics to present composite images including multiple views of a virtual 3-D wagering game environment. Such embodiments present the composite images on stereoscopic 3-D devices. |
| US09007365B2 |
Line depth augmentation system and method for conversion of 2D images to 3D images
A line depth augmentation system and method for conversion of 2D images to 3D images. Enables adding depth to regions by altering depth of lines in the regions, for example in cell animation images or regions of limited color range. Eliminates creation of wireframe or other depth models and complex modeling of regions to match the depth of lines therein. Enables rapid conversion of two-dimensional images to three-dimensional images by enabling stereographers to quickly add/alter line depth without artifacts in images for example lines in monochrome regions. Embodiments may output a stereoscopic image pair of images with lines having desired depth, or any other three-dimensional viewing enabled image, such as an anaglyph image. Although the lines may be of a different depth than the region they appear in, the human mind interprets the monochromatic region as having depth associated with the line. |
| US09007364B2 |
Augmented reality display apparatus and related methods using database record data
Disclosed are examples of methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products for providing an augmented reality display of an image with record data. In one example, image data is received at one or more processors. A request message is sent requesting record data associated with the image data from one or more of a plurality of records stored in a database system. In some implementations, when the requested record data is received, a graphical display of the record data in combination with the image can be provided on a display device. |
| US09007362B2 |
Adaptable generation of virtual environment frames
A virtual environment in generated in a server where at least one object representative of an entity interacts with other objects or attributes of the environment. A desired frame rate for rendering the virtual environment is identified, and compared to a maximum achievable frame rate at a client device. If the maximum achievable frame rate is slower than the desired frame rate, the number of objects displayed within the virtual environment is modified, in accordance with one or more rule sets, until the maximum achievable frame rate is at or near the desired frame rate. In addition, a server may provide and synchronize output for clients participating in the virtual environment using different target frame rates. |
| US09007354B2 |
Display device and method for manufacturing the same
Provided is a display device including a panel, a driving circuit board connected to the panel, a driving unit mounted on the driving circuit board and driving the panel, a printed circuit board connected to the driving circuit board, and a memory unit mounted on the printed circuit board and storing calibration data for calibrating a data signal supplied to the panel. |
| US09007351B2 |
Display device
A display device in which partial driving can be performed with a simplified configuration of a circuit including a wiring. One of signal processing circuits includes a first transistor that controls the potential of its respective gate signal line, and a second transistor that outputs a start signal for the subsequent stage and a reset signal for the preceding stage. A signal for controlling whether the gate signal line is in an active state (a state where a selection signal is output) or a non-active state (a state where a selection signal is not output or a non-selection signal continues to be output) is input to the first transistor. A clock signal is input to the second transistor. Thus, the number of wirings necessary for operating the device is reduced. |
| US09007348B2 |
Device and method for locating a locally deforming contact on a deformable touch-sensitive surface of an object
A device for locating a locally deforming contact on a deformable touch-sensitive surface of an object includes at least one transmitting transducer and at least one receiving transducer configured to respectively transmit and capture elastic mechanical waves propagating in the deformable touch-sensitive surface of the object. Further, an electronic central processing unit is connected to the transmitting and receiving transducers and is programmed to detect a frequency offset of at least one natural mode of a resonant vibration of the touch-sensitive surface due to presence of the locally deforming contact, the vibration being produced by the propagation of the waves transmitted in the touch-sensitive surface, and to locate the locally deforming contact by analyzing the frequency offset. |
| US09007344B2 |
Touch screen panel and method of manufacturing the same
Provided are a touch screen panel and a method of manufacturing the same. The touch screen panel comprises: a substrate; a first reflection-preventing film formed on the substrate; a first gate wiring formed on the first reflection-preventing film; and a sensing wiring formed above the first gate wiring to be insulated from the first gate wiring and to cross the first gate wiring. |
| US09007340B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a first substrate, a display unit located at the first substrate for displaying an image, a first pad unit coupled with the display unit and located at an end side of the first substrate in a first direction, and a second substrate on the first substrate and having an opening exposing the first pad unit, the second substrate including a protruding portion covering a portion of the first substrate and neighboring the opening in a second direction crossing the first direction, wherein the display unit is between the second substrate and the first substrate. |
| US09007333B1 |
Touch sensor pattern
A capacitive sensor array may include a first plurality of sensor elements and a second sensor element. The second sensor element may include a main trace intersecting each of the first plurality of sensor elements to form a plurality of intersections each associated with a unit cell, where a contiguous section of the main trace crosses at least one of the plurality of unit cells. An area within the unit cell may include at least a portion of one or more primary subtraces branching from main subtrace, a plurality of secondary subtraces branching away from the one or more primary subtraces, and at least one tertiary subtrace branching away from at least one of the secondary subtraces. |
| US09007332B2 |
Position sensing panel
A position sensing panel may include electrode connecting lines from two different sets of electrodes arranged so that the distance between a side edge of a connecting line from one of the set of electrodes and a center of an adjacent connecting line from the same set of electrodes may be less than the distance between the connecting line and a nearest connecting line from the other set of electrodes. |
| US09007331B2 |
Touch sensitive panel detecting hovering finger
A touch sensitive pad with a plurality of touch sensitive elements and processing circuitry coupled to a communications interface and to the touch sensitive pad for scanning the plurality of touch sensitive elements to measure a plurality of touch sensitive element values. The plurality of touch sensitive element values is compared to a hovering finger threshold pattern. Upon a favorable comparison, a hovering finger condition is determined, and a position of the hovering finger in three-dimensions is detected with respect to the touch sensitive pad. The plurality of touch sensitive element values is compared to a touching finger threshold pattern. Upon a favorable comparison, a touching finger condition is determined, and a position of the touching finger is detected upon the touch sensitive pad. |
| US09007330B2 |
Touch panel including a wiring substrate disposed between a pair of substrates and a method for producing the same
A touch panel and a method of producing the touch panel are provided in which a touch panel having a gap between two transparent substrates that is uniform in a plane can stably be obtained by setting a gap between the two transparent substrates in an area where a wiring substrate is disposed to a desired gap. A touch panel includes a pair of transparent substrates opposed to and away from each other and connection terminals provided on at least one of opposed surfaces of the pair of transparent substrates. A wiring substrate that is disposed between the pair of transparent substrates and has one surface electrically connected to the connection terminals and the other surface disposed away from one of the transparent substrates opposed to the other transparent substrate on which the connection terminals are provided. An insulating layer provided in a gap between the pair of transparent substrates in an area where the wiring substrate is disposed in a state where the wiring substrate and the connection terminals are connected. |