| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09147855B2 |
Light emitting diode and manufacturing method thereof
The embodiments of the present invention relate to a light emitting diode and manufacturing method thereof. The electroluminescent layer of the light-emitting diode is formed of graphene/compound semiconductor quantum dot composites. |
| US09147854B2 |
Light-emitting element, light-emitting device, and electronic device
A light-emitting element includes a first electrode, a first light-emitting layer formed over the first electrode, a second light-emitting layer formed on and in contact with the first light-emitting layer to be in contact therewith, and a second electrode formed over the second light-emitting layer. The first light-emitting layer includes a first light-emitting substance and a hole-transporting organic compound, and the second light-emitting layer includes a second light-emitting substance and an electron-transporting organic compound. Substances are selected such that a difference in LUMO levels between the first light-emitting substance, the second light-emitting substance, and the electron-transporting organic compound is 0.2 eV or less, a difference in HOMO levels between the hole-transporting organic compound, the first light-emitting substance, and the second light-emitting substance is 0.2 eV or less, and a difference in LUMO levels between the hole-transporting organic compound and the first light-emitting substance is greater than 0.3 eV. |
| US09147849B2 |
Electron transport material and organic electroluminescent device using the same
Provided are a new electron transport material and an organic electroluminescent device including the same. The electron transport material according to the present invention may have the excellent luminescence property and reduce the driving voltage to increase the power efficiency, such that the organic electroluminescent device using less consumption power may be manufactured. |
| US09147848B2 |
Low bandgap dicyanovinyl and tricyanovinyl oligothiophenes for solar cell applications
The invention relates to solution-processable, p-type, low-optical gap oligothiophene compounds for use in solar cell application, comprising at least one thiophene-containing group, at least one electron-withdrawing dicyanovinyl or tricyanovinyl group, and at least one electron-donating diphenylaminofluorenyl or N-alkylcarbazole group. |
| US09147846B2 |
Pyrene compound and organic light emitting diode device including the same
A pyrene compound and an organic light emitting diode device including the same are disclosed. The organic light emitting diode device includes at least two stacks provided between a first electrode and a second electrode, and a charge generation layer provided between the stacks and including an N type charge generation layer and a P type charge generation layer, wherein the N type charge generation layer is made of the pyrene compound. |
| US09147841B2 |
Resistive-switching memory element
A resistive-switching memory element is described. The memory element includes a first electrode, a porous layer over the first electrode including a point defect embedded in a plurality of pores of the porous layer, and a second electrode over the porous layer, wherein the nonvolatile memory element is configured to switch between a high resistive state and a low resistive state. |
| US09147838B2 |
Phase change current density control structure
A phase change memory element and method of forming the same. The memory element includes first and second electrodes. A first layer of phase change material is between the first and second electrodes. A second layer including a metal-chalcogenide material is also between the first and second electrodes and is one of a phase change material and a conductive material. An insulating layer is between the first and second layers. There is at least one opening in the insulating layer providing contact between the first and second layers. |
| US09147835B2 |
Tunnel transistor structure integrated with a resistance random access memory (RRAM) and a manufacturing method thereof
The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor memories, in particular to a tunnel transistor structure integrated with a resistance random access memory and a manufacturing method thereof. The tunnel transistor structure in the present invention comprises a semiconductor substrate, and a tunnel transistor and a resistance random access memory formed on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the gate dielectric layer of the tunnel transistor extends to the surface of a drain region of the tunnel transistor; the part of the gate dielectric layer on the surface of the drain region of the tunnel transistor forms the resistance-variable storage layer of the resistance random access memory. In this invention, the high-quality gate dielectric layer of the tunnel transistor and the resistance-variable storage layer of the resistance random access memory are obtained by primary atomic layer deposition which integrates the resistance random access memory and tunnel transistor together without increasing steps. This process is simple and can combine the shallow trench isolation or field oxygen isolation and ion implantation or diffusion of source electrode and drain electrode to make integration convenient. |
| US09147833B2 |
Hybridized oxide capping layer for perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
A hybrid oxide capping layer (HOCL) is disclosed and used in a magnetic tunnel junction to enhance thermal stability and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in an adjoining free layer. The HOCL has a lower interface oxide layer and one or more transition metal oxide layers wherein each of the metal layers selected to form a transition metal oxide has an absolute value of free energy of oxide formation less than that of the metal used to make the interface oxide layer. One or more of the HOCL layers is under oxidized. Oxygen from one or more transition metal oxide layers preferably migrates into the interface oxide layer during an anneal to further oxidize the interface oxide. As a result, a less strenuous oxidation step is required to initially oxidize the lower HOCL layer and minimizes oxidative damage to the free layer. |
| US09147829B2 |
Liquid ejection head
A liquid ejection head, comprises a pressure generation chamber communicating with a nozzle opening and a piezoelectric element having a piezoelectric layer and an electrodes. The piezoelectric layer is a perovskite type complex oxide containing bismuth, iron, and cerium. The piezoelectric layer contains the cerium in a proportion of 0.01 molar ratio or more and 0.13 molar ratio or lower based on the total amount of the bismuth and the cerium. |
| US09147827B2 |
Piezoelectric element, piezoelectric actuator, piezoelectric sensor, hard disk drive, and inkjet printer device
An object is to reduce the leakage current of a piezoelectric element including a potassium-sodium niobate thin film, enhance the reliability of the piezoelectric element and, in addition, enhance the withstand voltage by including a pair of electrodes and a piezoelectric layer sandwiched between the above-described pair of electrode layers, wherein the above-described piezoelectric layer is provided with at least one layer each of first piezoelectric layer which is a potassium-sodium niobate thin film substantially not containing Mn (manganese) and second piezoelectric layer which is a potassium-sodium niobate thin film containing Mn. |
| US09147823B2 |
Thermoelectric nanocomposite, thermoelectric element, and thermoelectric module
A thermoelectric material including a thermoelectric semiconductor; and a nanosheet disposed in the thermoelectric semiconductor, the nanosheet having a layered structure and a thickness from about 0.1 to about 10 nanometers. Also a thermoelectric element and thermoelectric module including the thermoelectric material. |
| US09147822B2 |
Heavily doped PbSe with high thermoelectric performance
The present invention discloses heavily doped PbSe with high thermoelectric performance. Thermoelectric property measurements disclosed herein indicated that PbSe is high zT material for mid-to-high temperature thermoelectric applications. At 850 K a peak zT>1.3 was observed when nH˜1.0×1020 cm−3. The present invention also discloses that a number of strategies used to improve zT of PbTe, such as alloying with other elements, nanostructuring and band modification may also be used to further improve zT in PbSe. |
| US09147821B2 |
Light emitting device
Provided is a light emitting device. The light emitting device includes: a plurality of lead frame units spaced apart from each other, each of the lead frame units being provided with at least one fixing space perforating a body thereof in a vertical direction; a light emitting diode chip mounted on one of the lead frame units; and a molding unit that is integrally formed on top surfaces of the lead frame units and in the fixing spaces to protect the light emitting diode chip. |
| US09147820B2 |
Light emitting device and method for manufacturing the same
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high-contrast light-emitting device without using a polarization plate. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to make contrast control simpler for a light-emitting device provided with a color filter.A light-emitting device according to the present invention has a feature of having a structure for reducing reflection of light from a light-emitting later at a reflective electrode, and further, has a feature of absorbing wavelengths other than the light by a color filter to enhance the contrast. Accordingly, contrast control can be performed in consideration of only a luminescence component from the light-emitting layer, and is thus made simpler. |
| US09147811B2 |
Light emitting device and lighting system
Disclosed are a light emitting device, a method of fabricating the light emitting device, a light emitting device package, and a lighting system. The light emitting device includes a first conductive semiconductor layer (130), an AlGaInP-based active layer (140) on the first conductive semiconductor layer (130), a second conductive clad layer (150) on the AlGaInP-based active layer (140), a second conductive GaP layer (162) having first concentration on the second conductive clad layer (150), and a second conductive GaP layer (164) having second concentration higher than the first concentration on the second conductive GaP layer (162) having the first concentration. |
| US09147809B1 |
Flip chip light emitting diode packaging structure
A flip chip light emitting diode packaging structure includes a substrate and an LED located on the substrate. The LED includes a P electrode and a N electrode. The substrate includes a first electrode and a second electrode mounted on a top surface of the substrate. The first electrode and the second electrode have a first protrusion and a second protrusion. The P electrode and the N electrode are fixed on the top surface of the first protrusion and the second protrusion through the solder. The bottom edge of the P electrode and the N electrode is beyond the top edge of the first protrusion and the second protrusion. |
| US09147806B2 |
Optoelectronic semiconductor chip, method of fabrication and application in an optoelectronic component
An optoelectronic semiconductor chip includes an active layer with a first and a second major face, including a semiconductor material which emits or receives radiation when the semiconductor chip is in operation; a patterned layer including three-dimensional patterns for outcoupling or incoupling radiation and arranged on the first major face in a beam path of the radiation, wherein the patterned layer includes an inorganic-organic hybrid material. |
| US09147805B2 |
Semiconductor device having trench and fabrication method thereof
A semiconductor device including a Si (110) substrate, a buffer layer, a first type doped semiconductor layer, a light-emitting layer and a second type doped semiconductor layer is provided. The Si (110) substrate has a plurality of trenches. Each trench at least extends along a first direction, and the first direction is parallel to a <1-10> crystal direction of the Si (110) substrate. The buffer layer is located on the Si (110) substrate and exposes the trenches. The first type doped semiconductor layer is located on the buffer layer and covers the trenches. The light-emitting layer is located on the first type doped semiconductor layer. The second type doped semiconductor layer is located on the light-emitting layer. A fabrication method of a semiconductor device is also provided. |
| US09147803B2 |
Engineered substrates having epitaxial formation structures with enhanced shear strength and associated systems and methods
Engineered substrates having epitaxial formation structures with enhanced shear strength and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. In several embodiments, for example, an engineered substrate can be manufactured by forming a shear strength enhancement material at a front surface of a donor substrate and implanting ions a depth into the donor substrate through the shear strength enhancement material. The ion implantation can form a doped portion in the donor substrate that defines an epitaxial formation structure. The method can further include transferring the epitaxial formation structure from the donor substrate to a front surface of a handle substrate. The shear strength enhancement material can be positioned between the epitaxial formation structure and the front surface of the handle substrate and bridge defects in the front surface of the handle substrate. |
| US09147800B2 |
Nitride semiconductor structure and semiconductor light emitting device including the same
A nitride semiconductor structure and a semiconductor light emitting device are revealed. The semiconductor light emitting device includes a substrate disposed with a first type doped semiconductor layer and a second type doped semiconductor layer. A light emitting layer is disposed between the first type doped semiconductor layer and the second type doped semiconductor layer. The second type doped semiconductor layer is doped with a second type dopant at a concentration larger than 5×1019 cm−3 while a thickness of the second type doped semiconductor layer is smaller than 30 nm. Thereby the semiconductor light emitting device provides a better light emitting efficiency. |
| US09147796B2 |
Method for manufacturing LED device with structure for precisely locating LEDs thereon
A method for manufacturing an SMT LED device includes steps: providing an LED with two solder slugs extending downwardly from a bottom thereof; providing a circuit board with two first solder pads spaced from each other thereon, the first solder pads each defining a positioning hole therein corresponding to a position of each of the two solder slugs, forming a pair of second solder pads on the circuit board by directly and physically contacting with the circuit board; putting the solder slugs into the positioning holes; subjecting the circuit board and the LED to a reflow soldering, during which the solder slugs are first melted and then solidified to electrically and mechanically connect with the first and second solder pads thereby connecting the LED and the circuit board together. |
| US09147789B2 |
Fast photoconductor
A photoconductor comprising a layer stack with a semiconductor layer photoconductive for a predetermined wavelength range between two semiconductor boundary layers with a larger band gap than the photoconductive semiconductor layer on a substrate, wherein the semiconductor boundary layers comprise deep impurities for trapping and recombining free charge carriers from the photoconductive semiconductor layer, and two electrodes connected to the photoconductive semiconductor layer, for lateral current flow between the electrodes through the photoconductive semiconductor layer. |
| US09147788B2 |
Photovoltaic cell assembly
The present invention is premised upon an improved photovoltaic cell assembly that include at least plurality of photovoltaic cells with a photoactive portion with a top surface, a top collection structure on the top surface and an opposing conductive substrate layer on a side of the photoactive portion opposite the top surface. Also including a first conductive element with a first surface and wherein the first conductive element is bent at least once and wherein the first surface is in contact with the top collection structure and/or the top surface of a first photovoltaic cell and the opposing conductive substrate layer of an adjacent second photovoltaic cell; further wherein at least a portion of the first surface is held in contact to the cells by an adhesive. |
| US09147780B2 |
Solar cell, method for manufacturing same, and solar cell module
In a solar cell, a collecting electrode is provided on a transparent electrode of a photoelectric conversion section having the transparent electrode on the outermost surface on one main surface side. The collecting electrode includes a first electroconductive layer and a second electroconductive layer in this order from the photoelectric conversion section side. Preferably, a self-assembled monolayer is formed on a region on the transparent electrode layer, which is not provided with the first electroconductive layer. A method for manufacturing the solar cell includes: forming a first electroconductive layer on a transparent electrode layer; forming a self-assembled monolayer on a region on the transparent electrode layer, which is not provided with the first electroconductive layer; and bringing the first electroconductive layer and a plating solution into contact with each other to form the second electroconductive layer by a plating method, in this order. |
| US09147767B2 |
Semiconductor structure and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor structure includes a substrate and a metal gate. The metal gate includes a metallic filling layer and disposed over the substrate. The semiconductor structure further includes a dielectric material over the metallic filling layer and separating the metallic filling layer from a conductive trace. The conductive trace is over the dielectric material. The semiconductor structure further includes a conductive plug extending longitudinally through the dielectric material and ending with a lateral encroachment inside the metallic filling layer along a direction. The lateral direction is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the conductive plug. |
| US09147763B2 |
Charge-compensation semiconductor device
An active area of a semiconductor body includes a first charge-compensation structure having spaced apart n-type pillar regions, and an n-type first field-stop region of a semiconductor material in Ohmic contact with a drain metallization and the n-type pillar regions and having a doping charge per area higher than a breakdown charge per area of the semiconductor material. A punch-through area of the semiconductor body includes a p-type semiconductor region in Ohmic contact with a source metallization, a floating p-type body region and an n-type second field-stop region. The floating p-type body region extends into the active area. The second field-stop region is in Ohmic contact with the first field-stop region, forms a pn-junction with the floating p-type body region, is arranged between the p-type semiconductor region and floating p-type body region, and has a doping charge per area lower than the breakdown charge per area of the semiconductor material. |
| US09147759B1 |
Semiconductor device comprising a main region, a current sense region, and a well region
A semiconductor device disclosed herein is configured such that a well region including a well layer is disposed between a main region of a semiconductor substrate and a current sense region of the semiconductor substrate, that a well region electrode is disposed above the well region, and that the well layer and the well region electrode are in contact with each other through a contact hole formed in an interlayer insulating film. |
| US09147754B2 |
Method for manufacturing semiconductor device
In a manufacturing process of a bottom-gate transistor including an oxide semiconductor film, dehydration or dehydrogenation through heat treatment and oxygen doping treatment are performed. A transistor including an oxide semiconductor film subjected to dehydration or dehydrogenation through heat treatment and oxygen doping treatment can be a highly reliable transistor having stable electric characteristics in which the amount of change in threshold voltage of the transistor between before and after the bias-temperature stress (BT) test can be reduced. |
| US09147752B2 |
Transistor device with reduced gate resistance
A device with reduced gate resistance includes a gate structure having a first conductive portion and a second conductive portion formed in electrical contact with the first conductive portion and extending laterally beyond the first conductive portion. The gate structure is embedded in a dielectric material and has a gate dielectric on the first conductive portion. A channel layer is provided over the first conductive portion. Source and drain electrodes are formed on opposite end portions of a channel region of the channel layer. Methods for forming a device with reduced gate resistance are also provided. |
| US09147748B1 |
Methods of forming replacement spacer structures on semiconductor devices
One illustrative method disclosed herein includes removing the sidewall spacers and a gate cap layer so as to thereby expose an upper surface and sidewalls of a sacrificial gate structure, forming an etch stop layer above source/drain regions of a device and on the sidewalls and upper surface of the sacrificial gate structure, forming a first layer of insulating material above the etch stop layer, removing the sacrificial gate structure so as to define a replacement gate cavity that is laterally defined by portions of the etch stop layer, forming a replacement gate structure in the replacement gate cavity, and forming a second gate cap layer above the replacement gate structure. |
| US09147745B2 |
Semiconductor devices formed using a sacrificial layer and methods for manufacturing the same
Semiconductor devices and methods for manufacturing the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: sequentially forming a sacrificial layer and a semiconductor layer on a substrate; forming a first cover layer on the semiconductor layer; forming an opening extending into the substrate with the first cover layer as a mask; selectively removing at least a portion of the sacrificial layer through the opening, and filling an insulating material in a gap due to removal of the sacrificial layer; forming one of source and drain regions in the opening; forming a second cover layer on the substrate; forming the other of the source and drain regions with the second cover layer as a mask; removing a portion of the second cover layer; and forming a gate dielectric layer, and forming a gate conductor in the form of spacer on a sidewall of a remaining portion of the second cover layer. |
| US09147742B2 |
Heat treatment apparatus and semiconductor device manufacturing method
A heat treatment apparatus including a vacuum vessel, a substrate stage which holds a substrate mounted on it, a heating unit for heating the substrate, and an exhaust unit for evacuating the vacuum vessel includes a first reflector which covers the upper portion of the exhaust port of the exhaust unit while being spaced apart from the exhaust port, and a second reflector which surrounds the exhaust port. At least one of reflector members which form the second reflector faces a direction defined from the heating unit to the exhaust port. |
| US09147735B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling diffusion
A method and device for reducing a dopant diffusion rate in a doped semiconductor region is provided. The methods and devices include selecting a plurality of dopant elements. Selection of a plurality of dopant elements includes selecting a first dopant element with a first atomic radius larger than a host matrix atomic radius and selecting a second dopant element with a second atomic radius smaller than a host matrix atomic radius. The methods and devices further include selecting amounts of each dopant element of the plurality of dopant elements wherein amounts and atomic radii of each of the plurality of dopant elements complement each other to reduce a host matrix lattice strain. The methods and devices further include introducing the plurality of dopant elements to a selected region of the host matrix and annealing the selected region of the host matrix. |
| US09147732B2 |
Group 13 nitride semiconductor device and method of its manufacture
Disclosed is a semiconductor device comprising a substrate (10); at least one semiconducting layer (12) comprising a nitride of a group 13 element on said substrate; and an ohmic contact (20) on the at least one semiconducting layer, said ohmic contact comprising a silicon-comprising portion (22) on the at least one semiconducting layer and a metal portion (24) adjacent to and extending over said silicon-comprising portion, the metal portion comprising titanium and a further metal. A method of manufacturing such a semiconductor device is also disclosed. |
| US09147725B2 |
Semiconductor device comprising an integrated capacitor and method of fabrication
A semiconductor device includes a substrate wafer and having a front face and a back face. A front hole is formed in the front face and a multilayer capacitor is formed in the front hole. A back hole is formed in the back face of the substrate wafer to expose at least a portion of the multilayer capacitor. A front electrical connection on the front face and a back electrical connection in the back hole are used to make electrical connection to first and second conductive plates of the multilayer capacitor which are separated by a dielectric layer. The front hole may have a cylindrical shape or an annular shape. |
| US09147722B2 |
Thin-film semiconductor substrate, light-emitting panel, and method of manufacturing the thin-film semiconductor substrate
A thin-film semiconductor substrate includes a top-gate first TFT, a top-gate second TFT, and a data line (source line), in which the first TFT has a first semiconductor layer, a first gate insulating film, a first gate electrode, a first source electrode, a first drain electrode, and a first protection layer, the second TFT has a second semiconductor layer, a second gate insulating film, a second gate electrode, a second source electrode, a second drain electrode, and a second protection layer, the data line is connected to the first source electrode, the first drain electrode is an extension of the second gate electrode, and the second gate electrode is thinner than the data line. |
| US09147718B2 |
Organic light-emitting display apparatus
An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes: a lower substrate including a major surface, which comprises a display area and a sealing area surrounding the display area when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the major surface; an insulating structure disposed over the lower substrate in both the display area and the sealing area; a plurality of openings formed through the insulating structure in the sealing area, the openings comprising inner side surfaces; a first conductive layer including a first portion over the insulating structure extending in a horizontal direction, and a second portion extending on at least part of the inner side surfaces of the openings in a vertical direction; an upper substrate placed over the lower substrate; and a sealing member interposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate in the sealing area thereof and filing the openings, thereby integrating the lower and upper substrates. |
| US09147713B2 |
Display device, electronic apparatus, and method of fabricating the display device
It is an object of the invention to provide a technique to manufacture a display device with high image quality and high reliability at low cost with high yield. The invention has spacers over a pixel electrode layer in a pixel region and over an insulating layer functioning as a partition which covers the periphery of the pixel electrode layer. When forming a light emitting material over a pixel electrode layer, a mask for selective formation is supported by the spacers, thereby preventing the mask from contacting the pixel electrode layer due to a twist and deflection thereof. Accordingly, such damage as a crack by the mask does not occur in the pixel electrode layer. Thus, the pixel electrode layer does not have a defect in shapes, thereby a display device which performs a high resolution display with high reliability can be manufactured. |
| US09147710B2 |
Photodiode gate dielectric protection layer
The present disclosure relates to a method the present disclosure relates to an active pixel sensor having a gate dielectric protection layer that reduces damage to an underlying gate dielectric layer during fabrication, and an associated method of formation. In some embodiments, the active pixel sensor has a photodetector disposed within a semiconductor substrate. A transfer transistor having a first gate structure is located on a first gate dielectric layer disposed above the semiconductor substrate. A reset transistor having a second gate structure is located on the first gate dielectric layer. A gate dielectric protection layer is disposed onto the gate oxide at a position extending between the first gate structure and the second gate structure and over the photodetector. The gate dielectric protection layer protects the first gate dielectric layer from etching procedures during fabrication of the active pixel sensor. |
| US09147709B2 |
Solid-state image sensor and camera
A solid-state image sensor includes a structure having a semiconductor layer in which a plurality of photoelectric converters are arranged, a light blocking member arranged above a face of the structure and including a plurality of circular openings each corresponding to at least one of the photoelectric converters, a first layer configured to cover the light blocking member, and exposed portions of the face of the structure, that are formed by the plurality of circular openings, and a second layer arranged to cover the first layer and having a refractive index higher than that of the first layer, wherein an interface between the first layer and the second layer includes lens faces protruding toward the exposed portions. |
| US09147706B2 |
Semiconductor device having sensor circuit having amplifier circuit
In a display portion of a liquid crystal display device, the dead space corresponding to a unit pixel is reduced while the aperture ratio of the unit pixel is increased. One amplifier circuit portion is shared by a plurality of unit pixels, so that the area of the amplifier circuit portion corresponding to the unit pixel is reduced and the aperture ratio of the unit pixel is increased. In addition, when the amplifier circuit portion is shared by a larger number of unit pixels, a photosensor circuit corresponding to the unit pixel can be prevented from increasing in area even with an increase in photosensitivity. Furthermore, an increase in the aperture ratio of the unit pixel results in a reduction in the power consumption of a backlight in a liquid crystal display device. |
| US09147704B2 |
Dual pixel-sized color image sensors and methods for manufacturing the same
A dual pixel-size color image sensor, including an imaging surface, for imaging of incident light, and a plurality of color pixels, each color pixel including (a) four large photosites, including two large first-color photosites sensitive to a first color of the incident light, and (b) four small photosites including two small first-color photosites sensitive to the first color of the incident light. The large and small first-color photosites are arranged such that connected regions of the imaging surface, not associated with large and/or small first-color photosites, are not continuous straight lines. A method for manufacturing a color filter array on an imaging surface of a dual pixel-size image sensor includes forming a first-color coating on first portions of the imaging surface to form large and small first-color photosites sensitive to a first color, wherein connected portions of the imaging surface, different from the first portions, are not continuous straight lines. |
| US09147703B2 |
CMOS image sensor structure
Provided is a method of fabricating an image sensor device. The method includes providing a first substrate having a radiation-sensing region disposed therein. The method includes providing a second substrate having a hydrogen implant layer, the hydrogen implant layer dividing the second substrate into a first portion and a second portion. The method includes bonding the first portion of the second substrate to the first substrate. The method includes after the bonding, removing the second portion of the second substrate. The method includes after the removing, forming one or more microelectronic devices in the first portion of the second substrate. The method includes forming an interconnect structure over the first portion of the second substrate, the interconnect structure containing interconnect features that are electrically coupled to the microelectronic devices. |
| US09147702B2 |
Image sensor for mitigating dark current
One or more embodiments of techniques or systems for mitigating dark current of an image sensor are provided herein. Generally, a silicon interface, such as an edge of a dielectric region or an edge between a back side interface (BSI) region and a pass region, is a source of electrons or holes which cause dark current. In some embodiments, the image sensor includes a surface protect region. For example, the surface protect region is doped with a first doping type and a photo-diode of the image sensor is doped with the same first doping type. In this manner, the surface protect region acts as an electron magnet or a hole magnet for electrons or holes from the silicon interface, thus mitigating electrons or holes from the silicon interface from being collected by the photo-diode, for example. |
| US09147701B2 |
Monolithic InGaN solar cell power generation with integrated efficient switching DC-DC voltage convertor
A single monolithic integrated circuit (10) containing a solar cell (or cells) with a DC-DC converter includes: a substrate (120, 220); the solar cell (101) or a solar cell array (100, 100′) on the substrate for generating an output voltage; and the DC-DC converter (102) integrated on the substrate for receiving the output voltage to generate a converted voltage, which may be higher or lower than the solar generated voltage. The substrate may be a silicon <111>, silicon carbide, or sapphire substrate. A GaN RF power amplifier and a CMOS controller including PWM modulator may also be monolithically integrated with an InGaN solar cell array and a GaN DC-DC converter. GaN switches (113, 115, 117, 119) may be used to couple InGaN solar cells (101) in series or parallel within the solar cell array (100, 100′) to yield improved or optimal voltage and current levels as required by the load. |
| US09147699B2 |
Display device with redundant transistor structure
Provided is a display device including: a display panel including a plurality of data lines and gate lines formed to define a plurality of pixels; a data drive unit; and a gate drive unit, wherein the display panel is provided with a transistor that includes: a first electrode unit configured to receive a first voltage and including two first electrodes; a second electrode unit configured to receive a second voltage and including two second electrodes; a third electrode unit configured to receive a third voltage and including a common third electrode, the third electrode unit being formed to include a bent portion between the first electrode unit and the second electrode unit; and two channels formed to be spaced apart from each other adjacent to opposite ends of the third electrode unit and configured to correspondingly connect the two first electrodes and the two second electrodes, respectively. |
| US09147689B1 |
Methods of forming ferroelectric capacitors
A method of forming a ferroelectric capacitor includes forming inner conductive capacitor electrode material over a substrate. After forming the inner electrode material, an outermost region of the inner electrode material is treated to increase carbon content in the outermost region from what it was prior to the treating. After the treating, ferroelectric capacitor dielectric material is formed over the treated outermost region of the inner electrode material. Outer conductive capacitor electrode material is formed over the ferroelectric capacitor dielectric material. |
| US09147687B2 |
Methods of fabricating semiconductor devices
Semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same are provided. The methods include preparing a template having a three dimensional (3D) stair type structure formed in intaglio, forming an imprint pattern having the stair type structure using the template, and simultaneously forming stair type patterns on a substrate using the imprint pattern. |
| US09147682B2 |
Fin spacer protected source and drain regions in FinFETs
An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate, insulation regions extending into the semiconductor substrate, and a semiconductor fin protruding above the insulation regions. The insulation regions include a first portion and a second portion, with the first portion and second portion on opposite sides of the semiconductor fin. The integrated circuit device further includes a gate stack on a top surface and sidewalls of the semiconductor fin, and a semiconductor region connected to an end of the semiconductor fin. The semiconductor region includes a first semiconductor region formed of a first semiconductor material, wherein the first semiconductor region comprise faceted top surfaces, and a second semiconductor region underlying the first semiconductor region. The second semiconductor region has a higher germanium concentration than the first semiconductor region. A fin spacer is on a sidewall of the second semiconductor region, wherein the fin spacer overlaps a portion of the insulation regions. |
| US09147678B2 |
Resistor and fabrication method thereof
The present invention provides a structure of a resistor comprising: a substrate having an interfacial layer thereon; a resistor trench formed in the interfacial layer; at least a work function metal layer covering the surface of the resistor trench; at least two metal bulks located at two ends of the resistor trench and adjacent to the work function metal layer; and a filler formed between the two metal bulks inside the resistor trench, wherein the metal bulks are direct in contact with the filler. |
| US09147675B2 |
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a packaging body, multiple interface connectors, a functional chip, and an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection chip. The interface connectors are located on an outer surface of the packaging body. The functional chip has an electronic functional circuit, and the ESD protection chip has an ESD protection circuit. The ESD protection circuit is connected electrically to an interface connector serving as a data exchange path. |
| US09147672B1 |
Three-dimensional multiple chip packages including multiple chip stacks
A structure of a multichip package and a method for fabricating the multichip package are described. The multichip package includes multiple chip stacks including chips in multiple chip layers. Each of the chip stacks includes two or more chips, each chip being inside vertical projection of at least another chip in the chip stack and disposed in a respective chip layer. Each of the chip stacks also includes horizontal conductive lines extending to perimeter regions around the chip stacks, the chips in a particular chip layer being electrically connected to horizontal conductive lines disposed in the particular chip layer. Each of the chip stacks also includes vertical conductive lines in the perimeter regions electrically connected to one or more of the horizontal conductive lines in at least two chip layers. The multichip package also includes a controller chip electrically connected to at least one chip in the chip stacks. |
| US09147671B2 |
Semiconductor device, semiconductor stacked module structure, stacked module structure and method of manufacturing same
A semiconductor device, having an insulating substrate; a semiconductor element which is mounted on one main surface of the insulating substrate via adhesive, with an element circuit surface of the semiconductor element facing upwards; a first insulating material layer which seals the element circuit surface of the semiconductor element and the insulating substrate peripheral thereto; a first metal thin film wire layer which is provided on the first insulating material layer (A) and a portion of which is exposed to an external surface; a first insulating material layer (B) which is provided on the first metal thin film wire layer; a second insulating material layer which is provided on a main surface of the insulating substrate where the semiconductor element is not mounted; and a second metal thin film wire layer which is provided inside the second insulating material layer. |
| US09147669B2 |
Recessed and embedded die coreless package
Methods of forming a microelectronic packaging structure and associated structures formed thereby are described. Those methods may include forming a cavity in a plating material to hold a die, attaching the die in the cavity, forming a dielectric material adjacent the die, forming vias in the dielectric material adjacent the die, forming PoP lands in the vias, forming interconnects in the vias, and then removing the plating material to expose the PoP lands and die, wherein the die is disposed above the PoP lands. |
| US09147664B2 |
Semiconductor package
A semiconductor package is provided. The semiconductor package includes a substrate, a first pad, a second, a first conductive element, a surface mount device, a first bonding wire and a molding compound layer. The first pad, the second pad, and the first conductive element are formed on the substrate. The surface mount device is mounted on the first pad and the second pad. The first bonding wire electrically connects the first conductive element and the first pad. The molding compound layer encapsulates the substrate, the first pad, the second pad, the first conductive element, the bonding wire and the surface mount device. |
| US09147659B1 |
Bondpad arrangement with reinforcing structures between the bondpads
A metallization arrangement for an integrated circuit is provided with a plurality of pads, such as bondpads and a dielectric layer. These pads are separated from each other by gaps. Reinforcing structures between the gaps mechanically reinforce the dielectric layer and reduce the potential for cracking, especially when a low k dielectric layer is employed. |
| US09147658B2 |
Stacked power supplies for integrated circuit devices and methods of making the same
Disclosed herein are integrated circuit devices having stacked power supplies and methods of making such integrated circuit devices. In one example, the device includes a first power supply structure, a second power supply structure electrically isolated from the first power supply structure, wherein at least a portion of the second power supply structure is positioned vertically below at least a portion of the first power supply structure, wherein the first power supply structure is one of an interruptible or an uninterruptible power supply structure, while the second power supply structure is the other of the interruptible or the uninterruptible power supply structure, a plurality of constant-power circuits conductively coupled to whichever of the first or second power supply structure that is the uninterruptible power supply and a plurality of interruptible-power circuits conductively coupled to whichever of the first or second power supply structure that is the interruptible power supply. |
| US09147655B2 |
Semiconductor device integrating passive elements
The present invention provides a semiconductor device integrating passive elements, which applies to analog circuits, wherein capacitors, resistors and inductors are fabricated by a TVS technology. The semiconductor device comprises a substrate; at least one passive element arranged in the substrate; and at least one semiconductor integrated circuit formed in the substrate. The passive element includes a first conductive layer, a first dielectric layer and a second conductive layer, which are stacked sequentially. The first conductive layer and the second conductive layer cooperate with the first dielectric layer to form an equivalent element. The semiconductor circuit is electrically connected with the passive element through the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer to form bidirectional signal transmission paths. The passive elements can be formed on the back side of the substrate to reduce the area occupied by the passive elements in the substrate. |
| US09147653B2 |
Method for off-grid routing structures utilizing self aligned double patterning (SADP) technology
A method for efficient off-track routing and the resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include: providing a hardmask on a substrate; providing a plurality of first mandrels on the hardmask; providing a first spacer on each side of each of the first mandrels; providing a plurality of first non-mandrel regions of the substrate being separated from the first mandrels and between two of the first spacers, each of the first mandrels, first non-mandrel regions, and first spacers having a width equal to a distance; and providing a second mandrel having a width of at least twice the distance and being separated from one of the first non-mandrel regions by a second spacer. |
| US09147649B2 |
Multi-chip module
A multi-chip module and method is disclosed. One embodiment provides an electronic module having a first metal structure and a second metal structure. A first semiconductor chip is electrically connected with its back side to the first metal structure. A second semiconductor chip is arranged with its back side lying over the front side of the first semiconductor chip. The second metal structure includes multiple external contact elements attached over the front side of the second semiconductor chip. At least two of the multiple external contact elements are electrically connected to the front side of the second semiconductor chip. |
| US09147648B2 |
Multi-die power semiconductor device packaged on a lead frame unit with multiple carrier pins and a metal clip
A power semiconductor device comprises a lead frame unit, a control die, a first MOSFET die and a second MOSFET die, wherein the lead frame unit comprises at least a die paddle for mounting the first and second MOSFET dies, a first pin and a second pin for connecting to top electrodes of the first and second MOSFET dies, a first row of carrier pins and a second row of carrier pins disposed in-line with the first and second pins respectively for the control die to mount thereon. |
| US09147647B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
Each stitch part of a plurality of leads of a package has a first region having the most outer surface on which Ag plating is applied and a second region having the most outer surface on which Ni plating is applied. Further, the second region is arranged on a die pad side, and the first region is arranged on a periphery side of a sealer. Therefore, in each stitch part, types of plating applied on the most outer surfaces of the first region and the second region can be differentiated from each other, a thick Al wire can be connected to the second region of the second lead, and a thin Au wire can be connected to the first region of the first lead. As a result, usage of only Au plating can be avoided, so that the cost of the package is reduced. |
| US09147646B2 |
Lead frame, method for manufacturing lead frame and semiconductor device using same
Provided is a lead frame by which a die pad can be easily exposed when the lead frame is used for a semiconductor device. The lead frame has a die pad with an upper surface on which a semiconductor element is mounted. The lead frame is used for the semiconductor device with the exposed surface of the die pad being exposed from a sealing resin. A downwardly-projecting first metal burr is formed along the peripheral portion of the exposed surface of the die pad and heads of the first metal burr are flat. |
| US09147644B2 |
Semiconductor device and passive component integration in a semiconductor package
According to one exemplary embodiment, a semiconductor package includes a substrate having lower and upper surfaces. The semiconductor package further includes at least one passive component coupled to first and second conductive pads on the upper surface of the substrate. The semiconductor package further includes at least one semiconductor device coupled to a first conductive pad on the lower surface of the substrate. The at least one semiconductor device has a first electrode for electrical and mechanical connection to a conductive pad external to the semiconductor package. The at least one semiconductor device can have a second electrode electrically and mechanically coupled to the first conductive pad on the lower surface of the substrate. |
| US09147643B2 |
Semiconductor package
Provided is a semiconductor package which may include a package substrate which includes a power supply region and an interconnection region around the power supply region, a plurality of ground terminals and a plurality of power terminals, which are disposed in the power supply region with a dielectric interposed between the ground terminals and the power terminals, wherein the ground terminals and the power terminals extend from a top surface of the package substrate to a bottom surface of the package substrate, and at least one semiconductor chip mounted on the package substrate, the semiconductor chip includes a plurality of ground pads which are commonly connected to a ground terminal of the ground terminals and a plurality of power pads which are commonly connected to a power terminal of the power terminals. |
| US09147642B2 |
Integrated circuit device
An integrated circuit device includes a substrate, at least one transistor, at least one metal layer, a conductive pillar, and a connecting structure. The substrate has at least one via passing therethrough. The transistor is at least partially disposed in the substrate. The metal layer is disposed on or above the substrate. The conductive pillar is disposed in the via. The connecting structure is at least partially disposed in the via and connecting the conductive pillar and the metal layer. At least a first portion of the connecting structure is made of a stress releasing material having a coefficient of thermal expansion less than a coefficient of thermal expansion of the conductive pillar. A projection of the transistor in the via overlaps with the connecting structure. |
| US09147641B2 |
Semiconductor device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, the semiconductor layer having a first surface and a second surface on an opposite side to the first surface; a plurality of conductive layers extending in a direction from the first surface side toward the second surface side of the semiconductor layer; a first semiconductor region of a second conductivity type surrounding part of each of the plurality of conductive layers on the second surface side of the semiconductor layer, a portion other than a front surface of the first semiconductor region being surrounded by the semiconductor layer; and an insulating film provided between each of the plurality of conductive layers and the semiconductor layer and between each of the plurality of conductive layers and the first semiconductor region. |
| US09147638B2 |
Interconnect structures for embedded bridge
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards interconnect structures for embedded bridge in integrated circuit (IC) package assemblies. In one embodiment, a method includes depositing an electrically insulative layer on a bridge interconnect structure, the bridge interconnect structure including a die contact that is configured to route electrical signals between a first die and a second die, depositing a sacrificial layer on the electrically insulative layer, forming an opening through the sacrificial layer and the electrically insulative layer to expose the die contact and forming a die interconnect of the first die or the second die by depositing an electrically conductive material into the opening. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed. |
| US09147637B2 |
Module including a discrete device mounted on a DCB substrate
A module includes a DCB substrate and a discrete device mounted on the DCB substrate, wherein the discrete device comprises a leadframe, a semiconductor chip mounted on the leadframe and an encapsulation material covering the semiconductor chip. |
| US09147633B2 |
Heat removal in an integrated circuit assembly using a jumping-drops vapor chamber
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards techniques and configurations for thermal management of an integrated circuit assembly using a jumping-drops vapor chamber. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a die having a first side including a plurality of integrated circuit devices that are configured to generate heat when in operation, and a second side disposed opposite to the first side, and a vapor chamber including a liquid, an evaporator including a surface that is thermally coupled with the second side of the die, the evaporator being configured to evaporate the liquid to vapor, and a condenser including a superhydrophobic surface and configured to condense the vapor, wherein energy released from coalescence of condensed vapor on the superhydrophobic surface causes the condensed vapor to jump from the superhydrophobic surface of the condenser to the surface of the evaporator. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed. |
| US09147624B2 |
Chip comprising a backside metal stack
A method for manufacturing a plurality of chips comprises the step of providing a wafer comprising a plurality of chip areas separated by one or more dicing lines, wherein the chip areas are arranged on a first main surface, the step of providing a laser absorption layer on a second main surface opposite to the first main surface and the step of providing a backside metal stack on the laser absorption layer. After that a laser light is applied to the laser absorption layer along the dicing lines before the chips are singulated along the dicing lines by using stealth dicing. |
| US09147623B2 |
Stacked microelectronic devices and methods for manufacturing stacked microelectronic devices
Stacked microelectronic devices and methods of manufacturing stacked microelectronic devices are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a microelectronic device includes forming a plurality of electrically isolated, multi-tiered metal spacers on a front side of a first microelectronic die, and attaching a back-side surface of a second microelectronic die to individual metal spacers. In another embodiment, the method of manufacturing the microelectronic device may further include forming top-tier spacer elements on front-side wire bonds of the first die. |
| US09147619B2 |
Organic light-emitting display panel
An organic light-emitting display panel includes a pixel unit including a plurality of pixels respectively located at intersections between scan lines and data lines and displaying different colors; a plurality of pads respectively coupled to ends of the data lines; and a test unit selectively performing an array test to detect a defect of a pixel circuit of the pixels or a cell test to detect a defect of a light-emitting device of the pixels. |
| US09147616B1 |
Methods of forming isolated fins for a FinFET semiconductor device with alternative channel materials
One illustrative method disclosed herein includes, among other things, oxidizing a lower portion of an initial fin structure to thereby define an isolation region that vertically separates an upper portion of the initial fin structure from a semiconducting substrate, performing a recess etching process to remove a portion of the upper portion of the initial fin structure so as to define a recessed fin portion, forming a replacement fin on the recessed fin portion so as to define a final fin structure comprised of the replacement fin and the recessed fin portion, and forming a gate structure around at least a portion of the replacement fin. |
| US09147614B2 |
Transistor device and fabrication method
Various embodiments provide transistors and their fabrication methods. An exemplary method for forming a transistor includes removing a dummy gate to form a trench over a semiconductor substrate. A high-k dielectric layer can be conformally formed on surface of the trench and then be fluorinated to form a fluorinated high-k dielectric layer. A functional layer can be formed on the fluorinated high-k dielectric layer and a metal layer can be formed on the functional layer to fill the trench with the metal layer. Due to fluorination of the high-k dielectric layer, negative bias temperature instability of the formed transistor can be reduced and oxygen vacancies can be passivated to reduce positive bias temperature instability of the transistor. |
| US09147613B2 |
Method of forming an insulator layer in a semiconductor structure and structures resulting therefrom
An electronic system, method of manufacture of a semiconductor structure, and one or more semiconductor structures are disclosed. For example, a method of manufacture of a semiconductor structure is disclosed, which includes forming a first semiconductor substructure over a semiconductor substrate, forming a first spacer layer over the first semiconductor substructure and the semiconductor substrate, and forming a second semiconductor substructure over at least a portion of the first spacer layer. |
| US09147604B2 |
Memory process
A memory process is described. A substrate is provided, having therein trenches and conductive lines buried in the trenches and having thereon an array area, wherein each of the conductive lines has an array portion in the array area. A contact area apart from the array area is defined on the substrate, wherein each of the conductive lines has a contact portion in the contact area. The substrate between the contact portions of the conductive lines is etched down to below the tops of the conductive layers to form gaps between the contact portions of the conductive lines. The gaps are then filled with an insulating layer. |
| US09147599B2 |
Wafer support system and method for separating support substrate from solid-phase bonded wafer and method for manufacturing semiconductor device
A method is disclosed for separating a support substrate from a solid-phase bonded wafer which includes a Si wafer and support substrate solid-phase bonded to back surface of the Si wafer. The method includes a step of irradiating the Si wafer with laser light with a wavelength which passes through the Si wafer and is focused on a solid-phase bonding interface between the Si wafer and support substrate to form a breaking layer in at least part of an outer circumferential portion of the solid-phase bonding interface, a step of separating the breaking layer; and a step of separating the solid-phase bonding interface. The method is capable of using a Si thin wafer without substantial wafer cracking at an initial stage where the wafer is inputted to a wafer process, capable of separating a support substrate from the Si thin wafer easily, and capable of reducing the wafer cost. |
| US09147581B2 |
Dual chamber plasma etcher with ion accelerator
The embodiments herein generally deal with semiconductor processing methods and apparatus. More specifically, the embodiments relate to methods and apparatus for etching a semiconductor substrate. A partially fabricated semiconductor substrate is provided in a reaction chamber. The reaction chamber is divided into an upper sub-chamber and a lower sub-chamber by a grid assembly. Plasma is generated in the upper sub-chamber, and the substrate is positioned in the lower sub-chamber. The grid assembly includes at least two grids, each of which is negatively biased, and each of which includes perforations which allow certain species to pass through. The uppermost grid is negatively biased in order to repel electrons. The lowermost grid is biased further negative (compared to the uppermost grid) in order to accelerate positive ions from the upper to the lower sub-chamber. Etching gas is supplied directly to the lower sub-chamber. The etching gas and ions react with the surface of the substrate to etch the substrate as desired. |
| US09147577B2 |
Floating gate flash cell device and method for partially etching silicon gate to form the same
A method for forming a split gate flash cell memory device provides for establishing a floating gate region then using spacers or other hard mask materials that cover opposed edges of a gate electrode material in the gate region, to serve as hard masks during an etching operation that partially etches the gate electrode material which may be polysilicon. The gate electrode so produced serves as a floating gate electrode and includes a recessed central portion flanked by a pair of opposed upwardly extending fins which may terminate upwardly at an apex. A floating gate oxide is then formed by thermal oxidation and/or oxide deposition techniques. |
| US09147573B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus and method of manufacturing semiconductor device
The substrate processing apparatus includes a process chamber; a susceptor configured to support a wafer; lifter pins configured to support the wafer on the susceptor; a gas supply unit configured to supply a gas into the process chamber; a heating unit configured to heat the wafer; an excitation unit configured to excite the gas supplied into the process chamber; an exhaust unit configured to exhaust the inside of the process chamber; and a controller. The controller controls a reducing gas to be supplied into the process chamber in a state in which the wafer is supported by the lifter pins, and controls the gas supply unit to supply an oxidizing gas and a reducing gas into the process chamber in a state in which the wafer is supported by the susceptor. |
| US09147571B2 |
Welded bellows for semiconductor manufacturing device
An accordion-structured welded bellows for a semiconductor-manufacturing device is characterized in that a plurality of annular bellows plates having curved surfaces in a radial direction are connected in an alternating fashion on the outside-diameter side and the inside-diameter side, wherein the annular bellows plates have a processing-side bellows plate and a non-processing-side bellows plate, a gas layer is interposed between the two bellows plates, the processing-side bellows plate is configured as a thick plate, and the non-processing-side bellows plate is configured as a thin plate. The welded bellows is less likely to be damaged by foreign matter and to be able to use the non-processing-side bellows plate to compensate for any damage to the processing-side bellows plate. |
| US09147568B2 |
Water cluster ion beam mass spectrometer apparatus and method
A mass spectrometer for producing a primary beam of ions for bombarding a sample under vacuum. The mass spectrometer includes a detector for detecting a secondary beam of ions released from the sample. The primary beam of ions includes water clusters where each water cluster contains between 1 and 10,000 water molecules. The primary beam of ions, in one embodiment, is produced by adiabatic expansion of water vapor. An auxiliary beam of ions for bombarding the sample includes a different species to those of the primary beam of ions. |
| US09147566B2 |
Method for producing gas-phase metal anions
Monatomic metal anions are generated in the gas phase by collision-induced dissociation of the anions [26] of a dicarboxylic acid salt of the metal. This method is applicable to a number of metals, including sodium, potassium, cesium, and silver. The metal anions produced in this way can subsequently be stored in an ion trap [88] or transmitted as a focused beam [52]. The metal anions of this invention undergo collisional cooling and have low kinetic energy, which distinguishes them from ions produced by other high energy processes (with kinetic energy in excess of 1 keV). Metal anions so produced can be used to pattern nanoscale features on surfaces [56], used as electron transfer agents or reducing agents in ion-molecule reactions, or used for surface [122] modification of biomaterials [124]. |
| US09147563B2 |
Collision cell for tandem mass spectrometry
A method and apparatus for tandem mass spectrometry is disclosed. Precursor ions are fragmented and the fragments are accumulated in parallel, by converting an incoming stream of ions from an ion source (10) into a time separated sequence of multiple precursor ions which are then assigned to their own particular channel of a multi compartment collision cell (40). In this manner, precursor ion species, being allocated to their own dedicated fragmentation cell chambers (41, 42 . . . 43) within the fragmentation cell (40), can then be captured and fragmented by that dedicated fragmentation chamber at optimum energy and/or fragmentation conditions. |
| US09147561B2 |
Method for determining the maximum mass peak in mass spectrometry
A fast method for determining molecular mass using mass spectrometry has the following steps: specifying a first adjusting value (M1) of the mass spectrometer, recording the associated signal amplitude (A1), specifying a second adjusting value (M2) which is different to the first, measuring the associated second signal amplitude (A2), specifying a third adjusting value (M3) which is different to the first (M1) and the second (M2) adjusting value, measuring the associated third signal amplitude (A3), determining a quadratic function containing the measured amplitude values as y-values and the specified adjusting values as x-values, determining the maximum of the quadratic function, wherein the searched adjusting value is determined from the x-value of the maximum. |
| US09147558B2 |
Finned shutter disk for a substrate process chamber
Shutter disks for use in process chambers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a shutter disk for use in a process chamber may include a body having an outer perimeter, a top surface of the body, wherein the top surface includes a central portion having a substantially horizontal planar surface, and at least one angled structure disposed radially outward of the central portion, each of the at least one angled structure having a top portion and an angled surface disposed at a downward angle in a radially outward direction from the top portion toward the outer perimeter, and a bottom surface of the body. |
| US09147552B2 |
Charged particle beam writing method and charged particle beam writing apparatus
A charged particle beam writing method includes determining whether a difference between one of the total area of a pattern and the number of shots in a stripe region with respect to one of adjacent stripe regions of the stripe regions and one of the total area and the number of shots with respect to the other of the adjacent stripe regions exceeds a threshold value, re-dividing, when the difference exceeds the threshold value, a stripe region where the total area or the number of shots is larger than that of the other stripe region in the adjacent stripe regions so that the difference of the total area or the number of shots becomes lower than or equal to the threshold value, and writing a pattern in the stripe regions including a re-divided stripe region, in the writing order of arrangement of the stripe regions. |
| US09147549B2 |
Crossed-field amplifiers with anode/cathode structures for reduced spurious emissions
Various crossed-field amplifiers (CFAs) are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the geometry of the cathode and/or the anode reduces the velocity of the electrons as they travel near the anode drift block to increase the distribution of the electrons in the drift gap. In another embodiment, an abrupt geometric change to the cathode at the beginning or the end of the anode drift block can disperse the electrons, thereby increasing the rate of mixing and diffusion. By increasing the distribution of the electrons, the peak amplitude of spurious emissions produced by a CFA can be reduced. |
| US09147546B2 |
Self-calibrating current switch with display
A current switch self-calibrates when a reset control is actuated and displays an expected current in the monitored conductor, one or more trip points of the current switch and the last known current in the monitored conductor. |
| US09147545B2 |
Circuit breaker identification accessory
Identification accessories, circuit breaker caps, and labeling kits for labeling electrical switch devices, such as circuit breakers, are presented herein. An identification accessory is disclosed for identifying an electrical switch device in proximity to its operating mechanism. The identification accessory includes an accessory shell with a lid having first and second endwalls projecting from the lid. |
| US09147540B2 |
3-way switch for a gas-insulated apparatus
A 3-way switch for a gas-insulated apparatus includes a first connecting part and a second connecting part perpendicular to the first connecting part, a support conductor having a first guide hole perpendicular to the direction of the first connecting part and a second guide hole in parallel to the direction of the second connecting part, a disconnecting switch (DS) operating part slidably coupled to the first guide hole, an earthing switch (ES) operating part slidably coupled to the second guide hole such that the ES operating part is perpendicular to the disconnecting switch operating part, and a main lever, one end of which is rotatably coupled to the support conductor and the other end of which is eccentrically rotated and rotatably connected to the DS operating part and the ES operating part for linear sliding of the DS operating part and the ES operating part. |
| US09147539B2 |
High voltage gas circuit breaker
A high voltage gas circuit breaker, comprises: a fixed unit including a fixed arc contactor and a fixed contactor; and a movable unit including a movable arc contactor and a movable contactor, and configured to selectively contact or be separated from the fixed unit, and wherein the movable unit comprises: a fixed cylinder; a compression cylinder slidably-installed in the fixed cylinder; a movable rod penetratingly-coupled to the compression cylinder, and configured to transmit an adjusting force of an operator; a pressing member installed on an inner bottom part of the compression cylinder; and a compression plate supported by the pressing member, and up-down moving in the compression cylinder by a pressure of an expansion chamber. |
| US09147534B2 |
Steering column control module
A steering column control module comprises a housing having at least two receptacles. A printed circuit board is mounted in the housing, the printed circuit board carrying first and second electrical connectors. A third electrical connector is mounted in the housing remote from the printed circuit board. A ribbon cable is connected between the second and third electrical connectors. The receptacles are adapted to receive respective switch modules. The first and third electrical connectors are positioned and configures so that, when plugged into respective receptacles, the switch modules connect to respective ones of the first and third electrical connectors. |
| US09147530B2 |
Hermetically sealed polymer capacitors with high stability at elevated temperatures
A process for providing an improved hermetically sealed capacitor which includes the steps of applying a solder and a flux to an interior surface of a case; flowing the solder onto the interior surface; remove flux thereby forming a flux depleted solder; inserting the capacitive element into the casing; reflowing the flux depleted solder thereby forming a solder joint between the case and the solderable layer; and sealing the case. |
| US09147528B2 |
Winding-type solid electrolytic capacitor package structure using a lead frame
A winding-type solid electrolytic capacitor package structure includes a winding capacitor unit, a package body and a conductive unit. The winding capacitor has a winding body enclosed by the package body, a positive conductive lead pin having a cutting surface, and a negative conductive lead pin having a grinding surface. The conductive unit includes a positive conductive terminal electrically connected to the positive conductive lead pin and a negative conductive terminal electrically connected to the negative conductive lead pin. The positive conductive terminal has a first embedded portion enclosed by the package body and a first exposed portion exposed outside the package body. The negative conductive terminal has a second embedded portion enclosed by the package body and a second exposed portion exposed outside the package body. The first and the second exposed portions are extended along the outer surface of the package body. |
| US09147523B2 |
Inductive power supply system
A power supplying device (20) is provided for providing electrical power to a power receiving device (30), the power supplying device (20) comprising two plates (22), two electrode structures (23, 43, 81, 82) being arranged to be coupled to an AC power source (41) and at least one power transmitter (21). Each electrode structure (23, 43, 81, 82) is attached to one of said two plates (22). The power transmitter (21) is situated in between the two plates (22) and comprises an electrically conductive coil (28) and at least two electrical contacts (25) coupled to the electrically conductive coil (28). The plates (22) and the power transmitter (21) are arranged such that the power transmitter (21) is movable in a direction parallel to the surfaces of the plates (22) with the electrical contacts (25) in contact with the respective two electrode structures (23, 43, 81, 82) for obtaining power from the AC power source (41). |
| US09147522B2 |
Ignition coil for internal combustion engine
An object of the present invention is to provide an ignition coil for use in an internal combustion engine, offering improved water drainage performance, while achieving high waterproof performance with controlled entry of water in a plug hole. A high-voltage generating section 3 that generates a high voltage is housed inside a coil case 4. A plug hole seal 5 closes an opening in a plug hole 2 in which an ignition plug 21 is mounted. The ignition coil further includes a space portion 6 placed on an outer side portion of the high-voltage generating section 3 and an air path 9 for venting air between the space portion 6 and the plug hole 2. The space portion 9 has an open lower surface (an entirely open surface facilitates demolding). |
| US09147519B2 |
Apparatus and method for generating electric energy in an electric power transmission system
Apparatus and method for generating electric energy in an electric power transmission system includes an AC cable including a core, wherein a portion of the core is partially surrounded by an apparatus including a ferromagnetic body and an electrically conducting winding. The ferromagnetic body extends along a longitudinal axis and has, in a cross section taken along said longitudinal axis, a shape defined by an arc. The electrically conducting winding is wound around the ferromagnetic body to form turns in planes substantially perpendicular to the arc. |
| US09147518B1 |
Inductor and coil substrate
An inductor includes a stacked structure. The stacked structure includes a substrate, a first structural body stacked on a lower surface of the substrate, and second structural bodies sequentially stacked on an upper surface of the substrate. A through hole extends through the stacked structure in a thickness direction. An insulation film covers the stacked structure. The first structural body includes a first insulating layer stacked on the lower surface of the substrate, and a first wiring stacked on a lower surface of the first insulating layer. The second structural bodies include second insulating layers and second wirings. The first wiring and the second wirings are connected in series to one another to form a helical coil. The substrate has a thickness greater than that of the first insulating layer and the second insulating layers. |
| US09147516B2 |
Reactor and manufacturing method thereof
First and second divisional cores each including right and left leg portions and a yoke interconnecting those together are formed by molding respective yoke-side core members in a resin. Cylindrical core mounting portions extending from the outer circumference of the surface of the yoke-side core member are formed integrally with the respective right and left leg portions of the first. divisional core. I-shaped leg-portion-side core members and spacers are attached in the cylindrical core mounting portion formed in each of the right and left leg portions. The surface of the yoke-side core member molded in the resin and the surface of the leg-portion-side core member are disposed so as to have a spacer therebetween. The two divisional cores are joined together by butting respective leg portions of the two divisional cores with each other to form an annular mold core, and a coil is wound around the mold core. |
| US09147504B2 |
Aluminum alloy wire
An aluminum alloy, an aluminum alloy wire, an aluminum alloy stranded wire, a covered electric wire, and a wire harness that are of high toughness and high electrical conductivity, and a method of manufacturing an aluminum alloy wire are provided. The aluminum alloy wire contains not less than 0.005% and not more than 2.2% by mass of Fe, and a remainder including Al and an impurity. It may further contain not less than 0.005% and not more than 1.0% by mass in total of at least one additive element selected from Mg, Si, Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, Ag, Cr, and Zr. The Al alloy wire has an electrical conductivity of not less than 58% IACS and an elongation of not less than 10%. The Al alloy wire is manufactured through the successive steps of casting, rolling, wiredrawing, and softening treatment. The softening treatment can be performed to provide an excellent toughness such as elongation and impact resistance and thereby reduce fracture of the electric wire in the vicinity of a terminal portion when the wire harness is installed. |
| US09147503B2 |
System and method for the identification of radiation in contaminated rooms
Devices and methods for the characterization of areas of radiation in contaminated rooms are provided. One such device is a collimator with a collimator shield for reducing noise when measuring radiation. A position determination system is provided that may be used for obtaining position and orientation information of the detector in the contaminated room. A radiation analysis method is included that is capable of determining the amount of radiation intensity present at known locations within the contaminated room. Also, a visual illustration system is provided that may project images onto the physical objects, which may be walls, of the contaminated room in order to identify the location of radioactive materials for decontamination. |
| US09147498B2 |
Circuit arrangement, a method for testing a supply voltage provided to a test circuit, and a method for repairing a voltage source
A circuit arrangement may include: a memory, composed of a memory cell array, including a plurality of memory cells, and a peripheral circuitry; a voltage source configured to provide at least one supply voltage; a test circuit integrated with the memory cell array and the voltage source, wherein the test circuit receives the supply voltage; the test circuit including: at least one test memory cell; at least one failure detection circuit configured to detect a data retention failure in the at least one test memory cell. |
| US09147497B1 |
Method and apparatus for sampling
Aspects of the disclosure provide a sampling circuit with reduced sampling distortions. The sampling circuit can include a switch and a first driving module configured to drive a first signal in response to an input signal onto a first channel terminal of the switch. The sampling circuit also can include a bootstrap module coupled to a control terminal of the switch and a second driving module coupled to the bootstrap module. The second driving module can be configured to drive a second signal in response to the input signal to the bootstrap module, such that the bootstrap module can vary a control voltage on the control terminal based on the input signal for turning on the switch and causing an output voltage on a second channel terminal of the switch to track the first signal on the first channel terminal of the switch. |
| US09147495B2 |
Two-bit read-only memory cell
A read-only memory (ROM) cell has first and second transistors connected in series between a true bit line and a voltage reference (e.g., ground), and third and fourth transistors connected in series between a complement bit line and the voltage reference. The gates of the first and third transistors are connected to a first word line, and the gates of the second and fourth transistors are connected to a second word line. The ROM cell is programmed to store any possible combination of two bits of information by appropriately (i) connecting the node between the first and second transistors to either the true bit line, the complement bit line, or the voltage reference and (ii) connecting the node between the third and fourth transistors to either the true bit line, the complement bit line, or the voltage reference. |
| US09147492B2 |
Control method of nonvolatile memory device
According to example embodiments, a control method of a nonvolatile memory device, which includes a plurality of memory blocks on a substrate, each memory block including a plurality of sub blocks stacked in a direction perpendicular to the substrate and being configured to be erased independently and each sub block including a plurality of memory cells stacked in the direction perpendicular to the substrate. The control method includes comparing a count value of a first memory block with a reference value, the count value determined according to the number of program, read, or erase operations executed at the first memory block after data is programmed in the first memory block; and if the count value is greater than or equal to the reference value, performing a reprogram operation in which data programmed in first the memory block is read and the read data is programmed in a second memory block. |
| US09147482B2 |
Data transmission circuit, memory including the same, and data transmission method
A data transmission circuit includes an input line selection unit configured to transfer data of a selected input line among a plurality of input lines to an output line, a data sensing unit connected to the plurality of input lines and configured to sense the data of the selected input line, and a data amplification unit configured to amplify data of the output line in response to a data sensing result of the data sensing unit. |
| US09147480B2 |
Current sensing type sense amplifier and method thereof
The configurations of sense amplifier and methods thereof are provided. The proposed sense amplifier includes a switch circuit having a main control switch, a sensing switch and a holding switch, wherein the three switches have a first bias, a second bias and a third bias respectively, and an auxiliary control switch electrically connected to the holding switch to control an operation of the holding switch. |
| US09147467B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device comprising a semiconductor memory unit that may include a variable resistance element configured to be changed in a resistance value thereof in response to current flowing through both ends thereof, a toggle data generation unit configured to generate toggle data of which logic value toggles with a predetermined cycle, in a first mode for testing reliability of the variable resistance element, a data transfer line configured to transfer data inputted from an outside, and a driving unit configured to flow current which is changed in its direction with the predetermined cycle, through the variable resistance element in response to the toggle data in the first mode, and flow current through the variable resistance element in a direction determined in response to the data of the data transfer line, in a second mode in writing date into or reading data from the variable resistance element. |
| US09147466B2 |
Methods and apparatus for designing and constructing dual write memory circuits with voltage assist
Static random access memory (SRAM) circuits are used in most digital integrated circuits to store representations of data bits. To handle multiple concurrent memory requests, an efficient dual-port six transistor (6T) SRAM bit cell is proposed. The dual-port 6T SRAM cell uses independent word lines and bit lines such that the true/data side and the false/data-complement side of the SRAM bit cell may be accessed independently. Single-ended reads allow the two independent word lines and bit lines to handle two independent read operations in a single cycle using spatial domain multiplexing. Single-ended writes are enabled by adjusting the VDD power voltage supplied to a memory cell when writes are performed such that a single word line and bit line pair can be used write either a logical “0” or logical “1” into either side of the SRAM bit cell. Thus, spatial domain multiplexing with a voltage assist allows single-ended writes to handle two independent write operations to be handled in a single cycle. A write buffer may be added to the memory system to prevent conflicts and thus enable concurrent read operations and write operations in a single cycle. |
| US09147462B2 |
Signal processing circuit and method for driving the same
It is an object to provide a memory device for which a complex manufacturing process is not necessary and whose power consumption can be suppressed and a signal processing circuit including the memory device. In a memory element including a phase-inversion element by which the phase of an input signal is inverted and the signal is output such as an inverter or a clocked inverter, a capacitor which holds data and a switching element which controls storing and releasing of electric charge in the capacitor are provided. For the switching element, a transistor including an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region is used. The memory element is applied to a memory device such as a register or a cache memory included in a signal processing circuit. |
| US09147461B1 |
Semiconductor memory device performing a refresh operation, and memory system including the same
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and a refresh control circuit. The refresh circuit is configured to: perform a second burst refresh operation on the memory cell rows after the memory cell rows exit from a self refresh operation, and not perform the second burst refresh operation on the memory cell rows after the memory cell rows exit from a self refresh operation. Whether the refresh control circuit performs or does not perform the second burst refresh operation is based on a comparison between an entering time for the self refresh operation of the memory cell rows and a reference time. |
| US09147457B2 |
Reference cell repair scheme
In a magnetic random access memory (MRAM), numerous arrays of reference bit cells are coupled together by coupling their respective bit lines to a merged reference node. Pass gate circuitry coupled between the respective reference bit lines and the merged reference node is configured for selectively coupling or decoupling one or more of the reference bit lines to and from the merged reference node. The pass gate circuitry is controllable by programming one-time programmable devices coupled to the pass gate circuitry. The one-time programmable devices can be programmed to decouple flawed arrays of reference bit cells from the merged reference node or to select between redundant arrays of reference bit cells for coupling to the reference node. |
| US09147448B2 |
Circuit arrangement and method for operating a circuit arrangement
A circuit arrangement is provided, including a storage circuit and an output circuit. The storage circuit is configured to provide a first output signal and a second output signal. The output circuit is configured to receive the first output signal and the second output signal and configured to provide an output signal having one of a first signal level and a second signal level, and to only switch from the first signal level to the second signal level if the difference between the first output signal and the second output signal exceeds a threshold. The circuit arrangement is configured to hold the first output signal and the second output signal independent of a difference between the first output signal and the second output signal after the switching has been carried out. |
| US09147443B2 |
Low power reference current generator with tunable temperature sensitivity
An improved reference current generator is provided. A voltage difference generator generates two voltages that are separated by a relatively small electrical potential. The two closely separated voltages are applied across a resistive element with relatively large impedance value resulting in a small and stable reference current. The result is a power efficient, temperature compensated reference current generator. |
| US09147441B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and electronic device
A semiconductor memory device including a plurality of memory blocks MBA0, MBA1, MBB0, MBB1; a plurality of bus lines 26 provided respectively associated with the plurality of memory blocks; a plurality of input/output ports 22a, 22b; a selector 28a, 28b selectively connecting each of the plurality of bus lines to one of the plurality of input/output ports; and a setting unit 38a, 38b setting a connection of the selector. |
| US09147439B2 |
Non-volatile memory having 3D array architecture with staircase word lines and vertical bit lines and methods thereof
In a 3D nonvolatile memory with memory elements arranged in a three-dimensional pattern defined by rectangular coordinates having x, y and z-directions and with a plurality of parallel planes from a bottom plane to a top plane stacked in the z-direction over a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of local bit lines elongated in the z-direction through the plurality of layers and arranged in a two-dimensional rectangular array of bit line pillars having rows in the x-direction and columns in the y-direction; the 3D nonvolatile memory further having a plurality of staircase word lines spaced apart in the y-direction and between and separated from the plurality of bit line pillars at a plurality of crossings, individual staircase word lines each having a series of alternating steps and risers elongated respectively in the x-direction and z-direction traversing across the plurality of planes in the z-direction with a segment in each plane. |
| US09147433B2 |
Identifying a locale depicted within a video
A video map comprising a first plurality of segment definitions defining video segments within a video, the defining being responsive to at least one presentation of the video less in length than the length of the video; a first segment definition that defines a first video segment within the video and is associated with an actual identity of a locale depicted within the first video segment, the actual identity of the locale being different than a locale identity as represented in the video; a second segment definition that defines a second video segment within the video and is associated with an identification of a cinematic technique depicted within the second video segment; and a third segment definition that defines a third video segment within the video and is associated with an explanation of a depiction within the third video segment. |
| US09147428B1 |
Disk drive with improved spin-up control
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a spindle motor operable to rotate the disk. The disk drive comprises control circuitry configured to a rotation speed of the spindle motor, generate a gain as a function of the measured rotation speed, wherein the function comprises a polynomial having a degree greater than one, and spin-up the spindle motor based on the gain. |
| US09147427B1 |
Near-field transducer with multiple heat sinks
An apparatus comprises a writer, a near-field transducer (NFT), a channel waveguide proximate the NFT, a dielectric layer between the NFT and waveguide, and a plurality of heat sinks. A first heat sink comprises a gap and contacts the NFT and the writer. A second heat sink extends across the gap of the first heat sink and between the NFT and a heat reservoir component, such as a return pole of the writer. The channel waveguide may contact the second heat sink, such as by encompassing a peripheral portion of the second heat sink. The second heat sink may have at least an outer surface comprising a plasmonic material, and may be configured to enhance plasmonic excitation of the NFT. |
| US09147422B2 |
Magnetic recording medium fabrication method
A method of fabricating a magnetic recording medium by sequentially forming a magnetic recording layer, a protection layer, and a lubricant layer on a stacked body, includes forming the lubricant by depositing a first lubricant on the stacked body after forming the protection layer, by vapor-phase lubrication deposition, without exposing the stacked body to atmosphere, and depositing a second lubricant on the stacked body after depositing the first lubricant, by vapor-phase lubrication deposition, without exposing the stacked body to atmosphere. The first lubricant has a lower molecular mass and a higher chemical polarity than those of the second lubricant. |
| US09147420B2 |
System and method for supporting the processing of location specific orders, requests, and demands
The present invention is an applications gateway that offers multiple functions and features for specific geographic venue locations, while providing easy access to advertising, purchasing, and redemption opportunities for that specific geographic venue location. Venue locations can be stadiums, shopping malls, amusement parks, open air spaces where people can congregate, and/or buildings, which most often require the presence of a concentration of people. The venue location may correlate to the location of the hand-held mobile unit or it may be a remote geographic venue location not near the location of the hand-held mobile unit. Access to the gateway application is through a hand-held mobile unit, which can include a mobile phone, smartphone device, or portable computer having a wireless radio transmission connection. (e.g. iPhone, Droid, iPad, Slate, etc.) |
| US09147413B2 |
Balanced co-located gimbal-based dual stage actuation disk drive suspensions
Various embodiments concern a suspension having a DSA structure on a gimbaled flexure comprising a loadbeam having a load point dimple and a flexure attached to the loadbeam. The flexure comprising a metal layer having a pair of spring arms, a tongue located between the spring arms, and a pair of struts. The struts connect the pair of spring arms to the tongue. One of the struts is located distal of the other strut. The pair of struts has a midline centered between the pair of struts. The suspension further comprises a motor mounted on the flexure. Electrical activation of the motor bends the pair of struts to rotate the tongue about an axis of rotation. The axis of rotation is aligned with the dimple. The midline is offset distally or proximally with respect to the axis of rotation. The offset counters a mass in imbalance of the tongue. |
| US09147410B2 |
Reader structure with canted pinning
Implementations described and claimed herein provide a synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) layer with canted pinning, wherein a down-track direction facing surface of the SAF layer has edges that are substantially parallel to pinning direction of the SAF layer. |
| US09147409B1 |
Magnetic sensor annealing using a rocking field
Implementations disclosed herein provide a method comprising rocking an effective annealing magnetic field between a first positive angle and a second negative angle compared to a desired pinning field orientation in an AFM/PL structure, wherein an angular amplitude of rocking the effective annealing magnetic field between a first positive angle and a second negative angle gradually decreases towards the desired orientation of pinning in the AFM/PL structure. |
| US09147408B1 |
Heated AFM layer deposition and cooling process for TMR magnetic recording sensor with high pinning field
Systems and methods are provided for manufacturing a magnetic recording sensor for use in a magnetic reader, such as a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) readers. The magnetic recording sensor can be manufactured by heating a substrate in a first chamber and depositing an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer on the heated substrate. Additionally, a first pinned layer is added onto the AFM layer, and the substrate is subsequently cooled. |
| US09147407B2 |
Write head having non-magnetic write gap seed layer, and method
In accordance with one embodiment, an apparatus includes a main pole layer of magnetic material; a second layer of magnetic material; a first gap layer of non-magnetic material disposed between the main pole layer and the second layer of magnetic material; a second gap layer of non-magnetic material disposed between the main pole layer and the second layer of magnetic material; wherein the second gap layer of non-magnetic material is disposed directly adjacent to the second layer of magnetic material. In accordance with one embodiment, this allows the gap to serve as a non-magnetic seed for the second layer of magnetic material. A method of manufacturing such a device is also described. |
| US09147406B1 |
Write pole with corrosion barriers
A write pole of a heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) write head includes a high moment magnetic material that extends from the write head toward an air barrier surface (ABS) of the write head. At least one stop layer is provided on or within the high moment magnetic material. The stop layer is situated at or near the ABS and is of a corrosion-resistant material. |
| US09147402B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting which one of symbols of watermark data is embedded in a received signal
Watermark symbol detection requires a detection metric for deciding at decoder side which candidate symbol is embedded inside the audio or video signal content. The invention provides an improved detection metric processing that achieves a reliable detection of watermarks in the presence of additional noise and echoes, and that is adaptive to signal reception conditions and requires a decreased computational power. This is performed by taking into account the information contained in the echoes of the received audio signal in the decision metric and comparing it with the corresponding metric obtained from decoding a non-marked audio signal, based on recursive calculation of false positive detection rates of peaks in correlation result values. The watermark symbol corresponding to the reference sequence having the lowest false positive error is selected as the embedded one. |
| US09147400B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating speaker-specific spoken passwords
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating speaker-specific spoken passwords. One embodiment of a method for generating a spoken password for use by a speaker of interest includes identifying one or more speech features that best distinguish the speaker of interest from a plurality of impostor speakers and incorporating the speech features in the spoken password. |
| US09147397B2 |
VAD detection apparatus and method of operating the same
At a processing device, a first signal from a first microphone and a second signal from a second microphone are received. The first signal indicates whether a voice signal has been determined at the first microphone, and the second signal indicates whether a voice signal has been determined at the second microphone. When the first signal indicates potential voice activity or the second signal indicates potential voice activity, the processing device is activated to receive data and the data is examined for a trigger word. When the trigger word is found, a signal is sent to an application processor to further process information from one or more of the first microphone and the second microphone. When no trigger word is found, the processing device is reset to deactivate data input and allowing the first microphone and the second microphone to enter or maintain an event detection mode of operation. |
| US09147396B2 |
Voice recognition device and voice recognition method
The voice recognition device according to the present disclosure includes a communication interface that communicates with an external device, a first microphone that collects sound to produce audio data, and a controller that analyzes the audio data produced by the first microphone, determines contents of a designation corresponding to an analysis result, and then controls its own device based on a determination result, and yet controls its own device to urge a user to use the external device when the contents of the designation corresponding to the analysis result cannot be determined. |
| US09147395B2 |
Mobile terminal and method for recognizing voice thereof
The present disclosure relates to a mobile terminal and a voice recognition method thereof. The voice recognition method may include receiving a user's voice; providing the received voice to a first voice recognition engine provided in the server and a second voice recognition engine provided in the mobile terminal; acquiring first voice recognition data as a result of recognizing the received voice by the first voice recognition engine; acquiring second voice recognition data as a result of recognizing the received voice by the second voice recognition engine; estimating a function corresponding to the user's intention based on at least one of the first and the second voice recognition data; calculating a similarity between the first and the second voice recognition data when personal information is required for the estimated function; and selecting either one of the first and the second voice recognition data based on the calculated similarity. |
| US09147391B2 |
Aircraft predictive active noise cancellation
An improved user experience is provided for passengers of a transportation vessel, such as an airplane. A passenger's experience is enhanced by allowing the passenger to enjoy media provided by an entertainment device without ambient noise. When the passenger requests accesses to a media item through the entertainment device, a microphone in the entertainment system generates an ambient noise signal based on captured ambient noise. A noise cancellation device generates a predictive noise cancelling signal based on the ambient noise signal. To generate the predictive noise cancelling signal, the noise cancellation device inverts the ambient noise signal and applies a predictive phase shift to the signal based on an estimated distance between the microphone and the passenger's ears. The noise cancelling signal is mixed with audio of the media item. |
| US09147387B2 |
Pickup assembly for an electrical stringed musical instrument
A pickup for an electrical, stringed musical instrument includes a first assembly and a second assembly. The first assembly includes a base plate, a pole that extends upward from the base plate and a coil of wire wrapped around the pole above the base plate. The second assembly includes a housing that has a fastening feature that allows the second assembly to be user attachable and detachable from the first assembly independently of any electrical connections made by the first assembly. The second assembly also includes a magnet seated within the housing. The pickup is further constructed so that the second assembly readily attaches and detaches to the first assembly such that when attached, the pole of the first assembly is in magnetic cooperation with the magnet of the second assembly. |
| US09147386B2 |
Musical learning and interaction through shapes
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for musical learning and interaction. Embodiments include presenting a musical instrument at a user interface. The user interface includes a video layer. The video layer is configured to visually present one or more frames of video. The user interface also includes a virtual musical instrument. The virtual musical instrument is overlaid over a least a portion of the video layer, and is at least partially transparent. As such, the portion of the video layer over which the virtual musical instrument is overlaid shows through the virtual musical instrument. |
| US09147384B1 |
Musical instrument stand
A musical instrument stand includes a base, a resting member, and two support units. The base includes two elastic units and two slideways. Each of the slideways has a folding recess and an expanding recess. Each of the elastic units includes two elastic strips. Each of the support units includes a pivot rod which has two opposite locking ends and a slide. The locking ends press the elastic strips, and the pivot rod is retained on the base by an elastic restoring action of the elastic strips. The slide slides reciprocally in one of the slideways and is detachably positioned in the folding recess and the expanding recess, so that each of the support units is positioned at a folded position and an expanded position. |
| US09147383B2 |
Cover for striking device for percussion instrument
A cover system for a percussion striking device allows drummers and percussionists to removably cover their existing sticks, mallets, and beaters of their preference with a light weight, durable fabric to produce benefits including: reducing volume during practice sessions, resulting in less ear fatigue, maintaining as true of a response as possible (“feel”) of the playing surface while working techniques used to enhance actual performance, and/or reducing wear on drumsticks, mallets, and beaters and all playing surfaces it is used on, as well as other benefits. |
| US09147378B2 |
Color selection interface
Techniques are disclosed for facilitating the selection of a color using a computer-based user interface. In one embodiment, the user interface includes a hue-saturation-brightness (HSB) color field and a luminosity slider. The HSB color field can be a two-dimensional field of a selected hue, with varying degrees of saturation displayed in one dimension, and varying degrees of brightness displayed in the other dimension. The luminosity slider can be a control element that adjusts the luminosity of a color having a selected hue and saturation. In such an embodiment, the HSB color field and the luminosity slider can be operatively coupled, such that modifying the luminosity of a selected color using the luminosity slider causes the resulting modified color to be indicated in the HSB color field. This provides the user with a better sense of how a selected color relates to other similar colors, thereby facilitating color selection. |
| US09147375B2 |
Display timing control circuit with adjustable clock divisor and method thereof
A display timing control circuit is capable of rapidly adjusting display timing to achieve frame synchronization. The display timing control circuit includes an output pixel clock generator, a display timing generator, and a clock adjusting unit. The output pixel clock generator generates an output pixel clock signal according to a reference clock signal and a clock divisor. The display timing generator generates a display timing signal and an output vertical reference signal having an output frame rate according to the output pixel clock signal. The clock adjusting unit adjusts the clock divisor according to the output pixel clock signal, the output vertical reference signal, and an input vertical reference signal having an input frame rate. |
| US09147360B2 |
Apparatus and method for driving of organic light emitting display device
Disclosed is an apparatus and method for driving an organic light emitting display device which controls a current flowing in a display panel to be lower than a current limit value, the apparatus comprising a display panel including a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel is provided with a light emitting device which emits light according to a current corresponding to a data voltage; and a panel driver that predicts a panel current value flowing in the display panel on the basis of data of a preceding frame and data of a current frame simultaneously displayed on the display panel, and controls the data voltage to be displayed on the display panel so as to make the panel current value be lower than a preset current limit value. |
| US09147358B2 |
Pixel circuit and display device
A pixel circuit able to prevent a spread of the terminal voltages of drive transistors inside a panel and in turn able to reliably prevent deterioration of uniformity, wherein a source of a TFT serving as a drive transistor is connected to an anode of a light emitting element, a drain is connected to a power source potential, a capacitor is connected between a gate and source of the TFT, and a source potential of the TFT is connected to a fixed potential through a TFT serving as a switch transistor and wherein pixel circuit lines are connected by an upper line and bottom line and are arranged in parallel with pixel circuit power source voltage lines so as not to have intersecting parts. |
| US09147356B1 |
Apparatus for affecting motion in an inflatable display
A valve apparatus for an inflatable article, wherein the inflatable article includes a main body and a moveable portion. The valve includes a valve body and a baffle. The valve body includes first and second chambers and first, second and third openings. The baffle is moveable between first and second positions. The first chamber includes the first and second openings, while the first opening forms a first fluid communication between the main body and the first chamber. The second chamber includes the second and third openings, while the third opening forms a second fluid communication between the second chamber and an ambient atmosphere. When in the first position, the baffle seals the first opening and when in the second position, the baffle seals the third opening. |
| US09147348B2 |
Automated traffic synchronization
Vehicle performance capability information and spatial relationship information within a vehicular environment is obtained for each of a group of vehicles. Traffic light signaling information is obtained. At least one synchronized control action is determined for each of the group of vehicles by utilizing the vehicle performance capability information in conjunction with the spatial relationship information and the traffic light signaling information. |
| US09147347B2 |
Vehicle direction identification device, vehicle direction identification method and program therefor
A vehicle direction identification device includes: a frequency analysis unit which analyzes phase of the surrounding sound in each analysis section specified by predetermined frequency regions and time intervals; a sound source direction identification unit which identifies a sound source direction indicating a direction of a sound included in the vehicle sound for each analysis section; a reflection information storage unit which stores (i) state information relating to rates of occurrence each of which are a count of the analysis sections of a corresponding one of the sound source directions, and (ii) reflection patterns each of which includes an estimated vehicle direction which is a vehicle direction associated with a set of the state information; and a vehicle direction identification unit which identifies a vehicle direction by checking the rates of occurrence obtained from an identification result by the sound source direction identification unit against one of the reflection patterns. |
| US09147346B2 |
Process and system for detecting a particular state of a specific parking space
The present invention concerns a process and a system for detecting a particular state of a specific parking space among a plurality of parking spaces, a particular state being one of empty or occupied. Each parking space is equipped with at least one detector for measuring a value of at least one parameter, said parameter being variable according to the presence or absence of a vehicle. |
| US09147345B2 |
Mobile parking enforcement method
A real-time wireless parking enforcement system is provided that includes a remote parking enforcement system having a plurality of parking sensors disposed to gather parking occupancy data and at least one source of parking payment data, where the parking occupancy data and parking payment data is communicated to a central server in real-time, and a plurality of wireless mobile platforms are operated by a plurality of parking enforcement officers (PEO's). The wireless mobile platforms send and receive real-time and continuous parking occupancy data and parking payment data to and from the central server, where bidirectional communication exists between the central server and the wireless mobile platforms. When the PEO enters response information to a potential violation to the wireless mobile platform, the bidirectional communication updates the status of the potential violation to all the wireless platforms in real-time, where the information is used to reduce enforcement redundancies by the PEO's. |
| US09147340B2 |
Apparatus and methods for hybrid service discovery
Apparatus and methods for, among other things, a hybrid service discovery protocol are discussed. In an example, a method for hybrid service discovery can include transmitting a first one or more reactive publishing beacons for a first group of stations, counting a quantity of service requests during query windows following the reactive group beacon transmissions, and publishing a first proactive publishing beacon for the first group of stations if the quantity of service requests meet or exceed a proactive service discovery threshold. |
| US09147338B2 |
System and method for emergency notification content delivery
A method for disseminating emergency notification content from an emergency originating source. The method comprising: delivering the emergency notification content from the emergency originating source to at least one transmitting party; selecting a subset of users from among a set of users for dissemination of the emergency notification content based on the subject matter of the emergency notification content; and delivering the emergency notification content from the at least one transmitting party to a device corresponding to each user from the selected subset of users. |
| US09147337B2 |
Method and system for logging security event data
Through the use of a persistent connection between security, monitoring and automation controller devices and provider supported servers in an operator domain, recordation of sensor fault events, SMA controller events, and communication events is provided. Servers in the operator domain can record events and provide a filtered log of events surrounding an alarm event or other selected timeframe. |
| US09147336B2 |
Method and system for generating emergency notifications based on aggregate event data
An approach for enabling event notifications to be directed to one or more contacts based on the acquiring of common event data by one or more wireless devices is described. A multimedia event processor receives event data corresponding to an event from a mobile device. The event data is associated with a tag for describing the event data and classified as corresponding to a level of severity based on the tag. A target destination is then determined for transmission of a notification message, the event data, or a combination thereof. |
| US09147334B2 |
System and method for monitoring hospital workflow compliance with a hand hygiene network
A system and method for monitoring compliance with a plurality of workflow procedures in a hospital or other health care facility using a hand hygiene compliance system (HHC). A control unit of an HHC gathers data based upon the presence, identification, and movement of a plurality of assets, including persons, equipment, or supplies, each having wearable detectable tags, such as RFID tags, and communicates that data to a local or remote server. The server is programmed to monitor or cause compliance with hospital workflow procedures relevant to the communicated data, such as rounding requirements and proper use of equipment, or may generate alarms or notifications where a workflow procedure has not been followed. |
| US09147333B1 |
Remote controlled detection system
In accordance with example embodiments, a system may include a sensor, a remote, and one or more transceivers. In example embodiments, the sensor may be configured to sense a condition and send a first signal when the condition is sensed. In example embodiments, the first signal includes a first unique identifier. In example embodiments, the remote is configured to send a second and third signal (for remote “on” and “off”) and the second and third signals will include a second unique identifier. In example embodiments, the first transceiver is configured to receive and retransmit the first, second and third signals.A retransmission of the third signal from the remote further deactivates the transceiver(s) from the “ready” state to the “off” state. Sending the second signal from the remote (the “on” signal) resets the transceiver(s) from the “off” state to the “ready” state. |
| US09147332B1 |
Somatosensory type notification alerts
A computing device is described that can receive contextual information related to a user associated with the computing device. The contextual information may relate to at least one of a physiological condition of the user at a current time or a type of activity associated with the user at the current time. The computing device can select, based at least in part on the contextual information, a type of alert to output as an indication of notification data. The type of alert may include at least one of an electric stimulus type alert, a shape-memory alloy type alert, and a vibration type alert. Responsive to selecting the type of alert, the computing device can output an alert based on the notification data, the alert being of the selected type of alert. |
| US09147331B2 |
Method and apparatus for use in identifying potential anomalies in electronic files supportive of mobile device positioning
Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented by one or more electronic devices to identify potential anomalies in one or more electronic files used to support mobile device positioning within a specific environment. Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are also provided which may be implemented by one or more electronic devices to alter one or more electronic files used to support mobile device positioning within a specific environment. |
| US09147329B2 |
Sensory messaging systems and related methods
Sensory messaging systems, according to particular embodiments, are configured to enable users to transmit sensory messages between sensory messaging devices. In various embodiments, the system is configured to allow users to transmit messages that recipients can experience substantially without having to read any text associated with the message. Sensory messages, according to particular embodiments, may include an aroma, a spark, a vibration, a sound, a light, or a warming. |
| US09147327B2 |
Multi-functional emergency device
A multi-function emergency device combining a flashlight mounted on a housing with one or a plurality of beacons. A terrestrial location of the device is determinable by GPS or cellular triangulation. A first beacon employs visible light for responders to follow to the terrestrial location while a second beacon employs invisible light to transmit a secret beacon that cannot be seen without the aid of a viewer. A message may be encoded into the second beacon and deciphered. |
| US09147321B2 |
Casino game with next round multipliers
A player plays a first round of a casino slot machine game. If the player achieves a winning outcome on the first round of play, the payouts for the next round of play of the casino game will be increased. The amount of the increase is based on the category of the winning outcome on the first round of play. Each subsequent round of play continues to have increased payouts if the player continues to achieve winning outcomes. When the player has a losing outcome, the payouts revert to the base level. An extra wager may be required from the player to activate this feature during the play of the casino game. |
| US09147304B2 |
Reversible multi-position gearmotor and storage tray for vending machines
A vending machine gearmotor that can be mounted in a variety of orientations and positions to better operate a variety of different size helix product drives and which permits a single type or design for a gearmotor to be used throughout a vending machine to drive single or dual-spiral selections. In this regard, the gearmotor can be used to rotate helix drives in either clockwise or counter clockwise directions with minimal effort required to change the direction of rotation. Thus, the gearmotors can be used in paired arrangements with two adjacent gearmotors being mounted in reversed directions so that one drives its helix in counter clockwise direction and the adjacent helix is driven in a clockwise direction with a product to be vended being carried by both adjacent helixes. |
| US09147303B2 |
Rotary hopper
A product retrieval system for vending machines that permits collection of varying size products at a first level yet presents such products for collection at a raised height to make retrieval more convenient. The retrieval system utilizes a rotary hopper that includes an actual bottom as well as a technical or false bottom that does not lower the depth of the rotary hopper in its ability to receive dispensed product on the actual bottom, with the technical bottom presenting the product to a higher retrieval point relative to the floor upon rotation of the rotary hopper to an open condition. |
| US09147302B2 |
Money handling system
A money handling system includes a money handling machine that has a money storage unit for storing money, and a money recycling unit for temporarily storing money taken from the exterior of the money handling machine after the money is recognized. The money recycling unit is adapted to feed the money temporarily stored therein to the money storage unit and/or to dispense the temporarily stored money to the exterior of the money handling machine. A wrapped-coin dispensing unit for storing wrapped coins and for dispensing the wrapped coins to the exterior of the money handling machine is also provided. Finally, a central control unit communicates with various components of the money handing machine, while being isolated therefrom. |
| US09147301B2 |
Paper sheet handling machine
A paper sheet handling machine 100 comprises an upper unit 10 having a paper sheet take-in apparatus 120 adapted for taking therein paper sheets, one by one, from the exterior, an upper transport mechanism 201a adapted for transporting the paper sheets taken in by the paper sheet take-in apparatus 120, one by one, and a recognition unit 220 adapted for recognizing each paper sheet transported by the upper transport mechanism 201a; a lower unit 20 located below the upper unit 10 and having a lower transport mechanism 201b provided to receive the paper sheets transferred from the upper transport mechanism 201a, one by one, and then further transport the transferred paper sheets, and a plurality of stacking units 106, each adapted for stacking therein the paper sheets transported by the lower transport mechanism 201b and sorted based on results obtained by the recognition unit 220. In this case, at least a part of a bottom portion of the upper unit 10 is opened. Additionally, a partition member 30 is provided between the upper unit 10 and the lower unit 20. |
| US09147298B2 |
Behavior modification via altered map routes based on user profile information
Methods and systems for an improved navigation environment are provided. The navigation system can route users to preferred locations based on user profile data and past experience with the present driver and other drivers. The system provides more cost-effective and time-sensitive routing by incorporating other information about destinations. Further, the navigation system provides enhanced guidance in foreign or unfamiliar locations by incorporating experience from other drivers and other data. |
| US09147294B1 |
Apparatus and method for intelligent channel switching to support V2X communication
An onboard equipment disposed in a subject vehicle may communicate with one or more other vehicles and/or one or more stationary road side terminals. The onboard equipment may include a radio and a communication module. The radio may communicate with the other vehicles via a vehicle channel, and with the stationary roadside terminals via a control channel and a service channel. The communication module may control the radio in a first mode when the vehicle speed is greater than a threshold or in a second mode when the vehicle speed is less than the threshold. In the first mode, the communication module sets the radio to the vehicle channel. In the second mode, the communication module switches the radio between the control channel and the vehicle channel or between the service channel and the vehicle channel based on a predetermined condition. |
| US09147291B2 |
Method and apparatus of processing data to support augmented reality
A method and apparatus of processing data to support Augmented Reality (AR) are provided. In the method, an image file including at least a scene description stream, an object descriptor stream, and a visual stream including a real-world medium is received, the scene description stream including an AR node that represents information about at least one piece of AR content used to augment the real-world medium, information about an AR locator and an object descriptor Identifier (ID) is acquired from the AR node, the AR locator describing when the at least one piece of AR content appears and how the real-world medium is augmented with the at least one piece of AR content and the object indicator ID identifying an Object Descriptor (OD) that describes the at least one piece of AR content, and at least one elementary stream descriptor. |
| US09147288B1 |
Subdivision of surfaces approximation
This document describes systems and techniques for representing computer-generated objects with a limit mesh. In general, the systems and techniques may generate an object's form or appearance based on an estimation of how the object would look if shapes that form the object were infinitely subdivided to create a smooth surface for the object. For example, when a user views a distance object in a video game, its shape can be estimated by calculating an approximation of what the object would look like if the polygons that make up the object were infinitely divided. As the user approaches the object, curving solutions that may be embedded in the object can be used to construct curves for the object so that it appears smooth. |
| US09147281B2 |
Rendering apparatus and method for generating multi-views
A rendering apparatus and method for generating multi-views are provided. A rendering unit may generate a plurality of predicted views by rendering one or more reference views, and a hole aggregating unit may generate a reference hole representing an aggregation of holes existing in each of the predicted views. A hole inpainting unit may inpaint the reference hole, and a multi-view generating unit may remove the holes existing in each of the predicted views using the inpainted reference hole. |
| US09147280B2 |
Preparation and display of derived series of medical images
Certain embodiments of the invention provide a computer apparatus and corresponding computer implement method for slab rendering from a three dimensional (3D) image data set of voxel data. Slab rendering is carried out on a stack of slabs of the same thicknesses in the 3D image data set. The whole stack of slabs is rendered together according to a desired filtering operation by applying a one dimensional van-Herk-Gil-Werman (vHGW) algorithm having a segment size one less than the slab thickness to strings of data that run through the whole stack. |
| US09147279B1 |
Systems and methods for merging textures
Examples disclose a method and system for merging textures. The method may be executable to receive one or more images of an object, identify a texture value for a point in a first image of the one or more images, and determine a metric indicative of a relation between a view reference point vector and a normal vector of a position of a point on the object relative to the image capturing device. Based on the metrics, the method may be executable to determine a weighted average texture value to apply to a corresponding point of a three-dimensional mesh of the object. |
| US09147278B2 |
Parallax image generation device, parallax image generation method, program, and integrated circuit
A parallax image generation device includes: a depth value correction unit which performs correction processing on a depth value, from among a plurality of depth values which define a depth image, to shift a position corresponding to the depth value to be closer to a display screen as the depth value is located closer to an end of the depth image, the display screen being for displaying a parallax image; and a parallax image generation unit which generates a first parallax image and a second parallax image having mutual parallax, using a two-dimensional image and the depth image corrected through the correction processing. |
| US09147277B2 |
Systems and methods for portable animation rigs
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for transporting both behavior and related geometric information for an animation asset between different animation environments. A common virtual machine specification with a specific instruction set architecture is defined for executing behavioral traits of the animation asset. Each target animation environment implements the instruction set architecture. Because each virtual machine runtime engine implements an identical instruction set architecture, animation behavior can identically reproduced over any arbitrary platform implementing the virtual machine runtime engine. Embodiments of the present invention beneficially enable reuse of animation assets without compatibility restrictions related to platform or application differences. |
| US09147272B2 |
Methods and systems for providing mapping, data management, and analysis
A computerized method for providing mapping, data management, and analysis. A user request for creation of a map with a desired Gaussian aggregation and desired color map parameters is received. Vector geographic data is loaded at the server. The vector geographic data comprises location data, and the location data comprises an attribute. The vector geographic data is rasterized to create image data composed of pixels. The image data is converted to a certain scale grayscale image data. A convolution operation is performed on the grayscale image data to provide an aggregation of the data using a kernel radius, wherein the kernel radius is adjusted in accordance with the desired zoom level. Convolution results are applied to a color ramp; the map for the location data is created based on the color ramp and the convolution results, and the map is provided to the user. |
| US09147268B2 |
Subtraction of projection data in medical diagnostic imaging
Background information is subtracted from projection data in medical diagnostic imaging. The background is removed using data acquired in a single rotational sweep of a C-arm. The removal may be by masking out a target, leaving the background, in the data as constructed into a volume. For subtraction, the masked background information is projected to a plane and subtracted from the data representing the plane. |
| US09147264B2 |
Method and system for quantizing and squeezing base values of associated tiles in an image
A method for performing image rendering. The method includes identifying a tile in an image, wherein the image comprises a plurality of tiles including color data that is displayed by a plurality of pixels. A quantized first base value and a quantized second base value are accessed from a block of memory, wherein the block is associated with the tile. Reverse quantization is performed on the quantized first and second base values to obtain a reproduced first base value, and a reproduced second base value corresponding to the tile for purposes of determining color values for corresponding pixels. |
| US09147263B2 |
Reversible method for transcribing a file encoded with a first coding into a file encoded with a second coding
A method for reversible coding of an image, including extracting compression information from an image compressed in an original format, at least partly decompressing the compressed image into an intermediate at least partly decompressed image, re-encoding the intermediate image into a re-encoded image, and preferably associating in a same file, the re-encoded image with compression information. |
| US09147247B2 |
Three-dimensional measurement apparatus, three-dimensional measurement method, and storage medium
A three-dimensional measurement apparatus includes a detection unit configured to detect, in an image captured by a capture unit, position information of a pattern on a capture pixel surface, which is projected to a plurality of pattern detection areas preset on the same plane in a measurement space, and a corresponding relationship calculation unit configured to calculate, using the position information, a corresponding relationship between the pattern on a projection pixel surface of a projection unit detected in advance before measurement and the pattern on the projection pixel surface of the projection unit at the time of measurement. |
| US09147241B2 |
Glass bottle inspection method and apparatus
The glass bottle inspection method and apparatus performs successively producing differential images from original images successively captured from the glass bottle to be inspected while the glass bottle is being rotated about its own axis, comparing the differential images with the template to judge whether the glass bottle is defect-free or not, and combining all the differential images obtained from the glass bottle to be inspected in one inspection cycle to produce a differential composite image, using the differential composite image as a provisional template when all the differential images obtained from the glass bottle in one inspection cycle are judged as representing a defect-free glass bottle, and correcting the template using the provisional template. |
| US09147239B2 |
Computing the mass of an object
The mass of an object may be estimated based on intersection points of a representation of a surface in an image space with cubes defining the image space, the surface representing a surface of an object. The representation may be, for example, based on marching cubes. The mass may be estimated by estimating a mass contribution of a first set of cubes contained entirely within the representation of the surface, estimating a mass contribution of a second set of cubes having intersection points with the representation of the surface, and summing the estimated mass contribution of the first set of cubes and the estimated mass contribution of the second set of cubes. The object may be segmented from other portions of an image prior to estimating the mass of the object. |
| US09147238B1 |
Adaptive histogram-based video contrast enhancement
The adaptive contrast enhancer uses an adaptive histogram equalization-based approach to improve contrast in a video signal. For each video frame, the histogram of the pixel luminance values is calculated. The calculated histogram is divided into three regions that are equalized independently of the other. The equalized values are averaged with the original pixel values with a weighting factor that depends on the shape of the histogram. The weighting factors can be also chosen differently for the three regions to enhance the darker regions more than the brighter ones. The statistics calculated from one frame are used to enhance the next frame such that frame buffers are not required. Many of the calculations are done in the inactive time between two frames. |
| US09147236B2 |
Method and device for generating high dynamic range images
A method of generation, by a digital processing device, of a first high dynamic range digital image from second and third digital images of a same scene, including, for at least one point of the first image: determining a brightness index; comparing this index with at least one of first, second, third, and fourth decreasing thresholds stored in a memory; and determining the value of the point by taking into account the value of the index. |
| US09147231B2 |
Resolution determination device, image processing device, and image display apparatus
A resolution determination section of a resolution determination device includes an edge intensity calculation section that calculates an edge intensity for each of a plurality of pixels in an input image based on the difference between the luminance of the pixel and the luminance of a pixel adjoining the pixel, a coring processing section that brings the edge intensity near to value 0 when the edge intensity is determined to be noise, an edge change point detection section that detects a pixel at which the adjoining edge intensities are different in sign, a first accumulation section that accumulates the detection results for a plurality of pixels, and a second accumulation section that accumulates pixels of which the accumulation value exceeds a parameter value input from outside for one frame. The section determines whether or not the input image is an up-converted image based on the accumulation result. |
| US09147225B2 |
Graphics processing unit and management method thereof
A graphics processing unit (GPU) and a management method of the GPU are provided. The GPU includes at least one graphics engine and an engine manager. The graphics engine performs a video decoding function or a graphics rendering function according to a graphics command from a driver software. The engine manager records a workload index of each graphics engine. The engine manager also adjusts the work ability of one of or more of the at least one graphics engine according to an adjustment command from the driver software. The driver software provides the adjustment command according to the workload index. |
| US09147222B2 |
Detecting encoded signals under adverse lighting conditions using adaptive signal detection
Signal detection adaptable to accommodate various lighting conditions, and to embedding signals according to anticipated lighting conditions likely to be present during image capture. One claim recites a method comprising: obtaining data representing picture elements of imagery or video, the imagery or video having been captured with a camera; obtaining lighting information associated with image capture of the imagery or video; based on the lighting information, adapting a detection process, in which the detection process is adapted by applying different weightings to different color channels for detection, the different weightings being associated with the lighting information; using a programmed electronic processor, analyzing the data to determine whether auxiliary data is encoded therein, said act of analyzing utilizes the adapted detection process. Of course, different combinations and claims are provided too. |
| US09147221B2 |
Image-driven view management for annotations
A mobile device uses an image-driven view management approach for annotating images in real-time. An image-based layout process used by the mobile device computes a saliency map and generates an edge map from a frame of a video stream. The saliency map may be further processed by applying thresholds to reduce the number of saliency levels. The saliency map and edge map are used together to determine a layout position of labels to be rendered over the video stream. The labels are displayed in the layout position until a change of orientation of the camera that exceeds a threshold is detected. Additionally, the representation of the label may be adjusted, e.g., based on a plurality of pixels bounded by an area that is coincident with a layout position for a label in the video frame. |
| US09147220B2 |
Systems and methods to facilitate searches based on social graphs and affinity groups
Business, recommendation, and social relationship graph information for businesses may be received from a data source social networking website, where each business is recommended by users. The recommendation information may indicate users that recommend certain businesses. The social relationship graph information may indicate user-specific networks of social relationships on the social networking website. For a user query including business and affinity group selection criteria, business, recommendation, and social relationship graph information may be searched to select businesses that: match the business selection criteria; and are recommended by users having social relationships within a maximum degree of closeness with the querying user and being in an affinity group matching the affinity group selection criteria. The selected businesses may be ranked based on numbers of recommending users and social relationship graph information. A search result, with businesses indicated in a rank order and with business and recommendation information, may be provided. |
| US09147219B2 |
Synchronization of vehicle sensor information
A method includes receiving and storing sensor data including a first plurality of data points indicative of a plurality of respective states of the environment external to a vehicle at a plurality of respective times, operational data including a second plurality of data points indicative of a plurality of respective states of an operational parameter of the vehicle at a plurality of respective times, and synchronization data. The method also includes generating an animated re-creation of an event involving the vehicle using the stored data, and causing the animated re-creation of the event to be displayed. |
| US09147210B2 |
System and a machine-readable medium for processing an on-line payment without authenticating the user
A easy authentication or payment is made by creating an account associated with a particular web browser or device that accesses an on-line page. Payments are made, such as for full-access viewing of an article or viewing content without visible ads, by selecting a payment button on the on-line page. Selection can be with a specific swiping motion or device motion previously defined for the user. Once selected, the payment is made without the user having to authorize or authenticate. The motion can be used independently to authorize or authenticate the user through the device. |
| US09147209B2 |
Content recommendation system
In various example embodiments, systems and methods to provide content recommendations are provided. Search parameters are received from a user. Data useable to derive an attribute associated with the user is received. Using the data, the attribute is derived. A search of a coupled database is performed for one or more items that match the search parameter and that correspond to the derived attribute. A list of the one or more items are caused to be presented in a user interface of a display device of the user. |
| US09147200B2 |
Frequency capping of content across multiple devices
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, and including a method for delivering content. The method comprises identifying impressions of content to a user accessing resources using different requesting sources. The method further comprises storing impression data for the identified impressions in association with the user and requesting source. The method further comprises storing requesting source characteristic information with the impression data and identifying parameters that require limits on a number of impressions that are to occur in a time period and type of requesting source. The method further comprises receiving a request for content from a particular requesting source associated with the user, and determining when impressions available for that type of requesting source have been satisfied, and when not, enabling delivery of a content item associated with a campaign to the requesting source responsive to the received request. |
| US09147199B2 |
Advertisements in view
A technique is provided to determine whether a region within a web page is viewable to a user through a browser window. Often, browsers will only show part of a web page at given time, creating a difficulty in establishing whether a region of the web page, which may be an advertisement for example, is in view. This is addressed by providing one or more test features within the region, rendering the web page, monitoring a behavioural characteristic of the test features and determining whether the region is in view based on the monitored behavioural characteristic, wherein the behavioural characteristic varies according to whether the test feature is currently being displayed. One example of a behavioural characteristic is a frame progression rate. Browsers will typically redraw elements of a web page at a higher rate if they are currently in view through the browser window, and this characteristic can therefore be used to determine whether the test feature, and thus the region, is in view. The present invention finds particular utility where the region contains an advertisement, as it allows an advertiser to discover whether the advertisement has been seen by users. |
| US09147198B2 |
Systems and methods for providing an interface for data driven media placement
System and methods are presented for providing an interface to select advertising slots in an advertising campaign. In some embodiments, a user equipment device generates for display a plurality of cells in a grid arrangement. Each cell is associated with an advertising slot corresponding to a content source and a time period, and each cell includes a representation of an audience of the associated advertising slot. The user equipment device receives a user selection of a first cell of the plurality of cells, a function is executed with respect to a first advertising slot associated with the first cell. |
| US09147194B1 |
Aggregated performance information for video content items
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, including a method for presenting aggregated performance information for video content items. The method comprises identifying a video content item displayable in a plurality of different format types to users. The method further comprises collecting performance information related to the display of the video content item when presented in each of the different format types. The method further comprises aggregating the performance information for the different format types, where the performance information includes information selected from a group comprising a number of thumbnail impressions, a number of video impressions, a number of views, a view rate, an average cost-per-view, a total cost, or a number of clicks to a landing page, including providing overall performance information for the video content item. The method further comprises presenting the aggregated performance information for the video content item. |
| US09147187B1 |
Storing and accessing a plurality of payment options on a secure element
Methods and systems for storing a plurality of payment options on a secure element in a portable electronic device and associating at least one payment option with a third party application to make a payment transaction. |
| US09147186B2 |
Method and system for interrogating and processing codes
An interrogating and processing system and method is described. A wireless communication device interrogates an information source, having a barcode or tag, and wirelessly transmits data indicative of the information source. The interrogator can be built into or adjunct to the wireless communication device. An automated processing subsystem receives the transmitted data and identifies an item corresponding to the data. A fulfillment subsystem effects delivery of the item to a destination. There can be a coupon code scanning and processing system and method. A wireless computing device having an interrogator reads a coupon code. An automated processing subsystem receives the corresponding data and provides a benefit associated with the coupon. The benefit can be a discount on a product or service. Alternatively, at least a portion of the coupon including a code is displayed on a screen of the computing device for processing at a point of sale terminal. |
| US09147184B2 |
Control system arrangements and methods for disparate network systems
Electronic transaction data sets are processed for a multitude of disparate transactions using a plurality of autonomous payment networks. A software-programmed computer type system receives and processes point-of-sale transaction data to select one of the payment networks associated with a participant ID (e.g., for a buyer or seller) in the transaction data. The system includes a plurality of network-specific interface modules, each associated with a specific payment network for interfacing therewith. For point-of-sale transaction data, the interface module corresponding to the selected payment network communicates payment data to the selected payment network to effect electronic payment for the point-of-sale transaction data. |
| US09147183B2 |
Systems and methods for analysis and linkage between different transaction data providers
Systems, methods, means, computer program code and computerized processes include receiving a first set of de-identified transaction data from a first transaction data source, receiving a second set of de-identified transaction data from a second transaction data source, filtering the first and second sets of de-identified transaction data to identify transactions associated with at least a first entity and to create first and second filtered data sets, removing data associated with an identifier field for each of the transactions in the first filtered data set to created a de-identified first data set, removing data associated with an identifier field for each of the transactions in the second filtered data set to create a de-identified second data set, and processing the first and second de-identified data sets using a probabilistic engine to establish a linkage between data in each data set. |
| US09147180B2 |
Data governance for email systems
An enterprise email governance system including an enterprise-wide email communication item events monitoring subsystem providing at least near real time indications of email communication item events and an enterprise-wide email communication item events storage subsystem receiving inputs from the monitoring subsystem and providing at least near real time user accessibility to the email communication item events. |
| US09147179B2 |
De-identification in visual media data
A method for de-identification of visual media data, including: merging a sequence of images from a set of visual media data into an averaged image; bounding portions of the averaged image that are determined to be relatively fixed, wherein each bounded portion is identified by a corresponding position in the averaged image; generating a template comprising the bounded portions and the corresponding position for each bounded portion in the averaged image; and de-identifying the sequence of images by obfuscating content in the bounded portions. |
| US09147177B2 |
Method and system for implementing a scoring mechanism
Described is an improved method, system, and computer program product for implementing an improved method and system for generating performance scores for employees. Also disclosed is an approach for ranking employees which avoids the complexity and excessive resources often needed to implement employee rankings. |
| US09147173B2 |
Methods and systems for automated transportation of items between variable endpoints
An automated system for transporting items between variable endpoints includes a guidance system for identifying the endpoints and at least one autonomous mobile robot interacting with the guidance system for automatically moving items between the endpoints. The at least one robot is configured to (a) collect an item to be transported at a source end point, (b) travel to a destination endpoint utilizing the guidance system to locate the destination endpoint, (c) deliver the item to the destination endpoint, and (d) repeat (a) through (c) for a given set of items. The guidance system is dynamically reconfigurable to identify new endpoints. |
| US09147168B1 |
Decision tree representation for big data
A method, system, and process for representing a decision tree in a tabular format is discussed. The format may contain all the necessary information to traverse the nodes in parallel on a distributed system while consuming an efficient amount of resources. In some embodiments, the tree may be stored in a relational database as a table. |
| US09147161B2 |
Determining geo-locations of users from user activities
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for determining geographic locations. One of the methods includes obtaining a sequence of events, each of the events including geographical location information, from a first device to be located; determining, for each event and each of a plurality of geographical locations, a probability that the respective event was obtained from a second device given that the second device is located at the respective geographical location; determining a probability that the sequence of events was obtained from the second device, including using a model representing how sequences of events are generated by network devices; and determining for each of the plurality of geographical locations a probability that the first device is located at the respective geographical location using the probability that the sequence of events was obtained. |
| US09147160B2 |
System and method for asynchronous explanation and propagation-based constraint solving
Embodiments of a system and method for asynchronous explanation and explanation-based constraint problem solving are generally described herein. In one or more embodiments, an apparatus includes an asynchronous constraint satisfaction problem solving module (ACSPSM), the ACSPSM can be executable by one or more processors. The ACSPSM can be configured to propagate at least one constraint to a plurality of variables by reducing a speculative propagation range of a first variable when a first value in the speculative propagation range of the first variable is in conflict with the constraint. The ACSPSM can be configured to update an explanation for the reduction in the speculative propagation range of the first variable, or backtrack when a choice of a second value for a second variable would result in the speculative propagation range of the first variable becoming empty. The ACSPSM can be multi-threaded. |
| US09147158B2 |
Personalized information pushing method and device
Embodiments of the present application relate to a personalized information pushing method, a personalized information pushing device, and a computer program product for pushing personalized information. A personalized information pushing method is provided. The method includes retrieving network behavior data related to access operations performed by user terminals, determining a numerical value of a degree of correlation between a user terminal and a plurality of information providing terminals having a correlation within a set time window based on the network behavior data, retrieving information providing terminals corresponding to a first user terminal to form a first data set based on the numerical values, retrieving information of the information providing terminals from the first data set to generate a first information, and pushing the first information to the first user terminal. |
| US09147157B2 |
Methods and apparatus for identifying spectral peaks in neuronal spiking representation of a signal
Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for identifying spectral peaks in a neuronal spiking representation of a signal, such as an auditory signal. One example method generally includes receiving a signal; filtering the signal into a plurality of channels using a plurality of filters having different frequency passbands; sending the filtered signal in each of the channels to a first type of spiking neuron model; sending the filtered signal in each of the channels to a second type of spiking neuron model; and identifying one or more spectral peaks in the signal based on a first output of the first type of spiking neuron model and a second output of the second type of spiking neuron model for each of the channels. |
| US09147156B2 |
Apparatus and methods for synaptic update in a pulse-coded network
Apparatus and methods for efficient synaptic update in a network such as a spiking neural network. In one embodiment, the post-synaptic updates, in response to generation of a post-synaptic pulse by a post-synaptic unit, are delayed until a subsequent pre-synaptic pulse is received by the unit. Pre-synaptic updates are performed first following by the post-synaptic update, thus ensuring synaptic connection status is up-to-date. The delay update mechanism is used in conjunction with system “flush” events in order to ensure accurate network operation, and prevent loss of information under a variety of pre-synaptic and post-synaptic unit firing rates. A large network partition mechanism is used in one variant with network processing apparatus in order to enable processing of network signals in a limited functionality embedded hardware environment. |
| US09147155B2 |
Method and apparatus for neural temporal coding, learning and recognition
Certain aspects of the present disclosure support a technique for neural temporal coding, learning and recognition. A method of neural coding of large or long spatial-temporal patterns is also proposed. Further, generalized neural coding and learning with temporal and rate coding is disclosed in the present disclosure. |
| US09147154B2 |
Classifying resources using a deep network
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for scoring concept terms using a deep network. One of the methods includes receiving an input comprising a plurality of features of a resource, wherein each feature is a value of a respective attribute of the resource; processing each of the features using a respective embedding function to generate one or more numeric values; processing the numeric values using one or more neural network layers to generate an alternative representation of the features, wherein processing the floating point values comprises applying one or more non-linear transformations to the floating point values; and processing the alternative representation of the input using a classifier to generate a respective category score for each category in a pre-determined set of categories, wherein each of the respective category scores measure a predicted likelihood that the resource belongs to the corresponding category. |
| US09147144B2 |
Systems and methods for monitoring sensors
A method for multivariable measurements using a single-chip impedance analyzer includes providing a sensor, exposing the sensor to an environmental parameter, determining a complex impedance of the sensor over a measured spectral frequency range of the sensor, and monitoring at least three spectral parameters of the sensor. |
| US09147140B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method, and product for converting image data into fewer gradations based on total value of pixels in a group except for a detected pixel having a specific value
An image processing apparatus capable of converting input image data into image data expressing a dot pattern cell by cell includes a detection unit configured to detect a pixel having a specific pixel value in the input image data, and a determination unit configured to determine an output value of a pixel included in each cell by arranging as many print pixels as a number of print pixels according to a total value of pixel values of a pixel group including pixels included in a cell except the pixel detected by the detection unit on any of the pixels in the pixel group cell by cell. |
| US09147139B2 |
Method and system to process color print images for digital printing
In a method or system for processing a color print image for digital printing at a predetermined printing apparatus, the print image is deconstructed into color separations according to characteristic color curves of the printing apparatus. The color separations are stored in a data unit as greyscale bitmap images and at least one of a color code and color values are associated with each color separation in the data unit. The print image encoded in the data unit is presented at a display device for monitoring or management before printout at the printing apparatus, the print image being presented at the display device by means of at least one of the color code and color values associated with the respective color separations such that the individual color separations are transparently superimposed. |
| US09147137B2 |
Label printer, and method of searching optimal communication position
According to an embodiment, there is provided a label printer including a conveying mechanism, an RFID reader and writer, a communication intensity information acquisition unit, and a maximum communication intensity position determination unit, and an optimal communication position calculation unit. If communication with the plurality of RFID tags occurs simultaneously in the RFID reader and writer while conveying the mount by the conveying mechanism along the conveying route, the communication intensity information acquisition unit acquires information indicating a communication intensity between each of a plurality of the RFID tags and the RFID reader and writer in correlation with identification information of each of the RFID tags. The maximum communication intensity position determination unit determines a maximum communication intensity position, at which a communication intensity capable of being correlated with the identification information of each of the RFID tags becomes the maximum, on the basis of a tendency of a variation in the communication intensity of each of the plurality of RFID tags which accompanies the conveyance along the conveying route, and a conveying distance of the mount by the conveying mechanism. The optimal communication position calculation unit calculates an optimal communication position with the RFID tags of the plurality of labels adhered to the label paper on the basis of the maximum communication intensity position determined with respect to each of the plurality of RFID tags. |
| US09147134B2 |
Connector device and electronic apparatus including thereof
A connector device comprises a tray, a connector body, a lock member and a pressing member. The lock member is unmovable beyond a second position along an ejection direction. The pressing member applies a force toward the second position directly or indirectly to the lock member. The tray is formed with a locked portion. The lock member is provided with a lock portion and a pressed portion. The lock portion locks the locked portion to prevent the tray from moving beyond a lock position along the ejection direction when the tray is accommodated in the connector body. The pressing member presses the pressed portion against the case when the connector device is attached in the case. The tray located at the locked position is positioned relatively to the case by this pressing. |
| US09147127B2 |
Verification of user photo IDs
The presence of a target object within a query image may be identified based on the spatial consistency of feature points matched between the query image and a template image describing the target object. A query image and a template image describing a target object to be sought in a query image are received. Feature points are extracted from the query image and the template image using a SIFT method. Query feature points are each matched to the nearest neighbor template feature point. A matched pair of query points is assigned a confidence indicator based on the distance between each parameter of the query feature point and template feature point. The confidence indicators are mapped within a binned four-dimensional space. If the number of confidence indicators mapped to any bin is greater than a threshold value, then the target object has been detected within the query image. |
| US09147122B2 |
Pose estimation based on peripheral information
A method for estimating camera pose includes: obtaining an image of a location captured via a camera, where the image includes a target object and edge line features outside of the target object; and calculating a pose of the camera with respect to the target object based on the edge line features. |
| US09147121B2 |
Person detection device and person detection method
The purpose of the invention is to increase accuracy in detecting a person on the basis of the size of an object detection region in an omni-directional image. A height-and-width switching section for switching between the height and the width of the object detection region on the basis of the position of the object detection region in the omni-directional image is provided. It is determined on the basis of the height and the width of the object detection region for which the height and the width are switched by the height-and-width switching section whether the object detection region is a person detection region. As a result, the person detection region and a shadow detection region can be correctly separated in the omni-directional image. |
| US09147119B2 |
System, device, and method for detecting and locating wanted vehicles
A method, system, and device for analyzing images captured by a vehicle-based camera includes establishing a communication connection between a mobile communication device and an in-vehicle computing system. Scanning data may be retrieved from a scanning data server by the mobile communication device and, in some embodiments, forwarded to the in-vehicle computing system. A vehicle-base camera may be used to capture one or more images. An image analysis module of the in-vehicle computing system or mobile communication device may be used to analyze the captured image(s) for a match between the image(s) and the scanning data. In response to identifying a match, the mobile communication device may notify the scanning data server of the identified match. |
| US09147117B1 |
Analyzing facial recognition data and social network data for user authentication
Tools, strategies, and techniques are provided for evaluating the identities of different entities to protect business enterprises, consumers, and other entities from fraud by combining biometric activity data with facial recognition data for end users. Risks associated with various entities can be analyzed and assessed based on a combination of user liveliness check data, facial image data, social network data, and/or professional network data, among other data sources. In various embodiments, the risk assessment may include calculating an authorization score or authenticity score based on different portions or combinations of the collected and processed data. |
| US09147108B2 |
Method for checking an optical security feature of a value document
A method for checking a prescribed optical security feature on a prescribed portion of a value document based on pixel data of pixels of an image of the portion which are associated with places on the portion and render optical properties of the value document at the places. A check is made of whether a first number of those pixels whose pixel data, according to a first prescribed criterion, lie within a first reference region prescribed for the security feature exceeds a first minimum hit value prescribed for the security feature, and whether a first scatter of the pixel data of the pixels exceeds a first minimum scatter value prescribed for the security feature. An authenticity signal is formed which represents an indication of authenticity only when the first number exceeds the first minimum hit value, and the scatter the first minimum scatter value. |
| US09147101B2 |
Method of detecting and identifying substances or mixtures and determining their characteristics
This invention relates to a method of non-contact detection and identification of the type of different substances and mixtures as well as determining their characteristics as concentration, hardness, etc. The method comprises irradiation of the inspected object by a wave pulse or a series of such pulses; reception (1), amplification (2) and analog-to-digital conversion (3) of the signal, formation of output detailing wavelet coefficients and output approximating wavelet coefficients by means of fast discrete wavelet transformation of the digitized signal, by means of Mallat's pyramidal algorithm and orthogonal base functions, filtering (7) of the output approximating and detailing wavelet coefficients up to preselected ones, comparison of the filtered approximating and/or detailing wavelet coefficients, in the capacity of recognition attributes with preselected respective reference coefficients by the classifying device (8), and according to the comparison result the presence and type is determined and/or the studied characteristics of the inspected object is determined. |
| US09147099B2 |
Apparatus and method for fingerprinting sensing
A biometric sensor apparatus and method are disclosed, which may comprise a flexible substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface opposing the first side surface; a biometric sensor portion comprising biometric image sensing elements formed on the second side surface forming at least part of a biometric sensor array sensing capacitively induced changes induced by a biometric in the vicinity of the biometric image sensing elements; a biometric sensor controller integrated circuit mounted to the flexible substrate on one of the first side surface and the second side surface of the flexible substrate; an edge surface of the flexible substrate including at least one conductively plated perforation in the flexible substrate; and an electro-static discharge element formed on or as part of the flexible substrate and electrically connected to the at least one conductively plated perforation. |
| US09147095B2 |
Optical code scanner optimized for reading 2D optical codes
An optical code scanner is presented that includes image capture technology to read optical codes. The optical code scanner captures an image of an optical code and then generates multiple reduced resolution versions of the image. Multiple techniques are applied to the different images to identify a region of interest, enhance the contrast of the image, perform a non-linear local geometrical distortion correction and minimize the spatial resolution required to read the optical code. The techniques reduce the raw processing power and time required to identify and read an optical code. |
| US09147094B2 |
Smart card connector comprising a contact rocker
This invention relates to a smart card connector (10) which has the following: a contact carrier (11) which bears read contact elements (11) which have read contacts, a cover (12) which via a top (139) of the contact carrier (11) is fastened to the latter and forms a card receiving space, a read contact element lifting device (14) which is pivotally mounted in the contact carrier, and contact/lifting surfaces made on the read contact element lifting device (14), on which surfaces the read contact elements rest, when a card which strikes the lifting device (14) is pushed in, the read contacts (171, 172) being moved into contact with the card contacts. |
| US09147091B2 |
Printing barcodes from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
Provided is a method of printing barcodes from an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. A label name is added to a barcode data in the ERP system, wherein the label name is unique to a barcode in the barcode data. The label name and the barcode data are transmitted to a server. The label name is analyzed to identify the barcode in the barcode data, and the identified barcode is replaced with a PostScript program, unique to the identified barcode, for visually rendering the identified barcode. The PostScript program, unique to the identified barcode, is transmitted for printing the identified barcode. |
| US09147090B2 |
Mesh grid protection system
A mesh grid protection system is provided. The system includes assertion logic configured to transmit a first set of signals on a first set of grid lines and a second set of grid lines. The system also includes transformation logic to transform the first set of signals to generate a second set of signals, to transmit the second set of signals on a third set of grid lines that are coupled to the first set of grid lines, and to transmit the second set of signals on a fourth set of grid lines that are coupled to the second set of grid lines. In addition, the system includes verification logic to compare the second set of signals on the third and fourth set of grid lines to an expected set of signals. |
| US09147089B2 |
Flexible printed cable and information processing device
It is an object of this invention to provide an FPC capable of improving tamper resistance. An FPC (1) of this invention includes: a signal line pattern (2) for inputting a communication signal; and signal protective line patterns (3, 4) provided to be opposed to an upper surface and a lower surface of the signal line pattern and having the same width as a width of the signal line pattern (2) or a larger width than the width of the signal line pattern (2). The signal protective line patterns are provided along the signal line pattern within a region that requires tamper resistance. |
| US09147086B1 |
Trusted computing host
A trusted computing host is described that provides various security computations and other functions in a distributed multitenant and/or virtualized computing environment. The trusted host computing device can communicate with one or more host computing devices that host virtual machines to provide a number of security-related functions, including but not limited to boot firmware measurement, cryptographic key management, remote attestation, as well as security and forensics management. The trusted computing host maintains an isolated partition for each host computing device in the environment and communicates with peripheral cards on host computing devices in order to provide one or more security functions. |
| US09147082B2 |
Electronic messaging system with configurable delivery that maintains recipient privacy
A messaging service allows message senders to reach a web site owner in the way the owner wants. Users authorized by the owner drop a message into the message service of a site owner, and it gets delivered to the site owner in exactly the manner specified by the site owner. The site owner can organize incoming messages by time, calendar, user, or viewing method. The site owner can receive messages in the way she wants, but all her friends need to know is one address, the owner's site address. |
| US09147079B2 |
Encrypted database system, client terminal, encrypted database server, natural joining method, and program
A client terminal is provided with: a column encryption unit that, from an encryption key, a table identifier, and a column identifier, generates a column private key, a column public key, and a comparison value, from which the unit generates a concealed comparison value and a ciphertext, thus encryption a particular column; and an encrypted table natural joining request unit that issues a natural joining request text that requests natural joining related to the column encrypted from the encryption key, table identifier, and column identifier. The natural joining request text contains as a table joining key the column public key and column private key that were generated by the encryption key from the table identifier of a first and second tables and the column identifier of the a-th column and b-th column. Then, an encrypted database server executes natural joining using the table joining key, and returns the result. |
| US09147075B1 |
Apparatus and method for securely logging boot-tampering actions
The disclosed apparatus may include a storage device and a secure counter. The apparatus may also include a tamper-logging component that (1) detects an action that is associated with booting untrusted images from the storage device and, in response to detecting the action, (2) securely logs the action by incrementing the secure counter. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed. |
| US09147074B2 |
Method and apparatus for securing CPUS booted using attached flash memory devices
The present disclosure describes techniques evaluating compute and/or thermal loads (among other things) to aid in managing a collection of one or more containerized or modular data centers. For example, forecasts (or real-time measurements) of environmental factors (as well as projected computing demands) may be used to tailor the compute loads, cooling strategies or other metric of data center operations for a network of containerized or modular data centers. Doing so allows an operator of such a data center network to manage specific operational goals in real time. |
| US09147067B2 |
Security method and apparatus
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising: maintaining a local database of trusted uniform resource locators (URL) where an URL is qualified to said database based on fulfilling predetermined criteria; detecting a request to access a uniform resource locator (URL); obtaining reputation data for the URL from a reputation server or from a local reputation scanner; comparing the obtained reputation data of the requested URL with the reputation data of the requested URL that is stored in the local database of trusted URLs if any; if there is a conflict between the reputation data obtained and the reputation data stored in the local database of trusted URLs, using the reputation data stored in the local database of trusted URLs to determine whether access to the URL is allowed. |
| US09147053B2 |
User authentication method, user authentication device, and program
Provided is a user authentication method including reproducing sound data of which a sound source in a first position of a space around a user is virtually localized using a Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) of the user toward the user, acquiring a second position of the space around the user, the second position being estimated by the user who has listened to the reproduced sound data as a position of the sound source; and authenticating the user according to a coincidence between the first position and the second position. |
| US09147052B2 |
Provisioning a computing system for digital rights management
Various embodiments utilize hardware-enforced boundaries to provide various aspects of digital rights management or DRM in an open computing environment. Against the backdrop of these hardware-enforced boundaries, DRM provisioning techniques are employed to provision such things as keys and DRM software code in a secure and robust way. Further, at least some embodiments utilize secure time provisioning techniques to provision time to the computing environment, as well as techniques that provide for tamper-resistant storage. |
| US09147051B2 |
Method and apparatus for maintaining content view statistics in a named data network
A client device that obtains a data object for a local user, and can detect a check-in requirement in the data object that instructs the client device to share demographic information with a content broker. The client device generates a check-in message that indicates the data object, and includes identifying information for the local user or the local client device. The client device sends the check-in message to the content broker to share the identifying information. The content broker can analyze the check-in message to determine the user's identifying information, and to determine the data object being consumed by the user. The media broker then stores or aggregates the user's demographic information in a repository, in association with the data object. The media broker generates a response packet that grants the client device access to the data object's contents, and returns the response packet to the client device. |
| US09147049B2 |
Embedded building conroller with stored software license information
A building controller unit having a building controller adapted to control one or more building components of a building, and a license file stored within the building controller unit for storing software license information. In some cases, the building controller unit may include a license server for granting and/or denying software access requests from one or more software applications running external to the building controller unit based on the software license information stored in the building controller unit. |
| US09147048B2 |
Method and apparatus for importing content having plurality of parts
A digital content protection apparatus and method for digital rights management (DRM) are provided in which a content file including a plurality of content parts is imported such that a header is included which stores location information required for decoding each of the content parts. Therefore, the number of content parts constituting the content file can be recognized, and a license that is required for the use of each of the content parts can be acquired by analyzing header information without necessitating the parsing of the transport packets of the content file. Accordingly, preparation time for using content can be reduced. |
| US09147046B2 |
Systems and methods for modulating pressure wave therapy
A processor-controlled, energy-based therapy apparatus includes a device configured to provide therapeutic energy to a patient and a processor that controls the output of the device. The output of the device is based on output profiles programmed into the processor. The output profiles include a therapeutic energy output profile and a ramp-up energy profile. The therapeutic energy output profile includes a desired target energy level and a therapeutic duration for controlling the output of the device during a therapeutic period. The ramp-up energy output profile includes an initial treatment energy level and a ramp-up duration for controlling the output of the device during a ramp-up period. The energy output specified by the ramp-up energy output profile incrementally increases over the ramp-up duration as a function of the desired target energy level and the ramp-up duration. |
| US09147041B2 |
Clinical dashboard user interface system and method
A dashboard user interface method comprises displaying a navigable list of at least one target disease, displaying a navigable list of patient identifiers associated with a target disease selected in the target disease list, displaying historic and current data associated with a patient in the patient list identified as being associated with the selected target disease, including clinician notes at admission, receiving, storing, and displaying review's comments, and displaying automatically-generated intervention and treatment recommendations. |
| US09147035B1 |
Verifying method of optical proximity correction
A verifying method of an optical proximity correction is provided. The verifying method includes the following steps. A first netlist file is extracted from an integrated pre-OPC layout. A first post-OPC layout and a second post-OPC layout are merged to be an integrated post-OPC layout. A second netlist file is extracted from the integrated post-OPC layout. The first netlist file and the second netlist are compared. |
| US09147033B2 |
Method of making photomask layout and method of forming photomask including the photomask layout
A method of making a photomask layout is provided. A graphic data of a photomask is provided. The graphic data includes at least one rectangular pattern. A correction step is performed to the graphic data by using a computer. The correction step includes adding a substantially ring-shaped pattern inside the rectangular pattern. A method of forming a photomask by using the photomask layout obtained by the said method is also provided. In an embodiment, the photomask is suitable for defining micro-lenses of a solid-state image sensor. |
| US09147027B2 |
Chip cross-section identification and rendering during failure analysis
A defective integrated circuit (IC) is analyzed to identify a portion of the integrated circuit possibly containing an electrical defect. A computer is used to process the design information of the integrated circuit and to navigate to the physical portion of the integrated circuit where potential electrical defect might be found. The design information includes information on the layout and the technology used to fabricate the integrated circuit. A three-dimensional view of the portion of the design of integrated circuit where the electrical defect might be found is rendered, based on the design information for the integrated circuit. |
| US09147021B2 |
Data processing method and device using the same
A computer implemented data processing method for recursively approximating a proper value for a target matrix includes the following steps of: determining whether the target matrix corresponds to a low complexity condition; if so, obtaining a first updated target matrix according to a first variance, relevant to a second iteration parameter, and a first iteration parameter, wherein the first and the second iteration parameters correspond to fixed values; if not, obtaining a second updated target matrix according to a second variance, relevant to a fourth iteration parameter, and a third iteration parameter, wherein the third and the fourth parameters are related to the target matrix. |
| US09147013B2 |
Wireless sensor with FRAM
A wireless sensor module for use in a wireless sensor network. The sensor module collects sensor data in a periodic manner with a first time period. The sensor data is logged in a non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) within the sensor module. The sensor module is placed in a reduced power idle mode between sensor data collection periods, wherein the logged sensor data is preserved by the FRAM during the idle mode. A representation of the logged sensor data is transmitted over a radio channel to a remote receiver in a periodic manner with a second time period, wherein the second time period is longer than the first time period. |
| US09147010B2 |
Reconfiguring an operator graph based on attribute usage
A first processing element may be initially configured to transmit a first output stream to a second processing element. The second processing element may be initially configured to transmit a second output stream to a third processing element. The tuples of the first and second output streams may have the first and second attributes. It may be determined whether the first attribute is to be first processed at the second processing element (first condition) and whether the second attribute is to be first processed at the third processing element (second condition). When the first and second conditions are met, the first processing element may be reconfigured to transmit a third output stream to the second processing element and a fourth output stream to the third processing element. The third output stream may have only the first attribute. The fourth output stream may have only the second attribute. |
| US09147007B2 |
Query expression conversion apparatus, query expression conversion method, and computer program product
A query expression conversion apparatus includes a first generating unit, a first storage unit, an input unit, a conversion unit, and an output unit. The first generating unit periodically acquires structured data from a data set, analyzes the acquired structured data, and generates structural information of the data set. The first storage unit stores the structural information generated by the first generating unit so as to be associated with the unique address of the data set. The input unit inputs the unique address of the data set to be queried and the query expression having the structure of data as a condition. The conversion unit converts the query expression input from the input unit so as to be suitable for the structural information corresponding to the unique address of the data set input from the input unit. The output unit outputs a converted query expression converted by the conversion unit. |
| US09147005B1 |
Consistently delivering a web page having source code with a dynamic instruction
According to some implementations, a method, system and computer program product for consistently delivering a web page having source code with a dynamic instruction is provided. The method begins with a copy of the source code being stored and analyzed to identify the dynamic instruction. A uniformity profile of the web page is generated based on the analyzing, the uniformity profile specifying a modification to a portion of the dynamic instruction to maintain consistent delivery of the web page. The portion of the dynamic instruction is modified based on the uniformity profile, and the first modified copy of the source code is delivered to a client. The portion of the dynamic instruction is modified based on the uniformity profile, resulting in a second modified dynamic instruction. Finally, a second modified copy of the source code is delivered to a client. |
| US09147003B2 |
System and method for digital evidence analysis and authentication
The system disclosed provides an efficient mechanism for acquiring email and other data from remote systems in a forensically sound manner. Email for users can be requested by investigators from email servers across the country. It is then be automatically acquired and made available to the examiner, subject to approval, and any others he deems have a need-to-know on a web based system. The data can be searched and bookmarked, and the bookmarks shared. Data can also be uploaded manually and combined with email data in the searching, bookmarking, and sharing. |
| US09147002B2 |
System and method for content storage and retrieval
A method includes storing content graph information regarding individual items of content accessed by one or more users of a system, storing path graph information comprising the order in which each of the one or more users accessed individual items of content, and selecting individual items of content to be presented to a subsequent user of the system and an order in which such individual items of content are presented to the subsequent user based on the stored content graph information and the stored path graph information. |
| US09147000B2 |
Method and system for recommending websites
Method, apparatus, and programs for recommending websites. Information related to a user's browsing history of a plurality of websites is obtained. A browsing co-occurrence of at least some of the plurality of websites in one or more time periods is determined based on the obtained information related to the user's browsing history. The plurality of websites are assigned to a plurality of website groups based on the determined browsing co-occurrence. Each of the plurality of website groups is associated with one of the one or more time periods. At least one of the plurality of website groups is presented to the user based on their associated time periods. |
| US09146996B2 |
Embedded business metadata
A methodology is disclosed for improving searches of a distributed Internet network. A distributed Internet network is searched for a particular information type, searching for a field identified using a predetermined identifier indicating that the field comprises information of the particular information type. When the field identified using the predetermined identifier is found, an association of the contents of the field with the search results is made, and repeated using the same predetermined identifier. Information of a particular information type may then be served in a field identified using a predetermined identifier that identifies the field as containing information of the particular information type. |
| US09146992B2 |
Enriching web resources
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for enriching web resources In one aspect, a method includes: sending a request for a web resource to a web server, receiving the requested document from the web server, sending an identifier of the received web resource to a search engine server, retrieving from a cached storage of the search engine server one or more trigger terms associated with the web resource, extracting the parametric values of each trigger term associated with the web resource, modifying the web resource by embedding an answer box gadget for each trigger term in the web resource using the parametric values of the each trigger term, and rendering the modified web resource in the requesting client device. |
| US09146991B2 |
Apparatus and method for user configurable content interface and continuously playing player
Disclosed is a web browser based content management application with an integrated user configurable content interface whereby a user can manage a wide variety of content using a single window. The user interface includes a “browser window in a browser window” that provides transparent access to a host of underlying applications that are configured to manage the user's interaction with a wide variety of content, including multimedia content delivered via the Internet. The windowing functionality of the content management application can be set to automatically reconfigure based on the number and type of content accessed. A continuously playing video player is configured to appear within a web page when a user browses to the first web page and to render video overlayed on the web page. The player is configured to play the same video stream continuously while a user browses from the web page to a second web page. |
| US09146990B2 |
Search and identification of video content
Methods and systems for searching for and retrieving video content via fingerprint matching are described. In some example embodiments, the methods and systems access an index of reference fingerprints, such as quantized values associated with multiple values calculated from patches of a frame, that are associated with sequential frames of known video content. The methods and systems may receive a search query that includes a group of query fingerprints associated with sequential frames of video content presented at a client device, access the index, compare the group of query fingerprints to reference fingerprints of the index, determine that the group of query fingerprints match the reference fingerprints of the index, and identify the video content presented at the client device based on the determined match. |
| US09146989B2 |
Analytic comparison of libraries and playlists
Digital goods libraries are compared via their datasets, which include organizational data and history data. Potential comparison results include a shared multiple natural languages presence, shared genre frequency change, shared artist frequency change, shared digital good frequency change, shared outlier presence, shared similar songs presence, and/or shared recommendable goods presence. Proper subsets of datasets may be specified by playlist, genre, artist, category, date, play frequency, and/or play count, and then compared. Comparison results may be visualized, such as playlist content over time, play frequency over time, and/or play count over time. Some results include printed or spoken text such as an artist name, actor name, author name, genre name, and/or review content. Control over disclosure of library owner identity is provided. In some cases a dataset is compared with multiple datasets in a group, e.g., to help assess compatibility between a prospective member and current members of the group. |
| US09146985B2 |
Techniques for evaluating patent impacts
Techniques for evaluating patent impacts are provided. A claim of a patent is normalized and an abstract of the claim is generated. The abstract is used to search a repository of target sources and their corresponding abstracts. Related abstracts found during the search are returned for purposes of evaluating the claim in view of data sources associated with the related abstracts. |
| US09146976B2 |
Synchronization and reconciliation through identification
A system and method to synchronize and reconcile objects are described. The system includes a memory device storing a first baseline including a set of first objects associated with a respective set of first identifiers and a second baseline including a set of second objects associated with a respective set of second identifiers. The system also includes a processor configured to determine a kinship among the set of first objects and the set of second objects based on the set of first identifiers and the set of second identifiers and to create a new baseline based on reconciling any conflict identified by the kinship. |
| US09146975B2 |
Systems and methods for integration of business applications with enterprise content management systems
Various arrangements for managing access to unstructured data are presented. A plurality of access requests may be received from a plurality of remote computer systems to a plurality of business entities stored by a content management server. In response to receiving a request for access to a business entity of the plurality of business entities stored by a content management server from a remote computer system, an identifier request may be transmitted to the content management server. A response from the content management server may be received in response to the identifier request. A resource locator that comprises the identifier may be created. The resource locator may be transmitted to the remote computer system for use in accessing the business entity. |
| US09146972B2 |
Ranking of presentation modes for particular content
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for scoring and ranking environmental views of particular content. In an aspect, a method determines, for each presentation mode of a content item, a presentation mode score for the presentation mode based on presentation mode signals, each presentation mode score being an indicator of quality of the presentation mode; selecting the presentation mode having presentation mode score indicating a highest quality relative to the quality indicated to the other presentation modes by the other presentation mode scores; and providing the search results to a user device for presentation according to the presentation order, each search result referencing a corresponding content item, and wherein the search result for the content item having the plurality of presentation modes is provided according to the selected presentation mode. |
| US09146970B2 |
Inline graphic scoper integrated with a search navigator
A method for searching data on a computer system is provided. The method includes the displaying of a plurality of navigation nodes in a graphical navigation string on a display. The navigation nodes comprise a navigation hierarchy, having a first level and a second level. The method further includes the displaying of a finder field on the display adjacent to the plurality of navigation nodes in the graphical navigation string for searching the first level of the navigation hierarchy. It also includes the displaying of a navigation scope bar for searching the second level of the navigation hierarchy. Additionally, it includes a processor that determines a refined search criteria based on a movement of the navigation scope bar with respect to a navigation node within the plurality of navigation nodes in the graphical navigation string. The method further includes the sending of the refined search criteria to a search engine. |
| US09146969B2 |
System and method of reduction of irrelevant information during search
A system including a context-entity factory configured to build a data model defining an ontology of data objects that are context-aware, the model further defining metadata tags for the data objects. The system further includes a storage device storing the data objects as stored data objects, the device further storing associated contexts for corresponding ones of the stored objects. The system further includes a reduction component configured to capture a current context value of a first data object defined in the ontology, the component further configured to compare the current context value of the first data object with stored values of the associated contexts, and wherein when the current context value does not match a particular stored value of a particular associated context, the component is further configured to remove a corresponding particular stored data object and the particular associated context from the stored data objects. |
| US09146967B2 |
Multi-stage query processing system and method for use with tokenspace repository
A multi-stage query processing system and method enables multi-stage query scoring, including “snippet” generation, through incremental document reconstruction facilitated by a multi-tiered mapping scheme. At one or more stages of a multi-stage query processing system a set of relevancy scores are used to select a subset of documents for presentation as an ordered list to a user. The set of relevancy scores can be derived in part from one or more sets of relevancy scores determined in prior stages of the multi-stage query processing system. In some embodiments, the multi-stage query processing system is capable of executing one or more passes on a user query, and using information from each pass to expand the user query for use in a subsequent pass to improve the relevancy of documents in the ordered list. |
| US09146965B2 |
Information processor, privilege management method, program, and recording medium
In an information technology (IT) environment, a technique to manage privileges given to personnel to whom a process is assigned. An information processor includes: a configuration management database that stores resources, personnel, processes, and privileges provided on the resources as configuration items, respectively, the configuration management database prescribing relations between the configuration items including a privilege-dependency relationship between a privilege on a resource and a privilege on another resource required to exercise the privilege, a privilege-request relationship between a process and a privilege required for the process, and a privilege-giving relationship between the personnel and the privilege given to the personnel; and a privilege deriving unit for deriving a goal state of a privilege to be given to corresponding personnel by following the relation with the privilege on the resource required for a process to be executed used as a reference point by referring to the configuration management database. |
| US09146964B2 |
Providing results to parameterless search queries
In one implementation, a computer-implemented method includes receiving a parameterless search request, which was provided to a mobile computing device, for information that is relevant to a user of the mobile computing device. The method also includes, in response to the received parameterless search request, identifying with a digital computer system one or more results that are determined to be relevant to the user of the mobile computing device based upon a current context of the mobile computing device. The method further includes providing the results for display to a user of the mobile computing device. |
| US09146962B1 |
Identifying events using informational fields
A computer system determines if events in a machine data store satisfy event selection criteria, the event selection criteria including a first field-value pair. To determine if one of the events satisfies the event selection criteria, the computer system compares the first field-value pair of the event selection criteria with a second field-value pair from an entity definition associated with the event by using a third field-value pair from data corresponding to the event in the machine data store. |
| US09146956B2 |
Statistical applications in OLTP environment
The present disclosure provides a method of statistical application in an OLTP environment to reduce the intensive computational load of invoking SQL statements for statistical calculations. The method introduces a time element into statistical records, and use the time element to determine the time status of previously computed statistical records. Upon receiving a query for a statistical record, the system first searches for an existing copy of the statistical record, and checks the time status of the statistical record if found. The system sends the statistical record to the inquirer if the record exists and is unexpired, and invokes an SQL statement to compute the statistical record only if the record does not exist or has expired. The statistical records may be placed in statistical table in a database and/or a cache of an application server. The disclosed strategy may also increase attack resistance of the system. |
| US09146948B2 |
Hilbert ordering of multidimensional tuples within computing systems
A system provides multidimensional tuple Hilbert ordering within a linear storage structure to enable more consistent and efficient access to stored multidimensional tuples. The database system comprises a tuple storage module that receives multidimensional data elements, where each multidimensional data element is defined by a plurality of different object types, and where each object is associated with a different dimension within a multidimensional data space. The tuple storage module further forms a respective tuple for each of the multidimensional data elements by mapping each object to an associated reference and applies a Hilbert function to the references of each of the tuples to determine a respective Hilbert ordering for each of the tuples. The system further comprises a linear data storage structure that includes a B-tree for storing the Hilbert ordering. |
| US09146945B2 |
Automated system and method of data scrubbing
A system and method enabling automated data cleansing and scrubbing at the attribute level is disclosed. A consolidated view may be provided of the scrubbed data or narratives that gets promoted to a final copy and the data or narratives received from multiple sources on a single user interface. |
| US09146940B2 |
Systems, methods and apparatus for providing content based on a collection of images
Systems, methods, articles of manufacture and apparatus provide for an augmented media experience. In some embodiments, the recognition of an image (e.g., by a mobile device and/or a central server) results in providing at least one associated media file to a user (e.g., via a display device). |
| US09146934B2 |
Reduced disk space standby
A method and system for replicating database data is provided. One or more standby database replicas can be used for servicing read-only queries, and the amount of storage required is scalable in the size of the primary database storage. One technique is described for combining physical database replication to multiple physical databases residing within a common storage system that performs de-duplication. Having multiple physical databases allows for many read-only queries to be processed, and the de-duplicating storage system provides scalability in the size of the primary database storage. Another technique uses one or more diskless standby database systems that share a read-only copy of physical standby database files. Notification messages provide consistency between each diskless system's in-memory cache and the state of the shared database files. Use of a transaction sequence number ensures that each database system only accesses versions of data blocks that are consistent with a transaction checkpoint. |
| US09146933B2 |
Compressed storage access system with uncompressed frequent use data
Storage system that includes: an address search section for i) storing an address for frequent use data and a data index assigned to the address, ii) acquiring an address of write or read data, and iii) searching stored addresses with the acquired address, a frequent use data storage section for i) storing a tag related to the use data and the index, ii) acquiring the index when an address acquired by the search section has hit a stored address, and iii) identifying frequent use data that corresponds to the tag, a data comparator for i) acquiring the frequent use data from the storage section, ii) comparing the data with write data, and iii) identifying frequent use data that hit the write data, and an compression-expansion section for acquiring and compressing the write data and the frequent use data from the comparator, and for acquiring the read data. |
| US09146930B2 |
Method and apparatus for file storage
A method and apparatus for file storage is disclosed, wherein the method comprises: recording meta-data information of a folder, and storing the meta-data information into key-value databases; and, when the folder includes at least one sub-folder list and/or file list thereunder, storing the contents of the at least one sub-folder list and/or file list included under the folder in secondary keys based on the primary key. The method achieves “open ended” unlimited expansion of data in a directory tree storage. The use of the “open ended” unlimited data expansion scheme avoids bottlenecks related to underlying data storage when accumulated data become large. In comparison with the prior art method, the method splits and stores large data into multiple secondary keys for uniform data distribution, thereby enhances storage stability of storage databases and facilitates data expansion and systems' transaction operations. |
| US09146929B2 |
Automatic resource ownership assignment system and method
A method for automatic folder ownership assignment, including ascertaining which first folders, among a first multiplicity of folders, have at least one of modify and write permissions to non-IT administration entities, adding the first folders to a list of candidates for ownership assignment, defining a second multiplicity of folders which is a subset of the first multiplicity of folders and not including the first folders and descendents and ancestors thereof, ascertaining which second folders among the second multiplicity of folders, have permissions to non-IT administration entities, adding the second folders to the candidates, defining a third multiplicity of folders, which is a subset of the second multiplicity of folders and not including the second folders and descendents and ancestors thereof, ascertaining which third folders among the third multiplicity of folders are topmost folders, adding the third folders to the candidates, and recommending possible assignment of ownership of the candidates. |
| US09146928B1 |
Techniques for storing metadata of a filesystem in persistent memory
A method is presented for operating a filesystem. The method includes (a) storing data of the filesystem in a data storage filesystem (DSFS) in block-addressable non-volatile storage and (b) storing metadata of the filesystem in a metadata filesystem (MDFS) separate from the DSFS, at least a portion of the metadata being stored in word-addressable memory (WAM) having a persistence feature. Several embodiments are described for achieving this, using, for example, only non-volatile WAM, while other embodiments are described using, for example, a combination of volatile WAM and persistence techniques, while yet other embodiments are described using, for example, a combination of persistence-enhanced WAM and data storage. |
| US09146920B2 |
Transactional memory that performs an atomic look-up, add and lock operation
A transactional memory (TM) receives an Atomic Look-up, Add and Lock (ALAL) command across a bus from a client. The command includes a first value. The TM pulls a second value. The TM uses the first value to read a set of memory locations, and determines if any of the locations contains the second value. If no location contains the second value, then the TM locks a vacant location, adds the second value to the vacant location, and sends a result to the client. If a location contains the second value and it is not locked, then the TM locks the location and returns a result to the client. If a location contains the second value and it is locked, then the TM returns a result to the client. Each location has an associated data structure. Setting the lock field of a location locks access to its associated data structure. |
| US09146912B1 |
Systems and methods for automated taxonomy concept replacement in an XBRL document
An XBRL extension taxonomy concept replacement system includes: a computer processor having a memory on which a program executable by the processor is stored for performing a method of XBRL extension taxonomy concept replacement; an XBRL taxonomy module including an XBRL extension taxonomy having XBRL extension taxonomy concepts and an XBRL base taxonomy having related XBRL base taxonomy concepts; and an automated superfluous XBRL extension taxonomy concept detection module that analyzes an XBRL document having XBRL tags and identifies an XBRL extension taxonomy concept of an XBRL extension taxonomy that is superfluous in comparison with an XBRL base taxonomy concept of an XBRL base taxonomy upon which the XBRL extension taxonomy is based. |
| US09146909B2 |
Web browsing enhanced by cloud computing
Methods and devices include a server and at least two web browsers operable on at least two different computing devices. Each browser reports results of processing and rendering of webpages to the server. The server aggregates the data. The server generates metadata from the aggregated browsers. The server transmits the generated metadata to at least one computing device. The computing device renders a webpage using at least a portion of the provided metadata. The metadata may identify portions of JavaScript that can be processed in parallel. The metadata may identify a library portion that does not have to be loaded. The metadata may identify a portion of the webpage that may be rendered first before a second portion of the webpage. Returning metadata to the computing device can assist the computing device in parsing, analyzing or executing the request for the webpage. |
| US09146908B2 |
Validating an XML document
At least one XML document to be validated is parsed, and XML data in the at least one XML document is represented as data objects in at least one data object model in a memory. At least one rule document is parsed and a rule object model is created in the memory. At least part of the data objects are extracted from the at least one data object model and at least part of rule objects are extracted from the rule object model. Validation is performed in a corresponding execution context for the extracted at least part of the data objects based upon the extracted at least part of the rule objects. |
| US09146906B1 |
Modifying a webpage display based on a referrer web address
Systems and methods for modifying a webpage display based on a referrer web address are provided. In some aspects, a method includes receiving a request for a webpage. The request includes one or more referrer web addresses. The webpage includes multiple comments. The method also includes modifying a representation of an output for the webpage based on the one or more referrer web addresses. Modifying the representation of the output for the webpage includes arranging at least a subset of the multiple comments according to an order based on the one or more referrer web addresses. The method also includes providing the modified representation of the output for the webpage for generating a display on a client computing device. |
| US09146905B2 |
Generating page-oriented data for printing dynamic documents
For generating from variable data page-oriented data for printing dynamic documents, a layout module (13) is linked in series with one or more data processing modules (121, 122) to a data input module (11). The data input module (11) loads (S3) a part of the variable data into local memory and passes it by reference through the data processing modules (121, 122) to the layout module (13). The data processing modules (121, 122) are configured to read (S8c, S13c, S13f) a data field from the variable data in the local memory only in cases where the data field is to be processed by the respective data processing module. The layout module (13) generates (S8) the page-oriented data output from unprocessed and pre-processed data fields, defined in each case by a respective pointer from the data processing modules. Thereby, allocation and de-allocation of local memory is reduced and performance improved. |
| US09146903B2 |
Method of using spatially independent subsets of data to calculate vertical trend curve uncertainty of spatially correlated reservoir data
A method, implemented on a computer, for calculating vertical trend curve uncertainty of spatially correlated reservoir data. The method includes inputting, into the computer, a sample reservoir data comprising correlated data; applying, using the computer, a variogram to the sample reservoir data to select a plurality of subsets of data, the subsets of data being substantially less correlated than the sample reservoir data; and applying, using the computer, a bootstrap process on each of the plurality of subsets of data to obtain a plurality of bootstrap data sets from each of the plurality of subsets of data. The method further includes calculating vertical trend curves for each of the obtained plurality of bootstrap data sets, ranking the vertical trend curves by using a selected statistical parameter to obtain ranked vertical trend curves, and characterizing the uncertainty based on the ranked vertical trend curves. |
| US09146902B2 |
Parallel computation of matrix problems
In order to perform computation concerning a large sparse matrix of values, a computer stores in its memory the nonzero values of each row and as many null or preferably zero values as are required to make up a predetermined number of stored values for each row. Associated column indices are also stored. Storage in this format can be carried out by massively parallel processing using a graphics processing unit. The format is acceptable input for programs written to expect input in conventional compressed sparse row format yet avoids the constraints which enforce serial processing in order to store in that conventional format. |
| US09146898B2 |
Driver assist system with algorithm switching
A driver assist system for a vehicle includes an object detection sensor disposed at the vehicle and having an exterior field of view and a receiver operable to receive a wireless communication from a communication device remote from the vehicle. The wireless communication is associated with a driving condition of another vehicle and/or a road condition of interest to the driver of the vehicle. A control is operable to process data captured by the object detection sensor to detect an object exterior of the vehicle. The driver assist system is operable to adjust the data processing responsive at least in part to the received wireless communication. Responsive to the data processing, an alert is operable to alert the driver of the vehicle of a potential hazard and/or a system of the vehicle is operable to control a vehicle function to mitigate or avoid a potential hazard condition. |
| US09146893B1 |
Server facilitated content distribution
Described herein are systems and methods for initiating on a first device distribution and presentation of content to a second device. A server facilitates the distribution by determining a presentation context of the second device. Based at least in part on the presentation context, the server retrieves and processes the content and provides output content to the second device for presentation. A consolidated content list may also be maintained. The consolidated content list allows the user to add content for later consumption, or access the content, regardless of the content provider supplying the content. |
| US09146889B2 |
Method and device for sending and receiving data
The disclosure discloses a method and device for sending and receiving data, which are used to solve the problem that the existing device having the function of the laser pen and the function of the data card cannot implement the integrated control over the function of the laser pen and the function of the data card. The device includes a main module and a connection module. The connection module is configured to connect to a PC by using a USB mode, and the main module communicates with the connection module by high frequency. The method for sending data includes: the main module encapsulates data to be sent according to a type of the data to be sent and identification information corresponding to the type of the data, and sends the encapsulated data to the connection module; and the connection module decapsulates the encapsulated data and sends the decapsulated data to the PC. Since the device determines the identification information corresponding to the type according to the type of the received data, and encapsulates the identification information and the data, in order to be capable of performing corresponding processing when needed, so that intelligent integration of the function of the laser pen and the function of the data card is implemented and an intelligent control over the function of the laser pen is implemented. |
| US09146886B2 |
Deterministic message processing in a direct memory access adapter
Deterministic message processing in a direct memory access (DMA) adapter includes the DMA adapter incrementing from a sub-head pointer, the sub-tail pointer until encountering an out-of-sequence packet. The DMA adapter also consumes packets between the sub-head pointer and the sub-tail pointer including incrementing with the consumption of each packet, the sub-head pointer until determining that the sub-head pointer is equal to the sub-tail pointer. In response to determining that the sub-head pointer is equal to the sub-tail pointer, the DMA adapter determines that the next in-sequence packet is not in the first FIFO message queue. In response to determining that the next in-sequence packet is not in the first FIFO message queue and that the first FIFO message queue exceeds a threshold capacity, the DMA controller copies the contents of the first FIFO message queue into the second FIFO message queue. |
| US09146877B2 |
Storage system capable of managing a plurality of snapshot families and method of snapshot family based read
A method for a snapshot family based reading of data units from a storage system, the method comprises: receiving a read request for reading a requested data entity, searching in a cache memory of the storage system for a matching cached data entity, if not finding the matching cached data entity then: searching for one or more relevant data entity candidates stored in the storage system; selecting, out of the one or more relevant data entity candidates, a selected relevant data entity that has a content that has a highest probability, out of contents of the one or more relevant data entity candidates, to be equal to the content of the requested data entity; and responding to the read request by sending the selected relevant data entity. |
| US09146872B2 |
Coherent attached processor proxy supporting master parking
In response to receiving a memory access request and expected coherence state at an attached processor at a coherent attached processor proxy (CAPP), the CAPP determines that a conflicting request is being serviced. In response to determining that the CAPP is servicing a conflicting request and that the expected state matches, a master machine of the CAPP is allocated in a Parked state to service the memory access request after completion of service of the conflicting request. The Parked state prevents servicing by the CAPP of a further conflicting request snooped on the system fabric. In response to completion of service of the conflicting request, the master machine transitions out of the Parked state and issues on the system fabric a memory access request corresponding to that received from AP. |
| US09146870B2 |
Performance of accesses from multiple processors to a same memory location
A processing apparatus comprising: several processors for processing data; a hierarchical memory system comprising a memory accessible to all the processors, and several caches corresponding to each of the processors, each of the caches being accessible to the corresponding processor and comprising storage locations and corresponding indicators. There is also cache coherency control circuitry for maintaining coherency of data stored in the hierarchical memory system. The processors are configured to respond to receipt of a predefined request to perform an operation on a data item to determine if the cache corresponding to the processor receiving the request has a storage location allocated to the data item. If not, the processing apparatus is configured to: allocate a storage location within the cache to the data item, set the indicator corresponding to the storage location to indicate that the storage location is storing a delta value, set data in the allocated storage location to an initial value. The processor is configured in response to the predefined request to perform the operation on data within the storage location allocated to the data item. |
| US09146866B2 |
Semiconductor device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a device. The device includes a decoder, a generation circuit, a register, and a modifier. The decoder analyzes a command of a received packet. The generation circuit generates a unique device number in accordance with information in the packet. The register holds the generated unique device number. The modifier updates and outputs the packet. When a packet issued by a host is a command packet, among broadcast packets which return to the host through one or more devices, for determining the unique device number, the command packet includes parameters of an initial value and final value of device number. |
| US09146865B2 |
Operating a dual-ported internal memory
There is provided a method for updating an internal memory on a semiconductor device from an external memory. The external memory is arranged in a plurality of data portions. The method comprises the steps of writing a first data portion from the external memory to the internal memory, processing the first data portion and, while the first data portion is being processed, once a selected data item is processed, starting to write a second data portion from the external memory to the internal memory. The method may be applied to the processing of software by an embedded processor on a semiconductor device. There is also provided a semiconductor device and a hardware module for the semiconductor device. |
| US09146864B2 |
Address mapping including generic bits for universal addressing independent of memory type
Embodiments relate to address mapping including generic bits. An aspect includes receiving an address including generic bits from a memory control unit (MCU) by a buffer module in a main memory. Another aspect includes mapping the generic bits to an address format corresponding to a type of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in a memory subsystem associated with the buffer module by the buffer module. Yet another aspect includes accessing a physical location in the DRAM in the memory subsystem by the buffer module based on the mapped generic bits. |
| US09146862B2 |
Optimizing memory usage across multiple garbage collected computer environments
A method, information processing system, and computer readable storage medium, vary a maximum heap memory size for one application of a plurality of applications based on monitoring garbage collection activity levels for the plurality of applications, each application including a heap memory, and unused memory in the heap memory being reclaimed by a garbage collector. |
| US09146859B2 |
Information processing apparatus, method, and program for improving use efficiency of a storage apparatus
There is provided an information processing apparatus including a rewrite frequency management section configured to manage a rewrite frequency of a page included in a nonvolatile primary storage apparatus having an upper limit in the rewrite frequency, and a data processing section configured, when an instruction for writing write data to a predetermined page is issued and a rewrite frequency of the predetermined page reaches a threshold value that is less than the upper limit of the rewrite frequency of the primary storage apparatus, to write the write data to another page different from the predetermined page, the other page storing no effective data and having a rewrite frequency that does not reach the threshold value. |
| US09146857B2 |
Method for mapping management
A method for mapping management is disclosed. The steps of the method comprises sending data from a host; programming a host data a non-volatile storage device; updating a mapping address to a Physical Entry to Logical (PE2L) mapping table stored in a SRAM; updating a Physical Entry (PE) status table; checking if the PE2L mapping table is full; if no, loop to the step of programming a non-violate storage device; if yes, remove invalid entries in the PE2L mapping table and update the PE status table, and then run next step; transferring part of the PE2L mapping table to a Logical to Physical (L2P) mapping table stored in the non-volatile storage device; and programming the L2P mapping table to the non-volatile storage device and looping to the step of removing invalid entries in the PE2L mapping table and updating the PE status table. |
| US09146851B2 |
Single-level cell and multi-level cell hybrid solid state drive
A solid state drive (SSD) having a first memory portion comprising SLC flash memory and a second memory portion comprising MLC flash memory. The first memory portion may store read/write data, and the second memory portion may store read-only or read-mostly data. In some instances, the second memory portion may store historical data. The present disclosure also relates to a method of data progression in a hybrid solid state drive having both single-level cell (SLC) flash memory and multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory. The method may include monitoring write operations to the SLC memory, determining whether the frequency of write operations to a particular portion of the SLC memory is below a determined threshold, and moving the data stored in the particular portion of the SLC memory to the MLC memory. |
| US09146850B2 |
Data storage system with dynamic read threshold mechanism and method of operation thereof
A system and method of operation of a data storage system includes: a memory die for determining a middle read threshold; a control unit, coupled to the memory die, for calculating a lower read threshold and an upper read threshold based on the middle read threshold and a memory element age; and a memory interface, coupled to the memory die, for reading a memory page of the memory die using the lower read threshold, the middle read threshold, or the upper read threshold for compensating for a charge variation. |
| US09146846B2 |
Programmable physical address mapping for memory
A memory implements a programmable physical address mapping that can change to reflect changing memory access patterns, observed or anticipated, to the memory. The memory employs address decode logic that can implement any of a variety of physical address mappings between physical addresses and corresponding memory locations. The physical address mappings may locate the data within one or more banks and rows of the memory so as to facilitate more efficient memory accesses for a given access pattern. The programmable physical address mapping employed by the hardware of the memory can include, but is not limited to, hardwired logic gates, programmable look-up tables or other mapping tables, reconfigurable logic, or combinations thereof. The physical address mapping may be programmed for the entire memory or on a per-memory region basis. |
| US09146845B1 |
Systems and methods for provisioning nodes of a packet network
The present disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for provisioning nodes of a packet network. Rather than requiring a user to individually set the configuration parameters of each node to achieve a desired behavior, the user is presented with options of various predefined network behaviors and/or the option of customizing a network behavior, such as a queuing, scheduling, or shaping profile, and each node is configured to automatically provision its configuration parameters to implement the desired behavior. Information is passed from node-to-node so that each node can automatically provision its settings to implement such behavior. Thus, the network is automatically provisioned thereby facilitating the provisioning process. Automatic provisioning also helps to ensure a correct network configuration. Indeed, since the provisioning is automatic, at least some manual provisioning errors may be prevented. |
| US09146844B2 |
Apparatus, method, and system for providing a decision mechanism for conditional commits in an atomic region
An apparatus and method is described herein for conditionally committing and/or speculative checkpointing transactions, which potentially results in dynamic resizing of transactions. During dynamic optimization of binary code, transactions are inserted to provide memory ordering safeguards, which enables a dynamic optimizer to more aggressively optimize code. And the conditional commit enables efficient execution of the dynamic optimization code, while attempting to prevent transactions from running out of hardware resources. While the speculative checkpoints enable quick and efficient recovery upon abort of a transaction. Processor hardware is adapted to support dynamic resizing of the transactions, such as including decoders that recognize a conditional commit instruction, a speculative checkpoint instruction, or both. And processor hardware is further adapted to perform operations to support conditional commit or speculative checkpointing in response to decoding such instructions. |
| US09146838B2 |
Code and model coverage as a time series
A device receives code that is an executable representation of a dynamic system that includes a behavior that changes over time, and executes one or more portions of the code. The device determines coverage information associated with the executing code, where the coverage information provides a measure of completeness associated with the executing code. The device receives a selected option for displaying the coverage information, and provides for display a time-based view of the coverage information based on the selected option. The device permits a user to manipulate one or more time periods associated with the time-based view. |
| US09146831B2 |
Sampling based runtime optimizer for efficient debugging of applications
A method of reproducing runtime environment for debugging an application is disclosed. The method includes accessing an optimizer file from a non-volatile storage medium. The optimizer file includes a runtime environment, application definition information, and a log. The log includes summaries of a plurality of events, the plurality of actions, and a time mark of occurrence for each of the plurality of actions. A runtime environment for debugging the application is then defined and the application runtime is set up using the application definition information in the optimizer file. Further, the method includes running the application and attaching an optimizer, then triggering each of the plurality of actions to occur at each time mark of occurrence associated with the each of the plurality of actions, and analyzing each of the plurality of actions and the plurality of events associated with the each of the plurality of actions, the analyzing includes comparing the events produced by running the application with the plurality of events in the optimizer file. If a fault is produced by the triggering, a debugger is invoked to analyze the fault. |
| US09146821B2 |
Methods and systems for monitoring write operations of non-volatile memory
Systems and methods are disclosed for monitoring the time it takes to perform a write operation, and based on the time it takes, a determination is made whether to retire a block that is a recipient of the write operation. The time duration of the write operation for a page or a combination of pages may indicate whether any block or blocks containing the page or combination of pages is experiencing a physical failure. That is, if the time duration of the write operation for a particular page exceeds time threshold, this may indicate that this page requires a larger number of program cycles than other pages. The longer programming cycle can be an indication of cell leakage or a failing block. |
| US09146820B2 |
WSAN simultaneous failures recovery method
The WSAN simultaneous failures recovery method ranks each node based on the number of hops to a pre-designated root node in the network. The method identifies some nodes as cluster heads based on the number of their children in the recovery tree. The method assigns a recovery weight and a nearby cluster node to each node. Nearby cluster nodes serve as gateways to other nodes that belong to that cluster. The recovery weight is used to decide which node is better to move in order to achieve lower recovery cost. The recovery method uses the same on-going set of actors to restore connectivity. Simulation results have demonstrated that the recovery method can achieve low recovery cost per failed node in small and large networks. The results have also shown that clustering leads to lower recovery cost if the sub-network needs to re-establish links with the rest of the network. |
| US09146819B2 |
Using RDMA for fast system recovery in virtualized environments
A method, system and computer program product are disclosed for recovery in a virtualized environment using remote direct memory access (RDMA). In one embodiment, the method comprises operating a virtual computer system on a physical computer system, and the virtual system maintains in a memory area a record of a state of the virtual system. In this method, when defined error conditions occur on the virtual system, RDMA is used to pull the record of the state of the virtual system from that memory area onto a standby computer. This record on the standby computer is used to re-initialize the virtual computer. Embodiments of the invention provide methods that provide a very fast recovery from a virtual machine fault or error, while requiring much fewer resources than standard approaches. In embodiments of the invention, one spare real computer system can be used for backing up several virtual systems. |
| US09146817B2 |
Dynamic definition of error information in a programmable device
Embodiments relate to collecting extended error data from units within a programmable device. A pointer is accessed that points to a region of memory that contains a list of entries that references the extended error data. The list of entries is walked by adjusting a read pointer to obtain the extended error data. The referenced extended error data is moved to an event log. |
| US09146816B2 |
Managing system image backup
A method, system or computer usable program product for backing up a system image including receiving a request to backup a first system image on a first computer system onto a server, selecting a similar system image from a catalog of images, identifying a first set of differences between the similar system image and the first system image, and backing up the first system image by transferring the first set of differences to the server. |
| US09146812B2 |
Systems and methods for out-of-band backup and restore of hardware profile information
Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented for out-of-band backup and/or restore of information handling system components. Such out-of-band backup and restore operations may be performed, in one embodiment, to backup and/or restore hardware profile information such as firmware images and corresponding system configuration information. |
| US09146811B2 |
Method and apparatus for repairing high capacity/high bandwidth memory devices
Memory systems, systems and methods are disclosed that may include a plurality of stacked memory device dice and a logic die connected to each other by through silicon vias. One such logic die includes an error code generator that generates error checking codes corresponding to write data. The error checking codes are stored in the memory device dice and are subsequently compared to error checking codes generated from data subsequently read from the memory device dice. In the event the codes do not match, an error signal can be generated. The logic die may contain a controller that records the address from which the data was read. The controller or memory access device may redirect accesses to the memory device dice at the recorded addresses. The controller can also examine addresses or data resulting in the error signals being generated to identify faults in the through silicon vias. |
| US09146806B2 |
Method for processing transmission errors, in particular noise, during a contactless communication between a card and a reader
A method is for processing transmission errors during contactless communication of information between a device and a reader. The information may be transmitted in the form of frames sent to a send/receive module of the reader in contactless coupling with the device and controlled by a control module coupled to the send/receive module. The information may be extracted from the frames within the send/receive module so as to be delivered to the control module. The method may include a detection of transmission errors that are to be ignored. |
| US09146802B2 |
Providing an error log to a mobile device
Techniques for providing an error log include establishing, by a hub computing system, a connection with a back-end computing system, the back-end computing system executing a first computer-implemented programming language; receiving, at the hub computing system, a request for an error log from an Open Data Protocol (OData) application that resides on a mobile communications device, the mobile communications device executing a second computer-implemented programming language different than the first computer-implemented programming language, and the error log including error log entries associated with a runtime processing of a data model; registering, on the hub computing system, the error log as an OData service configured to be provided over an OData channel between the hub computing system and the mobile communications device; and providing, by the hub computing system, the error log to the OData application as the OData service over the OData channel. |
| US09146801B2 |
Application information specifiable by users and third parties
Example systems and methods of generating and distributing user-specified application information are presented. In one example, an informational code to be generated during execution of a software application is accessed. A character string specified by a first user of the software application that is descriptive of the informational code is received. The informational code and the character string are stored in a data storage device, which stores a plurality of information codes in association with corresponding character strings for the software application. The informational code is received in response to the first information code being generated during execution of the software for a second user. The character string is retrieved from the data storage device after the execution of the application based on the informational code, and transmitted for display to the second user. |
| US09146794B2 |
Enhanced arbitration protocol for nodes in a cluster
Arbitrating node failures. A method includes determining at a first node that communication to a second node has been lost. The method further includes sending an arbitration request to a plurality of arbitrators. The method further includes receiving from the plurality of arbitrators a sufficient number of arbitration reply grant messages to have arbitration reply grant messages from a quorum of the arbitrators. As a result of receiving a sufficient number of arbitration reply grant messages to have arbitration reply grant messages from a quorum of the arbitrators, the method further includes declaring the second node down. |
| US09146792B2 |
Evaluating reliability of a software module using development life cycle
Reliability of one or more software modules is projected according to a current state in a development life cycle of the software modules and any of various additional indicators. Preferably, a data processing support provider separate from the service-providing enterprise maintains historical field support data concerning significant field defect events with respect to various resources, and uses this data for projecting reliability of the resources. Preferably, software module reliability projections are used to support an analysis of risk of degradation of a service specified in a service requirements specification when provided by a configuration of data processing resources specified in a configuration specification. |
| US09146791B2 |
Communication failure source isolation in a distributed computing system
In accordance with one aspect of the present description, an indication that a communication failure reported in a predetermined time interval is more likely the result of a software failure than a hardware failure may be made if the number of communication links reporting a communication failure in the predetermined time interval exceeds a communication link failure threshold, and the number of communication link devices such as nodes or communication paths which have been implicated as causing a communication failure, exceeds an implicated device threshold. Other features and aspects may be realized, depending upon the particular application. |
| US09146790B1 |
Performing fencing operations in multi-node distributed storage systems
Various systems and methods for managing node connectivity in distributed storage systems are disclosed. For example, one method involves detecting a communication fault between two nodes. A first node is configured to communicate input/output (I/O) requests to the second node as in-flight I/O requests. The second node is configured to communicate locally generated I/O requests and the received I/O requests to storage devices. Once the communication fault is detected, a fencing operation is performed. The fencing operation can include processing some of the received I/O requests by the second node, and rejecting any additional in-flight I/O requests received from the first node. |
| US09146789B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating and using location-independent distributed object references
Location-independent references include a live reference containing a location of a remote object and a universally unique identifier (UUID) which provides a unique global reference to that remote object. If a method call to the remote object using the live reference fails, the UUID is used to obtain a new reference to the remote object and the new reference is then used to make another method call. A new reference can be obtained from an identifier directory that contains a mapping between UUIDs and location-independent references. When a remote object is first created, or when a remote object is moved from one location to another, the remote object registers with any and all such directories that it can find in its environment. These registrations are leased; that is, if they are not occasionally refreshed by the remote object which registered them, they are dropped from the directory. |
| US09146788B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program for administering messages which a consuming application fails to process
Disclosed is a method for administering messages. In response to a determination that one or more consuming applications have failed to process the same message on a queue a predetermined number of times, the message is made unavailable to consuming applications. Responsive to determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications, one or more consuming applications are prevented from consuming messages from the queue. |
| US09146786B2 |
Online business method, system and apparatus based on open application programming interface
The present disclosure introduces a method, a system and an apparatus of implementing online transaction according to Open API. In one aspect, a method includes: receiving a first invocation request to invoke an Open API from a third party development server according to a user's transaction request; determining an ISP server corresponding to the Open API as requested to be invoked in the invocation request; sending the first invocation request to the determined ISP server; receiving a service page returned by the ISP server according to the first invocation request; and sending the service page to the third party development server for processing the service page and sending the processed service page to the user, the processing comprising embedding the service page into a page corresponding to the transaction request. |
| US09146783B2 |
Processor scheduling method and system using domains
Aspects of the present invention concern a method and system for scheduling a request for execution on multiple processors. This scheduler divides processes from the request into a set of domains. Instructions in the same domain are capable of executing the instructions associated with the request in a serial manner on a processor without conflicts. A relative processor utilization for each domain in the set of the domains is based upon a workload corresponding to an execution of the request. If there are processors available then the present invention provisions a subset of available processors to fulfill an aggregate processor utilization. The aggregate processor utilization is created from a combination of the relative processor utilization associated with each domain in the set of domains. If processors are not needed then some processors may be shut down. Shutting down processors in accordance with the schedule saves energy without sacrificing performing. |
| US09146782B2 |
Parallel computer system, controlling method for parallel computer system, and storage medium storing controlling program for management apparatus
A node state storage unit stores therein information about a free state of each of the computation nodes. A search data storage unit has a data structure in which a state where the X-axis is crossed is developed into a virtual X-axis provided on the right end of the X-axis. By referring to the node state storage unit, a searching unit searches for the number of successive free nodes in the increasing directions of the X-axis including the virtual X-axis and the Y-axis, while using the computation node at each of the X-Y coordinate positions as a starting point, and writes a search result into the search data storage unit. |
| US09146781B2 |
Web service system, server management apparatus, and web service providing method
A virtual device management server manages location information and resource information about a virtual device server as server information. The virtual device management server receives a processing request and printer location information from a printer. Then, the virtual device management server selects a virtual device server for providing a Web service corresponding to the processing request on the basis of server information, the processing request, and location information about the printer to thereby assign the selected virtual device server to the printer. |
| US09146780B1 |
System and method for preventing resource over-commitment due to remote management in a clustered network storage system
A clustered network storage system includes a management module and a resource allocation mechanism configured to allow remote management of node resources from the management module while preventing resource over-commitment due to the remote management. Preventing resource over-commitment includes conditionally granting access to the resources of a node according to a credit based system. Preventing resource over-commitment further includes scheduling jobs that access the resources of the node according to a prioritization scheme. |
| US09146779B2 |
System and method for migrating an application
A terminal and a server are each provided with identification information identifying a variable referencing a fixed resource that is referenced by an application when the application is executed. The terminal sets a predetermined value to a variable that is included in variables used by the application and identified by the identification information, and releases the fixed resource by setting a predetermined value to the variable identified by the identification information. The terminal extracts an execution state of the application, and transmits the execution state to the server. The server extracts a variable identified by the identification information from among variables used by the application, sets a value of the extracted variable to a corresponding variable of an instance generated based on the received execution state, and restarts the application stopped by the terminal, by activating the instance to which the value of the extracted variable was set. |
| US09146777B2 |
Parallel processing with solidarity cells by proactively retrieving from a task pool a matching task for the solidarity cell to process
A method and apparatus for processing information in parallel uses autonomous computer processing cells to perform tasks needed by a central processing unit. Each cell in the system is connected through a switching fabric, which facilitates connections for data transfer and arbitration between all system resources. A cell has an agent, which is a software module that may be transferred through the switching fabric to a task pool containing the tasks. The agent searches within the task pool for available tasks that match the cell's instruction type. A task may be broken into threads that are to be executed sequentially or independently depending on recipes constructed by the central processing unit. Interdependent tasks within the task pool may be logically combined as needed by the recipe. A notification is sent from the task pool to the central processing unit when a task or task thread is completed. |
| US09146776B1 |
Systems and methods for controlling flow of message signaled interrupts
A system including an interrupt generation module and a processing detection module. The interrupt generation module is configured to generate an interrupt when a first indicator is set to a first state, where the first indicator transitions to a second state when the interrupt is generated. The processing detection module is configured to detect when the interrupt is sent, set a second indicator to a third state to indicate when the interrupt is sent, and set the second indicator to a fourth state when the interrupt is processed. |
| US09146769B1 |
Systems and methods for copying a source machine to a target virtual machine
Systems and methods of the present disclosure can facilitate generating virtual machines (VMs). The system can include an orchestrator executing on a server, an agent, a hypervisor, a transfer VM, and a target VM different from the transfer VM. The orchestrator can transmit the agent to be installed on a source machine to generate a snapshot and transmit a current state of a first filesystem of the source machine to the orchestrator, which can use it to configure a second filesystem on the hypervisor and initiate the transfer VM on the hypervisor using a default filesystem independent of the first and second filesystem configurations. The orchestrator can instruct the agent to transfer the snapshot to the transfer VM to write to the second filesystem, update the second filesystem to be operative to start an operating system, and create the target VM configured to launch from the second filesystem. |
| US09146766B2 |
Consistent unmapping of application data in presence of concurrent, unquiesced writers and readers
Free storage blocks previously allocated to a logical block device are released back to an underlying storage system supporting the logical block device in a manner that does not conflict with write operations that may be issued to the free storage blocks at about the same time. According to a first technique, write operations on the same storage blocks to be released are paused until the underlying storage system has completed the releasing operation or, if the write operations are issued earlier than when the underlying storage system actually performs the releasing operation, such storage blocks are not released. According to a second technique, a special file is allocated the free storage blocks, which are then made available for safe releasing. |
| US09146765B2 |
Virtual disk storage techniques
This document describes techniques for storing virtual disk payload data. In an exemplary configuration, each virtual disk extent can be associated with state information that indicates whether the virtual disk extent is described by a virtual disk file. Under certain conditions the space used to describe a virtual disk extent can be reclaimed and state information can be used to determine how read and/or write operations directed to the virtual disk extent are handled. In addition to the foregoing, other techniques are described in the claims, figures, and detailed description of this document. |
| US09146762B2 |
Specialized virtual machine to virtualize hardware resource for guest virtual machines
A computing system includes a graphics processing unit (GPU) and main processing circuitry to execute computer program instructions forming a hypervisor, a control virtual machine (VM) and a specialized rendering VM for graphics processing. An application program of a guest VM generates graphics commands and data according to a graphics API such as Direct 3D. The rendering VM includes a graphics driver native to the GPU and is assigned pass-through access to the GPU by the control VM. The rendering VM receives the graphics information from the application program via an inter-VM communication channel, and it uses the graphics driver to control the GPU to perform graphics rendering. The use of the rendering VM enables native graphics performance to be achieved without constraining the control VM to use a compatible operating system. The technique is generally applicable to virtualization of hardware resources by specialized VMs. |
| US09146759B2 |
Assumption-based compilation
Techniques for processing source code written in a traditionally interpreted language such as JavaScript, or another dynamic and/or interpreted language, are disclosed. In one example, compiled code associated with the source code is constructed and executed. An assumption on which a specific aspect of the compiled code is based (e.g., an optimization) is tested at a checkpoint of the compiled code. A roll over to fallback code is performed if the test indicates the assumption is not true. |
| US09146756B2 |
Java management extensions (JMX) bean custom service extension plugin agent for an application server
A JMX plugin agent that interfaces between an MBean server and a JMX plugin directory. The JMX plugin agent simplifies development and modification of MBeans by automating registration and unregistration of MBeans with the MBean server and enabling organization of multiple versions of an MBean within a common JMX plugin directory. A generic JMX plugin agent scans a JMX bean plugin directory looking for MBeans to create and register with the MBeanServer. Preferably, each MBean has its own subdirectory that indicates the MBean version and includes a plugin.xml file that describes any necessary configuration parameters. The JMX plugin agent makes it easier to deploy JMX beans to multiple WAS instances and even provides for plugin dependency and version control. |
| US09146753B2 |
Loading program modules
Loading program modules with hierarchical relationship can include receiving a request for loading the program modules from a client, the request including root module information in the program modules to be loaded and, according to the root module information in the request, obtaining a root module to be loaded and child modules of the root module to be loaded using a central processing unit. The root module and the child modules of the root module can be sent to the client. |
| US09146744B2 |
Store queue having restricted and unrestricted entries
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system which executes a load instruction or a store instruction. During operation the system receives a load instruction. The system then determines if an unrestricted entry or a restricted entry in a store queue contains data that satisfies the load instruction. If not, the system retrieves data for the load instruction from a cache. If so, the system conditionally forwards data from the unrestricted entry or the restricted entry by: (1) forwarding data from an unrestricted entry that contains the youngest store that satisfies the load instruction when any number of unrestricted or restricted entries contain data that satisfies the load instruction; (2) forwarding data from an unrestricted entry when only one restricted entry and no unrestricted entries contain data that satisfies the load instruction; and (3) deferring the load instruction by placing the load instruction in a deferred queue when two or more restricted entries and no unrestricted entries contain data that satisfies the load instruction. |
| US09146741B2 |
Eliminating redundant masking operations instruction processing circuits, and related processor systems, methods, and computer-readable media
Eliminating redundant masking operations in instruction processing circuits and related processor systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed. In one embodiment, a first instruction in an instruction stream indicating an operation writing a value to a first register is detected by an instruction processing circuit, the value having a value size less than a size of the first register. The circuit also detects a second instruction in the instruction stream indicating a masking operation on the first register. The masking operation is eliminated upon a determination that the masking operation indicates a read operation and a write operation on the first register and has an identity mask size equal to or greater than the value size. In this manner, the elimination of the masking operation avoids potential read-after-write hazards and improves performance of a CPU by removing redundant operations from an execution pipeline. |
| US09146735B2 |
Associating workflows with code sections in a document control system
Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for facilitating workflow control for a document. In one embodiment, a portion of computer program source code is associated with a workflow. The computer program is monitored for reference to or by the portion of the computer program source code. In response to a reference to or by the computer program source code, the workflow is fired off. |
| US09146732B2 |
Systems and methods for executing an application on a mobile device
The invention provides a method and system to execute applications on a mobile device. The applications may be compiled on a remote server and sent to the mobile device before execution. The applications may be updated by the remote server without interaction by the mobile device user. |
| US09146731B2 |
Information processing apparatus, relay server, information relay method, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing information relay program, and communication system
An information processing apparatus includes a communication unit configured to perform communication with a specific-firmware-information transmitting apparatus and a firmware providing server through a network; and a control device. The control device is configured to establish a session, between the information processing apparatus and the specific-firmware-information transmitting apparatus, according to a communication protocol enabling server push and establish a connection with the specific-firmware-information transmitting apparatus in the established session; acquire specific-firmware-information, wherein the specific-firmware-information includes at least specific-firmware location-information indicating a location of the specific firmware to update firmware of the information processing apparatus to the specific firmware; acquire the specific firmware from the firmware providing server indicated by the specific-firmware location-information, based on the specific-firmware location-information included in the acquired specific-firmware-information; and update the firmware. |
| US09146728B2 |
Mobile application creation platform
A system for creating mobile software applications that may be updated in real time without code changes, re-submittal or user updating. The system includes various types of media content, a content management system, mobile application and a mobile device. Media content is uploaded to the content management system where it is translated and organized in preparation for delivery to the mobile application and mobile device. A user interfaces with the mobile device to receive translated and organized media content for display on the mobile device. |
| US09146723B2 |
Applying social computing paradigm to software installation and configuration
A method for installation and configuration of a software product includes installing a software product and determining configuration settings of the software product based upon a social network of peers. A system for installation and configuration of at least one software product includes at least one client install package capable of utilizing a social network for at least one of installing software; transmitting configuration settings; transmitting post-installation configuration settings; or responding to post-installation configuration modifications; and a server that stores and aggregates the configuration settings of a plurality of users, forming at least one social network. |
| US09146719B2 |
Data layout using data type information
One embodiment relates to a computer-implemented method of compiling a software program into an executable binary file, including determining a data layout in the binary file and a data layout in the executable's dynamically allocated memory. The method includes taking into account data types of data as a factor in determining a data layout for the binary file and for the executable's dynamically allocated memory, wherein the data types include a floating-point data type and a non-floating-point data type. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed herein. |
| US09146717B2 |
Optimizing source code
Techniques for optimizing code include methods, systems, and computer program products that implement operations including: identifying a decision table having values arranged in one or more cells in a row and column format, the values defining business rules; evaluating the decision table to generate one or more temporary tables, at least one temporary table including the values associated with particular positions of a string variable of undefined length; evaluating the one or more temporary tables to set the positions of the string variable based on comparisons of the values with inputs; and generating a portion of code defining the business rules based on the evaluation of the one or more temporary tables. |
| US09146715B1 |
Suppression of table of contents save actions
A compiler identifies a first function call site in a calling function that requires an unconditional Table of Contents (TOC) save of the TOC pointer value. The compiler identifies a first location for the unconditional TOC save that dominates the first function call site. The compiler also identifies a second function call site in the calling function that requires a conditional or unconditional TOC save, and determines that the first location also dominates the second function call site. The compiler emits a TOC save instruction at the first location that satisfies both the unconditional TOC save requirement for the first function call site and the conditional or unconditional TOC save requirement for the second function call site. The compiler then indicates that the emitted TOC save instruction satisfies the TOC save requirement for the second function call site, thus suppressing further TOC save actions for the second function call site. |
| US09146714B2 |
Method and apparatus for compiling regular expressions
Apparatus, systems, and methods for a compiler are described. One such compiler converts source code into an automaton comprising states and transitions between the states, wherein the states in the automaton include a special purpose state that corresponds to a special purpose hardware element. The compiler converts the automaton into a netlist, and places and routes the netlist to provide machine code for configuring a target device. |
| US09146709B2 |
System and method for automatic detection of decomposition errors
A system and method for detecting decomposition errors in a parallel processing software design having at least two decomposition levels, where each decomposition level has at least one process. The system and method further identifies improper control flow, looping structure and/or dataflow within the software design and restructures the software design to remove any improper elements. |
| US09146707B2 |
Generating a fast 3x multiplicand term for radix-8 booth multiplication
A 3× circuit for partial product generation used in a radix-8 multiplier receiving only a single multiplicand input. Rather than providing 2-inputs to the adder (a 2× of multiplicand and the multiplicand itself), the new 3× circuit uses the multiplicand as the only input. Thus, in terms of connections at the multiplier circuit level, only one bus is required to connect to the input of the new 3× circuit. The 3× generation adder circuit further operates at a reduced number of logic levels and speeds up the critical path by taking advantage of the repetition and fixed spatial separation of the bits for the adder inputs. |
| US09146702B2 |
Post-processing apparatus for extracting received print data and forwarding the received print data to an image forming apparatus for processing
When there is no post-processing performed in a post-processing device, a print job of original PDL data of a general-purpose data structure is output from a computer to a PDL control unit of an image forming device. While, when there is post-processing performed in the post-processing device, a print job of PDL data of an extended data structure generated by adding attribute data of the post-processing is output from the computer to an extended PDL control unit of the post-processing device. Then, the extended PDL control unit extracts the original PDL data of the general-purpose data structure and the attribute data of the post-processing, from the received print job. The attribute data of the post-processing is used for the post-processing control unit to control a post-processing unit. The original PDL data of the general-purpose data structure is output to the PDL control unit of the image forming device. |
| US09146699B2 |
System for controlling total power consumption of plural apparatuses and control method thereof
A system according to the present invention includes a server and a plurality of apparatuses each incorporating a device. The apparatuses control power supply ON and OFF states of the devices in accordance with an instruction from the server. The server collects pieces of operation state information indicating operation states of the apparatuses from the apparatuses, and groups, based on the collected information, the apparatuses into groups which respectively correspond to different operation states and respectively have different priorities. The server further sends an allowance notification indicating a device power supply allowance to apparatuses which belong to respective groups in descending order of priority taking into consideration a parameter associated with power consumption values of apparatuses to which the device power supply allowance is given. Each apparatus sets the device in a power supply ON state when the allowance notification is received from the server. |
| US09146696B2 |
Multi-granularity parallel storage system and storage
A multi-granularity parallel storage system includes an R/W port and a memory. The memory includes W memory blocks and a data gating network. Each of the memory blocks is a 2D array consisting of multiple memory units, and each memory row of the 2D array includes W memory units. For each memory block, one memory row can be read/written at a time, W is the nth power of 2, and n is a natural number. |
| US09146688B2 |
Advanced groomer for storage array
Techniques are disclosed relating to reclaiming data on recording media. In one embodiment, an apparatus has a solid-state memory array including a plurality of blocks. The solid-state memory array may implement a cache for one or more storage devices. Respective operational effects are determined relating to reclaiming ones of the plurality of blocks. One of the plurality of blocks is selected as a candidate for reclamation based on the determined operational effects, and the selected block is reclaimed. In some embodiments, the determined operational effects for a given block indicate a number of write operations to be performed to reclaim the given block. In some embodiments, operational effects are determined based on criteria relating to assigned quality-of-service levels. In some embodiments, operational effects are determined based on information relating to virtual storage units. |
| US09146682B2 |
Method and apparatus for storing data
An allocation instruction is received that includes a target data operand and a storage medium operand indicating a storage medium for storing the target data. A data dependency is identified that specifies peripheral data on which the target data depends. In response to determining that the allocation instruction will cause the target data and the peripheral data to locate to different storage mediums having different data IO rates, the execution of the allocation instruction is prevented. In another embodiment, in response to determining that the allocation instruction allocates the target data from a first storage medium to a second storage medium having a faster data IO rate, the allocation instruction is modified to also allocate the peripheral data specified in the data dependency to the second storage medium. |
| US09146678B2 |
High throughput hardware acceleration using pre-staging buffers
Embodiments relate to providing high throughput hardware acceleration. Aspects include initializing an accelerator control queue (ACQ) configured to provide location information on a plurality of pages of data identified as accelerator data. An originating location of each page of requested target data is determined. The originating location includes one of system memory and disk storage. Based on determining that the originating location is system memory, an entry is created in the ACQ mapping to a system memory source address for the target data. Based on determining that the originating location is disk storage, an entry is created in the ACQ mapping to a special pre-stage buffer source address of a special pre-stage buffer for the target data. Each page of the plurality of pages of target data is accessed by the accelerator from respective locations in said memory or said special pre-stage buffer, based on respective entries of the ACQ. |
| US09146677B2 |
Systems and methods for queue request ordering without stalling requests in aliasing conditions by using a hash indexed based table
The described systems and methods can facilitate efficient and effective information storage. In one embodiment a system includes a hash component, a queue request order component and a request queue component. The hash component is operable to hash a request indication. The queue request order component is operable to track a queue request order. The request queue component is operable to queue and forward requests in accordance with direction from the queue request order component. In one embodiment, the storage component maintains a request without stalling a request in an aliasing condition. |
| US09146676B2 |
Method and apparatus for notifying a user about a manipulation region on the back surface of the apparatus
A method is provided for generating notifications. The method comprises obtaining position information of an operating member. The method further comprises determining an operation area based on the position information. The method also comprises generating a notification when the determined operation area corresponds to an edge region of a surface of a device. |
| US09146675B2 |
Facilitating navigation of a webpage on computer device
Webpage navigation can include a computer device loading a Webpage having at least a first portion and a second portion, arranging the Webpage in order to present the first portion in the display area of the computer device and to place the second portion out of the display area, and presenting a navigation map corresponding to the Webpage in the display area. In response to a control command input with respect to the navigation map, the Webpage can be arranged in order to present the second portion in the display area. |
| US09146673B2 |
Device, method, and graphical user interface for manipulating soft keyboards
A method includes, at an electronic device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface: concurrently displaying a first text entry area and an unsplit keyboard on the display; detecting a gesture on the touch-sensitive surface; and, in response to detecting the gesture on the touch-sensitive surface, replacing the unsplit keyboard with an integrated input area. The integrated input area includes a left portion with a left side of a split keyboard, a right portion with a right side of the split keyboard, and a center portion in between the left portion and the right portion. |
| US09146667B2 |
Electronic device, display system, and method of displaying a display screen of the electronic device
When a touch operation on a touch-panel display module of an electronic device has been detected, a display entity corresponding to the touched object is created. The display entity is superimposed on the touched position on a display screen. A projector, an external display device, projects the display entity onto a screen. Even when the display screen of the electronic device has been moved by a touch operation, the audience looking at a screen page displayed on the screen can see the touch position in the form of the display entity, making it possible to understand the meaning of the operator's touch operation. |
| US09146665B2 |
Systems and methods for enhancing user interaction with displayed information
A method of enhancing user interaction with content displayed on a display of a touch screen device is provided. The method includes displaying at least one enhanced cursor within a viewable area of the display, the at least one enhanced cursor having a predefined action associated therewith, and receiving a selection of the at least one enhanced cursor. The method also includes detecting movement of the selected at least one enhance cursor onto displayed content, and executing the predefined action on the content. The method may further include detecting a subject matter of content being displayed on a display of a device coupled to the processor. Furthermore, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for execution by a processor that cause the processor to perform the provided method may also be provided. |
| US09146654B2 |
Movement reduction when scrolling for item selection during direct manipulation
A method includes receiving a user input to cause movement of a display of a screen of a direct manipulation device, wherein the movement is in a direction away from a target item. The method includes receiving a release input to indicate that the user has released the user input at a release point on the display of the screen. The method also includes determining a location of the release point on the display of the screen relative to selectable items. The method includes determining the target item from among the selectable items, wherein the target item is at a distance from the location of the release point. The method also includes displaying a surrogate selectable item at the release point. The method includes performing an action that is the same as an action that would occur in response to a user selection of the target item. |
| US09146653B2 |
Method and apparatus for editing layout of objects
When an image is touched on a touch screen, the image is displayed as if a touched side of the image is pressed down and an opposite side of the touched side is lifted up. Priority levels of peripheral portions of the image are set in accordance with up and down of the image. Rendering priority between images to be overlapped is determined in accordance with a dominant-subordinate relationship between the priority levels of the peripheral portions of the respective images to be in contact. One of the images is displayed in an overlapped portion of the images based on the rendering priority. |
| US09146651B1 |
Displaying multiple applications on limited capability devices
A method, system, and media are provided for a combination of Java MIDlets, or applications, implementing a “View Port” concept, which allows the user interface of a mobile device to be leveraged for multiple tasks. The View Port provides access to multiple applications when previously interaction with only one application could be carried out at any one time. A View Port scheme also removes the need for two versions of a MIDlet, as a streamlined version of the application is no longer needed. This implementation allows legacy applications to function within the framework as well. |
| US09146648B2 |
Touch sensing method for touch panel
A touch sensing method, for sensing a touch point on a touch panel, includes the steps of measuring capacitances of the touch panel, detecting touch points on the touch panel based on the capacitance, determining tentative coordinates of the respective detected touch points, assigning priorities for a given high coordinate precision to the respective touch points based on a state of the touch points, selecting coordinate calculation algorithms corresponding to the assigned priorities by the respective touch points, estimating a calculation time necessary for calculating the coordinates of the touch points detected, determining whether the calculation time estimated is within a specified time or not, and calculating the coordinates of the respective touch points using the selected coordinate calculation algorithms corresponding to the assigned priorities when the calculation time estimated calculation time is within the specified time. |
| US09146647B2 |
Touch panel
A touch panel may include: a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface; a first electrode layer disposed on the lower surface of the substrate and formed in a mesh shape; a first insulating layer disposed on the lower surface of the substrate and disposed to surround the first electrode layer; a surface reforming layer disposed on a lower surface of the first insulating layer and capable of reforming a hydrophobic surface to a hydrophilic surface; and a second electrode layer disposed on a lower surface of the surface reforming layer and formed in a mesh shape. |
| US09146646B2 |
Apparatus for generating driving signal
There is provided an apparatus for generating a driving signal, the apparatus including: a first driving signal generation circuit generating a first driving signal; a second driving signal generation circuit generating a second driving signal, the second driving signal generation circuit including at least two transistors and a pulse generation unit; and a control unit controlling the first and second driving signal generation circuits so that they generate the first and second driving signals selectively. |
| US09146644B2 |
Systems and methods for detecting multiple touch points in surface-capacitance type touch panels
A multi touch sensing module comprising a plurality of electrically conductive touch surfaces, each connected to at least one trace, wherein the touch surfaces are arranged in more than two columns, each including more than two touch surfaces, wherein touch surfaces in corresponding positions in said columns form staggered rows, and all touch surfaces reside in a single layer of electrically conductive material. |
| US09146642B2 |
Sensor device and information processing device
A sensor device is provided which includes a pressure-sensitive sensor which changes shape in response to pressing of an operation tool and which detects change in capacitance due to the change in shape, and a barrier which covers at least a part of the pressure-sensitive sensor and which prevents change in capacitance of the pressure-sensitive sensor due to capacitive coupling that occurs with approach between the pressure-sensitive sensor and the operation tool. |
| US09146641B2 |
Touch display device for vehicle and driving method thereof
A touch display device for a vehicle and a driving method thereof are provided. The touch display device includes a touch panel that displays an image and an image irradiation unit that provides the image to the touch panel. In addition, a lighting unit radiates infrared rays to the touch panel and an image capturing unit captures an image that corresponds to a touch on the touch panel. An emergency button unit that includes at least one emergency button is activated on the touch panel during an emergency mode. A controller is configured to activate the emergency mode by sensing a failure of one of the touch panel, the image irradiation unit, the lighting unit, and the image capturing unit. |
| US09146637B2 |
Mobile information terminal and operation state determination method
A mobile information terminal to determine whether a user's operation state is one-handed operation or two-handed operation. The mobile information terminal includes a pressure sensor array that acquires a gripping pressure distribution; a gripping pressure logger that records time-series changes in gripping pressure at each pressure sensor forming the pressure sensor array; a gripping pressure change point detection unit that includes a gripping pressure change amount calculation section that acquires time-series changes in gripping pressure at each pressure sensor and determines whether the amount of change in gripping pressure per unit time exceeds a predetermined value at any pressure sensor; and an operation state determination section that determines the operation state of the user of the mobile information terminal is one-handed operation when the amount of change in gripping pressure per unit time exceeds the predetermined value at any pressure sensor. |
| US09146635B2 |
Touch panel equipped display device and control method for same
Provided is a touch panel-equipped display device (10) including: a touch panel (14); a display part (12) including source bus lines (25); a source bus line potential switching part that switches the potential of each source bus line (25) in a source bus line potential switching period (54) that is a partial period of a vertical blanking period (51); and a sensing part that performs sensing for a touch panel in a sensing period (53) that is a period in the vertical blanking period (51) other than the partial period. |
| US09146632B2 |
Linear device value estimating method, capacitance detecting method, integrated circuit, touch sensor system, and electronic device
A touch sensor panel includes vertical & horizontal electrodes each respectively including a repeat of first & second basic shapes connected to one another in a vertical & horizontal directions, the first & second basic shapes each including a fine wire, respectively provided on vertical & horizontal electrode surfaces, and arranged at intervals; and a plurality of linear devices at respective intersections of the electrodes. A method includes driving the vertical electrodes in parallel on a basis of code sequences di for each of the linear devices so as to output, along the horizontal electrodes, linear sums of respective outputs corresponding to the linear devices; and estimating respective values of the linear devices along the horizontal electrodes on a basis of an inner product operation of (i) the linear sums outputted along the horizontal electrodes and (ii) the code sequences di. |
| US09146629B2 |
Mobile terminal and 3D image controlling method thereof
Disclosed are a mobile terminal for controlling a 3D image using proximity touch, and a 3D image controlling method thereof. Aligning, moving and re-aligning a specific 3D object inside a 3D object group are performed, through proximity hovering. And, depth of the 3D object is automatically controlled by the various operations. This may provide various 3D-related interfaces to a user. |
| US09146628B2 |
Input apparatus and storage medium storing input control program
An input apparatus including: a display device which displays an operational image; an image-designation detecting device which detects designation of the operational image; a processing executing section configured to, where the image-designation detecting device has detected that the operational image has been designated, execute a processing assigned to the designated operational image; a display updating section which updates display on the display device from a state in which the operational image has been displayed; and a disabling section configured to, where the image-designation detecting device has detected a designation of an operational image which has been displayed on the display device after the update of the display by the display updating section and which is different from an operational image having been displayed on the display device before the update, disable an execution of a processing assigned to the designated operational image. |
| US09146625B2 |
Apparatus and method to detect coordinates in a penbased display device
An apparatus and method to detect coordinates in a pen-based display device are provided. In the apparatus, when an electronic pen is placed at a specific position on a display, an image of a pixel group corresponding to the specific position is captured through a camera provided in the electronic pen, a reference point is detected in the pixel group by processing the captured image of the pixel group, an area type of the captured image is determined based on the reference point, values of a coordinate indications corresponding to the position of the pixel group are determined, selectively correcting the determined values of the coordinate indications according to the determined area type to determine final values of the coordinate indications, and applying a predetermined coordinates calculation rule to the determined final values of the coordinate indications to determine final coordinates of the electronic pen. |
| US09146624B2 |
Method for managing screen orientation of a portable electronic device
There is described a portable electronic device capable of managing screen orientation. The portable electronic device comprises a display, a motion sensor, an image sensor and a processor. The display provides an image at a first orientation. The motion sensor attempts to detect a rotation of the portable electronic device. The image sensor attempts to detect one or more body features. The processor determines a second orientation of the image at the display based on the rotation detected at the motion sensor and/or the body feature or features detected at the image sensor. The portable electronic device may determine an orientation of the image at the display in response to detecting the rotation at the motion sensor and/or the body feature or features at the image sensor. |
| US09146621B2 |
Reduced qwerty keyboard system that provides better accuracy and associated method
An electronic device having a keyboard, display, and a processor is presented. The keyboard includes a plurality keys with at least a subset of the plurality of keys having a plurality of indicia, each key in the subset having a primary and secondary conductor. The primary conductor can be associated with a first set of indicia. The first set of indicia can include one or more indicia. The secondary conductor can be associated with a second set of indicia. The second set of indicia can include the one or more indicia that are not in the first set. The processor can be communicatively coupled to the keyboard and the display. The processor receives an input based on the secondary conductor associated with the given key, and outputs data to the display to display a list of characters corresponding to the plurality of indicia of the given key. |
| US09146620B2 |
Input device assembly
Input device assembly techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an input device includes a key assembly including a plurality of keys that are usable to initiate respective inputs for a computing device, a connection portion configured to be removably connected to the computing device physically and communicatively to communicate signals generated by the plurality of keys to the computing device, a flexible hinge that physically connects the connection portion to the key assembly, and an outer layer that is configured to cover the plurality of keys of the key assembly, form an outer surface of the flexible hinge, and is secured to the connection portion such that the outer layer wraps around at least two sides of the connection portion. |
| US09146617B2 |
Activation of a screen reading program
Systems and processes for activating a screen reading program are disclosed. One process can include receiving a request to activate the screen reading program and prompting the user to perform an action to confirm the request. The action can include a making swiping gesture, shaking the device, covering a proximity sensor, tapping a display, or the like. In some examples, the confirming action must be received within a time limit or the input can be ignored. In response to receipt of the confirmation (e.g., within the time limit), the screen reading program can be activated. The time limit can be identified using audible notifications at the start and end of the time limit. In another example, a device can detect an event associated with a request to activate a screen reading program. The event can be detected at any time to cause the device to activate the screen reading program. |
| US09146616B2 |
Touch-enabled remote control
A remote control device comprises a housing cover configured to mate with a touch-enabled surface configured to receive input gestures, and a battery holder disposed between the housing cover and the touch-enabled surface. A first plurality of magnets is disposed in the housing cover. A second plurality of magnets is disposed in the battery holder. The first plurality of magnets in the housing cover is attracted to the second plurality of magnets in a first position of the housing cover relative to the battery holder. The first plurality of magnets in the housing cover is repelled from the second plurality of magnets in a second position of the housing cover relative to the battery holder. The first position and the second position share a rotational axis normal to the touch-enabled surface. |
| US09146611B2 |
System and method for providing a low power remote control
To conserve power in a controlling device having a processing device in communication with an input element and a transmitting device the processing device is caused to be placed into a low-power state for at least a portion of a transmission inactive interval intermediate the transmission of at least a pair of command frames. The command frames are caused to be transmitted by the transmitting device in response to an activation of the input element sensed via the processing device to thereby command a functional operation of an intended target device. |
| US09146610B2 |
Throttling integrated link
Methods and apparatus for throttling an interface that is integrated on the same die as a processor are described. In one embodiment, a signal from an Integrated Input/Output hub (e.g., integrated on the same die as a processor) causes throttling of a link coupled between the IIO and an Input/Output (IO) device. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US09146608B2 |
Power management for processing capacity upgrade on demand
A method, computer program product, and apparatus for managing power management in a data processing system are presented. A core is activated and configured to operate at a frequency in response to a request to increase a processing capacity. A determination whether a use of power resulting from activating the core meets a policy for the use of the power is made. A set of parameters is adjusted to meet the policy for the use of power in response to a determination that the use of power does not meet the policy. A determination whether a number of operations performed by a set of cores is made. An indication that the request to increase the processing capacity is unavailable is made in response to the number of operations having not increased. |
| US09146604B2 |
Power control apparatus and power control method
The electric apparatus using electric power of the present invention includes a communication unit for receiving power information including electric rate information or power demand information on each of time zones from an outside of the electric apparatus, a timer for determining a user unused time period in which a user does not use the electric apparatus during operation of the electric apparatus, and a control unit for shifting the electric apparatus to a power saving mode with reference to the power information received through the communication unit, and the user unused time period determined by the timer. |
| US09146603B2 |
Cloud computing system, vehicle cloud processing device and methods for use therewith
A cloud computing system includes a network interface for interfacing with a wide area network. At least one wireless transceiver engages in bidirectional communication with a plurality of vehicle cloud processing devices within a corresponding plurality of vehicles in at least one vehicle aggregation location. A network control device receives requests for at least one cloud computing service via the wide area network and facilitates the at least one cloud computing service via the bidirectional communication with the plurality of vehicle cloud processing devices. |
| US09146600B2 |
Array and peripheral power control decoded from circuitry and registers
Systems and methods for discrete power control of components within a computer system are described herein. Some illustrative embodiments include a system that includes a subsystem with a plurality of components (configurable to operate at one or more power levels), a control register (coupled to the plurality of components) including a plurality of bits (each uniquely associated with a one of the plurality of components), and a power controller coupled to, and configurable to cause, the plurality of components to operate at the one or more power levels. The power controller asserts a signal transmitted to the subsystem, commanding the subsystem to transition to a first power level. A first of the plurality of components, associated with an asserted bit of the control register, operates at a second power level corresponding to a level of power consumption different from that of the first power level indicated by the power controller. |
| US09146598B2 |
Monitor circuit, semiconductor integrated circuit, semiconductor device, and method of controlling power supply voltage of semiconductor device
A monitor circuit includes a reference voltage generating unit that generates first and second reference voltages, a first amplifier unit that amplifies a differential voltage between the first reference voltage and the second reference voltage, a second amplifier unit that amplifies a differential voltage between an internal power supply voltage being supplied to a functional block provided in the semiconductor integrated circuit and the first reference voltage, and a comparator unit that compares an amplification result of the first amplifier unit with an amplification result of the second amplifier unit and outputs a comparison result as a measurement result. |
| US09146593B2 |
Touch panel having a warped substrate and method for manufacturing the touch panel
A touch panel is provided, that can prevent, for example, the occurrence of Newton's rings. The touch panel includes: a first substrate having a first principal plane and a second principal plane on which a first transparent conductive film is formed; and a second substrate having a third principal plane on which a second transparent conductive film is formed and a fourth principal plane. The touch panel is configured such that the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed so that the first transparent conductive film and the second transparent conductive film are opposed to each other. The first substrate is warped to be convex from the second principal plane toward the first principal plane. |
| US09146576B2 |
Arthroscope rotation mechanisms and methods of endoscopic rotation
A rotation mechanism (rotating device) that can be easily accessed by the surgeon's finger to rotate an endoscope or similar instrument. The rotation mechanism is a device/component with a “starfish” configuration, which can be attached to the endoscope/arthroscope just distal to the eyepiece (or to an alternate attachment to a camera). The starfish component has a plurality of projections that extend radially from the endoscope axis, and beyond the diameter of the mechanism on the camera head that grasps the arthroscope eyecup. The projections can be easily accessed by the surgeon's finger to rotate the endoscope. |
| US09146575B2 |
Power converter and operating method thereof
A power converter and an operating method therefore are disclosed. The power converter includes an output stage, an input voltage detecting unit, and a pulse width modulation (PWM) unit. The output stage is coupled between an input terminal and a ground terminal. The input voltage detecting unit is used to detect an input voltage. The PWM unit is coupled to the output stage and the input voltage detecting unit and used to provide a PWM signal to the output stage. The PWM unit adjusts an on-time of a switch conducting signal of the PWM signal according to the input voltage and a default voltage. When the input voltage is lower than the default voltage, the PWM unit increases the on-time of the switch conducting signal and a period of the PWM signal. |
| US09146574B2 |
Noise canceling current mirror circuit for improved PSR
A current mirror circuit provides a current to drive a load. A noise cancelling circuit is provided to keep the load current constant in spite of variations in the supply voltage. The noise cancelling circuit includes an auxiliary current path which branches from the load current path. The length-to-width ratios of transistors of the circuit are selected to provide the desired noise cancellation while maintaining device stability. |
| US09146573B2 |
Control device and method thereof
A control device which controls the power of a plurality of apparatuses in a home network, and a method thereof are provided. The control device includes an input unit which receives a power off command, and a control unit which concurrently turns off apparatuses which are currently turned on among the plurality of apparatuses in response to the power off command received by the input unit. Therefore, it is possible for a user to concurrently turn off currently running apparatuses so user convenience can increase. |
| US09146568B2 |
Power supply voltage regulating apparatus, integrated circuit, and electronic apparatus
A power supply voltage regulating apparatus includes: a reference voltage generating circuit that generates a reference voltage; an operational amplifier that amplifies the reference voltage and outputs the amplified reference voltage as a power supply voltage; a switching circuit that is connected between an output terminal of the operational amplifier and ground, and that performs a switching operation; a ring oscillator that is connected in parallel with the switching circuit between the output terminal of the operational amplifier and ground, and that generates an oscillation signal; and a controller that is connected with an input terminal of the reference voltage generating circuit, and that controls the reference voltage in accordance with an oscillating frequency of the oscillation signal, a temperature of the switching circuit, and an operating frequency of the switching circuit, to regulate the power supply voltage that is output from the operational amplifier. |
| US09146566B2 |
Fuel system
A fuel system (10) comprising a fluid blender (14) in fluid communication with a source of a first fuel composition and a source of a second fuel composition via at least one inlet (32, 34). The blender (14) is operable to receive at least the first fuel composition and/or second fuel composition via the at least one inlet (32, 34), and output a resultant fuel composition comprising the received fuel compositions via at least one outlet (36). The at least one outlet (36) is in fluid communication with an engine fuel injection device (38). |
| US09146562B2 |
Adjustable doser valve
A doser valve with a seat comprising at least one axially located slot from an outer surface of the seat and at least one radial/tangential extending passage in fluid communication with the at least one axially located slot and an exit passage out of the seat. |
| US09146560B2 |
System and method for implementing force field deterrent for robot
A robot navigation system includes a robot, a navigation beacon, and a cover structure. The robot includes a chassis, an omni-directional receiver, and at least one directional receiver. The navigation beacon includes an omni-directional infrared emitter and at least one directional infrared emitter. The cover structure is configured to block infrared transmissions between the at least one directional infrared emitter and the directional receiver while simultaneously permitting transmissions between the omni-directional infrared emitter and the omni-directional receiver. The cover structure may be made of a black silicone material. |
| US09146559B2 |
System and method for gathering video data related to operation of an autonomous industrial vehicle
As an autonomously guided industrial vehicle travels through a facility images of the adjacent environment are acquired, by either a still camera or a video camera. An image file containing a plurality of the images is stored onboard the vehicle. During that travel, the location of the vehicle is determined. Upon occurrence of a predefined incident, such as encountering an obstacle or impacting an object, an incident message is transmitted wirelessly from the vehicle to a remote management computer. The incident message contains an indication of the type of incident, an indication of a location of the vehicle, and the plurality of the images. The remote management computer responds to the incident message by providing a notification about the incident to one or more persons. The contents of the incident message enables the person notified to take corrective action. |
| US09146552B2 |
Modular engineering system
The modular engineering system contains interacting controllers (1-3), each connected with peripheral equipment located in a zone. The controllers are universal and operate using the standard software, and their interfacing with peripheral equipment (10-15) is provided by the address micro-modules (4-9) with microprocessors 33; microprocessors have plug-and-play configuration for dynamic individual event and data processing, their transformation to the unified program code and transmission to the controller (1-3) and for transformation of the unified code of controller (1-3) to the individual commands for peripheral equipment (10-15); the single address space is organized, this provides interfacing of data exchange between peripheral equipment and controllers; and it is possible to register and receive the information about certain events. |
| US09146551B2 |
Scheduler for processing system
A semiconductor processing system that includes a controller is disclosed. The controller may be configured to schedule the operation of the system. The controller may be programmed to determine a current state of the system. The current state may be defined at least by a location of one or more substrates and a processing status of the one or more substrates. The controller may be further programmed to generate a search tree having one or more branches. Each branch may identify one or more subsequent actions or branch pathways capable of being performed by the system in the current state. Further, the controller may be programmed to score each branch pathway of the generated search tree. The controller may be programmed to select a branch pathway and provide instructions to perform the actions in that branch pathway based at least in part on the score of the branch pathway. |
| US09146550B2 |
Computerized system for chemical production scheduling
A scheduling system for chemical processing provides an electronic computer that models the process as a set of tasks with known production ranges. A desired output from the process is back projected through the process to determine production quantities of each task of the process within the production ranges. These values are used to constrain a mixed integer programming evaluation of the schedule which may be used to control operation of the equipment. |
| US09146548B2 |
System and method for energy consumption management
An energy management system and method providing a holistic premise energy optimization and energy efficiency reclamation system comprised of an interconnected system of software, analytics and automated process that optimizes the energy generation and storage technologies, energy consumption, energy demand and energy utilization of energy consuming assets within a premise. |
| US09146541B2 |
Device for resetting to a predetermined position an indicator member indicative of a parameter connected with time
A device (100; 200) for resetting to a predetermined position an indicator member (2, 13; 22) indicative of a parameter connected with time, notably a “flyback” device, the indicator member being kinematically linked to a drive mobile (15; 35), the device comprising an energy accumulator (9) and a return element (1; 21) for returning the indicator member indicative of the parameter connected with time to the predetermined position, the return element being powered by energy from the accumulator, the energy being supplied to the energy accumulator by a user via a control member (4) for resetting to the predetermined position, the control member being able to be manipulated by the user. |
| US09146540B2 |
Fabrication techniques to enhance pressure uniformity in anodically bonded vapor cells
A method of fabricating vapor cells comprises forming a plurality of vapor cell dies in a first wafer having an interior surface region and a perimeter, and forming a plurality of interconnected vent channels in the first wafer. The vent channels provide at least one pathway for gas from each vapor cell die to travel outside of the perimeter of the first wafer. The method further comprises anodically bonding a second wafer to one side of the first wafer, and anodically bonding a third wafer to an opposing side of the first wafer. The vent channels allow gas toward the interior surface region of the first wafer to be in substantially continuous pressure-equilibrium with gas outside of the perimeter of the first wafer during the anodic bonding of the second and third wafers to the first wafer. |
| US09146539B2 |
Electronic movement including a motor for a timepiece
The electronic timepiece movement (2) is equipped with a motor (4) including a stator and a permanent magnet rotor (6) situated in a stator hole, said stator defining at least two magnetic poles (12, 14) respectively including at least two pole shoes (16, 18) extending at the periphery of the hole. The motor includes at least one coil (28) respectively mounted around at least one core (26). The two pole shoes and the core form together a first part made of ferromagnetic material formed by or including a single-piece wafer forming both the two pole shoes and the core. An end portion of the core is connected to at least one corresponding pole shoe by a second part, defining a base plate or a main plate made of magnetic material, to which the first part is secured and on which elements of the electronic timepiece movement are at least partially mounted. |
| US09146538B2 |
Watch with removable cover element and movable elements
This invention discloses a watch comprising a housing comprising a watch case and a fixed attached watch glass, a first annular flange and a second concentric annular flange arranged outside the first flange, thereby defining a groove containing at least one moveable element, wherein said watch glass is attached to one of said flanges and where said watch glass is attached to the first flange, that said watch further comprises a cover element having a top ring with first connection means enclosing a cover glass, that said second flange is provided with second connection means releaseably cooperating with said first connection means and that said cover glass covers said watch glass and said groove. |
| US09146534B2 |
3-dimensional holographic image displaying apparatus
A 3-dimensional (3D) holographic image displaying apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a hologram reproducer configured to generate surface plasmons in response to incident light and reproduce a 3D image by diffracting the generated surface plasmons by a hologram, and a surface light source unit including a light source and a light guide plate, the light guide plate being configured to allow incident light from the light source to enter into the light guide plate, internally reflect the allowed light, and output the internally reflected light through a light-output surface, the surface light source unit being configured to implement colors by adjusting an angle of the light incident to the hologram reproducer so that the outputted light through the light-output surface is incident to the hologram reproducer at a surface plasmon-forming angle for each wavelength to generate the surface plasmons corresponding to a plurality of color beams. |
| US09146533B2 |
Process for installing original drive gear on a laser printer toner cartridge drum
A method is disclosed. The method provides an assembly that contains a first drum-cylinder having an inner periphery surface and a drive gear assembly, wherein a portion of the drive gear assembly is in contact with the inner periphery surface, separates the drive gear assembly from the first drum-cylinder, inserts the portion of the drive gear assembly into a second drum-cylinder, and couples the drive gear assembly to the second drum-cylinder. |
| US09146532B2 |
Process cartridge and image forming apparatus including the same
A process cartridge includes a first cartridge and a second cartridge. The first cartridge includes a first wall having a first opening, a first shutter configured to open and close the first opening, and a first operating portion configured to operate together with the first shutter. The second cartridge is mountable onto and demountable from the first cartridge and contains a developer. The second cartridge includes a second wall facing the first wall and having a second opening corresponding to the first opening, a second shutter configured to open and close the second opening, and a second operating portion configured to operate together with the second shutter. The first cartridge further includes a third operating portion. When the second cartridge is mounted onto the first cartridge, the first operating portion and the third operating portion operate together through the second operating portion. |
| US09146529B2 |
Unit provided with guide member capable of reliably guiding recording medium
A unit for an image forming apparatus includes: a frame; a photosensitive drum; and a guide member. The frame includes: first and second side plates spaced apart from each other in a first direction and a bridging member. The guide member bridges the first and second side plates; and guides a recording medium in a second direction. The guide member includes: first and second positioned portions fixed in position relative to the first and second side plates; and a supported portion supported to the bridging member. A downstream end of the guide member in the second direction and one of the first and second positioned portions define a first distance therebetween, and the downstream end and the supported portion define a second distance therebetween as viewed in the first direction. The first distance is smaller than the second distance. |
| US09146528B2 |
Photosensitive drum access configuration for an image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a main body, a photosensitive drum detachably attached to the main body, a light exposure member configured to expose the photosensitive member to light, a developer container configured to store a developer to be supplied to the photosensitive drum, and a supporting member disposed in the main body and configured to support the light exposure member and to hold the developer container detachably. The supporting member is configured to, while holding the developer container, move between a light exposure position where the light exposure member is located proximate to the photosensitive drum and a separation position where the light exposure member is separated from the photosensitive drum while the supporting member holds the developer container. |
| US09146527B2 |
Apparatus cooperation system, image forming apparatus, and function providing method
An apparatus cooperation system including first and second apparatuses connected via a network to share a function, the first apparatus including a first counting unit counting a number of the output objects output by the first output unit based on a first counting rule, the second apparatus including a second counting unit counting a number of the output objects output by the second output unit based on a second counting rule. Further, when an output condition to output the image data by the first apparatus and the second apparatus is accepted, the first counting unit counts a total number of the output objects output by the first output unit and the second output unit based on the first counting rule. |
| US09146520B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer portion for transferring an image onto a sheet at a transfer nip; a fixing portion for fixing the image on the sheet at a fixing nip; a sheet feeding guide, provided between the transfer portion and the fixing portion, having a sheet guide surface; a sheet detecting portion provided between the transfer portion and the fixing portion; and a controller for controlling a sheet feeding speed of at least one of the transfer portion and the fixing portion depending on an output of the sheet detecting portion so that a feeding attitude of the sheet sandwiched at both of the transfer nip and the fixing nip is maintained in a predetermined feeding attitude. The sheet guide surface of the sheet feeding guide has a most recessed region in a region between the transfer portion and the sheet detecting portion. |
| US09146519B2 |
Sheet conveying device and image forming apparatus having same
A sheet conveying device includes upstream side rollers; discharge rollers located downstream from the upstream side rollers in the feeding direction of sheets, to discharge sheets to a discharge tray; a reflective optical detector located between the discharging rollers and the upstream side rollers, to emit light and to receive light reflected off of the sheets; and a recognizing unit to detect, based on output of the detector, whether or not a sheet is present at a detection region of the detector. When a sheet is fed over a conveying path inclined with respect to a detection face of the detector, the discharge rollers feed the sheet in a bent state between the upstream side rollers and the discharge rollers, so that the sheet is close to the detector or the sheet is close to being perpendicular to an optical axis of the detector. |
| US09146517B2 |
Lubricant supplying device, image forming apparatus and process cartridge
A lubricant supplying device used with a solid lubricant, includes a supplying member to supply lubricant taken from the solid lubricant to an object to be supplied with the lubricant, and a remaining amount detecting section to detect a remaining amount of the solid lubricant becoming below a predetermined value. A detection of the remaining amount of the solid lubricant is executed when an operation to supply the lubricant to the object to be supplied with the lubricant stops. |
| US09146515B2 |
Image forming apparatus
In an image forming apparatus, in the case where a time necessary for a developer bearing member to rotate from a measurement position where an attracting unit attracts the toner on the developer bearing member to a developing position at which an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member is developed by a toner on the developer bearing member is represented by a time Tqcm, a time necessary for the photosensitive member to rotate from an exposure position at which an exposure unit exposes the photosensitive member to the developing position is represented by a time Tetd, and a time necessary for a control unit to control an exposing condition based on a charge amount measured by a measuring unit is represented by a time Tp, the attracting unit is disposed so that Tqcm≧Tedt+Tp holds true. |
| US09146511B2 |
Fuser member
A fuser member having a substrate and a surface layer disposed on the substrate is described. The surface layer includes a polyimide aerogel having dispersed throughout a cross-linked fluoropolymer and a release agent wherein the release agent is a liquid at a temperature above about 100° C. |
| US09146508B2 |
Fixing device, image forming apparatus, and fixing method
A fixing device includes a fixing rotator heated by a heater and a pressing rotator pressed against the fixing rotator to form a fixing nip therebetween, through which a recording medium bearing a toner image is conveyed. A heat shield interposed between the heater and the fixing rotator is movable in a circumferential direction of the fixing rotator to shield the fixing rotator from the heater in a variable axial shield span of the fixing rotator. The fixing rotator performs fixing rotation to convey the recording medium through the fixing nip while heating the recording medium and supplemental rotation other than fixing rotation. The heat shield moves to a decreased shield span position where the heat shield shields the fixing rotator from the heater in a decreased axial shield span of the fixing rotator during supplemental rotation thereof. |
| US09146506B2 |
Surface protective film, transfer member, image forming apparatus, and method for forming image
A surface protective film includes a self-healing urethane resin and a conductive powder. In the surface protective film, the content of the conductive powder is about 5 vol % or more and about 25 vol % or less relative to the volume of the urethane resin. |
| US09146501B2 |
Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A toner cartridge includes a toner container to store toner and two rotary agitation members to rotate to agitate toner in the toner container. The toner container has two arc-shaped portions adjacent to each other at an inner bottom wall of the toner container. The two rotary agitation members has edges to rotate along the two arc-shaped portions with rotation phases thereof shifted from each other. The two rotary agitation members are placed with rotation trajectories thereof partially overlapping each other. |
| US09146500B2 |
Developer accommodating unit
A developer accommodating unit for accommodating a developer includes a flexible container, provided with an opening for permitting discharge of the developer, for accommodating the developer, and a frame. The flexible container is provided with a fastening hole for fastening said flexible container in said frame. The frame includes a fixing shaft portion fixed in the fastening hole by being inserted into the fastening hole, and includes a retaining portion for preventing the fixing shaft portion from being disengaged from the fastening hole. The fastening hole is locked by fitting the fastening hole around the fixing shaft portion while an edge of the fastening hole rides over the retaining portion by elastic deformation thereof. |
| US09146496B2 |
Cleaning device, intermediate transfer unit and image forming apparatus
A cleaning device has housing, cleaning member, pair of bearing portions, toner receiving seal, and end seal. The housing is formed with opening facing, and waste toner retaining portion. The cleaning member is rotatably borne by the pair of bearing portions at both ends of rotation axis. The toner receiving seal is disposed facing to entire area in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning member, and extends to be laid across each end portion of the cleaning member and outer periphery of the bearing portion. The bearing portion has the same outer diameter in contact portion where the toner receiving seal contacts, as outer diameter of the cleaning member. The end seal is disposed, in gap between the housing and each of the bearing portions, facing to the contact portion with the toner receiving seal interposed therebetween, and prevents leakage of waste toner from both end portions of the housing. |
| US09146495B2 |
Developer supply device having developer regulation portion to regulate amount of developer on brush layer
In a developer supply device, a developer carrying portion has a roller main body and a brush layer having flexible fibrous members. A casing includes a developer reservoir portion therein and is formed with an opening portion. The casing rotatably supports the developer carrying portion while the brush layer is exposed externally at the opening portion and opposes a supply target. A developer regulation portion regulates an amount of developer on the brush layer. The developer regulation portion includes a main part and a regulation part. The main part is fixed to the casing, has a plate portion, and extends from one end to another end in an extending direction. The regulation part is connected to the other end. The regulation part enters into the brush layer toward a central rotational axis. A prescribed rotational direction at the regulation part is substantially opposite to the extending direction. |
| US09146493B2 |
Electrostatic latent image forming method, electrostatic latent image forming apparatus, and image forming apparatus
An electrostatic latent image forming method for forming, on an image carrier, an electrostatic latent image that has a pattern where there are an irradiated area and a not-irradiated area in a mixed manner, the electrostatic latent image forming method comprises; adjusting an exposure condition of an irradiated area that is included in the irradiated area and is adjacent to the not-irradiated area so that an electric field intensity of an electrostatic latent image that corresponds to the not-irradiated area is increased so as to prevent adhesion of a developer, and irradiating the image carrier with light under the adjusted exposure condition. |
| US09146491B2 |
Charging device provided with cleaner for cleaning electrode
There is provided a charging device including: a discharge electrode extending in a first direction; and a cleaning member configured to move in the first direction to clean the discharge electrode. The cleaning member includes a rigid member in contact with the discharge electrode, and a cushion member supporting the rigid member. The cushion member is positioned opposite to the discharge electrode with respect to the rigid member. |
| US09146478B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
An immersion lithographic apparatus has adaptations to prevent or reduce bubble formation in one or more gaps in the substrate table by preventing bubbles escaping from the gap into the beam path and/or extracting bubbles that may form in the gap. |
| US09146475B2 |
Projection exposure system and projection exposure method
A projection exposure system includes an illumination system configured to illuminate a mask with radiation. The projection exposure system also includes a projection objective configured to project an image of a pattern of the mask onto a radiation-sensitive substrate. The projection exposure system further includes an angle-selective filter arrangement arranged at or close to a field surface of the projection objective in a projection beam path optically downstream of the object surface. The angle-selective filter arrangement is effective to filter radiation incident on the filter arrangement according to an angle-selective filter function. |
| US09146469B2 |
Middle layer composition for trilayer patterning stack
Methods and materials for making a semiconductor device are described. The method includes forming a middle layer (ML) of a patterning stack (e.g., a tri-layer patterning stack such as a tri-layer resist) and forming a photoresist layer directly on the middle layer. The middle layer includes an additive component having a photo base generator (PBG). The substrate including the photoresist layer and the middle layer is then exposed to a radiation. A covalent bond between the ML and the photoresist layer may be formed. |
| US09146467B2 |
Coating compositions
Developable bottom antireflective coating compositions are provided. |
| US09146466B2 |
Resist composition, resist pattern-forming method, and resist solvent
A resist composition includes a polymer that includes an acid-labile group-containing structural unit, a photoacid generator, and a solvent. The solvent includes a compound that includes a ketonic carbonyl group and an alcoholic hydroxyl group. The alcoholic hydroxyl group is preferably a tertiary alcoholic hydroxyl group. The solvent preferably further includes an alkylene glycol monoalkyl ether carboxylate. |
| US09146463B2 |
Photo-patternable multifunctional polymer nanocomposite
The invention provides a photo-patternable multifunctional polymer nanocomposite. The nanocomposite comprises a solvent suspension of multiferroic nanostructures uniformly dispersed in SU-8 polymer matrix. The invention also provides a composite comprising a substrate and a photo-patterned multifunctional polymer nanocomposite layer formed on the substrate. The nanocomposite layer comprises a UV-photolithographed SU-8 polymer having a solvent suspension of multiferroic nanostructures uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix. |
| US09146459B2 |
Extreme ultraviolet lithography process and mask
A low EUV reflectivity mask includes a low thermal expansion material (LTEM) layer, a low EUV reflectivity (LEUVR) multilayer over the LTEM layer in a first region, a high EUV reflectivity (HEUVR) multilayer over the LTEM layer in a second region and a patterned absorption layer over the LEUVR multilayer and the HEUVR multilayer. |
| US09146452B2 |
Multi-color illumination apparatus
A light engine is provided for a projection system, comprising a color wheel having a plurality of color phosphor portions; at least two light sources for illuminating the wheel at different locations for generating at least two time-sequenced beams of red, green and blue light, wherein the output beams are highly synchronized and exhibit substantially similar colorimetry, including spectrum and balance of red, green and blue light; and a digital micromirror device for modulating the time-sequenced beams of red, green and blue light to create an image. In another aspect, a light engine is provided for a tiled projection system having at least two projectors, comprising a color wheel having a plurality of color phosphor portions; a light source for generating a beam of light; a beam splitter for splitting the beam of light into at least two highly correlated beams to illuminate the wheel at different locations for generating at least two time-sequenced beams of identical red, green and blue light; and a digital micromirror device in each of the projectors for modulating the highly correlated beams to create a tiled image. |
| US09146446B2 |
Auto focus control apparatus and continuous auto focus control method
The present invention relates to an auto focus control apparatus and a continuous auto focus control method. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an auto focus control apparatus including: a focal value calculation unit for calculating a focal value from a signal of an image frame; a focus lens driving unit for moving a focus lens to a desired position; and a control unit for determining position movement of a subject based on the focal value calculated by the focal value calculation unit, executing pre-scan according to the movement of the focus lens by controlling the focus lens driving unit to move the focus lens at set frame intervals when the position of the subject is moved, and skipping a lens moving frame corresponding to the time when the focus lens moves during the pre-scan is provided. |
| US09146444B2 |
Liquid crystal element and cell for liquid crystal element
Provided is a liquid crystal element in which the liquid crystal layer shows less thickness variation. A spacer 12 includes a first spacer 12a, a second spacer 12b made of resin, and a third space 12c made of resin. The first spacer 12a is formed of an annular glass or metal sheet in which an opening 12a1 constituting an interior space 18 is formed. The second spacer 12b has a smaller thickness than the first spacer 12a. The third spacer 12c has a smaller thickness than the first spacer 12a. An opening 12b2, 12c2 connected to the opening 12a1 in the first spacer 12a and constituting an inlet 17 is formed in at least one of the second and third spacers 12b, 12c. |
| US09146443B2 |
High speed solid state optical switching system using bicontinuous structures
A three-dimensional circuit includes a hyperbolic bicontinuous structure forming a substrate; circuits formed on a first surface of the hyperbolic bicontinuous structure; and electrically conductive traces formed between the circuits. The electrically conductive traces are formed two-dimensionally on the first surface of the hyperbolic bicontinuous structure. The electrically conductive traces are effectively three-dimensional traces between the circuits. |
| US09146442B2 |
Mach-Zehnder interferometer type optical modulator
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer type optical modulator includes a first end facet and a reflecting portion opposing the first end facet; a single optical coupler including input and output ports, the optical coupler being disposed between the first end facet and the reflecting portion; first and second optical waveguides that are connected to the input ports of the optical coupler; third and fourth optical waveguides that are connected to the output ports of the optical coupler; and a phase shifting section disposed between the optical coupler and the reflecting portion. The phase shifting section includes a first optical waveguide structure constituting part of the third optical waveguide; a first upper electrode on the first optical waveguide structure; a second optical waveguide structure constituting part of the fourth optical waveguide; and a second upper electrode on the second optical waveguide structure. |
| US09146435B2 |
Display panel and method of manufacturing the same
A display panel includes a gate line which extends substantially in a first direction, a first data line which extends substantially in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, a second data line spaced apart from the first data line in the first direction and which extends substantially in the second direction, a high pixel electrode disposed between the first data line and the second data line and disposed adjacent to the gate line, a low pixel electrode disposed between the first data line and the second data line and disposed opposite to the high pixel electrode with reference to the gate line, a high storage line which extends substantially in the second direction and overlaps the high pixel electrode, and a low storage line which extends substantially in the second direction and overlaps the low pixel electrode. |
| US09146433B2 |
Display device and method of manufacturing the same
A display device includes a substrate, gate lines extended in a first direction on the substrate, data lines extended in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction on the substrate, and pixels connected to the gate and data lines. Each pixel includes a transistor having one end connected to a data line, and a gate electrode connected to a corresponding gate line, a liquid crystal layer disposed in a tunnel-shaped cavity, first and second electrodes for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer. The first electrode of each pixel is connected to another end of the transistor, a second electrode of each pixel overlaps the first electrode of one of its adjacent pixels, and the first electrode of each pixel overlaps a second electrode of another one of its adjacent pixels. |
| US09146427B2 |
Norbornene monomer, polynorbornene derivative, liquid crystal photoalignment film containing the same and liquid crystal display containing the same
The present invention relates to a norbornene monomer, a polynorbornene derivative, a liquid crystal alignment film including the same, and a liquid crystal display device including the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a norbornene monomer, a polynorbornene derivative, a liquid crystal alignment film including the same, and a liquid crystal display device including the same, which have an alignment property by photoreaction, excellent thermal stability and photoreactivity, the increased photo-reaction rate and reliability of the alignment film, thereby showing high manufacturing process efficiency. |
| US09146424B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
Screen brightness is improved in an IPS type liquid crystal display device.A common electrode having a slit is disposed over a rectangular pixel electrode with an insulating film attached therebetween. The slit has a linear part and a bend part. The bend part is necessary for preventing pressing domain. The transmittance in the bend part is increased by making the thickness of the insulating film below the bend part of the slit to less than the thickness of the insulating film at the linear part of the slit, thereby increasing the transmittance of the entire pixel. Thus, the screen brightness can be improved. |
| US09146423B2 |
Pixel structure
A pixel structure including a first active device, a second active device, a first pixel electrode, a second pixel electrode, a third pixel electrode, a coupling electrode, and a capacitance electrode is provided. The first pixel electrode connected to the first active device and defines a first to a fourth liquid crystal alignment domain having different alignment directions. The second pixel electrode is connected to the coupling electrode and defines a fifth to an eighth liquid crystal alignment domain having different alignment directions. The third pixel electrode is connected to the second active device and defines a ninth and a tenth liquid crystal alignment domain. The coupling electrode is connected between the first active device and the second active device and extended to pass through the first, the second, and the third pixel electrodes. The capacitance electrode respectively overlaps parts of the first, the second, and the third pixel electrodes. |
| US09146416B2 |
Liquid crystal display apparatus
In a liquid crystal display apparatus, a pair of substrates has surfaces which is so arranged as to be opposed to each other. The one of the opposed surfaces has a display region in which pixels are arrayed in a matrix. A liquid crystal layer is held between the opposed surfaces of the pair of substrates. A first shading portion is arranged to surround the display region. A second shading portion is arranged between the first shading portion and an outer peripheral end of the one of the substrates, and is formed as discontinuous segments. |
| US09146411B2 |
Liquid crystal display with display screen extending out of casing
An exemplary liquid crystal display (LCD) includes a casing and a liquid crystal panel accommodated in the casing. The casing includes a frame and a window surrounded by an inner side of the frame. The liquid crystal panel includes an outside surface essentially serving as a display screen for displaying images and a peripheral wall. The liquid crystal panel is attached to the frame, with the inner side of the frame contacting the peripheral wall of the liquid crystal panel, and the display screen exposed outside of the casing. |
| US09146410B2 |
Method for detecting crosstalk of liquid crystal display panel
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for detecting crosstalk of a liquid crystal display panel, involving detection on a liquid crystal display panel for defect of special crosstalk of the liquid crystal display panel. The method comprises: inputting signals into the liquid crystal display panel to be detected so that a detection pattern is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel to be detected; a gray-scale value for all the pixels in an intermediate region is 0; in other regions a gray-scale value for all the pixels in first pixel groups is the same, a color and gray-scale value for all the pixels in second pixel groups are the same, and the gray-scale value for all the pixels in the second pixel groups differs from that for all the pixels in the first pixel groups; the first pixel groups and the second pixel groups are same in shape, and both are distributed alternatively in both transverse and longitudinal directions in the other regions. |
| US09146409B2 |
LCD, array substrate of LCD and method for repairing broken line
A liquid crystal display (LCD), an array substrate of the LCD and a method for repairing a broken line are disclosed. According to the present disclosure, a detection line and a repairing line are disposed on an array substrate of the LCD, the detection line is connected to a non-defective scan line and the repairing line is connected to a broken line; and when a scan signal is detected by the repairing IC via the detection line, a repairing signal is outputted at an appropriate time to repair the broken line via the repairing line. With this arrangement of the LCD and the method for repairing a broken line of the present disclosure, broken scan lines that are detected in the LCD after the cell process can still be repaired. This reduces the reject ratio, avoids unnecessary waste and lowers the manufacturing cost. |
| US09146405B2 |
Manufacturing method of progressive-power lens
Provided is a manufacturing method of a progressive refractive lens including a first surface being an object side surface; a second surface being an eyeball side surface; a far vision part for viewing a far vision; a near vision part for viewing a near vision; and a progressive part for viewing an intermediate vision provided between the far vision part and the near vision part, the method including: selecting a base curve according to a near vision power in the near vision part; selecting a semi-finish lens having the base curve; and forming a surface having a progressive refractive power by processing the semi-finish lens, wherein the near vision power is obtained by adding an addition power in the progressive refractive lens to a far vision power in the far vision part. |
| US09146404B1 |
Laser-X radiation/laser combo protective eyewear system
A primary lens element fabricated of laser protective glass has proximal and distal faces, a central extent and a peripheral extent. A secondary lens element fabricated of lead oxide has proximal and distal faces, a central extent and a peripheral extent. The secondary lens is operatively coupled to the primary lens forming a lens laminate ground to form a composite lens with a prescription. The composite lens has a central extent of an enlarged thickness and a peripheral extent of a reduced thickness. |
| US09146403B2 |
Content-adaptive parallax barriers for automultiscopic display
In exemplary implementations of this invention, two LCD screens display a multi-view 3D image that has both horizontal and vertical parallax, and that does not require a viewer to wear any special glasses. Each pixel in the LCDs can take on any value: the pixel can be opaque, transparent, or any shade between. For regions of the image that are adjacent to a step function (e.g., a depth discontinuity) and not adjacent to a sharp corner, the screens display local parallax barriers comprising many small slits. The barriers and the slits tend to be oriented perpendicular to the local angular gradient of the target light field. In some implementations, the display is optimized to seek to minimize the Euclidian distance between the desired light field and the actual light field that is produced. Weighted, non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is used for this optimization. |
| US09146402B2 |
Method and system for shaped glasses and viewing 3D images
Shaped glasses have curved surface lenses and spectrally complementary filters disposed on the curved surface lenses configured to compensate for wavelength shifts occurring due to viewing angles and other sources. The spectrally complementary filters include guard bands to prevent crosstalk between spectrally complementary portions of a 3D image viewed through the shaped glasses. In one embodiment, the spectrally complementary filters are disposed on the curved lenses with increasing layer thickness towards edges of the lenses. The projected complementary images may also be pre-shifted to compensate for subsequent wavelength shifts occurring while viewing the images. |
| US09146401B2 |
Projector and image display system
A projector makes the light modulation device form the first image while keeping the second wheel adapted to separate the light into a plurality of colored lights corresponding to the second and third images in a state in which the second transmission region adapted to transmit the light including the plurality of colored lights is located on the light path, and rotating the first wheel adapted to separate the light into a plurality of colored lights corresponding to the first image when projecting the first image, and the light modulation device form the second and third images while keeping the first wheel in a state in which the first transmission region adapted to transmit the light including the plurality of colored lights is located on the light path, and rotating the second wheel when projecting the second image and the third image. |
| US09146397B2 |
Customized see-through, electronic display device
Customizing frames for augmented reality devices includes receiving a fit profile of a user and selecting a stock frame from a set of different frame sizes. The selected stock frame may be a size that is a closer match to the fit profile than other frame sizes in the set, and the stock frame may be adjusted to create a modified frame that provides a closer match to the fit profile than the stock frame. A see-through display may be coupled to the modified frame. |
| US09146386B2 |
Optical element, zoom lens, optical apparatus, method for manufacturing optical element and method for manufacturing zoom lens
An optical element Oc comprising, in order from an object side: a first segment group Gr1 having positive refractive power; a second segment group Gr2 having positive refractive power; a third segment group Gr3 having negative refractive power; and a fourth segment group Gr4 having positive refractive power; focusing on a near-distance object point from an infinite-distance object point being conducted by moving said first segment group Gr1 along an optical axis, said third segment group Gr3 being moved in a direction including a component perpendicular to the optical axis, and said optical element having positive refractive power on the whole, thereby providing an optical element including both of the focusing lens and the vibration reduction lens and capable of downsizing an imaging optical system including this optical element and acquiring a high image forming performance. |
| US09146381B2 |
Optical image capturing lens assembly
An optical image capturing lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region. The second lens element with negative refractive power has an object-side surface being concave in a paraxial region and an image-side surface being convex in a paraxial region. The third lens element has refractive power. The fourth lens element with refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region. The fifth lens element with positive refractive power has an image-side surface being convex in a paraxial region. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region. |
| US09146380B2 |
Imaging lens
An imaging lens includes a first lens group having positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power; and a third lens group having negative refractive power, arranged in this order from an object side to an image plane side. The first lens group includes a first lens having positive refractive power, a second lens having negative refractive power, and a third lens having positive refractive power. The second lens group includes a fourth lens and a fifth lens. The third lens group includes a sixth lens and a seventh lens. The fourth lens is formed in a shape so that a surface on the object side thereof has a negative curvature radius. The fifth lens is formed in a shape so that a surface on the image plane side thereof has a positive curvature radius. The first to third lenses have specific Abbe's numbers. |
| US09146378B2 |
Image capturing lens assembly, image capturing device and mobile terminal
An image capturing lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element and a third lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, wherein the surfaces of the first lens element are aspheric. The second lens element with positive refractive power has a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, wherein the surfaces of the second lens element are aspheric. The third lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof, wherein the image-side surface of the third lens element has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof, and the surfaces of the third lens element are aspheric. The image capturing lens assembly has a total of three lens elements with refractive power. |
| US09146376B2 |
Rack and chassis for fiber optic sliding adapter modules
A rack includes a first termination block disposed at the first side of the rack. The termination block houses a termination arrangement including a plurality of sliding adapter modules. The adapter modules are configured to slide between a non-extended position and an extended position. The adapter modules move away from the rack when slid to the extended position. The adapter modules have first ports facing towards the top of the rack and second ports facing towards the bottom of the rack. Certain types of racks also have a cable storage arrangement disposed at the front of the rack. |
| US09146374B2 |
Rapid deployment packaging for optical fiber
A packaging arrangement for telecommunications cabling is disclosed herein. The packaging arrangement includes a modular spool assembly defined by a first flange, an opposing second flange, and a spool hub separating the first flange from the second flange, wherein a telecommunications cable may be wound between the first and second flanges. Each flange defines a first cable contact side, a second cable-end storage side, and an opening allowing the telecommunications cable to pass from the first side to the second side, the second side defining a storage compartment for storing an end of the telecommunications cable passing through the opening in the flange. |
| US09146372B2 |
Fiber distribution device
A fiber distribution device includes a swing frame chassis pivotally mounted to a support structure. At least a first optical splitter module is mounted to the swing frame chassis. Pigtails having connectorized ends are carried by the swing frame chassis and have portions that are routed generally vertically on the swing frame chassis. An optical termination field includes fiber optic adapters carried by the swing frame chassis. The fiber optic adapters are configured to receive the connectorized ends of the pigtails. |
| US09146368B2 |
Methods and systems for dissipating heat in optical communications modules
Heat dissipation resources are allocated in an optical communications module based on the sensitivity of electrical and optoelectronic components of the module to temperature. Components that have a higher sensitivity to temperature are allocated a greater proportion of available heat dissipation resources than components that have a lower sensitivity to temperature. In addition, heat dissipation resources that are allocated to components that have different sensitivities to temperature are thermally decoupled from one another. |
| US09146364B2 |
Optical fiber connector
An optical fiber connector includes a housing with at least one elongated cylindrical cavity, a fiber holder within the cavity including a ferrule which secures an optical fiber therein and a biasing member engaging the fiber holder to bias the ferrule towards an unmated position. A resilient metal latch is mounted on the housing for releasably securing the optical fiber connector to another component. A latch travel limiting structure prevents the latch from deflecting outside a desired predetermined path. Improved structures for mounting the latch on the housing and for creating a duplex connector assembly are also provided. |
| US09146358B2 |
Collimator holder for electro-optical sensor
A collimator holder in the form of a glass or ceramic block that has precisely machined holes formed in the block to receive respective collimator assemblies. Each collimator assembly includes an optical fiber attached to a GRIN lens by a ferrule. Optionally, each collimator assembly can include a glass tube that surrounds at least the lens and optionally part or all of the ferrule. The lens or the tube is inserted into the hole and bonded therein by an epoxy. The block, together with the collimator assemblies installed, is bonded to the bottom surface of a crystal assembly thereby forming an electro-optic sensor. The crystal assembly can include one or more polarizing beam splitters, an electro-optic crystal, and a prism, configured to sense a current through a current-carrying cable or a voltage between the cable and another potential. |
| US09146357B2 |
Optical fiber-based optical functional device cartridge module
A cartridge-type optical functional module achieves excellent optical coupling and may include an optical fiber-type module and/or a waveguide-type module. A cartridge-type optical functional module is provided that includes first and second optical fiber collimators, an optical functional object that has an optical fiber-type module or a waveguide-type module, and a base section. The optical functional object also includes a third collimator, and a first alignment mechanism for aligning the position of the third collimator in the optical functional object. |
| US09146354B2 |
Fusion splicer
A fusion splicer includes a pair of holder installation parts for mutually butting optical fibers in a first direction, and a fusion splicing part for mutually fusing and splicing the optical fibers by a pair of electrodes opposed along a second direction, and the holder installation part includes a base fixed to a body, and a positioning member in which a base fitting part fitted into the base is formed in a lower side, and the positioning member can be attached to and detached from both of the bases after an attitude is reversed, and a center position in a width direction along the second direction in the base fitting part is arranged in a straight line of the first direction passing through a center position between the electrodes even in a state in which the positioning member is fitted into any of the bases. |
| US09146353B2 |
Optical fiber fusion splicer
An optical fiber fusion splicer includes: a windshield cover that is formed so as to be openable and closable and that includes one or more cover members that cover a heat fusion portion in a closed state; a pair of fiber mounting portions that are provided on left and right sides of the heat fusion portion; a pair of fiber mounting detectors that are provided in the fiber mounting portions and that detect that an optical fiber has been mounted. Also, when both the fiber mounting detectors detect that the optical fibers have been mounted in a state where the cover member is open, an operation to close the cover member is performed, the fusion splice is performed, connection portion inspection is performed, and an operation to open the windshield cover is performed after the connection portion inspection is completed. |
| US09146352B2 |
Field terminable fiber optic connector assembly
A fiber optic connector assembly includes a connector and a carrier. The connector has first and second ends and a terminated fiber. The fiber defines a first end adjacent the first end of the connector and a second end protruding out of the second end of the connector. A carrier having a connector end and an opposite cable end is engaged with the connector. An alignment structure on the carrier includes a first end, a second end and a throughhole and also a cutaway extending perpendicularly to and communicating with the throughhole. The fiber is positioned within at least a portion of the throughhole with the second end located within the cutaway. A window is within the cutaway over the second end of the fiber for visually inspecting the alignment of the second end of the fiber with an end of another fiber. |
| US09146350B2 |
Optical element, light source device, and projection display device
Disclosed is an optical element that includes: a light guide body into which light from a light-emitting element enters; carrier generation layer (6) formed in the light guide body, in which carriers are generated by the light from the light guide body; plasmon excitation layer (8) stacked on carrier generation layer (6), which has a plasma frequency higher than the frequency of light generated when carrier generation layer (6) is excited by the light from the light-emitting element; and wave vector conversion layer (10) stacked on plasmon excitation layer (8), which converts light incident from plasmon excitation layer (8) into light having a predetermined exit angle to output the light. Plasmon excitation layer (8) is sandwiched between low dielectric constant layer (7) and high dielectric constant layer (9). |
| US09146349B2 |
Monolithic integration of dielectric waveguides and germanium-based devices
Various exemplary embodiments relate to an integrated optical device including: a semiconductor waveguide on a substrate; a dielectric waveguide on a substrate optically coupled to the semiconductor waveguide; and a germanium device on the semiconductor waveguide optically coupled to the semiconductor waveguide. |
| US09146343B2 |
Display device, multi-display system and method for manufacturing display device
A display device (100) is provided with: a display panel (110); a light guide member (150) provided in a frame shape at a periphery of the display panel (110) on the viewing side, the light guide member (150) guiding the light that performs image display on the display panel (110) to outside of the display panel (110); and a transparent sheet-shaped covering member (140) laminated on the surface of the display panel (110) on the viewing side, with a portion of the covering member (140) provided in-between the light guide member (150) and the display panel (110). The light guide member (150) is bonded to the surface of the covering member (140) by an adhesive agent (151). |
| US09146340B2 |
LED lighting device, in particular catadioptric spotlight
A LED lighting device extending substantially along an axis and having a LED light source; a light guide located in front of the light source and extending between a proximal end substantially facing the light source, and a distal end opposite the proximal end; and an optical system associated with the light source to direct the luminous flux emitted by the light source; the light guide being shaped so as to generate at the distal end of the light guide an emissive surface equivalent to the real emitting surface of the light source at a predetermined position with respect to the optical system. |
| US09146339B2 |
Method and apparatus for constructing a thin film mirror
Systems and methods for constructing a thin film mirror are provided. The apparatus includes a vacuum chamber having edges. Adjacent the vacuum chamber is at least one extender having an edge that is spaced from and extending beyond the adjacent edge of the vacuum chamber in two directions. In this manner, the thin film does not contact the vacuum chamber until force is applied to the thin film, such as by mechanical tensioning mechanisms or application of a partial vacuum. |
| US09146336B2 |
Synthetic resin lens
In a synthetic resin lens, a thermoplastic resin is caused to contain a blue pigment having the lowest value for light transmittance in 570-610 nm, and a pink pigment that, among blue light of 380-500 nm, has the highest value for light transmittance in 400-440 nm and the lowest value for light transmittance in 480-520 nm, resulting in a transparent achromatic lens having a lowest value for light transmittance in 570-610 nm. As a result, provided is a synthetic resin lens that, when used in sunglasses, corrective glasses, shields, or the like, has favorable contrast (visibility), few marked color changes when installed, and a natural color. |
| US09146333B2 |
Systems and methods for collecting measurements and/or samples from within a borehole formed in a subsurface reservoir using a wireless interface
A system and method collects one or more measurements within a borehole formed in a subsurface reservoir. The system and method provides a first downhole component having an expandable element and a first port formed in a layer of the expandable element. A wireless transceiver is connected to the first downhole component, wherein the wireless transceiver is adapted to transmit one or more wireless signals within the borehole. A first wireless sensor located at the first port and remotely with respect to the wireless transceiver, wherein the first wireless sensor is configure to receive the one or more wireless signals and collect at least one measurement within the borehole or perform at least one task related to the borehole or subsurface reservoir about the borehole. |
| US09146329B2 |
System and method for reconstruction of time-lapse data
Techniques are disclosed for performing time-lapse monitor surveys with sparsely sampled monitor data sets (11). An accurate 3D representation (e.g., image) of a target area (e.g., a hydrocarbon bearing subsurface reservoir) is constructed using the sparsely sampled monitor data set (e.g., seismic data set). The sparsely sampled monitor data set may be so limited that it alone is insufficient to generate an accurate 3D representation of the target area, but accuracy is achieved through use of certain external information (14). The external information may include predetermined base survey data from a first time that is used (12) to interpolate data that is not recorded in the sparsely sampled monitor data set to derive a fully sampled monitor data set that can be processed (e.g., using conventional processing techniques) for determining an accurate representation of the target area at a second time. |
| US09146327B2 |
Method for determining geometric imaging properties of a flat panel detector, correspondingly adapted X-ray inspection system and calibration phantom
A method and system for determining geometric imaging properties of a flat panel detector in an x-ray inspection system are described herein. The method can include arranging a calibration phantom between an x-ray source and the flat panel detector, the calibration phantom including at least one discrete geometric object. Additionally, the method can include recording at least one x-ray image of the calibration phantom with the flat panel detector. At least one discrete geometric shape is generated in the x-ray image by imaging the at least one discrete geometric object of the calibration phantom. Further, the method can include determining a location-dependent distortion error of the flat panel detector from the at least one x-ray image on the basis of at least one characteristic of the at least one discrete geometric shape. All characteristics of the at least one discrete geometric shape used for determining the location-dependent distortion error are independent of the dimensions of the calibration phantom. |
| US09146321B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus
A wireless communication apparatus may include an instruction unit that instructs a peripheral terminal to acquire a navigation message transmitted from a global positioning system (GPS) satellite, an acquisition unit that acquires the navigation message, which has been acquired by the peripheral terminal, from the peripheral terminal, and a calculation unit that carries out a positioning calculation by using the navigation message acquired by the peripheral terminal. |
| US09146311B2 |
Full-wave receiver architecture for the homodyne motion sensor
A homodyne motion sensor or detector based on ultra-wideband radar utilizes the entire received waveform through implementation of a voltage boosting receiver. The receiver includes a receiver input and a receiver output. A first diode is connected to the receiver output. A first charge storage capacitor is connected from between the first diode and the receiver output to ground. A second charge storage capacitor is connected between the receiver input and the first diode. A second diode is connected from between the second charge storage capacitor and the first diode to ground. The dual diode receiver performs voltage boosting of a RF signal received at the receiver input, thereby enhancing receiver sensitivity. |
| US09146309B2 |
Super delta monopulse beamformer
An improved approach to direction finding using a super delta monopulse beamformer is disclosed. A super delta channel signal that includes direction finding information from two circular delta channels is formed and output by the super delta monopulse beamformer. This super delta channel signal uses only two channels, but is able to realize the accuracy of conventional three channel systems. |
| US09146308B2 |
Small form-factor distance sensor
The disclosure relates to measuring a distance from a mobile device to a remote surface. An energy emitter directs an energy signal onto an energy splitter, the energy splitter partitions the energy signal into a first energy beam having a first wavelength and a second energy beam having a second wavelength, a reflector array reflects the first energy beam at a first angle and the second energy beam at a second angle different from the first angle and projects the first energy beam and the second energy beam onto the remote surface, a receiver measures a first propagation time of the first energy beam reflected off of the remote surface and a second propagation time of the second energy beam reflected off of the remote surface, and a processor estimates the distance to the remote surface based on the first propagation time and the second propagation time. |
| US09146302B2 |
Disturbance signal removing device, radar apparatus and method of removing disturbance signal
A disturbance signal removing device is provided. The device includes an antenna for transmitting a modulated pulse signal and a non-modulated pulse signal, and a transmission frequency setter for selectively setting as a transmission frequency band of the modulated pulse signal any one of a plurality of mutually different frequency bands of the modulated pulse signal that are different from a transmission frequency band set to the non-modulated pulse signal. The transmission frequency setter switches between the plurality of transmission frequency bands of the modulated pulse signal. |
| US09146301B2 |
Localization using modulated ambient sounds
Systems and methods for determining the location of a microphone by using sounds played from loudspeakers at known locations. Systems and methods may thereby require a minimal level of infrastructure, using sounds that would naturally be played in the environment. Systems and methods may thereby allow devices such as smart-phones, tablets, laptops or portable microphones to determine their location in indoor settings, where Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems may not work reliably. |
| US09146294B2 |
Built-in test injection for current sensing circuit
A current sense system includes a current transformer having a primary coil and a secondary coil, wherein the secondary coil has a first and second terminal; a burden resistor connected between the first terminal of the secondary coil and ground; a monitor circuit that measures current in the primary coil by monitoring voltage across the burden resistor; and a built-in test (BIT) circuit connected to the second terminal of the secondary coil. The BIT circuit provides a virtual ground during normal operation, and either a positive voltage or a negative voltage during test operations. |
| US09146291B2 |
Method to generate an MR image, and corresponding magnetic resonance system
To generate an MR image, acquired MR data are entered into k-space on multiple uniform trajectories in k-space within a predetermined time period. The trajectories are acquired chronologically in a predetermined order before a predetermined point in time, and in a different order after the point in time. The i-th trajectory after the point in time in the different order is adjacent to the (n−i+1)-th trajectory in the predetermined order (n is the number of trajectories acquired before and after the point in time). Two trajectories are adjacent if a distance between them is less than a predetermined threshold. Except for the (n−i+1)-th trajectory, none of the trajectories acquired before the point in time has a distance from the i-th trajectory that is less than the threshold. The predetermined time period is set to be at a middle of a time period after an RF excitation pulse, such that a contrast change within the predetermined time period proceeds as linearly as possible over time. |
| US09146290B2 |
RF transmit and/or receive antenna for a hybrid MRI/HIFU system
An RF/MR transmit and/or receive antenna is disclosed for use in a hybrid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (or MR scanner), which comprises an MRI system and another imaging system for example in the form of a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system. The RF transmit and/or receive antenna (40, 50) is provided with respect to its conductor structure such that it does not disturb or in any other way detrimentally influence the related other (i.e. HIFU) of the two systems, especially if both systems are operated simultaneously and if the RF antenna is positioned in close proximity to an object to be imaged. |
| US09146289B2 |
Targeted thermal treatment of human tissue through respiratory cycles using ARMA modeling
The present application discloses a technique for targeting therapeutic thermal energy to human tissue that is subject to displacement during a respiratory cycle using ARMA modeling. It discloses using an ARMA treatment of MRI tracking data of salient features of the tissue of interest to predict the spacial position of the portion of the tissue to be treated and using this prediction to guide the application of the thermal energy. It also discloses that this technique is particularly useful when the tissue of interest undergoes elastic deformation in a respiratory cycle and high energy focused ultrasound (HIFU) is used to ablate diseased tissue such as a cancerous tumor. |
| US09146281B2 |
Electric vehicle battery contactor switch monitoring
Contactor switches between a multi-cell battery pack and an electric vehicle load are monitored. A main microcontroller having a chassis ground is digitally isolated from positive and negative busses of the battery pack. A battery monitoring IC having a plurality of auxiliary/thermistor A/D inputs measures respective voltages of battery cells. An evaluation switch is connected to a junction between a first contactor switch and the load. The evaluation switch is activated in response to a command received from the main microprocessor. A voltage divider is coupled between the output of the evaluation switch and the negative bus to provide a divided voltage output to one of the auxiliary/thermistor A/D inputs. The battery monitoring IC transmits a digital value representative of the divided voltage output to the main microprocessor via a serial data link, and the main microprocessor determines a state of the contactor in response to the digital value. |
| US09146275B2 |
Method and system for monitoring module power information in a communication device
A method for communication is disclosed and includes, in a single chip including a plurality of on-chip devices, acquiring, from at least one of the plurality of on-chip devices, power information for the at least one of the plurality of on-chip devices. The acquiring may be in response to a query signal received by the at least one of the plurality of on-chip devices. An output signal indicative of power status of the at least one of the plurality of on-chip devices may be generated from within the chip, based on the acquired power information. The acquired power information may be communicated to the off-chip device. The acquired power information may be wirelessly communicated to the off-chip device via an antenna or an infrared transmitter on the single chip. The acquired power information may be communicated to an off-chip device via a wired connection on the single chip. |
| US09146272B2 |
JTAG multiplexer with clock/mode input, mode/clock input and mode output
The present disclosure describes novel methods and apparatuses for directly accessing JTAG Tap domains that exist in a scan path of many serially connected JTAG Tap domains. Direct scan access to a selected Tap domain by a JTAG controller is achieved using auxiliary digital or analog terminals associated with the Tap domain and connected to the JTAG controller. During direct scan access, the auxiliary digital or analog terminals serve as serial data input and serial data output paths between the selected Tap domain and the JTAG controller. |
| US09146257B2 |
Contact probe and probe card
A contact probe electrically connects the tester side and an electrode pad of a circuit to be tested. This contact probe has a mounting portion on a base end portion mounted on a probe card, a contact portion on a distal end portion brought into contact with the electrode pad, and an arm portion between them elastically supporting the contact portion. The contact portion is provided on a lower end portion of a base portion integrally mounted on a distal end portion of the arm portion. The arm portion has a one-side arm piece supporting the base portion and allowing vertical movement of the base portion and the other-side arm piece supporting the base portion and adjusting an inclination angle of the base portion to reduce a scrub amount of the contact portion. The probe card uses the above-described contact probe. |
| US09146249B2 |
Gel card filling device comprising an ionizer
The invention relates to a device for filling at least one receptacle (12) of gel card type initially sealed by a cap. The invention is characterized by the fact that the filling device comprises a piercing member (110) for perforating the cap, means (120) for eliminating the electrostatic charges capable of being borne by the receptacle, and filling means (130) for filling the receptacle after perforation of the cap and elimination of the electrostatic charges. |
| US09146247B2 |
Sample applicator sensing and positioning
Systems and methods for positioning a sample applicator relative to a substrate include: (a) obtaining an image of the sample applicator in proximity to the substrate, where the image includes a direct image region corresponding to the sample applicator and a first reflected image region corresponding to an image of the sample applicator reflected from a surface of the substrate; (b) determining a position of an edge of the sample applicator in the direct image region; (c) determining a position of a reflected edge of the sample applicator in the first reflected image region; (d) determining a distance between the edge of the sample applicator and the reflected edge of the sample applicator; and (e) determining the position of the sample applicator relative to the substrate based on the distance between the edges. |
| US09146245B2 |
ELISA for VEGF
The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) activity in a patient's bloodstream or other biological sample can serve as a diagnostic and prognostic index for cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, and other pathologies. Antibody-sandwich ELISA methods and kits for VEGF as an antigen are provided to detect types of VEGF levels in biological samples from animal models and human patients and can be used as a diagnostic/prognostic index. |
| US09146243B2 |
Method of assessing diabetic nephropathy using CD5 antigen-like
Biomarkers for pre-Diabetes, Diabetes and/or a Diabetes related conditions, and methods of their use, including the biomarkers in Tables 1 and 2 such as peroxiredoxin-2, complement C1q subcomponent subunit B, sulfhydryl oxidase 1 and apolipoprotein A-IV. |
| US09146241B2 |
Proteomic identification of antibodies
Methods and compositions for identification of candidate antigen-specific variable regions as well as generation of antibodies or antigen-binding fragments that could have desired antigen specificity are provided. For example, in certain aspects, methods for determining amino acid sequences of serum antibody CDR3 and abundancy levels are described. In some aspects, methods for determining nucleic acid sequences of antibody variable region sequences and the frequency thereof in biological samples are provided. Furthermore, the invention provides methods for identification and generation of antibodies or antigen-binding fragments that comprise highly-represented CDR domains. |
| US09146233B2 |
Detecting molecular interactions by fluorescence resonance energy transfer on a solid-phase support
The present disclosure features a variety of compositions, kits, and methods that are useful for, inter alia, detecting and/or analyzing an interaction between two molecules, a target molecule and a target-specific binding agent which can be, e.g., proteins, nucleic acids, saccharides or polysaccharides, small molecules, or combinations of any of the foregoing. The compositions, kits, and methods can also be used, e.g., to detect the presence or absence of an enzymatic activity (e.g., a kinase activity, a protease activity, or a phosphatase activity) in a sample; to identify a compound that modulates an interaction between two molecules; or to identify compounds that modulate the activity of an enzyme. |
| US09146231B2 |
Method for testing vascular endothelial damage and testing kit
An object of the present invention is to provide a method which is capable of carrying out detection and evaluation of the vascular endothelial damage with a high degree of accuracy. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for testing vascular endothelial damage with respect to a blood sample collected from living organism comprising the steps of: 1) detecting or determining quantitatively vascular endothelial cell-derived microparticle; and 2) detecting or determining quantitatively tissue factor-containing microparticle. Furthermore, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a testing kit of vascular endothelial damage comprising a first antibody which specifically recognizes the vascular endothelium-derived microparticle, and a second antibody which specifically recognizes the tissue factor-containing microparticle. |
| US09146229B2 |
Arrays and methods for guided cell patterning
Guided cell patterning arrays for single cell patterning are disclosed. The arrays include a plurality of cell adhesion sites that are individually isolated on an inert surface. Each cell adhesion site has one or more cell adhesion peptides having affinity to a cell surface receptor. The inert surface is resistant to cell adhesion. |
| US09146224B2 |
Low dead-volume core-degassing apparatus
A canister for measuring the natural gas content of rock cores which (1) has an inner core-containment bag made of non-permeable plastic which can be flash evacuated, collapsing around the core and thus minimizing the amount of air present and improving the quality of the gas analyses and (2) which prevents the released gas from reacting with the outer canister. A procedure for using gas-sampling bags to periodically collect the gas released from the core so that (1) the volume of released gas can be measured at a later date using more convenient and precise laboratory methods, (2) the gas can be readily transported and stored, and (3) the gas can be easily submitted for analysis. |
| US09146216B2 |
Device for sample preparation
The invention relates to a method, particularly suitable for the extraction and enrichment of a volatile component from a liquid, solid or gaseous sample for subsequent introduction into an analytical device, for example, a gas chromatograph. The sample is flushed through a packing of extraction material for extraction of the analytes of interest. A suitable device comprises a syringe with a hollow needle. A chamber is provided between the needle and syringe, in which the extraction material is arranged. |
| US09146214B2 |
Leakage magnetic flux flaw inspection method and device
A magnetic flux leakage inspection method generates a magnetic flux parallel to a surface of an inspected object, and detects a magnetic flux that leaks from the surface of the inspected object with a magnetic sensor. The method includes exciting coils that generate an alternating magnetic field having a variable frequency, an exciting coil power source, a magnetic sensor, a lock-in detector, and a signal analyzer that analyzes changes of a signal intensity and a phase of the output of the magnetic sensor with output signals of the lock-in detector. The method obtains cosine or sine as a trigonometric function of a phase obtained by adding to the phase at each measurement point of multipoint measurement, an adjustment phase common to all the measurement points, and displays an analytical value obtained by multiplying the signal intensity and the sine or cosine at each measurement point with any adjustment phase. |
| US09146211B1 |
Nano-ring gate electrode nanochannels
A technique includes providing a nanodevice. A gate electrode structure has nanochannels with a first end connected to a first common trench and a second end connected to a second common trench. A gate electrode extends laterally as a continuous line on the gate electrode structure and is formed in each of the nanochannels. The gate electrode forms a separate nano-ring electrode around a partial circumference inside each of the nanochannels. The gate electrode is parallel to the first and second common trenches and is perpendicular to the nanochannels. |