最新美国发明专利第2016-04-12期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US09312422B2	Light receiving element, semiconductor epitaxial wafer, method for manufacturing the light receiving element, method for manufacturing the semiconductor epitaxial wafer, and detecting device A light receiving element includes an InP substrate that is transparent to light having a wavelength of 3 to 12 μm, a buffer layer located in contact with the InP substrate, and a light-receiving layer having a multiple quantum well structure, the light-receiving layer having a cutoff wavelength of 3 μm or more and being lattice-matched with the buffer layer. In the light receiving element, the buffer layer is epitaxially grown on the InP substrate while the buffer layer and the InP substrate exceed a range of a normal lattice-matching condition, and the buffer layer is constituted by a GaSb layer.
US09312421B2	Photoelectric conversion element and photoelectric converter Disclosed herein is a photoelectric conversion element including: a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type provided above a substrate; a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type provided in a higher layer than the first semiconductor layer; a third semiconductor layer of a third conductivity type provided between the first and second semiconductor layers and lower in electrical conductivity than the first and second semiconductor layers; and a light-shielding layer provided between the substrate and first semiconductor layer.
US09312420B2	Solar cell and method for manufacturing the same A solar cell according to an embodiment of the invention includes a semiconductor substrate; an emitter layer formed at the semiconductor substrate, wherein the emitter layer includes a first portion of a first resistance and a second portion of a second resistance higher than the first resistance, wherein the first portion includes a first dopant and a second dopant having the same conductive type and the second portion including the second dopant; a passivation layer formed on the emitter layer, wherein the passivation layer includes the first dopant; and an electrode electrically connected to the first portion through the passivation layer.
US09312411B2	Connector assemblies for connecting panels, panels with connector assemblies In one embodiment, a connector assembly comprises: a connector; and a pair of side collectors, each comprising a connector engagement region having a size and geometry to mate with the connector so as to hold ends of two adjacent panels together; and a panel engagement region comprising a receiving area and having a size to attach onto an edge of the panel; and a clip, wherein the clip has a base that can be attached to a support, an engagement, and a stem extending therebetween, wherein the engagement has an extension projecting from a side of the engagement, wherein the panel engagement region further comprises an opening in a joint wall on a side of the panel engagement region opposite the receiving area, wherein the opening is configured to receive the extension of the engagement.
US09312409B2	Ink for producing compound semiconductor thin film, compound semiconductor thin film produced using the ink, solar cell having compound semiconductor the thin film, and process for producing solar cell An ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film is provided, which contains a binder includes a compound includes an S atom or an Se atom and metallic compound particles which are both dispersed in an organic solvent. A compound semiconductor thin film is formed by applying or printing the ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film and heat-treating it. A solar cell is constituted, which has a light-absorbing layer formed of the compound semiconductor thin film.
US09312405B2	Thin film type solar cell and fabrication method thereof A method of fabricating a solar cell includes forming a doped portion having a first conductive type on a semiconductor substrate, growing an oxide layer on the semiconductor substrate, forming a plurality of recess portions in the oxide layer, further growing the oxide layer on the semiconductor substrate, forming a doped portion having a second conductive type on areas of the semiconductor substrate corresponding to the recess portions, forming a first conductive electrode electrically coupled to the doped portion having the first conductive type, and forming a second conductive electrode on the semiconductor substrate and electrically coupled to the doped portion having the second conductive type, wherein a gap between the doped portions having the first and second conductive types corresponds to a width of the oxide layer formed by further growing the oxide layer.
US09312403B2	Photosensor having an emitter-encapsulating portion, receiver-encapsulating portion, and circuit-encapsulating portion connected to one another with a conductive leadframe A photosensor includes an emitter element, an emitter-encapsulating portion, a receiver element, a receiver-encapsulating portion, a circuit portion, and a circuit-encapsulating portion. The emitter-encapsulating portion encapsulates the emitter element. The receiver-encapsulating portion encapsulates the receiver element. The circuit portion includes a luminous element for indicating an operation. The circuit-encapsulating portion encapsulates the circuit portion. The circuit-encapsulating portion includes an operation indicator portion facing the luminous element. The emitter-encapsulating portion, the receiver-encapsulating portion, and the circuit-encapsulating portion are connected to one another with a conductive leadframe. The emitter-encapsulating portion, the receiver-encapsulating portion, and the circuit-encapsulating portion are formed from the same resin material containing a light diffusing agent.
US09312402B2	Micro optical package structure with filtration layer and method for making the same A micro optical package structure with filtration layers includes a substrate having a light-emitting area and a light-receiving area, a light-emitting chip being deposited in a light-emitting area, a light-receiving chip being deposited in a light-receiving area, two packaging resin bodies for enclosing the light-emitting chip and the light-receiving chip, respectively, and being separately deposited in the light-emitting area and the light-receiving area, respectively, and the filtration layers formed on the packaging resin bodies surface for filtering out lights of different wavelengths. The micro optical package structure needs neither barrier nor protective cover between or outside the packaging resin bodies, so can be microminiaturized. The micro optical package structure can filter out visible lights of specific wavelengths without using any additional filters.
US09312401B2	Single photon avalanche diode imaging sensor for complementary metal oxide semiconductor stacked chip applications An imaging sensor system includes a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) imaging array including N pixels formed in a first semiconductor layer of a first wafer. Substantially an entire thickness of the first semiconductor layer of each pixel is fully depleted such that a multiplication region included in each pixel near a front side is configured to be illuminated with photons through a back side and through the substantially entire thickness of the fully depleted first semiconductor layer. Deep n type isolation regions are disposed in the first semiconductor layer between the pixels to isolate the pixels. N digital counters are formed in a second semiconductor layer of a second wafer that is bonded to the first wafer. Each of the N digital counters is coupled to the SPAD imaging array and coupled to count output pulses generated by a respective one of the pixels.
US09312397B2	Transistor structure, method for manufacturing a transistor structure, force-measuring system A transistor structure includes a first terminal region, a second terminal region and a channel region therebetween in a semiconductor substrate. Additionally, the transistor structure includes a control electrode associated with the channel region, the control electrode having a control electrode portion which is elastically deflectable under the action of a force and spaced apart from the channel region. The distance between the control electrode portion and the channel region is changed based on the action of force.
US09312395B2	Thin-film transistor, method of manufacturing the same, and method of manufacturing backplane for flat panel display Provided are a thin-film transistor (TFT), a method of manufacturing the same, and a method of manufacturing a backplane for a flat panel display (FPD). The method of manufacturing the TFT according to an embodiment of the present invention includes forming a gate electrode on a substrate; forming an insulating layer on the substrate to cover the gate electrode; performing a plasma treatment on an upper surface of the insulating layer using a halogen gas; forming an oxide semiconductor layer on the insulating layer and positioned to correspond to the gate electrode; and forming source and drain electrodes on the insulating layer to contact and over portions of the oxide semiconductor layer.
US09312393B2	Transistor having tapered gate electrode An object is to obtain a semiconductor device with improved characteristics by reducing contact resistance of a semiconductor film with electrodes or wirings, and improving coverage of the semiconductor film and the electrodes or wirings. The present invention relates to a semiconductor device including a gate electrode over a substrate, a gate insulating film over the gate electrode, a first source or drain electrode over the gate insulating film, an island-shaped semiconductor film over the first source or drain electrode, and a second source or drain electrode over the island-shaped semiconductor film and the first source or drain electrode. Further, the second source or drain electrode is in contact with the first source or drain electrode, and the island-shaped semiconductor film is sandwiched between the first source or drain electrode and the second source or drain electrode. Moreover, the present invention relates to a manufacturing method of the semiconductor device.
US09312389B2	FinFET with undoped body bulk Systems and methods are provide to achieve undoped body bulk silicon based devices, such as field effect transistors (FETS) and Fin Field Effect Transistors (FinFETs). In an embodiment, an epitaxial growth technique is used to form the silicon of an active region of a fin of a FinFET once a punchthrough stop (PTS) layer has been formed. In an embodiment, the epitaxial growth technique according to embodiments of the present disclosure produces a fin with a small notch in the active region.
US09312386B2	Method for forming fin FET structure with dual-stress spacers This application discloses a Fin FET structure and a method for forming the same. In the Fin FET structure, there are lower stress spacers disposed over the lower portion of the fin's opposite sidewalls, asserting one stress type to suppress the carrier mobility; there are also upper stress spacers disposed over the upper portion of the fin's opposite sidewalls, asserting an opposite stress type to increase the carrier mobility. Therefore, the leakage current in the fin FET is reduced and the device performance is improved. In the method, the stress spacers are formed by depositing stress layers and etching back the stress layers, where stress types and magnitudes are controllable, resulting in a simple process.
US09312385B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of semiconductor device A technique for improving characteristics of a semiconductor device (DMOSFET) is provided. A semiconductor device is configured so as to include: an n-type source layer (102) disposed on an upper portion of a first surface side of an SiC substrate (106); a p body layer (103) which surrounds the source layer and has a channel region; an n−-type drift layer (107) which is in contact with the p body layer (103); a gate electrode (116) which is disposed on an upper portion of the channel region via a gate insulating film; and a first p+ layer (109) which is disposed in the p body layer (103), extends to a portion below the n+ source layer (102), and serves as a buried semiconductor region having an impurity concentration higher than that of the p body layer (103). In this manner, since the first p+ layer (109) is formed in the middle of the p body layer (103), it is possible to reduce the diffusion resistance of the p body layer (103). Thus, it is possible to make a parasitic bipolar transistor harder to turn on.
US09312384B2	FinFET body contact and method of making same A semiconductor device may include body contacts on a finFET device for ESD protection. The semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor fin, a source/drain region and a body contact. The source/drain region and the body contact are in the semiconductor fin. A portion of the fin is laterally between the source/drain region and the body contact. The semiconductor fin is on a substrate.
US09312379B2	Manufacturing method of semiconductor apparatus and semiconductor apparatus A screen oxide film is formed on an n-drift layer (2) that is disposed on an anterior side of an n-type low-resistance layer (1), and a nitride film is formed on the screen oxide film. The nitride film is photo-etched using a first mask and thereby, a nitride shielding film (61) is formed. N-type impurity ions at a concentration higher than that of the n-drift layer are implanted through the nitride shielding film (61) from an anterior side of a semiconductor substrate and are thermally diffused and thereby, an n counter layer (7) is formed. The screen oxide film is removed. A gate oxide film (3a) is formed. A gate electrode (9) is formed on the gate oxide film (3a). P-type impurity ions are implanted from the anterior side of the semiconductor substrate using the gate electrode (9) and the nitride shielding film (61) as a mask and thereby, p- well regions (10) are formed. N-type impurity ions are implanted from the anterior side of the semiconductor substrate using the gate electrode (9) and the nitride shielding film (61) as a mask and thereby, n source regions (11) are formed.
US09312377B2	Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the same Semiconductor devices including a substrate (e.g., silicon substrate), a multi-layer structure disposed on a portion of the substrate, and at least one electrode disposed on the multi-layer structure and methods of manufacturing the same are provided. The multi-layer structure may include an active layer containing a Group III-V material and a current blocking layer disposed between the substrate and the active layer. The semiconductor device may further include a buffer layer disposed between the substrate and the active layer. In a case that the substrate is a p-type, the buffer layer may be an n-type material layer and the current blocking layer may be a p-type material layer. The current blocking layer may contain a Group III-V material. A mask layer having an opening may be disposed on the substrate so that the multi-layer structure may be disposed on the portion of the substrate exposed by the opening.
US09312374B2	Integrated power device with III-nitride half bridges A semiconductor device that includes a plurality of isolated half-bridges formed in a common semiconductor die.
US09312373B2	Compound semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same An electrode (109) insulated from a compound semiconductor layer (102) and being in contact with an electrode (101) and a compound semiconductor layer (103) is provided. A lattice constant of the compound semiconductor layer (103) is smaller than both of a lattice constant of the compound semiconductor layer (102) and a lattice constant of a compound semiconductor layer (104), and a lattice constant of a compound semiconductor layer (107) is smaller than both of the lattice constants of the compound semiconductor layer (102) and the lattice constants of the compound semiconductor layer (104). A conduction band energy of the compound semiconductor layer (103) is higher than a conduction band energy of the compound semiconductor layer (104).
US09312372B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device in which an element region including at least an IGBT region is formed on a semiconductor substrate is presented. The IGBT region including: a collector layer; a drift layer; a body layer; a gate electrode placed inside a trench extending from the front surface of the semiconductor substrate to the drift layer; an emitter layer; and a contact layer having a higher impurity concentration than the body layer. In the semiconductor device, assuming that an x direction is a direction in which the trench extends along the front surface of the semiconductor substrate and that a y direction is a direction orthogonal to the x direction along the front surface of the semiconductor substrate, a distance from the contact layer to the emitter layer in the x direction is larger than a distance from the contact layer to the trench in the y direction.
US09312371B2	Bipolar junction transistors and methods of fabrication A structure, including a bipolar junction transistor and method of fabrication thereof, is provided herein. The bipolar junction transistor includes: a substrate including a substrate region having a first conductivity type; an emitter region over a first portion of the substrate region, the emitter region having a second conductivity type; a collector region over a second portion of the substrate region, the collector region having the second conductivity type; and, a base region overlie structure disposed over, in part, the substrate region. The base region overlie structure separates the emitter region from the collector region and aligns to a base region of the bipolar junction transistor within the substrate region, between the first portion and the second portion of the substrate region.
US09312370B2	Bipolar transistor with extrinsic base region and methods of fabrication The present disclosure relates to integrated circuit (IC) structures and methods of forming the same. An IC structure according to the present disclosure can include: a doped substrate region adjacent to an insulating region; a crystalline base structure including: an intrinsic base region located on and contacting the doped substrate region, the intrinsic base region having a first thickness; an extrinsic base region adjacent to the insulating region, wherein the extrinsic base region has a second thickness greater than the first thickness; a semiconductor layer located on the intrinsic base region of the crystalline base structure; and a doped semiconductor layer located on the semiconductor layer.
US09312367B2	FinFET with a silicon germanium alloy channel and method of fabrication thereof A gate cavity is formed exposing a portion of a silicon fin by removing a sacrificial gate structure that straddles the silicon fin. An epitaxial silicon germanium alloy layer is formed within the gate cavity and on the exposed portion of the silicon fin. Thermal mixing or thermal condensation is performed to convert the exposed portion of the silicon fin into a silicon germanium alloy channel portion which is laterally surrounded by silicon fin portions. A functional gate structure is formed within the gate cavity providing a finFET structure having a silicon germanium alloy channel portion which is laterally surrounded by silicon fin portions.
US09312364B2	finFET with dielectric isolation after gate module for improved source and drain region epitaxial growth A method forming a semiconductor device that in one embodiment includes forming a gate structure on a channel region of fin structures, and forming a flowable dielectric material on a source region portion and a drain region portion of the fin structures. The flowable dielectric material is present at least between adjacent fin structures of the plurality of fin structures filling a space between the adjacent fin structures. An upper surface of the source region portion and the drain region portion of fin structures is exposed. An epitaxial semiconductor material is formed on the upper surface of the source region portion and the drain region portion of the fin structures.
US09312356B1	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof The semiconductor device includes a gate electrode, a first interlayer dielectric, a first mask layer, a second mask layer and a second interlayer dielectric. The first interlayer dielectric surrounds the periphery of the gate electrode, and the first mask layer is disposed on the gate electrode. The first mask layer and the gate electrode have at least one same metal component. The second mask layer is disposed on the sidewalls of the first mask layer, and the second interlayer dielectric is disposed on the second mask layer and in direct contact with the first interlayer dielectric.
US09312345B2	High-resistive silicon substrate with a reduced radio frequency loss for a radio-frequency integrated passive device The application relates to a high-resistivity silicon substrate (100) with a reduced radio frequency loss for a radio frequency integrated passive device. The substrate comprising a bulk zone (110) comprising high-resistivity bulk silicon and a preserved sub-surface lattice damage zone (120b) comprising fractured silicon above the bulk zone. The lattice damage zone is processed into the substrate and the preserved lattice damage zone is configured to achieve the RF loss reduction of the substrate by suppressing a parasitic surface conduction.
US09312342B2	Generation of highly N-type, defect passivated transition metal oxides using plasma fluorine insertion A new composition of matter is disclosed wherein oxygen vacancies in a semiconducting transition metal oxide such as titanium dioxide are filled with a halogen such as Fluorine, whereby the conductivity of the composition is greatly enhanced, while at the same time the chemical stability of the composition is greatly improved. Stoichiometric titanium dioxide having less than 3 % oxygen vacancies is subject to fluorine insertion such that oxygen vacancies are filled, limited amounts of fluorine replace additional oxygen atoms and fluorine interstitially inserts into the body of the TiO2 composition.
US09312341B2	Compound semiconductor device, power source device and high frequency amplifier and method for manufacturing the same A compound semiconductor device includes: a substrate; and a compound semiconductor lamination structure formed over the substrate, the compound semiconductor lamination structure including a buffer layer containing an impurity, and an active layer formed over the buffer layer.
US09312339B2	Strain relaxation using metal materials and related structures Methods of fabricating semiconductor structures include forming a plurality of openings extending through a semiconductor material and at least partially through a metal material and deforming the metal material to relax a remaining portion of the semiconductor material. The metal material may be deformed by exposing the metal material to a temperature sufficient to alter (i.e., increase) its ductility. The metal material may be formed from one or more of hafnium, zirconium, yttrium, and a metallic glass. Another semiconductor material may be deposited over the remaining portions of the semiconductor material, and a portion of the metal material may be removed from between each of the remaining portions of the semiconductor material. Semiconductor structures may be formed using such methods.
US09312338B2	Semiconductor device containing chalcogen atoms and method of manufacturing A semiconductor device includes a single crystalline semiconductor body with a first surface and a second surface parallel to the first surface. The semiconductor body contains chalcogen atoms and a background doping of pnictogen and/or hydrogen atoms. A concentration of the chalcogen atoms is at least 1E12 cm−3. A ratio of the chalcogen atoms to the atoms of the background doping is in a range from 1:9 to 9:1.
US09312336B2	MOSFET device with reduced breakdown voltage A semiconductor device includes a drain region, an epitaxial layer overlaying the drain region, and an active region. The active region includes: a body disposed in the epitaxial layer; a source embedded in the body; a gate trench extending into the epitaxial layer; a gate disposed in the gate trench; a contact trench extending through the source and at least part of the body; a contact electrode disposed in the contact trench; and an implant disposed at least in part along a contact trench wall; and an epitaxial enhancement portion disposed below the contact trench and in contact with the implant.
US09312331B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type, a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type provided in the first semiconductor region, an element region, and a termination region. The element region includes a third semiconductor region of the second conductivity type, a fourth semiconductor region of the first conductivity type, and a gate electrode disposed on a gate insulating layer that extends adjacent the third semiconductor region and the fourth semiconductor region. The termination region surrounds the element region and includes a first electrode, which includes first portions extending in a first direction and second portions extending in a second direction. A plurality of first electrodes are provided on the first semiconductor region and the second semiconductor region. An interval between adjacent first portions in the second direction is less than an interval between adjacent second portions in the first direction.
US09312328B2	Small pitch patterns and fabrication method A method is provided for fabricating small pitch patterns. The method includes providing a semiconductor substrate, and forming a target material layer having a first region and a second region on the semiconductor substrate. The method also includes forming a plurality of discrete first sacrificial layers on the first region of the target material layer and a plurality of discrete second sacrificial layers on the second region of the target material layer, and forming first sidewall spacers on both sides of the discrete first sacrificial layers and the discrete second sacrificial layers. Further, the method includes removing the first sacrificial layers and the second sacrificial layers, and forming second sidewall spacers. Further, the method also includes forming discrete repeating patterns in the first region of the target material layer and a continuous pattern in the second region of the target material layer.
US09312323B2	Light emitting device having insulator between pixel electrodes and auxiliary wiring in contact with the insulator To provide a light emitting device high in reliability with a pixel portion having high definition with a large screen. According to a light emitting device of the present invention, on an insulator (24) provided between pixel electrodes, an auxiliary electrode (21) made of a metal film is formed, whereby a conductive layer (20) made of a transparent conductive film in contact with the auxiliary electrode can be made low in resistance and thin. Also, the auxiliary electrode (21) is used to achieve connection with an electrode on a lower layer, whereby the electrode can be led out with the transparent conductive film formed on an EL layer. Further, a protective film (32) made of a film containing hydrogen and a silicon nitride film which are laminated is formed, whereby high reliability can be achieved.
US09312322B2	Organic light emitting diode display device and method of fabricating the same An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device in which an oxide-based semiconductor is used as an active layer of a TFT and the fabrication method thereof are provided. In the OLED display device, the active layer is formed at an upper portion of the gate electrode and a source electrode is patterned to completely cover the channel region of the active layer, to block light introduced from upper and lower portions of the active layer, thereby improving reliability of the oxide TFT.
US09312321B2	Double-sided organic light-emitting diode, and manufacturing method and display device thereof A double-sided organic light-emitting diode and manufacturing method thereof, and a display device using double-sided organic light-emitting diode pixel configuration are described. The double-sided organic light-emitting diode includes a first electrode, a first organic semiconductor layer disposed on the first electrode, a shared electrode disposed on the first organic semiconductor layer and electrically connected to the output terminal of a thin film transistor; a second organic semiconductor layer disposed on the shared electrode, and a second electrode disposed on the second organic semiconductor. The first electrode, the shared electrode and the second electrode are electrically insulated from each other, and two organic light-emitting diodes in the double-sided organic light emitting diode can be independently controlled.
US09312318B2	Display device with separation member including steps A display device includes: a substrate; a plurality of light-emission elements arranged, on the substrate, in a first direction and a second direction intersecting each other, each of the light-emission elements having a first electrode layer, an organic layer including a luminous layer, and a second electrode layer which are laminated in that order; and a separation section disposed, on the substrate, between the light-emission elements adjacent to each other in the first direction, the separation section having two or more pairs of steps. The first electrode layers in the light-emission elements are separated from each other, and the organic layers as well as the second electrode layers in the light-emission elements adjacent to each other in the first direction are separated from each other by the steps included in the separation section.
US09312315B2	Display, method for driving display, and electronic apparatus Disclosed herein is a display including: a pixel array part configured to include pixels that are arranged in a matrix and each have an electro-optical element, a write transistor for writing a video signal, a drive transistor for driving the electro-optical element based on the video signal written by the write transistor, and a holding capacitor connected between gate and source of the drive transistor, wherein the holding capacitor includes a first electrode, a second electrode disposed to face one surface of the first electrode for forming a first capacitor, and a third electrode disposed to face the other surface of the first electrode for forming a second capacitor, and the first capacitor and the second capacitor are connected in parallel to each other electrically.
US09312310B2	Display panel, fabricating method thereof and display device A display panel, a fabricating method thereof and a display device. The display panel, including: a transparent substrate; a plurality of display pixels, provided on the transparent substrate, wherein each of the plurality of display pixels includes: a plurality of first transparent self-luminous sub-pixels, provided on a light exiting surface of the transparent substrate; and a plurality of second self-luminous sub-pixels, provided on a surface of the transparent substrate opposite to the light exiting surface, and a light exiting direction of each of the second sub-pixels a direction towards the light exiting surface of the transparent substrate.
US09312308B2	Organic lighting device and lighting equipment An organic luminous means and an illumination device comprising such a luminous means are specified. An optical display apparatus, emergency lighting, motor vehicle interior lighting, an item of furniture, a construction material, a glazing and a display comprising such a luminous means and, respectively, comprising an illumination device having such a luminous means are furthermore specified.
US09312307B2	Vertical cross point arrays for ultra high density memory applications An ultra-high-density vertical cross-point array comprises a plurality of horizontal line layers having horizontal lines interleaved with a plurality of vertical lines arranged in rows and columns. The vertical lines are interleaved with the horizontal lines such that a row of vertical lines is positioned between each consecutive pair of horizontal lines in each horizontal line layer. Each vertical line comprises a center conductor surrounded by a single or multi-layered memory film. Accordingly, when interleaved with the horizontal lines, two-terminal memory cells are integrally formed between the center conductor of each vertical line and each crossing horizontal line. By configuring the vertical and horizontal lines so that a row of vertical lines is positioned between each consecutive pair of horizontal lines, a unit memory cell footprint of just 2F2 may be realized.
US09312306B2	Nonvolatile memory device and method of manufacturing the same According to an embodiment, a first impurity diffusion layer is provided in a region lower than a drain region and the first impurity diffusion layer diffuses impurities of a second conductivity type. A second impurity diffusion layer is provided between the drain region and the first impurity diffusion layer, and the second impurity diffusion layer diffuses impurities of a first conductivity type or the second conductivity type, and a concentration of the second impurity diffusion layer is lower than that of the first conductivity type of the drain region and that of the second conductivity type of the first impurity diffusion layer.
US09312305B2	Phase-change memory device having multiple diodes A phase-change memory device with an improved current characteristic is provided. The phase-change memory device includes a metal word line, a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type being in contact with the metal word line, and an auxiliary diode layer being in contact with metal word line and the semiconductor layer.
US09312303B2	Light-emitting device and method for manufacturing the same A method for manufacturing a light-emitting device comprises the steps of: providing a first substrate; forming a semiconductor structure on the first substrate, wherein the semiconductor structure comprises a first type semiconductor layer, a second type semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the first type semiconductor layer and the second type semiconductor layer; forming an isolation region through the second type semiconductor and the active layer to separate the semiconductor structure into a first part and a second part on the first substrate; and injecting an electrical current with a current density to the second part to make the second part to be permanently broken-down; wherein after the second part is permanently broken-down, the first part is capable of generating electromagnetic radiation and the second part is incapable of generating electromagnetic radiation.
US09312299B2	Image sensor with dielectric charge trapping device An image sensor pixel includes a photosensitive element, a floating diffusion region, a transfer gate, a dielectric charge trapping region, and a first metal contact. The photosensitive element is disposed in a semiconductor layer to receive electromagnetic radiation along a vertical axis. The floating diffusion region is disposed in the semiconductor layer, while the transfer gate is disposed on the semiconductor layer to control a flow of charge produced in the photosensitive element to the floating diffusion region. The dielectric charge trapping device is disposed on the semiconductor layer to receive electromagnetic radiation along the vertical axis and to trap charges in response thereto. The dielectric charge trapping device is further configured to induce charge in the photosensitive element in response to the trapped charges. The first metal contact is coupled to the dielectric charge trapping device to provide a first bias voltage to the dielectric charge trapping device.
US09312294B2	Semiconductor devices, methods of manufacturing thereof, and image sensor devices Semiconductor devices, methods of manufacturing thereof, and image sensor devices are disclosed. In some embodiments, a semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor chip comprising an array region, a periphery region, and a through-via disposed therein. The semiconductor device comprises a guard structure disposed in the semiconductor chip between the array region and the through-via or between the through-via and a portion of the periphery region.
US09312286B2	Display device having bypass electrode on common electrode in peripheral circuit of color filter substrate A display device includes an array substrate and a color filter substrate. The array substrate including data lines in a periphery circuit area, and the color filter substrate including a common electrode. A portion of the common electrode of the color filter substrate corresponding to the periphery circuit area of the array substrate includes a plurality of stripe electrodes separated from each other, extending in a length direction of the data lines and overlapped with the data lines. For each data line, two adjacent stripe electrodes among the plurality of stripe electrodes overlapped with the data line are connected through a bypass electrode which is substantially not overlapped with the data line. In case of the data lines being broken or shorted with the common electrode, the data line can be repaired by using a separate stripe electrode, thereby enabling normal operation of the circuitry.
US09312283B2	Method for producing display panel, and display panel In a method for producing a display panel, a base substrate having an upper surface on which an electrode is located is prepared. A first layer having a first opening overlapping with the electrode in plan-view is formed on the base substrate. A second layer having a second opening overlapping with the first opening in plan-view is formed on the first layer. The second opening has a smaller area than the first opening in plan-view. A wiring layer is formed in the first opening and the second opening, in contact with the electrode. The second layer includes a portion located on an upper surface of the first layer and a portion located in the first opening. The portion of the second layer located in the first opening covers an internal side surface of the first layer located around the first opening.
US09312280B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device capable of retaining data for a long time is provided. The semiconductor device includes first to third transistors, a fourth transistor including first and second gates, first to third nodes, a capacitor, and an input terminal. A source of the first transistor is connected to the input terminal. A drain of the first transistor and a source of the second transistor are connected to the first node. A gate of the second transistor, a drain of the second transistor, and a source of the third transistor are connected to the second node. A gate of the third transistor, a drain of the third transistor, the capacitor, and the second gate of the fourth transistor are connected to the third node.
US09312278B2	Display device and electronic device To improve the reliability of a transistor as well as to inhibit fluctuation in electric characteristics. A display device includes a pixel portion and a driver circuit portion outside the pixel portion; the pixel portion includes a pixel transistor, a first insulating film covering the pixel transistor and including an inorganic material, a second insulating film including an organic material over the first insulating film, and a third insulating film including an inorganic material over the second insulating film; and the driver circuit portion includes a driving transistor to supply a signal to the pixel transistor, the first insulating film covering the driving transistor, and the second insulating film over the first insulating film, and further includes a region in which the third insulating film is not formed over the second insulating film or a region in which the second insulating film is not covered with the third insulating film.
US09312276B2	Method for manufacturing array substrate A method for manufacturing an array substrate for producing an amorphous silicon (a-Si) array substrate of a low-definition OLED display is provided. The method includes: patterning a gate metal and a pixel electrode on a glass substrate by using a first mask which is a first half tone mask; patterning a gate insulation layer and a semiconductor layer on the glass substrate with a second mask which is a second half tone mask; forming source/drain metallic layers and a channel with a third mask; and forming a bank layer with a fourth mask. The a-Si array substrates of low-definition OLED display panels undertake less manufacturing processes, which means that mask plates are used less and cost is reduced.
US09312273B2	Structure and method to reduce crystal defects in epitaxial fin merge using nitride deposition FinFET devices and methods of making the same. A structure includes: a substrate with a buried insulator, a plurality of fins over the buried insulator, and a nitride material filing spaces between the plurality of fins, wherein the plurality of fins remain uncovered by the nitride.
US09312272B2	Implementing buried FET utilizing drain of finFET as gate of buried FET A method and circuit for implementing an enhanced transistor topology with a buried field effect transistor (FET) utilizing the drain of a FinFET as the gate of the new buried FET and a design structure on which the subject circuit resides are provided. A drain area of the fin area of a FinFET over a buried dielectric layer provides both the drain of the FinFET as well as the gate node of a second field effect transistor. This second field effect transistor is buried in the carrier semiconductor substrate under the buried dielectric layer.
US09312270B2	Methods of manufacturing three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices Methods of manufacturing a three-dimensional semiconductor device are provided. The method includes: forming a thin film structure, where first and second material layers of at least 2n (n is an integer more than 2) are alternately and repeatedly stacked, on a substrate; wherein the first material layer applies a stress in a range of about 0.1×109 dyne/cm2 to about 10×109 dyne/cm2 to the substrate and the second material layer applies a stress in a range of about −0.1×109 dyne/cm2 to about −10×109 dyne/cm2 to the substrate.
US09312266B2	Memories with memory arrays extending in opposite directions from a semiconductor and their formation Memories and their formation are disclosed. One such memory has a first array of first memory cells extending in a first direction from a first surface of a semiconductor. A second array of second memory cells extends in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, from a second surface of the semiconductor. Both arrays may be non-volatile memory arrays. For example, one of the memory arrays may be a NAND flash memory array, while the other may be a one-time-programmable memory array.
US09312261B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes first and second well regions having a first conductivity type, and a third well region between the first and second well regions having a second conductivity type different from the first conductivity type. A first active region is in the first well region. A second active region is in the second well region. A third active region is in the third well region. The third active region is closer to the second active region than to the first active region. A fourth active region is in the third well region. The fourth active region is closer to the first active region than to the second active region. A first conductive pattern is across the first and third active regions. A second conductive pattern is across the second and fourth active regions and parallel to the first conductive pattern.
US09312260B2	Integrated circuits and manufacturing methods thereof An integrated circuit includes a first diffusion area for a first type transistor. The first type transistor includes a first drain region and a first source region. A second diffusion area for a second type transistor is separated from the first diffusion area. The second type transistor includes a second drain region and a second source region. A gate electrode continuously extends across the first diffusion area and the second diffusion area in a routing direction. A first metallic structure is electrically coupled with the first source region. A second metallic structure is electrically coupled with the second drain region. A third metallic structure is disposed over and electrically coupled with the first and second metallic structures. A width of the first metallic structure is substantially equal to or larger than a width of the third metallic structure.
US09312256B2	Bidirectional silicon carbide transient voltage supression devices An electronic device includes a silicon carbide layer having a first conductivity type and having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, and first and second silicon carbide Zener diodes on the silicon carbide layer. Each of the first and second silicon carbide Zener diodes may include a first heavily doped silicon carbide region having a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type on the silicon carbide layer, and an ohmic contact on the first heavily doped silicon carbide region.
US09312254B2	Semiconductor multi-project or multi-product wafer process The embodiment provides a semiconductor MP wafer process including processing a plurality of MP wafers in a lot or batch with a first process step. The plurality of the MP wafers is split into an MP wafer group-1 and an MP wafer group-2. At least one of the MP wafers of the MP wafer group-1 is processed with a second process step-1 and at least one of the MP wafers of the MP wafer group-2 is processed with a second process step-2 to form different device components on the MP wafers of the MP wafer group-1 and group-2, respectively. At least one of the MP wafers of the MP wafer group-1 is processed with a third process step-3 and at least one of the MP wafers of the MP wafer group-2 is processed with a third process step-4 to form a substantially same characteristic device component on the MP wafers.
US09312250B2	Chip, chip arrangement and method for producing a chip Various embodiments provide a chip. The chip has a carrier, an integrated circuit formed above the carrier, and an energy storage element. The energy storage element has a first electrode and a second electrode and is used to supply the integrated circuit with electrical energy. The carrier, the integrated circuit and the energy storage element are monolithically formed, the first electrode being formed from the carrier.
US09312248B1	Light-emitting diode lighting device A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting device includes a substrate, a first bottom electrode, a bottom transparent isolation layer, a first vertical LED, a second vertical LED, a first top transparent electrode, and a second top transparent electrode. The substrate has a first recess therein. The first bottom electrode is disposed in the first recess and is reflective. The first vertical LED and the second vertical LED are disposed in the first recess and on the first bottom electrode. The first bottom transparent isolation layer is disposed in the first recess. The first top transparent electrode is electrically connected to the first vertical LED. The second top transparent electrode is electrically connected to the second vertical LED. The first top transparent electrode, the second top transparent electrode, and the first bottom electrode cooperate to electrically connect the first vertical LED and the second vertical LED in series.
US09312247B2	Illuminating device and light module thereof An illuminating device includes a first light module and a second light module. The first light module emits a first light beam to a first illuminating area, and the second light module emits a second light beam to a second illuminating area. The first light module includes a first blue chip emitting a blue light with a main wave peak from 461 nm to 480 nm.
US09312245B2	III-nitride device and FET in a package One exemplary disclosed embodiment comprises a three-terminal stacked-die package including a field effect transistor (PET), such as a silicon PET, stacked atop a III-nitride transistor, such that a drain of the PET resides on and is electrically coupled to a source of the III-nitride transistor. A first terminal of the package is coupled to a gate of the FET, a second terminal of the package is coupled to a drain of the III-nitride transistor. A third terminal of the package is coupled to a source of the FET. In this manner, devices such as cascoded switches may be packaged in a stacked-die form, resulting in reduced parasitic inductance and resistance, improved thermal dissipation, smaller form factor, and lower manufacturing cost compared to conventional packages.
US09312244B2	Multiple die stacking for two or more die A microelectronic package can include a substrate having first and second opposed surfaces, and first and second microelectronic elements having front surfaces facing the first surface. The substrate can have a plurality of substrate contacts at the first surface and a plurality of terminals at the second surface. Each microelectronic element can have a plurality of element contacts at the front surface thereof. The element contacts can be joined with corresponding ones of the substrate contacts. The front surface of the second microelectronic element can partially overlie a rear surface of the first microelectronic element and can be attached thereto. The element contacts of the first microelectronic element can be arranged in an area array and are flip-chip bonded with a first set of the substrate contacts. The element contacts of the second microelectronic element can be joined with a second set of the substrate contacts by conductive masses.
US09312243B2	Semiconductor packages A semiconductor package may include a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a plurality of first electrical connections disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a first material disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The plurality of first electrical connections may electrically couple the first substrate and the second substrate to each other. The first material may surround each of the plurality of first electrical connections, and a width of the first material proximal the first substrate may be smaller than a width of the first material proximal the second substrate.
US09312239B2	Enhanced stacked microelectronic assemblies with central contacts and improved thermal characteristics A microelectronic assembly includes a first unit and a second unit overlying the first unit. Each of the units include a dielectric element that includes first and second apertures, first and second microelectronic elements, first leads extending from contacts of the first microelectronic element through the first aperture, and second leads extending from contacts of the second microelectronic element through the second aperture. The microelectronic assembly further includes a heat spreader that is thermally coupled to at least one of the first microelectronic element or the second microelectronic element of the first unit. The heat spreader may be a monolithic structure having apertures substantially aligned with the contacts of the first and second microelectronic elements of the first unit.
US09312234B2	Semiconductor module and method for manufacturing the same There is provided a semiconductor module and a method for manufacturing the same which make it possible to joint the electrode of the bare-chip transistor and the wiring pattern on the substrate by solder mounting operation, in the same process of solder mounting operation for mounting the bare-chip transistor or other surface mounting devices on the wiring patterns on the substrate. A semiconductor module includes: a plurality of wiring patterns formed on an insulating layer; a bare-chip transistor mounted on one wiring pattern out of the plurality of wiring patterns via a solder; and a copper connector constituted of a copper plate for jointing an electrode formed on a top surface of the bare-chip transistor and another wiring pattern out of the plurality of wiring patterns via a solder.
US09312232B2	Conductive bump, semiconductor chip and stacked semiconductor package using the same A conductive bump includes a step member formed to form a step on a portion of a connection pad; and a conductive member formed on the connection pad and the step member and having an inclined surface which is inclined with respect to the connection pad.
US09312231B2	Method and apparatus for high temperature semiconductor device packages and structures using a low temperature process A semiconductor device package that incorporates a combination of ceramic, organic, and metallic materials that are coupled using silver is provided. The silver is applied in the form of fine particles under pressure and a low temperature. After application, the silver forms a solid that has a typical melting point of silver, and therefore the finished package can withstand temperatures significantly higher than the manufacturing temperature. Further, since the silver is an interfacial material between the various combined materials, the effect of differing material properties between ceramic, organic, and metallic components, such as coefficient of thermal expansion, is reduced due to low temperature of bonding and the ductility of the silver.
US09312230B2	Conductive pillar structure for semiconductor substrate and method of manufacture A conductive pillar structure for a die includes a passivation layer having a metal contact opening over a substrate. A bond pad has a first portion inside the metal contact opening and a second portion overlying the passivation layer. The second portion of the bond pad has a first width. A buffer layer over the bond pad has a pillar contact opening with a second width to expose a portion of the bond pad. A conductive pillar has a first portion inside the pillar contact opening and a second portion over the buffer layer. The second portion of the conductive pillar has a third width. A ratio of the second width to the first width is between about 0.35 and about 0.65. A ratio of the second width to the third width is between about 0.35 and about 0.65.
US09312229B2	Hybrid bonding with air-gap structure A package component includes a surface dielectric layer having a first planar surface, and a metal pad in the surface dielectric layer. The metal pad includes a diffusion barrier layer that includes sidewall portions, and a metallic material encircled by the sidewall portions of the diffusion barrier layer. The metallic material has a second planar surface level with the first planar surface. An air gap extends from the second planar surface of the metallic material into the metallic material. An edge of the air gap is aligned to an edge of the metallic material.
US09312225B2	Bump structure for stacked dies A bump structure that may be used for stacked die configurations is provided. Through-silicon vias are formed in a semiconductor substrate. A backside of the semiconductor substrate is thinned to expose the through-silicon vias. An isolation film is formed over the backside of the semiconductor substrate and the exposed portion of the through-silicon vias. The isolation film is thinned to re-expose the through-silicon vias. Bump pads and redistribution lines are formed on the backside of the semiconductor substrate providing an electrical connection to the through-silicon vias. Another isolation film is deposited and patterned, and a barrier layer is formed to provide contact pads for connecting to an external device, e.g., another die/wafer or circuit board.
US09312219B2	Interposer and packaging substrate having the interposer An interposer is provided, including a composite body and a plurality of conductive through vias penetrating the composite body. The composite body includes at least a main layer and at least a combining layer stacked on one another. The combining layer prevents the main layer from being cracked. The combining layer is more flexible than the main layer. The combining layer prevents the main layer from being cracked. Therefore, the main layer can be thinned on demands, and the interposer can be thinned accordingly.
US09312215B2	Semiconductor memory system According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory system includes a substrate, a plurality of elements and an adhesive portion. The substrate has a multilayer structure in which wiring patterns are formed, and has a substantially rectangle shape in a planar view. The elements are provided and arranged along the long-side direction of a surface layer side of the substrate. The adhesive portion is filled in a gap between the elements and in a gap between the elements and the substrate, where surfaces of the elements are exposed.
US09312214B2	Semiconductor packages having polymer-containing substrates and methods of forming same A method includes applying a polymer-comprising material over a carrier, and forming a via over the carrier. The via is located inside the polymer-comprising material, and substantially penetrates through the polymer-comprising material. A first redistribution line is formed on a first side of the polymer-comprising material. A second redistribution line is formed on a second side of the polymer-comprising material opposite to the first side. The first redistribution line is electrically coupled to the second redistribution line through the via.
US09312212B2	Method for housing an electronic component in a device package and an electronic component housed in the device package A method for housing an electronic component in a device package includes providing a first substrate, wherein the electronic component is arranged in a component area on a first main surface of the first substrate, and wherein first contact pads are arranged outside of the component area, forming an open top frame structure around the component area on the first main surface of the first substrate, providing a second substrate having second contact pads, arranged symmetrically to the first contact pads and electrically and mechanically connecting the first main surface of the first substrate with the first main surface of the second substrate, so that the frame structure and the second substrate from a cavity or recess around the electronic component on the first substrate.
US09312211B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof. The semiconductor device has a plurality of power units placed in parallel in a predetermined direction, wherein each of the power units includes a plurality of semiconductor elements placed on a metal plate having predetermined gaps with each other. The semiconductor elements of each of the two power units include a near-sided semiconductor element that is closer to an inlet of the resin among the two semiconductor elements having the predetermined gap therebetween. A structure is positioned on a passage and downstream in a resin flow direction relative to a predetermined position that corresponds to end parts of the near-sided semiconductor elements. The structure is a joint to connect the two power units placed adjacent to each other in the predetermined direction, and to be integrally sealed with the resin, along with the power unit.
US09312209B2	Semiconductor device A method for bypassing a defective through silicon via x in a group of n adjacent through silicon vias, includes receiving a plurality of relief signals to identify the defective through silicon via x, activating x−1 switch circuits to connect x−1 data circuits to through silicon vias 1 to x−1 in the group of n adjacent through silicon vias, activating n−x switch circuits to connect n−x data circuits to through silicon vias x+1 to n in the group of n adjacent through silicon vias, and activating a switch circuit to connect a data circuit to an auxiliary through silicon via which is adjacent through silicon via n in the group of n adjacent through silicon vias.
US09312207B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device including a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface being configured for formation of a semiconductor element; a through hole extending through the semiconductor substrate; and a through electrode disposed in the through hole. The through electrode includes an insulating film disposed along a sidewall of the through hole, a conductive layer comprising a first material disposed along the insulating film, and an electrode layer comprising a second material filled inside the through hole over the conductive layer. The first material is softer than the second material. The second material has a melting point higher than a melting point of the first material. The electrode layer includes a void portion being closed near the second surface of the semiconductor substrate.
US09312203B2	Dual damascene structure with liner A dual damascene structure with an embedded liner and methods of manufacture are disclosed. The method includes forming a dual damascene structure in a substrate. The method further includes reflowing a seed layer such that material of the seed layer flows into a via of the dual damascene structure. The method further includes forming a liner material on the material over or within the via of the dual damascene structure. The method further includes filling any remaining portions of the via and a trench of the dual damascene structure with additional material.
US09312197B2	Support base-attached encapsulant, encapsulated substrate having semiconductor devices mounted thereon, encapsulated wafer having semiconductor devices formed thereon, semiconductor apparatus, and method for manufacturing semiconductor apparatus Support base-attached encapsulant for collectively encapsulating a semiconductor device mounting surface of a substrate or semiconductor device forming surface of a wafer, containing a support base having one fibrous film or a plurality of the fibrous films being laminated, the fibrous film subjected to surface treatment with an organosilicon compound, and a resin layer of thermosetting resin formed on one surface of the support base. The support base-attached encapsulant inhibit the substrate or wafer from warping and semiconductor devices from peeling away from the substrate, and collectively encapsulate the semiconductor device mounting surface of the substrate or the semiconductor device forming surface of the wafer even when a large-diameter wafer or large-area substrate is encapsulated. The support base-attached encapsulant has uniformity and homogeneity without opening or tangle of fiber, and is excellent in reliability such as heat resistance, electrical insulation property, moisture resistance, excellent in versatility, economical efficiency, and mass-productivity.
US09312192B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes: a plurality of semiconductor modules, each of which includes a semiconductor circuit having a circuit board on which at least one or more semiconductor chips are mounted; and a module storage case that accommodates the plurality of semiconductor modules which are arranged in parallel. In the module storage case, a plurality of pairs of positioning guide members, which position and guide the semiconductor modules, are formed on opposite surfaces forming a module storage region for accommodating the semiconductor modules so as to protrude inward and to face each other, so that a distance between the plurality of semiconductor modules in a longitudinal direction can be selected. A pair of fitting concave portions, which are fitted to the pair of positioning guide members, are formed at both ends of each semiconductor module in the longitudinal direction.
US09312189B2	Methods for fabricating integrated circuits with improved implantation processes Methods for fabricating integrated circuits are provided. In an embodiment, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes providing a structure having an n-channel gate stack and a p-channel gate stack formed over a semiconductor substrate. The method includes forming halo implant regions in the semiconductor substrate adjacent the p-channel gate stack and forming extension implant regions in the semiconductor substrate adjacent the p-channel gate stack. The method further includes annealing the halo implant regions and the extension implant regions in the semiconductor substrate adjacent the p-channel gate stack by performing a laser anneal process. Also, the method forms extension implant regions in the semiconductor substrate adjacent the n-channel gate stack.
US09312188B2	Method for fabricating semiconductor device In a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode are provided on a substrate, the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode being formed in a first region and a second region of the substrate, respectively. A conductive buffer layer is formed along sidewalls of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode and on upper surfaces of the first gate electrode and second gate electrode. A first mask pattern covering the first region of the substrate on the buffer layer is formed. A first impurity region is formed in the substrate at sides of the second gate electrode using the first mask pattern as a mask of an ion implantation process.
US09312172B2	Semiconductor device and method for making same One or more embodiments relate to a semiconductor device that includes: a conductive layer including a sidewall; a conductive capping layer disposed over the conductive layer and laterally extending beyond the sidewall of the conductive layer by a lateral overhang; and a conductive via in electrical contact with the conductive capping layer.
US09312170B2	Metal on elongated contacts An integrated circuit containing elongated contacts, including elongated contacts which connect to at least three active areas and/or MOS gates, and including elongated contacts which connect to exactly two active areas and/or MOS gates and directly connect to a first level interconnect. A process of forming an integrated circuit containing elongated contacts, including elongated contacts which connect to at least three active areas and/or MOS gates, using exactly two contact photolithographic exposure operations, and including elongated contacts which connect to exactly two active areas and/or MOS gates and directly connect to a first level interconnect.
US09312168B2	Air gap structure integration using a processing system A method for forming an air gap structure in an integrated layer stack includes dry etching a mold layer disposed on the stack in a processing system under vacuum. The mold layer is disposed between one or more interconnects, and the process of dry etching of the mold layer exposes at least a portion of the interconnects. The method also includes depositing a liner layer over the exposed portion of the interconnects. In another embodiment, a method for forming an air gap structure in an integrated layer stack includes dry etching an oxide mold layer disposed on the stack in an a first processing chamber in a processing system under vacuum. The method also includes depositing a low-k material liner layer over the interconnects, wherein the liner has a thickness of less than about 2 nanometers. The methods disclosed herein are performed in a processing system without breaking vacuum.
US09312166B2	Method for manufacturing composite wafers This invention provides a method for manufacturing composite wafers in which at least two composite wafers can be obtained from one donor wafer, and in which the chamfering step can be omitted. Provided is a method for manufacturing composite wafers comprising: bonding surfaces of at least two handle wafers and a surface of a donor wafer which has a diameter greater than or equal to a sum of diameters of the at least two handle wafers and which has a hydrogen ion implantation layer formed inside thereof by implanting hydrogen ions from the surface of the donor wafer, to obtain a bonded wafer; heating the bonded wafer at 200° C. to 400° C.; and detaching a film from the donor wafer along the hydrogen ion implantation layer of the heated bonded wafer, to obtain the composite wafers having the film transferred onto the at least two handle wafers.
US09312165B2	Group III nitride composite substrate and method for manufacturing the same, and method for manufacturing group III nitride semiconductor device A group III nitride composite substrate includes a group III nitride film and a support substrate formed from a material different in chemical composition from the group III nitride film. The group III nitride film has a thickness of 10 μm or more. A sheet resistance of a-group III-nitride-film-side main surface of the group III nitride composite substrate is 200 Ω/sq or less. A method for manufacturing a group III nitride composite substrate includes the steps of bonding the group III nitride film and the support substrate to each other; and reducing the thickness of at least one of the group III nitride film and the support substrate bonded to each other. Accordingly, a group III nitride composite substrate of a low sheet resistance that is obtained with a high yield as well as a method for manufacturing the same are provided.
US09312164B2	Localized region of isolated silicon over dielectric mesa An integrated circuit is formed by forming an isolation mesa over a single crystal substrate which includes silicon, and forming a first epitaxial layer on the substrate by a selective epitaxial process so that a top surface of the first epitaxial layer is coplanar with the top surface of the isolation mesa. A non-selective epitaxial process forms single-crystalline silicon-based semiconductor material on the first epitaxial layer and non-crystalline silicon-based material on the isolation mesa. A cap layer is formed over the second epitaxial layer, and a radiantly-induced recrystallization process causes the non-crystalline silicon-based material to form single-crystalline semiconductor over the isolation mesa.
US09312163B2	Impurity-doped layer formation apparatus and electrostatic chuck protection method An electrostatic chuck protection method includes providing an exposed chuck surface with a protective surface for preventing adherence of foreign materials including a substance exhibiting volatility in a vacuum environment, and removing the protective surface in order to perform a process of forming a substrate electrostatically held on the chuck surface with a surface layer including a substance having volatility in a vacuum chamber. The protective surface may be provided when a low vacuum pumping mode of operation is performed in a vacuum environment surrounding the chuck surface.
US09312162B2	Dicing sheet and a production method of a semiconductor chip A dicing sheet includes a base, an intermediate layer on one face of the base, and an pressure sensitive adhesive layer provided on the intermediate layer and having the thickness of 8 to 30 μm. The pressure sensitive adhesive layer includes a compound having an energy ray curable double bond in a molecule, and a storage elasticity G′ at 23° C. of the pressure sensitive adhesive layer before curing is larger than 4 times of a storage elasticity at 23° C. of the intermediate layer. When the dicing sheet is laminated via the adhesive sheet on a wafer formed with a cylinder shape electrodes having a height of 15 μm and a diameter of 15 μm at a pitch of 40 μm having 3 rows 3 columns in equal spacing, at a center of the electrode of the cylinder shape electrodes formed in 3 rows 3 columns, the pressure sensitive adhesive layer does not contact at a part of a height of 7.5 μm or less of the electrode.
US09312161B2	Accommodating device for retaining wafers A receiving means for receiving and mounting of wafers. The receiving means includes a mounting surface. A mounting means is provided for mounting a wafer on the mounting surface. A compensation means is provided for active, especially locally controllable, at least partial compensation of local and/or global distortions of the wafer.
US09312160B2	Wafer suction method, wafer suction stage, and wafer suction system A method of attaching a wafer by suction, includes a step of mounting a wafer on a right arm and a left arm of a transfer jig, moving the transfer jig toward a wafer suction stage in such a manner that a facing right arm surface of the right arm slides along and in contact with a first side surface of the wafer suction stage and a facing left arm surface of the left arm slides along and in contact with a second side surface of the wafer suction stage until the wafer comes to lie directly above a mounting surface of the wafer suction stage, mounting the wafer on the mounting surface by moving the transfer jig downward toward the wafer suction stage while maintaining the contacts, and attaching the wafer to the mounting surface by suction.
US09312156B2	Thin film transistor A thin film transistor includes a gate electrode; a gate insulating layer which is provided to cover the gate electrode; a semiconductor layer which is provided over the gate insulating layer to overlap with the gate electrode; an impurity semiconductor layer which is partly provided over the semiconductor layer and which forms a source region and a drain region; and a wiring layer which is provided over the impurity semiconductor layer, where a width of the source region and the drain region is narrower than a width of the semiconductor layer, and where the width of the semiconductor layer is increased at least in a portion between the source region and the drain region.
US09312152B2	Recirculation substrate container purging systems and methods Methods and systems to reduce the consumption of purge gas for semiconductor substrate containers. The recirculation purging system recycles purge gas back to substrate containers by filtering and purifying gas flow from substrate containers, receiving gas flow from load port, or including a recirculation tank.
US09312147B2	Phase changing on-chip thermal heat sink A method of forming an on-chip heat sink includes forming a device on a substrate. The method also includes forming a plurality of insulator layers over the device. The method further includes forming a heat sink in at least one of the plurality of insulator layers and proximate to the device. The heat sink includes a reservoir of phase change material having a melting point temperature that is less than an upper limit of a design operating temperature of the chip.
US09312146B2	Manufacturing method of a thin film transistor Embodiments of the invention provide a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method thereof and a display device. The thin film transistor includes a gate electrode, a gate insulation layer, an active layer, an ohmic contact layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode, and the source electrode and the drain electrode are connected to the active layer by the ohmic contact layer. The ohmic contact layer is provided at a lateral side of the active layer and contacts the lateral side of the active layer.
US09312145B2	Conformal nitridation of one or more fin-type transistor layers Fin-type transistor fabrication methods and structures are provided having one or more nitrided conformal layers, to improve reliability of the semiconductor device. The method includes, for example, providing at least one material layer disposed, in part, conformally over a fin extending above a substrate, the material layer(s) including a gate dielectric layer; and performing a conformal nitridation process over an exposed surface of the material layer(s), the conformal nitridation process forming an exposed, conformal nitrided surface.
US09312142B2	Chemical mechanical polishing method and apparatus Methods for polishing a semiconductor wafer using a pad resurfacing arm and an apparatus therefor are disclosed. Embodiments may include providing a semiconductor wafer on a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) tool, the CMP tool including a polish pad and a pad resurfacing arm which includes a pad cleaning part, a pad conditioning part, and a slurry dispensing part, dispensing a slurry to the polish pad utilizing the pad resurfacing arm, and polishing the semiconductor wafer utilizing the polish pad.
US09312139B2	Semiconductor element having conductive damascene structures extending perpendicular to doping strips, and manufacturing method of the same A semiconductor element and a manufacturing method of the same are provided. The semiconductor element includes a substrate, a plurality of doping strips, a memory material layer, a plurality of conductive damascene structures, and a dielectric structure. The doping strips are formed in the substrate. The memory material layer is formed on the substrate, and the memory material layer comprises a memory area located on two sides of the doping strips. The conductive damascene structures are formed on the memory material layer. The dielectric structure is formed on the doping strips and between the conductive damascene structures. The conductive damascene structures are extended in a direction perpendicular to a direction which the doping strips are extended in.
US09312133B2	Wafer structure for electronic integrated circuit manufacturing A bonded wafer structure having a handle wafer, a device wafer, and an interface region with an abrupt transition between the conductivity profile of the device wafer and the handle wafer is used for making semiconductor devices. The improved doping profile of the bonded wafer structure is well suited for use in the manufacture of integrated circuits. The bonded wafer structure is especially suited for making radiation-hardened integrated circuits.
US09312131B2	Selective epitaxial formation of semiconductive films Epitaxial layers are selectively formed in semiconductor windows by a cyclical process of repeated blanket deposition and selective etching. The blanket deposition phases leave non-epitaxial material over insulating regions, such as field oxide, and the selective etch phases preferentially remove non-epitaxial material while deposited epitaxial material builds up cycle-by-cycle. Quality of the epitaxial material improves relative to selective processes where no deposition occurs on insulators. Use of a germanium catalyst during the etch phases of the process aid etch rates and facilitate economical maintenance of isothermal and/or isobaric conditions throughout the cycles. Throughput and quality are improved by use of trisilane, formation of amorphous material over the insulating regions and minimizing the thickness ratio of amorphous:epitaxial material in each deposition phase.
US09312129B2	Group III-V substrate material with particular crystallographic features and methods of making A method of forming a semiconductor substrate including providing a base substrate including a semiconductor material, and forming a first semiconductor layer overlying the base substrate having a Group 13-15 material via hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE), the first semiconductor layer having an upper surface having a N-face orientation.
US09312128B2	Compound semiconductor integrated circuit and method to fabricate same A structure includes a substrate having a surface and a first transistor disposed in a first region supported by the surface of the substrate. The first transistor has a channel formed in a first compound (Group III-V) semiconductor having a first energy bandgap. The structure further includes a second transistor disposed in a second region supported by the substrate. The second transistor has a channel formed in a second compound (Group III-V) semiconductor having a second energy bandgap that is larger than the first energy bandgap. In one embodiment the first compound semiconductor is a layer that overlies a first portion of the surface of the substrate and the substrate is the second compound semiconductor. In another embodiment the second compound semiconductor is provided as a second layer that overlies a second portion of the surface of the substrate.
US09312127B2	Method for producing semiconductor apparatus substrate A method for producing a semiconductor apparatus substrate includes steps of: forming silicon-containing film having silicon content of 1% by mass or more and 30% by mass or less on an organic under layer film formed on an substrate; forming a resist film on silicon-containing film; forming a resist pattern by exposing and developing resist film; transferring pattern to silicon-containing film using resist pattern as a mask; transferring pattern to organic under layer film using silicon-containing film as a mask to leave part or all of silicon-containing film on organic under layer film; implanting ions into substrate using organic under layer film as a mask; and peeling organic under layer film used as mask for ion implantation on which part or all of silicon-containing film remains, with peeling liquid.
US09312126B2	Method for processing gate dielectric layer deposited on germanium-based or group III-V compound-based substrate The present invention discloses a method for processing a gate dielectric layer deposited on a germanium-based or Group III-V compound-based substrate, belonging to a semiconductor device field. The method comprises the steps of depositing a high-K gate dielectric layer on the germanium-based or Group III-V compound-based substrate, and then performing a plasma process to the high-K gate dielectric layer by using fluorine plasma, wherein during the plasma process, a guiding electric field is applied so that fluorine ions, when being accelerated to a surface of the gate dielectric layer, has an energy of 5-50 eV and the fluorine plasma drifts into the high-K gate dielectric layer, a ratio of a density of the fluorine ions in the high-K gate dielectric layer and a density of oxygen atoms in the high-K gate dielectric layer being 0.01-0.15:1.
US09312124B2	Methods of fabricating gate insulating layers in gate trenches and methods of fabricating semiconductor devices including the same A method of fabricating a semiconductor device may include: forming a field region defining an active region in a substrate; forming a gate trench in which the active and field regions are partially exposed; forming a gate insulating layer on a surface of the active region; conformally forming a gate barrier layer including metal on the gate insulating layer and partially exposed field region; forming a gate electrode layer including metal on the gate barrier layer; and/or forming a gate capping layer. Forming the gate insulating layer may include forming a first gate oxide layer by primarily oxidizing the active region's surface, and forming a second gate oxide layer between the active region's surface and the first gate oxide layer by secondarily oxidizing the active region's surface. The gate capping layer may be in contact with the gate insulating layer, gate barrier layer, and/or gate electrode layer.
US09312120B2	Method for processing an oxygen containing semiconductor body A method for processing a semiconductor body is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes reducing an oxygen concentration in a silicon wafer in a first region adjoining a first surface of the silicon wafer by a first heat treatment, creating vacancies in a crystal lattice of the wafer at least in a second region adjoining the first region by implanting particles via the first surface into the wafer and forming oxygen precipitates in the second region by a second heat treatment.
US09312115B2	Mass spectrometer Flanges (10a) of an attachment plate (10) integrally combined with an ion detector (5) are fixed to an inner surface of a vacuum chamber (1) via cushioning members (12), such as O-rings. Although the vacuum chamber (1) mechanically vibrates due to a turbomolecular pump attached to it, this vibration is absorbed by the cushioning members (12), whereby the vibration of the ion detector (5) is suppressed. As a result, the noise which occurs with a vibration of the ion detector (5) and is superposed on the detection signal is reduced. Thus, the quality of the detection signal can be improved by a simple and inexpensive structure.
US09312114B2	Ion ejection from a quadrupole ion trap A method of ejecting ions to be analyzed from a quadrupole ion trap in which a trapping field is created by one or more RF voltages applied to one or more electrodes of the trap, the method comprising the steps of cooling the ions to be analyzed within the quadrupole ion trap until the ions are thermalized, reducing the amplitude of one or more RF voltages applied to the quadrupole ion trap and applying the reduced amplitude RF voltages for one half cycle after the one or more RF voltages have reached a zero crossing point, turning off the RF voltages applied to the quadrupole ion trap, and ejecting the ions to be analyzed from the quadrupole ion trap.
US09312111B2	Apparatus and method for sub-micrometer elemental image analysis by mass spectrometry A mass spectrometer system having: a primary ion source capable of irradiating a segment on a planar sample with a beam of primary ions, an orthogonal ion mass-to-charge ratio, the analyzer being configured to separate secondary elemental atomic ions according to their mass-to-charge ratio by time of flight; an ion detector for detecting secondary elemental atomic ions and producing mass spectra measurements; and a synchronizer. In the system, the beam of primary ions scans across the planar sample in two dimensions and the synchronizer associates the mass spectra measurements with positions on the planar sample.
US09312110B2	System and method for grouping precursor and fragment ions using selected ion chromatograms LC/MS data generated by an LC/MS system is analyzed to determine groupings of ions associated with originating molecules. Ions are grouped initially according to retention time, for example, using retention time or chromatographic peaks in mass chromatograms. After initial groupings are determined based on retention time, ion peak shapes are compared to determine whether ions should be excluded. Ions having peak shapes not matching other ions, or alternatively a reference peak shape, are excluded from the group.
US09312105B2	Method for etching insulation film Disclosed is a method for etching an insulation film of a processing target object. The method includes: in a first term, periodically switching ON and OFF of a high frequency power so as to excite a processing gas containing fluorocarbon and supplied into a processing container of a plasma processing apparatus; and in a second term subsequent to the first term, setting the high frequency power to be continuously turned ON so as to excite the processing gas supplied into the processing container. In one cycle consisting of a term where the high frequency is turned ON and a term where the high frequency power is turned OFF in the first term, the second term is longer than the term where the high frequency power is turned ON.
US09312103B2	Self-aligned dynamic pattern generator device and method of fabrication A dynamic pattern generator (DPG) device and method of making a DPG device are disclosed. The DPG device is used in semiconductor processing tools that require multiple electron-beams, such as direct-write lithography. The device is a self-aligned DPG device that enormously reduces the required tolerances for aligning the various electrode layers, as compared to other design configurations including the non-self-aligned approach and also greatly simplifies the process complexity and cost. A process sequence for both integrated and non-integrated versions of the self-aligned DPG device is described. Additionally, an advanced self-aligned DPG device that eliminates the need for a charge dissipating coating or layer to be used on the device is described. Finally, a fabrication process for the implementation of both integrated and non-integrated versions of the advanced self-aligned DPG device is described.
US09312102B2	Apparatus and method for processing substrate using ion beam A method of processing a substrate in an apparatus including a substrate holder which holds the substrate, an ion source which emits an ion beam, a neutralizer which emits electrons, and a shutter which is arranged between a space in which the ion source and the neutralizer are arranged and a space in which the substrate holder is arranged, and configured to shield the ion beam traveling toward the substrate, includes adjusting an amount of electrons which are emitted by the neutralizer and reach the substrate holder during movement of the shutter.
US09312094B2	Charged particle beam device This charged particle beam device comprises: an electron beam source (1); a charged particle optical system that includes an object lens (9) and that irradiates a sample (10) with electrons emitted from the electron beam source (1) as an electron beam (2); an aberration corrector (6) that corrects aberrations in the charged particle optical system; and a control unit (24) that controls the components of the charged particle optical system and the aberration corrector (6). The charged particle beam device further comprises an automatic aberration-correcting device (17) that autonomously acquires, through leaning, optimum adjustment procedures in order to reduce the time required for correcting parasitic aberrations that arise in the aberration corrector (6).
US09312092B2	Deflection plate and deflection device for deflecting charged particles A deflection plate having a non-planar shape, for deflecting charged particles is provided. An associated method is also provided.
US09312090B2	X-ray emitter housing An x-ray emitter housing includes a first housing part and a second housing part that are connected to one another in a form-fit manner using an axially acting threaded ring.
US09312088B2	Solenoid actuated circuit breaker A circuit breaker includes a breaker handle that is remotely operated using a modular actuator mechanism. The actuator mechanism may be a solenoid or other electromechanical actuator that converts an electrical signal to a mechanical force which is applied to the breaker handle. The actuator mechanism is mechanically connected to the circuit breaker in a removable fashion, such as by a tab-and-slot connection, and electrically connected to the circuit breaker in a removable fashion using a plug, edge connector, or other suitable mechanism such that the electrical connection is made when the actuator mechanism is installed, and without the need for additional wiring or other installation steps.
US09312087B2	Electronic contactor including separable upper bodies Disclosed is an electronic contactor including: a lower body; a magnetic force generator disposed within the lower body and magnetized by electric power transferred from outside to perform suctioning operation; a crossbar coupled to an upper portion of the magnetic force generator and provided with a movable contact to be lifted or lowered; a pair of separable upper bodies each being provided at one side thereof with a stationary contact and an auxiliary stationary contact and respectively coupled to upper opposite ends of the lower body such that the movable contact and auxiliary movable contacts are placed therein, facing ends of the upper bodies being coupled to each other inside the upper bodies so as to face each other; and a cover coupling upper ends of the upper bodies such that an upper end of the crossbar and the movable contact are exposed.
US09312085B2	Circuit breaker with fluid injection A circuit breaker including an ejection device including an arc-extinction medium for improved extinction of an arc formed during a breaker operation and an exhaust-cooling medium for improved cooling of exhaust gases in the circuit breaker. Thereby, the arc-extinction liquid includes an organofluorine compound having a boiling point Tb at 1 bar higher than −60° C. and being selected from the group of: a fluoroether; a fluoroamine; a fluoroketone; and mixtures thereof.
US09312084B2	Contact slider unit for a switching unit, in particular for a circuit breaker A contact slider unit is disclosed for a switching unit, in particular for a circuit breaker, having a contact slider and a contact piece. In an embodiment, the stabilising element preventing bridge rotation is arranged on the contact piece.
US09312075B1	High voltage tantalum anode and method of manufacture Tantalum powders produced using a tantalum fiber precursor are described. The tantalum fiber precursor is chopped or cut into short lengths having a uniform fiber thickness and favorable aspect ratio. The chopped fibers are formed into a primary powder having a controlled size and shape, narrow/tight particle size distribution, and low impurity level. The primary powder is then agglomerated into an agglomerated powder displaying suitable flowability and pressability such that pellets with good structural integrity and unifrom pellet porosity are manufacturable. The pellet is sintered and anodized to a desired formation voltage. The thusly created capacitor anode has a dual morphology or dual porosity provided by a primary porosity of the individual tantalum fibers making up the primary powder and a larger secondary porosity formed between the primary powders agglomerated into the agglomerated powder.
US09312074B2	Solid electrolytic capacitor with interlayer crosslinking A method for preparing a solid electrolytic capacitor and an improved solid electrolytic capacitor is provided. The method includes providing an anode, forming a dielectric on the anode and forming a cathode on the dielectric wherein the cathode comprises interlayers. At least one interlayer comprises a monomer, oligomer or polymer with multifunctional or multiple reactive groups and an adjacent layer comprises a molecule with crosslinkable functionality. The oligomer or polymer with multifunctional or multiple reactive groups on one layer react with the crosslinkable functionality in the adjacent layer.
US09312064B1	Method to fabricate a magnetic head including ion milling of read gap using dual layer hard mask A first layered structure includes a magnetic layer, a first hard mask layer, a second hard mask layer, and a first stepping layer. The first stepping layer is etched through to create a sidewall. A mask-width definition layer is deposited on and adjacent to the sidewall, until a mask-width definition layer thickness is achieved adjacent to the sidewall. The mask-width definition layer is removed except on the sidewall. The first stepping layer is removed. The second hard mask layer is etched away, except for a remainder of the second hard mask layer beneath the mask-width definition layer. The first hard mask layer is etched away around the remainder of the second hard mask layer, to form a dual layer hard mask comprising the remainder of the second hard mask layer and the remainder of the first hard mask layer. The magnetic layer is ion milled around the dual hard mask.
US09312057B2	Contoured-field magnets Apparatus and methods for manufacturing magnets, and magnets, having magnetically oriented grains, and apparatus including such magnets. The field of a permanent magnet may be shaped by applying an external field to the material from which the magnet is made in such a way as to magnetize different regions of the material in different directions. The apparatus may include, and the methods may involve, a metal-powder press that may press metal powder in the presence of a magnetic field. The press may compress the powder in an axial direction. The field may have flux lines that are transverse to the axial direction. The field may have flux lines that are along the axial direction.
US09312049B2	Electrical contact element with a cover layer having a chemical reducing agent, electrical contact arrangement and methods for manufacturing an electrical contact element and for reducing oxidization of a contact section of an electrical contact element The invention relates to an electrical contact element, an electrical contact arrangement and methods for manufacturing an electrical contact element and for reducing oxidization of a contact section of an electrical contact element. In order to avoid that the durability of the contact element and therefore of the contact arrangement is negatively influenced by growing oxide layers on contact surfaces, the contact element is provided with a cover layer with a chemical reducing agent that can be activated by frictional forces.
US09312048B2	Electroconductive sheet and touch panel An electroconductive sheet and a touch panel having a first electroconductive section and a second electroconductive section, the second electroconductive section being disposed on the display-panel side. The first electroconductive section has a plurality of first electroconductive patterns arranged in the x-direction, a plurality of first large grids being respectively connected to the first electroconductive patterns. The second electroconductive section has a plurality of second electroconductive patterns arranged in the y-direction, a plurality of second large grids being respectively connected to the second electroconductive patterns. The area occupied by thin metal wires in the second electroconductive patterns is larger than the area occupied by thin metal wires in the first electroconductive patterns. The area occupied by thin metal wires in the second large grids is larger than the area occupied by thin metal wires in the first large grids.
US09312047B2	Method and compositions for producing polymer blends Methods for mixing nylon compounds and compositions useful in mixing nylon compounds are provided. The methods and compositions disclosed are useful in producing nylon for wire and cable jacketing. The disclosed methods provide nylon having a reduced heat history compared to traditional methods. The disclosed methods and composition provide additional mixing capacity by reducing the amount of nylon that must be incorporated with additives per unit of final nylon composition. The disclosed methods and compositions provide the ability to select from a plurality of additive concentration levels in the final product by varying the ratio of a masterbatch compound containing a high concentration of the additive to a resin containing a low concentration or no additive.
US09312046B2	Composite materials with magnetically aligned carbon nanoparticles having enhanced electrical properties and methods of preparation Magnetically aligned carbon nanoparticle composites have enhanced electrical properties. The composites comprise carbon nanoparticles, a host material, magnetically sensitive nanoparticles and a surfactant. In addition to enhanced electrical properties, the composites can have enhanced mechanical and thermal properties.
US09312041B2	Photolabile pro-fragrances Fragrances having a fresh character are usually very volatile and therefore not very economical in typical applications such as washing or cleaning processes for example. For that reason they have to be used in relatively large amounts in order to bring about appropriate effects. The present invention describes photolabile pro-fragrances of formula (I) that allow for a greatly improved persistence of the fragrance impression, in particular one having a fresh character, in typical applications. Said pro-fragrances attach very readily to target substrates, such as textiles for example. A more economical use of the fragrances in question can be ensured in this way.
US09312038B2	X-ray diaphragm mechanism and X-ray CT apparatus The present invention includes: X-ray shielding materials; X-ray shielding material mounting plates to which the X-ray shielding portions are fixed; a driven side link and a driving side link that connect the two X-ray shielding material mounting plates to each other so that the X-ray shielding portions face each other and cross each other; connecting portions that connect each of the X-ray shielding material mounting plates to the driven side link and the driving side link; and a driving device that drives the driving side link so as to rotate. Connecting portions and are provided at positions not interfering with a movable region of the X-ray shielding material mounting plates formed in conjunction with the rotational driving of the driven side link and the driving side link. The X-ray shielding material mounting plates are moved by the rotational driving of the driving side link and accordingly, the slit width between the X-ray shielding materials is changed.
US09312035B2	Semi-portable emergency cooling system for removing decay heat from a nuclear reactor An emergency temporary spent fuel pool cooling system for a nuclear power generating facility that has a permanently installed primary loop within the nuclear containment and a mobile temporary secondary loop. The secondary loop is housed in transport vehicles that can be stored off site and is connectable in heat exchange relationship with the primary loop through quick disconnect couplings that are accessible on the outside of the reactor containment. The transport vehicles also include self-contained power and compressed air sources for powering and controlling the entire emergency cooling system. The system also has a make-up water injection capability for refueling the spent fuel pool and secondary loop.
US09312031B2	Semiconductor device and test method thereof A semiconductor chip includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells, a plurality of terminals including a plurality of test terminals to output a result of a specific test, and a circuit that outputs the result to a selected one of the plurality of test terminals based on a chip identification data.
US09312030B2	Apparatus and method for acquiring data of fast fail memory An apparatus and method for acquiring data of fast fail memory includes a pattern generator for generating a pattern to be recorded to a device under test (DUT) and receiving DUT data from the DUT; a data transmitter for sending the DUT data and the pattern generated so as to correspond thereto to a failure analyzer from the pattern generator; and a failure analyzer for analyzing the DUT data and the pattern generated so as to correspond to the DUT data, which are received from the data transmitter, thus producing failure analysis information. The data transmitter (FIFO) able to advance the failure analysis time allows failure analysis to be performed before completion of testing, thereby shortening the total failure analysis time and overcoming hardware limitations for failure analysis.
US09312027B2	Method of operating nonvolatile memory device controlled by controlling coupling resistance value between bit line and page buffer A method of operating a nonvolatile memory device includes determining whether a program operation is performed on even memory cells coupled to even bit lines of a selected page, setting a coupling resistance value between odd bit lines of the selected page and page buffers depending on whether the program operation for the even memory cells is performed, performing a program operation on the odd memory cells coupled to the odd bit lines, and coupling the odd bit line to the page buffer based on the set coupling resistance value and performing an verification operation for verifying whether threshold voltages of the odd memory cells on which the program operation is performed are a target voltage or more.
US09312023B2	Devices and methods of programming memory cells Devices and methods of programming memory cells, both SLC and MLC, such as to reduce charge-storage structure to charge-storage structure coupling, are shown and described. Programming of memory cells can include comparing a first page of data to a second page of data, and further programming cells corresponding to the first page of data that will not likely be affected by coupling from programming the second page of data.
US09312012B2	EEPROM programming with first and second programming modes A method of programming an EEPROM, including: a first mode where a writing into cells is performed under a first voltage; and a second mode where the writing is performed under a second voltage smaller than the first one.
US09312011B1	Data writing method, memory storage device and memory control circuit unit A data writing method, a memory storage device, and a memory control circuit unit are provided. The method includes: writing data into at least one first logical unit and at least one second logical unit, and the data includes first data and second data; storing first data into at least one first physical erasing unit and filling the first physical erasing unit with the first data; storing second data into at least one second physical erasing unit; determining whether a remaining space of each second physical erasing unit is less than a threshold; if the remaining space of one of the at least one second physical erasing unit is less than the threshold, selecting at least one fourth physical erasing unit from a spare area and writing the second data into the at least one second physical erasing unit and the at least one fourth physical erasing unit.
US09312009B2	Non-volatile memory and associated memory array, row decoder, column decoder, write buffer and sensing circuit A non-volatile memory includes a memory array, a row decoder, a column decoder, a write buffer and a sensing circuit. The column decoder includes a programming decoder and a reading decoder. The programming decoder is connected with n bit lines of the memory array. The reading decoder is connected with the n bit lines. During a program cycle, a programming control signal set is activated. Consequently, the programming decoder determines a selected memory cell, and a cell current generated by the selected memory cell flows to the write buffer through the programming decoder and a programming data line. During a read cycle, a reading control signal set is activated. Consequently, the reading decoder determines the selected memory cell, and the cell current generated by the selected memory cell flows to the sensing circuit through the reading decoder and a reading data line.
US09312005B2	Accessing memory cells in parallel in a cross-point array Methods and structures for accessing memory cells in parallel in a cross-point array include accessing in parallel a first memory cell disposed between a first selected column and a first selected row and a second memory cell disposed between a second selected column different from the first selected column and a second selected row different from the first selected row. Accessing in parallel includes simultaneously applying access biases between the first selected column and the first selected row and between the second selected column and the second selected row. The accessing in parallel is conducted while the cells are in a thresholded condition or while the cells are in a post-threshold recovery period.
US09312002B2	Methods for programming ReRAM devices A programming technique for a set of resistance-switching memory cells such as ReRAM cell involves programming the low resistance cells to the high resistance state (in a reset process) early in a programming operation, before programming the high resistance cells to the low resistance state (in a set process), to minimize losses due to leakage currents. The reset process can be performed in one or more phases. In some cases, a current limit is imposed which limits the number of cells which can be reset at the same time. Initially, the cells which are to be reset and set are identified by comparing a logical value of their current resistance state to a logical value of write data. If there is a match, the cell is not programmed. If there is not a match, the cell is programmed.
US09312001B1	Writing and verifying circuit for a resistive memory and method for writing and verifying a resistive memory A writing and verifying circuit and a method for writing and verifying a resistive memory thereof are provided. The steps of the method includes: enabling at least one word line signal corresponding to at least one selected resistive memory cell of the resistive memory during a writing and verifying timing period; providing a bit line voltage to the selected resistive memory cells, wherein the bit line voltage continuously increases or decreases from a first voltage level to a second voltage level during the writing and verifying timing period; and, measuring a detected current through the bit line and determining a finish time point of the writing and verifying timing period according to the detected current and a reference current.
US09311999B2	Memory sense amplifiers and memory verification methods Memory sense amplifiers and memory verification methods are described. According to one aspect, a memory sense amplifier includes a first input coupled with a memory element of a memory cell, wherein the memory element has different memory states at different moments in time, a second input configured to receive a reference signal, modification circuitry configured to provide a data signal at the first input from the memory element having a plurality of different voltages corresponding to respective ones of different memory states of the memory cell at the different moments in time, and comparison circuitry coupled with the modification circuitry and configured to compare the data signal and the reference signal at the different moments in time and to provide an output signal indicative of the memory state of the memory cell at the different moments in time as a result of the comparison to implement a plurality of verify operations of the memory states of the memory cell at the different moments in time.
US09311994B2	Non-volatile memory device The invention concerns a memory device comprising: a first memory cell comprising a first resistive non-volatile data storage element programmable to store a first bit of data; and a second memory cell comprising a second resistive non-volatile data storage element programmable to store a second bit of data; wherein said first resistive element is configured to have a first data retention duration, and said second resistive element is configured to have a second data retention duration different from said first data retention duration.
US09311992B2	Decoding system and method for electronic non-volatile computer storage apparatus Methods are systems for calculating log-likelihood ratios for a decoder utilized in an electronic non-volatile computer storage apparatus are disclosed. A log-likelihood ratio handler is configured to provide an input log-likelihood ratio to the decoder, wherein the input log-likelihood ratio is one of: a uniform input log-likelihood ratio for all bits calculated based on an estimated raw bit error rate for a particular data unit, or a bit-based input log-likelihood ratio for each bit calculated based on a confidence value for a cell containing said each bit. The decoder of the electronic non-volatile computer storage apparatus is configured to decode encoded data at least partially based on the input log-likelihood ratio from the log-likelihood ratio handler.
US09311990B1	Pseudo dual port memory using a dual port cell and a single port cell with associated valid data bits and related methods A pseudo dual port memory includes a set of dual port memory cells having a read port and a write port, and configured to store data words in each of a plurality of addressed locations, and a set of single port memory cells having a read/write port, and configured to store data words in each of a plurality of addressed locations. A valid data storage unit is configured to store valid bits corresponding to the addressed locations of the set of dual port memory cells and the set of single port memory cells. Control circuitry is configured to access the addressed locations of the set of dual port memory cells and the set of single port memory cells. The control circuitry performs a simultaneous write operation using the write port of the set of dual port memory cells and the read/write port of the set of single port memory cells, and updates corresponding valid bits in the valid data storage unit, and performs a parallel read operation, at a same addressed location of the set of dual port memory cells and the set of single port memory cells, using the read port of the set of dual port memory cells and the read/write port of the set of single port memory cells, and determining which stored data word is valid based upon the corresponding valid bits in the valid data storage unit.
US09311984B1	Smart refresh device A smart refresh device includes an address control block configured to determine whether a specific row address is a row hammer address, and invert a first row hammer address and perform an addition/subtraction of an address; a repair control block configured to determine whether the row hammer address is a repaired address and output a stored repair address as a second repair control signal; a repair address storage block configured to store an output address of the address control block and output a stored address as a latch address; a fuse block configured to output a repair signal representing information on a repair address to the repair control block, and output a decoding signal according to the latch address; and an operator configured to add and subtract the decoding signal according to an addition signal and a subtraction signal.
US09311981B2	Semiconductor memory device having variable resistance memory and operating method A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array of nonvolatile memory cells having a variable resistance element, and a conductor line array capable of generating a compensation magnetic field for the nonvolatile memory cells. A current driver selectively supplies current to conductive lines, a magnetic field sensor senses an applied external magnetic field and generates external magnetic field information, and a controller controls generation of the compensation magnetic field in response to the external magnetic field information.
US09311980B1	Word line supply voltage generator for a memory device and method therefore A word line supply voltage generator is selectively activated and deactivated to allow internal memory operations that are sensitive to variations on word line voltages to be performed with a stable word line voltage. Techniques for deactivating and reactivating the voltage generator are also disclosed that enable more rapid recovery from deactivation such that subsequent operations can be commenced sooner.
US09311976B2	Memory module A memory module having integrated circuit (IC) components, a termination structure, an address/control signal path, a clock signal path, multiple data signal paths and multiple strobe signal paths. The strobe signal paths and data signal paths are coupled to respective IC components, and the address/control signal path and clock signal path are coupled in common to all the IC components. The address/control signal path extends along the IC components to the termination structure such that control signals propagating toward the termination structure arrive at address/control inputs of respective IC components at progressively later times corresponding to relative positions of the IC components.
US09311972B2	Semiconductor memory device for conducting monitoring operation to verify read and write operations A semiconductor memory device includes, in part, a first data I/O block and a second data I/O block. During a write operation, the first data I/O block transmits input data supplied through a first pad to a first global I/O line, and further generates a write internal signal. The second data I/O block transmits the write internal signal to a second pad in response to a monitor enable signal. During a read operation, the first data I/O block supplies data from the first global I/O line to a first pad, and further generates a read internal signal. The second data I/O block transmits the read internal signal to the second pad in response to a monitor enable signal.
US09311971B1	Systems and methods of semiconductor memory devices including features of output buffer initialization circuit(s) and/or multiple power-up detection/handling Systems and methods are disclosed involving adaptive power up features for high-speed synchronous RAM. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a semiconductor device including a memory cell, power circuitry, and an output buffer with level shifting circuitry. Moreover, the device may include power circuitry comprised of a first power up circuit and a second power up circuit and/or level shifting circuitry comprised of a pull up level shift circuit and a pull down level shift circuit. Other implementations and specific circuit configurations are also disclosed.
US09311970B2	Systems and methods of storing data A method of writing data includes receiving a data page to be stored in a data storage device and initiating an encode operation to encode the data page. The encode operation generates first encoded data and a first portion of the first encoded data is stored to the first physical page of the data storage device. The method includes initiating storage of a second portion of the first encoded data to a second physical page of the data storage device. The method also includes initiating a decode operation to recover the data page. The decode operation uses a representation of the first portion of the first encoded data that is read from the first physical page without using any data from the second physical page.
US09311968B2	Read tracking mechanism A read time tracking mechanism (RTTM) for ensuring sufficient read time is provided. The read time tracking mechanism includes a read tracking circuit, which includes a tracking bit line (TBL) tracking circuit with one or more tracking cells, and a tracking word line (TWL). The RTTM also includes a sense amplifier enable (SAE) timing device configured to change the logic threshold of tracking WL (TWL) to delay the timing of signal change of TWL when necessary to ensure sufficient read time. The read time tracking mechanism is used to provide sufficient read time for memory arrays with various configurations, prepared under various process conditions, and operated under various voltages, and temperatures.
US09311965B2	Method and apparatus for controlling a display of multimedia content using a timeline-based interface A touch screen control method for controlling a playback of multimedia content using a timeline-based interface includes detecting a selection at a specific location on the timeline; and selectively zoom-displaying an area around the location where the selection is detected the position on the timeline where the event trigger has occurred.
US09311964B2	Terminal device, method for controlling terminal device, and non-transitory recording medium on which computer program is recorded In a case where a chapter that introduces a predetermined non-heating step is being played back and execution of the non-heating step has not been completed, a moving image playback control section included in a terminal apparatus controls playback so that the chapter that is being played back is repeated or paused, and when execution of the non-heating step is completed, a subsequent chapter is played back.
US09311962B2	Audio and/or video generation apparatus and method of generating audio and/or video signals A camera configured to generate audio/video signals, the camera including a recording unit configured to record the audio/video signals on a recording medium, a meta data generation processor configured to generate automatically meta data identifying the content of the audio/video signals in response to the audio/video signals, a wireless communications processor configured to communicate the meta data separately from the recording medium, and a communications interface configured to communicate the automatically generated meta data to a personal data processing apparatus and to receive user generated meta data from the personal data processing apparatus.
US09311960B1	Efficient multichannel data format using variable-length headers In one embodiment, a system includes a controller and logic integrated with and/or executable by the controller, the logic being configured to write a data set to a first write section of a magnetic medium, the data set including a plurality of sub data sets, each including a data array organized in rows and columns, each row of the data array including a CWI-4. A first portion of the data set is stored as CWI-4 sets to the first write section of the magnetic medium with first headers. The logic is also configured to rewrite at least some of the data set as rewritten CWI-4 sets to a rewrite section of the magnetic medium as rewritten CWI-4s having corresponding rewrite headers. A length of any one of the rewrite headers is greater than a length of any one of the first headers.
US09311952B2	Interfering near field transducer for energy assisted magnetic recording An apparatus for energy assisted magnetic recording of a storage disk includes a plurality of dielectric waveguide cores configured to receive incident light energy from an energy source and direct the incident light energy to a target, and a near field transducer (NFT) formed at an air bearing surface of a magnetic recording device. The NFT is configured to focus the light energy received from the plurality of waveguide cores and to transmit the focused light energy onto the storage disk surface to generate a heating spot on the storage disk. The NFT includes a plurality of propagating surface plasmon polariton (PSPP) elements configured as plasmonic metal ridges. Each of the PSPP elements has a width approximately equivalent to the width of the heating spot and is disposed above a surface of a single waveguide core in a longitudinal alignment.
US09311951B1	Laser adjustment during field operation of a heat-assisted magnetic recording data storage device During field operation of a heat-assisted magnetic recording data storage device, a laser adjustment procedure is repeatedly performed. The laser adjustment procedure involves writing, at a designated location on a recording medium at least three tracks at an unsqueezed pitch, a first track being in the middle of the at least three tracks. A first bit error rate of the first track is compared with a reference bit error rate. In response to the comparison satisfying a threshold, the laser current is swept while recording squeezed test tracks at the designated location to determine a new laser current that results in a minimum bit error rate. The new laser current is used for subsequent write operations.
US09311946B2	Magnetic recording medium A magnetic recording medium of the present invention is a magnetic recording medium including a non-magnetic substrate; a non-magnetic layer that is formed on one of principal surfaces of the non-magnetic substrate and contains a non-magnetic powder, a binder, and a lubricant; and a magnetic layer that is formed on a principal surface of the non-magnetic layer opposite to the non-magnetic substrate and contains a magnetic powder and a binder. The magnetic powder has an average particle size between 10 nm and 35 nm inclusive. The lubricant is migratable to the magnetic layer and forms a lubricant layer on a surface of the magnetic layer when a pressure is applied to the magnetic layer. When spacing of the surface of the magnetic layer before and after washing the lubricant with n-hexane is measured with a TSA (Tape Spacing Analyzer), the value of the spacing after washing is 3 to 10 nm, and the value of the spacing before washing is 1 to 5 nm smaller than the value of the spacing after washing.
US09311927B2	Device and method for audible transient noise detection The present invention relates to a device and a corresponding method for audible transient noise detection in an audio signal. To avoid the detection of false positives or at least reduce the number of detected false positives a device is proposed comprising a detector configured to detect a set of transient noise candidates in time or frequency domain among a plurality of samples of said audio signal, and a selector configured to select audible transient noise candidates from said set of transient noise candidates by use of one or more selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria used for said selection are selected and/or whose parameters are at least partly set based on characteristics of said audio signal.
US09311926B2	Apparatus and method for determining weighting function having for associating linear predictive coding (LPC) coefficients with line spectral frequency coefficients and immittance spectral frequency coefficients Proposed is a method and apparatus for determining a weighting function for quantizing a linear predictive coding (LPC) coefficient and having a low complexity. The weighting function determination apparatus may convert an LPC coefficient of a mid-subframe of an input signal to one of a immitance spectral frequency (ISF) coefficient and a line spectral frequency (LSF) coefficient, and may determine a weighting function associated with an importance of the ISF coefficient or the LSF coefficient based on the converted ISF coefficient or LSF coefficient.
US09311925B2	Method, apparatus and computer program for processing multi-channel signals The invention relates to a method and an apparatus in which samples of at least a part of an audio signal of a first channel and a part of an audio signal of a second channel are used to produce a sparse representation of the audio signals to increase the encoding efficiency. In an example embodiment one or more audio signals are input and relevant auditory cues are determined in a time-frequency plane. The relevant auditory cues are combined to form an auditory neurons map. Said one or more audio signals are transformed into a transform domain and the auditory neurons map is used to form a sparse representation of said one or more audio signal.
US09311924B1	Spectral wells for inserting watermarks in audio signals A method to watermark an audio signal includes inserting a first symbol in a spectral well, the spectral well corresponding to at least one of a second spectral portion when amplitude of a first spectral portion and amplitude of a third spectral portion exceed amplitude of the second spectral portion, or the second temporal portion when amplitude of a first temporal portion and amplitude of a third temporal portion exceed amplitude of the second temporal portion.
US09311922B2	Method, apparatus, and storage medium for decoding encoded audio channels Multiple channels of audio are combined either to a monophonic composite signal or to multiple channels of audio along with related auxiliary information from which multiple channels of audio are reconstructed, including improved downmixing of multiple audio channels to a monophonic audio signal or to multiple audio channels and improved decorrelation of multiple audio channels derived from a monophonic audio channel or from multiple audio channels. Aspects of the disclosed invention are usable in audio encoders, decoders, encode/decode systems, downmixers, upmixers, and decorrelators.
US09311919B2	Apparatus and method for coding and decoding multi-object audio signal with various channel Provided are an apparatus and method for coding and decoding a multi-object audio signal. The apparatus includes a down-mixer for down-mixing the audio signals into one down-mixed audio signal and extracting supplementary information including header information and spatial cue information for each of the audio signals, a coder for coding the down-mixed audio signal, and a supplementary information coder for generating the supplementary information as a bit stream. The header information includes identification information for each of the audio signals and channel information for the audio signals.
US09311916B2	Apparatus and method for improving voice recognition An apparatus and method for improving voice recognition are disclosed herein. The apparatus includes a standard voice transmission unit, a Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficient (MFCC) generation unit, and an MFCC compensation unit. The standard voice transmission unit generates a standard voice. The MFCC generation unit generates voice feature data (MFCC) based on the utterance of the standard voice before voice recognition. The MFCC compensation unit stores a gain value generated based on the standard voice, and compensates for the distortion of the voice feature data based on the utterance of a user using the gain value during the voice recognition.
US09311912B1	Cost efficient distributed text-to-speech processing Text-to-speech (TTS) processing systems may be divided among remote TTS servers which are accessible through a network connection to local user devices. The costs for performing processing on these servers may vary according to time. To improve efficiency of TTS processing certain requests may be scheduled during low cost server times. A user may indicate a preference for such low cost delivery. A user may also indicate a preference for quick turnaround time, permitting scheduling of TTS processing during higher cost server times. A TTS processing system may also consider quality of TTS results when scheduling server processing time for a particular TTS request and may allocate more server time when higher quality results are desired.
US09311909B2	Sensed sound level based fan speed adjustment Sounds sensed by a microphone of a device include sounds from a cooling fan of the device that varies based on the speed of the cooling fan, and other sounds used by a program of the device such as voice inputs. The sound level of sounds used by the program is determined, and the speed of the fan is adjusted so that a desired cooling level is attained while keeping the fan speed low enough that the noise from the fan does not interfere with the sounds used by the program.
US09311907B2	Musical input device and dynamic thresholding Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for detecting vibrations in one or more strings of a stringed input device, detecting contact between the string and a contact in an array of contacts. The contacts detected and the vibrations can be registered, processed, and interpreted as musical notes. In some embodiments, the vibration inputs are only registered if they are intended inputs rather than inputs caused by the mechanical coupling of vibrations across the strings.
US09311905B2	Installation structure for acoustic transducer and musical instrument An installation structure for an acoustic transducer for vibrating a vibrated body of a musical instrument in a first direction for permitting the vibrated body to generate sounds, including: the acoustic transducer having a main body and a vibrating portion that vibrates in the first direction; a support portion to be fixed to a housing of the musical instrument for supporting the main body; and a cover member fixed to the support portion for covering the acoustic transducer, wherein the support portion includes a base plate portion to be held in surface contact with the housing so as to be fixed thereto, a first fixing portion to which the main body is fixed and which supports the main body, and a second fixing portion to which the cover member is fixed, and wherein the first and second fixing portions are connected to the base plate portion independently of each other.
US09311899B2	Detecting and describing visible features on a visualization Embodiments of the invention relate to detecting and describing visible features of a data set on a visualization. Visible features among a set of data in a view-space are detected. The visible features include potential data clusters and trends. These visual features are characterized using data-space. The characterized detected features are overlaid on visualization for supporting interaction and exploration of the data. Detected features are explored across two or more clusters for comparison of select data.
US09311895B2	Display device and method for driving same An embodiment of the present invention realizes a display device equipped with a self light-emitting type display element driven by a current, by using a pixel circuit having a configuration simpler than a conventional configuration. A pixel circuit includes a driving transistor (T1), an input transistor (T2), a capacitor (Cst), and three organic EL elements (OLED(R), OLED(G), and OLED(B)). Cathode terminals of the organic EL elements (OLED(R), OLED(G), and OLED(B)) are respectively connected to low-level power supply lines (ELVSS(R), ELVSS(G), and ELVSS(B)). In such a configuration, in each sub-frame, only a low-level power supply voltage (ELVSS) corresponding to the sub-frame is set to a relatively low level, and the other low-level power supply voltages (ELVSS) are set to relatively high levels.
US09311894B2	Liquid crystal display apparatus and method for displaying pictures A liquid crystal display apparatus and a method for displaying pictures are provided. The liquid crystal display apparatus comprises P kinds of sub-pixels with different colors, wherein P is an integer more than 1. The method comprises displaying each picture at a display period of N frames. N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and the sub-pixels with any one of Q colors are displayed in normal state in the display period of each picture, wherein Q is an integer, 0
US09311889B1	Image-based color palette generation A color palette can be a collection of representative colors each associated with a weight or other metadata. A computing system may generate a color palette based on palette generation criteria, which may facilitate or control a palette generation process. Illustratively, the palette generation process may include image pre-processing, color distribution generation, representative color identification, palette candidate generation and palette determination. Representative colors with associated weight can be identified from a distribution of colors depicted by the color image, multiple palette candidates corresponding to the same color image can be generated based on various palette generation criteria, and a color palette can be identified therefrom.
US09311881B2	Liquid crystal display device and drive method for same Provided are: a liquid crystal display device capable of rapidly removing residual electric charges in a panel when a power supply is turned off, and in particular, suitable for a case where IGZO-GDM is adopted; and a driving method of the liquid crystal display device.In the liquid crystal display device, when an OFF state of the power supply is detected, a power supply OFF sequence including an initialization step, a first discharge step and a second discharge step is executed. In the initialization step, only a clear signal (H_CLR) among GDM signals is set at a high level, and a state of each of bistable circuits which constitute a shift register is initialized. In the first discharge step, only the clear signal (H_CLR) among the GDM signals is set at a low level, all of gate bus lines are turned to a selected state, and electric charges in pixel formation portions are discharged. In the second discharge step, the clear signal (H_CLR) is set at the high level, and electric charges on floating nodes in each of the bistable circuits are discharged.
US09311876B2	Driver circuit, display device, and electronic device To suppress malfunctions in a shift register circuit. A shift register having a plurality of flip-flop circuits is provided. The flip-flop circuit includes a transistor 11, a transistor 12, a transistor 13, a transistor 14, and a transistor 15. When the transistor 13 or the transistor 14 is turned on in a non-selection period, the potential of a node A is set, so that the node A is prevented from entering into a floating state.
US09311873B2	Polarity inversion driving method for liquid crystal display panel, driving apparatus and display device The present disclosure relates to a technical field of liquid crystal display, and particularly, to a polarity inversion driving method for a liquid crystal display panel, a driving apparatus and a display device. In the method, each of frames is divided into M polarity arrangement units in a same way, and every 2×M×N frames form one inversion driving period; in each of half inversion driving periods, there exists x, 0
US09311872B2	Display device with timing controller A display device (1) includes (i) refresh rate changing means (15) for changing a refresh rate of a display panel (2) and (ii) a polarity reversal controlling section (20) for changing, in accordance with a change in the refresh rate, at least one of a temporal cycle and a spatial cycle of a polarity reversal of a source signal.
US09311867B2	Devices and methods for reducing power consumption of a demultiplexer The present disclosure relates to devices and methods for reducing power consumption of a display. One electronic display includes a first switch coupled between a first gate of a first transistor and a second gate of a second transistor to selectively connect the first gate to the second gate. The display includes a second switch coupled between the second gate of the second transistor and a third gate of a third transistor to selectively connect the second gate to the third gate. The display also includes driving circuitry that controls the first switch to connect the first gate to the second gate to share a first charge between the first and second gates. The driving circuitry also controls the second switch to connect the second gate to the third gate to share a second charge between the second and third gates. Accordingly, power consumption of the display may be reduced.
US09311864B2	Display device and method for updating image frames based on image frame switching period thereof A method for updating image frames displayed on a display device including charged particles is provided and includes steps as below. A first image frame is displayed according to a first image data value. A second image frame is displayed according to a second image data value. Whether an image frame switching period between the first image frame and the second image frame is less than or equal to a predetermined period is determined to decide an updating manner for the second image frame displayed on the display device. When the image frame switching period is greater than the predetermined period, a reset pulse and a second data pulse are sequentially generated such that the display device operates in a second updating mode. A display device is also disclosed herein.
US09311860B2	Liquid crystal display using backlight intensity to compensate for pixel damage A computer program product (CPP) for controlling a liquid crystal display (LCD) includes code for applying a test voltage to each liquid crystal element (LCE) disposed in an addressable array forming the LCD, and code for detecting an amount of light received by photosensors while applying the test voltage to the LCEs, wherein each photosensor is aligned behind and logically associated with one of the LCEs. The CPP further includes code for applying selected voltage levels to each LCE to display an image, and code for controlling an amount of backlight produced by backlighting elements in an addressable array while the image is displayed. Each backlighting element is aligned behind and logically associated with one LCE, and at least one backlighting element is controlled to compensate for a difference between the amount of light detected by the photosensor logically associated with at least one LCE and the other photosensors.
US09311859B2	Resetting cycle for aging compensation in AMOLED displays A method of voltage-programming a pixel circuit in a display panel to remove, before programming the pixel circuit, effects due to short-term effects such as caused by fast light transitions or effects due to previous pixel circuit measurements such as charge trapping. During a resetting cycle, the pixel circuit is programmed with a reset voltage value corresponding to a maximum or a minimum voltage value. Then, during a calibration cycle, the pixel circuit is programmed with a calibration voltage based on previously extracted data for the pixel circuit, a pixel current of the pixel circuit is measured, and the extracted data for the pixel circuit is updated based on the measured pixel current. Then, the pixel circuit is programmed with a video data that is calibrated with the updated extracted data. The pixel circuit is finally driven according to the programmed video data and emits a commensurate amount of light.
US09311857B2	Organic light emitting diode display and method for driving the same Disclosed are an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device and a method for driving the same, which are capable of minimizing required memory capacity and the use rate thereof while achieving an enhancement in display quality through execution of an overdriving (or accelerated driving) in accordance with image information of plural accumulated frames. The OLED display device includes a data modulator for sequentially receiving image data of a current frame from a timing controller, counting a number of accumulations of pixels corresponding to image data having a lower grayscale value than a grayscale value of predetermined reference data, generating modulated image data through application of a weight determined in accordance with the counted accumulation number, and supplying the modulated image data to a data driver.
US09311855B2	Bridge lines for powering a small form factor OLED display device An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device includes a substrate including a circular arc portion and a driving circuit connecting portion connected to the top of the circular arc portion. The circular arc portion is substantially circular around a center point. A display area is formed in the circular arc portion. The display area has a circular shape centered around the center point. A driving power supply line is formed in the circular arc portion and configured to provide a driving voltage for OLED pixels of the OLED display device. The driving power supply line formed to at least partially surround the display area. A number of power lines electrically connect the driving power supply line to the OLED pixels. A number of bridge lines are formed outside of the display area, where each bridge line connecting one of the power lines with at least one adjacent power line.
US09311841B2	Multi-primary colour display device This multi-primary-color display device (100) includes a multi-primary-color display panel (10) and a signal converter (20). The display device assigns a plurality of subpixels that form each pixel to a plurality of virtual pixels and is able to conduct a display operation using each of the plurality of virtual pixels as a minimum color display unit. The signal converter (20) includes: a low-frequency multi-primary-color signal generating section (21) which generates a low-frequency multi-primary-color signal; a high-frequency luminance signal generating section (22) which generates a high-frequency luminance signal; and a rendering processing section (23) which performs rendering processing on the plurality of virtual pixels based on the low-frequency multi-primary-color signal and the high-frequency luminance signal. The signal converter (20) further includes a magnitude of correction calculating section (24) which calculates, based on an input image signal, the magnitude of correction to be made on the high-frequency luminance signal during the rendering processing.
US09311838B2	Liquid crystal display of switching to show 2D/3D image The present invention proposes an LCD of switching to show 2D/3D image. The LCD adds a plurality of switch units to every row of scan lines while no additional gate driver is added. The plurality of switch units separately control charging and charge sharing of pixel units, therefore pixel charging and charge sharing are separately controlled. Hence the present invention fixes flicker in 3D image display while no additional gate driver is added.
US09311836B1	Suspended segmented display array A suspended segmented display array in one embodiment includes multiple cables offset from a wall via standoff members. Adjacent display panels attach to cables via finger releasable clamps and present varied and unique visual displays. A versatile and cost-effective display system thus is established that accommodates a wide range of content which can readily be changed out.
US09311831B2	Decorative detectable warning panel having improved grip The present invention relates to detectable warning panels, and in particular to detectable warning panels that display text and/or other graphic information such as commercial messages, trademarks, logos, directions, slogans, pictures, names, product illustrations, emblems, promotional information related to a product or service, Quick Response Codes, matrix code, two-dimensional bar code, optical machine-readable labels, and combinations thereof.
US09311830B2	Labeling article, method of use and assembly A labeling article and a method of use and assembly of the labeling article, where the labeling article comprises a label, an elastic securing band, and a release liner, and where the elastic securing band is configured to be stretched to define a loop between the elastic securing band and the release liner.
US09311826B2	Energy consumption estimator An energy consumption estimator includes a body motion sensor, a first calculation unit, an acquisition unit, and a second calculation unit. The body motion sensor detects body motion by a user. Based on the body motion detected by the body motion sensor, the first calculation unit calculates the user's total energy consumption. The acquisition unit acquires the user's energy consumption derived from fats and lipids. Based on the energy consumption derived from fats and lipids and on the total energy consumption, the second calculation unit calculates the user's total energy derived from carbohydrates.
US09311824B2	Method of learning an isolated track from an original, multi-track recording while viewing a musical notation synchronized with variations in the musical tempo of the original, multi-track recording The teachings described herein are generally directed to a system, method, and apparatus for separating and mixing tracks within music. The system can have components that include a processor, an input device, a database, a transformation module, an emulation recording module, an integration engine, an output module, and an output device, wherein each component is operable in itself to perform it's function in the system and operable with other system components to provide a system to a listener of music.
US09311821B2	Techniques for reporting on or tracking ground vehicles Ground vehicle reporting and tracking techniques are provided to track vehicles associated with a particular area (e.g., an airport, a military base, etc.). Ground vehicles may regularly report information about the vehicle to one or more control stations via corresponding communication links. The communication links may include, for example, an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) link and a non-ADS-B link.
US09311816B2	Vehicle identification Magnetometers under the road surface detect variations in the vertical and longitudinal horizontal components of the magnetic field over time in response to passing vehicles. A trajectory of these components in the phase space of these field components is regularized to obtain a magnetic signature. Magnetic signatures are compared using cross-correlation over arc length to identify vehicles. Inductance sensors can be used to detect vehicles and help determine the beginning and end of magnetic signatures.
US09311815B2	Key fob dongle Disclosed herein is an improvement of methods and systems used to configure electronic components and modules to a vehicle. A low cost programmer tool, or key fob dongle, may manage devices coupled to a vehicle communication network. The system is designed for on-board management of multiple vehicle network protocols to support configuration of various electronic modules to a vehicle. A method for using a key fob dongle is disclosed herein. The method includes inserting the key fob dongle into an on-board diagnostic (OBD)-II connector of a vehicle, transmitting a communication detection request to the OBD-II connector, and beeping a predetermined amount of times in response to the communication detection request, wherein the beeping a predetermined amount of times identifies a vehicle communication protocol.
US09311813B2	Disrupting bone conduction signals Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for disrupting bone conduction signals. According to one aspect, a device can receive a signal via a communication path that is external to a body of a user associated with the device. The device can generate a disruption signal to disrupt the signal. The device can send the disruption signal through the body of the user to disrupt the signal.
US09311808B2	Monitoring system A monitoring device of a monitoring system includes a control, an alarm, a first sensor for detecting motion higher than a first predetermined height, a second sensor for detecting, on a floor of a building, motion lower than a second predetermined height, and a third sensor means for detecting an arrival in a sleeping place and a departure from the sleeping place. When the most recent motion detection fed by the third sensor to the control is the arrival in the sleeping place, the control controls the alarm to give an alarm if a predetermined first delay, beginning at the arrival in the sleeping place, is filled before information about the departure from the sleeping place has been received from the third sensor. After the third sensor has detected the departure from the sleeping place, the control controls the alarm to give an alarm if the control receives no motion detections from the first sensor and the second sensor during a predetermined second delay.
US09311805B2	Responsive units An electronic communication unit such as a mobile phone comprises a processor for operating said unit; and an ambient air quality monitoring sensor; characterized in that said processor is configured to operate said unit in a first mode of operation during which a) monitoring of said air quality occurs and a level of air quality is assessed against pre-determined levels; and b) ordinary communication routines are activated provided an acceptable category of pre-determined levels is identified; and in a second mode of operation during which a) monitoring of said air quality occurs and a level of air quality is assessed against pre-determined levels; and b) an alarm routine is launched interrupting the ordinary communication routines once a level of ambient air quality is assessed to warrant the user's attention.
US09311798B2	Localization method and system using non-regenerative UWB relays The present invention relates to a method and a system for determining the position of an object which can be a passive or an active tag (140). The system comprises a plurality of anchor nodes (111,112) and a plurality of non-regenerative relays (121,122,123) of known positions. In case of an active tag, a UWB pulse signal is emitted by the tag and received by the anchor nodes either directly or via a relay. In case of a passive tag, UWB pulse signals are sent by the anchors nodes and reflected back, either way being either a LOS path or a relayed path. A processing node (130) collects the signals received by the anchor nodes (111,112) to estimate the position of the tag.
US09311796B2	Systems and methods for adaptively controlling a transmitter field Systems (100) and methods (600-800) for adaptively controlling a transmitter field in an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) detection system. The methods comprise: detecting, by at least one first proximity sensor (108a, 108b), a presence of a first person located in proximity to a pedestal (102a, 102b) of the EAS detection system; determining a first distance from the first proximity sensor to the first person; and using the first distance to adaptively control the transmitter field of the EAS detection system.
US09311795B2	Systems and methods for operating remote presence security A computer-implemented method for remote presence security is described. In one embodiment, an event is detected in relation to a premises. Upon detecting the event, a location of an occupant of the premises is determined in relation to the premises. Upon determining the occupant is a predetermined distance away from the premises, a first type of notification is sent. The first type of notification includes a display of real-time video being captured at the premises.
US09311794B2	System and method for infrared intruder detection Disclosed is an intruder alarm system comprising: an infrared camera set up to monitor a predetermined area of interest; a video analysis module in communication with the infrared camera, the video analysis module for providing video analysis of at least one of a plurality of video frames received from the infrared camera; and an alarm signal module for generating an alarm signal in response to intruder activity indicated by the video analysis module.
US09311790B2	Systems and methods for locating a public facility In an exemplary method of locating a public facility, a public facility is provided at a fixed location and includes a facility locating module. A wireless signal is generated from the facility locating module. Software code accessible to the portable electronic device is provided. The software code causes the portable electronic device to detect the wireless signal and to generate a location indicating output from the portable electronic device to identify at least one of a location of the public facility, a distance to the public facility from the portable electronic device, and a direction from the portable electronic device to the public facility.
US09311787B2	Electronic gaming machine and gaming method An electronic gaming machine includes a display for displaying a first array of game symbols for playing a game and two or more second arrays of game enhancing elements, said second arrays being associated with columns of said first array. In response to a trigger event occurring in the columns, the second arrays each randomly award one or more game enhancing elements. A gaming method is also provided.
US09311786B2	Electronic gaming device with platform gaming functionality Examples disclosed herein relate to systems and methods, which may receive wagers on one or more paylines. The systems and methods may utilize one or more objects in a platform based game. The systems and methods may determine one or more payouts based on the one or more objects in a platform based game. The systems and methods may display one or more presentations based on the one or more platform results.
US09311784B2	Systems and methods for post-play gaming benefits According to some embodiments, systems, methods, and/or articles of manufacture are associated with determining whether a first condition associated with a first player of a gaming device is satisfied, determining whether a second condition associated with a second player of the gaming device is satisfied, and awarding, in the case that both the first and second conditions are determined to be satisfied, a benefit to the first player.
US09311783B2	Gaming system and method for offering simultaneous play of multiple games Gaming apparatus and methods of conducting a wagering game of chance. A gaming machine is disclosed which is configured for mutually concurrent play of a plurality of games of chance on a single display screen. A method of conducting a wagering activity includes providing a player with a plurality of differing games of chance, at least some of which are mutually concurrently playable on a single screen display of a gaming device and enabling mutually concurrent play of the plurality of differing games of chance on the single screen display. Various other gaming machine configurations and methods of play related to multiple differing games of chance on a single display screen are also disclosed herein. Networked gaming machines are also disclosed.
US09311782B2	Gaming system and method for offering simultaneous play of multiple games Gaming apparatus and methods of conducting a wagering game of chance. A gaming machine is disclosed which is configured for mutually concurrent play of a plurality of games of chance on a single display screen. A method of conducting a wagering activity includes providing a player with a plurality of differing games of chance, at least some of which are mutually concurrently playable on a single screen display of a gaming device and enabling mutually concurrent play of the plurality of differing games of chance on the single screen display. Various other gaming machine configurations and methods of play related to multiple differing games of chance on a single display screen are also disclosed herein. Networked gaming machines are also disclosed.
US09311781B2	Gaming system and method for providing a cascading symbol game with upgrade events A gaming system including a cascading symbol or tumbling reel game which utilizes zero, one or more upgrades in association with zero, one or more shifting symbols. Upon an occurrence of an upgrade event, the gaming system upgrades one or more aspects or attributes of one or more games played. In certain embodiments, such upgrades pertain to upgrading one or more symbols displayed at one or more symbol display positions of one or more symbol display position grids. In certain other embodiments, such upgrades pertain to upgrading the award evaluation of one or more symbols displayed at one or more symbol display positions of one or more symbol display position grids. In certain other embodiments, such upgrades pertain to upgrading one or more attributes or features of one or more bonus or secondary games which are subsequently triggered.
US09311778B2	Methods and apparatus for managing network linked gambling video games Methods and apparatus for playing video games in a network environment are provided. One method includes receiving a request to initiate a game for a player of a first network connected device and enabling a second player from a second networked connected device to play the game. The method also enables transfer of currency between the first and second players using the network for playing the game. The method debits an account of a player that transferred the currency and credits an account of a player that that received the currency. The method then enables purchases in the game using the credited currency and displays an avatar of the first player on a display of the second networked connected device, and displays an avatar of the second player on a display of the first networked connected device.
US09311777B2	Systems, methods and devices for configuring wagering game systems and devices Gaming devices, gaming systems, methods of configuring gaming devices, and computer programs for configuring gaming devices are featured. A gaming system for playing a wagering game is disclosed which includes a processor(s), an input device(s), a gaming device(s), and a memory device(s) storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the processors, cause the gaming system to: receive, via at least one of the input devices, a desired value for a player-performance variable and/or a game-configuration variable for at least one of the gaming devices; based on the desired value, output a recommended value for a configuration parameter for the gaming device(s); and, responsive to a confirmation input received via at least one of the input devices, configure the gaming device(s) in accordance with at least the recommended value for the first configuration parameter.
US09311769B2	Emailing or texting as communication between mobile device and EGM A gaming system compatible with patron-controlled portable electronic devices, such as smart phones or tablet computers, is described. Via E-mailing or texting, a server can mediate communications between a user-controlled device, such as a mobile device, and an EGM. In one embodiment, for a transaction involving interactions with a user-controlled device and an EGM, the server can be configured to create a temporary e-mail or text message address. In particular embodiments, a transaction can involve transferring credits to or from the EGM or transferring game play related information from the EGM to a user specified location.
US09311761B1	Vehicle load information system to determine road slope and load when trailer is added to vehicle A method identifies, for a vehicle, a low friction surface from a road surface with a slope. With the vehicle at standstill, the vehicle ignition is switched on. A normal load for the vehicle is calculated. It is determined if the vehicle is moving, and if the vehicle is moving, a vehicle load is calculated using suspension information from the vehicle. A road slope angle is calculated based on the calculated vehicle load and calculated normal load. A normal slope angle is calculated and is compared to the calculated road slope angle to determine if the vehicle is on a low friction surface or on a sloped surface. In accordance with another aspect of an embodiment, a method determines whether a trailer is coupled to a vehicle.
US09311760B2	Unmanned aerial vehicle authorization and geofence envelope determination Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for unmanned aerial vehicle authorization and geofence envelope determination. One of the methods includes maintaining, in a datastore, flight operation information associated with UAV flight operations. A request to generate a risk assessment report is received, with the request including aspects of a UAV flight operation, with the risk assessment report describing risk associated with each aspect. Flight operation information accessed from the datastore is analyzed. Performance characteristics are determined based at least in part on the analysis of the flight operation information, with the performance characteristics including information that can inform, or affect, a safe or functional UAV flight operation. Risk assessments for each aspects in the request are determined using the performance characteristics. The risk assessment report is generated using the determined risk assessments.
US09311759B2	Robust systems and methods for improving passenger jet aircraft fuel economy A method for improving fuel economy on a passenger jet aircraft comprises automatically receiving a communication from the aircraft to a ground station comprising at least one subsystem operating parameter measured during the current flight, detecting whether the operating parameter meets predetermined criteria and, if the criteria are met, automatically sending a communication to indicate the aircraft's status for a next flight. If the criteria are not met, a status of the aircraft is automatically changed and a communication is sent. Other methods and systems are also described.
US09311756B2	Image group processing and visualization Techniques are provided for efficiently generating 3D information from a set of digital images. Techniques are also provided for displaying groups (or clusters) of digital images using 3D information associated with the digital images. In one technique, a group of digital images are displayed as a stack of thumbnail images where the thumbnail images are aligned on a display with respect to each other based on common features identified in the digital images, camera position, and/or camera pose. In another technique, a group of digital images are organized on a display in either a 3D layout or a 2D layout based on 3D information associated with each digital image in the group. In another technique, a transition effect is generated based on projections of two digital images onto a common scene plane and blending (or cross fading) one of the 3D projections with the other of the 3D projections.
US09311754B2	Image processing device, image processing method, and image processing system An image acquisition unit acquires an image captured by a first imaging device provided in a HMD for presenting an image observed when a three-dimensional image in a virtual three-dimensional space is projected onto a real-world setting, the first imaging device being configured to visualize an area including a field of view of a user wearing the HMD. A marker detection unit detects a marker included in the image captured by the first imaging device and acquired by the image acquisition unit. The image acquisition unit acquires an image captured by a second imaging device having an angle of view that at least partially overlaps an angle of view of the first imaging device. If the marker is not captured in the image captured by the first imaging device, the marker detection unit detects the marker in an image captured by the second imaging device.
US09311747B2	Three-dimensional image display device and three-dimensional image display program When generating an approximate right prism model, an approximate right prism model generating unit 14 expresses a hierarchical relationship among original right prism models and approximate right prism models which can be generated by using a tree structure, and generates only a right prism model existing in certain and higher hierarchical layers from among approximate right prism models respectively brought into correspondence with the nodes in the tree structure. Therefore, a three-dimensional virtual environment can be rendered at a high speed and with a high degree of quality even when no large-volume storage unit is installed.
US09311743B2	Selectively merging partially-covered tiles to perform hierarchical z-culling This disclosure describes techniques for performing hierarchical z-culling in a graphics processing system. In some examples, the techniques for performing hierarchical z-culling may involve selectively merging partially-covered source tiles for a tile location into a fully-covered merged source tile based on whether conservative farthest z-values for the partially-covered source tiles are nearer than a culling z-value for the tile location, and using a conservative farthest z-value associated with the fully-covered merged source tile to update the culling z-value for the tile location. In further examples, the techniques for performing hierarchical z-culling may use a cache unit that is not associated with an underlying memory to store conservative farthest z-values and coverage masks for merged source tiles. The capacity of the cache unit may be smaller than the size of cache needed to store merged source tile data for all of the tile locations in a render target.
US09311742B1	Navigating an avatar through a virtual world in a motion capture simulation environment A computer determines a modified location for an avatar of a first entity in a virtual environment based on a location of the first entity in a capture volume and a transformation used to map a second entity from the capture volume to the virtual environment. The modified location of the avatar of the first entity relative to a location of an avatar of the second entity is consistent with the location of the first entity relative to the location of the second entity in the capture volume. Once the modified location is determined, the computer displays a graphical cue corresponding to the first entity at the modified location of the avatar of the first entity provided that a distance between the modified location of the avatar of the first entity is different from a current location of the avatar of the first entity in the virtual environment.
US09311741B2	Three-dimensional virtual environment Systems and methods of rendering a three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment rendering are disclosed. The system comprises a central processing device, a plurality of user devices in data communication with the central processing device, a plurality of application servers in data communication with the central processing device, and software executing on the central processor. The software creates and renders a 3D virtual environment, receives user data from each of the plurality of user devices, renders the user data received from each of the user devices in the 3D virtual environment, receives application data from each of the application servers, renders the application data received from each of the application servers in the 3D virtual environment, and outputs the rendered 3D virtual environment to each of the user devices. The 3D virtual environment serves as a direct user interface with the Internet by allowing users to visually navigate the world wide web.
US09311738B2	Path rendering by covering the path based on a generated stencil buffer One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for rendering paths by first generating a stencil buffer indicating pixels of the path that should be covered and then covering the path. The paths may be filled or stroked without tessellating the paths. Path rendering may be accelerated when a graphics processing unit or other processor that is configured to perform operations to generate the stencil buffer and cover the path to fill or stroke the path.
US09311735B1	Cloud based content aware fill for images A region of an image on which a content aware fill operation is to be performed is identified by a device, the content aware fill operation replacing pixel values in the region based on pixel values from one or more other regions. The device generates a reduced-size version of the image by down sampling the image, and sends the reduced-size version of the image to a remote service. The remote service generates a mapping indicating which pixels in the reduced-size version of the image are to be used as the values of which other pixels in the region of the reduced-size version of the image. The mapping is compressed and returned to the device. The device decompresses the mapping and up samples the mapping. An output image is generated based on the originally obtained image, the up sampled mapping, and an indication of the region.
US09311733B2	Efficient round point rasterization One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for improved rasterization of round points mapped into a tile space within a graphics processing pipeline. A set of candidate tiles are selected based on proximity to a round point. A tile within the set of candidate tiles may be rejected based on a rejection boundary. A tile may be rejected if no vertex associated with the tile is within the coverage area. Performance is improved by rejecting certain unneeded tiles that would otherwise be included in conventional rasterization. One embodiment advantageously enlists line drawing circuitry to determine whether a given tile intersects the coverage area.
US09311731B2	Dynamic graph system for a semantic database A method and system in a computer system for dynamically providing a graphical representation of a data store of entries via a matrix interface is disclosed. A dynamic graph system provides a matrix interface that exposes to an application program a graphical representation of data stored in a data store such as a semantic database storing triples. To the application program, the matrix interface represents the graph as a sparse adjacency matrix that is stored in compressed form. Each entry of the data store is considered to represent a link between nodes of the graph. Each entry has a first field and a second field identifying the nodes connected by the link and a third field with a value for the link that connects the identified nodes. The first, second, and third fields represent the rows, column, and elements of the adjacency matrix.
US09311729B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program An information processing apparatus that tests independence among a multiplicity of variables includes an execution section and a determination section. The execution section executes a test for conditional independence between two variables in a graphical model that are at least not independent in the case where a condition variable serving as a condition for independence between the two variables is provided on a path between the two variables. The determination section determines whether or not a V-shaped structure is present on a path between the two variables, the V-shaped structure being a graph structure in which first and second variables that are independent are each not independent of a third variable. The execution section does not execute a test for conditional independence between the two variables in the case where the condition variable is provided only on a path determined to have the V-shaped structure.
US09311727B2	Device, system, method and computer-readable storage medium for analyzing tennis swing motion A tennis swing movement analyzing apparatus of the present invention includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user; a calculation unit configured to, based on the sampling data, calculate an indicator selected from among the velocity, the acceleration, the angular velocity, and the position of the tennis racket or a ball hit by the tennis racket and an arbitrary combination thereof; and a screen creation unit configured to create a GUI screen displaying a graph area that is divided into a plurality of areas respectively indicating types of swings and displaying the indicator in the graph area.
US09311726B2	System and method for mapping and comparing choroplethic housing statistics The present invention relates to a mapping and comparing choroplethic housing statistics. In one example, this comprises accessing property data corresponding to a geospatial area. Analytics are used to generate usable property data statistics from the accessed property data. A thematic map image based on the usable property data statistics is then generated according to comparison categories, so that the thematic map image may be displayed.
US09311724B2	Method for user input from alternative touchpads of a handheld computerized device The present invention relates to a handheld computerized device with a bit mapped display screen on the front panel, and a touchpad installed in an alternative location. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and graphical user interface that can, for example, enable the user to see the user's finger position and motion from behind the device superimposed upon a virtual keyboard layout on the front panel. This can allow the user to use a touchpad keypad on the back of the device to input keystrokes and mouse actions, and these will be reflected on the display screen on the front of the handheld computerized device as “virtual fingers” or equivalent. The system operates by inputting touchpad data into a software biomechanical and anatomical model of the human hand, optionally supplemented by video or image information to refine this model.
US09311723B2	Attenuation correction method and device for image in PET system An attenuation correction method and device for an image in a PET system. The method includes: acquiring transmission scanning sinogram data from a PET apparatus; reconstructing the transmission scanning sinogram data with Bayesian model-based Ordered Subset Expectation Maximization (OSEM-B) algorithm and Filtered Back Projection (FBP) algorithm, to obtain an OSEM-B attenuation image and a first FBP attenuation image respectively; performing a weighted calculation on the OSEM-B attenuation image and the first FBP attenuation image to obtain an effective attenuation image; and performing attenuation correction on emission scanning sinogram data from the PET apparatus by using an attenuation sinogram generated based on the effective attenuation image.
US09311722B2	Imaging systems featuring waveguiding compensation In certain embodiments, the invention relates to systems and methods for altering an image to compensate for variation in one or more physical and/or supervenient properties (e.g., optical absorption and/or scattering) in heterogeneous, diffuse tissue, thereby attenuating the effects of tissue waveguiding. The methods enable the proper identification of emission image regions that evidence waveguiding of electromagnetic radiation, and enables compensation of emission images for such waveguiding. The methods preserve the depth localization accuracy of the FMT approach and improve optical reconstruction in the targeted areas while eliminating spurious components of fluorescence from the acquired data set. Calibration methods for probe concentration mapping are also presented.
US09311720B2	Automated saw cut correction for 3D core digital modeling from computerized tomography scanner (CTS) images Computer-implemented methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer program stored therein are provided to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of modeling a core sample from two-dimensional images of the core sample. Embodiments of the invention include, for example, image registering a plurality of images of transverse sections of a core sample to produce aligned transverse sections and performing a saw cut correction on the aligned images to adjust the images for a slab cut. Embodiments of the saw cut correction can include, for example, identifying the saw cut line, approximating the slab cut boundary, and moving a portion of the representation of the image to the periphery of the approximated slab cut boundary. Embodiments can further include, generating three-dimensional models of the core sample and the internal composition of a borehole related to the core sample using the adjusted saw cut line images and multipoint statistics calculations.
US09311709B2	Image processing apparatus and image processing method A three-dimensional image captured by imaging a subject using a first imaging device is acquired. A two-dimensional image captured by imaging a surface of the subject using a second imaging device is acquired. Information representing the surface position of the subject is acquired from the three-dimensional image. A projection image in a case where seeing the three-dimensional image from the viewpoint of the second imaging device is generated based on the information representing the surface position. The three-dimensional image is aligned with the two-dimensional image with respect to the subject using the projection image and the two-dimensional image.
US09311697B2	Inspection method and device therefor Disclosed is a method of inspecting an object to be inspected in a semiconductor manufacturing process, for resolving the problem to increase defect detection sensitivity. An image capture means is used to image capture a designated area of the object to be inspected; a defect is detected in the captured image; a circuit pattern is recognized from the captured image; a characteristic value is computed, relating to an image tone and shape, from the detected defect; a characteristic value is computed, relating to the image tone and shape, from the recognized circuit pattern; either a specified defect or circuit pattern is filtered and extracted from the detected defect and the recognized circuit pattern; a mapping characteristic value is determined from the characteristic value of either the filtered and extracted specified defect or circuit pattern; and the distribution of the determined characteristic values is displayed onscreen in a map format.
US09311696B2	Color enhancement for graphic images A color enhancement system may enhance color components in an image. In one embodiment, the color enhancement system suppresses banding by combining an input color value with an enhanced colored value. In another embodiment, local variation in saturation values around a pixel may be used to determine a modification of an input saturation value for color enhancement. As still another embodiment, flickering between frames may be suppressed by combining a histogram that counts the number of times a given pixel value occurs in a particular image with a historical histogram that keeps track of an average of how often given values have occurred in previous frames.
US09311693B2	Differential resource application in virtual worlds based on payment and account options A system and method for enhancing the rendering of one or more objects based on payment and account options. The system includes a computer infrastructure configured to control enhancement rendering of an object in a virtual universe by providing at least one augmentation attribute to a tag of the object. The method includes providing enhancement rendering of an object in a virtual universe by augmenting the object based on a status of a user viewing the object.
US09311691B2	Method and device for processing a super-resolution image An image processing method for processing a super-resolution image and a device thereof are disclosed herein. The image processing method includes the following steps: upscaling an input image to a first image by a factor of n according to an upscaling algorithm; downsampling the input image to a second image by the factor of n; upscaling the second image to a third image by a factor of n according to the upscaling algorithm; subtracting the third image from the input image so as to obtain a first difference image; upscaling the first difference image to a second difference image by a factor of n according to the upscaling algorithm; summing the first image and the second difference image to an output image.
US09311690B2	Video denoising using optical flow In techniques for video denoising using optical flow, image frames of video content include noise that corrupts the video content. A reference frame is selected, and matching patches to an image patch in the reference frame are determined from within the reference frame. A noise estimate is computed for previous and subsequent image frames relative to the reference frame. The noise estimate for an image frame is computed based on optical flow, and is usable to determine a contribution of similar motion patches to denoise the image patch in the reference frame. The similar motion patches from the previous and subsequent image frames that correspond to the image patch in the reference frame are determined based on the optical flow computations. The image patch is denoised based on an average of the matching patches from reference frame and the similar motion patches determined from the previous and subsequent image frames.
US09311686B2	Fitness monitor A fitness monitor having a unitary wristband configured to receive a module, such as an electronics module, is disclosed. In one or more implementations, the fitness monitor comprises a module, such as an electronics module, that includes a housing having a first thickness. The fitness monitor also comprises a unitary wristband configured to be worn about a wrist of a user. The unitary wristband includes a housing receiving structure configured to receive the housing of the module so that the combination of the housing receiving structure and the housing has a second thickness, where the second thickness is at least substantially equal to the first thickness. In embodiments, the housing of the monitor may further have a first width, and the combination of the housing receiving structure and the housing may have a second width, where the second width is at least substantially equal to the first width.
US09311685B2	Geolocation check-in system Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for providing a geolocation check-in system. An exemplary apparatus is configured to collect positioning data related to a user. After collecting position data the apparatus may be configure to determine, based at least partially on the positioning data that the user has crossed a threshold of a geofence associated with a merchant's location. Based at least partially on this determination the apparatus may be configured to initiate a merchant check-in associated with the user and transmit user information to the merchant.
US09311684B2	Lens treatment management system A lens processing management system (1) includes: a processing device (20) which processes lenses; a data supply device (10) which can supply design data to the processing device; and a control means (24) which limits the processing of lenses using the design data in the processing device.
US09311683B1	Measuring engagement with a social networking platform In one implementation, data that reveals a user identity's engagement with an electronic social networking platform is extracted from the electronic social networking platform. A numeric measure of the user identity's engagement with the platform then is calculated based on the extracted data.
US09311678B2	Comment plug-in for third party system In one embodiment, a user comment system receives a user comment associated with a content object, assigns one or more privacy settings to the user comment, and stores the user comment in a data store in association with an identifier unique to the content object.
US09311677B2	Computer system for interactions with a user device and third party computers Described are computer systems for interactions with a user device and third party computers. In an embodiment, a computer system for determining and displaying total loss calculations includes accessing third party computer systems for a plurality of data items. The computer system may include data storage devices, computer processors, a communications device, and a memory coupled to the computer processors. The memory may store program instructions which are operative with the computer processors to provide to a user device for display a total loss calculator graphical interface, receive inputs from the user device, request data from third party computers based on the received inputs, determine whether the data needed to perform a total loss calculation has been received, and perform a total loss calculation based on the requested data from the third party computer and the user inputs received from the graphical interface provided to the user device.
US09311676B2	Systems and methods for analyzing sensor data The invention relates to systems and methods for analyzing data collected from sensors monitoring property. In particular, the systems and methods analyze the data to make property insurance underwriting decisions based on the collected sensor data using a computerized process that varies the way in which it manipulates the collected sensor data based on a characteristic of the property being insured, a characteristic of the entity seeking the insurance, and/or on the value of one or more collected data parameters. The invention also relates to systems and methods of making property insurance pricing decisions based on a similarly dynamic computerized process.
US09311674B2	Media management A method of managing transfer of cash, or other valuable media, is described. The method comprises: providing, to a first location, details of cash (or other media) to be loaded into a machine-readable cash container; associating the cash details with a unique identifier associated with the cash container; and storing the associated unique identifier and cash details. The method includes, at a subsequent time, receiving, from a second location to which the cash container has been transported, a request including the unique identifier read from the cash container; accessing the stored cash details using the unique identifier; and providing the stored cash details to the second location.
US09311672B2	Systems and methods for fraud detection using a cooperative data exchange A method is provided comprising receiving, at a first node, transactional data associated with a consumer (wherein the first node comprises a processor and a tangible, non-transitory memory), receiving, at the first node, a credit approval request associated with the consumer, wherein the credit approval request is associated with a proposed transaction, determining, by the first node, whether the transactional data conforms with the proposed transaction, and at least one of approving and denying the credit approval request in response to the determination.
US09311670B2	Game theoretic prioritization system and method A method for allocation among agents, comprising providing to at least two each having a respective wealth generation function adapted to generate a virtual currency; conducting an auction, having an auction outcome with respect to an auction transaction, in which each respective agent bids an amount of the generated virtual currency; and transferring an amount of the generated virtual currency in accordance with the auction outcome, in consideration of an auction transaction.
US09311668B2	Determining to audit a customer utilizing analytics Embodiments for determining whether the activity of a customer within a retail store violates a business rules are disclosed. The embodiments include a customer performing actions within a retail store via a mobile computing device, generating at least one business rule, and comparing the customer's actions with the business rules.
US09311667B2	Managing the purchase of multiple items with multiple modes of fulfillment A method for managing an electronic purchase of items. Multiple modes of fulfillment are identified for the items of the electronic purchase. A schedule for the multiple modes of fulfillment is also identified. Payment is received for the electronic purchase. Responsive to receiving the payment, the electronic purchase of the items is processed based on the schedule.
US09311665B2	Methods and apparatus for product price verification and information display Systems and techniques for automated customer display of product information. A price verification and product information station broadcasts a radiofrequency identification (RFID) interrogation signal and receives an RFID return message from an RFID tag affixed to a product in the immediate vicinity of the station. The station relays the return message to a server, which generates information responsive to the return message, for example, by decoding the RFID return message to extract product information included in the RFID return message. The server organizes and formats the product information extracted from the return message, and the retrieved information, and transmits it to the station, which displays the information.
US09311662B2	Computer-implemented method and system for managing keyword bidding prices A computer-implemented method and system for managing keyword bidding prices are disclosed. An example method comprises: determining revenue parameters associated with a keyword; obtaining automatic bid controls associated with the keyword and the revenue parameters; automatically generating a bid value for the keyword based on the bid controls and the revenue parameters, the automatic bid controls including a gap position target value, the gap position target value representing a position in a gap between a first next higher bid and a second next higher bid, the gap position target value corresponding to a specific monetary value between the first next higher bid and the second next higher bid; and transmitting the bid value to an online service via a data network communication.
US09311659B2	Remote transaction processing at a server from a list using a payment method A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization.
US09311654B1	System and method for a mobile wallet A computer-implemented method includes capturing an image by a mobile computing device and determining a geographic location and a direction of the mobile computing device while capturing the image. The method includes generating a display that includes the image and that identifies the locations of merchants that have at least one offer available for a user of the mobile device based on the geographic location and the direction of the mobile computing device and generating the at least one offer based on the past transactions of the user.
US09311653B1	Systems and methods for digital spend based targeting and measurement The present disclosure includes a system, method, and article of manufacture for measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement. In various embodiments, the system may compare exposed data indicating that a first customer was exposed to a targeted advertisement to a first spending activity associated with the first customer. The system may further compare unexposed data indicating that a second customer was exposed to a neutral advertisement to a second spending activity associated with the second customer. Further still, the system may, in various embodiments, generate a spend report based on the comparing the exposed data to the first spending activity and the comparing the unexposed data to the second spending activity.
US09311651B2	Identity-Media Measurement Model (IMMM) Identity-Media Measurement Model (IMMM), schema, table, database or other electronically transferable form for reporting, measuring, quantifying or otherwise representing user metrics, values, etc. with respect to advertisements or other electronically interfaced propositions is contemplated. The IMMM may provide a ubiquitous tool for correlating information collected with a Media Event Data Model (MEDM) and a Media Measurement Data Model (MMDM) to represent user activities during media playback.
US09311650B2	Determining search result rankings based on trust level values associated with sellers Adjusting search results ranking is disclosed, including: receiving a search query comprising one or more keywords submitted by a user; determining intermediate ranked results comprising a plurality of sets of product information matching the one or more keywords; determining a trust level value associated with the user with respect to a first seller of a plurality of sellers associated with the intermediate ranked results, wherein the trust level value is determined based at least in part on one or more historical user product information evaluation records associated with the first seller submitted by the user; and adjusting ranking associated with the intermediate ranked results based at least in part on the determined trust level value associated with the user with respect to the first seller to determine final ranked results.
US09311647B2	Method and system for providing a widget usable in financial transactions A system and computer implemented method for providing a widget are described. The method and system include receiving a configuration of the widget and rendering the widget on a site. The widget is for dynamically displaying multimedia content, is embeddable, and is copyable. The configuration includes an event with which the widget is associated. The multimedia content includes at least one updatable tracking mechanism for the event.
US09311644B2	Item listing categorization system Techniques for categorizing item listings based on parsing item listing titles are described. According to various embodiments, listing titles of one or more item listings on a marketplace website are accessed, the item listings being associated with a particular product category in a product category structure of the marketplace website. Words in each of the listing titles may then be converted to semantic tokens in a token symbol space, based on a tokenization process. Thereafter, n-gram modeling may be performed on the tokens corresponding to each of the listing titles of the item listings in the particular product category. One or more dominant n-gram models associated with the listing titles of the item listings in the particular product category may then be identified.
US09311643B2	Aggregation of validated transactions for settlement At each of a plurality of merchant Point Of Service terminals (POS), for each of a plurality of consumers, where each consumer seeks to conduct a transaction with the merchant for a good or service by using a payment device issued by an issuer in a payment system, data is read from the payment device. The data can include an identifier for an account issued by an issuer. The consumer is permitted to receive the good or service from the merchant prior to validating the account with the issuer. Transaction information for each transaction is stored during a predetermined aggregation criteria, such as time period, number of transactions, monetary volume, etc., into an aggregation set of said transactions. During the predetermined aggregation criteria, an evaluation is made, by communication with the corresponding issuer, whether the accounts in the aggregation set of transactions are valid.
US09311642B2	Apparatus and method for creating coupon for free gift An apparatus and method for creating coupons for free gift presentation is provided, which encrypts an instant coupon number capable of indicating whether the instant coupon number is a winning number while allowing a customer who receives a coupon to immediately check whether he or she has won a free gift using a smart phone or the like.
US09311641B2	System and method for transaction security enhancement The present disclosure involves a system that includes a computer memory storage component configured to store computer programming instructions and a computer processor component operatively coupled to the computer memory storage component. The computer processor component is configured to run a secure operating system and a non-secure operating system in parallel. The secure and non-secure operating systems are isolated from each other. The computer processor component is configured to execute code to perform the following operations: receiving an authentication request from an application that is run by the non-secure operating system, wherein the authentication request contains credentials of the application; communicating with a secure applet that is run by the secure operating system, and wherein the communicating includes transferring the credentials of the application to the secure applet; and authenticating and vetting the application based on the credentials of the application.
US09311640B2	Methods and arrangements for smartphone payments and transactions The disclosure relates to digital signal processing such as digital watermarking, and the utilization of portable devices (e.g., smartphones) for such signal processing. One claim recites a smartphone comprising: a touch screen display; memory for storing a payload and for storing a digital image depicting a virtual card; means for processing the payload with an erasure code generator, in which the erasure code generator produces a plurality of outputs corresponding to the payload; means for embedding a first of the plurality of outputs in a first version of the digital image and proceeding with embedding until each of the plurality of outputs are respectively embedded in one of a plurality of versions of the digital image; and means for displaying embedded versions of the digital image so that a receiver analyzing captured image data representing the touch screen display can recover the payload. Of course, other claims and combinations are disclosed too.
US09311636B2	Mobile payment method and mobile payment apparatus A mobile payment method to be implemented using an electronic device includes: receiving transaction information, establishing wireless short-range communication with a mobile device provided with a payment card, during the wireless short-range communication, transmitting the transaction information to the mobile device and receiving a payment command generated based on the transaction information from the mobile device, transmitting the payment command to a payment institution server, and receiving a payment result therefrom. The payment command enables the payment institution server to identify validity of the payment card and to process the payment. The payment result is generated after completing the payment.
US09311635B2	Wireless financial transaction systems and methods A system operates to carry out financial transfers in response to data read from data bearing records. A cell phone having a camera stores in memory indicia corresponding to account data from a plurality of magnetic stripe cards. A user can operate the phone to select one of the accounts stored in the memory. The memory further includes a scanned user-identifying written signature. The user can use the phone during an item purchase to wirelessly transmit each of an item's identifier captured by the camera, selected account data, and the user signature.
US09311633B2	Digital file processing for secondary sale In one embodiment, a method for transferring digital files is provided. The method includes: downloading an application for facilitating the transfer of used digital files; storing the application at the client; receiving an indication of a used digital file that a user desires to sell; searching, using the application, storage on the client to determine any instances of the digital file; deleting any instances of the digital file if they are determined; transferring a forwarded file of the used digital file to a second entity; and deleting, using the application, the used digital file from the client upon transfer of the forwarded file.
US09311631B2	System and method for smart deposit retrieval According to one embodiment, a system includes a processor and an interface. The interface receives, from a terminal, planned-deposit information. The terminal is at a location that is remote from a deposit location. The processor associates a deposit identifier with the planned-deposit information and stores the planned-deposit information and the deposit identifier in a memory.According to one embodiment, a method includes recognizing, at a deposit location, a deposit identifier. The method includes identifying, based on the deposit identifier and information stored in a memory, a planned deposit. The method includes detecting that the planned deposit has been delivered to a depository and determining, by a processor and based on one or more business rules, an availability of funds associated with the planned deposit.
US09311630B2	Secure payment service and system for interactive voice response (IVR) systems A secure payment method includes receiving, by a merchant, a purchase request from a purchaser in a transaction. The merchant requests a payment that is in a specified medium and that is uniquely identified by a unique identification. A merchant computer controlled by the merchant receives the payment that is in the specified medium and that is uniquely identified by the unique identification. The transaction is authorized by the merchant in response to receiving the payment that is in the specified medium and that is uniquely identified by the unique identification. The specified medium is issued by a private third party.
US09311625B2	System and method for supporting collaborative activity A system for supporting collaborative activity in a network includes a storage component storing data related to the network and a model of the network; a processor that accesses the stored data and the model to process the data according to the model, where the stored data relates to the collaborative activity including user-defined data created by interaction of a user and the model, and context data related to the user, where the user-defined data and the context data, as metadata, are stored in the storage component; and a user interface, provided by the processor, that presents the user-defined data, the context data, and the model in a form readable by the user, the interface permitting the user to define a set of arbitrary domains, relate the user-defined data to the domains, and view relationships between the user-defined data and the context data, and the domains.
US09311622B2	Resolving mutations in a partially-loaded spreadsheet model A method of resolving mutations in a partially-loaded spreadsheet model includes loading onto a client computer a first chunk of a spreadsheet stored on a server, where the first chunk represents a first range of cells in the spreadsheet, and requesting a second chunk of the spreadsheet from the server, where the second chunk represents a second range of cells in the spreadsheet. The method further includes storing a plurality of pending user mutations on the client computer generated by a user on the client computer, where the plurality of pending user mutations are applied to the first chunk, and receiving from the server a plurality of collaborator mutations and the second chunk. The method further includes transforming the plurality of pending user mutations against the plurality of collaborator mutations, and applying the transformed plurality of pending user mutations to the second chunk.
US09311618B2	Mixed content type presentation system A system and method are described for storing and transmitting a sequence of presentations for display on a viewer's computer. A viewer interface is configured to receive a request to access the presentation and to transmit a script to the viewer's computer responsive to receipt of the request. An output module is configured to establish a state where a current presentation in the sequence is presented. The output module presents the first item to the viewer's computer in response to the request to receive the current item. The viewer interface is further configured to present the second item to the viewer's computer. The first presentation item corresponds to a first content of a first content type and the second presentation item corresponds to a second content of a second content type, the first content type being different from the second content type.
US09311617B2	Processing event instance data in a client-server architecture A process analysis system processes event data describing real-world processes. The process analysis system performs the following acts: importing event instance data sets from an information management system, each set having one or more attributes describing an event instance in the real-world process; for each event instance, determining a corresponding process instance based on at least the attributes; determining event order attribute(s) for each imported event instance data set based on other event instance data sets corresponding to the same process instance; forming an analysis result set based on at least the event instance data sets and at least one first or second attribute; the client(s) presenting an analysis utilizing the analysis result set.
US09311616B2	System and method for determining equipment utilization changes based on ignition and motion status A method for measuring vehicle utilization includes determining, with an ignition sensor, an ignition status of a vehicle and determining, with a motion sensor, a motion status of the vehicle. The method further includes determining a utilization of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the ignition status and the motion status. Additionally, the method includes transmitting status information to a location remote from the vehicle. The status information indicates at least one of the ignition status, the motion status, and the utilization.
US09311610B2	Information management change deployment system A method for managing information relating to a change deployment in order to communicate some or all the information to a plurality of users includes providing an interface to users at workstations accessible by the users, receiving information comprising a plurality of messages from users communicating via the workstations during a change deployment session, initiating display of at least one of the messages to the users via the interface, initiating display of task data to the users via the interface, the task data corresponding to at least one task necessary for completing the change deployment, logging event data related to a plurality of events associated with the change deployment conference session, the event data comprising task status data indicating the status of the at least one task necessary for completing the change deployment, and initiating display of at least some of the event data to the users via the interface.
US09311604B2	Rejection notification to the UICC Registration rejections are reported to a universal integrated circuit card (UICC). Remote access can be provide to registration rejection data stored in the UICC, the registration rejection data can be transmitted to a service provider, one or more UICC applications can be executed based on the registration rejection data, and/or the registration rejection data can be logged or tracked. In addition, action taken by the UICC can be automated based on the registration rejection using artificial intelligence.
US09311602B2	Driving an interactive decision service from a forward-chaining rule engine Disclosed techniques include generating a plurality of questions, each question based upon one or more conditions of a plurality of conditions, wherein the plurality of conditions are generated a plurality of business rules associated with a forward changing rule engine; identifying, as a side effect of evaluating the plurality of business rules for outcome data, missing information corresponding to the plurality of questions; and selecting, for presentation to a user, a first question of the plurality of questions to elicit the missing information from the user.
US09311597B2	Early generation of individuals to accelerate genetic algorithms While at least one candidate solution of a first generation of candidate solutions remains to be evaluated in accordance with a fitness function for an optimization problem, a plurality of candidate solutions is selected from the first generation of candidate solutions to participate in a tournament. It is determined whether each of the plurality of candidate solutions selected to participate in the tournament have been evaluated in accordance with the fitness function. If all have been evaluated, then one or more winners of the tournament are selected from the plurality of candidate solutions of the first generation of candidate solutions. A candidate solution of a second generation of candidate solutions is created with the selected one or more winners of the tournament in accordance with a genetic operator.
US09311595B1	Neural network device with engineered delays for pattern storage and matching Described is a system for searching a continuous data stream for exact matches with a priori stored data sequences. The system includes a neural network with an input and an output layer. The input layer has one neuron for each possible character or number in the data stream, and the output layer has one neuron for each stored pattern. Importantly, the delays of the connections from input to output layer are engineered to match the temporal occurrence of an input character within a stored sequence. Thus, if an input sequence has the proper time gaps between characters, matching a stored pattern, then the delayed neural signals result in a simultaneous activation at the receiving neuron, which indicates a detected pattern. For storing a pattern, only one connection for each pair of input character and output neuron has to be specified resulting in sparse coding and quick storage.
US09311594B1	Spiking neuron network apparatus and methods for encoding of sensory data Sensory encoder may be implemented. Visual encoder apparatus may comprise spiking neuron network configured to receive photodetector input. Excitability of neurons may be adjusted and output spike may be generated based on the input. When neurons generate spiking response, spiking threshold may be dynamically adapted to produce desired output rate. The encoder may dynamically adapt its input range to match statistics of the input and to produce output spikes at an appropriate rate and/or latency. Adaptive input range adjustment and/or spiking threshold adjustment collaborate to enable recognition of features in sensory input of varying dynamic range.
US09311593B2	Apparatus and methods for polychronous encoding and multiplexing in neuronal prosthetic devices Apparatus and methods for encoding sensory input information into patterns of pulses and message multiplexing. In one implementation, the patterns of pulses are polychronous (time-locked by not necessary synchronous), and a retinal prosthetic encodes the input signal into the polychronous patterns for delivery via stimulating electrodes. Different polychronous patterns simultaneously encode different sensory signals; (such as different features of the image), thus providing for message multiplexing. Increasing data transmission capacity allows for a reduction in the number of electrodes required for data transmission. In one implementation, an adaptive feedback mechanism is employed to facilitate encoder operation. In another aspect, a computer vision system is described.
US09311592B1	Support and closure assembly for discharge port of a syringe and tracking system therefore A system for tracking identifying and detecting a tamper evident closure assembly for a pre-filled syringe, as well as multiple components associated therewith, along various points of a distribution route, including the location where the syringe is being accessed. A predetermined identifying code is applied to each or predetermined ones of a plurality of components of the same closure assembly in the form of electronically, visually or optically readable coded indicia. Alternatively, the predetermined identifying code can be one or more RFID structures each disposed on a predetermined one of the multiple components. The predetermined identifying code enables one to determine the identity and distinguish each of a plurality of closure assemblies and their multiple components from one another. The occurrence of tampering with a closure assembly can be accomplished by reading, detecting and/or comparing the predetermined identifying code on any of the multiple components of a closure assembly.
US09311590B2	RF tag, magnetic antenna, board mounted with the RF tag, and communication system The present invention relates to a magnetic antenna for information communication using a magnetic field component which is a magnetic antenna or an RF tag capable of satisfying both reduction in size and improvement in communication sensitivity. More specifically, the present invention relates to an RF tag comprising a magnetic antenna for transmitting and receiving information using an electromagnetic induction method, and an IC mounted to the magnetic antenna, said magnetic antenna comprising a magnetic core and a plurality of coils formed on the magnetic core in which the coils each have an inductance L1 satisfying the specific relational formula, and are formed with bank winding when the coils are lap-wound so as to prevent increase in parasitic capacitance thereof, connected in parallel to each other in an electric circuit, and disposed in series on the magnetic core; and a combined inductance L0 of the magnetic antenna satisfies the specific relational formula.
US09311589B2	Bottle container having an anti-counterfeiting radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag An anti-counterfeiting RFID tag structure includes a body and a RFID device disposed on the body. The body is an O-ring. The RFID device includes a RFID chip circuit and an antenna structure. The anti-counterfeiting RFID tag structure is disposed fully between the cap and the opening of the bottle container whenever the bottle container is sealed. A user reads anti-counterfeiting ID code and product curriculum vitae data stored in the RFID device, using a stationary or handheld RFID reader, so as to effectuate identification and anti-counterfeiting.
US09311587B2	RFID device being operable in a first and second operating state An RFID device (100) being operable in a first and a second operating state, the RFID device comprises a control unit (102), wherein the control unit comprises a configuration input terminal for receiving a configuration signal, and a processing unit (101), which is coupled to the control unit, wherein the control unit is adapted for switching the processing unit between the first and the second operating state based on the configuration signal, wherein the control unit (102) comprises an activation input terminal for receiving an activation signal.
US09311580B2	Printing apparatus, method for controlling a printing apparatus, and storage medium for performing reading at a reading position, generating image data and printing an image based on the image data Depending on a sheet used in printing, in some cases, a user desires to perform printing without an effect of an abnormal pixel, and in other cases, the user desires prompt execution of the reading of a document. Therefore, a method includes determining whether image data includes an abnormal pixel, the image data being generated by a reading unit performing reading with no document placed at a reading position, and performing control so that the determining is performed in a case where a sheet on which an image is to be printed by a printing unit is a sheet that is to be subjected to the determining, and performing control so that the determining is not performed in a case where the sheet on which the image is to be printed by the printing unit is a sheet that is not to be subjected to the determining.
US09311570B2	Method of, and apparatus for, segmentation of structures in medical images An apparatus for segmentation of medical image data comprises a data processing unit for obtaining a first set of image data and a second set of image data, wherein a structure is represented in both the first set of image data and the second set of image data, a classification unit configured to determine a classification of a first type of feature from the first set of image data and to determine a classification of a second type of feature from the second set of image data, and a segmentation unit configured to identify image data representing the structure in dependence on both the classification of the first type of feature from the first set of image data and the classification of the second type of feature from the second set of image data.
US09311566B2	Method and system for direct strain imaging A method and system for measuring and determining the full-field spatial distributions of strain tensor field components in a two or three-dimensional space, as a consequence of deformation under generalized loading conditions. One or more digital cameras may be used to acquire successive images of a deforming body with optically distinctive features on its surface. A method for determining the location of characteristic points of the surface features and another one for tracking these points as deformation occurs. Elongations between neighboring points on the vicinity of a location of interest are computed. The elongation between points is calculated even though discontinuities may exist between them. Strain tensor fields are directly calculated as a tensor approximation from these elongations without determining or using the displacement vector distributions.
US09311559B2	Device for the hardware detection of local extremes in an image A device and method for the hardware detection of local edges in an image, comprised of a plurality of elemental cells for mixed signal processing, locally interconnected with each other, comprising in each cell a first switch configured to enable the pre-charging of a condenser at the supply voltage; and where once said condenser is pre-charged, it discharges via a second switch connected to a power source which varies in a monotonically increasing manner with the analog voltage representing the value of the pixel concerned; and where the value of the pixel is compared asynchronously with the neighboring pixels of the neighboring cells via two inverters, a digital NOR gate, a digital NAND gate, a third and fourth switch and a memory feature to store the result.
US09311558B2	Pattern recognition system A method for identifying a pattern in an image. In a first step the image is normalized to a binary matrix. A binary vector is subsequently generated from the binary matrix. The binary vector is filtered with a sparse matrix to a feature vector using a matrix vector multiplication wherein the matrix vector multiplication determines the values of the feature vector by applying program steps which are the result of transforming the sparse matrix in program steps including conditions on the values of the binary vector. Lastly, from the feature vector, a density of probability for a predetermined list of models is generated to identify the pattern in the image.
US09311557B2	Motion image region identification device and method thereof A rectangular moving image region is determined using a simple configuration. When the difference between the representative value of a unit block and the representative value of the same unit block in a comparative frame exceeds a threshold, moving unit block judgment means 5 judges that the unit block is a moving unit block. Moving column block determination means 7 defines a set of unit blocks included in a column including a certain unit block as a column block and, if a column block includes a moving unit block, determines the column block as a moving column block. When a row block includes a moving unit block, moving row block determination means 9 determines the row block as a moving column block. First rectangular moving image region determination means 11 determines, as a rectangular moving image region, a rectangular region specified by unit blocks included in both the moving row block and the moving column block.
US09311556B2	Image analysis for making animal measurements including 3-D image analysis A computer-implemented image analysis process including accessing image data and range data representing an image of an animal, measuring an object volume from the range data and estimating the animal's weight using the dimensions representing the animal's size. A database containing relative volume and weight information can then be used to accurately predict the animal's weight from calculating its volume.
US09311555B2	Architecture and method for real-time parallel detection and extraction of maximally stable extremal regions (MSERS) Architecture for real-time extraction of maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs) is disclosed. The architecture includes a communication interface and processing circuitry that are configured in hardware to receive a data stream of an intensity image in real-time and provide labels for light image regions and dark image regions within the intensity image that match a given intensity threshold during a single processing pass. The communication interface and processing circuitry are also configured in hardware to find extremal regions within the intensity image based upon the labels and to determine MSER ellipses parameters based upon the extremal regions and MSER criteria. In at least one embodiment, the MSER criteria include minimum and maximum MSER areas, and an acceptable growth rate value for MSER areas. In another embodiment, the MSER criteria include a nested MSER tolerance value.
US09311554B2	Image capture and identification system and process A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object.
US09311553B2	Image capture and identification system and process A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object.
US09311546B2	Biometric identity verification for access control using a trained statistical classifier A method and apparatus for providing biometric authentication of a user uses a registration process in which a reference data sample representative of a biometric attribute of a reference user is used to train a statistical classifier such as a neural network to achieve a target output. The set of parameters of the statistical classifier, e.g. the weights that achieve this in the neural network, are stored on a user's device as a first data set. For subsequent authentication of a user to be tested at an access point, the first data set is retrieved from the user device and a second data set representative of the biometric attribute of the test user is generated directly from the test user. The first data set is used as a set of parameters in a statistical classifier, e.g. as weights in an artificial neural network, to generate a trained classifier or neural network and the second data set is then used as input to the trained classifier or neural network. The output of the trained classifier or neural network is then used to determine a degree of correlation between the biometric attribute of the reference user and the biometric attribute of the test user to be authenticated.
US09311543B2	System and method for recognizing speed limit sign using front camera Disclosed herein are a speed limit sign recognition system and method using a front camera which can track a traffic sign continuously appearing in images which are obtained by a photographing speed limit sign located in front of a driver using a camera mounted on the front of the vehicle, recognize an internal numeral of the traffic sign, and inform the driver of an actual limit speed through the recognized numeral, including: an image acquisition unit for acquiring a front image using a front camera; a traffic sign detector for detecting a traffic sign from the acquired front image; a recognition unit for recognizing an internal numeral in the detected traffic sign; a tracking unit for tracking a traffic sign continuously appearing in the front image, and eliminating a temporarily misrecognized object; and a decision unit for determining a result of speed limit recognition on the recognized traffic sign.
US09311542B2	Method and apparatus for detecting continuous road partition A method and an apparatus for detecting a continuous road partition with a height that includes obtaining disparity maps having the continuous road partition, and U-disparity maps corresponding to the disparity maps; obtaining an intermediate detection result of the continuous road partition detected from the U-disparity maps of first N frames; and detecting the continuous road partition from the U-disparity map of a current frame, based on the obtained intermediate detection result.
US09311540B2	System and method for predicting patient falls A patient fall prediction system receives video image frames from a surveillance camera positioned in a patient's room and analyzes the video image frames for movement that may be a precursor to a patient fall. In set up phase, the viewpoint of the camera is directed at a risk area associated with patient falls, beds, chairs, wheelchairs, etc. A risk area is defined graphically in the viewport. The patient fall prediction system generates a plurality of concurrent motion detection zones that are situated proximate to the graphic markings of the risk areas. These motion detection zones are monitored for changes between video image frames that indicate a movement. The pattern of detections is recorded and compared to a fall movement detection signature. One fall movement detection signature is a sequential detection order from the motion detection zone closest to the risk area in the frames associated with patient falls, to the motion detection zone farthest away from the risk area. The patient fall prediction system continually monitors the motion detection zones for changes between image frames and compiles detections lists that are compared to known movement detection signatures, such as a fall movement detection signature. Once a match is identified, the patient fall prediction system issues a fall warning to a healthcare provider.
US09311538B2	Method and apparatus for semi-automatic finger extraction An image processing device includes: an inputting unit for performing a click on an object image contained in an image to obtain a clicked point; a calculating unit for calculating an edge map of the image; an estimating unit for estimating a color model of the object image based on the clicked point and the edge map; an object classifying unit for classifying each pixel in the image, based on the edge map and the color model, so as to obtain a binary image of the image; and a detecting unit for detecting a region containing the object image based on the binary image. The image processing device and method according to the present disclosure can improve the accuracy of detecting the boundary of an object image such as a finger image, thus facilitating removal of the object image from the image and making the processed image more nice-looking.
US09311533B2	Device and method for detecting the presence of a logo in a picture A method for detecting the presence of a logo in a current picture of a video is disclosed. The method comprises: determining a current candidate logo bounding box in the current picture and a preceding candidate logo bounding box in a picture preceding the current picture; detecting the presence of a logo in the current picture if at least one of the following conditions is fulfilled: the distance between the centers of the current and the preceding candidate logo bounding boxes is below a first threshold or an overlap between the current and the preceding candidate logo bounding boxes is above a second threshold; or an overlap between the current candidate logo bounding box and a saliency mask of the current picture is above a third, wherein the saliency mask identifies regions around saliency peaks.
US09311527B1	Real time eye tracking for human computer interaction A gaze direction determining system and method is provided. A two-camera system may detect the face from a fixed, wide-angle camera, estimates a rough location for the eye region using an eye detector based on topographic features, and directs another active pan-tilt-zoom camera to focus in on this eye region. A eye gaze estimation approach employs point-of-regard (PoG) tracking on a large viewing screen. To allow for greater head pose freedom, a calibration approach is provided to find the 3D eyeball location, eyeball radius, and fovea position. Both the iris center and iris contour points are mapped to the eyeball sphere (creating a 3D iris disk) to get the optical axis; then the fovea rotated accordingly and the final, visual axis gaze direction computed.
US09311526B2	Image processing system and method of improving human face recognition An image processing method includes following steps: capturing an image including a human face; executing a face detection in a predetermined area of the image; adjusting an exposure value of the predetermined area to an expected value when the face detection does not recognize the human face; executing the face detection and analyzing an image information in a face area of the image when the exposure value of the predetermined area reaches the expected value; and selecting a model parameter and an image adjusting parameter correspondingly according to the image information, processing the face area of the image, and outputting a processed image to a human face recognition system.
US09311516B2	Computer configured to display multimedia content A computer can comprise a housing, a microprocessor disposed within the housing, a display, and a communication interface communicatively coupled to the microprocessor. The computer can be configured, responsive to locating decodable indicia within content viewable on the display, to decode the decodable indicia to produce at least one decoded message. The computer can be further configured to display the content with decoded message data being embedded into the content. The decoded message data can be provided by at least one decoded message, data derived from the decoded message.
US09311513B2	Metal tooth detection and locating Methods and systems for tracking heavy machine teeth. One system includes a heavy machine tooth configured to be mounted on a bucket of a heavy machine, an active RFID tag coupled to the heavy machine tooth to move with the tooth, and an RFID reader configured to read data from the RFID tag, The RFID reader is further configured to provide an indication regarding the location of the tooth when the tooth separates from the bucket based on the data read from the RFID tag and provide diagnostic information regarding the heavy machine tooth based on the data read from the RFID tag.
US09311511B2	Electronic device of board protection mechanism An electronic device of a board protection mechanism includes: a substrate, a first shell, a first protection area, a second shell, a second protection area, and an adhesive piece, where the first protection area is located between a first surface of the substrate and the first shell and uses a structure between an operation board and the substrate for protection, the second shell is located at a second surface of the substrate and includes a groove and a feed inlet that are connected; the second protection area is located at the groove of the second shell and includes a wire mesh, surrounding the electronic element area and is electrically connected to the substrate; and the adhesive piece is filled into the feed inlet to cover the groove and fixed to the first shell, the second shell, the wire mesh, and the electronic element area.
US09311508B2	Processors, methods, systems, and instructions to change addresses of pages of secure enclaves A processor of an aspect includes a decode unit to decode a user-level instruction. The user-level instruction is to indicate a page of a secure enclave and is to indicate a linear address. An execution logic is coupled with the decode unit. The execution logic is operable, in response to the user-level instruction, to change an initial linear address of the page of the secure enclave. The initial linear address is to be stored in an enclave page storage metadata unit. The initial linear address is to be changed by the execution logic to the linear address that is to be indicated by the user-level instruction. The change to the linear address is performed without contents of the page of the secure enclave being lost.
US09311506B1	Storing and transmitting sensitive data A method for storing and transmitting data across a computer network to one or more destinations is disclosed including storing source data on a secure data storage of a secondary device connected to a computing device. The computing device is configured to operate via an operating system and the secure data storage is adapted to receive input unilaterally from the computing device and store it as source data. Receiving one or more of routing, scheduling, and prioritization information for one or more destinations including other network-connected storage mediums or network-connected computing or peripheral devices, and transferring the source data from the secure data storage to the one or more destinations through a communications interface component connected to the computer network are also performed. The transferring is implemented via the secondary device while bypassing the central processor and in accordance with the one or more of routing, scheduling, and prioritization information.
US09311502B2	Method and system for assigning access control levels in providing access to networked content files A method and system for assigning access control levels when granting access to resources includes a client node, a collection agent, and a policy engine. The client node requests access to a resource. The collection agent gathers information about the client node. The policy engine receives the gathered information and assigns one of a plurality of levels of access responsive to application of a policy to the received information and transmits the information.
US09311501B2	Using different secure erase algorithms to erase chunks from a file associated with different security levels Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using different secure erase algorithms to erase chunks from a file associated with different security levels. A request is received to secure erase a file having a plurality of chunks stored in at least one storage device. A determination is made of a first secure erase algorithm to apply to a first chunk in the file in response to the request and of a second secure erase algorithm to apply to a second chunk in the file in response to the request. The first secure erase algorithm is applied to erase the first chunk and the second secure erase algorithm is applied to erase the second chunk. The first and second secure erase algorithms use different processes to erase the chunks to which they are applied.
US09311498B2	Emergency information access on portable electronic devices Improved techniques for facilitating emergency access to one or more contacts stored on a portable electronic device are disclosed. One or more contacts on the portable electronic device are designated as emergency contacts. While the portable electronic device is password-locked, a request to display the one or more emergency contacts on the password-locked portable electronic device is received. Without requiring a password, the one or more emergency contacts are displayed on the portable electronic device.
US09311497B2	Computer-readable storage medium having stored information processing program therein, information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing system An information processing apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium having stored an information processing program therein, an information processing method, and an information processing system, which can share, with another apparatus, information regarding data which should not be provided to a user, are provided. The number of times of reporting of data including a contents, which should not be provided to the user, from each game apparatus included in a system, is counted on the basis of information assigned to the data. When the counted value becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, the information is added and registered to identification information. The identification information is transmitted from a server of the system to each information processing apparatus, and used in each information processing apparatus.
US09311496B1	Privacy screen-based security A system for privacy screen-based security comprises an input interface and a processor. The input interface is configured to receive authentication information. The processor is configured to, in the event authentication is determined to be successful, provide a privacy access screen, wherein the privacy access screen provides access to a set of applications or data, and determine whether to transition to a new privacy screen.
US09311494B2	Secure search method and secure search device In search that uses searchable code, the search query and the secure index is collated in round-robins fashion, registering the required secure index and a characteristic quantity of deposited data in a database server to realize the searchable code. The server uses the characteristic quantity to perform clustering on the secure index. For search, collation is first performed only for representative data of a cluster. For a hit, the collation priority is raised for all the data included in the cluster. When there is no hit, the priority is lowered. After calculating the priority, collation is performed sequentially for all the data on the basis of the priority.
US09311490B2	Delivery of contextual data to a computing device while preserving data privacy A method, device, system, or article of manufacture is provided for improved delivery of contextual data to a computing device while preserving data privacy. In one embodiment, a method comprises sending, from a first computing device, to a second computing device, first communication data; receiving, at the first computing device, from the second computing device, second communication data; in response to determining that a data privacy attribute of the second computing device is the same as a predetermined data privacy attribute, determining to protect the second communication data, including: converting the first communication data to a first set of text; converting the second communication data to a second set of text; and applying a privacy filter to the first set of text to generate a first set of filtered text, wherein the privacy filter removes any text that is associated with the second set of text; determining a first keyword from the first set of filtered text; sending, from the first computing device, to a computer, the first keyword; and receiving, at the first computing device, from the computer, contextual data associated with the first keyword.
US09311489B2	Application forensics Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and software for facilitating application forensics. In least one implementation, the identity of a user associated with an attempt to access an application program that resides in a development environment is determined. Information is generated with which to encode the identity of the user in a various views of the application program rendered in a runtime environment. A reply to the attempt is communicated that includes the information and at least a portion of the application program.
US09311483B2	Local secure service partitions for operating system security Systems and methods provide multiple partitions hosted on an isolation technology such as a hypervisor where at least one of the partitions, a local secure service partition (LSSP), provides security services to other partitions. The service partitions (LSSPs) host those high assurance services that require strict security isolation, where the service can be shared across partitions and accessed even when the user is not connected to a network. The LSSP also can certify the results of any computation using a key signed by a TPM attestation identity key (AIK), or other key held securely by the hypervisor or a service partition. The LSSPs may be configured to provide trusted audit logs, trusted security scans, trusted cryptographic services, trusted compilation and testing, trusted logon services, and the like.
US09311481B1	Systems and methods for classifying package files as trojans A computer-implemented method for classifying package files as Trojans may include (1) detecting a resemblance between an unclassified package file and a known legitimate package file, (2) determining that the unclassified package file is signed by a different signatory than a signatory that signed the known legitimate package file, (3) determining that a feature of the unclassified package file is suspicious, the feature being absent from the known legitimate package file, and (4) classifying the unclassified package file as a Trojan version of the known legitimate package file based on the unclassified package file being signed by the different signatory and having the suspicious feature. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09311478B2	Behavioral tracking system, method, and computer program product for undoing events based on user input A behavioral tracking system, method, and computer program product are provided for undoing events based on user input. In use, a plurality of unclassified events is identified on a system utilizing behavioral tracking. Additionally, input associated with at least one of the unclassified events is received from a user of the system for classifying the at least one of the unclassified events as an unwanted event. Further, the at least one unwanted event is undone in response to the receipt of the input.
US09311474B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, storage medium, and information processing system Provided is an information processing apparatus configured to execute at least one function, including: a storage configured to store a first code; an authentication unit configured to obtain a second code from an external storage medium, and to verify the second code against the first code to thereby authenticate the second code; an execution allowing unit configured, when the authentication unit succeeds in authentication, to allow execution of a predetermined function out of the at least one function; and an update unit configured, when the authentication unit succeeds in authentication, to update the first code stored in the storage with another first code, and to update the second code stored in the external storage medium with another second code such that the authentication unit will succeed in authentication based on the updated first code.
US09311472B2	Methods and apparatus for authenticating user login Example methods and apparatus for authenticating a user login are disclosed herein. An example method includes displaying an image and dynamically presenting symbols adjacent the image. The example method includes receiving a code, the code formed by an arrangement of one or more of the symbols on the image. The example method includes authenticating a user based on the code.
US09311471B2	Sharing USB key by multiple virtual machines located at different hosts A system for sharing a USB Key by multiple virtual machines located at different hosts including at least two virtual machine managers, each virtual machine manager including a virtual machine transceiver module which is configured to receive a request for accessing a USB Key from a virtual machine within its host; a storage module which is configured to store an association relationship between a USB Key and the virtual machine authenticated by the USB Key; a verification module which is configured to, in response to judging that the virtual machine of the received request can access the USB Key, transmit the request for accessing the USB Key to a USB Key transceiver module of a virtual machine manager of the host where the USB Key is located; and a USB Key transceiver module which is configured to receive a request for accessing a USB Key, and to transmit an access request to a connected USB Key.
US09311467B2	Composite propensity profile detector Detecting propensity profile for a person may comprise receiving artifacts associated with the person; detecting profile characteristics for the person based on the artifacts; receiving a plurality of predefined profiles comprising a plurality of characteristics and relationships between the characteristics over time, each of the plurality of predefined profiles specifying an indication of propensity; matching the profile characteristics for the person with one or more of the plurality of predefined profiles; and outputting one or more propensity indicators based on the matching, the propensity indicators comprising at least an expressed strength of a given propensity in the person at a given time.
US09311466B2	User authentication for social networks Systems and methods are provided for social networks that can verify that enrolled users are not misrepresenting facts about themselves such as age and gender. Verification can be performed, for example, by reference to biometric templates stored during the user enrollment process. The biometric templates can also be used to authenticate users logging into the social network to prevent user impersonation. The ability of some users to communicate to other users of the social network can be limited to only certified users, and even to those certified users that match a criterion, such as gender or age.
US09311465B2	Secure information storage and retrieval apparatus and method A user using a client computer registers with a server computer over a computer network by submitting a biometric scan of a body part of the user. The user commands the client computer to encrypt an electronic file. The client computer generates a private key, encrypts the electronic file and transmits the key to the server computer. The client computer saves the encrypted file. The encrypted file and the key are saved at different physical locations. The owner of the file is able to grant permission to other registered users to unlock the encrypted file.
US09311454B2	Trial use of a collection of media files Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for sharing media files. One embodiment of the system, among others, can be implemented as follows. The system includes a file sharing application configured to initiate a communication session with a file server, where the file server that manages download requests for a collection of media files, where the collection of media files are subject to a trial period. The system further includes media file selection logic configured to prompt a user to select a subset of media files from the collection of media files that was downloaded from the file server after the trial period is detected to have expired. In accordance with this embodiment, the user selects a subset of media files that the user would like to keep for continued use and the remaining media files not selected by the user are then configured to be inaccessible by the user after the trial period has expired. Other systems and methods are also provided.
US09311444B1	Integrated circuit test-port architecture and method and apparatus of test-port generation A method and apparatus are provided for generating RTL code for a test-port interface of an integrated circuit. In an embodiment, a test-port table is provided as input data. A computer automatically parses the test-port table into data structures and analyzes it to determine input, output, local, and output-enable port names. The computer generates address-detect and test-enable logic constructed from combinational functions. The computer generates one-hot multiplexer logic for at least some of the output ports. The one-hot multiplexer logic for each port is generated so as to enable the port to toggle between data signals and test signals. The computer then completes the generation of the RTL code.
US09311439B2	Methods of patterning wafers using self-aligned double patterning processes Provided are methods of forming patterns of wafers using self-aligned double patterning processes. The methods include preparing an initial layout having a first design pattern, a second design pattern, and a third design pattern disposed between the first design pattern and the second design pattern, extracting a first sub-layout including the first design pattern and a second sub-layout including the second design pattern from the initial layout using a computer, forming a first modified sub-layout including a first modified design pattern obtained by modifying the first design pattern of the first sub-layout using the computer, generating a modified layout including the first modified sub-layout and the second sub-layout using the computer, and performing a double patterning process using the modified layout.
US09311437B2	Modeling a bus for a system design incorporating one or more programmable processors Systems and methods for modeling a bus for a system design are provided. In an embodiment, the method operates by accepting a virtual bus model, wherein the model simulates behavior for a bus master and slave device, such that the model accurately simulates the timing and behavior of the transfer of data from master to slave, and, from slave to master devices. The method routes a transaction issued by the master device to the slave device. The transaction has storage for transaction data, or a pointer to transaction data, to be transferred through the transaction. The transaction data is transferred in one or more data payloads and the sender of data sets the length of data payloads to be returned. The data payloads are sent from the sender of data to the receiver of data and may contain one or more bus data beats. This method accurately models the bus timing and behavior of the delivery of one or more data beats as one data payload.
US09311434B1	Ladder logic modeling and simulation A computing device may create a time based block diagram. The time based block diagram may comprise a ladder logic diagram and at least one block. The at least one block may correspond to at least one of a differential equation system or a difference equation system. The computing device may also execute the time based block diagram to simulate behavior of a dynamic system, device, or process. Executing the time based block diagram may include executing the ladder logic diagram and the at least one block. The computing device may further output results of the simulation of the behavior of the system, device, or process based on executing the time based block diagram.
US09311432B1	Automated design and manufacturing of complex layouts The present inventors devised, among other things, systems, methods, and software that radically simplify and reduce the time necessary to specify, design, manufacture, and document control panels and wiring harnesses for semi-custom and custom equipment, such as HV AC equipment. A computer storage medium includes data relating to a plurality of control panel enclosures and a set of rules for designing a control panel. The system receives a selection of two or more components for placement in the control panel, retrieves information about the two or more components from a database, and generates one or more layouts. The one or more layouts comprise placement of the two or more components within at least one of the plurality of control panel enclosures as a function of the set of rules for designing a control panel. The control panel enclosures are dynamically selected as a function of the two or more components. The exemplary system dramatically reduces the product specification and engineering time required for any custom control panel and makes it possible for OEMs to efficiently offering more options and shorter turn-around times to its customers.
US09311430B2	Log-linear dialog manager that determines expected rewards and uses hidden states and actions A dialog manager receives previous user actions and previous observations and current observations. Previous and current user states, previous user actions, current user actions, future system actions, and future observations are hypothesized. The user states, the user actions, and the user observations are hidden. A feature vector is extracted based on the user states, the system actions, the user actions, and the observations. An expected reward of each current action is based on a log-linear model using the feature vectors. Then, the current action that has an optimal expected reward is outputted.
US09311428B2	Restoration apparatus A restoration apparatus restores backup data without running an operating system (OS) until a time point until which the total amount of the data read out along with the start-up of the OS and a business system remains equal to or smaller than the total amount of the data that is restorable while running the OS and the business system, and subsequently restores the backup data in parallel with the start-up of the OS and the business system.
US09311427B2	Automated generation of mobile optimized website based on an existing conventional web page description Methods and apparatuses for automatically generating a mobile-optimized website from an existing website are disclosed.
US09311426B2	Orientation-dependent processing of input files by an electronic device An electronic device may have a display screen usable in at least two orientations, such as landscape orientation and portrait orientation. Provided in this disclosure is selective rendering of a structured document according to the orientation of the display screen. A structured document such as as webpage is rendered (as a first rendered document) for display according to the document object model structure and optionally styles provided with the webpage. The same webpage is rendered (as a second rendered document) by removing or replacing selected objets in the document object model structure, or by applying different style directives than included in the originally received webpage. When the display screen is in a first orientation, the first rendered document is displayed. When a change in orientation of the display screen to the second orientation is detected, the second rendered document is displayed.
US09311424B2	HTTP request pipeline optimization A computing device comprising a transmitter/receiver adapted to communicate with a network and an application adapted to send a plurality of object requests through the transmitter/receiver, wherein, the plurality of object requests are placed in an order dependent upon at least one of an object size and an object type.
US09311422B2	Dynamic simulation of a responsive web page Techniques are disclosed for dynamically simulating a web page as it would appear on various different types of media devices. A user request is received, through a user interface, to render a structured document in a web browser. The web browser can execute on a first type of device to render the structured document in a layout specific to a second type of media device having a different display requirement than the first type of media device. The second type of media device can be selected from a list of predefined types of media devices. A set of presentation semantics is associated with the structured document. A media-dependent style rule encoded in the set of presentation semantics is identified. If the display requirement of the second type of media device satisfies the rule, the structured document is laid out in accordance with a style property associated with the satisfied rule.
US09311410B2	Subject matter context search engine A search system associates contextual metadata with search terms and/or stored terms to facilitate identification of relevant information. In one implementation, a search term is identified (4304) from a received search request. The search term is then rewritten (4306) in standard form and the standard form term is then set (4308) as the current search parameter. A source database is then searched (4310) using the current search parameter. If any results are obtained (4312) these results may be output (4320) to the user. If no results are obtained, a parent classification of the search term is set (4316) as the current search parameter and the process is repeated. The invention thereby provides the ease of use of term searching with the comprehensiveness of category searching.
US09311407B2	Native application search results Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining that a first web resource responsive to a query includes content for which synchronized content is accessible by a native application installed on a user device, and in response to this determination generating a native application search result that includes native application request data that causes the native application installed on the user device to request the synchronized content and providing web resource search results and the native application search result to the user device, each respective web search result referencing a respective one of the web resources.
US09311396B2	Method of providing street view data of a real estate property Video drive-by data provides a street level view of a neighborhood surrounding a selected geographic location. A video and data server farm incorporates a video storage server that stores video image files containing video drive-by data corresponding to a geographic location, a database server that processes a data query received from a user over the Internet corresponding to a geographic location of interest, and an image processing server. In operation, the database server identifies video image files stored in the video storage server that correspond to the geographic location of interest contained in the data query and transfers the video image files over a pre-processing network to the image processing server. The image processing server converts the video drive-by data to post-processed video data corresponding to a desired image format and transfers the post-processed video data via a post-processing network to the Internet in response to the query.
US09311395B2	Systems and methods for manipulating electronic content based on speech recognition Systems and methods are disclosed for displaying electronic multimedia content to a user. One computer-implemented method for manipulating electronic multimedia content includes generating, using a processor, a speech model and at least one speaker model of an individual speaker. The method further includes receiving electronic media content over a network; extracting an audio track from the electronic media content; and detecting speech segments within the electronic media content based on the speech model. The method further includes detecting a speaker segment within the electronic media content and calculating a probability of the detected speaker segment involving the individual speaker based on the at least one speaker model.
US09311390B2	System and method for handling the confounding effect of document length on vector-based similarity scores A computer-implemented method, system, and computer program product for generating vector-based similarity scores in text document comparisons considering confounding effects of document length. Vector-based methods for comparing the semantic similarity between texts (such as Content Vector Analysis and Random Indexing) have a characteristic which may reduce their usefulness for some applications: the similarity estimates they produce are strongly correlated with the lengths of the texts compared. The statistical basis for this confound is described, and suggests the application of a pivoted normalization method from information retrieval to correct for the effect of document length. In two text categorization experiments, Random Indexing similarity scores using pivoted normalization are shown to perform significantly better than standard vector-based similarity estimation methods.
US09311389B2	Finding indexed documents Finding indexed documents is described herein, including: extracting a character string from the search query and segmenting the character string into a plurality of search terms, wherein each search term comprises one or more search words; retrieving indexed document sets corresponding to search words included in the plurality of search terms; processing the retrieved indexed document sets associated with a first search term of the plurality of search terms based at least in part on a selection operation, wherein processing results of the retrieved indexed document sets associated with the first search term comprise search results for the first search term; performing set intersection operations on search results corresponding to the plurality of search terms to generate a results document set; and determining and returning a first subset of indexed documents of the results document set that each includes each of the plurality of search terms.
US09311388B2	Semantic and contextual searching of knowledge repositories A method for semantic and contextual searching over a knowledge repository. The method includes creating a search query for each concept related to the target concept to form a search context, wherein the search query for each related concept comprises at least one word derived from a record of that concept previously authored in the project, running the search query on a search index of a knowledge repository to identify a record of the related concept for which the search query is created, and fetching the record of the target concept from the repository as a search result such that the fetched record of the target concept is linked in the knowledge repository to a record of the related concept returned as a result of running the search query on at least one record of the at least one related concept.
US09311386B1	Categorizing network resources and extracting user interests from network activity A method for network resource classification and identifying user interests based on the classification. The method uses a provided hierarchy of categories for classifying network resources, wherein each category is assigned a text item describing the category and the method includes obtaining resource description data collections corresponding to the network resources, and generating, using a semantic correlation algorithm, a category score vector of a network resource by comparing the resource description data collection to the text item assigned to each category in the hierarchy of categories, wherein the category score vector comprises a category score for each category in the hierarchy of categories, wherein the category score is determined based on at least a semantic correlation measure between the resource description data collection and the text item assigned to a corresponding category, wherein the plurality of network resources are classified based at least on the category score.
US09311385B2	Indicating level of confidence in digital content Rating content of a digital file includes analyzing, by a computer, data associated with content of the digital file based on predetermined criteria defining a confidence level in the content of the digital file. Each predetermined criterion includes a range of values and at least one threshold delineating a lower confidence level and a higher confidence level. Different confidence ratings are assigned to different segments of the content based on determining that the different segments correspond to different thresholds of the predetermined criteria. The computer associates the different confidence ratings to the different segments.
US09311384B1	Providing recommendations A server system, which manages distribution or download of content, may obtain data relating to interactions between a user and one or more other server systems providing services that are different from services provided by the server system. The server system may then analyze the obtained interactions related data, with the analysis comprising identifying content accessed, obtained, or used by the user during the interactions between the user and the one or more other server systems. The server system may then map that content to one or more other contents available in the server system, and may generate, based on that mapping, recommendation information personalized for the user.
US09311383B1	Optimal solution identification system and method A method, computer program product, and computer system for receiving, at a computing device, data from at least one user, wherein at least a portion of the data is associated with the plurality of attribute variants. A variant relationship between one or more pairs of attribute variants of the plurality of attribute variants is determined based upon, at least in part, at least the portion of the data. The distance between the one or more pairs of objects is adjusted based upon, at least in part, the variant relationship between the one or more pairs of attribute variants of the plurality of attribute variants.
US09311381B2	Lifecycle reference partitioning for database objects In one general aspect, a computer-implemented system for reference partitioning database objects by lifecycle state includes at least one hardware processor, at least one database environment, the database environment supporting triggers and partitioning, at least one application program, and memory storing a lifecycle metadata framework. The lifecycle metadata framework identifies classes in a ragged hierarchy of database objects, identifies at least one class as a root of the hierarchy, identifies, for each non-root class, a lifecycle inheritance function for the class, and identifies, for each parent class-child class pair in the hierarchy, a relation-join query, the relation-join query being a join between tables in the database environment onto which the parent class and child class are persisted. The memory also stores triggers that use the framework to maintain lifecycle states for non-root database objects.
US09311376B2	Performance service level agreements in multi-tenant database systems Various technologies described herein pertain to evaluating service provider compliance with terms of a performance service level agreement (SLA) for a tenant in a multi-tenant database system. The terms of the performance SLA can set a performance criterion as though a level of a resource of hardware of the multi-tenant database system is dedicated to the tenant. An actual performance metric of the resource can be tracked for a workload of the tenant. Further, a baseline performance metric of the resource can be determined for the workload of the tenant. The baseline performance metric can be based on a simulation as though the level of the resource as set in the performance SLA is dedicated to the workload of the tenant. Moreover, the actual performance metric can be compared with the baseline performance metric to evaluate compliance with the performance SLA.
US09311375B1	Systems and methods for compacting a virtual machine file Systems and methods for compacting a virtual machine file are presented. In one example, the system accesses a source virtual machine file associated with a guest file system. The system creates a destination virtual machine file based on the guest file system and initializes a block allocation table of the destination virtual machine file. The system accesses a block allocation table of the source virtual machine file and, for each block of the source virtual machine file, determines whether the block is in use. If so, the system copies the block to the destination virtual machine file and updates the block allocation table of the destination virtual machine file. If not, the system does not copy the block or update the block allocation table of the destination virtual machine file, thereby reducing the destination virtual machine file's size compared to the source virtual machine file's size.
US09311373B2	Taxonomy driven site navigation Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and system for generating a uniform resource locator using one or more terms in a hierarchical taxonomy. Specifically, embodiments disclosed herein provide receiving a plurality of terms for a term set and generating a hierarchical taxonomy for the term set using the plurality of terms. Once the hierarchical taxonomy has been generated, a navigation property may be assigned to at least one term in the plurality of terms. A navigation term set that mirrors the properties of the hierarchical taxonomy is then created using the at least one term.
US09311369B2	Virtual masked database Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with virtual masked databases are described. One example system includes a masking logic to mask an unmasked column of a database table to produce a masked column. The masked column is then added to the database creating a bi-masked database. A portion of the bi-masked database is then selected by a view logic and provided to a user. The view provided to the user may allow fast, conflict free queries and updates to the database. By providing the user either masked or unmasked data based on information associated with the user, an added layer of data security may be achieved.
US09311362B1	Personal knowledge panel interface Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for providing personal knowledge panels. One of the methods includes receiving, at an Internet search system, a search query. Multiple search results identifying Internet resources indexed by the search system that satisfy the query are obtained. If the search query matches a name of a user that submitted the search query, a ranking of one or more of the search results and a personal knowledge panel comprising one or more items of user provided information about the user is provided, wherein the personal knowledge panel includes multiple input fields for updating the user provided information of the knowledge panel. Updated user information that was provided using the input fields of the personal knowledge panel is received, and the updated user information is associated with an account of the user.
US09311361B1	Algorithmically determining the visual appeal of online content A system and a computer-implemented method for automatically determining the visual appeal of online content are provided. The method includes storing a plurality of software implemented algorithms in the memory device, receiving one or more generated items of online content, determining graphics and textual content parameters of the received items of online content, comparing the determined parameters to the set of desired parameters, ranking the items of online content based on the comparisons, and outputting the ranked items of online content. Each algorithm includes one or more rules capable of recognizing graphic content parameters, recognizing textual content parameters, and relating the graphic content parameters and the textual content parameters to a set of desired parameters accessible to the rules.
US09311359B2	Join operation partitioning Partitioned join operations are performed between a first database object and a second database object by determining an agent group for an agent in response to the agent receiving rows of the second database object to process; partitioning the rows to determine a target hash table for each row and adding the partitioned rows to work to be performed by the agent group; and distributing the work for the group to agents of the group by assigning to a single agent all the rows associated with a particular hash table to perform a join operation on the assigned rows. Each partition is assigned a first counter value indicating an upper bound of a task id range that is most recently assigned to an agent in the agent group for processing, and a second counter value indicating the highest task id that has been processed for that partition.
US09311347B2	Method and apparatus for developing a social hierarchy A method and apparatus for developing a social hierarchy for a user from a plurality of contacts includes, for each contact, tracking communications occurring between the user and the contact; determining, from the tracked communications, a rate of change for communications between the user and the contact; and identifying, based on the rate of change, a position in the social hierarchy for the contact. Another method and apparatus includes tracking communications occurring between the user and a contact in the plurality of contacts, wherein tracking a communication comprises identifying a method of communication and a time the communication occurred; determining, from the tracked communications, that repeated communication attempts were made between the user and the contact; and identifying, based on the repeated communication attempts, a position in the social hierarchy for the contact.
US09311346B2	Agent communication bulletin board A data communication system comprising a first plurality of software entities, each having a respective entity identifier and a respective plurality of characteristics, and a data repository, wherein a first software entity of the first plurality of software entities instigates establishment of a first collection of data at the data repository, the first collection of data having at least one collection identifier selected from the plurality of characteristics of the first software entity, each of a second plurality of the first plurality of software entities having a respective set of the respective plurality of characteristics that matches the at least one collection identifier instigates addition of the entity identifier of the respective software entity to the first collection of data, at least one of the second plurality of software entities instigates addition of data to the first collection of data, and at least one other of the second plurality of software entities obtains a portion of the data from the first collection of data.
US09311345B2	Template based database analyzer An automated database analyzer is uses templates to accommodate multiple database languages, such as SQL and its dialects. The templates are combined with metadata that define a database schema and operations on the database schema. An SQL file instantiates the database schema on a database system being tested. Operations on the database schema may then be performed to assess the performance of the database system being tested.
US09311341B2	Collaborative capture of photographic images A method includes identifying a stored photographic image and metadata associated with the stored image, wherein the metadata includes a location and an orientation of a camera when the stored image was captured. The method further identifies a target photographic image to be requested, wherein a description of the target image is derived from the metadata of the stored image and includes a target location and a target orientation. The method monitors the location of a plurality of mobile communication devices and, in response to determining that a first mobile communication device is proximate to the target location, notifies the first mobile communication device of a request to capture the target photographic image, wherein the request includes the target location and the target direction.
US09311338B2	Method and apparatus for analyzing and associating behaviors to image content A computer implemented method and apparatus for analyzing image content and associating behaviors to the analyzed image content. The method comprises accessing a digital image; determining one or more patterns in the digital image; associating, based on the one or more determined patterns, a set of pre-defined behaviors with each determined pattern; and storing interactions with the digital image, wherein the interactions are associated with the behaviors.
US09311333B1	Managing files of file systems A method is used in managing files of file systems. A group transaction record for an indirect data block of a file of a file system is created. The indirect data block of the file includes a set of data blocks of the file. A set of transaction entries is added to the group transaction record. Each transaction entry of the set of transaction entries includes information regarding an operation performed on a data block of the set of data blocks. The group transaction record is stored in a journal. The journal includes metadata transactions upon a plurality of files of a plurality of file systems.
US09311332B2	Cluster shared volume replication Systems and methods for replicating input-output (I/O) events of a cluster shared volume (CSV) are presented. Such systems may include a cluster device or node (in a cluster of devices), a coordinator node, and a replica server. Replication techniques disclosed herein may include capturing, using a processor operatively associated with a cluster device, a direct I/O event generated at the cluster device (e.g., by a virtual machine). A legacy file system filter driver of the cluster device may be used and enabled to perform the capturing of the direct I/O event. The legacy file system filter driver may be different than a CSV filter driver associated with the CSV, and may be enabled after the CSV filter driver is enabled. The captured direct I/O event may then be transmitted to the replica server using, e.g., a replication filter, to maintain a backup copy of the event at the replica server.
US09311329B2	System and method for modular and continuous data assurance A system for assuring the integrity of information files includes a first server, a manifest transfer engine and a second server. The first server stores information files and an associated manifest file containing a manifest entry for each stored information file. The manifest transfer engine receives the manifest file and the information files from the first server on a predetermined basis. The manifest transfer engine compares an identifying characteristic of each received information file with the manifest entries in the manifest file and, when there is a match, transfers the associated information file on the output as an authenticated information file. The second server receives the authenticated information file from the manifest transfer engine, optionally segments the authenticated information file, and then generates an associated manifest entry for the received authenticated information file (or segmented information files) and stores the associated manifest entry (or entries) in an updated manifest file.
US09311328B2	Reference volume for initial synchronization of a replicated volume group A method for using a reference volume for initial synchronization of a replicated volume group. The method includes initiating a replication and synchronization operation between a parent virtual machine and a child virtual machine, and specifying a parent virtual machine to be used for replication and a subsequent synchronization. The method further includes accessing a point in time snapshot of the parent virtual machine, coordinating with a secondary site to obtain an image of the parent reference volume at said point in time, and copying the common regions from a parent reference volume to a new volume. The differences between the parent reference volume and the new volume are transmitted and are applied to the new volume to synchronize the child virtual machine on the secondary site to the child virtual machine on the primary site, wherein the child and the parent may be in different virtual machine groups.
US09311320B2	Systems and methods for transformation of logical data objects for storage Systems and methods for compressing a raw logical data object (201) for storage in a storage device operable with at least one storage protocol, creating, reading, writing, optimizatic in and restoring thereof. Compressing the raw logical data object (201) comprises creating in the storage device a compressed logical data object (203) comprising a header (204) and one or more allocated compressed sections with predefined size (205-1-205-2); compressing one or more sequentially obtained chunks of raw data (202-1-202-6) corresponding to the raw logical data object (201) thus giving rise to the compressed data chunks (207-1-207-6); and sequentially accommodating the processed data chunks into: said compressed sections (205-1-205-2) in accordance with an order said chunks received, wherein said compressed sections serve as atomic elements of compression/decompression operations during input/output transactions on the logical data object.
US09311318B1	Backup systems and methods for a virtual computing environment Improved backup and storage operations are disclosed for virtual computing environments using a backup proxy server to perform storage operations on one or more virtual machine disks. The proxy server can include a module that intercepts application programming interface (API) calls, for writing backup data to a first location, prior to the data arriving on the proxy disk. During the intercept process, the data can be compressed in memory pages of the proxy server and redirected to an alternative backup disk location. The proxy server can also include a differential engine that identifies changes to the virtual machine disk at the block level since the last full backup. The differential engine can advantageously leverage memory pages of the proxy server to compare differences between signatures of blocks of the last full backup with signatures of new blocks. Subsequently, only blocks with non-matching signatures are processed for backup.
US09311316B2	Infrastructure identification of available platforms for migration in place Technologies related to migration in place are generally described. In some examples, software and/or data associated with a platform customer can be “migrated” to a new platform while allowing the platform customer's software and/or data to remain on same hardware. A data center and/or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider may be configured to support migration in place for example by providing hardware identifiers upon request, providing platform identifiers upon request, providing platform compatibility information upon request and/or approving platforms for migration in place operations, deploying platform modules to migration in place hardware, providing user session support during migration in place operations, and/or performing security operations.
US09311313B2	System and method for converting a physical disk to a virtual disk A method for converting a disk of a physical computer into a virtual disk for use by a virtual machine is described. Contents of the disk of the physical computer are copied into an image file, wherein the image file has a different sector-by-sector organization of the contents than the disk but a logically equivalent file system organization. Hardware configuration information from the image file is then extracted, wherein the hardware configuration information relates to hardware of the physical computer and, based on a comparison of the extracted hardware configuration information and a virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine, hardware dependent files in the image file are replaced with substitute files that are compatible with the virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine.
US09311308B2	Content recommendation for groups A method and apparatus for joint profiling for identifying one or more common interests of members of a group and recommending items accordingly. The method comprises receiving a user profile for each member, the user profile comprising a set of one or more topics of interest to that member; automatically mapping at least one topic from each of the profiles to a concept; deriving a group profile, in dependence upon the concepts and the topics; and generating a list of recommended items for the group based on the group profile. Also presented is a method and apparatus for joint profiling wherein a joint weight for each topic is calculated by: for each user, calculating the reciprocal of a weight associated with the topic for that user; calculating the sum of the resulting reciprocals; and calculating the joint weight as the reciprocal of the resulting sum.
US09311305B2	Online upgrading of a database environment using transparently-patched seed data tables A method, system, and computer program product for managing upgrades of database systems using a transparently-patched seed data table. The method commences on a running system by copying (while software applications are running) portions of data comprising a seed data table to database table rows that are temporarily inaccessible by the software applications. The copy operation creates new rows (a seed data table copy) in a database table. The method continues while software applications are running by modifying the seed data table copy (e.g., by applying a patch). For a brief time, the method stops the software applications, then changes the database table rows that were temporarily inaccessible by the software applications to become accessible by the software applications and restarts the software application to point to the patched seed data table copy. The patch can add or change a column of the seed data table copy or its schema.
US09311303B2	Interpreted language translation system and method A computer-implemented method of processing an interpreted language element for execution on a mobile communication device including receiving at a server system a request from a remote device for a first electronic document that includes an interpreted language element, executing the interpreted language element using an interpreter, creating a context for the interpreted language element, generating a second electronic document based on a result of the execution, and transmitting the second electronic document to the remote device for display. In one implementation, executing the interpreted language element may include performing an action specified by the interpreted language element. In another implementation, the executing may include embedding the interpreted language element in a markup link that contains an address corresponding to the server system.
US09311300B2	Using natural language processing (NLP) to create subject matter synonyms from definitions Methods, apparatus and systems, including computer program products, for creating subject matter synonyms from definitions extracted from a subject matter glossary. Confidence scores, each representing a likelihood that two terms defined in the subject matter glossary are synonyms, are determined by applying natural language processing (e.g., passage term matching, lexical matching, and syntactic matching) to the extracted definitions. A subject matter thesaurus is built based on the confidence scores. In one embodiment, a statement containing a first term is created based on an extracted definition of the first term, a modified statement is created by substituting a second term in the statement in lieu of the first term, a corpus is searched, and a confidence score is determined based on evidence in the corpus that the modified statement is accurate. The first and second terms are marked as synonyms if the confidence score is greater than a threshold.
US09311299B1	Weakly supervised part-of-speech tagging with coupled token and type constraints A method and system are provided for a part-of-speech tagger that may be particularly useful for resource-poor languages. Use of manually constructed tag dictionaries from dictionaries via bitext can be used as type constraints to overcome the scarcity of annotated data in some instances. Additional token constraints can be projected from a resource-rich source language via word-aligned bitext. Several example models are provided to demonstrate this such as a partially observed conditional random field model, where coupled token and type constraints may provide a partial signal for training. The disclosed method achieves a significant relative error reduction over the prior state of the art.
US09311293B2	Techniques for generating translation clusters A computer-implemented technique can include receiving, at a server including one or more processors, a source word in a source language. The technique can include determining, at the server, one or more potential translations for the source word in a target language different than the source language. The technique can include determining, at the server, one or more synonyms for each of the one or more potential translations to obtain a plurality of potential translations. The technique can include determining, at the server, one or more translation clusters using the plurality of potential translations and a clustering algorithm. Each translation cluster can contain all of the plurality of potential translations that have a similar denotation and each of the plurality of translations that have a similar denotation can be included in a specific translation cluster. The technique can also include outputting, at the server, the one or more translation clusters.
US09311291B2	Correcting N-gram probabilities by page view information Methods and a system for calculating N-gram probabilities in a language model. A method includes counting N-grams in each page of a plurality of pages or in each document of a plurality of documents to obtain respective N-gram counts therefor. The method further includes applying weights to the respective N-gram counts based on at least one of view counts and rankings to obtain weighted respective N-gram counts. The view counts and the rankings are determined with respect to the plurality of pages or the plurality of documents. The method also includes merging the weighted respective N-gram counts to obtain merged weighted respective N-gram counts for the plurality of pages or the plurality of documents. The method additionally includes calculating a respective probability for each of the N-grams based on the merged weighted respective N-gram counts.
US09311289B1	Spreadsheet document tab conditional formatting A method of applying conditional formatting rules to a document tab. The method includes receiving an indication of a user input selecting a document entry in a document for applying conditional formatting to the document tab based on the document entry. The method also includes outputting, for display, a conditional formatting user interface for associating one or more conditional formatting rules with the document entry and the document tab. The method further includes receiving an indication of a user input of one or more conditional formatting rules linking a property of the document tab with the document entry. The method further includes changing the property of the document tab based on the one or more conditional formatting rules.
US09311288B2	Electronic book reader A data processing system comprises a plurality of electronic book reader devices, each of the electronic book reader devices having a display and being connectable to a wireless network of electronic book reader devices, in which: a first electronic book reader device of the plurality comprises a data transmitter configured to send, via the wireless network, reading position data defining: a current book data file being displayed by that electronic book reader device, and a current display position within that book data file; and at least a second, different, electronic book reader device of the plurality comprises a data receiver configured to receive, via the wireless network, the reading position data sent by the first electronic book reader device, and a display controller configured to control the second electronic book reader device to display at least an indication of the current book data file and the current display position of the first electronic book reader device.
US09311287B2	Dynamic language translation of web site content Methods, systems, and computer readable medium for providing translated web content with translated URLs. A request is received content in a second language translated from content in a first language. The content in the first language is obtained from the first Internet source. One or more links are identified from the content in the first language. Each original URL is divided into one or more translatable URL components in the first language. Whether the one or more translatable URL components in each original URL have been previously translated into the second language and stored as translated URL components is determined. If there is at least one translatable URL component previously translated and stored as a corresponding translated URL component, a translated URL in the second language for each original URL is generated. The content in the second language with translated URLs is created.
US09311286B2	Intelligent automatic expansion/contraction of abbreviations in text-based electronic communications A method for intelligently handling abbreviations in text-based electronic communications can begin with the compilation of abbreviation usage history data by an intelligent abbreviation handler component of a text-based electronic communications system. The abbreviation usage history data can indicate a presentation preference for abbreviation elements based upon past usage by the user. An abbreviation element can be an abbreviation, an acronym, or an initialism. The abbreviation element can be presented in a condensed format or an expanded format. Abbreviation elements can be identified in a received text-based electronic communication. The presentation preference of each identified abbreviation element can be intelligently determined for each recipient from the abbreviation usage history data. An abbreviation-adjusted text-based electronic communication can be created for each recipient using the received text-based electronic communication and the determined presentation preference. The abbreviation-adjusted text-based electronic communication can be conveyed to the recipient.
US09311284B2	Methods and systems for enabling the provisioning and execution of a platform-independent application A method includes executing, by a mobile computing device, a mobile application received from a provisioning source including at least programming code and at least one structured document that together describe at least a portion of functionality provided by the mobile application. An abstraction layer executing on the mobile computing device populates a Document Object Model (“DOM”) structure that at least in part represents the miming state of the application. The abstraction layer presents a device-independent application user interface responsive to the DOM structure. The application receives a user input from within the rendered application user interface. The programming code receives, from the abstraction layer, the input event. The programming code referenced by the DOM structure reconfigures the DOM structure to update the running state of the application. The abstraction layer updates, the device-independent application user interface, responsive to the reconfiguring of the DOM structure.
US09311283B2	System for clipping webpages by traversing a dom, and highlighting a minimum number of words Disclosed is software which enables a service which allows users to load screen-shots of webpages to boards as clipped content, which preserves “live” links to the webpages from the clipped content, which identifies the content which was clipped, and which preserves links and other dynamic content in the clipped content.
US09311282B2	Enriching website content with extracted feature multi-dimensional vector comparison A method for enriching contents of a website includes obtaining a corpus from the current website and other websites, and extracting object features from the corpus, wherein the corpus comprises specifications of the object and user reviews about the object; according to the corpus, constructing multi-dimensional vectors for the extracted features; for a specified feature, making similarity comparison of its multi-dimensional vector and multi-dimensional vectors of other extracted features; determining features with similarities higher than a predetermined threshold as the same features, and reinforcing the current website with features different from that of the object on the current website and their corresponding attributes.
US09311281B2	Methods for facilitating web page image hotspots and devices thereof A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and hotspot management computing apparatus that receives a JavaScript Object Notation with Padding (JSONP) request from a client computing device, wherein the JSONP request comprises an identifier associated with a selected hotspot associated with an image of a first web page. A HyperText Markup Language (HTML) fragment is generated based on the identifier, wherein the HTML fragment defines a first description associated with the hotspot and an input element associated with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a second web page including a second description associated with the hotspot. The HTML fragment is sent to the requesting client computing device.
US09311280B2	Re-ordering of iFrame execution to reduce network activity window Systems and methods are herein disclosed for reducing power consumption, processor activity, network activity, and for improving a user experience during web browsing. More particularly, an ordering of IFrames, or other self-contained component within the mainframe, is modified in terms of network resources, memory resources, and processor resources in order to conserve user device resources. For instance, aspects of multicore processors and multichannel network connections are utilized to perform parallel operations on mainframe data packets and IFrame data packets when a webpage is downloaded. Since mainframes and IFrames are sourced from different URLs they can be received on separate communication channels and can be processed on different cores. Prioritization in memory storage between the two can also be used to enhance the speed with which the mainframe is loaded.
US09311278B2	Visual editor for editing complex expressions Methods implementing and using techniques for providing a visual editor allowing graphical editing of expressions in an expression language. A graphical user interface is displayed. A first user input of an expression is received. The expression is defined in a logical or textual form, and each component of the expression is represented by a graphical element on the graphical user interface. A syntax of the first user input is verified and an alert is provided to the user in response to detecting a syntax error or an inconsistency of the first user input when verifying the syntax.
US09311276B2	Methods and apparatus for analyzing test data in determining the effect of drug treatments Methods and apparatus provide for: receiving pre-clinical data measured during drug treatment of a plurality of mammals including at least two treatment groups; performing at least one EXACT, non-parametric, statistical hypothesis test comparing the pre-clinical data for the at least two treatment groups; and performing a Multiple Comparison Procedure (MCP) on the pre-clinical data for at least two comparisons, where the EXACT, non-parametric, statistical hypothesis test and the MCP are conducted on the pre-clinical data to produce one or more p-values, each p-value representing whether an associated one of the treatment groups has experienced a statistically significant improvement or decline in one or more conditions of the mammals associated with the treatment.
US09311275B2	Method and apparatus for discrete cosine transform/inverse discrete cosine transform Discrete cosine transform/inverse discrete cosine transform method and device are provided. The discrete cosine transform/inverse discrete cosine transform method includes: generating a table index for only an input value other than 0 (zero) out of input values of coordinates in an input block; reading one or more partial values corresponding to the table index out of a plurality of table information pieces which are generated and stored in advance so as to include partial values corresponding to a multiplication of a weight value and an index; and adding the read partial value and calculating the resultant value of each coordinate in an output block. Accordingly, it is possible to perform a fast DCT/IDCT operation and to reduce the energy consumption for the transform.
US09311270B2	Scheduler and scheduling method for reconfigurable architecture A scheduler and scheduling method perform scheduling for a reconfigurable architecture. The scheduling, performed by the scheduler, includes path information extracting including extracting direct path information and indirect path information between functional units in a reconfigurable array complying with predefined architecture requirements, based on architecture information of the reconfigurable array, command selecting including selecting a command from a data flow graph (DFG) showing commands to be executed by the reconfigurable array, and scheduling including scheduling the selected command based on the extracted direct path information and indirect path information.
US09311268B1	Method and system for communication with peripheral devices Methods and systems for ignoring protocol defined framing errors at a peripheral device coupled to a processor via an interconnect system are provided. When a framing error violation does not affect data transfer to the peripheral device or from the peripheral device, the protocol defined link training sequence is disabled to ignore the framing error and the peripheral device continues to process data regardless of the framing error.
US09311266B2	Hidden base address register programming in peripheral component interconnect express buses A mapping and correspondence may be established between a virtual topology and a physical topology of a PCIe subsystem, and a host may be presented with the virtual topology but not the actual physical topology. A semi transparent bridge may couple an upstream host to the PCIe subsystem that includes intermediary bridges and respective PCIe endpoints coupled downstream from the intermediary bridges. The intermediary bridges may be hidden from the host, while the respective PCIe endpoints may be visible to the host. A configuration block may provide to the upstream host, during a setup mode, first memory allocation information corresponding to the intermediary switches, responsive to the upstream host expecting second memory allocation information corresponding to the respective PCIe endpoints. The configuration block may then provide to the upstream host, during a runtime mode, the second memory allocation information, responsive to the upstream host expecting the second memory allocation information.
US09311265B2	Techniques for improving throughput and performance of a distributed interconnect peripheral bus connected to a host controller A method for accelerating execution of read operations in a distributed interconnect peripheral bus, the distributed interconnect peripheral bus is coupled to a host controller being connected to a universal serial bus (USB) device. The method comprises synchronizing on at least one ring assigned to the USB device; pre-fetching transfer request blocks (TRBs) maintained in the at least one ring, wherein the TRBs are saved in a host memory; saving the pre-fetched TRBs in an internal cache memory; upon reception of a TRB read request from the host controller, serving the request by transferring the requested TRB from the internal cache memory to the host controller; and sending a TRB read completion message to the host controller.
US09311263B2	Input/output switching module interface identification in a multi-server chassis An interface identification system includes an IHS enclosure including a plurality of IHS slots and a plurality of input/output (I/O) switching module slots. A connection plane provides interconnects between the plurality of IHS slots and the plurality of I/O switching module slots. An I/O switching module includes a plurality of interfaces. The I/O switching module may be coupled to a first I/O switching module slot and, in response, retrieve first I/O switching module slot information about the first I/O switching module slot, retrieve IHS information about IHSs located in the plurality of IHS slots that are interconnected with the first I/O switching module slot through the connection plane, and use the first I/O switching module slot information and the IHS information to identify each of the plurality of interfaces on the I/O switching module that is coupled to an IHS by that IHS and the first I/O switching module slot.
US09311257B2	Semiconductor memory device, memory system and method of operating the same A memory system including a plurality of memory chips is provided. The memory system includes a first memory chip and a second memory chip that share a data bus and become active by a chip enable signal, and a controller transmitting multi chip select commands to the first and second memory chips. The first memory chip, in response to the first multichip select command, receives a first operation request transmitted by the controller through the data base, and the second memory chip, in response to the second multichip select command, receives a second operation request transmitted by the controller through the data bus before the first memory chip operates according to the first operation request.
US09311256B2	Storage device A storage device includes a non-volatile memory having a plurality of storage areas. Received data is encrypted with a first cryptographic key and stored in one of the storage areas. Upon receiving an request from a host, a key processor replaces the first cryptographic key used to encrypt data stored on a specified one of the non-volatile memories with a different cryptographic key not previously used for any of the storage areas by generating a second cryptographic key, converting the previously used keys into first value by an operation, converting the candidate key into a second value by the same operation. The first and second values are compared, and when the first information is not the same as the second information, the second cryptographic key replaces the first cryptographic key, and when not, the second cryptographic key is discarded and a new second cryptographic key generated.
US09311254B1	Method and apparatus for an improved access system A method and apparatus to enable a user to send an action message including secure credential is described. The system comprises a receiving logic to receive the action message from a user, a repository including encrypted user-specific data, and an agent to access a resource through a network, the agent directed as specified by a connector object invoked by the action message. The agent further comprises logic to utilize the encrypted user-specific data from the repository to log into the resource through the network, and in one embodiment, action logic to perform one or more actions as instructed by the connector invoked by the action message. The agent further comprises, in one embodiment, extraction logic for extracting information resulting from of the agent's access to the data resource specified by the connector, and communication logic to communicate a result to the user or to another agent for further use.
US09311252B2	Hierarchical storage for LSM-based NoSQL stores Logically arranged hierarchy or tiered storage may comprise a layer of storage being a faster access storage (e.g. solid state drive (SSD)) and another (e.g., next) layer being a traditional disk (e.g. HDD). In one embodiment, compaction occurs within the higher layer, e.g., until there is no more room and then during the compaction sequence the data may be moved down to the lower layer. In another embodiment, compaction and migration to a lower layer may occur within the higher layer, e.g., based on one or more policies, even if the higher layer is not full. In one embodiment, the data between layers are maintained as disjoint. In one embodiment, the more recent versions are always in the higher layer and the older versions are always in the lower layer.
US09311250B2	Techniques for memory de-duplication in a virtual system Techniques for memory de-duplication in a virtual system are described. An apparatus may comprise a first processor circuit coupled to a second processor circuit. A memory unit may be coupled to the first processor circuit and the second processor circuit, the memory unit to store private memory pages and shared memory pages for multiple virtual machines. A memory management application may be operative on the first processor circuit and the second processor circuit in a shared manner to perform memory de-duplication operations on the private memory pages stored in the memory unit to form shared memory pages. The memory management application may perform sequential memory de-duplication operations on the first processor circuit, and parallel memory de-duplication operations on the second processor circuit. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09311249B2	Managing translation of a same address across multiple contexts using a same entry in a translation lookaside buffer In response to a current context, with a particular process currently in control of a processor requesting access to a shared address space, a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) controller sets a process identifier field in a virtual address to be looked up in a TLB to a clamped value different from an identifier for the process, wherein the virtual address comprises at least the process identifier field and an effective address field set to an address in the requested shared address space. In response to the TLB controller comparing the virtual address for the current context to a particular entry of at least one entry within the TLB comprising the at least one entry stored for a previous translation of a previous virtual address, the TLB controller only indicates a match between the process identifier field and a translation process identifier field within the particular entry of the TLB if the translation process identifier field is also set to the clamped value.
US09311246B2	Cache memory system Systems and methods are disclosed that comprise a cache memory for storing a copy of a portion of data stored in a system memory and a cache load circuit capable of retrieving the portion of data from the system memory. The systems and methods further comprise a status memory for identifying whether or not a region of the cache memory contains data that has been accessed from the cache memory by an external device.
US09311239B2	Power efficient level one data cache access with pre-validated tags A system and method to implement a tag structure for a cache memory that includes a multi-way, set-associative translation lookaside buffer. The tag structure may store vectors in an L1 tag array to enable an L1 tag lookup that has fewer bits per entry and consumes less power. The vectors may identify entries in a translation lookaside buffer tag array. When a virtual memory address associated with a memory access instruction hits in the translation lookaside buffer, the translation lookaside buffer may generate a vector identifying the set and the way of the translation lookaside buffer entry that matched. This vector may then be compared to a group of vectors stored in a set of the L1 tag arrays to determine whether the virtual memory address hits in the L1 cache.
US09311237B2	System and method of secure garbage collection on a mobile device A method and system for performing garbage collection involving sensitive information on a mobile device. Secure information is received at a mobile device over a wireless network. The sensitive information is extracted from the secure information. A software program operating on the mobile device uses an object to access the sensitive information. Secure garbage collection is performed upon the object after the object becomes unreachable.
US09311232B2	Management of memory array with magnetic random access memory (MRAM) An embodiment of the invention includes a mass storage device with a storage media that includes magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices with a NAND flash interface and NAND flash memory devices that are coupled to the MRAM devices. The storage media is partitioned into a hybrid reserved area made of a combination of MRAM array NAND array and hybrid user area made of a combination of MRAM array and NAND array and further includes a controller with a host interface and flash interface coupled to the MRAM and NAND flash memory devices through a flash interface.
US09311229B2	System and method for managing flash memory A system and method for flash memory management is provided. In particular, the system and methods herein provide for management of flash memory, particularly NAND flash memory, in a manner that potentially reduces the number of write/erase cycles typically experienced by a data storage device. When unsecure data records are to be written to the flash memory, the new or updated unsecure data records are stored in the first available location in the flash memory (e.g. a block) providing a best fit for the data records. Where the data records are updates, the updated version is stored with an incremented version number to indicate that the updated version is the current version. Older versions of the data records are deleted during garbage collection. When secure data records are to be written to the flash memory, new or updated secure data records are stored in the location in the flash memory with the most available space. Any older versions of secure data records are immediately deleted.
US09311226B2	Managing operational state data of a memory module using host memory in association with state change The specification and drawings present a new apparatus and method for managing/configuring by the memory module controller storing operational state data for operating the memory module controller into an extended random access memory comprised in a memory module and in a host system memory of a host device during various operational modes/conditions of the memory module and the host system memory. Essentially, the memory module controller operated as a master for the data transfers as described herein. The operational state data typically comprises state information, a logical to physical (L2P) mapping table and register settings.
US09311220B1	System to uncover root cause of non-deterministic (flaky) tests A system and method are disclosed for determining the root cause of non-deterministic tests. An exemplary system may receive a non-deterministic test and run the non-deterministic test with call trace collection enabled. For each trace, the system may determine whether the trace was associated with a passing or failing test. Each trace may be labeled according to the trace's association. Then, dynamic call trees may be constructed, one for the traces associated with passing tests and one for traces associated with failing tests. The dynamic call trees may be compared to determine subtree patterns that occur in one tree, but not the other. The subtree patterns may then be ranked based on the number of times the subtrees occur in the traces in order to determine the root cause of the non-deterministic test.
US09311218B2	Method and apparatus for the determination of a quality assessment of a software code with determination of the assessment coverage In a method for determining a quality assessment of a software code, the coverage is concomitantly calculated when determining the assessment. In order to increase the coverage, additional measurement results and assessments may be taken into account. Following changes to the software base, it is determined which of the additional measurements and assessment results should be renewed in order to provide or ensure the defined coverage.
US09311213B2	Module database with tracing options A database of module performance may be generated by adding tracing components to applications, as well as by adding tracing components to modules themselves. Modules may be reusable code that may be made available for reuse across multiple applications. When tracing is performed on an application level, the data collected from each module may be summarized in module-specific databases. The module-specific databases may be public databases that may assist application developers in selecting modules for various tasks. The module-specific databases may include usage and performance data, as well as stability and robustness metrics, error logs, and analyzes of similar modules. The database may be accessed through links in module description pages and repositories, as well as through a website or other repository.
US09311207B1	Data storage system optimizations in a multi-tiered environment Described are techniques for processing I/O (input/output) operations. A first observed value of a first performance metric denoting any of a current workload or performance for a first physical device is determined. A target time delay for the first physical device is identified based on the first observed value of the first performance metric. The target time delay specifies a minimum time delay between consecutive host I/Os directed to the first physical device. The target time delay is enforced with respect to consecutive host I/Os directed to the first physical device.
US09311204B2	Proximity interface development system having replicator and method A development system and method are provided for testing proximity sensor interfaces, such as a capacitive switch assembly which may be employed in an automotive vehicle. The system includes software routines stored in memory for operating a proximity sensor interface having a plurality of sensors, and a data log including user outputs of the proximity sensors. The development system includes a replicator for replicating the proximity sensor interface based on the software routines and the data log and generating outputs of the proximity sensor interface to determine performance. The system further includes an analyzer for processing the test data for proper activation of the proximity sensor interface and generating an output indicative of the test results.
US09311201B2	Real-time rule engine for adaptive testing of integrated circuits A method of testing a device is disclosed. Test data is obtained for a device testing program that tests the device. An adaptation command for testing the device is determined at an adaptive testing engine using obtained test data. The adaptation command is sent from the adaptive testing engine to a tool control application. The tool control application uses the adaptation command to control an operation related to the testing of the device.
US09311197B2	ECommerce distribution system failover system and method Disclosed is a computerized method, non-transitory machine-readable medium and computer system for ensuring that critical information, such as that allowing an ecommerce customer to activate purchased downloadable software, can be retrieved even if issues occur in the primary distribution center. The method receives a call for data (e.g. key) at a first endpoint associated with a first distribution center, determining that the call for the data cannot be fulfilled at the first endpoint, and shifting the call for the data to a second endpoint associated with a second distribution center. The computer system comprises a first and second distribution center system, including modules for: fulfilling a call for data, or key; determining if a call cannot be fulfilled, determining a plurality of error indications; and redirecting calls originally directed to one of a first computer or a second computer to the other of the first computer and the second computer.
US09311191B2	Method for a source storage device sending data to a backup storage device for storage, and storage device In a backup method, a source storage device sends data to a backup storage device. The source storage device contains a processor and a cache. The processor receives a write data request which includes target data. And then, the processor reads a first period ID recorded in a period ID table, wherein the first period ID is corresponding to a first period. Next, the processor modifies the write data request by attaching the first period ID to the target data and writes the modified write data request into the cache. After a backup task corresponding to the first period is triggered, the processor identifies a second period ID. The second period ID corresponds to a previous period up to which data received by the source storage device have been duplicated to the backup storage device. And then, the processor obtains data received after the period corresponding to the second period ID and up to the first period and sends the obtained data to the backup storage device.
US09311186B2	Dispersed storage network slice name verification A method begins by a processing module dispersed storage error encoding data to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters. The method continues with the processing module determining a plurality of sets of slice names corresponding to the plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues with the processing module determining integrity information for the plurality of sets of slice names and sending the plurality of sets of encoded data slices, the plurality of sets of slice names, and the integrity information to a dispersed storage network memory for storage therein.
US09311185B2	Dispersed storage unit solicitation method and apparatus A method begins by one or more computing devices obtaining data for storage in a storage as service network environment. The method continues by determining storage preferences regarding the data. The method continues by determining a set of storage units based on the storage preferences and sending a solicitation request to the set of storage units. When at least a minimum number of favorable solicitation responses have been received within a time period, the method continues by determining a dispersed storage error encoding function based on the favorable solicitation responses, the storage preferences, and available encoding schemes. The method continues by encoding the data based on the selected dispersed storage error encoding function to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues by outputting the sets of encoded data slices to at least some of the storage units providing the favorable solicitation responses.
US09311184B2	Storing raid data as encoded data slices in a dispersed storage network A method begins by a processing module receiving data for storage and interpreting the data to identify the data as redundant array of independent disks (RAID) data. The method continues with the processing module interpreting the RAID data to identify at least one of RAID block data and RAID parity data. When the RAID data includes RAID block data and RAID parity data the method continues with the processing module encoding the RAID block data in accordance with error coding dispersal storage function parameters to produce at least one set of encoded data slices and outputting the at least one set of encoded data slices to a dispersed storage network memory.
US09311182B2	Memory management system and method A memory system and method of operating the same is described, where the memory system is used to store data in a RAIDed manner. The stored data may be retrieved, including the parity data so that the stored data is recovered when the first of either the stored data without the parity data, or the stored data from all but one memory module and the parity data, has been received. The writing of data, for low write data loads, is managed such that only one of the memory modules of a RAID stripe is being written to, or erased, during a time interval.
US09311181B2	Memory controller changing partial data in memory device and method for changing partial data thereof A partial data changing method of a memory controller includes receiving a request to change partial data from a host; detecting an error of old data, the old data being partial data read from a memory device using an error detection code; if the old data is not erroneous, calculating a data difference between new data provided from the host and the old data, and calculating a new parity using the data difference and an old parity read from the memory device; and storing the new data and the new parity at the memory device.
US09311171B1	Execution of end-to-end-processes across applications An orchestrator executes an end-to-end process across applications. The executing of the end-to-end process by the orchestrator comprises executing flow logic by the orchestrator, the flow logic according to a data model defining arguments to include in interactions between the orchestrator and each of the applications. A message broker exchanges information among the orchestrator and the applications.
US09311170B2	System, method and program tool to reset an application Deleting objects used or managed by an application or application or application instance is disclosed. Second program instructions identify the objects. Second program instructions write an executable program to delete the objects which were identified. Objects than can be deleted include local queues, alias queues, remote queues, security objects, channel objects, process objects, etc. The first program instructions identify a queue object and determine whether the queue object contains a work item. If so, the second program instructions write into the executable program a command to clear the work item. Deleting a queue object managed by an application or application instance is also disclosed. Channels used by other applications or other application instances to lock and access a queue defined by the queue object are identified. Then, the channels are stopped. Afterwards, the work item(s) on the queue are cleared and then the queue object is deleted.
US09311169B2	Server based graphics processing techniques The server based graphics processing techniques, describer herein, include passing graphics commands from a shim layer to a guest display device interface, wherein the shim layer and the guest display device interface (DDI) are executing in a given instance of a guest virtual machine (VM). The guest DDI calls back to the shim layer with corresponding function calls. The function calls are passed from the shim layer to a host DDI through a communication channel of a host-guest communication manager (HGCM), wherein the host display device interface and host-guest communication manager are executing in a host virtual machine manager (VMM).
US09311167B2	APP operating method and device and APP output device supporting the same An Application (APP) operating method, an APP operating device, and an APP output device for supporting the APP operating method are provided. The APP operating method includes connecting an APP operating device and an APP output device, transmitting, by the APP operating device, APP data corresponding to a plurality of APPs being executed in the APP operating device to the APP output device, and outputting, by the APP output device, a plurality of APP areas respectively corresponding to the APP data.
US09311160B2	Elastic cloud networking A device receives network infrastructure requirements, and determines availabilities of network resources based on the network infrastructure requirements. The device recommends one or more of the network resources based on the availabilities of the network resources, and receives selection of particular network resources from the recommended one or more network resources. The device also connects the particular network resources to create a virtual network template, and verifies requirements for the particular network resources. The device further tests the virtual network template, and deploys the virtual network template via the particular network resources when the testing of the virtual network template is successful.
US09311158B2	Determining a work distribution model between a client device and a cloud for an application deployed on the cloud A system is described to determine a work distribution model for a computing application deployed on a cloud. In one embodiment, the system comprises a launch request detector, a provisioning module, and a work distribution module. The launch request detector may be configured to detect a request from a client device to launch a computing application. The provisioning module may be configured to provision an application container on a virtual instance of a machine for executing the computing application. The work distribution module may be configured to generate a work distribution model for the computing application, the work distribution model indicating a first portion of the computing application to be executed on the client device and a second portion of the computing application to be executed on the virtual instance of a machine. The client device may be a desktop device or a client device.
US09311157B2	Method and apparatus for dynamic resource allocation of processing units on a resource allocation plane having a time axis and a processing unit axis A method and apparatus for dynamic resource allocation in a system having at least one processing unit are disclosed. The method of dynamic resource allocation includes receiving information on a task to which resources are allocated and partitioning the task into one or more task parallel units; converting the task into a task block having a polygonal shape according to expected execution times of the task parallel units and dependency between the task parallel units; allocating resources to the task block by placing the task block on a resource allocation plane having a horizontal axis of time and a vertical axis of processing units; and executing the task according to the resource allocation information. Hence, CPU resources and GPU resources in the system can be used in parallel at the same time, increasing overall system efficiency.
US09311152B2	Methods and apparatuses for load balancing between multiple processing units Exemplary embodiments of methods and apparatuses to dynamically redistribute computational processes in a system that includes a plurality of processing units are described. The power consumption, the performance, and the power/performance value are determined for various computational processes between a plurality of subsystems where each of the subsystems is capable of performing the computational processes. The computational processes are exemplarily graphics rendering process, image processing process, signal processing process, Bayer decoding process, or video decoding process, which can be performed by a central processing unit, a graphics processing units or a digital signal processing unit. In one embodiment, the distribution of computational processes between capable subsystems is based on a power setting, a performance setting, a dynamic setting or a value setting.
US09311151B2	Portable device and task processing method and apparatus therefor A portable device and a task processing method and apparatus for the portable device are provided. The method comprises the steps of: obtaining task requirement information of a user; determining, from a first system and a second system, an execution system for responding to a system task corresponding to the task requirement information based on a predetermined policy; and transmitting the task requirement information to the execution system such that the execution system can execute the system task based on the task requirement information. With the present invention, it is possible to automatically determine, based on the task requirement information, an execution system for executing a system task corresponding to the task requirement information, such that the user operation can be facilitated.
US09311149B2	Processor provisioning by a middleware processing system A middleware processor provisioning process provisions a plurality of processors in a multi-processor environment. The processors themselves may be subdivided in to one or more partitions or processing instances for which a single processing queue is created and a single kernel thread is started. User processing requests are portioned and dispatched across the plurality of processing queues and are serviced by the corresponding kernel process, thereby efficiently using available processing resources while servicing the user processing requests in a desired manner.
US09311144B1	Processing virtual transactions of a workflow in atomic manner in a workflow management computer system A data processing method comprising the computer-implemented steps of using a process management computer, receiving an electronic workflow document in response to execution of editing instructions at a user terminal that is coupled by network to the process management computer, wherein the electronic workflow document defines a workflow using a plurality of tags and statements that specify steps in the workflow, wherein each of the steps is either an atomic type step or a non-atomic type step, wherein at least a first step that is atomic comprises a plurality of instructions and is programmed to signal, to a second and successive non-atomic step, normal completion of execution of the first step; wherein at least a second step that is non-atomic is programmed to call a completion callback in response to the signal; using the process management computer, parsing the electronic workflow document to form an in-memory representation of the workflow in computer memory; using the process management computer and using the in-memory representation, executing the first step, transitioning to the second step and executing at least a portion of the instructions that are programmed in the second step; using the process management computer, receiving a completion callback signal from the second step in response to normal completion of execution of the first step; using the process management computer, and only after receiving the completion callback signal from the second step, continuing execution of other instructions that are programmed in the second step.
US09311141B2	Survival rule usage by software agents A method for determining the lifespan of an agent utilizing a rule engine and a set of canonical survival rules, in an execution environment comprising collecting a survival rule, asserting a survival data into a working memory and executing the rule engine with the set of survival rules and the working memory.
US09311135B2	Method for generating universal objects identifiers in distributed multi-purpose storage systems A computer implemented method and system for generating secure universal object identifiers on a multipurpose storage system is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a system comprises a client system in communication with a network. An application server is in communication with the network. A storage cluster is in communication with the network. The storage cluster has a plurality of storage nodes. The client system stores a data object via the application server. The application server generates an object identifier assigned to the data object. The application server stores the data object on a storage node of the plurality of storage nodes. The data object is moved to another application server without moving contents of the data object in the storage cluster.
US09311132B1	Allocating all or a portion of the memory in a cache module in each hypervisor in a pool of hypervisors to form a shared cache module to be utilized by the virtual machines run by the pool of hypervisors A method, system and computer program product for efficiently utilizing a virtual file system cache across cloud computing nodes. A determination is made as to which hypervisors will be able to share all or a portion of the memory in its cache module (look-aside cache) to become a hypervisor in a “pool of hypervisors” based on the workload of the virtual machines run by the hypervisor. All or a portion of the memory in the cache module in each hypervisor in the pool of hypervisors that is available to be utilized by other virtual machines is allocated to form a “shared cache module” to be utilized by virtual machines run by the pool of hypervisors. In this manner, the look-aside cache available to the hypervisor will be utilized more effectively since any available memory can be utilized by other virtual machines running on different hypervisors on different cloud computing nodes.
US09311128B2	Bandwidth-Efficient virtual machine image delivery over distributed nodes based on priority and historical access criteria A mechanism is provided for bandwidth-efficient virtual machine image delivery. Responsive to a request to generate a virtual machine (VM) in a node using an existing virtual machine image (VMI) file, a set of file chunks that constitute the VMI file is identified. The set of file chunks are retrieved from within a set of distributed nodes by establishing an optimized plan for retrieving the set of file chunks in a bandwidth-efficient manner. Responsive to retrieving the set of file chunks from within the distributed nodes, the set of file chunks are reassembled into the VMI file for generation of the VM.
US09311119B2	Reconfiguring virtual machines A host controller obtains virtual machine configuration data for a virtual machine which has a guest operating system. The host controller may identify a plurality of virtual hardware components supported by the guest operating system and may identify a set of the plurality of virtual hardware components which are not used by the virtual machine. The host controller may reconfigure the virtual machine to use one or more of the set of virtual hardware components.
US09311118B1	Sharing of classes for modular programs in a multi-tenant environment For each of a plurality of different tenants configured to concurrently execute in a virtual environment, a respective class loader graph can be constructed. For each respective class loader graph, unique types of edges between nodes that affect class loading can be identified. The edges can be traversed. Based on traversing the edges of the class loader graph, a respective unique dependency identifier (UDI) can be assigned to each class loader request. Class loader requests that are assigned the same UDI can be identified in at least two of the tenants. Responsive to identifying the class loader requests that are assigned the same UDI, a shared class loader can be assigned to each of the class loader requests. Each respective class loader request that is assigned the same UDI can be configured to call the shared class loader to load at least one class required by the respective tenant.
US09311110B2	Techniques to initialize from a remotely accessible storage device Examples are disclosed for remotely initializing or booting a client or host device. In some examples, a network (NW) input/output (I/O) device coupled to a host device connects to a remote server via a NW communication link. For these examples, modules of the network I/O device establishes a control path to a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) controller maintained at the remote server using a remote direct memory access (RDMA) protocol. Properties of a storage device controlled by the NVMe controller have an RDMA service tag (STag) to indicate accessible allocated portions of the storage device. A system basic I/O system (BIOS) is capable of using the RDMA STag to access the storage device and load an operating system (OS) kernel. Also, one or more device drivers can remotely boot the host device using the RDMA STag.
US09311108B2	Orchestrating wireless network operations A wireless communication system is disclosed. A data store stores for each of a plurality of nodes, each node comprising a wireless communication system element, a node image data comprising metadata about or otherwise associated with the node. In various embodiments, the data store has the capability to create and support an organically changing schema, and provides a mechanism to propagate changes to the schema or data, but only as necessary. A processor receives an indication of an objective and uses node image data stored in the data store to identify programmatically from among the plurality of nodes a node to help achieve the objective and to determine the configuration of the node.
US09311106B1	Multiple reconfiguration profiles for dynamically reconfigurable intellectual property cores Techniques and mechanisms allow for implementing multiple configuration profiles for dynamic reconfiguration of an Intellectual Property (IP) core. A minimum set of data may be generated, as well as detecting errors between the configuration profiles.
US09311103B2	Apparatus for switching a plurality of ALUs between tree and cascade configurations An arrangement of at least two arithmetic logic units carries out an operation defined by a decoded instruction including at least one operand and more than one operation code. The operation codes and at least one operand are received and corresponding executions are performed by the arithmetic logic units on a single clock cycle. The result of the execution from one arithmetic logic unit is used as an operand by a further arithmetic logic unit. The decoding of the instruction is performed in an immediately preceding single clock cycle.
US09311099B2	Systems and methods for locking branch target buffer entries A data processing system includes a processor configured to execute processor instructions and a branch target buffer having a plurality of entries. Each entry is configured to store a branch target address and a lock indicator, wherein the lock indicator indicates whether the entry is a candidate for replacement, and wherein the processor is configured to access the branch target buffer during execution of the processor instructions. The data processing system further includes control circuitry configured to determine a fullness level of the branch target buffer, wherein in response to the fullness level reaching a fullness threshold, the control circuitry is configured to assert the lock indicator of one or more of the plurality of entries to indicate that the one or more of the plurality of entries is not a candidate for replacement.
US09311097B2	Managing per-tile event count reports in a tile-based architecture A graphics processing system configured to track per-tile event counts in a tile-based architecture. A tiling unit in the graphics processing system is configured to cause a screen-space pipeline to load a count value associated with a first cache tile into a count memory and to cause the screen-space pipeline to process a first set of primitives that intersect the first cache tile. The tiling unit is further configured to cause the screen-space pipeline to store a second count value in a report memory location. The tiling unit is also configured to cause the screen-space pipeline to process a second set of primitives that intersect the first cache tile and to cause the screen-space pipeline to store a third count value in the first accumulating memory. Conditional rendering operations may be performed on a per-cache tile basis, based on the per-tile event count.
US09311093B2	Prefix computer instruction for compatibly extending instruction functionality A prefix instruction is executed and passes operands to a next instruction without storing the operands in an architected resource such that the execution of the next instruction uses the operands provided by the prefix instruction to perform an operation, the operands may be prefix instruction immediate field or a target register of the prefix instruction execution.
US09311090B2	Indirect instruction predication A method, circuit arrangement, and program product for selectively predicating instructions in an instruction stream by determining a first register address from an instruction, determining a second register address based on a value stored at the first register address, and determining whether to predicate the instruction based at least in part on a value stored at the second register address. Predication logic may analyze the instruction to determine the first register address, analyze a register corresponding to the first register address to determine the second register address, and communicate a predication signal to an execution unit based at least in part on the value stored at the second register address.
US09311072B2	Protocol system and related method of automatically updating a datum A method of automatically updating a datum is disclosed in the present invention. The method is applied to a signal outputting device and at least one signal receiving device for datum updating transmission. The method includes outputting a detecting signal to detect whether the signal receiving device is located within an effective range of the detecting signal, receiving a reacting signal generated according to the detecting signal, outputting a request of datum transmission when a distance is smaller than a threshold value, and transmitting the datum to the signal receiving device by wireless transmission when the request is allowed, so as to drive the signal receiving device to execute application program according to the updated datum. The detecting signal represents the distance between the signal outputting device and the signal receiving device.
US09311070B2	Dynamically recommending configuration changes to an operating system image Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for dynamically recommending configuration changes to an operating system image are provided. Embodiments include monitoring, by an image deployment monitor, configurations of a plurality of deployed copies of a master operating system (OS) image; detecting, by the image deployment monitor, a change in one or more configurations of a first set of deployed copies of the plurality of deployed copies; and in response to detecting the change, generating, by the image deployment monitor, a configuration recommendation to recommend the change to an OS image.
US09311069B2	Search in application launcher A system and machine-implemented method for facilitating an application launcher providing direct access to one or more items, the method including identifying one or more items maintained at one or more sources accessible by the user at the computing device meeting search criteria specified by a user, determining an application associated with each of the one or more items facilitating access to the item, generating an instance of each of the one or more items facilitating direct user interaction with the item, where the user is able to interact with the item directly from the instance of the item and providing the instance of each of the one or more items for display to the user at the computing device in response to the request.
US09311067B2	Content changeable smart phone application for navigable venues and multi-party navigational system A content changeable system for navigable venues includes (i) a software application folder for storage at a software application storage area, the software application folder including a plurality of software applications, each software application individually downloadable to a user's communication and data transfer device (“cdd”), each software application corresponding to a venue that can be physically navigated by the user, each application including at least one changeable content corresponding to a content station of the venue; and (ii) at least one server computer server configured to (a) upload the software applications to the software application storage area; and (b) receive information from at least one of the venues indicating that a particular changeable content corresponding to a particular content station of the at least one venue needs to be changed.
US09311061B2	Designing task execution order based on location of the task icons within a graphical user interface A method, system and computer program product for designating the order in which a plurality of tasks are to be executed on a computer system. In one embodiment, a plurality of task icons, each of which represents a respective one task, are shown in defined positions in a view on the computer system, and these defined positions of the task icons are used to determine the order in which the tasks are to be executed by the computer system. In an embodiment, the task icons are shown in a grid pattern, having rows and columns. Tasks represented by task icons shown in successive rows of the grid pattern are executed in series, and tasks represented by task icons shown in the same row of the grid pattern are executed in parallel. In an embodiment, at least one of the task icons represents an embedded executable workflow folder.
US09311059B2	Software development tool that provides context-based data schema code hinting A software application development tool provides context-based data schema code hinting. Code “regions” are defined in the code for an application that is under development. One or more data sources that are referenced by a code region may be defined. The development tool detects when a designer is attempting to reference a data schema, such as by detecting that the designer has input a specified trigger, within a region of the code, and in response, the development tool provides code hints for the data schema for corresponding data source(s) that is/are referenced in the corresponding code region in which the designer is working. Thus, rather than providing data schema code hinting for all data sources referenced by the application, targeted code hinting is employed by presenting data schema code hints for only the data source(s) that are referenced by a defined code region in which the designer is working.
US09311052B2	Method of performing multiplication operation in binary extension finite field In a method of performing a multiplication operation in a binary extension finite field, a polynomial defined by ∑ n = 0 W - 1 ⁢ C n · z n is produced by expanding polynomial basis multiplication for multiplication of two polynomials a(z) and b(z) in a binary extension finite field. A mapping table is generated in which bit values having pieces of information about respective terms of the produced polynomial are mapped to respective rows. A code for calculating the polynomial, produced by expanding the polynomial basis multiplication for the multiplication of the two polynomials, with reference to the mapping table is generated. A multiplication operation of the two polynomials a(z) and b(z) in the binary extension finite field is performed by executing the code for calculating the polynomial wherein a ⁡ ( z ) = ∑ n = 0 m - 1 ⁢ a n · z n , b ⁡ ( z ) = ∑ n = 0 m - 1 ⁢ b n · z n , and W denotes a number of bits of a word that is an operation processing unit of a processor.
US09311049B2	System to improve numereical conversions and associated methods A system to improve numerical conversion may include a data processor and a controller configured to convert a floating-point number from the data processor to more than one different floating-point type number. The conversion may enable the selection of the more than one different floating-point type number that satisfies the requirements of an executing application and/or is closest to the original number.
US09311048B1	Electronic template generation, data extraction and response detection A file receiver receives an electronic structure file that includes structure-file data associated with a spatial arrangement and detects a content object for processing that includes content-object data. A file transformation engine transforms the structure-file data from the structure file into an electronic record. A rendering engine renders an image of the transformed structure-file data arranged in the spatial arrangement. An interface engine detects an input corresponding to specification of a position of a data segment. A parsing engine defines a segment-position specification indicative of the position. A template engine generates an electronic template that associates an identifier of the data segment with the segment-position specification and associates the electronic template with a template identifier. A record classifier determines that the content object corresponds to the template identifier. The parsing engine further extracts, using the segment-position specification, a portion of the content-object data that corresponds to the data segment.
US09311043B2	Adaptive audio feedback system and method Various techniques for adaptively varying audio feedback data on an electronic device are provided. In one embodiment, an audio user interface implementing certain aspects of the present disclosure may devolve or evolve the verbosity of audio feedback in response to user interface events based at least partially upon the verbosity level of audio feedback provided during previous occurrences of the user interface event. In another embodiment, an audio user interface may be configured to vary the verbosity of audio feedback associated with a navigable list of items based at least partially upon the speed at which a user navigates the list. In a further embodiment, an audio user interface may be configured to vary audio feedback verbosity based upon the contextual importance of a user interface event. Electronic devices implementing the present techniques provide an improved user experience with regard to audio user interfaces.
US09311040B2	System, control method for same, and image processing apparatus Provided is a system that includes an information processing apparatus; and an image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus includes a transmitting unit configured to transmit a script for transmitting image data which is generated by rendering content displayed on the browser of the information processing apparatus through execution of the script by the information processing apparatus to the image processing apparatus in response to a request from the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus includes a transmitting unit configured to transmit the image data generated through execution of the script by the browser to the image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus further includes a printing unit configured to perform printing based on the image data.
US09311039B2	Cloud printing system and method using image forming apparatus A cloud printing method using a image forming apparatus includes selecting content for printing in a mobile terminal and connecting a location storage server and receiving location information of image forming apparatuses via the mobile terminal. The method also included displaying locations of the image forming apparatuses on a screen of the mobile terminal, based on the received location information and transmitting the content to a cloud server via the mobile terminal. The method further includes near field communication tagging the mobile terminal to a selected one of the image forming apparatuses and receiving the content from the cloud server and printing the content, via the selected one of the image forming apparatuses with respect to which the near field communication tagging is performed.
US09311034B2	Document printing system and method A document printing system configured to print documents received from a user device. The system comprises a remote server and a first local print server. The remote server is configured to communicate with one or more local print servers located on respective local networks, including the first local print server. The remote server receives print jobs from remote user devices and to maintain a global queue of print jobs. The first local print server is coupled to a first local network and to an input device for receiving user instructions. The first local print server receives print jobs from user devices, maintains a first local queue of print jobs, processes print jobs from the global queue of documents, and instructs a printing device to print a document in accordance with a print job, based upon user instructions received at the input device. The system is configured to determine whether the first local print server is accessible by a user device issuing a print job and, based on the determination, send the print job to the first local queue or to the global queue.
US09311031B2	Approach for printing policy-enabled electronic documents using locked printing and a shared memory data structure According to approach for printing policy-enabled electronic documents, when a locked print module determines that an electronic document contained in the PDF print data is a policy-enabled electronic document, the locked print module causes the PDF print data to be stored on the printing device and not immediately processed for printing. A PDF-to-postscript conversion module generates and stores in a common data structure in the shared memory a request for security data for the PDF print data. A policy client module retrieves the request from the common data structure in the shared memory, obtains security data for the PDF print data from a policy server, and stores the security data in the common data structure in the shared memory. The PDF-to-postscript conversion module uses the security data to decrypt the PDF print data and then converts the decrypted PDF print data into postscript data for printing by the printing device.
US09311028B2	Print job management apparatus A print job management apparatus includes a storage unit in which a plurality of print jobs are stored, a holding condition managing unit, and a print controlling unit. The holding condition managing unit determines whether any of the print jobs satisfy a holding condition. The print controlling unit transmits each print job that is determined to satisfy the holding condition through a communication unit to an image forming apparatus.
US09311026B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium An information processing apparatus comprises: a processing unit which performs a predetermined process on input data, and outputs the input data on which the predetermined process has been performed; a measurement unit configured to measure an output amount of the output data from the processing unit; a specifying unit configured to specify a period in which the predetermined process is performed by the processing unit; a determination unit configured to determine whether the output amount measured by the measurement unit in the specified period satisfies a predetermined condition; and an output unit configured to output a log associated with the predetermined process by the processing unit on the basis of the determination result.
US09311023B2	Increased concurrency of an initialization process of multiple data storage units of a volume This disclosure uses both an administrative thread and multiple worker threads (N) to process the LUN on-lining work in parallel at both the volume level and the LUN level. When the administrative thread receives the message to start the initialization, the administrative thread assigns the work for reading the VTOC information for the LUNs in a volume to one or more worker threads and moves on to perform additional initialization tasks. N worker threads work on N volumes in parallel. These worker threads then independently send messages (e.g., asynchronous messages) to the file system layer, and once the file system layer is done loading the required buffers, the file system layer sends replies back to the administrative thread. The administrative thread then again assigns work to the worker threads to finally bring the LUNs on-line.
US09311019B2	Storage system and method for accessing logical volumes A method and a storage system are provided for accessing volumes. The storage system provisions to a host, a place holder handle configured for allowing access to any volume selected by the host and allowed to be accessed by the host. The volume forms part of accessible volumes included in the storage system. The storage system receives from the host a first request for associating the place holder handle with a first selected volume from among the accessible volumes and enables the host to access the first selected volume in response to receiving an access request indicative of the place holder handle.
US09311018B2	Hybrid storage system for a multi-level RAID architecture Disclosed is a hybrid storage system, which can include a hybrid RAID controller coupled to a system control board. Coupled to the hybrid RAID controller are a DDR RAID controller and a HDD/Flash RAID controller. A set of DDR RAID control blocks are coupled to the DDR RAID controller, each of the set of DDR RAID control blocks can include a set of DDR memory disks. Further, a set of HDD RAID control blocks are coupled to the HDD/Flash RAID controller, each of the set of HDD RAID control blocks can include a set of HDD/Flash SSD Units.
US09311017B2	External device extension method for enabling an external device to be operated by a host without installing a driver The present invention relates to an external device extension method and an external device. The external device is provided with a storage device interface and firmware for implementing operation requests of standard functions of the storage device interface. When the external device is connected to a host, the firmware communicates with the host according to standards of the storage device interface, so that the external device is identified by the host as a standard external storage device, and one or more of operation names, parameter names, data names, and/or device status names supported by the external device are simulated as one or more directories and/or files. Upon receiving a standard directory and/or file read/write request from the host, the external device executes a corresponding external device operation instruction, processes written data, and returns, according to the read request, data formatted according to the request from the host. The use of the external device does not need any driver to be installed, and all functions of the external device can be accessed and used, so as to make it possible that some smart appliances using embedded software can be connected to and use the external devices.
US09311014B2	Storage system and methods of mapping addresses of snapshot families There is provided a storage system capable to maintain a snapshot family comprising a plurality of members having hierarchical relations therebetween, and a method of operating thereof. The method comprises generating a mapping data structure with mapping entries each comprising mappings for mapping a logical address range associated with the mapping entry into physical address ranges respectively correlated to representative members of the snapshot family; omitting mappings corresponding to omitted member(s) different from any of the one or more representative members sharing a respective range of physical addresses; responsive to an access request directed to a certain logical address range and a certain omitted member, determining, using a predefined rule related to the hierarchical and sequential relations between members of the snapshot family, a representative member from the one or more representative members; and responding to the access request by using a physical address range correlated to the representative member.
US09311013B2	Storage system and storage area allocation method having an automatic tier location function If a monitor measurement cycle is set as a long cycle, promotion in a short cycle cannot be performed; and even if the number of I/Os is very large in response to fluctuations of the number of I/Os in several minutes to several hours of normal work, pages will be promoted after waiting for several weeks. As a result, I/Os which could have normally accepted by an upper tier will be accepted by a lower tier, which results in a problem of worsening the performance efficiency. A monitoring system capable of preventing demotion due to temporary reduction of the number of I/Os for specific pages from a viewpoint of a long cycle and enabling prompt promotion in response to an increase of the number of U/Os for 3 the specific pages is realized.A load index value defined from a viewpoint of a long cycle and a load index value defined from a viewpoint of a short cycle are updated based on the number of I/Os which is counted cyclically for each storage area. Promotion and demotion are implemented based on a value(s) calculated from these load index values.
US09311005B2	Method to prevent I/O starvation of slower hosts in a multi-host environment A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for managing storage control unit input/output (I/0) operations in a multi-host environment. A storage control unit sends a busy status message when it has exhausted its resources to process new I/O requests. Once the utilization of the storage control unit's resources has subsided to a predetermined upper utilization value, it sends an availability status message to a first predetermined number of host systems that are owed an availability status message. After the first predetermined number of availability status messages are sent, the storage control unit then waits for a predetermined period of time before sending a second predetermined number of availability status messages.
US09311003B2	Exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data Exposing a proprietary disk file to a hypervisor as a native hypervisor disk file. In one example embodiment, a method of exposing a proprietary disk file to a hypervisor as a native hypervisor disk file includes various acts. For example, the method includes identifying a proprietary disk file having a proprietary format. The method further includes creating a plugin file corresponding to the proprietary disk file. The method also includes intercepting read requests directed to the plugin file. The method further includes responding to each of the read requests with data gathered from the plugin file and/or the proprietary disk file, where the data is structured such that the data appears to be gathered from a native hypervisor disk file due to being formatted in a native format of the hypervisor.
US09311000B2	Method for displaying keypad for smart devices According to a method for displaying a keypad for a smart device of the present invention, a keypad can be displayed in a transparent or a translucent state by being overlapped with an output window displayed on a display module of a smart device such that both of an input window and the output window can be used over a wide area, and the transparency or color of the keypad periodically changes such that a user can check the keypad position which is displayed instantaneously, thereby enabling precise input operations without having to memorize all of the keypad positions and solving problems such as the confusion caused by overlapping the output window with the transparent keypad.
US09310999B2	Inputting tone and diacritic marks by gesture Methods and systems for inputting tone and diacritic marks by gesture are provided. A method may include displaying a keypad for text input. Selection of a key and a gesture may be received. The gesture input may be semantically linked to a phonological property, a diacritic property, and/or a tone. A gesture input may include a substantially horizontal movement to the right associated with a first tone, a movement up and to the right associated with a second tone, a movement down and to the right, then up and to the right associated with a third tone, and a movement down and to the right associated with a fourth tone. A grapheme may be displayed based upon the selected key and the received gesture. With the diacritic and/or tone information, a grapheme may be predicted which may help to reduce the effort and speed of input.
US09310996B2	Mobile terminal and method for providing user interface thereof A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a display unit including a touch screen; a sensing unit configured to sense a touch input pattern on the display unit when the display unit is in a lock mode and displaying a lock screen; and a controller configured to detect at least a first code from the touch input pattern, said first code corresponding to at least a first portion of the touch input pattern, change the lock screen into a first screen on the display unit that is preset based on the detected first code, and release the lock mode with the first screen displayed when the sensing unit no longer senses the touch input pattern on the display unit.
US09310995B2	Touch input transitions Selection of input of a touch sensing surface is provided. Contacts on or near a surface are tracked to obtain touch information of the contacts. A first gesture is detected corresponding to first touch information of a number of contacts performing an activity, and a first input corresponding to the first gesture is selected. A second gesture is detected corresponding to second touch information of a number of contacts performing an activity. A determination of whether to select a second input corresponding to the second gesture is made. The second input is selected if third information satisfies a predetermined criteria, and the first input is maintained if the third information does not satisfy the predetermined criteria.
US09310992B2	Panning in a three dimensional environment on a mobile device This invention relates to panning in a three dimensional environment on a mobile device. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for navigating a virtual camera in a three dimensional environment on a mobile device having a touch screen. A user input is received indicating that an object has touched a first point on a touch screen of the mobile device and the object has been dragged to a second point on the touch screen. A first target location in the three dimensional environment is determined based on the first point on the touch screen. A second target location in the three dimensional environment is determined based on the second point on the touch screen. Finally, a three dimensional model is moved in the three dimensional environment relative to the virtual camera according to the first and second target locations.
US09310990B2	Portable electronic device and method of controlling same A method includes displaying a shutter adjacent to a boundary of an information display region on a display of a portable electronic device, the information display region for displaying first information; receiving an input associated with the shutter; and displaying second information.
US09310988B2	Scroll end effects for websites and content A system and machine-implemented method for providing a visual cue of overscrolling displayed content on an electronic device. When the end of a scrollable page or content has been reached, the visual cue corresponds to the user's physical scrolling input. The content in the window is effectively attached to the window so that when the end of the content is reached in one direction, the window containing the content is pulled in the same scrolling direction. The pulling in the scrolling direction occurs in a logarithmically decreasing manner, providing a tactile-like visual effect that the outer frame of the window is resisting the attempt to scroll further in the scrolling direction. The visual resistance effect may include squishing or stretching portions of the window without distorting the content within the window.
US09310984B2	Method of controlling three dimensional object and mobile terminal using the same A method is provided of controlling a 3D individual object on a map by displaying a 3D map image including a plurality of 3D individual objects on a first display area, selecting at least one 3D individual object, obtaining detailed information of the selected 3D individual object from a memory and displaying the detailed information.
US09310982B1	Immersive content to enhance user media experience Content corresponding to a literary work, movie, audio presentation, or other media is provided to a computing device associated with a user. Immersive content related to the content may be communicated to a computing device and presented to the user at times when the content is not being consumed. The formatting, communicational modes, apparent source, subject matter, or other aspects of the immersive content may correspond to the preferences or other information provided by the user. In this way, user engagement with a story or other media may be stimulated or enhanced when the user is not actively consuming the primary content.
US09310975B2	Automatically determining data transfer functionality for wires in a graphical diagram Configuring wires/icons in a diagram. The diagram may be an executable diagram such as a graphical program or a system diagram. The diagram may include a plurality of icons that are connected by wires, and the icons may visually represent functionality of the diagram. The diagram may be executable to perform the functionality. Displaying the diagram may include displaying a first wire in the diagram, where the first wire connects a first icon and a second icon. Data transfer functionality may be specified for the first wire and/or the first or second icon in the diagram. The data transfer functionality may be visually indicated in the diagram, e.g., by appearances of the first icon, the second icon, the first wire, and/or icons displayed proximate to these components of the diagram.
US09310969B2	Method for presenting documents using a reading list panel A reading list panel is displayed as a sidebar window with respect to a main window of a content viewing application. In response to a first input, a first article representation of a first article associated with a presentation page displayed in the main window is listed in the reading list panel, where the first article representation includes information identifying the first article. In response to a selection of a second article representation from the reading list panel, content of a second article represented by the second article representation is presented in a reader mode within the main window.
US09310964B2	Icon generation method Disclosed is an icon generation method, comprising: adjusting an original icon to a preset size for a certain resolution environment; determining statistics for the color values of all pixels of the original icon and calculating a dominant hue of the original icon; generating a background color based on a hue angle of the dominant hue and preset values of color saturation and brightness; applying the background color to a preset color gradient template to generate an icon background; cutting the adjusted icon by using a preset icon edge cutting template; and combining the icon background, the cut icon, and a preset icon foreground template to generate a final icon. Through the disclosed solution, new icons complying with a unified system style can be generated, and content consistency of the new icons can be best ensured.
US09310959B2	System and method for enhancing audio A system and method for enhancing audio, the method including receiving audio input tracks, with at least one audio input track including a restriction parameter, determining a restricted audio input track, where the restricted audio input track is the audio input track including the restriction parameter, manipulating another audio input track based on musical properties of the restricted audio input track, and combining the restricted audio input track and the manipulated audio input track into a single output audio track.
US09310957B2	Method and device for switching current information providing mode A method for switching a current information providing mode is provided, wherein the method comprises steps as follows: user context information related to a user device is firstly collected. A current user context of the user device is then identified in accordance with the collected user context information, so as to an identified consequence data is the generated. A current information providing mode suitable for the current user context of the user device is subsequently switched according to the consequence data.
US09310954B2	Apparatus and method for manufacturing a touch screen panel The apparatus for manufacturing the touch screen panel according to the present invention includes: a first roll by which a wound film is unwound; a second roll around which a film having an electrode pattern is wound; a guide roll disposed between the first and second rolls to guide the transfer of the film; a resin applying part applying a resin on the film to form a resin layer; a pattern molding part including a mold having a relief pattern and pressing the mold onto the resin layer to form an intaglio pattern on the resin layer; an electrode material applying part applying an electrode material on a surface of the resin; an electrode material sweeping part removing the electrode material from the surface of the resin layer; and a hardening part hardening the electrode material filled in the intaglio pattern of the resin surface.
US09310952B2	Capacitive touch system using both self and mutual capacitance Systems and methods for determining multiple touch events in a multi-touch sensor system are provided. The system may have a touch sensor including nodes defined by a plurality of electrodes, which may comprise a first and second set. The method may include measuring self capacitance for at least two electrodes, detecting a touched electrode, and measuring the mutual capacitance for only a subset of the nodes (e.g., fewer than all of the nodes and including at least the nodes corresponding to the touched electrodes) resulting in the detection of two or more touched nodes. The self capacitance measurements may be performed on each of the electrodes, and the touched electrodes may comprise electrodes from both the first and second sets. Alternatively, the self capacitance measurements may be performed only on electrodes in the first set, and the touched electrodes may comprise electrodes from only the first set.
US09310949B2	Touch-sensitive operating device for a motor vehicle and motor vehicle The invention relates to a touch-sensitive operating device (1) for a motor vehicle, having an actuation lever (2), in particular a steering column stalk, which has an elongate configuration, having a sensor arrangement comprising at least one touch-sensitive and/or proximity-sensitive sensor element (4) which is arranged on the actuation lever (2), and having an electronic evaluation device which is coupled to the at least one sensor element (4) and is configured to detect the at least one sensor element (4) being touched and/or the at least one sensor element (4) being approached. The evaluation device is configured to identify an operating gesture of an operator on the actuation lever on the basis of a combination of at least two detected touches on the sensor arrangement and/or approaches towards the sensor arrangement, and to trigger a predetermined operating function on the basis of the identified operating gesture.
US09310947B2	Display device A sense line drive circuit (24) (i) receives signals passing through capacitances and outputted via sense lines (SeL1, SeL2 . . . and SeLn) during a period other than a period during which image data is sequentially written to a plurality of pixels in a liquid crystal panel and (ii) detects where, in a plurality of portions where the sense lines (SeL1, SeL2 . . . and SeLn) and drive lines (DL2, DL2 . . . and DLn) are close to each other, a detection target is present.
US09310945B2	Touch-sensing display device A touch-sensing display device comprises a plurality of row electrodes and column electrodes, a capacitance detector, detecting first capacitance-variation values of the row electrodes and second capacitance-variation values of the column electrodes, and detecting third capacitance-variation values of each intersection of the row electrodes and the column electrodes. The processor counts the first number of the first and second capacitance-variation values, exceeding a first threshold, counts the second number of the first and second capacitance-variation values up to a maximum capacitor-variation value, and counts the third number of the third capacitance values, exceeding a second threshold. The processor makes the touch-sensing display device enter a bending mode when the first and second numbers are over a first predetermined number and a second predetermined number respectively, and the third number is below the first number. The processor further raises the second threshold when entering the bending mode.
US09310943B1	Multi-stage stylus scanning A system comprises a processing device and a capacitive sense array that includes a plurality of electrodes. The system performs a first scan of a plurality of electrodes in a capacitive sense array to determine a position of a stylus. The system also performs one or more additional scans of subsets of the plurality of electrodes to determine additional positions of the stylus. The system may continually perform the additional scans on of the subsets of the plurality of electrodes until the stylus is no longer detected.
US09310941B2	Touch sensor input tool with offset between touch icon and input icon In one embodiment, a method includes displaying an input tool comprising a first touch icon and a first input icon. The first touch icon may be visually separated from the first input icon by a predetermined distance. The first input icon may provide a graphical indication of an input associated with the first touch icon. The method may include determining an input based on a touch at or substantially near a location on a touch sensor associated with the first touch icon. The method may also include effecting the input as determined.
US09310939B2	Acoustic touch sensor A touch sensor comprises a substrate capable of propagating acoustic waves. The substrate includes a first surface having a touch sensitive region. A transducer is formed on the substrate. The transducer comprises a piezoelectric element which is thermally cured after being formed on the substrate. The transducer is configured for at least one of generating acoustic waves and detecting acoustic waves. Alternatively, the transducer may include a strip comprising the piezoelectric element.
US09310933B2	Optimization for host based touch processing Systems and methods are disclosed for determining a touch position from data received from a touch panel. In one implementation, an apparatus for processing a touch input signal includes a processor that may be configured for parallel processing, a touch device, a memory, operably connected to the processor, and configured to store processor instructions. The processor instructions can configure the processor to receive a plurality of data points corresponding to a plurality of touch events on the touch device, determine a center of mass estimate from the plurality of data points, determine a search radius of center of mass estimate, and determine an optimal touch point position based on the center of mass estimate and the search radius using the processor.
US09310929B2	Unlocking touch screen devices A method, system, and/or computer program product unlocks an electronic device that has a touchscreen. Multiple tactile inputs to a touchscreen on a locked electronic device are detected. A distance between the most distant tactile inputs is detected, and a relative position, as measured from the most distant tactile inputs, of other tactile inputs to the touchscreen is calculated. In response to the relative position of the other detected tactile inputs matching a stored positioning file for touchscreen tactile inputs, the electronic device is unlocked.
US09310923B2	Input device for touch sensitive devices A method for receiving data from an input device to a computing device through a touch interface. The method includes detecting an input device, synchronizing with the input device by receiving a position signal and activating an input device scan of the touch interface, receiving a data signal from the input device through at least one of a sense line or a drive line of the touch interface, and scanning the touch interface for a touch input by applying a stimulation signal to the at least one drive line and analyzing the at least one sense line.
US09310922B2	Method and apparatus for determining a selection option A method includes, displaying a plurality of selection options on a touch-sensitive display, detecting a touch at a touch location on the touch-sensitive display, determining a touch area based on the touch location, determining an overlap value based on a size of the touch area that overlaps a selection area associated with a selection option, and on a size of the selection area, and identifying a selection option based on the determined overlap value.
US09310918B2	Touch display having a reflective type display screen The present disclosure provides a display module, an electronic device and a control method thereof. The display module may comprise: a covering unit satisfying a first light transmittance, comprising a touch area; a sensing unit satisfying a second light transmittance, comprising a sensing layer, wherein the covering unit is arranged on a first side of the sensing layer, and the sensing layer is configured to sense a touch position of an operator in the touch area when the operator touches the touch area; a reflective type display unit, comprising a display layer and a reflective surface, wherein the display unit is arranged on a second side of the sensing layer, and the display layer and the reflective surface are respectively opposite to the sensing layer. The display unit displays images through the display layer, and a distance between the reflective surface and the sensing unit is larger than or equal to a distance between the display layer and the sensing unit, wherein an incident light arriving at the reflective surface forms a reflected light capable of transmitting through the sensing unit and the covering unit.
US09310917B2	Dynamic cross-talk mitigation for integrated touch screens A touch input device configured to mitigate the effects of dynamic cross talk noise is provided. The touch input device can dither an effective resistance of a plurality of gate lines proximal to the touch sensor panel in order to determine if a phase of a touch signal demodulator needs to be adjusted.
US09310916B2	Display to touch crosstalk compensation A touch sensitive display capable of compensating for crosstalk in the display is disclosed. Crosstalk in display components can be reduced, eliminated, or otherwise compensated for by reducing or eliminating parasitic capacitances that cause the crosstalk. To do so, gate voltages to the display components, such as thin film transistors (TFTs), that introduce the parasitic capacitances can be reduced or otherwise adjusted. In one approach, the gate voltage can be set at multiple different low levels to generate respective sets of touch signals having different amounts of crosstalk. The different crosstalk amounts can then be used to determine and compensate for the crosstalk in the touch signals. In another approach, gate voltage can be modulated between multiple different low levels to push crosstalk out of band with the generated touch signals. The out-of-band crosstalk can then be used to compensate for the crosstalk in the touch signals.
US09310915B2	Touch panel and driving method thereof An object is to provide a touch panel with high-accuracy and high-speed operation. A touch panel includes a plurality of pixels each including a display element and a photo sensor, a photo sensor reading circuit to which an output signal of the photo sensor is provided, a display element select circuit which provides an image signal to the display element, a plurality of edge sensitive latches provided in series, and a logic circuit. The logic circuit generates a signal by performing a logic operation on an output signal of the plurality of edge sensitive latches and provides the generated signal to the photo sensor reading circuit.

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