Document Document Title
US09373407B2 Non-volatile memory device with current injection sensing amplifier
A non-volatile memory device with a current injection sensing amplifier is disclosed.
US09373400B2 Vertical structure semiconductor memory devices and methods of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor memory device includes: a semiconductor region extending vertically from a first region of a substrate; a plurality of gate electrodes disposed on the first region of the substrate in a vertical direction, but separated from each other along a sidewall of the semiconductor region; a gate dielectric layer disposed between the semiconductor region and the plurality of gate electrodes; a substrate contact electrode extending vertically from the impurity-doped second region of the substrate; and an insulating region formed as an air gap between the substrate contact electrode and at least one of the plurality of gate electrodes.
US09373394B2 Reference column of semiconductor memory, and electronic device including the same
A reference column of a semiconductor memory includes a reference bit line; a reference source line; and first to Nth resistive memory cells disposed between the reference bit line and the reference source line. Data of a first state is stored in the first resistive memory cell and data of a second state is stored in the Nth resistive memory cell before a read operation, and the first and Nth resistive memory cells form current paths between the reference bit line and the reference source line in the read operation.
US09373390B1 Semiconductor memory device and method of programming the same
A semiconductor memory device, may include a memory cell array including memory cells, in which a page to be programmed within the memory cell array may include: a first memory cell programmed in a first program state; a second memory cell programmed in a second program state; and a third memory cell programmed in a third program state, and the second program state has a threshold voltage distribution higher than that of the first program state by one step or more, and a threshold voltage distribution lower than that of the third program state by one step or more, and a first main verification voltage for verifying the first program state is used as a third pre-verification voltage for verifying the third program state.
US09373388B1 Sense amplifier with pulsed control for pull-up transistors
A sense amplifier is provided with a pair of first pull-up transistors that are configured to charge a corresponding pair of output terminals while a delayed sense enable signal is not asserted and to stop charging the corresponding pair of output terminals while the delayed sense enable signal is asserted.
US09373387B1 Static random access memory (SRAM) arrays having substantially constant operational yields across multiple modes of operation
Aspects disclosed include static random access memory (SRAM) arrays having substantially constant operational yields across multiple modes of operation. In one aspect, a method of designing SRAM arrays with multiple modes operation is provided. The method includes determining performance characteristics associated with each mode of operation. SRAM bit cells configured to operate in each mode of operation are provided to the SRAM array. SRAM bit cells are biased to operate in a mode of operation using dynamic adaptive assist techniques, wherein the SRAM bit cells achieve a substantially constant operational yield across the modes. The SRAM bit cells have a corresponding type, wherein the number of SRAM bit cell types in the method is less than the number of modes of operation. Thus, each SRAM array may achieve a particular mode of operation without requiring a separate SRAM bit cell type for each mode, thereby reducing costs.
US09373384B2 Integrated circuit device having programmable input capacitance
An embodiment is directed to an integrated circuit device having programmable input capacitance. For example, a programmable register of a memory device may store a value representative of an adjustment to the input capacitance value of a control pin. An embodiment is directed to controlling the skew of a synchronous memory system by allowing programmability of the lighter loaded pins in order to increase their load to match the more heavily loaded pins. By matching lighter loaded pins to more heavily loaded pins, the system exhibits improved synchronization of propagation delays of the control and address pins. In addition, an embodiment provides the ability to vary the loading depending on how many ranks are on the device.
US09373383B2 STT-MRAM sensing technique
Embodiments are directed to a system for sensing a data state of a selected memory cell. The system includes a first reference cell, a sample-and-hold sense amplifier and a switching system. During a first sensing phase the switching system is configured to open a first series communication path that places the selected memory cell in series with the first reference cell, thereby creating a first series voltage divider. During the first sensing phase, the switching system is further configured to open a first branch communication path that taps an input of the sample-and-hold sense amplifier into a first divided voltage between the selected memory cell and the first reference cell.
US09373379B2 Active control device and semiconductor device including the same
An active control device and a semiconductor device including the same are disclosed, which can control an active command in response to a pin change of a command address. The active control device includes: a bank decoding unit configured to decode a bank address to output a bank selection signal; an active controller configured to output a first active control signal, a second active control signal, and an active delay signal to control an active operation of a bank in response to the bank selection signal, a first active signal, and a second active signal; an address latch unit configured to latch a row address to output an address delay signal; and an address output unit configured to output an address corresponding to the address delay signal.
US09373378B1 Semiconductor device for driving sub word lines
The semiconductor device incorporates a selected sub word line driver and a first voltage switching circuit. The selected sub word line driver has an input node connected to a selected main word line, an output node connected to a selected sub word line, a reference node supplied with a common reference voltage, and a power node. The first voltage switching circuit selectively supplies a first power voltage, a second power voltage, or the common reference voltage to the power node of the selected sub word line driver. In an active mode, the first voltage switching circuit supplies the first power voltage to pull the selected sub word line to a logic high level. In a precharge mode, the first voltage switching circuit supplies the common reference voltage and then supplies the second power voltage, thereby pulling the selected sub word line to a logic low level. A voltage level of the second power supply node is lower than a voltage level of the first power voltage and higher than the common reference voltage.
US09373376B2 Latency control circuit and semiconductor apparatus using the same
A latency control circuit may include a first latency control section configured to control a latency of a delay-locked termination signal according to a first divided clock signal, and generate a first preliminary signal, and a second latency control section configured to control the latency of the delay-locked termination signal according to a first divided clock bar signal which is generated by inverting the first divided clock signal, and generate a second preliminary signal. The latency control circuit may also include a signal combination unit configured to shift the first preliminary signal and the second preliminary signal by latency values set differently from each other, according to the first divided clock signal, and generate a first combined signal and a second combined signal, and a signal generation unit configured to generate a latency-controlled termination signal in response to the first combined signal and the second combined signal.
US09373375B2 Non-volatile memory validity
An embodiment provides a method, including: reading validity timing information written to a non-volatile memory device; and determining validity of the non-volatile memory device using the validity timing information read from the non-volatile memory device. Other aspects are described and claimed.
US09373374B2 Semiconductor apparatus capable of self-tuning a timing margin
A semiconductor apparatus may include a delay-locked loop configured to generate a delay-locked clock signal through a delay locking operation of an internal clock signal and an external clock signal, and delay an internal read command by a delay time tuned in the delay locking operation and generate a delay-locked internal command. The semiconductor apparatus may include a tuning control block configured to generate the internal read command in response to a self-tuning enable signal generated by determining a delay locking completion time of the delay-locked loop. The semiconductor apparatus may include a timing tuning block configured to generate delay control signals according to a phase difference of the delay-locked clock signal and the delay-locked internal command, and tune a delay time of the internal read command according to the delay control signals and generate a timing-tuned read command.
US09373372B2 Register file device
A register file device includes: a multi-port latch; and a write circuit that generates a signal to be written in the multi-port latch, the write circuit generating the signal on the basis of a plurality of data groups each including a write control signal, a write address, and a piece of write data, wherein the write circuit includes: a detection circuit that detects at least two write control signals occurred simultaneously among write control signals, and a changing circuit that changes write data corresponding to one of the write control signal to become same as write data corresponding to another of the write control signal.
US09373365B2 Method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting voltage reference to optimize an I/O system
Described herein is an apparatus for dynamically adjusting a voltage reference level for optimizing an I/O system to achieve a certain performance metric. The apparatus comprises: a voltage reference generator to generate a voltage reference; and a dynamic voltage reference control unit, coupled with the voltage reference generator, to dynamically adjust a level of the voltage reference in response to an event. The apparatus is used to perform the method comprising: generating a voltage reference for an input/output (I/O) system; determining a worst case voltage level of the voltage reference; dynamically adjusting, via a dynamic voltage reference control unit, the voltage reference level based on determining the worst case voltage level; and computing a center of an asymmetrical eye based on the dynamically adjusted voltage reference level.
US09373354B2 Method and system for preventing unreliable data operations at cold temperatures
Systems and methods for reducing problems and disadvantages associated with protecting data during cold excursions are provided. A method for preventing unreliable data operations at cold temperatures may include determining whether a first internal temperature of a hard disk drive (HDD) is below a threshold temperature. The method may also include initiating an artificial seek operation if the first internal temperature is below the threshold temperature.
US09373353B2 Negative select access mechanism
A technique for storage and retrieval of objects is provided. A holding structure is configured to hold the objects, and the objects are stored in the holding structure such that the objects can slide in and out of the holding structure. An elastic mechanism is at the back of the holding structure, and the elastic mechanism pushes the objects toward the front of the holding structure such that the objects are accessible at the front of the holding structure. A selector mechanism is positionable to push the objects that are adjacent to a selected object to be retrieved toward the back of the holding structure, and the selector mechanism exposes a portion of the selected object so that the selected object can be engaged at the exposed portion. A gripper is configured to engage the exposed portion of the selected object and pull the selected object from the holding structure.
US09373352B2 Optical information reproduction apparatus and optical information reproduction method
An optical information reproduction apparatus using holography can appropriately correct an angle and a wavelength of a reference beam in a direction perpendicular to multiplexing while data is reproduced. In the optical information reproduction apparatus which reproduces information from an optical information recording medium by using holography, an angular error signal in the direction perpendicular to multiplexing of the reference beam is generated by using a signal detected by a light detecting unit. A perpendicular angle adjustment element adjusts an angle of the reference beam in the direction perpendicular to multiplexing, based on the angular error signal. A wavelength error signal is generated from a signal detected by the light detecting unit, and a wavelength is adjusted based on the wavelength error signal.
US09373351B2 System and method for dual-beam recording and readout of multilayered optical data storage media
A system and method of operating a dual-beam detection system of a holographic data storage disc, including: impinging a data beam on a data layer of the holographic data storage disc; impinging a tracking beam on a tracking element of the holographic data storage disc; detecting a reflection of the tracking beam from the tracking element; and coordinating position of the data beam relative to the tracking beam.
US09373350B2 Optical medium reproducing apparatus and optical medium reproducing method
An optical medium reproducing apparatus that optically reproduces an optical medium on which a plurality of tracks is formed in which a beam returning from the optical medium is divided into a first region of an outside portion and a second region of an inside region, according to the shape of the pupil of an object lens, and crosstalk between the tracks is reduced by using a first detection signal of the first region and a second detection signal of the second region.
US09373343B2 Method and system for signal transmission control
An audio signal with a temporal sequence of blocks or frames is received or accessed. Features are determined as characterizing aggregately the sequential audio blocks/frames that have been processed recently, relative to current time. The feature determination exceeds a specificity criterion and is delayed, relative to the recently processed audio blocks/frames. Voice activity indication is detected in the audio signal. VAD is based on a decision that exceeds a preset sensitivity threshold and is computed over a brief time period, relative to blocks/frames duration, and relates to current block/frame features. The VAD and the recent feature determination are combined with state related information, which is based on a history of previous feature determinations that are compiled from multiple features, determined over a time prior to the recent feature determination time period. Decisions to commence or terminate the audio signal, or related gains, are outputted based on the combination.
US09373341B2 Method and system for bias corrected speech level determination
Method for measuring level of speech determined by an audio signal in a manner which corrects for and reduces the effect of modification of the signal by the addition of noise thereto and/or amplitude compression thereof, and a system configured to perform any embodiment of the method. In some embodiments, the method includes steps of generating frequency banded, frequency-domain data indicative of an input speech signal, determining from the data a Gaussian parametric spectral model of the speech signal, and determining from the parametric spectral model an estimated mean speech level and a standard deviation value for each frequency band of the data; and generating speech level data indicative of a bias corrected mean speech level for each frequency band, including using at least one correction value to correct the estimated mean speech level for the frequency band, where each correction value has been predetermined using a reference speech model.
US09373339B2 Speech intelligibility enhancement system and method
A speech intelligibility enhancement (SIE) system and method is described that improves the intelligibility of a speech signal to be played back by an audio device when the audio device is located in an environment with loud acoustic background noise. In an embodiment, the audio device comprises a near-end telephony terminal and the speech signal comprises a speech signal received over a communication network from a far-end telephony terminal for playback at the near-end telephony terminal.
US09373335B2 Processing audio objects in principal and supplementary encoded audio signals
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed that can combine audio content from two encoded input signals into a new encoded output signal without requiring a decode or re-encode of audio content in either encoded input signal. Encoded data representing audio content and spatial location of audio objects in two different input encoded signals are combined to generate an encoded output signal that has encoded data representing audio objects from both of the input encoded signals.
US09373332B2 Coding device, decoding device, and methods thereof
Provided are a coding device, a decoding device, and methods thereof, with which it is possible to implement high sound quality coding and decoding in layered coding (scalable coding or embedded coding) wherein each layer comprises a plurality of bit rates (multi-rate). In the coding device (100), a feature analysis unit (101) extracts feature values of an input signal. Then a bit rate determination unit (102) determines, on the basis of the feature values of the input signal, a combination of a coding rate (low region coding rate) of a low region signal coding unit (104) which carries out coding of a low region part of the input signal and a coding rate (high region coding rate) of a high region signal coding unit (105) which carries out coding of a high region part of the input signal.
US09373324B2 Applying speaker adaption techniques to correlated features
Systems and methods for applying feature-space maximum likelihood linear regression (fMLLR) to correlated features are provided. A method for applying fMLLR to correlated features, comprises mapping the correlated features into an uncorrelated feature space, applying fMLLR in the uncorrelated feature space to obtain fMLLR transformed features, and mapping the fMLLR transformed features back to a correlated feature space.
US09373323B2 System and method for generating manually designed and automatically optimized spoken dialog systems
Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for generating a natural language spoken dialog system. The method includes nominating a set of allowed dialog actions and a set of contextual features at each turn in a dialog, and selecting an optimal action from the set of nominated allowed dialog actions using a machine learning algorithm. The method includes generating a response based on the selected optimal action at each turn in the dialog. The set of manually nominated allowed dialog actions can incorporate a set of business rules. Prompt wordings in the generated natural language spoken dialog system can be tailored to a current context while following the set of business rules. A compression label can represent at least one of the manually nominated allowed dialog actions.
US09373317B2 Headset and headphone
An earphone including at least one microphone, an analog pre-emphasis filter for pre-emphasis of the microphone signal, an AD-converter for digitizing the output signal of the pre-emphasis filter, an active noise compensation unit for performing active noise compensation based on the pre-emphasized and digitized output signal of the microphone and for outputting a counter sound signal, and a DA-converter for performing analog/digital conversion of the counter sound produced by the active noise compensation unit.
US09373309B2 Stringed musical instrument having inlaid fretboard and method of making the same
A stringed musical instrument comprises a neck and a cavity formed in the neck. The cavity includes a curved bottom surface and a chamfer in a sidewall of the cavity. An island is formed in the cavity. A fretboard is formed comprising a veneer and adapted to fit the cavity. The fretboard includes an opening adapted to encompass the island in the cavity. The cavity or fretboard is formed using a computer-controlled or numerically-controlled milling machine, router, water jet, or laser. The fretboard is mounted within the cavity, and the island in the cavity is disposed within the opening in the fretboard. Mounting the fretboard within the cavity includes flexing a sidewall of the cavity. An edge of the fretboard contacts a sidewall of the cavity without a visible gap.
US09373307B2 Apparatus and method for reducing current consumption in portable terminal with flexible display
A portable device with a flexible display and a method for displaying information in the portable device with a flexible display are provided. The portable device includes a sensor for detecting at least one of a user's face and an ambient brightness, the flexible display including a first area and a second area, and a controller for displaying information in the first area when at least one of the user's face is detected and the ambient brightness has a value greater than a threshold, and for displaying the information in the second area when at least one of the user's face is not detected and the ambient brightness has value less than the threshold.
US09373306B2 Direct viewer projection
Techniques are disclosed for direct viewer projection, which involves having each pixel's emitted light aimed at or otherwise provided directly to the target pupil of a viewing person. In one embodiment, the techniques are implemented using steerable, collimated light sources fashioned into an array to effectively provide a display screen. Each steerable, collimated light source of the array corresponds to one pixel of a given image at a given viewing location, such that no one light source shows a whole image; rather, the whole array is used to display an image. The array can be scanned to provide different images to different viewing locations. The content projected to the different locations may be related (e.g., a movie) or unrelated (e.g., two different movies). A specific viewer can be identified and tracked such that the content is only projected to the target viewer's eyes and no one else's.
US09373304B2 Display control method for adjusting color light source corresponding to color data
A display control method used in a display with color light sources. Whether a frame is tending to at least one of colors of color lights is determined. When the frame is tending to the at least one of the colors, executing at least one of steps of: (1) adjusting the corresponding color source of the frame to which color the frame is not tending to be weak, dark, or even turned off, and (2) adjusting the corresponding color light source of the frame to which color the frame is tending to be strong or light.
US09373299B2 Display device and method of forming a display device
A display device and method of forming a display device are provided. A display device includes: a first auxiliary electrode coupled to a first power voltage supply line; a second auxiliary electrode coupled to a second power voltage supply line with a first link electrode; an active area, comprising: scan lines; data lines; first voltage lines; second voltage lines; and pixels; and a display drive circuit configured to supply data voltages to data links coupled to the data lines, wherein the first auxiliary electrode, the second auxiliary electrode, the first power voltage supply line, the second power voltage supply line, the data links, and the display drive circuit being in a bezel area corresponding to an area outside the active area, the second auxiliary electrode being between the first auxiliary electrode and the active area, the first auxiliary electrode being between the second auxiliary electrode and the display drive circuit.
US09373296B2 Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes pixels each including first and second sub-pixels having different transmittances from each other under a same gray scale, gate lines commonly connected to the first and second sub-pixels to apply a gate signal to the first and second sub-pixels, a first data line applying a first data signal to one of the first and second sub-pixels, and a second data line applying a second data signal to the other one of the first and second sub-pixels. The first sub-pixel has the transmittance lower than the transmittance of the second sub-pixel, and the second sub-pixel connected to an i-th gate line of the gate lines is disposed between the first sub-pixel connected to the i-th gate line and the first sub-pixel connected to an (i+1)th gate line of the gate lines.
US09373293B2 Display panel and display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a source driver and a display panel. The source driver provides a plurality of pixel voltages which respectively correspond to a maximum gray-level voltage or a minimum gray-level voltage. The display panel includes a plurality of data lines, a plurality of pixel switches, a plurality of pixel capacitors, and a plurality of gray-level switches. The data lines are coupled to the source driver to receive the pixel voltages. Each pixel switch is respectively coupled to the corresponding data line to transmit the corresponding pixel voltage. Each pixel capacitor is respectively coupled between the corresponding pixel switch and a common voltage to receive the corresponding pixel voltage. Each gray-level switch is respectively coupled to the corresponding pixel capacitor in parallel and respectively receives a gray-level control signal. The gray-level switches regulate voltage drops across the pixel capacitors according to the corresponding gray-level control signals.
US09373289B2 Driving methods and circuit for bi-stable displays
The disclosure is directed toward driving methods and a driving circuit which are particularly suitable for bi-stable displays. In certain embodiments, methods provide the fastest and most pleasing appearance to the desired image while maintaining the optimal image quality over the life expectancy of an electrophoretic display device.
US09373287B2 Reduced power displays
A backlight for a display comprises a plurality of independently controllable groups of light emitters. The brightness levels of the groups of light emitters are controllable by pulse width modulation (PWM) signals generated by PWM driving circuits. The phases of PWM signals to different groups of light emitters are configured to be offset by different amounts, so as to stagger the start times of light emitters of different groups. Such phase-shifting of PWM signals may result in total power consumption that ramps up more gradually, is distributed more evenly over time, and is held to a lower maximum value than if the same PWM signals were not phase-shifted. The duration of a first PWM cycle of PWM signals for an image may also be made longer than subsequent PWM cycles for the image so as to extend the initial power ramp-up time.
US09373284B2 LED backlight driving circuit, LCD device, and method for driving the LED backlight driving circuit
A light emitting diode (LED) backlight driving circuit includes a power supply, an LED lightbar coupled to the power supply, and a constant current driving chip coupled to a control end of the power supply and coupled to a cathode of the LED lightbar. The constant current driving chip includes an adjusting dimming unit coupled to the cathode of the LED lightbar, and the adjusting dimming unit adjusts an external pulse-width modulation (PWM) dimming signal. A controllable switch unit is connected in series between an output end of the power supply and the constant current driving chip, and logical operation of the controllable switch unit is relative to logical operation of the adjusting dimming unit. The controllable switch unit turns off when the adjusting dimming unit turns off or before the adjusting dimming unit turns off, and the controllable switch unit turns on when the adjusting dimming unit turns on or after the adjusting dimming unit turns on.
US09373281B2 Pixel unit circuit, compensating method thereof and display device
A pixel unit circuit, a compensating method thereof and a display device. The pixel unit circuit includes a driving transistor, a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a fourth transistor, a storage capacitor and a light-emitting device (OLED). The pixel unit circuit, the compensating method thereof and the display device may compensate the light emitting device by combining an internal compensation and an external compensation, and have advantages of both the internal compensation and the external compensation. The Mura phenomenon caused by non-uniformity in threshold voltages or drifts of threshold voltages in the N-type depletion or enhanced driving transistor TFT may be eliminated effectively by the internal compensation, which may enhance a display effect. Additionally, the pixel unit circuit, the compensating method thereof and the display device may have a function for extracting characteristics of the driving TFT and characteristics of the light emitting device, which may be applicable to the external compensation driving effectively.
US09373276B2 LED block display apparatus for providing educational function and control method thereof
According to one embodiment of the present invention, an LED block display apparatus for providing an educational function comprises: a plurality of LED blocks that include a plurality of color LEDs; and a controller for providing a text completion function using the LED blocks. The controller transmits a text display signal for displaying glow text to the LED blocks so that the text can be displayed as being glow by the LED blocks. When the LED block related to the text display signal is clicked, the controller transmits a first color change signal for changing color to the clicked LED block, and outputs a notification signal when colors of the LED blocks related to the text display signal are all changed.
US09373275B2 Level shifter of driving circuit and operating method thereof
A level shifter applied in a driving circuit of a display is disclosed. The level shifter includes a first stage of level shifting unit and a second stage of level shifting unit and used to convert an input voltage signal with low voltage level into an output voltage signal with high voltage level. In one example, the total number of the transistors needed by the level shifter is much fewer than that of the prior art, and additional voltage sources are not needed to provide middle voltages. The manufacturing cost of the exemplary level shifter can be reduced and the signal level shifting efficiency of multi-power domain can be enhanced.
US09373269B2 Patch pump training device
Described are methods and systems to train a user in the proper operation of a manual patch pump to ensure that the user can attach the patch pump to a suitable location on the skin of the user and actuate the pump correctly in accordance with a prescribed dosing schedule or a self-calculated dosing schedule.
US09373265B2 Conditioning apparatus and related method
In one embodiment, a conditioning apparatus for conditioning a user includes a target, and an illumination source spaced apart from the target. The illumination source is configured to project a light upon the target for use in response to movement of the user.
US09373258B2 Distributed maintenance decision and support system and method
The present disclosure is directed to a computer that receives weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server and automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”) collected information from an AVL server, accesses a material performance specification for at least one treatment material, and determines, based on the weather information and/or AVL collected information and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation for a selected roadway segment and/or route.
US09373257B2 Proactive driver warning
A system for warning a driver comprises an input interface and a warning determiner. The input interface is to receive a set of warnings, wherein a warning of the set of warnings is associated with a road segment and a set of conditions. The warning determiner is to determine that a current location matches the road segment associated with the warning and, in the event that it is determined to warn a driver based at least in part on the warning and the set of current conditions, to indicate to warn the driver.
US09373256B2 Vehicle presence detection system
A vehicle presence detection system for effectively detecting the presence of a vehicle in a location based upon a measured radio wave signal strength by a receiver. The vehicle presence detection system generally includes a main receiver adapted for receiving a radio wave signal from a transmitter and a control unit in communication with the main receiver that determines a signal strength of the radio wave signal received by the main receiver. The control unit determines that a vehicle is near the transmitter or the main receiver when the signal strength of the radio wave signal is reduced by a threshold loss.
US09373254B1 Infrared communications on a mobile device
A system and a method are disclosed for compensating for discontinuous clock signals, default-high data buses, when generating and receiving an infrared signal on a mobile device with minimal hardware. The system can compensate for clock signals that are discontinuous using an effective bitrate in place of a nominal bitrate when processing signals. The effective bitrate can be determined by determining the length of a break in the clock signal that is discontinuous and adjusting the nominal bitrate based on the length and recurrence frequency of the break in the clock signal. Additionally, processed signals transferred on default-high data buses can be inverted to ensure the correct IR signal is output or received.
US09373249B2 Wi-Fi/radio frequency converting device
A Wi-Fi/radio frequency (RF) converting device includes a Wi-Fi transceiver, a multiplexing converting module, and a RF transceiver. The Wi-Fi transceiver receives a Wi-Fi control signal from a control signal generator. The multiplexing converting module receives the Wi-Fi control signal from the Wi-Fi transceiver and converts the Wi-Fi control signal into a RF control signal. The RF transceiver receives the RF control signal from the multiplexing converting module and sends the RF control signal to a plurality of electric elements. An RF extension device may be provided to share the signal transmission between the electric elements and the Wi-Fi/RF converting device.
US09373248B2 Remote control with user profile capability
A control unit (101), such as a remote control device, includes a profile selector (104). The profile selector (104), which may be a single profile selector button integrated into the side or top of a remote control, allows quick and simple selection of an operating mode or user profile. The control unit (101) includes an indicator (107) that provides indicia of the currently selected mode or profile. Examples of indicators include multicolored lights and display devices. Where multicolored lights are used as the indicator (107), actuation of the profile selector (104) causes the indicator (107) to change from a first color to a second color.
US09373244B2 Base and display device having a sensing component for detecting a remote controller
The present invention provides a base, which includes a base body used to support a display panel, wherein the base further includes an alarm device being capable of emitting an alarm signal. The alarm device includes an alarm element and a sensing component for detecting a remote controller. A placement groove is capable of accommodating the remote controller therein is provided in the base body. The sensing component is provided in the placement groove, and the alarm element is capable of emitting the alarm signal in the case of the sensing component failing to detect the remote controller after the display panel is powered off. (FIG. 1)
US09373243B2 Connected gateway for an abatement device processing raw data
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are presented herein for providing lower level physical-layer gateway functionalities and upper-level application functionalities; a system designed with flexible configurations in order to support a wide range of connected applications. The system includes a processor that executes machine instructions to perform operations. The operations comprise: receiving sensor data from a sensor device located in a building; converting the sensor data from a raw state to a physical measurement; and activating an abatement device situated in the building as a function of the physical measurement.
US09373242B1 Systems and methods for sensing occurrences of hand washing events
A system for sensing occurrences of hand washing events includes a dispenser of a hand sanitizing solution and a motion sensor that is coupled to the dispenser. The motion sensor is configured to sense vibrations of the dispenser. When at least a threshold amount of movement is sensed, logic is configured to analyze samples from the motion sensor in order to determine whether the sensed vibrations result from activation of the dispenser. If so, the dispenser activation is logged and reported for use within a system, such as a system for monitoring compliance with a hand washing policy.
US09373231B2 Print data generation apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
A print data generation apparatus generating print data includes a processor, and a memory configured to store a database having a plurality of records in which texts are respectively set for fields, template data which is associated with one of operation keys and in which at least arrangement positions of the texts to be printed are set, link information associating arrangement positions in the template data with the fields of the database, and computer-readable instructions instructing the processor to execute steps including detecting operation of the operation keys, selecting, from among the plurality of records of the database, the record to be used for printing, and generating print data such that the texts that are respectively set for the fields of the selected record are arranged in the arrangement positions associated with the fields by link information, by using the template data corresponding to the operated operation key.
US09373224B2 Configuring and controlling wagering game compatibility
A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In some embodiments, the operations can include presenting a primary wagering game and receiving a request to present a secondary game in connection with the primary wagering game. The primary wagering game and the secondary game can be separate applications that require interactivity with each other (e.g., provide required functionality to each other, communicate shared data with each other, etc.). The operations can further include determining that an application programming interface (“API”) provides the required interactivity so that the secondary game can function in conjunction with the primary wagering game without problems (e.g., can successfully plug-in to the primary wagering game). The operations can further determine optional and non-optional requirements and determine compatibilities based on the optional and non-optional requirements. Further, the operations can add functionality to the primary wagering game, the secondary game, or the API, to enable compatibility.
US09373221B2 Method and system for paying out credit by means of game machines
A method pays out credit via a system having a server and a number of game machines connected to the server and operated by a player. A game machine has a game unit and a payout unit that can be activated by a player for paying out a credit via a confirmation ticket or a data storage medium. When a credit is present, the game unit allows a game to be played, and when a credit is present and the payout unit is activated, a data set is transmitted to the server, the data set contains the amount of the credit. The data set is stored upon being deposited in the server, and a release data set is transmitted back to the game machine if the data set is stored. A confirmation ticket is provided when the release data set is deposited at the respective game machine, and the confirmation ticket is dispensed to the player.
US09373217B2 Gaming machine and control method thereof
A gaming machine 10 has: a display device 12 configured to display a plurality of symbols to be continuously arranged; and a controller 30. The controller 30 executes the processing operations of: (a1) executing game processing and then according to a result of the game processing, determining whether or not to scroll at least one array of the symbols; (a2) scrolling the symbol array according to a result of the determination; and (a3) carrying out processing according to a result of the scroll.
US09373214B2 Game presenting system
To provide a game presenting system having a plurality of game systems for each executing a process of a game in which a plurality of users participate, and a game presenting machine for presenting a situation of the game executed by the game system, wherein the game presenting machine obtains a motion image related to the game executed by each of the plurality of game systems, and produces a game presenting screen image showing, as a list, at least some of the plurality of motion images obtained.
US09373209B2 Command input based on data-carrier orientation
A command can be input into a system using a data carrier such as, for example, a card. The command is determined based on the orientation of the data carrier relative to a reader of the system. Different commands can be input by changing the orientation of the data carrier.
US09373208B2 Secure remote control for operating closures such as garage doors
Actuation of an access closure such as a garage door may be initiated by a remote control (RC) if a correct authentication code is received by the RC and/or if a designated authorization device such as a mobile phone is within near field communication transceiver range of the RC.
US09373207B2 Central network for the automated control of vehicular traffic
Methods and systems for a traffic control system provide arrangements and processes for managing automated vehicles. The traffic control system can register vehicles and then control the operation of the vehicles through a section of roadway. The automated control includes the communication of directions and other messages that ensure the proper function of the vehicle while under the guidance of the traffic control system.
US09373204B1 System and method for ticket validation
A method and system is provided for facilitating ticket exchange by validating ticket authenticity. Images of the barcodes of tickets are captured and decoded so that the encoded ticket information may be analyzed. Encoded ticket information is compared to event ticket information stored in a ticketing database, and the result is transmitted to prospective buyers to ensure authenticity and establish confidence in the sale. Tickets may also be pre-validated by ticket holders or designated sellers of ticketing companies, who are located near the event venue. Buyers interested in purchasing tickets may locate pre-validated tickets using GPS.
US09373202B2 Vehicle information recording apparatus
A vehicle information recording apparatus for a vehicle includes a collision determination section and an information management section. The collision determination section determines the presence or absence of a collision between the vehicle and an object based on (i) detection values of impact sensors which detect impacts applied to the vehicle and (ii) detection values by proximity sensors which detect an approach of the object to the vehicle. The information management section records collision data concerning the collision based on a determination result by the collision determination section. This enables a detection of a collision with an object as a recording target while reducing influence of vibration or noise.
US09373200B2 Monitoring vehicle usage
A method for monitoring vehicle usage is described. In one embodiment, the method includes detecting a vehicle event and detecting a query from a mobile device. The query includes a Wi-Fi probe request or Bluetooth inquiry. The method includes identifying a mobile device identifier from the query and associating the mobile device identifier with the vehicle event.
US09373195B2 Display control device, display control method, and program
An apparatus comprising a memory storing instructions and a control unit is disclosed. The control unit may be configured to execute the instructions to: acquire an image of real space, detect an object of interest within the real space image, obtain a still image of the object. and display a virtual image relating to the object superimposed on the still image.
US09373194B2 Computing devices and methods for navigating around a surface of three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system representations of 3D objects
The present disclosure relates to navigating around geographic maps within a map viewport display. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to navigating around a surface of a 3D, geographic coordinate system representation of a body using a pan feature while North is locked. In response to a user activating a pan feature of a navigation interface, a spin angle and, or a swing angle is calculated and the globe is revolved around a spin-axis and/or a swing-axis while revolution around a rotate-axis is locked.
US09373191B2 Generating an exterior geometry of a building based on a corresponding collection of interior geometry
The disclosed subject matter relates to computer implemented methods for generating an exterior geometry of a building based on a corresponding collection of interior geometry. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a collection of interior geometry data of a building. The interior geometry data of the building corresponds to one or more levels. Each of the level(s) is associated with a corresponding vertical span, and to one or more 2-D section polygons. The method further includes extruding the 2-D section polygons into 2.5-D section polygons, by assigning to each of the 2-D section polygons, the vertical span associated with the level(s) to which the 2-D section polygons correspond. The method further includes constructing a 2.5-D merged polygon set based on the extruded 2.5-D section polygons. The outer shell of the 2.5-D merged polygon set corresponds to an exterior geometry corresponding to the building.
US09373183B2 Removing an occlusion from an image
Systems, methods, and devices for reducing an occlusion in an image are described herein. For example, one or more embodiments include a method including providing image information from a first image taken from a light field camera, analyzing image information from multiple sub-aperture images extracted from the image information of the first image to separate foreground and background appearance information, creating a mask of an occlusion based on the separated foreground and background appearance information, and rendering a second, modified image where the mask has been applied to reduce the occlusion in the modified image.
US09373182B2 Memory sharing via a unified memory architecture
A method and system for sharing memory between a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU) of a computing device are disclosed herein. The method includes allocating a surface within a physical memory and mapping the surface to a plurality of virtual memory addresses within a CPU page table. The method also includes mapping the surface to a plurality of graphics virtual memory addresses within an I/O device page table.
US09373178B2 High dynamic range displays having wide color gamut and energy efficiency
Several embodiments of display systems that have wide color gamut performance are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a display system comprises a plurality of emitters, said emitters emanating light into an optical path; a first modulator, said first modulator comprising a plurality of colored subpixels and wherein said first modulator transmitting light emanating from said emitters in said optical path; and a color notch filter, said color notch filter placed in said optical path for conditioning or convolving light together with said first modulator.
US09373177B2 Determination of an optimum colour combination of an image on a background by measurement of response time of a subject viewer
Recently there has been an increase in awareness of work/life stressors and their debilitating affect on human functionality. These stressors can arise from environmental conditions, poor quality artificial lighting and/or too much or too little ambient lighting, poorly configured or ineffectual display screens. The invention includes a method of presenting an image to be viewed by the subject on a background of a first color, and by way of an iterative process a user is led through a series of screens in order to determine their optimum color combination. A means is provided for storing reaction times and for varying the image to be viewed in a second and subsequent interval, so as to derive second and subsequent reaction times. An optimum color is selected that corresponds to the quickest reaction time.
US09373175B2 Apparatus for estimating of vehicle movement using stereo matching
An apparatus for estimating movement of a vehicle using stereo image matching is provided, which divides the stereo image information into ground, background and object labels and measures information about rotation and movement of the vehicle using the label and background labels.
US09373168B2 Method for automatically adjusting a focal plane of a digital pathology image
An intelligent autofocus method and device for a digital pathology image, method are device are able to couple a feedback from the behavior of the user, for example by gaze tracking arrangement, to the actually focal representation of an image and adjust the imaging setup accordingly with regard to the focal plane. The adjustment is performed in such a way that the focal plane is selected which optimizes and sharpens the actual object of interest which was previously determined.
US09373165B2 Enhanced patterned wafer geometry measurements based design improvements for optimal integrated chip fabrication performance
Methods and systems enabling ultra-high resolution topography measurements of patterned wafers are disclosed. Measurements obtained utilizing the ultra-high resolution metrology may be utilized to improve wafer metrology measurement accuracies. Additionally, measurements obtained utilizing the ultra-high resolution metrology may also be utilized to provide feedback and/or calibration control to improve fabrication and design of wafers.
US09373154B2 Image processing apparatus having reduced line buffer size and associated method
An image processing apparatus includes a first memory, a second memory, a buffer, a fetching module and a processing module. The first memory module stores an original image having a first width. The buffer has a second width smaller than the first width. The fetching module fetches a sub-image of the original image from the first memory and stores the fetched sub-image into the buffer. The processing module performs an image processing process on the sub-image stored in the buffer to generate a processed sub-image. The processed sub-image is then stored into the second memory.
US09373148B2 Connect social networking users who simultaneously check-in at a geolocation
Configurations are provided for suggesting one or more other users within a same or proximate geolocation to enable the user to engage in activities with these suggested users. When the user performs a check-in for a new or different geolocation in an online social networking service, the subject technology can suggest other users who have recently checked-in and/or changed their location to the same place or region. The subject technology can sort one or more suggested users based on geographic proximity, how recently the user checked-in, a distance from the user, and other criteria (e.g., interests, demographic information (e.g., gender, age, etc.), social networking profile, etc.). The suggested users are selected, in one example, to identify one or more users that are typically not in the same place or geolocation but have newly arrived here. The subject technology can prioritize the selection of suggested users based on different criteria.
US09373146B2 Inferring target clusters based on social connections
A seed cluster comprising a group of users who share a particular attribute and/or affiliation is determined by a social networking system. For each user of the seed cluster, other users and/or entities connected to the user in the social networking system are retrieved. For each retrieved other user or entity, the social networking system may determine whether the other user or entity exhibits the attribute or affiliation based on a random walk algorithm. A resulting targeting cluster of users and/or entities may be used for targeting advertisements targeting to members. A social networking system may also infer an affiliation for a user based on the user's interaction with a page, application, or entity where other users who interacted with the same page, application, or entity have the same affiliation.
US09373140B2 Generation of an interface with computer-executable options and visual elements based on collected social network data
A network device is configured to receive purchase information and receive, from a social networking server, information regarding a friend of the user. The network device is further configured to receive additional purchase information associated with the friend. The network device is further configured to generate, based on a result of comparing the purchase information and the additional purchase information, a recommendation, and send the recommendation to a user device associated with the user.
US09373139B2 Gifting system
A system for purchasing and delivering a specific gift, in which, at the time of the purchase, the buyer, instead of being provided with the gift, is provided with a gift proxy or special package which includes a gift token which includes an authentication device. The gift proxy also includes a picture of the specific gift. The buyer delivers the gift proxy to the recipient. At a future time and place, not necessarily pre-determined, the recipient provides the gift proxy to the seller, the seller authenticates the gift proxy, and the recipient receives the gift from the seller. A centralized and networked order management system monitors the gift tokens. The system can be online and/or store oriented, and can be used to transact in goods and/or services other than gifts.
US09373132B2 System for digital yearbook with advertising
A system and method for providing advertisement in a digital yearbook includes a server and a user device for presenting media content on a display. Yearbook data is accessible by the user device and includes text and graphics pertaining to an organization and at least one advertisement. If/when the user device is connected to a network, the user device checks for a replacement advertisement and if there exists the replacement advertisement, the user device replaces one of the at least one advertisements with the replacement advertisement before the user device accesses the yearbook data. The user device presents the yearbook data and one or more of the group consisting of at least one advertisement and the replacement advertisement on the display.
US09373131B1 Systems and methods for providing recommendations to residential relocators
A method for determining a relocation recommendation for a relocating cardholder relocating from a first location to a target location is provided. The method is implemented using a relocation recommendation (RR) computing device in communication with a memory. The method includes receiving, from a cardholder device, a cardholder identifier for the relocating cardholder, and at least one of a general target area and the target location. The method also includes determining an area of interest for the relocating cardholder based at least in part on payment card transaction data at the first location, identifying at least one other cardholder having initiated payment card transactions within the target location and having the same area of interest as the relocating cardholder, determining at least one target merchant located within the target location that is associated with the area of interest, and transmitting, to the cardholder device, a relocation recommendation.
US09373130B2 System and method for aggregating and associating mobile device location data
A computer-implemented method for processing mobile device location data is provided. Location data is filtered based on age and accuracy or precision of location coordinates. Location data is partitioned based on the location coordinates into a plurality of clusters including a plurality of location data instances. The plurality of clusters are filtered based on a number of data instances in a particular cluster and a period of time over which data instances of the particular data cluster are generated. A distance is determined from a location coordinate corresponding to the data instances of one or more of the plurality of clusters to a particular predetermined location, and the one or more of the plurality of clusters are correlated with the particular predetermined location in response to the distance being less than a predetermined distance. The invention further provides a location data processing system.
US09373129B2 System and method of delivering collective content based advertising
A system and method is disclosed for presenting relevant advertising to user search queries. The ads are based on content which is derived from a set of documents/pages from websites forming a collective.
US09373123B2 Wearable advertising ratings methods and systems
A wearable advertising ratings method and system is disclosed. The location of a advertising media can be identified and a human eye can be located and tracked when the user of the ratings system, such as a pedestrian, is wearing eye polarity-sensing earphones. The earphones collect data when a user views media, as well as process and transmit such data through the user's communications device. Changes in the eye's polarity, perception, and reaction to viewing media are correlated to human brain reactions to acquire ratings for viewed media. The system allows for an advertiser to acquire and evaluate audience feedback and ratings related to presentation and content displayed on media (e.g., billboards, digital signage, window displays, etc.), as well as provide incentives for rating such media through use of an applications store.
US09373121B1 User communication device control with operating system action request messages
In a communication system, a device control system determines an action request message for a software operating system in a user communication device and associates the action request message with a URI. A user communication device displays a prompt for the URI, receives a user input to prompt, and transfers a request for the URI responsive to the user input. The device control system receives the URI and responsively transfers display data indicating the action request message. The user communication device receives the display data, displays a user prompt, receives another user input, and processes the action request message in the software operating system responsive to the other user input.
US09373118B2 Remote expert mode invocation
A method for retrofitting a vending machine with a video communications device includes securing a video communications device with a mounting feature of the video communications device removably coupled with a mounting location on a vending machine. The video communications device includes a video communications module for real-time interactions with a ticket office. The video communications module includes a display, a camera, a speaker, and a microphone. The video communications device includes a video communication device communications interface. The method includes electronically coupling the video communications device with a power supply of the vending machine and communicatively coupling the video communications device with the vending machine such that functions of the vending machine are controllable using the video communications device. The method includes communicatively coupling the video communications device with the ticket office for real-time video communications with the ticket office.
US09373116B1 Player tracking using a wireless device for a casino property
A method for tracking patronage of a customer in at least one casino property is described. The method comprises monitoring a wireless handset that determines the location of the customer. The method then proceeds to generate a user profile that comprises user preferences and monitored betting activity associated with the customer and accumulated points stored in a customer account according to a monetary value of the monitored betting activity. Complementary goods or services are determined based on the accumulated points associated with the customer account. A message is sent to the wireless handset associated with the complementary goods or services that is consistent with the user preferences.
US09373112B1 Ranking of merchants for cardless payment transactions
A method that includes obtaining a current location of a mobile device of a customer; sending the current location to a cardless payment system; receiving data identifying a plurality of merchants, each merchant having an account with the cardless payment system; displaying a list of the plurality of merchants on the mobile device; and simultaneous with displaying the list of the plurality of merchants, for each merchant in the list displaying on the mobile device whether the merchant is authorized to perform a cardless payment transaction with the customer.
US09373110B2 Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, and information processing system
An information processing apparatus communicates with an electronic device for performing first contact or noncontact communication and performs second communication different from the first communication with the electronic device. The information processing apparatus includes a data storage unit that stores data in a storage area for each of electronic device users, a program storage unit that stores an application program for a service related to the first communication using the data, a communication unit that performs the second communication, an authentication unit that authenticates the electronic device, a data identifying unit that identifies the data stored in the storage area for the authenticated user, and an execution unit that executes, using identification information that is used for identifying the application program for the service related to the first communication and that is sent from the electronic device and the identified data, the application program corresponding to the identification information.
US09373106B1 Tracking the download and purchase of digital content
Provides a consumer of digital products with an experience like that of visiting a shopping mall, where a product may be “tried on,” or downloaded, without having to pay until it's actually used. A consumer may download three identical copies of an item, but not be billed for any of the downloads until one of the copies of the item is actually installed or used on the client device. At that point, a purchase of that particular copy of the item is deemed to have occurred and the user is billed for that particular copy. The sale is credited to the provider that the particular copy is associated with, based on a transaction identifier that associates that particular copy of the item with the client device and the provider. The unused copies of the item may automatically be deleted or disabled once the purchase has occurred.
US09373103B2 Apparatus and method for managing long-term plan by an E-calendar
Provided is a method for managing a long-term plan by an e-calendar, including creating a plan and setting the keyword with respect to the plan, by a user, and pushing related information to the user when an event related to the keyword occurs.
US09373100B2 System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators
A quality management system for products including a multiplicity of barcode indicators, each operative to provide a machine-readable indication of exceedance of at least one threshold by at least one product quality determining parameter, the at least one threshold being at least one of a time duration threshold and a combined temperature and time threshold, a barcode indicator reader operative to read the barcode indicators and to provide output indications and an indication interpreter operative to receive the output indications and to provide human sensible, product unit specific, product quality status outputs.
US09373099B2 Network of participants in a shipment cold-chain
The invention relates to a network of participants connected through a website and thereby forming a virtual cold chain, and wherein the participants can make proposals and/or bids to shipment owners, shippers, receivers, and customers, to provide services or products to keep the shipment at desired conditions (especially, temperature conditions) during a period of the remaining shipment. The shipment can be monitored en route by agents acting for the website or by either the same participants making proposals, or other participants.
US09373098B2 Method and apparatus for optimized shipping strategies accounting for endpoint requirements
Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments enable cartonization of products for store replenishment based on the individual store layout of each store of a group of stores to which the cartonized products are to be provided.
US09373089B2 Intelligent electronic monitoring system
A method of monitoring a position of a moveable entity includes equipping a moveable entity with a position sensor that outputs position signals indicating current geographical positions of the sensor, and using a machine learning system to process the position signals in accordance with a machine learning algorithm to identify reference positions indicated by the position signals corresponding to a first type of activity performed by the entity. Rules are defined based on the identified reference positions. The computer processor then monitors the position signals and apply the rules to the position signals to identify positions that violate the rules.
US09373085B1 System and method for a recursive cortical network
A system and method for generating and inferring patterns with a network that includes providing a network of recursive sub-networks with a parent feature input node and at least two child feature output nodes; propagating node selection through the network layer hierarchy in a manner consistent with node connections of sub-networks of the network, the propagation within the sub-network including enforcing a selection constraint on at least a second node of a second pool according to a constraint node of the sub-network; and compiling the state of final child feature nodes of the network into a generated output.
US09373084B2 Computer system and information presentation method using computer system
A computer system includes a processor for executing a program, a computer holding the program executed by the processor, a first database holding relevance between physical amounts measured under conditions different in at least one of time and place, and a second database holding relevance between pieces of information including texts and corresponding to the measured physical amounts. The processor is configured to: calculate, based on the relevance between the physical amounts held in the first database and the relevance between the pieces of information in the second database, relevance between each of the measured physical amounts and each of the pieces of information, and hold the calculated relevance between each of the physical amounts and each of the pieces of information in a third database; and refer to, when the physical amounts are input, the third database to present information highly relevant to the input physical amounts.
US09373083B2 Building analytic device
An information analytic system including an information gathering unit configured to gather at least one piece of information from at least one of a plurality of devices connected to a network, an information analysis unit configured to analyze the gathered information, and a rule generation unit configured to generate at least one rule based on the analysis performed by the information analysis unit. The rule analysis unit is configured to analyze each generated rule to identify the rules that can be applied to the corresponding piece information, and to apply applies the identified rule to the corresponding piece of information. The rule analysis unit is also configured to analyze unapplied rules and to determine what additional information is required to apply each unapplied rule to at least one piece of information.
US09373075B2 Applying a genetic algorithm to compositional semantics sentiment analysis to improve performance and accelerate domain adaptation
A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for applying a genetic algorithm to semantic sentiment analysis. The mechanism provides a sentiment analysis model to a sentiment analysis algorithm. The mechanism trains the sentiment analysis model using a genetic algorithm based on a training corpus of documents with corresponding desired sentiment analysis values for a given domain to form a trained sentiment analysis model. The mechanism performs the sentiment analysis algorithm on an input document using the trained sentiment analysis model to form a domain-specific sentiment analysis result. The mechanism outputs the domain-specific sentiment analysis result.
US09373074B2 Method and apparatus for time management and scheduling for sychronous processing on a cluster of processing nodes
Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for time management and scheduling of synchronous neural processing on a cluster of processing nodes. A slip (or offset) may be introduced between processing nodes of a distributed processing system formed by a plurality of interconnected processing nodes, to enable faster nodes to continue processing without waiting for slower nodes to catch up. In certain aspects, a processing node, after completing each processing step, may check for received completion packets and apply a defined constraint to determine whether it may start processing a subsequent step or not.
US09373073B2 Time-division multiplexed neurosynaptic module with implicit memory addressing for implementing a universal substrate of adaptation
Embodiments of the invention relate to a time-division multiplexed neurosynaptic module with implicit memory addressing for implementing a universal substrate of adaptation. One embodiment comprises a neurosynaptic device including a memory device that maintains neuron attributes for multiple neurons. The module further includes multiple bit maps that maintain incoming firing events for different periods of delay and a multi-way processor. The processor includes a memory array that maintains a plurality of synaptic weights. The processor integrates incoming firing events in a time-division multiplexing manner. Incoming firing events are integrated based on the neuron attributes and the synaptic weights maintained.
US09373070B2 Use of RFID chip as assembly facilitator
A method of assembling RFID components together while using an RFID chip that heats internally in order to assemble that RFID chip and another RFID component such as an antenna is followed while producing RFID assemblies or RFID devices. This RFID chip is associated with a member that has an electrical characteristic to develop heat internal of this RFID chip. An uncured adhesive is positioned between at least a portion of the RFID chip and a portion of the other RFID component. Action of the RFID chip internal member heats the RFID chip, heat emanating to the adhesive, resulting in adhesive curing into a cured adhesive joint attaching together the RFID chip and the other RFID component. This assembly is capable of being achieved without an external source of heat or pressure applied to the adhesive. Temperature monitoring is available to assess heat development in connection with threshold temperature designation.
US09373068B2 Printing apparatus, method and non-transitory computer-readable medium for receiving print jobs including a command to process subsequent print job
When a printing apparatus starts job processing by acquiring a job in which an execution order is set thereto, the printing apparatus generates printable image data by analyzing the acquired job. In this period, the printing apparatus determines whether an error has occurred in a job processing period. In a case where the printing apparatus determines that the error has occurred in the job processing period, the printing apparatus stops the processing of the started job, and controls the processing of a subsequent job to stop or continue according to an instruction of a user.
US09373065B1 Paper feed system and method
A pharmaceutical filling system for a high volume pharmacy is described. The system can include a paper feed device and method. The system may include a paper collator with at one selectively openable shelf. A control device may monitor the capacity of the selectively openable shelf, and instruct a printer to hold printing additional print jobs. The selectively openable shelf may then be opened to allow the printed literature resting thereon to fall to a lower shelf, and the printer can then be restarted. Sheets of printed literature may be drawn from the paper collator, collected with any other sheets of printed literature associated with a prescription order, and mated with the prescription order for shipment.
US09373056B2 Image analysis
A method for processing an image is proposed. The method comprises identifying a first group of keypoints in the image. For each keypoint of the first group, the method provides for identifying at least one corresponding keypoint local feature related to said each keypoint; for said at least one keypoint local feature, calculating a corresponding local feature relevance probability; calculating a keypoint relevance probability based on the local feature relevance probabilities of said at least one local feature. The method further comprises selecting keypoints, among the keypoints of the first group, having the highest keypoint relevance probabilities to form a second group of keypoints, and exploiting the keypoints of the second group for analyzing the image. The local feature relevance probability calculated for a local feature of a keypoint is obtained by comparing the value assumed by said local feature with a corresponding reference statistical distribution of values of said local feature.
US09373055B2 Hierarchical sudden illumination change detection using radiance consistency within a spatial neighborhood
Techniques are disclosed for detecting sudden illumination changes using radiance consistency within a spatial neighborhood. A background/foreground (BG/FG) component of a behavior recognition system may be configured to generate a background image depicting a scene background. Further, the (BG/FG) component may periodically evaluate a current video frame to determine whether a sudden illumination change has occurred. A sudden illumination change occurs when scene lighting changes dramatically from one frame to the next (or over a small number of frames).
US09373054B2 Method for selecting frames from video sequences based on incremental improvement
The present application is directed to new methods for automatically and effectively combining multiple metrics to select interesting, or key, frames from a video sequence. In one aspect, the methods include selecting a reference frame from a video sequence and iteratively computing the improvement or gain in the combined metrics for candidate frames with respect to that reference frame. In another aspect, a master list of reference key frames is determined, quality metrics are calculated for each of a plurality of candidate frames associated with each reference key frame, and each reference key frame in the master list is replaced with a candidate frame that yields the greatest aggregate quality improvement over that reference key frame.
US09373052B2 Shape and photometric invariants recovery from polarisation images
The disclosure concerns processing of electronic images, such as hyperspectral, or multispectral images. In particular, but is not limited to, a method, software and computer for estimating shape information or a photometric invariant of a location of image of a scene. The image data (300) indexed by wavelength λ and polarization filter angle θ. For each wavelength λ index, a polarization angle φ is estimated from the image data (300) by the processor (810). The processor (810) then also estimates the shape information (such as azimuth α, such as zenith θ, or surface normal) or photometric invariants (such as refractive index) based on the estimated polarization angle φ for each wavelength index λ. Greater accuracies can be achieved in the estimated shape information and/or photometric invariants by using wavelength-indexed data. Further, surface information or photometric invariant can be estimated based upon polarization in a single-view hyperspectral or multi-spectral imagery. Further, by relying on the polarization angle for the estimation, the method is insensitive to changes in illumination power and direction.
US09373050B2 Image processing apparatus, image capturing apparatus, and method of controlling the same
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus for performing image processing of image data in which information specifying, on a first coordinate system, a position of a portion of interest in an image is recorded, including an image processing unit configured to perform rotation processing of the image data using a second coordinate system having an origin different from that of the first coordinate system, and a change unit configured to change the information specifying the position of the portion of interest in accordance with a rotation amount of the image data by the rotation processing such that an image of the portion of interest specified by the information specifying the position of the portion of interest after the rotation processing matches that before the rotation processing.
US09373048B1 Method and system for recognizing characters
The present disclosure relates to a method and a system for recognizing characters. In one embodiment, the input image comprising one or more characters to be recognized is received and processed to extract one or more nodes and edges of each character in the input image. Using the extracted nodes and edges, a graphical representation and adjacency matrix of each character is generated and compared with a predetermined graphical representation and adjacency matrix to determine a match. Based on the comparison, a matching probability is determined based on which one or more characters in the input image is recognized and displayed as output. The proposed recognition method and system recognizes character with more accuracy and speed. Further, the present disclosure is simple, cost-effective and reduces the complexity involved in automatic recognition of characters.
US09373045B1 Bus detection for an autonomous vehicle
Methods and systems are provided that may allow an autonomous vehicle to discern a school bus from image data. An example method may include receiving image data indicative of a vehicles operating in an environment. The image data may depict sizes of the vehicles. The method may also include, based on relative sizes of the vehicles, determining a vehicle that is larger in size as compared the other vehicles. The method may additionally include comparing a size of the determined vehicle to a size of a school bus and based on the size of vehicle being within a threshold size of the school bus, comparing a color of the vehicle to a color of the school bus. The method may further include based on the vehicle being substantially the same color as the school bus, determining that the vehicle is representative of the school bus.
US09373041B2 Distance measurement by means of a camera sensor
The invention relates to a distance-determining method by means of a camera sensor, wherein a distance between the camera sensor and a target object is determined on the basis of camera information, which method is defined by the fact that the camera information comprises a spatial extent of the region covered by the target object on a light sensor in the camera sensor.
US09373038B2 Apparatus and methods for temporal proximity detection
A data processing apparatus may utilize an artificial neuron network configured to reduce dimensionality of input data using a sparse transformation configured using receptive field structure of network units. Output of the network may be analyzed for temporally persistency that is characterized by similarity matrix. Elements of the matrix may be incremented when present activity unit activity at a preceding frame. The similarity matrix may be partitioned based on a distance measure for a given element of the matrix and its closest neighbors. Stability of learning of temporally proximal patterns may be greatly improved as the similarity matrix is learned independently of the partitioning operation. Partitioning of the similarity matrix using the methodology of the disclosure may be performed online, e.g., contemporaneously with the encoding and/or similarity matrix construction, thereby enabling learning of new features in the input data.
US09373034B2 Apparatus and method for tracking object
A method of tracking an object includes obtaining an image captured by a camera, setting a plurality of patterns having various sizes, according to a distance from a horizon in the image to a plurality of pixels in the image, extracting an object matching one of the plurality of patterns having various sizes, while scanning the image using the plurality of patterns having various sizes, and displaying information about a position of the extracted object in the image.
US09373031B2 System and method for document alignment, correction, and classification
A template document and a reference document that contains objects (e.g. text objects) are received, for example, from a scanner. A plurality of common objects between the template document and the reference document are identified. Locations of the plurality of common objects in the template document and the reference document are identified. One or more distances between the locations of the plurality of common objects in the template document and the reference document are also identified. A determination is made whether the one or more distances between the plurality of common objects in the template document and the reference document are substantially the same. In response to determining that the one or more distances between the plurality of common objects in the template document and the reference document are substantially the same, the template document and the reference document are grouped as common documents.
US09373030B2 Automated document recognition, identification, and data extraction
A method for automated document recognition, identification, and data extraction is described herein. The method comprises receiving, by the processor, an image of a document associated with a user. The image is analyzed using optical character recognition to obtain image data, wherein the image data includes text zones. Based on the image data, the image is compared to one or more document templates. Based on the comparison, a document template having the highest degree of coincidence with the image is determined. The text zones of the image are associated with text zones of the document template to determine a type of data in each text zone. The data is structured into a standard format to obtain structured data.
US09373028B2 Handwriting input system and handwriting input method
A handwriting input system includes a handwriting pen, a handwriting plate and a processing unit. The handwriting pen includes a pen body, a first sensing unit and a first communication unit. The first sensing unit senses an action of the pen body to generate a sensing data. The handwriting plate includes a touch unit, a display unit and a second communication unit. The touch unit senses a contact trajectory and a contact time while the handwriting pen contacts the handwriting plate. The processing unit is selectively disposed in one of the handwriting pen and the handwriting plate. The processing unit calculates a tilt angle of the pen body according to the sensing data, determines a contact shape according to the tilt angle, determines an ink output amount according to the contact time, and determines a handwriting image according to the contact trajectory, the contact shape and the ink output amount.
US09373026B2 Method and system for recognizing hand gesture using selective illumination
A method and system that recognize a hand gesture using selective illumination that can reliably perform hand gesture recognition by effectively removing an unnecessary image and noise including static disturbance light and dynamic disturbance light are provided. The method of recognizing a hand gesture includes acquiring, by a controller from an imaging device a hand image, which is a recognition target. A static background image and a dynamic background image are removed by the controller from the hand image. The method further includes recognizing, by the controller, a gesture of the hand by extracting a characteristic point from the hand image in which the dynamic background image is removed.
US09373024B2 Method and apparatus for automated analysis and identification of a person in image and video content
A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for identifying a person in an image includes an image analyzer. The image analyzer determines the content of an image such as a person, location, and object shown in the image. A person in the image may be identified based on the content and event data stored in a database. Event data includes information concerning events and related people, locations, and objects determined from other images and information. Identification metadata is generated and linked to each analyzed image and comprises information determined during image analysis. Tags for images are generated based on identification metadata. The event database can be queried to identify particular people, locations, objects, and events depending on a user's request.
US09373021B2 Method, apparatus and system for outputting a group of images
There is described an apparatus for outputting a group of images for display, the group being taken from a plurality of images, each image in the plurality of images having a face located therein, the apparatus comprising a processor configured to: retrieve a set of images from a storage medium, the set of images containing at least the plurality of images from which the group of images to be displayed is selected; identify the face in each of the plurality of images; identify variable features on the face in each of the plurality of images; establish the group of images in accordance with a measure of the dissimilarity between the variable features in the plurality of images; and output the group of images for display.
US09373018B2 Indicia-reader having unitary-construction
A hand-held indicia-reading device includes a housing and a cable having a unitary-construction. The indicia-reader has a head portion with an indicia-reading system including a printed circuit board. The entire handle portion of the reader is typically over-molded onto a host-connector cable. The host-connector cable includes a circuit board connector on one end and a connector for connecting to a host at an opposite end extending from a base portion of the handle.
US09373016B2 Image capturing device
An image capturing device includes an image forming device including a sensor defining an optical reception axis, at least one reading distance, and a region framed by the sensor on a substrate at said at least one reading distance. An illumination device includes an array of adjacent light sources defining an optical illumination axis. The light sources are individually drivable, and each light source is adapted to illuminate an area of a size much smaller than the size of said region framed by the sensor. The illumination axis does not coincide with the reception axis. A driver of the light sources is adapted to drive the light sources so as to switch off at least the light sources that illuminate outside of the boundary of the region framed by the sensor on the substrate at said at least one reading distance.
US09373012B2 Powering RFID tags using multiple synthesized-beam RFID readers
Synthesized-beam RFID readers may be used to manage and provide information about RFID tag populations. In one embodiment, two or more synthesized-beam readers synthesize respective RF beams towards a tag location. The synthesized-beam readers may coordinate their pointing by means of a controller, a peer-to-peer network, or by using a master-slave arrangement. The synthesized-beam readers may coordinate their transmissions to increase the RF energy available to a tag at the pointing location.
US09373011B2 System and method for identification and authentication of precious metals and small jewelry items using radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology
A system and method is provided for the identification and authentication of precious metals and small jewelry. The system can include an embedded RFID tag, RFID tag reader and reader based unit (wired or wireless), and a basic tag information system for tag capture, look-up and display. The RFID tag can be embedded in absorbing dielectric medium inside epoxy in a tiny cavity placed in the metal or jewelry. A thin layer of epoxy placed over the tag can ensure that the tag will not be damaged from rubbing against skin, abrasion or chemicals while still allowing the desired electromagnetic properties (antenna and the circuitry performance). The RFID tag information can be transferred to a computer through the reader, and can be matched with preprogrammed information in a database.
US09373008B2 Method for preventing an unauthorized use of disposable bioprocess components
This invention provides a system and apparatus that is able to authenticate and prevent illegal manufacturing and unauthorized operation of disposable bioprocess components. This invention utilizes a ferro-electric random access memory chip (FRAM) chip to store error-correctable information on a RFID tag attached to the disposable bioprocess components, where the error-correctable information is written in sequence into the memory chip, so that the redundant information can remain in the chip when the RFID tag and disposable bioprocess component is gamma-sterilized. Also, this invention includes a method for authenticating the disposable bioprocess component that reduces liability in that a counterfeit poor quality disposable component is not used on the hardware so the user will not file an unjustified complaint.
US09373005B2 Data storage apparatus, coding unit, systems including the same, method of coding and method of reading data
In one embodiment, the data storage apparatus includes a control unit configured to decode at least one input command and configured to generate at least one of a read signal and a start signal in response to the input command. The start signal indicates to start an internal mode determination process. The data storage apparatus also includes a memory unit configured to output data in response to the read signal, and a coding unit configured to start and perform the internal mode determination process in response to the start signal. The internal mode determination process includes autonomously determining a coding mode, and the coding unit is configured to code the output data based on the determined coding mode to produce coded data.
US09373004B2 Methods and systems for deleting requested information
A method of deleting log records may include identifying a plurality of log records generated during a time period, for each identified log record, determining whether a delete request associated with the log record has been made, and, in response to determining that a delete request has not been received, identifying a unique identifier associated with the log record, searching a user activity table for an entry having a key table index associated with the unique identifier, where the entry is associated with a timestamp, using the key table index and the timestamp to identify a key associated with the unique identifier and the timestamp from a key table, encrypting at least a portion of the log record with the identified key to generate an encrypted value, and storing the encrypted value as an entry in the log record database that is associated with the identified log record.
US09373003B2 Systems and methods for automatically handling multiple levels of encryption and decryption
Systems and methods are provided for automatically handling multiple levels of encryption and decryption. An electronic file is received to add to encrypted storage. The electronic file is encrypted to generate a new level of encryption for the electronic file using an encryption process that uses encryption data to generate the new level of encryption and to decrypt the new level of encryption. A set of existing encryption data associated with the electronic file is identified, wherein each existing encryption data from the set of existing encryption data is associated with an existing level of encryption already applied to the electronic file. The encryption data is added to the set of existing encryption data associated with the electronic file so that the existing levels of encryption and the new level of encryption can be decrypted.
US09372997B2 Displaying private information on personal devices
A computing device is described that includes one or more processors and at least one module operable by the one or more processors to determine whether the computing device is currently designated to display private information, receive an incoming communication, and determine that the incoming communication includes content that is private information. The at least one module is further operable by the one or more processors to, if the computing device is currently designated to display private information, output, for display, an indication of the incoming communication, and, if the computing device is not currently designated to display private information, refrain from outputting, for display, the indication of the incoming communication.
US09372994B1 Entity IP mapping
Systems and methods for mapping IP addresses to an entity include receiving at least one domain name associated with the entity. Embodiments may further include determining one or more variations of the at least one domain name based on analysis of domain name data collected from a plurality of domain name data sources that mention a variation of the at least one domain name. Some embodiments may also include identifying one or more IP addresses pointed to by the one or more variations of the entity's domain name based on analysis of IP address data collected from a plurality of IP address data sources. Additional embodiments include assigning weights to each of the identified one or more IP addresses and creating a mapping of IP addresses to associate with the entity based on analysis of the weighted one or more IP addresses.
US09372993B2 Methods and apparatus to protect memory regions during low-power states
A disclosed example method involves configuring a processor to, when transitioning the processor system to a low-power mode, use a key and a random or pseudo-random value to generate a first signature based on a sample of memory regions to be protected during the low-power mode, the memory regions based on a manufacturer required regions table and a third-party required regions table. The disclosed example method also involves configuring a processor to, during a resume process of the processor system from the low-power mode, generate a second signature based on the sample of the memory regions protected during the low-power mode. The disclosed example method also involves configuring a processor to, when the first signature matches the second signature, cause the processor system to resume from the low-power mode, and when the first signature does not match the second signature, generate an error.
US09372991B2 Detecting malicious computer code in an executing program module
Prior to execution of computer program instructions, the computer identifies one or more addresses in memory corresponding to the locations of one or more of the computer program instructions in the computer program. During execution of the computer program instructions, the computer identifies in the computer program another computer program instruction located in another address in the memory, and in response, the computer makes an indication that the computer program has an indicia of maliciousness.
US09372984B2 Authenticated launch of virtual machines and nested virtual machine managers
An embodiment of the invention provides for an authenticated launch of VMs and nested VMMs. The embodiment may do so using an interface that invokes a VMM protected launch control mechanism for the VMs and nested VMMs. The interface may be architecturally generic. Other embodiments are described herein.
US09372983B2 Apparatus and method of controlling permission to applications in a portable terminal
An apparatus and method of controlling permission to an application in a portable terminal, the apparatus including a controller for, when requested for an invocation of a specific function provided by a framework during an execution of a specific application, determining whether a permission for the specific function is obtained using the specific application's user ID and process ID, and if the permission for the specific function is determined to be restricted, displaying a first message indicating that the permission is restricted.
US09372982B2 ID usage tracker
A system and computer program product for using a multi-user operating system. A user attempts to access the multi-user operating system. The system prompts the user to enter a shared credential associated with the multi-user operating system and an individual credential of the user. The system verifies the entered shared credential and the entered individual credential. The system grants the access to the user if both the entered shared credential and the entered individual credential are verified. The system tracks commands entered by the user granted the access via the entered shared credential while the user is using the multi-user operating system. The tracked commands indicate the entered individual credential.
US09372981B2 Electronic device and method for unlocking screen of electronic device
An electronic device and a method for unlocking a screen of the electronic device are provided. The electronic device includes a screen and a storage unit. The method includes detecting, in a screen-locked state, intent of a user to unlock the screen; if it is detected that the user intends to unlock the screen, extracting contact information from the storage unit of the electronic device, where the extracted contact information includes a first attribute value and a second attribute value; displaying the first attribute value of the extracted contact information on the screen and prompting the user to input a second attribute value; and detecting an input of the user, and comparing the input of the user with the second attribute value; if the input of the user is the same as the second attribute value, unlocking the screen; and otherwise, maintaining the screen-locked state.
US09372980B2 Orientation aware authentication on mobile platforms
Systems and methods may provide for receiving an authentication input and determining an authentication orientation of a mobile platform during entry of the authentication input. In addition, a determination may be made as to whether to validate a user based on the authentication input and the authentication orientation of the mobile platform. Platform orientation may also be used to detect malware.
US09372977B2 Screen unlocking method, device and terminal
A screen unlocking method, device and terminal, wherein the method includes: a first terminal sending a key information acquisition message to a second terminal, wherein the key information is used to unlock the first terminal; and the first terminal unlocking the screen of the first terminal according to the key information from the second terminal. By using the embodiment of the present document, it solves the problem that, when the screen cannot be unlocked since the user forgets the password, the version needs to be upgraded to unlock the screen, resulting in a waste of time and a loss of important data in the terminal caused by upgrading the version, the user can unlock the terminal according to standby key information, thus avoiding the situation in which the terminal cannot be unlocked since the unlocking code of the terminal is forgotten, and further improving the ease for using the terminal.
US09372972B2 System and method for establishing and monetizing trusted identities in cyberspace with personal data service and user console
A system and method for establishing and monetizing trusted identities in cyberspace relying upon user opt in. Users request to attain secure IDs for accessing parties that will rely on secure IDs to complete a transaction, for example merchants and service providers (relying parties). The relying parties (RPs) communicate with identity service providers and attribute providers via an Attribute Exchange Network (AXN) in order to obtain verified attributes associated with an entity (end user or user) that wishes to conduct business with the relying party. The relying party makes requests for verified attributes that are important to consummating business transactions for the relying party. Users are informed of requests for attributes on behalf of relying parties and users have the option to verify attributes, and add new attributes that may be useful or required for conducting business with relying parties.
US09372967B2 Support for secure objects in a computer system
A method and structure in a computer system, including a mechanism supporting a Secure Object that includes code and data that is cryptographically protected from other software on the computer system.
US09372965B2 Methods and apparatus for displaying simulated digital content
Systems, methods, and devices for displaying digital content. In one embodiment, a method of simulating digital content includes providing information corresponding to a plurality of pixels of displayable content at an electronic device; and simulating the displayable content at the electronic device by displaying a representation of a first subset of the plurality of pixels during a first time period and displaying a representation of a second subset of the plurality of pixels during a second time period.
US09372964B2 Software license control
A system for software license control is described that is particular useful for use in a virtualized system, such as a cloud computing system. A module can be made available for use within the virtualized network, wherein a license fee is payable for use of the module. The module includes a license file that can be located wherever it is required. In addition, a central license file is provided at an administration node. The central license file is configured such that it can only be operated from that administration node, thereby preventing the copying of that file. The license file operating in the virtual network communicates with the central license file. The central license file controls the use of the licensed module.
US09372963B2 User device selection
A method may include receiving, at an application server, a session initiation protocol (SIP) message including a public user identifier (ID) associated a user. The public user ID corresponds to a plurality of user devices. The method also includes determining an applicable order of alerting at least one of the plurality of user devices. The method further includes identifying at least one available user device associated with the user, based on a terminal identifier (ID) associated with each at least one available user device. The method includes selecting a user device from the at least one available user device based on the applicable order of alerting. A SIP invite message, including a terminal ID for the selected user device, is generated. The method includes sending the SIP invite message to the selected user device based on the applicable order of alerting, and receiving a response to the SIP invite message.
US09372959B2 Assembly of metagenomic sequences
Systems and methods for assembly of metagenomic sequences are described herein. In one embodiment, a plurality of metagenomic sequences is represented in three dimensional space to obtain a plurality of sequence vectors. Based on plurality of the sequence vectors, a cuboid having a plurality of grids is defined in the three dimensional space such that it encompasses the plurality of metagenomic sequences. Further, the plurality of metagenomic sequences is assembled into one or more contigs based on traversal of the plurality of grids. In one implementation, the one or more contigs are assembled such that a contig includes metagenomic sequences probably originating from the same genome.
US09372956B1 Increased usable programmable device dice
A method of enabling the use of a programmable device having impaired circuitry includes determining one or more locations of the impaired circuitry of the programmable device; generating a defect map for the programmable device based on the determined locations of the impaired circuitry; generating a plurality of configuration bitstreams to implement a circuit in the programmable device; selecting one of the plurality of configuration bitstreams that does not use the impaired circuitry indicated by the defect map; and programming the programmable device with the selected configuration bitstream.
US09372950B2 Circuit layout method and circuit layout apparatus
A circuit layout method and a circuit layout apparatus are disclosed. The circuit layout apparatus comprises a display apparatus, an input device, a stack up database and a processor. The display apparatus shows a system interface. The input device inputs a user request in response to the system interface. The processor selects a stack up data table, corresponding to the user request, from the stack up database, and generates a design rule of a computer aided design (CAD) according to the stack up data table. The processor checks whether a circuit board design complies with the design rule.
US09372949B1 Guided exploration of circuit design states
A model checking tool, which is used to test a circuit design, attempts to reach a target state from an initial state in the state-space of the circuit design using one or more intermediate states. Through an iterative process, the tool identifies intermediate states in the state-space of the circuit design that are used to generate starting states for subsequent iterations of the process. The intermediate states help to restrict the scope of the state-space search to reduce the time and memory requirements needed to reach the target state. The model checking tool also explores the state-space in parallel from a subset of computed restart states, which reduces the possibility of bypassing any essential intermediate or target states.
US09372943B2 Modeling dynamic systems by visualizing and narrowing a parameter space
A method for modeling a dynamic system (e.g., geological system) comprises: constructing an input parameter space for a model of the geological system, the input parameter space including more than three dimensions, and the model associated with response data, representing the input parameter space visually with three or fewer dimensions, reducing the input parameter space by conditioning the parameter space using at least a subset of the response data, and updating the representation of the input parameter space to visually represent the reduction of the parameter space.
US09372942B1 System and method for facilitating data visualization via a map-reduce framework
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request for data visualization. The request specifies input data, at least one user query, and a data-visualization type. The method further includes inferring at least one additional query based on a user-interface (UI) range of freedom associated with the request. In addition, the method includes causing a map-reduce framework to process the input data according to the at least one user query and the at least one additional query. The causing yields resultant data. Further, the method includes storing in a cache a portion of the resultant data that relates to the at least one additional query. The method also includes generating the requested data visualization based on a portion of the resultant data that relates to the at least one user query.
US09372938B2 Augmenting queries when searching a semantic database
A method and system for identifying results of a query that includes a type predicate is provided. A search system maintains a collection of facts that includes a triple for each fact and a type table that maps entities of the facts to their corresponding type. The search system uses the type table to speed up the process of identifying the search results when the query includes a non-type query triple and a type query triple. A type query triple is a triple that has a type predicate, rather than a non-type predicate. To execute a query that contains a non-type query triple and a type query triple, the search system identifies the triples of the collection that match the non-type query triple. The search system then uses the type table to determine which of the identified triples match the type query triple for inclusion in the search results.
US09372936B2 Partial data report generation with data costing notification
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for partial data report generation with data costing notification. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for partial data report generation with data costing notification is provided. The method includes registering a call back for an operation specified by a plug in to a diagnostic tool. The method also includes responding to invoking the plug in by generating markup with data provided by different operations of the plug in, and also with at least one hyperlink in lieu of data known to be temporally costly, the hyperlink comprising a textual indication of a temporal cost of retrieving the data known to be temporally costly and an address of an operation programmed to retrieve the data.
US09372935B2 Content management and access systems and methods
An exemplary method includes receiving data representative of a content instance over a network from an access device associated with a user, storing the data representative of the content instance, providing the user with an interface configured to allow the user to define at least one access rule corresponding to the content instance, the at least one access rule based on at least one user profile and at least one access device profile, receiving a communication from another access device over the network, and performing a predefined action related to the content instance in response to the communication and in accordance with the at least one access rule.
US09372933B2 Personalized quantitative measure of accessibility
A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for personalized quantitative measure of accessibility. For a given web site or web application, the mechanism accesses existing crowd sourced user ratings. The mechanism generates a crowd source score for the given web site or web application based on the crowd sourced user ratings. The mechanism generates a compliance score for the given web site or web application based on compliance data published for the given web site or web application. The mechanism obtains a static analysis score for the given web site or web application. The mechanism generates weights for a given user based on user profile information of the given user and applies the weights to the crowd source score, the compliance score, and the static analysis score to form weighted data. The mechanism generates a personalized accessibility score based on the weighted data.
US09372932B2 Method for restricting access to data based on current work
A system and method for presenting a user with only data relevant to a task on which the user is currently working, while preventing display and other data from other tasks from intruding on a user's work environment. Conventional tagging is replaced and/or supplemented by a centralized method for creating, managing, and applying categories that does not require display space in individual applications for user interaction. Data access and display can be controlled across all applications, allowing the user to concentrate on a particular issue or project without being distracted or wasting display-space on information that is not relevant to the current issue or project on which a user is working.
US09372931B2 Simulating dynamic content based on a location
One exemplary embodiment involves simulating personalized content included on a web page based on user characteristics comprising at least a geographic location. The embodiment involves receiving a plurality of user characteristics comprising at least the geographic location and determining, based on the user characteristics, the personalized content to include on the web page. The embodiment further involves causing one or more actions to dynamically refresh the web page to include the determined personalized content.
US09372929B2 Methods and systems for node and link identification
Methods and systems for node and link detection in social network analysis. Interactive noise reduction allows reduction of the data set under analysis to enable substantially real time detection of links and nodes.
US09372927B1 Original authorship identification of electronic publications
An example implementation includes providing original content on a content source; inserting a unique content ID into content information associated with the original content; associating the original content with an author profile; detecting a following of the hyperlinks between the original content and a second content, via a content aggregation based on communication with the content source via a web index; applying a timestamp to the original content, and providing the original content having the timestamp to the web index.
US09372926B2 Intelligent video summaries in information access
In a method for displaying video data within result presentations in information access or search systems, compressed thumbnails are computed for videos in a result page and applied to the result page. An end user is enabled to select a video in the result page and activate streaming of a video summary within the context of the associated result page.
US09372919B2 Generating visualizations of a display group of tags representing content instances in objects satisfying a search criteria
Provided are a computer program product, method, and system for rendering search results. A search request is received having a search criteria to perform with respect to objects having content instances. A determination is made of the objects having qualifying content instances that satisfy the search criteria, an attribute value of the qualifying content instances for a specified attribute, and appearance settings for the qualifying content instances based on the determined attribute values. The appearance settings vary based on the attribute values. Tags are generated indicating the content instances and appearance settings for the content instances. A visualization of the tags in a display group are generated to provide visualization of the qualifying content instances in the objects according to the appearance settings, wherein visualizations of the tags is varied based on the determined appearance settings.
US09372911B2 System and method for performing replica copying using a physical copy mechanism
A system that implements a data storage service may maintain tables in a data store on behalf of clients. The service may maintain table data in multiple replicas of partitions of the data that are stored on respective computing nodes in the system. In response to detecting a failure or fault condition, or receiving a service request from a client to move or copy a partition replica, the data store may copy a partition replica to another computing node using a physical copy mechanism. The physical copy mechanism may copy table data from physical storage locations in which it is stored to physical storage locations allocated to a destination replica on the other computing node. During copying, service requests to modify table data may be logged and applied to the replica being copied. A catch-up operation may be performed to apply modification requests received during copying to the destination replica.
US09372909B2 Defining a set of data across mutiple databases using variables and functions
A method for defining grouping of data, across multiple data sources using variables and functions, may include defining grouping of data corresponding to one or more entities across multiple data sources, using a generic language that relates to multiple entities. The method may include providing access to the data based on Data-Dependent Routing (DDR), using variables and functions defined by the generic language. According to example embodiments, the system may include a user interface to receive one or more statements belonging to the generic language and present data accessed via the one or more statements. The system may also include a processor to execute statements and to provide access to the data. The system may further include a server to host the multiple data sources.
US09372906B2 Method, system, and apparatus for providing resilient data transfer in a data protection system
Restarting transmission and application of changed data. A method includes receiving from the second location a first checkpoint. The first checkpoint points to a last record applied to replication data at the second location to replicate data from the first location. The method further includes receiving from the second location a second checkpoint. The second checkpoint is received by the second location from the first location. The second checkpoint identifies a last record in the set of transmitted records. The method further includes transmitting the received first checkpoint back to the second location with a command to restart applying records from the last record applied pointed to in the first checkpoint. The method further includes transmitting the received second checkpoint to the first location with a command for the first location to restart transmission of records from the last record in the set of records.
US09372905B2 Subroutines in a graphical query builder
A system may determine metadata information associated with data included in a data structure. The system may identify a category, associated with the data, based on the metadata information. The system may present, for display, a user interface that allows a user to build a graphical query based on the category. The graphical query may include a user-defined visual representation of a data structure query associated with the data. The system may receive information associated with the graphical query based on presenting the user interface. The information associated with the graphical query may be received based on input provided via the user interface, and may include information associated with the category. The system may provide the information associated with the graphical query.
US09372902B2 Accessing and editing virtually-indexed message flows using structured query langauge (SQL)
At least one message flow file that stores a message flow is read by a processor. The message flow stored within the at least one message flow file is parsed. The message flow is organized within a memory as a message flow database structure. Entries within the message flow database structure represent nodes, connections, and properties used by the message flow. The message flow database structure is edited in response to receipt of a structured query language (SQL) statement that specifies a change to the message flow database structure.
US09372901B2 Searching for software applications based on application attributes
An application search system provides search results for applications based on one or more attributes of the applications. A search query is received by the application search system from a partner. The application search system retrieves a set of applications in response to the search query. In addition, the application search system receives, from one or more sources, restrictive information regarding one or more security attributes for one or more applications in the set of applications. A security value is generated for each of the one or more applications in the set of applications. The security value includes a security attribute value for each of the one or more security attributes. The application search system provides the retrieved set of applications for display at a user interface to the partner. Furthermore, each generated security value is also displayed in conjunction with the corresponding application.
US09372899B2 Method and apparatus of ordering search results
Ordering search results may include obtaining an exposed log file from a log system, computing a Bayesian posterior probability for relevancy between the log file and a search request, computing an expected value of the relevancy between the log file and the search request based on the Bayesian posterior probability, storing the search request and an identifier of the log file as a key and the expected value of the relevancy between the log file and the search request as a value into a search data structure, in response to receiving a search request submitted by a user, finding expected values of relevancy between the submitted search request and log files that are relevant to the submitted search request from the search data structure, and ordering the found log files in a descending order of the expected values.
US09372897B2 Scoring relationships between entities based on proximity in space and time
Methods for determining a relationship score between a first entity and a second entity. A first computer-readable representation of a first spatial region containing the first entity is generated. A second computer-readable representation of a second spatial region containing the second entity is generated. The first computer-readable representation and the second computer-readable representation are compared at decreasing resolutions until a matching condition is reached. A relationship score is assigned to one or more of the first entity and the second entity based on the resolution at which the matching condition is reached.
US09372894B2 Scoring relationships between entities based on proximity in space and time
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for determining a relationship score between a first entity and a second entity. A first computer-readable representation of a first spatial region containing the first entity is generated. A second computer-readable representation of a second spatial region containing the second entity is generated. The first computer-readable representation and the second computer-readable representation are compared at decreasing resolutions until a matching condition is reached. A relationship score is assigned to one or more of the first entity and the second entity based on the resolution at which the matching condition is reached.
US09372891B2 System and method for querying hybrid multi data sources
A system and method of querying hybrid multi data sources includes receiving a query at a hybrid multi data source running on a computer server, creating a list of data sources, filtering the list of data sources based on data source hints included in the query, filtering the list of data sources based on data source rules, forming one or more query plans for processing the query, evaluating each of the query plans, selecting a first query plan from the query plans based on results of the evaluating, and performing the first query plan. Each query plan corresponds to a data source in the filtered list of data sources. In some examples, the first query plan has a lowest cost of each of the query plans. In some examples, the first query plan is based on probabilities associated with the cost of each of the query plans.
US09372890B2 Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing a query layer for cloud databases
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus for receiving data from a cloud database. One or more queries requesting data from the cloud database are received. The one or more queries are converted from a row-store database query into a column-store database query. An optimal join plan is identified for the one or more queries using a cost based optimizer based on metadata for one or more relations in the cloud database. The optimal join plan is executed using a cloud application programming interface.
US09372888B2 Reducing lag time when searching a repository using a keyword search
Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for searching a repository of information such as a database using a keyword search and/or an attribute search in near real time. According to one embodiment, a method of searching a repository of information can comprise receiving a set of search criteria for performing the search and selectively performing one or more of an attribute search and a keyword search of the information in the repository based on the received search criteria.
US09372887B2 Compression ratio improvement by lazy match evaluation on the string search CAM
A plurality of stored data sequences that match one or more search data sequences are determined. Each of the stored data sequences of the plurality of stored data sequences comprise a plurality of data elements and the stored data sequences are stored in a content addressable memory array. A longest stored data sequence of the plurality of stored data sequences is determined using a plurality of tracing circuits. An address associated with the longest stored data sequence of the plurality of stored data sequences is determined. A count of data elements of the longest stored data sequence of the plurality of stored data sequences is determined.
US09372884B2 Extensible data query scenario definition and consumption
Content providers define a set of scenarios that are addressed by their datasets. The scenarios include user-friendly, human-readable attributes such as a title, description, and visualization. The scenarios may also include a technical description that can be used to generate sample queries that can then be executed against the dataset. The technical description may be machine translated to arbitrary data querying protocols while maintaining the semantic meaning of the query. A user interface may be provided to allow users to intuitively generate the scenarios. In one embodiment, an extensible framework provides for the creation of protocol-specific translation plug-ins that are used to generate implementations of the scenario suitable for selected protocols. Known market-relevant translator plug-ins may also be implemented.
US09372883B2 Manipulation of multi-tenancy database
Embodiments relate to manipulating a multi-tenant database, wherein the multi-tenant database comprises one or more source databases for storing tenant data. An aspect includes receiving a database operation request for one or more tenant-specific logic views, wherein the tenant-specific logic views are created for respective tenants based on mapping information pointing to the one or more source databases included in the multi-tenant database and multi-tenant metadata. Another aspect includes acquiring the mapping information related to the database operation request and pointing to the one or more source databases included in the multi-tenant database. Yet another aspect includes performing a database operation corresponding to the database operation requested for the one or more source databases based on the acquired mapping information.
US09372882B2 Partitioning online databases
Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for partitioning online databases. Online database operations, such as, for example, SPLIT, MERGE, and DROP, are used to alter the arrangement of partitions in a federated database. A SPLIT operation splits rows at one partition across a plurality of other partitions. A MERGE operation merges rows at a plurality of partitions in to one partition. A DROP operation shifts responsibility for rows of data from one partition to another partition and then drops the rows from the one partition.
US09372877B2 Sparse datatable data structure
A sparse dataset structure is created by creating column vectors for one or more columns in a dataset that have at least one significant value. Each column vector includes data values for columns of the dataset. Each column vector that is a sparse column vector includes a look-up index array and a value array. Entries in the look-up index array represent columns. The value array includes values for a row in a column. Each entry in the value array points to a row entry in the look-up index array. A side structure includes a row index and a column index. The row index includes a location for an entry for each row where entries point to a location in the column index that identifies a column that has a first significant entry for a row. Alternatively a sparse dataset could be constructed with sparse rows.
US09372875B2 Image data display system and image data display program
An image data display system classifies image data into a cluster based on a predetermined condition regardless of whether or not the image data conforms to DCF standard and displays information specific to the image data when displayed as a slide show. A CPU creates a cluster, including a plurality of the image data, and a slide show table having first and second cluster name candidates based on a FAT data or an Exif data and a third cluster name candidate input by a user. The image display screen combines any two of the above first, second, and third cluster name candidates and displays a list of the combined candidates as cluster names indicating contents of the image data. The user can select the cluster name in high visibility and can easily display the desired image data as the slide show.
US09372871B2 Combining unstructured image and 3D search results for interactive search and exploration
Implementations relate to presenting search results to a user. In particular, disclosed techniques include presenting both image search results and 3D model search results to a user. The user can manipulate the 3D model depicted in the 3D model search results by rotating, translating or zooming. Implementations thus provide a rich synergistic exploration experience to the user.
US09372867B2 Similarity analysis method, apparatus, and system
Embodiments of the present invention provide a similarity analysis method, an apparatus, and a system. The method includes: acquiring file fingerprint information of a file to be analyzed; sending an analysis request that carries the file fingerprint information to at least two MDSs; selecting at least one group according to an analysis result returned by each MDS, where the analysis result includes a group number and a similarity of at least one group that has the highest similarity with the file fingerprint information and is found by the MDS; and the MDS locally queries a duplicate data block in the selected group. In this way, each MDS needs to query only a file fingerprint information set of a group that the MDS itself is responsible for, which reduces the amount of data retrieval and waiting time of reading, writing, and locking a database file.
US09372865B2 Deduplication metadata access in deduplication file system
Techniques associated with deduplication metadata access in a deduplication file system are described, including determining a state of a file system, reading a table associated with the file system, including reading block numbers associated with files in the file system, the table being stored in a storage, wherein the block numbers include a block number and logical block number, determining whether each of the block numbers exists in a reconstruction map, modifying the reconstruction map, obtaining a hash value associated with each of the block numbers, reading data blocks from a disk using the plurality of block numbers, and constructing deduplication metadata in system memory (i.e., RAM) using a read of the data blocks.
US09372852B2 Device and method for changing lip shapes based on automatic word translation
Disclosed are a device and method for changing lip shapes based on automatic word translation. When a user takes a video of his or her own face and inputs his or her voice through a microphone, the device and method for changing lip shapes based on automatic word translation separates an area in which the user's lips are located from a video taken by the camera; recognizes the user's voice; inserts a partial video to the area in which the user's lips are located, the partial video representing a lip shape for a word obtained when a specific word corresponding to the recognized voice is translated to a different language. Consequently, when the word input by the user's voice is translated to the different language, the lip shape may be automatically changed to accord with the language.
US09372849B2 Dynamic highlighting of repetitions in electronic documents
In a method for dynamically highlighting repetitive text in electronic documents, obtaining one or more user preferences related to a user reading an electronic document. The method further includes determining whether the electronic document contains one or more repetitive text associations, wherein a repetitive text association is data that provides one or more indications of repetitive text segments interspersed within a document. In response to determining that the electronic document contains one or more repetitive text associations, the method further includes identifying one or more repetitive text segments in the electronic document corresponding to the one or more repetitive text associations and determining a time duration expended by the user reading an instance of the identified one or more repetitive text segments within the electronic document. The method further includes highlighting the identified one or more repetitive text segments within the electronic document based one or more obtained user preferences.
US09372843B2 Document association device, document association method, and non-transitory computer readable medium
A document association device includes a document memory, a reference operation receiving unit, an editing operation receiving unit, an operation memory, and an association unit. The document memory stores one or more electronic documents each including plural elements. The reference operation receiving unit receives a reference operation for one or more elements in an electronic document stored in the document memory. The editing operation receiving unit receives an editing operation for one or more elements in an electronic document stored in the document memory. The operation memory stores information on a received operation. When the editing operation receiving unit receives an editing operation after the reference operation receiving unit receives a reference operation, the association unit associates one or more elements targeted by the reference operation with one or more elements targeted by the editing operation, in accordance with information stored in the operation memory.
US09372842B2 Method and system for implementing versions of a sales catalog
Described is an improved approach for implementing a handshake mechanism to permit effective versioning and updates for data within an enterprise application. Version numbers are associated with sales catalog objects, where the appropriate version number is associated with the specific object to be published as the run-time object for the sales catalog. Each of the sales catalog versions is associated with a unique identifier, where one of the identifiers is recognized as the “run-time” version identifier. The sales catalog having the recognized run-time identifier value is visible to and accessible to the ordinary users of the system as the runtime sales catalog. All other sales catalog versions associated with other identifiers are not visible/accessible to ordinary users.
US09372841B2 4-dimensional geometric reading
A device includes a display screen and a processor. The processor is configured to convert a textual document into sequentially ordered portions of text and display at the same designated location on the display screen the portions of text one at a time in the sequential order for a user to read.
US09372839B2 Rendering system
The present invention relates to a system that comprises a rendering server, a rendering device, and a control device. The control device and the rendering device comprise a browser. The browsers are used to establish a first web link between the control device and the rendering server, and a second web link between the rendering device and the rendering server. The rendering device may connect to the rendering server over the second web link to register to the rendering server and pair with the control device. The control device may connect to the rendering server over the first web link to register and pair with available rendering devices that would be used for rendering content. During operation the control device may control information identifying the rendering device and a content data item for rendering over the first web link to the rendering server. The rendering server may generate, in response to the first control information, second control information that includes rendering control commands for rendering the identified content data item, and send it to the identified rendering device over the second web link. The rendering device renders the content data item according to the rendering control commands received from the rendering server.
US09372837B2 Single view representation of an XLS transformation
In various embodiments, arrangements for presenting an XSLT mapping tool is presented. A computer system may receive XML source code that includes a plurality of source nodes. The computer system may also receive XSLT code configured to transform the XML source code into XML target code. The XSLT code may include multiple templates. The computer system may use the multiple templates of the XSLT code and the XML source code to create XML target code. The XML target code may include a plurality of target nodes. An interface of the XSLT mapping tool that displays mappings between the plurality of source nodes of the XML source code and the plurality of target nodes of the XML target code resulting from the multiple XSLT templates may be presented.
US09372836B2 HTML5 I-frame extension
The various aspects provide methods, servers, and systems for identifying independent portions of an HTML document so that the identified portions may be processed in parallel. The independent portions may be associated with an iframe tag having both the seamless and sandbox attributes. At runtime, a browser may detect the presence of both attributes, and process the contents of the iframe in parallel.
US09372834B2 Aligning a symbol with a character
Some embodiments provide a novel operation for aligning a symbol with an associated character in a digital content processing application. In some embodiments, the alignment operation uses a font property of the character to align the symbol with the character. In some embodiments, the character has a slanted display orientation and the font property is an angle at which the character is slanted. Symbols that are associated with characters include diacritical marks, accents, mathematical symbols that align above or below a character, and other symbols of the character. The character, sometimes referred to as a “base character”, may be a character in text, in an equation, etc.
US09372832B2 Road information providing apparatus
A road information providing apparatus includes a position detection unit, a matching unit, a reference point ranking unit, a calculation unit, a weighting unit, and a transmit unit. The position detection unit detects a present position of a vehicle. The matching unit specifies reference points based on the present position and map data. The reference point ranking unit defines a ranking of each reference point. The calculation unit calculates a priority value of each forward road link corresponding to one of the reference points. The weighting unit recalculates a weighted priority value of each forward road link based on the priority value of corresponding forward road link and the ranking of corresponding reference point. The transmit unit transmits the weighted priority value of each forward road link in order of increasing weighted priority value to an in-vehicle device.
US09372825B1 Global non-volatile solid-state cache in a network storage system
A network storage controller uses a non-volatile solid-state memory (NVSSM) subsystem as a global cache that is shared between a number of network storage servers in a network storage system. Portions of global cache are allocated to each of the network storage servers. Allocation of portions of the global cache is controlled based on a usage pattern of the global cache by each of the network storage servers. The storage operating system determines, for example, a percentage of cache hit and/or a response time for responding to the requests from the clients by a particular network storage server with a particular allocated portion. The percentage of cache hit and response time are projected for various potential sizes of the particular portion. A size of the particular portion that provides a better percentage of cache hit and/or response time is selected, and reallocated to the particular network storage server.
US09372811B2 Retention priority based cache replacement policy
A data processing system includes a cache memory 58 and cache control circuitry 56 for applying a cache replacement policy based upon a retention priority value PV stored with each cache line 66 within the cache memory 58. The initial retention priority value set upon inserting a cache line 66 into the cache memory 58 is dependent upon either or both of which of a plurality of sources issued the access memory request that resulted in the insertion or the privilege level of the memory access request resulting in the insertion. The initial retention priority level of cache lines resulting from instruction fetches may be set differently from cache lines resulting from data accesses.
US09372808B2 Deadlock-avoiding coherent system on chip interconnect
This invention mitigates these deadlocking issues by a adding a separate non-blocking pipeline for snoop returns. This separate pipeline would not be blocked behind coherent requests. This invention also repartitions the master initiated traffic to move cache evictions (both with and without data) and non-coherent writes to the new non-blocking channel. This non-blocking pipeline removes the need for any coherent requests to complete before the snoop request can reach the memory controller. Repartitioning cache initiated evictions to the non-blocking pipeline prevents deadlock when snoop and eviction occur concurrently. The non-blocking channel of this invention combines snoop responses from memory controller initiated requests and master initiated evictions/non-coherent writes.
US09372806B2 Synchronizing a translation lookaside buffer with an extended paging table
A processor including logic to execute an instruction to synchronize a mapping from a physical address of a guest of a virtualization based system (guest physical address) to a physical address of the host of the virtualization based system (host physical address), and stored in a translation lookaside buffer (TLB), with a corresponding mapping stored in an extended paging table (EPT) of the virtualization based system.
US09372803B2 Method and system for shutting down active core based caches
A system and method are presented. Some embodiments include a processing unit, at least one memory coupled to the processing unit, and at least one cache coupled to the processing unit and divided into a series of blocks, wherein at least one of the series of cache blocks includes data identified as being in a modified state. The modified state data is flushed by writing the data to the at least one memory based on a write back policy and the aggressiveness of the policy is based on at least one factor including the number of idle cores, the proximity of the last cache flush, the activity of the thread associated with the data, and which cores are idle and if the idle core is associated with the data.
US09372800B2 Inter-chip interconnect protocol for a multi-chip system
A multi-chip system includes multiple chip devices configured to communicate to each other and share resources. According to at least one example embodiment, a method of providing memory coherence within the multi-chip system comprises maintaining, at a first chip device of the multi-chip system, state information indicative of one or more states of one or more copies, residing in one or more chip devices of the multi-chip system, of a data block. The data block is stored in a memory associated with one of the multiple chip devices. The first chip device receives a message associated with a copy of the one or more copies of the data block from a second chip device of the multiple chip devices, and, in response, executes a scheme of one or more actions determined based on the state information maintained at the first chip device and the message received.
US09372799B2 Coherent cache system with optional acknowledgement for out-of-order coherence transaction completion
To enable efficient tracking of transactions, an acknowledgement expected signal is used to give the cache coherent interconnect a hint for whether a transaction requires coherent ownership tracking. This signal informs the cache coherent interconnect to expect an ownership transfer acknowledgement signal from the initiating master upon read/write transfer completion. The cache coherent interconnect can therefore continue tracking the transaction at its point of coherency until it receives the acknowledgement from the initiating master only when necessary.
US09372798B2 Data processing apparatus having first and second protocol domains, and method for the data processing apparatus
A data processing apparatus (2) comprises a first protocol domain A configured to operate under a write progress protocol and a second protocol domain B configured to operate under a snoop progress protocol. A deadlock condition is detected if a write target address for a pending write request issued from the first domain A to the second domain B is the same as a snoop target address or a pending snoop request issued from the second domain B to the first domain A. When the deadlock condition is detected, a bridge (4) between the domains may issue an early response to a selected one of the deadlocked write and snoop requests without waiting for the selected request serviced. The early response indicates to the domain that issued the selected request that the selected request has been serviced, enabling the other request to be serviced by the issuing domain.
US09372791B2 Method for masking the end-of-life transition of an electronic device and device comprising a corresponding control module
The invention relates to a method for masking the end-of-life transition of an electronic microprocessor device comprising a reprogrammable non-volatile memory containing an end-of-life state variable (FdVE). The value of the variable (FdVE) is loaded (A) into random access memory. Prior to the execution of any current command (COM), the value of the variable (FdVR) in random access memory is checked (B). The end-of-life transition is executed (C) in the event of an empty value. Otherwise, the initialization or the execution of the command (COM) is continued (D). Upon detection (E) of an intrusive attack, the end-of-life state variable (FdVR) is written (F) in the single random-access memory, and the end-of-life state variable (FdVE) is deleted (G) from the non-volatile memory in a delayed manner. The invention is suitable for all electronic devices, microprocessor cards or the like.
US09372789B2 Log-structured filed system with file branching
Disclosed are systems, computer-readable mediums, and methods for reading a sequence number from regions of a solid state storage device. A latest region is determined based upon the sequence numbers and a checkpoint file is read within the latest region. A request for a block of data of a first branch is received. A first block of pointers associated with the first branch from the checkpoint file is read. A first pointer from the first block of pointers and a second block of pointers pointed to by the first pointer are read. A second pointer from the second block of pointers and a third block of pointers pointed to by the second pointer are read. A third pointer from the third block of pointers and data pointed to by the third pointer are read. The block of data of the first branch is determined based upon the read data. The block of data is returned.
US09372786B1 Constructing state-transition functions for mobile devices
Disclosed are various embodiments for a state monitoring application. A state monitoring application initiates the execution of test operations on a client device. States of the client device are monitored to determine when the client device is at risk of entering an unresponsive state. When the client device is at risk, the state monitoring application initiates the execution of remedy operations to prevent the client device from becoming unresponsive.
US09372784B2 Test system configuration method and system
This disclosure relates to computer test systems and, more particularly, to automatically configuring computer test systems. A method, computer program product, and system receives a list of one or more software patches installed on an in-field computer system, the list including a version of each of the one or more software patches. Source code, managed by a source code revision tool, corresponding to the version of each of the one or more software patches, is identified. A compiling and installation system compiles one or more newly compiled software patches from the source code managed by the source code revision tool for each of the software patches installed on the in-field computer system. The compiling and installation system automatically installs the one or more newly compiled software patches on a test computer system to replicate the in-field computer system.
US09372782B1 Dynamic tracing framework for debugging in virtualized environments
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for a dynamic tracing framework for debugging in a virtualized environment. Embodiment of the present invention can include selecting a home node and a set of remote nodes to which apply a set of probes. Data collection is performed by a tracing agent of each node and the collection of data is shared across multiple software systems.
US09372781B2 Program subset execution and debug
In response to identification of an error in operation of a system, a debugging module determines where to set a debug entry point for a program subset debug session. An initial file state is captured for at least one file accessed by the system in response to initiation of a subsequent execution of the system. Prior to detection of execution of the system at the debug entry point, any file inputs and file outputs (I/Os) detected during the subsequent execution of the system are queued. Debug entry point metadata, including the captured initial at least one file state, the queued file I/Os, and an image of all instantiated objects at the debug entry point, is stored in response to detection of execution of the system at the debug entry point.
US09372776B2 Monitoring user activity and performance of computerized devices
The presently disclosed subject matter includes a device, system and method for monitoring activity at a computerized device, the device running one or more processes, at least one of the processes executing one or more system events being part of an activity. An activity of interest can be identified if system events related to the activity of interest are identified. An activity is monitored at the device using API queries to obtain descriptive information of the at least one respective system event executed as part of the activity. Using non-intrusive monitoring methods which are based on API queries enables to reduce the potential of interference of the monitoring with applications running on the monitored device.
US09372775B1 Method and apparatus for providing at risk information in a cloud computing system having redundancy
Methods and apparatus for generating at risk probabilities for a pre-integrated cloud computing system. In one embodiment, a system determines a revised overall risk index after at least two component failures in at least two of the compute domain, storage domain, and storage paths to assist a user in selecting a first one of the at least two component failures to fix first.
US09372772B1 Co-verification—of hardware and software, a unified approach in verification
A co-verification method and system are described herein. The co-verification method is able to verify software and hardware at the same time. Constraints are provided to a software compiler which generates programming values. The programming values and stimulus from a verification test bench are utilized to test a design such as a microprocessor.
US09372768B2 Debug interface
Techniques of debugging a computing system are described herein. The techniques may include generating debug data at agents in the computing system. The techniques may include recording the debug data at a storage element, wherein the storage element is disposed in a non-core portion of the circuit interconnect accessible to the agents.
US09372764B2 Event counter checkpointing and restoring
Event counter checkpointing and restoring is disclosed. In one implementation, a processor includes a first event counter to count events that occur during execution within the processor, event counter checkpoint logic, communicably coupled with the first event counter, to store, prior to a transactional execution of the processor, a value of the first event counter, a second event counter to count events prior to and during the transactional execution, wherein the second event counter is to increment without resetting after the transactional execution is aborted, event count restore logic to restore the first event counter to the stored value after the transactional execution is aborted, and tuning logic to determine, in response to aborting of the transactional execution, a number of the events that occurred during the transactional execution based on the stored value of the first event counter and a value of the second event counter.
US09372749B2 Feedback signaling error detection and checking in MIMO wireless communication systems
A method of feedback in a wireless transmit receive unit includes providing a precoding matrix index (PMI), error checking the (PMI) to produce an error check (EC) bit, coding the PMI and the EC bit and transmitting the coded PMI and EC bit.
US09372746B2 Methods for identifying silent failures in an application and devices thereof
A method system and computer program product are disclosed for identifying silent failures in an application, comprising of generating a finite state machine (FSM) model of the application based on an input data, extracting state specific invariants relevant to the generated FSM, performing a localized invariant violation check at each state of the generated FSM and upon detection of an invariant violation at any state of the FSM, logging the violation as a silent failure.
US09372741B2 Data storage device and operating method thereof
A data storage device includes: a nonvolatile memory device comprising a plurality of memory blocks, each including a plurality of pages; and a controller suitable for controlling an operation of the nonvolatile memory device in response to a request from an external device, wherein the controller determines whether or not a memory block including damaged pages in which stored data are damaged occurs in the memory blocks, sets a memory block including the damaged pages to an invalid memory block based on the determination result, and regenerates free pages of the memory block set as the invalid memory block into a valid memory block.
US09372740B2 Systems and methods for situational application development in the enterprise environment
Embodiments of the invention broadly contemplate a situational application development framework that provides consumable software components that are accessed as services and monitored in a standardized fashion through a mediator service and thus suitable for use in a controlled development environment. At least one embodiment of the invention thus facilitates on the fly application creation using mashup makers in an enterprise setup.
US09372739B2 Monitoring of subscriber message processing in a publish/subscribe messaging environment
A message published by a publisher device and associated with a subscription topic hosted by a publish/subscribe message tracking device is received at the publish/subscribe message tracking device. A determination is made to monitor action completion processing of the message by at least one subscriber device. The message is sent to the at least one subscriber device that is registered to the subscription topic and configured to report action completion processing of the message. The action completion processing of the message by the at least one subscriber device is monitored. Monitoring results of the monitored action completion processing are published.
US09372737B2 Video stream management for remote graphical user interfaces
Embodiments enable display updates other than a video stream in a graphical user interface (GUI) to be rendered, encoded, and transmitted exclusive of the video stream. A virtual machine generates a GUI that includes an encoded video stream and other display updates. A virtual graphics processing unit (VGPU) stack associated with the VM renders the other display updates of the GUI to a framebuffer. The rendered display updates are encoded and transmitted to a client for display. The encoded video stream, or a modified (e.g., reduced bit rate) version of the encoded video stream, may be transmitted to the client, such that the client can display the encoded video stream within the GUI. For example, the encoded video stream may be selectively transmitted to the client based on the performance capabilities of the client.
US09372735B2 Auto-scaling of pool of virtual machines based on auto-scaling rules of user associated with the pool
In various embodiments, systems and methods are presented for providing resources by way of a platform as a service in a distributed computing environment to perform a job. The system may be comprised of a number of components, such as a task machine, a task location service machine, and a high-level location service machines that in combination are useable to accomplish functions provided herein. It is contemplated that the system performs methods for providing resources by determining resources of the system, such as virtual machines, and applying auto-scaling rules to the system to scale those resources. Based on the determination of the auto-scaling rules, the resources may be allocated to achieve a desired result.
US09372731B1 Automated firmware settings framework
Systems and methods are described for managing computing resources. In one embodiment, mappings between a plurality of parameters of an abstracted firmware framework to corresponding firmware settings of computing components are maintained. The mappings are determined based on predetermined associations between vendor-specific firmware settings and abstracted firmware settings that implement a standardized interface that is independent of the vendor-specific firmware settings. In response to receiving one of the plurality of parameters, the received parameter is translated to corresponding vendor-specific firmware settings based on the mappings.
US09372729B2 Task scheduling method and apparatus
An apparatus schedules execution of a plurality of tasks by a processor. Each task has an associated periodicity and an associated priority based upon the associated periodicity. The processor executes each of the plurality of tasks periodically according to the associated periodicity of the task. A scheduler, at each of a series of scheduling time points updates the priorities of the plurality of tasks and schedules the tasks that need to be executed in accordance with their priorities. The scheduler identifies an unexecuted task which, at a preceding scheduling time point, was scheduled for execution but which, since that preceding scheduling time point, has not been executed. The scheduler sets the priority of the unexecuted task as greater than the priority of other tasks that have the same periodicity as the unexecuted task and that are not themselves unexecuted tasks.
US09372726B2 Gang migration of virtual machines using cluster-wide deduplication
Datacenter clusters often employ live virtual machine (VM) migration to efficiently utilize cluster-wide resources. Gang migration refers to the simultaneous live migration of multiple VMs from one set of physical machines to another in response to events such as load spikes and imminent failures. Gang migration generates a large volume of network traffic and can overload the core network links and switches in a data center. The present technology reduces the network overhead of gang migration using global deduplication (GMGD). GMGD identifies and eliminates the retransmission of duplicate memory pages among VMs running on multiple physical machines in the cluster. A prototype GMGD reduces the network traffic on core links by up to 51% and the total migration time of VMs by up to 39% when compared to the default migration technique in QEMU/KVM, with reduced adverse performance impact on network-bound applications.
US09372725B2 Dynamically adjusting wait periods according to system performance
A method for dynamically adjusting an actual wait period associated with an operating system call, wherein the operating system call suspends execution of at least one thread in a plurality of threads associated with an operating environment is provided. The method may include determining a utilization factor function associated with the operating environment. The method may also include selecting at least one performance counter within a plurality of performance counters associated with the operating environment. The method may further include computing a utilization factor based on the determined utilization factor function and the selected at least one performance counter. Additionally, the method may include intercepting an operating system call, wherein the operating system call includes a requested wait period parameter. The method may also include updating the actual wait period associated with the intercepted operating system call based on the requested wait period parameter and the computed utilization factor.
US09372723B2 System and method for conditional task switching during ordering scope transitions
A data processing system includes a processor core and ordering scope manager circuitry. The processor core sends an indication of a first ordering scope identifier for a current ordering scope a task currently being executed by the processor core and a second ordering scope identifier for a next-in-order ordering scope of the task. The ordering scope manager receives the indication the first and second ordering scope identifiers from processor core, and, provides a no task switch indicator to the processor core in response to determining that the first task is a first-in-transition-order task for the first ordering scope identifier and that processor core is authorized to execute the next-in-order ordering scope. The processor core transitions from executing in the current ordering scope to executing in the next-in-order ordering scope without performing task switch in response to the no task switch indicator being provided.
US09372721B2 System for processing data received from various data sources
Techniques are provided for processing and categorizing data received from data sources. The processing and categorizing of the received data comprises: determining whether the digital data can be associated with one or more categories by determining whether a first match between one or more image characteristics of the one or more categories and one or more image characteristics of the digital data is found; in response to determining that the first match is found: associating the one or more categories with the digital data; determining, based at least in part on the one or more categories, one or more applications that are to be used to process the digital data; in response to determining the one or more applications that are to be used to process the digital data, initiating the one or more applications to process the digital data.
US09372720B2 Multimedia data pre-processing on idle core by detecting multimedia data in application
A multimedia data preprocessing apparatus for a virtual machine is provided. The multimedia data preprocessing apparatus includes a detection unit configured to detect multimedia data included in an application, a generation unit configured to generate a thread for processing the detected multimedia data, and an allocation unit configured to allocate the generated thread to an idle core.
US09372715B2 Priority level arbitration method and device
The present invention discloses a method and device for arbitrating priority levels. The method comprises: setting a plurality of first stage polling arbiters and a second stage priority level arbiter respectively, wherein the number of the first stage polling arbiters is equal to the number of priority levels contained in a plurality of source ends; receiving task request signals for requesting tasks from the plurality of source ends and assigning request tasks with the same priority level to the same first stage polling arbiter; each of the first stage polling arbiters polling the received request tasks with the same priority level respectively to obtain one request task and transmitting the request task to the second stage priority level arbiter; and the second stage priority level arbiter receiving the plurality of request tasks and outputting an output result of request tasks with the highest priority level to a destination end.
US09372709B2 Distribution of a service implemented by intra-connected virtual machines
A mechanism is provided for distributing a service implemented by a plurality of infra-connected source virtual machines on a source computing environment. Characteristic information of the service comprising an indication of the intra-connected source virtual machines and of each intra-connection between the intra-connected source virtual machines is discovered. The source virtual machines are copied into corresponding target virtual machines on a target computing environment. Reconfiguration information of at least one selected target virtual machine of the target virtual machines is saved that has a source identity of the corresponding source virtual machine in the source computing environment being reconfigured into a target identity of the at least one selected target virtual machine in the target computing environment. Each communication, addressed to each source identity by each target virtual machine intra-connected to a corresponding selected target virtual machine, is redirected to the corresponding target.
US09372708B2 Synchronizing multicast groups
Embodiments of the invention relate to synchronizing multicast groups of a virtual machine during migration of the virtual machine. A first list and a second list, indicating multicast groups corresponding to the first port and second port respectively, are obtained in response to detection of migration of the virtual machine from a first port to a second port of a same switch. The second list is updated so that the second list contains the multicast groups in the first list. An undesired multicast group is aged. Multicast groups of a virtual machine may be synchronized in the process of migration of the virtual machine, thereby reducing or removing the time during which the virtual machine multicast service is disrupted.
US09372707B2 Computer, virtual machine deployment method and program
A virtual machine deployment determination unit that manages a plurality of physical machines as machines in which a virtual machine is to be deployed acquires setting information including a type of software that is running on the virtual machine and an operating policy of the software, refers to deployment condition determination information which prescribes a deployment condition for selecting the physical machine to become the deployment destination of the virtual machine is associated with the operating policy of the software and stored therein based on the acquired setting information, and determines the physical machine to become the deployment destination of the virtual machine by selecting the physical machine among the plurality of physical machines based on the referral result.
US09372706B2 Host selection for virtual machine placement
In one embodiment, a method for placing virtual machines in a collection is provided. A plurality of equivalence sets of hosts is determined prior to placing virtual machines in the collection. The hosts in an equivalence set of hosts are considered similar. An equivalence set of hosts in the plurality of equivalence sets is selected to place the virtual machines in the collection. The method then places at least a portion of the virtual machines in the collection on one or more hosts in the selected equivalence set of hosts.
US09372701B2 Management of digital information via a buoyant interface moving in three-dimensional space
An interface for managing digital information is provided. Digital information including one or more digital files is stored in memory. An icon is associated with the digital information and rendered inside a translucent bubble. The bubble may be manipulated in the digital environment by a user.
US09372698B2 Method and apparatus for implementing dynamic portbinding within a reservation station
A processor and method are described for scheduling operations for execution within a reservation station. For example, a method in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes the operations of: classifying a plurality of operations based on the execution ports usable to execute those operations; allocating the plurality of operations into groups within a reservation station based on the classification, wherein each group is serviced by one or more execution ports corresponding to the classification, and wherein two or more entries within a group share a common read port and a common write port; dynamically scheduling two or more operations in a group for concurrent execution based on the ports capable of executing those operations and a relative age of the operations.
US09372695B2 Optimization of instruction groups across group boundaries
Instructions grouped into instruction groups are optimized across group boundaries. Instruction sequences spanning multiple groups are optimized by retaining information relating to an instruction at the end of one instruction group to be co-optimized with an instruction at the beginning of a subsequent instruction group. This retained information is then used in optimization of one or more instructions of the subsequent group. Optimization may be performed across n group boundaries, where n is equal to two or greater. Additionally, optimization of instructions within a group may be performed, in addition to the optimizations across group boundaries.
US09372692B2 Methods, apparatus, instructions, and logic to provide permute controls with leading zero count functionality
Instructions and logic provide SIMD permute controls with leading zero count functionality. Some embodiments include processors with a register with a plurality of data fields, each of the data fields to store a second plurality of bits. A destination register has corresponding data fields, each of these data fields to store a count of the number of most significant contiguous bits set to zero for corresponding data fields. Responsive to decoding a vector leading zero count instruction, execution units count the number of most significant contiguous bits set to zero for each of data fields in the register, and store the counts in corresponding data fields of the first destination register. Vector leading zero count instructions can be used to generate permute controls and completion masks to be used along with the set of permute controls, to resolve dependencies in gather-modify-scatter SIMD operations.
US09372690B2 Analysis of data integration job
A request for analysis of a data integration job is received that includes one or more features and criteria for the analysis. Each feature is extracted from a job model representing the job by invoking a corresponding analytical rule for each feature. The analytical rule includes one or more operations and invoking the analytical rule performs the operations to analyze one or more job components associated with the corresponding feature as represented in the job model and to extract information pertaining to that feature.
US09372688B1 Automatic discovery of a JavaScript API
An approach to creating a canonical representation of a JavaScript API. Objects associated with the JavaScript API are instantiated, creating entry points for analysis. A list of discovered objects is created based on parsing a document object model associated with the JavaScript API. The objects are instrumented and statically analyzed, creating an infrastructure associated with the JavaScript API. The infrastructure is updated based on analyzing the objects while the interface is being used and the objects are executing. A canonical representation, based on the updated infrastructure, is generated for further operations.
US09372685B1 Impact prediction of software change deployment on customer systems
Analysis of the expected impacts of deployment of a software change as well as the frequency of end user use of features of an application can be used to better guide development of software changes.
US09372680B2 Methods and systems for producing, evaluating and simulating executable applications
A method and system for producing executable applications comprises selecting a processor type and compiling a binary code module for execution by the selected processor type. The method and system further comprise selecting one or more operating systems and linking the binary code module with a loader module for each selected operating system to produce an executable application to be executed on that operating system. Methods and systems for evaluating and simulating executable applications are also disclosed.
US09372677B2 Register liveness analysis for SIMD architectures
Systems and methods of allocating physical registers to variables may involve identifying a partial definition of a variable in an inter-procedural control flow graph. A determination can be made as to whether to terminate a live range of the variable based at least in part on the partial definition. Additionally, a physical register may be allocated to the variable based at least in part on the live range.
US09372676B2 Method and system for loading status control of DLL
Apparatus and methods are provided for controlling the loading status of DLLs. Specifically, a streaming program compiler is provided. The compiler includes operation modules for calling DLLs during streaming program execution; association table generating units for generating association tables according to user-defined rules, where the association table includes entries indicating (i) stream branches of the streaming program and (ii) an operation module corresponding to the stream branches; and a trigger generating unit for generating a trigger based on user-defined rules, where the trigger generating unit (i) determines which conditions for loading and unloading DLLs fit the streaming program, (ii) matches these conditions to a particular stream branch to identify a matched stream branch, and (iii) sends out triggering signals indicating the matched stream branch. This invention also provides a corresponding method and controller.
US09372672B1 Translation in visual context
Techniques that enable relatively easier translation of programs by translators, without requiring undue disclosure of information about the program. A translation assistant provides a model of the program instructions, for the translator to view the screen elements and translate them in context, without seeing the program code. The programmer and the translation assistant, working together, capture screen images to be reviewed by the translator, which provide context for translation. The translation assistant intercepts coded instructions to write to the screen when the program is in use. The intercepted instructions are logged and converted to descriptions in a screen-presentation language. The screen-presentation language is sent to the translator, who can edit the text of the wording on-screen, without seeing the underlying program code. An alternative communication line can be established between the programmer and the translator, for questions about intended meaning.
US09372670B1 Template dependency relocation
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for relocating template dependencies. One of the methods includes determining that dependencies in a dependency graph include a first dependency of a first node representing the first software element that includes a usage of a template parameterized by a type on a second node representing a second software element that is or occurs within a definition of the template, and a second dependency of the second node representing second software element on a third node representing the third software element that defines the type. In response, the dependency graph is modified including generating a new node in the dependency graph, the new node representing the instantiation of the template with the type, adding a new first dependency from the first node to the new node, and adding a new second dependency from the new node to the third node.
US09372665B2 Method and apparatus for multiplying binary operands
Method and apparatus for multiplying a signed first operand na bits and a signed second operand nb bits, wherein na and nb are different positive integer numbers, the method comprising generating single bit products of pairs of a single bit from the signed first operand and a single bit from the signed second operand with a logical AND function to produce na times nb single bit products, selectively inverting for the signed first operand and the signed second operands the single bit products of the first operand bit na−1 multiplied with the second operand bits 0 to nb−2, selectively inverting the single bit products of the signed second operand bits 0 to na−2 multiplied with the signed second operand bit nb−1, after the step of inverting adding the single bit products in accordance with their respective order for producing an intermediate product, and adding a ‘1’ bit value at bit positions nb−1, na−1 and na+nb−1 for receiving a final product.
US09372663B2 Direct digital synthesis of signals using maximum likelihood bit-stream encoding
Methods and apparatus are provided for direct synthesis of RF signals using maximum likelihood sequence estimation. An RF digital RF input signal is synthesized by performing maximum likelihood sequence estimation on the digital RF input signal to produce a digital stream, such that after filtering by a prototype filter the produced digital stream produces a substantially minimum error. The substantially minimum error comprises a difference between a digital output of the prototype filter and the digital RF input signal. The digital stream is substantially equal to the input digital RF signal. The digital stream can be applied to an analog restitution filter, and the output of the analog restitution filter comprises an analog RF signal that approximates the digital RF input signal.
US09372662B2 Piston fluid meter with improved yoke arrangement
A fluid meter (27) comprising a housing (28) defining at least one crankcase (29) and two cylinders (25, 26), a crankshaft (11) disposed in the crankcase (29), two pistons (3, 4) respectively mounted in the cylinders (25, 26) for reciprocal movement, a first connecting rod (12) connected to one of the pistons (3) and to the crankshaft (11) for rotating the crankshaft (11) in response to the movement of the one piston (3), and a second connecting rod (13) connected to the other piston (4) and to the crankshaft (11) for rotating the crankshaft (11) in response to the movement of the other piston (4), wherein the first and second connecting rods (12, 13) have yoke slots (16, 17) with a circumferential periphery (62) for receiving a crank pin (19) radially offset from the crankshaft (11). The fluid meter (27) is characterized in that the circumferential periphery (62) of each one of said yoke slots (16, 17) has at least one resilient portion (61) for allowing a play? between said crank pin (19) and said circumferential periphery (62) of said yoke slot (16, 17) at said at least one resilient portion (61). The invention further relates to a multiple fluid meter assembly (61) comprising at least two fluid meters (27) as defined above, and to a fuel dispensing unit comprising a fluid meter (27) or a multiple fluid meter (61) as defined above.
US09372660B2 Display controlling apparatus, method of controlling the same, and storage medium
A display controlling apparatus captures a displayed object, and selects a transmission object to transmit to an image outputting apparatus from objects which are display targets. The display controlling apparatus controls so that in a case where it is determined that the transmission object is an image output target, the transmission object is displayed with preference over another object. Also, the display controlling apparatus captures a transmission object after the control.
US09372657B2 Multi-screen display system, display device, ID setting apparatus, and ID setting method
When assigning display IDs to displays which form a multi-screen system, the displays are arranged such that short distance radio communication is possible and an ID setting apparatus which can perform the short distance radio communication is employed. After each display ID is set in the ID setting apparatus, the ID setting apparatus and each of the displays are placed near each other in a contactless manner so as to transfer the display ID set in the ID setting apparatus to the display and assign the display ID to the display.
US09372656B2 Video display system utilizing USB power delivery interface for protected video content
A video display system is provided. The video display system includes: a first media device; and a second media device, wherein the first media device is connected to the second media device through a universal serial bus power delivery (USB PD) interface, and the first media device transmits both data and a protected video content to the second media device simultaneously through the USB PD interface, wherein the second media device displays the protected video content on a first electronic device through the USB PD interface.
US09372654B2 Image processing system, information processing apparatus, image processing apparatus, method of controlling information processing apparatus, method of controlling image processing apparatus and storage medium
An image processing system capable of executing a processing flow in a destination image processing apparatus without retransmitting the processing flow from a source image processing apparatus to the destination image processing apparatus when the version of the destination image processing apparatus is upgraded. The source image processing apparatus analyzes whether or not the processing flow is executable by the destination image processing apparatus before transmitting the processing flow, and if it is unexecutable, the source image processing apparatus performs alternate configuration of an inexecutable setting based on the analysis result. The source image processing apparatus transmits the processing flow including the alternate setting to the destination image processing apparatus. If the destination image processing apparatus fails in executing the processing flow, the destination image processing apparatus executes the processing flow based on the alternate setting included in the received processing flow.
US09372649B2 System and method for printable document job submission
In some embodiments, a method which includes receiving an indication of the presence of a first message from a first client device, the first message including a first specification file and a first network address associated with a first print data file. The method includes retrieving the first print data file from the first network address. The method includes processing the first specification file and the first print data file by a raster image processor.
US09372646B2 Storage medium storing device registration program and method for device registration
A device registration program causes a computer in a mobile terminal to function as a device detecting section, a designated device discriminating section, a display control section, and a device registration section. The device detecting section detects any devices communicable with the mobile terminal. The designated device discriminating section discriminates a device designated according to an orientation of the mobile terminal on the basis of location information and orientation information of the mobile terminal and location information of each of the detected devices. The display control section causes display of a list of icons indicating models of the detected devices and display of an icon of the discriminated device in a different manner than the other icons in the list. The device registration section registers the discriminated device.
US09372642B2 RAID 10 reads optimized for solid state drives
A mechanism is provided in a data processing system. The mechanism determines a maximum queue depth of a queue for each solid state drive in a plurality of solid state drives. A given data block is mirrored between a group of solid state drives within the plurality of solid state drives. The mechanism tracks outstanding input/output operations in a queue for each of the plurality of solid state drives. For a given read operation to read the given data block, the mechanism identifies a solid state drive within the group of solid state drives based on a number of empty slots in the queue of each solid state drive within the group of solid state drives.
US09372639B2 System LSI capable of erasing internally stored program and program erasing method
The present invention provides a system LSI that integrates, on a single semiconductor, a logic circuit, a CPU, and a program memory storing a program of the CPU. The system LSI includes a program eraser erasing contents stored in the program memory, and at least two program erasing trigger terminals controlling execution of the program eraser. The program eraser erases a program stored in the program memory on the basis of potentials of the two program erasing trigger terminals.
US09372638B1 Systems and methods for backing up virtual machine data
A computer-implemented method for backing up virtual machine data may include (1) identifying a volume of data for a guest system within a virtual machine that may be scheduled for a backup from outside the guest system, (2) identifying, before the backup may be scheduled to occur, a plurality of blocks within the volume of data that have changed since a previous backup of the volume of data, (3) partially performing the backup by copying the plurality of blocks to a backup image and (4) completing the backup from outside the guest system once the backup may be scheduled to occur by copying to the backup image an additional plurality of blocks within the volume of data that have changed since identifying the plurality of blocks. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09372636B1 Tiered-storage design
A method, computer program product, and computing system for defining a storage pool for a storage system being designed that includes a plurality of storage tiers. Each storage tier has a different level of performance. A first workload is defined for the storage system, wherein the first workload includes: a first target skew factor, a first capacity requirement, and a first IOPS requirement. A first density function is generated based, at least in part, upon the first target skew factor. The first workload is applied to the storage pool, thus defining a first allocated workload. A distribution of the first IOPS requirement amongst the plurality of storage tiers included within the storage pool is determined based, at least in part, upon the first allocated workload and the first density function.
US09372634B2 Methods and apparatus for providing hypervisor level data services for server virtualization
A data center for data backup and replication, including a pool of multiple storage units for storing a journal of I/O write commands issued at respective times, wherein the journal spans a history window of a pre-specified time length, and a journal manager for dynamically allocating more storage units for storing the journal as the journal size increases, and for dynamically releasing storage units as the journal size decreases.
US09372633B2 Indication of a destructive write via a notification from a disk drive that emulates blocks of a first block size within blocks of a second block size
A disk drive receives a request to write at least one block of a first block size, wherein the disk drive is configured to store blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size. The disk drive stores a plurality of emulated blocks of the first block size in each block of the second block size. The disk drive generates a read error, in response to reading a selected block of the second block size in which the at least block of the first block size is to be written via an emulation. The disk drive performs a destructive write of selected emulated blocks of the first block size that caused the read error to be generated. The disk drive writes the at least one block of the first block size in the selected block of the second block size.
US09372631B1 Managing volume updates received during an execution of a volume migration process
A method for updating a destination volume, the method may include monitoring duplicate traffic that represents original traffic that is exchanged between at least one host computer and a first storage system; wherein the monitoring is executed by a controller during an execution of a migration or a replication of a source volume of the first storage system to a destination volume of a second storage system; wherein the controller is not included in the first storage system; wherein the original traffic is related to the source volume; wherein the duplicate traffic is sent toward the controller by at least one switch that attempts to duplicate the original traffic; and controlling, based upon the monitoring, a process of updating the destination volume with a set of source volume updates, wherein the set of source volume updates are reflected in the duplicate traffic and are received during the execution of the migration.
US09372630B2 Migration of newly allocated data to a storage tier
A method, for migrating newly allocated data into a second storage tier, includes receiving a request to store a data item. The method includes allocating an extent to a first storage tier to store the new data item. The method includes determining whether an extent is newly allocated on the first storage tier. The method includes migrating, by avoiding a learning phase, the newly allocated extent to the second storage tier from the first storage tier.
US09372629B2 System, method and apparatus for preventing data loss due to memory defects using latches
A system and method for operating a memory system includes receiving a first user data, writing the first user data to a first buffer, writing the first user data from the first buffer to a first selected memory location, writing the first user data from the first buffer into a second buffer when the first user data was successfully written to the first selected memory location. Data is retrieved from the first selected memory location and written into the first buffer. Data in the first buffer can be matched to the user data in the second buffer to confirm a successful storage of the first user data in the memory system. A previously stored user data can be retrieved from a third selected memory location and written into a third buffer when the previously stored user data was stored in the memory system before the first user data.
US09372628B1 Deduplication tracking for accurate lifespan prediction
Various embodiments for predicting hardware lifespan by a processor device. For a solid state drive (SSD) device configured with data deduplication mechanisms, a useful remaining lifespan is estimated by examining actual drive write operations in view of prevented drive write operations, thereby obtaining trend information to be applied to at least one drive constant data to predict the useful remaining lifespan of the SSD drive device.
US09372626B2 Parallel storage system testing wherein I/O test pattern identifies one or more set of jobs to be executed concurrently
Parallel storage system testing is provided. An input/output (I/O) pattern is received. One or more sets of jobs are determined, based, at least in part, on the I/O pattern. Each of the one or more sets of jobs identifies one or more jobs. Each job identifies one or more I/O operations. Each set of jobs of the one or more sets of jobs is assigned to a processing node of one or more processing nodes. The one or more sets of jobs are executed concurrently.
US09372623B2 Information processing terminal and operation control method for same
To provide an information processing terminal capable of solving the problem in which the positions of operational objects cannot be adjusted in accordance with the holding style so as to improve operativity. A display input unit has a display screen and receives a touch operation made to the display screen. A detecting unit detects a position at which the touch operation has been made on the display screen. A control unit displays operational objects or icons on the display screen. The control unit also moves icons to an icon gathering area in accordance with the number of detected areas among a plurality of setting areas set up in the display screen, or the setting areas including an operated position detected by detecting unit 2.
US09372617B2 Object control method and apparatus of user device
An object control method and apparatus of the user device using hovering gestures are provided. The object control method includes displaying at least one object on a display screen, detecting a multi-finger hovering gesture for selecting the object on the display screen, activating a camera upon detection of the multi-finger hovering gesture, recognizing a hand in a picture input through the camera, and entering, when the hand disappears out of a viewing angle of the camera, a file transfer standby state for transmitting the selected object.
US09372615B2 Method and apparatus for touch input for electronic device
An apparatus and a method for a touch screen in an electronic device. The method includes determining whether a constant touch input is detected. The method also includes, when a constant touch input is detected, determining whether an input of an additional key button of the device is detected. The method further includes, when the input of the additional key button is detected, performing a second function that is different than a first function of the additional key button. Since a separate new additional function may be intuitively performed besides a unique function of the additional key button by pressing the touch screen and the additional key button together, user convenience of the device increases.
US09372614B2 Automatic enlargement of viewing area with selectable objects
A system (and method) are disclosed for enlarging a portion of a view of a user interface displayed within a touch-sensitive screen. The system is configured to determine a predetermined touch area corresponding to a touch applied on the screen. The system provides, for display on the screen, a user interface, the user interface including selectable objects and a scrim of the user interface in response to a plurality of selectable objects being within the predetermined touch area. The system generates a magnified view of the selectable objects within the touch area and provides, for display on the screen over the scrim of the user interface, the magnified view. The area of the magnified view is greater than the touch area. Once a selection is made within the magnified view, the magnified view and scrim view are removed and the normal view of the user interface is returned.
US09372606B2 Dynamically selecting and ordering facets and facet values in a user interface based on user preference
A method, system and computer program product for dynamically selecting and ordering facets and/or facet values in a user interface. A user's “preference” concerning the selection and ordering of facets and/or facet values that the user desires to be displayed in the user interface is determined. Such user's preference may be determined based on monitoring the actions of the user (e.g., online activity) as well as possibly other types of information, such as the user's input and context of the user's faceted search. Upon determining the user's preference, facets and/or facet values are selected and ordered based on the user's preference and consequently displayed in the user's user interface. In this manner, the user is provided a more relevant and insightful perspective on the data set as the user sees the “best” information more quickly while performing less work to see and apply the facets and/or facet values.
US09372604B2 Adaptive intervals in navigating content and/or media
The present embodiments provide methods and apparatuses for use in navigating through content. Some embodiments provide methods for use in navigating through content that receive an initial first directional control command, activate a seek mode upon receipt of the initial first directional control command comprising advancing over a first amount of content in a first direction from a first point in the content to a second point in the content, receive an initial second directional control command following the receipt of the initial first directional command, and activate a search mode upon receipt of the initial second directional control command, comprising advancing back over a second amount of the first amount of the content where the second amount is less than the first amount of the content.
US09372601B2 Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus that controls a user interface to display content, acquires position information corresponding to an input received at the user interface, determines a condition corresponding to the position information, and controls the user interface to display data corresponding to the input based on a result of the determining.
US09372599B2 Method for representing animated menu buttons
Optical storage media often contain data structures for a menu suitable for selection of a title, a chapter, a parameter or others. Such menus usually comprise a number of buttons to be displayed, with each button having a state. Possible states of buttons are “unselected”, “selected” or “activated”. According to the invention, the representation of a menu button may vary, depending on its state. An image or an image sequence, e.g. cartoon, may be associated to a buttons state, providing user animation. Further, a sound or sound sequence, e.g. melody or click, may be associated to a buttons state, and may be played back when the button enters this state. A data structure is disclosed which allows storage of such menu data e.g. on a Blu-ray disc.
US09372597B2 Appliance systems providing user-friendly shared music playlist editing
Appliance systems providing user-friendly shared music playlist editing are provided. An example method of operating an appliance includes identifying a plurality of audio files accessible by the appliance over one or more local area networks. The method includes uploading data identifying the plurality of audio files to a server. The method includes providing an access code to a user computing device. The access code allows the user computing device to communicate with the server to select one or more of the plurality of audio files for playback. The method includes receiving from the server data identifying a first audio file selected for playback. The method includes causing one or more speakers to play the first audio file.
US09372596B2 Assistive overlay for report generation
In general, techniques are described for providing a user interface to create report specifications and included source definitions for business reporting and analysis. For example, a computing device includes a user interface (UI) module for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) and receiving a selection of a data element at a start location of the GUI. The UI module may display an overlay element having a boundary forming a plurality of paths from the start location to a plurality of end locations, the paths corresponding to a plurality of report options associated with the data element. The UI module may receive a second input indicative of a traversal of the overlay element along a chosen path. The computing device may include a definition module operable to create a definition for a report specification based at least in part on the report option corresponding to the chosen path.
US09372594B2 Method and apparatus for adding icon to interface of system, and mobile terminal
A method for adding an icon to an interface of an Android system, where the Android system has N interfaces, includes: a. obtaining add command information; b. obtaining, according to the add command information, space information of an icon to be added; c. obtaining remaining space information of an Mth interface according to the add command information; d. judging whether the space information of the icon to be added is greater than the remaining space information of the Mth interface; if yes, executing step e; if no, executing step f; e. judging whether the Mth interface is a last interface to be judged; if yes, executing step g; if no, assigning M+1 to M and returning to step c; f. adding the icon to the interface; and g. establishing another interface, and adding the icon to the newly established interface; where M and N are natural numbers, and 1≦M≦N.
US09372593B2 Using a three-dimensional model to render a cursor
In some implementations, a cursor can be rendered based on a three-dimensional model. In some implementations, the three-dimensional cursor can be manipulated to change the orientation of the three-dimensional cursor based on the context of the cursor. In some implementations, parameters associated with the three-dimensional model can be manipulated based on the context of the three-dimensional cursor to change the appearance of the cursor.
US09372592B1 Presenting information related to content items
An electronic device may present an interface providing information related to one or more content items. For example, the interface may present representations related to a plurality of content items to indicate relative values among the content items of at least one metric. Additionally, each representation may further indicate at least one of a quality of the value of the metric or a different metric value. A user may navigate the interface to more specific or more general views for a particular metric, characteristic and/or category, and may use the interface to view more information about a selected content item. Alternatively, the representations may represent, or may be arranged according to, authors, publishers, genres, etc. In some examples, the representations may represent terms obtained from content items that satisfy one or more metrics, such as terms that occur in content items sold within a specified period of time.
US09372588B2 Pressure-sensitive multi-touch device
A pressure-sensitive multi-touch device is provided. The multi-touch device includes a matrix of pressure-sensitive cells, each pressure-sensitive cell configured to change a resistance of the cell inversely proportional to an amount of force applied to that cell. The multi-touch device further includes a force-spreading layer configured to diffuse a force of a touch input at a contact area to two or more pressure-sensitive cells within the matrix of pressure-sensitive cells.
US09372586B2 Touch display
A touch display includes a display module and a touch module. The touch module includes a first three-layer electrode structure and a transparent cover substrate, wherein the first three-layer electrode structure is disposed above a polarizer, and the transparent cover substrate is disposed above the first three-layer electrode structure. The first three-layer electrode structure includes a bottom index matching layer, a mesh electrode layer and a top index matching layer, wherein the mesh electrode layer is sandwiched between the bottom index matching layer and the top index matching layer.
US09372585B2 Method and device for detecting capacitive touch screen
A detecting device and method for a capacitive touch screen is proposed. A plurality of frequency settings is employed. Each frequency setting corresponds to a type of driving mode of a type of driving potential. These frequency settings are used for setting the detecting device for the capacitive touch screen. When the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the signals in the capacitive touch screen is not appropriate, frequency settings are changed by selecting one that yields a more appropriate S/N ratio among the frequency settings. The driving mode includes a single-electrode driving mode in which only a single driving electrode in the capacitive touch screen is driven at a time, and a multiple-electrode driving mode in which multiple driving electrodes are simultaneously driven at a time, and there can be several types of driving potentials.
US09372582B2 Self-capacitance measurement
In one embodiment, a method includes modifying an amount of charge of a capacitance of a touch sensor. The modified amount of charge resulting in a voltage at the capacitance being a first pre-determined voltage level. The method also includes applying a first pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance. The application of the first pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance modifying the voltage at the capacitance from the first pre-determined voltage level to a first charging voltage level. The method also includes determining a first difference between the first charging voltage level and a reference voltage level; and determining whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based on the first difference.
US09372580B2 Enhanced touch detection methods
In one embodiment, a method includes sending a first set of signals to a first set of lines of a touch sensor. The method also includes receiving a second set of signals on a second set of lines of the touch sensor in response to sending the first set of signals. The second set of lines are capacitively coupled to the first set of lines. The method includes sending a third set of signals and receiving a fourth set of signals. The fourth set of signals is capacitively generated based on the third set of signals. The method also includes determining a fifth set of signals by compensating the second set of signals based on the fourth set of signals and determining whether a touch occurred based on the fifth set of signals.
US09372579B2 Touchscreen electrode arrangement
A touchscreen display assembly has an array of first electrodes distributed across an active area of the touchscreen display assembly such that the density of first electrodes increases in a first direction across the touchscreen. An array of second electrodes is distributed across an active area of the touchscreen display assembly such that the density of second electrodes decreases in the first direction across the touchscreen. The position in the first direction of an input on the touchscreen can be determined by the proportion of first and second electrodes density in the area of the input.
US09372576B2 Image jaggedness filter for determining whether to perform baseline calculations
An image jaggedness filter is disclosed that can be used to detect the presence of ungrounded objects such as water droplets or coins, and delay periodic baseline adjustments until these objects are no longer present. To do otherwise could produce inaccurate normalized baseline sensor output values. The application of a global baseline offset is also disclosed to quickly modify the sensor offset values to account for conditions such as rapid temperature changes. Background pixels not part of any touch regions can be used to detect changes to no-touch sensor output values and globally modify the sensor offset values accordingly. The use of motion dominance ratios and axis domination confidence values is also disclosed to improve the accuracy of locking onto dominant motion components as part of gesture recognition.
US09372574B2 Touch panel controller, integrated circuit, touch panel device, and electronic device
A touch panel controller (1A) includes: a capacitor drive portion (5A); a multiplying portion (2A) which performs multiplication of first linear sum signals by a second code sequence to obtain signals and then performs addition of the signals to generate a second linear sum signal; an inner product operation portion (3A) which generates a first inner product operation signal by calculating an inner product of the second linear sum signal and the second code sequence; an inner product operation portion (3AA) which generates a second inner product operation signal by calculating an inner product of the first inner product operation signal and the first code sequence. This makes it possible to reduce a mounting area of the touch panel controller.
US09372568B2 Method, device and system for interacting
The present invention discloses a method, device and system for interacting, in which first information of each of the external accessories is obtained, it is judged whether the first information of each of the external accessories satisfies a preset first condition, and each of the external accessories is processed according to the preset first condition if the first information of each of the external accessories satisfies the preset first condition, therefore interaction between an electronic device and the accessories is achieved and user experience is improved.
US09372567B2 Display device, display method, and recording medium storing display program
A display device includes: an input controller configured to detect a first contact coordinate input by a drag operation on a touch panel on a surface of a display and record the first contact coordinate in a memory in association with an acquisition time of the first contact coordinate; and a display controller configured to calculate a second contact coordinate at a time preceding a current time by a given time based on the first contact coordinate and the acquisition time corresponding to the first contact coordinate and control a display operation on the display with defining the second contact coordinate as a display coordinate.
US09372565B2 Dynamic tactile interface
The dynamic tactile interface includes: a tactile layer defining a peripheral region and a deformable region adjacent the peripheral region and operable between a retracted setting and an expanded setting; a substrate including an attachment surface and coupled to the peripheral region and defining a fluid conduit adjacent the deformable region and a fluid channel fluidly coupled to the fluid conduit; a border region proximal a periphery of the substrate and defining a cavity configured to receive an instrument, the cavity supporting the instrument in a first configuration and releasing the instrument in a second configuration; and a bladder fluidly coupled to the fluid channel and coupled to the cavity, the instrument compressing a portion of the bladder in the first configuration to displace fluid from the bladder into the fluid channel to transition the deformable region from the retracted setting to the expanded setting.
US09372562B2 Mobile terminal and method of controlling the mobile terminal
A mobile terminal including a touch screen display unit configured to display content; and a controller configured to receive a setting of a region included in the displayed content, display a first graphic object corresponding to a first type of data included in the content in the set region and display a second graphic object corresponding to a second type of data included in the content in the set region, receive a selection of the first graphic object, extract the first type of data included in the content, and display the first type of data extracted from the content without the second type of data.
US09372560B2 Signal detecting system of multi wide capacitive touch-screen
The present invention relates to a signal detection system of a touch screen, and more particularly to a signal detection system of a large-sized mutual capacitive multi touch screen that is capable of effectively reducing RC time delay, signal distortion, an effect of noise, parasitic resistance, and parasitic capacitance.
US09372558B2 Setting vibration portions in pieces of electronic data that are displayable on a display device
Vibration portions are set in electronic data displayable on a display device. In response to a first portion in the one or more pieces of electronic data being specified on the display device, an embodiment sets the specified first portion as a first vibration portion. The first vibration portion triggers a first vibration in response to the first vibration portion being specified with a movable object. Moreover, in response to a second portion in the one or more pieces of electronic data being specified on the display device, an embodiment sets the specified second portion as a second vibration portion. The second vibration portion triggers the second vibration in response to the second vibration portion being specified with a movable object. The data storing settings for generating the first vibration and the second vibration include an order in which the first vibration and the second vibration are generated.
US09372557B2 Display apparatus, input apparatus, and method for compensating coordinates using the same
A display apparatus, an input apparatus, and a method for compensating coordinates using the same. A method for compensating coordinates using a display apparatus includes receiving movement information from an input apparatus, calculating a coordinate value based on the movement information, and displaying a cursor on the calculated coordinate value. When a button selection command is received from the input apparatus, replacing a coordinate value calculated after receiving the button selection command with a coordinate value of a stable position calculated before receiving the button selection command, and displaying the cursor on the replaced coordinate value, and manipulating an item on which the cursor is located according to the button selection command. Accordingly, the user may locate a cursor on the location that the user wants and execute a display item.
US09372553B2 Directional force sensing for styli
The stylus directional force sensing technique described herein employs a directional tip sensor which measures the magnitude and direction of force applied to a stylus tip. This information is then used to control the behavior of the stylus in an application. In one embodiment, this simple design only measures the stylus angle when the tip is actually pressing on the surface. This has the added benefit of reducing power requirements and computational complexity.
US09372548B2 Information reproduction/I/O method using dot pattern, information reproduction device, mobile information I/O device, and electronic toy using dot pattern
The present invention proposes a dot pattern on which code information and x and y coordinate information can be defined even if the dot pattern is extremely small, and proposes an information reproducing method and an information reproducing device based on the dot pattern. More specifically, a medium such as a printed material on which is formed a dot pattern portion by arranging in accordance with a given rule dots generated by a dot code generating algorithm in order to recognize various kinds of multimedia information is scanned as image data by scanning means. Then, the image data is converted into code data. Multimedia information corresponding to the code data is read out of storing means to be reproduced.
US09372547B2 Method and device for managing a key matrix, corresponding computer program product and storage device
A method for managing, by device, a matrix of keys, including at least one line and at least two columns, each key making short circuiting a line and a column when pressed. The method includes a sweeping phase, including, for each line: writing a predetermined logic value in the line; and for each column, reading a logic value in the column and comparing the read logic value and the predetermined logic value. For each line processed: the writing step is carried out during a predetermined time interval. For each column, the reading step is carried out during a first portion of the time interval. The sweeping phase further includes, for each column, writing the predetermined logic value in the column during a second portion of the predetermined time interval. The predetermined time interval is equal to the sum of the durations of the first and second portions.
US09372546B2 Hand pointing estimation for human computer interaction
Hand pointing has been an intuitive gesture for human interaction with computers. A hand pointing estimation system is provided, based on two regular cameras, which includes hand region detection, hand finger estimation, two views' feature detection, and 3D pointing direction estimation. The technique may employ a polar coordinate system to represent the hand region, and tests show a good result in terms of the robustness to hand orientation variation. To estimate the pointing direction, Active Appearance Models are employed to detect and track, e.g., 14 feature points along the hand contour from a top view and a side view. Combining two views of the hand features, the 3D pointing direction is estimated.
US09372545B2 Mobile terminal and method of controlling therefor
The present invention relates to a wearable mobile terminal of a glasses form enabling a user to more conveniently use the terminal and a method of controlling therefor. According to at least one of embodiments of the present invention, various functions of the wearable mobile terminal can be executed based on a simple and easy gesture of the user.
US09372543B2 Presentation interface in a virtual collaboration session
Systems and methods for a presentation interface in a virtual collaboration session. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving, from a gesture capture system, an indication of a body movement performed by a participant of a virtual collaboration session; receiving, from a drawing control system, an indication of a drawing characteristic associated with the participant of the virtual collaboration session, and identifying an intent of the participant based upon a combination of the indications.
US09372540B2 Method and electronic device for gesture recognition
Provided are a method and an electronic device for gesture recognition capable of dividing a display into a plurality of display regions assigned to a plurality of users, recognizing gestures of the plurality of users, and controlling the display regions assigned to the users who have made a gesture according to the recognized gestures. The method for gesture recognition includes: dividing a display into a plurality of display regions assigned to a plurality of users; recognizing gestures made by the plurality of users, respectively; and controlling the plurality of display regions respectively assigned to the plurality of users who have made the gestures according to the respective recognized gestures.
US09372536B2 Touch screen with tactile feedback
Examples of sensing a human touch to a touch screen and providing tactile and visual feedback are disclosed.
US09372533B1 Facial movement measurement and stimulation apparatus and method
An illustrative embodiment of a facial movement measurement and stimulation apparatus includes at least one facial movement sensor adapted to sense facial movement in a subject and a wearable computing device interfacing with the facial movement sensor or sensors and adapted to receive at least one signal from the facial movement sensor or sensors and indicate facial movement of the subject on a display of the wearable computing device. A facial movement measurement and stimulation method utilizing the wearable computing device is also disclosed.
US09372532B2 Image magnification based on display flexing
Systems and methods control resizing a presentation of an image on a flexible display. An initial presentation of an image is provided on a flexible display. A first flexing of the flexible display away from an unflexed configuration is determined and a return of the flexible display to the unflexed configuration is determined within a defined time period after determining the first flexing. A second flexing of the flexible display away from the unflexed configuration is determined within the defined time period after determining the first flexing and after determining the return. The first flexing is separate from the second flexing. At least a portion of the initial presentation is resized in a first manner in response to determining the first flexing and in response to determining the second flexing within the defined time period after determining the first flexing.
US09372530B2 Aspect-ratio independent, multimedia capture and editing systems and methods thereof
A multimedia capture system includes a plurality of imaging systems and one or more detection systems. The plurality of imaging systems capture image areas of a scene from at least partially different locations. The one or more detection systems determine a relative position of each of the plurality of imaging systems with respect to the different locations of the scene from where the image areas are captured. The relative position of each of the plurality of imaging systems and the captured image areas are used to generate a multimedia presentation of the scene. The capture system may be worn by an individual or may be on a stationary or mobile support.
US09372526B2 Managing a power state of a processor
A method and system for managing a power state of a processor are described herein. The method includes receiving, at the processor, a signal indicating that an interrupt is to be sent to the processor. The method also includes transitioning the processor from the deep idle state to the shallow idle state in response to receiving the signal and transitioning the processor from the shallow idle state to an active state in response to receiving the interrupt.
US09372522B2 Overvoltage protection systems and method
A power supply system and method are disclosed. The system includes a power supply to generate an output voltage in response to a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal and a DC main voltage. The system also includes an AC/DC converter to generate the DC main voltage based on an AC input voltage. The system further includes a power supply controller to generate the PWM signal based on feedback associated with the output voltage. The power supply controller includes a fault controller to detect an overvoltage condition associated with the power supply and to cause the AC/DC converter to disable the DC main voltage in response to the overvoltage condition.
US09372514B2 Apparatus for fastening expansion card
The present invention discloses an apparatus for fastening an expansion card, which includes: a “[” shaped bracket, where a pair of guide rails is symmetrically disposed on two arts of the “[” shaped bracket and a pair of first connection parts is symmetrically formed, and a backplane is permanently connected to the bottom of the “[” shaped bracket, where at least one expansion card slot is disposed on the backplane; and a “]” shaped compression element for the expansion card, where a pair of sliding blocks is symmetrically formed on two arms of the “]” shaped compression element for the expansion card and a pair of second connection parts is symmetrically formed, where each sliding block is embedded in a guide rail and can be slid along the guide rail; The present invention improves convenience of assembly and maintenance of an expansion card.
US09372513B1 Coupling element for hinged electronic device
A computer includes a lid defining a lower edge. A hinge is connected to the lid along the lower edge. The computer further includes a base having an upper surface and a keyboard disposed on the upper surface and defining a back edge. A mounting assembly is connected with the base between the back edge and the keyboard. The mounting assembly has an attachment feature that moves along a translational path in a direction between the back edge and the keyboard in a manner that is constrained to rotation thereof. The hinge is rotatably connected to the lid to be rotatable with respect to the base. The hinge is rotatably affixed with the attachment feature such that rotation of the lid drives rotation of the attachment feature, which drives the movement of the attachment feature along the translational path, moving the lower edge of the therewith.
US09372512B2 Portable electronic device
A portable electronic device includes a cover, a main body, a first bracket, a second bracket and a rotary shaft. The main body includes a top surface, a bottom surface opposite to the top surface, and a guiding groove disposed on the top surface. One end of the first bracket pivots to the cover, and the other of the first bracket is slidable in the guiding groove. One end of the second bracket pivots to the cover. The rotary shaft pivots to the other of the second bracket and the main body to allow the second bracket to rotate about an axis of rotation relative to the main body. An orthographic projection of the guiding groove on the bottom surface of the main body and an orthographic projection of the rotary shaft on the bottom surface of the main body are overlapped with each other.
US09372510B2 Information terminal provided with structure which prevents erroneous operation of electrostatic inputting device
The present disclosure provides an information terminal which comprises: a casing having a main surface; a touch pad arranged on the main surface; an insulation sheet member arranged on a rear surface of the touch pad; and a conductive sheet member arranged on a rear surface of the insulation sheet member. The conductive sheet member may have a portion which extends toward the outside from an edge portion of the insulation sheet member.
US09372497B2 Rotary actuator
A rotary actuator has a first rotatable part having a control surface with an undulating or sawtooth profile, and has a fixed second part having at least one detent element running on the control surface. The detent element is accommodated, in a manner which allows movement against a restoring force, in an aperture which tapers in a V shape towards the first part. The detent element is accommodated with play between the side walls bounding the aperture. The detent element interacts with the radially oriented control surface in such a way that, as it runs up a projection on the control surface as a result of a movement of the first part, it is moved against one side wall and, upon passing beyond the projection, strikes against the other side wall due the restoring force.
US09372495B2 dB-linear voltage-to-current converter
A dB-linear voltage-to-current (V/I) converter is amenable to implementation in CMOS technology. In a representative embodiment, the dB-linear V/I converter has a voltage scaler, a current multiplier, and an exponential current converter serially connected to one another. The voltage scaler supplies an input current to the current multiplier based on an input voltage. The current multiplier multiplies the input current and a current proportional to absolute temperature and supplies the resulting current to the exponential current converter. The exponential current converter has a differential MOSFET pair operating in a sub-threshold mode and generating an output current that is proportional to a temperature-independent, exponential function of the input voltage.
US09372494B2 Current regulator
The present application describes a current regulator for providing a regulated current from an input voltage. The current regulator comprises a voltage regulator circuit, operable to provide a regulated voltage, which comprises a plurality of Zener diodes connected in parallel.
US09372483B2 Method for the calculation of flight paths taking into consideration events of relevance for radiation dose
A method for the calculation of flight paths taking into consideration events of relevance for the radiation dose comprises the following steps: a) collection of radiation data for atmospheric radiation (10); b) examination of the radiation data and conclusion about an event of relevance for radiation dose generating a temporary increase in exposure; c) creation of a model using the radiation data, wherein the model contains at least one estimate of the geographical location of a region with a radiation intensity increased by the event of relevance for radiation dose; d) determination of flight-relevant parameters; e) calculation of a possible flight path in the light of the flight-relevant parameters taking into consideration the model created in step c), wherein the flight path is adjusted in respect of a reduction of exposure to radiation.
US09372480B2 Method for configuring a communication interface module in a control or automation system
A method and system for configuring at least one communication interface module in a control or automation system includes a communication interface module for coupling at least two field bus systems. At least one first functional unit integrated in the communication interface module implements a connection to a configured superordinate controller via a first communication link on the basis of a first field bus protocol. At least one second functional unit integrated in the communication interface module implements a connection for field devices via a second communication link on the basis of a second field bus protocol. At least one further, third functional unit integrated in the communication interface module is configured to connect further field devices via input and/or output functionalities integrated in the communication interface module, and at least one serial interface integrated in the communication interface module can be used to configure the communication interface module.
US09372479B1 System and method for a database layer for managing a set of energy consuming devices
A system for operating a plurality of energy consuming devices is provided. The system includes a database storing at least one device driver. The at least one device driver is for operating at least one device controller. At least one of the device drivers includes a database layer interface and a device layer interface. The system also includes a network interface coupling the database with a network. The network is coupled to the at least one device controller, and the database is adapted to transmit the device layer interface over the network to the at least one device controller. The at least one device controller controls a first energy consuming device of the plurality of energy consuming devices. A method for operating a plurality of energy consuming devices is provided that includes storing in a database at least one device driver.
US09372477B2 Selective electrical coupling based on environmental conditions
An environmental monitoring device that includes a switching mechanism is described. During operation of the environmental monitoring device, the switching mechanism (such as a switch) selectively electrically couples a first electrical-connection node and a second electrical-connection node. For example, using the switching mechanism, an electronic device that is electrically coupled to the first electrical-connection node may be selectively electrically coupled to a second electronic device that is electrically coupled to the second electrical-connection node. The selective electrical coupling may be based on one or more measurements of an environmental condition in an external environment that includes the environmental monitoring device. Moreover, a sensor mechanism in the environmental monitoring device may provide sensor data based on the one or more measurements. Alternatively, an antenna and an interface circuit in the environmental monitoring device may receive the sensor data from a third electronic device.
US09372473B2 Timepiece mechanism comprising a movable oscillating component with optimised geometry in a magnetic environment
A timepiece mechanism including a movable component oscillating about a rest plane passing through a pivot axis. An arbor of the movable component includes a main protruding portion which forms the largest radius of the movable component about this axis. The protruding portion is delimited by two surfaces defining a profile inscribed in a rectangle whose shape proportion is greater than 2 wherein the direction of the length defines a main axis, which occupies a determined angular position with respect to the rest plane in the rest position of the movable component. The mechanism has a preferred direction of magnetization that is substantially orthogonal to the main axis of the arbor in the rest position.
US09372470B2 Apparatus for detecting an abnormal circumstance at a connection between the apparatus and an attached detachable unit
The apparatus includes first and second terminals, an electrical conductor placed around at least the second terminal, a first current applying unit, an abnormal circumstances determining unit, a second current applying unit, and an informing unit. The first current applying unit applies current between the first terminal and the second terminal. The abnormal circumstances determining unit determines whether there is an abnormal circumstance at the connection between the apparatus and the unit side circuit, under the condition that the current is applied by the first current applying unit. The second current applying unit applies current between the first terminal and the second terminal, in case that the abnormal circumstances determining unit determined that there is not an abnormal circumstance of the connection. The informing unit informs the abnormal circumstance of the connection, in case that the abnormal circumstances determining unit determined that there is the abnormal circumstance of the connection.
US09372469B1 Image forming system and recording-medium storage device
An image forming system includes an image forming apparatus that includes an image forming section which forms an image on a recording medium, and an opening/closing portion which is opened outward; and a recording-medium storage device that stores a recording medium to be fed to the image forming section, the recording-medium storage device being formed separately from the image forming apparatus and having a space allowing the opening/closing portion to be opened outward when the recording-medium storage device is connected to the image forming apparatus so as to cover the opening/closing portion.
US09372468B2 Open/closed sensing device, opening and closing device using open/closed sensing device, and processing apparatus
An open/closed sensing device includes an opening and closing member, a member that receives the opening and closing member when the opening and closing member is closed, at least one magnetic force holder on one of the opening and closing member and the receiving member and that includes a conductive holding frame and a magnet held in the holding frame so as to magnetize the holding frame, a conductive to-be-attracted member that is disposed on a portion of the other one of the opening and closing member and the receiving member, the portion corresponding to the magnetic force holder, and to which the holding frame is attracted when the opening and closing member is closed, and a sensing circuit that connects in series the holding frame and the to-be-attracted member and that electrically senses whether the holding frame and the to-be-attracted member are in contact with each other.
US09372462B1 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a movable image bearing member, a transfer member, a constant voltage source for applying a transfer voltage and a returning voltage to the transfer member, an executing portion capable of selectively executing an operation in a first mode in which image formation is executed at a first speed and an operation in a second mode in which the image formation is effected at a speed slower than the first speed, and a setting portion for setting a falling time from transfer voltage falling start timing toward the returning voltage until a current flowing through said transfer member is zero. The setting portion sets the falling time in the operation in the second mode so as to be longer than the falling time in the operation in the first mode.
US09372453B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes a light source that radiates a laser beam, a converging member that converges the laser beam, and a roller that is positioned so as to be in contact with the converging member and that transports a recording medium, which enters between the roller and the converging member. The converging member includes a lens that converges the laser beam, which is incident on a first surface of the lens, and emits the laser beam from a second surface of the lens and a holding member made of a material that does not transmit the laser beam, the holding member holding the lens. In the cross-sectional view perpendicular to a rotation axis of the roller, a contact surface in which the roller and the converging member are in contact with each other includes at least a portion of a surface of the holding member and the second surface.
US09372452B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes a light source that emits laser light; a condensing member including a lens having a first surface from which the laser light enters and a second surface from which the laser light emerges, the lens condensing the laser light that has entered from the first surface and emitting the laser light from the second surface; and a roller provided in contact with the condensing member and that transports a recording medium advanced into a position between the roller and the condensing member. A portion of the second surface is made of a material that blocks the laser light. In a section perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the roller, a plane of contact between the roller and the condensing member includes at least a part of the portion made of the material that blocks the laser light.
US09372451B2 Fixing device
In a fixing device, an alternating current is caused to flow through a coil so as to causes an electrically conductive layer of a rotating member to generate heat, and an unfixed image on a recording medium is heat fixed onto the recording medium by the heat generated by the electrically conductive layer. A frequency range of the alternating current is from 20.5 kHz to 100 kHz. With respect to a generatrix direction of the rotating member, a magnetic member and a spirally shaped portion of the coil have lengths, with which the magnetic member and the spirally shaped portion extend beyond both end portions of the rotating member.
US09372438B2 System and method for determining a level of toner in a replacement toner cartridge
An electronic device for determining a level of toner volume in a replacement toner cartridge used in a printing device comprises a communication element, a memory element, and a processing element. The communication element transmits a request to the printing device to provide data regarding the replacement toner cartridge and receives the data. The data includes a current level of toner volume and a current printed page count. The memory element stores the data received from the printing device. The processing element is in communication with the communication element and the memory element. The processing element is configured to determine one of a plurality of sequential phases of a usage cycle of the replacement toner cartridge corresponding to a value of the current level of toner volume and determine a corrected level of toner volume using one of a plurality of equations selected according to the phase.
US09372436B2 Toner carrier
A toner carrier includes a metal core, a barrel formed on an outer circumference of the metal core and including at least an elastic layer, and a coating formed on outer circumferences of both ends of the barrel. The coating has a thickness and a width of an outer circumference of the coating is different from a width of an inner circumference of the coating. The width is from an end surface of the barrel along an axis of the barrel, and the width of the outer circumference is larger than the width of the inner circumference so that the end surface of the coating is reversely inclined.
US09372435B2 Toner carrier
A toner carrier includes a metal core, a barrel formed on an outer circumference of the metal core and including at least an elastic layer, and a coating formed on outer circumferences of both ends of the barrel. The coating has a thickness and a width of an outer circumference of the coating is different from a width of an inner circumference of the coating. The width is from an end surface of the barrel along an axis of the barrel, and the width of the outer circumference is larger than the width of the inner circumference so that the end surface of the coating is reversely inclined.
US09372433B2 Electrostatic latent image forming method, electrostatic latent image forming apparatus, and image forming apparatus
An electrostatic latent image forming method for forming, on an image carrier, an electrostatic latent image that has a pattern where there are an irradiated area and a not-irradiated area in a mixed manner, the electrostatic latent image forming method comprises; adjusting an exposure condition of an irradiated area that is included in the irradiated area and is adjacent to the not-irradiated area so that an electric field intensity of an electrostatic latent image that corresponds to the not-irradiated area is increased so as to prevent adhesion of a developer, and irradiating the image carrier with light under the adjusted exposure condition.
US09372424B2 Toner
A magnetic toner contains magnetic toner particles and silica fine particles. The magnetic toner has a thermal conductivity in the range of 0.230 to 0.270 W/(m·K). Primary particles of the silica fine particles have a number-average particle diameter (D1) in the range of 5 to 20 nm. The coverage X1 of the magnetic toner surface by the silica fine particles ranges from 40% to 75% by area as determined using an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (ESCA). The diffusion index (X1/X2) satisfies the following formula: Diffusion index≧−0.0042×X1+0.62 wherein X2 denotes the theoretical coverage of the magnetic toner surface by the silica fine particles.
US09372423B2 Image formation method, toner set, and white toner
The invention provides an image formation method, a toner set, and a white toner, by which a masking function of an image layer formed by a white toner on a recording medium can be developed efficiently, and low temperature fixability can be improved. An image formation method for fixing an image forming layer (A) to be formed using a white toner, and an image forming layer (B) to be formed adjacent to the image forming layer (A) using a toner different from the white toner on a recording medium; wherein the following relational expressions (1) and (2) are satisfied: 1.000
US09372422B2 Optimized latex particle size for improved hot offset temperature for sustainable toners
The disclosure provides sustainable toner particles of from about 180 nm to about 250 nm in a sustainable toner composition having a hot offset temperature of from about 190° C. to about 220° C.
US09372420B2 Heat treating apparatus for powder particles and method of producing toner
A heat treating apparatus for powder particles containing a binder resin and a colorant, the heat treating apparatus including: a treating chamber in which a heat treatment of the powder particles is performed; a raw material-supplying unit for supplying the powder particles to the treating chamber; a hot air-supplying unit that supplies hot air to the treating chamber; a cold air-supplying unit that supplies cold air for cooling the heat-treated powder particles; and a recovering unit that recovers the heat-treated powder particles. The raw material-supplying unit includes an introducing tube and a distributing member, and the distributing member is provided with a protruding member on a portion opposite to an outlet portion of the introducing tube, and the distributing member includes a supplying tube including two or more flow paths that extend radially outwardly from the protruding member to a wall surface of the treating chamber.
US09372412B2 Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A lithographic apparatus having an optical column capable of creating a pattern on a target portion of a substrate is disclosed. The optical column may have a self-emissive contrast device configured to emit a beam, and a projection system configured to project the beam onto the target portion. The apparatus may also have an actuator to move the optical column or a part thereof with respect to the substrate. The apparatus may be constructed to reduce the optical effect of density variation in a medium around the moving part of the optical column on the beam.
US09372408B2 Mask pattern generation method
A method for generating a pattern of a mask includes obtaining data of a plurality of polygons representing a plurality of pattern elements, grouping polygons which overlap or contact with each other among the plural polygons in one group, not setting an evaluation position for evaluating an image of a pattern of the one group on a line segment of sides which overlap or contact with each other among sides of the polygon of the one group, and setting an evaluation position at a portion except for the line segment, and repeating calculating the image of the pattern of the one group, evaluating the calculated image at the set evaluation position, and correcting the pattern based on a result of the evaluating, and generating the pattern of the mask based on a result of the repeating step.
US09372403B2 Chemically amplified photosensitive resin composition and method for producing resist pattern using the same
A chemically amplified photosensitive resin composition including a compound represented by formula (1) and/or formula (4), a resin having an acid-dissociative dissolution-controlling group whose solubility in alkali increases under the action of an acid or an alkali-soluble resin, a photoacid generator, and an organic solvent, in which the solid concentration is 40% by mass to 65% by mass. R1, R2, and R3 independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group, R4 represents a group represented by formula (2) or (3), and R5 and R6 represent a monovalent hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent.
US09372402B2 Molecular organometallic resists for EUV
Described herein are organometallic or inorganic complexes with high extreme ultraviolet (EUV) optical density (OD) and high mass density for use in thin films. These thin films are used as high resolution, low line edge roughness (LER) EUV photoresists. The complexes may also be included in nanoparticle form for use in photoresists.
US09372400B2 Grayscale mask plate, color film substrate, related fabricating methods, and display device
A grayscale mask plate and method of fabricating the same, a color film substrate and method of fabricating the same, and a display device are disclosed. The grayscale mask plate comprises a transparent substrate and a light blocking layer on the transparent substrate. The light blocking layer comprises an exposure region with an optical translucent film which has a light blocking ratio decreasing gradually or stepwise from a center of the optical translucent film to an edge of the optical translucent film. As a result, the intensity of light transmitted through the exposure region is uniform, such that a post spacer fabricated by the grayscale mask plate has a relatively flat top face. Thus, the post spacer exhibits a linear variation in its hardness under the action of an external force.
US09372397B2 Polymer pen lithography
The disclosure relates to methods of printing indicia on a substrate using a tip array comprised of elastomeric, compressible polymers. The tip array can be prepared using conventional photolithographic methods and can be tailored to have any desired number and/or arrangement of tips. Numerous copies (e.g., greater than 15,000, or greater than 11 million) of a pattern can be made in a parallel fashion in as little as 40 minutes.
US09372396B2 Imprint lithography method
An imprint lithography apparatus and manufacturing method can lead to mechanical stress being formed in a substrate to which an imprint pattern is being applied. This may cause strain within the substrate leading to misalignment of a subsequent pattern with an earlier pattern in a part of the substrate, which is strained. An apparatus and method is disclosed which allows for stress relaxation in the substrate prior to further patterning to reduce, minimize or prevent such misalignment from residual strain. This is achieved by locally unclamping a portion of substrate (including optionally the entire substrate) from a corresponding portion of substrate holder so that mechanical stress leading to local strain may relax prior to further patterning. To overcome residual frictional force between the substrate and substrate holder, the substrate and substrate holder may be physically separated prior to further patterning.
US09372388B2 Projection optical assembly with multiple refractive optical systems and related projector device
There is provided a projection optical system (1) that projects from a first image plane on a reducing side to a second image plane on an enlargement side, including a first refractive optical system (11) that includes eight lenses (L1) to (L8) and forms a first intermediate image (31) on the enlargement side using light that is incident from the reducing side, a second refractive optical system (12) that includes six lenses (L9) to (L14) and forms the first intermediate image (31) on the reducing side into a second intermediate image (32) on the enlargement side, and a first reflective optical system (20) that includes a first reflective surface (21a) with positive refractive power that is positioned closer to the enlargement side than the second intermediate image (32).
US09372381B2 Robust modulator circuits using lateral doping junctions
Disclosed herein are methods, structures, and devices that compensates for modulator loss and modulation inefficiencies introduced by mask misalignments in opposite oriented pn type junction modulators. More specifically, Mach-Zehnder type optical modulators are disclosed wherein both arms in the MZI modulator are arranged in a push-pull configuration and configured to experience pn type junctions of two orientations wherein both arms further configured to experience the same length of waveguide with a pn type junction of each orientation.
US09372380B2 Electrophoretic fluid
The present invention is directed to a display fluid comprising charged composite pigment particles dispersed in a solvent. The composite pigment particles have a density which matches to the density of the solvent in which they are dispersed. A display fluid comprising the composite pigment particles provides improved display performance.
US09372379B2 Thin film transistor substrate, method for fabricating the same, and display device including the same
A thin film transistor substrate, a method for fabricating the same, and a display device including the same are provided. In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thin film transistor substrate comprising a substrate, a semiconductor layer formed on the substrate, a gate insulating film formed on the semiconductor layer, a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film, an interlayer insulating film formed on the gate electrode and including a source contact hole and a drain contact hole for exposing portions of the semiconductor layer, and a source electrode and a drain electrode respectively inserted into the source contact hole and the drain contact hole. The interlayer insulating film includes a first convex portion formed at an inlet of the source contact hole and at an inlet of the drain contact hole.
US09372375B2 Liquid crystal display device
A display device includes a TFT substrate with gate signal lines, drain signal lines, thin-film transistors connected thereto, a gate driver connected to the gate signal lines, a drain driver having output terminals connected to drain signal lines, and a film substrate having first wirings. The first wirings are disposed between the drain driver and the film substrate. The drain driver is mounted on the film substrate, and the output terminals are connected to the first wirings between the film substrate and the drain driver. The output terminal includes first group terminals formed in parallel with a longer edge of the drain driver, and second group terminals formed in parallel with the longer edge and disposed between the loner edge and the first group terminals.
US09372372B2 Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate. The first substrate includes a gate line and an auxiliary capacitance line extending in a first direction, a source line extending in a second direction orthogonally crossing the first direction, and a pixel electrode having a main pixel electrode arranged on the auxiliary capacitance line and extending in the first direction. The second substrate includes a common electrode having a main common electrode arranged above the gate line and extending in the first direction. A liquid crystal layer is held between the first substrate and the second substrate having liquid crystal molecules. The liquid crystal molecules are initially aligned in the first direction in a splay alignment state between the first substrate and the second substrate in a state where electric field is not formed between the pixel electrode and the common electrode.
US09372371B2 Liquid crystal display panel, and liquid crystal display device
The present invention provides a liquid crystal display panel which is capable of providing a sufficiently high response speed and an excellent transmittance, and a liquid crystal display device. The liquid crystal display panel of the present invention includes a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the substrates. The first substrate and the second substrate have electrodes. The electrodes of the second substrate include a pair of comb-shaped electrodes and a slit-formed electrode.
US09372368B2 Display panel, display device using the same, and method for manufacturing display panel
A display panel, a display device using the same, and a method for manufacturing a display panel are provided. The display panel includes a first substrate (25) and a second substrate (26) disposed oppositely, and spacers located between the first substrate (25) and the second substrate (26). Each of the spacers includes a first part (21) and a second part (22) at locations corresponding to each other, the first part (21) is located on the first substrate (25), the second part (22) is located on the second substrate (26), both the first part (21) and the second part (22) are magnetic bodies, and top ends of the first part (21) and the second part (22) at the locations corresponding to each other contact with each other and have opposite magnetic poles.
US09372365B2 Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device is provided in which color unevenness can be reduced and inhibited in the peripheral display area even when the display device has a narrow frame. In the liquid crystal display device, liquid crystal sandwiched between a TFT substrate and a CF substrate and sealed by a seal is disposed in a frame portion. The CF substrate has a BM, a color resist film, an OC, an alignment film, and a wall that inhibits the alignment film from expanding outward. In the area where the wall is disposed, the BM and color resist film on the CF substrate are removed.
US09372362B2 Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate, a plurality of pixel electrodes disposed on the first substrate and including a first sub-pixel electrode and a second sub-pixel electrode, the first sub-pixel electrode and the second sub-pixel electrode respectively including a cruciform stem part, and a plurality of fine branch parts which extends from the cruciform stem part, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and a second substrate facing the first substrate, the second substrate including a common electrode in which an opening corresponding to the cruciform stem part of the pixel electrode is defined.
US09372361B2 Polarization decoder
At least a portion of a polarizing layer in the display screen is omitted or removed to temporarily disable image generation but an equivalent polarizing layer is used as a replacement or as a substitute for enabling the display of images on the screen. For instance, the omitted or removed polarizing layer can be replaced in situ or a remote polarizing layer can be substituted through which the images on the display can be seen. The selective reassembly of the display can be used for purposes of security or promotion.
US09372359B2 Liquid crystal display device
To provide a thin liquid crystal display device equipped with the capacitance-type touch panel, and specifically the thin liquid crystal display device with a lower cost and a higher reliability.The thin liquid crystal display device includes a CF substrate and a TFT substrate formed with a transparent electrode common line, the CF substrate having a plurality of transparent lines, the transparent electrode common line being isolated into a plurality of belt-like forms by an isolation slit, and an area where the transparent line and the transparent electrode common line constitutes an upper electrode and a lower electrode of the capacitance-type touch panel. Furthermore, there are provided a redundant slit and a disconnectable point of the metal common line.
US09372357B2 Liquid crystal display
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a liquid crystal display including: a liquid crystal panel configured to display an image; a light unit configured to supply light to the liquid crystal panel; and a bottom chassis configured to accommodate the light unit and the liquid crystal panel, wherein the bottom chassis includes an accommodator configured to accommodate the light unit and the liquid crystal panel, and a flange formed outside the accommodator, and the flange is formed at the same position as a bottom surface of the bottom chassis.
US09372355B2 Method of manufacturing curved display apparatus
A method of manufacturing a curved display apparatus is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes forming a curved display panel including a plurality of pixels and a controller configured to respectively apply a plurality of electrical signals to the pixels. The method also includes arranging the curved display panel, a lens, and a camera such that the lens is interposed between the curved display panel and the camera and respectively applying, by the controller, the electrical signals to the pixels. The method further includes obtaining optical information with the camera while the electrical signals are applied to the pixels and setting the controller based at least in part on the obtained optical information.
US09372353B2 Method and apparatus for forming sunglass lenses with a predetermined gradient
A method for forming sunglass lenses with a predetermined optical gradient, namely a polarized gradient, transmissivity gradient or color gradient in which an ink jet printer is used to print a gradient pattern on an oriented sheet, with the ink jet printer being provided with a dye, in one embodiment a dichroic dye and in another embodiment an iodine dye. The printed oriented sheet is incorporated into a lens to provide the lens with the associated gradient.
US09372352B2 Lens driving device and camera module including the same
A lens driving device includes a lens barrel supporting a lens; an autofocusing driving unit disposed on one side of a plane perpendicular to an optical axis direction based on the lens barrel to thereby drive the lens barrel in the optical axis direction; and a hand-shake prevention driving unit disposed on sides of the plane perpendicular to the optical axis direction other than the one side on which the autofocusing driving unit is disposed, to thereby drive the lens in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis direction.
US09372348B2 Apparatus and method for a bioptic real time video system
A method and apparatus of displaying an electronic video image using a head-worn near-to-eye display in a non-immersive fashion, such that the wearer can choose, through simple adjustments of their neck and eye angles, to either look at the displayed video image or their natural environment. The invention also relates to the incorporation of prescription lenses into the optical chain of the near-to-eye display. The invention also relates to the use of motion and position sensors incorporated into the head-worn device to enable automatic stabilization of the video image. The invention also relates to the use of motion and position sensors incorporated into the head-worn device to automatically adjust the vertical angle of either the camera or the electronic display or both, by sensing the vertical angular position of the user's head.
US09372347B1 Display system
A display system comprises an optical waveguide and a light engine. The light engine generates multiple input beams which form a virtual image. An incoupling grating of the waveguide couples each beam into an intermediate grating of the waveguide, in which that beam is guided onto multiple splitting regions. The intermediate grating splits that beam at the splitting regions to provide multiple substantially parallel versions of that beam. Those multiple versions are coupled into an exit grating of the waveguide, in which the multiple versions are guided onto multiple exit regions. The exit grating diffracts the multiple versions of that beam outwardly. The multiple input beams thus cause multiple exit beams to exit the waveguide which form a version of the virtual image. One or more surfaces of the intermediate grating comprise surface variations such that a visible banding effect is eliminated from the version of the virtual image.
US09372341B2 Comb drive including a pivotable mirror element
A comb drive includes a pivotable mirror element, a first and a second comb electrode, the second comb electrode being movable along an offset direction relative to the first electrode from a minimum into a maximum offset position, the second electrode being connected to the mirror element via a lever arm pivotable about a pivot axis, the first and second comb electrodes being interlockingly engaged so that a first comb tooth of the first electrode and a second comb tooth of the second electrode are situated adjacent to one another along a projection direction extending perpendicularly to the offset direction, the first comb tooth and/or the second comb tooth being configured so that an average distance between the first comb tooth and the second comb tooth along the projection direction extending perpendicularly to the offset direction decreases when moving the second electrode from the minimum into the maximum offset position.
US09372334B2 Microscope and method for fluorescence imaging microscopy
A microscope for fluorescence imaging microscopy, in particular for wide-field fluorescence microscopy, including a pulsed light source (1) and an imaging detector (11), is characterized in that means for gating are provided, and in that the gating causes the light source (1) and the detector (11) to be synchronized in order to suppress reflected/scattered light such that suitable fluorescence components are used for evaluation and unsuitable components are rejected. Furthermore, a method is used to perform fluorescence imaging microscopy using the microscope according to the present invention.
US09372332B2 Image acquisition device, and imaging device that scans an object with illumination light to acquire an image of the object
An image acquisition system 1 includes: a light source 3 which outputs illumination light; an optical scanner 7 which scans a sample S with the illumination light; an optical scanner control unit 9; a detection optical system 15, 17 which focuses fluorescence from the sample S; an imaging device 19 which has a light receiving surface 19c in which a plurality of pixel rows 19d are arranged, and an imaging control section 19b, and which can perform signal readout of each of the plurality of pixel rows 19d from the light receiving surface 19c; and a calculation unit 21 which calculates an interval of signal readout between adjacent pixel rows 19d, based on a moving speed of an illuminated region on the light receiving surface 19c; the imaging control section 19b controls signal readout of each pixel row 19d, based on the interval of the signal readout thus calculated.
US09372329B2 Method for correcting image distortions in a confocal scanning microscope
In order to identify scan coordinate values (φn, θn) for operating a scanning unit (28) of a confocal scanning microscope (20), spherical scan coordinate values (φn, θn) are identified, as a function of Cartesian image coordinates (Xn, Yn) of image points of an image (60) to be created of a sample (32), with the aid of a coordinate transformation of the Cartesian image coordinate values (Xn, Yn) into a spherical coordinate system. The scanning unit (28) is operated as a function of the spherical scan coordinate values (φn, θn).
US09372327B2 Zoom lens and image-pickup apparatus having the same
A zoom lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, a third lens unit having a positive refractive power, and a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power. Each lens unit moves so that a distance between adjacent lens units changes during zooming. The third lens unit includes a positive lens G3i closest to the image side which has a concave meniscus surface on an image side. A conditional expression 0.03
US09372325B2 Photographic lens optical system
A photographic lens optical system. The photographic lens optical system includes a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, a fifth lens, and a sixth lens that are sequentially arranged in a direction from an object toward an image sensor. The first lens has a negative (−) power, and the emission surface thereof may be convex toward the object. The second lens may have a positive (+) power, the third and fourth lenses have positive (+) powers, and the fifth lens has a negative (−) power. Furthermore, the sixth lens is an aspherical lens having a positive (+) power.
US09372324B2 Imaging lens barrel and method for controlling operation of the same
An imaging lens barrel includes: a barrel body; a rotating body; a first magnetic sensor; a second magnetic sensor; a phase difference calculation section; a correction table memory that stores a plurality of correction tables which are obtained when the imaging lens is moved at different speeds and are used to correct a difference between the phase difference calculated by the phase difference calculation section and a design value of the phase difference; a phase difference correction section configured to correct the phase difference calculated by the phase difference calculation section, using a correction table corresponding to a moving speed of the imaging lens among the plurality of correction tables; and an absolute position calculation section.
US09372319B1 Fiber optic connection box with cabling bridge for affixing fiber optic cable splice
A connection box includes a planar back section, outer sidewalls adjoining the planar back section with front edges being spaced apart from the back section in a depth direction that is perpendicular to the back section. A front door of the connection box is configured to be fixedly attached to the front edges so as to enclose an interior space of the connection box. The connection box further includes a cabling bridge arranged within the interior space. The cabling bridge includes a planar platform section that divides the interior space into first and second interior volumes, an opening in the platform section providing a conduit in the depth direction between the first and second interior volumes, and a protective collar arranged along a portion of the opening's perimeter. The protective collar extends from the platform section and towards the front edges in the depth direction.
US09372317B1 Temperature control of a component on an optical device
The optical includes a waveguide positioned on a base and an optical component positioned on the base. The optical component is a light sensor that includes an active medium or a modulator that includes an active medium. The waveguide is configured to guide a light signal through the component such that the light signal is guided through the active medium. The device includes one or more heat control features selected from the group consisting of: placing one or more thermal conductors over a lateral side of a ridge of the active medium; extending thermal conductors from within the active component to a location outside of the active component, and tapering the ridge of the active medium within the perimeter of the active component.
US09372312B2 Optical device
An optical device and a method of manufacturing an optical device. The optical device includes: a conversion means for converting propagation light propagating through an optical waveguide into parallel light and for outputting the parallel light; and a first lens means for focusing the parallel light outputted from the conversion means on a core of an optical fiber. The method includes: converting propagation light propagating through an optical waveguide into parallel light; outputting the parallel light; and focusing, using a first lens, the parallel light on a core of an optical fiber.
US09372311B2 Wavelength selective switch
A wavelength selective switch includes a wavelength dispersive element that divides a beam input from an input port, a beam director that deflects a wavelength component, and a free space optical system that optically couple a input/output unit, the wavelength dispersive element, and the beam director. The free space optical system converts a shape of the beam such that a size extending in a second plane is relatively smaller than a size extending in a first plane, and to have a long axis and a short axis in a third plane. The long axis is inclined with respect to the first direction. The beam director includes a beam directing region in which a plurality of beam directing elements are arranged. The beam directing region deflects the respective wavelength components toward the predetermined output port. The beam directing region is provided to correspond to the shape of the beam.
US09372308B1 Arrays of integrated analytical devices and methods for production
Arrays of integrated analytical devices and their methods for production are provided. The arrays are useful in the analysis of highly multiplexed optical reactions in large numbers at high densities, including biochemical reactions, such as nucleic acid sequencing reactions. The integrated devices allow the highly sensitive discrimination of optical signals using features such as spectra, amplitude, and time resolution, or combinations thereof. The arrays and methods of the invention make use of silicon chip fabrication and manufacturing techniques developed for the electronics industry and highly suited for miniaturization and high throughput.
US09372306B1 Method of achieving acceptable performance in and fabrication of a monolithic photonic integrated circuit (PIC) with integrated arrays of laser sources and modulators employing an extended identical active layer (EIAL)
A method provides acceptable performance from a semiconductor transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) that contains a plurality of modulated sources each comprising a laser source and an external modulator where each laser source provides a different emission wavelength and each modulated source forms a separate signal channel, comprising the steps of providing at least some of the signal channels with an extended identical active layer (EIAL) so that the modulated sources each have an identical active region wavelength and detuning the laser emission wavelength in each laser source within the EIAL from the laser active region wavelength.
US09372302B2 Backlight simulating device
The present invention provides a backlight simulating device comprising a light source simulating portion, an optical component simulating portion, a first distance measuring unit, and a second distance measuring unit. Multiple movable light-emitting members are equipped to the light source simulating portion. The optical component simulating portion is disposed adjacent to a light-emitting surface of each of the light-emitting members. The optical component simulating portion includes a light guide panel whose position can be changed relative to the light-emitting members. The first distance measuring unit acquires a distance between adjacent two of the light-emitting members. The second distance measuring unit acquires a distance between the light-emitting members and the light guide panel.
US09372300B2 Light-emitting unit and display
Provided is a light-emitting unit that includes: a light-guide section having a light entering surface; and a plurality of light sources opposed to the light entering surface of the light-guide section and arrayed in a first direction, and each having an anisotropy in emission intensity. A pattern shape of light applied from any of the light sources to the light entering surface has a shape anisotropy, and the light sources are each disposed to allow a longitudinal direction of the pattern shape to be inclined relative to the first direction.
US09372294B2 Carbon nanotube sheet and polarizer using same
The present invention relates to a carbon nanotube sheet, and to a polarizer using same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a carbon nanotube sheet, and to a polarizer using same, the carbon nanotube sheet comprising: a substrate; and a carbon nanotube layer derived from a carbon nanotube forest and wound on the substrate, wherein the carbon nanotube layer is composed of 5 or more layers.
US09372289B2 Method of manufacturing a diffraction grating
A method for manufacturing a blazed diffraction grating made of a crystalline material comprising gallium phosphide (GaP) or gallium arsenide (GaAs) includes forming the blazed diffraction grating by forming a plurality of grating grooves on a machined surface of a workpiece by machining, wherein the grating grooves are formed so that a surface comprising a (110) plane is arranged to receive the most incident light among the surfaces that constitute each grating, where (110) describes a crystal orientation of the crystalline material.
US09372283B2 Nanoengineered devices based on electro-optical modulation of the electrical and optical properties of plasmonic nanoparticles
This invention provides application of noble metal nanoparticles for devices with controlled light transmission, absorption and detection. Particularly described is the use of noble metal nanoparticles in photoconductive detectors, optical filters, optical switches, pixel arrays, and electrochromic windows for controlling the transmission and absorption of incident and transmitted light. In addition, the use of noble metal nanoparticles in an electrochromic display is described in which color of the transmitted light from a nanoparticle-based pixel is adjusted and controlled.
US09372278B2 Light-based position control of a manual picking process
A position control system for a manual picking workstation having a plurality of component bins includes a light device and a process controller. The light device projects a light beam along a plane. The process controller includes a processor and memory containing a calibrated assembly sequence and predetermined bin coordinates for each of the component bins. The process controller executes a method to detect, via the light device, an instance of beam breakage wherein the light beam is interrupted or broken, and to determine two-dimensional (2D) coordinates of the beam breakage. The process controller also determines corresponding bin coordinates of an expected bin via the calibrated assembly sequence, compares the determined 2D coordinates to the corresponding bin coordinates, and executes a control action when the determined coordinates do not match the corresponding bin coordinates. The light device may be an oscillating laser scanner or fixed lasers.
US09372274B2 Apparatus and method for 3D seismic exploration for use in a small ship
An apparatus and method for 3D seismic exploration for use in a small ship. The apparatus includes a seismic source towed by the small ship from a rear side thereof, a pair of support rods connected to the rear side and horizontally arranged in two rows behind the seismic source in the direction extending from a sailing direction of the ship, and a plurality of streamers arranged between the support rods in the sailing direction of the ship.
US09372272B2 Earthquake warning system
A method or system for detecting a seismic event includes detecting a primary wave of a seismic event using at least one sensor at a measurement location; using at least one parameter of the detected primary wave to determine an estimated peak ground intensity at the measurement location without determining the magnitude of the seismic event; determining an epicenter of the seismic event; and estimating the intensity of the seismic event at a specified location using the determined estimated peak ground intensity and the distance of the specified location from the epicenter. The epicenter can be determined using sensors at a single location. A noise detection system can filter out detected signals that correspond to local vibrations rather than seismic events.
US09372271B2 System and method for gain regulation
Disclosed herein is a system for fast gain regulation in a gamma-ray spectroscopy instrument. The system includes a detector configured to generate a signal indicative of energy arriving at the detector, and a processor configured to determine one or more system performance indicators. The system also includes a controller configured to compute a first gain correction term based on one of more system performance indicators and change the device gain based on the computed first gain correction tem.
US09372261B2 Radar device and method of processing signal
A radar device according to an embodiment includes a transmission unit, a reception unit, and a processing unit. The transmission unit emits a transmission wave relating to a frequency-modulated transmission signal. The reception unit receives a reflected wave acquired by reflecting the transmission wave on an object as a reception signal. The processing unit detects object data corresponding to the object from the reception signal, outputs the object data to the vehicle control device that controls the vehicle, and removes object data satisfying the removal condition that is a condition used for determining whether or not object data is to be removed from an output target for the vehicle control device and includes at least the distance and the relative speed of the object data with respect to the speed of the vehicle as conditions from output targets for the vehicle control device.
US09372257B2 Method of operating a digital radar or sonar apparatus
A radar or sonar system amplifies the signal received by an antenna of the radar system or a transducer of the sonar system is amplified and then subject to linear demodulation by a linear receiver. There may be an anti-aliasing filter and an analog-to-digital converter between the amplifier and the linear receiver. The system may also have a digital signal processor with a network stack running in the processor. That processor may also have a network interface media access controller, where the system operates at different ranges, the modulator may produce pulses of two pulse patterns differing in pulse duration and inter-pulse spacing, those pulse patterns are introduced and used to form two radar images with the two images being derived from data acquired in a duration not more than twenty times larger than the larger inter-pulse spacing, or for a radar system, larger than one half of the antenna resolution time. One or more look-up tables may be used to control the amplifier. The radar system may generate digital output which comprises greater than eight levels of radar video.
US09372256B2 Wafer scale sensor ultra-wideband array for tissue diagnosis
Radar imaging for medical diagnosis addresses the need for non-ionizing and low-cost alternatives to conventional medical diagnosis methods, such as mammography x-ray techniques, which expose patients to ionizing radiation for cancer detection. An ultra wide band (UWB) sensor can produce very fine beams at the V- or W-bands using beam forming techniques developed specifically for wafer scale antenna arrays. The high bandwidth radio waves can penetrate tissue and resolve tissue anomalies with high-resolution. Pseudo-random coding creates a signal that allows the correlating receiver to extract very low energy reflected signals from background noise providing coding gain. An integrated panel of sensor antenna arrays enables rapid scanning of the subject area, such as breast tissue, to detect anomalies by eliminating the need for mechanical scanning (e.g., moving the sensors relative to the subject) because the wafer scale antenna array can instantaneously take the desired topographic picture of the subject area.
US09372253B2 Wireless positioning apparatus
In a wireless positioning apparatus mounted in a moving body, feature point position information is stored in a reference trajectory storage, a reception state of transmitted waves from a wireless transmitter is detected, and a movement distance of the moving body is measured. A positioning trajectory is generated that indicates a correspondence relationship between the movement distance and the reception state of transmitted waves. A coincidence distribution is generated that indicates a correspondence between: a point on the reference trajectory to which a representative position, set arbitrarily within the positioning trajectory, corresponds for each coordinate shift value; and the degree of coincidence between the reference trajectory and the positioning trajectory. Based on the coincidence distribution, positioning information is generated. Reliability is determined based on an evaluation value reflecting a flatness of the coincidence distribution. The reliability serves as a determination criterion for determining whether or not the positioning information is used.
US09372251B2 System for spatial extraction of audio signals
A sound processing system receives an audio input signal that includes at least two different input channels of audio content. The sound processing system dissects the audio input signal to separate sources of audible sound included in the audio input signal into sound source vectors. Separation of the sources of audible sound into sound source vectors may be based on a perceived location of each of the sources of audible sound within a listener perceived sound stage. The sound source vectors may represent spatial slices across the listener perceived sound stage that may be individually and independently processed with the sound processing system. Following processing, the sound source vectors may be selectively assembled to form an audio output signal having output channels used to drive respective loudspeakers. Since the sources of audible sound are separated and independent, the audible sound sources may be included on any one or more of the output channels.
US09372250B2 Chip-scale star tracker
A chip scale star tracker that captures plane-wave starlight propagating in free space with a wafer-thin angle-sensitive broadband filter-aperture, and directs the light into a waveguide structure for readout. Angular information about the star source is determined from characteristics of the starlight propagating in the waveguide. Certain examples include internal propagation-constant-based baffling to elimination stray light from extreme angles.
US09372249B2 Systems and methods for calibrating phase and sensitivity of current transducers
A circuit for calibrating a current transducer may include a first resistor and a second resistor, such that the first resistor and the second resistor may adjust a measurement output by a current sensor. The first resistor and the second resistor may adjust the measurement output by adjusting a phase of the measurement output and/or adjusting a sensitivity of the measurement output. The circuit may also include a first terminal and a second terminal, such that the first terminal may be electrically coupled to the first resistor and the second resistor. Here, the first terminal may receive the measurement output by the current sensor, and the second terminal may output the adjusted measurement output.
US09372248B2 Method for evaluating reliability of electrical power measuring device
A method is provided for evaluating the reliability of an electrical power measuring device for measuring high-frequency electrical power. To build an evaluation system, the measuring device, together with a reference electrical power measuring device, is arranged between a high-frequency power supply device and an artificial reproduction load, which includes an impedance conversion device and a reference load. Using this system, an uncertainty range of an electrical power measured value measured by the measuring device is calculated, according to a prescribed calculation formula, from the electrical power measured value, and a judgment is made as to whether or not the electrical power measured value measured by the measuring device is within the uncertainty range. If it is within the uncertainty range, the measuring device is evaluated as being reliable, while if it is not within the uncertainty range, the measuring device is evaluated as being unreliable.
US09372243B2 Magnetic sensor
The magnetic sensor of the invention comprises a base portion, a sensor chip positioned on the base portion, a wiring portion adapted to electrically connect a terminal of the sensor chip to a connecting lead, a resin having a low elastic modulus for coating at least the sensor chip, and a resin having a high elastic modulus for coating at least the low elastic-modulus resin and the wiring portion, wherein the sensor chip includes a magneto-resistive effect device, and the low elastic-modulus resin has an elastic modulus ranging from 10 kPa to 80 MPa while the high elastic-modulus resin has an elastic modulus of 1 GPa or more, and enables the sensor chip to perform well in a good state although having a structure of sealing up the sensor chip with the resin member.
US09372241B2 Multi-directional pin anneal of MR sensors with plasmon heating
A method by which portions of a wafer level fabrication can be selectively heated by forming plasmon generating layers of specific size, shape, orientation and material on the fabrication and then illuminating the formation with electromagnetic radiation of such wavelength and polarization as will optimally be absorbed by the plasmon generating layers so as to generate plasmons therein. The generated plasmons thereupon produce thermal energy which is transferred to portions of the fabrication with which the plasmon generation layer has thermal contact. This method is particularly advantageous for producing multiple anneals and different magnetic pinning directions for the anti-ferromagnetic pinning layer in each of an array of GMR or TMR devices. In that process, the anti-ferromagnetic layer must be raised above its Curie temperature at which point it loses its anti-ferromagnetic properties and can have a magnetization imposed by application of an external magnetic field. The method can equally well be applied to any wafer level fabrication or deposited film fabrication in which it is desired to heat specific regions to obtain some specified result that is temperature dependent.
US09372233B2 Scan test circuit with pulse generator for generating differential pulses to clock functional path
A scan test circuit includes: a pulse generator, for generating differential pulses according to a system clock signal; a functional path, including: a D-type latch clocked by the differential pulses; a test path, including: a scan latch clocked by a test clock signal; and a tri-state inverter. When a test enable signal is enabled, the generation of the differential pulses is disabled.
US09372232B2 Collecting diagnostic data from chips
A failing latch is identified on a chip including a plurality of latches with the failing latch receiving data propagated from a first set of test input latches. A diagnostic set of latches is determined which includes the failing latch and a set of related latches. The set of related latches each receives data propagated from at least one test input latch from the first set of test input latches. The set of related latches is identified from a related latches data source. One or more tests are performed on the chip and test output data is collected from the diagnostic set of latches. A related latches table may be created by tracing from a target latch.
US09372230B2 Substrate with state machine circuitry and tap state monitor circuitry
The disclosure describes a process and apparatus for accessing devices on a substrate. The substrate may include only full pin JTAG devices (504), only reduced pin JTAG devices (506), or a mixture of both full pin and reduced pin JTAG devices. The access is accomplished using a single interface (502) between the substrate (408) and a JTAG controller (404). The access interface may be a wired interface or a wireless interface and may be used for JTAG based device testing, debugging, programming, or other type of JTAG based operation.
US09372225B2 Storage device test system
A storage device test system includes: a storage device mounting unit configured to mount a storage device therein; a test control unit configured to transmit and/or receive test signals to and/or from the storage device; an interface plug that is electrically connected to the test control unit and coupled to the storage device mounted in the storage device mounting unit; and a plugging driving unit that controls a relative location between the interface plug and the storage device mounting unit. By using the storage device test system, the causes of defects that may occur while using a storage device may be easily detected.
US09372223B2 Method of evaluating metal contamination in semiconductor sample and method of manufacturing semiconductor substrate
An aspect of the present invention relates to a method of evaluating metal contamination in a semiconductor sample by DLTS method, which includes obtaining a first DLTS spectrum by measuring a DLTS signal while varying a temperature, the DLTS signal being generated by alternatively and cyclically applying to a semiconductor junction on a semiconductor sample a reverse voltage VR to form a depletion layer and a weak voltage V1 to trap carriers in the depletion layer; obtaining a second DLTS spectrum by measuring a DLTS signal while varying a temperature, the DLTS signal is being generated by cyclically applying the VR to the semiconductor junction; obtaining a differential spectrum of the first DLTS spectrum with a correction-use spectrum in the form of the second DLTS spectrum or a spectrum that is obtained by approximating the second DLTS spectrum as a straight line or as a curve.
US09372221B1 Partial discharge signal normalization
The disclosure herein relates to a field-programmable gate array for detecting and normalizing partial discharges in a digital signal. The field-programmable gate array includes a filter that receives the digital signal and isolates high frequency information from the digital signal. The field-programmable gate array then normalizes the high frequency information by a compensation value to produce a normalized signal. Further, a comparator of the field-programmable gate array can determine whether the normalized signal exceeds a threshold input. In turn, a counter of the field-programmable gate array increments a counter value in response to each determination that the high frequency information exceeds the threshold input.
US09372218B2 Diagnostic device for checking a control signal line
A diagnostic device for checking a control signal line between a control device of a motor vehicle and a motor-vehicle-side charging connection for a battery of the motor vehicle, includes a first resistor disposed at the charging connection and connecting the control signal line to ground, a second resistor connected in parallel with first resistor to form a parallel circuit, an evaluation device associated with the control device and comprising a current source and/or a voltage source for supplying a corresponding current or voltage outside a charging operation, and a diode connected in series with the first and second resistors and blocking a current flow from ground to the control signal line. The evaluation device is configured to measure, by using the first and second resistor, a current indicating a control signal line defect or a voltage indicating a control signal line defect.
US09372215B2 Electrical resistance measurement apparatus and electrical resistance measurement method
An electrical resistance measurement apparatus includes a light irradiation unit that irradiates a conductive thin film with terahertz light, a reflection light detection unit that detects reflection light from the conductive thin film, and a computer containing a storage that stores correlation between the reflectance of the terahertz light from the conductive thin film and electrical resistance of the conductive thin film. The computer further containing a processor that determines, reflectance of the terahertz light from the conductive thin film based on a result of detection performed by the reflection light detection unit, and determines the electrical resistance of the conductive thin film based on the correlation and a result of the determination of the reflectance.
US09372210B1 Dynamic power FET switching
Various techniques for dynamic power FET switching are disclosed. In some embodiments, a device comprises an array of two or more independently switchable power MOSFETs that are configured to sense current in a high current mode and a low current mode as well as circuitry for automatically switching from the low current mode to the high current mode when sensed current is above a threshold to switch to the high current mode.
US09372209B2 Sensor for detecting damage to an object
A sensor for detecting damage to an object may include a housing, a first coating provided on a surface of a first end of the housing, and a second coating provided on a surface of a second end of the housing opposing the first end. The first coating may be configured to be exposed to an environment in which the object is placed, while the second coating may be configured to be hermitically sealed. The sensor may further include a plurality of electrodes placed in the housing connected to the first end and the second end so as to measure an electrical signal generated therebetween.
US09372207B1 Power sensing transducer
A current measurement and voltage measurement transducer for power measurements has an upper split core attached to an upper housing and a lower split core attached to a lower housing. The upper housing and lower housing have a common hinge surface and engaging surfaces for maintaining closure and providing a magnetic circuit which surrounds a conductor placed inside the transducer, and the magnetic circuit is coupled to windings around the split core, thereby providing a measurement of current. The housings also provide one or more piercing pins which penetrate the insulation of the conductor and provide a voltage measurement.
US09372198B2 Diagnosis of entry of gastrointestinal contents into respiratory tract of humans and animals
The invention provides a method of diagnosing entry of gastrointestinal contents into the respiratory tract of a patient suffering from reflux disease. The method comprises orally administering to a subject formulation comprising a detectable label that is not absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract but can be absorbed from the respiratory tract. The extent of the gastrointestinal contents entering the respiratory tract can be estimated by measuring the level of the detectable label in a body fluid, e.g., blood or urine.
US09372196B2 Formalin-fixed isotope-labeled reference standards and methods for fabrication and use thereof
One or more cells are labeled with minor stable isotopes, characterized, and preserved for subsequent use as a bio-specimen reference standard. The one or more cells are grown in culture media supplied with minor stable isotopes in concentrations substantially different from normally occurring concentrations, thereby supplanting major stable isotopes that would normally be incorporated into the proteins of the cells. The proteins of the cells are thus labeled by the minor stable isotopes and can be used in proteomic characterization of the cells. The cells are preserved by fixation as a reference standard. Cells of the reference standard are mixed with the sample and subject to mass spectrometry evaluation, whereby the labeled proteins of the reference standard can be used in determining the proteome of the sample.
US09372193B2 System and method for determining individualized medical intervention for a disease state
A system and method for determining individualized medical intervention for a particular disease state, and especially for cancers, that includes the molecular profiling of a biological sample from the patient, determining whether any molecular findings including one or more genes, one or more gene expressed proteins, one or more molecular mechanisms, and/or combinations of such exhibit a change in expression compared to a reference, and identifying a non-specific disease therapy or agent capable of interacting with the genes, gene expressed proteins, molecular mechanisms, or combinations of such molecular findings that exhibited a change in expression.
US09372191B2 Methods and devices for detecting methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Provided are methods and devices for detecting methicillin-resistant Staphylcoccus aureus.
US09372190B2 Method of evaluation of the relative risk of developing atherosclerosis in patients
The present invention relates to a method for determining the amount of circulating CD36 protein or a fraction thereof which is present in cell-free plasma, preferably in a high molecular weight plasma fraction, such as a lipoprotein fraction selected from Low Density Lipoprotein, Intermediate Density Lipoprotein, and Very Low Density Lipoprotein using an immunological method which comprises the steps of (i) providing a plasma sample to be investigated, (ii) providing an anti-CD36 antibody, (iii) exposing the sample to be investigated to the antibody, and (iv) detecting and quantifying the amount of CD36 which binds to the antibody.
US09372188B2 Integrated membrane sensor
An integrated microelectronic sensor is provided in a disposable flow membrane sensing device. The integrated sensors detect electromagnetic effect labels in flow detection zones above the sensor in the membrane. The labels are small particles that give off a detectable electromagnetic signal. They are commonly used for isolating and quantifying biochemical targets of interest. The sensors are fabricated using planar integrated circuit technologies. Sensors can detect labels of several types including magnetic, electric, and photonic. These types all have in common the fact that the sensor detects the label at a distance. Magnetoresistive sensors for detecting magnetic labels, and photodiodes for detecting photonic labels are described.A system for using the sensors is described. There are disposable cartridges with a backing that supports the sensors and membrane is described. The integrated sensor in the cartridge is designed to be discarded after use. Also, label excitation sources are provided. The multi sensor array chip can be configured in order to detect labels in multiple zones, and to monitor progress of flow down a strip of membrane. These multiple label detection zones, using sandwich assay techniques, can quantify analyte concentration for many types of analytical samples. Also, the membrane can be micropatterned in order to provide multiple or unusually shaped flow paths.
US09372186B2 Minimally-invasive measurement of esophageal inflammation
The methods and apparatus of the present invention allow the evaluation of inflammation of the esophagus. Measurements may be utilized, for example, to diagnose a disease of the esophagus, to monitor inflammation of the esophagus, or to access the treatment of a disease of the esophagus. In one embodiment, the invention comprises a method for measuring esophageal inflammation comprising deploying a device into the esophagus of a subject, removing the device after a predetermined period of time, analyzing the device for a diagnostic indicator of esophageal inflammation and evaluating the diagnostic indicator to diagnose esophageal inflammation.
US09372185B2 MEMS particle sorting actuator and method of manufacture
A MEMS-based system and a method are described for separating a target particle from the remainder of a fluid stream. The system makes use of a unique, microfabricated movable structure formed on a substrate, which moves in a rotary fashion about one or more fixed points, which are all located on one side of the axis of motion. The movable structure is actuated by a separate force-generating apparatus, which is entirely separate from the movable structure formed on its substrate. This allows the movable structure to be entirely submerged in the sample fluid.
US09372183B2 Method and apparatus for the discrimination of the cell load in milk
A method is provided for the discrimination of cells from other particles, as well as of different types of cells in raw milk samples by impedance microflow cytometry. A method is provided of analysing the quality of raw milk in terms of its bacterial and somatic cell content without the need to pre-treat the milk sample, such that the analysis can take place directly at the production site. One advantage is discriminating and counting somatic cells from milk particles (consisting mainly of lipid vesicles) by high-frequency impedance analysis directly performed on untreated raw milk. Another advantage is that the method allows diagnosing the status of a mastitis infection directly after milking according to the analysis of the somatic cell count. Another advantage is to allow a fast method for determining the bacterial cell count in raw milk directly after milking. In addition, viability of both somatic and bacterial cells can be determined without the need of any cell label. A further advantage is, that the analysis can be obtained in real-time, directly after the raw milk has passed the micro channel of the microfluidic device.
US09372182B2 Fuel composition identification system and method and fluid composition identification method
This invention refers to a fuel composition identification system and method (2) for an automotive vehicle combustion engine. The system comprises at least a fuel heating resistor (3) arranged in any position in the fuel tank or along the fuel line, in direct contact and exchanging heat with the fuel (2), an electronic control unit (4) connected to the resistor (3), which applies constant power values during time intervals (tn) to the resistor (3), and the metering device (6) for a heating resistor parameter (3) between the current sent to the resistor (3) and the surface temperature of the resistor that sends the measured values to the electronic control unit (4), and monitors the current values measured in the heating resistor (3) during each time interval tn, and when the electronic control unit (4) detects a variation in the value of the heating resistor current in the course of the time interval (tn), it identifies the fuel composition corresponding to the critical heat flow resulting from the power applied to the resistor during that time interval. The method comprises the steps of applying constant power values during time intervals (tn) to the fuel heating resistor (3); heating fuel in contact with the heating resistor (3) through exchanging heat between the heating resistor and the fuel (2); measuring a heating resistor parameter (3) between the current sent to the resistor (3) and the surface temperature of the resistor; monitoring the heating resistor parameter values (3) measured in the course of each time interval (tn), and when a variation in the resistor parameter value is detected in the course of the time interval (tn); identifying the fuel composition corresponding to the critical heat flow resulting from the power applied to the resistor during that time interval.
US09372179B2 Method for measuring cholesterol content of chicken egg by non-destructive means
This invention provides a means for measuring a cholesterol content of a chicken egg by a non-destructive means. This invention relates to a method for measuring a cholesterol content of a chicken egg comprising: a step of light irradiation of irradiating the chicken egg with light in the visible to near-infrared wavelength range; a step of light detection of detecting light radiated from the chicken egg caused by that the light irradiated in the step of light irradiation is transmitted through the chicken egg or reflected inside the chicken egg; a step of spectrum acquisition of acquiring a near-infrared spectrum of the light detected in the step of light detection; and a step of cholesterol content determination of determining a cholesterol content of the chicken egg on the basis of the near-infrared spectrum acquired in the step of spectrum acquisition.
US09372178B2 Apparatuses and methods for the measurement of liquid properties and particularly frying oil quality
Apparatuses and methods for determining viscosity, surface tension and/or surface tension/viscosity ratio are presented. The methods use the measurement of liquid penetration rate in a test medium to evaluate liquid properties. In particular the methods and apparatuses can be used to determine the quality of frying or cooking oils in terms of polymer or polar compounds. The point of rejection of frying oils according to recommendations and legal limits can be determined. In one embodiment the time required for the oil to penetrate a given distance in a test strip is measured. The time is related to the above liquid (oil) properties and can be correlated to the amount of polymer and/or polar compounds in the oil sample.
US09372176B2 Ultrasonic inspection method
An ultrasonic inspection method for inspecting a first article. The method includes, in a first inspection process: measuring the distance between a first surface of the first article and a nominal axis at three or more measurement locations along the axis of the surface; using the measured distances to produce a mathematical model of the surface of the first article; transmitting an ultrasonic wave from a first side of the first article through the first surface of the first article at a plurality of inspection locations along the axis of the first surface, and receiving a transmitted waveform which has passed through at least part of the first article; using the model to normalize each transmitted waveform at each inspection location to the nominal axis; and identifying a signature signal from the normalized transmitted waveform at each inspection location.
US09372175B2 Ultrasonic sensor control system for occupancy sensing
An active ultrasonic room occupancy sensor with the output amplitude of the transmitter controlled by the amplitude of power applied to the transmitter to control the zone of coverage for a sensor. An adjustable voltage regulator under control of a microcontroller applies controlled amplitude voltage to the transmitter to adjust the output amplitude of the transmitter. The adjustable amplitude transmitter allows an occupancy sensor to have its total output energy adjusted to conform to the area to be covered. Lowering the total ultrasonic energy in the monitored space lowers the sensitivity of the receiver to inappropriate activations. Lowering the input power to the transmitter also lowers the total internal system noise and provides an improved signal to noise ratio in the receiver. Alternatively, the power applied to the receiver may also be controlled by an adjustable voltage regulator under control of the microcontroller to improve receiver efficiency.
US09372170B2 Gas sensor
In an electrochemical gas sensor (1), a carrier substrate (2) has an underside (3) and a top side (4), wherein an electrode structure (20) with an electrolyte layer (6) is arranged at the top side (4), while a gas inlet for a measurement gas is formed at the underside (3). A porous region (7) formed of a porous material is provided in the carrier substrate (2), such that diffusion openings in the porous material connect the underside (3) to the top side (4) in a gas-permeable manner, and a connection (5, 27) of a measurement electrode (25, 26) is formed in a gas-tight surface region (33, 34, 35) at the top side (4) adjacent to the porous region (7) and the connection (5, 27) is at least partly covered by the electrolyte layer (6).
US09372169B2 Method for accurately quantifying a chemical substance contained in a sample solution at a significantly low concentration of not more than 1×10−8M
Provided is a method for accurately quantifying a chemical substance contained in a sample solution at a significantly low concentration of not more than 1×10−8M. A measurement system used for the method includes a counter electrode 13, a first reference electrode 12, a first working electrode 11a, a second working electrode 11b, a second reference electrode 14 and a gel-coated electrode 15. The gel-coated electrode 15 is electrically equivalent to the second working electrode 11b. The gel-coated electrode 15 comprises an electrode body 31 and a gel 34. The surface of the electrode body 31 is coated with the gel 34. The gel 34 contains a standard electrolyte and an ionic liquid. The gel 34 contains no water. The ionic liquid is hydrophobic and nonvolatile. The ionic liquid is composed of a cation and an anion. The standard electrolyte is composed of the cation and a halide ion.
US09372166B2 Integrated circuit comprising a thermal conductivity based gas sensor
An integrated circuit and a method of making the same. The integrated circuit includes a semiconductor substrate. The integrated circuit also includes a relative humidity sensor on the substrate. The relative humidity sensor includes a first sensor electrode, a second sensor electrode, and a humidity sensitive layer covering the first and second electrodes. The integrated circuit further includes a thermal conductivity based gas sensor on the substrate. The thermal conductivity based gas sensor has an electrically resistive sensor element located above the humidity sensitive layer.
US09372165B2 Gas sensor and method of manufacturing the same
Disclosed are a gas sensor, and a method of manufacturing and using the same. The method includes: forming a detection material on a heater; coating an encapsulant on the detection material; and heating the heater to remove the encapsulant from the detection material when the gas sensor is operated.
US09372160B2 Method and system for optically inspecting the ends of a manufactured part at a single inspection station having a measurement axis
A method and system for optically inspecting the ends of a manufactured part at a single inspection station having a measurement axis are provided. The system includes a fixture assembly having a rotatable first fixturing component and a rotatable second fixturing component mating with and removably connected to the first fixturing component to transmit torque from the first fixturing component to the second fixturing component. The second fixturing component has a device for holding the part in a generally horizontal orientation and permit rotation of the horizontally held part between first and second angular positions about the measurement axis. The system also includes an actuator assembly, an illumination device, a lens and detector assembly and at least one processor to process electrical signals generated by the lens and detector assembly to determine at least one geometric dimension or any visual defects at the ends of the part.
US09372158B2 Projection laser profiler
A laser profiler includes: a laser diode mounted within a substantially cylindrical housing; a conical mirror positioned upstream from the laser diode within the cylindrical housing; and a transparent shroud positioned to surround the conical mirror. A beam produced by the laser diode is directed to the conical mirror and is reflected therefrom at 360° through the transparent shroud to produce a ring of light.
US09372152B2 Method and apparatus for siloxane measurements in a biogas
A method is provided for monitoring one or more silicon-containing compounds present in a biogas. The method includes generating a first absorption spectrum based on a ratio of a first spectral measurement and a second spectral measurement. The first spectral measurement is from a non-absorptive gas having substantially no infrared absorptions in a specified wavelength range of interest and the second spectral measurement is from a sample gas comprising the biogas. The method includes generating at least one surrogate absorption spectrum based on, at least, individual absorption spectrum for each of a subset of one or more silicon-containing compounds selected from a larger set of known silicon-containing compounds with known concentrations. A total concentration of the one or more silicon-containing compounds in the biogas can be calculated based on the first absorption spectrum and the at least one surrogate absorption spectrum.
US09372150B2 Optical method and system for measuring an environmental parameter
An optical system for sensing an environmental parameter, comprising: an optical pulse generator for generating an excitation pulse; a pulse splitter for splitting the excitation pulse into a sensing pulse and a reference pulse; a sensing arm for receiving the sensing pulse, the sensing arm comprising an emission sensor for sensing the environmental parameter, the optical emission sensor generating a first measurement pulse having a measurement wavelength; a reference arm for receiving the reference pulse, the reference arm comprising an emission artifact adapted to convert the reference pulse into a second measurement pulse having the measurement wavelength; a time delay line for delaying a relative propagation of the measurement pulses; a light detector for measuring an optical energy of the first and second measurement pulses; and an optical link for optically connecting the pulse generator to the pulse splitter, and the sensing and reference arms to the light detector.
US09372149B2 Hybrid, planar optofluidic integration
An optofluidic platform is constructed to comprise a vertical integration of optical and fluidic layers. The optical layer enables interaction of light with a fluid for a variety of purposes, including particle detection, manipulation, and analysis. The vertical integration allows layers to be permanently or temporarily attached to each other. Temporary attachments provide the advantage of reusing the same optical layer with different fluidic layers. Most preferably, the optical layer comprises antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide. Further, a fluidic layer can be configured to act as an interface between the optical layer and other fluidic layers attached thereon. Moreover, the fluidic layers can be configured to perform fluidic functions. The optofluidic platform can also comprise a protective layer. As such, a liquid solution can be introduced in the optofluidic platform and single particles contained therein can be optically detected with extremely high sensitivity and without the need for advanced microscopy equipment.
US09372148B2 Bond surface testing apparatus and method
A bond surface testing apparatus and method are presented. The bond surface testing apparatus comprises a solution chamber; a plurality of solution containers located in the solution chamber; a plurality of microfluidic pipettes; and an information capture module. Each solution container in the plurality of solution containers includes a microfluidic pipette in the plurality of microfluidic pipettes. A number of the plurality of microfluidic pipettes has a non-circular cross-section. The information capture module is physically associated with the solution chamber and is configured to capture information relating to bonding surface properties of the bonding surface.
US09372145B2 Devices for determining photoprotective materials
This invention provides methods and apparatus for quantification of photoprotective performance of packaging concepts in an accelerated timeframe. In certain embodiments, the apparatus comprises a light source which provides a light beam that impinges upon a photoprotective material before being transmitted to a sample cell comprising a photosensitive entity, such as a photosensitive nutrient. In certain embodiments, the apparatus and methods can be used to generate models for the prediction of photoprotective performance values of untested materials based upon some other known qualitative or quantitative property.
US09372141B2 Viscosity measuring apparatus
A conductive rotator is immersed in a sample liquid in a sample container. A magnet is arranged at a specific distance from the rotation plane of the rotator in a direction of a rotating axis of the rotator so as to face the sample container. The magnet applies a magnetic field to the rotator from the outside of the sample container. A fluctuating magnetic field drive unit drives the magnet to apply the magnetic field that fluctuates in term of time to the rotator. Induced current is excited in the rotator by the fluctuating magnetic field. A rotating torque is provided to the rotator by the Lorenz interaction between the induced current and the fluctuating magnetic field, and as a result, the rotator rotates in the rotation plane. A viscosity detecting unit obtains the viscosity of the sample liquid based on a rotating state of the rotator and a time-fluctuating state of the fluctuating magnetic field.
US09372138B2 Cable track monitoring system and method
Described are various exemplary embodiments of a cable track monitoring system and method. In one embodiment, a monitoring system for a cable track is operatively mounted between an anchoring unit and a mobile unit in designating a deployable cabling path therebetween as the mobile unit travels relative to the anchoring unit. The system comprises a monitoring cable to be run within the cable track along the cabling path; and a sensor fixedly mountable relative to one of the anchoring unit and the mobile unit and operatively coupleable to the monitoring cable in sensing a tension variation therein as the mobile unit travels relative to the anchoring unit. The sensor is operable to monitor the tension variation during operation of the cable track.
US09372137B1 Tension member fatigue tester using transverse resonance
A system includes: a tension member having a first end and a second end, where the first end of the tension member is connected to a first loading member and the second end of the tension member is connected to a second loading member; a first actuator configured to translate the first loading member, such that a tensile load is applied to the tension member along a first direction; a second actuator configured to translate the second loading member in two or more second directions that are substantially transverse to the first direction; and a control system that is configured to control the second actuator, such that the second loading member oscillates between the two or more second directions, where the oscillation of the second loading member causes the tension member to vibrate at a frequency.
US09372136B2 Agent for improving cancer cell adhesiveness
A polymer comprising a constitutional unit represented by the following formula (1) is useful because when the polymer is applied to a surface of a cancer cell enrichment filter, adhesiveness of cancer cells to the filter surface can be improved so that an enrichment ratio of the cancer cells can be improved. In the formula (1), R1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R2 is a methyl group or an ethyl group and m is 1 to 3.
US09372135B1 Fluidics platform and method for sample preparation
Provided herein are fluidics platforms and related methods for performing integrated sample collection and solid-phase extraction of a target component of the sample all in one tube. The fluidics platform comprises a pump, particles for solid-phase extraction and a particle-holding means. The method comprises contacting the sample with one or more reagents in a pump, coupling a particle-holding means to the pump and expelling the waste out of the pump while the particle-holding means retains the particles inside the pump. The fluidics platform and methods herein described allow solid-phase extraction without pipetting and centrifugation.
US09372134B2 Microfluidic device and method for isolating target using same
A micro-fluidic device includes a filter case, a first capture array and a second capture array. The filter case includes an inlet for introducing a sample containing different kinds of targets, an outlet for discharging the sample and a channel extending between the inlet and the outlet. The first capture array is arranged in an upstream portion of the channel, the first capture array including a plurality of first forward funnels arranged along a direction orthogonal to a flow direction of the sample so as to capture the different kinds of targets. The second capture array is arranged in a downstream portion of the channel, the second capture array including a plurality of second forward funnels arranged along the direction orthogonal to the flow direction of the sample so as to capture the different kinds of targets.
US09372132B2 Blood component sampling system and blood processing systems and methods employing same
A blood component sampling system and method are disclosed. The system is pre-connected and includes a collected blood component container and a reservoir having substantially fixed volume and at least one volumetric indicator indicating a selected volume and a sample container docking station configured to cooperate with a sample collection container. The system and method provide ease of sampling with reduced risk of contamination.
US09372124B2 Apparatus including strain gauges for estimating downhole string parameters
An apparatus for measuring strain on a downhole carrier includes a strain sensitive chassis configured to be fixedly mounted on a surface of the carrier. The chassis configured to be subject to a strain corresponding to a strain on the carrier; and at least one strain gauge including at least one thin film conductor deposited on a surface of the chassis. Also included is a method of manufacturing a sensor for measuring strain on a downhole carrier.
US09372121B2 Sensing device with a glare shield
A sensing device with a glare shield has an infrared sensor and a glare shield. The infrared sensor has a body and a lens hood. The lens hood is mounted around an outer periphery of the body. The glare shield is conical, is detachably mounted around the lens hood of the infrared sensor, and extends in a direction away from the body of the infrared sensor. The glare shield prevents the infrared sensor from being affected by glare emitted from adjacent lighting devices. Accordingly, the sensing device avoids incorrect judgment of environmental luminance caused by lighting devices nearby and therefore generates less misoperation, so that the goal of being more power-saving can be achieved.
US09372117B2 Optical ground tracking apparatus, systems, and methods
Optical ground tracking apparatus for use with buried object locators or other instruments or devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for tracking movement of a buried utility locator over a surface includes generating an output light, providing the output light to the surface, receiving a portion of the output light that is reflected from the surface, and generating information associated with a user-applied movement of the locator over the surface based at least in part on the received reflected portion of the output light.
US09372115B2 Airborne hyperspectral scanning system with reflective telecentric relay
An airborne hyperspectral scanning system with a reflective telecentric relay including a system housing fore-optics, mounted in the housing, an imaging spectrometer mounted in the housing, the imaging spectrometer comprising a spectrometer slit, the spectrometer slit having an exit side and an entrance side, a focal plane array, a fold mirror, and at least three spectrometer mirrors, ordered sequentially, and in optical alignment with each other, and a reflective telecentric relay, mounted in the housing between the fore-optics and the imaging spectrometer, the reflective telecentric relay comprising a collimator module, a scanning mirror module, and an objective module, the objective module being situated to receive intermediate image from the fore-optics and reflect a collimated beam to the scanning mirror image between the collimator module and the objective module, wherein the objective module is situated to form a telecentric image at the entrance of the spectrometer slit.
US09372113B2 Remote sensing based on optical fiber delivery and collection
Active components in an optical spectroscopy based sensor are moved to a remote site and the light is guided between the remote site and the sensing site through optical fibers.
US09372112B2 Traveling environment detection device
A driving environment detection device acquires a captured image of the direction the host vehicle is travelling in, and from the captured image, extracts parameters relating to brightness of a road surface for a road driven by the host vehicle. Then, on the basis of the parameters, the driving environment of the vehicle is estimated. By way of such a light control system, it is possible to more accurately detect ambient brightness by estimating the driving environment in accordance with the parameters related to the brightness of the road surface. Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect the driving environment.
US09372111B2 Acoustic sensor
A method of designing and manufacturing an acoustic sensor having a high degree of directivity is disclosed. The sensor includes a rotatable plate that is attached to a substrate with mounts. In one aspect the mounts are freely rotatable and the torque on the plate is measured using detectors disposed on springs that provide a resistance to rotation of the plate. In another aspect the plate is mounted to the substrate with mounts that torsionally deform during rotation of the plate. These detectors measure the torque on the plate according to the torsional deformation of the mounts. Methods of improving the signal to noise ratio of acoustic sensors having multiple detectors are also disclosed.
US09372106B2 Non-circular flowmeter
Flowmeters are disclosed herein that include one or more flow path features for improving the measurement accuracy or other aspects of the flowmeter. In some embodiments, the flowmeter includes a measurement section having a non-circular transverse cross-section in which one or more sensors for measuring flow are disposed. The non-circular measurement section can reduce distortion of ultrasonic waves, facilitate chordal measurements with flush-mounted transducers, and reduce the propagation distance between paired transducers. In some embodiments, the flowmeter includes a conditioning section with diametrically opposed longitudinal rib protrusions. The protrusions can reduce swirling flow, direct liquid components of a multi-phase flow towards the sidewalls of the flow path, and guide ballistic particles through the center of the flow path away from sensitive measurement devices.
US09372102B2 Gas sensor and motor vehicle with a gas sensor
In a gas sensor comprising a housing, a membrane and a sensor element, wherein the housing comprises a measuring chamber and an air supply opening, the sensor element is disposed in the measuring chamber and the membrane separates the measuring chamber from the air supply opening, a particularly good air exchange should be achieved. This is accomplished by providing a flow guiding device in the air supply opening of the housing. The flow guiding device here projects into the housing.
US09372101B2 Transmissive optical encoder having optical waveguide
A transmissive optical encoder includes a light emitting element, a light receiving element, a rotatable disk provided with slits and rotatable together with an object of detection, and an optical waveguide having an inlet facing the light emitting element and an outlet facing the light receiving element. The light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged on the same side in relation to the rotatable disk. The optical waveguide is fixed independently of rotational movement of the rotatable disk.
US09372099B2 Angle measuring method and angle measuring system
An angle measuring system including: a rotary encoder including an encoder main body and a rotating shaft which is freely rotatable with respect to the encoder main body, the rotary encoder which detects a relative rotation angle of the rotating shaft with respect to the encoder main body; a regulation member which regulates an absolute rotation angle of the encoder main body about the rotating shaft within a fixed range; an absolute angle detecting device which detects the absolute rotation angle of the encoder main body about the rotating shaft concurrently with detection of the relative rotation angle by the rotary encoder; and a correction device which corrects the rotation angle detected by the rotary encoder based on the rotation angle detected by the absolute angle detecting device.
US09372098B2 Telecommunications network and method of transferring user data in signaling messages from a communication unit to a data processing centre
The invention relates to a system and method of transferring user data from a communication module to a data processing center over a telecommunications network. A signalling message is wirelessly received from the communication module in the telecommunications network. The signalling message contains the user data that is subsequently transferred to the data processing center. By inserting the user data in the signalling message(s), it is possible to rapidly transmit data to the telecommunications network, while resources can be saved since it not required to establish a complete circuit-switched or packet-switched connection between the communication module and the telecommunications network. The user data may comprise application data of a program run by the communication module, e.g. alarming data, measurement data or derivatives thereof.
US09372093B2 Reverse natural guidance
The disclosed embodiments relate to recognition of navigation and/or guidance related information within an expressed conversational narrative between a provider of the narrative and a receiver thereof. The recognized navigation and/or guidance related information is then converted into navigation data which may be used to present a navigation route and/or guidance information related thereto to the receiver.
US09372092B2 Method and apparatus for providing a contextual menu in a map display
An approach is provided for presenting a contextual menu in a map display. A contextual menu platform determines an input for a delineation of at least one route, at least one geographical area, or a combination thereof in at least one map user interface of at least one device. The contextual menu platform determines contextual information associated with the at least one route, the at least one geographical area, the at least one map user interface, the at least one device, at least one user associated with the at least one device, or a combination thereof. The contextual menu platform also determines one or more contextual menu options based, at least in part, on the contextual information. The contextual menu platform further causes, at least in part, a presentation of at least one contextual menu to present the one or more contextual menu options in the at least one map user interface.
US09372088B2 Canine handler operations positioning system
The Canine Handler Operations Positioning System (the Inventors) taught by the present invention consists of one or more dog-worn sensor, one or more handler's shoe-worn sensor, and algorithms for maintaining localization of units of canines and handlers traveling in GPS and GPS-denied areas. The present invention adapts the localization algorithms from the human-based system to dogs, increase performance, reduce SWAP, and further refine the system based on user feedback. The human worn system is modified for the human handler for maximum operational practicality in regard to batteries, size, and interoperability to a radio. The Canine Handler Operations Positioning System (the Inventors) focuses on developing the dog-worn positioning system, modifying the handler's positioning sensor if needed, and integrating the system with an OCU. The complete the Inventors system would provide a positioning solution for both the dog(s) and handler(s).
US09372085B2 Microelectromechanical sensor with differentiated performances and method of controlling a microelectromechanical sensor
A microelectromechanical sensor includes a supporting structure and a sensing mass, which is elastically coupled to the supporting structure, is movable with respect thereto with one degree of freedom in response to movements according to an axis and is coupled to the supporting structure through a capacitive coupling. A sensing device senses, on terminals of the capacitive coupling, transduction signals indicative of displacements of the first sensing mass according to the degree of freedom. The sensing device includes at least one first reading chain, having first operative parameters, one second reading chain, having second operative parameters different from the first operative parameters, and one selective electrical connection structure that couples the first reading chain and the second reading chain to the first terminals.
US09372084B2 Gyro sensor, electronic apparatus, and mobile unit
A gyro sensor includes a vibrator, a spring part extending from a first fixing part to the vibrator in a direction along a first axis, a drive part that excites the vibrator, and a detection part provided on the vibrator, wherein the vibrator has, in a plan view, first and second vibrating parts arranged side by side in the direction along the first axis and drive-vibrate in anti-phase with each other, a connecting spring part that connects the first and second vibrating parts in the direction along the first axis, and a first elastic member extending from the connecting spring part in a direction along a second axis intersecting with the first axis and fixed to a second fixing part.
US09372079B1 Optical plate for calibration of coordinate measuring machines
A coordinate measuring machine is calibrated by taking optical measurements of an optical flat that includes a grating placed on its surface. The arm of the CMM capable of multi-directional translation in relation to an object is fitted with a white-light interferometric objective and optical measurements are taken of the flat while translating the objective (or the flat) in the coordinate direction subject to calibration. The objective may serve also as the probe of the CMM.
US09372077B2 High-resolution imaging and processing method and system for determining a geometric dimension of a part
A high-resolution imaging and processing method and system for determining a geometric dimension of a part is provided. The method includes directing at least one plane of collimated radiation at a surface of a supported part. Each of the planes is occluded by the part to create unobstructed first and second planar portions of the plane of radiation passing by and not blocked by the supported part and to cast a radiation shadow of the supported part. Each of the first and second planar portions has a width and contains an amount of radiation which is representative of a respective geometric dimension of the part to be determined. The method includes increasing the width and decreasing the intensity of the first and second planar portions imaged on first and second predetermined measuring areas, respectively.
US09372076B2 System and method for automated pipe measurement and alignment
A method of aligning a portable machining system to a pipe end portion includes automatically moving a measurement sensor mounted to the portable machining system about the pipe end portion in a first measurement plane to generate a first set of measurement data. The method includes translating the measurement sensor from the first measurement plane to a second measurement plane. The method includes automatically moving the measurement sensor about the pipe end portion in the second measurement plane to generate a second set of measurement data and processing the first and second sets of measurement data with a processing module to determine a center and an axis of the pipe end portion.
US09372075B2 System and method for fatigue forecasting and strain measurement using integral strain gauge (ISG)
The present invention relates to means, system and method for measurement of stress strain and fatigue forecasting by the means of Integral Strain Gauges (ISGs) capable of recording information from a surface of a tested object, mathematical processor for analysis of the information recorded on the surface of such gauges. Integral Strain Gauges produced from a custom made reaction sensitive materials.
US09372073B2 Inner diameter measuring device
The invention relates to an inner diameter measuring device, having a non-contact measuring unit (3) and a contact measuring unit (4) arranged along the same center line, wherein the non-contact measuring unit comprises an image pickup unit (6) arranged on the center line, a laser beam emitting unit (7), and a laser beam diffusing unit (9) having a cone mirror, wherein a laser beam projected from the laser beam emitting unit to the cone mirror is reflected over a total circumference by the cone mirror, the image pickup unit takes an optical ring which is formed by projecting the reflected laser beam to an inner surface of a hollow portion, at least one of an inner diameter or a shape of the inner surface is measured based on an image picked up, and wherein the contact measuring unit comprises a contact measuring head (42) and a circulation unit (41) for circulating the contact measuring head around the center line, wherein the contact measuring head has a contact measuring unit having a contact at a forward end and for detecting a displacement of the contact, an advancing/retreating unit for advancing and retreating the contact measuring unit in radial direction, and a scale unit for measuring an advancing/retreating distance of the contact measuring unit.
US09372068B2 Measuring apparatus including multi-wavelength interferometer
A measuring apparatus for measuring a position or a shape of a surface to be inspected includes a multi-wavelength interferometer and a control unit. The multi-wavelength interferometer includes an optical system that causes light to be inspected, which enters the surface to be inspected and is reflected by the surface to be inspected, and reference light to interfere with each other, a spectroscopic unit that divides interference light between the light to be inspected and the reference light into each wavelength, and a detector that detects the interference light and is provided for each divided interference light and an optical member that can adjust a position of a light guide portion that guides light from the spectroscopic unit to the detector. The control unit controls the optical member by using information related to inclination of the surface to be inspected to adjust the position of the light guide portion.
US09372067B2 Spectral domain optical coherence tomography system
An optical coherence tomography device is disclosed for improved imaging. Reduced levels of speckle in the images generated by the device are obtained by forming a B-scan from a plurality of A-scans, wherein each resolution cell of the B-scan is generated through compounding of a subset of the A-scans and wherein at least some of the subset of A-scans are separated by at least half the diameter of a speckle cell both tangent to and orthogonal to the B-scan at that cell.
US09372066B2 Interferometer
An interferometer comprises: a light source; a first polarization beam splitter configured to reflect, as reference light, a first polarization component of light emitted from the light source, and to transmit, as measurement light, a second polarization component of the light emitted from the light source; a birefringent-material element located between the light source and the first polarization beam splitter; and a light-receiving device configured to receive an interfering light generated by interference of the measurement light transmitted through the first polarization beam splitter, reflected by a reflecting surface to be measured, and transmitted through the first polarization beam splitter, with the reference light reflected by the first polarization beam splitter. The interferometer is configured such that the reference light and the measurement light pass through the birefringent-material element between the first polarization beam splitter and the light-receiving device.
US09372064B2 Method and apparatus for sensing positions of a plurality of magnets
In an embodiment, a method may be used to measure a plurality of positions associated with a plurality of magnets based on, for example, a magnetic angle of the magnets. The method may include various acts that may involve, for example, measuring magnetic field components associated with the plurality of magnets. In addition, the acts may include identifying a first angle and a second angle based on the measured magnetic field components. The identified first and second angles may be used to identify a position of a first magnet of the plurality of magnets and a second magnet of the plurality of magnets.
US09372063B2 Position sensing device having magnetix flux transmission units
A position sensing device has a first magnetic flux transmission unit that includes first thin boards made of long shape magnetic material stacked along a board thickness direction and a second magnetic flux transmission unit that includes second thin boards made of long shape magnetic material stacked along the board thickness direction, for defining a gap space between the first and second magnetic flux transmission units when disposing the first and second magnetic flux transmission units on a rotating body. Further, the position sensing device includes first and second magnets disposed between both ends of the first and second magnetic flux transmission units. A Hall IC disposed on a mold part moves within the gap space along a gap space longitudinal direction relative to the rotating body for outputting a signal according to a density of a magnetic flux passing therethrough.
US09372061B2 Inner diameter measuring device
An inner diameter measuring device (50) for measuring an inner diameter of a hollow object to be measured, wherein the inner diameter measuring device comprises a circulation unit (1) and a measuring head (2) and is insertable into inside of an object to be measured, wherein the measuring head has a contact measuring unit (27) for measuring the inner diameter by contacting an inner surface of the object to be measured and an advancing/retreating unit (23) for making the contact measuring unit to advance and to retreat in a radial direction, and wherein the circulation unit can rotate the measuring head around a center line (51) of the inner diameter measuring device.
US09372060B1 Socket and wrench gauge
A socket and wrench gauge provides for the portable and precise measurement of the dimension of a bolt or nut across the flats thereof, in order to determine the precise size of the socket or wrench required for use therewith. The socket and wrench gauge consists of two parallel jaws with gripping points, with the first jaw and gripping point extending laterally from an elongated slide scale and the opposite jaw and gripping point extending laterally from an elongated body receiver and raceway through which the slide scale operates. The scale consists of two linear rows of dimensional numbers thereon, with each of the numbers corresponding to a distance between the two jaws and gripping points. The numbers are placed longitudinally along the face of the scale for simplicity and greater legibility. The body receiver and raceway channel includes two coinciding reference marks placed laterally thereacross, which in combination with the longitudinal array of dimensional numbers, results in a singular dimensional number being exactly aligned with a corresponding reference mark for any measurement. The scale numbers correspond with the standardized size of sockets and wrenches used in industry, and the socket and wrench gauge may include inch, fractional inch and metric measurements longitudinally on the face side. The socket and wrench gauge may be formed of various rigid plastics or machined using soft or hard metals as desired. The socket and wrench gauge may be made sufficiently small so as to fit within a modern shirt or pant pocket, in order to be readily available to the user at all times.
US09372059B2 Micrometer
A micrometer with good usability is provided. A micrometer has a frame with an anvil at one end and a spindle at another end, the spindle moving closer to or further away from the anvil. The frame is covered with a heat shield cover. The heat shield cover has a first anti-slip part. The first anti-slip part preferably has a plurality of protrusions.
US09372058B2 Hollow bullet with internal structure
A bullet has a cylindrical body portion and a conical tip monolithically formed with the body portion. The bullet is hollowed out to form an internal cavity. A sidewall defines the structure of the body portion and the conical tip. Bullet structure provides for a bore size, low weight, high velocity, and low recoil projectile having a full-bore size that does not have to expand to a larger diameter during firing in order to transfer its energy to a larger wound channel. In one embodiment, a plurality of recesses is provided on the body portion and extends through the sidewall. The recesses are disposed circumferentially in the radial direction and are offset longitudinally along a longitudinal axis of the bullet. The internal cavity includes a plurality of trusses extending in a radial direction. Instead of or in addition to, the trusses, the wall of the internal cavity may include one or more ridges.
US09372057B2 Shotgun shell tracer and tracer manufacturing device
A shotgun shell tracer includes a base wall, an obturator, and an edge wall extending from the base wall opposite to the obturator. A chamber support may be engaged to the base wall extending from the base wall within the internal space of the tracer. The shotgun shell tracer may additionally include a tracer insert which may encircle the chamber support. Discharge of a shotgun shell in some embodiments will exert pressure on projectiles which fuse the tracer insert to the base wall and the chamber support, and embed the projectiles into the tracer insert, establishing ballast for the shotgun shell tracer. The chamber support in one embodiment may be a modified spike. The ballast in one embodiment may be a washer replacing embedded projectiles. A conveyor may be used to transport tracer carriers during manufacture of a tracer.
US09372050B2 Magnetic gun barrel attachment
A magnetic gun barrel attachment is provided. The magnetic gun barrel attachment includes a body. The body includes an outer surface, a front end, and a rear end. A plurality of concave channels may be formed on the outer surface from the front end to the rear end. The concave channels each include a different radius of curvature. Therefore, each concave channel may be a different size, and may thereby fit on different sized barrels of a various amount of guns. A flashlight s attached to the body. The flashlight includes a flashlight head disposed at the front end of the body. At least one magnet is disposed within the body in between the plurality of channels to attract and attach to the barrel of the gun. The magnetic gun barrel attachment may further include a tactical rail.
US09372044B2 Handleless slingshot with folding storage compartment
A handleless slingshot with a folding storage compartment is disclosed. The slingshot does not require that the user grip a handle to shoot it and the folding storage compartment may be removed or omitted if desired. The slingshot includes a storage compartment that can store projectiles (such as steel shot) and/or other supplies. The storage compartment is foldable such that it can be folded into the base of the slingshot to create a compact, portable unit. The slingshot includes a quick-release interchangeable band system that uses clips that matingly engage grooves formed at the ends of the slingshot arms to secure the band. The slingshot includes guard area which protects the web area of the hand when shooting the slingshot. The slingshot moves the thumb and index finger contact points forward of the band to increase stability and eliminate the need to grip a handle when shooting the slingshot.
US09372043B2 Firearm with magazine release lever
An AR-style firearm includes a specially designed lower receiver, a specially designed upper receiver mounted to the lower receiver, a pistol hand grip mounted to the lower receiver, a handguard mounted around a barrel, a specially designed magazine well formed in the lower receiver that is configured to receive an AK-47 magazine or similar magazine, and a specially designed, ambidextrous magazine release that holds and selectively releases the magazine from the magazine well.
US09372039B1 Firearm impingement block with adjustable gas flow control member
A firearm impingement apparatus that includes a gas flow control member that is operable to provide controlled incremental adjustment of gas flow within the gas block of the firearm impingement apparatus. The firearm impingement apparatus includes a gas block having a port line with an intersecting channel. Rotatably secured within the intersecting channel is a gas flow control member. The gas flow control member includes a first end, a second end and a shaft intermediate thereto. The shaft includes at least three planar sides. A keeper is secured within a mounting member and is positioned such that a portion thereof is biased against the shaft. The keeper is planar in manner and is operable to provide controlled rotation of the gas flow control member within the channel. Further the keeper functions to maintain the position of the gas flow control member.
US09372035B2 Heat recovery storage device
The present invention is to provide a heat recovery storage device, which includes a major container, a heat transfer machine mounted in the major container, and a thermostatic valve mounted on the heat transfer machine. And the heat transfer machine is used for conducting heat transfer directly to the water in the major container, thus the efficiency of recovery increases, and loss of heat decreases. Also, the water is not easily boiled during the heat recovery, and the maximum of water temperature can increases. In extended use of more than one device of the present invention, each of the major containers can be installed with or without a heat transfer machine as required. The bypass outgassing control is not needed during the heat recovery, and is performed when the water temperature in the containers reaches to the highest.
US09372032B2 Cooling apparatus used in recycling scrap tires
The apparatus or “chiller” uses an upward stream of ambient air drawn through the upright housing to cool crumb rubber particles that are deposited into and fall through the housing. The chiller includes an upright chiller housing and an array of internal baffles disposed within the lower section of the housing. Crumb rubber deposited into the chiller housing falls through the upward air flow within the chiller housing and cascades around and through the baffle array before exiting the chiller. The baffle array inside the lower section of the chiller housing slows the fall of the crumb rubber, thereby increasing the dwell time through the chiller to provide enhanced cooling. The baffle array also creates a more turbulent air flow through which the crumb rubber falls. The rising turbulent air mass enhances the transfer of thermal energy from the falling crumb rubber.
US09372026B2 Refrigerator
A refrigerator having an improved structure of screw fastening portions to which screws disposed in a storage compartment are fastened so that an insulating material with which a space between an inner case and an outer case is filled can be prevented from leaking into the storage compartment includes an inner case; an outer case; an insulating material with which a space between the inner case and the outer case is filled; screws that fix components disposed in the storage compartment to the inner case; screw fixing members that are coupled to an outer surface of the inner case; and screw fastening portions disposed in the inner case, the screw fastening portions having a blocking layer that blocks the storage compartment from the outside of the inner case and is penetrated by the screws when the screws are fastened to the screw fastening portions.
US09372025B2 Covers for refrigeration systems
Covers for use with refrigeration units may include rails that extend across a top opening of the refrigeration unit. One or more lids may be supported by support surfaces on the rails. The lids may be movable (e.g., slidable) between closed and open positions. The lids may include lid plates and feet configured to raise lid plates off of the support surfaces, thereby forming gaps between the lid plates and the support surfaces. The lids may include filling elements to fill at least a portion of the gaps between the lid plates and the support surfaces. In some embodiments, the feet may have a generally Z-shaped configuration. In some embodiments, the cover may include multiple frame elements having transparent spacers at the ends of the frame elements, and the cover may include end pieces at the ends of the cover.
US09372024B2 System and method for dispensing
An ice machine includes an insulated compartment to store ice, a dispenser having access to the insulated compartment to dispense ice from the insulated compartment, a card reader, and a controller in communication with the card reader and the dispenser. The controller stores permission settings including a public setting and a private setting. The controller is to receive a card number from the card reader. The controller is to determine whether to initiate ice dispensing using the dispenser based on the card number, the public setting and the private setting.
US09372018B2 Evaporator heat exchanger
An evaporator heat exchanger is disclosed. The evaporator heat exchanger includes a bottom plate, a top plate, and at least one main plate between the bottom plate and the top plate. The at least one main plate includes a first face having one or more channels for flow of a first fluid along the first face and a second face opposite the first face having one or more channels for flow of a second fluid along the second face, wherein heat is exchanged between the first fluid and the second fluid through the main plate. Main plates adjacent to each other define an enclosed channel for fluid flow.
US09372016B2 Temperature-stabilized storage systems with regulated cooling
Regulated cooling devices are described herein that are sized, shaped and calibrated for use with a substantially thermally sealed storage container. In some embodiments, the regulated cooling devices include a cooling region, an adiabatic region, a lid region, and an electronics unit attached to the lid region.
US09372015B2 Heat pump system capable of adjusting amount of refrigerant stored in liquid receiver
A heat pump system includes a liquid receiver valve that adjusts the amount of a refrigerant stored in a liquid receiver so that a circulation amount of the refrigerant that circulates the heat pump system can be adjusted according to a driving speed of a compressor and performance of the compressor and the heat pump system can be further improved. Also, since a plurality of liquid receiver refrigerant outlets can be selectively opened using a pressure difference between an inlet and an outlet of the compressor, active control can be performed.
US09372014B2 Ejector-type refrigeration cycle device
An ejector-type refrigeration cycle device is provided with a first ejector (15) which draws refrigerant from a refrigerant suction port (15b, 24b) by using a high-speed refrigerant flow jetted from a nozzle part (15a, 24a), and a first suction-side evaporator (19) connected to the refrigerant suction port (15b) of the first ejector (15), and a second suction-side evaporator (27) connected to a refrigerant suction port (24b) of a second ejector (24). A flow amount of the refrigerant in the second ejector (24) is smaller than a flow amount of the refrigerant in the first ejector (15). The refrigerant branched at a branch part (Z2) that is positioned on a downstream refrigerant side of a radiator (13) and on an upstream refrigerant side of the first ejector (15) flows into the second ejector (24), and the refrigerant branched on a downstream refrigerant side of the second ejector (24) flows into the second suction-side evaporator (27).
US09372013B2 Method and system for storing solar heat
The invention provides a solar thermal storage method capable of supplying heat of about 1000-1300 K to an external facility for 24 hours. Disclosed is a solar thermal storage method for storing heat using solar light energy, comprising a concentrated beam irradiation step S1 of irradiating a reactive ceramics layer with a concentrated beam obtained by concentrating solar light to heat the same while moving the reactive ceramics layer formed using reactive ceramics that transforms from an oxidized form to a reduced form with a release of oxygen when heated and returns to the oxidized form when brought into contact with the oxygen; and a thermal storage step S2 of storing the heat emitted from the reactive ceramics layer in thermal storage means while bringing the reactive ceramics layer heated in the concentrated beam irradiation step S1 into contact with gas containing the oxygen.
US09372011B2 Heat exchanger and gas-fired furnace comprising the same
A heat exchanger and a gas-fired furnace including the same are provided. The heat exchanger includes at least two heat exchange shell enclosures; and at least three rows of heat exchange tubes arranged along a furnace air flow path. Each of the heat exchange tubes defines a leaving-tube-end and an entering-tube-end, two adjacent rows are spaced from each other, the at least three rows of heat exchange tubes are connected in a leaving-tube-end to entering-tube-end fashion sequentially via the at least two heat exchange shell enclosures to define a substantially serpentine flue gas passage.
US09372006B2 Compact oven
A compact oven is disclosed. The compact oven includes a housing having a cavity for receiving food items, and one or more blowers for directing heated air into the cavity. The compact oven also includes an air deflection plate coupled to a nozzle plate having multiple nozzles for capturing and directing a portion of heated air from the blower to the cavity via nozzles located between the air deflection plate and the nozzle plate, while allowing the remaining heated air exiting the blower to move into the cavity via nozzles not located between the air deflection plate and the nozzle plate such that the velocities of heated air exiting all nozzles into the cavity are as close to each other as possible.
US09372000B2 Oven with recirculation of combustion exhaust gases
An oven includes a cooking chamber, a gas-fired heat exchanger external of the cooking chamber and a flow path for circulating air from the cooking chamber past the heat exchanger to pick-up heat and then back to the cooking chamber under operation of a blower. A first combustion path gas flow path runs from the heat exchanger to an exhaust system for delivering combustion path gases away from the oven, and a second combustion path gas flow path runs from the heat exchanger to the cooking chamber for delivering combustion path gases into the cooking chamber. A control arrangement is configured to selectively control the flow of combustion path gases along at least one of the first combustion gas flow path or the second combustion gas flow path.
US09371999B2 Fireplace draft blocker
A fireplace draft blocker which is easily assembled and disassembled is provided with a seal around its periphery of faux fur, bristles, or soft fabric and is supported by crossed rods which hold the four corners of the fireplace draft blocker in position and away from the fireplace itself.
US09371998B2 Shrouded pilot liquid tube
A pilot liquid tube having a pilot liquid fuel inlet, a pilot liquid fuel conduit, a pilot liquid fuel nozzle, and a shroud configured to shield the pilot liquid fuel nozzle. The pilot liquid tube may be installed and/or removed from an injector of a gas turbine engine while the shroud remains fixed to pilot liquid fuel conduit.
US09371997B2 System for supporting a bundled tube fuel injector within a combustor
A combustor includes an end cover having an outer side and an inner side, an outer barrel having a forward end that is adjacent to the inner side of the end cover and an aft end that is axially spaced from the forward end. An inner barrel is at least partially disposed concentrically within the outer barrel and is fixedly connected to the outer barrel. A fluid conduit extends downstream from the end cover. A first bundled tube fuel injector segment is disposed concentrically within the inner barrel. The bundled tube fuel injector segment includes a fuel plenum that is in fluid communication with the fluid conduit and a plurality of parallel tubes that extend axially through the fuel plenum. The bundled tube fuel injector segment is fixedly connected to the inner barrel.
US09371996B2 Grate bar for a furnace comprising air ducts
Grate bar for a furnace. The grate bar comprises a first air duct (46) at a first lateral side of the grate bar. The first air duct is provided at an angle other than 90 degrees with respect to a longitudinal axis of the grate bar.
US09371991B2 Apparatus and method for vaporizing a liquid fuel
An apparatus and process for vaporizing and, optionally, igniting a liquid fuel, preferably, a distillate fuel. The apparatus includes the following components: a heat-conductive reticulated screen positioned within a chamber; a first inlet path into the chamber for delivering a liquid fuel onto the screen; a second inlet path into the chamber for contacting an oxidant with the screen and fuel; a means for heating the screen to a temperature sufficient to vaporize and, optionally, ignite the liquid fuel; and a recuperator in fluid communication with the chamber for transferring heat from the chamber to the second inlet path. The apparatus is suitably employed in compact and portable oxidation reactors, for example, in external combustion engines, catalytic partial oxidation reformers, and hybrid combustors operating in flame and/or catalytic modes.
US09371990B2 Elliptical air opening at an upstream end of a fuel injector shroud and a gas turbine engine combustion chamber
A gas turbine engine lean burn fuel injector includes a fuel injector head which has a first air swirler, a second air swirler arranged around the first air swirler, a pilot fuel injector arranged radially between the first air swirler and the second air swirler. A third air swirler arranged around the second air swirler, a fourth air swirler arranged around the third air swirler and a main fuel injector arranged radially between the third air swirler and the fourth air swirler. A shroud is arranged around the fourth air swirler. A downstream end of the shroud is generally circular in cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the axis (Y) of the fuel injector head and an upstream end of the shroud is generally elliptical in cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the axis (Y) of the fuel injector head.
US09371988B2 Candle assembly with retracting non-combustible wick
An improved candle is provided. The candle includes a traditional body made of wax. A coil spring is positioned longitudinally within the candle's body. The coil spring is in tension with the coil spring's top adjacent to the candle body's top. In addition, the candle includes a non-combustible wick which is not consumed as the candle burns. The wick is affixed to the coil spring's top end. As the candle wick burns and the candle body is consumed, the coil spring causes the wick to retract downwardly.
US09371985B2 Implement for the situation and maintenance of solid objects overtop of a lighting device's outer surface
A device is described that can be situated with one or more solid objects within overtop of a lighting device's outer surface. A container component contains one or more cavities that can be accessed via one or more openings. The one or more solid objects can be inserted into said cavity through the one or more openings. A closure component covers one or more of said openings and thereby restricts access to said cavity. A banding device that comprises one or more banding implements provides a means to maintain the container component, the closure component, the banding device itself and said one or more solid objects with in the cavity in said situated location. The container component, closure component and banding device are fabricated from a material that is appropriate for a maintenance in said situated location.
US09371984B2 Light irradiation apparatus and printing apparatus
A light irradiation apparatus includes a housing configured to house a light irradiation device including a plurality of light-emitting elements arranged, a drive substrate having a circuit to which a constant current generation device is electrically connected, a heat dissipation member having a plate-shape, and a cooling pipe. The light irradiation device is disposed on one main surface of the heat dissipation member, and the constant current generation device is disposed on the other main surface of the heat dissipation member or on the drive substrate, the drive substrate being disposed on the other main surface of the heat dissipation member.
US09371979B2 Method and hardware to enhance light out-coupling
The present invention provides an enhanced light out-coupling device for extraction of light radiation from a light source. The enhanced light out-coupling device comprises a grid having a plurality of channels, a reflective material layer coated on the grid, and a high refractive index fluid layer. In addition, the grid can be filled with phosphor particles for light converting. The device of the presently claimed invention is able to effectively avoid the scattering problem generated from the sapphire substrate and phosphor particles, as well as reduce light adsorption by the array of grid during the light extraction, leading to better image quality.
US09371978B2 Solar panel assembly with a lighting pattern and including conductors sandwiching a dielectric substance
A solar panel assembly with a lighting pattern includes a solar panel and an energy storage device. An electroluminescence layer is disposed on a light receiving face of the solar panel. The electroluminescence layer includes a plurality through-holes. The number and the overall area of the plurality of through-holes are configured to permit incident light rays entering the electroluminescence layer to activate the solar panel to proceed with optical-electrical conversion, providing a light receiving effect and a light emitting effect on the same area of the solar panel. A patterned light-transmittable layer is coated on a face of the electroluminescence layer.
US09371977B2 Glass-ceramic article having a colored luminous display
The present invention relates to an article having at least one colored luminous zone, in particular a display zone, said article comprising at least one glass-ceramic substrate having a luminous transmission ranging from 0.8% to 40% and an optical transmission of at least 0.1% for at least one wavelength in the range extending from 420 to 780 nm, at least one light source and at least one filter so as to form at least one colored luminous zone, in particular a display zone, in at least one zone of the plate.
US09371976B2 Illumination apparatus
An illumination apparatus includes a frame, an optical base plate, a light source and an optical film. The optical base plate is disposed in the frame and has a first protrusion portion at the center of the optical base plate. The first protrusion portion has at least a reflective surface and a top surface, which are connected with each other. The light source is disposed in the frame and located adjacent to the periphery of the optical base plate. The light source is disposed corresponding to the reflective surface and has a plurality of light-emitting elements. Each light-emitting element has an optical axis direction, and the optical axis directions extend toward the first protrusion portion. The optical film is disposed at the frame, and the first protrusion portion of the optical base plate protrudes toward the optical film.
US09371967B2 Lighting apparatus with heat transfer and light guiding structure
A lighting apparatus, comprising: a light source that emits light; a hollow heat-transfer member including an outer surface on which the light source is disposed; and a light guiding member that covers the light source and at least part of the outer surface along the outer surface.
US09371963B2 Lubricant distributor
The invention relates to a lubricant distributor (1), in particular for use in central lubricating systems for machines, vehicles, construction machines, or agricultural machines, for conveying and distributing lubricant from a lubricant source to predetermined lubricant discharge points by means of one or more lines,comprising a main distributor (2). The lubricant distributor is characterized in that the lubricant distributor comprises at least one line-break monitor (3) for detecting a pressure drop in at least one line, and in that the at least one line-break monitor (3) is structurally arranged in or on the main distributor (2) in order to create a rigid unit comprising the main distributor (2) and the line-break monitor (3).
US09371961B2 Installation part and module
Embodiments of the present invention provide an installation part and a module, relating to the field of mechanical designs and capable of reducing the quantity of installation parts and increasing the efficiency of assembling and disassembling an article that needs to be installed. The installation part includes: a slot configured to be clamped with a hoop, where the hoop is configured to fix a pole part onto a pole together with the pole part; and a first screw hole configured to be connected to a conversion bracket, where the conversion bracket is configured to connect the pole part and an article that needs to be installed. The embodiments of the present invention are applied to the installation of modules.
US09371959B2 Storage and charging station for electronic appliances
A support for an electronic appliance comprises a hollow profile 1 for disposing one or more electronic appliances 10 thereon. Within a first channel 4 which has a cylindrical basic shape, a similarly cylindrical connection plug may be positioned for connection to the electronic appliances 10, so that the connection plug is freely slidable in the longitudinal direction and at the same time pivotable within a predetermined angular range transversal to the support about the cylinder axis of the first channel 4. Thereby, one or more electronic appliances 10 may be stored on the support and may be conveniently and securely connected to the connection plug for charging their accumulators or for synchronizing the data stored thereon.
US09371957B2 Articulated arm for delivering a laser beam
A laser assembly includes a laser and an articulated arm having a plurality of couplers arranged to receive a laser-beam from the laser. The assembly is mounted on a support structure, and is rotatable on the support structure in two axes perpendicular to each other. Six degrees of freedom of motion of the end of the articulated arm can be accomplished with one less coupler in the arm than would be necessary without rotation of the assembly on the support structure.
US09371956B2 Display stand
In one aspect, an apparatus includes a base supportable on a surface, a support rod having a long segment extending upwardly from the base and a short segment extending laterally away from the long segment and terminating at a free end. The long segment is longer than the short segment. The apparatus also includes a coupling located at the free end of the short segment which is configured to couple the short segment to a computer chassis to establish a clearance space between the short segment, long segment, and chassis to facilitate access to at least one electrical terminal on the chassis below the coupling.
US09371955B2 Bi-directional tilt mechanisms and methods
A tilt mechanism for an electronic display including a torsion spring, the torsion spring providing a spring torque to balance a monitor torque due to weight of the monitor. The tilt mechanism allowing an electronic display to be positioned at a variety of tilt angles within a range of tilt angles. Such a tilt mechanism allowing an electronic display to be positioned at positive and negative tilt angles within the range of tilt angles. Methods of using a tilt mechanism.
US09371954B2 Work bench frame
A work bench including a frame foldable between an in-use position and a closed position. A table surface is connected to the frame. The frame includes two sides, the two sides connected to each other with a latchable bar and one or more fixed crossbars. The work bench also includes movable catch which is movable from a position in which it retains the latchable bar at the latched position to maintain the work bench in an in-use position, and a released position in which the latchable bar is release from the catch to allow the work bench to be folded into a closed position.
US09371940B2 Adjustable hose holding device and method therefor
A spray nozzle holder has a pole member. A head device is removably attached to a top end of the pole member. The head member has a holding unit. A support rod extends from the holding unit. A mounting rod is removably attached to the top end of the pole member. The support rod is positioned through the mounting rod. A securing device is used for securing the holding unit at different angles.
US09371939B2 Marine pipeline installation system and methods
A method for installing an accessory onto a pipeline to be laid on the seabed, includes launching the pipeline from a first position of a tower in which the tower is at an angle α with respect to the vertical; stopping the launch of the pipeline, and hanging off the launched pipeline in a hang off module; positioning an accessory in a tower firing line; attaching the accessory to the launched pipeline in the hang off module and to at least one A&R cable; suspending the accessory and the launched pipeline from an A&R system; disengaging the hang off module from the launched pipeline; pivoting the pipeline launch tower to an accessory launch position in which the tower is at an angle γ that differs substantially from angle α, such that a pipeline launch trajectory is created which is large enough to launch the accessory and the launched pipeline with the A&R system.
US09371937B2 Micro-valve and micro-fluidic device using such
A micro-valve (10) adapted for integration with a micro-fluidic device such as a micro-injector of a chromatograph, the micro-valve having a first substrate (12), a second substrate (14) having microconduits (36,38) and a seating surface (30), and an actuation membrane (16) positioned between the first substrate (12) and the second substrate (14) for opening or closing a fluid path (48) of the micro-valve (10) under a force applied by a mechanism such as a pneumatic or piezoelectric device, wherein said actuation membrane (16) is constructed from a poly(aryl ether ketone).