| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09373623B2 |
Multi-layer semiconductor structures for fabricating inverter chains
Systems and methods are provided for fabricating a semiconductor structure including an inverter chain. An example semiconductor structure includes a first device layer, a second device layer, and one or more inter-layer connection structures. The first device layer is formed on a substrate and includes one or more first inverter structures. The second device layer is formed on the first device layer and includes one or more second inverter structures. The one or more inter-layer connection structures are configured to electrically connect to the first inverter structures and the second inverter structures. |
| US09373616B1 |
Electrostatic protective device
The present invention discloses an electrostatic protective device structure, which comprises a CMOS transistor that is disposed entirely above a P-type silicon substrate and arranged into a multi-finger-pattern structure, wherein on the outermost side on both sides of this electrostatic protective device structure is the source region of the MOS transistor, an active region of other drain region or source region in addition to the outermost source region on both sides is arranged in comb teeth pattern and in pairwise intersection, between the active regions of the adjacent drain region or source region is a field oxide region isolation, and on the drain region or source region is disposed a contact hole connecting metal with the active region, wherein the contact hole on the comb-tooth-pattern and pairwise intersected active region is located at the top of the comb-tooth-pattern active region, i.e. close to a side of the field oxide region isolation far away from the polysilicon gate. The present invention, mainly applied to electrostatic protection of a low-voltage MOS, is capable of not only improving its electrostatic protection capability effectively but also minimizing the occupied area of the protective device, and able to be used as both an electrostatic protective device and a power device. |
| US09373615B2 |
Bipolar transistor including lateral suppression diode
A transistor includes an emitter of a first conductivity type, base of a second conductivity type, collector of the first conductivity type, and cathode of a lateral suppression diode. The emitter is disposed at a top surface of the transistor and configured to receive electrical current from an external source. The base is configured to conduct the electrical current from the collector to the emitter. The base is disposed at the top surface of the transistor and laterally between the emitter and the collector. The collector is configured to attract and collect minority carriers from the base. The cathode of the first conductivity type is surrounded by the base and disposed between the emitter and the collector, and the cathode is configured to suppress a lateral flow of the minority carriers from the base to the collector. |
| US09373614B2 |
Transistor assembly as an ESD protection measure
A diode (23) is arranged near a transistor (25) to protect from ESD. The diode comprises a well (5) of a first conductivity type and a doped region (4) of a second conductivity type in opposition to the first conductivity type. The transistor comprises a doped well (2) and a doped region (1) of the first conductivity type. The well (2) of the transistor is doped lower than the well (5) of the diode. |
| US09373613B2 |
Amplifier voltage limiting using punch-through effect
Disclosed herein are systems and method for voltage clamping in semiconductor circuits using through-silicon via (TSV) positioning. A semiconductor die is disclosed that includes a silicon substrate, a bipolar transistor having collector, emitter, base and sub-collector regions disposed on the substrate, and a through-silicon via (TSV) positioned within 35 μm of the sub-collector region in order to clamp a peak voltage of the bipolar transistor at a voltage limit level. |
| US09373611B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
First, second, and third power wirings and plurality of first signal wirings are formed on the upper layer of a semiconductor substrate, and at least one second signal wiring is formed on the upper layer of the plurality of first signal wirings. First and second power wirings are mutually separated in the cell height direction and extended in the cell width direction. Third power wiring extends between the first and second power wirings in the cell width direction. The plurality of first signal wirings are separated from first, second, and third power wirings, and electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of circuit elements. At least one second signal wiring extends in the cell width direction, and electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of circuit elements and the plurality of first signal wirings. |
| US09373605B1 |
DIE packages and methods of manufacture thereof
Die packages and method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method of manufacturing a die package may include forming an encapsulated via structure including at least one via, a polymer layer encapsulating the at least one via, and a first molding compound encapsulating the polymer layer; placing the encapsulated via structure and a first die stack over a carrier, the at least one via having a first end proximal the carrier and a second end distal the carrier; encapsulating the first die stack and the encapsulated via structure in a second molding compound; and forming a first redistribution layer (RDL) over the second molding compound, the first RDL electrically connecting the at least one via. |
| US09373604B2 |
Interconnect structures for wafer level package and methods of forming same
A device package includes a plurality of dies, a molding compound extending along sidewalls of the plurality of dies, and a polymer layer over and contacting the molding compound. The molding compound comprises a non-planar top surface, and a total thickness variation (TTV) of a top surface of the polymer layer is less than a TTV of the non-planar top surface of the molding compound. The device package further includes a conductive feature on the polymer layer, wherein the conductive feature is electrically connected at least one of the plurality of dies. |
| US09373603B2 |
Reflow process and tool
Reflow processes and apparatuses are disclosed. A process includes enclosing a package workpiece in an enclosed environment of a chamber of a reflow tool; causing an oxygen content of the enclosed environment of the chamber to be less than 40 ppm; and performing a reflow process in the enclosed environment of the chamber while the oxygen content is less than 40 ppm. An apparatus includes a reflow chamber, a door to the reflow chamber, an energy source in the reflow chamber, and gas supply equipment coupled to the chamber. The door is operable to enclose an environment in the reflow chamber. The energy source is operable to increase a temperature in the environment in the reflow chamber. The gas supply equipment is operable to provide a gas to the reflow chamber. |
| US09373601B2 |
Semiconductor substrate, semiconductor package structure and method of making the same
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor substrate, a semiconductor package structure, and methods for making the same. A method includes providing a substrate and a carrier layer. The substrate includes a first patterned metal layer, a second patterned metal layer spaced from the first patterned metal layer, and a dielectric layer disposed between the first patterned metal layer and the second patterned metal layer. The dielectric layer covers the second patterned metal layer. The dielectric layer defines first openings exposing the second patterned metal layer, and further defines a via opening extending from the first patterned metal layer to the second patterned metal layer. A conductive material is disposed in the via and electrically connects the first patterned metal layer to the second patterned metal layer. The carrier layer defines second openings exposing the second patterned metal layer. |
| US09373597B2 |
Chip package and method thereof
The present invention provides a chip package that includes a semiconductor chip, at least one recess, a plurality of first redistribution metal lines, and at least one protrusion. The semiconductor chip has a plurality of conductive pads disposed on an upper surface of the semiconductor chip. The recess extends from the upper surface to a lower surface of the semiconductor chip, and is arranged on the side of the semiconductor chip. The first redistribution metal lines are disposed on the upper surface, electrically connected to the conductive pad individually, and extended into the recesses separately. The protrusion is disposed in the recess and located between the adjacent first redistribution metal lines. |
| US09373596B2 |
Passivated copper chip pads
A structure and method of forming passivated copper chip pads is described. In various embodiments, the invention describes a substrate that includes active circuitry and metal levels disposed above the substrate. A passivation layer is disposed above a last level of the metal levels. A conductive liner is disposed in the sidewalls of an opening disposed in the passivation layer, wherein the conductive liner is also disposed over an exposed surface of the last level of the metal levels. |
| US09373594B2 |
Under bump metallization
A structure of an under bump metallization and a method of forming the same are provided. The under bump metallization has a redistribution via hole, viewed from the top, in a round shape or a polygon shape having an angle between adjacent edges greater than 90°. Therefore, the step coverage of the later formed metal layer can be improved. |
| US09373589B2 |
Display substrate and manufacturing method thereof as well as display device
The embodiments of the present invention provide a display substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, as well as a display device including the display substrate. The display substrate may include a base substrate and a thin film transistor arranged on the base substrate, the thin film transistor having a gate, a gate insulating layer, an oxide semiconductor active layer as well as a source electrode and a drain electrode arranged on the base substrate sequentially; the display substrate may further include an ultraviolet blocking layer, the ultraviolet blocking layer having a first portion arranged between the base substrate and the oxide semiconductor active layer. By arranging the ultraviolet blocking layer, the influence of ultraviolet light on the oxide semiconductor active layer can be mitigated or avoided. |
| US09373582B1 |
Self aligned via in integrated circuit
A method for forming a via in an integrated circuit comprises patterning a first opening in a first hardmask, the first hardmask disposed on a first organic self-planarizing polymer (OPL) layer, removing an exposed portion of the first OPL layer to define a cavity, removing an exposed portion of a second hardmask in the cavity, removing an exposed portion of a first dielectric layer disposed under the second hardmask to further define the cavity, removing an exposed portion of a first cap layer in the cavity, removing an exposed portion of a second dielectric layer to further define the cavity, removing an exposed portion of a second cap layer to further define the cavity, removing an exposed portion of a liner layer over a second conductive material in the cavity, and depositing a conductive material in the cavity. |
| US09373578B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of forming interconnect structure with conductive pads having expanded interconnect surface area for enhanced interconnection properties
A semiconductor device has a substrate and first conductive pads formed over the substrate. An interconnect surface area of the first conductive pads is expanded by forming a plurality of recesses into the first conductive pads. The recesses can be an arrangement of concentric rings, arrangement of circular recesses, or arrangement of parallel linear trenches. Alternatively, the interconnect surface area of the first conductive pads is expanded by forming a second conductive pad over the first conductive pad. A semiconductor die has a plurality of interconnect structures formed over a surface of the semiconductor die. The semiconductor die is mounted to the substrate with the interconnect structures contacting the expanded interconnect surface area of the first conductive pads to increase bonding strength of the interconnect structure to the first conductive pads. A mold underfill material is deposited between the semiconductor die and substrate. |
| US09373575B2 |
TSV structures and methods for forming the same
A device includes a substrate having a front side and a backside, a through-via extending from the backside to the front side of the substrate, and a conductive pad on the backside of the substrate and over the through-via. The conductive pad has a substantially planar top surface. A conductive bump has a non-planar top surface over the substantially planar top surface and aligned to the through-via. The conductive bump and the conductive pad are formed of a same material. No interface is formed between the conductive bump and the conductive pad. |
| US09373574B2 |
Semiconductor packages and methods of forming the same
Disclosed are semiconductor packages and methods of forming the same. In the semiconductor packages and the methods, a package substrate includes a hole not overlapped with semiconductor chips. Thus, a molding layer may be formed without a void. |
| US09373573B2 |
Solder joint flip chip interconnection
A flip chip interconnect has a tapering interconnect structure, and the area of contact of the interconnect structure with the site on the substrate metallization is less than the area of contact of the interconnect structure with the die pad. Also, a bond-on-lead or bond-on-narrow pad or bond on a small area of a contact pad interconnection includes such tapering flip chip interconnects. Also, methods for making the interconnect structure include providing a die having interconnect pads, providing a substrate having interconnect sites on a patterned conductive layer, providing a bump on a die pad, providing a fusible electrically conductive material either at the interconnect site or on the bump, mating the bump to the interconnect site, and heating to melt the fusible material. |
| US09373566B2 |
High power electronic component with multiple leadframes
In an embodiment an electronic component includes a semiconductor die having a first surface, the first surface including a first current electrode and a control electrode. The electronic component further includes a die pad having a first surface, a plurality of leads and a gull-wing shaped conductive element coupled to a first lead of the plurality of leads. The first current electrode is mounted on the die pad and the gull-wing shaped conductive element is coupled between the control electrode and the first lead. |
| US09373562B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device
A semiconductor device provided herewith includes a semiconductor substrate; a brazing material bonded to the semiconductor substrate; a heat sink connected to the semiconductor substrate via the brazing material and a resin. The heat sink includes a protruding portion formed outside of a range in which the heatsink is connected to the semiconductor substrate via the brazing material. The protruding portion is making contact with the brazing material. The resin seals the semiconductor substrate, the brazing material and the protruding portion. |
| US09373551B2 |
Moveable and adjustable gas injectors for an etching chamber
An apparatus for increasing the uniformity in a critical dimension of chemical vapor deposition and etching during substrate processing, comprising a plurality of gas injectors for admitting a processing gas into an etching chamber. Each gas injector of the plurality of gas injectors is disposed along a track within the etching chamber and moveable along the track. Further, each gas injector is coupled with a throttling valve or nozzle to permit adjustment of processing gas flow rate. A method for increasing the uniformity in a critical dimension of chemical vapor deposition and etching during substrate processing includes performing a chemical deposition or etch using the plurality of moveable and adjustable gas injectors and measuring the critical dimension uniformity. Adjustments to the location of at least one gas injector or the processing gas flow rate to at least one gas injector are made to increase critical dimension uniformity. |
| US09373547B1 |
Large-scale patterning of germanium quantum dots by stress transfer
Provided is a method for forming a two-dimensional array of semiconductor quantum confined structures. The method includes providing a layer that has first atoms and second atoms, the first atoms having a different size than the second atoms; providing an indenter template that includes at least one indenter structure extending from a surface of the indenter template; contacting the layer and the at least one indenter structure together with a pressure sufficient to generate an elastic deformation in the layer but without generating plastic deformation of the layer; annealing the layer; and forming at least one quantum confined structure in a region of the layer in a region of the layer not pressed by the at least one indenter structure. |
| US09373543B1 |
Forming interconnect features with reduced sidewall tapering
A method includes forming a stack of materials including a first dielectric layer having a conductive feature positioned therein, and a second dielectric layer positioned above the first dielectric layer. An etch mask including a plurality of spaced apart mask elements is formed above the second dielectric layer. The mask elements define at least a first via opening exposing the second dielectric layer. A patterning layer is formed above the etch mask. A second via opening is formed in the patterning layer to expose the first via opening in the etch mask. The second dielectric layer is etched through the second via opening to define a third via opening in the second dielectric layer exposing the conductive feature. The patterning layer and the etch mask are removed. A conductive via contacting the conductive feature is formed in the third via opening. |
| US09373534B2 |
Rotary positioning apparatus with dome carrier, automatic pick-and-place system, and operating method thereof
A rotary positioning apparatus includes a fixing base, a rotation mechanism, two driving modules and a carrier. The rotation mechanism is disposed on the fixing base, the first driving module is disposed on the fixing base and coupled to the rotation mechanism to drive the rotation mechanism rotating around a first rotation axis relatively to the fixing base. The carrier has plural accommodating slots on a circular-arc surface thereof and is pivoted to the rotation mechanism through a second rotation axis passing through the curvature center of the circular-arc surface and perpendicular to the first rotation axis, on which the curvature center is located. The second driving module is disposed on the rotation mechanism and coupled to the carrier to drive the carrier rotating around the second rotation axis relatively to the rotation mechanism. An automatic pick-and-place system and an operation method using the rotary positioning apparatus are also provided. |
| US09373533B2 |
Systems and methods for providing wafer access in a wafer processing system
Systems and methods for providing wafer access in a wafer processing system are disclosed herein. The methods may include docking a first wafer cassette on the wafer processing system and removing a selected wafer from the first wafer cassette with the wafer processing system. The methods further may include performing a process operation on the selected wafer with the wafer processing system and undocking the first wafer cassette from the wafer processing system while performing the process operation. The methods also may include docking a second wafer cassette (which may be the same as or different from the first wafer cassette) on the wafer processing system, inventorying the second wafer cassette with the wafer processing system, and/or subsequently placing the selected wafer in the second wafer cassette. The systems may include wafer processing systems that include a controller that is programmed to perform at least a portion of the methods. |
| US09373530B2 |
Tool for picking a planar object from a supply station
A pick tool for picking a planar object from a supply station is presented, in particular to be used for picking a semiconductor die from a carrier tape, said pick tool comprising: a work surface, said work surface comprising at least one contact region that may be brought into contact with a first surface on a first side of the planar object; one or more vacuum outlets in the work surface that may be connected to a vacuum source to allow for temporarily fixing the planar object to the work surface; and wherein a flexible seal is provided to maintain vacuum if the planar object becomes deformed. |
| US09373527B2 |
Chip on package structure and method
A system and method for packaging semiconductor device is provided. An embodiment comprises forming vias over a carrier wafer and attaching a first die over the carrier wafer and between a first two of the vias. A second die is attached over the carrier wafer and between a second two of the vias. The first die and the second die are encapsulated to form a first package, and at least one third die is connected to the first die or the second die. A second package is connected to the first package over the at least one third die. |
| US09373521B2 |
Etching processing method
An etching processing method for etching a substrate formed with a target film and a mask film is performed in a substrate processing apparatus including a first and a second power supply for respectively supplying a higher and a lower high frequency power to a processing space and a mounting table, and a DC power supply for supplying a DC power to an electrode. The method includes a modification step for modifying a shape of a pattern formed on the mask film; and an etching step for etching the target film by using the mask film. The mask film is etched by the plasma in the modification step. Further, in the etching step, the DC power is applied to the electrode and the lower high frequency power is applied to the mounting table in a pulse wave form in which a higher and a lower power level are repeated. |
| US09373520B2 |
Multilayer film etching method and plasma processing apparatus
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for etching a multilayer film formed by laminating a plurality of alternating layers of a first layer having a first dielectric constant and a second layer having a second dielectric constant. This method includes (a) a multilayer film etching step, in which an etchant gas is supplied into a processing chamber and a microwave is supplied into the processing chamber to excite a plasma of the etchant gas; and (b) a resist mask reducing step in which an oxygen-containing gas and a fluorocarbon-based gas are supplied to the processing chamber and a microwave is supplied into the processing chamber to excite a plasma of the oxygen-containing gas and the fluorocarbon-based gas. In this method, the steps (a) and (b) are alternately repeated. |
| US09373519B2 |
Method to pattern substrates
A method for creating a pattern on a substrate (101) is presented, the method comprises: providing a substrate (101) comprising silicon; creating a sacrificial layer (102) on the substrate (101), wherein the sacrificial layer is formed on a first surface area (101a) of the substrate thereby leaving a second surface area (101b) exposed; depositing a first functional layer (103) at least on the second surface area (101b) of the substrate (101); removing the sacrificial layer (102); wherein: removing the sacrificial layer (102) is performed by etching the sacrificial layer (102) with an acidic aqueous solution that does not adversely affect the first functional layer (103) and the substrate (101). |
| US09373518B2 |
Method and apparatus for preventing native oxide regrowth
A method for combinatorially processing a substrate is provided. The method includes introducing a first etchant into a reactor cell and introducing a fluid into the reactor cell while the first etchant remains in the reactor cell. After initiating the introducing the fluid, contents of the reactor cell are removed through a first removal line and a second removal line, wherein the first removal line extends farther into the reactor cell than the second removal line. A level of the fluid above an inlet to the first removal line is maintained while removing the contents. A second etchant is introduced into the reactor cell while removing the contents through the first removal line and the second removal line. The method includes continuing the introducing of the second etchant until a concentration of the second etchant is at a desired level, wherein the surface of the substrate remains submerged. |
| US09373516B2 |
Method and apparatus for forming gate stack on Si, SiGe or Ge channels
Provided are methods and apparatus for functionalizing a substrate surface used as the channel in a gate stack. Silicon, germanium and silicon germanium substrates surfaces are functionalized with one or more of sulfur and selenium by plasma processing. |
| US09373515B2 |
Conductive nanowire films
The invention provides a novel conductive film and a multilayered conductive structure, comprising a plurality of metal nanowires arranged in clusters and having an average aspect ratio of least 100,000, optionally decorated by metal nanoparticles. It is also disclosed a process for preparation of a conductive film comprising metal nanowires by surfactant/template assisted method which involves the use of a precursor solution based on surfactant (such as CTAB), metal precursor (such as HAuC14 and AgN03) and reducing agent (such as metal borohydride or sodium ascorbate). |
| US09373512B2 |
Apparatus and method for laser heating and ion implantation
An apparatus and method for performing ion implantation while minimizing and/or repairing amorphization of the substrate material. The process comprises exposing a substrate to an ion beam and either concurrently or promptly following the ion implantation using a laser to anneal the surface. In addition, a laser may be utilized to preheat the substrate prior to ion implantation. The laser heats the substrate to a temperature that does not cause the resist layer to be damaged. By utilizing a laser to heat the substrate from the top surface the resist is not damaged allowing for the use of photo resist material. |
| US09373511B2 |
Methods for crystallizing a substrate using energy pulses and freeze periods
Apparatus and methods of treating a substrate with an amorphous semiconductor layer, or a semiconductor layer having small crystals, to form large crystals in the substrate are described. A treatment area of the substrate is identified and melted using a progressive melting process of delivering pulsed energy to the treatment area. The treatment area is then recrystallized using a progressive crystallization process of delivering pulsed energy to the area. The pulsed energy delivered during the progressive crystallization process is selected to convert the small crystals into large crystals as the melted material freezes. |
| US09373510B1 |
Method for manufacturing a semiconductor device
Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, including: forming a first material layer including holes exposing a part of an ion injection target layer on the ion injection target layer; forming gap filling layers having a smaller height than that of the holes inside the holes; forming a second material layer on the gap filling layers and the first material layer; forming ion injection mask patterns exposing the gap filling layer by removing the second material layer formed on the gap filling layer in the second material layer; exposing a part of the ion injection target layer through inner portions of the holes by removing the exposed gap filling layer; and performing an ion injection process on the exposed ion injection target layer. |
| US09373509B2 |
FINFET doping method with curvilnear trajectory implantation beam path
A method to implant dopants onto fin-type field-effect-transistor (FINFET) fin surfaces with uniform concentration and depth levels of the dopants and the resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include a method for pulsing a dopant perpendicular to an upper surface of a substrate, forming an implantation beam pulse; applying an electric or a magnetic field to the implantation beam pulse to effectuate a curvilinear trajectory path of the implantation beam pulse; and implanting the dopant onto a sidewall surface of a target FINFET fin on the upper surface of the substrate via the curvilinear trajectory path of the implantation beam pulse. |
| US09373508B2 |
Semiconductor device and fabricating method thereof
A semiconductor device and a fabricating method thereof are provided. The semiconductor device is formed on a substrate and includes a first first-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and a second first-type MOSFET. The first first-type MOSFET includes a first gate structure, a first source area and a first drain area on the substrate. The second first-type MOSFET includes a second gate structure, a second source area, and a second drain area on the substrate. A first pocket implant process is applied to the first first-type MOSFET via a first photomask, while a second pocket implant process is applied to the second first-type MOSFET via a second photomask. The first and second gate structures are facing different directions. |
| US09373506B2 |
Method for treating surface of diamond thin film, method for forming transistor, and sensor device
A method for treating a surface of a diamond thin film according to one aspect of the present invention performs one of a first substitution process for substituting part of hydrogen-terminals of a diamond thin film with fluorine-terminals in the absence of a fluorocarbon deposition on the surface of diamond thin film and a second substitution process for substituting part of hydrogen-terminals of a diamond thin film with fluorine-terminals in the presence of the fluorocarbon deposition on the surface of diamond thin film based on required surface properties of the diamond thin film. |
| US09373505B2 |
Mark segmentation method and method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure applying the same
In this disclosure, a mark segmentation method and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure applying the same are provided. The mark segmentation method comprises the following steps. First, a plurality of segments having a width WS and separated from each other by a space SS formed on a substrate are identified by a processor. Thereafter, a plurality of marks are set over the segments by the processor. This step comprises: (1) adjusting a width WM of each one of the marks being equal to m(WS+SS)+WS or m(WS+SS)+SS by the processor, wherein m is an integer; and (2) adjusting a space SM of adjacent two of the marks by the processor such that WM+SM=n(WS+SS), wherein n is an integer. |
| US09373504B2 |
Method for forming an epitactic silicon layer
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an epitactic silicon layer made up of crystallites with a size no lower than 20 μm, including: providing a layer of crystallized silicon the surface of which, being inhomogeneous in terms of the size of the crystallites, is made up of large crystallites with a size no lower than 20 μm, and small crystallites of a smaller size; forming, on the surface of the inhomogeneous silicon layer, a layer of at least one non-nucleating material for the silicon, the thickness of which is adjusted such to cover the entire outer surface of the small crystallites, while leaving all or part of the outer surface of the large crystallites accessible; and carrying out epitaxial growth of a silicon layer on the surface of the assembly obtained at the end of step, under conditions that are suitable for forming the expected epitactic layer. |
| US09373503B2 |
Method of fabricating thin, freestanding, single crystal silicon sheet
A method of forming a free-standing silicon film that includes providing a Si substrate, depositing a layered structure on the Si substrate, where the layered structure includes a Si device layer and a SiGe sacrificial layer, and removing the SiGe sacrificial layer with a spin etch process, where the Si device layer is released from the layered structure. |
| US09373499B2 |
Batch-type remote plasma processing apparatus
A plasma processing apparatus comprises a processing chamber in which a plurality of substrates are stacked and accommodated; a pair of electrodes extending in the stacking direction of the plurality of substrates, which are disposed at one side of the plurality of substrates in said processing chamber, and to which high frequency electricity is applied; and a gas supply member which supplies processing gas into a space between the pair of electrodes. |
| US09373497B2 |
Methods for stripping photoresist and/or cleaning metal regions
Methods are provided for cleaning metal regions overlying semiconductor substrates. A method for removing material from a metal region comprises heating the metal region, forming a plasma from a gas comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and exposing the metal region to the plasma. |
| US09373496B2 |
Substrate recycling method and recycled substrate
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a substrate recycling method and a recycled substrate. The method includes separating a substrate having a first surface from an epitaxial layer, performing a first etching of the first surface using electrochemical etching, and performing, after the first etching, a second etching of the first surface using chemical etching, dry etching, or performing, after the first etching, chemical mechanical polishing of the first surface. |
| US09373495B2 |
Fluorine-containing resin film and solar cell module
Disclosed is a fluorine-containing resin film which is formed from a fluorine-containing resin composition and has a thickness of 10 to 50 μm, wherein the fluorine-containing resin composition is prepared by adding 10 to 30 parts by mass of titanium oxide or a composite-oxide-type inorganic pigment to 100 parts by mass of a resin component comprising 60 to 95 parts by mass of a vinylidene fluoride resin and 5 to 40 parts by mass of a methacrylic acid ester resin, and wherein the peak intensity ratio of a II-type crystal, which is expressed by (A)/((A)+(B))×100 wherein A represents the peak height at 840 cm−1 and B represents the peak height at 765 cm−1 in a measurement chart produced by an infrared absorption spectrum, is 60% or more and the total crystallinity is 30% or more as calculated from an X-ray diffraction profile. |
| US09373494B1 |
Sparker for flash lamp
A base assembly for a flash lamp is disclosed. The base assembly has an integrated sparker and includes an electrically conductive header having a surface that defines a boundary of a flash chamber for the flash lamp. There is an opening in the surface of the electrically conductive header and an electrically conductive lead within the opening. The electrically conductive lead is electrically insulated from surrounding portions of the electrically conductive header. A distal end of the electrically conductive lead is substantially flush with the surface of the electrically conductive header. |
| US09373493B2 |
Mass spectrometer and method of adjusting same
A mass spectrometer and method capable of optimizing the opening time of a collision cell includes: an ion source (10) for ionizing a sample; a first mass analyzer (30) for selecting first desired ions from the ions generated in the ion source (10); a collision cell (40) for fragmenting some or all of the first desired ions into product ions; a second mass analyzer (50) for selecting second desired ions from the first desired ions and the product ions; a detector (60) for detecting the second desired ions; and a control section (200) for controlling the collision cell (40) in such a way that the cell performs a storing operation for storing the first desired ions and the product ions for a given storage time and then performs an opening operation for ejecting the stored ions for a given opening time based on information about settings in an adjustment mode. |
| US09373489B2 |
Ion guiding device
An ion guiding device is disclosed comprising a first ion guide which is conjoined with a second ion guide. Ions are urged across a radial pseudo-potential barrier which separates the two guiding regions by a DC potential gradient. Ions may be transferred from an ion guide which has a relatively large cross-sectional profile to an ion guide which has a relatively small cross-sectional profile in order to improve the subsequent ion confinement of the ions. |
| US09373487B2 |
Mass spectrometer
In a pause time assigned for switching voltage applied to a quadrupole mass filter or other ion transport optical system so as to switch the mass-to-charge ratio of a target ion in an SIM measurement, the polarity of direct-current voltage applied to a pre-quadrupole mass filter is temporarily reversed. The voltage polarity reversal time is changed according to length of the pause time so that the ion intensity can sufficiently rise by the time the next dwell time begins. When the polarity of the voltage applied to the pre-quadrupole mass filter is reversed, the electric charges which lie on an insulating film of contaminants or other substances attached to the surface of the pre-quadrupole mass filter or on an insulating support structure are dispersed, whereby the charge-up is eliminated. Since ions are prevented from passing through, charge-up of a main quadrupole mass filter in the subsequent stage is also reduced. |
| US09373483B2 |
Plasma processing apparatus and high frequency generator
Provided is a plasma processing apparatus that performs a processing on a processing target object using plasma. The plasma processing apparatus includes a processing container and a plasma generating mechanism including a high frequency generator disposed outside of the processing container to generate high frequency waves. The plasma generating mechanism generates plasma in the processing container using the high frequency waves and includes: a high frequency oscillator that oscillates the high frequency waves; a power supply unit that supplies a power to the high frequency oscillator; a waveguide path that propagates the high frequency waves oscillated by the high frequency oscillator to the processing container side which becomes a load side; and a voltage standing wave ratio variable mechanism that varies a voltage standing wave ratio of voltage standing waves formed in the waveguide path by the high frequency waves, according to the power supplied from the power supply unit. |
| US09373481B2 |
High-energy ion implanter, beam collimator, and beam collimation method
A beam collimator includes a plurality of lens units that are arranged along a reference trajectory so that a beam collimated to the reference trajectory comes out from an exit of the beam collimator. Each of the plurality of lens units forms a bow-shaped curved gap and is formed such that an angle of a beam traveling direction with respect to the reference trajectory is changed by an electric field generated in the bow-shaped curved gap. A vacant space is provided between one lens unit of the plurality of lens units and a lens unit that is adjacent to the lens unit. The vacant space is directed in a transverse direction of the collimated beam in a cross section that is perpendicular to the reference trajectory. An inner field containing the reference trajectory is connected to an outer field of the plurality of lens units through the vacant space. |
| US09373478B2 |
Radiation generating apparatus and radiation imaging apparatus
There is provided a radiation generating apparatus having a simple structure and capable of shielding unnecessary radiation, cooling a target, reducing the size and weight of the apparatus, and achieving higher reliability, and a radiation imaging apparatus having the same. A transmission type radiation tube is held inside a holding container filled with a cooling medium. The transmission type radiation tube includes an envelope having an aperture, an electron source arranged inside the envelope so as to face the aperture of the envelope, a target unit for generating a radiation responsive to an irradiation with an electron emitted from the electron source, and a shield member for shielding a part of the radiation emitted from the target unit. The cooling medium contacts at least a part of the shield member. |
| US09373474B2 |
Ion source, and mass spectroscope provided with same
An ion source is provided with a push-out electrode, a pull-out electrode, and a pull-in electrode all for ionizing a sample and accelerating generated ions in a pulsed manner, wherein the push-out electrode and/or the pull-in electrode has a curved surface shape having a depression curved in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of the ions. As a result, a compact ion source capable of temporally and spatially focusing ions and outputting the ions, and a compact time-of-flight mass spectroscope with good detection resolution and detection sensitivity which is provided with the compact ion source can be provided. |
| US09373473B2 |
Mechatronic circuit breaker device and associated tripping method and use thereof in interrupting a high direct current
The invention relates to a new mechatronic circuit-breaker and its associated triggering method for breaking either alternating currents or direct currents at high voltages. |
| US09373472B2 |
Circuit breaker module with plug-in circuit breakers
A circuit breaker module includes a faceplate with a number of passages and a number of circuit breakers, each circuit breaker including an operating mechanism, conductor assembly, and a housing assembly. Each circuit breaker housing assembly includes a first body, a second body, and a plurality of pins. The first body defines a cavity. The second body defines a cavity. The first body and the second body have complimentary shapes. At least one of the first body or the second body includes a plurality of pin cavities. The pins and pin cavities disposed in an alignment pattern. The first body and the second body are coupled to each other defining an enclosed space, the enclosed space structured to accommodate an operating mechanism and conductor assembly. |
| US09373467B2 |
Electromagnetic contactor
An electromagnetic contactor includes a contact device having a contact housing case formed from an insulating material and housing a pair of fixed contacts and a movable contact disposed to be capable of contacting to and separating from the pair of fixed contacts. On an inner peripheral surface of the contact housing case along the movable contact, arc extinguishing permanent magnets magnetized so that magnetic pole faces facing each other have same polarity are disposed to be near the movable contact. |
| US09373464B2 |
Keyswitch, keyboard and related force feedback method
A keyswitch with force feedback function includes a vibrating source, a switching circuit and a controller. The vibrating source is connected to a cap of the keyswitch. The switching circuit is switched on according to states of the keyswitch. The controller is electrically connected to the vibrating source and the switching circuit. When the switching circuit is switched on, the controller outputs a first driving signal to the vibrating source, and the vibrating source transmits a pressing vibration to the cap of the keyswitch. A period of the first driving signal is smaller than or equal to a predetermined period, a user can feel vibration of the keyswitch due to the pressing vibration. |
| US09373456B2 |
Circuit breakers with clock spring drives and/or multi-lobe drive cams and related actuators and methods
Spring operated actuator devices for an electrical circuit breaker and/or electrical switching device include at least one clock spring comprising a disc shaped body with gear teeth and a spiral spring, a cam shaft holding the at least one clock spring with an inner end portion of the spiral spring attached to the cam shaft, and a drive cam held by the cam shaft adapted to be in communication with a follower that directs an actuator to open or close a mobile contact to maintain open and closed energy status of the electrical circuit. The at least one clock spring is configured as a closing spring of the spring operated actuator. |
| US09373453B2 |
Master disconnect switch with contact weld breaker
A switch is described. The switch may have first and second terminals to connect a source of power to a load, a shaft rotatable about a central axis and moveable longitudinally along the central axis, the shaft having a wing extending out orthogonally from the central axis, a contact plate to physically and electrically connect the first and second terminals when the shaft is moved longitudinally along the central axis, and a disengagement ramp to contact the wing when the shaft is rotated about the central axis, the disengagement ramp to force the shaft to move longitudinally along the central axis as the shaft is rotated to move the contact plate away from the first and second terminals. |
| US09373452B2 |
Tuned, interchangable shuttle board relay
A shuttle board relay is provided that is scalable to a specific pitch or routing density. The shuttle board relay provides a path with different sets of electrical components that allows this via by allowing the integration of components and other types of customization. The shuttle board relay provides a minimally disruptive path to the signal. This minimizes loss and signal distortion, isolation and crosstalk are a function of pitch. Since pitch can be set, grounds included, etc., a design may be fully optimized for low cross talk. |
| US09373451B2 |
Electronic component manufacturing apparatus and electronic component manufacturing method
An electronic component manufacturing method includes the steps of preparing at least one electronic component chip having a first surface and a second surface opposite each other; holding the electronic component chip between a first plate and a second plate such that the first surface is in contact with a first elastic layer of the first plate and the second surface is in contact with a second elastic layer of the second plate; and turning the electronic component chip by relatively moving the first and second plates in a planar direction thereof using a planar movement mechanism and moving the first and second plates in accordance with a turning path of the electronic component chip using the planar movement mechanism and a vertical movement mechanism. |
| US09373450B2 |
Photoelectric conversion element
A photoelectric conversion element is provided. The photoelectric conversion element includes a first electrode and a second electrode. The first electrode is covered with an electron transport layer. The electron transport layer is covered with a material represented by the following formula (1): wherein each of R1 and R2 independently represents a straight-chain or branched-chain alkyl group, Ar represents a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, each of X1 and X2 independently represents a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or a substituted or unsubstituted saturated hydrocarbon group, n represents an integer of from 1 to 3, and Ar may share bond connectivity with X1 or X2 to form a ring. The second electrode is facing the electron transport layer. |
| US09373447B2 |
Routing of MEMS variable capacitors for RF applications
Utilizing a variable capacitor for RF and microwave applications provides for multiple levels of intra-cavity routing that advantageously reduce capacitive coupling. The variable capacitor includes a bond pad that has a plurality of cells electrically coupled thereto. Each of the plurality of cells has a plurality of MEMS devices therein. The MEMS devices share a common RF electrode, one or more ground electrodes and one or more control electrodes. The RF electrode, ground electrodes and control electrodes are all arranged parallel to each other within the cells. The RF electrode is electrically connected to the one or more bond pads using a different level of electrical routing metal. |
| US09373444B2 |
Power electronic capacitor module for vehicle
A power electronic capacitor module for vehicle that may reduce the number of solderings by inserting and thereby mounting a capacitor between a single pair of bus bars and thereby may simplify an assembly process. The power electronic capacitor module for vehicle may include a single pair of bus bars disposed to be separate from each other and each having an external electrode support member; an insulating support frame formed to expose the external electrode support member and wrap around a single pair of bus bars and thereby support the bus bars; and a capacitor element having a single pair of external electrodes and inserted between a single pair of bus bars to thereby be supported by the bus bars or the external electrode support members and electrically connect the external electrodes to the external electrode support members. |
| US09373438B1 |
Coupled inductor arrays and associated methods
A coupled inductor array has length, width, and height. The coupled inductor array includes a monolithic magnetic core formed of a magnetic material having a distributed gap, and a plurality of windings embedded in the monolithic magnetic core. Each winding forms a respective winding loop of one or more turns around a respective winding axis, and each winding axis extends in the height direction. Areas of the monolithic magnetic core enclosed by the winding loops are greater than areas of the monolithic magnetic core outside of the winding loops, as seen when the coupled inductor array is viewed cross-sectionally in the height direction. One possible application of the coupled inductor array is in a multi-phase switching power converter. |
| US09373433B2 |
Nanocomposite permanent magnets and methods of making the same
A method of making a nanocomposite permanent magnet is provided. The method comprises applying an extreme shear deformation to hard magnetic phase nanoparticles and soft magnetic phase nanoparticles to align at least a portion of the hard phase magnetic particles and to produce a nanocomposite permanent magnet. |
| US09373429B2 |
Method of obtaining graphene
According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method of obtaining graphene, the method comprising: preparing a graphene forming structure of which a first graphene is formed on one surface and a second graphene is formed on another surface, and that comprises at least one metal catalyst member; disposing a first carrier and a second carrier on the first graphene and the second graphene, respectively; and removing the metal catalyst member by applying an etchant to a side surface of the graphene forming structure while winding up the first carrier and the second carrier by respectively rotating a pair of rolls formed to face each other. |
| US09373426B2 |
Carbon particles coated with polymer films, methods for their production and uses thereof
The present disclosure relates to a composition comprising plasma coated fullerenic soot particles, methods for the preparation thereof, and its use in polymer blends. |
| US09373422B1 |
Memory device
A memory device including a first cell block including a plurality of word lines and first to Kth (K is a natural number) redundancy word lines, a second cell block including a plurality of word lines and (K+1)th to Nth (N is a natural number greater than K) redundancy word lines, and a control unit suitable for performing control so that the first to Nth redundancy word lines replace the word lines of the first or second cell block, refreshing the word lines of the first and the second cell blocks simultaneously in a first section, and sequentially refreshing the first to Nth redundancy word lines in a second section. |
| US09373417B2 |
Circuit and method for testing memory devices
The present application provides a circuit and method for testing a memory device. The memory device has multiple blocks addressable via a plurality of address lines and capable of inputting and/or outputting data via a plurality of data lines. The circuit comprises: a test pattern generator coupled to a first portion of the plurality of address lines to receive test data, and configured to store the test data and to generate a write test vector and a read test vector according to the test data, wherein the write test vector is associated with the read test vector; a multiplexer coupled to the test pattern generator, and configured to selectively transmit the write test vector to a subject block of the multiple memory blocks to enable the write test vector to be written into the subject block; and a comparator coupled to the test pattern generator and the subject block, and configured to compare the read test vector with a readout signal generated from the subject block and the write test vector, and to generate a flag indicative of the comparison result. |
| US09373416B2 |
Method and system for testing a memory
A method and system for testing a memory is provided in the present invention. The method includes the following steps. Each of at least one address bit to be tested of the memory is set to a fixed value. Current test data is written into memory unit(s) of the memory which the set address bit(s) correspond(s) to. Current read back data is read from the memory unit(s) which the set address bit(s) correspond(s) to. The current test data is compared with the current read back data. It is judged whether there is any signal integrity problem in unset address bit(s) of the memory according to the comparison result of the current test data and the current read back data, in order to determine fault address bit(s). The method and system for testing a memory provided by the present invention may determine fault address bit(s) of the memory simply and quickly. |
| US09373411B2 |
Antifuse control circuit and antifuse reading method
A method of reading an antifuse in a semiconductor memory device during a power-up routine includes; generating a read voltage used during an antifuse read operation performed during the power-up routine to read data stored in an antifuse cell array of the antifuse, and beginning execution of the antifuse read operation only after an activation delay has elapsed following a sensing of the level of the read voltage. |
| US09373410B1 |
MLC OTP operation in A-Si RRAM
Providing for a memory cell capable of operating a one time programmable, multi-level cell memory is described herein. In some embodiments, a program signal having a first polarity and a first current compliance is applied to a memory cell. In an aspect, the memory cell is switched to a first program state from a non-program state in response to the first program signal. Furthermore, in an embodiment, an additional program signal having a second polarity is applied to the memory cell. In another aspect, the memory cell is switched to an additional program state different from the first program state in response to the additional program signal, wherein: the memory cell inherently resists switching back from the additional program state to the first program state, and the second polarity is opposite to the first polarity. |
| US09373405B2 |
Auto resume of irregular erase stoppage of a memory sector
Disclosed herein are system, method and/or computer program product embodiments for automatically resuming an irregular erasure stoppage in a sector of a memory system. An embodiment includes storing information related to any completed sub-stage of a multi stage erasure process and the corresponding memory sector address in a dedicated memory. After an irregular erasure stoppage occurs, an embodiment reads the information from the dedicated memory and resumes the erasure process of the memory sector from the last sub-stage completed. |
| US09373403B1 |
3D NAND memory device and operation thereof
The present invention relates to 3D memory devices and methods for programming such devices, and more particularly to memory devices having control circuitry which is responsive to the indicator memory to apply a first control voltage to a selected one of the horizontal structures, apply a second control voltage to a non-selected one of the horizontal structures, and apply a third control voltage to an excluded one of the horizontal structures. |
| US09373397B1 |
Page programming sequences and assignment schemes for a memory device
Embodiments of the invention are directed towards a memory device comprising a plurality of wordlines each coupled to a row of memory cells in a subtile of the memory device, a plurality of level one column select circuits coupled to each cell in a plurality of groups of cells in a subtile, a plurality of level two column select circuits coupled to each of the plurality of groups of cells in the subtile, a common bit line coupled to the plurality of level one column select circuits and the plurality of level two column select circuits, the common bit line also coupled to a sense and program circuit, wherein the sense and program circuit addresses each first cell in each of the groups of cells to form a single page of memory. |
| US09373396B2 |
Side wall bit line structures
Methods for reducing leakage currents through unselected memory cells of a memory array during a memory operation are described. In some cases, the leakage currents through the unselected memory cells of the memory array may be reduced by setting an adjustable resistance bit line structure connected to the unselected memory cells into a non-conducting state. The adjustable resistance bit line structure may comprise a bit line structure in which the resistance of an intrinsic (or near intrinsic) polysilicon portion of the bit line structure may be adjusted via an application of a voltage to a select gate portion of the bit line structure that is not directly connected to the intrinsic polysilicon portion. The intrinsic polysilicon portion may be set into a conducting state or a non-conducting state based on the voltage applied to the select gate portion. |
| US09373393B2 |
Resistive memory device implementing selective memory cell refresh
A resistive memory device implements a selective refresh operation in which only memory cells with reduced sense margin are refreshed. In some embodiments, the selective refresh operation introduces a sense margin guardband so that a memory cell having programmed resistance that falls within the sense margin guardband will be refreshed during the read operation. The selective refresh operation is performed transparently at each read cycle of the memory cells and only memory cells with reduced sense margins are refreshed. |
| US09373381B2 |
System including memories sharing calibration reference resistor and calibration method thereof
A semiconductor apparatus includes a first memory, a second memory, and a shared reference resistor. The first memory is electrically coupled to the shared reference resistor, and the second memory is also electrically coupled to the shared reference resistor. Each of the first and second memories performs a basic calibration operation thereof by selectively using the shared reference resistor in response to a clock signal, and a mirror function signal, which has different logic levels according to which memory between the first and second memories performs calibration operations. |
| US09373380B2 |
Multi-port semiconductor memory device with multi-interface
A semiconductor memory device is provided which includes a first port configured to connect to a first processor and including a first interface circuit; a second port configured to connect to a second processor and including a second interface circuit; and a memory cell array including a first memory area connected to the first and second ports in common. The first memory area includes a plurality of magneto-resistive random access memory cells. The first interface circuit is configured to receive a DRAM interface signals, and the second interface circuit is configured to receive a flash memory interface signals. |
| US09373377B2 |
Apparatuses, integrated circuits, and methods for testmode security systems
Apparatuses, integrated circuits, and methods are disclosed for testmode security systems. In one such example apparatus, a data storage is configured to store data. A testmode security system is configured to allow a user to access one or more testmodes of the apparatus at least partially responsive to the data storage not storing sensitive data and disallow the user from accessing the one or more testmodes of the apparatus at least partially responsive to the data storage storing sensitive data. |
| US09373368B2 |
Semiconductor device and electronic device
Provided is a semiconductor device including first to fifth circuits. The first circuit includes first and second transistors. The second circuit is capable of supplying one of first and second wirings with a gradually changing potential. The third circuit is capable of supplying a predetermined potential to the other of the first and second wirings and is capable of reading data stored in the first circuit. The fourth circuit is capable of comparing first data to be written to the first circuit with second data read by the third circuit. When a comparison result obtained by the fourth circuit concludes that the first data is consistent with the second data, the fifth circuit disconnects the second circuit from the first circuit, and a potential of the one of the first and second wirings is supplied to a gate of the second transistor. |
| US09373363B2 |
Semiconductor device
According to an embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a substrate, a connector, a volatile semiconductor memory element, multiple nonvolatile semiconductor memory elements, and a controller. A wiring pattern includes a signal line that is formed between the connector and the controller and that connects the connector to the controller. On the opposite side of the controller to the signal line, the multiple nonvolatile semiconductor memory elements are aligned along the longitudinal direction of the substrate. |
| US09373362B2 |
System and method for implementing a memory defect map
In accordance with the present disclosure, a system and method are herein disclosed for managing memory defects in an information handling system. In an information handling system, a first quantity of memory, such as RAM, may contain defective memory elements. A second quantity of memory is physically coupled to the first quantity of memory and is used to store a memory defect map containing information regarding the location of defective memory elements in the first quantity of memory. The memory defect map may then be referenced by the BIOS or the operating system to preclude use of regions of memory containing defective memory elements. |
| US09373361B2 |
Asperity and head-media contact detection using multi-stage temperature coefficient of resistance sensor
A multi-stage sensor is situated on the head transducer and configured to interact with a magnetic recording medium. A first sensor stage of the multi-stage sensor has a temperature coefficient of resistance. A second sensor stage of the multi-stage sensor is coupled to the first sensor and has a temperature coefficient of resistance. The first sensor stage is configured to preferentially sense asperities of the media relative to the second sensor stage, and the second sensor stage configured to preferentially sense proximity to, and contact with, a surface of the media relative to the first sensor stage. The first and second sensor stages may be connected in series or in parallel. |
| US09373358B2 |
Collaborative media editing system
A media editing system includes one or more machines that are configured to support cloud-based collaborative editing of media by one or more client devices. A machine within the media editing system may be configured to receive a render request for generation of a media frame, determine whether a client device is to generate the media frame, and initiate generation of the media frame. Moreover, a machine within the media editing system may facilitate resolution of conflicts between edits to a particular piece of media. Furthermore, a machine within the media editing system may facilitate provision of convenient access to media from a particular client device to one or more additional client devices. |
| US09373356B2 |
Magnetic recording and reproducing device and magnetic recording and reproducing method
According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording and reproducing device includes a magnetic recording medium, a recording unit, and a reproducing unit. The magnetic recording medium includes a first track including first and second sub-tracks extending in a first direction. The second sub-track is arranged with the first sub-track in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The recording unit records information in the first and second sub-tracks. The reproducing unit reproduces the information recorded in the first and second sub-tracks while opposing the first, second sub-tracks, and a boundary between the first and second sub-tracks. The first sub-track includes first magnetic recording components including first and second components. The second sub-track includes second magnetic recording components including third and fourth components. A first recording symbol is formed of the first and third components. A second recording symbol is formed of the second and fourth components. |
| US09373344B2 |
Two side by side MIMO read sensors fabricated by self-aligned processing
The present invention generally relates to a read head in a magnetic recording head. The read head has side-by-side sensors that are formed of the same width by initially forming a single sensor and then removing selected portions of either the pinned or free magnetic layer of the sensor. Then, insulating material is filled into the area from where the selected portions have been removed. A hardmask may be necessary to properly define the side-by-side sensors to ensure that the selected portions of either the pinned or free magnetic layer are removed. The hardmask may be formed by blanket depositing hardmask material and then selectively removing the hardmask material such that the remaining hardmask material is equal to the width of the side-by-side sensors. |
| US09373342B2 |
System and method for speech enhancement on compressed speech
The present disclosure is directed towards a method for speech intelligibility. The method may include receiving, at one or more computing devices, a first speech input from a first user and performing voice activity detection upon the first speech input. The method may also include analyzing a spectral tilt associated with the first speech input, wherein analyzing includes computing an impulse response of a linear predictive coding (“LPC”) synthesis filter in a linear pulse code modulation (“PCM”) domain and wherein the one or more computing devices includes an adaptive high pass filter configured to recalculate one or more linear prediction coefficients. |
| US09373340B2 |
Method and apparatus for suppressing wind noise
The invention includes a method, apparatus, and computer program to selectively suppress wind noise while preserving narrow-band signals in acoustic data. Sound from one or several microphones is digitized into binary data. A time-frequency transform is applied to the data to produce a series of spectra. The spectra are analyzed to detect the presence of wind noise and narrow band signals. Wind noise is selectively suppressed while preserving the narrow band signals. The narrow band signal is interpolated through the times and frequencies when it is masked by the wind noise. A time series is then synthesized from the signal spectral estimate that can be listened to. This invention overcomes prior art limitations that require more than one microphone and an independent measurement of wind speed. Its application results in good-quality speech from data severely degraded by wind noise. |
| US09373337B2 |
Reconstruction of a high-frequency range in low-bitrate audio coding using predictive pattern analysis
A predictive pattern high-frequency reconstruction system and method that finds patterns in high-frequency components of an audio signal, encodes the audio signal into an encoded bitstream along with pattern information, and then uses the patterns to reconstruct the high-frequency components during decoding. The high-frequency components can be reconstructed using the pattern information alone. Embodiments of the system and method map normalized subband signals of the audio signal to a scaled representation of a time-frequency grid containing multiple tiles and perform statistical analysis on each tile to estimate subband parameters and determine whether a pattern exists. If a pattern does exist, it can be encoded in the encoded bitstream, transmitted, and used to reconstruct the high-frequency components at the decoder. A direct search technique and a fast Fourier transform (FFT) technique may be used to perform the statistical analysis. |
| US09373334B2 |
Method and system for generating an audio metadata quality score
A method including the steps of assessing at least two metadata parameters associated with an audio bitstream (e.g., an encoded Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus, or Dolby E bitstream), determining individual metadata parameter quality values, each of the individual metadata parameter quality values indicative of quality (e.g., correctness) of a different one of the at least two metadata parameters, and generating data indicative of a metadata score, where the metadata score is a value determined by a combination (e.g., a linear combination or other weighted combination) of the individual metadata parameter quality values. The metadata score is indicative of overall quality (e.g., correctness) of the at least two metadata parameters. Another aspect is a system (e.g., a test device or measurement device, or another test or measurement product, or a processor) configured (e.g., programmed) to perform any embodiment of the method. |
| US09373333B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing an audio signal
A method for decoding an audio signal, receiving a downmix signal having at least one independent object and a background object downmixed therein receiving object information and enhanced object information, wherein the object information includes at least one of level information and correlation information between the independent object and the background object, wherein the enhanced object information includes a residual signal extracting the at least one independent object and the background object from the downmix signal using the object information and the enhanced object information receiving mix information from a user, the mix information being usable to control gain or panning of the independent object or the background object generating downmix processing information using at least one of the object information and enhanced object information processing at least one independent object and the background object using at least one of the downmix processing information and the mix information. |
| US09373331B2 |
Error concealment method and apparatus for audio signal and decoding method and apparatus for audio signal using the same
An error concealment method and apparatus for an audio signal and a decoding method and apparatus for an audio signal using the error concealment method and apparatus. The error concealment method includes selecting one of an error concealment in a frequency domain and an error concealment in a time domain as an error concealment scheme for a current frame based on a predetermined criteria when an error occurs in the current frame, selecting one of a repetition scheme and an interpolation scheme in the frequency domain as the error concealment scheme for the current frame based on a predetermined criteria when the error concealment in the frequency domain is selected, and concealing the error of the current frame using the selected scheme. |
| US09373330B2 |
Fast speaker recognition scoring using I-vector posteriors and probabilistic linear discriminant analysis
A method for performing speaker recognition comprises: estimating respective uncertainties of acoustic coverage of respective speech utterance(s) by first and second speakers, the acoustic coverage representing respective sounds used by the speakers when speaking; representing the respective uncertainties of acoustic coverage in a manner that allows for efficient memory usage by discarding dependencies between uncertainties of different sounds for the speakers; representing the respective uncertainties of acoustic coverage in a manner that allows for efficient computation by representing an inverse of the respective uncertainties of acoustic coverage and then discarding the dependencies between the uncertainties of different sounds for the speakers; and computing a score between the speech utterance(s) by the speakers in a manner that leverages the respective uncertainties of the acoustic coverage during the comparison, the score being indicative of a likelihood that the speakers are the same speaker. |
| US09373326B2 |
System and method for combining geographic metadata in automatic speech recognition language and acoustic models
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for a speech recognition application for directory assistance that is based on a user's spoken search query. The spoken search query is received by a portable device and portable device then determines its present location. Upon determining the location of the portable device, that information is incorporated into a local language model that is used to process the search query. Finally, the portable device outputs the results of the search query based on the local language model. |
| US09373325B2 |
Method of accessing a dial-up service
A method of accessing a dial-up service is disclosed. An example method of providing access to a service includes receiving a first speech signal from a user to form a first utterance; recognizing the first utterance using speaker independent speaker recognition; requesting the user to enter a personal identification number; and when the personal identification number is valid, receiving a second speech signal to form a second utterance and providing access to the service. |
| US09373322B2 |
System and method for determining query intent
A method for training a system is provided. The method may include storing one or more backend communication logs, each of the one or more backend communication logs including a user query and a corresponding backend query. The method may further include parsing the one or more backend communication logs to extract statistical information and generating a mapping between each user query and a corresponding set of language tags. The method may also include sorting the one or more backend communication logs based upon, at least in part, the extracted statistical information. |
| US09373320B1 |
Systems and methods facilitating selective removal of content from a mixed audio recording
Systems and methods facilitating removal of content from audio files are described. A method includes identifying a sound recording in a first audio file, identifying a reference file having at least a defined level of similarity to the sound recording, and processing the first audio file to remove the sound recording and generate a second audio file. In some embodiments, winner-take-all coding and Hough transforms are employed for determining alignment and rate adjustment of the reference file in the first audio file. After alignment, the reference file is filtered in the frequency domain to increase similarity between the reference file and the sound recording. The frequency domain representation (FR) of the filtered version is subtracted from the FR first audio and the result converted to a time representation of the second audio file. In some embodiments, spectral subtraction is also performed to generate a further improved second audio file. |
| US09373319B2 |
Device for influencing passenger compartment noise
A device is provided for influencing the passenger compartment noise in a motor vehicle includes, but is not limited to a noise signal generator for generating an offsetting noise signal, which includes, but is not limited to a control input for receiving a control signal that is representative of the engine load of the motor vehicle, and a loudspeaker for receiving the offsetting noise signal and emitting an offsetting noise into the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle. The noise signal generator furthermore includes, but is not limited to an input for a temperature signal of a temperature sensor and is equipped to generate the offsetting noise signal as a function of a signaled temperature. |
| US09373311B2 |
Method of manufacturing electronic percussion pad
An electronic percussion pad includes: a pad main body that is formed of a foaming elastomer; and a composite layer that includes an expandable fiber sheet laminated on a front surface of the pad main body. In the composite layer, fiber of the fiber sheet and a foaming elastomer of the pad main body are present, and the composite layer contains bubbles. |
| US09373308B2 |
Multi-viewport display of multi-resolution hierarchical image
An input information obtaining portion of a control section obtains requests input from an input device by a user, which requests include a display region moving request to enlarge/reduce or scroll an image displayed on a display device and a request to generate/erase a viewport, change the size of a viewport, or move a viewport. A viewport control portion successively determines the number, arrangement, and size of viewports accordingly. A display region determining portion determines the region of an image to be displayed next in each viewport. A loading portion determines tile images to be newly loaded, and loads the data of the tile images from a hard disk drive. A decoding portion decodes the data of tile images used for rendering the image in each viewport. A display image processing portion updates the display region independently for each viewport. |
| US09373305B2 |
Semiconductor device, image processing system and program
An image processing device includes a display panel operable to provide an input interface for receiving an input of an adjustment value of at least a part of color attributes of each vertex of n axes (n is an integer equal to or greater than 3) serving as adjustment axes in an RGB color space, and an adjustment data generation unit operable to calculate the degree of influence indicative of a following index of each of the n-axis vertices, for each of the n axes, on a basis of a distance between each of the n-axis vertices and a target point which is an arbitrary lattice point in the RGB color space, and operable to calculate adjusted coordinates of the target point in the RGB color space. |
| US09373300B2 |
Power management method and power management device
A power management method and a power management device for a display are disclosed, including: comparing contents in an original frame image with contents in a previous image to generate a plurality of successive second periods with first stages and second stages, shortening a plurality of time intervals in the first pulse timing distribution and outputting the first pulse timing distribution for displaying a first sub-frame image on the display during the first stage of one of the plurality of successive second periods, and shortening a plurality of time intervals in the second pulse timing distribution and outputting the second pulse timing distribution for displaying a second sub-frame image on the display during the first stage of the other one of the plurality of successive second periods; and turning off the driving circuit of the display in the second stages. |
| US09373298B2 |
Display device and driving method thereof
A display device includes a signal controller processing an input image signal and an input control signal and outputting an image signal and a control signal. A gray voltage generator generates reference gray voltages. The control signal includes a selection signal. A data driver generates gray voltages based on the reference gray voltage, selects a gray voltage corresponding to the image signal among the generated gray voltages, and applies the selected gray voltage to a pixel as a first data voltage. The data driver applies a black data voltage corresponding to a black image to the pixel according to the selection signal. |
| US09373295B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with touch panel
A liquid crystal display device with a touch panel includes: pixel electrodes as a plurality of electrodes to each of which a potential corresponding to a gray-scale value is applied; common electrodes as a plurality of electrodes that extend in one direction; detection electrodes as a plurality of electrodes that extend in a direction different from the one direction and detect a contact position on the panel; a liquid crystal layer that is formed of a liquid crystal composition; and a drive pulse output unit that sequentially applies a potential for detecting a touch to drive electrodes as a plurality of electrodes of a portion of the common electrodes, wherein the drive pulse output unit can output a drive pulse to the drive electrode at plural different timings within one horizontal synchronizing period for display. |
| US09373292B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
An object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized active matrix type liquid crystal display device that may achieve large-sized display, high precision, high resolution and multi-gray scales. According to the present invention, gray scale display is performed by combining time ratio gray scale and voltage gray scale in a liquid crystal display device which performs display in OCB mode. In doing so, one frame is divided into subframes corresponding to the number of bit for the time ratio gray scale. Initialize voltage is applied onto the liquid crystal upon display of a subframe. |
| US09373291B2 |
Method and device for mapping input grayscales into output luminance
A method for mapping an input grayscale into an output luminance includes selecting a reference grayscale and a curvature according to an input grayscale; and generating an output luminance according to the reference grayscale, the curvature, and the input grayscale. |
| US09373288B2 |
Configurable, localized backlighting with planar emission devices
An electronic device includes a backlight unit and a liquid crystal layer adjacent the backlight unit. The backlight unit has a plurality of planar emission devices distributed over a viewable display area. The plurality of planar emission devices are disposed in a configurable zone arrangement having a plurality of zones of the viewable area. Each zone includes at least one planar emission device. The liquid crystal layer is configured to selectively filter light generated by the plurality of planar emission devices. The electronic device further includes a processor coupled to the backlight unit and configured to control a brightness level of the at least one planar emission device in each zone separately from other planar emission devices in other zones. |
| US09373283B2 |
Pixel circuit, organic electroluminescent display panel and display device
A pixel circuit, an organic electroluminescent display panel and a display device are provided. The pixel circuit includes a luminous device (D1), a photosensitive device (P1), a drive control sub-module (1), a data write sub-module (2), a light-emitting control sub-module (3) and a touch detection sub-module (4). Upon the data write sub-module (2) being turned on, a data signal at the data signal terminal (Data) is transmitted to the drive control sub-module (1) by the data write sub-module (2). Upon the light-emitting control sub-module (3) being turned on, the light-emitting control sub-module (3) controls the drive control sub-module (1) to drive the luminous device (D1) to give off light, so as to achieve a display function. Upon the touch detection sub-module (4) being turned on, the touch detection sub-module (4) controls output of a touch detection signal from the drive control sub-module (1) to a touch signal read terminal. The touch detection signal is decreased as the light intensity irradiated onto the photosensitive device is increased, so as to achieve a touch detecting function. Touch and display functions are integrated in the pixel circuit, so that the production cost involved in arranging a display drive circuit and a touch circuit separately can be saved, and thickness of the display panel can be thinned as well. |
| US09373282B2 |
Pixel circuit for increasing accuracy of current sensing
A pixel circuit for increasing accuracy of current sensing of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. In one aspect, the pixel circuit includes an OLED, a driving circuit, and first to third transistors. The driving circuit is configured to adjust a magnitude of a current flowing through the OLED based at least in part on a data signal received from a data line. The first transistor is configured to electrically connect the data line and a holding capacitor based at least in part on a scan signal. The second transistor is configured to electrically connect the holding capacitor and the driving circuit based at least in part on a write control signal. The third transistor is configured to electrically connect the data line and an anode electrode of the OLED based at least in part on a sensing control signal. |
| US09373280B2 |
Organic light emitting diode display for compensating image data and method of driving the same
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device and a method of driving the same are discussed. The method includes sensing a threshold voltage and mobility of a driving thin film transistor (TFT) included in each pixel using a sensing line connected per pixel and supplying the threshold voltage and the mobility to a timing controller in a measurement mode, by a data driver, and supplying image data input from an external source to the data driver by a timing controller, the timing controller adding and multiplying an offset value and gain value corresponding to the threshold voltage and mobility of the driving TFT, sensed by the data driver in the measurement mode, with the image data to compensate the image data, wherein the compensation of the image data includes varying a weight of the gain value according to luminance of the image data. |
| US09373274B2 |
Light-emitting device and display device
Disclosed herein is a light-emitting device including a plurality of first light-emitting elements mounted in a matrix form on a common wiring board. Each of the first light-emitting elements has a single crystal semiconductor multilayer structure and is a semiconductor element in the form of a chip that emits light in a given band of wavelengths. When attention is focused on the plurality of first light-emitting elements that belong in a given area of all the plurality of first light-emitting elements, the orientations of the common crystal axes of the first light-emitting elements adjacent to each other at least in one of the row and column directions differ. |
| US09373271B2 |
Magnetic defibrillator training pad
A defibrillator training system having a magnetic training pad connectable to a torso dummy is provided. The magnetic connection between the training pad and the torso dummy allows the defibrillator training pads to be re-used by being magnetically attached and detached to and from the torso dummy without requiring replacement pads. |
| US09373270B2 |
Pelvic surgery training model
A male or female human pelvic model for teaching, practicing, or evaluating proficiency in physical examination, medical or surgical techniques, or procedures involving the pelvis are disclosed. The pelvic model can include replaceable pelvic skeletal frame and normal, pathological, or other modules providing 3D anatomical representations of various body components, such as skin, organs, muscles, vessels, connective tissues, ligaments, tendons, or nerves. The pelvic model can include portions that can retain pressurized fluid, such as to mimic a body organ, cavity, or vessel that retains fluid, so that leakage can occur, such as upon unintended cutting or puncture. A rotating open-top pelvic region structure can permit viewing or video capture during the simulated procedure. |
| US09373266B2 |
Musical instructional player
A segmented, interactive audio-visual content progress bar and method of use whose divisions provide an information and instructional index of performance content. The progress bar provides a time linear segmentation of a user component of a performance content and a sound signal corresponding to the performance content. The progress bar provides a time progress marker advancing with time as a corresponding indicator of the user component of the performance content. |
| US09373264B2 |
Internet-based educational framework for the correlation of lessons, resources and assessments to state standards
An apparatus assists educators in selecting achievement tools to meet an applicable one of a plurality of sets of educational standards. A first table holds a plurality of educational standards and a plurality of linked keywords. A second table holds a plurality of achievement tools, such as lesson plans, assessments and resources, and a plurality of linked keywords. A table manipulator program permits an educator to select an educational standard and shows achievement tools applicable to the selected educational standard by having a matching of keywords linked to the achievement tools to keywords linked to the educational standards. |
| US09373261B2 |
Secure notification messaging with user option to communicate with delivery or pickup representative
Systems and methods are disclosed for automated computer based notification systems. The systems and methods enable secure notification communication sessions. A representative method, among others that are disclosed herein, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: enabling a first party associated with a personal communication device (PCD) to input or select authentication information for use in connection with a subsequent notification communication session involving advance notice of a delivery or pickup of a good or service at a stop location by a mobile thing (MT); storing the authentication information; monitoring location or travel information in connection with the MT; causing initiation of the notification communication session to the PCD, in advance of arrival of the MT at the stop location, based at least in part upon the location or travel information associated with the MT; during the notification communication session, providing the authentication information to the PCD that indicates to the first party that the notification communication session was initiated by an authorized source; and during the notification communication session, enabling the first party to select whether or not to communicate with a second party having access to particulars of the pickup or delivery. An embodiment of a related system, among others, has a computer-based architecture with computer software, or code, that is stored in one or more memories and executed by one or more processors for performing the foregoing steps. Yet another embodiment of a related system can be implemented in software and/or hardware and has a means for performing each of the aforementioned steps. |
| US09373260B2 |
Visual locating device for a motor vehicle
A visual locating device for a motor vehicle, comprising a light signal generator coupleable with an antenna of the motor vehicle, and electronic control means responsive to an activation/setting command to control the light signal generator to cause emission of a light signal suitable to enable visually locating said motor vehicle. The electronic control means comprise user-controllable setting means to set a light emission mode of the light signal generator. |
| US09373252B2 |
Remote control system and mobile device
A remote control system includes a mobile device and a receiver connected to a control target. The mobile device includes an input unit accepting user's input operation; an operation signal transmission unit wirelessly transmitting an operation signal corresponding to the input operation during the input operation; a frequency switching determination unit determining whether to switch the transmission frequency band from a first frequency band to a second frequency band based on at least any one of a manner of the input operation and a state of wireless communication; and a transmission frequency switching unit switching the transmission frequency band when the frequency switching determination unit determines to switch the transmission frequency band. The receiver includes an operation signal reception unit receiving the operation signal; and a control unit controlling the control target on the basis of the received operation signal. |
| US09373251B2 |
Base station devices and automobile wireless communication systems
Mobile base station devices and wireless communication transportable systems for receiving and demodulating Global Positioning System (GPS) modulated signal into location finding baseband signal and for receiving and demodulating video spread spectrum modulated signal into a video baseband spread spectrum signal and converting video baseband spread spectrum signal into a video Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) baseband signal and modulating and transmitting OFDM modulated signal. Digital spread spectrum baseband signal comprises in-phase and quadrature phase cross-correlated Time Constrained (TCS) waveforms and cascaded Long Response (LR) filter filtered baseband signals. Wireless communication transportable devices and transponders in an automobile. |
| US09373246B2 |
Alarm consolidation system and method
Methods and system for consolidating alarms using a data center monitoring appliance are provided. The method includes receiving at least one alarm from an physical infrastructure device via the network, determining that the at least one alarm is subject to a consolidation filter, the consolidation filter specifying characteristics of a consolidated alarm and generating the consolidated alarm according to the characteristics specified in the consolidation filter. The system includes a network interface, a memory and a controller coupled to the network interface and the memory and configured to receive at least one alarm from an physical infrastructure device via the network interface, determine that the at least one alarm is subject to a consolidation filter, the consolidation filter specifying characteristics of a consolidated alarm and generate the consolidated alarm according to the characteristics specified in the consolidation filter. |
| US09373239B2 |
In-vehicle prescription and medical reminders
A computing device, methods, and systems for providing in-vehicle prescription and medical reminders are disclosed. One example method for providing in-vehicle prescription and medical reminders includes identifying a vehicle occupant; determining, based on medical information associated with the occupant, whether a medical activity is due to be performed; and alerting the occupant if a medical activity is due to be performed. An example medical activity includes administering prescription medication. Example implementations include identifying the occupant based at least in part on biometric data; alerting the occupant by a visual, audible, or haptic alert; prompting the occupant to provide a response acknowledging the alert; and notifying designated third parties. The medical information can be received from an online profile or obtained through vital-sign sensors. |
| US09373235B2 |
System and method for storing and monitoring events at security devices
An alarm or intrusion monitoring system includes a plurality of detectors which communicate with a displaced control element. Various of the detectors include local storage circuitry wherein detected conditions or events are recorded along with a time indicator. Recorded events and respective times of occurrence can be downloaded to the control element for evaluation. Detected conditions or events can include system conditions, such as faults or detector off-line indicators, as well as various intrusion or environmental-type incidents such as smoke, gas, temperature or fire. |
| US09373233B2 |
Interactive touch screen metaphors with haptic feedback
A system and computer-implemented method of providing haptic effects to a first user of a multi-user application. The method includes executing a first instance of the multi-user application on a first computing platform associated with the first user. The multi-user application is configured to interface with an object based on control inputs received from the first user and based on control inputs received from a second user via a second computing platform executing a second instance of the multi-user application, and responsive to performance of a first control input by the second user on the second computing platform, the method includes generating a first haptic effect for the first user on the first computing platform, the first haptic effect conveying information to the first user about the effect of the first control input. |
| US09373232B2 |
Print data generation apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
A print data generation apparatus generating print data to print texts on a print medium, includes a processor, and a memory configured to store a database having a plurality of records in which texts are respectively set for fields and associating the records with operation keys, template data in which at least arrangement positions of the texts to be printed on a print medium are set, link information associating the arrangement positions in the template data with the fields of the database, and computer-readable instructions that instruct the processor to execute steps including detecting operation of the operation keys, and generating, when it is detected that one of the operation keys has been operated, print data such that the texts that are respectively set, in the database, for the fields of the record that corresponds to the operated operation key are arranged in the arrangement positions associated with the fields. |
| US09373230B2 |
Customer reprint of a physical receipt from an electronic receipt
A method is disclosed for reprinting a paper copy of a receipt at a physical store location and based off of an electronic receipt. The electronic receipt may be viewed on a mobile electronic device with electronic receipts software thereon. A customer may pair their mobile electronic device with a POS terminal in a store location. Information may be sent to a server or computer system to request that a receipt be reprinted. The server may then process the request and transmit receipt information to the POS terminal where a paper copy of the receipt is printed for the customer. |
| US09373228B2 |
Pooled currency delivery system
A centralized currency delivery system is provided. The system may include two or more transaction stations. Each transaction station may be deployed in a banking center. A banking transaction may be initiated using the transaction stations. Each transaction station may not able to process paper items. The system may include a shared resource. The shared resource may include a shared cash recycler. The shared cash recycler may receive banking transaction information from the transaction stations. Based on authentication information presented at the shared cash recycler, the shared cash recycler may complete the banking transaction initiated at the transaction stations. The shared cash recycler may include two or components that are dedicated to a received banking transaction. The components may remain dedicated to the banking transaction until the banking transaction is completed. Entitlements associated with a transaction station may control use of the components. |
| US09373227B2 |
Slot machine capable of keeping constant order or constant tempo of stopping rotation reels
A slot machine of the present invention comprises a plurality of rotation reels rotatably installed in a casing; an input device operable by a player; a memory for storing stop positions of the plurality of the rotation reels in a previous game; and a controller, the controller programmed to execute processing of (A) determining the stop positions of the plurality of the rotation reels conditionally on an input from the input device, (B) stopping each of the rotation reels in rotation at the stop position determined in the processing (A), according to the stop position of each of the plurality of the rotation reels in the previous game preliminary stored in the memory and the stop position of each of the rotation reels in a present game determined in the processing (A). |
| US09373225B2 |
Gaming machine and methods of allowing a player to play gaming machines having selectable reel configurations
A gaming device is described herein. The gaming device includes a display unit and a controller that is coupled to the display unit. The display unit is configured to display a game including a plurality of reels being displayed in a display grid. Each reel is adapted to display one of a plurality of symbols. The controller is configured to randomly determine an outcome of the game, select a reel configuration including a plurality of reel groups, determine, for each reel group, a single random symbol being displayed in each reel of the corresponding reel group in the determined outcome, spin and stop each reel of the corresponding reel groups to display the outcome including displaying the same symbols in each reel of the corresponding reel group during rotation, and provide an award to the player as a function of the determined outcome. |
| US09373223B1 |
Method and system for gaming revenue
A method and system comprises integrating a contest framework into a game. The contest framework at least comprises means for communicating with a transactional server, a plurality of listeners being configured to monitor interactions during a play of the game for communication to the transactional server, and means for displaying notifications from the transactional server. The transactional server is at least configured for processing received interactions in conjunction with a progressive jackpot contest associated with the game and communicating notifications regarding the processing to the contest framework. A communicating with the transactional server at least comprises associating the game with a progressive jackpot contest and setting parameters for the progressive jackpot contest. |
| US09373218B2 |
Gaming machine
The gaming machine includes: a cabinet having a display window; one or more reels disposed in the cabinet so that the or each reel is visible from outside the cabinet through the display window, the or each of the one or more reels being provided with a reel band having symbols; and a light application device configured to apply visible light representing visual information which enables recognition of information related to games to the reel band. The or each of one or more reels has a mirror layer which reflects the visible light from the light application device. The light application device is disposed in a position out of a sight area in which the one or more reels are visible from outside the cabinet through the display window. |
| US09373216B2 |
3D enhancements to game components in gaming systems with stacks of game components
A computer-implemented method for enhancing game components in a gaming system using various three-dimensional enhancements. The three-dimensional enhancements may involve stacks of gaming components to provide and integrate additional symbols, multi-faceted gaming components, multi-faceted gaming surfaces running multiple games in parallel, items animating to simulate real-world physics, merging components, shapes to push up or down gaming components to create stacks, and so on. Further example three-dimensional enhancements are described. |
| US09373215B2 |
Dynamically configurable gaming system
A gaming machine includes a cabinet having a main video display mounted on a front side of the cabinet. The gaming machine also includes at least one more additional video display mounted on the front side of the cabinet either above or below the game video display. The player controls include a separate player control touch screen mounted on a ledge projecting forwardly from the front side of the gaming machine cabinet, and facing upward to present reconfigurable player touch controls for the gaming machine. These controls may be reconfigured within a game or to change the game presentation on the machine in response to player commands or gaming network conditions. |
| US09373213B1 |
Adaptive object placement in computer-implemented games
Disclosed in some examples are systems, methods, and machine readable mediums which allow for efficient and dynamic adaptation of one or more game objects based upon a proximity to another game object. In some examples, placement (or movement) of a game object may trigger a proximity check wherein the game map is checked to determine a set of game objects which are within a predefined proximity to the placed game object which may affect the behavior or appearance of the game object. The appropriate adaptations (if any) may be determined using a lookup table or other rule set where the inputs include the set of game objects and the locations of each of the game objects in the set relative to the placed object. |
| US09373212B2 |
Apparatus for controlling access to and use of portable electronic devices
Various prison services are rendered more efficient by providing inmates access to portable electronic devices in a controlled and regulated manner. A dispenser is employed to control and monitor the checking out and return of portable electronic devices and to communicate with such devices during use by inmates to monitor inmate use and ensure the portable electronic devices are only used by inmates as authorized. |
| US09373211B2 |
Large bottle vending apparatus and method
A combination vending/return apparatus and method. The apparatus includes a series of rows and columns for receiving, storing and dispensing unfilled and filled large-volume water-containing bottles from and to consumers. The apparatus includes a computer-operated vending keyboard for making bottle selections for purchase and returns, and to handle electronic payment and credit transactions. Also included is a method to vend large-volume water bottles and retrieve used and emptied large-volume water bottles. |
| US09373210B2 |
Apparatus and method for single or multiple temperature zone(s) in refrigerated vending machine
An automated vending machine that can be selectively configured to include one or several temperature zones. A single refrigeration system and universal interior allows easy and economical assembly into a one, two, or three temperature zone machine. Thermal breaks and dividers are used to partition zones, when needed. The basic vending machine cabinet, dispensers, and controls are not changed between configurations. In one aspect, a universal air duct can be used for all three configurations, with minor changes. |
| US09373206B2 |
Device, system and method for non-contact security information interaction
The present invention proposes the device, system and method used for the non-contact security information interaction. Said system used for the non-contact security information interaction comprises: a terminal for setting a parameter configuration in a non-contact IC card programmable read-write device, and initiating an information interaction with a server and said non-contact IC card programmable read-write device; and a non-contact IC card programmable read-write device for performing communication with a non-contact IC card and said terminal based on a predetermined parameter configuration in order to complete the security information interaction. The device, system and method used for the non-contact security information interaction disclosed in the present invention realize the support and selection for the multi-application on the non-contact IC card programmable read-write device, and can execute the on-line based application. |
| US09373205B2 |
Access control system and method for use by an access device
Systems and methods are provided to allow a smart phone or any terminal to activate a door lock using a web site or server computer system. An access control system is provided that includes a server and an access device. The access device includes a processor and a communication module. The process has control of a door lock and is able to receive a reservation certificate presented by a portable terminal through the communication module. The processor activates the door lock when a current reservation certificate has been presented. |
| US09373203B1 |
Real-time driver monitoring and feedback reporting system
Real-time feedback may be generated during a driving session from status data collected via one or more sensors. This feedback data may include various metrics related to a student's driving skills, which may be utilized to generate tagged driving events. A user may also manually enter tagged driving events. The tagged driving events may include real-time information based on the collected status data, such as acceleration, braking, cornering data, descriptions entered by the user. The location of these tagged driving events may be mapped in real time. Sensors used to collect this data may be integrated within the device displaying the feedback or located on another device, in which case the status data may be communicated to the device displaying the feedback. The displayed real-time feedback may be viewed by an instructor to assess a student's driving skills in real time and to calculate a driver feedback score. |
| US09373198B2 |
Faulty cart wheel detection
A system and method of identifying carts exhibiting tendencies that are indicative of damaged or defective wheels. A shopping cart may be identified and tracked visually through one or more surveillance cameras. By comparing the cart's tracked movement to known symptomatic movement patterns, the system may identify defective or damaged carts. Alternatively, by analyzing movement and positioning of a cart's swiveling wheels, the system may identify defective or damaged carts. Alternatively, by identifying if a customer has abandoned a cart, the system may identify defective or damaged carts. A notification message may be transmitted to an associate to repair or replace the identified problematic cart. The notification may be displayed on a mobile computing device, a workstation, or other like systems. |
| US09373196B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An information processing system that acquires image data captured by an image capturing device; identifies a density of distribution of a plurality of feature points in the acquired image data; and controls a display to display guidance information based on the density of the distribution of the plurality of feature points. |
| US09373190B2 |
High-quality stereo reconstruction featuring depth map alignment and outlier identification
A novel stereo reconstruction pipeline that features depth map alignment and outlier identification is provided. One example method includes obtaining a plurality of images depicting a scene. The method includes determining a pose for each of the plurality of images. The method includes determining a depth map for each of the plurality of images such that a plurality of depth maps are determined. Each of the plurality of depth maps describes a plurality of points in three-dimensional space that correspond to objects in the scene. The method includes aligning the plurality of depth maps by transforming one or more of the plurality of depth maps so as to improve an alignment between the plurality of depth maps. The method includes identifying one or more outlying points. The method includes generating a three-dimensional model of the scene based at least in part on the plurality of depth maps. |
| US09373187B2 |
Method and apparatus for producing a cinemagraph
Method and apparatus for producing a cinemagraph, wherein based on received user input an image from a sequence of images is selected as a baseframe image. The baseframe image is segmented and at least one segment is selected based on user input. A mask is created based on the selected segments and at least one image most similar to the baseframe is selected from the sequence of images using the mask. The selected images are aligned the baseframe image a first cinemagraph is created from the selected images and the baseframe image using the mask. |
| US09373186B2 |
Device and method utilizing animated frames to dynamically create snapshots for selectable menus
A user menu is created by retrieving at least one animation frame that corresponds to a user selected portion of stored subject matter. The animation frame or frames are displayed at a portion of the display and aid the user to accurately enter the subject matter at a desired location. |
| US09373184B2 |
Automatic window placement
A method for rendering data on a display device is described. Data representative of graphics objects rendered on the display device is received. The data is analyzed to identify white space areas. The white space areas are compared to a display area to be rendered on the display device. The white space areas are areas that are substantially free of displayed objects according to a criterion. Based on the comparison, one or more of the white space areas are identified for rendering the display area. The display area is automatically rendered in the identified white space areas on the display device without user intervention. When the white space areas are insufficient to render the display area, the display area may be automatically rendered based on one or more criteria. |
| US09373181B2 |
System and method for enhanced viewing of rib metastasis
A system and method for enhanced viewing of rib metastasis in CT volume data is disclosed. The system and method receive input CT volume data and display slices of the CT volume data. Ribs are automatically segmented from the CT volume data, ordered and labeled. A 3D visualization of the ribs is generated and displayed. Alterations in the rib structure is automatically detected using shape based analysis of the ribs. The alterations are marked as candidate locations for rib metastasis in the displayed slices and 3D visualization in order to assist in the diagnosis of rib metastasis. |
| US09373172B2 |
Ophthalmic-image processing apparatus and method therefor
The present invention provides an ophthalmic-image processing apparatus including a layer-specifying unit configured to specify at least one layer from an image generated based on volume data of a subject's eye, and a display-control unit configured to display a projected image on a display unit, where the projected image is achieved by projecting volume data of the specified layer. |
| US09373170B2 |
Product image interpolating device, method, and non-transitory information recording medium
A product imaging device (121) is provided which facilitates a user to capture the image sequence of entire surroundings of a product. An image sensor unit (201) senses incident light from the external world where the product is disposed and outputs an image representing a result of the sensing. An instruction receiving unit (202) receives an image-capture instruction from the user. A memory unit (203) stores the image sensed by the image sensor unit (201) upon reception of an image-capture instruction. A finder display unit (204) synthesizes the image stored in the memory unit (203) with an image presently sensed by the image sensor unit (201) and displays a synthesized image on a finder screen. |
| US09373169B2 |
Determination of a position characteristic for an object
A system for determining a position characteristic for an object in a room comprises an optically identifiable element (103) positioned on a background surface for a detection area of the room. A camera (101) is positioned across the detection area from the optically identifiable element (103) and captures an image comprising the detection area and the optically identifiable element (103). A detector (403) detects the optically identifiable element (103) in the image based on an optical property. An occlusion processor (405) determines an occlusion property for an occlusion of the optically identifiable element (103) in the image in response to the optical property. A position processor (407) determines a depth position in response to the occlusion property where, the depth position is indicative of a position of the object along the optical axis of the camera (101). The invention may for example allow presence detection and rough localization of a person in a room. |
| US09373167B1 |
Heterogeneous rendering
A machine-implemented display method that, with respect to a volume dataset being rendered, enables a user to navigate to any position in space and look in any direction. Preferably, the volume dataset is derived from a computer tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. With the described approach, the user can see details within the dataset that are not available using conventional visualization approaches. The freedom-of-motion capability allows the user to go to places (positions) within the volume rendering that are not otherwise possible using conventional “orbit” and “zoom” display techniques. Thus, for example, using the described approach, the display image enables a user to travel inside physical structures (e.g., a patient's heart, brain, arteries, and the like). In this approach, a display image includes information visually representing an amount of difference between a current pixel and its neighbor pixels. |
| US09373166B2 |
Registered video endoscopy and virtual endoscopy
An endo-robot can be tracked and a reconstructed 3D volume of data can be created for virtual endoscopy. The 3D position and orientation of each image captured by the endo-robot is determined. The longitudinal distance traveled inside the structure of interest is determined. The position, orientation and longitudinal distance are used to register the position of the endo-robot to a corresponding position inside the 3D volume of data. Virtual endoscopy can be used to locate areas of interest and correlate clinical findings with the images of the areas of interest. |
| US09373164B2 |
Method for controlling operation of refrigerator by using speech recognition, and refrigerator employing same
A refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a memory for storing information on food stored in a storeroom; a weight detecting unit disposed in the storeroom for detecting the weight of the food in order to determine whether food is received or withdrawn; a controller for creating a request for confirmation information on the received or withdrawn food when the food is determined to have been received or withdrawn; a speech output unit for outputting the request created by the controller as speech; and a speech input unit for receiving the response to the output request as speech, wherein the controller analyzes the response and updates information on the food stored in the storeroom. |
| US09373162B2 |
Auto-contrast enhancement system
An auto-contrast enhancement system includes a human visual system (HVS)-based local difference (LD) histogram unit configured to build a LD histogram with respect to intensity values; a histogram classifier configured to categorize histograms of input images based on distribution properties; and a histogram equalization (HE) unit configured to process the input image according to a result of the HVS-based LD histogram unit and the enhancement level determined in the histogram classifier. |
| US09373161B2 |
Image processing device, projector, and image processing method
An image processing device adapted to correct a keystone distortion of an image projected on a region where a first plane and a second plane intersect with each other at a predetermined angle includes a transformation section adapted to calculate a first coordinate to be referred to in a first coordinate transformation for correcting the keystone distortion and a second coordinate to be referred to in a second coordinate transformation for correcting the keystone distortion, a combination section adapted to generate a composite coordinate obtained by combining the first coordinate and the second coordinate calculated by the transformation section, and a correction section adapted to perform a coordinate transformation for correcting the keystone distortion using the composite coordinate generated by the combination section. |
| US09373157B2 |
Display concealing system
Provided is a display concealing system capable of forming a concealing image by a simple process of reversing a display position of a normal image. A display concealing system according to the present disclosure includes a display unit configured to display an image, an image forming unit configured to form an image to be displayed on the display unit, and an optical device configured to transmit or cut off the image to be displayed on the display unit. The image forming unit forms a normal image and a concealing image, and sends image data on the normal image and the concealing image to the display unit such that the normal image and the concealing image are synthesized. The optical device transmits the normal image, and cuts off the concealing image. The concealing image is an image that includes reversing sections formed by dividing the normal image at least horizontally or vertically such that each of the reversing sections is formed of a predetermined number of pixels in a state where an array of the pixels is reversed. |
| US09373151B2 |
Image processing device and image processing method
An image processing device includes a processor; and a memory which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute, taking an image containing an imaging lens; and embedding information in a display image based on image information of an object contained in the image. |
| US09373150B2 |
Projector and control method for a projector which projects an image together with another projector connected thereto
In the case where a projector is used in combination with another projector, individual use of only one projector is enabled. A slave projector operates together with a master projector. In this case, the operation methods to start up the projector are a first method in which only a first key is pressed, a second method in which the first key and a second key are pressed simultaneously, and a third method in which the first key and a third key are pressed simultaneously. When the slave projector detects a user's operation with a remote controller, if the operation is done by the first method or the second method, the slave projector ignores this operation. Meanwhile, if the operation is done by the second method, the slave projector starts up the own device irrespective of the command from the master. |
| US09373149B2 |
Autonomous neighborhood vehicle commerce network and community
Disclosed is an autonomous neighborhood vehicle controllable through a neighborhood social network. In one embodiment, an autonomous neighborhood vehicle can autonomously navigate to a destination specified by a user of the neighborhood social network. In one embodiment, a computer system of the autonomous neighborhood vehicle is communicatively coupled to the neighborhood social network through a wireless network to autonomously navigate to a destination specified by the user of the neighborhood social network. A navigation server provides a remote sensing capability to the autonomous neighborhood vehicle. A particular user of a third-party application is authenticated as being a verified user of the neighborhood social network having a verified residential address. An information of the particular user is communicated to the third-party application from the neighborhood social network based on a personal address privacy preference of the particular user. |
| US09373147B2 |
Mobile ticker
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving from a server, by a mobile computing device, real-time activity stories for display by the mobile computing device. The real-time activity stories are sent automatically by the server to the mobile computing device while a user is interacting with the mobile computing device. The method also includes receiving from the server, by the mobile computing device, news-feed stories for display by the mobile computing device. The news-feed stories are sent by the server to the mobile computing device in response to requests from the mobile computing device for the news-feed stories. The method also includes displaying, by the mobile computing device, to the user the real-time activity stories and the news-feed stories in a scrollable visual stack. |
| US09373145B2 |
Social network reports
Technology is disclosed for generating social networking reports. In various embodiments, the technology receives an identity of a user wherein the identity is associated with a first online social network and does not include a password; collects first information about the user from the first online social network; generates a first report based on the collected first information; and transmits the generated first report. |
| US09373144B1 |
Diversity analysis with actionable feedback methodologies
Various embodiments of the present technology relate to diversity and similarity analysis. In some exemplary embodiments, a method includes, for each of a plurality of entities, receiving a set of variables that are indicative of attributes of an entity. The exemplary method also includes comparing the sets of variables for the plurality of entities to each other, locating clusters of similar variables shared between two or more of the plurality of entities, determining a probable maximum loss for the plurality of entities that share the clusters, the probable maximum loss being a loss value attributed to a cyber event against one or more of the shared variables, receiving feedback from an end user in response to providing the probable maximum loss to the end user, and updating the probable maximum loss in response to the feedback. |
| US09373143B2 |
Dynamic functionality based on window characteristics
A system and method are described for changing window's functionality upon detecting resizing events. According to one example method, a plurality of size thresholds is defined that are associated with a plurality of functional states for a window. Upon detecting that a size of a window reaches a first size threshold, a first functional state is applied to a window. Then, upon detecting another size threshold as the window is being increased or decreased in size, another functional state associated with the detected threshold is applied to the window. |
| US09373141B1 |
System and method for automatically filling webpage fields
A computer-implemented method for automatically populating fields of an online webpage. The method includes inserting a code segment into a first webpage that is configured to populate fields included in the first webpage with received data, where the first webpage is displayed on a display device in a web browser application executing on a computer system; receiving data from a second webpage; and executing the code segment to populate the fields based on the received data. |
| US09373138B2 |
System and method for providing a single input field having multiple processing possibilities
Disclosed herein are methods for providing a buy option to search results in a generalized search engine. That one location for a search field can be a website, an application, a search bar in a web browser, etc. Rather than navigating to a website to perform a search in the context of that website, a user can instead navigate to or open a generalized search field. Via the generalized search field, the system can analyze the input from the user and the resulting context. A buy button can be included a search result to the user input in the input search field. Payment for an item can be processing using a payment account registered with the system with delivery coordinated with a separate merchant via an application programming interface. |
| US09373136B2 |
Identifying and visualizing attributes of items based on attribute-based RFID tag proximity
A portable device receives a particular RFID signal identifying that a particular attribute is associated with a particular item placed proximate to the RFID tag emitting the particular RFID signal, wherein the particular RFID signal is identified from among a plurality of RFID signals, wherein a selection of the plurality of RFID signals are each associated with a separate attribute from among a plurality of attributes. The portable device displays a visual representation depicting that the particular item is associated with the particular attribute. |
| US09373134B2 |
Acquisition of telephone service logic via buying request script
Generating telephone service logic based on received data is disclosed. The telephone service logic may include caller priority levels. A caller priority level may be updated based on a change in information associated with a caller. The telephone service logic may be upgraded in accordance with new telephone service logic. The new telephone service logic may be automatically located, purchased and downloaded over at least one network via a buying request script. The buying request script may represent a collective buying group as an aggregation of compatible buying request scripts created by a plurality of different users. The telephone service logic may be transmitted to a computer. |
| US09373127B2 |
Matching advertising to game play content
An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user's gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move. |
| US09373122B2 |
Methods, apparatus and computer program products for securely accessing account data
Customer data is securely downloaded to a browser toolbar by performing a check to determine whether a request for customer data includes a request for personal identifiable information requiring encryption by a public encryption key generated by the browser toolbar. The customer is authenticated based on a set of a user credential and an account specific access credential. The account specific access credential is associated with the account of the customer. Requested personal identifiable information is encrypted using the public encryption key generated by the browser toolbar. Encrypted personal identifiable information is transmitted to the browser toolbar. |
| US09373120B2 |
Reverse couponing
Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for reverse couponing. An exemplary apparatus is configured to determine user information and account information associated with a user; adjust offer information associated with an offer based on the user information and the account information, wherein the offer enables the user to receive at least one of a discount or a rebate on a purchase from a merchant; and transmit the adjusted offer to the user. |
| US09373119B2 |
Machine-implemented system and method for providing timed targeted promotional offers to individual payment account users with feedback
A machine-implemented method includes determining when a particular promotional offer which is associated with a payment account of a particular consumer should be released to the particular consumer, and then transmitting a first message indicating the particular promotional offer to a device of the particular consumer. The first message indicates the merchant and the terms of the offer, which may include a specific time period during which the offer is valid. The method further includes detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the offer and, in response, automatically transmitting a second message to trigger a transfer of funds to an account of the consumer. The method can further include, in response to detecting that the consumer has accepted the offer, automatically and immediately transmitting a message to the consumer to confirm the transfer of funds to the account of the consumer, so as to provide feedback to the consumer. |
| US09373115B2 |
Contactless prepaid product for transit fare collection
Transaction processing in an offline environment for a prepaid product comprising a portable consumer device includes responding to presentation of the prepaid product at a reader for offline processing by initiating operation of the prepaid product, receiving data from the prepaid product at the reader that indicates the prepaid product is associated with a prepaid account balance, determining that the prepaid product is in a negative balance condition, and taking preventive action in response to the negative balance condition such that future acceptance of the prepaid product at a reader is prevented. |
| US09373111B2 |
Payment card with integrated chip
A method is disclosed. It includes presenting a payment card to an access device, obtaining additional data, encrypting the additional data, and passing the encrypted additional data to the access device. |
| US09373108B2 |
Point of sale payment system
A method for point of sale payments includes receiving, from a seller device over a network, payment information. The payment information is associated with payment code information in a database. The payment code information is then sent to the seller device over the network for posting at a service location. The payment code information is then captured by a payer device at the service location and transmitted over the network. The payment information is then retrieved from the database using the associated payment code information. The payment information is then sent to the payer device over the network. A payment confirmation is received from the payer device over the network and, in response, a payment from a payer account to a seller account is initiated and the payment information and an indication of the payment confirmation is sent to the seller device over the network. |
| US09373107B2 |
Method and system for funding mobile gaming
In a gaming method and system, a player is permitted to move funds from a gaming machine at a casino, such as funds won at the gaming machine or input into the gaming machine, with a funds account which the player can utilize to fund remote or mobile gaming. When a player of a gaming machine is identified, such as by detecting or sensing the player's mobile communication device or by a player's use of a player card or the like, a gaming machine may be configured or triggered to activate one or more funds association options, such as to offer the player the opportunity to associate funds provided to the gaming machine with their account for use in remote or mobile gaming. |
| US09373105B2 |
Method and system for thin client based image and transaction management
Provided is a system for coordinating collection and processing of digital data by a plurality of deposit modules with respect to a plurality of users over a communications network, the digital data based on a plurality of original paper deposits and including at least digital images of the original paper deposits and respective deposit information, the system comprising: a communications module that provides a list of one or more deposit functions assigned to each respective user, each of the deposit functions coordinated by a corresponding module of the plurality of deposit modules, and that provides a list of the respective digital data that is associated with each of the assigned deposit modules; the plurality of deposit modules that facilitates a distribution of the deposit functions for the collection and processing of the digital data with one or more users of the plurality of users. |
| US09373104B2 |
Assign photographers on an event invite and automate requesting, uploading, and sharing of photos and videos for an event
Methods, program products and systems to assign photographers on an event invite and automate requesting, uploading and sharing of the event's photos/videos are described here. The solution would allow to assign photographers for an event using the event's invite itself, indirectly triggering the auto-creation of a new photo/video album and allowing the photographer invitees to upload their photos/videos for the event, either real-time or manually at a later time. Thereafter, once an event is complete, the event's photo/video album would be either automatically or manually shared with the event's guests depending upon the preferences set by the event's owner. |
| US09373102B2 |
System and method using a simplified XML format for real-time content publication
A system and method for delivering content in real-time using advanced messaging technology that reduces the risk of content being lost or dropped in transmission. The system and method utilize a custom, simplified XML format to deliver real-time textual, numeric, and metadata content directly to subscribers. The XML tag set specifies all of the information needed to package, process, and distribute real-time content messages and includes an advanced tagging structure that allows granular content customization. Messages are built on the fly using multi-channel data processing techniques. The XML delivery system and method offers an array of real-time market-specific page-based “Alert” services and aggregated newswires with accompanying real-time numeric data feeds. These feeds contain proprietary assessments and other price data across a broad spectrum of global and regional commodity markets, including oil, petrochemicals, metals, electric power, natural gas, coal, and risk. |
| US09373101B2 |
Filtering social networking content
A method for filtering social media content based on interest categories. Users of a social network can be associated with one or more interest categories. Posts or updates made in the social network by friends of a first user are associated with one or more interest categories. A social feed can be filtered based on the interested categories or the first user of the social feed and/or the interests associated with the posts or updates made by the first user's friends. In some cases, the filtered social media content is ordered based on expertise of the first user's friends in the particular interest categories of those users' posts. |
| US09373096B2 |
Smart cloud workload balancer
A method and system for dynamically optimizing workload of a cloud computing system. The cloud computing system is configured into an operative status by defining a virtual machine (VM) topology representing a respective virtual machine assignment for each physical server of the cloud computing system. An objects database (ODB) stores: business policies, a respective software cost per software application in one or more software license pools, and a power cost of the cloud computing system. It is determined that the cloud computing system does not perform optimally with respect to a total cost of the cloud computing system, which is a sum of the respective software cost and the power cost. The workload of the cloud computing system is distributed pursuant to a new VM topology that has a minimum total cost of the cloud computing system pursuant to the business policies stored in the ODB. |
| US09373094B2 |
Dynamic web services system and method
A Dynamic Web Service server may facilitate custom Enterprise Application interface development with little or no developer input by dynamically creating a web service for performing a particular transaction according to a transaction map. An Enterprise Application client device may create a transaction map by “recording” a transaction between an Enterprise Application client and an Enterprise Application server and mapping transaction fields to a custom interface generated to collect data for re-performing the recorded transaction. The Enterprise Application client device may call the dynamic web service, and the Dynamic Web Service server may then perform the recorded transaction using input data collected in the custom interface. |
| US09373092B2 |
System and method for automated distribution of supervisory functions in a contact center
A system for automated distribution of supervisory functions in an enterprise is provided. The system includes a monitor module configured to monitor performance of resources in the enterprise. The system further includes a skill finder module configured to find at least one skilled resource for at least one type of work request. The system further includes an assignment module configured to assign the at least one skilled resource a subset of supervisory role for the at least one type of work request. |
| US09373091B1 |
Method and system of providing vending service
A method and system for providing a user of a wireless communication device (WCD) with vending service. The WCD may present the user with data indicating items available for purchase from a vendor. The WCD may then receive the user's directive to order an item from the vendor. In response, the WCD may obtain data stored at a transponder in proximity to the WCD that indicates a location of the WCD. In one example, the transponder may be at a fixed location, such as by being affixed to a fixed object at a venue (e.g., a stadium seat), in which case the stored data may indicate the fixed location. The WCD may then send an order for the item and the obtained data to the vendor. In turn, the vendor may use the data to determine a location of the WCD and then deliver the item to the determined location. |
| US09373088B2 |
Brain machine interface utilizing a discrete action state decoder in parallel with a continuous decoder for a neural prosthetic device
A brain machine interface for control of prosthetic devices is provided. In its control, the interface utilizes parallel control of a continuous decoder and a discrete action state decoder. In the discrete decoding, we not only learn states affiliated with the task, but also states related to the velocity of the prosthetic device and the engagement of the user. Moreover, we not only learn the distributions of the neural signals in these states, but we also learn the interactions/transitions between the states, which is crucial to enabling a relatively higher level of performance of the prosthetic device. Embodiments according to this parallel control system enable us to reliably decode not just task-related states, but any “discrete action state,” in parallel with a neural prosthetic “continuous decoder,” to achieve new state-of-the-art levels of performance in brain-machine interfaces. |
| US09373087B2 |
Decision tree training in machine learning
Improved decision tree training in machine learning is described, for example, for automated classification of body organs in medical images or for detection of body joint positions in depth images. In various embodiments, improved estimates of uncertainty are used when training random decision forests for machine learning tasks in order to give improved accuracy of predictions and fewer errors. In examples, bias corrected estimates of entropy or Gini index are used or non-parametric estimates of differential entropy. In examples, resulting trained random decision forests are better able to perform classification or regression tasks for a variety of applications without undue increase in computational load. |
| US09373082B2 |
Inquiry skills tutoring system
An assessment engine includes a definition of inquiry skills being assessed. Assessment models are used to infer skill demonstration as one or more students engage in inquiry within computerized simulations and/or microworlds. A pedagogical agent and/or help system provides real-time feedback to one or more students based on the assessment model outputs, and/or based on additional models that track one or more students developing proficiency across inquiry tasks over time. A pedagogical agent and/or help system for science inquiry tutoring responds in real-time on the basis of knowledge-engineered and data-mined assessment and/or tracking models. |
| US09373081B2 |
Alert management system and method
A system and related method for automating alert decision-making in a computer network are disclosed. The system and method act to receive an alert request from an event management system, and then carries out operations using several sets of inference rules, associating the alert request to a generic conceptual data model of alert request and alert resolution. The generic model is specialized to represent the specific environment being monitored. The alert request is enriched with contextual and network information in order to generate one or several alert resolution actions. |
| US09373079B2 |
Argument and decision optimizing engine
A system is described for improving decision making for individuals, groups and organizations. The system enables participants to collaboratively provide informational statements as well as supporting and opposing arguments and share them and then rate them. The system visually facilitates participants prioritizing arguments, and allows participants to rate arguments on clarity, agreement, and relevance. The system includes multiple levels of authority, both inherent and topic-assignable, which enable posts to be made visible/invisible based on authority level and/or “need to know”. The system allows decision makers to increase the reach of participants in decisions while keeping the input and process manageable yielding better decisions. All posts, ratings, and edits of posts and ratings within the system are archived along with any reasons given, and archives are reviewable by users. |
| US09373071B2 |
Multilayer wiring type double-interface IC card antenna module
A multilayer wiring type dual-interface IC card antenna module includes: an electrode diaphragm layer, including an antenna and an electrode diaphragm; a clamping base layer including eight first through hole points right below eight metal contacts on the electrode diaphragm; an RFID antenna layer including an RFID antenna, a connecting contact, a first chip attaching point and a second chip attaching point; an insulation layer including eight second through hole points located right below the eight first through hole points, a third through hole point located right below the connecting contact, a fourth through hole point located right below the first chip attaching point, and a fifth through hole point located right below the second chip attaching point; and a bridge layer connected with the second chip attaching point and the connecting contact in a bridging manner. The antenna module can achieve full-automatic production. |
| US09373069B2 |
Systems and methods for drive circuits for dynamic magnetic stripe communications devices
Dynamic magnetic stripe communications devices are provided as magnetic stripe emulators. A magnetic stripe emulator may include a coil. Drive circuits may be coupled to this coil in order to produce electromagnetic fields from the coil operable to communicate with a magnetic stripe reader. |
| US09373067B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same
An image forming method according to the present invention includes obtaining a number of pixels in a sub-scanning direction of a white region in image data, the white region being adjacent to a region at a downstream side in the sub-scanning direction of the region and the region being in the image data and including, continuously in the sub-scanning direction, pixels with a density not smaller than a predetermined density, and correcting a pixel value for a unit region based on the number of pixels of the white region obtained by the obtaining so that a density of the unit region becomes low, the unit region being included in the region at the downstream side thereof in the sub-scanning direction. |
| US09373066B2 |
Image forming apparatus capable of displaying thumbnail image of a page of a document during a printing process, information processing apparatus, control methods and storage media therefor, and image forming system
An image forming apparatus capable of displaying a thumbnail image of a first page of a document to enable a user to easily recognize the document based on the displayed thumbnail image. When determining that a print job received from an information processing apparatus includes page data for generating a thumbnail image of the first page of a document, the image forming apparatus generates the thumbnail image of the first page of the document based on the page data included in the print job and displays the generated thumbnail image on a touch display panel of the image forming apparatus. |
| US09373060B2 |
Electronic card connector having ejecting mechanism
An electronic card connector (100) includes an insulative housing (1), a number of terminals (2) retained in the insulative housing, a movable component movable between an original position and a locking position, a shielding shell (4) attached to the insulative housing and having a top wall (41) and a first elastic portion (43) located at the top wall, and an ejecting mechanism (5). The ejecting mechanism has a lever (51) having a resisting part (5111) and a sliding bulge (54) movable together with the movable component. The first elastic portion has a locking part (431) resisting against the sliding bulge along an up-to-down direction at the locking position and a guiding part (432). The lever is movable forwardly and the resisting part is guided by the guiding part to lift the first elastic portion to thereby disengage the locking part from the sliding bulge. |
| US09373047B2 |
Biometric authentication device, biometric authentication system, and biometric authentication method
A biometric authentication device includes a photographing unit configured to photograph a biological body and acquire biological body information; an authentication unit configured to match registered biological body information that is registered in advance with the biological body information and perform authentication; a posture determination unit configured to determine steadiness of a posture of the biological body based on history of posture information relevant to the posture of the biological body when photographed; and an update determination unit configured to determine to update the registered biological body information when the posture determination unit determines that the posture of the biological body is steady. |
| US09373042B2 |
Subject change detection system and subject change detection method
The invention detects a change in a subject by detecting the subject from an image, acquiring a feature quantity distribution that indicates shape information of the detected subject, accumulating the shape information that is indicated by the acquired feature quantity distribution and comparing the shape information a predetermined period of time before with the current shape information by using the accumulated shape information. Here, the invention acquires the feature quantity distribution of the subject from a processing target area extracted from an image area that includes the subject. The invention detects a change in the subject by using accumulated shape change information acquired from the shape information. The invention detects a change in the subject by using averaged shape change information obtained by averaging the shape change information. |
| US09373040B2 |
Image matching using motion manifolds
A motion manifold system analyzes a set of videos, identifying image patches within those videos corresponding to regions of interest and identifying patch trajectories by tracking the movement of the regions over time in the videos. Based on the patch identification and tracking, the system produces a motion manifold data structure that captures the way in which the same semantic region can have different visual representations over time. The motion manifold can then be applied to determine the semantic similarity between different patches, or between higher-level constructs such as images or video segments, including detecting semantic similarity between patches or other constructs that are visually dissimilar. |
| US09373039B2 |
Detection of graphics added to a video signal
The invention allows detecting which graphics, if any, have been added to the video signal at any given time by utilizing only the various signals provided by prior art hardware. A first video signal, graphics signal(s), and a second video signal are received. It is then determined which graphics, if any, are present in a given frame of the received second video signal based on comparing actual values of pixels of the received second video signal and calculated values of pixels derived from the first video signal, and the graphics signal(s), and the combination of graphics signal(s) which produces the best match is searched for. |
| US09373037B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An apparatus includes a first acquisition unit configured to acquire main object information specifying a main object in generation of a layout image, a second acquisition unit configured to acquire object correlation information specifying an object having a correlation with the main object, an extraction unit configured to extract at least one image including the main object and at least one image including the object having the correlation with the main object from a plurality of images based on the acquired main object information and the acquired object correlation information acquired, and a generation unit configured to generate, using a layout template, a layout image in which the at least one image extracted by the extraction unit and including the main object and the at least one image extracted by the extraction unit and including the object having the correlation with the main object are laid out therein. |
| US09373033B2 |
Assisted surveillance of vehicles-of-interest
A computer-implemented image processing method includes accessing image data representing a plurality of images of a plurality of vehicles and reading a data model representing a predefined vehicle attribute. The method further includes processing a portion of the image data to detect a vehicle feature of at least one of the vehicles represented in at least one of the images based on the predefined vehicle attribute, and processing the portion of the image data to generate vehicle data representing the detected vehicle feature. |
| US09373032B2 |
Forensic verification utilizing forensic markings inside halftones
A forensic verification system (1100) extracts a print signature via a print signature extractor (1110) from an interior of a halftone contained in an image. The system (1100) utilizes a comparator (1120) to compare the print signature to a reference signature stored in a registry to determine differences between the print signature and the reference signature. The system (1100) utilizes a forensic analyzer (1130) to perform a forensic analysis on the signatures based on the comparison to authenticate the image. |
| US09373029B2 |
Invisible junction feature recognition for document security or annotation
The present invention uses invisible junctions which are a set of local features unique to every page of the electronic document to match the captured image to a part of an electronic document. The present invention includes: an image capture device, a feature extraction and recognition system and database. When an electronic document is printed, the feature extraction and recognition system captures an image of the document page. The features in the captured image are then extracted, indexed and stored in the database. Given a query image, the features in the query image are extracted and compared against those stored in the database to identify the query image. The feature extraction and recognition system of the present invention is integrated into a multifunction peripheral. This allows the feature extraction and recognition system to be used in conjunction with other modules to provide security and annotation applications. |
| US09373025B2 |
Structured lighting-based content interactions in multiple environments
Information from a position and/or gesture detection system can be embedded in a Web page, or other such presentation of content, and used to select or otherwise interact with content on the page. In some embodiments, video is captured and displayed showing a current view of the user. Position data corresponding to the video is provided and used to determine directions and extents of motion without having to do significant amounts of image processing. The position data is used to determine locations on the page where the user is attempting to provide input, such as to select an item of content. The content can be modified and/or rendered to appear to be associated with the user in the rendered view. Information from multiple gesture systems can be combined on a single page, and information from one or more gesture systems can be shared among multiple pages and devices. |
| US09373020B2 |
Measurement data selection method for biometric device, light exit position determination method for biometric device, and biometric device
In measurement data selection, when a vector composed of measurement data obtained for respective combinations of light emitting positions, light detection positions, and resolving times in a time-resolved waveform is given as y, a vector in which pixel values of learning image data are components is given as x, and a system matrix for calculating internal image data from the measurement data is given as A1, the vector y which meets the conditional expressions (2) and (3) min∥y∥00 (2), ∥x−A1Ty∥22≦ε2 (3) or the conditional expression (4) min(∥y∥00+β∥x−A1Ty∥22) (4) is determined, and upon measurement of a subject, only the measurement data corresponding to nonzero components of the vector y is used to prepare the internal image data. |
| US09373014B1 |
Systems and methods for event monitoring using aerial drones
A radio frequency identification (RFID) network and methods for even monitoring in a closed environment includes distributing RFID readers across the environment. Readers have unique reader identifiers and communicate with a computer system. These identifiers and reader locations are stored. The location of subjects bearing passive RFID tags is acquired by reading the unique subject identifiers off the tags and associating these RFID tags with the reader identifiers of the readers making the readings. A subject data store includes the location data of the subjects obtained by the RFID readers and electronic addresses of the subjects. An instruction set data store comprising sets, each set corresponding to one of a plurality of events, is also maintained. In accordance with the instruction set data store, in response to an event, different event messages are sent to different subjects and an aerial drone is dispatched. |
| US09373013B2 |
Card reader
A card reader to read information in an integrated circuit (IC) card includes a housing, a first antenna, a control circuit, and a switch unit. The first antenna is disposed inside of the housing to communicate with the IC card. The control circuit communicates with the IC card within a communication range of the first antenna and performs at least a process that acquires data from a memory in the IC card. The switch unit is disposed in the housing. The switch unit includes a radio frequency (RF) tag having a second antenna. The switch unit functions as a switch that performs a predetermined function by causing the RF tag to communicate with the control circuit via the second antenna and the first antenna when a predetermined condition is satisfied. |
| US09373002B2 |
Electronic document management and delivery
In one embodiment, system to manage and delivery electronic documents is disclosed. |
| US09372998B2 |
Client-side encryption in a deduplication backup system
Client-side encryption in a deduplication backup system. In one example embodiment, a method includes a backup phase in which various steps are performed for each allocated plain text block stored in a source storage. One step includes hashing, using a first cryptographic hash function, the plain text block to generate a first hash. Another step includes hashing, using a second cryptographic hash function, the first hash to generate a second hash. Another step includes searching a key-value table of a deduplication storage to determine whether the second hash matches any key in the key-value table. Another step includes, upon determining that the second hash does not match any key in the key-value table, encrypting, using an encrypt/decrypt function, the plain text block using the first hash as an encryption password and inserting a key-value pair into the key-value table with the key being the second hash and the value being the encrypted block. |
| US09372990B2 |
Detecting heap spraying on a computer
Detecting heap spraying on a computer by detecting a plurality of requests to allocate portions of heap memory, measuring the plurality of requests to determine a value of a characteristic of the plurality of requests, identifying an activity consistent with heap spraying by determining that the value of the characteristic is consistent with a benchmark value of the characteristic, wherein the benchmark value of the characteristic is associated with heap spraying, and performing a computer-security-related remediation action responsive to determining that the value of the characteristic is consistent with the benchmark value of the characteristic. |
| US09372985B2 |
Information processing device, information processing method, and computer program
There is provided an information processing device including a first program execution unit that loads, interprets, and executes code of a computer program created by a procedural language. The program execution unit includes at least one port, and via this port, executes a second computer program created by a procedural language executed by a second program execution unit after authenticating with the second program execution unit. |
| US09372979B2 |
Methods, devices, and systems for unobtrusive mobile device user recognition
The present invention discloses methods, devices, and systems for unobtrusively recognizing a user of a mobile device. Methods including the steps of: unobtrusively collecting motion data from the mobile device during normal device usage by monitoring standard authorized-user interaction with the device, without any form of challenge or device-specified action; demarcating the motion data into user motion-sequences based on changes in a motion-state or an elapsed time-period without an occurrence of the changes, wherein the motion-state refers to a placement and speed of the mobile device at a point in time; calculating user motion-characteristics from the user motion-sequences; and generating a motion-repertoire from the user motion-characteristics, whereby the motion-repertoire enables unobtrusive recognition of the user. Preferably, the method further includes the step of: detecting unidentified motion-characteristics that are not associated with the motion-repertoire, thereby enabling unobtrusive recognition of unidentified usage. |
| US09372976B2 |
Automatic learning multi-modal fraud prevention (LMFP) system
A computerized learning multi-modal fraud prevention system and method for generating a data signature of a user, such as one engaged in electronic commerce, to prevent fraudulent activities by machines and persons imitating the user. Steps comprise: fetching a signal of a user's signature stored in memory; generating at least one challenge sequence based on the signal to create a second signature; presenting the generated challenge sequence to the user; collecting the user's challenge response to the generated challenge sequence; computing a quality factor between the user's challenge response and the generated challenge sequence; computing a transaction quality factor and content quality factor and reporting an impostor or re-challenging if the quality factor is below a threshold. Lastly, generating a new signature based on any portion of a user's challenge response and/or any portion of the previously generated signature and/or any portion of collectable information from the user's device memory. |
| US09372973B2 |
Provisioning user permissions attribute-based access-control policies
An attribute-based access control policy (e.g., XACML policy) for a set of elements depends on attributes carried by elements in one of several predefined categories. In order to evaluate such policy for a set of elements, the invention provides a method including the steps of (I) selecting a primary category; (II) partitioning the elements in the primary category into equivalence classes with respect to their influence on the policy; and (III) using the equivalence classes to replace at least one policy evaluation by a deduction. The result of the evaluation may be represented as an access matrix in backward-compatible format. The efficiency of the policy evaluation may be further improved by applying partial policy evaluation at intermediate stages, by forming combined equivalence classes containing n-tuples of elements and/or by analyzing the influence of each element by extracting functional expressions of maximal length from the policy. |
| US09372971B2 |
Integration of verification tokens with portable computing devices
Apparatuses, methods, and systems pertaining to the verification of portable consumer devices are disclosed. In one implementation, a verification token is communicatively coupled to a computer by a USB connection so as to use the computer's networking facilities. The verification token reads identification information from a user's portable consumer device (e.g., credit card) and sends the information to a validation entry over a communications network using the computer's networking facilities. The validation entity applies one or more validation tests to the information that it receives from the verification token. If a selected number of tests are passed, the validation entity sends a device verification value to the verification token, and optionally to a payment processing network. The verification token may enter the device verification value into a CVV field of a web page appearing on the computer's display, or may display the value to the user using the computer's display. |
| US09372969B1 |
Portable check transaction manager device, system and method
The present invention is directed to an apparatus, system and method for managing bank transactions, configured for communicating with a depositor's account at a banking institution and operative for obtaining account balances, available funds for future transactions, confirming account balances or placing automatic holds on available funds as well as any other check transaction management services that a depositor may require to effectively manage his/her checking or savings account. |
| US09372968B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for embedding digital watermark into and extracting digital watermark from text
Methods and apparatus for embedding digital watermark information into and extracting digital watermark information from a text are disclosed. The method for embedding digital watermark information into a text comprises: creating a menu item of the digital watermark information; and embedding a binary string into a value of a predetermined attribute for the menu item of the digital watermark information, the binary string to be embedded being the digital watermark information to be embedded. According to the present invention, it is able to increase the amount of information to be embedded. |
| US09372955B1 |
Method, system, and computer program product for implementing repetitive track patterns for electronic circuit designs
Methods and systems for implementing repetitive track patterns for electronic designs are disclosed. The method determines a track pattern within a period and repeats the track pattern for a number of times to form repetitive track patterns. Compliance with photomask designation design rules and track pattern design rules by both the track pattern and the repetitive track patterns is maintained by adding one or more intermediate tracks. A track may be added or removed from the track pattern or replaced by another track associated with a different width by using one or more intermediate tracks. The method may validate a period and replace an invalid period with a valid period. During the identification of the tracks in a track pattern for constructing repetitive track patterns, the method also forward predicts a predetermined number of tracks or predicts one or more tracks for a predetermined distance. |
| US09372952B1 |
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for enhancing metrics of electronic designs using design rule driven physical design implementation techniques
One aspect identifies an interconnect and associated design rule(s) and moves a portion of the interconnect to an adjacent track by using a spreading process on a one-dimensional design data based on the design rule(s) to determine whether the interconnect including the moved portion provides a DRC clean implementation. This aspect examines an interconnect in its entirety without being confined within a prescribed boundary of a fixed region in the layout. The one-dimensional design data provides expedient runtime and may be converted back into two-dimensional form for the layout. Another aspect iterates through multiple spreading distances to route or modify interconnects in a layout by performing multiple Boolean operations on the interconnect and adjacent shape(s) to determine the final form of the newly created or modified interconnect complying with various design rules. |
| US09372947B1 |
Compacting trace data generated by emulation processors during emulation of a circuit design
The present patent document relates to a method to compact trace data generated by emulation processors during emulation of a circuit design, and a hardware functional verification system that compacts trace data. Compaction logic within emulation processor clusters accumulated data bits output from the emulation processors and compacts them into trace data bytes in registers based on enable bits identifying valid trace data according to a compaction scheme. Trace data bytes are further accumulated and compacted into larger trace data bytes in higher level processor clusters of the emulation chip according to a compaction hierarchy, with the compacted trace data bytes stored into a trace array of the emulation chip. |
| US09372944B2 |
Numerical analysis device, element generation program, and numerical analysis method
A numerical analysis device executes: Step 102 of selecting a fluidic device model and a pipe model used for transient analysis from among fluidic device models and pipe models that are located between a start point and an end point set in the pipeline network model constructed as a 3D model of a pipeline network that includes fluidic devices and pipes; Step 104 of dividing the selected fluidic device model and pipe model into volume elements and into junction elements; Step 106 of deriving volumes of the respective volume elements obtained and pressure loss coefficients corresponding to the respective junction elements, based on the shape of the fluidic device model, a shape of the pipe model, and a physical quantities of the fluid, of associating the volumes with the volume elements, and of associating the pressure loss coefficients with the junction elements. |
| US09372934B2 |
Systems and methods for automatically creating and shortening traditional street and postal addresses
Systems and methods are disclosed for creating and using a Shortcode for any street or postal address, including an imbedded Shortcode (ISC) that differentiates and visually distinguishes the alpha-numeric characters constituting the Shortcode within the visual display of the full street address. A Shortcode may be automatically created and uniquely associated with a full street or postal address for anywhere in the world, including a street number, street name and/or type, city, state, country, or any street or unit prefix or suffix designation. The ISC enables the Shortcode to be visually identified by distinguishing the Shortcode from the other characters constituting the full traditional street or postal address. |
| US09372930B2 |
Generating a supplemental description of an entity
A statistically overrepresented token in the descriptions of users associated with a target entity may be descriptive of the target entity. This may be true regardless of whether a primary description of the entity includes the overrepresented token. Accordingly, the entity description machine may access multiple descriptions of multiple users associated with the target entity. A portion of the multiple descriptions may each include a token descriptive of the target entity and of a subset of the multiple users. The entity description machine may determine that the token is overrepresented among the tokens within the multiple descriptions and generate a supplemental description of the target entity, where the supplemental description includes the overrepresented token. Once the supplemental description is generated, the entity description machine may use the supplemental description in referencing the target entity. |
| US09372925B2 |
Combining audio samples by automatically adjusting sample characteristics
A user selects an audio sample to be combined with a set of audio samples. The selected sample is automatically combined with the set of samples based on metadata corresponding to the sample and metadata corresponding to the set of samples. The rhythmic content (beat locations) of the sample and/or set of samples is automatically adjusted to increase rhythmic coherence of the sample and the set of samples, and a pitch of the sample and/or set of samples is automatically adjusted to increase harmonic coherence of the sample and the set of samples. The user is thus able to select a sample and a set of samples, and have one or both automatically adjusted so that the combination sounds good together both rhythmically and harmonically. Audio samples can be similarly combined with other audio samples, and sets of audio samples can be similarly combined with other sets of audio samples. |
| US09372924B2 |
Ontology driven dictionary generation and ambiguity resolution for natural language processing
A computer implemented method and system for natural language processing ambiguity resolution includes storing an ontology specifying a set of grammatical rules. A phrase comprising at least one current word to be processed is retrieved. A current word from the phrase is annotated with possible ontological classes according to the ontology. Any ontological rules associated with the possible ontological classes are retrieved. Ontological classes are eliminated based on the ontological rules. A surviving possible ontological class is determined to be an accurate ontological class for the current word. In another aspect of this disclosure, an ontology is stored in computer memory, the ontology having multiple ontological classifications, and word instances, each word instance associated with at least one of the ontological classifications. All word instances belonging to the selected ontological classification are retrieved. |
| US09372916B2 |
Document template auto discovery
Methods and apparatus for generating a template for automatic data capture are described. The method comprises determining locations of a plurality of data fields in a first document, wherein the plurality of data fields are identified based, at least in part, on structured data associated with the first document, identifying at least one second document that includes the plurality of data fields in locations similar to those determined for the first document to produce a set of documents, determining locations of a plurality of anchorboxes describing common text elements of the set of documents, and generating the template, wherein the template describes locations of the plurality of anchorboxes and locations of the plurality of data fields. |
| US09372914B1 |
Determining computing device characteristics from computer network activity
Systems and methods of determining computing device characteristics from computer network activity are provided. A data processing system can obtain data identifying a global cluster that indicates an interest category and can create a sub-cluster of the global cluster based on a characteristic common to content access computing devices. A weight indicating a correlation between the characteristic common to content access computing devices and the interest category can be assigned to the sub-cluster. Responsive to a communication between a first content access computing device and a content publisher computing device, the data processing system can identify a characteristic. The data processing system can associate the first content access computing device with the sub-cluster based on the characteristic of the first content access computing device and the characteristic common to the content access computing devices, and based on the weight can determine a status of the first content access computing device. |
| US09372908B2 |
Merging an out of synchronization indicator and a change recording indicator in response to a failure in consistency group formation
A first data structure stores indications of storage locations that need to be copied for forming a consistency group. A second data structure stores indications of new host writes subsequent to starting a point in time copy operation to form the consistency group. Read access is secured to a metadata storage area and a determination is made as to whether the second data structure indicates that there are any new host writes. In response to determining that the second data structure indicates that there are new host writes, write access is secured to the metadata storage area, the first data structure is updated with contents of the second data structure to determine which additional storage locations need to be copied for formation of a next consistency group, and the second data structure is updated to indicate that that the second data structure is in an initialized state. |
| US09372907B2 |
Table placement in distributed databases
A node type of a plurality of distributed nodes to which a table to be added to a distributed database should be assigned can be identified by applying a set of placement rules defined for the table. The set of placement rules can also be applied to determine whether the table should be partitioned into more than one partition. A table group name associated with the table can be obtained and used in conjunction with the node type and determination of whether to partition the table to store the table in the distributed database on at least one node of the plurality of nodes as one or more partitions. |
| US09372903B1 |
Data lineage in an intelligent data integration system
A computer-executed method includes storing in a data store data attributes, data objects, and a data analysis tool (DAT). Each data object has an attribute set and an identifier set. The method includes identifying each data object that has an attribute set comprising a data attribute matching each reference data attribute associated with the DAT, and selecting an identified data object as an input data object for the DAT. The DAT generates a new data object as a function of the input data object, which includes analyzing the input data object with reference to an auxiliary data object and creating an identifier set for the new data object that includes an identifier of the new data object for distinguishing the new data object from each other data object in the data store, and the identifier of the auxiliary data object. The new data object is stored in the data store. |
| US09372900B2 |
Method and system for processing measurement data for website statistics
Methods and systems for storing web-site visitor data in a specific bucket among a plurality of buckets based on a unique visitor identifier. The methods and systems may dynamically change the number of buckets based on certain conditions, such as when one of the buckets reaches a predetermined size. Several processors may be used in parallel to process the visitor data from two or more of the buckets simultaneously, for example to generate or obtain report data. The systems and methods may aggregate the report data into a result table. |
| US09372898B2 |
Enabling event prediction as an on-device service for mobile interaction
By knowing which upcoming actions a user might perform, a mobile application can optimize a user interface or reduce the amount of user input needed for accomplishing a task. A herein-described prediction module can answer queries from a mobile application regarding which actions in the application the user is likely to perform at a given time. Any application can register and communicate with the prediction module via a straightforward application programming interface (API). The prediction module continuously learns a prediction model for each application based on the application's evolving event history. The prediction module generates predictions by combining multiple predictors with an online learning method, and capturing event patterns not only within but also across registered applications. The prediction module is evaluated using events collected from multiple types of mobile devices. |
| US09372895B1 |
Keyword search method using visual keyword grouping interface
A method of forming a keyword based search query that uses a plurality of keywords, in which the keywords of the query are arranged into groups of purpose-related keywords, in which each keyword is associated with a designation of its relative importance. The keywords of a group may be identified manually by the searcher, or existing keywords in a group may be used to suggest or automatically add additional related keywords to the group. The keywords of a group need not be semantically related, but only related to a common purpose of the keyword group. Additional keywords can be suggested to the searcher, or automatically added to the groups. Suitable additional keywords may be identified by reference to previous searches in which the existing keywords were grouped with those additional keywords. Keywords may also be derived from text designated by the searcher, using all or portions of one or more documents or text blocks that the user identifies as describing a concept of interest to the searcher. The searcher may also select sources to search and may designate the importance of sections of those sources. |
| US09372893B2 |
Method and system of ranking search results, and method and system of optimizing search result ranking
The present disclosure provides techniques to rank search results. The techniques may include acquiring a set of primitive characteristics and extracting effective characteristics from the set of primitive characteristics based on historical transaction data. The effective characteristics include characteristics that can have an influence on ranking of search results. The techniques may also include determining an initial weight of each of the effective characteristics based on the historical transaction data, and training the initial weight using the historical transaction data and a predetermined training model to obtain a final weight. Based on the final weight, the search results may be ranked. In some aspects, the techniques may also optimize the ranking to ensure the objectivity and accuracy of ranking results. |
| US09372889B1 |
Incremental statistics update
A data warehousing system maintains large tables comprising a significant quantity of historical data. In general, the addition of small quantities of additional data is not likely to significantly alter the accuracy of statistics relied upon by a query optimizer. However, certain statistics may have an influence on optimizer behavior, even though the size of the additional data is small. Certain statistics relied on by the optimizer may be incrementally updated based at least in part on characteristics of the additional data without requiring a scan of the preexisting data. |
| US09372886B2 |
Data filtering in the internet of things
This invention relates to the Internet of Things (IOT), and discloses a method and apparatus of data filtering in the IOT, where the IOT includes a plurality of sensor devices. The method includes: inputting an application deployed rule; converting the rule into at least one sub-predicate expression having static predicates and dynamic predicates; inputting data collected by the sensor devices; matching the collected data with the static predicates and the dynamic predicates of the sub-predicate expression in sequence; and distributing matched data to the application. In this invention, a rule is divided into static and dynamic predicates, and a match is performed on static predicates before dynamic predicates, so that the speed of predicate match can be improved and fast and efficient data filtering in the IOT can be achieved. |
| US09372885B2 |
System and methods thereof for dynamically updating the contents of a folder on a device
A method and system for dynamically updating contents of a folder on a mobile device. The system comprises identifying at least a folder on the mobile device as a dynamic folder; determining at least a context parameter respective of the dynamic folder; searching for applications that can be added to the dynamic folder respective of the at least context parameter; generating an icon respective of each application found by the search; and displaying each icon respective of each application in the dynamic folder. |
| US09372879B1 |
Balanced append tree data structure
Techniques are described for employing a substantially self-balanced append tree data structure to store and access information. The append tree data structure is a hierarchical data structure in which a leaf node or a parent node may be added to expand the append tree data structure. The determination to add a leaf node or a parent node may be based on a counter for leaf nodes present in the append tree data structure. Nodes in the append tree data structure may be blocks in memory, with each block corresponding to a plurality of positions that may be employed to tracking message identifiers in a messaging service. |
| US09372876B2 |
Metadata driven reporting and editing of databases
Embodiments described herein are directed to providing enhanced database editing and reporting capabilities. In one scenario, a computer system receives a data item request that identifies which data items are to be reported. The computer system accesses a relational data store to determine which information sets are to be used for reporting the requested data items. Based on the determination, the computer system accesses those information sets that are to be used in the reporting the requested data items. The computer system then determines that metadata has been provided for at least one of the accessed information sets. The metadata includes instructions at least partially indicating how the data items are to be reported. The computer system also reports the data items according to the instructions in the provided metadata, regardless of how the data items are to be reported using the existing information sets. |
| US09372873B2 |
Browsing related image search result sets
Methods are provided for displaying image results responsive to a search query. In addition to displaying responsive results for a query, responsive results are also provided for related queries. The results are ordered along a plurality of display axes, including at least one axis corresponding to the ordering of the various search queries. The results can be displayed in an aligned or non-aligned manner. The results can then be translated along one or more of the display axes to allow a user to browse the various results. |
| US09372872B2 |
Display control apparatus, display control method, and storage medium for displaying a content of a file on a display apparatus
According to an aspect of the present invention, a display control apparatus is capable of displaying on a display apparatus a content of a plurality of files classified into a plurality of groups. If a number of files from a first file, which is a display target to the display apparatus, to a second file, which is included in a group newly determined as a display target, in the predetermined order is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the display control unit causes the display apparatus to display a content of at least one file between the first file and the second file in the predetermined order before a display target file is changed from the first file to the second file and a content of the second file is displayed. Accordingly, display of many files can be prevented from being skipped. |
| US09372870B1 |
Peer to peer code generator and decoder for digital systems and cluster storage system
A highly resilient, scalable, high-performance data storage system that stripes its content across a cluster of peer computers. Multiple peers can fail (up to the FEC level configured in the cluster) without disrupting the clients. Peer failures are detected by the cluster and all missing data is seamlessly generated so all I/O operations complete successfully. |
| US09372869B2 |
Method for intelligently categorizing data to delete specified amounts of data based on selected data characteristics
A method assigns stored documents within a distributed storage system (DSS) to various document categories to enable a target number of documents to be deleted. An intelligent storage management (ISM) utility identifies a data storage threshold value used to control data storage within the DSS. If a current storage usage exceeds the data storage threshold value, the ISM utility calculates, based on the current storage usage, a target number of documents that can be deleted from the DSS. The ISM utility utilizes a recursive process which includes assigning stored documents to groups including a set of document categories based on data characteristics of the stored documents. The ISM utility further utilizes the recursive process to delete, based on an established ordering of the groups, all of the stored documents assigned to a subset of the groups in order to remove the target number of stored documents. |
| US09372868B2 |
Efficiency of file synchronization in a linear tape file system
A mechanism is provided for improved file synchronization of a magnetic tape. A destination device determines whether one or more file checksums exist in an extended file attribute associated with an identified file. Responsive to one or more file checksums existing in the extended file attribute associated with the identified file, the destination device reads the one or more file checksums out of the extended file attribute without accessing the magnetic tape. The destination device transmits the one or more file checksums to a source device. The source device segments the data of the new file into fixed-length blocks that do not overlap one another. The source device calculates one or more new file checksums for each of the fixed-length blocks. The source device transmits the one or more new file checksums to the destination device. |
| US09372864B2 |
Online binders
Technology is disclosed for organizing, managing and sharing data files as pages of an online binder (“the technology”). In various embodiments, the technology stores multiple data files received in multiple formats from multiple sources as pages of the online binder. The pages of the online binder are of a common format. The common format allows the pages, that is, the data files corresponding to the pages, to be accessed using a variety of devices regardless of a platform of the devices. The online binder is platform agnostic. The technology provides tools to create notes for the pages of the online binder. The notes can include text annotations, drawings, or audio visual annotations, including a recording of the user actions as presented on the device of the user. The technology provides a collaboration service for sharing the online binder with multiple users asynchronously or in real-time. |
| US09372863B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for updating metadata file
The present invention discloses a method, an apparatus, and a system for updating a metadata file. The method include: sending a message to a server on a network side to request a metadata file corresponding to media presentation; receiving a metadata file returned by the server according to the message that requests the metadata file corresponding to the media presentation, where the metadata file includes information about duration of a part of described media presentation; determining update time of the metadata file according to the information about the duration of the part of described media presentation; and sending a request for updating the metadata file to the server according to the update time. |
| US09372856B2 |
Generating custom text documents from multidimensional sources of text
An example method includes receiving a multidimensional query term on one or more selected sources of text in a data source, and executing a query on the one or more selected sources of text in the data source based on the multidimensional query term. The method further includes retrieving a query result set comprising elements of text responsive to the multidimensional query term from the one or more selected sources of text in the data source, generating a custom text document based at least in part on the query result set, and providing the custom text document via an output device. |
| US09372855B1 |
Transactional control of RDBMS database definition language operations
Database Definition Language (DDL) transactions are defined that include one or more DDL operations that are to be executed to modify aspects of a relational database, such as its structure. If performance of one or more of the DDL operations in a DDL transaction fails, then the changes made to the relational database by some or all of the DDL operations may be reversed. Instructions and state information may be generated and stored prior to, during, and/or following the execution of a DDL operation that may be utilized to reverse the changes to a relational database made by the DDL operations. User interfaces might also be provided for defining, selecting, editing, and executing DDL transactions, and for providing information relating to the execution and rollback of DDL operations in a DDL transaction. |
| US09372854B2 |
Load balancing backup jobs in a virtualized storage system having a plurality of physical nodes
Systems and methods of load balancing backup jobs in a virtualized storage system having a plurality of physical nodes are disclosed. An example of a method includes receiving a backup job from a client for data on a plurality of virtualized storage nodes presented to the client as a single object. The method also includes identifying at least one property of the backup job. The method also includes directing incoming data for the backup job to a particular one of the plurality of virtualized storage nodes, selection of the particular one of the plurality of virtualized storage nodes based on the at least one property of the backup job. |
| US09372853B1 |
Homomorphic document translation
In one embodiment, a method, system, and apparatus is described for preprocessing a document to be translated by an translation service by identifying in the document information which is not to be translated, removing the not to be translated information from the document, associating each one unit of the not to be translated information with one placeholder which holds a place for the one unit of not to be translated in the document, replacing the not to be translated information with placeholders in the document, and storing the not to be translated information as metadata, sending the preprocessed document to the translation service for translation, receiving a translated version of the preprocessed document from the translation service, and postprocessing the received translated document by retrieving the stored metadata, and replacing each one of the placeholders with its associated one unit of not to be translated information. Related methods, systems, and apparatuses are also described. |
| US09372851B2 |
Creating a calendar event using context
Methods and systems are provided for creating a calendar event using context. A natural language expression including at least one of words, terms, and phrases of text may be received at a calendar event creation module from an application. The calendar event creation module may identify one or more slots in the text of the natural language expression related to the calendar event using a first grammar module and a second grammar module. The one or more slots identified by the first grammar module and the second grammar module that indicate a calendar event may be compared to determine whether there is a match between the one or more identified slots. If a match is found, at least one calendar event using the one or more slots identified by the first grammar module and the second grammar module may be created. |
| US09372847B2 |
Method, device and computer readable recording medium for preventing input error when information is inputted through touch screen
Disclosed are a method, device and computer readable recording medium for preventing an input error when information is inputted through a touch screen. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for preventing an input error when information is inputted through a touch screen, including the steps of sensing a start and a finish of a touch on the touch screen and acquiring input data corresponding to a point where the touch is finished when the finish of the touch is sensed, and performing a grammar check on the acquired input data and displaying the input data if the input data is determined to be grammatically correct. |
| US09372835B2 |
System and method for presentation creation
A system and method are provided for a network-based content management system (CMS) for creating and sharing presentation objects, and for generating revenue based on providing access to tools by which the presentation objects are created, stored and managed. In the system, a content management service includes a database that stores a presentation object, and a Web server stores a Web page including a link to the presentation object. When the Web page is displayed on a computing device that accesses the Web page via the Web, the presentation object appears as an embedded presentation. |
| US09372831B2 |
Remote starter
A remote starter transmits vehicle position information at a time of parking start to an information processor upon the parking start of a vehicle. The information processor judges whether to transmit a request for starting of the vehicle based on the vehicle position information and mobile-terminal position information upon reception of the request for starting of the vehicle and the mobile-terminal position information from a mobile terminal. |
| US09372830B2 |
System and method to analyze impairment of optical transmissions due to combined nonlinear and polarization dependent loss
A system for modeling an optical signal transmission path of an optical network. The system may include a database configured to store a loss value associated with an interplay between a first loss characteristic and a second loss characteristic, the first and second loss characteristics associated with an optical signal within the optical signal transmission path. The system may also include a path computation engine configured to receive the loss value associated with the optical signal from the database and estimate, based on the loss value, a plurality of transmission characteristics of the optical signal transmission path. |
| US09372829B1 |
Techniques for predicting user input on touch screen devices
Techniques for determining user input on a touch screen of a user device are disclosed. In some situations, the techniques include: receiving information about a user input provided to a touch screen of a user device, the touch screen displaying two or more selectable objects, wherein each of the selectable objects, if selected, initiates a response corresponding to the selection of the object, determining a selectable object among the selectable objects that has a highest likelihood of being an object that a user intended to select with the user input, and providing a response corresponding to a selection of the determined selectable object. In one situation, a selectable object is a button or a hyperlink included in a Web page displayed on the screen of the device, and the response includes content associated with the selected button or hyperlink. |
| US09372827B2 |
Migration of an existing computing system to new hardware
Software, firmware, and systems are described herein that migrate functionality of a source physical computing device to a destination physical computing device. A non-production copy of data associated with a source physical computing device is created. A configuration of the source physical computing device is determined. A configuration for a destination physical computing device is determined based at least in part on the configuration of the source physical computing device. The destination physical computing device is provided access to data and metadata associated with the source physical computing device using the non-production copy of data associated with the source physical computing device. |
| US09372824B2 |
Advanced availability detection
A method is provided in which the present invention is for a method in which a telecommunications terminal determines whether its user is available to accept an incoming invitation to participate in a telecommunications session based on: (1) a characteristic of the use of a software application, (2) a characteristic of the use of a resource of a terminal, (3) a sensor input, (4) a characteristic of the incoming invitation or (5) any combination of (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5). |
| US09372823B1 |
Controlling an access point connection
In systems and methods of controlling a connection between a wireless device and an access point, it is determined that a first wireless device is not authorized to connect to an access point of a first data network. A message is transferred to a second wireless device by a second data network requesting permission for the first wireless device to connect to the access point. A message can be received from the second wireless device granting the first wireless device permission to connect to the access point. |
| US09372822B2 |
Mathematical expression display control apparatus, mathematical expression display control method, and computer readable medium recording mathematical expression display control program
A mathematical expression display control apparatus includes a mathematical expression input unit, a mathematical expression display control unit, a cursor display control unit, an inverse number function input unit, an inverse number target detection unit and an inverse number display control unit. The mathematical expression input unit recognizes a mathematical expression. The mathematical expression display control unit displays the recognized mathematical expression on a display unit. The cursor display control unit moves and displays a cursor in the displayed mathematical expression. The inverse number function input unit recognizes an inverse number function. The inverse number target detection unit detects a chunk region of the mathematical expression as a target of the inverse number function. The inverse number display control unit replaces the detected chunk region with a fraction having the detected chunk region as a denominator and 1 as a numerator to display. |
| US09372821B2 |
Limited functionality link state protocol node
In one embodiment a limited functionality link state protocol node has one or two interfaces configured to send and receive link state protocol packets. In response to receiving, by the partially-participating link state protocol node on a first interface, a particular link state protocol data unit (LSP): sending the particular LSP from a second interface of the partially-participating link state protocol node without updating the local link state database when the second interface is currently participating in the link state protocol distribution; and sending an acknowledgment of the particular LSP from the first interface when the second interface is not currently participating in the link state protocol distribution. |
| US09372815B2 |
Estimating processor load using peripheral adapter queue behavior
Techniques for estimating processor load by using queue depth information of a peripheral adapter provides processor loading information that can be used to adapt interrupt latency to improve performance in a processing system. A mathematical function of the depth of one or more queues of the adapter is compared to its historical value in order to provide an estimate of processor load. The estimated processor load can then be used to set a parameter that controls the frequency of an interrupt generator. The mathematical function may be the ratio of the transmit queue depth to the receive queue depth and the historical value may be predetermined, user-settable, obtained during a calibration interval or obtained by taking a long-term average of the mathematical function of the queue depths. |
| US09372814B2 |
System and method for transferring an active state between a powerful processor and a less powerful processor
An information handling system includes a tablet with a processor, and a dock with a second processor that determines that the tablet is coupled to the dock, boots the dock, receives a request for the tablet to be uncoupled from the dock, creates a migration image with state information of the dock and that identifies a process running on the dock, and sends the migration image to the tablet. The first processor receives the request, boots the tablet, receives the migration image from the second processor, loads the state information to the tablet, and launches the first process. |
| US09372813B2 |
Remote-key based memory buffer access control mechanism
A system and method implementing revocable secure remote keys is disclosed. A plurality of indexed base secrets is stored in a register of a coprocessor of a local node coupled with a local memory. When it is determined that a selected base secret expired, the base secret stored in the register based on the base secret index is changed, thereby invalidating remote keys generated based on the expired base secret. A remote key with validation data and a base secret index is received from a node requesting access to the local memory. A validation base secret is obtained from the register based on the base secret index. The coprocessor performs hardware validation on the validation data based on the validation base secret. Hardware validation fails if the base secret associated with the base secret index has been changed in the register of the selected coprocessor. |
| US09372810B2 |
Collaborative caching
A method is provided for collaborative caching between a server cache (104) of a server computer (102) and an array cache (112) of a storage array (110) coupled to the server computer. The method includes collecting instrumentation data on the server cache and the array cache of the storage array and, based on the instrumentation data, adjusting the operation of at least one of the server cache and the array cache. |
| US09372807B2 |
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. |
| US09372805B2 |
Operating on translation look-aside buffers in a multiprocessor environment
An aspect includes a method for operating on translation look-aside buffers (TLBs) in a multiprocessor environment including a plurality of logical partitions as zones. The method includes concurrently receiving a first quiesce request from a first processor of a first zone to quiesce processors of a first set of zones including the first zone and receiving a second quiesce request from a second processor of a second zone to quiesce processors of a second set of zones including the second zone. The second set of zones consists of separate zones from the first set of zones. Based on receiving the first quiesce request, only processors of the first set of zones are quiesced. Based on the processors of the first set of zones being quiesced, a first operation is performed on the TLBs. Based on the first operation being performed, the processors of the first set of zones are un-quiesced. |
| US09372804B2 |
Cache memory for hybrid disk drives
A method for data storage in a data storage system, which includes a main storage device and a non-volatile memory, includes assessing quality levels of respective memory blocks of the non-volatile memory. One or more of the memory blocks whose assessed quality levels are lower than a predefined quality threshold are identified. The identified memory blocks are assigned to serve as read cache memory. Data is read from the main storage device via the read cache memory, including the assigned memory blocks. |
| US09372801B2 |
Managing a cache in a multi-node virtual tape controller
A method according to one embodiment includes outputting a first alert when a cache free space size is less than a first threshold and entering into a warning state, and outputting a second alert when the cache free space size is less than a second threshold and entering into a critical state. At least one scratch volume is deleted when in the critical state, the scratch volume chosen based on at least one of: a length of time the scratch volume has been designated scratch, a priority level of the information stored on the scratch volume, and a scratch delay value associated with the scratch volume. |
| US09372797B2 |
Adaptively enabling and disabling snooping fastpath commands
Statistical data is used to enable or disable snooping on a bus of a processor. A command is received via a first bus or a second bus communicably coupling processor cores and caches of chiplets on the processor. Cache logic on a chiplet determines whether or not a local cache on the chiplet can satisfy a request for data specified in the command. In response to determining that the local cache can satisfy the request for data, the cache logic updates statistical data maintained on the chiplet. The statistical data indicates a probability that the local cache can satisfy a future request for data. Based at least in part on the statistical data, the cache logic determines whether to enable or disable snooping on the second bus by the local cache. |
| US09372795B2 |
Apparatus and method for maintaining cache coherency, and multiprocessor apparatus using the method
Provided are an apparatus and method for maintaining cache coherency, and a multiprocessor apparatus using the method. The multiprocessor apparatus includes a main memory, a plurality of processors, a plurality of cache memories that are connected to each of the plurality of processors, a memory bus that is connected to the plurality of cache memories and the main memory, and a coherency bus that is connected to the plurality of cache memories to transmit coherency related information between caches. Accordingly, a bandwidth shortage phenomenon may be reduced in an on-chip communication structure, which occurs when using a communication structure between a memory and a cache, and communication for coherency between caches may be simplified. |
| US09372793B1 |
System and method for predictive caching
A method, computer program product, and computing system for monitoring an application being executed on a host to generate a prediction concerning a quantity of data that may be needed in the future. The quantity of data is requested from a data array coupled to the host. The quantity of data is received from the data array. The quantity of data is stored within a frontend cache system included within the host. |
| US09372792B1 |
Advanced management of a non-volatile memory
A method of managing a non-volatile memory module, the method may include: receiving data sectors during a set of at least one write transactions; selecting, out of the currently buffered portions, to-be-merged memory space portions and to-be-cleaned memory space portions; merging, for each to-be-merged memory space portion and before the buffer becomes full, data sectors that belong to the to-be-merged memory space portion into a sequential portion of the non-volatile memory module, wherein the sequential portion differs from the buffer; and copying, for each to-be-cleaned memory space and before the buffer becomes full, data sectors that belong to the to-be-cleaned memory space portion into a buffer block of the buffer. |
| US09372788B2 |
Storage system and method of adjusting spare memory space in storage system
A method includes determining a size of a recommended spare memory space of each of one or more storage nodes based on a state of the storage nodes, and adjusting a spare memory space of each of the storage nodes based on the size of the recommended spare memory space. |
| US09372787B2 |
System and method for automating testing
According to some embodiments, a method and apparatus are provided to receive browser automation code to automatically test a software application executed in a web browser and receive a first parameter to indicate a first type of web browser and a second parameter to indicate a second type of web browser. The browser automation code is executed in the first type of web browser and the browser automation code is executed in the second type of web browser. |
| US09372785B2 |
Identifying implicit assumptions associated with a software product
A framework is described herein for identifying implicit assumptions associated with an SDK and its accompanying documentation (e.g., dev guide). An implicit assumption is information that is not expressly stated in the documentation, but which would be useful in assisting an application developer in building an application. The framework also describes a systematic approach for identifying one or more vulnerability patterns based on the identified implicit assumptions. An application developer may run a test on an application that is being developed to ensure that it does not have any deficiency which matches a vulnerability pattern. |
| US09372783B2 |
Recording the core data of a computer process which provides trace data
A method, apparatus and computer program for recording the core data of a computer process, the computer process comprising trace points and core data is provided for each such trace point. A first set of core data comprising an image of a memory for the computer process is stored in response to a first set of trace data being produced for the computer process for a first trace point. A second set of core data is stored in response to a second set of trace data being produced for the computer process for a second trace, where the second set of core data comprises a record of any change in current memory contents for the computer process with respect to the first set of core data. |
| US09372780B2 |
Breakpoint continuation for stream computing
A first stream operator in a stream computing application receives and processes a first stream of tuples. The processing at the first stream operator is paused in response to receiving a first one of the tuples in the first stream that triggers a breakpoint in the first stream operator. A determination of whether a condition to release the breakpoint is met is made, and the breakpoint is released in response to determining that the condition is met. The condition to release the breakpoint may be that a count of tuples of the first stream is outside of a threshold. A second stream of tuples may be received for processing at a second stream operator. The condition to release the breakpoint may be that a count of tuples of the second stream is outside of a threshold. |
| US09372779B2 |
System, method, apparatus and computer program for automatic evaluation of user interfaces in software programs
A method includes inputting an application program to be tested to a data processing system; linking the application program to a software library; performing, in cooperation with the software library, a static analysis of a user interface of the application program, without executing the application program, to generate a set of static analysis results; performing, in cooperation with the software library, a dynamic analysis of the user interface of the application program while executing the application program to generate a set of dynamic analysis results and, based on the set of static analysis results and the set of dynamic analysis results, a step of determining if the user interface of the application program violates one or more user interface policy rules. Also disclosed is a computer program product that implements the method and a system configured to execute the computer program product in accordance with the method. |
| US09372777B2 |
Collecting and attaching a bug trace to a problem information technology ticket
Methods and arrangements for enhancing a ticket relative to user interaction with a system. An information technology ticket related to user interaction with an information technology system is received, and a system trace is activated, wherein additional input related to the user interaction with the information technology system is accepted. Information derived from the trace of the information technology system is associated with the information technology ticket. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein. |
| US09372774B2 |
Redundant computing architecture
A redundant computing architecture includes a first control unit, a second control unit, and a switch. The first control unit is configured to provide a first control signal in response to a sensory input and is further configured to provide a health status indicator that is indicative of a fault condition within the first control unit. Additionally, the second control unit is configured to provide a second control signal in response to the sensory input. Each of the first and second control signals is respectively operative to control an actuator. The switch is configured to: receive the health status indicator, the first control signal, and second control signal; provide the first control signal to the actuator if this health status indicator does not indicate a fault: and provide the second control signal to the actuator if this health status indicator does indicate a fault. |
| US09372773B2 |
User-level hardware branch records
A processor, a method and a computer-readable medium for recording branch addresses are provided. The processor comprises hardware registers and first and second circuitry. The first circuitry is configured to store a first address associated with a branch instruction in the hardware registers. The first circuitry is further configured to store a second address that indicates where the processor execution is redirected to as a result of the branch instruction in the hardware registers. The second circuitry is configured to, in response to a second instruction, retrieve a value of at least one of the registers. The second instruction can be a user-level instruction. |
| US09372767B2 |
Recovery consumer framework
A recovery consumer framework provides for execution of recovery actions by one or more recovery consumers to enable efficient recovery of information (e.g., data and metadata) in a storage system after a failure event (e.g., a power failure). The recovery consumer framework permits concurrent execution of recovery actions so as to reduce recovery time (i.e., duration) for the storage system. The recovery consumer framework may coordinate (e.g., notify) the recovery consumers to serialize execution of the recovery actions by those recovery consumers having a dependency while allowing concurrent execution between recovery consumers having no dependency relationship. Each recovery consumer may register with the framework to associate a dependency on one or more of the other recovery consumers. The dependency association may be represented as a directed graph where each vertex of the graph represents a recovery consumer and each directed edge of the graph represents a dependency. The framework may traverse (i.e., walk) the framework graph and for each vertex encountered, notify the associated recovery consumer to initiate its respective recovery actions. |
| US09372765B2 |
System and method for recovering system status consistently to designed recovering time point in distributed database
A method for recovering system status consistently to a designed recovering time point in a distributed database, wherein the distributed database comprises a primary server and multiple region servers, comprising: when the region servers detect a change of system status, analyzing an event for the change to generate an event log and storing the event log to the database; after a preset condition, the region servers generate a snapshot respectively; when the primary server receives the instruction to recover the system status to a designed time point, indicates the region servers to implement: reading the event log and snapshots stored in region servers; finding the snapshot closest to the designed time point; finding the event log and snapshot corresponding to an time interval between the time recorded in the snapshot and the designed time point to recover the system status to the designed time point. |
| US09372763B2 |
Storage control device and storage control method
A storage control device includes a processor. The processor is configured to request a plurality of disk devices storing data therein to notify the processor of degradation information on degradation of data stored in the respective disk devices. The processor is configured to instruct, based on first information among notified degradation information, the plurality of disk devices to rewrite data. The first information serves as a trigger of rewriting data. The first information is notified by at least one of the plurality of disk devices. |
| US09372761B1 |
Time based checkpoint restart
In one example of a time-based checkpoint restore method, a backup of data is commenced. Prior to completion of the backup, a failure is experienced such that only a portion of the data is backed up. A first partial saveset is created, and time and path checkpoints are identified. The backup is then retried, using the time and path checkpoints. Data backed up prior to failure is incrementally backed up, and the remaining data not already backed up is fully backed up. A second partial saveset of these backups is created and combined with the first partial saveset to create a resultant saveset that can then be used to create a full backup image that includes a full backup of the data. |
| US09372758B2 |
System and method for performing a plurality of prescribed data management functions in a manner that reduces redundant access operations to primary storage
Systems and methods are disclosed for performing a plurality of prescribed data management functions in a manner that reduces redundant access operations to primary storage, where the system includes a data management engine for performing data management functions, including at least a snapshot function and a back-up function. An electronic service level agreement (SLA) specifies a schedule for performing data management functions, where point-in-time images of data include a reference to a baseline image and difference data indicating changes at a later, specific point in time. The data management system also creates a point-in-time image of the primary storage data in response to a schedule requiring some data management functions to be performed concurrently, and communicates the difference information to secondary storage to update the back-up copy of the primary data, such that the primary storage is accessed only once for all updates to the secondary storage. |
| US09372757B2 |
Incremental block level backup
Disclosed are systems, computer-readable mediums, and methods for incremental block level backup. An initial backup of a volume is created at a backup server, where creating the initial backup includes retrieving an original metadata file from a metadata server, and retrieving a copy of all data of the volume based on the original metadata file. A first incremental backup of the volume is then created at the backup server, where creating the first incremental backup includes retrieving a first metadata file, where the first metadata file was created separately from the original metadata file. A block identifier of the first metadata file is compared to a corresponding block identifier of the original metadata file to determine a difference between the first and original block identifiers, and a copy of a changed data block of the volume is retrieved based on the comparison of the first and original block identifiers. |
| US09372754B2 |
Restoring from a legacy OS environment to a UEFI pre-boot environment
Restoring from a legacy OS environment to a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) pre-boot environment, including: storing, under the UEFI pre-boot environment, context in the UEFI pre-boot environment that needs to be preserved, where the context in the UEFI pre-boot environment that needs to be preserved includes CPU execution context; restoring a first portion of the CPU execution context in response to the UEFI pre-boot environment failing to load the legacy OS; making a CPU associated with the UEFI pre-boot environment enter into System Management Mode, and restoring a second portion of the CPU execution context under the System Management Mode; and exiting from CPU System Management Mode, thereby returning to the UEFI pre-boot environment. |
| US09372753B2 |
Protection against a failure in a computer network
It is disclosed a method for protecting a computer network against a failure. The method comprises: identifying a number of possible failures which might occur within the computer network, the number of possible failures comprising at least one possible failure; and, based on detected availability of resources in the computer network, determining a protection state of the computer network allowing to circumvent the possible failure and dynamically updating the determined protection state based on changes of the detected availability. The method further comprises, upon occurrence of the failure, if the occurred failure corresponds to the possible failure, bringing the computer network into an operative protection state corresponding to the determined and dynamically updated protection state. |
| US09372751B2 |
Free space collection in log structured storage systems
A mechanism is provided for optimizing free space collection in a storage system having a plurality of segments. A collection score value is calculated for least one of the plurality of segments. The collection score value is calculated by determining a sum, across tracks in the segment, of the amount of time over a predetermined period of time during which the track has been invalid due to a more recent copy being written in a different segment. Segments are chosen for free space collection based on the determined collection score value. |
| US09372748B2 |
Evaluating reliability of a software module using development life cycle
Reliability of one or more software modules is projected according to a current state in a development life cycle of the software modules and any of various additional indicators. Preferably, a data processing support provider separate from the service-providing enterprise maintains historical field support data concerning significant field defect events with respect to various resources, and uses this data for projecting reliability of the resources. Preferably, software module reliability projections are used to support an analysis of risk of degradation of a service specified in a service requirements specification when provided by a configuration of data processing resources specified in a configuration specification. |
| US09372745B2 |
Analytics output for detection of change sets system and method
A method, computer program product, and computer system for receiving, at a computing device, logs and traces from one or more sources. The logs and traces are analyzed for problem imprints associated with an error. A set of one or more candidate lists is generated from the logs and traces. A change set from the set of one or more candidate lists that caused the error is identified. |
| US09372742B2 |
System and method for self-healing
Provided are a system and a method for self-healing in a critical system. The present invention monitors a current situation of the critical system, determines whether a system has an error by analyzing the monitoring result, judges whether to perform self-healing in a current state or drive safety software which provides a minimum basic service according to self-healing of the system error or not when the system error occurs, and evaluates self-healing performance after healing the system error. According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to continuously provide a software service and further improve the reliability of the self-healing system through the evaluation of the self-healing performance. |
| US09372734B2 |
Outage window scheduler tool
An apparatus for determining a future outage window in which to perform work on a server may include an input for receiving historical performance data about at least one server, a non-transitory memory and a processor communicatively coupled to the input and the memory. The processor may be configured to use instructions stored in the memory to predict one or more likely future time windows to be recommended as possible outage windows in which to perform work on the server. The processor may analyze historical performance data about the at least one server to determine one or more historical time windows corresponding to low CPU utilization of the at least one server. In some cases, the processor may then predict one or more future time windows to be recommended for use as the outage window using, at least in part, the determined historical time windows. |
| US09372728B2 |
System and method for agent networks
In a network of mobile agents, data integrity can be improved by providing an agent server that can migrate between devices operating in the region of interest (ROI). The agent server distributes agent clients onto devices in the ROI and provides agent server services to the agent clients, including receiving and storing data from the agents. When the agent server device is to leave the ROI, the agent server can migrate to any device executing an agent client and continue to provide the agent server services, including data collection and aggregation, from the device to which the agent server has migrated. |
| US09372724B2 |
System and method for conditional task switching during ordering scope transitions
A data processing system includes a processor core and a hardware module. The processor core performs tasks on data packets. The hardware module stores a first ordering scope identifier at a first storage location of the ordering scope manager. The first ordering scope identifier indicates a first ordering scope that a first task is operating in. The ordering scope manager increments the first ordering scope identifier to create a new ordering scope identifier. In response to determining that the processor core is authorized to transition the first task from the first ordering scope to a second ordering scope associated with the new ordering scope identifier, the ordering scope manager provides hint information to the processor core. The processor core transitions from the first ordering scope to the second ordering scope without completing a task switch in response to the hint information. |
| US09372722B2 |
Reliable asynchronous processing of a synchronous request
Machines, systems and methods for processing a request in a client-server computing environment are provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving from a client a request submitted to a server for purpose of synchronous processing by the server; assigning the request to a first thread for processing; registering the request with a request registration system, wherein the request is assigned to the first thread for processing, in response to determining that the request is acceptable and may be processed synchronously, wherein the request is unregistered from the request registration system, in response to determining that the first thread completed processing of the request within a first timeline, and wherein an alternative thread is assigned for processing the request asynchronously, in response to determining that the first thread did not complete processing of the request within the first timeline. |
| US09372719B2 |
Information processing device for correcting procedure
An information processing device 10 of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a process function information storing means 12 for storing performance information representing performance of respective process functions executing predetermined processes, respectively; and a procedure correcting means 11 for correcting a procedure composed of the process functions so that a performance requirement representing performance required for the whole procedure is satisfied based on the performance information of the respective process functions. |
| US09372718B2 |
Virtualizable advanced synchronization facility
A system and method for executing a transaction in a transactional memory system is disclosed. The system includes a processor of a plurality of processors coupled to shared memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute a section of code, including a plurality of memory access operations to the shared memory, as an atomic transaction relative to the execution of the plurality of processors. According to embodiments, the processor is configured to determine whether the memory access operations include any of a set of disallowed instructions, wherein the set includes one or more instructions that operate differently in a virtualized computing environment than in a native computing environment. If any of the memory access operations are ones of the disallowed instructions, then the processor aborts the transaction. |
| US09372716B1 |
Download prioritization
In some examples, an electronic device includes a download manager that is configured to determine an order in which to download elements of a file based at least in part on: (i) element priorities of the respective elements of the files, and (ii) application priorities of the respective applications requesting the files. |
| US09372713B2 |
Optimizing virtual storage size in a virtual computer system based on information related to virtual machines, user inputs and/or configuration parameters
A method for optimizing virtual storage in a virtual computer system including at least one virtual machine, each virtual machine being associated with one or more virtual disks. A target set of virtual machines among the virtual machines comprised in the virtual computer system is determined based on information related to the virtual machines and on shrinking constraints. For each virtual machine in the target set of virtual machines, each virtual disk associated with the virtual machine is identified. Furthermore, for each virtual disk associated with the virtual machine, the following occurs: the virtual disk is analyzed, a virtual disk saving quantity based on the virtual disk analysis is estimated, a resized virtual disk based on the estimated virtual disk saving quantity is generated, and the current virtual disk is replaced with the resized virtual disk. |
| US09372712B2 |
Optimizing virtual storage size in a virtual computer system based on information related to virtual machines, user inputs and/or configuration parameters
A system and computer program product for optimizing virtual storage in a virtual computer system including at least one virtual machine, each virtual machine being associated with one or more virtual disks. A target set of virtual machines among the virtual machines comprised in the virtual computer system is determined based on information related to the virtual machines and on shrinking constraints. For each virtual machine in the target set of virtual machines, each virtual disk associated with the virtual machine is identified. Furthermore, for each virtual disk associated with the virtual machine, the following occurs: the virtual disk is analyzed, a virtual disk saving quantity based on the virtual disk analysis is estimated, a resized virtual disk based on the estimated virtual disk saving quantity is generated, and the current virtual disk is replaced with the resized virtual disk. |
| US09372710B2 |
Virtual machine dependency
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for describing virtual machine dependencies. In particular, data objects, such as virtual hard drives, associated with virtual machines may be identified and/or examined to identify data structures, such as configuration files, comprising configuration data. The configuration data may be analyzed to determine dependency relationships between virtual machines to describe virtual machine dependencies. Identifying virtual machine dependencies, among other things, allows virtual machines that are no longer used to be repurposed, deleted, reset, etc. with little to no adverse effect on other virtual machines. |
| US09372696B2 |
Microprocessor with compressed and uncompressed microcode memories
A microprocessor includes a plurality of memories each configured to hold microcode instructions. At least a first of the plurality of memories is configured to provide M-bit wide words of compressed microcode instructions, and at least a second of the plurality of memories is configured to provide N-bit wide words of uncompressed microcode instructions. M and N are integers greater than zero and N is greater than M. The microprocessor also includes a decompression unit configured to decompress the compressed microcode instructions after being fetched from the at least a first of the plurality of memories and before being executed. |
| US09372694B2 |
Reducing data backup and recovery periods in processors
A low-power processor that does not easily malfunction is provided. Alternatively, a low-power processor having high processing speed is provided. Alternatively, a method for driving the processor is provided. In power gating, the processor performs part of data backup in parallel with arithmetic processing and performs part of data recovery in parallel with arithmetic processing. Such a driving method prevents a sharp increase in power consumption in a data backup period and a data recovery period and generation of instantaneous voltage drops and inhibits increases of the data backup period and the data recovery period. |
| US09372693B2 |
Run-time instrumentation sampling in transactional-execution mode
Embodiments of the invention relate to implementing run-time instrumentation sampling in transactional-execution mode. An aspect of the invention includes a method for implementing run-time instrumentation sampling in transactional-execution mode. The method includes determining, by a processor, that the processor is configured to execute instructions of an instruction stream in a transactional-execution mode, the instructions defining a transaction. The method also includes interlocking completion of storage operations of the instructions to prevent instruction-directed storage until completion of the transaction. The method further includes recognizing a sample point during execution of the instructions while in the transactional-execution mode. The method additionally includes run-time-instrumentation-directed storing, upon successful completion of the transaction, run-time instrumentation information obtained at the sample point. |
| US09372686B1 |
Maintaining package repositories
A method includes resolving a new direct repository within non-transitory memory by a computing device in communication with the non-transitory memory in response to a package content update associated with a lineage of direct repositories. The method includes applying a tag to each direct repository and determining whether the tag applied to the new direct repository matches an indirection tag associated with an unresolved indirect repository. The indirection tag includes a key-value pair indicating a status of the corresponding direct repository. The method further includes resolving the indirect repository by the computing device when the tag applied to the new direct repository matches the indirection tag. The resolved indirect repository points to the new direct repository. |
| US09372675B1 |
Unified declarative model for user interfaces
In one implementation for providing a user interface of a software application, a request to enable a user to perceive the user interface of the software application may be received. A context and a user interface expression may be determined based on the request. The user interface expression may be evaluated based on the context to generate a user interface definition. The user interface definition may be provided to a user interface renderer. The user interface renderer may be configured to process the user interface definition to enable the user to perceive the user interface. |
| US09372673B2 |
Systems and methods for creating user interfaces for guiding the creation of modeling applications for forming and solving problems in a multiphysics modeling system
Systems and methods generate a modified application data structure that provides a customized modeling of physical systems in response to customized user inputs received via application feature(s) for new window form(s). The modified application data structure is generated from guided user inputs received through application builder wizard graphical user interface(s). The systems and methods include embedding a multiphysics model data structure in an initial application data structure and defining new window form(s). Window form data representing the defined new window forms is added to the initial application data structure. User-selectable application feature options are displayed in the application builder wizard graphical user interface(s) and application feature data is added to the initial application data structure to create a modified application data structure. The added application features can include data representing widget(s), form feature(s), and command sequence(s). |
| US09372671B2 |
Modeling and code generation for SQL-based data transformations
System, method and computer program product for modeling and code generation for SQL-based data transformations. A selection, by a user, of a component to include in a visual representation of a data transformation model (DTM) is received. Logic corresponding to the selected component is arranged in the DTM, wherein the selected component and the logic are compatible with a plurality of implementations of SQL. SQL code corresponding to the logic is generated, wherein the generated SQL code is specific to a selected one of the plurality of SQL implementations. Responsive to the selection, the generated SQL code is provided for rendering in association with the visual representation of the DTM including the selected component. |
| US09372669B2 |
Multiple architecture viewpoints in single unified modeling language (UML) model
A method, a system and a program product provide for defining for an information technology (IT) system that may be modeled within the context of a plurality of architecture viewpoints, and whose model elements are defined within a configuration file, a plurality of architecture viewpoints within a single UML model. The method, the system and the program product also provide for synchronously automatically updating a remainder of the architecture viewpoints when one of the architecture viewpoints is manually updated. |
| US09372667B2 |
Ontology driven requirements engineering system and method
A computer system comprising a processor and memory, wherein the system is programmed to provide a metamodel comprising a plurality of predefined fields relating to requirements engineering and ontological relationships between at least some of the predefined fields, and is programmed to prompt a user to enter information into the predefined fields in order to create a requirements specification. |
| US09372664B2 |
Comparing event data sets
A method and apparatus for comparing event data sets. A method, system and computer program for comparing event data sets comprising: calculating one or more derivatives for each event in a first and second set of events; classifying each event by the calculated derivatives; and evaluating a similarity of the first and second sets of events based on the classifications of the respective events. |
| US09372659B2 |
Modular multi-panel display system using integrated data and power cables
A modular multi-panel display system includes a mechanical support structure and a number of display panels mounted to the mechanical support structure so as to form an integrated display panel. A number of integrated data and power cables electrically the display panels to one another. The display system is cooled passively and includes no air conditioning, fans, or heating units. |
| US09372658B2 |
Display system and method
A display system includes a plurality of light emitting units configured to float in a fluid medium such that each light emitting unit is movable, each light emitting unit including a light emitting element configured to selectively emit light, a communication element operable to receive instruction data to control operation of the light emitting element; and a power element configured to provide power to at least the light emitting element, and an image capture element configured to receive light emitted by at least one light emitting unit and to generate image data based on the light received and a controller configured to generate the instruction data based at least on a comparison of the image data to a desired image and transmit the instruction data to the communication element to control the light emitting element such that the display system provides the desired image. |
| US09372655B2 |
Image display apparatus, method of driving image display apparatus, and computer readable recording medium
An image display apparatus, a method of driving the image display apparatus, and a computer readable recording medium are disclosed. The image display apparatus includes at least one operation executor configured to perform a random operation, a communication interface configured to request resource sharing to the peripheral device and to receive a result of the request in order to share resource of the peripheral device, and a controller configured to control the communication interface for the request and the reception and to control the operation executor to perform the operation according to the received result. |
| US09372653B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium
In an enlarged/reduced printout in which the document margin of an application setting is maintained, a margin considering the enlargement ratio or reduction ratio needs to be set again in the application at the time of printing. An information processing apparatus that executes the application performs the following process: a paper size and margin size for printing a document are designated. First paper information based on an original size and margin size set by the application, and second paper information based on the designated paper size and margin size, which are generated by executing a plug-in program for the application, are acquired. When printing a document to match the paper size, print data is enlarged or reduced based on the first paper information and the second paper information while the margin size set by the application is maintained. |
| US09372652B2 |
Image processing apparatus, control method, and computer program
Provided is an image processing apparatus that suspends a maintenance video being reproduced when a maintenance screen is switched from the foreground to the background upon detection of occurrence of an event. If the detected event is not an event occurred in response to a user operation, the image processing apparatus returns a reproduction start position of the suspended maintenance video from the suspended position backwards by a predetermined time. |
| US09372647B2 |
Image forming apparatus capable of printing image data associated with print right, method of controlling the same, and storage medium
An image forming apparatus capable of providing security for print right-associated image data. An image forming apparatus is capable of communicating with a management server that manages print rights. When printing image data stored in the storage section, a CPU determines whether a print right is associated with the image data. Whenever it is determined that a print right is associated with image data, the CPU makes an inquiry of the management server about print permission of the image data associated with the print right. A printer section prints an image represented by the image data when a response from the management server indicates that the image data associated with the print right is permitted to be printed. |
| US09372645B2 |
Communication device
A communication device may acquire function execution information and authentication information, and execute a first determination process. The first determination process may determine whether a state of the communication device is an executable state in which the communication device is capable of executing a specific process or a non-executable state without using the authentication information. The communication device may execute a second determination process determining whether the communication device is capable of executing the communication with a second device in a case where it is determined that the state of the communication device is the executable state, and execute the communication with the second device in a case where the communication device is capable of executing the communication. |
| US09372641B2 |
Sliding-window multi-class striping
A sequence of storage devices of a data store may include one or more stripesets for storing data stripes of different lengths and of different types. Each data stripe may be stored in a prefix or other portion of a stripeset. Each data stripe may be identified by an array of addresses that identify each page of the data stripe on each included storage device. When a first storage device of a stripeset becomes full, the stripeset may be shifted by removing the full storage device from the stripeset, and adding a next storage device of the data store to the stripeset. A class variable may be associated with storage devices of a stripeset to identify the type of data that the stripeset can store. The class variable may be increased (or otherwise modified) when a computer stores data of a different class in the stripeset. |
| US09372637B1 |
Inferring application type based on input-output characteristics of application storage resources
Operational characteristic I/O patterns of each storage volume of a storage volume group, and at least one operational characteristic of each storage volume associated with an application, are determined. Unsupervised learning is used to form clusters of storage volumes of similar characteristics. Labels are generated, assigned, and aggregated for each characteristic of each storage volume. Templates are received that includes labels of storage volume characteristics of known application types. An application type associated with the storage volume group is inferred, based on a best-fit match of the aggregate labels of the storage volumes of the storage volume group to the labels included in the templates of storage volume characteristics of known application types. |
| US09372635B2 |
Methods and apparatus for dividing secondary storage
Methods and apparatus for restricting access by one or more processors to an area of a secondary storage unit are presented herein. The methods and apparatus may comprise an independent programmable storage controller logic that divides a storage area of the secondary storage unit into at least a first area and a second area and controls usage of the areas as at least two virtual secondary storage units such that the processor(s) access the at least two virtual secondary storage units as if accessing at least two physical secondary storage units by selecting one of the at least two virtual secondary storage units as an active virtual secondary storage unit to provide the processor(s) access to the active virtual secondary storage unit based on a secondary storage unit configuration. Each virtual secondary storage unit may contain at least one region of which an access permission setting is modifiable. |
| US09372624B2 |
Control of virtual object using device touch interface functionality
A virtual object can be controlled using one or more touch interfaces. A location for a first touch input can be determined on a first touch interface. A location for a second touch input can be determined on a second touch interface. A three-dimensional segment can be generated using the location of the first touch input, the location of the second touch input, and a pre-determined spatial relationship between the first touch interface and the second touch interface. The virtual object can be manipulated using the three-dimensional segment as a control input. |
| US09372622B2 |
Method for recording a track and electronic device using the same
A method for recording a track and an electronic device using the same are provided. When the electronic device loads an operation system, the recording module is automatically enabled and enters a standby state. When a display unit of the electronic device displays an operating interface and the recording module is triggered, the recording module is switched from the standby state to an active state. When the recording module is at the active state, a drawing layer is displayed and covers the operating interface, and an input track is received via the drawing layer. When a storing command is received, the input track is stored to obtain a composite image. |
| US09372620B2 |
Portable multifunction device, method, and graphical user interface for interacting with user input elements in displayed content
A device with a touch screen display displays an electronic document that includes a respective user input element. The device detects a first input that corresponds to selection of the respective user input element that is displayed with text having a first size. In response to detecting the first input, the device enlarges the respective user input element, moves the respective user input element toward a center of a first portion of the display and displays an input interface for selecting input for the respective user input element in a second portion of the display that is different from the first portion of the display. The input interface includes a plurality of text input choices for entering text that are displayed at a second size larger than the first size. The device uses text that corresponds to a selected text input choice as input for the respective user input element. |
| US09372616B2 |
Smart interactive bookmarks
A method includes, a computer generating at least one bookmark to provide an indication of placement, the computer configuring the at least one bookmark to have multiple functions; and the computer configuring the at least one bookmark to have an image based the placement. |
| US09372607B1 |
Methods for customizing vehicle user interface displays
Methods and systems are provide access to cloud services over the Internet for customizing user interface of a vehicle. One method includes receiving a request to access a server that provides logic for defining a custom user interface for a vehicle associated with a user account. The method also includes receiving selection options for associating applications to the custom user interface. The applications including interfaces associated with functionalities of the vehicle and interfaces for connecting with internet accessible services. The method includes receiving arrangement selections for placing at least one of the interfaces at a user defined location of a display screen of the vehicle. The selection options of the associated applications and the arrangement selections defining the custom user interface for the user account. The method further includes communicating the custom user interface to memory and electronics of the vehicle over a wireless internet connection. The custom user interface is to be rendered on the display screen of the vehicle. |
| US09372602B2 |
Password presentation management
According to some embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a method for revealing at least a portion of a disguised password on a display device. The method comprises receiving a plurality of password characters typed by a user, presenting a plurality of replacement symbols in a password field displayed by a display device of a terminal having a touch surface, each the replacement symbol being indicative of the reception of another of the plurality of password characters, detecting a fingertip which slides contiguously against the touch surface, and temporarily replacing the presentation of at least some of the plurality of replacement symbols with of the presentation of at least some of the plurality of password characters in a sequential manner correspondingly with a movement of the fingertip. |
| US09372600B2 |
Screen display method and apparatus of a mobile terminal
A screen display method and apparatus of a mobile terminal is provided for changing a screen represented by an index to another screen represented by a newly selected index. A screen display method of a mobile terminal includes displaying a page represented by an index, the page including an index region having a plurality of indices and a content region displaying content corresponding to the index highlighted in the index region, selecting a new index in the index region according to a selection input, and changing the page represented by the highlighted index for a new page represented by the new index, the new page appearing in a direction from a position of the new index to a position of the highlighted index. |
| US09372589B2 |
Structured information about nodes on a social networking system
Structured information about nodes may be generated and shared using sub-nodes. A node in a social networking system may be associated with sub-nodes that are definable by the node owner, such as menu items for a restaurant or songs in playlists for an artist. Users of the system may interact with the sub-nodes, and the interactions may be presented back on the page to a user, aggregated according to the user's connections in the social networking system (e.g., which songs your friends listened to the most by the artist, which menu items were consumed the most). Users may associate other sub-nodes to the node, such as identifying other menu items served by a restaurant, and the node owner may confirm these associations. Location awareness functionalities may be used to inform a user of highly recommended sub-nodes nearby as indicated by other users of the social networking system. |
| US09372584B2 |
Mitigating electrode interference in an integrated input device
Embodiments of the present invention generally provide an integrated input device. The integrated input device includes a plurality of sensor electrode sets including a plurality of common electrode sets, a plurality of gate electrodes, and a gate selector. A processing system is configured to drive the sensor electrode sets for capacitive sensing during a plurality of sensing periods and update display lines by driving the common electrode sets during display update periods. A sensor electrode of a first sensor electrode set that is driven last during a first sensing period and a sensor electrode of a second sensor electrode set that is driven first during a second sensing period are spatially non-sequential sensor electrodes. The first display update period, second display update period, and third display update period are non-consecutive and non-overlapping with the first sensing period, the second sensing period, and the third display update period, respectively. |
| US09372578B2 |
Detection method and device for touch point, touch driving circuit, and touch screen
The present invention discloses a touch point detection method, device, a touch driving circuit and a touch panel. After determining a to-be-determined touch point among touch detection points of a touch panel, it is determined whether the to-be-determined touch point is influenced by noise of a display driving circuit according to a touch signal, a first noise value and a second noise value of touch detection points in a line where the to-be-determined touch point is located; and after it is determined that the to-be-determined touch point is influenced by the noise of the display driving circuit, it is determined whether the to-be-determined touch point is a touch point according to the second noise value and a preset first threshold value; the second noise value is the noise value of the touch driving circuit when the display driving circuit is turned on. Because it is determined whether the to-be-determined touch point is influenced by the noise of the display driving circuit before determining whether it is a touch point, it is possible to effectively identify interference of noise on the touch signals, improve signal-to-noise ratio of touch signals, and ensure accuracy of touch determining operation. |
| US09372575B2 |
Noise reduction in digitizer system
A method for noise reduction in a digitizer includes determining a location of a stylus with a known frequency of emission over a first sampling period, sampling output from a plurality of detecting elements over a second sampling period, identifying detecting elements with sampled output in the second sampling period above a defined threshold in a selected frequency, the selected frequency being close to but different than the known frequency of the stylus, selecting as a candidate carrier of mere noise a detecting element from the detecting elements identified that is spaced away from the determined location of the stylus, and reducing values of output sampled over the second sampling period from at least one other detecting element, in accordance with the output sampled over the second sampling period from the detecting element selected as the candidate carrier of mere noise. |
| US09372573B2 |
Array substrate, touch panel and driving method thereof
An array substrate, a touch panel and a driving method thereof, and a display device are disclosed. The array substrate comprises a base substrate (1) which is formed with gate lines, data lines (8), first common electrodes (5) and second common electrodes (6) thereon, and the second common electrodes (6) comprise: transverse electrode groups (601) located in the same row and metal jumper wires (302) connecting two adjacent transverse electrode groups (601) in the same row; the first common electrodes (5) comprise longitudinal electrode groups (501), and switch circuits (701, 702) are provided between the first common electrodes (5) and the data lines (8). At the touch scanning phase, the conduction of the switch circuits (701, 702) renders the parallel connection between the first common electrodes (5) and the data lines (8), and then results in the reduction of the equivalent resistance of the first common electrodes (5), and the signal-to-noise ratio of the first common electrodes (5) is indirectly enhanced, thus the present invention achieves more accurate monitoring of voltage signals coupled by touch sensing electrodes and precise positioning of a touch point. |
| US09372572B2 |
Touch locating method and optical touch system
A locating method for an optical touch system determines a center position of an indication object on a touch area of the optical touch system by an optical location means. The locating method determines a light-emitting position of a light emitter of the indication object on the touch area by receiving indication light emitted from the light emitter by two optical sensors. The locating method determines a touch position and a touch direction according to a relative relationship between the center position and the light-emitting position; therein, the touch position can be regarded as a touch point on the touch area by the indication object, and the touch direction can be regarded as a rotation angle of the indication object relative to the touch area. |
| US09372566B2 |
Touch-window
Disclosed is the structure of a touch window. The touch window includes a transparent window, a touch sensor module on one surface of the transparent window, and a transfer film layer between the transparent window and the touch sensor module. The transfer film layer is provided in the touch sensor module to remove the structure of a printed pattern, so that the conventional problems related to the flatness caused by a printing step are solved, thereby improving the adhesive efficiency and expanding the realization range of various colors. |
| US09372564B2 |
In-cell touch panel and display device
Embodiments of the present invention provide an in-cell touch panel and a display device to decrease the influence of the touch driving electrode in the in-cell touch panel on image display. The in-cell touch panel includes an upper substrate and a lower substrate opposite to each other, and includes a plurality of touch sensing electrodes provided on the upper substrate and a plurality of touch driving electrodes provided on the lower substrate, wherein the touch sensing electrodes are laterally distributed, and the touch driving electrodes are longitudinally distributed; wherein the touch sensing electrodes include one or a plurality of touch sensing sub-electrodes which are parallel to each other and distributed laterally, and the plurality of touch sensing sub-electrodes are in parallel connection therebetween. |
| US09372561B2 |
Electronic device, method of operating the same, and computer-readable medium that stores a program
An electronic device includes a touch-screen unit which includes a flat surface touch-screen region and a curved surface touch-screen region, and a body unit to which the touch-screen unit is attached. Here, the electronic device determines that a first user command is input when a border between the flat surface touch-screen region and the curved surface touch-screen region is traversed from a first direction, and determines that a second user command is input when the border between the flat surface touch-screen region and the curved surface touch-screen region is traversed from a second direction, where the second direction is opposite to the first direction. |
| US09372555B2 |
Managing interactions between computer users' context models
Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is represented with multiple attributes. In some situations, the providing includes a first computer receiving indications of multiple characterization modules, each characterization module executing on a computer to model an aspect of a current state related to that computer; receiving an indication of one of the multiple attributes of the represented current state; determining multiple of the characterization modules whose modeled aspects are related to the indicated one attribute; and gathering information about the modeled aspects related to the indicated one attribute from the determined characterization modules so that a value for the indicated one attribute can be generated based on the gathered information. |
| US09372551B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes: a light source that irradiates light; a switching unit that switches a direction of the light irradiated by the light source to one of a plurality of predetermined directions; a light guiding unit that guides the light whose direction is switched by the switching unit and that travels in one of the plurality of directions to a position predetermined for each of the directions; and a light sensor that, in a case where an object is in the predetermined position, measures light reflect by the object out of the light guided to the position by the light guiding unit. |
| US09372549B2 |
Pointing method, a device and system for the same
The invention shows a method to control a pointing device with an angular, rate sensor, that comprises generating an ensemble of orthogonal unit vector associated signals by at least one angular rate sensor to represent angular rates in a dimensional space for each mutually orthogonal unit vector direction of said dimensional space, amplifying the at least one of said signal non-linearly for determination of cursor on a screen for (x,y) coordinates of the screen, applying a decision criterion to determine the state of the pointing device as based on said unit vector associated signals. The invention also shows a pointer utilizing the method and a system comprising such a pointer. |
| US09372542B2 |
Terminal and method for setting menu environments in the terminal
An apparatus and method for setting a menu environment in a mobile terminal are provided. The apparatus includes a controller for switching to an environment setting mode of a menu according to a type of a gesture having occurred on the menu. |
| US09372541B2 |
Gesture recognition system operability verification
A gesture recognition system and method verifies the operability of the gesture system by providing a test target that is configured to generate a test stimulus that is recognizable by the gesture recognition system. The test stimulus from the test target is received and processed in the gesture recognition system to generate a test response. The processor verifies that the test response corresponds to the test stimulus. |
| US09372539B2 |
Method for actuating a tactile interface layer
A method for actuating a tactile interface layer for a device that defines a surface with a deformable region, comprising the steps of detecting a gesture of the user along the surface of the tactile interface layer that includes a movement of a finger of the user from a first location on the surface to a second location on the surface; interpreting the gesture as a command for the deformable region; and manipulating the deformable region of the surface based on the command. |
| US09372529B1 |
Storage device selectively utilizing power from a host and power from an AC adapter
A storage device including a first switch unit configured to allow power to be received by the storage device from an AC adapter, and to prevent power from being received by the storage device from the AC adapter, and a storage controller. The storage controller can be configured to place the storage device in a first operating mode or a second operating mode, wherein the second operating mode is a reduced power state relative to the first operating mode, and control the first switch unit to allow power to be received by the storage device from the AC adapter when the storage device is in the first operating mode, and to prevent power from being received by the storage device from the AC adapter when the storage device is in the second operating mode. |
| US09372528B2 |
Universal serial bus (USB) 3.0 compatible host with lower operation power consumption and method for reducing operation power consumption of a USB 3.0 compatible host
A USB 3.0 host with low power consumption includes a super speed circuit, a non-super speed circuit, and a control module. The super speed circuit is used for transmitting data at a first transmission speed. A default state of the super speed circuit is turning-off. The non-super speed circuit is used for transmitting data at a second transmission speed, a third transmission speed, or a fourth transmission speed. The first transmission speed is faster than the second transmission speed, the third transmission speed, and the fourth transmission speed. The control module is used for detecting whether a USB peripheral device is connected to the USB 3.0 host, and controlling turning-on and turning-off of the super speed circuit. |
| US09372527B2 |
Data access management apparatus and data access management method
The disclosure provides a data access management method and a data access management apparatus which includes an enabling signal generating unit for generating an enabling signal according to a processing signal, a power supplying unit for generating a voltage signal according to the enabling signal, at least a first storage unit for storing a plurality of pieces of data and staying in a standby state or a disable state according to the voltage signal, and a first processing unit. Each piece of data respectively has an access time. The first processing unit calculates a non-access proportion of the data not been accessed for a preset time, according to the access times and then determines whether the non-access proportion is larger than a preset proportion, to generate the processing signal for controlling the at least storage unit to stay in the disable state or the standby state. |
| US09372525B2 |
Media content caching
A playback device includes tangible storage configured to receive transfer of media content from a remote communications device to the playback device while the remote communications device is operating in a high power mode. Interface logic is coupled to the tangible storage and configured to signal the remote communications device during the transfer to prepare the remote communications device to enter a low power mode after the transfer is complete. The remote communications device includes a content manager configured to transfer of media content from the remote communications device to a playback device while the remote communications device is operating in a high power mode. Power logic is coupled to the content manager and configured to prepare the remote communications device to enter a low power mode after the transfer is complete, responsive to receipt of a signal from the playback device during the transfer is complete. |
| US09372524B2 |
Dynamically modifying a power/performance tradeoff based on processor utilization
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a multicore processor having a power controller with logic to dynamically switch a power management policy from a power biased policy to a performance biased policy when a utilization of the processor exceeds a threshold level. Thus at low utilizations, reduced power consumption can be realized, while at higher utilizations, greater performance can be realized. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09372523B2 |
Calculating amount of power consumed by a user's application in multi-user computing environment basing upon counters information
The processing unit calculates usage amount of a program from a used amount of the processing unit and a power amount of the processing unit. The processing unit initializes a performance counter at a start of a execution of the program, calculates power amount of the program from the measured power consumption stored in the storage unit and the number of times of each event counted by the performance counter at a completion of execution of the program, and calculates usage of the program from the usage amount of the processing unit and calculated the power amount. |
| US09372521B2 |
Systems and methods for providing auxiliary reserve current for powering information handling systems
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing auxiliary reserve current to power a system load of an information handing system using an auxiliary energy storage power source as an energy cache to selectably provide auxiliary reserve current to at least partially supplement the normal operating power supply (e.g., battery pack, AC adapter, AC/DC power source, etc.) of an information handling system during temporary times of increased current need by the system load of the information handling system. |
| US09372519B2 |
Dynamic power distribution
According to one embodiment, a method for dynamically sharing power grids of a device includes providing power from a first power supply to a first power grid in a first component of the device. The method also includes providing power from a second power supply to a second power grid in a second component of the device and dynamically changing, by a controller, a state of a first switch that controls a sharing of power between the first power grid and the second power grid during a runtime of the device. |
| US09372518B1 |
Power distribution system with rack power distribution unit
A power distribution system for a data center includes a transformer that transforms three-phase source power to three-phase operating power. The phase-to-neutral operating voltage for each phase is at least about 260 volts. Power distribution units are coupled to the transformer. The power distribution units supply operating power from the transformer to computer systems in the data center. |
| US09372517B2 |
Micro-controller reset system and reset method thereof
A reset system comprises an enable circuit, a buck converter and a reset circuit. The enable circuit is connected to a system power source. When a voltage of the system power source is greater than a first voltage, the enable circuit outputs an enable signal with a steep leading edge. The buck converter converts the system power source to a micro-controller power source according to the enable signal. The reset circuit is connected to the system power source and the micro-controller power source. When a voltage of the system power source is less than a second voltage, the reset circuit outputs a reset signal to reset the micro-controller. The first voltage is smaller than the second voltage. |
| US09372515B2 |
Heat and airflow management in a data storage device
A chassis sub-assembly for computing devices includes a first heat sink plate and a second heat sink plate. The first heat sink plate includes a first plurality of perforations and the second heat sink plate includes a second plurality of perforations. The chassis sub-assembly also includes a first computing device and a second computing device. Each of the first and second computing devices is positioned between the first heat sink plate and the second heat sink plate. The first and second computing devices are in contact with both the first and second heat sink plates, and define a channel gap between the first and second computing devices. At least some of the first and second plurality of perforations are aligned with the channel gap. The first plurality of perforations, the channel gap, and the second plurality of perforations define an airflow channel. |
| US09372509B2 |
Touch panel
A touch panel includes a substrate, first electrodes, second electrodes, third electrodes, and fourth electrodes. The substrate includes a first touch region, a second touch region, and a first touch folding region disposed between the first touch region and the second touch region. The first electrodes extending from the first touch region to the first touch folding region and the second electrodes are disposed in the first touch region on the substrate. The third electrodes extending from the second touch region to the first touch folding region and the fourth electrodes are disposed in the second touch region on the substrate. The first electrodes and the third electrodes are not intersected with one another. A ratio of any side length of the touch panel to a distance between the first touch region and the second touch region is between 9.5 and 95. |
| US09372508B2 |
Flexible display device and method for the same capable of reducing accidental contact-induced malfunctions
A flexible display device includes a base, a flexible display panel, a detecting unit and a control unit. The flexible display includes a touch control unit that could be exposed outside of or received within the base. The detecting unit is used to detect the operating state of the flexible display panel. Then, the control unit controls the touch control unit according to a detected result of the detecting unit. Accordingly, the flexible display device according to the present invention may effectively reduce the accidental contact-induced malfunctions. |
| US09372507B2 |
Adjustable support and a mobile computing device having an adjustable support
A support that is selectively adjustable to a plurality of configurations that enable a variety of viewing/user orientations of a mobile device. The mobile device includes a display, a back panel, a support positioned at the back panel, and adjustment members pivotally connected to respective outer ends of the support and mounted at the back panel to facilitate linear, reciprocating movement along an axis so as to change the relative orientation of the support relative to the back panel. |
| US09372503B1 |
Clock signal alignment for system-in-package (SIP) devices
A method embodiment of the present disclosure includes receiving a delay value associated with an interconnect delay that is measured across interconnect circuitry communicatively coupling a host semiconductor device with a semiconductor device. The method also includes delaying a local clock signal by an amount of delay indicated by the delay value to produce a delayed local clock signal. The method also includes receiving a delayed source clock signal, where the delayed source clock signal is received from the host semiconductor device via the interconnect circuitry. The method also includes outputting a master clock signal based on a comparison of the delayed source clock signal and the delayed local clock signal, where the master clock signal is utilized to generate one or more aligned clock signals on the semiconductor device that are aligned with a source clock signal generated on the host semiconductor device. |
| US09372501B2 |
Block aligner-based dead cycle deskew method and apparatus
A method and apparatus to deskew dead cycles is described using a block aligner. In one example a method includes receiving a sequence of bytes into a first buffer from each lane of a multiple lane peripheral device bus and receiving the sequence of bytes into a second buffer delayed one clock cycle from the first buffer. The method further includes providing the sequence of bytes from the first buffer to an output buffer, counting clock cycles of data as the data is received into the first and second buffers, upon reaching a predetermined count, inserting a dead cycle into the output buffer, and after inserting the dead cycle providing the sequence of bytes from the second buffer instead of the first buffer to the output buffer. |
| US09372499B2 |
Low insertion delay clock doubler and integrated circuit clock distribution system using same
A clock doubler includes a first NAND gate having a first input for receiving a clock input signal and a second input, a second NAND gate having a first input and a second input for receiving a complement of the clock input signal, an output NAND gate having a first and second inputs coupled to outputs of the first and second NAND gates, respectively, and an output for providing a clock output signal, an inverter chain having an input for receiving the clock input signal and responsive to first and second control signals to selectively provide a first true output to the first input of the second NAND gate, and a second complementary output to the second input of the first NAND gate, and a control signal generation circuit providing the first and second control signals in response to the outputs of the first and second NAND gates. |
| US09372490B1 |
System and method for distributed voltage regulator-gating
A system and method for adaptive activity management of on-chip voltage regulators based upon the workload information is provided to force each on-chip regulator to operate in its most power-efficient load current. In the proposed regulator-gating technique, regulators are adaptively turned ON when the current demand is high and turned OFF when the current demand is low to improve the voltage conversion efficiency. With the proposed regulator-gating system and method, the overall voltage conversion efficiency from the battery or off-chip power supply to the output of the on-chip voltage regulators experiences an approximately 3 times improvement over the prior art techniques. |
| US09372489B2 |
Voltage regulator having a temperature sensitive leakage current sink circuit
Provided is a voltage regulator including a leakage current sink circuit capable of suppressing an influence of a leakage current of an output transistor at high temperature, and reducing power consumption of the voltage regulator at normal temperature. The voltage regulator includes: a reference voltage circuit configured to output a reference voltage; an output transistor configured to output an output voltage; a voltage divider circuit configured to divide the output voltage to output a feedback voltage; an error amplifier circuit configured to amplify a difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, and output the amplified difference to control a gate of the output transistor; and a leakage current sink circuit connected to an output terminal and configured to be prevented from operating at normal temperature, and suppress an influence of a leakage current from the output transistor only at high temperature. |
| US09372488B1 |
Method and apparatus for managing oxygen generating system
A controller device for managing an oxygen generating system. The controller device is configured to: receive a first pressure signal associated with a first pressure; determine the first pressure to be less than or equal to a startup threshold pressure, said first pressure associated with a pressure of an oil-less tank; send a signal to switch a first circuit on, said first circuit for providing electrical power to a bank of oxygen generators; send a signal to switch a second circuit on, said second circuit for providing electrical power to an oil-less air compressor; receive a second pressure signal associated with a second pressure; determine the second pressure to be greater than or equal to a shutoff threshold pressure, said second pressure associated with a pressure of the oil-less tank; send a signal to switch the first circuit off; and send a signal to switch the second circuit off. |
| US09372487B2 |
Fluidic actuator
The invention relates to a fluidic actuator comprising a drive element (2) that can be supplied with a pressure fluid and a two-stage proportional position controller (3) controlling the supply with pressure fluid to the drive element, said actuator comprising an electro-fluidic pilot stage (10) of the position controller, exactly one electromechanical transducer (14) and exactly one proportional valve (16) actuated by said transducer and having a pressure fluid inlet (18), a control pressure outlet (19) and a discharge outlet (20). A fluidic power stage (11) of the position controller comprises two poppet valves (24, 25) having associated pressure-to-distance converters that are supplied by a common control chamber (34) which is connected to the control pressure outlet (19) of the pre-stage (10). |
| US09372485B2 |
Flow rate control device
A flow rate control device, including: a body including first and second ports for supplying and discharging pressurized fluid; a set of first and second solenoid valves connected to an upper part of the body and selecting a state of flow of the pressurized fluid; and an opening/closing valve for increasing a flow rate of the pressurized fluid which flows as the result of selection by the first and second solenoid valves. The pressurized fluid is caused to flow from the first port to the second port at a predetermined flow rate while the opening/closing valve is closed, and then the flow rate of the pressurized fluid flowing from the first port to the second port is increased by opening the opening/closing valve. |
| US09372482B2 |
Predictive analysis for remote machine monitoring
Methods for predicting a machine event are described. In one aspect, a method includes receiving data for current events for the machine, and determining whether the data for the current events is within operational limits. The method also includes, when the data for the current events is within operational limits, determining, using a predetermined model, whether an anomaly exists, and generating an alert including information on the anomaly when the anomaly exists. Systems and machine-readable media are also described. |
| US09372476B2 |
System construction supporting apparatus and system configuration diagram creating method
A system construction supporting apparatus searches through, when receiving an input for arranging a component on the system configuration diagram anew, association information in which combinations among components connectable to one another are described and extracts a component connectable to a component selected by the input, connects a display object of the selected component and a display object of the extracted component each other and arranges the display objects, and independently moves, when receiving an input for moving one of a plurality of display objects connected to one another and arranged on the system configuration diagram (Yes at step S53), the display object designated by the input while deforming a connection line connecting the display object designated by the input and another display object connected to the display object while maintaining a connection relation between the display objects by the connection line (steps S60 to S62). |
| US09372475B2 |
Wireless control system
In a lighting system, each lamp has a wireless circuit that realizes: a time measuring unit measuring the elapsed time period since the lamp is turned on by a wall switch; a specifying unit specifying a plurality of electrical devices wired to the wall switch according to the elapsed time period measured by each time measuring unit; an identification information assigning unit assigning same identification information to the plurality of lamps specified by the specifying unit as being wired to the same wall switch; and a registration unit registering a Net-ID of a remote control. |
| US09372474B2 |
External piece for a timepiece and system of manufacturing the same
An external piece for a time piece and a method of manufacturing the same, including a top surface and a bottom surface. At least one of the faces includes a longitudinal curvature and a transverse curvature that are different. |
| US09372472B2 |
System for order alignment of diffractively produced images
A system for order alignment of diffractively produced images is provided. The system comprises: a diffractive spatial light modulator (DSLM) configured to provide a computer generated hologram of an image; a substantially coherent light source configured to illuminate the DSLM which responsively produces the image along each of different diffractive order paths; and, at least one set of optical components located along respective diffractive order paths of the DSLM, the at least one set of optical components configured to align at least one respective image diffracted from the DSLM with at least another diffracted image at a common image plane. |
| US09372464B2 |
Sheet conveyance device, image reading device, and image forming apparatus
A sheet conveyance section (1) includes a roller (3a), a roll (3b), and a pressing member (5). The roller (3a) and the roll (3b) carry a sheet (P) by sandwiching the sheet P. The pressing member (5) presses the roll (3b) against the roller (3a). The roll (3b) is supported so as to be movable independently of the pressing member (5) on condition that the pressing by the pressing member (5) is released. |
| US09372461B2 |
Determination apparatus for determining type of recording medium
A transmission unit transmits an ultrasonic wave by a drive signal being supplied to two terminals. A reception unit receives the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmission unit and to output a reception signal from two terminals in accordance with the received ultrasonic wave. A change unit changes a determination scheme for determining a type of a recording medium, based on information indicating a relation between a polar character of the transmission unit and a polar character of the reception unit, the information having been acquired from the reception signal. |
| US09372457B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a pressuring member, a heat source, a pressing member, a heating stop device, shape restricting members and biasing members. The fixing belt is provided to be rotatable around a rotation axis. The pressing member is provided to be rotatable and to come into pressure contact with the fixing belt so as to form a fixing nip. The heat source heats the fixing belt. The pressing member presses the fixing belt to a side of the pressuring member. The heating stop device faces an outer circumferential face of the fixing belt and to operate at an operating temperature so as to stop the heat source from heating the fixing belt. The shape restricting members are attached to both end parts of the fixing belt and restricts a shape of the fixing belt. |
| US09372456B2 |
Fixing apparatus
A fixing apparatus includes a nip forming member that contacts an inner surface of a tubular film and forms a nip together with a roller via the film. The roller has a region where a diameter of the roller gradually increases in a direction from a center to each of ends of the roller with respect to a generatrix direction of the film. The nip forming member has a protruding portion, protruding toward the roller and extending in the generatrix direction, that is provided on at least one of an upstream side and a downstream side in the nip in a conveying direction of the recording material. Ends of the protruding portion in the generatrix direction are positioned at a larger distance from a center of the nip in the conveying direction than a central of the protruding portion in the generatrix direction. |
| US09372449B1 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus including the same
A peripheral surface of a pressing roller in a fixing device has a pair of drive transmission surface portions and a paper passing surface portion. The drive transmission surface portions are respectively formed at both end portions of the pressing roller in an axial direction to transmit rotational driving force of the pressing roller to the fixing belt. The paper passing surface portion is positioned between the pair of drive transmission surface portions and has a dynamic friction coefficient lower than that of the drive transmission surface portion. It is determined whether a slip of the fixing belt occurs based on a difference between temperatures detected by a first temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the drive transmission surface portion and a second temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the paper passing surface portion. Thereby, even a slight slip of the fixing belt 42 is reliably detected. |
| US09372447B2 |
Cleaner for rotary fixing member, image forming apparatus incorporating the cleaner, and image forming method executed by the image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a rotary fixing member cleaner that includes a freely rotatable rotary unwinding member, around which a cleaning web winds, a rotary winding member to wind the cleaning web thereon from one end thereof, and a load applicator to apply a load to the cleaning web unwound from the rotary unwinding member. The rotary fixing member cleaner removes any unnecessary substance adhering to an outer circumferential surface of the rotary fixing member therefrom by unwinding and moving the cleaning web from the rotary unwinding member in an opposite direction to a direction of movement of the outer circumferential surface of the rotary fixing member at a contacting point at which the cleaning web contacts the outer circumferential surface of the rotary fixing member. The load applicator presses against the cleaning web winding around the rotary unwinding member at a prescribed angular contact position. |
| US09372445B2 |
Image forming apparatus
In a constitution provided with no primary-transfer roller, in order to ensure a contact length between each of photosensitive drums and an intermediary transfer belt, the photosensitive drums are disposed with projecting amounts of a plurality of levels with respect to a stretching surface of the intermediary transfer belt, and therefore an apparatus is liable to be increased in a height direction. In order to avoid this, four image bearing members are arranged, along the intermediary transfer belt, with the same projection amount with respect to the stretching surface of the intermediary transfer belt, and a depressing member for depressing a belt surface between two central image bearing members toward an outside is provided. |
| US09372443B2 |
Developing device and image forming apparatus including same
A developing device includes a developing container, a toner carrier, and a plurality of air outlet ports. The plurality of air outlet ports are formed in such part of a wall of the developing container as faces the toner carrier, along a longitudinal direction of the developing container, the air outlet ports communicating with a duct next to the developing container. The toner carrier includes a coat layer on the outer circumferential surface thereof. The coat layer is formed by dripping the toner carrier into a resin coating liquid with one end in the longitudinal direction thereof first, the one end being a lower end of during the dipping, and then lifting the toner carrier out of the resin coating liquid. The toner carrier is arranged such that the lower end of during the dipping is disposed on an upstream side with respect to an airflow direction in the duct. |
| US09372441B1 |
Image forming apparatus
In accordance with an embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a toner cartridge, a toner recovery container, a toner cartridge inserting section and a toner recovery container inserting section. The toner cartridge houses the toner to be supplied to a photoconductor. The toner recovery container houses the toner recovered from the photoconductor at least. The toner cartridge inserting section is used to insert the toner cartridge detachably. The toner recovery container inserting section is used to insert the toner recovery container detachably. The toner recovery container is detachably inserted into the toner cartridge inserting section to supply the toner in the toner recovery container to the photoconductor. |
| US09372439B2 |
Developing device and image forming apparatus
A developing device includes a developing member, a toner supplying member, and a carrier recovering member configured to recover magnetic carrier particles from the toner supplying member. An outer surface of the toner supplying member includes a plurality of protrusion portions with a regular interval between adjacent protrusion portions. The regular interval is equal to or larger than a particle diameter of a toner particle having an average particle diameter from among the particle diameters of the toner particles and smaller than a carrier particle diameter of a magnetic carrier particle having an average particle diameter from among the particle diameters of the magnetic carrier particles. The protrusion portions protrude from the remainder of the outer surface of the toner supplying member with a height that is smaller than the average particle diameter of the toner particles. |
| US09372437B2 |
Developing device having developer coating regulation
A developing device includes a developer sleeve, a regulating portion including an edge portion at a closest position to a surface of the sleeve or a flat portion tilted, at the closest position, by an angle of 2 degrees or less relative to a contact flat plane contacting the surface of the sleeve, and a rectifying portion connected with the edge or flat portion. The rectifying portion has a concavely curved surface such that a rate of a decrease in a gap between the rectifying portion and the contact flat plane increases toward a downstream side of the developer feeding direction and is formed by smoothly connecting rectilinear or curved lines each of 0.2 mm or less except for the edge portion so that the gap between the rectifying portion and the contact flat plane monotonically decreases toward the downstream side of the developer feeding direction. |
| US09372434B2 |
Image forming apparatus with lubricated developer carrying member
An image forming apparatus configured to form an image with developer includes an image bearing member configured to bear an image of the developer, a developer carrying member configured to carry the developer to supply the developer to the image bearing member, and a developer supplying member configured to supply the developer to the developer carrying member. At least a part of a surface of the developer carrying member is coated with lubricant charged to the same polarity as the developer, and an absolute value of a charge amount per unit mass of the lubricant is larger than that of the developer. The image forming apparatus executes a first sequence of applying a potential difference between the developer supplying member and the developer carrying member before image formation to form an electric field to suppress movement of the charged lubricant from the developer carrying member to the developer supply member. |
| US09372431B2 |
Scanning optical apparatus, image forming apparatus and method for manufacturing a scanning lens
In a scanning optical apparatus including a light source, a light deflector having a reflecting surface, and a single scanning lens, a light flux deflected in a main scanning direction is focused on an image surface. The reflecting and image surfaces are conjugate to each other with respect to a sub scanning direction, Bmax×Bmin>0, and Dmax×Dmin<0 where Bmax and Bmin are a maximum value and a minimum value, respectively, of paraxial focal points, Dmax and Dmin are a maximum value and a minimum value, respectively, of midpoints of focal depth in the sub scanning plane, the values being determined with reference to the image surface, wherein the value of the image surface is 0 and the values on a farther-from-the-scanning-lens side behind the image surface have positive values. |
| US09372428B2 |
Charging member and method for manufacturing the same
Provided is a charging member having a rough surface, thereby suppressing adhesion of dirt on the surface. A charging member having a supporting member, an elastic layer and a surface layer, in which the surface layer contains a polymer compound, which has a Si—O-M bond and at least one structural unit selected from structural units represented by the following general formula (1) and the following general formula (2), and has a structural unit represented by the following general formula (3); the charging member has cracks developing from the surface thereof and reaching the elastic layer; and the cracks each have convexly raised edges, by which the surface thereof is roughened. MO4/2 General formula (1) |
| US09372427B1 |
Cleaning member, assembled member, and image forming apparatus
Provided is a cleaning member, including a shaft portion, a foam elastic layer that is disposed helically from one end side in an axial direction to the other end side in the axial direction on an outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion, and an adhesive layer that adheres the shaft portion to the foam elastic layer, wherein the foam elastic layer is subjected to a compression process in a radial direction of the shaft portion at a portion of a circumferential direction at an end portion in the axial direction of the shaft portion, and a circumferential direction coverage width of a non-compressed region at the end portion in the axial direction which is subjected to the compression process is wider than a circumferential direction coverage width at a center portion in the axial direction of the shaft portion. |
| US09372426B2 |
Ferrite particle having outer shell structure, ferrite carrier core material for electrophotographic developer, and electrophotographic developer
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ferrite particle having a low apparent density, and being capable of maintaining various properties thereof in controllable states and filling a fixed volume in a small weight thereof, a ferrite carrier core material and a ferrite carrier for an electrophotographic developer using the ferrite particle, and the like. In order to achieve the object, there are employed the ferrite particle having a porous structure in the interior thereof and an outer shell structure on the outer periphery thereof, the ferrite carrier core material and the ferrite carrier for an electrophotographic developer using the ferrite particle, and an electrophotographic developer using the ferrite carrier. |
| US09372425B2 |
Curable sublimation toner and sublimation transfer process using same
A transfer printing method including applying a curable sublimation toner having at least one curable component and at least one sublimation colorant in a desired pattern onto a transfer substrate to form an image on the transfer substrate at a first temperature which is below the sublimation temperature of the sublimation colorant; wherein the curable sublimation toner is a conventional toner or a chemical toner; and wherein the curable sublimation toner includes at least one curable amorphous resin and optionally, a crystalline resin; curing the image on the transfer substrate; and optionally, bringing the transfer substrate into contact with a final image-receiving substrate, optionally applying pressure, and heating to a second temperature which is sufficient to cause the sublimation colorant to sublime and form a permanent image on the final image-receiving substrate. |
| US09372421B2 |
System and method for conventional particle rounding utilizing continuous emulsion-aggregation (EA) technology
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a continuous process for rounding conventional toner particles includes forming a conventional toner particle slurry by mixing a dispersant and/or a liquid with dry toner particles, heating the conventional toner particle slurry to a first temperature beyond its glass transition temperature to form a coalesced toner particle slurry, quenching the coalesced toner particle slurry to a second temperature below the glass transition temperature after a residence time has elapsed, and recovering the quenched particle slurry at an outlet wherein the circularity of the conventional toner particles in the quenched toner particle slurry is from approximately 0.940 to 0.999 and the time frame for the heating, quenching and recovering steps is less than 20 minutes. An apparatus for practicing the novel continuous coalescence of toner particles, includes an inlet passage, a first heat exchanger coupled to the inlet passage, a residence time coil coupled to the first heat exchanger, a cooling device coupled to the residence time coil; and an outlet passage coupled to the cooling device. |
| US09372416B2 |
Method for manufacturing electrophotographic photosensitive member
A method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photosensitive member using plasma CVD includes steps of placing a cylindrical base member in a reactor which can be evacuated, the reactor having an electrode therein, so as to be spaced apart from the electrode, introducing a raw material gas for deposited film formation into the reactor, and applying an alternating voltage of a rectangular wave having a frequency in the range of 3 kHz to 300 kHz between the electrode and the cylindrical base member so that a potential at one of the electrode and the cylindrical base member with respect to a potential at the other becomes alternately positive and negative, to decompose the raw material gas, and forming a deposited film on the cylindrical base member. The magnitude of the potential difference between the electrode and the cylindrical base member is selectively controlled. |
| US09372415B2 |
Apparatus for removing solvent and photolithography apparatus using the same
A solvent removing apparatus is disclosed. One aspect includes a chamber, a first pump, a silencer, a valve, and a discharge unit. The chamber dries a coating layer formed on a substrate. The first pump intakes a solvent evaporated from the coating layer of the chamber and discharges the inhaled solvent. The silencer reduces discharge noise of the first pump and accommodates a liquefied solvent of the evaporated solvent provided from the first pump. The valve discharges the liquefied solvent accommodated in the silencer. The discharge unit discharges the evaporated solvent provided by the silencer. |
| US09372414B2 |
Exposure method and device manufacturing method measuring position of substrate stage using at least three of four encoder heads
In an exposure method of exposing a substrate with an energy beam via a projection optical system, a movable body that holds the substrate is driven to move the substrate. Positional information of the movable body is measured with an encoder system by irradiating each of four areas of a grating section with a beam via each of four heads. Driving of the movable body is controlled based on the positional information measured by the encoder system. As the movable body moves, a relationship between the grating section and the heads changes between a first state, in which the four heads respectively face the four areas, and a second state, in which only three of the heads respectively face three areas of the four areas. At least three areas of the four areas are always faced by three of the heads at least during substrate exposure. |
| US09372413B2 |
Optical apparatus for conditioning a radiation beam for use by an object, lithography apparatus and method of manufacturing devices
In an EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography apparatus, an illumination system includes a multifaceted field mirror and a multifaceted pupil mirror. A field facet mirror within mirror focuses EUV radiation onto a particular associated pupil facet mirror, from where it is directed to a target area. Each field facet mirror is modified to scatter unwanted DUV (deep ultraviolet) radiation into a range of directions. The majority of DUV falls onto neighboring pupil facet mirrors within the pupil mirrors, so that the amount of DUV radiation reaching target E is suppressed in comparison to the wanted EUV radiation. Because the distance between mirrors is much greater than the width of an individual pupil facet mirror, good DUV suppression can be achieved with only a narrow scattering angle. Absorption of EUV radiation in the scattering layer can be minimized. |
| US09372409B2 |
Exposure apparatus, control method thereof, and device fabrication method
An exposure apparatus advantageous for reducing the driving time of a stage is provided. In the apparatus, an input of an arrangement of exposure shots and an exposure order are received. An input of an upper limit acceleration value and an upper limit velocity value of the stage are received. A target locus of the stage is created using constrained-quadratic-linear programming such that the driving time of the stage from the end of an exposure to the start of the next exposure is within an acceptable value range, based on the input arrangement of exposure shots and exposure order, and the input upper limit acceleration value and upper limit velocity value. A driving unit that drives the stage is controlled based on the created target locus. |
| US09372406B2 |
Film portion at wafer edge
A film layer on a substrate of the wafer is patterned to form a first plurality of areas of the film layer and a second plurality of areas of the film layer. The first plurality of areas of the film layer is removed. The second plurality of areas of the film layer is kept on the substrate. A first portion of the film layer is kept on the substrate. A first edge of the first portion of the film layer is substantially near an edge of the wafer. The first portion of the film layer defines a boundary for the wafer. |
| US09372404B2 |
Organic film composition, method for forming organic film and patterning process using this, and heat-decomposable polymer
The invention provides an organic film composition comprises (A) a heat-decomposable polymer, (B) an organic solvent, and (C) an aromatic ring containing resin, with the weight reduction rate of (A) the heat-decomposable polymer from 30° C. to 250° C. being 40% or more by mass. There can be provided an organic film composition having not only a high dry etching resistance but also an excellent filling-up or flattening characteristics. |
| US09372401B2 |
Method of forming micropatterns
A method of forming micropatterns separated over a misalignment margin includes forming a first mold pattern including a main pattern and a separation-assist pattern, forming a first spacer mask having a first width around the first mold pattern, forming a second mold pattern using the first spacer mask as an etch mask, forming a second spacer mask having a second width around the second mold pattern, and forming a target pattern using the second spacer mask as an etch mask. |
| US09372399B2 |
Imprint lithography method and imprintable medium
An imprint lithography method is disclosed for reducing a difference between an intended topography and an actual topography arising from a part of a patterned layer of fixed imprintable medium. The method involves imprinting an imprint lithography template into a layer of flowable imprintable medium to form a patterned layer in the imprintable medium, and fixing the imprintable medium to form a patterned layer of fixed imprintable medium. Local excitation is applied to the part of the patterned layer to adjust a chemical reaction in the part of the patterned layer to reduce the difference between the intended topography and the actual topography arising from the part of the fixed patterned layer of imprintable medium when this is subsequently used as a resist for patterning the substrate. An imprint medium suitable for imprint lithography with the method is also disclosed. |
| US09372394B2 |
Test pattern layout for test photomask and method for evaluating critical dimension changes
Aspects of the present invention relate to a test photomask and a method for evaluating critical dimension changes in the test photomask. Various embodiments include a test photomask. The test photomask includes a plurality of cells having a varied density pattern. The plurality of cells include a first group of cells arranged along a first line, the first group of cells having a first combined density ratio. The plurality of cells also include a second group of cells arranged along a second line, the second group of cells having a second combined density ratio. In the plurality of cells, the second combined density ratio for the second group of cells is equal to the first combined density ratio of the first group of cells. The varied density pattern is configured to substantially neutralize fogging effects. |
| US09372391B2 |
Method and system for forming patterns using charged particle beam lithography with variable pattern dosage
A method and system for fracturing or mask data preparation or optical proximity correction or proximity effect correction or mask process correction is disclosed in which a set of shaped beam shots is determined that is capable of forming a pattern on a surface, where the set of shots provides different dosages to different parts of the pattern, and where the dose margin from the set of shots is calculated. A method for forming patterns on a surface is also disclosed. |
| US09372390B2 |
Thermal processor employing radiant heater
A thermal processor including a rotatable hollow drum including a drum core having an interior surface and an exterior surface, and a radiant heater positioned within an interior of the drum and configured to provide radiant energy to heat the drum, wherein at least one radiant energy absorption characteristic of the interior of the drum varies across its longitudinal width Wd so that selected areas of the interior of the drum absorb more radiant energy than other areas of the interior of the drum so as to compensate for non-uniform heat loss from the drum and to provide the exterior surface of the drum core at a desired temperature which is substantially uniform across the longitudinal width of the drum core. |
| US09372385B2 |
Panoramic camera mount
A panoramic device includes a base member and a clamp member rotatably interconnected within a single plane of rotation with the base that includes a first rotatable knob to selectively inhibit the rotation of the clamp member with respect to the base. The upper surface includes a central region that is at a different elevation than another portion of the upper surface. The clamp includes a pair of opposed surfaces suitable to detachably secure a camera thereto. The one of the opposed surfaces is maintained in a fixed relationship with respect to the clamp member. The other one of the opposed surfaces is in a movable relationship with respect to the clamp member using a second rotatable knob. The first knob and the second knob are rotatably connected with respect to one another. |
| US09372383B2 |
L-plate bracket for camera equipment
A plate provides clearance between a camera and a quick-release receiver securing the camera to a support. |
| US09372376B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having a substrate with a display area, a control area adjacent to the display area, and terminals. The method includes forming an interlayer insulating film and an a-Si film below an image signal line in the display area and below a line in the same layer as the image signal line in the control area, forming a scribing line outside the terminals, forming a ground line in the same layer as the scan line outside the scribing line, forming the interlayer insulating film outside the terminal, without forming the a-Si film on the interlayer insulating film, forming a static electricity protection line coupled to the terminal on the interlayer insulating film, the static electricity protection line being coupled to other static electricity protection lines outside the ground line, and, after the steps above, separating the substrate along the scribing line. |
| US09372374B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with unit pixel having rhombus-like plate portion
A liquid crystal display includes a lower panel, an upper panel, and a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween. The lower panel includes a pixel electrode including at least one unit pixel electrode. The upper panel includes a common electrode. The unit pixel electrode includes a rhombus-like plate portion, and a plurality of minute branch portions extending therefrom. |
| US09372370B2 |
Liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same
A liquid crystal display includes: a substrate; a thin film transistor disposed on the substrate; a pixel electrode disposed on the thin film transistor; and a roof layer facing the pixel electrode, wherein a plurality of microcavities are formed between the pixel electrode and the roof layer, each microcavity includes liquid crystal materials, a partition wall is formed between the microcavities, and the roof layer includes a dry film. |
| US09372369B2 |
Liquid crystal panel and manufacturing method thereof
A manufacturing method for a liquid crystal panel, comprising: coating a photoresist layer on a substrate; utilizing a first exposure energy and a first mask for executing a first exposure process to form a spacing column having a first height, wherein, the first mask has a first light transparent area corresponding to a dark area; utilizing a second exposure energy and a second mask for executing a second exposure process to form a spacing column having a second height, wherein, the second mask has a second light transparent area corresponding to the dark area, and the second height is greater than the first height; and removing an unexposed portion of the photoresist layer. Through above way, the present invention can improve the pixel transmittance of the dark area in order to reduce or eliminate the dark area. |
| US09372364B2 |
Display panel and method for manufacturing the same
A display panel is provided. A first substrate includes a display area and a peripheral area. The peripheral area surrounds the display area. A second substrate is disposed on the first substrate. The second substrate faces the first substrate along a first direction. A liquid crystal layer is interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. A multi-layered sealant is disposed on the peripheral area of the first substrate. The multi-layered sealant surrounds the liquid crystal layer. The multi-layered sealant includes a first sealant layer including an acrylate resin having a functional group having at least 3 carbon atoms, and a second sealant layer including an epoxy resin having a (meth)arcylate group. |
| US09372358B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
Disclosed is an LCD device with reduced thickness and bezel width. The LCD device includes a liquid crystal display panel configured to include an upper substrate and a lower substrate that are facing-coupled to each other, a backlight unit configured to include a light guide plate which irradiates light incident from a light source module on the liquid crystal display panel and an optical sheet disposed on the light guide plate, and a coupling member configured to couple the liquid crystal display panel to the light guide plate with the optical sheet therebetween such that a sealed space is provided between the liquid crystal display panel and the light guide plate. |
| US09372356B2 |
Image display device including barrier cell and method of fabricating the same
There are provided an image display device including a barrier cell, and a method of fabricating the same. The image display device includes: a display panel configured to display an image; and a barrier cell configured to block or transmit an image emitted from the display panel, wherein a pattern spacer for maintaining a cell gap of the barrier cell is disposed in correspondence to a white area of the barrier cell, and the white area transmits the image emitted from the display panel. |
| US09372354B2 |
Optical modulator with automatic bias correction
An optical modulator uses an optoelectronic phase comparator configured to provide, in the form of an electrical signal, a measure of a phase difference between two optical waves. The phase comparator includes an optical directional coupler having two coupled channels respectively defining two optical inputs for receiving the two optical waves to be compared. Two photodiodes are configured to respectively receive the optical output powers of the two channels of the directional coupler. An electrical circuit is configured to supply, as a measure of the optical phase shift, an electrical signal proportional to the difference between the electrical signals produced by the two photodiodes. |
| US09372351B1 |
Circuits for active eyewear
A circuit includes a front-end circuit, a receiver stage and a controller. An example front-end circuit includes a common base input device, a first current mirror and a second current mirror, where the common base input device has its emitter coupled to a photodiode, its collector coupled to an input of the first current mirror, and its base coupled to a reference voltage to reverse bias the photodiode and where an output of the first current mirror is input into the second current mirror. In another example, a voltage drop resistor is coupled to a cancellation signal output of the first current mirror and an operational transimpedance amplifier (OTA) has inputs coupled to the voltage drop resistor and to a reference voltage and an output coupled to a compensating impedance and to a control input of a variable current source designed to feed the emitter signal input. |
| US09372346B2 |
Directional light beams for angle detection
An angular detection arrangement for a head mountable display (HMD) comprising a light source or reflective marking and an optical detector, one of the light source or reflective marking and the optical detector being disposed at the HMD and the other being disposed at a fixed point, the light source or reflective marking comprising a directional light source or reflective marking and a substantially non-directional light source or reflective marking such that the separation between the directional and non-directional light sources or reflective markings as detected at the optical detector is dependent upon the relative orientation of the HMD and the fixed point. |
| US09372345B2 |
Head-mounted display device
A head-mounted display device includes an image processing unit configured to perform processing for generating an image, an image display unit including an image-light generating unit configured to generate image light representing the image, the image display unit being configured to enable a user to visually recognize the virtual image and an external image, an image pickup unit provided in the image display unit and configured to pick up an image in a visual field direction of the user, and a position detecting unit configured to specify an external apparatus present in the picked-up image picked up by the image pickup unit and detect a position in the picked-up image of the external apparatus. The image processing unit generates an image in which information concerning the external apparatus is displayed in a position corresponding to the position detected by the position detecting unit. |
| US09372343B2 |
Head-up display, vehicle and controlling method of head-up display
A head-up display including a casing, a control circuit board, a display panel, and a plate is provided. The control circuit board is disposed in the casing. The display panel is disposed in the casing and electrically connected to the control circuit board. The plate is fixed to the casing and covers the display panel. The transmittance of the plate is capable of being changed, so that an image displayed on the display panel is projected out through the plate, or external light is stopped from illuminating the display panel through the plate. A vehicle having the head-up display and a controlling method of the head-up display are provided as well. |
| US09372342B2 |
Optical fingerprint acquisition apparatus
Provided is an optical fingerprint acquisition apparatus. The fingerprint acquisition apparatus has an improved optical lens unit and can correct distortion of an image caused by a light refractor. The optical lens unit includes two cylindrical lenses disposed so that an optical axis of incident light does not coincide with a central axis of the lenses. The optical lens unit corrects an image that is distorted into a rectangle by a light refractor, thereby restoring a square shape. In particular, the fingerprint acquisition apparatus is useful in the simultaneous acquisition of multiple fingerprints as well as the acquisition of a single fingerprint. |
| US09372340B2 |
Ball joint gimbal imaging system with an off-gimbal directional electro-optic component
A ball joint gimbal imaging system includes on-gimbal optics that reimage a front optical aperture to a smaller back optical aperture that moves with the rotation of the inner ball. Relay optics are configured to relay the back optical aperture to an electro-optic component mounted on the platform, off-gimbal. Relay optics includes a first two-axis steering element (on or off-gimbal) that is positioned and sized to cover the range of motion of the beam from the back optical aperture across the range of gimbal motion. The first two-axis steering element is controlled to steer the optical beam passing through the back optical aperture into a second off-gimbal two-axis steering element that is controlled to tilt the optical beam to align light along the central axis of the electro-optic element with the central axis of the front optical aperture on the inner ball, which is coincident with the gimbal pointing axis. |
| US09372339B2 |
Wavelength swept light source
A wavelength swept light source includes a sawtooth waveform as a main waveform and an exponential component of the sawtooth waveform to the controlled voltage of the electro-optic deflector. The controlled voltage is controlled so that, as an oscillation wavelength to be swept is swept towards a longer wavelength side, a change rate of the oscillation wavelength is increased. |
| US09372338B2 |
Multi-state interferometric modulator with large stable range of motion
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus relating to electromechanical display devices. In one aspect, a multi-stage interferometric modulator (IMOD) can include a movable reflector that can be moved to different positions to produce different reflected colors. The IMOD can include deformable elements that are coupled to a back side of the movable reflector and provide support to the movable reflector. The deformable elements can provide a restoring force that biases the movable reflector to a resting position. The IMOD can include one or more restoring force modifiers that are configured to increase the restoring force when engaged. The restoring force modifiers can be between the movable reflector and the deformable elements such that the deformable elements contact the restoring force modifiers when the movable reflector is displaced to a contacting position. |
| US09372336B2 |
Endoscope objective optical system
Provided is an endoscope objective optical system including, in order from an object side, an aperture stop, a front group having positive refractive power, and a rear group having positive refractive power, in which the rear group is formed by joining a single lens having positive refractive power and a single lens having negative refractive power and is joined to an imaging device; a joining surface between the single lenses has positive refractive power; and the endoscope objective optical system satisfies following Conditional Expression (1): 0.15 |
| US09372333B2 |
High resolution microscope and image divider assembly
The invention relates to a microscope having an illumination beam path with wide field illumination of a sample and a first detection beam path having a spatially resolved surface receiver, which is reached by a first part of the detection light coming from the sample via the first detection beam path, or an image divider assembly for a microscope. In order to lengthen the optical path length, at least a second part of the detection light coming from the sample is masked out of the detection beam path and, via deflection means belonging to the detection beam path, is led into a second detection beam path and, preferably via further deflection means, is deflected back in the direction of the detection in such a way that detection light is applied to at least two partial regions beside one another on the surface receiver. At least the second part of the detection light runs in an optical element having an optical density that is increased as compared with the first detection beam path, in order to lengthen the optical path length, and the optical element is designed to be displaceable at an angle, preferably perpendicular, to the optical axis of the first detection beam path in order to adjust the optical path length, and has flat surfaces, at least on the light entry and light exit side thereof; a prism is provided, preferably a glass prism, preferably at least in the second detection beam path after a first beam deflection, for deflection in a direction parallel to the first detection beam path, in order to increase the path length and for reverse deflection. |
| US09372331B2 |
Observation device
The observation device 1 is a device capable of substantially simultaneously acquiring the fluorescence image and the interference image on the common observation plane in the observation object 90 mounted on slide glass 41, and has an excitation light source 11, a filter 12, a dichroic mirror 13, a lens 14, a dichroic mirror 15, an objective lens 16, a filter 17, a fluorescence imaging unit 18, an interference imaging light source 21, a filter 22, a dichroic mirror 23, a lens 24, a half mirror 25, an objective lens 26, a lens 27, a dichroic mirror 28, an interference imaging unit 29, a position detection light source 31, a light detection unit 32, the slide glass 41, an actuator 42, a reference mirror 43, an actuator 44, a control unit 51, and a display unit 52. |
| US09372330B2 |
Inverted microscope system
An inverted microscope system includes an objective lens holding unit that holds an objective lens configured to collect at least observation light from a specimen, a tube lens configured to form an image using the observation light collected by the objective lens, a total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy optical system provided between the objective lens and the tube lens and configured to observe the observation light from the specimen using a total reflection illumination, and a disk scanning confocal optical system including a rotary disk on which a confocal opening is formed, the confocal opening being placed at a position substantially conjugate to a focus position of the objective lens. A relative distance between the focus position of the objective lens and the substantially conjugate position is changeable along an optical path of the observation light. |
| US09372328B2 |
Projection system and projector
A projection system includes: a relay system that focuses light having exited through a first image plane on a second image plane; and an enlarging system that enlarges and projects an image focused on the second image plane on a third image plane, wherein the relay system includes a first lens element on which the light having exited through the first image plane is incident, the first lens element having positive refracting power, a reflective member that reflects a light having passed through the first lens element, the reflective member having positive refracting power, and a second lens element on which a light reflected off the reflective member is incident and which focuses the light reflected off the reflective member on the second image plane, the second lens element having positive refracting power. |
| US09372323B2 |
Lens barrel
Embodiments of a lens barrel may comprise an imaging optical system with a plurality of lenses, a cylindrical focusing manipulation component, a stationary frame, and a restrictor. The focusing manipulation component changes the focal position of the imaging optical system by turning operation around the optical axis of the imaging optical system and to set the distance up to a second imaging region that is at least partially different from a first imaging region, and to move at least some of the lenses of the imaging optical system to switch between first and second imaging states. The restrictor restricts the rotatable range of the focusing manipulation component. When the focusing manipulation component is turned, its rotatable range is switched from a first rotatable range to a second rotatable range. |
| US09372322B2 |
Lens module
A lens module includes a lens holder having a top wall that has a bottom surface, and a lens unit received by the lens holder. The lens unit includes a first lens adjacent to the top wall and a second lens attached to the first lens. The first lens includes a first object-side surface abutting against the bottom surface and a side surface abutting against an inner surface of the lens holder. The second lens includes a second object-side surface engaging with the first lens, and a jointing surface keeping a distance from the inner surface. |
| US09372316B2 |
Silicon interface for dielectric slab waveguide
The present disclosure relates to an integrated chip having coupling elements that couple electromagnetic radiation having a frequency outside of the visible spectrum between a silicon substrate and a dielectric waveguide overlying the silicon substrate. In some embodiments, the integrated chip has a dielectric waveguide disposed within an inter-level dielectric (ILD) material overlying a semiconductor substrate. A first coupling element couples a first electrical signal generated by a driver circuit disposed within the semiconductor substrate to a first end of the dielectric waveguide as electromagnetic radiation having a frequency outside of the visible spectrum. A second coupling element couples the electromagnetic radiation from a second end of the dielectric waveguide to a second electrical signal. By coupling electromagnetic radiation having a frequency outside of the visible spectrum to and from the dielectric waveguide, the disclosed integrated chip is able to overcome a number of drawbacks of optical integrated waveguides. |
| US09372315B2 |
Micro bi-directional optical sub-assembly
A BOSA package comprising only one cylindrical TO package comprising a ROSA and a TOSA, and an optical port in optical communication with the ROSA and the TOSA. Also disclosed is a TO package comprising a TOSA for transmitting a first optical signal, a ROSA for receiving a second optical signal, an optical communication window, and a TFF positioned such that the first optical signal transmitted from the TOSA is reflected by the TFF toward the optical communication window and the second optical signal received from the optical communication window passes through the TFF and to the ROSA. |
| US09372313B2 |
Optical coupling member and optical connector using the same, and optical coupling member holding member
An optical coupling member includes an optical fiber (13), a holder (11) that holds the optical fiber inserted from an insertion hole (11a) formed at one end, and a lens such as a collimator lens (12) accommodated in an accommodation section (11c) formed at the other end of the holder (11), the optical coupling member performing positioning by causing at least one of the lens and the end face of the optical fiber (13) to come into contact with an abutting surface (11e1, 11e2) formed in the vicinity of the accommodation section (11c) by providing a recess (11e) on an outer circumference near the accommodation section (11c) of the holder (11), in which a plurality of the recesses (11e) are provided on an identical plane orthogonal to an insertion direction of the optical fiber (13). |
| US09372310B1 |
Free space fibre-to-fibre coupling using optical fibres below cut-off
A method of free space fiber-to-fiber coupling includes providing a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber spaced apart from one another by a free space distance having a pair of spaced-apart achromatic collimating lenses within the free space distance. Essentially single mode light is launched from the first fiber at a wavelength λ or a range of λs that provides at least a portion of its light at wavelength(s) below a cut-off wavelength for the first fiber. The first optical fiber and second optical fiber are both <50 m and sufficiently short to provide essentially single mode operation. The essentially single mode light after the launching propagates as free space light through said free space distance and is received by and propagates in the second optical fiber as essentially single mode light. |
| US09372307B1 |
Monolithically integrated III-V optoelectronics with SI CMOS
A method of forming monolithically integrated III-V optoelectronics with a silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) device. The method may include; forming a buried waveguide in a buried oxide (BOX) layer of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate; forming a first optoelectronic device and a second optoelectronic device adjacent to the buried waveguide; and forming a CMOS device on a semiconductor layer above the BOX layer. |
| US09372304B2 |
Apparatus for alignment of a multicore fiber in a multifiber connector and method of using same
A multicore fiber alignment apparatus is described, having a chassis into which is mounted ferrule-holding means for holding a multicore fiber ferrule having one or more capillaries extending therethrough. Fiber-holding means for holding one or more multicore fibers in position to be mounted into the ferrule, such that each multicore fiber extends through a respective ferrule capillary. Means are provided for monitoring the rotation angle of each multicore fiber within its respective capillary, relative to a reference rotational orientation. Means are further provided for rotating each of the multicore fibers within its respective capillary. The rotational orientation of each multicore fiber is fixed when its rotation angle is equal to zero. |
| US09372303B2 |
Optical connection component manufacturing apparatus and high polymer material coat forming apparatus
Disclosed is an optical connection component manufacturing apparatus that manufactures an optical connection component in which a refractive index matching body is attached to a front end face of an optical fiber. The optical connection component manufacturing apparatus includes: a holding unit that includes a holding face holding a refractive index matching liquid including the refractive index matching body; a dispenser that supplies the refractive index matching liquid to the holding face; and a static electricity generating device that charges the optical fiber so that the refractive index matching liquid held on the holding face is adsorbed onto the front end face of the optical fiber, wherein the holding face has an outer peripheral edge connected in a curved line. |
| US09372298B2 |
Luminaire
The invention relates to a luminaire that enables the use of more sparsely distributed light sources, having a uniform fixture surface brightness and good color mixing. The luminaire comprises first and second light guide layers (10, 11) optically coupled together by at least one optical coupler (12a, 12b), which allows the passage of light from the first (10) to the second light guide layer (11). The luminaire also comprises a plurality of light sources (16a, 16b), each of which being arranged such that light emitted by the light source (16a, 16b) is coupled into the first light guide layer (10) at an interface surface (17)arranged substantially perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the first light guide layer (10). The luminaire further comprises a scattering element (14) adapted to cause light to be emitted from an emitting surface of the second light guide layer (11). By providing two optically coupled light guide layers (10, 11), one for receiving light emitted by the light sources (16a, 16b) and the other for emission, greater opportunity for dispersion and color mixing of the light is provided. |
| US09372293B2 |
Variable wavelength interference filter, optical module, electronic apparatus, and method of manufacturing variable wavelength interference filter
A variable wavelength interference filter includes a first substrate having a stationary mirror, a second substrate bonded to the first substrate and provided with a movable section and a movable mirror fixed to the movable section, and a third substrate bonded to the second substrate on an opposite side to the first substrate, and is provided with a first inner space sandwiched by the first substrate and the second substrate, a first gap, through which the first inner space communicates with the outside, a second inner space sandwiched by the second substrate and the third substrate, and a second gap, through which the second inner space communicates with the outside, and the first gap and the second gap are each sealed by a sealing member. |
| US09372292B2 |
Imaging apparatus having light source identification and image quality correction functions and method for controlling imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to convert an incident light flux from an optical system into an electric signal, a band-cutting element disposed between the optical system and the imaging unit, having a band-cut function of performing band-cutting to enable distinguishing between wavelengths corresponding to bright line positions of a light source having bright lines, a control unit configured to control the band-cut function of the band-cutting element, an identification unit configured to identify a light source of an image captured by the imaging unit through comparison between a first image signal captured by the imaging unit when the band-cut function of the band-cutting element is ON and a second image signal captured by the imaging unit when the band-cut function of the band-cutting element is OFF, and an image processing unit configured to perform image processing based on the light source identified by the identification unit. |
| US09372290B2 |
Spectrum analyzer and reflection type diffraction grating thereof
A spectrum analyzer includes an input member, a predetermined output plane and a reflection type diffraction grating. The input member receives an optical signal. The reflection type diffraction grating includes a non-Rowland circle curved grating profile curved surface and a plurality of diffraction structures. The diffraction structures, each having a pitch and disposed on the grating profile curved surface, are configured to separate the optical signal into a plurality of spectral components. At least some pitches of the spectral components are different from each other. One of the spectral components indicating a central wavelength is emitted to the predetermined output plane in a direction substantially perpendicular to the predetermined output plane. The grating profile curved surface is used for focusing the spectral components on the predetermined output plane. |
| US09372286B2 |
Method of forming dual size microlenses for image sensors
A method of forming microlenses for an image sensor having at least one large-area pixel and at least one small-area pixel is disclosed. The method includes forming a uniform layer of microlens material on a light incident side of the image sensor over the large-area pixel and over the small-area pixel. The method also includes forming the layer of microlens material into a first block disposed over the large-area pixel and into a second block disposed over the small-area pixel. A void is also formed in the second block to reduce a volume of microlens material included in the second block. The first and second blocks are then reflowed to form a respective first microlens and second microlens. The first microlens has substantially the same effective focal length as the second microlens. |
| US09372285B2 |
Production method for optical component and optical component
A method for manufacturing a light transmissive optical component, includes a first etching process of forming a depressed portion by applying etching to a silicon region of a plate-shaped member, a thermal oxidation process of forming a silicon oxide film by thermally oxidizing an inner side surface of the depressed portion, and a nitride film formation process of forming a silicon nitride film that covers the silicon oxide film. Accordingly, it is possible to realize a manufacturing method for an optical component which is capable of uniformly forming a silicon oxide film on a semi-transmissive reflecting surface which is largely inclined (or nearly vertical) with respect to a substrate surface, and an optical component produced by this method. |
| US09372284B2 |
Copper-free mirror having acrylic and polyurethane paint layers free of alkyd
Mirrors with no copper layer according to the present invention comprise a glass substrate, a silver coating layer provided at a surface of the glass substrate and at least two paint layers covering the silver coating layer, the outermost paint layer comprising a polyurethane resin based paint. They are characterized in that the paint layers are free of alkyd resin and in that the first paint layer closest to the silver coating layer has a thickness of at least 10 μm. |
| US09372282B1 |
Styrenic ophthalmic and otorhinolaryngological materials and devices formed therewith
Disclosed are improved ophthalmic and otorhinolaryngological device materials and devices formed therewith. The device materials are soft, high refractive index styrenic device materials that are used to form the ophthalmic or otorhinolaryngological devices, particularly ophthalmic implants (e.g., intraocular lenses). |
| US09372276B2 |
Combinations of axial and saddle coils to create the equivalent of tilted coils for directional resistivity measurements
An electromagnetic well logging instrument includes an instrument housing, at least one transmitter coil disposed on the housing and at least one receiver coil disposed on the housing. At least one of the transmitter and receiver coils is formed from a combination solenoidal (axial) and saddle coils. The net dipole moment direction of the combined coil is determined by selecting the relative turn-areas of the saddle and solenoidal coil. The combined coil can be formed from a single wire wound to have both a longitudinal magnetic dipole moment and a transverse magnetic dipole moment with respect to a longitudinal axis of the housing. |
| US09372275B2 |
Receiver coil assembly with air and ferromagnetic cored sensors for geophysical surveying
A receiver coil assembly for performing geophysical surveys, including a hollow outer shell defining a continuous internal passage that forms a loop; a multiturn receiver air coil extending around the continuous internal passage; and a first cored coil comprising multiturn solenoid windings about a ferromagnetic core, the first cored coil having a sensing axis in a different direction than a sensing axis of the air coil. |
| US09372273B2 |
Method of processing seismic image of the subsurface
The present invention relates to a method of processing seismic image of the subsurface. The method comprises determining two surfaces in the seismic image, the two surfaces being extracted from well data from at least on well in the subsurface; determining the dip components the first surface and the second surface; determining interpolated dip components based on dip components of the two surfaces; determining an interpolated surface based on at least the interpolated dip components; determining a density value based on a number of intersections of the determined surfaces with a column comprising said current pixel; determining a geological-time image, columns of said geological-time image are computed based on the density values of pixels of a corresponding column of the seismic image; and on the color value of pixels of the corresponding column of the seismic image. |
| US09372268B2 |
Method for erasing bright burn and radiographic imaging device having bright burn-erasing function
A method for erasing bright burn includes: applying, to a scintillator, visible light having an intensity peak at a wavelength in the range of 405 nm to 500 nm, wherein the scintillator includes cesium iodide and is provided in a radiographic imaging device having a photoelectric transducer. |
| US09372267B2 |
Apparatus and methods for photosensor quadrant sharing
Apparatus and methods comprising a positron emission tomography detector having a first rectangular cross-section crystal block positioned between a first pentagonal cross-section crystal block and a second pentagonal cross-section crystal block. |
| US09372262B2 |
Device and method for judging likelihood of collision between vehicle and target, vehicle collision avoidance system, and method for avoiding collision between vehicle and target
A device for judging a likelihood of a collision between a vehicle and a target is provided. The device comprises: a target detection sensor and an ECU. The ECU comprises: a CPU; an orientation determining unit configured to enable the CPU to determine the orientation of a target relative to a reference vehicle in which the device for judging a likelihood of a collision is mounted, using information which is detected by the target detection sensor; a change-amount detecting unit configured to enable the CPU to detect an amount of temporal change in the orientation of the target; and a determining unit configured to enable the CPU to determine a likelihood of a collision between the reference vehicle and the target under a condition that the amount of temporal change in the orientation of the target is a predetermined threshold or less. |
| US09372260B2 |
Object detecting device, object detecting method, object detecting program, and motion control system
An object detecting device includes a signal transmitting and receiving unit configured to generate an intermediate frequency signal based on a transmission signal and a reception signal which is a reflected wave thereof, a processing unit configured to determine that an image of a target peak frequency is a virtual image based on noise when it is determined that a peak frequency of predetermined n times the target peak frequency is not present in information based on the intermediate frequency signal generated by the signal transmitting and receiving unit and to detect an object based on the determination result, where n is an integer of 2 or greater. |
| US09372259B2 |
Radar apparatus
A pulse transmission controller generates transmission timing signals for a high-frequency radar transmission signal in every transmission cycle. A transmission phase shifter gives a transmission signal generated by a modulator phase shifts each corresponding to a transmission cycle on the basis of the transmission timing signals generated at intervals that are equal to the transmission cycle. A reception phase shifter gives a reception signal that is output from an A/D converter reception phase shifts that are opposite in direction to the respective transmission phase shifts given by the transmission phase shifter on the basis of the transmission timing signals generated at intervals that are equal to the transmission cycle. |
| US09372252B2 |
Outdoor object location system and method thereof
A system and method for locating an object is provided. A locating circuit substantially secured to the object. A plurality of monitoring units are positioned remotely from the locating circuit, each positioned in a different location, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of monitoring units are positioned in an outdoor environment. An omnidirectional signal is intermittently communicated between the locating circuit and the plurality of monitoring units. A calculator is in communication with each of the plurality of monitoring units. The calculator determines a duration of transmission time of the omnidirectional signal for each of the plurality of monitoring units, and the locating circuit. The calculator calculates a location of the locating circuit using the determined duration of transmission time for each of the plurality of monitoring units and the locating circuit. |
| US09372240B2 |
Current sensor
A current sensor according to the present invention includes a bus bar, a magnetic sensor element disposed so as to face the bus bar, a wiring board on which the magnetic sensor element is provided, and a signal line electrically connected to the magnetic sensor element. The wiring board includes a base portion facing the bus bar and an extending portion extending from the base portion, and the signal line is connected to the extending portion and provided in a direction intersecting the wiring board. |
| US09372239B2 |
Sealed battery manufacturing method and inspection device
A method for manufacturing a sealed battery (10) includes the steps of: measuring a voltage of the sealed battery (10) when a charging current of a predetermined value or more is caused to flow to the sealed battery (10) for a predetermined time after initial charging of the sealed battery (10); and determining whether a battery case (11) of the sealed battery (10) is damaged or not based on a change in the measured voltage. When an inclination of the voltage increases in a time change of the measured voltage, it may be determined that a recess (12) is present in the battery case (11) of the sealed battery (10). |
| US09372238B2 |
Battery management system with over-discharge detection and warning, battery pack comprising the same, and method for protecting a battery from over-discharge
A battery management system and a battery pack are disclosed. The battery management system determines that a battery is in a non-use state, and thereafter, detects a battery voltage of the battery. If the battery voltage is less than an over-discharge reference voltage, the system generates a warning signal. |
| US09372236B2 |
Failure determination method for motor system
A failure determination method for a motor system includes setting a current value required to initially drive a motor to a first current command value, increasing a rotational speed of a rotating magnetic field of the motor up to a preset reference speed, comparing an intensity of a back electromotive force, generated when a rotor of the motor is rotated at the preset reference speed, to a magnitude of a voltage applied to apply current in accordance with the set first current command value, and determining a cause of a failure of the motor based on the comparison. |
| US09372231B2 |
Scan chain latch design that improves testability of integrated circuits
A scan chain latch circuit, a method of operating a latch circuit in a scan chain, and a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure defining a scan chain latch circuit for instantiation on a semiconductor die are disclosed. In an embodiment, the scan chain latch circuit comprises a first latch for holding one data value, a second latch for holding another data value, and a multiplexor. The one data value is applied to a first data input of the multiplexor and the another data value is applied to a second data input of the multiplexor. An alternating clock signal is applied to a select input of the multiplexor to control the output of the multiplexor, wherein the output of the multiplexor toggles between the two data values held in the two latches at a defined frequency. |
| US09372229B2 |
PSD/PSC serial scan path having first and second strobe inputs
Functional circuits and cores of circuits are tested on integrated circuits using scan paths. Using parallel scan distributor and collector circuits for these scan paths improves test access of circuits and cores embedded within ICs and reduces the IC's power consumption during scan testing. A controller for the distributor and collector circuits includes a test control register, a test control state machine and a multiplexer. These test circuits can be connected in a hierarchy or in parallel. A conventional test access port or TAP can be modified to work with the disclosed test circuits. |
| US09372228B2 |
Non-contact test system for determining whether electronic device structures contain manufacturing faults
Electronic device structures such as structures containing antennas, connectors, welds, electronic device components, conductive housing structures, and other structures can be tested for faults using a non-contact test system. The test system may include a vector network analyzer or other test unit that generates radio-frequency tests signals in a range of frequencies. The radio-frequency test signals may be transmitted to electronic device structures under test using an antenna probe that has one or more test antennas. The antenna probe may receive corresponding radio-frequency signals. The transmitted and received radio-frequency test signals may be analyzed to determine whether the electronic device structures under test contain a fault. |
| US09372227B2 |
Integrated circuit test system and method
A system for testing a device under test (DUT) includes a probe card and a test module. The probe card includes probe beds electrically coupled to a circuit board and a first plurality of electrical contacts coupled to the circuit board, which are for engaging respective ones of a plurality of electrical contacts of a test equipment module. Probes are coupled to respective probe beds and are disposed to engage electrical contacts of the DUT. The probe card includes a second plurality of electrical contacts coupled to the circuit board. The first and second pluralities of contacts are mutually exclusive. The test module includes a memory, a processor, and a plurality of electrical contacts electrically coupled to respective ones of the second plurality of electrical contacts of the probe card. The circuit board includes a first electrical path for electrically coupling the test equipment module to the test module. |
| US09372226B2 |
Wafer test structures and methods of providing wafer test structures
Wafer test structures and methods of providing wafer test structures are described. The methods include: fabricating multiple test devices and multiple fuse devices on the wafer, each test device having a respective fuse device associated therewith, which open circuits upon failure of the test device; and fabricating a selection circuit operative to selectively connect one test device to a sense contact pad, and the other test devices to a stress contact pad. The selection circuit facilitates sensing one or more electrical signals of the one test device by electrical contact with the sense contact pad, while stress testing the other test devices by electrical contact with the stress contact pad. In one embodiment, each test device has respective first and second switch devices, operative to selectively electrically connect the test device to the sense or stress contact pads. In another embodiment, the method includes wafer testing using the test structure. |
| US09372224B2 |
Method for checking the proper method of operating of a current sensor
The disclosure describes a method for checking the proper method of operation of a current sensor which is designed to measure a battery current. During a precharge phase which begins at a time at which at least one electrical component is connected to a battery and during which the electrical component is precharged by a precharge current, at least one measured value provided by the current sensor is compared with an expected current value determined from an expected temporal profile of the precharge current. The disclosure also describes a computation unit and a battery which are designed to carry out the method according to the disclosure. |
| US09372216B2 |
Electric power supply controller for vehicle
A restart section in an electric powered vehicle restarts a controller from a sleep mode, when a voltage higher than a restart voltage is supplied for over a response time. In a charge mode, a stand controller provides a connection check function by using a normal CPLT (Control Pilot signal) method. In a normal CPLT method, an output terminal is supplied with DC voltage that exceeds the restart voltage. In a non-charge mode, the stand controller uses a monitor signal which will not cause a restart of the controller to provide a connection check function. The monitor signal for the non-charge mode has a voltage that is lower than the restart voltage and/or a pulse width that is shorter than the response time. As a result, it is possible to reduce power consumption. |
| US09372214B2 |
High frequency interconnect structures, electronic assemblies that utilize high frequency interconnect structures, and methods of operating the same
High frequency interconnect structures, electronic assemblies that utilize high frequency interconnect structures, and methods of operating the same. The high frequency interconnect structures include a plurality of dielectric waveguides and are configured to communicatively connect a plurality of transmitters with a plurality of receivers and to convey a plurality of signals therebetween. The plurality of signals may include a plurality of electromagnetic waves and may have a frequency of at least 200 GHz. The high frequency interconnect structures further may be configured to decrease a potential for crosstalk between a first signal that is conveyed by a first dielectric waveguide of the plurality of dielectric waveguides and a second signal that is conveyed by a second dielectric waveguide of the plurality of dielectric waveguides, such as through control of a passband of the first dielectric waveguide relative to the second dielectric waveguide and/or the use of a crosstalk mitigation structure. |
| US09372213B2 |
Sensors for electrical connectors
In some implementations, a sensing apparatus for an appliance connector, set forth by way of example and not limitation, includes at least one substrate including one or more openings operative to receive a corresponding number of prongs of the appliance connector. At least one sensor is coupled to the substrate and is operative to sense at least one characteristic of an environment. A transmitter is coupled to the substrate and is operative to transmit one or more signals derived from the at least one sensed characteristic, where the transmitted signals are capable of being received by a receiving device. A power circuit is coupled to the substrate and is operative to provide power to the at least one sensor and to the transmitter, where the power circuit can receive electric current from at least one of the prongs of the appliance connector to drive the transmitter and the sensor. |
| US09372212B2 |
Circuits and methods for measuring a current
A circuit is provided, including a first resistor, a second resistor which may have an adjustable resistance, and a control unit. The control unit may be configured to adjust the second resistor to have a first resistance at which a voltage due to a first current flowing through the first resistor is equal to a voltage due to a second current flowing through the second resistor. The control unit may be further configured to adjust the second resistor to have a second resistance at which a voltage due to another first current different from the first current and flowing through the first resistor is equal to the voltage due to the second current flowing through the second resistor. The control unit may be further configured to adjust the second resistor to have a third resistance based on at least a difference of the first resistance and the second resistance. |
| US09372204B2 |
Sensor assemblies
The present invention provides a sensor body (1′) that can be used as part of a sensor assembly, optionally a capacitive sensor that is used to measure the clearance between the tip of a gas turbine engine blade and the surrounding casing. The sensor body includes a core layer (2) having an electrically conductive electrode layer (6). An outer insulating layer (4) substantially surrounds the core layer (2) and extends along a front part (8) of the sensor body to define a window layer (10) that provides a hermetic seal that excludes gas from any interface between the constituent layers of the sensor body. The core layer (2) and the outer insulating layer (4) are formed from the same electrically non-conducting ceramic material to avoid any problems with differential thermal expansion. The electrode layer (6) is embedded within a front part of the sensor body and extends between the core layer (2) and the window layer (10). |
| US09372201B2 |
Yaw and pitch angles
Methods for determining a yaw angle and a pitch angle cycle for a wind turbine are disclosed. The methods comprise measuring during a measuring time a wind speed and a wind direction at a plurality of measuring heights between the maximum and minimum height at the wind site, determining an average wind speed and an average wind direction for each of the measuring heights during the measuring time, and determining a wind speed distribution and wind direction distribution between the maximum height and the minimum height, and determining one or more yaw-pitch combinations of yaw angle and pitch angle cycles as a function of an azimuth position of a rotor blade that lead to a desired angle of attack along the rotor swept area. The present disclosure further relates to methods of operating a wind turbine and suitable wind turbines. |
| US09372199B2 |
Sample analyzer
The sample analyzer includes: a reagent arranging section for arranging a plurality of reagents; an analyzing section for analyzing a measurement sample prepared by mixing a sample and the reagent arranged on the reagent arranging section; a display device; an input device; and a display control section for displaying a reagent arrangement displaying region for displaying a plurality of reagent marks inscribed with a reagent name respectively on the display device, wherein the each reagent mark is displayed in a manner selectable by the input device, wherein arrangement of the each reagent mark on the reagent arrangement displaying region corresponds to arrangement of the each reagent on the reagent arranging section, wherein the display control section displays detailed information related to the reagent corresponding to the reagent mark selected by the input device on the display device. |
| US09372197B2 |
Flourescent in-situ detection of lipid particle apolipoproteins within primary electrophoretic matrix
The present invention relates to, among other things, a gel electrophoresis system for detecting the level of specific Apolipoproteins and/or lipoprotein particles present in intact lipid particles in a biological sample. The system includes a gel substrate to receive a biological sample, at least two lipoprotein-binding complexes. Each complex includes an antibody that binds a lipoprotein particle or a portion thereof, which is bound to a signal producing molecule capable of producing or causing production of a detectable signal. The system also includes a device for detecting the detectable signal. The present invention also relates to methods of assessing the level of specific Apolipoproteins and/or lipoprotein particles present in a biological sample, determining whether a subject is at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, and monitoring the risk for developing cardiovascular disease. |
| US09372189B2 |
Biomarker for lymphocytic infundibuloneurohypophysitis, and use applications thereof
The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a biomarker specific to lymphocytic infundibuloneurohypophysitis; and use applications of the biomarker. Provided are: a biomarker comprising an anti-rabphilin 3a antibody; and a test method using the biomarker. |
| US09372187B2 |
Detection method and determination method for detection target
A detection/determination kit with which a substance to be detected or the amount thereof can be rapidly, inexpensively, and easily detected or determined; and a detection/determination method. The kit, which is for detecting a substance to be detected (50) contained in a specimen, comprises: a first compound (10) comprising a first substance including a stimulus-responsive polymer (11) and, bonded to the first substance, a first antibody (13) against the substance (50); and a second compound (20) comprising a second substance (21) which is hydrophilic and, bonded thereto, a second antibody (23) against the substance (50). The first antibody (13) and second antibody (23) can simultaneously combine with the substance (50) at different sites in the substance (50). |
| US09372173B2 |
Ultrasonic testing phased array inspection fixture and related methods
An inspection fixture is provided that includes a fixture, a lens, an ultrasonic phase array, a mirror and a liquid supply connector. The fixture body includes an inner chamber and an opening to the inner chamber. The lens defines a portion of the inner chamber. The ultrasonic phase array generates ultrasonic signals and is positioned to send the ultrasonic signals through the lens. The mirror is received within the inner chamber and is positioned at 45° in relation to the lens to reflect the ultrasonic signals from the lens out an opening to an inspection area of a body to be inspected and to reflect returned ultrasonic signals from the inspection area to the lens. The liquid supply connector is in fluid communication with the inner chamber. |
| US09372168B2 |
Sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter
A potentiostat includes a voltage regulator, a current mirror, a capacitor, a comparator, a current source, and a counter. The voltage regulator maintains a voltage on a working electrode of an electrochemical sensor. The current mirror develops a mirror current that mirrors an input current from the working electrode. The capacitor is alternately charged by the mirror current, causing the capacitor voltage to increase at a rate related to the current's magnitude, and discharged by a control current, causing the capacitor voltage to decrease. The comparator outputs a waveform that includes upward and downward transitions based on the variations of the capacitor voltage. The current source produces the control current based on the waveform. The counter counts the number of upward or downward transitions in the waveform during a predetermined sampling period to produce a digital output. The digital output is representative of the magnitude of the input current. |
| US09372167B2 |
Oxidation-reduction potential test device including a multiple layer gel
A multiple layer gel and method for forming a multiple layer gel are provided. The multiple layer gel includes an isolation layer and an electrolyte layer. The isolation layer provides a molecular weight screen, to prevent proteins or other molecules from contacting a reference cell covered by the isolation layer. The electrolyte layer covers the isolation layer, and provides a source of ions that place the reference cell in ionic and/or electrical contact with a fluid sample. The multiple layer gel can be used to maintain a reliable reference voltage from an associated reference cell while an electrical potential or other electrical characteristic of a sample fluid is being determined. |
| US09372159B2 |
System and method for detecting heliostat failures using artificial light sources
A system and method for detecting heliostat failures in a concentrating solar plant, the system comprising a plurality of stationary lights and cameras mounted to towers that surround, or are situated within, a field of heliostats. Heliostats may be commanded via a control system to move to a position wherein light may be expected to be reflected from a given stationary light to a given camera, whereupon a first set of images of the heliostat are taken. Heliostats may then be commanded via the control system to move to a position wherein light may no longer be expected to be reflected from said stationary light to said camera, whereupon a second set of images of the heliostat are taken. An image processor may search the first and second set of images to determine if reflected light is present. If reflected light from said stationary light is not found in the images, the heliostat may be determined to have experienced a failure mode. Failed heliostats may then be flagged for inspection, repair, or replacement. |
| US09372157B1 |
Method for non-invasive determination of chemical properties of aqueous solutions
A method for non-invasively determining a chemical property of an aqueous solution is provided. The method provides the steps of providing a colored solute having a light absorbance spectrum and transmitting light through the colored solute at two different wavelengths. The method further provides the steps of measuring light absorbance of the colored solute at the two different transmitted light wavelengths, and comparing the light absorbance of the colored solute at the two different wavelengths to determine a chemical property of an aqueous solution. |
| US09372154B2 |
Method and apparatus for infrared scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy
This invention involves measurement of optical properties of materials with sub-micron spatial resolution through infrared scattering scanning near field optical microscopy (s-SNOM). Specifically, the current invention provides substantial improvements over the prior art by achieving high signal to noise, high measurement speed and high accuracy of optical amplitude and phase. Additionally, it some embodiments, it eliminates the need for an in situ reference to calculate wavelength dependent spectra of optical phase, or absorption spectra. These goals are achieved via improved asymmetric interferometry where the near-field scattered light is interfered with a reference beam in an interferometer. The invention achieves dramatic improvements in background rejection by arranging a reference beam that is much more intense than the background scattered radiation. Combined with frequency selective demodulation techniques, the near-field scattered light can be efficiently and accurately discriminated from background scattered light. These goals are achieved via a range of improvements including a large dynamic range detector, careful control of relative beam intensities, and high bandwidth demodulation techniques. In other embodiments, phase and amplitude stability are improved with a novel s-SNOM configuration. |
| US09372153B2 |
Dryness fraction distribution measuring device and dryness fraction distribution measuring method
A dryness fraction distribution measuring device, includes: a light-emitting body that illuminates a gas/liquid two-phase flow with light; an environment sensor that measures at least one of temperature or pressure in a gas/liquid two-phase flow; a plurality of photodetecting elements that receive respective lights that have traversed moist steam; a relationship storing portion that stores, for each temperature or pressure, a relationship between an intensity of light that has traversed the gas/liquid two-phase flow and a dryness fraction of the gas/liquid two-phase flow; and a dryness fraction identifying portion that identifies a dryness fraction of the gas/liquid two-phase flow for each position corresponding to the plurality of photodetecting elements, based on the relationships between the measured values for the detected light intensities of the lights detected by the respective photodetecting elements and the values for the temperatures and pressures measured by the environment sensor. |
| US09372151B2 |
Cross antennas for surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy of chemical moieties
A device for Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption (SEIRA) that includes at least one pair of metallic antennas deposited on a substrate, wherein the pair of metallic antennas are collinear. The length, width, and height of the metallic antenna determines an infrared absorption of the pair of metallic antennas. The device also includes a gap located between the pair of metallic antennas. A chemical moiety is disposed on at least a portion of the metallic antennas such that the infrared absorption of the chemical moiety is enhanced by the at least one pair of metallic antennas. |
| US09372147B2 |
Platen tape test method and device
A device for testing adhesive tape including a sample holder located in a first plane and a movable platen having a major surface located in a plane perpendicular to the plane in which the sample holder is located. The platen and the sample holder each have an edge adjacent to the edge of the other, where the platen and the sample holder are moveable with respect to each other such that the movement of the platen with respect to the sample holder separates the adjacent edges and thereby applies a load to a length of tape that is secured to the surface of a sample in the holder and secured to the surface of the platen during testing. |
| US09372143B2 |
Scanning image flow cytometer
An image flow cytometer has a flow chamber with a flow channel formed therein to permit a microparticulate sample to flow through the flow channel. An irradiation optical system irradiates the sample in the channel with incident light in an irradiation spot smaller than a selected representative size, e.g., smaller than the sample. The system scans an irradiation position perpendicular to the flow direction of the sample. A detection optical system is opposed to the irradiation optical system through the flow chamber, or is off the optical axis of the incident light. The detection system detects a light intensity of resultant light from the flow chamber. A control unit detects the microparticulate sample according to a change of the light intensity of the resultant light detected by the detection optical system. |
| US09372140B2 |
Method and device for determining shearing stress or viscosity
The present invention comprises a device for measuring at least one property of a substance or medium such as the viscosity, the shearing stress, the specific weight and whether the substance or the medium shows Newtonian behavior. The device comprises a carrier arranged at least at one attachment point, a pivot arm connected pivotally or rotatably to the carrier at a rotation point located at a distance from the attachment point, a drive acting selectively on the pivot arm for driving the pivot arm in an oscillating movement, and a measurement setup for measuring the oscillation of the pivot arm to be caused with a drive, characterized in that a center of inertia lies substantially at the attachment point. |
| US09372139B2 |
Method and apparatus for simulating head impacts for helmet testing
An apparatus is disclosed that includes a frame, an impact delivery unit for delivering an impact force and at least one head form. The head form is adapted to be mounted to the frame such that the impact delivery unit can deliver an impact force to a designated location on the head form. The head form is configured to have a helmet installed thereon. The head form is selectively rotatable about each of a plurality of different axes of rotation, wherein movement of the head form is constrained to be able to move only in rotation and in rotation about only one axis of rotation of the plurality of axes at any time. A measuring system provides an indicator of the rotational acceleration of the head form when rotated about each of the plurality of axes. Also disclosed are methods for comparing the degree of protection afforded by first and second helmets. |
| US09372131B2 |
Pressure scanner assemblies having replaceable sensor plates
A pressure scanner assembly having at least one replaceable sensor plate, wherein each of the replaceable sensor plates has at least one pressure sensor adapted to transmit a signal substantially indicative of a sensed pressure condition. A memory chip, which stores correction coefficients for each of the pressure sensor to compensate for thermal errors, may be installed on each of the replaceable sensor plates. The signals from the pressure sensors are multiplexed and may be outputted in analog or digital form. The pressure scanner assemblies described herein have sensor plates that can be interchanged with other sensor plates of the same or different pressure range without disrupting the electronic configuration of the pressure scanner assembly or having to recalibrate and/or update the memory chip installed thereon. |
| US09372130B2 |
Facilitating text-to-speech conversion of a domain name or a network address containing a domain name
To facilitate text-to-speech conversion of a username, a first or last name of a user associated with the username may be retrieved, and a pronunciation of the username may be determined based at least in part on whether the name forms at least part of the username. To facilitate text-to-speech conversion of a domain name having a top level domain and at least one other level domain, a pronunciation for the top level domain may be determined based at least in part upon whether the top level domain is one of a predetermined set of top level domains. Each other level domain may be searched for one or more recognized words therewithin, and a pronunciation of the other level domain may be determined based at least in part on an outcome of the search. The username and domain name may form part of a network address such as an email address, URL or URI. |
| US09372127B1 |
Printing system controlled using photoelastic measurement device
A printing system is used printing an image on a web of media that is photoelastic and at least partially transparent. A web advance system advances the web of media supplied from an input roll in an in-track direction along a web transport path. At least one printing station is disposed along the web transport path for printing on the web of media. One or more photoelastic measurement devices disposed along the web transport path for characterizing stress in the web of media, and a controller that controls at least one aspect of the printing system responsive to signals received from the one or more photoelastic measurement devices. |
| US09372120B2 |
Camera, computer program and method for measuring thermal radiation and thermal rates of change
A camera, computer program, and method for determining and displaying temperature rates of change for regions within the camera's field of view. More specifically, the embodiments provide for the continuous, real-time temperature measurement and display of a region within the camera's field of view, and further for the real-time processing and display of the temperature rates of change for the region. |
| US09372118B1 |
Apparatus and method for multispectral based detection
An apparatus for spatially characterizing an illumination source of interest in a scene comprised of at least one optical element configured to form an image on a focal plane; a single plane sensing array comprising at least two types of pixels having different spectral sensitivity bands, the pixels located at spatially non-overlapping regions of the sensing array; a multi-bandpass filter spectrally narrowing light received from the scene within at least two of the different spectral sensitivity bands corresponding to features that distinguish the illumination source of interest from other sources in the scene; and a processor in signal communication with the sensing array and containing an algorithm to interpolate at least two levels of signals received from at least one spatial location on the sensing array and to determine the presence of the specific illumination source of interest from the relative intensities of the two levels. |
| US09372116B2 |
Automatic initiation of reference spectra library generation for optical monitoring
A method of generating reference spectra includes polishing a first substrate in a polishing apparatus, measuring a sequence of spectra from the first substrate during polishing with an in-situ optical monitoring system, for each spectrum in the sequence of spectra, determining a best matching reference spectrum from a first plurality of first reference spectra to generate a sequence of reference spectra, calculating a value of a metric of fit of the sequence of spectra to the sequence of reference spectra, comparing the value of the metric of fit to a threshold value and determining whether to generate a second library based on the comparison, and if the second library is determined to be generated, storing the sequence of spectra as a second plurality of reference spectra. |
| US09372114B2 |
Spectrophotometer comprising an integrated Fabry-Perot interferometer
An “integrated” Fabry-Perot interferometer, such as for use in a spectrophotometer, is fabricated by attaching two micro-machined semiconductor-on-insulator wafers to one another. One mirror is formed on each micro-machined wafer. One mirror is supported by a thermally insulated, suspended micro-platform. In some embodiments, interferometer cavity length is adjustable. Detectors are disposed at least partially within the micro-platform. In some embodiments, the interferometer, a light source, and other circuitry and components, such as wireless communications components, are contained in a sealed package that includes a sampling region, thereby providing an integrated spectrophotometer. The integrated spectrophotometer can be implanted, for example, in animal tissue environments, such as for analyzing various compounds in the blood. |
| US09372110B2 |
Sensor package for WIM sensor and WIM sensor
The invention relates to a sensor package (6) with long design for a WIM (Weigh in Motion) sensor (1), comprising a first receiving plate (7), a plurality of measuring elements (10), which are arranged equally spaced in a row (15) on the upper side (9) of the first receiving plate (7), an electrode (11) covering all the measuring elements (10), insulation (12) completely covering the electrode (11), and a second receiving plate (8), which covers the insulation (12). In particular, each receiving plate (7, 8) consists of a plurality of receiving elements (13) the end faces (14) of which are juxtaposed in a row (15). According to the invention, the inner end faces (14) of the receiving elements (13) of at least one row (15) have profiles (16) which engage in a form fit manner with the profiles (16) of the adjacent end faces (14) of neighboring receiving elements (13). The invention further relates to a WIM sensor (1) comprising a hollow profile (3) with a tube (4) and two opposing mountings (5) arranged therein, between which a sensor package (6) according to the invention is arranged under initial tension. |
| US09372108B2 |
Powder flow detection
Apparatus for detecting powder flow along a powder flow path includes a light source and a light detector for detecting light from the light source directed across the powder flow path as powder flows through said powder flow path. A circuit receives the output from the light detector and determines an average or RMS of the signal received by the light detector. The circuit may determine whether there is flow or no flow of powder or whether there is a change in flow rate of powder. Preferably, the apparatus is used in combination with a dense phase powder pump, which causes the powder to flow in pulses from the pump outlet into the powder flow path. More preferably, the light source and detector are enclosed in a housing that is connected between the pump outlet and a powder feed hose which supplies powder to a spray gun or hopper. |
| US09372107B2 |
Measuring system for ascertaining a volume flow and/or a volume flow rate of a medium flowing in a pipeline
The measuring system comprises: a vibration element for guiding flowing medium and having a lumen; and a vibration element, which is adapted to be contacted, at least at times, by a part of the medium. Additionally, the measuring system includes at least two oscillation exciters for exciting resonant oscillations of the respective vibration elements, two mutually spaced oscillation sensors for registering vibrations of the vibration element, each of which generates an oscillatory signal dependent on vibrations of the vibration element, as well as at least one oscillation sensor for registering vibrations of the vibration element and generating, dependent on vibrations of the vibration element, an oscillatory signal, which has a signal frequency corresponding to a resonant frequency, of the vibration element. Moreover, the measuring system also comprises a measuring and operating electronics, which based on a phase difference, existing between the oscillation signals and based on the signal frequency of the oscillation signal generates a measured value representing the volume flow rate, respectively the volume flow. |
| US09372105B2 |
Ultrasonic flow rate measurement device
An ultrasonic flow rate measurement device includes a measurement channel, through which a fluid to be measured flows; and a sensor fixing casing having openings formed in the measurement channel and sensor fixing cavities communicating with the openings. Moreover, the ultrasonic flow rate measurement device includes a pair of ultrasonic sensors contained in the sensor fixing cavities, for measuring the flow rate of the fluid to be measured; and a flow rate measuring unit for detecting the flow rate based on an ultrasonic wave propagation time between the pair of ultrasonic sensors. Furthermore, the ultrasonic flow rate measurement device includes a suppressing member formed at each of the openings, for suppressing the fluid to be measured from intruding into each of the sensor fixing cavities, wherein the suppressing member is molded integrally with the sensor fixing casing. |
| US09372104B2 |
Volumetric measurement device, system and method
An acoustic volume sensing device is disclosed. The device includes a housing comprising a reference volume chamber and a variable volume chamber, the reference volume chamber and the variable volume chamber connected by a resonant port, a first MEMS microphone located in acoustic relation to the variable volume chamber, a second MEMS microphone located in acoustic relation to the reference volume chamber, a MEMS speaker located in acoustic relation to the reference volume chamber, and a circuit board in electric connection with the first and second MEMS microphones and the MEMS speaker. |
| US09372100B2 |
Digital opto-electric pulse application method for correcting bit error of vernier-type optical encoder
This disclosure relates to a method for detecting an absolute rotation angle of an optical rotary encoder, and more particularly, to an optical encoder having a signal track for generating a digital pulse which may correct an error when a high-level bit is generated in a Vernier type. The optical encoder according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a master track for generating a sinusoidal signal with the fastest cycle, a Vernier track for generating a sinusoidal signal with a cycle smaller than that of the master track by a predetermined value, and a digital track for generating a digital pulse signal with a cycle proportional to the cycle of the sinusoidal signal of the master track. |
| US09372095B1 |
Mobile robots moving on a visual display
A system for using mobile robots that track visual features of a drawing to create a tangible tactile interface for a user. The user places a hand or finger on a mobile robot to trace and consequently cognize features of interest. The mobile robot tracks visual features and reports a location of the mobile robot to a guidance system. The guidance system presents location information to the user. |
| US09372089B2 |
Monitoring suggested routes for deviations
Traffic patterns are monitored for adherence of a user to a suggested route. Deviations from suggested routes are recorded for later upload and/or analysis. Repeated deviations by one, or more, users following similar navigation routes are identified for possible changes in maps and/or routing algorithms. |