最新美国发明专利第2016-09-13期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

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US09444029B2	Piezoelectronic transistor with co-planar common and gate electrodes A method of forming a piezoelectronic transistor (PET), the PET, and a semiconductor device including the PET are described. The method includes forming a piezoelectric (PE) element with a trench and forming a pair of electrodes on the PE element in a coplanar arrangement in a first plane, both of the pair of electrodes being on a same side of the PE element. The method also includes forming a piezoresistive (PR) element above the pair of electrodes and forming a clamp above the PR element. Applying a voltage to the pair of electrodes causes displacement of the PE element perpendicular to the first plane.
US09444027B2	Thermoelectrical device and method for manufacturing same A method for manufacturing a thermoelectrical device includes providing a substrate and also forming at least one deep trench into the substrate. The method further includes forming at least one thermocouple which comprises two conducting paths, wherein a first conducting path comprises a first conductive material and a second conducting path comprises a second conductive material, such that at least the first conducting path is embedded in the deep trench of the substrate.
US09444026B2	Reduced oxides having large thermoelectric ZT values Doped and partially-reduced oxide (e.g., SrTiO3-based) thermoelectric materials. The thermoelectric materials can be single-doped or multi-doped (e.g., co-doped) and display a thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 0.2 or higher at 1050 K. Methods of forming the thermoelectric materials involve combining and reacting suitable raw materials and heating them in a graphite environment to at least partially reduce the resulting oxide. Optionally, a reducing agent such as lanthanum boride, titanium carbide, titanium nitride, or titanium boride can be incorporated into the starting materials prior to the reducing step in graphite. The reaction product can be sintered to form a dense thermoelectric material.
US09444024B2	Methods of forming optical conversion material caps A method of forming can be provided by applying an optical conversion material to a mold to form a unitary layer of optical conversion material and removing the unitary layer of optical conversion material from the mold.
US09444023B2	Phosphor sheet and light emitting device containing the same The phosphor sheet of the present invention mainly includes a sheet material that is formed by mixing and solidifying of a phosphor powder and an adhesive material. The sheet material subsequently forms a first surface that receives a light source, and forms a second surface that is located on the opposite side to the first surface for scattering a light source. In addition, the distribution ratio of the phosphor powder as well as the adhesive material within the phosphor sheet is based mainly on the different positions and different distances towards the light source; the distribution ratio of the phosphor powder and the adhesive material increases gradually from the first surface towards the second surface. The phosphor of the present invention is designed to be a sheet material, so as to enable the overall volume of the light emitting device to be reduced. Moreover, distribution ratio of the phosphor powder that is within the phosphor sheet is based on the different positions and different distances towards the light source; and the concentration of the phosphor powder increases gradually from the positions that are closest to the light source to the positions that are furthest away from the light source, so as to prevent the part of highly concentration of phosphor powder within the phosphor sheet coming in direct contact with the light emitting heat source, and thereby causing the deterioration of the phosphor sheet. This may then enables the life span of the light emitting device to be increased.
US09444022B2	Optoelectronic semiconductor chip, optoelectronic semiconductor component, and a method for producing an optoelectronic semiconductor component An optoelectronic semiconductor chip includes a semiconductor body that emits primary light, and a luminescence conversion element that emits secondary light by wavelength conversion of at least part of the primary light, wherein the luminescence conversion element has a first lamina fixed to a first partial region of an outer surface of the semiconductor body, the outer surface emitting primary light, and leaves free a second partial region of the outer surface, the luminescence conversion element has a second lamina fixed to a surface of the first lamina facing away from the semiconductor body and spaced apart from the semiconductor body, the first lamina is at least partly transmissive to the primary radiation, a section of the second lamina covers at least the second partial region, and at least the section of the second lamina is designed to be absorbent and/or reflective and/or scattering for the primary radiation.
US09444015B2	Micro assembled LED displays and lighting elements The disclosed technology provides micro-assembled micro-LED displays and lighting elements using arrays of micro-LEDs that are too small (e.g., micro-LEDs with a width or diameter of 10 μm to 50 μm), numerous, or fragile to assemble by conventional means. The disclosed technology provides for micro-LED displays and lighting elements assembled using micro-transfer printing technology. The micro-LEDs can be prepared on a native substrate and printed to a display substrate (e.g., plastic, metal, glass, or other materials), thereby obviating the manufacture of the micro-LEDs on the display substrate. In certain embodiments, the display substrate is transparent and/or flexible.
US09444014B2	Solid state lighting devices with accessible electrodes and methods of manufacturing Various embodiments of light emitting dies and solid state lighting (“SSL”) devices with light emitting dies, assemblies, and methods of manufacturing are described herein. In one embodiment, a light emitting die includes an SSL structure configured to emit light in response to an applied electrical voltage, a first electrode carried by the SSL structure, and a second electrode spaced apart from the first electrode of the SSL structure. The first and second electrode are configured to receive the applied electrical voltage. Both the first and second electrodes are accessible from the same side of the SSL structure via wirebonding.
US09444008B2	Semiconductor nanocrystals and compositions and devices including same A semiconductor nanocrystal including a core comprising a first semiconductor material comprising at least three chemical elements and a shell disposed over at least a portion of the core, the shell comprising a second semiconductor material, wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal is capable of emitting light with an improved photoluminescence quantum efficiency. Also disclosed are populations of semiconductor nanocrystals, compositions and devices including a semiconductor nanocrystal capable of emitting light with an improved photoluminescence quantum efficiency. In one embodiment, a semiconductor nanocrystal includes a core comprising a first semiconductor material comprising at least three chemical elements and a shell disposed over at least a portion of the core, the shell comprising a second semiconductor material, wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal is capable of emitting light upon excitation with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency greater than about 65%. In another embodiment, a semiconductor nanocrystal includes a core comprising a first semiconductor material comprising zinc, cadmium, and sulfur and a shell disposed over at least a portion of the core, the shell comprising a second semiconductor material. In a further embodiment, a semiconductor nanocrystal includes a core comprises a first semiconductor material comprising at least three chemical elements and a shell disposed over at least a portion of the core, the shell comprising a second semiconductor material comprising at least three chemical elements, wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal is capable of emitting light with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency greater than about 60% upon excitation. In a further embodiment, a semiconductor nanocrystal including a core comprises a first semiconductor material comprising zinc, cadmium, and selenium and a shell disposed over at least a portion of the core, the shell comprising a second semiconductor material, wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal is capable of emitting light with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency greater than about 60% upon excitation.
US09444007B2	Nanopyramid sized opto-electronic structure and method for manufacturing of same Aspects of the invention provide methods and devices. In one embodiment, the invention relates to the growing of nitride semiconductors, applicable for a multitude of semiconductor devices such as diodes, LEDs and transistors. According to the method of the invention nitride semiconductor nanopyramids are grown utilizing a CVD based selective area growth technique. The nanopyramids are grown directly or as core-shell structures.
US09444006B2	Optical device and method for manufacturing same Provided are an optical device and a method for manufacturing same. The optical device according to the present invention including: a transparent amorphous substrate; a current injection layer formed on the substrate; a graphite layer formed on the current injection layer; and a semiconductor unit formed on the graphite layer, wherein the semiconductor unit is formed after forming the graphite layer on the amorphous substrate, thereby overcoming the problems of conventional methods that involve forming a semiconductor unit on an amorphous substrate, and the semiconductor unit of the present invention has superior crystallinity.
US09444005B2	Light emitting diode structure A light emitting diode structure is provided. The light emitting diode structure includes a substrate, a light emitting multi-layer structure, a first current blocking layer, a first current spreading layer, a second current blocking layer and a second current spreading layer. The light emitting multi-layer structure is formed on the substrate by way of stacking. The first current blocking layer is formed on part of the light emitting multi-layer structure. The first current spreading layer covers the first current blocking layer and the light emitting multi-layer structure. The second current blocking layer is formed on part of the first current spreading layer. An orthogonal projection of the second current blocking layer is disposed in an orthogonal projection of the first current blocking layer. The second current spreading layer covers the second current blocking layer and the first current spreading layer.
US09444002B2	Graphene transistor optical detector based on metamaterial structure and application thereof A graphene transistor optical detector based on a metamaterial structure and an application thereof. The optical detector includes a substrate, a gate metal layer, a gate medium layer, a graphene layer, a source and drain metal layer successively arranged from bottom to top, wherein a local region of at least the source and drain metal layer has a periodic micro/nanostructure, the periodic micro/nanostructure being matched with the gate metal layer and the gate medium layer to form a metamaterial structure having a complete absorption characteristic. By changing the refractive index, thickness or the like of material for the periodic micro/nanostructure and the gate medium layer, a light absorption frequency band of the metamaterial structure can be regulated. The optical detector provided by the present invention has higher flexibility and narrow-band response, and can work under visible light to infrared even longer wavebands by selecting different metamaterial structures.
US09443999B2	Solar energy collector A solar collector is provided with a frame that is coupled to a based and configured to rotate about a vertical axis. A main panel assembly is attached to the frame and pivotal about a horizontal axis relative to the frame. The main panel assembly receives sunlight and converts the sunlight into electrical energy. The main panel assembly includes a central panel, and a pair of pivotal inner side panels, where each inner side panel is attached to the central panel. A pair of outer side panels attached to the inner side panels is also provided. Each outer side panel includes photo-voltaic (PV) panels, and a panel surround frame for retaining the PV panels. Each panel surround frame has a horizontal channel member, a pair of upright channel members, and a channel bracket, defining a perimeter. A peripheral edge of each PV panel is captured within the channel members.
US09443998B2	Multi-layer-coated quantum dot beads Disclosed herein are coated beads made of a primary matrix material and containing a population of quantum dot nanoparticles. Each bead has a multi-layer surface coating. The layers can be two or more distinct surface coating materials. The surface coating materials may be inorganic materials and/or polymeric materials. A method of preparing such particles is also described. The coated beads are useful for composite materials for applications such as light-emitting devices.
US09443997B2	Hybrid CZTSSe photovoltaic device A photovoltaic device includes a first contact and a hybrid absorber layer. The hybrid absorber layer includes a chalcogenide layer and a semiconductor layer in contact with the chalcogenide layer. A buffer layer is formed on the absorber layer, and a transparent conductive contact layer is formed on the buffer layer.
US09443994B2	Shielded electrical contact and doping through a passivating dielectric layer in a high-efficiency crystalline solar cell, including structure and methods of manufacture Solar cell structures and formation methods which utilize the surface texture in conjunction with a passivating dielectric layer to provide a practical and controllable technique of forming an electrical contact between a conducting layer and underlying substrate through the passivating dielectric layer, achieving both good surface passivation and electrical contact with low recombination losses, as required for high efficiency solar cells. The passivating dielectric layer is intentionally modified to allow direct contact, or tunnel barrier contact, with the substrate. Additional P-N junctions, and dopant gradients, are disclosed to further limit losses and increase efficiency.
US09443984B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof A semiconductor device capable of high speed operation is provided. Further, a highly reliable semiconductor device is provided. An oxide semiconductor having crystallinity is used for a semiconductor layer of a transistor. A channel formation region, a source region, and a drain region are formed in the semiconductor layer. The source region and the drain region are formed in such a manner that one or more of elements selected from rare gases and hydrogen are added to the semiconductor layer by an ion doping method or an ion implantation method with the use of a channel protective layer as a mask.
US09443983B2	Pixel unit, array substrate and manufacturing method thereof, and display device A pixel unit comprising a thin film transistor, a pixel electrode and a common electrode is provided. The common electrode and the pixel electrode form a capacitor. The pixel electrode is integrated with a drain of the thin film transistor. An array substrate comprising the pixel unit, a manufacturing method of the array substrate and a display device comprising the array substrate are also provided. In the pixel unit provided by the present invention, since the pixel electrode is integrated with the drain of the thin film transistor, it is not required to provide connection vias, so the manufacturing cost of an array substrate comprising the pixel unit is reduced.
US09443981B2	Thin film transistor, method for manufacturing the same, and semiconductor device In a thin film transistor, an increase in off current or negative shift of the threshold voltage is prevented. In the thin film transistor, a buffer layer is provided between an oxide semiconductor layer and each of a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer. The buffer layer includes a metal oxide layer which is an insulator or a semiconductor over a middle portion of the oxide semiconductor layer. The metal oxide layer functions as a protective layer for suppressing incorporation of impurities into the oxide semiconductor layer. Therefore, in the thin film transistor, an increase in off current or negative shift of the threshold voltage can be prevented.
US09443979B2	Semiconductor devices including trench walls having multiple slopes A semiconductor device includes a gate spacer defining a trench. The trench includes a first part and a second part sequentially positioned on a substrate. An inner surface of the first part has a slope of an acute angle and an inner surface of the second part has a slope of a right angle or obtuse angle with respect to the substrate. A gate electrode fills at least a portion of the trench.
US09443977B1	FinFET with reduced source and drain resistance A method for forming a semiconductor device comprises patterning and etching a fin in a semiconductor substrate, forming a gate stack over the fin, epitaxially growing a first semiconductor material on exposed portions of the fin, epitaxially growing a second semiconductor material on exposed portions of the first semiconductor material, and performing an etching process that removes exposed portions of the first semiconductor material and exposed portions of the second semiconductor material, the etching process is operative to remove portions of the first semiconductor material at a faster rate than the second semiconductor material such that a first cavity is formed adjacent to the fin.
US09443975B1	Method of manufacturing a device having a shield plate dopant region Forming a transistor transistor includes forming a surface region, a gate, a source dopant region, a drain dopant region, a drift dopant region, a set of electrically conductive shield plates, and a shield plate dopant region. A sidewall of the gate aligns with a drain side boundary of the surface region. The drain dopant region is formed within the surface region on the drain side. The drift dopant region is formed within the surface region between the drain side boundary and the drain dopant region. The set of electrically conductive shield plates includes a first shield plate overlying the drift dopant region. The shield plate dopant region is formed within the drift dopant region and underlies the set of shield plates.
US09443974B2	Super junction trench power MOSFET device fabrication Methods of fabricating a super junction trench power MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) device are described. A column of p-type dopant in the super junction is separated from a first column of n-type dopant by a first column of oxide and from a second column of n-type dopant by a second column of oxide. In an n-channel device, a gate element for the FET is advantageously situated over the column of p-type dopant; and in a p-channel device, a gate element for the FET is advantageously situated over the column of n-type dopant.
US09443973B2	Semiconductor device with charge compensation region underneath gate trench A semiconductor substrate has a main surface and a rear surface vertically spaced apart from the main surface, a first doped region, a second doped region and a third doped region. The third doped region is interposed between the first and second doped regions beneath the main surface. Field plate trenches having field plates vertically extend from the main surface to a bottom that is arranged in the first doped region. A gate trench having a gate electrode vertically extends from the main surface to the first doped region. A compensation zone vertically extends from the bottom of the gate trench deeper into the first doped region. The compensation zone is laterally aligned with the gate trench and is adjacent to the field plates along a cross-sectional plane of the device that is parallel to the main surface.
US09443972B2	Semiconductor device with field electrode A method of producing a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor body having a first surface and a dielectric layer arranged on the first surface and forming at least one first trench in the dielectric layer. The at least one first trench extends to the semiconductor body and defines a dielectric mesa region in the dielectric layer. The method further includes forming a second trench in the dielectric mesa region distant to the at least one first trench, forming a semiconductor layer on uncovered regions of the semiconductor body in the at least one first trench and forming a field electrode in the second trench.
US09443971B2	Semiconductor to metal transition A semiconductor device includes a diffusion barrier layer, a first semiconductor region having first charge carriers of a first conductivity type and a second semiconductor region having second charge carriers. The first semiconductor region includes a transition region in contact with the second semiconductor region, the transition region having a first concentration of the first charge carriers, a contact region in contact with the diffusion barrier layer, the contact region having a second concentration of the first charge carriers, wherein the second concentration is higher than the first concentration, and a damage region between the contact region and the transition region. The damage region is configured for reducing the lifetime and/or the mobility of the first charge carriers of the damage region as compared to the lifetime and/or the mobility of the first charge carriers of the contact region and the transition region.
US09443970B2	Semiconductor device with epitaxial structures and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor device including a substrate, a plurality of isolation structures, at least a gate structure, a plurality of dummy gate structures and a plurality of epitaxial structures is provided. The substrate has an active area defined by the isolation structures disposed within the substrate. That is, the active area is defined between the isolation structures. The gate structure is disposed on the substrate and located within the active area. The dummy gate structures are disposed on the substrate and located out of the active area. The edge of each dummy gate structure is separated from the boundary of the active area with a distance smaller than 135 angstroms. The epitaxial structures are disposed within the active area and in a portion of the substrate on two sides of the gate structure. The invention also provided a method for fabricating semiconductor device.
US09443968B2	High electron mobility transistors including lightly doped drain regions and methods of manufacturing the same High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) including lightly doped drain (LDD) regions and methods of manufacturing the same. A HEMT includes a source, a drain, a gate, a channel supplying layer for forming at least a 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel, and a channel formation layer in which at least the 2DEG channel is formed. The channel supplying layer includes a plurality of semiconductor layers having different polarizabilities. A portion of the channel supplying layer is recessed. One of the plurality of semiconductor layers, which is positioned below an uppermost layer is an etching buffer layer, as well as a channel supplying layer.
US09443967B1	Semiconductor device having metal layer and method of fabricating same A semiconductor device includes a substrate having a first conductivity type, a high-voltage well having a second conductivity type and formed in the substrate, a source well having the first conductivity type and formed in the high-voltage well, a source region formed in the source well, an isolation layer formed above the high-voltage well and spaced apart from the source well, a gate layer formed above the substrate and continuously extending from above an edge portion of the source well to an edge portion of the isolation layer, and a metal layer formed above the substrate and the isolation layer. The metal layer includes a first metal portion overlapping an edge portion of the gate layer and a side portion of the isolation layer, a second metal portion overlapping and conductively contacting the gate layer, and a third metal portion overlapping and conductively contacting the source region.
US09443966B2	High breakdown voltage semiconductor device An n-type region encloses an n-type well region is disclosed in which is disposed a high-side drive circuit. A high resistance polysilicon thin film configuring a resistive field plate structure of a high breakdown voltage junction termination region is disposed in spiral form on the n-type region. An OUT electrode, a ground electrode, and a Vcc1 electrode are disposed on the n-type region. The Vcc1 electrode is connected to the positive electrode of an auxiliary direct current power supply (a bootstrap capacitor). The OUT electrode is connected to the negative electrode of the auxiliary direct current power supply. One end portion (a second contact portion) of the high resistance polysilicon thin film is connected to the ground electrode, and the other end portion (a first contact portion) of the high resistance polysilicon thin film is connected to the OUT electrode.
US09443963B2	SiGe FinFET with improved junction doping control A semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the device. The method includes: providing a FinFET having a source/drain region, at least one SiGe fin, a silicon substrate, a local oxide layer is formed on the silicon substrate, a gate structure is formed on the at least one SiGe fin and the local oxide layer, the gate structure is encapsulated by a gate hard mask and sidewall spacer layers; recessing the at least one SiGe fin in the source/drain region to the sidewall spacer layers and the silicon substrate layer; recessing the local oxide layer in the source/drain region to the sidewall spacer layer and the silicon substrate; growing a n-doped silicon layer on the silicon substrate; growing a p-doped silicon layer or p-doped SiGe layer on the n-doped silicon layer; and forming a silicide layer on the p-doped silicon layer or p-doped SiGe layer.
US09443962B2	Recessing STI to increase fin height in fin-first process A method includes forming a gate stack over top surfaces of a semiconductor strip and insulation regions on opposite sides of the semiconductor strip. The insulation regions include first portions overlapped by the gate stack, and second portions misaligned from the gate stack. An end portion of the semiconductor strip is etched to form a recess, wherein the recess is located between the second portions of the insulation regions. An epitaxy is performed to grow a source/drain region from the recess. After the epitaxy, a recessing is performed to recess the second portions of the insulation regions, with the second portions of the insulation regions having first top surfaces after the first recessing. After the recessing, a dielectric mask layer is formed on the first top surfaces of the second portions of the insulation regions, wherein the dielectric mask layer further extends on a sidewall of the gate stack.
US09443958B2	High voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor device and method of forming the same A HVMOS transistor device is provided. The HVMOS has a substrate, a gate structure, a drain region and a source region, a base region and a gate dielectric layer. The substrate has a first insulating structure disposed therein. The gate structure is disposed on the substrate and comprises a first portion covering a portion of the first insulating structure. The drain region and the source region are disposed in the substrate at two respective sides of the gate, and comprise a first conductivity type. The base region encompasses the source region, wherein the base region comprises a second conductivity type complementary to the first conductivity type. The gate dielectric layer is between the gate and the drain region, the base region and the substrate. The gate structure further comprises a second portion penetrating into the base region. A method of forming the HVMOS is further provided.
US09443954B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device having metal gate The present invention provides a method for forming a semiconductor device having a metal gate. The method includes firstly, a substrate is provided, and a first semiconductor device and a second semiconductor device are formed on the substrate, having a first gate trench and a second trench respectively. Next, a bottom barrier layer is formed in the first gate trench and a second trench. Afterwards, a first pull back step is performed, to remove parts of the bottom barrier layer, and a first work function metal layer is then formed in the first gate trench. Next, a second pull back step is performed, to remove parts of the first work function metal layer, wherein the topmost portion of the first work function metal layer is lower than the openings of the first gate trench and the second gate trench.
US09443952B2	Method of forming semiconductor device A method of forming a semiconductor device is disclosed. A substrate having multiple fins is provided. An insulating layer fills a lower portion of a gap between two adjacent fins. At least one first stacked structure is formed on one fin and at least one second stacked structure is formed on one insulation layer. A first dielectric layer is formed to cover the first and second stacked structures. A portion of the first dielectric layer and portions of the first and second stacked structures are removed. Another portion of the first dielectric layer is removed until a top of the remaining first dielectric layer is lower than tops of the first and second stacked structures. A second dielectric layer is formed to cover the first and second stacked structures. A portion of the second dielectric layer is removed until the tops of the first and second stacked structures are exposed.
US09443950B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes: a p-type semiconductor layer; an n-type semiconductor layer connected with the p-type semiconductor layer; a first electrode layer formed on the n-type semiconductor layer; and a second electrode layer formed on the p-type semiconductor layer. The first electrode layer and the second electrode layer are electrically connected such as to each operate at an identical potential. The second electrode layer is connected with at least a part of a surface of the first electrode layer which is opposite to a surface of the first electrode layer that is in contact with the n-type semiconductor layer.
US09443946B2	Method of manufacturing an embedded split-gate flash memory device A method of manufacturing an embedded split-gate flash memory device is provided. The method includes: performing shallow trench isolation and chemical mechanical planarization on a semiconductor substrate comprising a flash memory region and a logic region, wherein a first oxide is formed on the semiconductor substrate and a first nitride is formed on the first oxide; forming a first photoresist over the logic region, and removing the first nitride disposed in the flash memory region; removing the first photoresist, and depositing a floating gate polysilicon material over the semiconductor substrate; performing chemical mechanical planarization on the floating gate polysilicon material; forming a control gate in the flash memory region; etching the floating gate polysilicon material to form a floating gate; forming a second photoresist over the flash memory region, and removing the first oxide and the first nitride disposed in the logic region; and removing the second photoresist.
US09443941B2	Compound semiconductor transistor with self aligned gate A transistor device includes a compound semiconductor body having a first surface and a two-dimensional charge carrier gas disposed below the first surface in the compound semiconductor body. The transistor device further includes a source in contact with the two-dimensional charge carrier gas and a drain spaced apart from the source and in contact with the two-dimensional charge carrier gas. A first passivation layer is in contact with the first surface of the compound semiconductor body, and a second passivation layer is disposed on the first passivation layer. The second passivation layer has a different etch rate selectivity than the first passivation layer. A gate extends through the second passivation layer into the first passivation layer.
US09443933B2	Matching of transistors The present invention relates to a pair of transistors wherein each transistor of said transistor pair is made of several sub-transistors, and each sub-transistor of a transistor has a sub-transistor channel length and has a sub-transistor channel width, said sub-transistor channel length being substantially equal to the transistor channel length, and said sub-transistor channel width being smaller than the transistor channel width, so that the sum of the sub-transistor channel widths of the sub-transistors of a transistor is substantially equal to the channel width of said transistor, wherein each sub-transistor (43) of a transistor of said transistor pair is spaced apart from at least one adjoining sub-transistor (44) of the other transistor of said transistor pair by a distance D less than half the transistor channel width, said distance d between two sub-transistors (43, 44) being measured between the respective center of the channels of said sub-transistors.
US09443930B2	Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same A semiconductor device may include a semiconductor substrate including an active region defined by a trench, a device isolation layer provided in the trench to surround the active region, a gate electrode extending in a direction crossing the active region, and formed on the active region and the device isolation layer, and a gate insulating layer between the active region and the gate electrode. The active region may have a first conductivity type, and the device isolation layer may include a first silicon oxide layer on an inner surface of the first trench and a different layer, selected from one of first metal oxide layer and a negatively-charged layer, on the first silicon oxide layer.
US09443928B2	Oxide terminated trench MOSFET with three or four masks An oxide termination semiconductor device may comprise a plurality of gate trenches, a gate runner, and an insulator termination trench. The gate trenches are located in an active region. Each gate trench includes a conductive gate electrode. The insulator termination trench is located in a termination region that surrounds the active region. The insulator termination trench is filled with an insulator material to form an insulator termination for the semiconductor device.
US09443927B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a gate positioned on the substrate, a drain region and a source region formed in the substrate at two respectively sides of the gate, a first well region formed in the substrate, and a plurality of first doped islands formed in the source region. The drain region and the source region include a first conductivity, and the first well region and the first doped islands include a second conductivity. The source region is formed in the first well region, and the first doped islands are spaced apart from the first well region.
US09443926B2	Field-stop reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor and manufacturing method therefor A field-stop reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor and a manufacturing method thereof. The transistor comprises a terminal structure (200) and an active region (100). An underlayment of the field-stop reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor is an N-type underlayment, the back surface of the underlayment is provided with an N-type electric field stop layer (1), one surface of the electric field stop layer (1) departing from the underlayment is provided with a back-surface P-type structure (10), and the surface of the back-surface P-type structure (10) is provided with a back-surface metal layer (12). A plurality of polysilicon filling structures (11) which penetrate into the electric field stop layer (1) from the back-surface P-type structure (10) are formed in the active region (100).
US09443924B2	Substrate with crystallized silicon film and manufacturing method thereof The present invention relates to a substrate with a crystallized silicon film and manufacturing method thereof, wherein the substrate with the crystallized silicon film comprises: a substrate, which is a polymer substrate; and a crystallized silicon film, which is formed on at least one surface of the substrate, wherein the crystallized silicon film comprises a plurality of silicon crystals with column structures, and the crystallinity of the crystallized silicon film is higher than 90%.
US09443923B2	Substrate for molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) HgCdTe growth A semiconductor structure having a first semiconductor body having an upper surface with a non <211> crystallographic orientation and a second semiconductor body having a surface with a <211> crystallographic orientation, the surface of the second semiconductor body being bonded to a bottom surface of the first semiconductor body. A layer comprising CdTe is epitaxially disposed on the upper surface of the second semiconductor body. The second semiconductor body is CZ silicon, has a thickness less than 10 microns and has a diameter of at least eight inches. A getter having micro-cavities has a bottom surface formed on an upper surface of the first semiconductor body and has an upper surface bonded to a bottom surface of the second semiconductor body.
US09443921B2	Semiconductor package structure and semiconductor manufacturing process The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor package structure and a manufacturing method thereof. The semiconductor package structure comprises a first dielectric layer, a die pad, an active component, at least one first metal bar, at least one second metal bar and a through via. The first dielectric layer has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The die pad is located within the first dielectric layer. The active component is located within the first dielectric layer and disposed on the die pad. The first metal bar is disposed on the first surface of the first dielectric layer, and electrically connected to the active component. The second metal bar is disposed on the second surface of the first dielectric layer. The through via penetrates the first dielectric layer and connects the at least one first metal bar to the at least one second metal bar.
US09443915B2	Flexible display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same Provided is a method of manufacturing a flexible display apparatus, the method including forming a sacrificial layer on a support substrate; forming a first material layer having a higher hydrogen concentration than the sacrificial layer on the sacrificial layer; forming a second material layer, preventing hydrogen diffusion from the first material layer to a flexible substrate, on the first material layer; forming the flexible substrate on the second material layer; forming a display layer on the flexible substrate; and irradiating a laser onto the support substrate to delaminate the sacrificial layer from the first material layer.
US09443912B2	Solid-state image pickup device and manufacturing method thereof There is provided a solid-state image pickup device that includes a functional region provided with an organic film, and a guard ring surrounding the functional region.
US09443910B1	Silicided bit line for reversible-resistivity memory A three-dimensional (3D) non-volatile memory array having a silicide bit line and method of fabricating is disclosed. The fabrication technique may comprise forming a metal silicide for at least a portion of the bit line. The device has reversible resistivity material between the word lines and the bit lines. The reversible resistivity material may be a metal oxide. The metal that is used to form the silicide may serve as an oxygen scavenger to draw oxygen away from the silicon, thus preventing formation of silicon oxide between the reversible resistivity material and the bit line. The metal silicide may also help prevent formation of a depletion layer in silicon in the bit line.
US09443909B2	Electronic device and method for fabricating the same An electronic device including a semiconductor memory includes a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes, which are disposed over a substrate and alternately arrayed in a first direction that is parallel to a plane of the substrate; and a plurality of resistance variable patterns, each of which is interposed between a corresponding one of the first electrodes and a corresponding one of the second electrodes, wherein the first and second electrodes and the resistance variable patterns extend upwards by a predetermined height from the substrate.
US09443907B2	Vertical bit line wide band gap TFT decoder A 3D memory array having a vertically oriented thin film transistor (TFT) selection device that has a body formed from a wide energy band gap semiconductor is disclosed. The wide energy band gap semiconductor may be an oxide semiconductor, such as a metal oxide semiconductor. As examples, this could be an InGaZnO, InZnO, HfInZnO, or ZnInSnO body. The source and drains can also be formed from the wide energy band gap semiconductor, although these may be doped for better conduction. The vertically oriented TFT selection device serves as a vertical bit line selection device in the 3D memory array. A vertical TFT select device has a high drive current, a high breakdown voltage and low leakage current.
US09443901B2	Image sensor having lens type color filter and method for fabricating the same The image sensor includes lens-type color filters having a uniform shape for a plurality of pixels. The image sensor includes a plurality of pixels formed in a substrate, a plurality of color filter housings formed over outer boundaries of the respective pixels, and a plurality of color filters filled in spaces defined by the respective color filter housings, wherein the clock filter housings surround edges of the respective color filters with a given curvature.
US09443899B1	BSI CMOS image sensor with improved phase detecting pixel An improved back side illuminated (BSI) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, and associated methods, improve phase detecting capability. The BSI CMOS image sensor has an array of pixels that include a phase detecting pixel (PDP), a composite grid formed of a buried color filter array and composite metal/oxide grid, and a photodiode implant corresponding to the PDP. A PDP mask is fabricated with a deep trench isolation (DTI) structure proximate the PDP and positioned to mask at least part of the photodiode implant such that the PDP mask is positioned between the composite grid and the photodiode implant.
US09443898B2	Image sensors having reduced interference between pixels An image sensor includes first pixels and a first source follower transistor, which are disposed adjacent to each other in a first pixel area in a column direction, and second pixels and a second source follower transistor, which are formed in a second pixel area adjacent to the first pixel area in a row direction by the same number of the first pixels, wherein when the first pixels share the first source follower transistor and the second pixels share the second source follower transistor, while pixels selected from the same row are activated, the first source follower transistor and the second source follower transistor being activated are disposed so that locations thereof have a diagonal symmetry.
US09443897B2	X-Y address type solid state image pickup device and method of producing the same In an X-Y address type solid state image pickup device represented by a CMOS image sensor, a back side light reception type pixel structure is adopted in which a wiring layer is provided on one side of a silicon layer including photo-diodes formed therein. and visible light is taken in from the other side of the silicon layer, namely, from the side (back side) opposite to the wiring layer. wiring can be made without taking a light-receiving surface into account, and the degree of freedom in wiring for the pixels is enhanced.
US09443894B1	Imaging package with removable transparent cover An imaging package includes an image sensor package formed with a semiconductor substrate. A removable transparent cover is bonded over the image sensor package to cover a first side the image sensor package. A lateral dimension of the removable transparent cover along a first direction is larger than a lateral dimension of the image sensor package along the first direction. An overhang portion of the removable transparent cover is defined by an exposed portion of the removable transparent cover that extends beyond a lateral side of the image sensor package along the first direction.
US09443893B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A solid-state image sensing element including a transistor with stable electrical characteristics (e.g., significantly low off-state current) is provided. Two different element layers (an element layer including an oxide semiconductor layer and an element layer including a photodiode) are stacked over a semiconductor substrate provided with a driver circuit such as an amplifier circuit, so that the area occupied by a photodiode is secured. A transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer in a channel formation region is used as a transistor electrically connected to the photodiode, which leads to lower power consumption of a semiconductor device.
US09443890B2	Shared active pixel sensor A shared active pixel sensor includes a first shared photodiode, a first shared sense node, a first transfer gate, a first shared reset gate and a first shared source follower gate. The first shared photodiode consists of a first signal node and a second signal node. The first shared sense node is electrically connected to the first shared photodiode. The first transfer gate is disposed between the first signal node and the first shared sense node so that the first signal node and the first shared sense node together serve as a source and a drain controlled by the first transfer gate. The first shared reset gate is electrically connected to the first shared sense node. The first shared source follower gate is capable of reading a photocurrent from the first shared photodiode.
US09443884B2	Method for manufacturing ESD device, ESD device and display panel There is disclosed a method for manufacturing an Electro Static Discharge (ESD) device, an ESD device and a display panel, which are capable of addressing an issue that static-electric charges accumulated on the array substrate damage the unformed ESD device and improving a yield ratio of the array substrate. The method includes forming a TFT, a first lead wire, wherein the first lead wire or the second lead wire comprises at least two separate lead-wire segments; depositing a layer of passivation thin film, and forming via-holes for connecting the at least two separate lead-wire segments on the layer of passivation thin film; depositing a layer of transparent conductive film on the substrate on which the via-holes are formed, wherein the layer of transparent conductive film connects the lead-wire segments by the via-holes.
US09443880B2	Semiconductor device An object is to miniaturize a semiconductor device. Another object is to reduce the area of a driver circuit of a semiconductor device including a memory cell. The semiconductor device includes an element formation layer provided with at least a first semiconductor element, a first wiring provided over the element formation layer, an interlayer film provided over the first wiring, and a second wiring overlapping with the first wiring with the interlayer film provided therebetween. The first wiring, the interlayer film, and the second wiring are included in a second semiconductor element. The first wiring and the second wiring are wirings to which the same potentials are supplied.
US09443878B2	Display device and method of manufacturing display device A display device includes a lower wiring layer, an interlayer insulating layer, and an upper wiring layer. The lower wiring layer includes first partial electrode portions, first cuttable portions, and first openings; the upper wiring layer includes second partial electrode portions, second cuttable portions, and second openings. The first partial electrode portions and the second partial electrode portions are disposed in overlapping positions in the stacking direction; all the first cuttable portions and the second openings are disposed in overlapping positions in the stacking direction; all the second cuttable portions and the first openings are disposed in overlapping positions in the stacking direction.
US09443877B2	Thin film transistor panel having an etch stopper on semiconductor A thin film transistor panel includes an insulating substrate, a gate insulating layer disposed on the insulating substrate, an oxide semiconductor layer disposed on the gate insulating layer, an etch stopper disposed on the oxide semiconductor layer, and a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed on the etch stopper.
US09443870B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same In an SOI substrate having a semiconductor layer formed on the semiconductor substrate via an insulating layer, a MISFET is formed in each of the semiconductor layer in an nMIS formation region and a pMIS formation region. In power feeding regions, the semiconductor layer and the insulating layer are removed. In the semiconductor substrate, a p-type semiconductor region is formed so as to include the nMIS formation region and one of the power feeding regions, and an n-type semiconductor region is formed so as to include a pMIS formation region and the other one of the power feeding regions. In the semiconductor substrate, a p-type well having lower impurity concentration than the p-type semiconductor region is formed so as to contain the p-type semiconductor region, and an n-type well having lower impurity concentration than the n-type semiconductor region is formed so as to contain the n-type semiconductor region.
US09443868B1	Semiconductor memory device and method of manufacturing the same According to an embodiment, a semiconductor memory device comprises: a memory string comprising memory cells; and a contact electrically connected to one end of the memory string. The memory string comprises: control gate electrodes stacked above a first semiconductor layer; a second semiconductor layer having one end connected to the first semiconductor layer and having as its longitudinal direction a direction perpendicular to the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer facing the control gate electrodes; and a charge accumulation layer positioned between the control gate electrode and the second semiconductor layer. The contact has a plate-like shape whose longitudinal direction is a first direction, the contact has its lower surface connected to the first semiconductor layer, and the contact has a height of at least part of its upper surface lower than a height of an upper surface of the second semiconductor layer.
US09443867B2	Method of making damascene select gate in memory device A method of fabricating a memory device includes forming a mask over a top surface of a stack of alternating insulating material layers and control gate electrodes located over a substrate, wherein the stack has a memory opening extending vertically through the stack, a semiconductor channel extends vertically in the memory opening, and a memory film is located in the memory opening between the semiconductor channel and the plurality of control gate electrodes, and the mask covers a first portion of an upper insulating layer of the stack and exposes a second portion of the upper insulating layer adjacent to the memory opening, etching the upper insulating layer through the mask to provide a recess in the second portion of the upper insulating layer, and forming a conductive material within the recess to provide a select gate electrode adjacent to the semiconductor channel in the memory opening.
US09443866B1	Mid-tunneling dielectric band gap modification for enhanced data retention in a three-dimensional semiconductor device A tunneling dielectric layer for a vertical memory device is formed with a stack that provides a barrier height profile for high data retention tolerance. Memory stack structures extend through a stack of insulating layers and electrically conductive layers. Each memory stack structure comprises, from outside to inside, a blocking dielectric, memory elements, a tunneling dielectric layer, and a vertical semiconductor channel. The tunneling dielectric layer comprises, from outside to inside, an outer silicon oxide layer, a first silicon oxynitride layer having a first atomic nitrogen concentration, a second silicon oxynitride layer having a second atomic nitrogen concentration that is less than the first atomic nitrogen concentration, and an inner silicon oxide layer that contacts a vertical semiconductor channel. The reduced band gap of the first silicon oxynitride layer relative to the second silicon oxynitride layer provides additional energy barrier for relaxation of holes stored in the memory elements.
US09443865B2	Fabricating 3D NAND memory having monolithic crystalline silicon vertical NAND channel Disclosed herein are techniques for fabricating 3D NAND memory devices having a mono-crystalline silicon semiconductor vertical NAND channel. Memory holes are formed in horizontal layers of material above a substrate. A vertically-oriented NAND string is formed in each of the memory holes. Forming the vertically-oriented NAND string channel comprises growing monolithic crystalline silicon upwards in the memory hole from the substrate through all of the plurality of horizontal layers of material. Vapor phase epitaxial growth may be used grow the monolithic crystalline silicon upwards from the bottom of the vertically-oriented NAND channel. Alternatively, a nanowire of monolithic crystalline silicon is synthesized in the memory hole from the substrate at the bottom of the vertically-oriented NAND channel upwards to the top of the vertically-oriented NAND channel.
US09443864B2	Self-aligned floating gate in a vertical memory structure A memory device or electronic system may include a memory cell body extending from a substrate, a self-aligned floating gate separated from the memory cell body by a tunneling dielectric film, and a control gate separated from the self-aligned floating gate by a blocking dielectric film. The floating gate is flanked by the memory cell body and the control gate to form a memory cell, and the self-aligned floating gate is at least as thick as the control gate. Methods for building such a memory device are also disclosed.
US09443863B2	Semiconductor devices Provided are a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a charge storage pattern formed on a substrate; a dielectric pattern formed on the charge storage pattern; a first conductive pattern including silicon doped with a first impurity of a first concentration, the first conductive pattern being disposed on the dielectric pattern; and a second conductive pattern including metal silicide doped with a second impurity of a second concentration, the second conductive pattern being disposed on the first conductive pattern. The first concentration may be higher than the second concentration.
US09443848B1	Methods for contact formation for 10 nanometers and beyond with minimal mask counts A method of making a semiconductor device includes depositing a hard mask on a dielectric layer on a substrate, the dielectric layer being disposed around first, second, and third gates; removing a portion of the hard mask to form an opening that exposes the first, second, and third gates; forming a patterned soft mask on the first, second, and third gates within the opening, a first portion of the patterned soft mask being disposed on the first and second gates, and a second portion of the patterned soft mask being disposed on the second and third gates; removing portions of the dielectric layer to transfer the pattern of the patterned soft mask into the dielectric layer and form first and second contact openings between the first and second gates, and third and fourth contact openings between the second and third gates; and disposing a conductive material in the contact openings.
US09443847B2	Epitaxial formation of source and drain regions An integrated circuit includes a gate structure disposed over a substrate. The integrated circuit further includes a silicon-containing material structure disposed over a recess adjacent to the gate structure. The silicon-containing material structure includes a first epitaxial layer and a second epitaxial layer. A gate corner of the gate structure is free of dislocation and a corner of the second epitaxial layer away from a surface of the substrate and next to a spacer of the gate structure includes dislocations, wherein the dislocations are away from the gate corner.
US09443845B1	Transistor body control circuit and an integrated circuit An integrated circuit comprises a transistor body control circuit for controlling a body of a bidirectional power transistor. The transistor body control circuit comprises switches connected between a body terminal and a first current terminal, with a control terminal for controlling the current flowing through the switch.The control terminal of the switch is connected to alternating current, AC capacitive voltage divider. The AC capacitive voltage dividers are connected to the control terminals and arranged to control the switches to switch the voltage of the body terminal as a function of the voltage between the first current terminal and the second current terminal. The integrated circuit further comprises a bi-directional power transistor connected to the transistor body control circuit.
US09443843B2	Integrated circuit device The invention provides an integrated circuit device. The integrated circuit device includes a substrate. A first capacitor is disposed on the substrate. A first metal pattern is coupled to a first electrode of the first capacitor. A second metal pattern is coupled to a first electrode of the second capacitor. A third metal pattern is disposed over the first and second metal patterns. The third metal pattern covers the first capacitor, the first metal pattern and the second metal pattern. The third metal pattern is electrically grounding. An inductor is disposed over the third metal pattern.
US09443834B2	Back-to-back solid state lighting devices and associated methods Solid state lights (SSLs) including a back-to-back solid state emitters (SSEs) and associated methods are disclosed herein. In various embodiments, an SSL can include a carrier substrate having a first surface and a second surface different from the first surface. First and second through substrate interconnects (TSIs) can extend from the first surface of the carrier substrate to the second surface. The SSL can further include a first and a second SSE, each having a front side and a back side opposite the front side. The back side of the first SSE faces the first surface of the carrier substrate and the first SSE is electrically coupled to the first and second TSIs. The back side of the second SSE faces the second surface of the carrier substrate and the second SSE is electrically coupled to the first and second TSIs.
US09443830B1	Printed circuits with embedded semiconductor dies Electrical components such as semiconductor die may be mounted in semiconductor packages and embedded within printed circuits. A printed circuit may have a substrate with an opening and may have metal layers. During lamination operations, substrate material such as prepreg may flow and form embedding dielectric material that embeds the semiconductor die within the opening. Double-sided semiconductor dies may be formed by attaching multiple semiconductor dies together using a layer of material such as die attach film. The double-sided semiconductor dies may be embedded within a printed circuit and mounted in semiconductor packages. Wire bond wires may be used to couple one of the semiconductor dies in a double-sided semiconductor die to contacts on a substrate. Wire bond wires may also be used to couple a shield layer to the substrate.
US09443825B2	Multi-function miniaturized surface-mount device and process for producing the same A surface-mount device (SMD) uses no conventional lead frame and contains a multi-function die module formed from either a single die or two or more dies electrically connected in series, in parallel, or in any combination of series and parallel, to provide such a SMD having one or more different functions including wave filtration, rectification, surge protection, sensing, current limiting, voltage regulation or prevention from voltage backflow, as compared to the prior art, the SMD disclosed is formed from fewer components, is simpler to manufacture and more effectively reduce layout wire length and noise.
US09443824B1	Cavity bridge connection for die split architecture An integrated circuit (IC) package structure may include a substrate. The substrate may include a semiconductor bridge having a first surface directly on a surface of the substrate that faces a first semiconductor die and a second semiconductor die. The semiconductor bridge may be disposed within a cavity extending through a photo-sensitive layer on the surface of the substrate. The semiconductor bridge may have an exposed, second surface substantially flush with the photo-sensitive layer. The first semiconductor die and the second semiconductor die are supported by the substrate and coupled together through the semiconductor bridge.
US09443822B2	Flip chip assembly and process with sintering material on metal bumps A method is disclosed of fabricating a microelectronic package comprising a substrate overlying the front face of a microelectronic element. A plurality of metal bumps project from conductive elements of the substrate towards the microelectronic element, the metal bumps having first ends extending from the conductive elements, second ends remote from the conductive elements, and lateral surfaces extending between the first and second ends. The metal bumps can be wire bonds having first and second ends attached to a same conductive pad of the substrate. A conductive matrix material contacts at least portions of the lateral surfaces of respective ones of the metal bumps and joins the metal bumps with contacts of the microelectronic element.
US09443820B2	Device and method for bonding substrates A device for bonding of one bond side of a first substrate to one bond side of a second substrate, the device having one module group with a common working space which can be closed especially gastight to the environment, at least one bond module is connected in a sealed manner to the working space, and a movement apparatus for moving the first and second substrate in the working space.The module group has a reduction module which is connected, in a sealed manner to the working space for reducing the bond sides.
US09443815B2	Embedded die redistribution layers for active device Embedded die packages are described that employ one or more substrate redistribution layers (RDL) to route electrode nodes and/or for current redistribution. In one or more implementations, an integrated circuit die is embedded in a copper core substrate. A substrate RDL contacts a surface of the embedded die, with at least one via (e.g., thermal via) in contact with the surface RDL to furnish electrical interconnection between the embedded die and an external contact. Additional substrate RDL or WLP RDL can be incorporated into the package to provide varying current distribution between the embedded die and external contacts.
US09443812B2	Semiconductor device with post-passivation interconnect structure and method of forming the same A semiconductor device, including a protective layer overlying a contact pad and a dummy pad on a semiconductor substrate, an interconnect structure overlying the protective layer and contacting part of the dummy pad through a contact via passing through the protective layer, a bump overlying the interconnect structure positioned over the dummy pad.
US09443811B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device comprises: a pad group including a plurality of pads provided on a semiconductor substrate and arranged in a row to form a pad row as a whole. The pad group includes: at least one first pad provided with a first via-connection part electrically connected therewith and extended in a first direction perpendicular to a row direction of the pad row; and at least one second pad provided with a second via-connection part electrically connected therewith and extended in a second direction opposite to the first direction. The at least one second pad is formed at a position moved in the first direction from the row direction of the pad row passing through a center of the at least one first pad.
US09443803B2	Devices and methods related to a sputtered titanium tungsten layer formed over a copper interconnect stack structure Disclosed are devices and methods related to metallization of semiconductors. A metalized structure can include a stack disposed over a compound semiconductor, with the stack including a barrier, a copper (Cu) layer disposed over the barrier, and a first titanium (Ti) layer disposed over the Cu layer. The metalized structure can further include a sputtered titanium tungsten (TiW) layer disposed over the first Ti layer. The barrier can include an assembly of titanium nitride (TiN) and Ti layers. The metalized structure can further include a second Ti layer disposed over the sputtered TiW layer.
US09443800B2	Package substrate and method for manufacturing package substrate A package substrate includes interlayer insulating layers including outermost and inner-layer layers, conductor layers including an outermost layer, a first layer between the outermost and inner-layer layers, and a second layer on which the inner-layer layer is formed, via conductors including first and second conductors through the outermost insulating layer, and skip via conductors through the outermost and inner-layer insulating layers to connect the outermost and second conductor layers. The outermost conductor layer includes first and second pads to mount first and second electronic components on the outermost insulating layer, the first conductors are positioned to connect the first conductor layer and first pads, the second conductors are positioned to connect the first conductor layer and second pads, and the first conductor layer has area on surface of the inner-layer insulating layer which is in range of 3 to 15% of area of the surface of the inner-layer insulating layer.
US09443794B2	Semiconductor device In a QFN that includes a die pad, a semiconductor chip mounted on the die pad, a plurality of leads arranged around the semiconductor chip, a plurality of wires that electrically connect the plurality of electrode pads of the semiconductor chip with the plurality of leads, respectively, and a sealing member sealing the semiconductor chip and the plurality of wires, first and second step portions are formed at shifted positions on the left and right sides of each of the leads to make the positions of the first and second step portions shifted between the adjacent leads. As a result, the gap between the leads is narrowed, thereby achieving the miniaturization or the increase in the number of pins of the QFN.
US09443793B2	Semiconductor device A first chip including electrodes is mounted above an expanded semiconductor chip formed by providing an expanded portion at an outer edge of a second chip including chips. The electrodes of the first chip are electrically connected to the electrodes of the second chip by conductive members. A re-distribution structure is formed from a top of the first chip outside a region for disposing the conductive members along a top of the expanded portion. Connection terminals are provided above the expanded portion, and electrically connected to ones of the electrodes of the first chip via the re-distribution structure.
US09443792B1	Bridging DMB structure for wire bonding in a power semiconductor device module A power module includes a substrate DMB (Direct Metal Bonded). A novel bridging DMB is surface mounted to the substrate DMB along with power semiconductor device dice. The top metal layer of the bridging DMB has one or more islands to which bonding wires can connect. In one example, an electrical path extends from a module terminal, through a first bonding wire and to a first location on a strip-shaped island, through the island to a second location, and from the second location and through a second bonding wire. The strip-shaped island of the bridging DMB serves as a section of the overall electrical path. Another bonding wire of a separate electrical path passes transversely over the strip-shaped island without any wire crossing any other wire. Use of the bridging DMB promotes bonding wire mechanical strength as well as heat sinking from bonding wires down to the substrate DMB.
US09443791B2	Leadless semiconductor package and method A method of forming semiconductor devices on a leadframe structure. The leadframe structure comprising an array of leadframe sub-structures each having a semiconductor die arranged thereon. The method comprises; providing electrical connections between terminals of said lead frame sub-structures and said leadframe structure; encapsulating said leadframe structure, said electrical connections and said terminals in an encapsulation layer; performing a first series of parallel cuts extending through the leadframe structure and the encapsulation layer to expose a side portion of said terminals; electro-plating said terminals to form metal side pads; and performing a second series of parallel cuts angled with respect to the first series of parallel cuts, the second series of cuts extending through the lead frame structure and the encapsulation layer to singulate a semiconductor device from the leadframe structure.
US09443790B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first surface, a through silicon via (TSV) that is formed so that at least a part thereof penetrates through the semiconductor substrate, and an insulation ring. The insulation ring is formed so as to penetrate through the semiconductor substrate and so as to surround the TSV. The insulation ring includes a tapered portion and a vertical portion. The tapered portion has a sectional area which is gradually decreased from the first surface toward a thickness direction of the semiconductor substrate. The vertical portion has a constant sectional area smaller than the tapered portion.
US09443789B2	Embedded electronic packaging and associated methods An electronic package includes a semiconductor die, conductive pillars extending outwardly from the semiconductor die, and a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) body surrounding the semiconductor die and having openings therein receiving respective ones of the conductive pillars. A first interconnect layer is on the LCP body and contacts the openings. Conductive bodies are in the openings to connect the conductive pillars to the first interconnect layer.
US09443784B2	Semiconductor module including plate-shaped insulating members having different thickness A power semiconductor chip and a low-power portion that has power consumption lower than that of the power semiconductor chip are located on a predetermined surface side of a heat sink having conductivity. A first plate-shaped insulating member extends between the power semiconductor chip and the heat sink. A second plate-shaped insulating member extends between the low-power portion and the heat sink. A portion, which faces the low-power portion, of the second plate-shaped insulating member is thicker than a portion, which faces the power semiconductor chip, of the first plate-shaped insulating member.
US09443782B1	Method of bond pad protection during wafer processing A method for protecting terminal elements on a wafer during wafer level fabrication processes entails applying a protective coating to the terminal elements prior to further processing operations. These processing operations may include back side grinding of the wafer and/or saw-to-reveal operations to expose the terminal elements from a cap wafer of a wafer structure. The protective coating can protect the terminal elements from potentially damaging contaminants, such as debris from the grinding or saw-to-reveal operations. Furthermore, the protective coating can protect the bond pads from coming into contact with a rapidly oxidizing environment when exposed to water. The protective coating may be a hot-water soluble thermoplastic material the melts from a solid form to a liquid form at a relatively low temperature to enable application of the protective coating in liquid form onto the terminal elements and clean removal of the protective coating from the terminal elements.
US09443780B2	Semiconductor device having recessed edges and method of manufacture A device and method of manufacture is provided that utilize recessed regions along a package edge. For example, in an integrated fan-out package, the dielectric layers, e.g., the polymer layers, of the redistribution layers are removed along the scribe line such that after singulation the dielectric layers are recessed back from the edges of the die. The corner regions may be recessed further. The recessed regions may be triangular, rounded, or other shape. In some embodiments one or more of the corner regions may be recessed further relative to the remaining corner regions. The redistribution layers may be recessed along one or both of the front side redistribution layers and the backside redistribution layers.
US09443770B2	Patterning process for fin implantation After forming an organic planarization layer (OPL) atop a substrate which includes a plurality of semiconductor fins and a gate structure thereon, the OPL is recessed such that uppermost surfaces of remaining portions of the OPL are located below an uppermost surface of the gate structure but above top surfaces of the semiconductor fins. The remaining portions of the OPL are patterned to expose semiconductor fins in a pFinFET region for subsequent ion implantation. Portions of the OPL that remain on the semiconductor fins in an nFinFET region act as an implantation mask to shield the semiconductor fins in the nFinFET region from the ion implantation.
US09443768B2	Method of making a FinFET device A method of fabricating a fin-like field-effect transistor (FinFET) device includes providing a substrate having a first region and a second region, and forming a plurality of mandrel features in the first region with a first spacing. The method further includes forming first spacers along sidewalls of the mandrel features with a targeted width A, and forming second spacers with a first width W1 along sidewalls of the first spacers, wherein two back-to-back adjacent second spacers are separated by a gap. The method further includes depositing a dielectric material in the gap and in the second region, and performing a first cut thereby removing a first subset of the first spacers. Coincident with the removing of the first subset, the method further includes partially removing the dielectric material in the second region thereby forming a mesa of the dielectric material in the second region.
US09443767B2	Structure for metal oxide semiconductor capacitor A design structure for a semiconductor structure is disclosed. The semiconductor structure can include a substrate, a set of semiconductor fins positioned on the substrate and positioned approximately parallel lengthwise to one another, a first gate layer and a second gate layer deposited on the substrate and on the set of semiconductor fins approximately perpendicular lengthwise to the set of semiconductor fins. The semiconductor structure can include an interconnect layer deposited on the substrate and on the set of semiconductor fins approximately perpendicular lengthwise to the set of semiconductor fins. The interconnect layer can be positioned between the first gate layer and the second gate layer at a first interconnect distance from the first gate layer and a second interconnect distance from the second gate layer.
US09443764B2	Method of eliminating poor reveal of through silicon vias A method and structure for eliminating through silicon via poor reveal is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes obtaining a wafer having a front side, a back side and partially etched and metalized through silicon vias each extending from a portion of the front side through a portion of the back side, terminating before reaching an end surface of the back side. A region of the back side of the wafer is patterned and etched to expose and reveal a portion of each of the plurality of through silicon vias. A metal layer is deposited on the back side of the wafer to form a back side metallization. The metal layer covers all of the back side including the etched region of the back side and the exposed portions of each of the through silicon vias.
US09443761B2	Methods for fabricating integrated circuits having device contacts Methods for fabricating integrated circuits are provided. In one example, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes providing a semiconductor device with a metal silicide electrically coupled thereto. A contact opening exposing the metal silicide is formed to the semiconductor device. A conductive material is deposite within the contact opening to form a contact to the metal silicide while simultaneously forming a contact seam void within the contact. A self-aligned conductive material is deposited within the contact to form a conductive plug that at least partially fills the contact seam void, and a metallization layer is deposited overlying the contact.
US09443753B2	Apparatus for controlling the flow of a gas in a process chamber Apparatus for controlling the flow of a gas in a process chamber is provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for controlling the flow of a gas in a process chamber having a processing volume within the process chamber disposed above a substrate support and a pumping volume within the process chamber disposed below the substrate support may include an annular plate surrounding the substrate support proximate a level of a substrate support surface of the substrate support, wherein the annular plate extends radially outward toward an inner peripheral surface of the process chamber to define a uniform gap between an outer edge of the annular plate and the inner peripheral surface, wherein the uniform gap provides a uniform flow path from the processing volume to the pumping volume.
US09443751B2	Back grinding sheet The present invention relates to a back grinding sheet (BG sheet) (1a, 1b, 1c) having an unevenness-absorbing layer (12) on a substrate (11), in which the unevenness-absorbing layer is a layer formed of a film-forming composition containing (A) a urethane (meth)acrylate and (B) a polymerizable monomer except component (A) and the layer satisfies the following requirements (a) to (c): (a) a loss tangent at 70° C. measured at a frequency of 1 Hz is 1.5 or more, (b) a relaxation rate 300 seconds after a square (1 cm×1 cm) of the unevenness-absorbing layer is compressed at 25° C. and a compressive load of 10 N is 30% or less, and (c) a storage elastic modulus at 25° C. measured at a frequency of 1 Hz is 1.0 to 10.0 MPa. The BG sheet of the present invention has excellent absorptivity of uneven portions such as bumps in a semiconductor wafer and can suppress formation of gaps between bumps and the BG sheet and simultaneously suppress a phenomenon where the resin layer (unevenness-absorbing layer) of a BG sheet oozes from the edges of a roll when the BG sheet is wound up in the form of roll.
US09443749B2	Vacuum processing apparatus In this vacuum processing apparatus, four process modules and four load-rock modules are arranged in clusters around a two-stage conveyance vacuum chamber. In the apparatus, the entirety of the second stage of the vacuum conveyance chamber is a third vacuum conveyance area and the third vacuum conveyance area extends from the second stage to the first stage through an aperture to enter between first and second vacuum conveyance areas. A third vacuum conveyance robot has: left and right-side conveyance units, which can move straight in the depth direction in the second stage of the third vacuum conveyance area; and left and right-side conveyance units, which can move straight in the vertical direction, i.e. can move up and down, in the aperture of the vacuum conveyance area.
US09443745B2	Method for setting coating module quantity and robot speed The present invention relates to developing and design a coater & developer with high throughput that in-line with lithograph equipment during integrated circuit production, which needs to reasonably set the quantity of processing modules and the transfer speed of robots in the coater & developer. The present invention provides a method for setting the quantity of the processing modules and the transfer speed of the robots in the coater & developer, including steps of determining the processing time parameter of the coater & developer according to the target throughput, and designing the processing periodic time parameter of each processing module and the transfer periodic time parameter of each wafer transfer robot in the coater & developer make the three time parameters tend to consistency.
US09443743B1	Method for directly attaching dielectric to circuit board with embedded electronic devices A method for directly attaching dielectric to a circuit board with embedded electronic devices is provided. That is, a plurality of through holes are produced before embedding an electronic device, wherein plural through holes are corresponding to a plurality of electrodes of the electronic device. So that the plural electrodes of the electronic device is accurately positioned with the through holes if the electronic device is being embedded. On the other hand, since the first dielectric layer is adhesive, the electronic device is directly stuck on the first dielectric layer in order to save cost of adhesive material or metal conductive paste in prior arts.
US09443739B2	Process for the manufacture of semiconductor devices comprising the chemical mechanical polishing of elemental germanium and/or Si1-xGex material in the presence of a CMP composition comprising a specific organic compound A process for the manufacture of semiconductor devices comprising the chemical mechanical polishing of elemental germanium and/or Si1-xGex material with 0.1≦x<1 in the presence of a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) composition comprising: (A) inorganic particles, organic particles, or a mixture or composite thereof, (B) at least one type of an oxidizing agent, (C) at least one type of an organic compound which comprises at least {k} moieties (Z), but excluding salts whose anions are inorganic and whose only organic cation is [NR11R12R13R14]+, wherein {k} is 1, 2 or 3, (Z) is a hydroxyl (—OH), alkoxy (—OR1), heterocyclic alkoxy (—OR1 as part of a heterocyclic structure), carboxylic acid (—COOH), carboxylate (—COOR2), amino (—NR3R4), heterocyclic amino (—NR3R4 as part of a heterocyclic structure), imino (═N—R5 or —N═R6), heterocyclic imino (═N—R5 or —N═R6 as part of a heterocyclic structure), phosphonate (—P(=0)(OR7)(OR8)), phosphate (-0-P(=0)(OR9)(OR10)), phosphonic acid (—P(=0)(OH)2), phosphoric acid (-0-P(=0)(OH)2) moiety, or their protonated or deprotonated forms, R1, R2, R7, R9 is—independently from each other—alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, or arylalkyl, R3, R4, R5, R8, R10 is—independently from each other—H, alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, or arylalkyl, R6 is alkylene, or arylalkylene, R11, R12, R13 is—independently from each other—H, alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, or arylalkyl, and R11, R12, R13 does not comprise any moiety (Z), R14 is alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, or arylalkyl, and R14 does not comprise any moiety (Z), and (D) an aqueous medium.
US09443735B2	Method of manufacturing semiconductor device There is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including: preparing a semiconductor substrate having an active region; forming a dielectric layer for gate insulation on the active region; forming a curing layer with a material containing germanium (Ge) on the dielectric layer; heat-treating the curing layer; and removing the curing layer. The germanium-containing material may be silicon germanium (SiGe) or germanium (Ge).
US09443734B2	Semiconductor memory devices and manufacturing methods thereof A semiconductor memory device and a manufacturing method of the semiconductor memory device are provided. The semiconductor memory device can include a substrate in which a cell area and a peripheral area are defined, a first gate insulating layer on the peripheral area, and a poly gate layer on the first gate insulating layer to form a combined stack, wherein the combined stack of the first gate insulating layer and the first poly gate layer is absent from the cell area.
US09443731B1	Material processing to achieve sub-10nm patterning Provided is a method for increasing pattern density on a substrate comprising a structure with a patterned layer with a first composition and a sidewall and a cap layer of a second composition formed atop said structure. The sidewall is exposed to a chemical environment and creates a chemically modified sidewall layer of a third composition. The cap layer and an interior, non-modified portion of said structure is removed using an etching process to leave behind said chemically modified sidewall layer. A pattern transfer etch of said sidewall chemically modified layer onto the underlying layer of said substrate is performed. One or more integration operating variables are controlled to achieve target critical dimensions comprising width, height, sidewall angle, line width roughness, and/or line edge roughness of said structure.
US09443729B1	Method for forming FinFET devices A method comprises providing a substrate formed of a first semiconductor material, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of isolation regions, etching away upper portions of the substrate to form a plurality of trenches, wherein each trench is between two adjacent isolation regions, over-growing a plurality of semiconductor fins in the trenches over the substrate through an epitaxial growth process, wherein upper portions of the semiconductor fins are above top surfaces of the isolation regions, applying a planarization process to the semiconductor fins, wherein top surfaces of the semiconductor fins are level with top surfaces of the isolation regions as a result of performing the step of applying the planarization process and removing a defect semiconductor fin to form a vacant trench.
US09443724B2	Modification processing method and method of manufacturing semiconductor device A modification processing method includes preparing a substrate having a silicon layer on which a damage layer is formed through plasma processing. The method further includes removing the damage layer formed on the silicon layer by processing the substrate with a first process gas containing a fluorine gas.
US09443722B1	Cyclical, non-isobaric, pore sealing method to prevent precursor penetration into the substrate A method for processing a substrate using a plasma chamber. The method includes providing the substrate on a pedestal of the plasma chamber, the substrate having a material layer that has a porous structure and a least one feature formed in the material layer that exposes one or more open pores of the porous structure. The method further includes introducing an inert gas into the plasma chamber so that a pressure of the plasma chamber is increased to a first pressure that is higher than an average process pressure used for depositing a thin film, wherein increasing to the first pressure causes at least some of the inert gas to migrate into the one or more open pores of the porous structure of the material layer and decreasing the pressure of the plasma chamber to a second pressure that is lower than the average process pressure used for depositing the thin film, wherein decreasing the pressure to the second pressure causes at least some of the inert gas in the material layer to outgas from the one or more open pores. The method then includes depositing the thin film over the material layer and the feature formed in the material layer simultaneously while the inert gas outgases from the one or more open pores of the material layer to seal the one or more open pores while the inert gas outgases.
US09443717B2	Conveyance system and conveyance method A conveyance system according to the present invention includes a processing station, first to third conveyance apparatuses arranged in a conveying direction of a work piece. The second conveyance apparatus is provided in the station. The system further includes a lifting apparatus disposed below the second conveyance apparatus in the station, and a processing apparatus in the processing station. The first and second conveyance apparatuses perform returning of the pallet that is empty in a direction reverse to the conveyance direction.
US09443715B2	Method and device for measuring temperature of substrate in vacuum processing apparatus A method and device for determining temperature of a substrate in a vacuum processing apparatus during a process of the substrate are disclosed, the substrate to be measured is placed on a susceptor in the vacuum processing apparatus for a manufacture process, and the method includes: selecting i wavelengths from radiance emitted from the susceptor through a substrate, where i is a natural number greater than 1; obtaining at least i pieces of radiance corresponding to the selected i wavelengths; and calculating the temperature of the substrate based on the i pieces of radiance and the i wavelengths, by using a mathematical equation: E(λi)=T(d)×M(λi,T), where E(λi) is the ith radiant quantity corresponding to the ith wavelength λi, T(d) is transmittance of the substrate, which is a function of thickness d of a film grown on the substrate, and M(λi,T) is blackbody radiation equation, which is a function of the ith wavelength λi and the substrate temperature T.
US09443714B2	Methods and apparatus for substrate edge cleaning A substrate cleaning apparatus may include a substrate support having a support surface to support a substrate to be cleaned, wherein the substrate support is rotatable about a central axis normal to the support surface; a first nozzle to provide a first cleaning gas to a region of the inner volume corresponding to the position of an edge of the substrate when the substrate is supported by the support surface of the substrate support; a first annular body disposed opposite and spaced apart from the support surface of the substrate support by a gap, the first annular body having a central opening defined by an inner wall shaped to provide a reducing size of the gap between the first annular body and the support surface in a radially outward direction; and a first gas inlet to provide a first gas to the central opening of the first annular body.
US09443713B2	Oxidizing aqueous cleaner for the removal of post-etch residues An oxidizing aqueous cleaning composition and process for cleaning post-plasma etch residue and/or hardmask material from a microelectronic device having said residue thereon. The oxidizing aqueous cleaning composition includes at least one oxidizing agent, at least one oxidizing agent stabilizer comprising an amine species selected from the group consisting of primary amines, secondary amines, tertiary amines and amine-N-oxides, optionally at least one co-solvent, optionally at least one metal-chelating agent, optionally at least one buffering species, and water. The composition achieves highly efficacious cleaning of the residue material from the microelectronic device while simultaneously not damaging the interlevel dielectric and metal interconnect material also present thereon.
US09443706B2	Method and apparatus for generating spectral data A method of generating spectral data comprising the steps of deriving a temporally separated sample from a temporal separation device and subjecting the temporally separated sample to an analysis involving scanning at least one spectrally significant parameter, wherein the analysis is performed so that at least two scans in succession are in opposite directions.
US09443704B2	Data analysis method for plasma processing apparatus, plasma processing method and plasma processing apparatus A stable etching process is realized at an earlier stage by specifying the combination of wavelength and time interval, which exhibits a minimum prediction error of etching processing result within a short period. For this, the combination of wavelength and time interval is generated from wavelength band of plasma emission generated upon etching of the specimen, the prediction error upon prediction of etching process result is calculated with respect to each combination of wavelength and time interval, the wavelength combination is specified based on the calculated prediction error, the prediction error is further calculated by changing the time interval with respect to the specified wavelength combination, and the combination of wavelength and time interval, which exhibits the minimum value of calculated prediction error is selected as the wavelength and the time interval used for predicting the etching processing process.
US09443702B2	Methods for plasma processing Apparatus and method for plasma-based processing well suited for deposition, etching, or treatment of semiconductor, conductor or insulating films. Plasma generating units include one or more elongated electrodes on the processing side of a substrate and a neutral electrode proximate the opposite side of the substrate. Gases may be injected proximate a powered electrode which break down electrically and produce activated species that flow toward the substrate area. This gas then flows into an extended process region between powered electrodes and substrate, providing controlled and continuous reactivity with the substrate at high rates with efficient utilization of reactant feedstock. Gases are exhausted via passages between powered electrodes or electrode and divider.
US09443701B2	Etching method Disclosed is an etching method for selectively etching an oxidation layer made of silicon from a processing target object having the oxidation layer within a processing chamber of a plasma processing apparatus. The etching method includes: forming an altered layer by generating plasma of a gas containing hydrogen, nitrogen, and fluorine to alter the oxidation layer; and after the forming the altered layer, irradiating secondary electrons to the processing target object to remove the altered layer within the processing chamber, in which a negative direct current voltage is applied on an upper electrode of the plasma processing apparatus so that positive ions generated from plasma collide against the upper electrode and thus the secondary electrons are emitted from the upper electrode.
US09443700B2	Electron beam plasma source with segmented suppression electrode for uniform plasma generation A plasma reactor that generates plasma in a workpiece processing chamber by an electron beam, has an electron beam source and segmented suppression electrode with individually biased segments to control electron beam density distribution.
US09443696B2	Electron beam imaging with dual Wien-filter monochromator One embodiment relates to a dual Wien-filter monochromator. A first Wien filter focuses an electron beam in a first plane while leaving the electron beam to be parallel in a second plane. A slit opening allows electrons of the electron beam having an energy within an energy range to pass through while blocking electrons of the electron beam having an energy outside the energy range. A second Wien filter focuses the electron beam to become parallel in the first plane while leaving the electron beam to be parallel in the second plane. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed.
US09443695B2	Charged-particle beam device This charged-particle beam device changes conditions for combining an intensity ratio between upper and lower deflectors and rotation angles of the deflectors in multiple ways when obtaining images having different pixel sizes in the vertical and horizontal directions. Then, the charged-particle beam device determines an optimal intensity ratio between the upper and lower deflectors and rotation angles of the deflectors on the basis of variations in size value measured in the larger pixel size direction (Y-direction) of the image. As a result, it is possible to extend the field of view in the Y-direction while reducing deflection aberrations when measuring at high precision in the X-direction.
US09443676B2	Light emitting control knob The present invention provides a light-emitting control knob capable of consistently maintaining a beautiful design without a problem, such as discoloration or rubbing-off, despite use of a long period because a light-blocking metal plate having light-emitting display windows formed therein is stacked and formed on a top surface of a knob body and of providing a much more beautiful and high-class design than a conventional control knob because surface processing unique to metal can be performed on the light-blocking metal plate. The light-emitting control knob in accordance with the present invention includes a knob body made of transparent or semitransparent synthetic resins which transmit light and a light-blocking metal plate formed of a metal plate stacked on a top surface of the knob body and configured to have light-emitting display windows formed therein.
US09443672B2	Patterned conductive traces in molded elastomere substrate Touch sensitive mechanical keyboards and processes for routing the drive and sense lines of the touch sensitive keyboard using patterned dome-switches are provided. The keyboard can include one or more mechanical keys having a touch sensor located within or beneath a keycap. The keyboard can further include a dome-switch beneath each keycap to detect a depression of the corresponding key. The dome-switch can be formed from an elastic (or malleable) material and can include patterned conductive traces within the elastic material. The patterned conductive traces can be used to route stimulation signals and sense signals to and from the touch sensor. In some examples, a first end of the patterned conductive traces can be coupled to the drive and sense lines of the touch sensor and a second end of the patterned conductive traces can be coupled to a flexible circuit or PCB.
US09443671B2	Apparatus and method to pass electrical signals through a refrigerator cabinet liner An apparatus to pass an electrical signal within a refrigerator having a liner partially defining an interior compartment and having an opening, and a moveable member, includes first and second members not passable through the opening when the apparatus is at a first rotational orientation, at least one of the first and second members passable through the opening when the apparatus is at a second rotational orientation, a planar third member between the first and second members fitting in the opening at the first rotational orientation, an electrically conductive contact to conduct the electrical signal to the moveable member when the moveable member is at a predetermined position relative to the apparatus, and a electrical conductor electrically coupled to the contact and passing through the apparatus to conduct the electrical signal from the exterior of the liner to the contact.
US09443669B2	Multi-purpose mounting for an electrical switching apparatus A multi-purpose mounting assembly is provided. The multi-purpose mounting assembly is structured to be disposed in an electrical switching apparatus housing assembly. The multi-purpose mounting assembly includes a body defining a first mounting assembly and a second mounting assembly. The first mounting assembly includes a first mounting construct. The second mounting assembly includes a second mounting construct. The first mounting construct is structured to support a first electrical component. The second mounting construct is structured to support a second electrical component.
US09443667B2	Touch-sensitive push-button and electronic device using the same A touch-sensitive push-button includes a button, a capacitor arranged on a top side of the button, a circuit board arranged on a bottom side of the button, and a switch arranged between the button and circuit board. The switch and the capacitor are electrically coupled to each other in parallel. The switch changes from an electrical OFF state to an electrical ON state when the button is pressed, thereby causing the capacitor to be short-circuited.
US09443665B2	Nanobiomimetic supercapacitors with high rate high energy storage Nanobiomimetic supercapacitors comprise an “Electron Well” and an “Electron-Dam” Membrane Electrode Assembling (MEA); the “Electron-Well” MEA compromises an electrode comprising a substrate of glassy carbon; a self-assembling membrane comprises a polymer matrix; wherein the polymer matrix is comprised of an electrically conductive copolymer; wherein the copolymer is further comprised of one or more first β-cyclodextrin molecules having at least one or more free acetyl groups; one or more polyethylene glycol molecules; one or more poly(4-vinylpyridine) molecules; and one or more second β-cyclodextrin molecules; the self-assembling membrane having a surface structure comprising one or more nanopores and pillars; the nanopores and pillars are vertically oriented on the substrate to form nanopore and pillar array; the “Electron-Dam” MEA compromises the nanopore/pillar layer sealed with an embedded hydrophobic aromatic substance having a flat lid structure; Wherein the MEA can be as either said positive or negative electrode; wherein the “Electron-Well” also can be either said as positive or negative electrode; separated by a porous insulator wetted by an electrolyte-free and air-independent organic solution; at least two current collectors are at each of the end of the MEAs.
US09443664B2	Supercapacitor with metal cyanometallate anode and carbonaceous cathode A method is provided for charging a supercapacitor. The method initially provides a supercapacitor with a metal cyanometallate (MCM) particle anode, an electrolyte including a salt (DB) made up of cations (D+) anions (B−), and a cathode including carbonaceous materials (□). The method connects an external charging device between the anode and cathode, and the charging device supplies electrons to the anode and accepting electrons from the cathode. In response to the charging device, cations are inserted into the anode while anions are absorbed on the surface of the cathode. A supercapacitor device is also presented.
US09443662B2	Microstructured crystalline device in confined space, a dye-sensitized solar cell, and method of preparation thereof A method of forming an ordered nanorods array in a confined space is used to form a high surface area device where an ensemble of parallel trenches has micrometer dimensions for the width and depth of the trenches, which are decorated with crystalline nanowires radiating from the sidewalls and bases of the trenches. The high surface area device is formed by depositing a conformal crystalline seed coating in the trenches, forming microchannels from these trenches by placing a barrier layer on the open surface of the trenches, contacting the conformal coating with a crystal precursor solution that is caused to flow through the microchannels. In an embodiment, a very high surface area electrode is constructed with ZnO nanowires radiating from the sidewalls and base of trenches formed on a silicon substrate. The device can be a dye-sensitized solar cell.
US09443661B2	Power storage device having a nitroxyl polymer in a cathode and a lithium or lithium alloy anode An object of the present invention is to provide a power storage device with excellent cycle property, employing a cathode containing a nitroxyl polymer. To attain the object in the present invention, in the power storage device employing a cathode comprising a nitroxyl polymer, a lithium or lithium alloy anode is used as an anode active material and the cathode is in direct contact with the anode.
US09443658B2	Variable capacitor compromising MEMS devices for radio frequency applications A variable capacitor (300) comprises cells (200, 400) that have an RF electrode (202, 402) coupled to a bond pad (30). Each cell comprises a plurality of MEMS devices (100) the capacitance of which can be changed by means of a movable electrode. The MEMS devices are placed in a sealed cavity of the cell and are arranged next to each other along the length of the RF electrode of the cell. The RF electrode of each cell can be trimmed so as to obtain an RF line (402) and a further ground electrode (404) and so as to scale the RF capacitance of the cell without impacting the mechanical performance of the MEMS cells. Each cell has the same control capacitance irrespective of the RF capacitance. This allows each cell to use the same isolation resistor required for RF operation and thus each cell has the same parasitic capacitance. This allows the CMOS control circuit to be optimized and the dynamic performance of the cells to be matched.
US09443657B1	Piezo controlled variable capacitor A variable capacitor structure using calibration plates, dual variable distance calibration plates, and/or interleaving extentions to the calibration plates.
US09443652B2	Soft magnetic core having excellent high-current DC bias characteristics and core loss characteristics and method of manufacturing same Provided are a soft magnetic core having an excellent high current DC biased characteristic and an excellent core loss characteristic and a manufacturing method thereof. The method includes the steps of: after classifying nanocrystalline grains obtained by grinding metal ribbons prepared by using a rapid solidification process (RSP), mixing alloy powders so that a particle size distribution is configured to have a particle size of 75˜100 μm with 10˜85 wt %, a particle size of 50˜75 μm with 10˜70 wt %, and a particle size 5˜50 μm with 5˜20 wt %, to thus prepare the soft magnetic cores by using nanocrystalline alloy powders having an excellent high current DC biased characteristic and an excellent core loss characteristic.
US09443647B2	Variable resistor A variable resistor includes a shell, an inverted circuit module, and a manipulating device. The shell has a shell position restriction hole and an allocation space linked to the shell position restriction hole. The inverted circuit module is fixed in the allocation space and includes a circuit board and a plurality of connecting ends located on the circuit board. The circuit board has a circuit board position restriction hole and a resistance circuit on a rear surface thereof. The manipulating device is slidably assembled in the allocation space and includes a brush base, at least a metal brush, and a bar. The metal brush is fixed on a front surface of the brush base and elastically presses against the resistance circuit. The bar is connected to the brush base and extended outward through the circuit board position restriction hole and the shell position restriction hole.
US09443644B2	High density shielded electrical cable and other shielded cables, systems, and methods A shielded electrical ribbon cable includes conductor sets each including two or more insulated conductors, each conductor set surrounded by a shielding film, and a first and second non-conductive polymeric films on opposite sides of the cable including cover portions and pinched portions. When the cable is laid flat, S/Dmin is in a range from 1.7 to 2, where S is a center-to-center spacing between nearest insulated conductors of two adjacent conductor sets, and Dmin is the lesser of the outer dimensions of such nearest insulated conductors.
US09443639B2	Conductive polymer blend composition and manufacturing method thereof The embodiments described herein pertain generally to a conductive polymer blend composition including a polymer-deaggregating agent and a method for preparing the same.
US09443636B2	Supramolecular networks with electron transfer in two dimensions Organic charge-transfer (CT) co-crystals in a crossed stack system are disclosed. The co-crystals exhibit bidirectional charge transfer interactions where one donor molecule shares electrons with two different acceptors, one acceptor face-to-face and the other edge-to-face. The assembly and charge transfer interaction results in a pleochroic material whereby the optical absorption continuously changes depending on the polarization angle of incident light.
US09443632B2	Hybrid device for on-chip concentration, manipulation, sorting and sensing of particles on a plasmonic substrate The present disclosure relates generally to plasmonic substrates and specifically to high-throughput trapping of particles on a plasmonic substrate.
US09443630B2	Coherent field gradient momentum splitting Systems and methods for coherent splitting of a matter wave for supporting a variety of applications and fundamental studies in the fields of matter wave momentum splitting and interferometry. The systems and methods utilize pulsed field gradients and Rabi transitions between internal energy states. A matter wave is transformed into a superposition of spatially separated propagating wavepackets and spatial interference fringes with measurable phase repeatability were measured as a proof for the coherence of the splitting. A continuously tunable wide range of momentum difference between wavepackets may be received by controlling only the duration and strength of the pulsed gradients. Achieving high phase stability and various splitting schemes using different geometries, fields and energy levels, as well as various interferometric applications are disclosed.
US09443629B2	Techniques for on-demand production of medical isotopes such as Mo-99/Tc-99m and radioactive iodine isotopes including I-131 A system for radioisotope production uses fast-neutron-caused fission of depleted or naturally occurring uranium targets in an irradiation chamber. Fast fission can be enhanced by having neutrons encountering the target undergo scattering or reflection to increase each neutron's probability of causing fission (n, f) reactions in U-238. The U-238 can be deployed as one or more layers sandwiched between layers of neutron-reflecting material, or as rods surrounded by neutron-reflecting material. The gaseous fission products can be withdrawn from the irradiation chamber on a continuous basis, and the radioactive iodine isotopes (including I-131) extracted.
US09443624B2	Aryl substituted propenoic amides and esters The present disclosure relates, according to some embodiments, to molecules, including substituted propenoic amides (e.g., aryl substituted propenoic amides), that may receive excited state energy from light-absorbing molecules. According to some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to molecules, including substituted propenoic amides (e.g., aryl substituted propenoic amides), that may quench, dissipate, and/or otherwise resolve excited state energy (e.g., as heat).
US09443623B2	Nuclear fission reactor fuel assembly and system configured for controlled removal of a volatile fission product and heat released by a burn wave in a traveling wave nuclear fission reactor and method for same A nuclear fission reactor fuel assembly and system configured for controlled removal of a volatile fission product and heat released by a burn wave in a traveling wave nuclear fission reactor and method for same. The fuel assembly comprises an enclosure adapted to enclose a porous nuclear fuel body having the volatile fission product therein. A fluid control subassembly is coupled to the enclosure and adapted to control removal of at least a portion of the volatile fission product from the porous nuclear fuel body. In addition, the fluid control subassembly is capable of circulating a heat removal fluid through the porous nuclear fuel body in order to remove heat generated by the nuclear fuel body.
US09443619B2	Strip for a nuclear fuel assembly spacer grid The strip is of the type comprising a wall portion for delimiting a cell for receiving a fuel rod and allowing flow of a coolant upwardly through the spacer grid, a spring provided on the wall portion for biasing a fuel rod extending through the cell away from the wall portion, the spring being cut out in the strip and delimited by a slot and a motion limiter formed in the strip on the wall portion to limit motion of a fuel rod received in the cell towards the wall portion against action of the spring. According to one aspect of the invention, the motion limiter is located on an edge of the slot opposite the spring and defines a risen portion on the edge.
US09443612B2	Determination of bit line to low voltage signal shorts A number of techniques for determining defects in non-volatile memory arrays are presented, which are particularly applicable to 3D NAND memory, such as that of the BiCS type. Word line to word shorts within a memory block are determined by application of an AC stress mode, followed by a defect detection operation. An inter-block stress and detection operation can be used determine word line to word line leaks between different blocks. Select gate leak line leakage, both the word lines and other select lines, is consider, as are shorts from word lines and select lines to local source lines. In addition to word line and select line defects, techniques for determining shorts between bit lines and low voltage circuitry, as in the sense amplifiers, are presented.
US09443610B1	Leakage current detection A system includes a first switch, an amplifier, a second switch, and a capacitor. The first switch is electrically coupled between a first reference voltage and a node. The amplifier has a first input, a second input, and an output, the amplifier to receive a second reference voltage on the first input and a sample voltage on the second input. The second switch is electrically coupled between the output of the amplifier and the second input of the amplifier. The capacitor is electrically coupled between the second input of the amplifier and the node. The first switch and the second switch are closed to initialize the node to the first reference voltage and to initialize the amplifier in unity-gain configuration. The first switch and the second switch are opened to detect a leakage current by sensing a change in the sample voltage.
US09443608B2	Shift register having multiple output units connected in cascade as display device scan line driving circuit A shift register includes unit circuits connected in a cascade, and each of the unit circuits includes a logic circuit, a first output unit, and a second output unit. The first output unit is a buffer amplifier for outputting a driving signal and includes: a first transistor for outputting a first voltage; and a second transistor for outputting a second voltage lower than the first voltage. The second output unit is a buffer amplifier for outputting a signal to a next unit circuit in the cascade and includes: a third transistor for outputting a third voltage; and a fourth transistor for outputting a fourth voltage lower than the third voltage. The second voltage is set at a potential higher than the fourth voltage.
US09443605B1	Temperature dependent voltage to unselected drain side select transistor during program of 3D NAND Techniques are provided for reducing program disturb in a 3D memory device. The techniques include compensating for a temperature dependence of program disturb. The techniques may include compensating for how program disturb depends on the location of the word line that is selected for programming. In one aspect, the voltage that is applied to the control gates drain side select transistors of unselected NAND strings is adjusted during programming based on temperature. Greater temperature compensation may be applied when the selected word line is closer to the drain side select transistors.
US09443601B2	Holdup capacitor energy harvesting The various embodiments described herein include circuits, methods and/or devices used to protect data in a storage device. In one aspect, a method includes performing a power fail operation on a first section of the storage device. The power fail operation includes supplying power, via an energy storage device, to the first section of the storage device, where the energy storage device is distinct from a power source used during normal operation of the storage device, and where supplying power via the energy storage device includes switching the output of the energy storage device from an output of a boost regulator to an input of the boost regulator. The power fail operation also includes performing data hardening on the first section of the storage device.
US09443600B2	Auto-suspend and auto-resume operations for a multi-die NAND memory device to reduce peak power consumption A method and apparatus that controls a peak-current condition in a multi-die memory, such as a solid-state drive, by determining by at least one die of the multi-die memory whether a subsequent memory operation is a high-current memory operation, such as an operation to enable a charge pump of the die, an operation to charge a bit line of the die, or a program/erase loop operation, or a combination thereof. The die enters a suspended-operation mode if the subsequent memory operation is determined to be a high current memory operation. Operation is resumed by the die in response to a resume operation event, such as, but not limited to, a command specifically address to the die, an indication from another die that a high-current memory operation is complete. Once operation is resumed, the die performs the high-current memory operation.
US09443599B2	Method of controlling erase operation of a memory and memory system implementing the same A non-volatile memory and a method of controlling an erase operation of the non-volatile memory using a controller are provided. The method of controlling the erase operation includes beginning performance of the erase operation, monitoring a next command to be performed in the non-volatile memory while performing the erase operation, determining an erase status, and continuing, suspending or canceling the erase operation based on the determination result of the erase status.
US09443596B2	Non-volatile memory device and method of programming the same A non-volatile memory device includes a memory cell array and a voltage generator. The memory cell array has a plurality of cell strings in which a plurality of memory cells are connected with each other in series between a string select transistor and a ground select transistor. The voltage generator generates a program voltage, a first pass voltage, and a second pass voltage. A first boost channel voltage applied when programming an outermost memory cell from among the memory cells of each of non-selected cell strings of the cell strings is lower than a second boost channel voltage applied when programming one of remaining memory cells except for the outermost memory cell. The non-volatile memory device prevents programming disturb caused by hot carrier injection.
US09443595B2	Memory system and assembling method of memory system According to one embodiment, each memory chip included in a memory package includes a first storage unit that stores therein first information that is n-bit information and is a comparison target of a chip address, and is used for identifying its own memory chip, a second storage unit that stores therein second information for determining an effective bit of the n-bit first information, and a control unit that determines an effective bit of the n-bit first information and an effective bit of the chip address based on the second information.
US09443580B2	Multi-level cell memory A multi-level cell memory includes a memory cell that stores two or more bits of information; a sensing circuit coupled to the memory cell; and a row buffer structure comprising a split page buffer having a first page buffer and a second page buffer. The sensing circuit operates to read from the memory cell, places a first bit in one of the first page buffer and the second page buffer, and places the second bit in one of the first page buffer and the second page buffer.
US09443577B2	Voltage-switched magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and method for using the same The present invention is directed to a magnetic random access memory comprising a first magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) including a first magnetic reference layer and a first magnetic free layer with a first insulating tunnel junction layer interposed therebetween; a second MTJ including a second magnetic reference layer and a second magnetic free layer with a second insulating tunnel junction layer interposed therebetween; and an anti-ferromagnetic coupling layer formed between the first and second variable magnetic free layers. The first and second magnetic free layers have a first and second magnetization directions, respectively, that are perpendicular to the layer planes thereof. The first magnetic reference layer has a first pseudo-fixed magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the layer plane thereof. The second magnetic reference layer has a second pseudo-fixed magnetization direction that is substantially perpendicular to the layer plane thereof and is substantially opposite to the first pseudo-fixed magnetization direction.
US09443574B2	Memory architecture A first current value flowing through a transistor coupled with a storage node of a memory cell is determined when the transistor is off. A second current value flowing through the transistor is determined when the transistor is in on. A first reference voltage value at a reference node of the memory cell when the transistor is off is higher than a second reference voltage value at the reference node when the transistor is on. Based on the first current value, the second current value, and a relationship between the first current value and the second current value, a number of memory cells to be coupled with a data line associated with the memory cell is determined.
US09443573B2	Semiconductor device including main amplifers between memory cell arrays A semiconductor device includes a plurality of main amplifiers provided between memory cell arrays. One of the main amplifiers is disposed closer to one of the memory cell arrays than to the other of memory cell arrays, and the other of the main amplifiers is disposed closer to the other of the memory cell arrays than to the one of the memory cell arrays. Additional apparatus are disclosed.
US09443565B2	Semiconductor memory device with a delay locked loop circuit and a method for controlling an operation thereof An operation control method of a semiconductor memory device includes executing a Delay Locked Loop (DLL) locking in response to a DLL reset signal and measuring a loop delay of a DLL. The operation control method further includes storing measured loop delay information and DLL locking information; and performing a delay control of a command path using the stored loop delay information and DLL locking information independent of the DLL, during a latency control operation.
US09443558B1	Storage device accommodating structure A storage device accommodating structure for positioning a storage device includes a chassis, a press plate, a pair of supporting stands and an elastic member. The press plate is moveably arranged inside the chassis, the pair of supporting stands are moveably and alternatively arranged at one lateral side of the press plate, one side of each one of the supporting stands is connected to the press plate and another side thereof abuts against the chassis, the elastic member is elastically arranged among the press plate, each one of the supporting stands and the chassis; therefore, the press plate is able to adjust a position thereof and to press onto the storage device via an elastic recovery force of the elastic member. Accordingly, the storage device can be firmly inserted inside the chassis and maintain an excellent electrical connection with the connector.
US09443556B2	Video acquisition and compilation system and method of assembling and distributing a composite video FIG. 7 shows a camera system (700) that operates to time-stamp video content captured from multiple cameras (740) relative to a recorded and time-synchronized location of a portable tracking unit (722). The position of the cameras (740) is known to the system. Based on the time and position data for each uniquely identifiable tracking unit, an editing suite (770) automatically compiles a composite video made up from time-spliced video segments from the various cameras. Video or still images captured by the cameras (740)are cross-referenced against the client address stored in database (760) and related to the assigned, uniquely identifiable tracking unit (722). A server (750) is arranged to use the client address to send reminder messages, which reminder messages may include selected images taken by the composite video. Alternatively, a client (720) can use the client address to access the database and view the composite video. In the event that the client (720) wants to receive a fair copy of the composite video, the server (750) is arranged to process the request and send the composite video to the client. Streaming of multiple video feeds from different cameras that each encode synchronized time allows cross-referencing of stored client-specific data and, ultimately, the assembly of the resultant composite video that reflects a timely succession of events having direct relevant to the client (720).
US09443552B2	Automatic track description generator A method includes generating a track description in real-time describing at least a portion of a track of a storage medium. An apparatus includes a dynamic track description generator configured to dynamically generate a track description describing a data wedge of a track on a storage medium, wherein the track description is generated at a time prior to synchronization with the data wedge.
US09443550B2	Data storage system providing efficient and secure data migration with tape drive technology A data storage system that includes a data migration assembly implemented using tape drive technology. The migration assembly includes tape drive modules or cards stacked within a tape drive chassis, which is adapted for insertion into a tape drive slot of a library or rack enclosure. The data storage system includes a server running a host application to manage data migration processes by transmitting control commands and/or parameters to the tape drive module. The tape drive module, in response, performs the data migration including data extraction from the source device and data loading onto the destination device. The data path passes between the source and destination devices through the tape drive cards but does not include the server running the host application so that data security is provided by the tape drive module along the entire data path rather than data being at risk in a server.
US09443549B2	Library device and library device control method A control unit refers to a logical library information storage unit in response to a reception of an export process command from an external device, identifies one of the logical library units which is correlated with a physical recording medium in a physical library unit which has been ordered by the export process command to been ejected from an ejection slot, and correlates, in the identified logical library unit, the ejection slot to a logical recording medium which is correlated to the physical recording medium which has been ordered to been ejected.
US09443546B2	Magnetic tape and method for producing the same A magnetic tape produced by cutting a magnetic sheet with a wide breadth into a tape having a predetermined width using a cutting device, in which the magnetic sheet has a magnetic layer containing magnetic powder and a hinder formed on one surface of a non-magnetic substrate having a thickness of 4 μm or less, and a center line average height (Ra) along a roughness curve of a cut edge of the magnetic tape is from 0.08 to 0.25 μm.
US09443543B1	Disk storage device and method for controlling head flying height According to one embodiment, a head flying height control method includes detecting a contact of a head with a disk while floating the head from the disk and moving the head in a radial direction of the disk, increasing a flying height of the head after detecting the contact of the head with the disk, and decreasing the flying height of the head after a state where the contact of the head with the disk is not detected continues.
US09443542B1	Head gimbal assembly (HGA) mounting apparatus for a magnetic head and disk tester An apparatus for securing an HGA to a tester includes a housing with a cylindrical cavity disposed about an axis, and having, at its top end, a mounting surface with a central aperture, for receiving an HGA base plate with a boss hole of the HGA overlying the central aperture. Axially elongated clamp fingers, radially dispersed about a spreader pin, move along the axis between (i) a loading position with upper ends extending through and relatively far beyond the central aperture, and (ii) a clamping position with the upper ends disposed at or near the mounting surface. With an HGA on the mounting surface, and the clamp fingers at their loading position, the clamp fingers are driven downward, while simultaneously, the clamp fingers are driven outward by the spreader pin, and the clamp fingers engage boss hole edges, securing the HGA to the tester.
US09443537B2	Voice processing device and voice processing method for controlling silent period between sound periods A voice processing device includes a processor; and a memory which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, causing the processor to execute: acquiring an input voice; detecting a sound period included in the input voice and a silent period adjacent to a back end of the sound period; calculating a number of words included in the sound period; and controlling a length of the silent period according to the number of words.
US09443536B2	Apparatus and method for detecting voice based on motion information Disclosed are an apparatus and method of deducing a user's intention using motion information. The user's intention deduction apparatus includes a speech intention determining unit configured to predict a speech intention regarding a user's speech using motion information sensed by at least one motion capture sensor, and a controller configured to control operation of detecting a voice section from a received sound signal based on the predicted speech intention.
US09443532B2	Noise reduction using direction-of-arrival information Systems and methods of improved noise reduction using direction of arrival information include: receiving audio signals from two or more acoustic sensors; applying a beamformer module to the audio signals to employ a first noise cancellation algorithm to the audio signals and combine the audio signals into an audio signal; applying a noise reduction post-filter module to the audio signal, the application of which includes: estimating a current noise spectrum of the audio signals after the application of the first noise cancellation algorithm; using spatial information derived from the audio signals received from the two or more acoustic sensors to determine a measured direction-of-arrival by estimating the current time-delay between the acoustic sensor inputs; comparing the measured direction-of-arrival to a target direction-of-arrival; applying a second noise reduction algorithm to the audio signal; and outputting a single audio stream with reduced background noise.
US09443531B2	Single MIC detection in beamformer and noise canceller for speech enhancement In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a noise reduction method for speech processing includes detecting if two signals from two microphones are so close to each other in non voice area that the two microphones are equivalent to Single-Microphone for noise/interference reduction processing. Single-Microphone noise/interference reduction processing algorithm is selected if the equivalent Single-Microphone is detected; Multiple-Microphone noise/interference reduction processing algorithm is selected if the equivalent Single-Microphone is not detected.
US09443524B2	Stereo decoding method and apparatus A stereo decoding method and apparatus are disclosed. The method includes: restoring a monophonic signal from a received code stream through decoding; restoring an interchannel level difference, a group delay, and a group phase from the received code stream through decoding; and processing the monophonic signal according to the interchannel level difference, group delay, and group phase to obtain a first channel signal and a second channel signal. According to the stereo decoding method and apparatus provided in embodiments of the present invention, the first and second channel signals are obtained according to the monophonic signal, ILD, group delay, and group phase by referring to not only the ILD but also the group delay and group phase, thereby yielding favorable stereo sound field effect for the obtained first and second channel signals.
US09443521B1	Methods for automatically analyzing conversational turn-taking patterns Presented are a system and methods for automatically extracting, analyzing and visualizing conversational turn-taking patterns during co-located and remote social interactions. The visualization tool measures group conversation dynamics based on wirelessly or otherwise obtained electronic sensor data corresponding to each participant. The group conversation dynamics that are determined (or detected) include, per participant, turn duration, turn-taking speed, number of turns, number of overlapping turns, number of successful interruptions and number of unsuccessful interruptions. Also calculated are participant mirroring statistics, activity statistics, consistency statistics, influence statistics and social network statistics. The visualizations may be output with user configurable parameters.
US09443520B2	Management of voice commands for devices in a cloud computing environment Provided is a lightweight computational device that is configured to be in communication with a cloud both directly and via a smart computational device. The lightweight computational device receives a voice command from a user, wherein the lightweight computational device does not have adequate processing power to convert the voice command to a text command. The voice command is transmitted from the lightweight computational device to a smart computational device, wherein the smart computational device uses voice recognition to convert the voice command to a text command in the smart computational device, and transmits the text command for being processed by that cloud that provides at least one of voice recognition service and other services. The lightweight computational device receives a data response for the user from the cloud, via the smart computational device, based on the other services provided by the cloud.
US09443516B2	Far-field speech recognition systems and methods A method for far-field speech recognition can include determining a location for a plurality of sound recognition devices, communicatively coupling each of the plurality of sound recognition devices, adjusting a sound reception for the plurality of sound recognition devices to receive a voice command from a particular direction, and sending instructions to a device based on the voice command.
US09443515B1	Personality designer system for a detachably attachable remote audio object A personality designer system for making a remote object produce phrases consistent with a designed personality is described. The personality designer program allows a person to select a particular character, particular personality traits, specific phrases, create their own phrases, provide input levels for specific personality traits or any suitable combination of input or selection options described. As an example, a plurality of personalities may be described and a person may select a desired personality for their remote audio object. The plurality of personalities may include characters from history, celebrities, politicians, or fictional characters from books, television or movies, for example. The remote audio object is a detachably attachable object and comprises a speaker for emitting the selection of phrases or personality, and may be configured on, or placed near or in any suitable object including a pet collar, toy, car, plant and the like. In one embodiment, the remote audio object is a dog collar.
US09443509B2	Detecting potential medically-significant errors in speech recognition results In some embodiments, the recognition results produced by a speech processing system (which may include two or more recognition results, including a top recognition result and one or more alternative recognition results) based on an analysis of a speech input, are evaluated for indications of potential significant errors. In some embodiments, the recognition results may be evaluated to determine whether a meaning of any of the alternative recognition results differs from a meaning of the top recognition result in a manner that is significant for a domain, such as the medical domain. In some embodiments, words and/or phrases that may be confused by an ASR system may be determined and associated in sets of words and/or phrases. Words and/or phrases that may be determined include those that change a meaning of a phrase or sentence when included in the phrase/sentence.
US09443507B2	System and method for controlling a speech recognition system A method and system can control a speech recognition system in a vehicle. The method includes monitoring adaptive feature data about interactions between a user and the speech recognition system. The method includes determining a first group of samples of the adaptive feature data and creating a control chart based on the first group of samples. The control chart includes a control limit. The method further includes determining a second group of samples of the adaptive feature data after creating the control chart. Furthermore, the method includes calculating an arithmetic mean of each sample of the second group of samples to determine a sample mean, comparing the sample mean to the control limit in order identify unexpected performance of the speech recognition system. The method includes adjusting the speech recognition system based on the identified unexpected performance if the unexpected performance is identified.
US09443500B2	Pedal for modulating an electronic signal A pitch modulating pedal having a base, a first electrode secured to one surface of the base, a first force sensing resistor secured to one surface of the base and positioned atop the first electrode, a flexible housing secured to the base, the flexible housing having a top playing surface and a bottom surface, a second electrode secured to the bottom surface of the flexible housing, a second force sensing resistor secured to the bottom surface of the flexible housing and positioned atop the second electrode, and, an insulating mask operatively arranged between the force sensing resistors, wherein a variable force applied to the top playing surface of the flexible housing causes a corresponding change in the electrical resistance of the first and second force sensing resistors.
US09443499B2	Musical sound control apparatus, musical sound control method, program storage medium and electronic musical instrument A musical sound control apparatus (1) includes a slider (17a), a CPU (11) and a recording ring buffer (13a). The slider (17a) enables scratching in both directions. The CPU (11) plays back musical sound data being sequentially supplied. The recording ring buffer (13a) rapidly stores, in response to emit a sound of the musical sound data being supplied, the musical sound data. The CPU (11), in a case of a scratch operation being performed on the slider (17a), controls so as to read out and playback the musical sound data stored in the recording ring buffer (13a) in place of the musical sound data being supplied, based on a direction and operation speed of the scratch operation.
US09443490B2	Selective display of waveforms governed by measured parameters Disclosed is a test and measurement instrument that includes a signal input structured to receive a modulated radio frequency (RF) signal under test and a demodulator structured to extract a digital signal from the received modulated RF signal. The extracted digital signal has a measurable parameter. The instrument also includes a display controller structured to display the extracted demodulated signal at one of at least two different intensities based on the measured parameter of the digital signal. In other embodiments the signal need not be an RF signal. Methods of operation are also described.
US09443489B2	Gamma curve compensating method, gamma curve compensating circuit and display system using the same An exemplary gamma curve compensating method is used in a displaying process of a display system for inserting a plurality of grey-scale images to adjust the displaying quality of the display system. A grey-scale luminance of each grey-scale image is one of the grey-scales. The gamma curve compensating method includes: providing a plurality of look-up tables (LUTs) according to the different grey-scales; selecting a specific grey-scale of the different grey-scales as a grey-scale luminance of one of the grey-scale images and accordingly selecting a specific LUT of the LUTs corresponding to the specific grey-scale; and performing a gamma-curve compensating based on the specific LUT to keep the gamma curve of the display system invariable in the displaying process. A gamma curve compensating circuit and a display system for performing the gamma curve compensating method are also provided in the present invention.
US09443488B2	Image transforming vision enhancement device Image transforming vision enhancement device that enhances vision by transforming images provided by one or more cameras into modified images projected on one or more displays. The system may be embedded in glasses, contact lenses, binoculars, or other vision devices, in computer screens, or in components of moving vehicles. Image transformations may include modifying colors to assist colorblind users or to highlight color ranges, mapping invisible frequencies into visible colors, adding labels or graphics, and generating time-varying images with flashing or changing features. Images from multiple cameras may be combined, providing users with panoramic vision from a single device. Low light vision may be enhanced, and excessive glare may be attenuated. The system may magnify images with a variable magnification. User interfaces may be provided to configure and customize the image transformations.
US09443487B2	Display driving apparatus and driving method thereof A display driving apparatus and driving method thereof are disclosed. The display driving apparatus includes a display panel and a display driver. The display panel has a plurality of pixels, and the pixels are arranged in an array. The pixels are divided into a plurality of first display regions and a plurality of second display regions, and each of the first display regions and each of the second display regions are arranged in the display panel alternately. The display driver provides a plurality of driving signals for driving the first and second display regions. The driving polarities of the neighboring first display regions are different, and the driving polarities of the neighboring second display regions are different.
US09443482B2	Display device To reduce power consumption of a display device with the use of a simple structure and a simple operation. The display device includes an input device. Input of an image signal to a driver circuit is controlled in accordance with an image operation signal output from the input device. Specifically, input of image signals at the time when the input device is not operated is less frequent than that at the time when the input device is operated. Accordingly, display degradation (deterioration of display quality) caused when the display device is used can be prevented and power consumed when the display device is not used can be reduced.
US09443481B2	LCD driver IC A liquid crystal display driver IC includes a plurality of communication interface circuits, a plurality of driving circuits which drive a plurality of source lines, and a selector circuit. In order to secure a necessary band-width, a necessary number of circuits, among the plurality of communication interface circuits, is connected in parallel to the communication channels, and an unused circuit is suspended. The selector circuit selectively controls to which one of the plurality of driving circuits each of a plurality of image data outputs respectively received from the connected communication interface circuits is supplied.
US09443480B2	Bistable display panel and data driving circuit thereof An exemplary data driving circuit for providing a display data voltage to a data line includes a data driving module. The data driving module includes a display data buffer unit and a switching element. The display data buffer unit is used to provide the display data voltage. The switching element is electrically coupled between the display data buffer unit and the data line and determines whether to allow the display data voltage provided by the display data buffer unit to be transmitted to the data line according to a control signal. Furthermore, the control signal controls the switching element to be turned off when the display data voltage provided by the display data buffer unit equals a predetermined voltage. Moreover, a display panel using the above data driving circuit also is provided.
US09443472B2	Pixel circuit and display A pixel circuit and a display are configured to reduce the size of the pixel circuit, and in turn reduce the pixel pitch and increase the pixel number per unit area, and thus improve the display quality of pictures. The pixel circuit comprises a first pixel sub-circuit and a second pixel sub-circuit, and an initialization module (31) and a data voltage writing module (32) connected to the first pixel sub-circuit and the second pixel sub-circuit, wherein the initialization module (31) is connected to a reset signal terminal and a low level terminal, and is configured to initialize the first pixel sub-circuit and the second pixel sub-circuit under the control of a reset signal input at the reset signal terminal; and the data voltage writing module (32) is connected to a data voltage terminal and a gate signal terminal, and is configured, under the control of a signal input at the gate signal terminal, to firstly write a first data voltage to the first pixel sub-circuit and perform compensation for a driving module (331) of the first pixel sub-circuit, and then write a second data voltage to the second pixel sub-circuit and perform compensation for a driving module (332) of the second pixel sub-circuit.
US09443470B2	Organic light emitting display device and method of driving organic light emitting display device An organic light emitting display device includes a display panel, current measuring circuits, and a timing controller. The display panel includes a plurality of pixel blocks. The current measuring circuits measure driving currents of pixels in the pixel blocks. The timing controller adjusts data signals applied to the pixels based on values measured by the current measuring circuits. One of the current measuring circuits measure driving currents of the pixels in a corresponding one of the pixel blocks, and also a driving current of at least one overlapped pixel.
US09443467B2	Display panel driver, method of driving display panel using the same, and display apparatus having the same A display apparatus includes a display panel, a gate driver, a data driver and a coupling voltage generator. The display panel includes a plurality of pixels. The gate driver provides a gate signal to the display panel. The data driver provides a data voltage to the display panel. The coupling voltage generator provides a coupling voltage to the display panel. The coupling voltage has a plurality of levels.
US09443462B2	Gate driving circuit, gate line driving method and display device The present disclosure relates to the field of display technique. There provides a gate driving circuit, a gate line driving method and a display device being capable of solving a technical problem of bad display caused by the interrupt of scanning signals in the time-sharing driven touch screen technology. The gate driving circuit includes multiple shift register units connected in series, a shift delay module being connected in series between j-th stage of shift register unit and (j+1)-th stage of shift register unit which are adjacent; wherein the shift delay module is connected to an output terminal of the j-th stage of shift register unit and an input terminal of the (j+1)-th stage of shift register unit and is further connected to the repeat output module; the repeat output module is connected to an output terminal of the (j−n+1)-th stage of shift register unit. The embodiments of the present disclosure are applied to the manufacture of a display.
US09443461B2	Electronic device and method of driving the same To provide a novel driving method for driving an electronic device by using digital gray scale and time gray scale in combination, which secures high duty ratio, which can display an image normally even when a sustain period is shorter than an address period, and which is hardly affected by dulled signal waveform. In a sub-frame period (102) where a sustain period is shorter than an address period, a clear period (105) is squeezed in between completion of a sustain period (104) and start of an address period of the subsequent sub-frame period. The length of the sustain period (104) thus can be set without being limited by the length of an address period (103). This non-display period is provided by changing the electric potential of a storage capacitor line. Therefore, unlike the case where the non-display period is provided by changing the electric potential of a cathode wiring, the present invention is hardly affected by dulled signal waveform.
US09443457B2	Display control device, display control method, and recording medium There is provided a display control device including a setting unit that sets a type and display position of a pseudo object, an acquiring unit that acquires a parameter for implementing a function of the set pseudo object in one or more devices placed near the set display position, and a display control unit that displays the pseudo object according to the parameter on a display unit, the display unit being one of the one or more devices.
US09443456B2	Liquid crystal alignment test apparatus and method A liquid crystal alignment test method includes: connecting a liquid crystal array substrate to be tested with a liquid crystal alignment test apparatus; applying corresponding voltages to signal input ports of the liquid crystal array substrate via a voltage providing device and then to execute an image check for the liquid crystal array substrate; and detecting resistance values of each two signal input ports of the liquid crystal array substrate via s resistance detection device to judge whether each two of the signal input ports are short-circuited.
US09443455B2	Display device having a plurality of pixels To extend the range of distance (between a display screen and the eye of a viewer) with which the viewer can see 3D images with the naked eye and to reduce power consumption. A parallax barrier in a shutter panel is controlled to be arranged optimally in accordance with the distance between the viewer and a display panel. Specifically, an optimal parallax barrier is formed as appropriate by selectively switching a light-transmitting state and a light-shielding state of a plurality of optical shutter regions and a display element unit of pixels depending on a retention state. The retention state is realized in such a manner that at least one of electrodes between which a liquid crystal layer is sandwiched is connected to a transistor including a semiconductor layer containing an oxide semiconductor and the transistor is turned off.
US09443453B2	Illuminated display board having an angled light source An illuminated display board includes a frame, a light-transmissive panel, and a light source. The light source is positioned within the frame, and adjacent the light-transmissive panel. The light source is oriented at an angle of between about 25 degrees and about 50 degrees with respect to the light-transmissive panel.
US09443451B2	Presentation system with movable display devices The present system and method provides for a new digital media paradigm enabling tight choreography of motion, content and, time able to be presented on a variety of hardware platforms consisting of robotic control of a multiplicity of display screens in the form of a movable array of 2 or more LCDs, LEDs, OLEDs, etc., with the movement and placement of each display achieved by one multi-axis manipulator arm mechanism. Motion control is achieved through software programmed onto one or more controller systems, and the corresponding tools necessary for creative visual designers to produce content meeting this new paradigm are also proposed. Each arm/display screen combination is kept aware of its positioning in physical space, relative to the positioning of each and every other arm/display screen at all times, in order to prevent collisions. The preprogrammed software control takes the form of a choreographed playlist of movements, content, and time that match the desired positioning of the array of display screens, in order to achieve the desired dynamic presentation of custom-produced digital content that will be presented across the array, in a fully coordinated fashion.
US09443447B2	System and method for displaying real-time flight information on an airport map A digital map of an airport is displayed via the user interface of a client device, and real-time flight information of a flight scheduled to depart from, or arrive at, an airport is obtained. An airport facility with which the real-time flight information is associated is determined, and the real-time flight information is displayed at a location on the digital map corresponding to the determined airport facility.
US09443439B2	Figure plate set The present invention provides a figure plate set for learning that comprises a first triangular plate (1) having an angle of 45°, an angle of 45°, and an angle of 90° and a second triangular plate (2) having an angle of 30°, an angle of 60°, and an angle of 90°. A length of one of two orthogonal sides (7, 8) of the first triangular plate (1) is same as a length of one of two orthogonal sides (14, 16) of the second triangular plate. A new triangular shape can be formed by combining the first triangular plate (1) and the second triangular plate (2).
US09443436B2	System for testing of autonomy in complex environments A monitoring apparatus for deployment on an AUV may include navigation equipment operable independent of guidance and control equipment of the AUV and usable for determining AUV navigation information during deployment of the AUV, radio equipment operable independent of a radio module of the AUV and for providing a communication link to a ground station for communication with testing staff, and a watchdog module comprising processing circuitry configured to monitor at least the AUV navigation information relative to operational guidance to determine whether a constraint defined in the operational guidance is violated.
US09443428B2	Providing guidance for locating street parking A facility for providing guidance for locating street parking is described. The facility receives an indication of a geographic location with respect to which provide parking guidance, and determines an effective time for which to provide guidance. The facility then provides parking guidance relating to the indicated location at the effective time for a use.
US09443425B2	Methods and systems for destination congestion avoidance A remote server having at least one processor in communication with one or more databases is configured to predict a congestion of a destination based on traffic information and/or an estimated amount of people at the destination. The one or more databases may include map information and attendance information. The processor is configured to receive a current location and destination input. The processor may be further configured to query the map information for one or more coordinates for the destination within a predefined distance to the current location. The processor may be further configured to query the attendance information to estimate the number of people at the destination based on the one or more coordinates and compare the estimated number of people to one or more predefined congestion values for the destination. The processor may be further configured to output a congestion prediction for the destination based on the comparison.
US09443420B2	Remotely controlling one or more client devices detected over a wireless network using a mobile device According to one general aspect, a method according to the present application includes remotely controlling wirelessly networked devices via a mobile unit. The method includes receiving, at a mobile unit and from a user, an input, analyzing the input to identify a networked device associated with the input, determining whether the networked device is presently accessible via a wireless network; determining whether to establish a connection with the networked device based on whether the networked device is determined to be presently accessible via the wireless network. The method also includes establishing a connection with the networked device if it is determined that the networked device is accessible via the wireless network and enabling the user to interact with the networked device through the mobile unit to remotely control the networked device.
US09443419B2	Monitoring breathing via signal strength in wireless networks Systems and methods are disclosed for the use of sensor links in a network to estimate the breathing rate of a breathing subject within a structure, estimate the location of the subject within the structure, and detect if the subject is breathing. The structure may be a bed, a building, or a room in the building. The received signal strength of the sensor links is obtained and is then used in various breathing models to determine the breathing rate estimation, the location estimation, and the breathing detection.
US09443417B2	Systems and methods for conveying utility operator data An apparatus comprising a message outputting device, an FM radio receiver, where the FM radio receiver is configured to obtain utility operator data provided by an FM subcarrier channel, and a processor in electrical communication with the FM radio receiver and the message outputting device is provided. The processor is configured to process the utility operator data and communicate a message in the utility operator data via the message outputting device. In some instances, the apparatus further comprises an input interface in electrical communication with the processor for receiving instructions from a user on whether to alter usage of the apparatus after the message in the utility operator data has been displayed via the message outputting device.
US09443415B2	Disseminating information to facilitate user safety A method for disseminating information regarding a problem and administering medical interventions comprises providing a mobile device wirelessly connectable to a network, receiving and storing contact information corresponding to a designated list of information recipients, receiving, via the mobile device and via the wireless trigger transmitting to the mobile device, a signal from a user indicating the problem, receiving, via the mobile device, information regarding the problem, transmitting an indication of the problem to a rescue clearinghouse via the network, prompting a participant of the rescue clearinghouse, different from the user, to make a decision about a course of action regarding the problem, and at least one of transmitting the information regarding the problem to the information recipients from the designated list and transmitting the information regarding the problem to a government rescue organization, based at least in part on the decision.
US09443413B2	Somatosensory type notification alerts A computing device is described that can receive contextual information related to a user associated with the computing device. The contextual information may relate to at least one of a physiological condition of the user at a current time or a type of activity associated with the user at the current time. The computing device can select, based at least in part on the contextual information, a type of alert to output as an indication of notification data. The type of alert may include at least one of an electric stimulus type alert, a shape-memory alloy type alert, and a vibration type alert. Responsive to selecting the type of alert, the computing device can output an alert based on the notification data, the alert being of the selected type of alert.
US09443411B2	Systems and methods for networking of car seat monitoring systems utilizing a central hub Systems and methods for monitoring child seats and children in child seats through sensors paired with a central processing hub which in turn relays notifications of conditions to caregivers or other users based on a notification hierarchy and the urgency of the conditions detected.
US09443408B2	Pneumatic sensing apparatus A pneumatic sensing apparatus for use in an overheat or fire alarm system comprising a sensing assembly that comprises a sensing means 51, 61, 71, containing a pressurized gas, coupled to a pressure sensor 52, 62, 72. The pressure sensor 52, 62, 72, is configured to produce a signal that is indicative of the gas pressure. The pressure sensor 52, 62, 72, comprises an optical pressure sensor and the signal comprises an optical signal.
US09443407B2	Electronic article surveillance using radio frequency identification An Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) system is provided wherein the system is configured to detect passive radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tags. The system can be configured to read the passive RFID tags and produce a corresponding emulated EAS signal to initiate an alarm on a detected tag. The system can transmit the emulated EAS signal to a legacy EAS system thereby utilizing an existing EAS infrastructure. In some embodiments, a composite EAS system is configured to detect RFID tags and other EAS tags, wherein the composite EAS system comprises a legacy EAS system and an RFID-based EAS system configured to produce an emulated EAS signal.
US09443406B2	Dual mode security tags A tag controller is configured to interface with a tag on a product in a monitoring environment that includes first and second monitoring zones. The first monitoring zone includes first locator devices, and the second monitoring zone includes second locator devices. The tag controller includes processing circuitry configured to facilitate operation of the tag in a first mode to employ wireless communication with the first locator devices or the second locator devices to generate position information usable for locating the tag in the monitoring environment. The first mode defines communication parameters associated with the wireless communication. The processing circuitry may also be configured to determine whether mode switch criteria are met, and direct the tag to switch to operation in a second mode to employ different communication parameters relative to wireless communication with the first locator devices or the second locator devices responsive to the mode switch criteria being met.
US09443403B2	Method and apparatus for visually and audibly indicating the setup and maintenance of a system Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for visually and audibly indicating the setup and maintenance of a system.
US09443402B2	Vibratory alert device A simplified Bluetooth Low Energy or Bluetooth compatible vibrator, that can be paired with a cellular telephone or other device, has in one embodiment no buttons, no switches, no ports, no input device, and no display. The vibrator can use a non-rechargeable battery and can be automatically paired with the cellular telephone (or other device) in response to initially inserting the non-rechargeable battery into the vibrator. A low battery monitoring circuit can detect a low battery condition and cause the vibrator to send a low battery warning message to the cellular telephone to remind the user to replace the non-rechargeable battery.
US09443396B2	Social media lottery game with player profile wagering selections The present invention combines aspects of social media with traditional lottery games. In one aspect, the present invention provides lottery game for drawing-based and instant-based games, where the numbers or icons that are traditionally used are replaced by player profiles.
US09443393B2	Multi-site tournament gaming method and system A multi-site tournament gaming system and method are disclosed wherein multiple casino operators are engaged to initiate a series of player qualifying events and to hold a multi-session tournament of the qualified players to determine the site winners; and, a final tournament is operated wherein the site winners are provided prizes and compete to be named the ultimate champion.
US09443389B2	Gaming system having wagering features funded by extra-casino activities A method of funding features of a wagering game, comprises receiving a first sum of money generated from extra-casino activity associated with at least one person and depositing the first sum into a feature fund. The method further comprises allocating the first sum to at least one account of the feature fund in accordance with a first rule set. The method further comprises, in response to a triggering event, withdrawing a second sum of money from the at least one account. The method further comprises funding at least one feature associated with the wagering game from the second sum of money and activating the funded feature.
US09443382B2	System and method for augmented gaming venue using a mobile device Disclosed is a method for enabling a user in an augmented reality gaming venue to use an augmented reality gaming venue component and a mobile device to find a particular game or gaming machine. The method includes: controlling a camera on the mobile device using the augmented reality gaming venue component, once the component is activated; determining the location of the mobile device; determining the orientation of the mobile device; querying a casino management system to retrieve data for the augmented reality gaming venue; generating a list of gaming machines and other objects currently visible to the camera; rendering a camera-captured image on a display of the mobile device; and overlaying icons on the image for each visible object to display additional visual information to a user on the display of the mobile device in response to the user aiming the mobile device at gaming machines or other objects of interest in the augmented reality gaming venue.
US09443381B2	Customization of gaming event re-creation For facilitating re-experience of an event of a gaming device with a player, data is gathered in a data processing device, in communication with, yet external to, the gaming device, the data processing device having been provided a sampling of data from the gaming device by a gaming system having supervisory hierarchical control over the gaming device. At least a portion of the sampled data is processed to generate a facsimile animation re-creation of the event to be provided to the player. The facsimile animation re-creation is editable through the data processing device by use of at least one predefined rule, an operator of the data processing device, and a player granted subsequent access to the data processing device.
US09443379B2	Gaming systems and methods for operating gaming systems A gaming system is operated by comparing a mobile device elevation at which a mobile device is located to one or more authorized elevations that correspond to areas where mobile gaming is permitted, wherein the one or more authorized elevations is adjusted according to a height of a user of the mobile device, responsive to the comparing, permitting gaming using the mobile device when the mobile device elevation is within the one or more adjusted authorized elevations, and not permitting gaming using the mobile device when the mobile device elevation is outside the one or more adjusted authorized elevations, and permitting non-gaming operations using the mobile device regardless of whether the mobile device elevation is within or outside the one or more authorized elevations.
US09443377B2	Web pages for gaming devices A Web page is received at a gaming device from a Web server device and then displayed. Information indicative of a player's interaction with the Web page is received at the Web server device. The Web server device sends a request to a gaming property server device based at least in part on the interaction, and the gaming property server device sends a reply to the Web server device. The Web server device then provides Web content to the gaming device based at least in part on the reply. A display of the gaming device is changed based at least in part on the Web content.
US09443375B2	Gaming machine The present invention provides players with fun brought by a moveable component. A gaming machine includes a game result determination unit, that determines a game result; a game execution unit, that executes a game in such a manner as to reach the game result; a moveable component, disposed at a position visible from outside and configured to be capable of mechanical movement; and a movement control unit, which enables the moveable component to move in a movement pattern corresponding to the game result.
US09443374B2	Method and system for playing a game A method and system for randomly selecting numbers for playing a game using a random arrangement of numbered balls placed on an ice layer, or in an ice layer in a capacity. Conditions are created for thawing the ice and allowing the numbered balls to sink and fall exiting the bottom of the capacity. A device below the capacity comprises a detector for sensing a numbered ball that is exiting. A remotely accessed game server enables game players to place stakes on the numbered balls exiting. The detector sensing a numbered ball exiting, communicates with the game server to stop accepting stakes for the numbered balls to be exited.
US09443373B2	Beverage preparation machine comprising an extended user-advisory functionality The present invention relates to a beverage preparation machine (1) having an extended user-advisory functionality, comprising a control unit (21) for recognizing an actual or upcoming event triggering said user-advisory functionality, such as a disturbance of such machine (1) based on monitored machine parameters or a machine contextual event, a communication module (11) for communicating with a remote external device (50) via a communication network (501, 511), and a display (10) for displaying messages, wherein the control unit (21) in said user-advisory functionality is further adapted to establish a connection via the communication module (11) to said external device (50) offering a resource for managing the actual or upcoming event, and to control the display of a message on the display (10) indicating the actual or upcoming event and advising a user on managing said event. The present invention further relates to a program stored on a memory device and executable by a control unit (21) of the beverage preparation machine (1) for providing an extended user-advisory functionality for a beverage preparation machine (1).
US09443370B2	Method and apparatus for onsite distribution of medications and medical supplies Secure access distribution machines and methods for distributing a plurality of medical items to an authorized user. The distribution machine includes a housing enclosing a plurality of bins for storing medical items mounted on carousels. Once the distribution machine has been provided with user identification data, patient identification data, and an item selection, the plurality of carousels is actuated to move a bin holding a selected medical item to a location behind an access door in the housing. The user can then reach into the housing to manually retrieve and then verify the removal of the selected medical item. Only one access door into the housing is opened at any time, thereby preventing unauthorized removal of medical items stored in any other bins within the housing.
US09443367B2	Digital image coin discrimination for use with consumer-operated kiosks and the like Systems and associated methods for coin discrimination are disclosed herein. Disclosed methods for discriminating coins include recognizing strings of alphanumerical characters of the coin using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The methods can include recognizing colors and/or reflectivity of the coin using, for example, pixel thresholding algorithms. The methods can further include adding a line to an image of the coin, and measuring angles between the line and the edges on the coin. The methods can also include generating a rectangular image of the coin using, for example, a log-polar transform, generating a series of, for example, Fourier transforms from the rectangular image, and identifying spectral peak locations and intensities in the Fourier transform results. The results of the OCR, color/reflectivity recognition, angle measurement, spectral peak location, spectral peak intensity of the coin and/or other features or aspects of coins can then be compared to known values for different coins to discriminate the coins.
US09443365B2	Wireless reader system An electronic system including a mobile device that communicates with a reader device. In one embodiment, the mobile device may be configured as a mobile phone and the reader device may be configured as an electronic reader associated with an electronic lock. One or more devices in the system may determine the position of the mobile device in relation to the reader device, and cause an electronic lock or another type of access control device to perform a selected function based at least in part on the position of the mobile device in relation to the reader device.
US09443363B2	Real-time location detection using exclusion zones A system and method for real-time location detection consists of a scalable real time location system (RTLS). It provides revised real time object location determinations. It includes a tag within a location environment, a processor to calculate a location of the tag, and at least one exclusion zone in the environment. Processing includes an original location determination of the tag and a revised location determination of the tag. The revised location determination is calculated by applying attributes of at least one exclusion zone to the original location determination of the tag. Some exclusion zones are defined by no-fly exclusion zones. The revised location determination improves the operation of the RTLS by correcting for impossible and improbable original location determinations. For embodiments, system deployment consists of three phases: collection of training and testing data, network training and testing, and network adaptive maintenance.
US09443360B1	Unknown on-board diagnostics (OBD) protocol interpreter and conversion system A novel on-board diagnostics (OBD) protocol interpreter and conversion system is capable of dynamically decoding commonly-known standard OBD formats as well as esoterically-customized and/or non-standard OBD formats that are initially unrecognized by a generic OBD data reader unit. The novel OBD protocol interpreter and conversion system includes an OBD protocol converter (OPC) unit that can be plugged to a vehicle OBD unit for seamlessly converting any types of standard and non-standard OBD formats to an OBD format compatible for real-time remote vehicle monitoring. For the esoterically-customized and/or non-standard OBD formats that cannot be decoded within the OPC alone, an unknown OBD protocol analysis module and a new OBD protocol interpreter development unit that are located remotely outside the vehicle can create installable new OBD interpreter codes, and update the OPC's OBD library and decoding units accordingly to enable seamless decoding of the esoterically-customized and/or non-standard OBD formats.
US09443358B2	Vehicle software upgrade techniques System and method for maintaining functionality of software includes initially providing the vehicle with software resident on computer-readable medium to enable it to operate and interact with components thereof and updating the vehicle software by receiving a wireless transmission from one or more remote locations, e.g., a location maintained by a dealer or manufacturer of the vehicle. The software may be diagnostic software for a diagnostic module which diagnoses operability of components of the vehicle. Different remote locations may be responsible for different portions of the vehicle-resident software and may therefore provide different software upgrades, based on need.
US09443357B2	Dispenser use monitor A dispenser use monitor provides a housing configured to be removably attached to a portable dispenser, such as a soap dispenser. The housing includes a controller that stores one or more reference ID codes that match the tag ID codes associated with each of one or more data tags. The data tags are used to identify predetermined areas in which the portable dispenser is to be used. Thus, as the use monitor is brought into proximity with each data tag, indicating that the portable dispenser has been used in the associated area, the use monitor validates the reference ID codes if it matches the tag ID code of the particular data tag. In addition, an indicator displays the remaining number of reference ID codes that have not been validated, thereby providing a reminder to the user of the portable dispenser of the progress of their job completion.
US09443355B2	Reprojection OLED display for augmented reality experiences Methods for generating and displaying images associated with one or more virtual objects within an augmented reality environment at a frame rate that is greater than a rendering frame rate are described. The rendering frame rate may correspond with the minimum time to render images associated with a pose of a head-mounted display device (HMD). In some embodiments, the HMD may determine a predicted pose associated with a future position and orientation of the HMD, generate a pre-rendered image based on the predicted pose, determine an updated pose associated with the HMD subsequent to generating the pre-rendered image, generate an updated image based on the updated pose and the pre-rendered image, and display the updated image on the HMD. The updated image may be generated via a homographic transformation and/or a pixel offset adjustment of the pre-rendered image by circuitry within the display.
US09443352B1	Navigating through a virtual environment having a real-world elevation characteristics using motion capture A computer generates one or more geometric rays at a predetermined height above one or more portions of an avatar's body in a virtual environment. Once the rays are generated, the computer computes intersections of the one or more rays with a collision mesh that defines a terrain of the virtual environment at the location of the avatar. Then, the computer computes the point of intersection of each of the one or more rays with the collision mesh. Using the points of intersection, the computer calculates an offset in an elevation and/or an offset in an orientation of the avatar with respect to the terrain in the virtual environment. Further, the computer adjusts the elevation and/or the orientation of the avatar based on the calculated offset in the elevation and/or the elevation in the orientation, respectively, such that the adjusted elevation and/or orientation compensates for the calculated offsets.
US09443350B2	Real-time 3D reconstruction with power efficient depth sensor usage Embodiments disclosed facilitate resource utilization efficiencies in Mobile Stations (MS) during 3D reconstruction. In some embodiments, camera pose information for a first color image captured by a camera on an MS may be obtained and a determination may be made whether to extend or update a first 3-Dimensional (3D) model of an environment being modeled by the MS based, in part, on the first color image and associated camera pose information. The depth sensor, which provides depth information for images captured by the camera, may be disabled, when the first 3D model is not extended or updated.
US09443348B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program Aspects of the present invention include an apparatus comprising a memory storing instructions, and a control unit configured to execute the instructions to detect an image of an object of interest within an image of real space, detect an orientation of the real space object image with respect to a real space user perspective, generate a modified image comprising an image of a modified object, corresponding to the real space object, such that an orientation of the modified object image corresponds to a desired user perspective, and display the modified image.
US09443343B2	Method and apparatus for realistically reproducing eyeball Provided is a method and apparatus for realistically reproducing an eyeball that may verify and analyze a material property and a deformation property with respect to each of constituent portions of an eyeball and may render each of the constituent portions based on the analyzed priorities, thereby more realistically reproducing the eyeball.
US09443340B2	Computer readable storage medium having stored thereon image processing program, image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image processing system For each layer, a scaling rate of an object image or a background image belonging to each of the layers is calculated based on a distance from a predetermined reference point in a virtual three-dimensional space to each of the layers. In addition, for each of the layers, a movement velocity of each of the layers when conducting a parallax scrolling is calculated based on a distance from the predetermined reference point in the virtual three-dimensional space to each of the layers. Furthermore, an image in each of the layers is scaled up or down based on the calculated scaling rate, and each of the layers are moved in a predetermined direction at the calculated movement velocity.
US09443338B2	Techniques for producing baseline stereo parameters for stereoscopic computer animation Bounded-parallax constraints are determined for the placement of a pair of stereoscopic cameras within a computer-generated scene. A minimum scene depth is calculated based on the distance from the pair of cameras to a nearest point of interest in the computer-generated scene. A near-parallax value is also calculated based on the focal length and the minimum scene depth. Calculating the near-parallax value includes selecting a baseline stereo-setting entry from a set of stereo-setting entries, each stereo-setting entry of the set of baseline stereo-setting entries includes a recommended scene depth, a recommended focal length, and a recommended near-parallax value. For the selected baseline stereo-setting entry: the recommended scene depth corresponds to the minimum scene depth, and the recommended focal length corresponds to the focal length. The near-parallax value and far-parallax value are stored as the bounded-parallax constraints for the placement of the pair of stereoscopic cameras.
US09443334B2	Routing edges with ordered bundles A graph processing module is described for producing a processed graph in three phases. In a bundling phase, the graph processing module selects edges that are used to constitute paths to produce a bundled graph. In an ordering phase, the graph processing module orders paths within the bundled graph to produce an ordered bundled graph. In a separating phase, the graph processing module separates paths in the ordered bundled graph. Among other features, the graph processing module performs the selecting operation by minimizing a cost function; this has the effect of promoting bundling in the bundled graph while discouraging the presence of overly long edges in the bundled graph. The graph processing module can perform the ordering operation by selecting the ordering of paths passing through each edge based on a consideration of ordering constraints within a common subpath associated with the edge.
US09443332B2	Redrawing recent curve sections for real-time smoothing A recently rendered section of a curve is redrawn to smooth the curve on-the-fly while a user moves a stylus or other input device. On receiving data points for the curve, an old rendered section for prior data points is deleted by curve redrawing code, and a new spline that's visually smooth through the new data points and at least one prior data point is added. “Visually smooth” is defined using tangents. The rendered spline is a cardinal or other cubic Hermite spline. The curve is redrawn for display by overwriting frame buffer data. A single instruction multiple data processing architecture simultaneously calculates multiple data points for the new section of the curve rendering. A digital ink rendering uses a pen-tip shape or an arc shape, based on data point locations. The pen-tip shape simulates a square-tip pen, highlighter, pencil, charcoal, paintbrush, or liquid ink pen.
US09443331B2	Input object for routing input for visual elements Techniques for an input object for routing input for visual elements are described. In at least some embodiments, a region of a display area includes multiple graphic elements that can be generated and/or managed by different graphics functionalities. For instance, a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application can include a primary window and visual elements within the primary window, such as banners, control buttons, menus, Tillable fields, and so forth. In at least some embodiments, the primary window of the GUI can be managed by a first graphics functionality, while one or more visual elements within the primary window can be managed by a second graphics functionality. In accordance with one or more embodiments, an input object is employed to route input to visual elements to a graphics functionality responsible for managing the visual elements.
US09443330B2	Reconstruction of time-varying data Systems and methods are provided for data reconstruction. In accordance with one aspect, data interpolation is performed on a time-varying three-dimensional (3D) image dataset of one or more vessel-like structures to generate at least one interpolated voxel value. The interpolated voxel value is used to correct at least one value of a vessel voxel representing the one or more vessel-like structures in the time-varying 3D dataset.
US09443329B2	Systems and methods for graphic visualization of ventricle wall motion A method for graphic visualization of ventricle wall motion includes acquiring medical imaging data frames depicting at least one cardiac cycle, identifying a ventricle wall outline in at least a portion of the plurality of image frames, determining end systolic and end diastolic frames belonging to a same cardiac cycle, copying the ventricle wall outline image from the ES and the ED frames, creating a composite image frame that includes the copied ventricle wall outline images, assigning a first color to the ES and a second color to the ED outline images of the composite frame, and providing the composite frame for displaying, printing, and/or storing in memory. A system for implementing the method and a non-transitory computer-readable medium are also disclosed.
US09443328B2	Mobile terminal and method of controlling the mobile terminal for displaying visual effects in a user interface A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a memory configured to store a material texture assigned to a type of an application executed on the mobile terminal; a display unit configured to display screen information having the material texture assigned to the type of the application executed on the mobile terminal; and a controller configured to receive an input on the displayed screen information, and apply a visually changing textural effect to the displayed screen information that corresponds to the material texture assigned to the type of the application.
US09443325B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer program There is provided an image processing apparatus including a model information acquisition section which acquires model information in which a plurality of shape information pieces acquired in advance are resolved into basis spaces, a deviation region detection section which detects a deviation region in a shape of a target object in an inputted image, the deviation region having a difference from the model information, and a projection section which projects the shape of the target object in the inputted image onto the basis spaces after masking the deviation region.
US09443323B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method and recording medium An image processing apparatus includes: an obtaining member to obtain an image; a copying member to copy the image obtained by the obtaining member; a detecting member to detect a face area from the copied image or the obtained image; a correcting member to perform correction to adjust a brightness and a color shade of a whole of the obtained or copied image from which the face area is detected by the detecting member so that a flesh color component of the face area detected by the detecting member is corrected to become a predetermined status; and a synthesizing member to make a transparency of the face area detected by the detecting member different from another area and to synthesize the image corrected by the correcting member and the obtained or copied image from which the face are is not detected by the detecting member.
US09443317B2	Image display of a centerline of tubular structure Systems and methods for determining a centerline of a tubular structure from volumetric data of vessels where a contrast agent was injected into the blood stream to enhance the imagery for centerlining. Given a 3D array of scalar values and a first and second point, the system and methods iteratively find a path from the start position to the end position that lies in the center of a tubular structure. A user interface may be provided to visually present and manipulate a centerline of the tubular structure and the tubular structure itself.
US09443312B2	Line parametric object estimation A method may include projecting, onto a first projection plane of a first projection volume, first points from a point cloud of a setting that are within the first projection volume. Further, the method may include matching a plurality of the projected first points with a cross-section template that corresponds to a line parametric object (LPO) of the setting to determine a plurality of first element points of a first primary projected element. Additionally, the method may include projecting, onto a second projection plane of a second projection volume, second points from the point cloud that are within the second projection volume and matching a plurality of the projected second points with the cross-section template to determine a plurality of second element points of a second primary projected element. Moreover, the method may include generating a parameter function based on the first element points and the second element points.
US09443310B2	Illumination modules that emit structured light A depth camera includes an illumination module and an image detector module. The illumination module outputs structured light that illuminates a capture area. The image detector module captures an image of the structured light as reflected from object(s) within the capture area. The illumination module includes a VCSEL array and optical element(s), such as projection optics, an MLA or DOE, or combinations thereof. Projection optics receive a light pattern emitted by the VCSEL array and project the light pattern. An optical element, downstream from the projection optics, can cause a total number of features included in the structured light to be greater than the number of features included in the light pattern projected by the projection optics. In an embodiment, a pitch of an MLA is offset relative to a pitch of the VCSEL array. Various structures can include alignment elements to aid manufacture of the illumination module.
US09443308B2	Position and orientation determination in 6-DOF A method for a six degree of freedom position and orientation determination of a known shape in a scenery is disclosed. The method includes taking a range image with a range imaging camera and a visual picture with a digital camera. The range imaging camera includes a sensor array with a first number of pixels. Determining a 3D cluster of points from range information collected from the sensor array to a point of the scenery. the digital camera comprises an image sensor having a second number of pixels, resulting in a 2D picture. A stored 3D digital representation of the known shape may be fitted in a virtual space to match the reproduction of the known object in the 2D picture and the 3D cluster of points and determining the six degree of freedom position and orientation of the known shape according to the virtual match.
US09443307B2	Processing of images of a subject individual A computing system receives a plurality of candidate images of a subject individual and generates pose data for each of the candidate images. The pose data of a candidate image is representative of a pose of the subject individual in that image. The computing system selects an image from the candidate images by generating a similarity value for each of the candidate images by comparing the pose data to target pose data.
US09443300B2	Systems and methods for analyzing a bondline A method for analyzing a bondline in a structure is provided. The method includes obtaining, from a first side of the structure, by at least one computing device, at least one first internal image of the structure that includes at least a first pattern associated with the bondline, wherein the structure is in a pre-loaded state and obtaining, from the first side of the structure, by the at least one computing device, at least one second internal image of the structure that includes at least the first pattern, wherein the structure is in a loaded state. Additionally, the method includes comparing, by the at least one computing device, the at least one first internal image with the at least one second internal image, and determining, by the at least one computing device, at least one stress and/or strain-related property of the bondline based on the comparison. The method additionally includes predicting an estimated life of the bondline, whereby the estimated life provides a valuable tool for optimization of maintenance effort and enabling cost-optimal maintenance decisions.
US09443297B2	System and method for selective determination of point clouds A computer-implemented method is provided. The method may include receiving or identifying a first point cloud associated with a train-time object or model. The method may further include selecting one or more probes associated with the first point cloud wherein selection of the one or more probes is based upon, at least in part, a score of a particular feature associated with the first point cloud. The method may also include analyzing a second point cloud associated with a run-time object, wherein the analysis is based upon the first point cloud. This analysis may produce an estimate of the difference in pose between the train time object and the run time object. Pose estimates may be obtained by matching points between the two point clouds based in part on features used during probe selection. Pose estimates may be scored, and refined, using the points selected as probes.
US09443296B2	Apparatus for matching blocks of stereo image The present invention relates to a block matching apparatus, and more particularly, to a block matching apparatus, in which a normal driving power and a low driving power are alternately applied to an absolute difference calculation unit for calculating an absolute difference between a pixel of a first image frame and a pixel of a second image frame corresponding thereto among two stereo image frames, and a low absolute difference of corresponding pixels calculated using the low driving power is compensated with a high absolute difference of adjacent corresponding pixels calculated using the normal driving power, so that since a separate estimation unit does not need to be provided, the block matching apparatus can be lightly manufactured in terms of hardware and can reduce power consumption.
US09443295B2	Method and apparatus for reducing artifacts in computed tomography (CT) image reconstruction The present invention provides a method and apparatus for reducing artifacts in Computed Tomography (CT) image reconstruction. The method comprises acquiring an original reconstructed image, then conducting total variation processing for the original reconstructed image generating a total variation reconstructed image, conducting an initial metal artifact reduction processing for the original reconstructed image generating an initial metal artifact reduction reconstructed image, generating a weighted image based on the total variation reconstructed image and the initial metal artifact reduction reconstructed image, wherein the weighted image reflects that the original reconstructed image contains white-band artifactsd combining a portion of the original reconstructed image and a portion of the initial metal artifact reduction reconstructed image through the weighted image to generate a final image, wherein the final image does not contain white-band artifact.
US09443294B2	Image correction system, image correction method, and computer program product This invention is concerning an image correction system that includes an image-capturing unit configured to acquire a captured image by capturing a subject; a tilt recognition unit configured to recognize tilt of an image-capturing direction of the image-capturing unit relative to an image-capturing direction in which the image-capturing unit being directly opposite to the subject captures the subject; a first correction unit configured to generate a corrected image by correcting distortion in the captured image due to the tilt; and a second correction unit configured to acquire a corrected captured image by correcting non-linear distortion in the corrected image.
US09443289B2	Compensating for motion induced artifacts in a physiological signal extracted from multiple videos What is disclosed is a system for compensating for motion induced artifacts in a physiological signal obtained from multiple videos of a first and second region of interest a subject being monitored for a desired physiological function. At least one of the videos being of the first region and at least one of the videos being of the second region. The first region being at least one area of exposed skin where a desired signal corresponding to the physiological function can be registered by a video imaging device. The second region being an area where a movement by the subject is likely to induce motion artifacts into the signal. The videos are processed to isolate pixels associated with the first and second regions. Processed pixels of the isolated first regions to obtain a composite time-series signal. From the composite signal, a physiological signal corresponding to the physiological function is extracted.
US09443284B1	Methods for AWB (automatic white balance) compensation and apparatuses using the same A method for AWB (Automatic White Balance) compensation, performed by a processing unit, the method at least containing acquiring a frame 0; dividing the frame 0 into blocks; obtaining block statistics information of each block of the frame 0; labeling each block of the frame 0 as one type according to its block statistics information; employing a first AWB compensation to the frame 0 with an input of first-type blocks of the frame 0, wherein the first-type blocks of the frame 0 are blocks labeled as a first type; employing a second AWB compensation to a frame 1 with an input of blocks of the frame 1 at the same locations as that of second-type blocks of the frame 0, wherein the second-type blocks of the frame 0 are blocks labeled as a second type; and fusing the compensated frame 0 with the compensated frame 1.
US09443283B2	Content retargeting method and apparatus A content retargeting method and apparatus are disclosed. An embodiment of the invention provides a content retargeting method that includes: dividing an original content into a grid having M rows×N columns of quads; computing degrees of importance of the divided quads; and scaling the quads based on the computed degrees of importance, the quads axis-aligned by rows or columns.
US09443282B2	Image processing circuit and semiconductor integrated circuit This image processing circuit performs, with reduced power consumption, pipeline processing of image data. This image processing circuit has an image processing unit which performs pipeline processing of image data having N-bit pixel data. The image processing unit has a pipeline register (400) having upper bit flip-flop circuits (401), lower-order bit flip-flop circuits (402), a comparison circuit (403) which determines whether the input values and the output values of the upper bit flip-flop circuits (401) are the same, and a clock gating control circuit (404) which controls supply of the clock signal such that, when the aforementioned input and output values are the same, the clock signal is not supplied to the upper bit flip-flop circuits (401). The pipeline register (400) does not have a circuit for controlling supply of the clock signal to the lower 1-bit flip-flop circuits (402), and holds pixel data or calculation results during pipeline processing.
US09443281B2	Pixel-based warping and scaling accelerator Technologies are presented that allow efficient pixel-based image and/or video warping and scaling. An image processing system may include a memory and an accelerator unit communicatively coupled with the memory. The accelerator unit may, based on configuration settings, receive, from a memory, at least a portion of an input image as an array of neighboring four-cornered shapes; and process each shape by: determining locations of an array of output pixels delineated by four corner locations of the shape via linearization; interpolating a value of each pixel of the array of output pixels; and storing the interpolated pixel values in the memory. For warping, the array of neighboring four-cornered shapes may include an array of neighboring distorted tetragons that approximate distortion of the input image, and the interpolated pixel values may represent a warped output image. For scaling, the array of neighboring four-cornered shapes may include an array of neighboring rectangles.
US09443280B2	Selective hardware acceleration in video playback systems Embodiments of a system and method for enhanced video performance in a video playback system are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a video frame from a video element in a web page, which is to be presented in a web browser and is unobscured by any other elements associated with the web page, the web browser, or a user interface, is directly rendered by a hardware decoder and composited with any associated web content or other elements directly to a video playback display device. When a video frame from the video element is obscured by another element the video frame is rendered by a processor in the video playback display device in order to incorporate the non-video graphics element on the video playback device.
US09443279B2	Direct link synchronization communication between co-processors Systems, apparatus, articles, and methods are described including operations to communicate synchronization notifications between a co-processor graphic data producer and a co-processor graphic data consumer via a direct link without passing such communications through the central processing unit.
US09443278B2	Method and apparatus for data conversion in an unequal gamma angle CT system A method and apparatus for data conversion in an unequal γ angle CT system. The method for imaging in a CT system having a flat module detector array includes obtaining fan beam projection data of an object from a CT scan, obtaining a geometric structure parameter of the flat module detector array; rebinning data from the fan beam projection data to parallel beam projection data based on the geometric structure parameter to convert the fan beam projection data into the parallel beam projection data, and generating a CT image from the parallel beam projection data.
US09443277B2	Method for embedding and extracting multi-scale space based watermark A method for embedding and extracting a multi-scale space based watermark, comprises: constructing a pyramid structure of an original image by dividing each carrier image layer into M square carrier image blocks of the same size; constructing a multi-scale structure of a watermark image; embedding a watermark by embedding each watermark image into a corresponding carrier image block to obtain the original image containing the watermark; locating in the pyramid structure of the original image a target image from which a watermark will be extracted; extracting the watermark by obtaining an estimated watermark by means of the target image block and the reference image block; comparing watermarks by evaluating similarity between the estimated watermark and a watermark image to which the reference image block corresponds. Due to the multi-resolution block pyramid data structure in the present invention, a large scale attack is decomposed into a multi-level small scale attack.
US09443275B1	Facilitating ordering at an order point via smart ordering devices A system and method for facilitating ordering at an order point using a smart ordering device are disclosed. A primary transmitting device and a secondary transmitting device may be positioned opposite of one another at the order point. A short distance linkage may be established between the primary and secondary transmitting device. A disruption of the linkage may be detected when an object carrying a smart ordering device passes through the order point. Information indicating the disruption may be included in a signal transmitted by the primary transmitting device to the smart ordering device. Based on such information and the signal strength of the signal from the primary transmitting device, the smart ordering device may determine it is at the order point. In response to such determination, the smart ordering device may generate and communicate an order request to a remote server for placing an order.
US09443273B2	Authenticating a persona in a social networking system A social networking system provides access to personas comprising information, for example, web pages describing users or entities. The information may be suggested by the social networking system or requested by the user, for example, via search. The social networking system authenticates the personas so that only authentic personas are suggested to users or returned when a user is searching for information. The authenticity of a persona is determined based on the connections and/or likes coming from other personas, user accounts, or other entities represented within the social networking system that have been previously authenticated. The authenticity of the persona is also determined based on external links to the persona, for example, external websites referring to the persona or the rate at which external systems such as search engines direct web traffic to the persona.
US09443272B2	Methods and apparatus for providing improved access to applications A data processing system includes components for providing a pleasant user experience. Those components may include a family interaction engine that provides a family channel. The family interaction engine may provide for creation of a user group. The family channel may present content of interest to multiple users in the user group. When a user is detected near the data processing system, the family interaction engine may automatically present content of interest to that user. When used for presenting media content, the data processing system may also cause supplemental data to automatically be presented, wherein the supplemental data is relevant to the media content and to a predetermined interest of the user. The data processing system may also provide a ranked list of applications for potential activation by the user. The applications may be ordered based on the current context. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09443262B1	Merchandise reservation system, apparatus, and media Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for reserving items of merchandise for in store pickup and/or inspection. In some embodiments, a reservation method for a store includes receiving, from a first computing device associated with a customer, a request to reserve a requested item for the customer. The reservation method may further include identifying, based on the requested item, an additional item to reserve for the customer. The reservation method may also include sending, to a second computing device associated with an employee of the store, a notification that instructs the employee to gather the requested item and the additional item and place the gathered items in a reserved merchandise area of the store.
US09443257B2	Securing expandable display advertisements in a display advertising environment A method for securely presenting an HTML expandable display advertisement on a computer display, comprising: storing at a serving computer, an HTML object having an identifier associated with at least one securing computer, registering at the securing computer, the expandable display advertisement, and signaling, from a displaying computer, an expansion event for the expandable display advertisement wherein the expandable display advertisement is for display on the displaying computer. Additional operations for securely presenting an expandable display advertisement on a computer display include expanding, at the displaying computer, the expandable display advertisement; and signaling, from a displaying computer, a restoring event. Using this technique, the serving computer may be within a first domain, and the securing computer within a second domain, the second domain being different from the first domain. In some cases, a registration message received by a securing computer comprises width and height dimensions of the expandable display advertisement.
US09443256B2	Focused advertising across multiple communication channels This document describes, among other things, systems and methods for generating advertising campaigns or listings utilizing catalog information. A method comprises receiving, by an online publication system, a product catalog; accessing, by the online publication system, a merchant profile; and using the product catalog and the merchant profile to develop advertising data, wherein the advertising data includes at least one of an advertising campaign, a marketplace listing, or a store listing. The advertising campaign is published across multiple communication channels and focuses on the merchant's identity in at least one of the communication channels and specific products sold by the merchant in at least one other communication channel.
US09443249B2	Social network-influenced interest detection Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selecting users that are connected to a particular user; accessing, for each of the selected users, an interest score of the selected user that reflects the selected user's predicted interest in the particular topic, or interest data that that is used to determine the interest score of the selected user; accessing a model that is used for generating the interest score of the particular user that reflects the particular user's predicted interest in the particular topic, wherein the interest score of the particular user is generated based at least on the interest scores or interest data of the selected users for the particular topic; and applying the interest scores or interest data of the selected users for the particular topic to the model to generate the interest score of the particular user for the particular topic.
US09443248B2	Wireless communication-enabled promotions and commercial transactions Coupons and other promotions can be enabled using mobile computing devices with Near Field Communication (NFC) or other wireless communication capabilities. For example, a mobile device user can collect a coupon displayed during a cable TV show by tapping his NFC mobile device to a peripheral device in wireless communication with a cable TV receiver. Collected coupons can be stored in a coupon database at the mobile device. Coupons can be redeemed by tapping an NFC mobile device to an NFC point of sale terminal. Coupons can also be collected from advertisements in audio media and web pages, and can be collected at a mobile device from media displayed at the mobile device. Coupons can have time-based, location-based or other usage restrictions. Collecting information stored in NFC tags affixed to items in a scavenger hunt list can unlock downloadable content.
US09443246B2	Statistical models and methods to support the personalization of applications and services via consideration of preference encodings of a community of users A statistical methodology is employed for assisting people with the setting of parameters of software applications or services. With the method, information about demographics and/or about the complete or partial preferences of other people, are analyzed to infer recommendations for settings and functionality of a computer application or service. A system is reviewed with the ability to receive data regarding a plurality of users, and stores respective profiles for these users in a community store. The system can leverage off of these completed and/or partially completed profiles of parameters representing preferences about software operation in connection with building new profiles for users (new and/or existing). Data regarding a user that desires to build a new profile is employed in connection with the community profiles to facilitate the user building a personalized profile. Various statistical and/probabilistic schemes can be employed, for example, collaborative filtering techniques to identify to the user the top n settings by particular parameter(s), top m settings by popularity, top x most similar profiles to facilitate the user selecting most appropriate sub-profiles as part of a personalized profile building and selection effort.
US09443245B2	Opinion search engine A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to implement an opinion search engine. The instructions to implement an opinion search engine cause the computer to collect opinion data about one or more objects from the Internet, extract metadata about the opinion data from the opinion data, remove duplicate metadata from the metadata to generate a resulting metadata, categorize the resulting metadata for similar objects according to one or more taxonomies from one or more websites on the Internet and rank the similar objects based on the categorized metadata.
US09443244B2	System and method for utilizing customer data in a communication system Systems and methods for utilizing customer data in a communication system are provided. In exemplary embodiments, customer records at a customer data warehousing system are accessed. Customer data from the customer records are extracted and associated with a customer identifier. The customer data is then stored to an indexed database, the extracted customer data being indexed according to the identifier. When an incoming communication is received, the communication system will determine a communication identifier of the incoming communication. A lookup and matching process is then performed using the communication identifier in the indexed customer information database. If a matching customer identifier is found, associated customer data may be retrieved and used to provide enhanced communication system services including communication routing and customer data alerts.
US09443238B2	Distributed payment system and method The present invention provides a payment system that allows a mobile communications device (MCD) to interact with a merchant processing device (MPD) and a payment engine. A communications component associated with the payment engine can send requested barcodes to the MPD, receive barcodes or alphanumeric Universal Product Codes from customer MCDs, and handle payment authorizations and settlements. A barcode management component can generate and interpret barcodes based upon merchant offerings and client requests. A security algorithms component can employ an offset pair algorithm to convert each digit from a payment card information into an offset pair of digits to facilitate security in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
US09443236B2	Single space parking meter and removable single space parking meter mechanism A parking meter mechanism is described that may include a front housing, having a display opening for viewing a display through, connected to an internal structure. Additionally or alternatively the parking meter mechanism may include a contactless payment reader located behind the display. The parking meter mechanism may be secured to a lower housing. A back housing may be secured to the lower housing as well. The front or back housing may include a solar panel compartment and solar panel mounted therein.
US09443231B2	Provision of predefined communications A communication is received from a first user and stored as a predefined communication. The predefined communication is associated with an account associated with the first user, and subsequent to the receiving and the associating, the account is activated for provision of the predefined communication to a second user predefined by the first user. The predefined communication is automatically provided to the second user based on a determination that a triggering event for providing the predefined communication has been satisfied.
US09443225B2	Computer implemented methods and apparatus for presentation of feed items in an information feed to be displayed on a display device Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for displaying a feed item of an information feed in a presentation on a display device. In some implementations, a feed item having one or more attributes is received. A filter including one or more parameters is applied to the one or more feed item attributes. The filter is capable of being stored on one or more storage mediums. When the one or more feed item attributes satisfies the one or more filter parameters, presentation information is generated. The presentation information includes at least one indicator configured to identify, in a user interface on the display device, the feed item as having the one or more attributes satisfying the one or more filter parameters. The presentation information can be stored on one or more storage mediums.
US09443222B2	Identifying inventory items in a storage facility Systems and methods for enabling a picker to correctly identify and pick inventory items from a warehouse or storage facility are provided. An exemplary portable picking-assistance device comprises first and second communication devices. The first communication device is configured to electronically receive a first item list including one or more items to be retrieved by an operator from a predetermined storage area. The one or more items may be selected from a plurality of items stored in the predetermined storage area. The second communication device is configured to communicate radio frequency signals to a first radio frequency (RF) tag of a plurality of RF tags. The first RF tag is associated with a first item listed on the first item list. An indication is provided to the operator confirming an identification of the first item to be retrieved by the operator.
US09443218B2	Merchandise event monitoring via wireless tracking Item movement is determined via wireless tracking using RFID data from at least one RFID reader. The RFID data associates RFID tag information with each antenna of the RFID reader that receives the tag information. At least one processor is configured to identify a first appearance of unique tag information in the RFID data. Items may be grouped when their first appearance in RFID data and their antenna association indicates that they first appear in a location within a predetermined amount of time, as indicated by RFID data, and/or when they have all moved from a previous location within a predetermined amount of time, as indicated by different RFID data. A group designation comprises the relevant unique tag information, which may be stored in memory along with a time stamp.
US09443215B2	Next generation sequencing management Systems and methods to provide sequence management are provided. In example embodiments, a production sequence having a plurality of sequencing objects linked together by relationships is generated. Each sequencing object of the plurality of sequencing objects has a relationship to at least one adjacent sequencing object in the production sequence. A trigger to perform a resequence of the production sequence is received. In response, a new production sequence is determined. The new production sequence may be generated by reusing the sequencing objects and updating at least one of the relationships in the production sequence in order to change the production sequence into the new production sequence. The new production sequence may then be posted. Related capacity planning objects are decoupled from the sequencing objects and the sequencing objects are not affected automatically.
US09443212B2	Acclimatizing a user to a scheduling pattern change A method of acclimatizing a user to a scheduling pattern change includes, in a calendar system implemented by at least one processor, determining an anticipated scheduling pattern change from a current scheduling pattern to a new scheduling pattern for the user; and establishing with the calendar system an acclimatization period to transition the user to the scheduling pattern change.
US09443211B2	Describing a paradigmatic member of a task directed community in a complex heterogeneous environment based on non-linear attributes A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product define a paradigmatic member of a known task directed community. Non-linear attributes of each member of the known task directed community having a known agenda are identified. Each of the non-linear attributes is individually unrelated to the known agenda. Common non-linear attributes shared by multiple members of the known task directed community are identified for use in defining the paradigmatic member of the known task directed community.
US09443208B2	Bottom-up optimized search system and method A system and method for searching for hotel rooms is provided. A pre-compute database comprising real-time availability attributes associated with hotel rooms on a plurality of length of stays may be generated, and a query for at least one hotel for a date range may be received. The availability of each day within the date range on a plurality of length of stays may be calculated by applying business requirements according to the query. Final availability may be created for each day within the date range on the plurality of length of stays by combining the availability from the pre-compute database and the query attributes. A final availability of hotel rooms may be formatted for the at least one hotel for each day within the date range on the plurality of length of stays.
US09443200B2	Method for interaction-free entanglement of quantum bits in quantum computers A method for interaction-free entanglement of quantum bits in quantum computers, in which the quantum bits to be entangled are available in the state Ψ44 with arbitrarily real phases φ and θ as an elementary quantum system. The two quantum bits (1) and (2) are localized in spatial regions (6) and (6′) and surrounded by switchable sheaths (7) and (7′) preferably a superconductor with the jump temperature TSU. The switchable sheaths, in the activated state, completely displace a global, homogeneous magnetic field Bz from the spatial regions (6) and (6′). In the inactivated state, the switchable sheaths do not shield the spatial regions (6) and (6′). If the switchable sheaths are switched from the activated state into the inactivated state while observing the boundary condition (R3), as a result of this, the two quantum bits (1) and (2) are transferred into the entangled state Ψ−.
US09443199B2	Interestingness recommendations in a computing advice facility The present disclosure provides a recommendation to a user through a computer-based advice facility, comprising collecting topical information, wherein the collected topical information includes an interestingness aspect; filtering the collected topical information based on the interestingness aspect; determining an interestingness rating from the collected topical information, wherein the determining is through the computer-based advice facility; and providing a user with the recommendation related to the topical information based on the interestingness rating.
US09443197B1	Predicting user navigation events A method and system for predicting a next navigation event are described. Aspects of the disclosure minimize the delay between a navigation event and a network response by predicting the next navigation event. The system and method may then prerender content associated with the next navigation event. For example, the method and system may predict a likely next uniform resource locator during web browsing to preemptively request content from the network before the user selects the corresponding link on a web page. The methods describe a variety of manners of predicting the next navigation event, including examining individual and aggregate historical data, text entry prediction, and cursor input monitoring.
US09443196B1	Method and apparatus for problem analysis using a causal map Example embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for problem analysis using a causal map. The method includes building a problem domain corresponding to a datacenter management problem and building a causal map corresponding to the problem domain. A causal event of the datacenter management problem then may be inferred according to the causal map.
US09443193B2	Systems and methods for generating automated evaluation models Systems and methods are described for generating a scoring model for responses. A computer-implemented method of calibrating a scoring model using a processing system for scoring examinee responses includes accessing a plurality of training responses for training the scoring model. The plurality of training responses are analyzed to derive values of multiple features (variables) of the training responses. The scoring model is trained based on the values of the multiple features of the training responses and one or more external measures of proficiency for each individual associated with a training response utilized in the training. The one or more external measures are not derived from the training responses. Based on the training, a weight for each of the multiple features is determined. The scoring model is calibrated to include the weights for at least some of the features for scoring examinee responses.
US09443187B2	RFID tag and fuse An RFID tag includes an antenna, a first IC chip connected to the antenna, and a first fuse inserted between the antenna and the first IC chip, or inserted in series with the antenna. In the RFID tag, the first fuse becomes electrically conductive at a first temperature or above, and remains in an electrical conductive state after having become electrically conductive.
US09443185B2	Rugged RFID tags A rugged UHF RFID tag comprising a UHF RFID tag, an overmolded cap, and a base, wherein the UHF RFID tag is secured to a top portion of the base and wherein the overmolded cap encapsulates the UHF RFID tag and the top portion of the base and associated methods.
US09443181B2	Methods for optically encoding an object with upconverting materials and compositions used therein The present invention relates generally to encoding samples. More specifically, it relates to barcodes and compositions involving upconverters and methods including them. In a composition aspect of the invention, a composition comprising two or more lanthanide materials is provided. Each lanthanide material comprises a host, an absorber, and an emitter, and the materials emit detectable electromagnetic radiation upon excitation with absorbable electromagnetic energy. One or more relative ratios of emission intensities uniquely identify the composition.
US09443180B2	Security label using printed LEDs In one embodiment, a security label comprises a random arrangement of printed LEDs. During fabrication of the label, the LEDs are energized, and the resulting dot pattern is converted into a unique digital first code and stored in a database. The label is then attached to an object to be later authenticated, or the LEDs are printed directly on the object, such as a passport, license, bank note, certificate, etc. For authenticating the object, the LEDs are energized and the dot pattern is converted into a code. The code is compared to the first code stored in the database. If there is a match, the object is authenticated. The label may also have a printed second code associated with the first code, and both codes must match codes stored in the database for authentication. The general shape of the printed pattern may convey the proper orientation of the pattern.
US09443175B2	Color converting apparatus and a color converting method As image processing apparatus includes a color converter 20 as a color converting device. The color converter 20 has, as main functional components for carrying out color conversion of halftone of a spot color, a spot color information acquiring unit 21 for acquiring spot color information from manuscript data, a spot color Lab acquiring unit 22 for acquiring Lab* values in an Lab* color space when the dot percentage of the spot color is 100%, a first calculating unit 23 for calculating halftone Lab* values, using the Lab* values at 100% dot percentage of the spot color acquired by the spot color Lab acquiring unit 22 and a dot percentage of the spot color in a printing target portion of the spot color, and a second calculating unit 24 for converting, using an output ICC profile, the halftone Lab* values calculated by the first calculating unit 23 into CMYK values.
US09443170B2	Electronic apparatus to transmit data to be printed to image forming apparatus using message server and method thereof An electronic apparatus is provided. The electronic apparatus includes a messenger unit through which an image forming apparatus having an account address is selected as a dialog partner, a user interface through which a file to be printed in the selected image forming apparatus is selected; and a controller which controls the messenger unit to transmit a dialog message including the selected file and account information of the image forming apparatus to the message server.
US09443169B2	Object classification with constrained multiple instance support vector machine This disclosure provides method and systems of classifying a digital image of an object. Specifically, according to one exemplary embodiment, an object classifier is trained using a constrained MI-SVM (multiple instance-support vector machine) approach whereby training images of objects are sampled to generate a collection of image regions associated with an object type and viewpoint, and the classifier is trained to determine an appropriate mid-level representation of the training image which is discriminative.
US09443164B2	System and method for product identification A system and method for object instance localization in an image are disclosed. In the method, keypoints are detected in a target image and candidate regions are detected by matching the detected keypoints to keypoints detected in a set of reference images. Similarity measures between global descriptors computed for the located candidate regions and global descriptors for the reference images are computed and labels are assigned to at least some of the candidate regions based on the computed similarity measures. Performing the region detection based on keypoint matching while performing the labeling based on global descriptors improves object instance detection.
US09443163B2	Systems and methods for curb detection and pedestrian hazard assessment A detection system for a vehicle is provided. The detection system may include at least one image capture device configured to acquire a plurality of images of an area forward of the vehicle, the area including a curb separating a road surface from an off-road surface and a data interface. The detection system may also include at least one processing device programmed to receive the plurality of images via the data interface, and determine a plurality of curb edge line candidates in the plurality of images. The at least one processing device may be further programmed to identify at least one edge line candidate as an edge line of the curb.
US09443162B2	Intelligent background selection and image segmentation Certain embodiments of these teachings take inputs of a) an image to be segmented and b) a set of user input markers that identify at least a foreground of said image. From these inputs are determined strong foreground regions Sf, strong background regions Sb and ambiguous regions G. Each ambiguous region Gi is classified as either a weak foreground region Wf or a weak background region Wb by comparing color of each ambiguous region Gi against color of regions adjacent thereto and merging the respective ambiguous region Gi with its adjacent region having a most similar color. The strong foreground regions Sf are also merged with the weak foreground regions Wf. What is output therefrom is a foreground image of the image to be segmented, separate and distinct from any region that is classified as one of the strong background regions or weak background regions.
US09443161B2	Methods and systems for performing segmentation and registration of images using neutrosophic similarity scores A medical imaging system includes an imaging device configured to scan a region of interest to acquire at least one of a first image including a first plurality of pixels and a second image including a second plurality of pixels, a processing unit configured to receive the first and second images, calculate respective first neutrosophic similarity scores for each of the first plurality of pixels of the first image, calculate respective second neutrosophic similarity scores for each of the second plurality of pixels of the second image, perform a template matching algorithm based on differences between the respective first and second neutrosophic similarity scores for each of the first and second plurality, respectively, to determine one or more registration parameters, and register the first and second images using the one or more registration parameters, and a display output configured to allow the registered first and second images to be displayed.
US09443160B2	Irradiation field recognition A method to extract irradiation field areas in an X-ray image represented by a digital signal representation comprising the steps of segmenting the image in multiple regions of pixels which have similar local image characteristics, fitting line segments to the boundaries of these regions whereby said line segments correspond with candidate irradiation field boundaries and constitute a segmentation map, classifying regions in said segmentation map into at least two classes, one class being irradiation field and the other class being collimated region on the basis of at least one of local, regional and global image characteristics.
US09443159B2	Target identification system target identification server and target identification terminal A computer and a terminal apparatus retain position information about targets. The terminal apparatus includes: a capturing portion that captures an image of the target; a position information acquisition portion that acquires information about a position to capture the target; an orientation information acquisition portion that acquires information about an orientation to capture the target; and a communication portion that transmits the image, the position information, and the orientation information to the computer. The computer identifies at least one first target candidate as a candidate for the captured target from the targets based on the position information about the targets, the acquired position information, and the acquired orientation information. The computer identifies at least one second target candidate from at least the one first target candidate based on a distance from the terminal apparatus to the captured target.
US09443156B2	Methods and systems for data analysis in a state machine A state machine engine may be configured to recognize (e.g., detect) a great number of patterns in a data stream. This may be accomplished via detection cells of state machine elements that output a respective result of an analysis performed by the respective state machine elements, for example, a match in an analyzed data stream from a single state machine element, which may be utilized in conjunction with results from other state machine elements, for example, to search for a pattern in a data stream. These matches may be provided to a match element, which may operate to output a selected result generated from a row of state machine elements for a given data stream search or a portion of a data stream search.
US09443155B2	Systems and methods for real human face recognition A method for real face image recognition may include obtaining, by at least one processor, an human face image from an original image; obtaining, by at least one processor, a first image by executing a Point Divid Arithmetic Mean Illumination Treatment on the human face image; executing, by at least one processor, a Fourier transformation on the first image and obtaining, by at least one processor, the transformed value of each pixel of the first image; determining, by at least one processor, whether the human face image is a real human face according to the transformed value of each pixel of the first image and the preset classification threshold.
US09443150B2	Device and method for detecting objects from a video signal A technique is proposed for enabling stable detection of an object even when the contrast of an image is lowered overall or partially.A preprocessing section 12 is added to the upstream stage of an object detecting processing section 13, and provides an obtained corrected image (image obtained by subjecting an input image to contrast enhancement) as an input image for the object detecting processing section 13. This facilitates the detection of the object even when the contrast of the entire screen is lowered due to fog or rain. Furthermore, the object detecting processing section 13 detects the object by using not only the corrected image from the preprocessing section 12 but also correction characteristic information 23 containing image characteristics regarding the correction (contrast enhancement). This attempts to reduce an influence of noises enhanced by the contrast enhancement.
US09443149B2	Method and apparatus for detecting smoke from image Provided are a fire detecting apparatus and a method thereof for detecting a fire, the method includes operations of extracting a feature of at least one object in an input image by using a value of a brightness difference between pixels of the input image or by using an RGB value of the input image; converting the extracted feature of the at least one object into an N dimensional feature; and performing Support Vector Machine (SVM) machine learning on the N dimensional feature of the at least one object.
US09443148B2	Visual monitoring of queues using auxiliary devices Methods and system are provided for monitoring a queue. A method includes receiving by sensors a non-visual identifier at predefined locations of a queue. Further, the method includes capturing by image capture devices images of an object possessing the non-visual identifier at the predefined locations of the queue. Further, the method includes visually tracking another object in the queue based on transformations of a predefined feature extracted from the images of the object possessing the non-visual identifier at the predefined locations.
US09443147B2	Enriching online videos by content detection, searching, and information aggregation Many internet users consume content through online videos. For example, users may view movies, television shows, music videos, and/or homemade videos. It may be advantageous to provide additional information to users consuming the online videos. Unfortunately, many current techniques may be unable to provide additional information relevant to the online videos from outside sources. Accordingly, one or more systems and/or techniques for determining a set of additional information relevant to an online video are disclosed herein. In particular, visual, textual, audio, and/or other features may be extracted from an online video (e.g., original content of the online video and/or embedded advertisements). Using the extracted features, additional information (e.g., images, advertisements, etc.) may be determined based upon matching the extracted features with content of a database. The additional information may be presented to a user consuming the online video.
US09443139B1	Methods and apparatus for identifying labels and/or information associated with a label and/or using identified information Methods and apparatus for detecting labels included in a document or other binarized image, and for extracting and/or using information associated with a label, are described. A nodal structure modeling objects, e.g., characters, character strings or words, which make up various label aliases are described. The nodal structure is used to generate a score for portions of a binarized document with the scores being used to determine the presence or absence of one or more label aliases. When a label alias is determined to be present, information is extracted from the document and used as information corresponding to a label to which the identified label alias corresponds. Multiple different label aliases may correspond to a single label allowing multiple different aliases to be used to identify the same information. The label aliases and information extraction can be and sometimes used to extract information from scanned forms.
US09443132B2	Device and method for classifying a condition based on image analysis An image analysis device includes circuitry that receives one or more input images and detects a plurality of anatomical landmarks on the one or more input images using a pre-determined face model. The circuitry extracts a plurality of geometric and local texture features based on the plurality of anatomical landmarks. The circuitry selects one or more condition-specific features from the plurality of geometric and local texture features. The circuitry classifies the one or more input images into one or more conditions based on the one or more condition-specific features.
US09443129B2	Methods and apparatus for image analysis using threshold compactness features A new family of morphological features, referred to herein as threshold compactness features, is provided, useful for automated classification of objects, such as cells, in images. In one embodiment, one or more thresholds and/or binary masks are applied to an image, and one or more provisional objects within a cell in the image are automatically identified. The threshold compactness of the cell is computed as a function of area S of the one or more provisional objects and border length P of the one or more provisional objects. Computation of threshold compactness allows cells in an image to be distinguished and characterized. Compared to previous techniques, the methods and apparatus described herein are more robust and computationally efficient.
US09443127B2	Cell analyzing apparatus and cell analyzing method A cell analyzing apparatus includes: a first histogram acquiring section which is configured to acquire a first histogram of fluorescence intensities by using a result of a measurement of a number of nuclear stained cells; a second histogram acquiring section which is configured to acquire a second histogram that is normalized based on a fluorescence intensity value indicating a maximum value of the first histogram; a determining section which is configured to determine whether cancer cells exist or not, based on one of the first histogram and the second histogram; and an outputting section which is configured to output a result of the determination performed by the determining section.
US09443123B2	System and method for indicia verification An indicia-verification system acquires video and analyzes the video to determine whether it contains any images of an indicia that are of sufficient quality to merit the initiation of indicia verification. If the video is of sufficient quality, the system acquires a high resolution still image of the indicia. If the still image is of sufficient quality, an indicia-analysis subsystem performs indicia verification on the still image of the indicia.
US09443120B2	Method and device for improving the energy efficiency performance of a reader A method for improving energy efficiency performance of a reader is disclosed in the present document. The method includes: initializing and adjusting operation parameters, and acquiring the current number of frame timeslots; updating a frame timeslot status, and determining that a power level is not required to be increased according to the updated frame timeslot status; and estimating the number of labels according to the current number of frame timeslots, and acquiring an optimum Q value according to the number of labels. A device for improving energy efficiency performance of a reader is also disclosed in the present document. With the method and device of the present document, throughput of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system is maximized, thereby reducing energy consumption of the system and extending usage time of the system; and while the energy consumption is reduced, a rate at which the reader reads the labels is guaranteed.
US09443114B1	Auto-logging of read/write commands in a storage network A system and method for verifying an identifier of a command. The method includes receiving an incoming command and sending a first alert to auto-logging hardware, wherein the auto-logging hardware sends a fetch instruction in response to receiving the first alert; retrieving an identifier of the incoming command in response to the fetch instruction and sending a second alert to the auto-logging hardware, wherein the auto-logging hardware sends a search instruction in response to receiving the second alert; and searching for the identifier of the incoming command in a table in response to the search instruction, the table storing identifiers previously assigned to other commands, wherein the incoming command is logged into the search table and marked as a searched command after the search for the first identifier in the table has completed successfully.
US09443113B2	Response to tamper detection in a memory device In response to a tamper-attempt indication, a memory device selectively disables one or more memory operations. Disabling can be accomplished by different techniques, including altering bias voltages associated with performing the memory operation, gating off a current needed for performing the memory operation, and limiting the needed current to a magnitude below the threshold magnitude required for the operation. After disabling the memory operation, a mock current can be generated. The mock current is intended to mimic the current normally expended during the memory operation when not disabled, thereby leading a user to believe that the device is continuing to operate normally even though the memory operation that is being attempted is not actually being performed.
US09443110B2	Secure island computing system and method A method for generating an n-bit result includes a secured containment device (SCD) receiving a request to generate the n-bit result. The request includes an n-bit generator input and a master secret identifier. The request is sent from an application executing on a host system using an input/output (I/O) interface. The SCD disables all I/O interfaces on the SCD between the host system and the SCD. After disabling all the I/O interfaces on the SCD between the host system and the SCD, the SCD provides the n-bit generator input and the master secret identifier to a secured hardware token over a second I/O interface, receives the n-bit result from the secured hardware token over the second I/O interface, enables at least the first I/O interface after the n-bit result is generated, and provides, after enabling the first I/O interface, the n-bit result to the application using the first I/O interface.
US09443109B2	Computing device and method of processing secure services for computing device A method of processing secure services is provided. The method is applied to a processing unit of a computing device to control the processing unit to process multiple secure services. The computing device includes a storage unit. The method includes: controlling a core of the processing unit to perform following steps in a secure mode: accessing the storage unit to obtain a first command that includes first secure service information, processing a first secure service associated with the first secure service information according to the first command, and accessing the storage unit to obtain a second command that includes second secure service information. During a period from a time point that the core accesses the storage unit to obtain the first to a time point that the core accesses the second command, the core is controlled to stay in the secure mode.
US09443107B2	Method for protecting the integrity of a group of memory elements using an aggregate authentication code One feature pertains to an efficient algorithm to protect the integrity of a plurality of data structures by computing an aggregate message authentication code (MAC) over the plurality of data structures. An aggregate MAC may be constructed from a plurality of MAC values associated with a plurality of data structures. The aggregate MAC binds the plurality of data structures and attests to their combined integrity simultaneously. Rather than checking the integrity of a data structure when it is accessed, the aggregate MAC is periodically checked or verified, to ascertain the integrity of all data structures. If the aggregate MAC computed is different from the previously stored aggregate MAC, then all data structures that are part of the aggregate MAC are discarded.
US09443104B2	Tokenization of structured data Structured data, such as email addresses, social security numbers, and the like is accessed for encoding. A set of encoding rules including one or more encoding actions and/or encoding components corresponding to each of one or more structured data components is accessed. The set of encoding rules can include one or more encoding actions and/or one or more encoding components corresponding to each of one or more structured data components. Encoding actions can include tokenization, encryption, data masking, data modification, and the like. The one or more components of the structured data are encoded based on the accessed set of encoding rules. The encoded structured data is stored, processed, or outputted to an external entity.
US09443102B2	Protecting content displayed on a mobile device A system for protecting content includes a mobile device screen including a plurality of pixels, whereby each of the plurality of pixels have first sub-pixel units that include a first viewing angle and second sub-pixel units that include a second viewing angle. Within each of the plurality of pixels, the first sub-pixel units are adjacent to the second sub-pixel units. A processing unit is coupled to the mobile device screen and determines a portion of the mobile device screen that displays sensitive content. The processing unit obscures the sensitive content displayed on the portion of the mobile device screen by deactivating the first sub-pixel units at the portion of the mobile device screen that displays the sensitive content and activates the second sub-pixel units at the portion of the mobile device screen that displays the sensitive content.
US09443091B2	Method and system for protecting execution of cryptographic hash functions A method of protecting the execution of a cryptographic hash function, such as SHA-256, in a computing environment where inputs, outputs and intermediate values can be observed. The method consists of encoding input messages so that hash function inputs are placed in a transformed domain, and then applying a transformed cryptographic hash function to produce an encoded output digest; the transformed cryptographic hash function implements the cryptographic hash function in the transformed domain.
US09443088B1	Protection for multimedia files pre-downloaded to a mobile device Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to methods and systems for pre-downloading at least a portion of a media event to a mobile device and the protection of the media content once it is downloaded to the device. Media content may be pre-downloaded to a mobile device before the official release of the media event and/or before a user has purchased the media event. The pre-downloaded media may be protected by one or more disruption to the presentation of the media content and/or by storing the pre-downloaded media in a trusted security zone of a mobile device. After the media event is released and purchased, the remaining media may be downloaded and a user may gain access to the full media content on the mobile device.
US09443079B2	Application execution in a restricted application execution environment Application programming interface (API) calls made by an application are intercepted at runtime. A determination is made as to whether each intercepted API call is allowed or blocked by a restricted application execution environment. Each API call that is blocked by the restricted application execution environment is modified so that the API call is allowable such as, for instance, modifying the API call to execute against a shadow resource. Remediation code might also be executed at runtime to reformat the API call so that it is allowed to execute in the restricted application execution environment.
US09443077B1	Flagging binaries that drop malicious browser extensions and web applications A program binary file is identified as part of a webpage, where the file can be downloaded from the webpage for execution by a client. A browser-executable web application or browser extension that is installed on a client computing device as a consequence of executing the program binary is identified, where source code for the web application or browser extension includes scripting language code. The source code of the web application or browser extension is re-written to include tracking code to track behavior during execution of the re-written web application or browser extension. It is determined whether execution of the re-written web application or browser extension violates one or more predetermined conditions. Then, it is determined whether to discourage downloading the program binary from the webpage to the client computing device or whether to disable execution of the web application or browser extension on the client.
US09443076B2	Protection of user application setting from third party changes Methods, systems, and apparatuses for protecting user settings of an application from third-party application changes are provided. An example method for protecting a user setting of an application from a third-party application change includes verifying a digital signature of a backup application setting, and determining whether a provided actual application setting matches the backup application setting when the digital signature of the backup application setting is verified. The example method further includes replacing the provided actual application setting with the backup application setting when the provided actual application setting is determined to not match the backup application setting. The example method also includes displaying, to a user, a document using the replaced actual application setting. The example method further includes displaying, to the user, an indication that the provided actual application setting has been changed when the provided actual application setting is determined to not match the backup application setting.
US09443073B2	System and method for verifying status of an authentication device A system and method that includes receiving a first device profile and associating the first device profile with a first application instance that is assigned as an authentication device of a first account; receiving a second device profile for a second application instance, wherein the second application instance is making a request on behalf of the first account; comparing the second device profile to the first device profile; and completing the request of the second application instance according to results of comparing the second device profile and the first device profile.
US09443071B2	Proximity based device security Devices, systems and methods are disclosed for additional security, functionality, and convenience in the operation of a wireless communication device with the use of a separate proximity security token in communication with the wireless communication device. In exemplary embodiments, the token is carried by the user while device logic is installed on the user's wireless communication device. The device logic along with transceivers allows the device to sense proximity of the token through wireless communication. Given a certain range of the proximity security token, as determined by the wireless signal strength, the device logic determines whether the device is in a locked or unlocked state. If the proximity security token is outside the range, then the device is locked. The proximity security token uses ultra low power communications for optimal battery life.
US09443064B2	Protecting method and system of java source code The present disclosure discloses a protecting method and system of Java source code. When a first initiating class is invoked, the method comprises following steps, wherein the first initiating class is an initiating class of Java program: the first initiating class decrypts first cipher data to obtain a class loader; the class loader reads second cipher data to the memory and decrypts the second cipher data to obtain a first class, wherein the first class is a class run by a Java virtual machine, and the suffix of the first class is .class; the class loader loads a second initiating class to the memory; wherein the second initiating class is an original class in jar packet of the Java program; and the class loader loads the first class to the Java virtual machine so that the Java virtual machine can invoke a main interface in the second initiating class to run the Java program. The present disclosure can protect Java source code and make it difficult to decompile the Java source code.
US09443063B2	Method and apparatus for using gait analysis to determine a health quality measure A method, computer-readable storage device and apparatus for calculating a health quality measure are disclosed. For example, a method receives characteristics of motion information, wherein the characteristics of motion information is based upon gait information, monitors the characteristics of motion information over a time period to determine a plurality of different modes of motion within the time period, and calculates the health quality measure based upon the plurality of different modes of motion.
US09443062B2	System and method for disabling or enabling automated dispensers A system and method for disabling or enabling automated dispensers based upon data received by a server or a control unit. In one embodiment, the system disables automated dispensers in a room of a medical facility based upon health condition data of a patient resident in the room. In another embodiment, the system enables automated dispensers upon receipt of data identifying user types authorized to use the dispenser that are associated with wearable tags in proximity to the dispensers. In still another embodiment, the system controls the order in which automated dispensers are enabled in order to facilitate compliance with workflow procedures for a facility.
US09443057B2	Method and system for image acquisition workflow A method and system for image acquisition workflow are provided. The imaging acquisition system is configured to implement an imaging acquisition protocol. Then imaging data is acquired according to the protocol. At least some identification information is entered during the imaging data acquisition. The entered identification information may be checked for errors during the imaging acquisition. The imaging data and identification information are then stored together. Identification information may include, for example, a patient's name and/or identification number, date of birth, sex, height, weight, race or ethnicity, and perhaps yet other information.
US09443053B2	System for and method of placing clock stations using variable drive-strength clock drivers built out of a smaller subset of base cells for hybrid tree-mesh clock distribution networks Clock stations in a hybrid tree-mesh clock distribution network are placed and routed using placement information embedded in instance names of the macrocells that form the clock-distribution network. The instance name includes (X,Y) coordinate information corresponding to placement of the macrocell in the physical layout of the network design. Base cells in each macrocell are placed in a known deterministic arrangement, such as one on top of another in a layout of the clock distribution network, all at the same (X,Y) offset. Preferably, the base cells are all from a standard-cell library, thereby reducing design cost and debug.
US09443050B2	Low-voltage swing circuit modifications Electronic design automation (EDA) technologies are disclosed that analyze a circuit design for candidate low-voltage swing (LVS) modifications, report the impact of the candidate LVS modifications on circuit characteristics (such as area, timing and energy) and implement selected LVS modifications based on their impact on the circuit characteristics. Candidate LVS modifications comprise replacing existing standard low-voltage swing drivers and receivers, or inserting low-voltage swing drivers and receivers.
US09443048B2	Physical aware technology mapping in synthesis A method of performing physical aware technology mapping in a logic synthesis phase of design of an integrated circuit and a system to perform physical aware technology mapping are described. The system includes a memory device to store a logic design of the integrated circuit, and a processor to subdivide a core area representing a sub-block of the integrated circuit into equal-sized grids, the core area including one or more input ports and one or more output ports, to determine a location of each latch in a logic design based on an algorithm, to determine a location of each combinational logic gate in the logic design, and to obtain the technology mapping based on the locations of the one or more latches, the locations of the one or more combinational logic gates, and associated path delays.
US09443047B2	Physical aware technology mapping in synthesis A method of performing physical aware technology mapping in a logic synthesis phase of design of an integrated circuit and a system to perform physical aware technology mapping are described. The method includes subdividing a core area representing a sub-block of the integrated circuit into equal-sized grids. The method also includes determining a location of each of one or more latches in the logic design based on an algorithm, determining a location of each of one or more combinational logic gates in the logic design based on the locations of the one or more latches, and obtaining the technology mapping based on the locations of the one or more latches, one or more input ports, or one or more output ports, the locations of the one or more combinational logic gates, and associated path delays.
US09443042B1	Systems and methods for evaluation of a superabrasive element Embodiments of systems and methods are disclosed for evaluating a superabrasive material by a three-dimensional model generated using a computed tomography scanner. The model is analyzed to identify a superabrasive matrix within the model and at least one performance characteristic of the superabrasive material is determined according to at least one property of the superabrasive matrix. Methods are also disclosed for characterizing crystal-to-crystal bonding regions and non-superabrasive material within an interstitial matrix of the superabrasive matrix.
US09443041B2	Simulation system and method for testing a simulation of a device against one or more violation rules A simulation system for testing a simulation of a device against one or more violation rules is described. The simulation system comprises a device simulator for executing the simulation of the device using a device design, a device model and a simulation scenario; and one or more violation monitor for each violation rule. At least one of the violation monitors comprises a violation information detector and a threshold controller. The violation information detector is arranged to detect one or more violations of the respective violation rule of the one or more violation rules during the executing the simulation of the device and, for each violation, determine information representing the respective violation, wherein the detecting the one or more violations comprises comparing a simulated parameter against a threshold. The threshold controller is arranged to determine the threshold for the respective violation rule of the one or more violation rules in dependence on a temporal characteristic of a violation associated with the respective violation rule. A method of testing a simulation of a device against one or more violation rules is also described.
US09443037B2	Storing and recalling information to augment human memories A system for computer-based storing of information about a current state so that later recall of the information can augment human memories. In particular, when information about a current event of interest is to be stored, a variety of current state information of different types (e.g., video, audio, and textual information) about the environment and about a user can be acquired via sensors and other input devices. The variety of state information can then be associated together as a group and stored for later retrieval. Other information can also be associated with the group, such as one or more recall tags that facilitate later retrieval of the group, or one or more annotations to provide contextual information when the other state information is later retrieved and presented to the user. When information about a past event is to be recalled, one or more identifying recall tags can be received that are used to identify one or more state information groups that match the identifying tags. Some or all of the previously-acquired state information for the identified state information groups can then be presented to the user on appropriate output devices. Other information, such as annotations, can also be presented to the user in order to describe the state information and thus assist the user's recollection of the previous state when the information was stored.
US09443029B2	Method and system for providing context-based view content management An approach for providing context-based view content management is described. A request for content associated with a user is received. A view of a subset of the content is dynamically generated based on the request and context information associated with the user. Access to the view is provided for one or more user devices.
US09443028B2	Relevance estimation using a search satisfaction metric The subject disclosure is directed towards using a satisfaction model's prediction as to whether a user was satisfied or dissatisfied in satisfying a search goal to help estimate the relevance of a URL/document that was returned and clicked by the user. The clickthrough data for a search goal session is processed by either a utility model or a despair model based on whether the satisfaction model indicated that the search goal session ended with the user satisfied or dissatisfied, respectively. The utility model distributes a utility value to each clicked URL, while the despair model distributes a despair value to each clicked URL. The utility value and despair value of each query-URL pair may be used as corresponding feature data for learning a search ranker.
US09443024B2	Method and apparatus to identify outliers in social networks A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a process that reduces a sampling size of a total population of on-line social network users based on a comparison of seed information to a population of on-line social network users. The reduced sampling of on-line social network users is compared to a social graph of the on-line social network users, wherein the social graph is obtained from an algorithm applied to the reduced sampling of the on-line social network users. An outlier is determined in the reduced sampling of on-line social network users based on relationships between the on-line social network users. The determining of the outlier is also based on one of ambient or publicly available information combined with an intra-graph property of the on-line social network users, wherein the outlier does not conform to the social graph. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US09443019B2	Optimized web domains classification based on progressive crawling with clustering Techniques for optimized web domains classification based on progressive crawling with clustering are disclosed. In some embodiments, optimized web domains classification based on progressive crawling with clustering includes crawling a domain (e.g., a web site domain) to collect data for a subset of pages (e.g., web pages) of a corpus of content associated with the domain; classifying each of the crawled pages into one or more category clusters, in which the category clusters represent a content categorization of the corpus of content associated with the domain (e.g., a URL content categorization for the domain, host of that domain, and/or directory of that domain); and determining which of the one or more category clusters to publish for the domain.
US09443017B2	System and method for displaying search results Disclosed are systems, methods and computer program products for showing search information. In one aspect of the invention, a method for showing search information includes processing, by a hardware processor, a search query input of a user; providing, via a user interface component, a preview of a number of search results corresponding to at least a portion of the processed search query input; detecting, by the hardware processor, activation of the user interface component; and displaying at least a portion of the search results in response to the activation of the user interface component.
US09443015B1	Automatic disambiguation assistance for similar items in a set A method includes calculating, for each unique pair of search results of a plurality of search results, a first similarity value; automatically determining that the determined first similarity value for one or more of the unique pairs exceeds a similarity value threshold; iterating through similarity value calculations, until a similarity value is recalculated for each of the one or more unique pairs for which the first similarity value exceeded the similarity value threshold; and displaying the plurality of search results, each search result including display of data corresponding to default fields, and data corresponding to any looked up field that was necessary to cause a recalculated similarity value to fall below a threshold similarity value for any unique pair that search result belongs to.
US09443012B2	Method of determining http process information A method of determining http process information while executing a secure web application which redirects to a separate an unsecure web application to determine the information and redirect the information back to the secure web application. An example method includes redirecting the web browser software to an unsecure web application for obtaining the information by the computer during execution of the secure application, executing the unsecure web application using the web browser software by the computer to obtain the information about the http process, and redirecting the web browser software to provide the information from the unsecure web application to the secure web application by the computer.
US09443010B1	Method and apparatus to provide an improved voice over internet protocol (VOIP) environment A method and apparatus for an improved voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system is described.
US09443005B2	Systems and methods for natural language processing Methods, systems and computer programs for automatic, highly accurate machine comprehension of a plurality of segments of free form unstructured text in a natural language. The system answers a plurality of complex, free-form questions asked in a natural language, based on the totality of input text. The system further uses a multi-dimensional data model to measure the total effects of actions/verbs acting on various unique nouns present in the input text. The system may convert the questions into another multi-dimensional data model and may then compare the two data models in program memory to derive the answers to the posed questions. The system may then automatically detect unknown words and optionally look them up in digital information sources, such as online dictionaries and encyclopedias, to fill in the gaps in knowledge to answer the questions with expert-like reliability.
US09443004B2	Social graph data analytics Systems and methods for social graph data analytics and node traversal are described herein. A social graph may comprise two or more nodes that each represent an individual, group, or entity, and links may connect the two or more nodes in the social graph. The links may be based on user-assigned values or may be derived, at least in part, from objective measures, such as data from third-party ratings agencies. Connectivity within a community may be determined, at least in part, using various graph traversal and normalization techniques. For instance, a parallel computational framework or distributed computational framework may be used to perform some or all of the distributed computations for determining new path link values and path weights. Processing circuitry may detect whether a node has been added/removed, whether a link has been added/removed, or whether a link value has changed. In response, the processing circuitry may recalculate and/or join paths that go through the changed nodes/links.
US09443003B2	Information processing device, information processing method, and program for the same An information processing device includes: a storage unit; a first display control unit; and a demanding unit. The storage unit that stores attribute data representing specified attribute of contents and category data representing a category of the attribute correlated to each other. The first display control unit that provides controls for displaying information for a selected attribute and for displaying, in a categorized state, information for related attributes correlated to the same category as that of the attribute on a correlation display screen. The demanding unit that demands data search by referring to the correlated attribute selected corresponding to information selected from among those displayed on the correlation display screen to an information provision device.
US09443001B2	Method and system to curate media collections Disclosed is a service which obtains media directly from users and from online sources, which obtains events and anniversaries from online sources, which obtains location and date information associated with photographs, which dynamically provides users with a selection of automatically curated collections of photographs based on the then-current location of the user, based on and relevant to personal and publicly recognized anniversaries and holidays (with dates obtained directly from the users and from online sources), based on specific people or locations associated with dates, events, and anniversaries, and which presents intelligently organized location-based collections which can be quickly re-organized by a user.
US09442998B2	Data storage method, data storage system and requesting node using the same The present disclosure provides a data storage method, a data storage system and a requesting node. The data storage method includes the following steps. A register identifier and a register time are written into a target data table. The target data table is read to look for a register time record, such that an access right of the storage node is determined. A requesting node having the access right computes result data, and writes a usage identifier and the result data in the target data table. The target data table is read to judge the validity of the result data.
US09442997B2	Idle state triggered constrained synchronization of shared content items A content management system synchronizes content items across client computing systems connected by a network. Each client device has a storage allocation for synchronized shared content items. If the storage allocation for shared content items on a client device is exceeded by the request to add or edit a content item such that it is enlarged, a client application or the host of content management system selects content items to remove from residence on the client device but keep remotely on content management system. Upon removal of the selected content items, the client application creates shadow items, representing the content item but only containing the metadata of the content item. This creates sufficient space for the initial request to be completed while maintaining user access to all synchronized shared content items. The processes of replacing content items with shadow items may be completed while the client device is idle.
US09442995B2	Log-base data replication from a source database to a target database A system and method for transferring data between different types of systems, and in particular uses log-based replication to transfer data between different types of systems. In accordance with an embodiment, the system can be used to perform a one-time or initial copy of the MySQL data from a source database system to a target database system, and/or to replicate the on-going transactions captured from a MySQL database's binary log into one or additional non-MySQL database(s) on a continuous basis, such that the two systems are synchronized for transactions of interest. In accordance with an embodiment, full or partial data changes can be extracted from the MySQL binary log, optionally transformed, skipped or augmented, output or written to a file, and then applied at any of one or more target systems (e.g. another MySQL database, or a non-MySQL database), thereby synchronizing the source and target systems.
US09442992B2	Access system and method for accessing signal data Signal data from a sensor is stored in a storage device. The signal data is accessed by means access request that includes an identification of a base signal that may indicate the signal data from said sensor and an identification of a derivation to obtain a requested signal from the base signal. An interface extracts the identifications of the base signal the derivation. The interface tests whether stored signal data obtained from the base signal by said derivation is available in the storage device, and if so it returns the stored signal data in response to the access request via the interface. If not signal data is derived from further stored signal data by at least one signal processing operation identified in the derivation.
US09442990B1	Determining geographic areas of interest for a query Methods, systems, and apparatus for selecting geographic areas of interest for a query. A method includes for each query stored in search log data, determining an origin location for each occurrence of the query, determining a content location for each occurrence of the query, for each of a plurality of catchment areas, determining catchment area matches for the query based on the origin location of each occurrence of the query and the content location of the occurrence of the query, determining, for each catchment area, a catchment area score that is indicative of an interest level for the catchment area for a query, the determination based on a number of catchment area matches for the catchment area for the query and selecting, for the query and based on the catchment area scores for the catchment areas, one of the catchment areas as a selected catchment area for the query.
US09442981B2	Previewing parsed raw data using a graphical user interface Embodiments are directed towards previewing results generated from indexing data raw data before the corresponding index data is added to an index store. Raw data may be received from a preview data source. After an initial set of configuration information may be established, the preview data may be submitted to an index processing pipeline. A previewing application may generate preview results based on the preview index data and the configuration information. The preview results may enable previewing how the data is being processed by the indexing application. If the preview results are not acceptable, the configuration information may be modified. The preview application enables modification of the configuration information until the generated preview results may be acceptable. If the configuration information is acceptable, the preview data may be processed and indexed in one or more index stores.
US09442974B2	Systems, methods and techniques for polymorphic queries Techniques for providing polymorphic query requests. A request is received that has at least a database query. The database query comprises at least an expression using a polymorphic relationship. The request is processed utilizing the polymorphic relationship. A user-readable result is provided for the query where the result is defined by at least the polymorphic relationship.
US09442973B1	Associating cosmetic products to skin tone color A system allows people to more easily find products matching their skin tone. The system includes a database that categorizes cosmetic products according to a skin tone color set. The system includes a scanning device to scan one or more spots of a person's skin. For example, three different spots can be scanned. The scan determines a skin-tone identifier for the person's skin. With this skin-tone identifier, the customer can view products that match their skin tone.
US09442972B2	Managing a data set A method of and system for managing a data set of a storage facility is disclosed. The data set may be a sequential-access data set. The method and system may include structuring the sequential-access data set to have a first group-of-records configured for adding a second group-of-records to the sequential-access data set. The method and system add a second group-of-records to the sequential-access data set. The method and system merge the second group-of-records with the first group-of-records in response to a triggering event. The method and system establish, in response to merging the second group-of-records with the first group-of-records, a marker configured to indicate the first and second group-of-records, as merged, is sorted.
US09442967B2	Systems and methods for efficient data ingestion and query processing A query may be provided to aggregators at hierarchical levels in an in-memory data storage module. The query may be provided to leaf nodes of the in-memory data storage module. The leaf nodes may execute the query, returning results of the query to the aggregators. One or more aggregations may be performed based on the results. In an embodiment, log entries associated with a logged event may be serialized and divided into distributed chunks for storage in the leaf nodes. A leaf node, from the leaf nodes, having storage capacity for a distributed chunk may be identified. The distributed chunk may be stored in the leaf node.
US09442966B2	Extending the recovery and reporting ranges of objects The reporting and recovery of log activity in a computer system is extended by receiving an indication of a desired log activity to be retrieved, and by designating an active index file as a current index file. The current index file includes an inventory of log files, and is constrained in the number of log files. A searching operation is performed in an iterative process. The searching operation determines whether the desired log activity is within any of log files of the current file, designates a backup index file as the current index file if it is determined that the desired log activity is not within the current index file, and accesses a select log file within the current index file that includes the desired log activity, if it is determined that the desired log activity is within the current index file.
US09442965B2	System and method for efficient representation of dynamic ranges of numeric values A method of efficiently representing ranged data sets may include storing a data structure representing a first data set. The data structure may include one or more nodes each representing distinct portions of the data set, and the first data set may include a range of multiple values bounded by an upper bound and a lower bound. A first node may represent the range of multiple values by storing the upper bound and the lower bound. The method may also include receiving a second data set to add to the first data set. The intersection of the first data set and the second data may include at least one value. The method may further include altering the one or more nodes in the data structure such that the union of each of the distinct portions of the data set represented by the one or more nodes is equivalent to the union of the first data set and the second data set; and such that the intersection of each of the distinct portions of the data set represented by the one or more nodes is equivalent to an empty data set.
US09442962B1	Method and apparatus for creating RFC-2307-compliant zone records in an LDAP directory without schema extensions A global user record that can be found in a search for posixAccount-type records is created in a database, then a zone user record of a type that cannot be found in a search for posixAccount-type records is associated with it. Finally, the zone user record is augmented so that it, too, will be found in a search for posixAccount-type records. Global and zone-specific group records are created similarly.
US09442952B2	Metadata structures and related locking techniques to improve performance and scalability in a cluster file system Metadata structures and related locking techniques to improve performance and scalability in a cluster file system are disclosed. In one implementation, a method includes receiving, by a server, a request for a first file, retrieving, by the server, the first file and metadata for a second file that is related to the first file, and sending, by the server in response to the retrieving and in advance of any request for the metadata for the second file, an asynchronous lock request to obtain a lock for accessing at least a portion of the metadata for the second file.
US09442950B2	Systems and methods for dynamic visual search engine Systems and methods for a dynamic visual search engine are provided. In one example method, a criteria used to partition a set of compressed image descriptors into multiple database shards may be determined. Additionally, a size of a dynamic index may be determined. The dynamic index may represent a dynamic number of images and may be configured to accept insertion of reference images into the dynamic index that can be search against immediately. According to the method, an instruction to merge the uncompressed image descriptors of the dynamic index into the database shards of the compressed image descriptors may be received, and the uncompressed image descriptors of the dynamic index may be responsively merged into the database shards of the compressed image descriptors based on the criteria.
US09442946B1	Methods and systems of processing contextual information A method includes retrieving, at a context sensor associated with an information object, first contextual information from a source external to the context sensor. The first contextual information includes domain-independent information associated with the information object. The method also includes generating second contextual information based on application of at least one derivation rule to the first contextual information. Alternately, or in addition, the second contextual information may be generated based on application of the at least one derivation rule to a combination of the first contextual information and other contextual information associated with another context sensor. The second contextual information includes domain-specific information associated with the information object. The method further includes adding the second contextual information to the information object.
US09442945B2	File system manager using tagging organization A data processing system includes a file system manager that organizes content into albums using a tagging technique. The file system manager comprises a filename utility that sets a unique filename for each file of uploaded files across a plurality of albums and an album manager utility that manages an album according to a list of tags. The tags include unique content file references and content metadata, whereby a file instance in a cross-section of the tags is included in multiple albums.
US09442944B2	Content item purging Methods, systems, and computer readable media for content item purging functionality are provided. A contact item purger, such as may be incorporated within a local client application of a content management system, leverages its knowledge as to which items have been uploaded to the content management system, and how long content items have been stored on the user device, to propose items for local deletion and thus reclaiming storage on the user device. A contact item purger may run on one or more devices of a user associated with an account on a content management system upon various triggering events, and may run with or without user interaction, thus maintaining available user device memory capacity at all times.
US09442942B2	Method, apparatus and computer program product for dynamic and visual object search interface Provided herein are a method, apparatus and computer program product for dynamically and visually interfacing with a device to locate information and objects using a dynamic graphical interface to select and adjust the weight afforded to individual search criterion and a search. Example methods may provide for display of a search target, provide for display of a first search criterion disposed at a first distance from the search target where the first distance corresponds to a first search criterion weight, and provide for display of a second search criterion disposed at a second distance from the search target, where the second distance corresponds to a second search criterion weight. Methods may further include providing for searching the search target using the first search criterion afforded the first search criterion weight and the second search criterion afforded the second search criterion weight.
US09442940B1	Systems and methods for adaptively selecting file-recall modes A computer-implemented method for selecting file-recall modes based on environmental properties may include (1) intercepting a request to recall a file from a secondary storage system to a primary storage system, (2) identifying a value of a dynamic environmental property associated with the file that may negatively impact performance of a mode of recalling the file from the secondary storage system to the primary storage system, (3) identifying a policy that comprises criteria for selecting an appropriate recall mode for recalling the file from the secondary storage system to the primary storage system, (4) adaptively selecting, by applying the policy to the value of the dynamic environmental property, a recall mode for recalling the file, and (5) recalling the file from the secondary storage system to the primary storage system using the selected recall mode. Various additional methods, systems, and configured computer-readable-storage media are also disclosed.
US09442939B2	Routing framework for objects Particular embodiments store a business object attachment in a specific storage location associated with a business object. In this embodiment a computer receives an attachment for the business object along with information regarding the business object. The information regarding the business object may include a business object identifier and a business object type identifier. With this information, the computer defines routing attribute fields for the attachment. Using the routing attribute fields and the business object type identifier, the computer calculates a target content repository and a target path for the attachment. The computer then determines which content management system contains the target repository and interfaces with that target content management system to direct that content management system to store the attachment in the target repository at the target path.
US09442938B1	File system layer In one aspect, a method includes using a file system layer configured to interact with a plurality of volumes and enabling an application to interact with any of the plurality of volumes using a single file system format provided by the file system layer. At least two of the plurality of volumes have different file system formats.
US09442936B2	Cooperative grid based picture archiving and communication system A Cooperative Grid Based Picture Archiving and Communication System (Grid PACS for short) is a multimedia (imaging) medical information archiving, communication and application system used in hospitals. Based on the existing PACS servers, workstations, or other networked multimedia image management systems, it adds and integrates grid-based network functionality into the existing image systems to form new grid-based image communication and management system.It uses service-oriented and event-driven concepts and methods to design and implement a new grid-based image communication and management system to solve the problems encountered in distributing archived image information, coordinating work and managing in a virtually centralized way (Virtual Super-PACS) of different PACS or archiving systems under varied operating environments.
US09442934B2	Distributed cache control technique A disclosed method include: receiving, an identifier of a user, an identifier of contents associated with the user and identification data concerning a sensor that read the identifier of the user; reading an identifier of a node associated with the received identification data or a combination of the received identification data and the received identifier of the user, from a data storage unit storing an identifier of a node that will cache contents to be outputted to a display device provided at a different position from a position of a sensor in association with identification data concerning the sensor or a combination of identification data concerning the sensor and an identifier of a user; and transmitting the received identifier of the user and an identifier of contents associated with the user to a node whose identifier was read.
US09442929B2	Determining documents that match a query A computer-implemented method and system for determining documents that are nearest to a query are provided herein. The method includes constructing a vantage point tree based on a number of document vectors. The method also includes searching the vantage point tree to determine a number of nearest neighbor document vectors to a query vector by removing a portion of the document vectors from the vantage point tree based on one or more vantage points for each of a number of nodes in the vantage point tree and a specified search radius centered about the query vector.
US09442927B2	Offline generation of compressed radix tree with key sequence skip Systems and methods are disclosed for compressing a radix tree. An example method includes traversing a radix tree including a plurality of containers. The method also includes identifying, based on the traversing, a parent container having a plurality of child containers, each child container including a sequence of elements. The method further includes for one or more child containers of the plurality of child containers, identifying a unique prefix of the sequence of elements included in the respective child container, identifying a remainder sequence after the unique prefix in the sequence of elements, and removing the remainder sequence from the respective child container.
US09442926B2	Meter reading This invention relates to a method and reader system for reading a mechanically variable display, particularly those provided with a meter, as well as to a metering system and a meter for measuring a commodity. In particular, the invention relates to a method and reader system for electronically reading a variable display comprising one or more mechanically variable display elements variably displaying one or more machine readable code/s which involves receiving reading data from an optical reader device, the reading data comprising at least an electrical signal, or information associated therewith, associated with at least one machine readable code read by the optical reader device; and processing the received reading data to determine a reading or character string associated displayed by, or associated with, the variable display.
US09442922B2	System and method for incrementally updating a reordering model for a statistical machine translation system A method for updating a reordering model of a statistical machine translation system includes, at a first time, receiving new training data for retraining an existing statistical machine translation system, the new training data including at least one sentence pair, each pair including a source sentence in a source language and a target sentence in a target language. Phrase pairs are extracted from the new training data and used to generate a new reordering file. A reordering model of the existing statistical machine translation system is updated, based on the new reordering file. The reordering model includes a reordering table. At a second time after the first time, new training data is received. The extracting of phrase pairs, generating of the new reordering file and the updating the reordering model is reiterated, based on the new training data received at the second time.
US09442917B2	Detecting semantic errors in text using ontology-based extraction rules Semantic errors in a natural language text document are automatically detected by matching sentences in the document with stored ontology-based extraction rules that express both logically correct and logically incorrect relationships between the classes and properties of an ontology for a predefined knowledge domain of relevance to the natural language text document. The matching identifies logically correct and incorrect statements in the document which may be used for various applications such as automatic grading.
US09442914B2	Using parallel insert sub-ranges to insert into a column store Provided are techniques for using parallel inserts to insert into a column store. A list of sub-ranges for a columnar table is created. A change statement for one or more rows to be inserted into the columnar table is received. For each of the received change statements, a sub-range from the list of sub-ranges is identified and data is serially inserted into the identified sub-range of the columnar table, while allowing parallel processing of each change statement for different sub-ranges of the columnar table.
US09442910B2	Method and system for adding punctuation to voice files A method and system for adding punctuation to a voice file is disclosed. The method includes: utilizing silence or pause duration detection to divide a voice file into a plurality of speech segments for processing, the voice file includes a plurality of features units; identifying all features units that appear in the voice file according to every term or expression and semantics features of the every term or expression that form each of the plurality of speech segments; using a linguistic model to determine a sum of weight of various punctuation modes in the voice file according to all the feature units, the linguistic model is built upon semantics features of various parsed out terms or expressions from a body text of a spoken sentence according to a language library; and adding punctuations to the voice file based on the determined sum of weight of the various punctuation modes.
US09442909B2	Real time term suggestion using text analytics An approach is provided in which a conversion manager receives a conversion request that identifies a conversion mode corresponding to a first category and a second category. The conversion manager identifies one or more first terms corresponding to the first category that are included in a page of text. As such, the conversion manager selects one or more second terms corresponding to the second category and, in turn, replaces the first terms with their corresponding second terms.
US09442908B2	Method and computing device for facilitating review of a document A method, carried out by a computing device, includes displaying a summary of the sections of a document, identifying one or more sections that have been previously reviewed by a particular reviewer, but has changed since the reviewer last reviewed it, indicating the availability of a blacklined version of the section, and identifying the revision against which the blacklined version has been compared. The computing device may also identify sections that have not been reviewed, sections that have been reviewed and approved by the reviewer (including which revision was approved), and sections that have been reviewed but not approved.
US09442907B2	Disaster recovery method and apparatus used in document editing and storage medium The present invention provides a disaster recovery method used in document editing, comprising: storing the document to a local copy directory to form a local copy while editing the document; submitting the document to a server when editing of the document is finished; if the document is submitted successfully, deleting the local copy; if the document is not submitted successfully, recovering the document by using the local copy. The present invention also provides an apparatus, comprising: a backup module, used to store a document to a local copy directory to form a local copy while editing the document; a submitting module, used to submit the document to a server when editing of the document is finished; a deleting module, used to delete the local copy if the document is submitted successfully; a recovery module, used to recover the document using the local copy if the document is not submitted successfully.
US09442903B2	Generating preview data for online content Social networking systems benefit from techniques that improve the ability of users to share online content with other users of a social networking system. In one embodiment, when a user types, pastes, or otherwise inserts a URL, or some other hyperlink, into a message or post to the social networking system, a set of data on the referenced hyperlink target is acquired and stored on a server of the social networking system. The stored data is analyzed, to automatically generate a preview for the hyperlink; and the hyperlink preview is transmitted to the client device for approval. In one embodiment, follow-up actions related to the content are performed when the content is posed, which enables users to perform social graph actions to user nodes and concept nodes related to the message or post. In one embodiment, the shared content is cached on the social networking system.
US09442902B2	Techniques for assisting a user in the textual input of names of entities to a user device in multiple different languages A computer-implemented technique includes receiving a first input from a user at a user device, the first input including a first word of a first alphabet-based language, which is a transliteration of a non-alphabet-based language, which is one of a logogram-based language and a syllabogram-based language. The technique then compares the first words to pluralities of potential translated words from one or more datastores associated with a second alphabet-based language and the logogram-based or syllabogram-based languages. The technique may then generate a probability score for each of the pluralities of potential translated words, the probability score indicating a likelihood of an appropriate translation. The techniques may then provide the user with some or all of the pluralities of potential translated words and the user may select an appropriate translated word to obtain a selected word, which may then be displayed via a display of the user device.
US09442901B2	Resembling character data search supporting method, resembling candidate extracting method, and resembling candidate extracting apparatus From among a plurality of character code groups, a resemblance determining apparatus searches for a character code group resembling a character code group specified by the user. At that time, when each character code included in the specified character code group is within a predetermined numerical range, the resemblance determining apparatus excludes character code groups having character codes outside of the predetermined numerical range and extracts the remaining character code groups.
US09442898B2	Electronic document that inhibits automatic text extraction A system that generates one or more fonts for a document is provided. Glyph data associated with the one or more fonts is modified in a way that modifies one or more glyphs, but does not affect how the one or more glyphs are displayed within the document. Subsequently, character mappings are created, where each character of a plurality of characters is mapped to one or more modified glyphs.
US09442897B2	Screenshot method and device After target software starts, whether a module with an image display function has been loaded by the target software may be determined. When determining that the module with the image display function has been loaded by the target software, a global hook may be injected into the module with the image display function. After receiving a screenshot instruction, screenshot may be executed with the global hook.
US09442895B1	Web-based publishing layout specification In an embodiment, a method of processing text at a client device in a web-based publishing solution is described. The method includes storing text for a document in a storage format. The method also includes generating a render format from the storage format. The method also includes generating metrics describing the render format. The method also includes rendering the document including the text to a display based at least on the generated metrics.
US09442894B2	Method for word representation of flow pattern, apparatus for word representation, and program The present invention assigns, in order to form a word representation for a flow pattern in a multiply connected exterior domain having N holes topologically, any one of words that define two types of flow patterns that can be topologically applied to a simply connected exterior domain having a hole, and repeatedly assigns, to the assigned word, any one of words that define five types of operations that can be topologically applied to add a hole to the flow pattern, so that a word representation corresponding to the multiply connected exterior domain having N holes is formed.
US09442891B2	Multi-stage, regression-based PCR analysis system Systems and methods are provided for analyzing data to determine properties of a PCR processor other process exhibiting amplification or growth. Data representing an amplification can be distinguished from data representing a jump or other error. A modified sigmoid function containing a drift term may be used in determining the properties. A multi-stage functional fit of the amplification data can provide increased accuracy and consistency of one or more of the properties. A baseline of the amplification data can be determined by analyzing an integrated area of a first derivative function of the data. A reference quantitation value can also be determined from locations of maxima of different derivative functions of the amplification data, e.g., a weighted average of the maxima locations for the second and third derivatives may be used.
US09442887B2	Systems and methods for processing fragment ion spectra to determine mechanism of fragmentation and structure of molecule Correlated fragment ions of a molecule are grouped using mass spectrometry with ramps in collision energy (CE). A known molecule is fragmented and analyzed at a plurality of different collision energies using a mass spectrometer. A plurality of variables for a plurality of fragment ions are produced. Principal component analysis is performed on the plurality of variables. A number of principal components produced by the principal component analysis is selected. A subset principal component space is created having the number of principal components. A variable in the subset principal component space is selected. A spatial angle is defined around a vector extending from an origin to the variable. A set of one or more variables within the spatial angle of the vector is selected. The set is assigned to a group, if the set includes a minimum number of variables.
US09442882B2	Efficient maintenance of a distributed system membership view A method, system and computer program product are disclosed for maintaining a membership view of a distributed computing system comprising a multitude of members, wherein each of said members sends out a message indicating that said each of the members is available in the system. In one embodiment, the method comprises maintaining a first list of at least some of the members in the distributed system; and over a period of time, when one of the members sends out the message indicating that said one of the members is available in the distributed system, adding said one of the members to a second list. At defined times, the first list is replaced with the second list. In an embodiment, the method further comprises at said defined times, starting a new, empty second list.
US09442878B2	Parallel snoop and hazard checking with interconnect circuitry A system-on-chip integrated circuitry includes interconnect circuitry for connecting transaction sources with transaction destinations. A buffer circuit buffers a plurality of access transactions received from the transaction sources before they are passed on to respective transaction destinations. Hazard checking circuitry, such as identifier reuse circuitry, performs hazard checks for access transactions in parallel with snoop operations performed by snoop circuitry for managing coherence between data values stored within the plurality of cache memories. The snoop circuitry includes snoop reordering circuitry for permitting reordering of snoop responses. The snoop circuitry may issue a snoop request for a given access transaction in parallel with the hazard checking circuitry performing one or more hazard checks for that transaction.
US09442875B2	Multi-protocol combined receiver for receiving and processing data of multiple protocols A receiver circuit configured to operate in a DisplayPort (DP) mode and a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) mode. The receiver circuit includes: termination circuitry configured to receive a DP signal in the DP mode and an HDMI signal in the HDMI mode; and voltage common-mode (VCM) level shifter circuitry configured to operate as a pass-through for the DP signal in the DP mode and generate a converted HDMI signal from the HDMI signal in the HDMI mode.
US09442874B2	Expansion unit An expansion unit includes a connector to which a remote unit is connected, an embedded memory that records therein information in a nonvolatile manner, an external memory I/F into which a memory card is inserted, a CPU that performs reading of the operation information set in the remote unit connected via the connector and performs writing of the operation information into the remote unit connected via the connector, and a memory switching switch that sets a writing destination of the operation information read from the remote unit connected to the connector and a reading source of the operation information to be written into the remote unit connected to the connector to any one of the memory card inserted into the external memory I/F and the embedded memory.
US09442872B2	Methods and apparatus for providing bit-reversal and multicast functions utilizing DMA controller Techniques for providing improved data distribution to and collection from multiple memories are described. Such memories are often associated with and local to processing elements (PEs) within an array processor. Improved data transfer control within a data processing system provides support for radix 2, 4 and 8 fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms through data reordering or bit-reversed addressing across multiple PEs, carried out concurrently with FFT computation on a digital signal processor (DSP) array by a DMA unit. Parallel data distribution and collection through forms of multicast and packet-gather operations are also supported.
US09442866B1	Self-adaptive solid state drive controller A memory device may comprise circuitry to determine a number of channels through which to transfer information to adjust between latency and throughput in transferring the information through the channels of a memory port.
US09442865B2	Processor extensions for execution of secure embedded containers Methods and apparatus relating to processor extensions for execution of secure embedded containers are described. In an embodiment, a scalable solution for manageability function is provided, e.g., for UMPC environments or otherwise where utilizing a dedicated processor or microcontroller for manageability is inappropriate or impractical. For example, in an embodiment, an OS (Operating System) or VMM (Virtual Machine Manager) Independent (generally referred to herein as “OI”) architecture involves creating one or more containers on a processor by dynamically partitioning resources (such as processor cycles, memory, devices) between the HOST OS/VMM and the OI container. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09442864B2	Bridging circuitry between a memory controller and request agents in a system having multiple system memory protection schemes A processor is described that includes one or more processing cores. The processor includes a memory controller to interface with a system memory having a protected region and a non protected region. The processor includes a protection engine to protect against active and passive attacks. The processor includes an encryption/decryption engine to protect against passive attacks. The protection engine includes bridge circuitry coupled between the memory controller and the one or more processing cores. The bridge circuitry is also coupled to the protection engine and the encryption/decryption engine. The bridge circuitry is to route first requests directed to the protected region to the protection engine and to route second requests directed to the non protected region to the encryption/decryption engine.
US09442863B1	Cache entry management using read direction detection This document describes techniques for cache entry management using read direction detection. In one set of embodiment, the caching system segregates cache entries into two lists. The caching system receives one or more requests to read a range of data from a cache entry in the first list. For each of these read requests, the caching system determines a read direction wherein the read direction is either a forward read or a backward read. The caching system then determines a relationship between the read directions and moves the cache entry from the first list to the second list based on the relationship.
US09442861B2	System and method for out-of-order prefetch instructions in an in-order pipeline Apparatuses, systems, and a method for providing a processor architecture with data prefetching are described. In one embodiment, a system includes one or more processing units that include a first type of in-order pipeline to receive at least one data prefetch instruction. The one or more processing units include a second type of in-order pipeline having issues slots to receive instructions and a data prefetch queue to receive the at least one data prefetch instruction. The data prefetch queue may issue the at least one data prefetch instruction to the second type of in-order pipeline based upon one or more factors (e.g., at least one execution slot of the second type of in-order pipeline being available, priority of the data prefetch instruction).
US09442860B2	Providing record level sharing (RLS) to individual catalogs In one embodiment, a data storage system includes a server system that includes a processor and a local buffer pool configured to store instances for use in catalog requests, and a direct access storage device (DASD) subsystem electrically coupled to the server system and to at least one DASD, where the at least one DASD includes an integrated catalog facility (ICF) configured to provide at least one catalog, and where the data storage system is configured to provide record level sharing (RLS) for the at least one catalog stored to the at least one DASD.
US09442857B2	Dynamic memory estimations for memory bounded applications Techniques are disclosed for improving application responsiveness, and particularly applications used to present rich media content, by precaching nearby but not-yet-displayed content, so that content can be immediately ready to display. A precache window can be used to determine what undisplayed content is precached, in accordance with an embodiment. The size of the precache window, and hence the amount of content that can be precached for later display, is dynamic in nature and is determined based on a number of variables, such as the distance of the content from being visible and the estimated memory consumption of the content. In addition, the dynamic precache window can be recalculated in real-time in response to events and/or as the user interacts with the content in a way that causes a significant enough change to warrant a new memory limit estimate be performed. Out-of-memory errors may be handled by reducing precache window.
US09442856B2	Data processing apparatus and method for handling performance of a cache maintenance operation A data processing apparatus has data processing circuitry for performing data processing operations on data, and a hierarchical cache structure for storing at least a subset of the data for access by the data processing circuitry. The hierarchical cache structure has first and second level caches, and data evicted from the first level cache is routed to the second level cache under the control of second level cache access control circuitry. Cache maintenance circuitry performs a cache maintenance operation in both the first level cache and the second level cache. The access control circuitry is responsive to maintenance indication data to modify the eviction handling operation performed in response to the evicted data, so as to cause the required cache maintenance for the second level cache to be incorporated within the eviction handling operation.
US09442853B2	Salvaging lock elision transactions with instructions to change execution type A transactional memory system salvages a hardware lock elision (HLE) transaction. A processor of the transactional memory system executes a lock-acquire instruction in an HLE environment and records information about a lock elided to begin HLE transactional execution of a code region. The processor detects a pending point of failure in the code region during the HLE transactional execution. The processor stops HLE transactional execution at the point of failure in the code region. The processor acquires the lock using the information, and based on acquiring the lock, commits the speculative state of the stopped HLE transactional execution. The processor starts non-transactional execution at the point of failure in the code region.
US09442848B2	Increased destaging efficiency by smoothing destaging between current and desired number of destage tasks Techniques for increased destaging efficiency by smoothing destaging tasks to reduce long input/output (I/O) read operations are described. A method may comprise a processor device operable in the computing storage environment. The processor device destages tasks are calculated according to one of a standard time interval and a variable recomputed destaging task interval. The destaging of storage tracks between a desired number of destaging tasks and a current number of destaging tasks is smoothed according to the calculating.
US09442844B2	Apparatus, system, and method for a storage layer A storage layer for a non-volatile storage device presents a large, logical address space having a logical capacity that may exceed the storage capacity of the non-volatile storage device. The storage layer implements persistent storage operations within the logical address space; storage operations performed within the logical address space may be persisted on the non-volatile storage device. The storage layer maintains storage metadata to allocate ranges of the logical address space to storage entities. The storage layer provides for allocation of contiguous logical address ranges, which may be implemented by segmenting logical identifiers into a first portion referencing storage entities, and a second portion referencing storage entity offsets. The storage layer persists data on the non-volatile storage device in a sequential, log-based format. Accordingly, storage clients, such as file systems, databases, and other applications, may delegate logical allocations, physical storage bindings, and/or crash-recovery to the storage layer.
US09442843B2	Information processing apparatus, method of controlling the same, and storage medium An information processing apparatus capable of reading/writing a storage device capable of performing dynamic wear leveling, a method of controlling the apparatus, and a storage medium. The apparatus confirms a logically free region of the storage device, and performs writing of dummy data to the logically free region and logical deletion of a region to which the dummy data is written.
US09442841B2	Semiconductor memory device and method for logging monitored events into a buffer A semiconductor memory device includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory in which writing is carried out at a page unit and erasing is carried out at a block unit larger than the page unit, and a controller for transferring data between a host device and the nonvolatile semiconductor memory. The controller includes a log-management section that is configured to: (i) record a page unit of log data in a buffer area each time a monitored event (e.g., error) occurs, the buffer area being partitioned into a plurality of pages and the page unit of log data is recorded in a designated page of the buffer area, and (ii) prior to recording the page unit of log data in the designated page, copy part of the designated page to another page of the buffer area.
US09442839B1	Nonvolatile storage with automated response to program faults A non-volatile storage system comprises a controller and one or more memory die in communication with the controller. The controller sends data and an initial address in conjunction with a request to program the data to one of the memory die. The memory die comprises a plurality of non-volatile storage elements and one or more control circuits. The one or more control circuits attempt to program the data to the non-volatile storage elements at the initial address and determine that programming of the data at the initial address fails. The one or more managing circuits automatically identify a new address in the memory die without the memory die being instructed of the new address by the controller and program the data at the new address on the memory die without the data being re-transmitted from the controller to the memory die.
US09442838B2	Remapping memory cells based on future endurance measurements A method of operating a memory device that includes groups of memory cells is presented. The groups include a first group of memory cells. Each one of the groups has a respective physical address and is initially associated with a respective logical address. The device also includes an additional group of memory cells that has a physical address but is not initially associated with a logical address. In the method, a difference in the future endurance between the first group of memory cells and the additional group of memory cells is identified. When the difference in the future endurance between the first group and the additional group exceeds a predetermined threshold difference, the association between the first group and the logical address initially associated with the first group is ended and the additional group is associated with the logical address that was initially associated with the first group.
US09442837B2	Accelerating multiversion concurrency control using hardware transactional memory Atomically updating shared data in a transactional memory system comprising transactional memory storage and a transactional memory enabled processor. The computer creates a pointer stored in a stable memory location that is used to locate a shared data stored in a second memory location. The computer accesses the shared data and loads the pointer used to locate the accessed shared data into transactional memory storage. The computer updates the accessed shared data using copy-on-write, whereby the updated shared data is stored in a third memory location, and performs the atomic update of the shared data by updating the pointer such that it locates the updated shared data stored in the third memory location.
US09442835B1	Dynamic memory allocation using suballocation of cell blocks A computer-implemented method is disclosed in which a memory suballocation application obtains, from an underlying memory allocation system (UMAS), allocation of a plurality of cell blocks. Each cell block includes a plurality of equally-sized cells and a bitmap indicating which of its cells are available. A request is received from a requesting application for dynamic allocation of a given amount of memory. If the given amount of memory exceeds a maximum cell size, memory allocation is initiated via the UMAS for the given amount of memory without using the cell blocks. If the given amount of memory does not exceed the maximum cell size, a desired cell size is determined. If a bitmap of one of the cell blocks indicates that a cell having the desired cell size is available, the memory suballocation application is used to dynamically allocate a cell having the desired cell size to the requesting application.
US09442831B1	Automated testing of program code for processing a simple boot flag data structure A computer is configured with a simple boot flag testing module. The simple boot flag testing module sets a simple boot flag data structure to a first value. The simple boot flag testing module then causes the computer to reboot. Following the reboot, the simple boot flag testing module determines if the value of the simple boot flag data structure is equivalent to a second value. If the value of the simple boot flag data structure is not equivalent to the second value following the reboot of the computer, the simple boot flag testing module stores data indicating that the test of the simple boot flag processing module with the first and second values has failed. This process may then be repeated for various combinations of first and second values. Once testing completes, the stored data may be used to present the results.
US09442820B2	Computer-implemented methods and systems for testing online systems and content Computer-implemented methods and systems are provided for scanning web sites and/or parsing web content, including for testing online opt-out systems and/or cookies used by online systems. In accordance with one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided for testing an opt-out system associated with at least one advertising system that uses cookies. The method includes transmitting a first request to an opt-out system, wherein the first request corresponds to a first test for testing at least one of the opt-out system and an advertising system; receiving a first stream sent in response to the first request; determining a first outcome of the first test based on the first stream; and generating a report based on the first outcome.
US09442816B2	Implementing memory performance management and enhanced memory reliability accounting for thermal conditions A method, system and computer program product implement memory performance management and enhanced memory reliability of a computer system accounting for system thermal conditions. When a primary memory temperature reaches an initial temperature threshold, reads are suspended to the primary memory and reads are provided to a mirrored memory in a mirrored memory pair, and writes are provided to both the primary memory and the mirrored memory. If the primary memory temperature reaches a second temperature threshold, write operations to the primary memory are also stopped and the primary memory is turned off with DRAM power saving modes such as self timed refresh (STR), and the reads and writes are limited to the mirrored memory in the mirrored memory pair. When the primary memory temperature decreases to below the initial temperature threshold, coherency is recovered by writing a coherent copy from the mirrored memory to the primary memory.
US09442815B2	Distributed on-chip debug triggering with allocated bus lines A method and apparatus for distributed on-chip debug triggering is presented. A first bus includes a plurality of lines and a debugging state machine configurable to monitor the plurality of lines of the first bus. One or more nodes are configurable to detect triggering events and provide, in response to detecting one or more triggering events, signals to the debugging state machine using a first subset of the plurality of lines that is allocated to the node(s).
US09442814B2	Systems and methods for improved fault tolerance in RAID configurations A RAID bad block module is added to a RAID controller. The bad block module intercepts bad block errors and marks them in a bad block table. When a bad block error is intercepted the bad block module logs the error and determines, based on the error and previously received errors logged in the table, whether the RAID controller can handle the error without failing the entire array. If so, the bad block module passes the error to the RAID controller. Else, the bad block module passes the error to an application or operating system where it is handled like any other disk error. Thus, instead of failing the entire array, the bad block errors are dealt with by the operating system.
US09442812B2	Priming failover of stateful offload adapters Mechanisms, in a data processing system comprising a first adapter and second adapter, for performing a failover operation from the first adapter to the second adapter are provided. The mechanisms detect that an imminent failure of the first adapter is likely to occur and initiate a failover priming operation in the first adapter and second adapter in response to detecting the imminent failure. The failover priming operation configures ingress and egress buffers of the second adapter to have a similar configuration to ingress and egress buffers of the first adapter. The mechanisms migrate processing of ingress data traffic to the second adapter prior to failure of the first adapter such that the first adapter processes egress data traffic from the data processing system and the second adapter processes ingress data traffic to the data processing system.
US09442810B2	Cloud computing: unified management console for services and resources in a data center A system and a method to enable visual management of a service is disclosed. The method includes, for example, presenting a visual representation of a candidate concrete type of an instance of a model resource, the candidate concrete type of the instance of the model resource derived from a filtering of concrete types of resources, the filtering based on an abstract type of an instance of a model resource corresponding to the service and an instance of an additional model resource corresponding to the service. The method also includes receiving a command to establish a mapping between the instance of the model resource and the candidate concrete type of the instance of the model resource.
US09442801B2	Platform error correction An example device includes a first error corrector to perform platform error correction based on a stride length. A memory includes a second error corrector that is to perform on-memory error correction that is to be disabled for platform error correction.
US09442799B2	Extended lifetime memory A memory controller can include an error correction module for extended lifetime memory that tracks at least one sized block of non-fault consecutive bits within the disabled page as spare blocks and reuses the spare blocks from the disabled pages as an error correction resource for active blocks. The active blocks can store data, data and metadata, or metadata only (e.g., error correction metadata). A method for extended lifetime memory can include, for an active block of metadata containing at least one fault, using at least one spare block to correct the data of the active block. For an active block of data containing at least one fault, the data can be initially corrected via XOR correction with a first spare block and then ultimately corrected via XOR correction with a second spare block.
US09442796B2	Memory controller supporting rate-compatible punctured codes Apparatus and methods store data in a non-volatile solid state memory device according to a rate-compatible code, such as a rate-compatible convolutional code (RPCC). An example of such a memory device is a flash memory device. Data can initially be block encoded for error correction and detection. The block-coded data can be further convolutionally encoded. Convolutional-coded data can be punctured and stored in the memory device. The puncturing decreases the amount of memory used to store the data. Depending on conditions, the amount of puncturing can vary from no puncturing to a relatively high amount of puncturing to vary the amount of additional error correction provided and memory used. The punctured data can be decoded when data is to be read from the memory device.
US09442789B2	Identifying anomalous conditions in machine data Embodiments are directed towards the visualization of machine data received from computing clusters. Embodiments may enable improved analysis of computing cluster performance, error detection, troubleshooting, error prediction, or the like. Individual cluster nodes may generate machine data that includes information and data regarding the operation and status of the cluster node. The machine data is received from each cluster node for indexing by one or more indexing applications. The indexed machine data including the complete data set may be stored in one or more index stores. A visualization application enables a user to select one or more analysis lenses that may be used to generate visualizations of the machine data. The visualization application employs the analysis lens to produce visualizations of the computing cluster machine data.
US09442788B2	Bus protocol checker, system on chip including the same, bus protocol checking method A system on chip (SoC) includes a system bus; a plurality of intellectual properties (IPs) outputting bus signals via the system bus; and one or more checkers disposed to correspond to at least some of the plurality of IPs, wherein the checker includes: a first environment setting register for setting information about a check target and list, on which a bus protocol check operation will be performed, wherein the setting may be variable according to an access from outside via the system bus; and a check logic receiving the bus signal and performing a bus protocol check operation on a signal included in the bus signal according to the information set in the first environment setting register.
US09442784B2	Management device, management method, and medium storing management program A management device includes a node information storing unit which stores, for each of plural operation devices, an device state representing whether the operation device is in a working state or in a non-working state, the device state associated with an identifier of the operation device, a fault state acquiring unit which acquires a value representing whether or not a fault exists from each of the operation devices that are in the non-working state, and an instruction unit which sends, when a number of the operation devices is smaller than a predetermined value, a work instruction to the operation device from which the value representing that no fault exists is acquired and which is in the non-working state, among the plural operation devices which make a transition to the working state when receiving the work instruction while in the non-working state.
US09442782B2	Systems and methods of interface description language (IDL) compilers An interface description language (IDL) compiler generates a descriptor for invoking a method implemented by a software component or a target unit by source units, where the descriptor customizes the invocation by one or more source units based on, at least in part, whether a respective source unit and the target unit are mapped to the same core or to different cores, as specified by a unit-core map. Additionally or in the alternative, the invocation may depend on whether the method is synchronous, asynchronous, or unspecified. Using the unit-core map, a channel associated with a method may be monitored efficiently by avoiding monitoring of the source units that are mapped to the same core as the target unit is.
US09442778B2	Method and system for secured inter-application communication in mobile devices This disclosure describes a method for accessing network resources which includes receiving by a first application in a mobile computing device sign-in information from a user and enabling the user to sign in to a second application with the first application to access network resources from a resource server based on (a) a first application identification (ID) of the second application, (b) the user authorizing the second application to the resource server, and (c) receiving an authorization grant from the resource server to enable the second application to access the network resources, the mobile computing device coupled with the resource server via a network.
US09442776B2	Salvaging hardware transactions with instructions to transfer transaction execution control A transactional memory system salvages a hardware transaction. A processor of the transactional memory system records information about an about-to-fail handler for transactional execution of a code region, and records information about a lock elided to begin transactional execution of the code region. The processor detects a pending point of failure in the code region during the transactional execution, and based on the detecting, stops transactional execution at a first instruction in the code region and executes the about-to-fail handler using the information about the about-to-fail handler. The processor, executing the about-to-fail handler, acquires the lock using the information about the lock, commits speculative state of the stopped transactional execution, and starts non-transactional execution at a second instruction following the first instruction in the code region.
US09442774B2	Thermally driven workload scheduling in a heterogeneous multi-processor system on a chip Various embodiments of methods and systems for thermally aware scheduling of workloads in a portable computing device that contains a heterogeneous, multi-processor system on a chip (“SoC”) are disclosed. Because individual processing components in a heterogeneous, multi-processor SoC may exhibit different processing efficiencies at a given temperature, and because more than one of the processing components may be capable of processing a given block of code, thermally aware workload scheduling techniques that compare performance curves of the individual processing components at their measured operating temperatures can be leveraged to optimize quality of service (“QoS”) by allocating workloads in real time, or near real time, to the processing components best positioned to efficiently process the block of code.
US09442771B2	Generating configurable subscription parameters Implementations relate to accessing a set of usage history data associated with a user account operating a workload on a set of virtual machines in a default deployment, generating, by a hardware processor, a predictive workload associated with the user account in view of the set of usage history data associated with the user account, responsive to generating the predictive workload, identifying a set of available resources in a set of host clouds of virtual machines provided by a cloud provider over the first period of time, accessing a set of deployment criteria received from the cloud provider, and generating a set of subscription parameters in view of the predictive workload, the set of available resources, and the set of deployment criteria to migrate the predictive workload to the set of host clouds of virtual machines.
US09442770B1	Workload execution timing device in a virtual machine environment An apparatus for workload execution timing is disclosed. A method and a computer program product also perform the functions of the apparatus. The apparatus includes a job determination module that determines jobs to be executed by a computer system. The apparatus includes a comparison module that compares an execution profile of each job with a resource of a device of the computer system. The execution profile of each job includes an amount of a resource of a device used by the respective job over time. The apparatus includes a scheduling module that determines a schedule that indicates a time to execute each job on the device based on the comparison. Each job is scheduled to maintain a utilization of the resource of the device of the computer system below a maximum threshold. The apparatus includes an execution module that submits the jobs for execution based on the schedule.
US09442769B2	Generating cloud deployment targets based on predictive workload estimation Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating cloud deployment targets based on predictive workload estimation. In aspects, a set of usage histories can store records for user workloads in a host cloud-based network recording the consumption of processor, memory, storage, operating system, application, or other resources subscribed to by the user. The operator of the cloud management system hosting the workloads of one or more users can track, identify, and manage the predictive marginal resource capacities of the set of host clouds, based on those historical usage patterns. The collective usage history can indicate, for instance, that a number of operating workloads tend to display a small under-utilization of processor or memory resources during certain overnight periods on a regular basis. The operator can then harvest those predictive marginal capacities, and offer a new user or workload a potential hosting subscription based on those expected resource availabilities.
US09442768B2	System and method to control heat dissipation through service level analysis The system and method generally relate to reducing heat dissipated within a data center, and more particularly, to a system and method for reducing heat dissipated within a data center through service level agreement analysis, and resultant reprioritization of jobs to maximize energy efficiency. A computer implemented method includes performing a service level agreement (SLA) analysis for one or more currently processing or scheduled processing jobs of a data center using a processor of a computer device. Additionally, the method includes identifying one or more candidate processing jobs for a schedule modification from amongst the one or more currently processing or scheduled processing jobs using the processor of the computer device. Further, the method includes performing the schedule modification for at least one of the one or more candidate processing jobs using the processor of the computer device.
US09442767B2	System and method to control heat dissipation through service level analysis The system and method generally relate to reducing heat dissipated within a data center, and more particularly, to a system and method for reducing heat dissipated within a data center through service level agreement analysis, and resultant reprioritization of jobs to maximize energy efficiency. A computer implemented method includes performing a service level agreement (SLA) analysis for one or more currently processing or scheduled processing jobs of a data center using a processor of a computer device. Additionally, the method includes identifying one or more candidate processing jobs for a schedule modification from amongst the one or more currently processing or scheduled processing jobs using the processor of the computer device. Further, the method includes performing the schedule modification for at least one of the one or more candidate processing jobs using the processor of the computer device.
US09442764B2	Allocating a global resource to consumers across different regions of a distributed grid environment based on use data and demand data of each consumer A technique for allocating a global resource in a distributed grid environment includes: receiving from slave resource managers use and demand data associated with the global resource by each consumer in a respective region; compute an allocation of the resource for each consumer and for each region by determining a total amount of the resource to allocate, estimating a need by each consumer for the resource based on the use and demand data, determining an allocation of the total amount of the resource among the consumers based on the estimated need; subdividing the allocation for each consumer among each region where the consumer utilizes the resource; and computing a total allocation of the resource for each region; and communicating to each slave resource manager an amount of the resource allocated to each consumer in each respective region and the total allocation of the resource for the region.
US09442756B2	Multi-processor command management in electronic components with multiple microcontrollers In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes executing firmware including a command list configured to maintain commands executable by a host processor of a field-programmable unit. One or more of the commands define communications between the host processor and one or more back-end processors of the field-replaceable unit. The command list includes both periodic commands representing periodic processes and non-periodic commands representing non-periodic processes. Each command in the command list is set to one of active mode and inactive mode. Executing the firmware includes cycling through the command list, and executing, by the host processor, only the commands in the command list that are set to active mode while cycling through the command list.
US09442750B2	Systems and methods for colocating virtual machines on one or more physical infrastructure This technology relates to a device and method for determining co-locatability of a plurality of virtual machines on one or more physical infrastructures. The plurality of virtual machines hosts a plurality of workloads. This involves identifying workloads which have high variability from the time series data and determining the workload capacity threshold of the identified workloads. Thereafter, the candidate workloads are selected among the identified workloads to colocate on a virtual machine based on the workload variability. After that, the total capacity required by each candidate workload pair to meet the service requirement is determined based on the workload capacity threshold. Then, an optimal sharing point of each workload of the pair with respect to the other workload of the pair is identified. Further, percentage compatibility of each workload pair is determined and finally, the candidate workloads are colocated based on the optimal sharing point and percentage compatibility.
US09442744B2	Multilingual build integration for compiled applications Multilingual build integration for compiled applications is described in which support for application localization of compiled programming languages is provided as an integrated component of a development environment. Localizations integrate with application builds in the development environment so that updates are synchronized with project resources for multiple languages. This involves producing translation target files (e.g., localization files) for one or more selected languages by parsing and interpreting source files for the project to identify resources for translation. Localization files in the project that have been updated may be exposed in various ways for translation via the system, a translation service, or other translation source. Translated localization files are used to create dynamic resource files for the particular programming language that are compiled as part of the build process into language specific resource files. Compiled language specific resource files for multiple languages may then be packaged together for distribution.
US09442742B2	Method and system for network device maintenance A method for maintaining a switch. The method includes identifying a first phase to enter in a boot-up process for the switch, where the boot-up process includes a number of phases and the first phase is one of the phases. The method further includes determining a phase exit condition from a first snapshot of the switch, where the first snapshot includes state information for each of the of phases. The method further includes transitioning to the first phase and after transitioning to the first phase: starting a first countdown timer for the first phase, and executing, on the switch, a first networking protocol for the first phase. The method further includes determining, in response to the executing, that a first current state of the switch satisfies the phase exit condition, and exiting the first phase, where the first countdown timer is not expired when exiting the first phase.
US09442738B2	Restricting processing within a processor to facilitate transaction completion Processing of transactions within a computing environment is facilitated by taking actions to increase the chances of successfully executing a transaction. A counter is maintained that provides a count of how often a transaction has aborted. The counter increments the count each time the transaction is aborted, and it is reset to zero upon successful completion of the transaction or an interruption leading to no more re-executions of the transaction. If the count reaches a threshold value, then an interrupt is presented and transaction execution is unsuccessful. However, before the count reaches the threshold, a number of actions may be taken to increase the chances of successfully executing the transaction. These actions include actions to be performed within the processor executing the transaction, and/or actions to be performed against conflicting processors.
US09442733B2	Packed data operation mask comparison processors, methods, systems, and instructions Receive packed data operation mask comparison instruction indicating first packed data operation mask having first packed data operation mask bits and second packed data operation mask having second packed data operation mask bits. Each packed data operation mask bit of first mask corresponds to a packed data operation mask bit of second mask in corresponding position. Modify first flag to first value if bitwise AND of each packed data operation mask bit of first mask with each corresponding packed data operation mask bit of second mask is zero. Otherwise modify first flag to second value. Modify second flag to third value if bitwise AND of each packed data operation mask bit of first mask with bitwise NOT of each corresponding packed data operation mask bit of second mask is zero. Otherwise modify second flag to fourth value.
US09442731B2	Packed two source inter-element shift merge processors, methods, systems, and instructions A processor includes a decoder to receive an instruction that indicates first and second source packed data operands and at least one shift count. An execution unit is operable, in response to the instruction, to store a result packed data operand. Each result data element includes a first least significant bit (LSB) portion of a first data element of a corresponding pair of data elements in a most significant bit (MSB) portion, and a second MSB portion of a second data element of the corresponding pair in a LSB portion. One of the first LSB portion of the first data element and the second MSB portion of the second data element has a corresponding shift count number of bits. The other has a number of bits equal to a size of a data element of the first source packed data minus the corresponding shift count.
US09442724B2	Start control apparatus for controlling a start of an information device by using an interrupt generation code, information device, and start control method A CPU includes a code write unit which writes an interrupt generation code into a page in which the instructions stored in the non-volatile memory are not written, among a plurality of the pages included in an instruction area that is an area of the volatile memory into which the instructions are written, the interrupt generation code being a code for generating a software interrupt, an instruction transfer unit which transfers the instructions from the non-volatile memory to a corresponding page of the volatile memory that is a page in which the interrupt generation code generating the software interrupt is stored when the software interrupt is generated by the interrupt generation code, the instructions being to be stored in the corresponding page, and an instruction execution unit which executes the instructions stored in the instruction area, and when the interrupt generation code is executed, generates a software interrupt.
US09442719B2	Regression alerts Embodiments of the present invention include a method, a computer program product, and a computer system for generating an alert as to a potential regression. In one embodiment, a server computer system receives an instruction from a first location to associate a first changeset with a record, wherein the first changeset has associated metadata, and associates the first changeset with the first record. The server computer system receives an instruction from a second location to modify the first changeset by merging a second changeset with the first changeset and sends an alert to the second location to indicate that merging the changeset may cause a regression.
US09442717B2	Techniques for automatically identifying input files used to generate output files in a software build process Techniques for automatically identifying input files used to generate output files in a software build process are provided. In one embodiment, a computer system can execute one or more build commands for generating output files for a software product, where the software product is associated with a build tree comprising various input files. The computer system can further intercept system calls invoked during the execution of the one or more build commands and can collect information pertaining to at least a portion of the intercepted system calls. The computer system can then create a dependency graph based on the collected information, where the dependency graph identifies a subset of input files in the build tree that are actually used by the one or more build commands to generate the output files.
US09442715B2	Patch process ensuring high availability of cloud application A cyclical patching process associated with a cloud application may be defined to ensure high availability (HA) of the cloud application in order to prevent impacting an availability to end users. A list of server identities corresponding to one or more servers of a datacenter hosting the cloud application may be accepted. HA metric values for each of the server identities may be determined in order to compute an overall HA metric value for the cloud application. A subset of the servers may be removed from a rotation framework of the cloud application based on the determined HA metric values, where the removal does not affect the overall HA metric value of the cloud application. One or more patches may be applied to each server within the subset of servers in parallel, and the subset of servers may be reinstated in the rotation framework of the cloud application.
US09442711B2	Communication device, update method, and computer program product for updating a program based on received metainformation A communication device includes: a receiving unit that receives metainformation indicating an update from an update information providing device to provide information related to the update; a determining unit that determines, on the basis of the received metainformation, whether an update needed for the communication device exists; a notifying unit that notifies, when the update exists, a user of existence of the update; an operation unit that receives, when the update exists, a selection operation as to whether the update is to be executed from the user; and an update processing unit that executes, when the selection operation to execute the update is received by the operation unit, the update on the basis of the received metainformation.
US09442707B2	Incremental whole program compilation of code Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided that enable incremental compilation of source code. Attributes of an intermediate language (IL) representation and a compiled representation of a source code are stored. Modified source code that is a revised version of the first source code is received. An IL representation of the modified source code is generated. Attributes of the revised intermediate IL and the stored attributes of the IL representation are compared to determine a first set of functions changed in the modified source code. A second set of functions in the first source code is determined that includes functions affected the determined first set of functions. The first and second sets of functions are compiled to generate a set of compiled functions. Compiled versions of the first and second sets are replaced in the compiled representation of the first source code with the set of compiled functions.
US09442705B2	Sharing authentication profiles between a group of user devices Technology is disclosed for sharing an authentication profile of a user between a group of user devices for accessing an access restricted computing environment (“the technology”). The access restricted computing environment can require the user to input authentication information, such as a username, password, or answers to challenge questions, to authenticate the user. For example, to access a wireless network on a first user device, a user may have to input a password for the wireless network. To access the same wireless network on a second user device, the user may have to input the password again on the second user device. The technology facilitates the user to obtain the authentication information required to access the wireless network from another user device, e.g., a device from which the user has accessed the wireless network previously. This can eliminate the need for the user to manually input the authentication information repeatedly.
US09442702B1	Overriding an interface in a graphical block diagram modeling environment A device receives information that identifies a parameter associated with a masked block that represents elements of a block diagram model that, when executed, simulates a behavior of a system. The masked block is associated with a first user interface that allows a value of the parameter to be specified for the masked block. The device receives an indication that the parameter is to be associated with a derived block that represents the elements of the block diagram model. The derived block inherits one or more properties from the masked block. The device creates the derived block, and associates the derived block with the parameter and a second user interface that allows a value of the parameter to be specified for the derived block. The device outputs or stores information that identifies the parameter, the derived block, and the association between the parameter and the derived block.
US09442696B1	Interactive partitioning and mapping of an application across multiple heterogeneous computational devices from a co-simulation design environment In an embodiment, a method for interactively changing allocation of an application including multiple algorithm components executing on a heterogeneous target environment (HTE) provides a user interface in a co-simulation design environment. The user interface is associated with the application having multiple algorithm components executing on the HTE that includes multiple computing devices with different processing capabilities. The method also sets attributes of the allocation scheme of the application using the user interface. The setting occurs when the application is executing. The method further receives data associated with the executing of the application in the co-simulation design environment when the application is executing subsequent to the setting of the attributes of the allocation scheme.
US09442695B2	Random bit generator based on nanomaterials The present invention relates to a method of generating an array of random bits. The method generates unique arrays of random bits using carbon nanotube field effect transistor fabrication technology and can be used for security applications. The method includes: modifying a substrate to form a modified surface having a pattern selected from a group including: trenches, rigs, and a combination thereof; depositing a compound on the trenches and/or the rigs; and applying a dispersion of carbon nanomaterials onto the modified surface to form an array of random bits. The first system includes setting an array of random bits based on carbon nanomaterials as a digital signature by measuring electric charge flowing through each individual bit. The second system includes protecting an array of random bits against iterative unauthorized accessing mechanisms.
US09442692B2	Apparatus, systems and methods for limiting output volume of a media presentation device Volume limiting systems and methods are operable to limit volume output from media presentation devices. An exemplary embodiment detects a sound using a microphone, wherein the sound corresponds to an audio output of at least one controlled media presentation device, and wherein the microphone is remotely located from the at least one controlled media presentation device; compares a level of the detected sound with a predefined maximum volume limit; generates a volume output limit command in response to the detected sound exceeding the predefined maximum volume limit; and communicates the volume output limit command to the media presentation device. The media presentation device then reduces a volume level of its audio output. In some instances, volume may be limited during user specified periods.
US09442689B2	Wearable glass-type terminal, system having the same and method of controlling the terminal The present disclosure provides a wearable glass-type terminal including a body that is formed to be worn on a user's face, a wireless communication unit that is wirelessly connected to an input device and a plurality of output devices and configured to receive data from the input device and transmit data to the output devices, a camera that is mounted to the body and configured to detect one of the plurality of output devices, and a controller that is configured to control the wireless communication unit to transmit data received from the input device to the output device detected by the camera.
US09442688B2	Synchronized display system A system and method of use is provided that monitors the position of a vehicle seat and automatically adjusts the location of a vehicle display based on the current seat position, thereby helping to alleviate the eye strain, fatigue, neck and back pain that often accompany the improper use of a monitor for an extended period of time.
US09442681B2	Image forming apparatus, method for controlling the same, and system An image forming apparatus instructs job execution, and determines whether processing for performing the job execution is executable in the image forming apparatus. In a case where it is determined that the processing is not executable in the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus transmits to a server data for performing the job execution. The image forming apparatus determines whether a job exists in a job list, and transmits to the server a deletion request of the data transmitted to the server, using a result of the determination and a detection result of logout.
US09442679B2	Network discovery using unicast communications A first printer acquires a first network address from an external server using unicast (non-broadcast) transmissions. Then, second printers and an external computerized device also acquire the first network address from the external server, similarly using unicast transmissions. The second printers contact (e.g., say “hello” to) the first printer using a peer-to-peer network. The external computerized device contacts (again using unicast transmissions) the first printer using the first network address to cause the first printer to transmit a list of the second printers that have contacted the first printer to the external computerized device. The external computerized device then contacts (again using unicast transmissions) the second printers using the list of contacted printers (which includes network address information of the second printers) to allow the external computerized device to configure the second printers.
US09442675B2	Redirecting data from a defective data entry in memory to a redundant data entry prior to data access, and related systems and methods Embodiments disclosed include redirecting data from a defective data entry in memory to a redundant data entry prior to data access. Related systems and methods are also disclosed. The memory is configured to receive a memory access request. The received memory access request comprises a data entry address. The memory uses the data entry address to access data stored in a data array in the memory in a first data access path. It is possible that the rows or columns in the memory may be defective as a result of a manufacturing process. In the event that a row or column at the data entry address in the data array is defective, a data entry redirection circuit redirects the memory access request to a redundant row or column in the data array prior to data access.
US09442674B1	Using a plurality of sub-buffers and a free segment list to allocate segments to a plurality of threads to use for writing data Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using a plurality of sub-buffers and a free segment list to allocate segments to a plurality of threads to use for writing data. Groups of threads are assigned to sub-buffers. At least one segment of data is indicated in each of the sub-buffers. The threads assigned to one of the sub-buffers write to the at least one segment indicated in the sub-buffer to which the threads are assigned. A free segment list indicates segments which are not indicated in one of the sub-buffers. In response to one of the segments in a containing sub-buffer comprising one of the sub-buffers becoming a full segment having less than a threshold amount of free space, the indication of the full segment in the containing sub-buffer is replaced with one of the segments indicated in the free segment list.
US09442673B2	Method and apparatus for storing data using a data mapping algorithm The storage method according to the present invention includes: partitioning raw data into several data blocks; calculating, according to a preset mapping algorithm, three consecutive virtual storage partitions to which a first data block is mapped, where a virtual storage partition is a partition obtained by dividing a virtual storage area, each of the virtual storage partitions is mapped to one physical disk, physical disks have consecutive sequence numbers, and sequence numbers of three physical disks that are mapped to the three consecutive virtual storage partitions are in an arithmetic sequence with a non-zero common difference; and storing, according to the calculated three consecutive virtual storage partitions and the three physical disks that are mapped to the three consecutive virtual storage partitions, the first data block and a first copy and a second copy of the first data block in the three physical disks in sequence.
US09442670B2	Method and system for rebalancing data stored in flash memory devices The embodiments described herein include systems, methods and/or devices that may enhance the endurance of a storage system including a storage medium. The method includes: dividing a plurality of flash memory devices into logical chunks each logical chunk including one or more flash memory blocks; assigning a weight to each of the flash memory devices for a distribution algorithm, where the weight is based on at least a number of available logical chunks; and storing data in the logical chunks in accordance with the distribution algorithm. The method includes detecting a trigger condition for a respective flash memory device. In response to detecting the trigger condition, the method includes: decreasing the weight of the respective flash memory device; updating the distribution algorithm to reflect the decreased weight of the respective flash memory device; and rebalancing data stored in the plurality of flash memory devices in accordance with the updated distribution algorithm.
US09442669B2	Cost-effective IAAS (infrastructure-as-a-service) cloud storage based on adaptive virtual disks (AVD) There are provided a system, a method and a computer program product for operating a cloud computing storage system. The cloud computing storage system allocates and manages virtual disks. A virtual disk provides a logical data storage. The cloud computing storage system divides data stored in the virtual disks into chunks and allocates the chunks to physical data storage devices. The cloud computing storage system monitors I/O access patterns and user requests to change data storage capacities and throughputs of the virtual disks in real time. The cloud computing storage system dynamically reconfigures an allocation of the chunks to the physical data storage devices.
US09442667B2	Apparatus and method for protection of stored data An apparatus and a method for protection of data stored in a data storage unit that comprises a plurality of storage areas. A data interface connects to a computer system and transfer of a data signal from the computer system to the apparatus requests access to the data storage unit. A main control unit is configured to receive the data signal and is connected to the data storage unit. A user control unit is connected to the main control unit and is arranged to be set in different modes and generates a mode selection signal indicating the selected mode. The main control unit is configured to receive the mode selection signal, and depending on the selected mode, control connection of the apparatus to a plurality of networks, and direct the request to a storage area of the plurality of storage areas of the data storage unit.
US09442664B2	Efficient flashcopy backup target volume allocation from a shared resource pool For efficient FlashCopy backup target volume allocation from a shared resource pool while ingesting a FlashCopy backup in a repository, for dynamically allocating a target volume for the new FlashCopy backup, a global pool of FlashCopy backup target volumes and a consistency group in the global pool of FlashCopy backup target volumes is maintained for use by a new FlashCopy backup upon encountering a collision while an existing FlashCopy target volume containing older FlashCopy backups are being ingested into the repository for dynamically allocating a target volume for the new FlashCopy backup.
US09442662B2	Device and method for managing die groups The embodiments described herein methods and devices that enhance the endurance of a non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory). The method includes obtaining, for each of the plurality of die, an endurance metric. The method also includes sorting the plurality of die into a plurality of die groups based on their corresponding endurance metrics, where each die group includes one or more die and each die group is associated with a range of endurance metrics. In response to a write command specifying a set of write data, the method further includes writing the write data to the non-volatile memory by writing in parallel subsets of the write data to the one or more die assigned to a single die group of the plurality of die groups.
US09442660B2	Selective space reclamation of data storage memory employing heat and relocation metrics Space of a data storage memory of a data storage memory system is reclaimed by determining heat metrics of data stored in the data storage memory; determining relocation metrics related to relocation of the data within the data storage memory; determining utility metrics of the data relating the heat metrics to the relocation metrics for the data; and making the data whose utility metric fails a utility metric threshold, available for space reclamation.
US09442658B2	Apparatuses and methods including selectively providing a single or separate chip select signals Apparatus and methods are disclosed herein, including those that operate to initialize registers of a first memory device and a second memory device of a single-rank memory module by providing separate chip select signals to separately select a first memory device and a second memory device. A method may further include, subsequent to sensing that the initializing is completed, for example, providing a single chip select signal to simultaneously select the first memory device and the second memory device.
US09442657B2	Memory system utilizing a connection condition of an interface to transmit data A memory system includes an interface, a storage, and a controller. The interface is configured to connect to a plurality of initiators. The storage is configured to store data. The controller is configured to refer to a connection condition of the interface and transmit data to be transmitted to an initiator being connected from the storage.
US09442655B2	Character input device, and method and program for inputting character In order to facilitate selection of an intended character from among a plurality of characters. a mobile phone includes a designated-position detecting portion (S01) for detecting a designated position. a moving direction detecting portion (S07) for detecting a moving direction of the detected position. a group selecting portion (S08), when the moving direction is detected, for selecting one of a plurality of character types into which the plurality of characters have been classified, on the basis of the moving direction, and a character selecting portion (S10, S15) for selecting one of at least one character classified in the selected character type.
US09442650B2	Systems and methods for dynamically modulating a user interface parameter using an input device The embodiments described herein provide devices and methods that facilitate improved input device performance. Specifically, the devices and methods provide an input device configured to determine positional and force information for input objects interacting with a sensing region. The system is configured to detect a variable force imparted to an input surface of the sensing region by at least one input object. The variable force dynamically modulates, within a modulation range, a user interface parameter. The dynamic modulation of the interface parameter is modified in response to an additional input object contacting the input surface.
US09442649B2	Optimal display and zoom of objects and text in a document An object is zoomed upon selection. A scaling factor is calculated for zooming the object based on current viewing properties of a document and properties of the object as well as the current size of the application window and device. The scaling factor to zoom the object is calculated such that after the object is zoomed, viewing the object is similar to a viewing experience for the rest of the document. Text of the document may be displayed to increase the readability of the document. For example, the text may be displayed such that each line of displayed text averages out to a predetermined number of characters (e.g. 50-75 characters) per line. A display size and width of an average character are determined and used to calculate how many columns of text to display within the display. When the zoom level of the text changes, the text is redisplayed.
US09442647B2	System and method for limiting interaction between a portable electronic device and a navigation system in a vehicle A method and system for limiting interaction between a portable electronic device and a navigation system in a vehicle. The method and system includes connecting one or more portable electronic devices to the navigation system. The method and system additionally includes determining the presence of one or more passengers within the vehicle. The method and system also includes setting an enabled state of a device destination pointer application stored on the one or more portable electronic devices based on the determination of the presence of one or more passengers within the vehicle. The method and system further includes controlling access to a device destination pointer user interface based on the enabled state of the device destination pointer application.
US09442645B2	Method and apparatus for locating playing progress of file A location of a slider on a bottom progress bar is monitored and a first locating result is obtained according to the location of the slider on the bottom progress bar. A total length of the file and a progress adjustment range of an upper layer progress bar is determined according to the first locating result. The first locating result is within the progress adjustment range of the upper layer progress bar, a location of a slider of the upper progress bar is monitored, and playing progress of the file is determined according to the location of the slider on the upper layer progress bar and the first locating result.
US09442636B2	Quick split mode Described herein are implementations of various technologies for a method and apparatus for displaying marine electronic data. In one implementation, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform various actions. In one implementation, the actions may include displaying a plurality of possible marine electronic data types to be displayed. A selection to display one of the plurality of possible marine electronic data types in the plurality of possible marine electronic data types may be received. A plurality of possible combinations of marine electronic data types to be displayed with the one of the plurality of possible marine electronic data types may be displayed. A selection from the plurality of possible combinations may then be received. A combination of marine electronic data that correspond to the selection from the plurality of possible combinations may be displayed.
US09442633B2	Sports swing mechanics training device A base unit of a sports swing mechanics training device receives from a swing detector a swing detection message indicating a swing motion by a player, and in response, displays a visual symbol for a predetermined period of time. When the device receives a user selection of a visual symbol from the player, it is compared with the displayed visual symbol. If they match, the device indicates a symbol match. Otherwise, the device indicates a symbol mismatch. The base unit is placed at a location where the displayed visual symbol would be visible to the player immediately following contact with a ball when the player's eyes are in a desired position during the swing motion. The device trains players to keep their heads and eyes correctly directed at the point of collision with the ball during and immediately following the ball collision.
US09442630B2	3D interactive menu A method for navigating an interactive menu including a first number of selectable items in a virtual environment. The method includes: providing a grid on a delimited portion of a plane in the virtual environment, the grid including locations equal to the first number; providing plural navigation directions within the grid and arranging each menu item on a respective location of the grid according to an item-grid arrangement, adjacencies along the navigation directions among grid items determine corresponding adjacency relationships; determining adjacency relationships along the navigation directions among items located on borders of the delimited portions; shooting a first item in close-up, enabling its selection; receiving a navigation command identifying a navigation direction along which a second selectable item is located, and altering the item-grid arrangement to relocate the items in different grid locations based on the received navigation command to shoot the second item in close-up.
US09442621B2	System, method and computer readable medium for determining user attention area from user interface events During an interaction with a web page, user interface events are recorded and augmented with page layout data from the document object model. An event stream is formed with the page layout data and communicated to an event server. The event server processes the event stream to determine a location at which the events were generated, which can be used to predict an area of a user's attention.
US09442618B2	Mobile device interface generator A mobile device and method includes receiving communications from an application server at a touchscreen based mobile device, wherein the communications are tailored for providing a user interface for a workstation computer system, translating the received communications at the mobile device into a mobile device user interface tailored for the mobile device touchscreen, receiving user interactions via the mobile device touchscreen, translating the received user interactions into corresponding workstation based user interactions, and transmitting the translated user interaction to the application server such that the application server interacts with the mobile device in the same manner as with workstations.
US09442617B2	Multi-channel sensing system and operating method thereof A multi-channel sensing system and operating method thereof are disclosed. The multi-channel sensing system includes a transceiver, emitting electrodes, and a receiving electrode. The transceiver includes a spreading code generator and a modulator. The spreading code generator generates a non-orthogonal spreading code through an invertible matrix and then the modulator modulates a data signal to spreading signals according to the non-orthogonal spreading code. The emitting electrodes, corresponding to sensing channels respectively, emit the spreading signals at the same time to pass through corresponding sensing channels respectively, and the spreading signals are converted into coupled signals by capacitive coupling. The receiving electrode receives the coupled signals and generates a received signal according to the coupled signals.
US09442615B2	Frequency shifting for simultaneous active matrix display update and in-cell capacitive touch Embodiments generally provide a method, input device, and processing system for frequency shifting for synchronized display updating and capacitive sensing. The method includes driving a display signal onto at least one display electrode for updating a display. The method further includes driving a first capacitive sensing signal having a first frequency onto at least one sensor electrode, wherein the first frequency is synchronized to the display signal. The method further includes driving a second capacitive sensing signal having a second frequency onto the at least one sensor electrode, wherein the first and second frequencies differ and a timing of the display signal is adjusted to maintain synchronization with the second frequency, and wherein each capacitive sensing signal and the display signal are driven in parallel for at least some period of time.
US09442614B2	Two-dimensional sensor arrays Two-dimensional sensor arrays incorporating piezoresistive materials are described.
US09442610B2	Noise cancellation technique for capacitive touchscreen controller using differential sensing A differential sensing scheme provides a means for detecting one or more touch events on a touch sensitive device in the presence of incident noise. Instead of sensing one touch sensitive channel, such as a row, column, or single touch sensor, multiple touch sensitive channels are sampled at a time. By sampling two nearby channels simultaneously and doing the measurement differentially, noise common to both channels is cancelled. The differential sensing scheme is implemented using simple switch-capacitor AFE circuitry. The originally sensed data on each individual channel is recovered free of common-mode noise. The recovered sensed data is used to determine the presence of one or more touch events and if present the location of each touch event on the touch sensitive device.
US09442607B2	Interactive input system and method An interactive input system comprises imaging devices with different viewpoints and having at least partially overlapping fields of view encompassing a region of interest. At least two of the imaging devices have different focal lengths. Processing structure processes image data acquired by the imaging devices to detect the existence of a pointer and determine the location of the pointer within the region of interest.
US09442606B2	Image based touch apparatus and control method thereof An image based touch apparatus and its control method are provided. The image based touch apparatus includes at least two region indicators, at least one image capturing apparatus, and a processing apparatus. Each region indicator includes indication units for indicating a touch surface and a touch sensor. The image capturing apparatus captures at least one image including the indication units. The processing apparatus is connected to the image capturing apparatus and configured for receiving the image. In the method, the touch surface is identified by the processing apparatus according to the indication units in the image. If a touch sensor detects an operating object touches the touch surface, the indication units of the region indicators generates a touch message. The processing apparatus determines the touch message according to the image and then determines a position of the operating object on the touch surface according to the image.
US09442605B2	Display device and display control system A display control system 100 includes: a display panel 220 that includes a pair of polarizing plates 250; a pattern layer 230 has formed therein a plurality of patterns 260; a light source 140 that emits light to be absorbed by the patterns 260; a reflector 240; an identification device 160 that reads the pattern 260 from the light which is emitted from the light source 140, is reflected on the reflector 240, and then passes through the display panel 220 and the pattern layer 230, and identifies a position, on the display surface, of the pattern 260; and a display controller 130 that controls display information in accordance with the position identified by the identification device 160. A transmittance of the pair of polarizing plates 250 at a peak wavelength of the light emitted from the light source 140 is not lower than 70%.
US09442604B2	Optical-touch calibration method and optical-touch panel for calibrating the deformation bias on the optical-touch panel An optical-touch calibration method and an optical-touch panel are disclosed herein. The optical-touch calibration method is suitable for the optical-touch panel including a projective light source and a line optical sensor. The optical-touch calibration method includes steps of: generating a projective beam by the projective light source, and the projective beam being reflected to the line optical sensor; utilizing the line optical sensor to measure the reflected projective beam for obtaining a reflected intensity curve relative to a linear coordinate axis; calculating an intensity difference between the reflected intensity curve and a reference intensity curve; and, adjusting an emitting power of the projective light source if the intensity difference exceeds a threshold value.
US09442603B2	Touch panel The present invention is directed to a touch panel. The touch panel includes an optical layer disposed on a bottom surface of at least one peripheral edge of a transparent substrate. A light shielding layer is disposed on at least a portion of a bottom surface of the optical layer. A touch sensing layer is disposed below the transparent substrate and the light shielding layer.
US09442601B2	Information processing apparatus and information processing method The present invention provides an information processing apparatus enables the operation such that the relation between the image displayed on the display unit and the operation of the user is close to the actual operation and an information processing method. The information processing apparatus includes a display control unit which displays an image at a display unit, a closeness value acquisition unit which acquires a closeness value regarding contact or closeness between an operation entity and a surface of the display unit, an area detection unit which performs a ternary process to the closeness value and detects a first area and a second area being different from the first area in accordance with the ternary-processed closeness value, and a centroid position calculation unit which calculates respective centroid positions of the first area and the second area.
US09442599B2	System and method for using signals resulting from signal transmission in a touch sensor In an embodiment, a system includes a controller coupled to a first set of electrodes. The first set of electrodes are substantially arranged along a first axis. The controller is configured to send a first set of signals through a transmission medium to a first set of electrodes and receive a second set of signals. The impedance of the transmission medium is different than the impedance of the first set of electrodes. The second set of signals include characteristics resulting from effects on the first set of signals from the first set of electrodes and the transmission medium. The controller is configured to change, in response to analyzing the second set of signals, one or more of the following: an impedance of the controller and a voltage associated with the controller.
US09442595B2	Touch detector and method of driving the same, display with touch detection function, and electronic unit having plural different drive electrodes A touch detector capable of achieving high position resolution while improving detection sensitivity to a touch is provided. The touch detector includes: a plurality of drive electrodes arranged side by side to extend in one direction; a detection electrode extending in a direction orthogonal to a direction where the drive electrodes extend, and arranged to form a capacitance at each of intersections with the drive electrodes; and a scanning drive section sequentially selecting a predetermined plural number of target electrodes from the plurality of drive electrodes in a time-divisional manner, and applying a touch detection drive signal with a plurality of pulse waveforms for detecting an external adjacent object to the selected target electrodes to perform a scanning drive. A scanning pitch in the scanning drive is smaller than the total width of the plural number of selected target electrodes.
US09442594B2	Resistance changing sensor A sensor is configured to experience resistance changes in response to an external interaction. The sensor comprises a first layer of a conductive material having a first electrode connected thereto; a second intermediate layer of a material having a resistance sensitive to said external interaction; and a third layer including a first set of fingers interdigitated with a second set of fingers. A second electrode is attached to the first set of fingers and a third electrode is attached to the second set of fingers. The second layer includes a quantum tunnelling composite and provides electrical conduction between the first layer and the third layer. In a preferred embodiment, the first electrode is connected to either one of said second electrode or said third electrode to complete a parallel connection. A method is described for constructing such a sensor.
US09442593B2	Touch screen panel integrated display device and display panel The present invention relates to touch screen panel integrated display panel and display device. The touch screen panel integrated display panel comprises: a common electrode to which a common voltage is applied in a display mode and a touch driving signal is applied in a touch mode; a gate line that transfers a scan signal to a pixel row; and a gate driving integrated circuit that is connected to the gate line and outputs the scan signal to the gate line, wherein the gate driving integrated circuit includes a pull-up transistor and a pull-down transistor for outputting the scan signal to the gate line in the display mode, and additionally includes a touch mode transistor for outputting the touch driving signal applied to the common electrode or a signal corresponding to the touch driving signal to the gate line in the touch mode.
US09442591B2	Electronic device, non-transitory storage medium, and control method for electronic device An electronic device includes a position detection module configured to detect a touch position on a display surface of a display module touched by a user; a position data output module configured to output first position data and second position data based on position data on the touch positions detected by the position detection module; and a display control module configured to control the display module based on the first position data or the second position data output from the position data output module. The first position data is position data obtained by averaging position data on the touch positions respectively detected at detection timings. The second position data is position data on the touch position detected at individual detection timing. The display control module selects the first position data or the second position data to control the display module, based on a predetermined selection condition.
US09442590B2	Display device and method for controlling the same A display device and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. The display device comprises an input unit configured to receive a command for generating an event and a fingerprint; a control unit configured to generate the event in accordance with the command and process the generated event; and a display unit configured to display a user menu, wherein the input unit includes a touch recognition layer for recognizing a touch input and a fingerprint recognition layer for recognizing a fingerprint, the touch recognition layer and the fingerprint recognition layer being formed in a single body with the display unit and receiving a command for generating an event of a temporary unlock fingerprint setting mode and a first fingerprint different from a registered fingerprint, the control unit implements the temporary unlock fingerprint setting mode in accordance with the command for generating the input event, sets the input first fingerprint to a temporary unlock fingerprint, and unlocks the display device if the temporary unlock fingerprint is input thereto, and the temporary unlock fingerprint is released in accordance with a predetermined condition.
US09442589B2	Touch panel and fabrication method thereof A touch panel having a display region and a periphery region is disclosed, wherein the touch panel comprises a cover substrate, a patterned mask layer formed on the cover substrate and the patterned mask layer includes a pattern region. The periphery region is defined by the patterned mask layer. A first electrode pattern having a plurality of first jumpers is disposed on the cover substrate and correspondingly to the display region, and a second electrode pattern having a plurality of second jumpers is disposed on the patterned mask layer and correspondingly to the pattern region, wherein the first jumpers and the second jumpers comprise different materials.
US09442588B2	Touch panel A touch panel includes a substrate, first sensing series, second sensing series interlaced with the first sensing series, first conductive lines, and second conductive lines. The substrate has an active region and a peripheral circuit region located outside the active region. The first sensing series and the second sensing series are located at the active region. No conductive line electrically connected to the second sensing series is configured between any of two ends of each of the second sensing series and a portion of an edge of the substrate adjacent to the end. The first conductive lines are located at the peripheral circuit region and electrically connected to the first sensing series. The second conductive lines are electrically connected to the second sensing series. The second conductive lines are extended from the inside of the active region to the peripheral circuit region.

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