最新美国发明专利第2016-10-18期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US09472639B2	Forming a liquid ejection head with through holes and a depression A method of manufacturing a substrate of a liquid ejection head including: forming a plurality of recesses in a silicon wafer; etching the silicon wafer with etchant to form a depression and a plurality of through holes formed from the plurality of the recesses in the depression; and manufacturing a plurality of substrates of the liquid ejection head from the silicon wafer by dividing the silicon wafer on the basis of through holes.
US09472636B2	Cost-effective gate replacement process The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes forming a first gate structure and a second gate structure over a substrate. The first and second gate structures each include a high-k dielectric layer located over the substrate, a capping layer located over the high-k dielectric layer, an N-type work function metal layer located over the capping layer, and a polysilicon layer located over the N-type work function metal layer. The method includes forming an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer over the substrate, the first gate structure, and the second gate structure. The method includes polishing the ILD layer until a surface of the ILD layer is substantially co-planar with surfaces of the first gate structure and the second gate structure. The method includes replacing portions of the second gate structure with a metal gate. A silicidation process is then performed to the semiconductor device.
US09472634B2	All around contact device and method of making the same A device is provided that comprises a first pillar disposed in a first region and overlying a base structure, and a second pillar disposed in a second region and overlying the base structure and being spaced apart from the first pillar by a device region. A bridge is disposed in the device region with a first end connected to the first pillar and a second end connected to the second pillar. The bridge includes a top, sides, and a bottom. The bridge is formed from one or more heterostructures with an undercut opening extending from the bottom to an underlying structure. A four-sided conductive contact wraps around and substantially surrounds the bridge around its top, its sides, and its bottom along at least a portion of its length between the first and second end.
US09472629B2	Gallium nitride semiconductor substrate with semiconductor film formed therein A method of fabricating a single crystal gallium nitride substrate the step of cutting an ingot of single crystal gallium nitride along predetermined planes to make one or more signal crystal gallium nitride substrates. The ingot of single crystal gallium nitride is grown by vapor phase epitaxy in a direction of a predetermined axis. Each predetermined plane is inclined to the predetermined axis. Each substrate has a minor polished primary surface. The primary surface has a first area and a second area. The first area is between an edge of the substrate and a line 3 millimeter away from the edge. The first area surrounds the second area. An qaxis perpendicular to the primary surface forms an off-angle with c-axis of the substrate. The off-angle takes a minimum value at a first position in the first area of the primary surface.
US09472628B2	Heterogeneous source drain region and extension region A semiconductor structure includes a source drain region of a first material that may fulfill contact resistance and doping requirements and an extension region of a second material with increased mobility and dopant concentration. A semiconductor device fabrication process includes forming a sacrificial dielectric portion upon a semiconductor substrate, forming a sacrificial gate stack upon the sacrificial dielectric portion, forming a gate spacer upon the sacrificial dielectric portion against the sacrificial gate, forming a source drain region of a first doped material upon the semiconductor substrate against the gate spacer, forming a replacement gate trench by removing the sacrificial gate stack, forming an extension trench by vertically removing the sacrificial dielectric portion accessible via the replacement gate trench and horizontally removing the sacrificial dielectric portion beneath the spacer, and forming an extension region of a second doped material within the extension trench.
US09472627B2	Semiconductor heterostructure and method of fabrication thereof A III-V compound semiconductor heterostructure grown on a substrate is described. The heterostructure includes a first semiconductor layer, wherein the first layer semiconductor layer is a compound semiconductor layer with (III) (V), wherein (III) represents one or more group-III elements and (V) represents one or more group-V elements, an intermediate layer on the first semiconductor layer, wherein the intermediate layer is a compound semiconductor layer with (III)x>1(V)2-x, and wherein the intermediate layer has a thickness of 10 monolayers or below, and a second semiconductor layer, wherein the first layer semiconductor layer is a compound semiconductor layer with (III)1(V)1.
US09472625B2	Operational Gallium Nitride devices A power circuit is described that includes a semiconductor body having a common substrate and a Gallium Nitride (GaN) based substrate. The GaN based substrate includes one or more GaN devices adjacent to a front side of the common substrate. The common substrate is electrically coupled to a node of the power circuit. The node of the power circuit is at a particular potential that is equal to, or more negative than, a potential at one or more load terminals of the one or more GaN devices.
US09472621B1	CMOS structures with selective tensile strained NFET fins and relaxed PFET fins A method of forming CMOS structures with selective tensile strained NFET fins and relaxed PFET fins includes performing a first, partial fin etch on a tensile strained silicon layer of a semiconductor substrate; selectively oxidizing bottom surfaces of the tensile strained silicon layer in a PFET region of the semiconductor substrate, thereby causing PFET silicon fins defined in the PFET region to become relaxed; and performing a second fin etch to define NFET silicon fins in an NFET region of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the NFET silicon fins remain tensile strained.
US09472617B2	Semiconductor device Provided is a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes an isolation region disposed in a semiconductor substrate and configured to define an active region. A gate electrode buried in the active region is disposed. A gate dielectric layer is disposed between the active region and the gate electrode. A first source/drain region and a second source/drain region are disposed in the active region on both sides of the gate electrodes. An interconnection structure intersecting with the gate electrode, overlapping the first and second source/drain regions, electrically connected with the first source/drain region, and spaced apart from the second source/drain region is disposed. A contact structure is disposed on the second source/drain region.
US09472615B2	Super junction LDMOS finFET devices A fin-shaped field-effect transistor (finFET) device is provided. The finFET device includes a substrate material with a top surface and a bottom surface. The finFET device also includes a well region formed in the substrate material. The well region may include a first type of dopant. The finFET device also includes a fin structure disposed on the top surface of the substrate material. A portion of the fin structure may include the first type of dopant. The finFET device also includes an oxide material disposed on the top surface of the substrate material and adjacent to the portion of the fin structure. The finFET device also includes a first epitaxial material disposed over a portion of the fin structure. The first epitaxial material may include a second type of dopant.
US09472614B2	Super junction semiconductor device There is provided a super junction semiconductor device. The super junction semiconductor device includes a cell area and a junction termination area disposed on a substrate, and a transition area disposed between the cell area and the junction termination area, and the cell area, the junction termination area, and the transition area each include one or more unit cells comprising a N-type pillar region and a P-type pillar region among a plurality of N-type pillar regions and a P-type pillar regions that are alternated between the cell area and the junction termination area.
US09472612B2	Integrated capacitor A method includes forming first, second, and third conductive leaf structures. The first conductive leaf structure includes a first conductive midrib and conductive veins. The second conductive leaf structure is electrically connected to the first conductive leaf structure, and includes a second conductive midrib, conductive veins extending toward the first conductive midrib, and conductive veins extending away from the first conductive midrib. The third conductive leaf structure includes a third conductive midrib between the first conductive midrib and the second conductive midrib, conductive veins extending toward the first conductive midrib, and conductive veins extending toward the second conductive midrib.
US09472610B2	Substrate A substrate having a dielectric film thereon, in which: the dielectric film comprises at least four stacked layers of a dielectric material; the stacked layers comprise compressive layers which are subject to a compressive stress, and tensile layers which are subject to a tensile stress; and there are at least two spaced apart tensile layers which are each adjacent to one or more compressive layers.
US09472607B2	Active matrix using hybrid integrated circuit and bipolar transistor A hybrid integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate having a base substrate, a semiconductor layer and a dielectric layer disposed therebetween, the base substrate being reduced in thickness. First devices are formed in the semiconductor layer, the first devices being connected to first metallizations on a first side of the dielectric layer. Second devices are formed in the base substrate, the second devices being connected to second metallizations formed on a second side of the dielectric layer opposite the first side. A through via connection is configured to connect the first metallizations to the second metallizations through the dielectric layer. Pixel circuits and methods are also disclosed.
US09472606B2	Organic electroluminescence display panel and organic electroluminescence display apparatus An organic electroluminescence (EL) display panel includes a cathode electrode formed above a bank and formed opposite to a plurality of anode electrodes, and a charge functional layer commonly formed for each of the organic light-emitting layers across a plurality of aperture areas formed in the bank. An end portion of the cathode electrode and an end portion of the charge functional layer are provided above the bank located adjacent to a boundary between a display region and a peripheral region of a display region.
US09472601B2	Light-emitting device and display device A technique of manufacturing a display device with high productivity is provided. In addition, a high-definition display device with high color purity is provided. By adjusting the optical path length between an electrode having a reflective property and a light-emitting layer by the central wavelength of a wavelength range of light passing through a color filter layer, the high-definition display device with high color purity is provided without performing selective deposition of light-emitting layers. In a light-emitting element, a plurality of light-emitting layers emitting light of different colors are stacked. The closer the light-emitting layer is to the electrode having a reflective property, the longer the wavelength of light emitted from the light-emitting layer is.
US09472598B2	Light emitting device comprising organic light-emitting elements electrically connected in series The present invention relates to an organic light-emitting element comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and an organic layer interposed between said first electrode and said second electrode, and to a light-emitting device including the same, wherein in the organic light-emitting element, a connection electrode for electrically connecting two or more elements in serial is formed on a non-light-emitting surface of said organic light-emitting element. The invention can electrically connect a plurality of organic light-emitting elements easily, and can be implemented as a large-scale lighting or display device or the like.
US09472597B2	Systems, apparatuses and methods for converting light wavelengths In one aspect, an apparatus for converting light having a first wavelength to a light having a second wavelength is provided. The apparatus includes an interband light detector configured to detect light with the first wavelength, a light emitting device configured to emit light with the second wavelength, and a connector connecting the light detector to the light emitting device. In another aspect, an apparatus includes an absorber layer configured to absorb light having a first wavelength, a barrier and trap layer adjacent the absorber layer, an injector layer adjacent the barrier and trap layer, and an emitting device configured to emit light having a second wavelength. In a further aspect, a method is provided and includes absorbing an input light having a first wavelength, converting the first wavelength to a second wavelength different in size than the first wavelength, and emitting an output light having the second wavelength.
US09472596B2	Metal line connection for improved RRAM reliability, semiconductor arrangement comprising the same, and manufacture thereof Some embodiments relate to an integrated circuit device including an array of memory cells disposed over a semiconductor substrate. An array of first metal lines are disposed at a first height over the substrate and are connected to the memory cells of the array. Each of the first metal lines has a first cross-sectional area. An array of second metal lines are disposed at a second height over the substrate and are connected to the memory cells of the array. Each of the second metal lines has a second cross-sectional area which is greater than the first cross-sectional area.
US09472595B1	Perpendicular MRAM with magnet The present invention is directed to a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) comprising an MRAM die having a front side that includes therein a plurality of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) memory elements and a back side; and a sheet of permanent magnet disposed in close proximity to the MRAM die with a sheet surface facing the front side or back side of the MRAM die. The sheet of permanent magnet has a permanent magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet surface facing the MRAM die and exerts a magnetic field that eliminate or minimize the offset field of the magnetic free layer. The MRAM die and the sheet of permanent magnet may be encapsulated by a package case. The MRAM may further comprise a soft magnetic shield disposed on a side of the MRAM die opposite the sheet of permanent magnet.
US09472593B2	Light sources utilizing segmented LEDs to compensate for manufacturing variations in the light output of individual segmented LEDs A light source and method for making the same are disclosed. The light source includes a plurality of Segmented LEDs connected in parallel to a power bus and a controller. The power bus accepts a variable number of Segmented LEDs. The controller receives AC power and provides a power signal on the power bus. Each Segmented LED is characterized by a driving voltage that is greater than 3 times the driving voltage of a conventional LED fabricated in the same material system as the Segmented LED. The number of Segmented LEDs in the light source is chosen to compensate for variations in the light output of individual Segmented LEDs introduced by the manufacturing process. In another aspect of the invention, the number of Segmented LEDs connected to the power bus can be altered after the light source is assembled.
US09472592B2	Imaging device, electronic apparatus, and method of manufacturing the imaging device having a reduced p-n junction capacity at one or more of a floating diffusion section, source region, or drain region An imaging device includes: a photodiode configured to perform photoelectric conversion and to generate electric charge in accordance with an amount of received light; a floating diffusion section configured to accumulate the electric charge generated in the photodiode; a reading circuit configured to output a pixel signal having a voltage in accordance with a level of the electric charge accumulated in the floating diffusion section, the reading circuit including one or a plurality of transistors each having a gate that is electrically connected to a wiring used for selecting a pixel; and an insulating section extending into part or whole of a bottom surface of the floating diffusion section, part or whole of bottom surfaces of source-drain regions in the one or the plurality of transistors, or both. The photodiode, the floating diffusion section, the reading circuit, and the insulating section are provided in a semiconductor layer.
US09472587B2	Storage transistor with optical isolation A storage transistor with a storage region is disposed in a semiconductor material. A gate electrode is disposed in a bottom side of an interlayer proximate to the storage region, and a dielectric layer is disposed between the storage region and the gate electrode. An optical isolation structure is disposed in the interlayer and the optical isolation structure extends from a top side of the interlayer to the gate electrode. The optical isolation structure is also adjoining a perimeter of the gate electrode and contacts the gate electrode. A capping layer is disposed proximate to the top side of the interlayer and the capping layer caps a volume encircled by the optical isolation structure.
US09472586B1	Light sensor having transparent substrate and through-substrate vias and a contiguous IR suppression filter Techniques are described to furnish an IR suppression filter that is formed on a glass substrate to a light sensor. In one or more implementations, a light sensor includes a substrate having a surface. One or more photodetectors are formed in the substrate and configured to detect light and provide a signal in response thereto. An IR suppression filter configured to block infrared light from reaching the surface is formed on a glass substrate. The light sensor also includes a plurality of color pass filters disposed over the surface. The color pass filters are configured to filter visible light to pass light in a limited spectrum of wavelengths to the one or more photodetectors. A buffer layer is disposed over the surface and configured to encapsulate the plurality of color pass filters and adhesion layer. The light sensor further includes through-silicon vias to provide electrical interconnections between different conductive layers.
US09472584B2	Phototransistor and semiconductor device A phototransistor includes a first emitter region, a first base region having at least a portion exposed to a light-receiving side, and a first collector region in this order from the light-receiving side in a depth direction. The first collector region includes a second collector region and a third collector region that is in contact with a downstream side of the second collector region in the depth direction and has a resistance lower than that of the second collector region. The phototransistor further includes a first region that is spaced away from the first base region at an outer side of the first base region on a light-receiving side surface thereof, the first region having a conductivity type opposite to that of the first collector region.
US09472581B2	Display device A display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a first insulation substrate; a thin film transistor disposed on the first insulation substrate; a pixel electrode coupled to the thin film transistor; a second insulation substrate facing the first insulation substrate; and a common electrode disposed on the second insulation substrate. The pixel electrode includes a first subpixel electrode that includes a first horizontal stem portion by which two different regions where arrangements of liquid crystal molecules are respectively different are divided, and a second subpixel electrode that includes a second horizontal stem portion by which two regions where the arrangements of the liquid crystal molecules are respectively different are divided and a cross-shaped stem portion by which four regions where the arrangements of the liquid crystal molecules are respectively different are divided.
US09472579B2	Array substrate with improved pad region An array substrate having a wiring of a pad region formed without an insulating film or without an insulating film and an organic film to reduce abnormal operations due to an increase in resistance caused by a contact margin at a high temperature, and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The array substrate includes: an insulating substrate including a pad region and a thin film transistor (TFT) formation region; a first electrode layer formed in the pad region of the substrate; and a second electrode formed on the first electrode layer in an overlapping manner.
US09472576B2	Structure and method to reduce crystal defects in epitaxial fin merge using nitride deposition A FinFET device includes a substrate with a buried insulator, a plurality of fins over the buried insulator, and a nitride material filing spaces between the plurality of fins. At least one sidewall of each of the plurality of fins remain uncovered by the nitride material. The nitride material may also not contact the bottom of the plurality of fins.
US09472575B2	Formation of strained fins in a finFET device In an aspect of the present invention, a field-effect transistor (FET) structure is formed. The FET structure comprises a plurality of fins formed on a semiconductor substrate, wherein the plurality of fins includes a set of fins that include a base portion that is comprised of relaxed silicon-germanium (SiGe) and an upper portion that is comprised of semiconductor material. In one aspect, a first set of one or more fins that include an upper portion comprised of a first semiconductor material. In another aspect, a second set of one or more fins that include an upper portion comprised of a second semiconductor material.
US09472573B2	Silicon-germanium fin formation Forming a set of semiconductor fins is disclosed. Forming the set of semiconductor fins can include forming a base structure including a silicon substrate, an insulator layer stacked on the silicon substrate, and a plurality of silicon semiconductor fins each stacked directly on the insulator layer. Forming the set of semiconductor fins can include depositing a first atomic layer of germanium atoms on a first set of semiconductor fins in the plurality of semiconductor fins and annealing the first atomic layer and the first set of semiconductor fins. Forming the set of semiconductor fins can include forming, from the annealing, a first set of silicon-germanium semiconductor fins.
US09472572B2	Fin field effect transistor (finFET) device including a set of merged fins formed adjacent a set of unmerged fins Approaches for simultaneously providing a set of merged and unmerged fins in a fin field effect transistor device (FinFET) are disclosed. In at least one approach, the FinFET device includes: a set of merged fins and a set of unmerged fins formed from a substrate, the set of unmerged fins adjacent the set of merged fins; and a planar block formed from the substrate, the planar block adjacent one of: the set of merged fins, and the set of unmerged fins. The FinFET device further includes an epitaxial material over each of the set of merged fins and each of the set of unmerged fins, wherein the epitaxial material merges together over the set of merged fins and remains unmerged over the set of unmerged fins. In at least one approach, the set of merged fins and the set of unmerged fins is formed using a sidewall image transfer process.
US09472569B2	Method of manufacturing a double-source semiconductor device A semiconductor device may include a first source layer, a first insulating layer located over the first source layer, and a first stacked structure located over the first insulating layer. The semiconductor device may include first channel layers passing through the first stacked structure and the first insulating layer. The semiconductor device may include a second source layer including a first region interposed between the first source layer and the first insulating layer and a second region interposed between the first channel layers and the first insulating layer.
US09472565B2	Non-volatile memory device A non-volatile memory device includes: a floating gate having a plurality of fingers; a first coupling unit including an active control gate which overlaps with the floating gate in a vertical direction; a second coupling unit including a plurality of control plugs which overlap with the floating gate in a horizontal direction; and a control unit which electrically connects the active control gate to the control plugs and controls a bias to be applied to the active control gate.
US09472563B2	Semiconductor device and fabrication method therefor A semiconductor device includes bit lines (12) that are provided in a semiconductor substrate (10) an ONO film (14) that is provided on the semiconductor substrate; word lines that are provided on the ONO film (14) and extend in a width direction of the bit lines (12); and a dummy layer (44) that extends in the width direction of the bit lines (12) and is provided in a bit-line contact region (40) having contact holes formed to connect the bit lines (12) with wiring layers (34). In accordance with the present invention, the proximity effect at the time of word line formation can be restrained, and the variation in the widths of the word lines can be made smaller, or current leakage between the bit lines and the semiconductor substrate can be restrained.
US09472561B2	Manufacturing method for semi-floating gate device A manufacturing method for a semi-floating gate device, mainly comprising a manufacturing method for a floating gate and a floating gate opening area, and the specific process thereof is: reserving a hard mask layer after a U-shaped groove is formed, growing a gate dielectric layer on a surface of the formed U-shaped groove, depositing and etching back a first layer of polysilicon to protect the gate dielectric layer, etching away the exposed gate dielectric layer and hard mask layer, then covering a formed structure to deposit a second layer of polysilicon, then etching a formed polysilicon layer by a photoetching process and an etching process so as to form a floating gate, and forming a floating gate opening area in a self-aligning way. The manufacturing method can simplify the existing manufacturing process for a semi-floating gate device, reduce the difficulty in manufacturing the semi-floating gate device with a U-shaped channel, and improve the yield of the semi-floating-gate device.
US09472555B1	Nanosheet CMOS with hybrid orientation A semiconductor structure is provided that includes a substrate comprising a first semiconductor material having a first crystallographic orientation and a first device region and a second device region. First vertically stacked and suspended nanosheets of semiconductor channel material of the first crystallographic orientation are located above the substrate and within the first device region. Second vertically stacked and suspended nanosheets of semiconductor channel material of a second crystallographic orientation are located above the substrate and within the second device region. In accordance with the present application, the second crystallographic orientation is different from the first crystallographic orientation.
US09472550B2	Adjusted fin width in integrated circuitry A method includes growing a plurality of parallel mandrels on a surface of a semiconductor substrate, each mandrel having at least two laterally opposite sidewalls and a predetermined width. The method further includes forming a first type of spacers on the sidewalls of the mandrels, wherein the first type of spacers between two adjacent mandrels are separated by a gap. The predetermined mandrel width is adjusted to close the gap between the adjacent first type of spacers to form a second type of spacers. The mandrels are removed to form a first type of fins from the first type of spacers, and to form a second type of fins from spacers between two adjacent mandrels. The second type of fins are wider than the first type of fins.
US09472548B2	Reverse conducting semiconductor device A reverse conducting semiconductor device includes a high-concentration anode layer and a barrier metal layer, the width of the high-concentration anode layer is set larger than the width of contact of the barrier metal layer and the high-concentration anode layer, thereby ensuring that the area of contact between the barrier metal layer and the high-concentration anode layer is constant.
US09472547B2	Semiconductor device A power element and a temperature sensing element are formed on the same semiconductor substrate, and one end of a PN junction of the temperature sensing element is connected to a ground potential (VSS) or a power supply potential (VDD) through an intermediation of a resistor. A sum of a potential difference between both ends of the PN junction and a potential difference between both ends of the resistor is used as a temperature detection signal. The temperature sensing element can thus be formed in a recess formed in the power element while avoiding latch-up.
US09472536B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device includes first, second, and third molded bodies. The first molded body covers a first light emitting element, a part of a lead electrically connected to the first light emitting element, a first light receiving element configured to detect a light emitted from the first light emitting element, and a part of a lead electrically connected to the first light receiving element with a first resin. The second molded body covers a second light emitting element, a part of a lead electrically connected to the second light emitting element, a second light receiving element configured to detect a light emitted from the second light emitting element, and a part of a lead electrically connected to the second light receiving element with the first resin. The third molded body molds the first and the second molded bodies as one body using a second resin.
US09472527B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof Surfaces of a semiconductor chip and a circuit board are made to face each other, and upper portions of stoppers of the circuit board are fit into regions between adjacent stoppers of rail grooves of the semiconductor chip, and upper portions of the stoppers of the semiconductor chip are fit into regions between the adjacent stoppers of rail grooves of the circuit board, whereby side surfaces of first terminals of the semiconductor chip and side surfaces of second terminals of the circuit board are electrically connected.
US09472521B2	Scheme for connector site spacing and resulting structures A system and method for preventing cracks in a passivation layer is provided. In an embodiment a contact pad has a first diameter and an opening through the passivation layer has a second diameter, wherein the first diameter is greater than the second diameter by a first distance of about 10 μm. In another embodiment, an underbump metallization is formed through the opening, and the underbump metallization has a third diameter that is greater than the first diameter by a second distance of about 5 μm. In yet another embodiment, a sum of the first distance and the second distance is greater than about 15 μm.
US09472519B2	Forming sacrificial composite materials for package-on-package architectures and structures formed thereby Methods of forming a microelectronic packaging structure are described. Those methods may include forming a solder paste comprising a sacrificial polymer on a substrate, curing the solder paste below a reflow temperature of the solder to form a solid composite hybrid bump on the conductive pads, forming a molding compound around the solid composite hybrid bump, and reflowing the hybrid bump, wherein the sacrificial polymer is substantially decomposed.
US09472514B2	Methods to fabricate a radio frequency integrated circuit To reduce radio frequency (RF) losses during operation of a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) module, the RFIC module is fabricated such that at least one of an edge of the wirebond pad on the copper trace and a sidewall of the copper trace is free from high-resistivity plating material. The unplated portion provides a path for the RF current to flow around the high-resistivity material, which reduces the RF signal loss associated with the high resistivity plating material.
US09472513B2	Transmission line for 3D integrated circuit A semiconductor transmission line substructure and methods of transmitting RF signals are described. The semiconductor transmission line substructure can include a substrate; a first signal line over the substrate; a first ground line over the substrate; and a second semiconductor substrate over the substrate. The first signal line, the first ground line and the second semiconductor substrate are each vertically spaced apart from one another and can be separated from one another by at least one electrically insulating layer.
US09472506B2	Registration mark formation during sidewall image transfer process Methods of forming a registration mark such as an alignment mark or overlay mark during formation of sub-lithographic structures are provided. Methods may include forming a plurality of mandrels over a hard mask over a semiconductor layer, each mandrel including a spacer adjacent thereto. At least one mandrel is selected of the plurality of mandrels and a mask is formed over the at least one selected mandrel. The plurality of mandrels are removed leaving the spacers, the mask preventing removal of the at least one selected mandrel. The mask is removed. A first etching patterns the sub-lithographic structures and the registration mark into the hard mask using the spacers as a pattern of the sub-lithographic structure and the at least one selected mandrel and adjacent spacer for the registration mark. A second etching forms the sub-lithographic structures in the semiconductor layer using the patterned hard mask and to form the registration mark in the semiconductor layer using the at least one selected mandrel and the patterned hard mask.
US09472504B2	Semiconductor having a high aspect ratio via The present disclosure provides various embodiments of a via structure and method of manufacturing same. In an example, a via structure includes a via having via sidewall surfaces defined by a semiconductor substrate. The via sidewall surfaces have a first portion and a second portion. A conductive layer is disposed in the via on the first portion of the via sidewall surfaces, and a dielectric layer is disposed on the second portion of the via sidewall surfaces. The dielectric layer is disposed between the second portion of the via sidewall surfaces and the conductive layer. In an example, the dielectric layer is an oxide layer.
US09472502B1	Cobalt interconnect techniques Some embodiments relate to a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit device. In this method a dielectric layer is formed over a substrate. The dielectric layer comprises an opening arranged within the dielectric layer. A first cobalt liner is formed along bottom and sidewall surfaces of the opening. A barrier liner is formed on exposed surfaces of the first cobalt liner. A bulk cobalt layer is formed in the opening and over the barrier liner to fill a remaining space of the opening.
US09472497B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor comprises a field effect transistor (FET) provided in a substrate, the FET including a plurality of gates, sources, and drains each extending in parallel along a longitudinal direction of the gates, the sources, and the drains; an upper electrode provided above the substrate with an insulating layer therebetween, the upper electrode having an opening where the FET is disposed, and a plurality of source extractions each connected to respective sources through via structures passing the insulating layer and to the upper electrode, the source extractions extending along the longitudinal direction.
US09472491B2	Semiconductor package with small gate clip and assembly method A method of manufacturing a semiconductor package having a small gate clip is disclosed. A first and second semiconductor chips, each of which includes a source electrode and a gate electrode at a top surface, are attached on two adjacent lead frame units of a lead frame such that the lead frame unit with the first chip formed thereon is rotated 180 degrees in relation to the other lead frame unit with the second semiconductor chip formed thereon. A first and second clip sets are mounted on the first and second semiconductor chips, wherein the first clip set is connected to the gate electrode of the first chip, the source electrode of the second chip, and their corresponding leads and the second clip set is connected to the gate electrode of the second chip, the source electrode of the first chip and their corresponding leads.
US09472483B2	Integrated circuit cooling apparatus A chip fabricated from a semiconductor material is disclosed, which may include active devices located below a first depth from the chip back side, and a structure to remove heat from the active devices to the chip back side. The structure may include thermally conductive partial vias (TCPVs), which may include a recess with a depth, from the chip back side towards the active devices less than the first depth. Each TCPV may include a barrier layer deposited within the recess and deposited upon the back side of the chip. Each TCPV may also include a thermally conductive layer deposited upon the barrier layer. The structure may also include through-silicon vias (TSVs) electrically connected to active devices, extending from the back side to an active device side of the chip to conductively remove heat from the active devices to the back side of the chip.
US09472481B2	Packages with stress-reducing structures and methods of forming same A chip includes a semiconductor substrate, an electrical connector over the semiconductor substrate, and a molding compound molding a lower part of the electrical connector therein. A top surface of the molding compound is lower than a top end of the electrical connector. A recess extends from the top surface of the molding compound into the molding compound.
US09472478B2	Die testing using top surface test pads Timely testing of die on wafer reduces the cost to manufacture ICs. This disclosure describes a die test structure and process to reduce test time by adding test pads on the top surface of the die. The added test pads allow a tester to probe and test more circuits within the die simultaneously. Also, the added test pads contribute to a reduction in the amount of test wiring overhead traditionally required to access and test circuits within a die, thus reducing die size.
US09472474B2	Methods for characterizing shallow semiconductor junctions The disclosed technology generally relates to methods of characterizing semiconductor materials, and more particularly to methods of characterizing shallow semiconductor junctions. In one aspect, the method of characterizing shallow semiconductor junctions comprises providing a substrate comprising a shallow junction formed at a first main surface, where the shallow junction is formed substantially parallel to the first main surface. The method additionally comprises providing a dielectric layer on the first main surface. The method additionally comprises iterating, at least twice, a combination of processes including providing a respective charge on a predetermined area of the dielectric layer via a charge applicator, and measuring a corresponding junction photovoltage for the predetermined area. The method further comprises deriving at least one of an average hole/electron mobility or a dose of active dopants in the substrate corresponding to the predetermined area, based on the respective charges and the corresponding junction photo voltages.
US09472468B2	Nanowire CMOS structure and formation methods A method includes growing a nanowire from a substrate, forming a sacrificial layer surrounding the nanowire, removing the nanowire from the sacrificial layer to form an opening in the sacrificial layer, and growing a replacement semiconductor nanowire in the opening.
US09472464B1	Methods to utilize merged spacers for use in fin generation in tapered IC devices Methods for processes to form and use merged spacers in fin generation and the resulting devices are disclosed. Embodiments include providing first and second mandrels separated from each other across adjacent cells on a Si layer; forming first and second dummy-spacers and third and fourth dummy-spacers on opposite sides of the first and second mandrels, respectively; removing, through a block-mask, the first and fourth dummy spacers and a portion of the second and third dummy-spacers; forming first spacers on each exposed side of the mandrels and in between the second and third dummy-spacers, forming a merged spacer; removing the mandrels; removing a section of the merged-spacer; forming second spacers on all exposed sides of the first spacers and the merged-spacer; removing the merged-spacer and the first spacers; removing exposed sections of the Si layer through the second spacers; and removing the second spacers to reveal Si fins.
US09472460B1	Uniform depth fin trench formation Methods for forming substantially uniform depth trenches and/or semiconductor fins from the trenches are disclosed. Embodiments of the method may include depositing a germanium including layer over a substrate, the substrate including a plurality of sacrificial semiconductor fins, each pair of sacrificial semiconductor fins separated by a sacrificial pillar. Germanium is diffused from the germanium including layer into the plurality of sacrificial semiconductor fins to a defined uniform depth. The germanium including layer is removed, and the plurality of sacrificial semiconductor fins are etched to the defined uniform depth and selective to the substrate, creating a plurality of trenches having a substantially uniform depth. The trenches can be used to epitaxial grow semiconductor fins having substantially uniform height.
US09472455B2	Methods of cross-coupling line segments on a wafer A method is provided for fabricating cross-coupled line segments on a wafer for use, for instance, in fabricating cross-coupled gates of two or more transistors. The fabricating includes: patterning a first line segment with a first side projection using a first mask; and patterning a second line segment with a second side projection using a second mask. The second line segment is offset from the first line segment, and the patterned second side projection overlies the patterned first side projection, and facilitates defining a cross-stitch segment connecting the first and second line segments. The method further includes selectively cutting the first and second line segments in defining the cross-coupled line segments from the first and second line segments and the cross-stitch segment.
US09472453B2	Systems and methods of forming a reduced capacitance device A method includes forming an electronic device structure including a substrate, an oxide layer, and a first low-k layer. The method also includes forming openings by patterning the oxide layer, filling the openings with a conductive material to form conductive structures within the openings, and removing the oxide layer using the first low-k layer as an etch stop layer. The conductive structures contact the first low-k layer. Removing the oxide layer includes performing a chemical vapor etch process with respect to the oxide layer to form an etch byproduct and removing the etch byproduct. The method includes forming a second low-k layer using a deposition process that causes the second low-k layer to define one or more cavities. Each cavity is defined between a first conductive structure and an adjacent conductive structure, the first and second conductive structures have a spacing therebetween that is smaller than a threshold distance.
US09472452B2	Semiconductor device and method of forming repassivation layer with reduced opening to contact pad of semiconductor die A semiconductor wafer has a plurality of first semiconductor die. A first conductive layer is formed over an active surface of the die. A first insulating layer is formed over the active surface and first conductive layer. A repassivation layer is formed over the first insulating layer and first conductive layer. A via is formed through the repassivation layer to the first conductive layer. The semiconductor wafer is singulated to separate the semiconductor die. The semiconductor die is mounted to a temporary carrier. An encapsulant is deposited over the semiconductor die and carrier. The carrier is removed. A second insulating layer is formed over the repassivation layer and encapsulant. A second conductive layer is formed over the repassivation layer and first conductive layer. A third insulating layer is formed over the second conductive layer and second insulating layer. An interconnect structure is formed over the second conductive layer.
US09472450B2	Graphene cap for copper interconnect structures Interconnect structures including a graphene cap located on exposed surfaces of a copper structure are provided. In some embodiments, the graphene cap is located only atop the uppermost surface of the copper structure, while in other embodiments the graphene cap is located along vertical sidewalls and atop the uppermost surface of the copper structure. The copper structure is located within a dielectric material.
US09472444B2	Wafer support device A wafer support device is provided. The wafer support device includes a plurality of support portions; and a bottom area located among the support portions, wherein the bottom area has a protective layer formed thereon. A method for processing a working surface of a wafer support device is also provided.
US09472440B2	Integrated circuit package strip insert assembly A plurality of inserts adapted are to be received in a plurality of holes in a support plate having a first surface adapted to engage a first surface of an integrated cicuirt IC package strip. The support plate has a plurality of holes in fluid communication with a vacuum source and are constructed from a first material having a first hardness. The plurality of inserts are constructed from a second material having a second hardness less than said first hardness.
US09472439B2	Reinforcing sheet and method for producing secondary mounted semiconductor device Provided are a reinforcing sheet which is capable of forming a secondary mounted semiconductor device excellent in impact resistance and which is capable of enhancing efficiency of a secondary mounting process; and a method for producing a secondary mounted semiconductor device using the reinforcing sheet. The present invention provides a reinforcing sheet for reinforcing a secondary mounted semiconductor device in which a primary mounted semiconductor device with a bump electrode formed on a first main surface is electrically connected to a wiring substrate through the bump electrode, wherein the reinforcing sheet includes a base material layer, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, and a thermosetting resin layer in this order, and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer has a breaking strength of 0.07 MPa or more, and a melt viscosity of 4000 Pa·s or less at 60 to 100° C.
US09472435B2	Tunable temperature controlled substrate support assembly Implementations described herein provide a substrate support assembly which enables both lateral and azimuthal tuning of the heat transfer between an electrostatic chuck and a heating assembly. The substrate support assembly comprises a body having a substrate support surface and a lower surface, one or more main resistive heaters disposed in the body, a plurality of spatially tunable heaters disposed in the body, and a spatially tunable heater controller coupled to the plurality of spatially tunable heaters, the spatially tunable heater controller configured to independently control an output one of the plurality of spatially tunable heaters relative to another of the plurality of spatially tunable heaters.
US09472434B2	Locally heated multi-zone substrate support Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an electrostatic chuck (ESC) having azimuthal temperature control. In one embodiment, the electrostatic chuck includes an insulating base, a dielectric layer disposed on the insulating base, the dielectric layer having a substrate supporting surface, an electrode assembly disposed between the insulating base and the substrate supporting surface, and a plurality of heating elements coupled to the insulating base, the heating elements azimuthally control a temperature profile across a substrate surface.
US09472433B2	Mounting port and mounting port opening/closing method A mounting port that allows an article to be relayed between a worker and a conveying apparatus or a processing device in a clean room includes a shutter that raises little or no dust and has a simple opening and closing mechanism. The mounting port includes an article mounting stand, an apparatus-side opening that allows a conveying apparatus or a processing device to pass an article to and from the mounting stand, a passageway-side opening that faces a worker passageway, shutters that are provided at positions to open and close the apparatus-side opening and includes arc-shaped plates or plates, and a swing mechanism that swings the shutters between a state in which the apparatus-side opening is opened and a state in which the apparatus-side opening is closed.
US09472432B1	Dedicated hot and cold end effectors for improved throughput Methods, systems and apparatuses for high throughput substrate transfer are provided. According to various embodiments, the methods and systems described use robots having dedicated end effectors for hot and cold wafers or other substrates). Throughput is increased by optimizing the transfer of both the hot and the cold wafers. Also described are wafer transfer apparatuses having end effectors configured for supporting either hot or cold wafers. In certain embodiments, dual arm robots having dedicated hot and cold wafer arms are provided. Also provided are methods of transferring substrates that to improve overall throughput. The methods involve transferring hot and cold substrates at different accelerations.
US09472429B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device An object is to suppress discharge due to static electricity generated by peeling, when an element formation layer including a semiconductor element is peeled from a substrate. Over the substrate, the release layer and the element formation layer are formed. The support base material which can be peeled later is fixed to the upper surface of the element formation layer. The element formation layer is transformed through the support base material, and peeling is generated at an interface between the element formation layer and the release layer. Peeling is performed while the liquid is being supplied so that the element formation layer and the release layer which appear sequentially by peeling are wetted with the liquid such as pure water. Electric charge generated on the surfaces of the element formation layer and the release layer can be diffused by the liquid, and discharge by peeling electrification can be eliminated.
US09472427B2	Semiconductor device and method of forming leadframe with notched fingers for stacking semiconductor die A semiconductor device has a leadframe with first and second opposing surfaces and a plurality of notched fingers. The leadframe is mounted to a carrier. A first semiconductor die is mounted over the carrier between the notched fingers. Conductive TSVs are formed through the first semiconductor die. A bond wire is formed between a first contact pad on the first semiconductor die and notched finger. The conductive TSV are electrically connected to the bond wires. An encapsulant is deposited over the first semiconductor die and notched fingers. Bumps are formed over the first surface of the leadframe. The carrier is removed and the leadframe is singulated. The leadframe and first semiconductor die is mounted to a substrate. A second semiconductor die is mounted to a second contact pad on the first semiconductor die. A third semiconductor die is mounted to the second surface of the leadframe.
US09472426B2	Packaging substrate and method for manufacturing same A method for manufacturing a packaging substrate includes: patterning a first photo-resisting layer having first openings on a copper foil layer to expose portions of the copper foil layer; patterning a removable second photo-resisting layer having second openings on the first photo-resisting layer to expose the first openings; filling copper into the first and second openings to form base portions and a first wiring layer; orderly forming a first dielectric layer and a second wiring layer on the first wiring layer; patterning a removable third photo-resisting layer comprising covering portions opposite to the base portions on the copper foil layer; and etching the copper foil layer to form protruding portions connected to and corresponding to the base portions to define a copper pillar bump, a size of the copper pillar bump gradually increasing from the protruding portions to the base portions.
US09472424B2	Substrate processing apparatus and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device The temperature of a substrate is elevated rapidly while improving the temperature uniformity of the substrate. The substrate is loaded into a process chamber, the loaded substrate is supported on a first substrate support unit, a gas is supplied to the process chamber, the temperature of the substrate supported on the first substrate support unit is elevated in a state of increasing the pressure in the process chamber to higher than the pressure during loading of the substrate or in a state of increasing the pressure in the process chamber to higher than the pressure during processing for the surface of the substrate, the substrate supported on the first substrate support unit is transferred to the second substrate support unit and supported thereon after lapse of a predetermined time, and the surface of substrate is processed while heating the substrate supported on the second substrate support unit.
US09472422B2	Semiconductor device structure and manufacturing methods A method for forming a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor structure which has a substrate and N sub-stack structures numbered from 1 to N, where N is an integer. Each sub-stack structure includes two sub-stacks, and a mask layer overlying the N sub-stack structures. The method also includes repeatedly removing a portion of the mask layer and removing exposed portions of the sub-stack structures to form a first stepped structure, and forming first spacers on sidewalls of the mask layer and the sub-stack structures in the stepped structure, each spacer covering a portion of the exposure portions of the sub-stack structures. The method further includes using the mask layer and the first spacers as masks to remove exposed portions of an upper sub-stack in the first stepped structure, and removing the mask layer and the spacers to form a second stepped structure.
US09472419B2	Method of patterning dopant films in high-K dielectrics in a soft mask integration scheme A method of fabricating advanced node field effect transistors using a replacement metal gate process. The method includes dopant a high-k dielectric directly or indirectly by using layers composed of multi-layer thin film stacks, or in other embodiments, by a single blocking layer. By taking advantage of unexpected etch selectivity of the multi-layer stack or the controlled etch process of a single layer stack, etch damage to the high-k may be avoided and work function metal thicknesses can be tightly controlled which in turn allows field effect transistors with low Tinv (inverse of gate capacitance) mismatch.
US09472409B2	Method of forming a metal pattern and method of manufacturing a display substrate A method of forming a metal pattern is disclosed. According to the method, a gate electrode and a pixel electrode are formed on a substrate. A metal layer is formed covering the gate electrode and the pixel electrode. A photo pattern is formed wherein a thickness of an area of the photo pattern that overlaps the gate electrode is smaller than a thickness of other areas of the photo pattern. The photo pattern is soft-baked. The photo pattern is exposed to light. The photo pattern is developed to expose a portion of the metal layer that overlaps the gate electrode. The exposed portion of the metal layer is removed to form a source electrode and a drain electrode, the source electrode and the drain electrode being spaced apart from each other with respect to the gate electrode.
US09472406B2	Metal semiconductor alloy contact resistance improvement Contact openings are formed into a dielectric material exposing a surface portion of a semiconductor substrate. A first transition metal liner including at least one first transition metal element, a second transition metal liner including at least one second transition metal element that is different from the at least one first transition metal element and a metal contact are sequentially formed within each contact opening. Following a planarization process, the structure is annealed forming metal semiconductor alloy contacts at the bottom of each contact opening. Each metal semiconductor alloy contact that is formed includes the at least one first transition metal element, the at least one second transition metal element and a semiconductor element.
US09472402B2	Methods and structures for protecting one area while processing another area on a chip Increased protection of areas of a chip are provided by both a mask structure of increased robustness in regard to semiconductor manufacturing processes or which can be removed with increased selectivity and controllability in regard to underlying materials, or both. Mask structures are provided which exhibit an interface of a chemical reaction, grain or material type which can be exploited to enhance either or both types of protection. Structures of such masks include TERA material which can be converted or hydrated and selectively etched using a mixture of hydrogen fluoride and a hygroscopic acid or organic solvent, and two layer structures of similar or dissimilar materials.
US09472400B2	Method for making epitaxial structure The disclosure relates to a method for making an epitaxial structure. A carbon nanotube film is placed on an epitaxial growth surface of a substrate. The carbon nanotube film defines a number of apertures so that part of the epitaxial growth surface is exposed from the apertures to form a first exposed part. A mask preform layer is deposited on the epitaxial growth surface to cover the carbon nanotube film. A thickness of the mask preform layer is smaller than a thickness of the carbon nanotube film so that a first part of the mask preform layer is deposited on surfaces of the carbon nanotube film and a second part of the mask preform layer is deposited on the first exposed part of the epitaxial growth surface. The carbon nanotube film is removed. An epitaxial layer is grown on the epitaxial growth surface.
US09472396B2	Plasma treated semiconductor dichalcogenide materials and devices therefrom A plasma-based processing method includes depositing a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) material onto a substrate. The TMDC material is plasma treated in an oxygen containing ambient to oxidize the TMDC material to form oxidized dielectric TMDC material. The oxidized dielectric TMDC material has a higher electrical resistivity as compared an electrical resistivity of the TMDC material before the plasma treating, typically >103 times greater.
US09472395B2	Semiconductor arrangement including buried anodic oxide and manufacturing method In accordance with a method of manufacturing a semiconductor arrangement, a first trench is formed into a semiconductor body from a first side. An anodic oxide structure is formed at a bottom side of the first trench by immersing the semiconductor body in an electrolyte and applying an anodizing voltage between the semiconductor body and an electrode in contact with the electrolyte.
US09472394B2	Method of forming silicon oxide film A method of forming a silicon oxide film includes forming a silicon film on a base, the base being a surface to be processed of an object to be processed, and forming a silicon oxide film on the base by oxidizing the silicon film. Between the forming a silicon film and the forming a silicon oxide film, exposing the object to be processed having the silicon film formed thereon to an atmosphere containing at least an oxidizing component is performed.
US09472390B2	Tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry with non-uniform sampling A method and apparatus are disclosed for parallel all-mass tandem mass spectrometry employing multi-reflecting time-of-flight analyzer for both MS stages, preferably arranged within the same analyzer to secure ultra-high resolution. Sensitivity and speed of TOF-TOF tandem are enhanced by non-redundant multiplexing based on signal sparseness and on avoiding repetitive signal overlaps at multiple repetitions of true fragment signals. Non-redundant matrices of gate and delay timing are constructed by extending orthogonal Latin square matrices. The method is generalized for multiplexing of any multiple repetitive signal sources being sparse either spectrally, or spatially, or in time.
US09472388B2	Mass dependent automatic gain control for mass spectrometer Systems and methods for automatic gain control in mass spectrometers are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a mass spectrometer, comprising a lens configured to receive a supply of ions, and a mass analyzer. The mass analyzer may include an ion trap for trapping the supplied ions. The mass analyzer may also include an ion detector for detecting ions that exit the ion trap. The lens may focus the ions non-uniformly based on mass of the ions to compensate for space charge effects reflected in a measurement output of the mass spectrometer.
US09472386B2	Chromatograph mass spectrometry data processing apparatus Even when only mass spectra wherein the reproducibility of peak intensities is low are obtained in a mass spectrometry apparatus using, for example, a MALDI ion source, the correction of shifts in retention time using TICs for a plurality of specimens is performed with good precision. For each mass spectrum, variable scaling is executed which combines such first scaling as to equalize the extent of variations in signal intensity values in one mass spectrum, among different mass spectra, and second scaling for performing weighting according to relative variations in signal intensity values for each mass spectrum (S3). The signal intensity values after the scaling are added to obtain a total signal intensity value for one measurement time point (S4). From a plurality of total signal intensity values thus obtained, a TIC is created (S6). Using these TICs, RT alignment is executed (S8). Thus, the similarity in TIC waveforms increases, and RT alignment can be suitably performed.
US09472381B2	Plasma reactor for abatement of hazardous material A plasma reactor for abating hazardous materials included in process gases while being installed on an exhaust path of the process gases toward a vacuum pump is provided. The plasma reactor includes an insulator having a pipe shape through which process gases pass, a first ground electrode connected to a front end of the insulator facing the process chamber, a second ground electrode connected to a rear end of the insulator and provided with a facing part that faces a center of the inside of the insulator along the moving direction of process gases, and a driving electrode fixed to an external circumferential surface of the insulator and connected to a power supply applying an AC or RF voltage.
US09472377B2	Method and apparatus for characterizing metal oxide reduction Method and apparatus for characterizing metal oxide reduction using metal oxide films formed in an anneal chamber are disclosed. Oxygen is provided into an anneal chamber. A substrate including a metal seed layer is exposed to the oxygen and exposed to a heated substrate support in the anneal chamber to form a metal oxide of the metal seed layer. The oxidized substrate can be stored for later use or transferred to a processing chamber for reducing the metal oxide to metal. The oxidized substrates formed in this manner provide metal oxides that are repeatable, uniform, and stable. The oxidized substrate is exposed to a reducing treatment under conditions that reduce the metal oxide to metal in the form of a film integrated with the metal seed layer.
US09472376B2	Scanning electron microscope An object of the invention is to provide a scanning electron microscope which forms an electric field to lift up, highly efficiently, electrons discharged from a hole bottom or the like even if a sample surface is an electrically conductive material. To achieve the above object, according to the invention, a scanning electron microscope including a deflector which deflects a scanning position of an electron beam, and a sample stage for loading a sample thereon, is proposed. The scanning electron microscope includes a control device which controls the deflector or the sample stage in such a way that before scanning a beam on a measurement target pattern, a lower layer pattern situated in a lower layer of the measurement target pattern undergoes beam irradiation on another pattern situated in the lower layer.
US09472373B1	Beam separator device, charged particle beam device and methods of operating thereof A beam separator device (200) is described. The beam separator device (200) includes a first deflector (112) providing a first magnetic deflection field (B1) for deflecting a charged particle beam (101) propagating along a beam entrance axis (A1) by a first deflection angle (α1); a second deflector (114) arranged downstream from the first deflector (112) providing a second magnetic deflection field (B2) for deflecting the charged particle beam by a second deflection angle (α2) in the direction of an intermediate beam axis (A2), wherein the second deflector (114) is configured for deflecting the charged particle beam (102) re-entering the beam separator device (200) along the intermediate beam axis (A2) by a third deflection angle (α3); a third deflector (212) arranged downstream from the second deflector (114) providing a third magnetic deflection field (B2) for deflecting the charged particle beam (102) by a fourth deflection angle (α4) in the direction of a beam exit axis (A3); a first rotation-free lens to be arranged at a first crossover (X1) of the charged particle beam between the first deflector (112) and the second deflector (114) for at least partially compensating for a dispersion introduced by at least one of the first deflector and the second deflector; and a second rotation-free lens to be arranged at a second crossover (X2) of the charged particle beam between the second deflector (114) and the third deflector (212) for at least partially compensating for a dispersion introduced by at least one of the second deflector and the third deflector.
US09472372B2	Charged particle beam writing apparatus and charged particle beam writing method A charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a stage configured to mount a sample placed thereon; an electron optical column including a charged particle gun and deflector, wherein the charged particle gun is configured to emit a charged particle beam, and the deflector includes a plurality of deflecting electrodes configured to control a path of the charged particle beam; an ozone introducing mechanism configured to introduce ozone into the electron optical column; a first voltage supply unit configured to apply a deflection voltage to the plurality of deflecting electrodes to deflect the charged particle beam; and a second voltage supply unit configured to apply an identical negative DC voltage to the plurality of deflecting electrodes, wherein a negative voltage in which the deflection voltage and the negative DC voltage are added is applied to the plurality of deflecting electrodes while the sample is irradiated by the charged particle beam.
US09472364B2	Reflowable circuit protection device A circuit protection device includes a base assembly, a spring on top of the base, a conductive terminal that fits over the base and spring, and a cap that first over the base, spring and terminal. The base includes latches on the front side of the base. The conductive terminal includes a first end on the front side of the base and a second end on a rear side of the base that is opposite to the front side. The cap includes a first protrusion extending downward from the cap above one of the latches and a second protrusion extending downward from the cap above the other latch. The circuit protection device also includes a means for activating the circuit protection device after reflow in response to a force applied to the cap in a first direction defined from a top of the cap towards the base.
US09472359B2	Trip latch assemblies for circuit breakers and related circuit breakers Circuit breakers that include and/or a trip latch assembly that is configured to maintain open and closed energy status of the breaker. The trip latch assembly can include: a first stop cam held on a cam shaft; a second stop cam held on the cam shaft axially spaced apart from the first stop cam; a drive cam held on the cam shaft; a trip-open latch held on a trip latch shaft, (typically above) in cooperating alignment with the first stop cam; a trip-close latch held on the trip latch shaft above and in cooperating alignment with the second stop cam; a follower residing below and in communication with the drive cam; and a linkage attached to the follower and to a main shaft to open and close the breaker responsive to the position of the drive cam.
US09472352B2	Photoelectric conversion element A photoelectric conversion element includes a photoanode including a semiconductor layer and dye molecules located on the semiconductor layer; a counter electrode facing the photoanode; and an electrolyte medium located between the photoanode and the counter electrode, wherein each of the dye molecules is represented by a general formula [I] below where R1 and R2 each independently represent an alkyl group having 8 or more carbon atoms; R9 represents an alkylene group or an aralkylene group; and Y2 represents an acidic group.
US09472350B2	Solid electrolytic capacitor containing a multi-layered adhesion coating A solid electrolytic capacitor that contains an anode body, dielectric located over and/or within the anode body, an adhesion coating overlying the dielectric, and a solid electrolyte overlying the dielectric and adhesion coating that contains a conductive polymer. The adhesion coating is multi-layered and employs a resinous layer in combination with a discontinuous layer containing a plurality of discrete nanoprojections of a manganese oxide (e.g., manganese dioxide).
US09472347B2	Variable vacuum capacitor A variable vacuum capacitor includes two pairs of electrodes ganged together in series such that no moving parts are required to connect electrically to any static pans. Two sets, or gangs, of movable electrodes are connected mechanically and electrically together such that they move together and such that they require no electrical connection to any other part of the device. The ganged arrangement means that the device can be constructed with a smaller diameter, but without significantly increasing the overall length of the device.
US09472343B2	Multilayer ceramic capacitor and board having the same A multilayer ceramic capacitor may include: a ceramic body; first and second external electrodes disposed on a mounting surface of the ceramic body; third and fourth external electrodes disposed on a surface of the ceramic body opposing the mounting surface; a first active layer including first and second internal electrodes alternately exposed through the mounting surface of the ceramic body and the surface of the ceramic body opposing the mounting surface and connected to the first and third external electrodes, respectively; a second active layer including third and fourth internal electrodes alternately exposed through the mounting surface of the ceramic body and the surface of the ceramic body opposing the mounting surface and connected to the second and fourth external electrodes, respectively; and an intermittent part disposed on the surface of the ceramic body opposing the mounting surface and connecting the third and fourth external electrodes to each other.
US09472338B2	Wireless power transfer system coil arrangements and method of operation This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for wireless power transfer and particularly wireless power transfer to remote systems such as electric vehicles. In one aspect the disclosure provides for an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting power. The apparatus includes a first conductive structure configured to generate a first magnetic field in response to receiving a first time-varying signal from a power source. The apparatus includes a second conductive structure configured to generate a second magnetic field in response to receiving a second time-varying signal from the power source. The first and second structures are positioned to maintain a substantial absence of mutual coupling between the first and second magnetic fields.
US09472337B2	Electrostatic shield for a transformer An electrostatic shield for controlling the electrostatic field between a high voltage conductor and a low voltage conductor in an instrument transformer is provided. The instrument transformer has a current transformer and a voltage transformer. The current transformer has a split core which includes a first core segment and a second core segment. When the first core segment adjoins the second core segment, a current transformer is formed, having a core formed from the first and second core segments. The high voltage conductor runs between the first and second core segments of the current transformer. The first core segment is encapsulated in a polymer resin and when encapsulated, forms a first encasement. The second core segment has a low voltage winding mounted thereon. The electrostatic shield is disposed between the low voltage winding and the high voltage conductor. A second encasement is formed by encapsulating the electrostatic shield, low voltage winding and second core segment in a polymer resin.
US09472332B2	Coil substrate, method of manufacturing the same, and inductor A coil substrate includes a plurality of structural bodies, each of which comprises a first insulating layer, a wiring formed on the first insulating layer and configured to serve as a part of a spiral coil, and a second insulating layer formed on the first insulating layer and configured to cover the wiring. The plurality of structural bodies are stacked via an adhesion layer. The spiral coil is formed by series-connecting the wirings of adjacent ones of the plurality of structural bodies.
US09472330B2	High speed solenoid There is provided a high speed solenoid having enhanced response characteristics. The high speed solenoid includes: a movable shaft linearly movable in an axial direction; a movable coil unit coupled to the movable shaft; and a magnetic field forming unit forming a magnetic field in a direction perpendicular with respect to that of a current flowing in the movable coil unit, wherein when a current is applied to the movable coil unit, the movable coil unit is moved by a magnetic field formed by the magnetic field forming unit to move the movable shaft. According to the high speed solenoid, the weight of a moving part is significantly reduced, and since an electrical time constant is small, a response speed of the solenoid may be enhanced.
US09472328B2	Iron-based soft magnetic powder for dust core use, manufacturing method thereof, and dust core Disclosed is an iron-based soft magnetic powder for dust core use, which includes an iron-based soft magnetic matrix powder and a phosphate conversion coating on a surface of the matrix powder. The phosphate conversion coating contains nickel element and has an aluminum content of equal to or less than that in the matrix powder. The iron-based soft magnetic powder has such excellent heat resistance as to maintain electrical insulation at satisfactory level even after subjected to a high-temperature heat treatment.
US09472327B1	Hollow core arrester strength membrane The disclosed concept relates to hollow core arrester membranes generally and, in particular, to membranes that include a pultruded tube composed of fibers and resin, and one or more wrap layers composed of fibers and resin in the form of a mat or fabric. The one or more wrap layers are applied to the pultruded tube to form a wrapped, pultruded tube, which is over molded with a polymer enclosure.
US09472322B2	Electrical cable with optical fiber An electrical cable includes a cable jacket extending a length and having an internal passageway that extends along the length of the cable jacket. Twisted pairs of insulated electrical conductors extend within the internal passageway along the length of the cable jacket. Each twisted pair includes two insulated conductors twisted together in a helical manner. At least two optical fibers extend within the internal passageway along the length of the cable jacket. The optical fibers are independently held within the internal passageway of the cable jacket relative to each other.
US09472319B1	Composite cable A composite cable having, on the inside of a sheath, a tube and a plurality of cables. When said composite cable is suspended in a hoop shape with the entire composite cable as a cable to be tested, if the maximum value for the inner diameter of said hoop is measured as D1 and the inner diameter of the hoop at a position 100 mm from the top edge of the hoop when the hoop is subjected to a load of 1 kg is measured as D2, the condition D1−D2>70 mm is satisfied. The tube partially or entirely includes a layer made from porous polytetrafluoroethylene, and if the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the layer of the tube are respectively defined as (D) and (d), the condition (D−d)/D falls within the range of 0.27 to 0.75.
US09472313B2	Reflective optical components for lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method A reflective optical component is configured to reflect EUV radiation. The reflective optical component has a reflective layer with a bimetal cap layer of differing first and second metals selected to ensure that the outer surface of the cap layer is substantially unreactive or non-adsorptive to sulfur. The bimetal cap layer may be an alloy of the two metals or may consist of a base layer of the first metal deposited on the reflective layer and a surface layer of the second metal on the base layer. The interaction of the two metals may lead to modification of the bonding energy to the outer face of the cap layer of sulfur-containing molecules such as SO2 so that sulfur adsorption, which leads to loss of reflectivity, is reduced or eliminated.
US09472309B1	Machine-replaceable plasma-facing tile for fusion power reactor environments An apparatus and method are disclosed for machine-replaceable plasma-facing tiles for fusion-power reactor environments. The apparatus and method involve a tile that is fish-scale shaped, and a tile support tube that is attached to the back portion of the tile. The tile support tube includes at least one coolant channel and at least one guard vacuum channel. In one or more embodiments, the method for removing the tile comprises providing a tile that is installed in a manifold channel of a first wall of a fusion power reactor, rotating the tile such that it is in an install/removal orientation, inserting two tines of a removal tool between the outer edges of the tile and the first wall of the fusion power reactor, rotating the removal tool such that the two tines grasp the tile support tube, and lifting the tile away from the wall with the removal tool.
US09472307B1	Malfunction control for an EEPROM type memory device A method can be used for checking the operation of a device of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory type powered by a power supply voltage and associated with a power on reset circuit. The method includes implementation of at least one pilot operation corresponding to a phase of operation of the device that is identified as a phase that is inclined to malfunction in the event of a drop in the power supply voltage below a given value, execution of the at least one pilot operation during the operation of the memory device, and analysis of the result of the pilot operation so as to detect any malfunction not prevented by the reset circuit.
US09472306B2	Semiconductor device and its quality management method A semiconductor device capable of easily and properly detecting a defective element unit(s) and a quality management method for the semiconductor device are suggested. A semiconducting device simulating interactions between nodes in an interaction model is equipped with a quality management unit for managing the quality of each element unit provided corresponding to each node, wherein the quality management unit executes a specified quality test of each element unit, compares test results of the quality test with pre-given results to be obtained from the quality test, and detects a defective memory cell(s) and a defective element unit(s) based on the comparison results.
US09472301B2	Dielectric-based memory cells having multi-level one-time programmable and bi-level rewriteable operating modes and methods of forming the same A method of programming a memory cell is provided. The memory cell includes a memory element having a first conductive material layer, a first dielectric material layer above the first conductive material layer, a second conductive material layer above the first dielectric material layer, a second dielectric material layer above the second conductive material layer, and a third conductive material layer above the second dielectric material layer. One or both of the first and second conductive material layers comprises a stack of a metal material layer and a highly doped semiconductor material layer. The memory cell has a first memory state upon fabrication corresponding to a first read current. The method includes applying a first programming pulse to the memory cell with a first current limit. The first programming pulse programs the memory cell to a second memory state that corresponds to a second read current greater than the first read current.
US09472297B2	Semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell part including a main memory unit and a redundancy memory unit, a page buffer circuit including a plurality of page buffer groups and reading data stored in the memory cell part, and a sensing circuit including a plurality of sense amplifiers corresponding to the plurality of page buffer groups, respectively, and suitable for sensing the read data, wherein the plurality of sense amplifiers perform data sensing operations in parallel in order to sense the read data.
US09472296B2	Semiconductor memory device including circuits with data holding capability and bus for data transmission A semiconductor memory device includes a sense amplifier, and the sense amplifier includes a bus, first and second latch circuits, and a third transistor. The first latch circuit includes a first transistor connected to the bus, and the second latch circuit includes a second transistor connected to the bus. When data is transmitted from the first latch circuit to the second latch circuit, a third transistor is switched on to precharge the bus by applying a first voltage that is lower than a power source voltage of the first and second latch circuits to a gate of the third transistor. Thereafter, second and third voltages that are lower than the power source voltage are applied to gates of first and second transistors, respectively.
US09472292B1	Semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device includes a memory unit including a first memory block and a second memory block, a power supply unit suitable for applying a plurality of operating voltages to one of first global lines or second global lines, a switching circuit suitable for switching the first global lines and first internal global lines in response to a first control signal and switching the second global lines and second internal global lines in response to a second control signal, and a pass circuit suitable for electrically connecting the first internal global lines to word lines and selection lines of the first memory block and electrically connecting the second internal global lines to word lines and selection lines of the second memory block in response to a block selection signal.
US09472291B2	Semiconductor memory device and method of operating the same A semiconductor memory device includes a memory string and a peripheral circuit. The memory string has a pipe cell, a plurality of memory cells, and at least one channel layer having a three-dimensional U-shaped structure. The peripheral circuit is configured to perform an erase operation on the pipe cell. A method of operating the semiconductor memory device includes selecting the memory string and performing the erase operation on the pipe cell.
US09472289B2	Semiconductor device In order to reduce a chip area of a semiconductor device having a non-volatile memory, a configuration is adopted, in which a length in a second direction of a capacity electrode of an element for writing/erasing data is made smaller than both a length in the second direction of a gate electrode of an element for reading data formed by part of the same floating electrode and a length in the second direction of a capacity electrode of a capacitive element. Herein, by recessing, of the side surfaces of the capacity electrode of the element for writing/erasing data, the side surface on the side opposite to the capacity electrode of the other element for writing/erasing data adjacent to the former element for writing/erasing data, a length in the second direction of an active region where the element for writing/erasing data is arranged is reduced.
US09472285B2	Test partitioning for a non-volatile memory Systems and methods are provided for testing a non-volatile memory, such as a flash memory. The non-volatile memory may be virtually partitioned into a test region and a general purpose region. A test application may be stored in the general purpose region, and the test application can be executed to run a test of the memory locations in the test region. The results of the test may be stored in the general purpose region. At the completion of the test, the test results may be provided from the general purpose region and displayed to a user. The virtual partitions may be removed prior to shipping the electronic device for distribution.
US09472283B2	Memory device having resistance change element and method of controlling the same According to one embodiment, a memory device includes a semiconductor layer connected between a first conductive line and one end of a third conductive line, resistance change elements connected between second conductive lines and the third conductive line respectively, a select FET having a select gate electrode, and using the semiconductor layer as a channel, and a control circuit executing a write/erase of at least one of the resistance change elements, and executing a recovering operation which adjusts a threshold voltage shift of the select FET after the write/erase.
US09472279B2	Memory cell dynamic grouping using write detection A memory system and dynamic memory cell programming process thereof is disclosed. The dynamic programming processes comprises the processes of: (a) determining a concurrent-programmable bit number in accordance with a current budget limit; (b) identifying, with a memory controller, a memory cell in a plurality of memory cells in need of programming; (c) performing programming operation on at least one of the memory cells in need of programming; (d) detecting, with a write-detection unit, an programming operation status of the memory cell being programmed and correspondingly generating a program completion indication; and (e) triggering programming operation to a subsequent one of the memory cells according to the program completion indication from the write-detection unit.
US09472278B2	Voltage generator, oscillation device and operation method A voltage generator and an oscillation device, and an operation method thereof are disclosed. The oscillation device includes a non-volatile memory, the voltage generator and a voltage-controlled oscillation (VCO) circuit. The voltage generator uses the non-volatile resistance provided by a non-volatile memory to generate a bias voltage. The VCO circuit is coupled to the voltage generator so as to generate a corresponding oscillation frequency based on the bias voltage.
US09472274B1	Refresh of nonvolatile memory cells and reference cells with resistance drift Resistance drift can be addressed by refreshing the nonvolatile memory cells and reference cells. Different approaches include performing the refresh upon a program operation, and upon satisfaction of a condition after the program operation. Refreshes are performed on a reference resistance stored in a reference cell that can be compared by a sense amplifier to the resistance stored in a memory cell. In one approach, upon programming the first memory cell, a stored refresh status is updated to indicate that the first resistance of the first memory cell and the first reference resistance of the first reference cell are to be refreshed upon satisfaction of a condition. In another approach, upon programming the first memory cell, the first reference cell is programmed.
US09472273B2	Method and apparatus for decoding memory A thin-film memory may include a thin-film transistor-free address decoder in conjunction with thin-film memory elements to yield an all-thin-film memory. Such a thin-film memory excludes all single-crystal electronic devices and may be formed, for example, on a low-cost substrate, such as fiberglass, glass or ceramic. The memory may be configured for operation with an external memory controller.
US09472266B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device may include pad blocks configured for receiving and outputting data. The semiconductor device may also include input/output driving blocks configured to transfer data received from global input/output lines to the pad blocks in response to a read operation, and transfer data from the pad blocks to the global input/output lines in response to a write operation. The input/output driving blocks are disposed in a peripheral region and control a width of the data.
US09472264B2	Semiconductor memory device having sense amplifier An apparatus includes a memory cell, a bit line coupled to the memory cell, and a sense amplifier configured to amplify a data signal on the bit line read out from the memory cell. The sense amplifier is operated in a first mode with a first power source voltage difference and operated in a second mode with a second power source voltage difference smaller than the first power source voltage difference.
US09472262B2	Memory controller A memory controller component includes transmit circuitry and adjusting circuitry. The transmit circuitry transmits a clock signal and write data to a DRAM, the write data to be sampled by the DRAM using a timing signal. The adjusting circuitry adjusts transmit timing of the write data and of the timing signal such that an edge transition of the timing signal is aligned with an edge transition of the clock signal at the DRAM.
US09472261B1	Systems and methods to refresh DRAM based on temperature and based on calibration data A system and method of refreshing dynamic random access memory (DRAM) are disclosed. A device includes a DRAM, a bus, and a system-on-chip (SOC) coupled via the bus to the DRAM. The SOC is configured to refresh the DRAM at a particular refresh rate based on a temperature of the DRAM and based on calibration data determined based on one or more calibration tests performed while the SOC is coupled to the DRAM.
US09472254B2	Method and apparatus for timing adjustment A strobe signal from a memory is delayed through delay circuits of a strobe delay selection section, thus obtaining a plurality of delayed strobe signals. A strobe latch section produces check data in synchronism with each of the delayed strobe signals, and a system latch section latches, with a system clock, check data latched by the strobe latch section. Based on a comparison by an expected value comparison section and a determination by a delay determination section, the optimal strobe signal with the optimal delay is selected from among the delayed strobe signals produced in the strobe delay selection section. Then, data from the memory is delayed through delay circuits in a data delay selection section, thus obtaining a plurality of delayed data, and the optimal data with the optimal delay is selected from among the plurality of delayed data based on the comparison by the expected value comparison section and the determination by the delay determination section.
US09472251B2	Semiconductor device having dummy cell region that are symmetrically disposed about peripheral region A semiconductor device includes a plurality of memory cell region regions with each memory cell region region having a plurality of normal memory cell regions, a dummy memory cell region disposed at one side of the plurality of normal memory cell regions, and another dummy memory cell region disposed at another side of the plurality of normal memory cell regions. The semiconductor device further includes a plurality of circuit regions, each including a control circuit to control a portion of the plurality of normal memory cell regions, the dummy memory cell region, and the other dummy memory cell region. The plurality of memory cell region regions and the plurality of control regions are symmetrically disposed about a peripheral region of the semiconductor device.
US09472247B2	Memory, semiconductor device including the same, and method for testing the same A memory includes a first memory cell, a second memory cell, a latch unit, and a switch unit. The latch unit has a true node and a complement node. The switch unit is responsive to a first control signal and a second control signal, and is configured to connect the first memory cell to the true node and to disconnect the second memory cell from the complement node in response to the first control signal and to connect the second memory cell to the complement node and to disconnect the first memory cell from the true node in response to the second control signal. A semiconductor device that includes the memory is also disclosed. A method for testing the memory is also disclosed.
US09472245B2	Sense amplifier and related method A device includes first and second current mirrors electrically connected to reference and cell current sources of a memory array. A first inverter is electrically connected to the first current mirror, and a second inverter is electrically connected to the second current mirror. The first and second inverters are cross-coupled.
US09472244B2	Apparatus power control The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods for apparatus power control. A number of embodiments include determining a power profile for each of a number of commands in a command queue that are ready for execution and selecting a portion of the number of commands in the command queue for execution based on the power profiles of the number of commands to control power consumption in the apparatus.
US09472240B2	Video editing method and video editing device A video editing method for a video editing device is provided. The method includes: obtaining an editing segment of a video, wherein the editing segment follows a first segment of the video and precedes a second segment of the video, the first segment includes a first picture, the second segment includes a second picture, and a short-term reference index of the second picture points to the first picture; setting a header of a third picture in the first segment, such that the first picture is moved from a short-term reference picture list to a long-term reference picture list when the header of the third picture is decoded; changing the short-term reference index of the second picture into a long-term reference index, wherein the long-term reference index points to the first picture in the long-term reference picture list; and encoding the video. Accordingly, the speed of editing the video is increased.
US09472239B1	Concurrent transcoding of streaming video for immediate download Aspects relate to transcoding a video at substantially the same time as the video is streamed so that upon completion of streaming, the transcoded video is available for immediate download. The transcoding can be performed on a client device or on a host device. Portions of the video can be tagged such that only the tagged portions are transcoded and made available for downloading. The tagged portions can be merged into a single file. Notification of the availability of the video can be broadcast. The broadcast can be controlled so as to be a public notification or a selective notification that is broadcast to a specified set or sets of individuals. Further, video chats can be recorded and compared so that a downloaded version of the video chat is an enhanced version of the information rendered on a user device.
US09472238B2	Systems and methods for linked mobile device content generation Systems and methods are provided for generating a multi-stream composite video. A first mobile device is linked with a second mobile device so that the first mobile device and the second mobile device are time synchronized. A video stream is captured using the first mobile device. Interactions with a user interface are captured using the second mobile device. A composite video is generated based on the captured video stream and the captured interactions based on the time synchronization of the first mobile device and the second mobile device.
US09472233B2	System and method for write protecting portions of magnetic tape storage media Systems and methods for writing data on a magnetic tape having a plurality of partitions and accessed by a tape drive having an associated tape drive processor in communication with a host computer having an associated host processor include storing a read-only partition identifier associated with each of the plurality of partitions, comparing a requested write partition identifier with the stored read-only partition identifiers, and writing data to the requested write partition only if the associated read-only identifier indicates that the requested write partition is not a read-only partition.
US09472230B1	Plasmon generator including a main body and a front protrusion A plasmon generator includes a main body, and a front protrusion protruding from the main body. The front protrusion has a proximal portion which is a boundary with the main body, and a near-field light generating surface located in the medium facing surface of a magnetic head. The main body has a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface each facing toward the medium facing surface. The first inclined surface and the second inclined surface are at a distance from each other and aligned in the track width direction. The proximal portion of the front protrusion is located between the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface.
US09472222B2	Vibration mitigation for a data storage device Vibration mitigation for a Data Storage Device (DSD) including a disk for storing data and a solid-state memory for storing data. An input is received indicating a vibration condition for the DSD and a write command is received from a host to store data in the DSD. At least a portion of the data for the write command is stored in a dedicated segment of the solid-state memory based on the received input indicating the vibration condition.
US09472212B2	Optimized recording condition for heat-assisted magnetic recording An apparatus comprises a controller configured to apply a writing configuration (WC) to a heat-assisted magnetic recording head to write data to a recording medium. The recording medium includes a plurality of sectors. The controller is further configured to determine an optimized WC for each of the plurality of sectors and initiate a write operation to one of the plurality of sectors. The write operation is configured to be performed by the head utilizing the optimized WC for the respective sector.
US09472210B2	Miniskirt tape head having quasi-statically tilted transducer arrays In one general embodiment, an apparatus includes a magnetic head. The magnetic head has a first portion and a second portion, the first portion and the second portion providing a tape bearing surface. The first portion has an opening at least partially encircling the second portion. The second portion has at least one array of transducers. A longitudinal axis of each of the at least one array of transducers is defined between opposite ends thereof, and is oriented at an angle relative to a line oriented orthogonally to the intended direction of tape travel thereacross, the angle being between 0.2° and about 10°. The second portion has a first edge oriented at a second angle between 0.2° and about 10° relative to the line, and a second edge opposite the first edge, the second edge being oriented at a third angle between 0.2° and about 10° relative to the line.
US09472207B2	Portable assistive device for combating autism spectrum disorders Exemplary embodiments include an assistive device to facilitate social interactions in autistic individuals by identifying emotions using a voice-detecting machine learning algorithm that extracts emotion content from an audio sample input and outputs the emotional content to a user through a device. This device may be a portable, concealable, real-time and automatic device that may receive and process an audio input. The audio input may be analyzed using a machine learning algorithm. The device may output the closest emotional match to the autistic user. The output may be tactile in nature such as a vibration pattern that is different for different identified emotions.
US09472206B2	Privacy mode for always-on voice-activated information assistant A user device and method discriminately provides audible responses to a voice command received by a user device that supports voice activation. The method includes detecting a first pre-established, audible activation command that activates the user device. In response to detecting the first pre-established, audible activation command, the method includes producing a first audible acknowledgement within loudspeaker proximity of the user device and then monitoring for detection of at least one second, audible acknowledgement produced by another user device within a pre-set time interval, which detection would indicate that the other user device is also responding. The method includes processing and responding to a received audible command in response to not detecting. However, in response to detecting, the method includes triggering entry into a privacy mode of audible command input and producing a privacy mode announcement via at least one of a display and a sound producing component.
US09472205B2	Device voice recognition systems and methods Device voice recognition systems and methods are described herein. One example of a method for device voice recognition includes receiving a voice command, determining a number of devices relating to the voice command, and adjusting a setting of the number of devices based on the received voice command.
US09472197B2	Audio signal processing apparatus and audio signal processing method An audio signal processing apparatus that processes a bit stream generated by coding an audio signal on a frame-by-frame basis, the bit stream including, for each frame, coded data representing the audio signal, additional data and attribute information, the audio signal processing apparatus including a decoding unit configured to decode the coded data to generate a decoded signal, a processing unit configured to process the decoded signal, a detection unit configured to detect whether or not there has been a change in the attribute information, and a storage unit, wherein the processing unit is configured to, when the change is not detected, process the decoded signal by using at least two pieces of additional data stored, and when the change is detected, process the decoded signal by using only either additional data before detection of the change or additional data after detection of the change.
US09472195B2	Systems and methods for detecting fraud in spoken tests using voice biometrics Systems and methods described herein automate imposture detection in, e.g., test settings based on voice samples. Based on user instructions, a processing system may determine at least one set of appointments, each having voice samples and a voice print, and a comparison plan for comparing the appointments. The comparison plan defines a plurality of appointment pairs. For each appointment pair, the system compares the associated first and second appointments by, e.g., comparing the first appointment's voice samples to the second appointment's voice print and generating corresponding raw scores, which may be used to compute a composite score. If the composite score satisfies a predetermined threshold condition for fraud, the system may determine whether flagging/holding criteria are satisfied by the raw scores. If the criteria are satisfied, a flag or hold notice may be associated with the appointment pair to trigger an appropriate system/human response (e.g., withholding the appointments' test results).
US09472194B2	Enhanced fraud detection Embodiments of techniques or systems for fraud detection are provided herein. A communication may be received where the communication includes one or more voice signals from an individual. Frequency responses associated with these voice signals may be determined and analyzed and utilized to determine whether or not potential fraudulent activity is occurring. For example, if a frequency response is greater than a frequency threshold, potential fraudulent activity may be determined. Further, frequency responses may be cross referenced with voice biometrics, voice printing, or fraud pathway detection results. In this way, voice stress or frequency responses may be utilized to build other databases related to other types of fraud detection, thereby enhancing one or more aspects of fraud detection. For example, a database may include a voice library, a pathway library, or a frequency library which include characteristics associated with fraudulent activity, thereby facilitating identification of such activity.
US09472190B2	Method and system for automatic speech recognition A method of recognizing speech is provided that includes generating a decoding network that includes a primary sub-network and a classification sub-network. The primary sub-network includes a classification node corresponding to the classification sub-network. The classification sub-network corresponds to a group of uncommon words. A speech input is received and decoded by instantiating a token in the primary sub-network and passing the token through the primary network. When the token reaches the classification node, the method includes transferring the token to the classification sub-network and passing the token through the classification sub-network. When the token reaches an accept node of the classification sub-network, the method includes returning a result of the token passing through the classification sub-network to the primary sub-network. The result includes one or more words in the group of uncommon words. A string corresponding to the speech input is output that includes the one or more words.
US09472188B1	Predicting outcomes for events based on voice characteristics and content of a contact center communication Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer-program products for predicting an outcome for an event of interest associated with a contact center communication. That is to say, various embodiments of the invention involve predicting an outcome for an event of interest associated with a party involved in a contact center communication based on characteristics and content of the communication conducted with the party by utilizing one or more classifier models.
US09472181B2	Text-to-speech device, speech output device, speech output system, text-to-speech methods, and speech output method An audio read-out device comprises an audio signal generator, a first information receiver, a first information transmitter, a first controller, and a mixed audio signal generator, and when the first information receiver receives audio output enablement information indicating that audio output is disabled, the first controller causes the mixed audio signal generator to generate a mixed audio signal composed of a broadcast audio signal and causes the first information transmitter to transmit the mixed audio signal until the first information receiver receives audio output enablement information indicating that audio output is enabled; and when the first information receiver receives audio output enablement information indicating that audio output is enabled, the first controller causes the mixed audio signal generator to generate a mixed audio signal obtained by mixing a read-out audio signal and a broadcast audio signal, and causes the first information transmitter to transmit the mixed audio signal.
US09472178B2	Score-directed string retuning and gesture cueing in synthetic multi-string musical instrument Despite practical limitations imposed by mobile device platforms and applications, truly captivating musical instruments may be synthesized in ways that allow musically expressive performances to be captured and rendered in real-time. Visual cues presented on a multi-touch sensitive display provide the user with temporally sequenced string excitation cues. Note or chord soundings are indicated by user gestures (e.g., pluck-type gestures, strum-type gestures, chord selections, etc.) captured at the multi-touch sensitive display. Those captured gestures, rather than simply the score itself, are used as inputs to a digital synthesis of the musical instrument.
US09472173B2	Device, mouthpiece, and reed for a wind instrument The invention relates to a device for a wind instrument, comprising a mouthpiece (1) which encloses a sound chamber (12) and which has a window (2) connected to the sound chamber (12), and comprising a reed (6) which comprises a plastic material, which has a shaft portion (8) connected over its surface to a support (5) of the mouthpiece (1), and a movable free end portion (9) that can be placed on bordering surfaces (4; 4′, 4″, 4′″) of the window (2). The reed (6) has sealing means (14) on a support surface (10) facing the boundary surfaces (4; 4′, 4″, 4′″) of the window (2) and/or the mouthpiece (1) has sealing means on at least one of the boundary surfaces (4; 4′, 4″, 4′″) of the window (2) in order to seal an air flow between the reed (6) and the mouthpiece (1). The invention also relates to a mouthpiece (1) and a reed (6) for such a device.
US09472169B2	Coordinate based QoS escalation Systems and methods for determining priorities of pixel fetch requests of separate requestors in a display control unit. The distance between the oldest pixel in an output buffer and the output equivalent coordinate of the oldest outstanding source pixel read request for each requestor in the display control unit is calculated. Then, a priority is assigned to each requestor based on this calculated distance. If a given requestor lags behind the other requestors based on a comparison of the distance between the oldest pixel and the output equivalent coordinate of the oldest outstanding source pixel read, then source pixel fetch requests for this given requestor are given a higher priority than source pixel fetch requests for the other requestors.
US09472162B2	Method of mapping source colors from a source color gamut into a target color gamut In one implementation, the method includes applying color gamut mapping directly to incoming RGB color coordinates resulting in mapped source coordinates R″G″B″. The source coordinates are then transformed into target coordinates R′G′B′. According to another implementation, incoming source coordinates RGB are transformed into target coordinates R″G″B″ and the color gamut mapping is applied directly to the target coordinates R″G″B″ resulting in mapped target coordinates R′G′B′.
US09472156B2	Method and apparatus for driving a display device The present invention discloses a gamma voltage generator of a display driving device. The gamma voltage generator comprises a first reference voltage generator; a switch coupled to the first reference voltage generator; and a plurality of resistors connected in serial and coupled to the switch; wherein the switch controls a connection between the first reference voltage generator and the plurality of resistors.
US09472155B2	Gate driver circuit basing on IGZO process The present invention provides a gate driver basing on IGZO process, comprising: GOAs in cascade connection comprising a Nth-stage GOA, wherein the Nth-stage GOA further comprising: a pull-up control part 100, a pull-up part 200, a transfer part 300, a pull-down part 400, a pull-down holding part 500, a boost part 600, a first negative supply VSS1, a second negative supply VSS2, a third negative supply VSS3, which are three gradually decreasing negative supplies and pull down an output terminal G(N), a first node Q(N), a second node P(N), and a driving single ST(N) to prevent the electrical leakage of TFTs effectively. And channels of the TFT switches of the gate driver basing on the IGZO process are oxide semiconductor channels.
US09472154B2	Display panel and display apparatus having the same A display panel includes a plurality of pixels which is arranged in a pixel column and a pixel row, a gate line which is connected to pixels in a same pixel row, a first data line which is connected to pixels in a same pixel column, and a second data line which is connected to remaining pixels except for the pixels connected to the first data line among the pixels in the same pixel column. Two odd-numbered pixel rows and two even-numbered pixel rows are alternately driven so that a charge period of the pixel may be extended by 2H. In addition, a kickback difference between the odd-numbered pixel row and the even-numbered pixel row may be decreased so that a display quality may be improved.
US09472151B2	Display panel A display panel comprises a display area, a plurality of scan lines and data lines, a data driving circuit and a demultiplexing unit. The scan lines and the data lines cross each other within the display area. At least two of the data lines have different capacitances. The data driving circuit outputs a plurality of control signal and a data signal. The demultiplexing unit includes a plurality of thin-film transistors coupled with the data driving circuit and the data lines. The thin-film transistors receive the data signal and transmit the data signal to the correspondingly coupled data lines through channel layers of the thin-film transistors according to the control signals. The channel layers of at least two of the thin-film transistors coupled with the at least two data lines have different widths.
US09472145B2	Liquid crystal display device including an opening in a color filter The present application discloses a liquid crystal display device for displaying a video on a display surface with pixels arranged in a matrix. Each of the pixels has three sub-pixels formed with different color filter portions in hue. The display surface includes pixel sets. Each of the pixel sets is defined to include two or three of the pixels next to each other in at least one of the vertical and horizontal directions. An opening is formed on one of the color filter portions every hue in each of the pixel sets.
US09472139B2	Circuit and method for driving an array of light emitting pixels A technique for driving a column of pixels that include light emitting elements. The technique incorporates feedback data provided from feedback data sources connected to the data line and to feedback line of the array, pixel driving circuit with feedback path. The technique can also include block of the reference elements for input signal corrections.
US09472138B2	Pixel driver circuit with load-balance in current mirror circuit A pixel circuit for use in a display comprising a plurality of pixels is provided. The load-balanced current mirror pixel circuit can compensate for device degradation and/or mismatch, and changing environmental factors like temperature and mechanical strain. The pixel circuit comprises a pixel drive circuit comprising, switching circuitry, a current mirror having a reference transistor and a drive transistor, the reference transistor and the drive transistor each having a first and second node and a gate, the gate of the reference transistor being connected to the gate of the drive transistor; and a capacitor connected between the gate of the reference transistor and a ground potential, and a load connected between the current mirror and a ground potential, the load having a first load element and a second load element, the first load element being connected to the first node of the reference transistor and the second load element being connected to the first node of the drive transistor.
US09472137B2	Organic light emitting display device An organic light emitting display device includes a substrate including a display area on which a plurality of pixels are formed and a non-display area surrounding the display area; a first power line positioned on a lower non-display area; an auxiliary power line positioned on an upper non-display area; a first power supply supplying a first voltage to the first power line; and an auxiliary power supply supplying an auxiliary voltage to the auxiliary power line. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an organic light emitting display device capable of equalizing luminance by minimizing a variation in power supplied to each pixel.
US09472135B2	AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) panel driving circuit and driving method The present invention provides an AMOLED panel driving circuit and driving method. The driving circuit includes: an AMOLED panel (2), a gate driver (4) and a source driver (6) each electrically connected to the AMOLED panel (2), and a timing controller (8) and a gamma IC (10) each electrically connected to the source driver (6). The timing controller (8) is further electrically connected to the gate driver (4) and the gamma IC (10). The timing controller (8) uses two sets of gate control signal to control the gate driver (4). The source driver (6) supplies a data signal to the AMOLED panel (2). The data signal includes a plurality of data frames and each of the data frames includes a plurality of sub-data-frames having equal time intervals.
US09472134B1	Array substrate and method for manufacturing the same, flexible display device and electronic product An array substrate provided by an embodiment of the present invention may include a flexible substrate and an array layer formed on the flexible substrate. The array layer may includes signal transmission lines, which include a plurality of data lines and a plurality of gate lines intersected with each other on the flexible substrate to form a plurality of sub-pixel regions; and thin film transistors, each of which is provided in a corresponding sub-pixel region of the plurality of sub-pixel regions and connected to a corresponding data line and a corresponding gate line. An angle between at least a portion of the signal transmission lines and any one edge of the flexible substrate may not be substantially equal to 90°.
US09472131B2	Testing of integrated circuit to substrate joints A method for testing integrated circuit-to-substrate joints that electrically connect an IC to a substrate. An ammeter is coupled to a test node of the driver IC, while the test node is coupled to a current source, and a measured current output of the ammeter is recorded. A voltmeter is coupled to the test node while the test node is coupled to an end node of a group of dummy IC-to-substrate joints that are daisy chained; a first measured voltage output of the voltmeter is then recorded. The IC then couples the test node to another end node of the daisy chained dummy joints, and a second measured voltage output is recorded. A resistance or admittance value for the electrical connection of the IC to the substrate is then computed, using the first and second measured voltage outputs and the measured current output. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09472128B2	Enhanced optical illusion fluid display device A fluid display device that produces the illusion of fluid droplets traveling up, traveling down or levitating, in a stable, smooth, and non-jerky motion. The fluid display device includes a housing, a reservoir for storing the fluid, an outlet nozzle for dispensing the fluid, a pump pulsating the fluid, an inlet for receiving the fluid from the outlet nozzle, and a light source having a color temperature of at least 5000 degrees K operating at or above flicker-fusion frequency to illuminate the fluid droplets.
US09472127B2	Gallery display apparatus A magnetically-attachable display gallery provides a neat and decorative platform to easily add items such as greeting cards, photographs, and other documents by simply slipping them behind the snug clear vinyl pockets. The display gallery is constructed to roll or fold to store neatly away when not in use or for shipping.
US09472126B2	Pressure sensitive adhesive compositons Disclosed are removable pressure sensitive adhesive compositions (PSAs) useful with facestocks and/or packaging labels designed to be removed in the recycling of polymeric packaging. The PSAs of the invention include (a) at least one monomer which may undergo free radical polymerization and whose homopolymer has a glass transition temperature of less than or equal to 10° C., (b) at least one mono-olefinically unsaturated monomer having aldehyde or ketone functionality, and (c) an effective amount of at least one polyhydrazide crosslinker having hydrazine functionality. The PSA composition of the invention exhibits a peel adhesion value of between about 0.4 lbs/in (70 N/m) and about 4 lbs/in (700 N/m), and the percent film remaining on the polymeric packaging after a sink-float testing is 0% to about 8%.
US09472123B2	Human tissue models, materials, and methods Devices, systems, and methods appropriate for use in medical training that include materials that better mimic natural human tissue are disclosed. In one aspect, methods of forming multi-layer tissue simulations are provided. In another aspect, methods of forming a male genitalia model are provided. In another aspects, methods of forming an abdominal surgical wall insert are provided. Devices and systems associated with these methods are also provided.
US09472121B2	Portable laparoscopic trainer A portable surgical training device is provided. The trainer includes a top cover spaced apart from a base to form a simulated body cavity for locating model organs that are substantially obscured from the field of view of the user. The top cover includes a video display, fixed insertion ports and interchangeable inserts containing simulated tissue layers. The training device has open sides for demonstrating and training lateral surgical techniques including a simulated or live tissue colon attached to a support leg for simulating transanal minimally invasive surgery. A training endoscope with an adjustable focal length for use with the trainer and, in particular, with optical trocars is disclosed. The surgical trainer can be angled and is well suited for training laparoscopic surgery techniques and demonstrating surgical instruments.
US09472120B1	Square wheel tricycle An exhibit to assist in teaching mathematical properties to individuals may include a tricycle with square wheels. The tricycle may be mounted on a circular track with arcuate segments that effectively smooth out the motion imparted by the square wheels.
US09472119B2	Computer-implemented operator training system and method of controlling the system A computer-implemented training system includes a) a plant replica server; b) a virtual environment reproducer; and c) a motion sensing system. The plant replica server has a plant replica associated with a simulated plant model. The virtual environment reproducer is configured to reproduce a virtual environment of the simulated plant model, based on the plant replica. The motion sensing system is configured to sense motions of a field operator in the virtual environment. The motion sensing system is configured to send an update associated with the sensed motions to the plant replica server. The plant replica server is configured to receive the update from the motion sensing system, and to update the plant replica based on the first type of update associated with the sensed motions, and to reflect the first type of update to the virtual environment reproduced by the virtual environment reproducer.
US09472115B2	Grading ontological links based on certainty of evidential statements Mechanisms for evaluating a link between information concept entities are provided. A set of evidential data specifying a plurality of information concept entities is received and a link between at least two information concept entities in the set of evidential data is generated. The set of evidential data is evaluated with regard to whether or not the set of evidential data supports or refutes the link. The evaluation of the set of evidential data comprises analyzing language of natural language statements in the set of evidential data to identify certainty terms within the natural language statements. A confidence value for the link is calculated based on results of the evaluation of the set of evidential data and a knowledge output is generated based on the link and the confidence value associated with the link.
US09472112B2	Educational construction modular unit The present invention is a robotics construction kit that serves as a platform for children to engage in problem-solving and innovative thinking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. By designing and building robotics constructions from an apparently simple set of blocks that encapsulate the kinetic, electronic, and software elements of robots, children and others can encounter, explore, and experiment with basic principles of science and computation. Unlike existing robotics construction kits for education, the present invention embodies computation in every element, which affords understanding systems of distributed computation, rather than systems of top-down control.
US09472101B2	System and method for recognizing a parking place that is potentially becoming free A mobile system is provided for a vehicle for recognizing a parking place that is potentially becoming free, along with a method for recognizing a parking place that is potentially becoming free. The system includes at least one sensor for detecting a signal that is typical for a parking place that is potentially becoming free, an evaluation unit for assessing whether a signal received by the sensor signifies a parking place that is potentially becoming free, and an optical and/or acoustic indicator unit for indicating a parking place that is potentially becoming free. With the system and method, parking places that are becoming free can be detected automatically when travelling through a specific road section.
US09472097B2	Roadway sensing systems A number of roadway sensing systems are described herein. An example of such is an apparatus to detect and/or track objects at a roadway with a plurality of sensors. The plurality of sensors can include a first sensor that is a radar sensor having a first field of view that is positionable at the roadway and a second sensor that is a machine vision sensor having a second field of view that is positionable at the roadway, where the first and second fields of view at least partially overlap in a common field of view over a portion of the roadway. The example system includes a controller configured to combine sensor data streams for at least a portion of the common field of view from the first and second sensors to detect and/or track the objects.
US09472095B2	Electronic apparatus and control method for electronic apparatus A second housing 200 is capable of moving in a direction in which the second housing covers one surface of a first housing 100. Oscillating elements of an oscillating element group 400 are arranged in a matrix and oscillate sound waves outward from the one surface of the first housing 100. A control unit controls the plurality of oscillating elements. A sound wave sensor constitutes the same matrix as the plurality of oscillating elements and detects sound waves having a specific wavelength. The detection results of the sound wave sensor are output to the control unit. A frame body holds the plurality of oscillating elements and the sound wave sensor. The control unit oscillates sensor sound waves having a specific wavelength outward from at least one of the oscillating elements. The control unit determines that the second housing 200 covers the one surface of the first housing 100 when the sound wave sensor detects the sound waves having the specific wavelength.
US09472093B2	Near field communications for utility meters Techniques for utilizing near field communications (NFC) with utility meters are described herein. In one example, a meter is configured for operation, either in a stand-alone or utility network capacity. The example meter may include a processor in communication with a memory device and a tag device configured for near field communication (NFC). In operation, the processor operates the tag device to read from the memory device to obtain data for transmission via NFC and/or write data obtained via NFC to the memory device.
US09472092B1	Audio monitoring and sound identification process for remote alarms In a method for remote monitoring of alarms, audio test signals generated by a plurality of alarm devices, including a first and second alarm of the same type (e.g., smoke detector, door or window alarm, etc.), are sensed. For each alarm device, the respective audio test signal is processed to generate alarm identification data, and an indication of a type of the alarm device and a location of the alarm device is received. An audio signal that the first alarm device generated in response to detecting an alarm condition is sensed, and processed according to an audio recognition technique to identify the alarm device that generated the audio signal. A notification is caused to be sent to a user. The notification includes the type and the location of the first alarm device.
US09472091B2	Systems and methods for providing emergency alerts Methods and apparatus for providing indications of received emergency alert messages to devices within a consumer premises are disclosed. In one embodiment, a consumer premise equipment (CPE) receiving one or more emergency alert messages from a content provider or managed network determines one or more alert responses for one or more devices of the consumer premise network. In one implementation, the responses are based at least in part on the received emergency alert messages themselves. The CPE issues one or more commands to one or more devices present within the consumer premises (which may be for example a home automation system), to indicate the one or more determined alert indication responses, such as auditory alert and visual alert by the one or more devices. Thus, users in the consumer premises may be made aware of an alert message outside of the typical means in which an alert is displayed, such as via a television.
US09472089B2	Method and system for monitoring and enforcing hand hygiene and sanitization A method for monitoring hand sanitization policy compliance including initializing a sanitization monitoring sensor (SMS) to a deactivated state, the SMS being configured to wearable by a user, activating the SMS by an SMS activator that is disposed in at least one predetermined location of a structure, wherein the SMS is activated upon a determination of at least one parameter, deactivating the SMS by an SMS deactivator configured to deactivate the SMS upon use of an associated sanitization dispenser by the user, monitoring SMS activation/deactivation activity by a network integrated SMS monitoring module, wherein when the SMS changes activation states, the network integrated SMS monitoring module receives a log of SMS activities, including credentials and time of activation/deactivation; and negotiating access credentials by the SMS with at least one access point wherein the access point restricts access to the SMS if the SMS is activated.
US09472087B1	Electric fence monitor including an air gap An electric fence monitor is operable to provide an audible and/or visual indicator of an operating condition (i.e., falter no-fault) of an electric fence and electric fence box. The electric fence monitor is operable to remain continuously connected between the electric fence and earth ground during normal operation of the fence.
US09472084B1	Alarm notification based on detecting anomalies in big data Monitoring circuitry monitors a computing device for configuration changes and performance changes. The monitoring circuitry also logs that data (CDD and PDD data) to a database. An analysis circuit analyzes the CDD and PDD data to determine whether an anomaly exists. If the analysis circuit determines that an anomaly exists, it generates an alarm to alert appropriate personnel to the anomaly.
US09472082B2	Vision based system for detecting distress behavior A system and method for detecting a distress condition of a person in a monitored location. The system is configured to receive an image stream of the monitored location, and detect a human body or body part within the monitored location. The system maintains and updates a list of areas in which the lack of movement is permitted, e.g., bed, sofa, chairs. Upon detecting that the person is no longer moving and exists in a new area that is not in the list of areas, the system enters into an acknowledgement session in which the system asks the person to perform a certain action if everything is fine. If the given action is detected within a pre-determined period the system updates the list of areas to add the new area therein, otherwise the system would execute a pre-defined function representing a response to the distress condition, e.g., call 911.
US09472080B1	Responding to a status for a user based on nearby electronic devices A method for determining a status of a user of an electronic device. The method includes a computer processor determining information associated with a first user of an electronic device. The method further includes identifying a plurality of electronic devices that are within a range of wireless communications to the electronic device. The method further includes defining an area monitored by the electronic device. The method further includes monitoring a group of the identified plurality of electronic devices that are within the defined area. The method further includes calculating a first safe-threshold value for the electronic device based on information associated with a first user of an electronic device and monitored information from the group of the identified plurality of electronic devices. The method further includes determining a status for the first user based, at least in part, on the calculated first safe-threshold value for the electronic device.
US09472079B2	Method and system to enable selective smoke detection sensitivity There is provided a method to enable selective smoke detection sensitivity onboard an aircraft. The method has the step of installing one or more sensitivity selectable smoke detector assemblies. The method further has the step of electrically or wirelessly coupling the one or more sensitivity selectable smoke detector assemblies installed onboard the aircraft to one or more sensitivity selector controls installed onboard the aircraft. The method further has the step of selecting an alarm setpoint sensitivity level from two or more alarm setpoint sensitivity levels for each of the one or more sensitivity selectable smoke detector assemblies, based on sensitivity level determination factors of one or more of a mission type of the aircraft, a cargo type on the aircraft, a compartment zone specific area type on the aircraft, and an occupancy state on the aircraft.
US09472075B1	Systems and methods for locating items in a facility Systems (100) and methods (400) for determining a location of an object within a facility. The methods involve: performing operations by beacons to illuminate a plurality of Zone-Of-Interests (“ZOIs”) including objects within the facility; performing operations by a handheld reader to read RFID tags coupled to the objects; performing operations by a beacon receiver to obtain a first location identifier transmitted from a first beacon while the handheld reader is reading the RFID tags; using the first location identifier to determine approximate locations of the RFID tags which were read in time proximity to the beacon receiver's reception of the location identifier; and optionally generating a three dimensional map showing locations of the RFID tags. Notably, the beacon receiver is an accessory of the handheld receiver or a standalone device worn by an operator of the handheld device.
US09472074B2	Security tag alerting for continuous movement A tag controller may be configured to interface with one or more security tags and at least one of the tags may be adapted to be disposed on a product in a monitoring environment. The tag controller may include processing circuitry configured to receive location information indicative of tag location responsive to initial movement of a tag, and compare the location information to alerting criteria. The alerting criteria may include at least a position component and a temporal component. The processing circuitry may be further configured to initiate an alerting function responsive to the alerting criteria being met.
US09472070B2	Multiple detection function modularized lighting device A multiple detection function modularized lighting device includes a substrate on which a photographing module is mounted and also includes an indication module, a detection module, an alarm module, and an LED module that are circumferentially arranged as an annular array along a circumference of the photographing module so that the number of all components can be simplified and integrated on the substrate. An opposite side of the substrate includes a control module mounted thereon to drive all the previous modules. The photographing module and the detection module are received and housed in isolation hoods, which are arranged, through an upper housing member having a plurality of positioning holes being mounted atop a lower casing housing member, to have the photographing module and the detection module embedded in the positioning holes so that the modules on the substrate are respectively set in independent areas defined in the upper housing member.
US09472066B2	Methods and apparatus for self service transactions from multiple vendors Systems and techniques for managing orders from one or more of a plurality of vendors. A self service terminal includes a display presenting order icons that may be moved to an open area for initiation of an order, and a plurality of vendor icons representing different vendors. Initiating an order opens a transaction record for the order, and moving a vendor icon to an order icon opens a selection menu allowing selections from the vendor represented by the icon. The transaction record is continuously updated as selections are made. Upon a user selection to complete the order, a payment interface is presented allowing for payment. Upon payment, an order identifier is created and displayed, together with instructions for collecting or receiving the order, and order information is transmitted to each vendor contributing to the order, in association with the order identifier.
US09472061B2	Video bingo game and method therefor A video poker game comprising: providing each player with an individual flashboard, each flashboard having an equal number of spaces, each space defined by a column label and a space number, wherein the space number is randomly selected from a predefined number range for each column; providing a plurality of bingo balls, wherein each bingo ball has markings associated with one of the plurality of spaces; randomly selecting a first group of bingo balls; displaying to each player the markings associated with each selected bingo ball of the first group of bingo balls; marking each square associated with each of the first group of bingo balls on each individual flashboard; and determining any winning flashboard.
US09472059B1	Networked gaming system enabling a plurality of player stations to play independent games with dealer assisting display A system, apparatus, and computer readable storage to implement a networked blackjack game that enables a plurality of players to wager on one or more dealers at different dealing stations dealing independent games simultaneously. A live video is captured on each dealing station and simulcast to player stations where players are playing at. Players can bet on any combination of the games that are being broadcast. Players at player stations can be playing in a tournament mode or in regular play using the same dealer stations. A touch screen display can be used at each dealer/dealing station in order to instruct the dealer as to which actions the dealer should take, such as dealing cards, etc.
US09472057B2	Systems, apparatuses and methods for enhancing gaming experiences Systems, apparatuses and methods for enhancing winning result opportunities in gaming activities. Embodiments involve identifying award-enhancing opportunities using dice, and enabling repetition of such award-enhancing opportunities based on the dice results until a terminating event occurs using the die/dice for a plurality of gaming devices. Award-enhancing opportunities can be accumulated during the repetition, whereby payout opportunities of the gaming event from which the dice activity was initiated may be enhanced.
US09472053B2	Gambling and/or gaming apparatus The present invention relates to a gaming apparatus comprising an input apparatus for inputting of a stake information in the form of a number, an outcome ascertainment apparatus for ascertaining a winning number, and a win ascertainment apparatus for ascertaining a gaming win from a comparison of the ascertained winning number with the input stake information. According to the invention, the outcome ascertainment apparatus comprises a monitoring apparatus for monitoring at least one skill/skilled sport installation on which a game of skill/skilled sport which provides at least one game outcome can be executed by at least one participant, wherein the monitoring apparatus comprises game outcome determination means for determining the game outcome, wherein the monitoring apparatus comprises a game outcome determination means for determining the game outcome, and a determination device for determining the winning number from the determined game outcome.
US09472051B2	Gaming system, gaming device and method providing accumulation game A gaming system and method enables a player to assign at least one amplifier to at least one accumulator. In one embodiment, the amplifier causes an increase in the rate of advancement for the accumulator. In one embodiment, the gaming system provides the player any awards associated with the level of one or more of the accumulators.
US09472048B1	Cabinet top for gaming machines A cabinet top assembly may comprise a top plate having upper and lower surfaces and at least one mounting aperture therethrough, and a mounting fixture for mounting a gaming machine to the top plate. The mounting fixture may comprise a first mounting rail positioned below the top plate adjacent to the mounting aperture, an intermediate rail positioned below the top plate adjacent to the mounting aperture, and at least one mount member extendable between the first mounting rail and the intermediate member in a position adjacent to the mounting aperture. The at least one mount member may have a mount end configured to mount on the mounting rail in a manner resisting removal of the mount end from the mounting rail while permitting sliding of the mount member along the mounting rail, and a free end being freely abuttable against the intermediate rail.
US09472047B2	Apparatus, system and method for presenting different wagering games for concurrent play Apparatus, methods and systems are set forth to enable a player to play several, different concurrent games at a gaming device. The player selects the games to play from a game library and a processor assigns the game instances to real estate at the gaming device display. The player may record wagers to play the games. A processor determines game cycle times and choreographs play of the games' start and stop cycles to provide an appealing and serial display of game outcomes to the player.
US09472043B2	Mobile device assisted retail system and process in a vending unit, retail display or automated retail store Systems and methods for users of an automated retail store, vending unit, digital signage or interactive retail display (self-service units) to interact with such display/unit, collectively referred to in this text as a machine, directly and/or simultaneously using a one or more mobile devices. In addition, system and methods are provided that can recognize registered users within a set proximity to the machine and broadcast messages and notifications such as machine information, inventory information, rewards, discounts and free products, all of which could be tailored to the specific user based on understanding gathered through analysis of prior interactions.
US09472040B2	Bill recognizing and counting apparatus A bill recognizing and counting apparatus includes an operation unit that receives setting of bill processing modes including a denomination mode, a counting mode, a different-denomination recognition mode, and an authenticity determination mode; a feeding and transporting mechanism; and a control unit that performs control for changing a processing speed according to the bill processing mode. When the bill processing mode is in the counting mode, the different-denomination recognition mode, or the authenticity determination mode, the control unit increases the processing speed by setting the feeding and transporting mechanism to a higher speed than the speed set in the denomination mode. The increase in speed is in accordance with a reduced time necessary to process a reduced amount of data associated with the denomination mode.
US09472039B2	Paper sheet handling apparatus According to one embodiment, paper sheet handling apparatus includes inspecting module configured to detect denominations and directions of paper sheets, accumulating modules configured to accumulate paper sheets, storing module configured to store setting information in which accumulating modules are associated with denominations and directions of paper sheets, sorting module configured to specify accumulating module which accumulates paper sheets based on denomination and direction and setting information and to convey paper sheets to specified accumulating module, controlling module configured to display setting screen by displaying module based on setting information and to update setting information based on operation input to operating module.
US09472038B2	Shutter device and medium transaction device A bill deposit/dispensing section has: an opening/closing section that moves a shutter in an opening direction and a closing direction; a driving section having driving force; a lock gear that serves as a gear section that drives the opening/closing section by transmitting driving force of the driving section to the opening/closing section by contacting the driving section and the opening/closing section and rotating; and a shutter locking/unlocking section that, by contacting the gear section and restricting rotation of the gear section, restricts operation of the opening/closing section and locks the shutter such that the shutter does not move, and, on the other hand, by coming apart from the gear section and freeing rotation of the gear section, releases locking so as to move the opening/closing section and move the shutter. Due thereto, a shutter device and media transaction device having improved security are provided.
US09472037B2	Media item re-orientation The present invention provides a method of re-orienting an image of a media item, comprising determining at least one linear array formed by a plurality of locations associated with an image of the media item; determining a skew angle of said linear array with respect to a reference axis; and re-orienting said image by rotating said image responsive to said skew angle. Apparatus for re-orienting an image of a media item and a document processing module are also provided.
US09472036B2	Method for verifying documents and device implementing such a method This invention relates to a method used by an authorized user for the verification of a document having electronic verification means, The method comprises the various steps consisting in:—reading, with electronic reading equipment with which the authorized user is equipped, of information stored in the electronic verification means of the verified document;—transferring verification information, established on the basis of the information saved in the electronic verification means, from the electronic reading equipment to a viewing device of the authorized user, which viewing device is positioned, in normal conditions of use, in front of the eyes of the authorized user, the said viewing device being transparent to allow the said authorized user to see through it.
US09472033B2	Preauthorized wearable biometric device, system and method for use thereof Embodiments are directed towards authenticating users using biometric devices. The biometric device may be arranged to capture one or more biometric feature of a user that may be wearing the biometric device such as biometric features that correspond to an electrocardiogram of the user. The user of the biometric device may be authenticated based on one or more biometric features, or a combination thereof. Authenticating the user of the biometric device, may include communicating information that includes biometric features to an authorized authentication device (AAD). When the user is authenticated, the biometric device may be preauthorized for the user. When the preauthorized biometric device senses at least one access point, an authorization signal may be provided to the access point. If the preauthorized biometric device is removed from the user, the biometric device is deauthorized, disabling access to access points by the user.
US09472032B2	Apparatuses and methods for pet access control Embodiments of apparatuses and methods for animal access control are described. In embodiments, a device may include an identification module to receive a digital identification from an animal. Moreover, the device may include an authentication module, coupled to the identification module, to determine an access authorization for the animal based on the digital identification and at least one access rule. Furthermore, the device may include an action module, coupled to the authentication module, to control operating of an entry based on the access authorization. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09472031B2	Security kiosk and system and method of controlling access using thereof A security kiosk for controlling access to an area, includes a housing, a visitor identification reader, a data storage device, a controller, and a visitor interface device. The visitor identification reader is configured to read a visitor identifier and produce a visitor identification signal indicative of a visitor's identity. The data storage device is configured to store approved visitor data including approved visitors and corresponding date and time gate entry periods, and update the approved visitor data from a remote security database at periodic intervals. The controller is configured to generate an access signal as a function of comparing the visitor's identity with the approved visitor data, and transmit the access signal to a barrier actuation system. The visitor interface device is configured to produce and transmit a visitor signal inputted on a user interface.
US09472028B2	Augmented reality based interactive troubleshooting and diagnostics for a vehicle An augmented reality based interactive troubleshooting and diagnostic system and related operating methods are presented here, including a diagnostic communication method for a vehicle having an onboard diagnostics subsystem. An exemplary embodiment of the method uses a mobile user device to obtain self-diagnostic information generated by the onboard diagnostics subsystem. The method continues by sending a query to a solution database system, wherein the query includes the obtained self-diagnostic information and vehicle configuration data descriptive of the vehicle. The mobile user device receives solution data provided by the solution database system in response to the query. The solution data addresses at least one topic associated with the obtained self-diagnostic information. The method continues by operating the camera and the display element in response to the received solution data to perform an augmented reality procedure associated with the at least one topic.
US09472027B2	Automated service management A computer-implemented method for automated service management includes identifying a period of time to perform a service on a transporter, wherein the transporter is one of: a vehicle, an aircraft, a watercraft, or a rail based transportation. A first location within a vicinity of the transporter is identified, wherein the vicinity is based at least in part on a known location of the transporter. The transporter is instructed to relocate to the first location and responsive to the computer determining the service of the transporter is complete, the transporter is instructed to relocate to the known location.
US09472026B2	Avionics method and device for monitoring a turbomachine at startup A method of characterizing a turbine engine, the method comprising: steps of using measurements from an accelerometer monitoring a particular turbine engine while it is starting to detect the energy released by any contact during said starting between the rotor and the stator of the turbine engine, and of associating any such detection of contact with thermodynamic data measured on the particular turbine engine; and then a recognition training step, based on the associations, to enable a thermal context of the turbine engine to be used to recognize the presence of a rotor thermal unbalance to be taken into account in order to avoid contacts between the rotor and the stator on starting.
US09472023B2	Safety system for augmenting roadway objects on a heads-up display The disclosure includes a system and method for providing a heads-up display in a vehicle for alerting users to roadway objects. The system includes a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to: monitor, with the one or more processors, for a roadway object; detect, with the one or more processors, the roadway object; generate graphical data configured to emphasize the roadway object on a heads-up display; determine whether a user sees the roadway object; responsive to the user failing to see the roadway object, determine whether the roadway object is critical; and responsive to the roadway object being critical, enhance a graphic output on the heads-up display to get the user's attention.
US09472022B2	Three-dimensional point processing and model generation A scene point cloud is processed and a solution to an inverse-function is determined to determine its source objects. A primitive extraction process and a part matching process are used to compute the inverse function solution. The extraction process estimates models and parameters based on evidence of cylinder and planar geometry in the scene. The matching process matches clusters of 3D points to models of parts from a library. A selected part and its associated polygon model is used to represent the point cluster. Iterations of the extraction and matching processes complete a 3D model for a complex scene made up of planes, cylinders, and complex parts from the parts library. Connecting regions between primitives and/or parts are processed to determine their existence and type. Constraints may be used to ensure a connected model and alignment of its components.
US09472020B2	Method and apparatus for discrete element modeling involving a bulk material Computer-implemented methods and systems are described for discrete element modelling of a plurality of discrete elements corresponding to particles and physical geometry elements. The disclosed embodiments provide a plurality of discrete element material models, each discrete element material model corresponding to a respective bulk material and containing (i) information regarding the properties of particles within said bulk material, and (ii) information regarding the behavior of interactions between such particles. The following information can be received from a user: a selection of a bulk material for use in a simulation, and a specification of properties associated with the selected bulk material. The disclosed embodiments can perform a discrete element model simulation on a set of particles, wherein the simulation uses the information regarding the behavior of interactions between particles from the discrete element material model for a user-selected bulk material.
US09472018B2	Graphics processing systems In a tile-based graphics processing system, when an overlay image is to be rendered onto an existing image, the existing tile data for the existing image from the frame buffer in the main memory is pre-loaded into the local color buffer of the graphics processor (step 41). The overlay content is then rendered and used to modify the tile data stored in the color buffer (step 44). When the data for a given sampling position stored in the tile buffer is modified as a result of the overlay image, a corresponding dirty bit for the tile region that the sampling position falls within is set (step 45). Then, when all the rendering for the tile has been completed, the dirty bits are examined to determine which regions of the tile have been modified (step 46). The modified tile regions are written back to the output image in the frame buffer in the main memory (step 47), but any regions whose dirty bits have not been set are not written back to the frame buffer in the main memory.
US09472017B2	Fast rendering of curved reformation of a 3D tubular structure Various improvements may lead to reducing or avoiding artifacts in curved planar reformation imaging. The source of voxels used in projection rendering may be verified to be from the vessels rather than intervening anatomy. To make the check more rapid, a hierarchal data structure may be used. Rather than using the vessels, geometric forms fit to the vessels may be used. Processing with geometric forms may be more rapid than a fine mesh or surface. Since tubular structures have a predictable change over length, the geometric forms or the vessel data itself may be filtered with a monotonicity constraint. Instead of using planes for segments based on the lumen or center line, a convex hull around the tubular structures is formed for the curved planar reformation.
US09472013B2	Techniques for displaying an animated calling card According to various exemplary embodiments, a communication request from a caller is received at a mobile device associated with a callee. A relationship between the caller and the callee is determined. Animation rule information is accessed, where the animation rule information describes a plurality of animation rules corresponding to a plurality of relationships. Thereafter, a display of an animation is generated via a user interface in the mobile device of the callee, based on a specific animation rule in the animation rule information that corresponds to the relationship between the caller and the callee.
US09472010B2	Implementation order of image edits Systems and methods for editing an image file include a server and at least one client device of the server including a display. An imaging module accesses from the server an image file including image content and a header, wherein the header provides information regarding the image file. An editing module receives user edits to the image content and insert information regarding the user edits into the header. The imaging module applies the user edits in an order that is determined based on a weight assigned to each user edit. The imaging module may also access, from the server, an image file including image content and a header thereof, wherein the header provides information regarding the image file and an edit decision list reflecting historical user edits to the image content. The editing module then identifies the edit decision list in the header for application by the imaging module.
US09472008B2	Graphics tile compositing control A graphics processing apparatus performs tile based compositing operations. Tile metadata includes flag data, such as transparency and/or intensity flag data, indicating whether a given input graphics tile makes less than a predetermined first threshold level of contribution or more than a second predetermined threshold level of contribution to a corresponding output graphics tile. For example, if an input graphics tile is transparent, then its reading from a memory and/or subsequent processing may be suppressed. If a given input graphics tile is opaque, then underlying input graphics tiles that are obscured may have their reading and/or further processing suppressed.
US09472005B1	Projection and camera system for augmented reality environment A device includes a projection and camera system to create an augmented reality environment in which images are projected onto a scene and user movement within the scene is captured. The projection and camera system have a camera to image scattered IR light from the scene and compute time of flight values used in depth mapping of objects in the room. The system also has a projector to project the images onto the scene. The projected images and scattered IR light use a common optical path through the same lens. Additionally, an illumination system used to illuminate the scene with the IR light may also use the common optical path through the same lens. In one implementation, the projection and camera system are mounted in a movable head of a table lamp.
US09472004B2	Navigating using an indoor map representation A method and system for providing an indoor map representation are provided herein. Aspects of this disclosure provide a representation of an indoor map environment whereby navigable areas are represented by a series of convex polygons in adjacency relationships with one another. Image analysis may be performed on a floor plan image to identify navigable areas and to determine the boundaries of the polygons, such as by assigning one or more colors to navigable space and one or more colors to non-navigable space. Route-finding operations may be performed using the adjacency relationships to find a path from a source area to a destination area.
US09472002B1	Graphing parameters of a virtualized computing environment A computer-implemented method for generating a graph of parameters of a virtualized computing environment. The method includes generating a first graph depicting a timeline of aggregate health of a virtual machine grouping; generating a second graph depicting types of user activity for one of the plurality of time frames; and generating a third graph depicting aggregate health of the virtual machine grouping for one of the plurality of time frames, wherein the second graph is overlaid with the third graph, and wherein the first graph, the second graph, and the third graph are for display in a single view.
US09471998B2	Distortion of digital images using spatial offsets from image reference points A method for distorting a digital image comprising receiving the coordinates of one or more than one image reference point defined by a user within the digital image, receiving one or more than one spatial offset assigned by the user and associated with the coordinates of the one or more than one defined image reference point, providing a mixing function algorithm embodied on a computer-readable medium for distorting the digital image, calculating an offset matrix by applying the mixing function algorithm based on the one or more than one spatial offset and the coordinates of the one or more than one defined image reference point; and distorting the digital image by application of the offset matrix. A graphic tag may be associated with each of the defined image reference points and displayed over the digital image, and the assignment of the spatial offset may be accomplished by movement of the graphic tag with the pointing device. Abstract image reference points may be used to limit distortion.
US09471995B2	Codec engine with inline image processing A video device includes a codec engine to process video data to generate a stream of pixel blocks representing a picture of a sequence of pictures represented by the video data, an image processing module to receive the stream of pixel blocks via a local path between the codec engine and the image processing module and to perform at least one image processing function for the picture using pixel blocks of the stream of pixel blocks received via the local path to generate image processing result data representative of the picture. The video device further includes a storage interface coupleable to a storage component, the storage interface to provide the image processing result data for storage at the storage component.
US09471989B2	Vascular anatomy modeling derived from 3-dimensional medical image processing Systems and methods to develop a vascular model of vascular trees that are captured with 3-Dimensional medical imaging data of a subject. Image processing iteratively traverses vessel image segments within the imaging data and creates a vessel model defined within a data structure that defines branch segments and bifurcation points where those branch segments split. The model generation algorithms incorporate strategies and parameters to identify and repair falsely identified bifurcations that reflect false inter-tree and intra-tree connections that can appear when processing images with complicated vessel trees. Accurate traversal of the vessel tree as portrayed in 3-Dimensional medical images is emphasized to correctly label branch generations and identify and repair erroneous interconnections between adjacent trees.
US09471988B2	Depth-map generation for an input image using an example approximate depth-map associated with an example similar image An image converter receives a two-dimensional image to be converted to a first three-dimensional image. The image converter computes a feature-to-depth mapping function based on an approximate depth map associated with a second three-dimensional image. The image converter applies the feature-to-depth mapping function to a plurality of pixels of the two-dimensional image to determine a depth value for each of the plurality of pixels and generates the first three-dimensional image based on the depth values for the plurality of pixels of the two-dimensional image.
US09471986B2	Image-based georeferencing A computer-implemented method of providing georeferenced information regarding a location of capture of an image is provided. The method includes receiving a first image at an image-based georeferencing system, the first image comprising digital image information and identifying a cataloged second image that correlates to the first image. The method further includes automatically determining reference features common to both the second image and the first image, accessing geographic location information related to the common reference features, utilizing the geographic location information related to the common features to determine a georeferenced location of capture of the first image and providing the georeferenced location of capture for access by a user of the image-based georeferencing system.
US09471981B2	Reference image display method for ultrasonography and ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus An ultrasonic image is captured by an ultrasonic probe. A reference image is obtained by extracting a tomographic image corresponding to the scan plane of the ultrasonic image from volume image data that is pre-obtained by a diagnostic imaging apparatus and that is stored in a volume-data storing unit. The ultrasonic image and the reference image are displayed on the same screen. In this case, of the reference image, a portion corresponding to the view area of the ultrasonic image is extracted and the resulting reference image having the same region as the ultrasonic image is displayed as a fan-shaped image.
US09471973B2	Methods and apparatus for computer-aided radiological detection and imaging A computer aided detection (CAD) method and system is configured to input chest radiographs and generate overlay layer for labeling and tracing tubes detected within the image. The input image is first preprocessed and then segmented according to anatomy. Seeds are generated from the segmented image and then used to grow the region. Tubes are selected from the grown region and data is overlayed on the image based on the grown seed path.
US09471969B2	Methods for differential image quality enhancement for a multiple detector system, systems and use thereof Methods for differential image quality enhancement for a detection system including multiple electromagnetic radiation detectors which include obtaining an image from a chemical band electromagnetic radiation detector and an image from a reference band electromagnetic radiation detector. Each of the images includes a plurality of pixels, each pixel having an associated intensity value. One or more intensity values of a plurality of pixels from the reference band image are adjusted based on one or more intensity value parameters of the chemical band image.
US09471964B2	Non-local mean-based video denoising method and apparatus The present disclosure provides a non-local mean-based video denoising method, so as to remove illumination variation in a video by using image histogram specification filtering processing. The present disclosure further provides a non-local mean-based video denoising apparatus. The apparatus comprises a filtering module used for remove illumination variation in a video by using image histogram specification filtering processing. In the present disclosure, self-adaptive adjustment can be carried out on a change of an illumination condition.
US09471963B2	Method, medium, and apparatus of filtering depth noise using depth information A depth noise filtering method and apparatus is provided. The depth noise filtering method may perform spatial filtering or temporal filtering according to depth information. In order to perform spatial filtering, the depth noise filtering method may determine a characteristic of a spatial filter based on depth information. Also, in order to perform temporal filtering, the depth noise filtering method may determine a number of reference frames based on depth information. The depth noise filtering method may adaptively remove depth noise according to depth information and thereby enhance a noise filtering performance.
US09471962B2	Image enhancement apparatus and image enhancement method An image enhancement apparatus according to the present invention for generating an output image obtained by sharpening an input image includes a non-linear processing unit configured to carry out non-linear processing on an input image signal representing the input image, a filter unit configured to generate a second signal by removing at least a DC component of the frequency components included in the first signal, a limiter configured to generate a third signal by adjusting the second signal, and an adder configured to generate an output image signal representing the output image by adding the third signal to the input image signal.
US09471959B2	Water color gradients on a digital map To generate a description of a raster map image that includes a representation of a body of water having a color gradient that appears constant in response to a zoom operation, a description of geometry of the body of water is generated for a selected geographic area. Using a raster representation of the body of water having a color gradient, at least two blur raster images are generated: a first blur raster image is generated using a first blur radius, and a second blur raster image is generated using a second blur radius different from the first blur radius. The description of the geometry of the body of water, the first blur raster image, and the second blur raster image are provided to a client device for generating raster map images of the selected geographic area.
US09471956B2	Graphic remoting system with masked DMA and graphic processing method An embodiment of a graphic remoting system of the present invention includes a network, a server and a client device. The network is applied to a RDP protocol. The server transfers display rendering commands which indicates a destination region through the network. The client device receives the display rendering commands. The client device of the present invention includes at least a graphic render engine, at least a surface, at least a mask generator, a plurality of mask buffer, at least a direct memory access with masks, and a plurality of display buffers. The surface is used for storing an image. The graphic render engine generates the image and stores the image into the surface according to the destination region. The mask buffers is used for storing bit masks; wherein the content values of the mask buffers are indicating updated areas of the image stored in the surface. The mask generator generates the bit masks according to the destination region, and stores the bit masks into the mask buffers. The direct memory access with masks reads the content values of a current mask buffer and a previous mask buffer of the plurality of mask buffers, and copies the image stored in the surface to output a copied image to the display buffer according to the content values of the current mask buffer and the previous mask buffer. The plurality of display buffers receive the copied image from the direct memory access with masks and reconstruct a complete image according to the copied image to output the complete image to a display device.
US09471954B2	Video sequence assembly A method includes receiving, by one or more processors, metadata corresponding to a scene, the metadata comprising a current location and orientation of a scene capture device used to capture the metadata, receiving, by the one or more processors, a required recording quality indication from a user, determining, by the one or more processors, according to the metadata, a stored video sequence corresponding to the scene that meets the required recording quality indication and corresponds to the current location and orientation, and determining, by the one or more processors, according to the metadata, a stored video sequence corresponding to the scene, and assembling, by the one or more processors, an output video sequence for the scene that incorporates at least a portion of the stored video sequence. A corresponding computer program product and computer system are also disclosed herein.
US09471952B2	Method and system for coordinated data execution using a primary graphics processor and a secondary graphics processor A method and system for coordinated data execution in a computer system. The system includes a first graphics processor coupled to a first memory and a second graphics processor coupled to a second memory. A graphics bus is configured to couple the first graphics processor and the second graphics processor. The first graphics processor and the second graphics processor are configured for coordinated data execution via communication across the graphics bus.
US09471949B1	Systems and methods for providing leads and appointments Methods disclosed for lead generation relate to matching prospective applicants with educational institutions. Prospective applicants provide personal information and educational background information which are used to find matching educational institutions. Methods include enhancing connections between education institutions and prospective applicants by setting up mutually agree appointments. Systems and apparatuses are also disclosed to implement the disclosed methods.
US09471947B2	Data collection system and method Disclosed is a system for carrying out inspection of a physical asset according to a database of defined criteria for each type of physical asset. The system includes a database server, including a database of acceptable criteria, including images, for each type of physical asset; a database of unacceptable criteria, including images, for each type of physical asset; a database of information, including images, of each physical asset inspected. The system also includes a portable data collector for use by a field inspector, including the database of acceptable criteria, including images, for each type of physical asset; the database of unacceptable criteria, including images, for each type of physical asset; and the database of information, including images, of each physical asset inspected; and a program of sequential steps to be followed by the field inspector for inspecting each physical asset.
US09471946B1	Energy management computer system The disclosure provides an energy management system that is based on a distributed architecture that includes networked energy management devices located at a plurality of sites and a collection of energy management program applications and modules implemented by a centralized energy management service unit. The energy management program applications and modules are responsible for facilitating customer access to the system, configuring energy management devices, and collecting, storing, and analyzing energy management data collected from the plurality of sites. The energy management system is adaptable to a wide variety of energy usage requirements and enables customers to configure energy management devices at customer sites using scheduling templates, to define and customize site groupings for device configuration and data analysis purposes, and to request and view various statistical views of collected energy usage data.
US09471945B2	Settings management of an online service Methods and systems of managing settings are described. According to various embodiments, a settings page corresponding to a user's settings on an online service may be caused to be displayed on a device. The settings page may comprise selectable category setting options for a setting category. The setting category may have a plurality of subcategories, and each subcategory may have its own selectable subcategory setting options. Each one of the category setting options may correspond to its own distinct configuration of subcategory setting options for its subcategories. A user input indicating a selection of one of the category setting options for the setting category may be received. The configuration of subcategory setting options corresponding to the selected one of the category setting options for the setting category may be applied to the user's settings on the online service.
US09471943B2	User-specified distribution of stories describing user actions in a social networking system A social networking system receives a sponsored story request identifying a story describing an action performed by a social networking system user and generates a sponsored story accordingly. The sponsored story request may also include a bid amount and other information for generating a sponsored story from the sponsored story request. When an action is included in a sponsored story presented to a social networking system user, the social networking system notifies the user associated with the action and provides one or more settings regulating inclusion of actions associated with the user in sponsored story requests. For example, settings allow a user to prevent generation of sponsored stories including a specified type of action, a specific action, or multiple actions associated with the user. Hence, the settings allow a user to limit or prevent generation of sponsored stories describing actions associated with the user.
US09471940B2	Real-time self-service terminal (SST) network awareness Operational data and metrics from a Self-Service Terminal (SST) network are continuously acquired in a first format at a server. The first format is normalized and delivered to a configured mobile application on a mobile device. The mobile application selectively renders the operational awareness data/metrics for the SST network within one or more screens of a display on the mobile device. The operator of the mobile application can define views of the data/metrics, define alerts or notifications to propagate, and interact with the data/metrics to obtain more or less detail for that data/metrics.
US09471939B1	Product recommendations based on analysis of social experiences A method for recommending products. The method may include receiving an identification element associated with an image or a visual code captured by a user. The method may include identifying a first item associated with the identification element, whereby the first item is a product or a service. The method may include identifying at least one of a tag and a keyword associated with the first item. The method may include identifying social media interactions within a social media network that reference at least one of the first item, the tag, and the keyword, whereby the social media network is associated with the user. The method may further include identifying a second item referenced in the social media interactions, whereby the second item is a product or a service. The method may also include determining a score for the second item based on an algorithm.
US09471931B2	Printing device, control method of a printing device, coupon, and control system Using coupons effectively is enabled. A host computer 18 that functions as a printing device has a vehicle information acquisition unit 25a that acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle a passenger boards, and a coupon production unit 25b that prints a code representing the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 25a on a coupon, and produces a coupon that is provided to the passenger.
US09471929B2	Mobile game and promotion service Systems and methods for providing games, challenges, and/or promotions to mobile devices are usable to provide incentives to customers. According to one embodiment, a system can be provided. The system can be operable to receive information, such as location information, associated with a mobile device; transmit content being associated with a location of a merchant to the mobile device; receive an event outcome indicator associated with the content; provide a promotional offer to the mobile device when the event outcome indicator matches a desired event outcome indicated by a third-party or the merchant; and process the reward or promotional offer associated with the event outcome indicator via interaction with a point of sale system.
US09471928B2	System and method for generating targeted communications having different content and with preferences for communication media, channel, timing, frequency, and sequences of communications, using an integrated data repository The present invention provides a system, method, software and data structure for independently predicting attitudinal and message responsiveness, using a plurality of attitudinal or other identification classifications and a plurality of message content or version classifications, for a selected population of a plurality of entities, such as individuals or households, represented in a data repository. The plurality of predictive attitudinal (or identification) classifications and plurality of predictive message content (ore version) classifications have been determined using a plurality of predictive models developed from a sample population and applied to a reference population represented in the data repository, such as attitudinal, behavioral, or demographic models. For each predictive attitudinal (or identification) classification, at least one predominant predictive message content or version classification is independently determined. The exemplary embodiments also provide, for each predictive attitudinal classification, corresponding information concerning predominant communication media (or channel) types, predominant communication timing, predominant communication frequency, and predominant communication sequencing.
US09471927B2	Efficiently resolving the values for the tag parameters thereby syndicating the tag data as early as possible A method, system and computer program product for resolving values of parameters of tags. A map is created which includes the number of times each parameter is referenced by the tags in a web page requested by a client device. The parameters in the map are then sorted in a list in descending order based on the number of times referenced by the tags. The value for the parameter listed at the top of the list is looked up. If the value cannot be located, then those tags that are associated with this parameter are added to a list of tags to be ignored. By ignoring such tags in this list, the resolving of tag values for tags to be syndicated can occur more quickly and efficiently, including syndicating the tag data before the web page is completely loaded.
US09471922B2	Wireless devices for storing a financial account card and methods for storing card data in a wireless device A wireless device is enabled to receive a financial account card that is inserted into a card slot of the wireless device. The wireless device reads card data from the financial account card when it is inserted into the slot and programs an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag or a memory included in the wireless device. The wireless device may then be used to provide payment by transmitting the card data via radio frequency to a nearby RFID reader using the RFID tag. The financial account card may also be ejected from the wireless device and swiped by a magnetic card reader.
US09471921B1	Secure mobile payment authorization A method to authorize a mobile payment for a transaction. The method includes receiving a facial image of a consumer who requests the mobile payment for the transaction using account information stored in a mobile device of the consumer, wherein the facial image is provided by a point-of-sale (POS) device while initiating the transaction on behalf of the consumer, receiving a verified facial image of an account holder, comparing the facial image of the consumer and the verified facial image of the account holder based on a pre-determined criterion to verify the consumer as the account holder, generating, in response to verifying the consumer as the account holder, an authorization of the mobile payment based on the account information, and sending the authorization to the POS device to complete the transaction.
US09471920B2	Transaction assessment and/or authentication Systems and methods for assessing and authenticating transactions are disclosed. Some exemplary embodiments may authenticate transactions based at least in part on a comparison of a newly obtained electronic signature associated with a user with a previously obtained electronic signature associated with the user, where a payment instrument presented for use in the transaction is also associated with the user. Exemplary electronic signatures may comprise any information which may identify the user, such as browser fingerprints, computer fingerprints, IP addresses, geographic IP location information, information associated with a payment, and/or a typing patterns.
US09471918B1	Method of establishing credit on a vending device A method and system is provided for establishing credit on an automatic vending machine or vending device. A currency amount or a number of credits is established on a vending device in order to obtain a product, service or access time from a vending device using a cellular telephone, or other personal wireless communication device. The personal wireless communication device activates an applet, which may be downloaded at the site, to establish a link with a vending machine universal wireless interface coupled to the vending machine device controller and also establishes a link with a remote server for authorizing credit for a vending transaction, which allows the vending transaction to take place.
US09471917B2	Dongle facilitated wireless consumer payments Computing systems and methods for facilitating consumer transactions in retail and other establishments include communication interfaces adapted to couple a computing system to a plurality of third party mobile electronic devices, storage components adapted to store user information, participating merchant information, or any combination thereof, and processors in communication with the communication interfaces and storage components. The processors are adapted to facilitate automatic wireless transactions between third party users of the third party mobile electronic devices and the participating merchants when the third party devices are present at the participating merchants without any affirmative activity by the third party users.
US09471914B2	Facilitating a secure transaction over a direct secure transaction channel Methods and systems are provided for supporting electronic transactions, including transactions that are provided with per-user, per-device and per-domain security across domains of multiple service providers.
US09471912B2	Behavioral event measurement system and related method Electronic system for obtaining data, via one or more digital devices, on user behavior, digital transactions, and exposure relative to digital content and services, or external exposure and associated events between the user and the environment via sensors attached to digital devices, the system being configured to collect data reflecting the content and objects that the user at least potentially perceives as rendered on one or more digital screens attached to smart devices, reconstruct the at least potentially perceived visual landscape based on the collected data, and determine the target and/or level of user attention in view of the reconstruction and associated exposure events detected therein, and to apply locally stored information about rules or fingerprints in the digital object recognition process involving the collected data and validation of the type or identity of user actions, digital content, or external objects, as reflected by the reconstruction recapturing the visual landscape.
US09471910B2	Data storage and access systems Data storage and access systems enable downloading and paying for data such as audio and video data, text, software, games and other types of data. A portable data carrier has an interface for sending and receiving data, data memory for storing received content data, and payment validation memory for providing payment validation data to an external device. The carrier may also store a record of access made to the stored content, and content use rules for controlling access to the stored content. Embodiments store further access control data and supplementary data such as hot links to web sites and/or advertising data. A complementary data access terminal, data supply computer system, and data access device are also described. The combination of payment data and stored content data and use rule data helps reduce the risk of unauthorized access to data such as compressed music and video data, especially over the Internet.
US09471909B2	ATM customer defined user interface for security purposes Embodiments of the invention are directed to a system, method, or computer program product for receiving a customization that will be displayed on the screen of an ATM based on a customer initiating a session with the ATM. The customization is associated with a function to perform a financial transaction. The function is performed as a result of the customer interacting with the customization on the screen of the ATM. The customization may be altered based on a handicap impairment of the customer. The displaying of the customization may be restricted for security purposes or as a request of the customer.
US09471904B2	Systems and methods for determining a potential failure or other status of a robotic device Methods and systems for proactively preventing hazardous or other situations in a robot-cloud interaction are provided. An example method includes receiving information associated with task logs for a plurality of robotic devices. The task logs may include information associated with tasks performed by the plurality of robotic devices. The method may also include a computing system determining information associated with hazardous situations based on the information associated with the task logs. For example, the hazardous situations may comprise situations associated with failures of one or more components of the plurality of robotic devices. According to the method, information associated with a contextual situation of a first robotic device may be determined, and when the information associated with the contextual situation is consistent with information associated with the one or more hazardous situations, an alert indicating a potential failure of the first robotic device may be provided.
US09471902B2	Proxy for asynchronous meeting participation Embodiments described herein relate to enabling a lightweight way of recording and sharing video messages intended to provide input to a future meeting that cannot be personally attended. A person who cannot attend the meeting pre-records their thoughts and remarks for the meeting as video clips for presentation at the meeting. A physical device with at least a display is presented at the meeting. The physically present participants can play the pre-recorded clips on the device. Video of participants' responses to the clips is recorded and made available so that the represented attendee can view the participants' responses.
US09471899B2	Apparatus and method for interactive email A non-transitory computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to deliver to a community of users an email with a widget including a graphical user interface that solicits input. Solicited input is collected from the community of users via the widget. The email is revised to dynamically display at least a portion of the solicited input.
US09471898B2	Endorsing E-mail messages using social network verification Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for e-mail message endorsement in an e-mail management system. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for e-mail message endorsement in an e-mail management system can be provided. The method can include comparing a sender and a recipient of an e-mail message in a social network to identify linking relationships between the sender and the recipient, scoring the e-mail message based upon the identified linking relationships, and visually distinguishing the e-mail message based upon the scoring. In one aspect of the embodiment, the method further can include repeating the comparing to identify new linking relationships, updating the scoring based upon the identified new linking relationships, and updating the visual distinction of the e-mail message based upon the updated scoring.
US09471892B2	System and method for embedding report descriptors into an XML string to assure report consistency A system stores report descriptors. The report descriptors are used in sections of reports. The reports include a report type and subject. The system generates a pseudo random number seed for use in selecting a first subset of the report descriptors for the reports on a first report subject, and stores the pseudo random number seed. The system retrieves the first subset of report descriptors for the reports on the first report subject based on the pseudo random number seed and subsequently generated random numbers, places the retrieved first subset of report descriptors into an XML string, and generates two or more reports relating to the first report subject using the first subset of report descriptors in the XML string. The two or more reports include at least two different report types, and each common section among the two or more reports includes the same report descriptors.
US09471889B2	Video tracking based method for automatic sequencing of vehicles in drive-thru applications A method for updating an event sequence includes acquiring video data of a queue area from at least one image source; searching the frames for subjects located at least near a region of interest (ROI) of defined start points in the video data; tracking a movement of each detected subject through the queue area over a subsequent series of frames; using the tracking, determining if a location of the a tracked subject reaches a predefined merge point where multiple queues in the queue area converge into a single queue lane; in response to the tracked subject reaching the predefined merge point, computing an observed sequence of where the tracked subject places among other subjects approaching an end-event point; and, updating a sequence of end-events to match the observed sequence of subjects in the single queue lane.
US09471888B2	Transmission of authorization information The present invention relates to a method for utilizing a mobile station for the transmission of authorization information requiring verification in a telecommunication network comprising the mobile station. In the method, the information to be verified is transmitted to the mobile station, the authorization information transmitted is presented on the display of the mobile station, the authorization information presented is read from the display of the mobile station, and the authenticity of the authorization information thus read is verified. According to the invention, the authorization information is sent in a form comprising information to be presented in a graphic form, and the authorization information is presented on the display of the mobile station using a user-independent function of the mobile station in question for the presentation of graphic information.
US09471885B1	Predictor-corrector method for knowledge amplification by structured expert randomization A method involves using a predictor rule base and a corrector rule base to map an acquired context to a rule when the context may not be completely covered by a rule. All involved rules may be non-deterministic. Non-deterministic predictor consequents provide the context for the corrector rule base, while the associated consequent is the correct action to be taken. A minimal of predicates is deleted from every rule in the predictor or corrector base to obtain a contextual covering of at least one rule in the predictor or corrector base. Each produced action may be associated with a possibility metric, which is inversely proportional to the maximum percentage of deleted antecedent predicates produced in matching any single rule in the predictor and corrector bases. The generalized matching capability allows systems to be arranged in a networked system of systems where each system is a domain-specific knowledgebase segment.
US09471882B2	Information identification method, program product, and system using relative frequency In a case where supervised (learning) data is prepared and the case where test data is prepared, the data is recorded with time information attached to the data. The method includes clustering the learning data in a target class and clustering the test data in the target class. Then, the probability density for each of identified subclasses is calculated for each of time intervals having various time points and widths for the learning data, and is calculated for each of time intervals in the latest time period which have various widths, for the test data. Then, a ratio between a probability density obtained when learning is performed and a probability density obtained when testing is performed is obtained as a relative frequency in each of the time intervals for each of the subclasses. Input having a relative frequency that statistically and markedly increases is detected as an anomaly.
US09471872B2	Extension to the expert conversation builder Building a runtime dialog is provided. An initial answer to an initial question is received from a user. A state of a conversation thread is created based on the initial answer. A next question to ask is automatically selected by a processor based on the updated state of the conversation thread. The next question is presented to the user. A next answer to the next question is received. The state of the conversation thread is updated based on the next answer. The selecting, presenting, receiving, and updating are repeated until a criterion is satisfied.
US09471871B2	Method of generating features optimal to a dataset and classifier A method of generating features optimal to a particular dataset and classifier is disclosed. A dataset of messages is inputted and a classifier is selected. An algebra of features is encoded. Computable features that are capable of describing the dataset from the algebra of features are selected. Irredundant features that are optimal for the classifier and the dataset are selected.
US09471869B2	Determination of composite clusters A computing device to compute composite clusters is provided. A first and a second plurality of centroid locations are computed by executing a clustering algorithm with a first portion of data and a first input parameter and a second portion of the data and a second input parameter, respectively. The first portion is different from the second portion or the first input parameter is different from the second input parameter. A plurality of composite centroid locations is computed using the computed first and second plurality of centroid locations to define a composite set of clusters. An observation is selected. A cluster of the composite set of clusters to which to assign the observation is determined using the plurality of composite centroid locations. The selecting and the determining is repeated with each observation of the plurality of observations as the observation to define cluster assignments for the plurality of observations.
US09471865B2	Payment card having light-emitting diode indicators coordinated with stored payment applications In an IC (integrated circuit) card, a selection signal is received from a user-actuatable switch to select between two different payment card accounts, each represented by a respective account indicator number stored in the IC component of the card. In response to the selection signal, a light-emitting diode indicator on the IC card is illuminated to indicate selection of a corresponding one of the payment card accounts.
US09471859B2	Image processing device, printing device, and image processing method An image processing device that changes the output format of the generated printout can dynamically change the output format of the printout using print data from an existing system. An image processing device that executes a process to change the output format of a printout has an output format selector that selects a template determining the format of the printout based on information contained in the print data for the printout, and a print data generator that changes the print data according to the selected template.
US09471858B2	Method for converting spectral characterization data A method controls the coloring of a printing press. In the method a test element is printed with a number of colored measuring areas. The printed colored measuring areas of the test element are then measured. Actual colorimetric values are calculated from the measured color values and then displayed. Reference colorimetric values are entered and adapted spectral color values are calculated. Densitometric, colorimetric, or spectral actual tonal values or actual tonal value gains are determined from the calculated actual colorimetric values of a subset of the colored areas of the test element. The densitometric, colorimetric or spectral reference tonal values or the reference tonal value gains are entered and adapted spectral color values are calculated by a comparison with the calculated actual colorimetric values. The adapted spectral color values for the calculation of color profiles, process calibrations and process control values are stored and the printing press is activated.
US09471857B2	Overcoat processing mechanism A method is disclosed. The method includes analyzing color planes of a compressed sheetside image and generating an overcoat plane based on the color planes.
US09471853B2	Method and apparatus for image processing A method is provided for classifying pixels in an image into super pixels that may be executed in one or more than one electronic devices. Seed pixels are pixels selected from the image. Color distances of a color space similar to human vision perception between the seed pixels and proximal pixels are calculated. The proximal pixels are pixels located proximally to corresponding seed pixels. Geographic distances are also computed for two pixels and the geographic distances are combined with the color distances as a reference for classifying pixels into super pixels.
US09471851B1	Systems and methods for inferring gender by fusion of multimodal content A method and systems are provided. The method includes recognizing semantic concepts in a set of images and assigning semantic scores for the images to predict a gender of a user. The method further includes performing gender prediction from visual content and textual content in the images to respectively generate visual-based gender predictions and textual-based gender predictions. The method also includes combining, using multimodal information fusion, the visual-based gender predictions, the textual-based gender predictions, and the semantic scores, to infer a gender of a user.
US09471847B2	Efficient distance metric learning for fine-grained visual categorization Methods and systems for distance metric learning include generating two random projection matrices of a dataset from a d-dimensional space into an m-dimensional sub-space, where m is smaller than d. An optimization problem is solved in the m-dimensional subspace to learn a distance metric based on the random projection matrices. The distance metric is recovered in the d-dimensional space.
US09471846B2	Method and system for visualizing a correlation mark using an electronic device A mobile electronic device is used to decode a printed correlation mark. The device receives an image of a printed correlation mark, identifies a decoding template, applies the template to detect hidden content within the printed correlation mark, and outputs an image of the detected hidden content on the display. The device may enhance the image before presenting it on the display.
US09471843B2	Apparatus and method for ultra-high resolution video processing A video processing apparatus and method is provided. The video processing apparatus divides video data and then processes a current divided area of the divided video data by referring to pixels in an adjacent divided area while processing the current divided area, thereby minimizing artifacts generation along a boundary between divided areas when the processed divided areas are subsequently merged.
US09471842B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium storing program An image processing apparatus acquires a read image which has been obtained by reading one or a plurality of originals by a reading apparatus and includes an original region corresponding to each of the one or plurality of originals, and specifies an object corresponding to contents of the original in the read image based on a group of pixels corresponding to luminance values smaller than a predetermined luminance value in the acquired read image. If a plurality of objects are specified, it is determined whether the plurality of objects are included in one original region, thereby deciding a candidate region corresponding to each of the one or plurality of original regions.
US09471837B2	Real-time analytics to identify visual objects of interest A method of identifying and suggesting objects for a user within a user's field of vision of a personal imaging system. A user's field of vision within the system is monitored. The personal imaging system captures biometric data of the user regarding objects that are focused on within the user's field of vision. The biometric data and any identified emotions regarding the objects being focused on from the user is associated with the user's profile which includes at least demographics. A real-time correlation of the user's profile and demographics with other users is performed to provide a correlation interest score. The interest score may be used to recommend and direct the user's attention to other objects within the user's field of vision that the user may be interested in.
US09471825B2	Method of manufacturing an electronic card The present application relates to overcoming some of the physical problems associated with putting a biometric sensor into the body of an electronic card, such as a smart card. A disclosed method of manufacturing an electronic card including a biometric sensor may include providing a preformed card body including a circuit having contacts for connection to a biometric sensor, the contacts being embedded within the preformed card body, removing material from the preformed card body to form a cavity in the preformed card body to expose the contacts, coating walls of the cavity with an adhesive epoxy, and connecting a biometric sensor to the contacts using an conductive epoxy. Also disclosed is an electronic card including a biometric sensor manufactured by this method.
US09471823B1	Multiple barcode processing apparatus, systems, and methods Various embodiments of apparatus, systems, and methods operate to identify, by a scanning device, whether barcode data includes one of a primary type or a secondary type. Additional activity includes reconfiguring the scanning device to receive secondary barcode data when the primary type comprises a non-standalone primary barcode, reporting a standalone secondary barcode of the secondary type to a transaction processing system, and buffering a non-standalone secondary barcode of the secondary type. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US09471822B1	Demarcating a redaction area within a field of view of a video stream A system, such as a barcode scanner, can include a camera directed at a scene. The scene can include an area that occasionally includes sensitive information; such an area can include a keypad for entering PINs or a tray for writing checks. The system can generate a video stream of the scene. The system can recognize an object temporarily physically positioned within the scene. The system can demarcate a redaction area within a field of view of the video stream in response to the temporary position of the object in the scene. The system can blur, or otherwise obscure, the redaction area within the field of view of the video stream of the scene to form a redacted video stream of the scene. The system can output the redacted video stream of the scene, which can decrease a risk of theft of the sensitive information.
US09471820B2	Method and system for locating objects Method and systems for locating objects, in particular RFID tags, employ one or more RFID reading devices. The methods and/or systems make it possible to determine a distance between an RFID reading device and a deliberately selected RFID tag in a simple, robust manner. The RFID reading device determines a propagation time of a broadband signal by comparing the broadband signal with the scattered broadband signal. The RFID reading device determines a distance between the RFID reading device and the RFID tag from the propagation time difference.
US09471817B1	Action-triggered radio-frequency identification tag A radio-frequency identification (RFID) system includes at least one tag having tag circuitry configured to detect activation of a trigger switch resulting from a specific trigger action, provide electrical power to the tag circuitry when the specific trigger action is performed, and transmit an identification data signal for the at least one tag when the trigger switch is activated and in response to receiving an interrogator signal. An enclosure surrounds the tag circuitry including a separating end detachably attached to a primary end where the specific trigger action is the separation of the separating end from the primary end. A RFID reader has reader circuitry to determine that the at least one tag is unarmed, armed, or triggered based on a presence or absence of the identification data signal and the presence or absence of the tag identification data on an armed tag list.
US09471816B1	Increasing dynamic range of RFID tag self-tuning An RFID tag tuning circuit is capable of tuning the impedance matching between an RFID integrated circuit (IC) and an antenna on an RFID tag to increase the amount of power that the IC can extract from an incident RF wave. The tuning circuit tunes the impedance matching by adjusting a variable impedance coupling the antenna and the IC. Prior to tuning, the variable impedance is set using a voltage output from a tuning switch stage of an IC rectifier.
US09471805B2	Selective encryption of data stored on removeable media in an automated data storage library In an automated data storage library, selective encryption for data stored or to be stored on removable media is provided. One or more encryption policies are established, each policy including a level of encryption, one or more encryption keys and the identity of one or more data cartridges. The encryption policies are stored in a policy table and the encryption keys are stored in a secure key server. A host requests access to a specified data cartridge and the cartridge is transported from a storage shelf in the library to a storage drive. Based on the identity of the specified cartridge, the corresponding encryption policy is selected from the table and the appropriate encryption key is obtained from the key server. The storage drive encrypts data in accordance with the key and stores the data on the media on an encryption table within the specified data cartridge.
US09471796B2	Intelligent key selection and generation A method, computer program product, and system for selecting and generating a key to perform a cryptographic operation are described. The method includes receiving one or more inputs representing criteria for the key, the one or more inputs excluding an explicit identification of the key and one of the one or more inputs specifying the cryptographic operation; retrieving, from a memory device, information corresponding with the one or more inputs; selecting and generating the key based on the one or more inputs and the information; and performing the cryptographic operation using the key.
US09471795B2	System and method providing permission based access to automotive computers A Link device has a processor connected to an internal Link bus, a non-transitory memory, a digital device ID, one or both of firmware or software executing from non-transitory media, a first communication port enabled to communicate with a vehicle bus coupling computerized devices in a vehicle, and a second communication port enabled to communicate with one or more digital devices external to the vehicle. The firmware or software enables the Link device to communicate with the vehicle bus, and to accomplish a variety of tasks including pulling data from data stores in the vehicle and operating specific vehicle functions, and wherein the firmware or software manages communication with the one or more external digital devices, accepting only requests for cooperation with the Link device using the unique device ID with a request that is cryptographically secure.
US09471794B2	Determining whether a data storage is encrypted A method, program and/or system reads a file through a first path from a data storage to obtain a first data. The file is read through a second path from the data storage to obtain a second data. The first data is compared to the second data. When the first data matches the second data, the file is determined not to be encrypted in the data storage. When the first data does not match the second data, the file is determined to be encrypted in the data storage.
US09471791B2	Private decayed sum estimation under continual observation Described herein is a method and system for providing privacy guarantees with an improved privacy-accuracy trade-off. Dynamic data can be accessed from a database. A sum model is selected from window sum, exponential decay sum, and polynomial decay sum. An algorithm is initiated that produces polylogarithmic bounded error in the range of a sum function associated with the selected sum model and independent of time steps. The data can be assembled in a dyadic tree structure. A non-linearity component can be added to nodes of the dyadic tree structure. For example, this can be a noise components or a weight applied to the update. This can be done, for example, to different nodes differently. Differential private estimators can be constructed for fixed steps of time. The differential private estimators can be applied to a query means or filtering system to enhance privacy protection from potential adversaries.
US09471789B2	Compliance method for a cyber-physical system The present invention provides for analysis of cyber-physical systems with relation to compliance requirements such as regulatory compliance, maintenance compliance and safety compliance. Generally, the invention provides for a set of paths from an initial state to an end state, and analyzing the paths to determine which ones contain a violation state. Based on the resultant paths test scripts are generated. Additionally, other compliance related procedures can be performed utilizing the path analysis.
US09471788B2	Evaluation of software applications Software applications receive input data, perform processing of the received data and generate output. In one aspect the output is modification of data structures. The software application is tested with instances of input data that lead to various data modifications in the data structures. In another aspect, patterns are found in the modifications of the data structures, which are evaluated and analyzed for software vulnerabilities.
US09471786B1	Method for booting and dumping a confidential image on a trusted computer system A method for dumping a confidential image on a trusted computer system. A trusted computer system loads an encrypted client dumper image key. The trusted computer system decrypts, with a private host key, the encrypted client dumper image key to generate a client dumper image key. The trusted computer system loads an encrypted dumper including a client dump key, in response to determining that the client dumper image key matches a client image key which encrypts a boot image of a current operating system. The trusted computer system decrypts, with the client dumper image key, the encrypted dumper to generate a dumper including the client dump key. The trusted computer system starts the dumper. The dumper generates an encrypted dump by encrypting, with the client dump key, an image to be dumped in the secure logical partition, and the dumper writes the encrypted dump on a client dump device.
US09471782B2	File scanning method and system, client and server A file scanning method and a file scanning system, a client and a server are disclosed. The server may determine a property indicator of a file, that represents probability of the file being a malicious program. The server may make this determination based on a comprehensive consideration of attribute information of the file. The attribute information may be reported by a plurality of clients. The server may send the property indicator to the clients. The clients may determine, according to the property indicator, a scanning strategy on whether to scan the file. Alternatively, the server may determine, according to the property indicator, a scanning strategy on whether to scan the file, and may send the scanning strategy to the clients. The clients may scan the file in accordance with the scanning strategy. Accordingly, only the file with higher probability of being a malicious program may be selectively scanned.
US09471781B2	Method and apparatus for monitoring and filtering universal serial bus network traffic In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining at least one packet from a first element on a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus. The at least one packet is intended for a second element. The method also includes processing the at least one packet to determine whether the at least one packet is associated with unsafe content, and providing the at least one packet to the second element if it is determined that the at least one packet is not associated with the unsafe content. The at least one packet is provided to the second element on the USB bus. Finally, the method includes blocking the at least one packet from being provided to the second element when it is determined that the at least one packet is associated with the unsafe content.
US09471779B2	Information processing system, information processing device, monitoring device, monitoring method An information processing system in which a monitoring device can detect illegal and/or abnormal operations in a system to be monitored, without using detailed information of the system, is provided. In a target device 100, an operation data generation unit 130 generates operation data 140 as data of encoding a set of operations related to a predetermined program executed in an execution environment 120, and transmits the operation data to the monitoring device 200. In the monitoring device 200, an operation pattern storing unit 230 stores an operation pattern 240 as operation data related to a set of operations to be detected. An operation data decision unit 220 decides that the operation to be detected is executed in the execution unit when the operation data received from the target device 100 matches the operation pattern 240, and notifies of execution of the operation to be detected.
US09471777B1	Scheduling of defensive security actions in information processing systems A processing device is configured to identify a plurality of defensive security actions to be taken to address a persistent security threat to a system comprising information technology infrastructure, and to determine a schedule for performance of the defensive security actions based at least in part on a selected distribution derived from a game-theoretic model, such as a delayed exponential distribution or other type of modified exponential distribution. The system subject to the persistent security threat is configured to perform the defensive security actions in accordance with the schedule in order to deter the persistent security threat. The distribution may be selected so as to optimize defender benefit in the context of the game-theoretic model, where the game-theoretic model may comprise a stealthy takeover game in which attacker and defender entities can take actions at any time but cannot determine current game state without taking an action.
US09471770B2	Method and control unit for recognizing manipulations on a vehicle network A method for detecting manipulation of at least one vehicle network of a vehicle includes determining a digital fingerprint of the at least one vehicle network, comparing the digital fingerprint of the at least one vehicle network to reference information, adapting a function of the at least one vehicle network as a function of a result of the comparison, such that operational safety is ensured, and activating a regular control mode if no manipulation of the at least one vehicle network is detected, or activating an operationally safe control mode if manipulation of the at least one vehicle network is detected. A control unit for detecting manipulation of at least one vehicle network of a vehicle carries out control tasks as a function of a result of a comparison of a digital fingerprint of at least one vehicle network to reference information of a control network.
US09471769B2	Method and device for controlling access to a computer system A device for controlling access to a computer system, the device comprising at least one multifunctional port capable of being connected to various categories of peripherals and an access interface capable of being connected to the computer system, wherein the device comprises access management means connected between the multifunctional port and the interface, the access management means being physically configured to authorize the interface access by means of a peripheral connected to the multifunctional port, only if said peripheral belongs to a category of peripherals specifically and permanently associated with the multifunctional port to which same is connected.
US09471768B2	Continuously changing unlock pattern using moving icons An approach is provided for displaying moving graphic objects on the display screen of the information handling system that are selected by a user while the objects are moving. The system is unlocked in response to the set of graphic objects selected by the user and the selection order matching an expected set of graphic objects and an expected selection order. Unlocking of the system allows the user to interact with one or more applications of the information handling system and to access data stored on the information handling system.
US09471766B2	Screen unlocking method and system based on mobile terminal, and storage medium for the same The method for unlocking a screen comprises the following steps: dividing a screen of a mobile terminal into M regions in advance; presetting a touch combination of N regions among the M regions of the screen as a screen unlocking combination regions, and storing the screen unlocking combination regions; receiving a user operation instruction, selecting and touching N regions combination of the mobile terminal screen as a user unlocking regions; comparing the user unlocking regions with the presetting screen unlocking combination regions to determine whether the user unlocking regions and the presetting screen unlocking combination regions are consistent, and if consistent, controlling the screen to unlock.
US09471763B2	User input processing with eye tracking A system determines which user of multiple users provided input through a single input device. A mechanism captures images of the one or more users. When input is detected, the images may be processed to determine which user provided an input using the input device. The images may be processed to identify each users head and eyes, and determine the focus point for each user's eyes. The user which has eyes focused at the input location is identified as providing the input. When the input mechanism is a touch screen, the user having eyes focused on the touch screen portion which was touched is identified as the source of the input.
US09471761B2	Unlocking electronic devices using touchscreen input gestures A computer implemented method for detecting input gesture events on a touchscreen of an electronic device and for unlocking the electronic device is disclosed. The method may include displaying, while the electronic device is in a locked state, a plurality of guidance lines on the touchscreen of the electronic device, detecting, during an input gesture event, guidance line crossings and calculating a number of guidance line crossings detected during the input gesture event. The method may also include converting a calculated number of detected guidance line crossings into at least one password digit, comparing a sequence of password digits to a stored password in the electronic device and unlocking, in response to comparing the sequence of password digits to the stored password, the electronic device.
US09471757B2	Radio frequency identifiers for providing user access to computing resources A system for controlling access to computing resources including an authentication device operatively associated with a computing device, the authentication device being configured to transmit an interrogation signal to a predetermined area. A computing device has at least one software application resides thereon. A wireless license device is configured to transmit license information to the authentication device in response to the interrogation signal and to allow the software application to run while the wireless license device is within the predetermined area and to prevent the software application from running when the wireless license device is not within the predetermined area.
US09471756B2	Method and apparatus for authorizing a software product to be used on a computer system One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for authorizing a software product to be used on a computer system. During operation, the system receives authorization information at a database from a point of sale system located at a retailer, wherein the authorization information is associated with the software product. The system then modifies a database entry associated with the software product to authorize use of the software product.
US09471753B2	Programming and virtual reality representation of stimulation parameter Groups The present disclosure involves a medical system that includes one or more implantable medical devices configured to deliver a medical therapy to a patient. The medical system also includes a portable electronic device on which a touch-sensitive user interface is implemented. The user interface is configured to provide a visual representation of the medical therapy through a hierarchy. The hierarchy includes a lower level representation of the medical therapy that corresponds to a stimulation program that includes a plurality of configurable stimulation parameters. The hierarchy includes a middle level representation of the medical therapy that corresponds to a stimulation program-set that includes a plurality of different stimulation programs. The hierarchy includes an upper level representation of the medical therapy that corresponds to a scrollable collection of stimulation program-sets that are represented by a plurality of digital cards, respectively.
US09471752B2	Operating environment monitor for medical device programming A programming system for an electronic medical device (EMD) is described. The programming system, as described in this disclosure, comprises a host computer, such as a general purpose computer in an in-clinic computer network, executing a software platform that provides an operating environment with which a user can interact to program an EMD. The software platform invokes monitoring software that ensures that the host computer satisfies criteria for safe operation of the operating environment, e.g., ensures that the host computer meets the minimum operating conditions required for reliable operation of the operating environment. In particular, the monitoring software may monitor system faults that occur during operation, as well as ensure that criteria for safe operation are satisfied prior to initiating the operating environment.
US09471751B1	Telemedicine system for preliminary remote diagnosis of a patient A telemedicine system to enable remote pre-diagnosis based on one or more messages from a user is described. The telemedicine system includes a user interface to enable a user to generate a telemedicine query requesting a preliminary diagnosis of a medical condition. The system targets the telemedicine query to an appropriate responder and stores the telemedicine query and any follow-up messages sent in response to the telemedicine query.
US09471747B2	Apparatus and method for viewing medical information An apparatus includes a computer system programmed to retrieve information from a plurality of data sources; the computer system including a plurality of vault query services; an adapter for each of the data sources, each adapter translating an interface for one of the data sources to a vault query service interface; and a cross-vault query service providing an interface for data communication between an application program and the plurality of vault query services; and a user display for displaying the information retrieved from the data sources in response to a query from the application program.
US09471746B2	Sub-resolution assist feature implementation with shot optimization A design layout for a semiconductor chip includes information on shapes desired to be fabricated. Clusters of photolithographic exposure “shots” are generated and subject to a measure of shot density to approximate a mask shape that generates the desired fabricated shapes when exposed during wafer fabrication. A simulation is run on the clusters of shots to estimate the resulting fabrication shapes that the clusters of shots create. The clusters of shots are modified to align the estimated fabrication shapes more closely with desired fabrication shapes. The process of simulating and modifying the shots is iterative, repeating until the estimated fabrication shapes are within a desired error difference of the planned fabrication shape.
US09471742B2	Method for displaying timing information of an integrated circuit floorplan in real time A method includes (a) generating timing information of an integrated circuit (IC) floorplan by a processing unit, (b) displaying on a display device a representation of the IC floorplan according to the timing information, (c) receiving user input via an input device, the user input associated with an IC macro of the IC floorplan, (d) updating the timing information associated with the IC macro to generated updated timing information according to the user input, and (e) altering display of the representation according to the updated timing information.
US09471738B2	Method and apparatus for capacitance extraction A method comprises processing a layout of an integrated circuit to determine one or more attributes of one or more components of the integrated circuit. The method also comprises extracting one or more process parameters from a process file associated with manufacturing the integrated circuit. The one or more process parameters are extracted from the process file based on a computation of one or more logic functions included in the process file. The computation is based on the one or more attributes. The method further comprises calculating a capacitance value between at least two components of the integrated circuit based on the one or more process parameters and a capacitance determination rule included in the process file. At least one of the one or more process parameters, the one or more logic functions, or the capacitance determination rule is editable based on a user input.
US09471736B2	Computing system automatically generating a transactor A computing system includes a memory device into which a design file for a predetermined intellectual property (IP) and a transactor generating tool are loaded, and a processor configured to execute the transactor generating tool loaded into the memory device. The transactor generating tool executed by the processor extracts port information of the IP from the design file, and generates at least one transactor corresponding to the IP based on the port information.
US09471731B2	Electrical power system stability optimization system A method and apparatus for electrical power system stability optimization. An electrical power system comprising source elements and load elements is simulated to generate impedance data, wherein the impedance data identifies an impedance of the electrical power system. A stability profile of the electrical power system is characterized as a function of the impedance data, wherein the stability profile identifies the source elements and load elements to control power generation by the electrical power system to optimize stability of the electrical power system.
US09471729B1	System and method for transitioning between executing models Model metadata for each of a plurality of mathematical models is stored. Data describing two sets of models is received. Each of the sets identifies one or more models of the plurality of mathematical models. One of the sets comprises a transition-from set and one of the sets comprises a transition-to set. Data describing a launch date for commencing a transition from executing the model(s) in the transition-from set to executing the model(s) in the transition-to set is received. Data describing a transition period of time for the transition is received. The models in the transition-from set and in the transition-to set are executed during the transition period of time. An output of the execution of the model(s) in the transition-from set is combined with an output of the execution of the model(s) in the transition-to set. The output is stored in a database.
US09471727B2	Simulation with dynamic run-time accuracy adjustment Systems and methods for simulation with dynamic run-time accuracy adjustment. In one embodiment, a first portion of a sequence of software instruction is simulated by a first simulation model, during a simulation. During the same simulation, a second portion of the sequence is simulated by a second simulation model. State information may be transferred from the first simulation model to the second simulation model. A change from simulating the first portion of a sequence of software instructions by the first simulation model to simulating the second portion of the sequence by the second simulation model may be made responsive to a computer-based determination of an advantage obtained by the change.
US09471725B2	Method for estimating noise performance of rolling tire A method for simulating a rolling tire and estimating its noise performance is disclosed, wherein a tire model rolling on a rough road surface model is simulated, and coordinates of node points appearing in the outer surface of the rolling tire model are stored as time-series coordinates data. A small gap is formed between a tire outer surface model defined by the time-series coordinates data and a smooth road surface model. Then, a sound field filled with air is defined including the gap, and pressure variations of the air are computed.
US09471724B2	Apparatus and method for estimating railway vehicle masses Disclosed is an apparatus and method for estimating railway vehicle masses, the method comprising checking if a train has entered an initial acceleration section and a straight section, receiving a speed of the train, each acceleration of the plurality of railway vehicles and each traction of the plurality of railway vehicles, dynamically modeling the train, and estimating masses of the plurality of railway vehicles and rail gradient.
US09471722B2	Systems and methods for evaluating a fault condition in a building Systems and methods for evaluating a fault condition in a building include determining a change to energy use model parameters attributable to the fault condition. The change to the energy use model parameters are used to calculate a corresponding change to the building's energy consumption.
US09471721B1	Process for dynamic design of pile foundation systems using tunable pile members capable of absorbing vibrations There is disclosed a process for making a foundation system for a platform. In an embodiment, the process includes obtaining design data relating to load and soil characteristics; performing modal tests on a pile member installed in soil to determine natural frequency of the pile member; performing vibration tests on a pile member to determine stiffness; forming a model of using data obtained; testing, in silico, how the model responds to frequencies in a range of the equipment; adjusting, in silico, the model to satisfy design criteria; forming, in silico, a plan of a foundation system based on the adjusted model; installing the foundation system based on the plan; performing vibration tests on the installed foundation system, and measuring vibration levels; and adjusting the foundation system to avoid resonance at a natural frequency by one of stiffen vibrations or dampen vibrations. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US09471719B2	Efficient lighting effects in design software A computerized method of for rendering a lighting effect can include receiving from a user inputs regarding the location of an object within a design space. Furthermore, the method can include receiving from the user one or more inputs regarding the location of one or more light sources within the design space. Additionally, the method can include calculating a lighting effect of the one or more lights on the object within the design space. Furthermore, the method can include rendering the lighting effect during a time interval that is independent of the number of the one or more light sources within the design space, such that rendering the lighting effect for one of the one or more light sources takes the same amount of time as rendering the lighting effect for a plurality of the light sources.
US09471718B2	Personalization of recommendations based on building model and behavioral science The technology disclosed herein provides accurate, targeted, building improvement content in a way that resonates with the user by considering the user's whole ecosystem. The technology uses details of the user's home, neighborhood, family, environmental and historical factors, goals, economic situation, and motivations and preferences to tailor content to a user's personal situation. A server or other computing device may accomplish this by receiving data from the client, a third party, or data local to the server; building modeling constructs based on these data sets such as a physics-based model of the building and a behavioral model of the user; operating these models relative to possible discrete building improvement content units; and using the results to determine personalized building improvement content for the user such as, for example, a webpage.
US09471717B2	Reflector and optical coating for improved LED lighting system Provided is a method including determining a first incident angle at which light from a light source will impinge on a first thin-film reflective stack of a planned first reflector for a lighting system. The method also includes determining a second incident angle at which light from the light source will impinge on a second thin-film reflective stack of a planned second reflector for the lighting system. The method further includes designing, using a processor executing a software package, the first reflector, comprising tuning a reflective characteristic of the first thin-film reflective stack as a function of the first incident angle determined, and designing, using the processor executing the software package, the second reflector, comprising tuning a reflective characteristic of the second thin-film reflective stack as a function of the second incident angle determined.
US09471711B2	Schema-less access to stored data A system, a method, and a computer program product for accessing stored partially structured data using a structure-based query language. A partially-structured data is stored in a data management system using at least one key-value pair. Using the data management system, a query of data is processed. The query is generated using a structured language.
US09471710B2	On-the-fly encoding method for efficient grouping and aggregation Embodiments include a method and computer program product for encoding data while it is being processed as part of a query is provided. The method includes receiving a query request and determining a set of values associated with data to be encoded for completing the query request. The method also includes encoding those values such that any subsequent processing operations can be performed on the encoded values to complete the requested query. After performing the subsequent processing operations to complete the requested query, each value is decoded back to its original value.
US09471701B2	Methods and systems for secure in-network insertion of web content and web services A method of web content and web services insertion is provided. The method includes receiving response data sent in response to request data, wherein the response data comprises a response header and a first webpage. The method also includes after a determination that insertion data is to be included with the first webpage, updating the response data by adding insertion data to the first webpage. The insertion data includes a script element that identifies a script that includes an instruction to display a second webpage within the first webpage. The method also includes providing the updated response data.
US09471699B2	Managing bookmarks within a collaborative application A computer-implemented method of managing bookmarks within a collaborative application can include receiving a user input specifying a universal resource locator (URL) to be bookmarked and determining whether a bookmark record including the URL exists. Responsive to determining that a bookmark record including the URL does not exist, an address and a network type for the URL can be determined. A bookmark record including the URL and the network type can be stored.
US09471696B2	Methods and systems for pathing analysis Methods, systems and computer program products for pathing analysis are provided. The method includes receiving at a server, a query comprising one or more nodes. The method further includes identifying one or more prior queries, wherein the one or more prior queries comprise at least one of the one or more nodes. The method accesses metadata associated with the one or more prior queries. The method then selects based on the metadata, one or more data partitions for further processing. Next, the method causes one or more computers to identify one or more paths in the selected data partitions, wherein the one or more paths comprise at least the one or more nodes. Finally, the method presents the identified paths as an output to the query.
US09471693B2	Location awareness using local semantic scoring Systems and methods are provided for determining continuous scoring models that describe one or more features regarding a geographic area. The scoring models can be fit to incorporate information from both point sources as well as area information. Based on the scoring models, a user can obtain feature values for the one or more features at any desired location or for a desired geographic area. Because the features are represented by a continuous function, comparisons of feature values for arbitrary geographic areas and/or combinations of features to form secondary values can also be performed.
US09471689B2	Managing documents in question answering systems A first candidate answer to a time-sensitive question received by a question answering (QA) system is identified using a first document. A first temporal confidence subscore of the first candidate answer is then calculated using a first temporal confidence rule. A first general confidence score is then generated based on at least the first temporal confidence subscore. A second candidate answer to the question is identified using a second document. A second temporal confidence subscore of the second candidate answer is then calculated using a second temporal confidence rule. A second general confidence score is then generated based on at least the second temporal confidence subscore. The first general confidence score and the second general confidence score are then compared. Based on this comparison, a final answer is selected from the first candidate answer and the second candidate answer.
US09471688B2	Personalized targeting of media stations Methods and arrangements are provided for the personalized targeting and customization of media stations in an online media service. A key set of inputs, with values unique to each user, is used to arrive at a personalized group of featured media stations that a user has access to. Demographic data, media preferences, user actions detected through the user's input, and other criteria allow for the content and screen time of featured stations to be personalized for each user.
US09471686B2	Systems and methods for implementing achievement guided recommendations A method performed by one or more computing devices. The method uses data identifying a particular user of a plurality of users, a title, and a plurality of achievements that may be earned with respect to the title. The data identifying which of the achievements the particular user has earned. The method includes determining an achievement difficulty value for each of the achievements, determining a title interest contribution value for each of the achievements as a function of the achievement difficulty value determined for the achievement, identifying one or more of the achievements that were earned by the particular user, and determining a user interest value as a function of the title interest contribution value determined for each of the identified one or more of the achievements (earned by the particular user). The user interest value indicates a level of interest of the particular user with respect to the title.
US09471685B1	System and method for search with the aid of images associated with product categories The present application describes performing a user initiated search query comprising receiving user input comprising description details of at least one desired object, retrieving a plurality of objects from a database sharing one or more of the description details of the user input, retrieving an image of the at least one desired object based on one or more of the plurality of objects, generating a contour of the image and comparing the generated contour with other related contours of other images stored in the database, displaying all of the available contours of all of the images that match the generated contour, receiving a selection of one of the available contours from the user and performing the search query based on the user selected contour.
US09471682B1	Providing information associated with a profile owner in a social network system Implementations generally relate to providing information associated with a profile owner to a target user in a social network system. In one implementation, a method includes receiving profile data associated with a profile owner. The method also includes receiving contact data associated with the profile owner, where the profile data and the contact data are provided by different users. The method also includes generating one or more views, where the one or more views include an interleaved view, and where the profile data and the contact data are displayed in an interleaved manner in a same section of the interleaved view.
US09471678B2	Search engine for a video recorder The present invention is directed to a search engine for a video recorder. One embodiment of the present invention operates in an environment that includes one or more set-top boxes connected to or integrated within one or more output devices. The set-top boxes are used to transfer shows from a broadcast input source to one or more types of storage devices and to play back the shows from the storage devices to the output devices, either in a delayed-live fashion or at a later time of the user's choosing. The set-top box displays a graphical user interface (GUI), which gives the user the ability to watch and/or record timeslot based programming, to order on-demand programming, and to playback previously recorded shows that reside on a local or remote storage device. A search engine is added to the GUI that lets the search for shows and receive results in an enhanced manner.
US09471676B1	System and method for suggesting keywords based on image contents A computer-implemented method includes receiving a first visual media article from an entity that provides content sources, identifying a first content item of the first visual media article, and identifying in a database a second visual media article that includes a second content item, wherein the second content item is substantially similar to the first content item. The method further includes extracting from logging data one or more keywords that yield a listing of a content source that includes the second visual media article, and suggesting the extracted one or more keywords to the entity.
US09471675B2	Automatic face discovery and recognition for video content analysis Systems and methods are provided for automatically classifying videos based on faces discovered in the videos, wherein the discovered faces are not known to be associated with a particular category of videos. The detected face is compared to a set of unknown faces to generate a cluster of unknown faces that each match with the detected face. A set of categorized videos is identified based on the cluster of unknown faces. One or more categories are assigned to the video based on categories from the set of categorized videos so that the video can be automatically classified based on the detected face even though the detected face is not associated with a known person.
US09471670B2	NLP-based content recommender Methods, techniques, and systems for using natural language processing to recommend related content to an associated text segment or document. Example embodiments provide a NLP-based content recommender (“NCR”) which uses NLP-based search techniques, potentially in conjunction with context or other related information, to locate and provide content related to entities that are recognized in the associated material. NCRs may be embedded as widgets, for example on Web pages to assist users in their perusal and search for information, provided by means of browser plug-ins or other application plug-ins, provided in libraries or in standalone environments, or otherwise integrated into other code, programs, or devices. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US09471668B1	Question-answering system A computer program product and method provides a question and answer service that accepts an initial first question from a user and analyzes the question by a first generation subsystem to generate a first answer. A second generation subsystem of the question and answer service is configured to generate a second question based at least in-part on keywords from the first question and the first answer.
US09471667B2	Systems and methods for evaluating multilingual text sequences Systems and methods are provided for scoring a response to a character-by-character highlighting task. A similarity value for the response is calculated by comparing the response to one or more correct responses to the task to determine the similarity or dissimilarity of the response to the one or more correct responses to the task. A threshold similarity value is calculated for the task, where the threshold similarity value is indicative of an amount of similarity or dissimilarity to the one or more correct responses required for the response to be scored at a certain level. The similarity value for the response is compared to the threshold similarity value. A score is assigned at, above, or below the certain level based on the comparison.
US09471666B2	System and method for supporting natural language queries and requests against a user's personal data cloud A machine-implemented method for supporting a natural language user request against a user's personal data cloud can include a machine receiving the natural language user request from the user, determining a semantic interpretation of the natural language user request, querying a semantically-indexed, integrated knowledge store based on the semantic interpretation, and responding to the natural language user request by displaying results of the querying, wherein the results correspond to an item within the user's personal data cloud.
US09471664B2	Syntactic tagging in a domain-specific context This application relates generally to defining a domain-specific syntax characterizing a functional information system and performing operations on data entities represented by the domain-specific syntax, including defining a domain-specific syntax, receiving and storing a domain-specific data entity, assigning a syntactic tag to the domain-specific data entity, and electronically storing the tag assigned to the data entity in the electronic data store so that the tag is logically linked to the stored data entity.
US09471663B1	Classification of media in a media sharing system Systems and methods for classifying media items in a media system are provided. In particular, media items can be uploaded to a serve. Data describing the media items can be monitored. Alterations of data describing the media items or inconsistencies of the data describing can be detected. A corrective action can be determined based on the alterations and or the inconsistencies. The corrective action can manage media items in multiple classification systems.
US09471662B2	Homogeneity evaluation of datasets A system includes reception of an instruction to evaluate homogeneity of a first set of values of a plurality of stored sets of values, determination of a first minimum of the first set of values, determination of a first maximum of the first set of values, determination of whether the first minimum and the first maximum are equal, and if it is determined that the first minimum and the first maximum are equal, return of a value equal to the first minimum and the first maximum in response to the instruction.
US09471661B2	Fast signature scan Systems and methods for scanning signatures in a string field. In one implementation, the invention provides a method for signature scanning. The method includes receiving a particular string field, scanning the particular string field for a plurality of signatures using a larger scan step size, scanning the particular string field for the remaining signatures that are shorter than what can be scanned by the larger scan step size separately either using the same scanning method but a smaller scan step size or using a different scan method and the same or a smaller scan step size, and outputting any identified signatures in the particular string field.
US09471656B2	Massively-parallel system architecture and method for real-time extraction of high-value information from data streams A computer system identifies high-value information in data streams. The computer system receives a receiving a plurality of data streams. Each of the data streams includes a plurality of posts. Each of the posts includes a content portion and one or more source characteristics, In real time, for each post in a particular data stream: the system assigns the post a post identifier; generates a content packet and one or more source packets; queries memory to access a source profile using a respective source identifier included in the content packet; correlates the content packet with information from the source profile to produce a correlated content packet; and broadcasts the correlated content packet to a plurality of filter graph definitions.
US09471653B2	Intermediate data format for database population An approach is provided that receives input from multiple data sources and transforms it into a common, intermediate format, where only one generic parser is required for the purpose of transformation into RDF, and the subsequent input to a triplestore database. A triplestore management tool provides this capability. The triplestore management tool includes a formatting component configured to receive data sources from a plurality of data source parsers, and transform each of the data sources into a single format. A parsing component parses each transformed data source at a common parser, and loads each of the transformed data sources from the common parser to a triplestore database.
US09471652B1	Extract transform load input suggestion Methods and systems are provided for extract transform load (ETL) input suggestion for an ETL system in which a current job is being created. A method includes: determining when a new input is made in the current job in the ETL system and dynamically receiving the new input; updating stored information relating to the current job with the new input; accessing rules which apply to the current job; analyzing and applying the rules based on the new input and the current job stored information to generate one or more suggested next inputs in the current job; providing a weighting for the one or more suggested next inputs based on the analysis and application of the rules; and providing a prompt in the current job in the ETL system with the suggested one or more next inputs and their weightings.
US09471641B1	Generating block recommendations based on existing model information A device identifies models in a corpus of documents, and retrieves model information for the identified models. The device creates a block identifier for each block of the models based on the model information, and determines one or more blocks that connect to each block of the models, based on the model information. The device creates identifiers for the one or more blocks that connect to each block of the models, and assigns weights to the identifiers based on sources of the models or a number of times the one or more blocks connect to each block of the models. The device ranks the identifiers based on the weights assigned to the identifiers, and store the ranked identifiers and the block identifiers in a data structure.
US09471637B2	Data selection A method of selecting data, the method comprising, receiving data indicating a first requirement and identifying first records stored in a first database. The first records relate to first data subjects and the identification is based upon the first requirement. The first data subjects cannot be identified from the records of the first database. Second records are identified, the second records being stored in a second database and relating to the first data subjects. The first data subjects can be identified from the identified records of the second database. Each of the second records corresponds to a respective one of the first records, and the identification of the second records is based upon the first requirement.
US09471634B2	Execution of negated conditions using a bitmap Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for accelerating database queries containing bitmap-based conditions. An embodiment operates by determining a bitmap, where the bitmap represents a set of rows that have satisfied a conjunct that precedes a negated condition in a query expression and restricting the evaluation of the negated condition to the set of rows represented by the bitmap.
US09471630B2	Efficient query processing on ordered views The efficient query processing on ordered views includes: obtaining a view definition for a view for database data; obtaining a query to be executed on the database data; identifying any columns in the view that are unnecessary for the query; after processing any predicates of the query, identifying any sorts in the view definition that are unnecessary or redundant in the query; rewriting the query to eliminate the unnecessary columns and unnecessary and redundant sorts; and executing the rewritten query without materializing the view. Thus, the query is rewritten in a way that avoids materializing the view and eliminates duplicate or unnecessary sorts. This reduces the number of rows to be sorted and eliminates unnecessary columns from materialization. These reductions lead to resource savings, including memory, temporary table space required for sorting, and CPU resources.
US09471627B2	Partial match derivation using text analysis A natural language processing system and method resolves partial matches when a natural language input query does not fully specify an entity. The input query is tokenized into a set of query tokens, which are compared to contents of a searchable index, the contents representing entities, each of which is tokenized into a set of entity tokens associated with the tokenized entity. A plurality of partial match query tokens are identified from the set of query tokens, each partial match query token matching at least one entity token in the index. The entity(s) corresponding to each partial match query token are selected if a sequential break exists in the input query between the partial match query tokens and there is no intersection between the entity(s) corresponding to each partial match query token.
US09471625B2	Dynamic view-based data layer in a geographic information system Interactive geographic information systems (GIS) and techniques are disclosed that provide users with a greater degree of flexibility, utility, and information. A markup language is provided that facilitates communication between servers and clients of the interactive GIS, which enables a number of GIS features, such as network links (time-based and/or view-dependent dynamic data layers), ground overlays, screen overlays, placemarks, 3D models, and stylized GIS elements, such as geometry, icons, description balloons, polygons, and labels in the viewer by which the user sees the target area. Also, “virtual tours” of user-defined paths in the context of distributed geospatial visualization is enabled. Streaming and interactive visualization of filled polygon data are also enabled thereby allowing buildings and other such features to be provided in 3D. Also, techniques for enabling ambiguous search requests in a GIS are provided.
US09471624B1	Method for recommending applications for deletion Techniques for recommending deletion of applications stored on a user device. According to one aspect of the disclosure, the techniques include obtaining one or more user-specific application attributes corresponding to an application installed on the user device. The user-specific application attributes correspond to use of the application on the user device. The technique also includes determining whether to recommend deletion of the application based on at least one of the user-specific application attributes. The technique further includes providing a recommendation to delete the application by way of displaying the recommendation on a user display of the user device.
US09471620B2	Sub-block partitioning for hash-based deduplication Sub-block partitioning for hash-based deduplication is performed by defining a minimal size and maximum size of the sub-block. If one of a plurality of search criteria is satisfied by one of a plurality of hash values, declaring a position of the hash value as a boundary end position of the sub-block. If the maximum size of the sub-block is reached prior to satisfying one of the multiple search criteria, declaring a position of an alternative one of the hash values that is selected based upon another one of the multiple search criteria as the boundary end position of the sub-block. One of the plurality of search criteria is satisfied if n bits at predefined positions of a value calculated by applying an XOR operation on last calculated k hash values are equal to one of an mth predefined different patterns of bits.
US09471618B2	Data environment change notification A method of and system for monitoring and providing notification of changes to a data environment. Parameters of interest for monitoring changes made to a metadata data store are stored. Instructions are stored related to notifying a recipient of a communication about the changes. The metadata is monitored for changes related to the parameters of interest, and a change notification communication is generated with transmission initiated to the recipient. The instructions related to notification of the changes may include the identity of a recipient, mechanism for notification, and format and content of notification. A computer readable memory system and a computer program product may be provided that is encoded with a data structure for notifying data consumers of changes to a data environment that includes metadata.
US09471616B2	Managing user ratings in a web services environment Systems and methods for managing user ratings in a web services environment. A method includes storing a comment associated with a web service and storing an influence rating associated with an author of the comment. The method also includes transmitting information associated with the web service, the comment, and the influence rating to a user. Additionally, the method includes receiving feedback from the user, and determining an updated influence rating based upon the feedback and the influence rating.
US09471610B1	Scale-out of data that supports roll back A computing resource monitoring service receives metrics data from customer applications and resources provided by a computing resource service provider. The metrics data is stored in observation journals within an observation journal logical data container. A map reduce processor is configured to obtain a current index file, the index file comprising a mapping of the metrics data stored within a metric store and a manifest comprising a listing of all processed observation journals. The map reduce processor may process the unprocessed observation journals to separate, sort and aggregate metrics data stored therein. This process generates index artifacts that may be merged with the index file, in an append-only process, to generate a new index file. An index pointer may be modified such that the map reduce processor refers to a different version of the index file in order to support roll back of metrics data.
US09471606B1	Obtaining information to provide to users Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for obtaining information to provide to users. One of the methods includes receiving a plurality of entities for a first user, wherein each of the plurality of entities is associated with a first score, wherein the first score associated with a particular entity represents a level of confidence that the first user is interested in the particular entity; and for one or more first entities of the plurality of entities: determining a second score based on the first score for the entity, wherein the second score indicates a level of confidence that the first user should receive notifications associated with the entity; determining that the second score satisfies a threshold; obtaining information associated with the entity; and providing the information to be presented in the form of a notification to the first user.
US09471604B2	Finding products that are similar to a product selected from a plurality of products A system and method extracts relevant image features about listed products in a network-based publication system for enabling image similarity searching of such listed products. When a seller lists a product, an image of the product is uploaded and may be sent to a picture processing service, which generates several digests. The digests are compressed data structures each representing a particular image feature of a listed product such as edge, color, texture, or words. These digests are then stored in a database, where the digests can be used to retrieve listings of products by image similarity at scale. A similar process can be performed for a query by image similarity searching the database for products similar to the query. When a product is located by image similarity search, a selectable icon is provided to enable more products like the located product to be located by image similarity search.
US09471600B2	Electronic device and method for handling tags A method in an electronic device (100) for handling tags associated with an acquired digital image. The method includes displaying the image and the associated tags. The tags are have been assigned relative ranking values and are selected based on the relative ranking values. A selected tag is dissociated from the image by means of the electronic device detecting a user command instructing the device to dissociate a tag from the image.
US09471599B2	Dynamic location search suggestions based on travel itineraries Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for retrieving local information on a user device include detecting itinerary information stored by a first application on a user device, and identifying a travel destination based on the detected itinerary information. The travel destination is communicated to a second application executable on a user device, and the travel destination is stored in association with the second application. The second application is adapted to retrieve local information based on an identified geographic location, and local information for the travel destination is provided through the second application in response to a user interaction with the second application and based on a triggering threshold associated with the itinerary information.
US09471591B2	Iterative disk upload based on differencing disk format Updating a remote storage data set. A method includes, from a local service providing a hint of a remote storage data set that may exist at a remote service. An indication is received from the remote service that the remote storage data set exists at the remote service. The method includes requesting that the remote storage data set be copied at the remote service to a copy of the remote storage data set. A change to be applied to the copy of the remote storage data set is sent to the remote service.
US09471590B2	Method and apparatus for replicating virtual machine images using deduplication metadata Techniques for fast provisioning of virtual machine images using deduplication metadata are described, including receiving a request to copy a first virtual machine to form a second virtual machine, identifying a first portion of memory comprising data for the first virtual machine; and forming the second virtual machine based on the first portion of memory comprising data for the first virtual machine, wherein forming the second virtual machine further comprises linking the second virtual machine to the first portion of memory comprising data for the first virtual machine, and implementing a second portion of memory to store data for the second virtual machine independent of the first virtual machine.
US09471589B2	Management of long-running locks and transactions on database tables Establishment of an exclusive lock on each of an outer database ownership table and an inner database ownership table is attempted. In response to establishing the exclusive lock on each of the outer database ownership table and the inner database ownership table, a switch is made to a pair of overlapping shared locks on each of the outer database ownership table and the inner database ownership table. Release and re-acquisition of each of the pair of overlapping shared locks on the outer database ownership table and the inner database ownership table is alternated.
US09471587B2	Remote enumeration of a directory When enumerating of a set of content items in a directory in a remote file server, an electronic device provides a request for information associated with the set of content items. The electronic device and the file server may use, respectively, use an OS X®-based operating system and a Windows®-based operating system. In response to the request, the file server may access information specifying the set of content items. For example, the information may include maximal access information and finder information for each content item in the set of content items in the directory. Next, the electronic device may receive a response with the requested information from the file server. The providing of the request and the receiving of the response may, respectively, involve single instances of a request and a response, thereby significantly reducing the amount of communication between the electronic device and the file server.
US09471585B1	Decentralized de-duplication techniques for largescale data streams A local de-duplication table for at least a particular partition of a data stream is instantiated at a particular ingestion node of a multi-tenant stream management service. A submission request indicating a data record of the partition is received at the ingestion node. In response to a determination that (a) the submission request was received within a de-duplication time window corresponding to the particular partition, and (b) the local de-duplication table does not indicate that the data record is a duplicate, a write operation to store the data record at one or more storage locations of the stream management system is initiated.
US09471584B2	Demand paging method for mobile terminal, controller and mobile terminal A demand paging method for a mobile terminal, a controller and a mobile terminal, wherein the demand paging method determines, when a mobile terminal needs to operate a compressed file, a storage location of the compressed file in an external part of the controller of the mobile terminal; a decoding unit of the internal part of the controller of the mobile terminal decompresses the compressed file in the storage location; the mobile terminal saves the decompressed file to a designated part of the memory, wherein the designated part of the memory comprises the memory in the internal part of the controller of the mobile terminal and/or the memory in the external part of the controller of the mobile terminal; the mobile terminal continues to operate on the basis of the decompressed file. The technical solution increases the processing efficiency of demand paging of the mobile terminal.
US09471580B2	File management apparatus, file management method, and program A file management apparatus updates areas to be updated when a file operation is performed by collectively writing out buffer caches into a storage device for each of the areas according to a recording order corresponding to the type of the file operation.
US09471579B1	Replicating selected snapshots from one storage array to another, with minimal data transmission Example embodiments of the present invention provide methods for replicating a production site snapshot to a replication site. A first example embodiment creates a snapshot of the production volume at the production site and creates a bookmark in a do metadata stream. The bookmark may be sent to the replication site and, when processed from the do metadata stream at the replication site, cause the replication site to create a snapshot of the replication volume according to the bookmark. A second example embodiment replicates to a replication site snapshot by generating a list of differences between the production site snapshot and the replication site snapshot and performs replication according to the differences. The differences may include differences between the production site volume and the production site snapshot, differences between the production site volume and the replication site volume and differences between the replication site volume and the replication site snapshot.
US09471578B2	Data storage system utilizing proxy device for storage operations A data storage environment can include a secondary storage computing device that acts as a proxy for other secondary storage computing devices. For example, the secondary storage computing device receives a storage operation request from one or more of the other secondary storage computing devices, such as a request to create a snapshot of client data. The secondary storage computing device generally acts as an intermediary between the other secondary storage computing devices and the storage device to carry out the snapshots or other storage operations. The secondary storage computing device may further receive a notification upon completion of the storage operations, and transmit relevant data to the requesting secondary storage computing device regarding the storage operation.
US09471570B2	Method and system for user selection of query suggestions Methods, systems and programming for providing a search result based on user selection of query suggestions. In one example, a query is received from a user. A plurality of query suggestions generated based on the query is obtained and provided to the user. A selection of one or more query suggestions from the plurality of query suggestions is received from the user. A first search result generated based on at least one of the one or more query suggestions is obtained and provided to the user.
US09471569B1	Integrating information sources to create context-specific documents Disclosed are various embodiments for creating a “tailored” document by combining specific parameter values with a generalized document constructed to accept parameter values. The specific parameter values may substitute for default parameter values of the general document, and/or may suggest portions of the general document that can be omitted from the tailored document. Additional specific parameter values may be retrieved by querying available data stores using one or more specific parameter values as criteria in the query. Furthermore, the tailored documents may be correlated to identify symptoms of systemic events that may be collectively reported within the individual tailored documents. For the systemic events that are identified, the tailored documents associated with the event may be modified to incorporate a suggested response in the body of the tailored documents.
US09471562B2	Method and system for analyzing and translating various languages with use of semantic hierarchy A method and computer system for analyzing sentences of various languages and constructing a language-independent semantic structure are provided. On the basis of comprehensive knowledge about languages and semantics, exhaustive linguistic descriptions are created, and lexical, morphological, syntactic, and semantic analyses for one or more sentences of a natural or artificial language are performed. A computer system is also provided to implement, analyze and store various linguistic structures and to perform lexical, morphological, syntactic, and semantic analyses. As result, a generalized data structure, such as a semantic structure, is generated and used to describe the meaning of one or more sentences in language-independent form, applicable to automated abstracting, machine translation, control systems, Internet information retrieval, etc.
US09471560B2	Autocorrecting language input for virtual keyboards Various techniques for autocorrecting virtual keyboard input for various languages (e.g., Japanese, Chinese) are disclosed. In one aspect, a system or process receives a sequence of keyboard events representing keystrokes on a virtual keyboard. A hierarchical data structure is traversed according to the sequence of keyboard events to determine candidate words for the sequence of keyboard events. A word lattice is constructed using a language model, including deriving weights or paths in the word lattice based on candidate word statistics and data from a keyboard error model. The word lattice is searched to determine one or more candidate sentences comprising candidate words based on the path weights. Paths through the word lattice can be pruned (e.g., discarded) to reduce the size and search time of the word lattice.
US09471558B2	Generation of introductory information page A system and method for automatically generating a commodity introductory document that encompasses personalized subject matter as well as related information acquired from external information sources. A predetermined template comprising user-authored sections and automated sections is used to select and organize the information. The GUIs corresponding to the user-authored sections allow an introductory document author to provide personalized input. The automated sections are linked to information sources through embedded hyperlinks, from which relevant information can be identified and derived to populate the automated sections. The introductory document author may be provided with a few options regarding the layout and the presentation of the indicatory document as well as individual sections thereof.
US09471556B2	Collaboration using multiple editors or versions of a feature A system is provided in which access to documents and collaboration across varied platforms and feature versions is supported. A conversion and merge services is described that enables a client device to display documents irrespective of the original file format and re-integrate into the original document the modifications of the displayed document. The displayed document (as a whole or in parts) can be imported and converted to the file format of the original document before the changes are compared and merged into the original document. A set of application programming interfaces are also provided that perform certain tasks, such as highlight, comment, or format.
US09471555B1	Optimizing update operations in hierarchically structured documents Optimizing update instructions in hierarchically structured documents is provided. A pending update list including a first plurality of items is received. Each item of the first plurality of items describes an update to a hierarchically structured document. Each of one or more items of the first plurality of items is added to a subsumed update list having a second plurality of items. The subsumed update list is ordered based, at least in part, on a document order and on a target node of each of the second plurality of items. Subsume logic is applied to each of the one or more items based, at least in part, on the second plurality of items. Responsive to determining that subsume logic has been applied to each item of the first plurality of items, each of the second plurality of items of the subsumed update list is executed.
US09471554B2	Communicating information about a local machine to a browser application The functionality of a browser application is enhanced using a browser plug-in, which enables the browser application to access portions of a file system not otherwise accessible to the browser application. The enhanced functionality provided by the browser plug-in is used in one example by an image uploading web application. The browser application may also start a task in the background, such as a task for uploading several images, and then monitor the progress of the task even when the browser application navigates away from the page that initiated the task. The browser application may use a local web server running on the client device to perform tasks, including the rendering of images and monitoring progress of long running tasks.
US09471553B2	Automatically rendering web or hybrid applications natively An embodiment includes causing elements to be recognized that correspond to one or more browser-supported programming languages in an application. The recognized elements are those elements that can be converted to native user interface elements in the operating system and rendered on a display of a computing device. The elements in the one or more browser-supported programming languages are converted to native user interface elements. The native user interface elements are caused to be rendered on the display of the computing device. Apparatus and computer program products are disclosed.
US09471551B1	Promoting content Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, and including a computer-implemented method that includes identifying, using one or more processors, a creative for processing. The creative includes a title portion and a body portion. The body portion includes a plurality of lines of text includes a first line of text and a second line of text. The method further includes evaluating the body portion including determining when the body portion includes a complete phrase. The evaluating includes applying a test to one or more words in the body portion. The method further includes promoting, using the one or more processors, the complete phrase into the title portion. The method further includes providing the creative includes the title portion with the promoted complete phrase.
US09471549B2	Systems and methods for user modifiable truncation Systems and methods are provided for displaying and manipulating the display of digital character strings where the length of the character string extends beyond the width of a desired output display. In response to a user request to display a character string, a client can generate a truncated representation of the character string using at least one truncation symbol when the character string extends beyond the width of an output display. A client can modify the display of the truncated representation of the character string in response to detecting a signal corresponding to a change in location of the truncation symbol. The signal can be detected from a touchscreen or input device. This allows a user to view any portion of a selected character string, including those portions that may be obscured by the truncation symbol.
US09471548B2	Text processing method, system and computer program A method includes hierarchically identifying occurrences of some of the words in the set of sentences; creating a first index for each of some of the words based on the upper hierarchy of occurrences identified for each word; receiving input of a queried word; hierarchically identifying occurrences of the queried word in the set of sentences; creating a second index based on the upper hierarchy of occurrences identified for the queried word; comparing the first index and the second index to calculate an estimated value for the number of occurrences of a word in the neighborhood of the queried word; and calculating the actual value of the number of occurrences of a word in the neighborhood of the queried word based on an upper hierarchy and lower hierarchy of the occurrences on condition that the estimated value is equal to or greater than a predetermined number.
US09471547B1	Navigating supplemental information for a digital work In some implementations, a digital work may include a plurality of objects that may be selected to view supplemental information. A supplemental information user interface may include a listing of objects from the digital work. For instance, the listing may include a selected object appearing at an identified location in the digital work. The user interface may further present a visual representation displayed with each object that provides an indication of at least one location of at least one occurrence of the corresponding object in the digital work. In some examples, a user may navigate between a supplemental information view user interface, a page view user interface, a chapter view user interface, a book view user interface, a series view user interface, and/or a library view user interface to view occurrences of a particular object in the digital work or other digital works.
US09471543B1	Method and associated algorithm and firmware for extracting magnetometer signals from noise utilizing digital signal processing (DSP) A compact, computationally-efficient, firmware-resident version of a DSP autocorrelation function, extracts periodic information from noise-corrupted signals. The function adapts autocorrelation parameters in real-time either autonomously or via up-link commands from a ground-based system. The function calculates specific determination values that optimize the performance of the autocorrelation process for a specific application. The per-bit multiplication used by the function can be performed by logically ANDing each of the respective samples in the two arrays. The summation of the per-bit multiplication is an integer summation, rather than the more time-consuming floating-point summation. A further aspect of the present function is the utilization of a threshold detection process to discretize the correlation output estimate to a one-bit binary sample.
US09471542B2	Parameter generating device and method The present invention discloses a parameter generating device and the method thereof to generate a parameter for circuit operation in which the parameter corresponds to an N degree polynomial of a characteristic curve while said N is a positive integer. The parameter generating device comprises: a storage circuit to store at least N+1 initial values that are determined by a start value and a unit variation amount; and a parameter calculating circuit, coupled to the storage circuit, to carry out addition calculation for at least [(K−1)×N+1] time(s) if a multiple K is positive or subtraction calculation for at least −K×N time(s) if the multiple K is negative, so as to generate the aforementioned parameter, wherein the multiple K is derived from a difference divided by the unit variation amount while the difference is a current value minus the start value.
US09471540B2	Detecting TSV defects in 3D packaging A computer determines a threshold signal voltage of a semiconductor device. The computer determines a first expected signal propagation time for a signal travelling through a first test path of the semiconductor device. The computer transmits a first signal through the first test path. The computer measures a signal voltage and signal propagation time of the first signal. The computer determines that the signal voltage of the first signal does not reach or exceed the threshold signal voltage within the first expected signal propagation time. The computer determines that the first test path contains a defect.
US09471533B1	Defenses against use of tainted cache Systems, methods, and computer readable media are described for validating objects stored in a web cache. In one embodiment, a computing device caches objects received while accessing networked content over a network. The computing device generates a description of conditions associated with the caching of the objects. When the computing device accesses networked content via a second network, the computing device or a remote server connected thereto utilizes the description to determine whether an object in the cache is trusted or untrusted. The server manages a policy that defines rules for making the determination. The policy can be generated based on descriptions received from a plurality of devices.
US09471531B2	Adaptive isochronous USB audio to RF communication device A method of and a system for synchronizing isochronous audio data frames provided by a USB interface to a clock of a wireless RF communication device is provided. The USB interface and the wireless RF communication device are connected via an I2S link, the method comprising receiving the isochronous audio data frames and the wireless RF communication device clock in a streaming controller, phase locking the isochronous audio data frames to a USB interface clock, counting start-of-frame pulses of the phase locked isochronous audio data frames, comparing the counted start-of-frame pulses with the wireless RF communication device clock to determine a difference signal, the difference signal triggering a synchronization event code when a threshold difference has been reached, rate matching the isochronous audio data frames to the wireless RF communication device clock upon receiving the synchronization event code.
US09471530B2	Semiconductor device and mobile terminal device To provide a semiconductor device and a mobile terminal device capable of operating with stability. A semiconductor device includes an HSIC physical layer circuit fixedly connected to another semiconductor device through a bus line, a USB link control unit that operates with either a USB host function or a USB device function, and link-connects to the another semiconductor device, a nonvolatile storage unit that stores selection data, the selection data being used to select the USB function with which the USB link control unit operates, and a semiconductor substrate on which the HSCI physical control unit, the USB link control unit, and the nonvolatile storage unit are formed.
US09471528B2	Controller area network (CAN) transceiver and method for operating a CAN transceiver Embodiments of a system and method are disclosed. One embodiment is a Controller Area Network (CAN) transceiver. The CAN transceiver includes a CAN bus interface, a TXD interface, an RXD interface, a transmitter connected between the TXD interface and the CAN bus interface, a receiver connected between the RXD interface and the CAN bus interface, a traffic control system connected between the CAN bus interface, the TXD interface, and the RXD interface. The traffic control system detects the presence of CAN Flexible Data-rate (FD) traffic on the CAN bus interface and if the traffic control system detects the presence of CAN FD traffic on the CAN bus interface, the traffic controls system changes an operating state of the transceiver.
US09471525B2	Cable with circuitry for communicating performance information A cable with circuitry that enables the cable to communicate data in one of at least two different signal modes of operation is presented. In a first signal mode, the cable enables data communication between the circuitry and either a source device or a sink device. The first signal mode can be used either to communicate properties of the cable itself or of a signal passing through the cable to either the source device or the sink device. In a second signal mode, the cable enables data communication between the source device and the sink device. The second signal mode can be used to communicate data in accordance with a predetermined protocol.
US09471524B2	System bus transaction queue reallocation A bus architecture is disclosed that provides for transaction queue reallocation on the modules communicating using the bus. A module can implement a transaction request queue by virtue of digital electronic circuitry, e.g., hardware or software or a combination of both. Some bus clogging issues that affect conventional systems can be circumvented by combining an out of order system bus protocol that uses a transaction request replay mechanism. Modules can evict less urgent transactions from transaction request queues to make room to insert more urgent transactions. Master modules can dynamically update a quality of service (QoS) value for a transaction while the transaction is still pending.
US09471522B2	Resource allocation by virtual channel management and bus multiplexing According to embodiments of the invention, methods, computer system, and apparatus for virtual channel management and bus multiplexing are disclosed. The method may include establishing a virtual channel from a first device to a second device via a bus, the bus having a first bus capacity and a second bus capacity, the second bus capacity having greater capacity than the first bus capacity, determining whether a store command is issued for the first bus capacity, determining whether the first bus capacity is available, and allocating the second bus capacity and marking the second bus capacity as unavailable in response to the store command if the first bus capacity is unavailable.
US09471519B2	Computer system and a computer device A computer system is provided. The computer system includes a hub board, a common bus, and a plurality of Sibling boards. The hub board has an I/O controller hub, which includes a main communication chipset. The plurality of Sibling boards is coupled to the hub board by the common bus. Each of the Sibling boards includes a memory and at least one CPU. The memory is operative to host a Sibling operating system. The CPU is coupled to the memory. The Southbridge type chipset which resides in the hub board is shared amongst the plurality of Sibling boards. At least one of the plurality of Sibling boards functions as a master processing unit of the system. Sibling boards offer processing flexibility through the means of how they are configured in the system.
US09471518B2	Multi-modal memory interface A multi-modal memory interface that supports each of current-mode and voltage-mode signaling by a memory controller with a memory which includes one or more memory devices. In a first type of system, the memory interface is configured to provide differential current-mode signaling from the memory controller to a first type of memory, and differential voltage-mode signaling from the memory to the memory controller. In contrast, in a second type of system, the memory interface is configured to provide single-ended voltage-mode signaling from the memory controller to the memory, and single-ended voltage-mode signaling from a second type of memory to the memory controller. To support these different types of systems, the memory controller couples different types of drivers to each I/O pad. The resulting capacitance is reduced by sharing components between these drivers. Moreover, in some embodiments, the memory interface is implemented using “near-ground” current-mode and voltage-mode signaling techniques.
US09471517B1	Memory system, memory module and method to backup and restore system using command address latency A memory system having a plurality of memory devices includes a controller for separately accessing the memory devices. The memory system includes a data bus for transferring data, a control bus for transferring a command and address CAL, and first and second memory devices coupled to the data bus and the control bus. The controller controls the first and second memory devices through the data bus and the control bus, wherein the first and second memory devices have different values of the CAL, and wherein a difference of the CAL values is greater than or equal to a RAS to CAS delay time tRCD.
US09471514B1	Mitigation of cyber attacks by pointer obfuscation A method for protecting a computer includes identifying a first pointer in a data structure used by a computer program indicating a first memory address to be accessed, using the pointer, in order to invoke a functionality of the computer. The identified first pointer is replaced with a second pointer indicating a second memory address, different from the first memory address. A security program module traps attempts to access the second memory address during execution of the computer program so as to foil unauthorized access to the functionality of the computer.
US09471513B2	Cache structure for a computer system providing support for secure objects A method that protects a confidentiality and an integrity of information in a secure object from other software on the system, said secure object comprising information that is cryptographically protected from the other software on the system, said method includes decrypting and integrity-checking information in the secure object as said information is brought into a cache from external memory.
US09471507B2	System and device for page replacement control between virtual and real memory spaces A virtual memory management apparatus of an embodiment is embedded in a computing machine 80 and is provided with an application program 21, an operating system 22, a volatile memory 11, and a nonvolatile memory 12. The volatile memory 11 is provided with a plurality of clean pages. The nonvolatile memory 12 is provided with a plurality of dirty pages and a page table memory unit 51. The operating system 22 is provided with a virtual memory management unit 23 which includes a page transfer unit 25.
US09471506B2	Tiered caching and migration in differing granularities For data processing in a computing storage environment by a processor device, the environment incorporating at least high-speed and lower-speed caches, and managed tiered levels of storage, groups of data segments are migrated between the tiered levels of storage such that clumped uniformly hot ones of the groups of data segments are migrated to use a Solid State Drive (SSD) portion of the tiered levels of storage; uniformly hot groups of data segments are determined using a first, largest granulated, heat map for a selected one of the group of the data segments; a second heat map, which is smaller than the first and having the largest granularity of the first heat map, is used to determine the clumped hot groups; and sparsely hot groups are determined when neither the first heat map nor the second heat map are hotter than the first and second predetermined thresholds, respectively.
US09471497B2	Methods for combining access history and sequentiality for intelligent prefetching and devices thereof A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and device that prefetchs includes identifying a candidate data block from one of one or more immediate successor data blocks. The identified candidate data block has a historical access probability value from an initial accessed data block which is higher than a historical access probability value for each of the other immediate successor data blocks and is above a prefetch threshold value. The identifying is repeated until a next identified candidate data block has the historical access probability value below the prefetch threshold value. In the repeating, the identifying next immediate successor data blocks is from the previously identified candidate data block and the historical access probability value for each of the next immediate successor data blocks is determined from the originally accessed data block. The identified candidate data block with the historical access probability value above the prefetch threshold value is fetched.
US09471496B2	Demoting tracks from a first cache to a second cache by using a stride number ordering of strides in the second cache to consolidate strides in the second cache Information on strides configured in the second cache includes information indicating a number of valid tracks in the strides, wherein a stride has at least one of valid tracks and free tracks not including valid data. A determination is made of tracks to demote from the first cache. A first stride is formed including the determined tracks to demote. The tracks from the first stride are added to a second stride in the second cache that has no valid tracks. A target stride in the second cache is selected based on a stride most recently used to consolidate strides from at least two strides into one stride. Data from the valid tracks is copied from at least two source strides in the second cache to the target stride.
US09471495B2	Method and apparatus for constructing memory access model Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for constructing a memory access model, and relate to the field of computers. The method includes: obtaining a page table corresponding to a process referencing a memory block, and clearing a Present bit included in each page table entry stored in the page table; and constructing a memory access model of the memory block according to the number of access times of each page in the memory block and time obtained through timing, where the memory access model at least includes the number of access times and an access frequency of each page in the memory block. The apparatus includes: a first obtaining module, a first monitoring module, a first increasing module, and a second obtaining module. The present invention can reduce the memory consumption and an impact on the system performance, and avoid a system breakdown.
US09471494B2	Method and apparatus for cache line write back operation An apparatus and method are described for performing a cache line write back operation. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: initiating a cache line write back operation directed to a particular linear address; determining if a dirty cache line identified by the linear address exists at any cache of a cache hierarchy comprised of a plurality of cache levels; writing back the dirty cache line to memory if the dirty cache line exists in one of the caches; and responsively maintaining or placing the dirty cache line in an exclusive state in at least a first cache of the hierarchy.
US09471492B2	Scatter/gather capable system coherent cache In accordance with some embodiments, a scatter/gather memory approach may be enabled that is exposed or backed by system memory and uses conventional tags and addresses. Thus, such a technique may be more amenable to conventional software developers and their conventional techniques.
US09471487B2	Data restoration in electronic device Restoration data is enabled to be written into a nonvolatile memory according to a simple process without using large capacity of a volatile memory.An SRAM writing section sets an updating request flag in a non-delay updating request flag region corresponding to a non-delay region where the restoration data is written. When the updating request flag is set in the non-delay updating request flag region, an EEPROM writing section writes the restoration data stored in the non-delay region corresponding to the non-delay updating request flag region into an EEPROM.
US09471485B2	Difference L2P method A method for maintaining a data set includes storing a base copy of the data set in a first non-volatile memory having a first writing speed, storing changes to the data set in a first change data set in a second non-volatile memory having a second writing speed, and generating a current copy of the data set by reading the base copy and the changes. If a threshold number of entries in the first change data set is reached, then part or all of the first change data set is moved into a second change data set in the first non-volatile memory, where the generating step includes reading the second change data set. If a threshold number of entries in the second change data set is reached, then the current copy is generated by reading the base copy and the changes in the first and the second non-volatile memory.
US09471482B2	Input/output trace sampling Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems include a host computer selecting a first workload of a plurality of workloads running on the host computer to be subjected to an input/output (I/O) trace. The host computer determines whether to generate the I/O trace for the first workload for a first length of time or for a second length of time. The first length of time is shorter than the second length of time. The determination is based upon runtime history for the first workload, I/O trace history for the first workload, and/or workload type of the first workload. The host computer generates the I/O trace of the first workload for the selected length of time.
US09471476B2	Error injection into the leaf functions of call graphs A computer determines if an instance of a target in a call graph of a program being tested satisfies two or more parameters required for error injection. The computer responds to the determination that the instance of the target does satisfy the two or more parameters required for error injection, by injecting a first instance of an error into a leaf function of the call graph. Executing the first instance of the injected error results in returning to a first code path of the program being tested.
US09471473B1	Environmental validation tool A system is provided for environment validation. The system includes a user interface, a repository, and a validation tool. The repository includes environment component information. The validation tool accesses environment component information in the repository and validates each keystore associated with an environment. The validation tool also validates each port associated with the environment and validates each database associated with the environment. Additionally, the validation tool validates each message service associated with the environment and validates each interface associated with the environment. Furthermore, the validation tool outputs results of validating each environment component to the user interface.
US09471470B2	Automatically recommending test suite from historical data based on randomized evolutionary techniques Disclosed herein are a system and a method for automated test suite optimization and recommendation, based on historical data, using randomized evolutionary techniques. The system analyzes historical data pertaining to file change pattern and test case execution history to identify test cases that match application being tested. Further, based on the test cases identified, the system generates optimized test suite recommendations to the user.
US09471467B2	Evaluation of an application It is presented a method for evaluating an application intended to be installed in a wireless terminal of a cellular network. The method is performed in an application development device and comprises the steps of: obtaining performance data associated with an execution of the application in a test wireless terminal in a simulated or real cellular network, the performance data being obtained for each cellular data session of the execution of the application, each cellular data session being defined as a period when the test wireless terminal is in a cellular network connection state when data transfer is possible; and evaluating the performance data by comparing the in performance data with reference performance data, the comparison being based on the duration of each cellular data session.
US09471466B1	End-to-end in-browser web-application debugging Described herein are various embodiments of computer-implemented tools, systems, and methods for managing debugging of different portions of an application (e.g., front-end and back-end) with different respective debuggers in a manner that facilitates debugging the entire application from within the user interface associated with one of the debuggers (e.g., from within a browser interface). In some embodiments, a debug manager acts as a bridge between a web-browser debugger and a back-end debugger, allowing an application developer to debug web applications without leaving the browser.
US09471460B2	Characterization of real-time software base-station workloads at fine-grained time-scales Methods and arrangements for characterizing software base-station workloads. Input system parameters are mapped to work-determining parameters which act to determine computational requirements of a dynamic workload. A synthetic experiment is undertaken to measure the computational requirements determined by the work-determining parameters.
US09471456B2	Interleaved instruction debugger One or more embodiments of the invention are directed to a method including monitoring execution of a set of programs each including a set of instructions executing interleaved with other instructions of the set of instructions, where each of the set of instructions includes at least one operation operating on a set of threads; organizing a first set of instructions corresponding to a first program of the set of programs based on an execution order of the first set of instructions; generating a result set representing the first set of instructions organized based on the execution order; and displaying the result set.
US09471454B2	Performing automated system tests A method, system and program product for performing automated tests on a system under test. A set of test blocks is provided, with each test block triggering at least one user activity on the system under test. The following is performed iteratively to execute multiple test blocks consecutively: defining a subset of executable test blocks; scoring the executable test blocks based on at least one scoring parameter; selecting a test block to be executed out of the subset of executable test blocks by randomly selecting a test block based on the scores, where the probability of selection of a test block depends on the score; executing the selected test block; updating the data of the status repository based on data of the system under test; and updating the data of the history log by adding data regarding the executed test block and the results of the test block execution.
US09471449B2	Performing mirroring of a logical storage unit Mirroring of a logical storage unit initially associated with a first controller is performed, where the first log segment associated with the first controller is maintained of writes by the first controller to the logical storage unit. The first log segment is for use in mirroring writes to a mirror system. Control of the logical storage unit is transferred from the first controller to at least a second controller, and in response to the transfer, a first marker is provided in the first log segment to enable the mirror system to synchronize mirrored writes corresponding to writes to the logical storage units by the first controller and at least a second controller.
US09471448B2	Performing an atomic write operation across multiple storage devices Provided are a computer program product, system, and method performing an atomic write operation across multiple storage devices. A determination is made of a plurality of storage devices on which to write data for a write operation. A tag is generated to uniquely identify the write operation. A write command is sent to each of the determined storage devices including the tag and write data to cause each of the storage devices to write the write data at the storage device. Each of the storage devices maintains a copy of a previous version of the data to be updated by the write operation. A revert command is sent with the tag to one of the storage devices to cause the storage device to restore the copy of the previous version of the write data at the storage device.
US09471446B2	System and method for saving data stored in a cache memory as an invisible file A system includes a plurality of storage devices and an information processing device including a cache memory. The information processing device is configured to access the plurality of storage devices. When a failure has occurred in a first storage device included in the plurality of storage devices, the information processing device perform a procedure including: specifying a second storage device in which no failure has occurred, among the plurality of storage devices, creating an invisible file including a cache that has been stored in the cache memory and is to be stored in the first storage device, and storing the created invisible file in the second storage device. The information processing device stores the cache included in the invisible file stored in the second storage device, in the first storage device when the failure of the first storage device is eliminated.
US09471445B2	Quick failover of blade server Failover process for switching from a “failing” blade server to a “replacing” blade server. This process includes the following steps: (i) booting a replacing blade server to a set of operating system(s) including a first operating system; and (ii) subsequent to the booting of the replacing blade server, sending command data to the replacing blade server. The command data includes a command for the replacing blade server to configure itself to replace the failing blade server.
US09471444B2	Management of a distributed computing system through replication of write ahead logs Several methods and a system of a replicated service for write ahead logs are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes persisting a state of a distributed system through a write ahead log (WAL) interface. The method also includes maintaining a set of replicas of a WAL through a consensus protocol. In addition, the method includes providing a set of mechanisms for at least one of detection and a recovery from a hardware failure. The method further includes recovering a persistent state of a set of applications. In addition, the method includes maintaining the persistent state across a set of nodes through the hardware failover. In one embodiment, the system may include a WAL interface to persist a state of a distributed system. The system may also include a WAL replication servlet to maintain and/or recover a set of replicas of a WAL.
US09471437B1	Common backup format and log based virtual full construction Systems and methods are described for backing up files and directories using a common backup format. The files and directories may be represented by objects within a data stream constructed using the common backup format. The data streams may be traversed and updated using a size tree such that modifications are made to individual objects within the data streams without complete traversal. This process results in efficient management of storage systems as read and write operations are not dependent on exhaustive traversal of data streams.
US09471425B2	Data conditioning to improve flash memory reliability Methods for managing data stored in a memory device facilitate managing utilization of memory of different densities. The methods include reading first data from a first number of pages or blocks of memory cells having a first density, performing a data handling operation on the read first data to generate second data, and writing the second data to a second number of pages or blocks of memory cells having a second density, wherein the second density is different than the first density, and wherein the second number is different than the first number.
US09471416B2	Partitioned error code computation A circuit provides parallel computation of error codes for simultaneously received words. The words received simultaneously may be portions of a common data message, or may be portions of distinct data messages. Accordingly, the circuit selectively accumulates the error codes based on their association with successive data words, outputting an accumulated error code when the last word of a data message has been received and the respective error code is calculated. Based on such information, the error codes calculated in parallel can be output independently, accumulated with one another, or accumulated with the error codes of a previous or subsequent calculation cycle. Thus, the circuit dynamically provides a single parallel error code generation of a given width or multiple parallel error code generations, each of a width divisible by the given width.
US09471412B2	Encoding diagnostic data in an error message for a computer program A method, system, and/or computer program product encodes diagnostic data in an error message for a computer program. In response to an error in the processing of a computer program, a predetermined set of diagnostic data associated with the error is selected. The predetermined set of diagnostic data is encoded in an image, and the image is displayed in association with an error message for the error.
US09471408B2	Method, node and system for determining fault indication state Receiving results of detecting whether each service node in a service node pool is faulty transmitted by service request nodes; and determining fault indication states of a service node itself and other service nodes according to the results of detecting; or expanding an echo request message which carries a result of detecting, by a service request node itself, whether each service node in a service node pool is faulty during a previous period to a current period; and transmitting the echo request message to each service node at the beginning of the current period to enable each service node to determine fault indication states of a service node itself and other service nodes according to the result of detecting. According to the foregoing solutions of the present invention, reliability of service node fault detection is improved.
US09471406B2	Remote product invocation framework A method for remote product invocation includes configuring an invocation framework that includes an integration module and an endpoint/handler module. Once configured, the integration module is configured to: receive a source object; format data from said source object for a desired operation; and utilize said endpoint/handler module to make a connection to an external service that executes said desired operation using said data from said source object. A system for remote invocation of external services includes a calling entity which generates a source object containing data for execution of a remote operation; and an integration module configured to receive the source object, interpret the source object, and pass the data to an endpoint/handler which opens a connection with an external service and executes the remote operation.
US09471403B1	Granular event management for service platforms Granular event management for service platforms. First bundle information relating to the content of a bundle is received at a first time, wherein the bundle relates to one or more resources in an application of a distributed computing environment. The bundle is monitored for a bundle event, wherein the bundle event is generated from a change in a lifecycle state of the bundle. Whether the bundle event has occurred is determined. Responsive to determining that the bundle event has occurred, second bundle information relating to the content of the bundle is received at a second time. Responsive to receiving the second bundle information, a granular event associated with the bundle event is identified, wherein the granular event relates to a difference between the first bundle information and the second bundle information.
US09471402B1	Systems and methods for facilitating dependency-ordered delivery of data sets to applications within distributed systems The disclosed computer-implemented method for facilitating dependency-ordered delivery of data sets to applications within distributed systems may include (1) receiving, at a queue of an application running within a distributed system, a data set from at least one other application running within the distributed system, (2) determining that the data set has a dependency on at least one other data set that has yet to arrive, (3) gating the data set at the queue due at least in part to the dependency, (4) receiving, at the queue, the other data set from the other application, (5) determining that the dependency has been satisfied, and then (6) delivering the data set and the other data set to the application to enable the application to process the data set and the other data set in accordance with the dependency. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09471400B1	Reentrant read-write lock algorithm Access to a shareable resource between threads is controlled by a lock having shared, optimistic and exclusive modes and maintaining a list of threads requesting ownership of said lock. A shared optimistic mode is provided. A lock state descriptor is provided for each desired change of mode comprising a current mode in which a thread has already acquired the lock. When a thread acquires the lock in shared optimistic mode, other threads are allowed to acquire the lock in shared or optimistic mode. When a thread which acquired the lock in shared optimistic mode wants to acquire the lock in exclusive mode, other threads which have acquired the lock in shared or optimistic mode are prevented from acquiring the lock in exclusive mode until the thread which acquired the lock in shared optimistic mode and requested to acquire the lock in exclusive mode releases the lock.
US09471398B2	Global lock contention predictor A method for lock acquisition includes adding a current contention state of a lock to a contention history. The lock includes a memory location for storing information used for excluding accessing a resource by one or more threads while another thread accesses the resource. The method includes combining the contention history with a lock address for the lock to form a predictor table index, and using the predictor table index to determine a lock prediction for the lock. The prediction includes a determination of an amount of contention.
US09471397B2	Global lock contention predictor An apparatus for lock acquisition is disclosed. A method and a computer program product also perform the functions of the apparatus. The apparatus includes a lock history module that adds a current contention state of a lock to a contention history. The lock includes a memory location for storing information used for excluding access to a resource by one or more threads while another thread accesses the resource. The apparatus, in some embodiments, includes a combination module that combines the contention history with a lock address for the lock to form a predictor table index, and a prediction module that uses the predictor table index to determine a lock prediction for the lock. The prediction includes a determination of an amount of contention.
US09471394B2	Feedback system for optimizing the allocation of resources in a data center To improve resource utilization and reduce the virtual machine sprawl in a data center, resource utilization is predicted based on previously measured utilizations, and then, using the predicted utilizations, optimizing the allocation of the computing resources among the virtual machines in the data center. In operation, measurements related to resource utilization by different virtual machines executing in a data center are collected at regular intervals. At each interval, an optimization system predicts virtual machine resource utilizations based on previously collected measurements and previously-generated virtual machine modelers. Based on the utilization predictions as well as the physical topology of the data center, the optimization system identifies different optimizations to the virtual machine topology for the next interval.
US09471393B2	Burst-mode admission control using token buckets Methods and apparatus for burst-mode admission control using token buckets are disclosed. A work request (such as a read or a write) directed to a work target is received. Based on a first criterion, a determination is made that the work target is in a burst mode of operation. A token population of a burst-mode token bucket is determined, and if the population meets a second criterion, the work request is accepted for execution.
US09471392B2	Use of metrics to control throttling and swapping in a message processing A system and method of using metrics to control throttling and swapping in a message processing system is provided. A workload status of a message processing system is determined, and the system polls for a new message according to the workload status. The message processing system identifies a blocked instance and calculates an expected idle time for the blocked instance. The system dehydrates the blocked instance if the expected idle time exceeds a predetermined threshold.
US09471391B1	Aggregating resource requests Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for aggregating requests for resources. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a set of requests for computing resources. Each request specifies one or more computing resources and, for each of the one or more computing resources, a quantity of the computing resource requested. A quantity-based provider condition that a request must meet for inclusion in an allocation process is identified. Each received request that fails to meet the quantity-based provider condition is included in a proper subset. Requests in the proper subset of requests are grouped into one or more groups based at least on the quantity of the one or more resources specified by each request of the proper subset and the quantity-based provider condition. A respective combined request is generated for each group of requests.
US09471390B2	Scheduling mapreduce jobs in a cluster of dynamically available servers There is provided a method, a system and a computer program product for improving performance and fairness in sharing a cluster of dynamically available computing resources among multiple jobs. The system collects at least one parameter associated with availability of a plurality of computing resources. The system calculates, based on the collected parameter, an effective processing time each computing resource can provide to each job. The system allocates, based on the calculated effective processing time, the computing resources to the multiple jobs, whereby the multiple jobs are completed at a same time or an approximate time.
US09471389B2	Dynamically tuning server placement An input is received relative to a user objective. An application placement consideration is established based upon, at least in part, the user objective. A best-fit application placement is dynamically determined for a plurality of applications relative to a plurality of servers based upon, at least in part, the application placement consideration.
US09471385B1	Resource overprovisioning in a virtual machine environment Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer programs for overprovisioning resources are disclosed. Resource usage statistics may be gathered for a plurality of client virtual machines (“VMs”). Statistical characteristics of resource usage by the plurality of client VMs may be calculated. It may also be determined which of the plurality of client VMs requesting resources to allocate resources to, as well as an amount of the resources to allocate, in a given time slot based on the calculated statistical characteristics.
US09471381B2	Resource allocation in multi-core architectures Technologies are generally described for a method, device and architecture effective to allocate resources. In an example, the method may include associating first and second resources with first and second resource identifiers and mapping the first and second resource identifiers to first and second sets of addresses in a memory, respectively. The method may include identifying that the first resource is at least partially unavailable. The method may include mapping the second resource identifier to at least one address of the first set of addresses in the memory when the first resource is identified as at least partially unavailable. The method may include receiving a request for the first resource, wherein the request identifies a particular address of the addresses in the first set of addresses. The method may include analyzing the particular address to identify a particular resource and allocating the request to the particular resource.
US09471379B2	Generating timing sequence for activating resources linked through time dependency relationships A method, computer program product, and computer system for generating a timing sequence for activating resources linked through time dependency relationships. A Direct Acyclic Graph (DAG) includes nodes and directed edges. Each node represents a unique resource and is a predefined Recovery Time Objective (RTO) node or an undefined RTO node. Each directed edge directly connects two nodes and represents a time delay between the two nodes. The nodes are topologically sorted to order the nodes in a dependency sequence of ordered nodes. A corrected RTO is computed for each ordered node after which an estimated RTO is calculated as a calculated RTO for each remaining undefined RTO node. The ordered nodes in the dependency sequence are reordered according to an ascending order of the corrected RTO of the ordered nodes to form a timing sequence for activating the unique resources represented by the multiple nodes.
US09471376B2	Scheduling and/or organizing task execution for a target computing platform Techniques are generally described relating to methods, apparatuses and articles of manufactures for scheduling and/or organizing execution of tasks on a computing platform. In various embodiments, the method may include identifying successively one or more critical time intervals, and scheduling and/or organizing task execution for each of the one or more identified critical time intervals. In various embodiments, one or more tasks to be executed may be scheduled to execute based in part on their execution completion deadlines. In various embodiments, organizing one or more tasks to execute may include selecting a virtual operating mode of the platform using multiple operating speeds lying on a convexity energy-speed envelope of the platform. Intra-task delay caused by switching operating mode may be considered. Other embodiments may also be described and/or claimed.
US09471372B2	Method and device for scheduling communication schedulable unit Communication schedulable units (CSUs) belonging to different owners in a radio communication device are scheduled to use multiple processors. The CSUs under different owners can be processed in parallel by the different processors. A global CSU list and an owner waiting list are maintained. The global CSU list may include the CSUs waiting to be processed and the CSUs are ordered according to the time stamps of the CSUs. The owner waiting list may include the owners that have no CSU being processed and the owners are ordered according to the time stamps of their respective earliest CSUs waiting to be processed in the global CSU list. When one of the processors finishes processing a first CSU of a first owner, a CSU to be processed next is scheduled according to the CSU time order and the CSU affinity, based on the global CSU list and the owner waiting list.
US09471371B2	Dynamic prediction of concurrent hardware transactions resource requirements and allocation A transactional memory system dynamically predicts the resource requirements of hardware transactions. A processor of the transactional memory system predicts resource requirements of a first hardware transaction to be executed based on any one of a resource hint and a previous execution of a prior hardware transaction. The processor allocates resources for the first hardware transaction based on the predicted resource requirements. The processor executes the first hardware transaction. The processor saves resource usage information of the first hardware transaction for future prediction.
US09471367B1	Virtual machine usage data collection using securely loaded virtual firmware A computer-implemented method for collecting usage data includes running, by a computer processor, virtual firmware at least partially in a virtual hardware layer of a virtual machine. Usage data describing the virtual machine is received, at the virtual firmware and from a kernel subsystem of the virtual machine. The usage data is transmitted from the virtual firmware to a collector on a host machine that hosts the virtual machine.
US09471362B2	Correlating hypervisor data for a virtual machine with associated operating system data The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for analyzing the performance virtual machines. During operation, the system obtains hypervisor data for a set of virtual machines, wherein the hypervisor data was received from one or more hypervisors while the set of virtual machines was running on the hypervisors. The system also obtains operating system data for the set of virtual machines, wherein the operating system data was received from a set of operating systems while the set of operating systems was running on the set of virtual machines. Next, the system correlates hypervisor data for a virtual machine with corresponding operating system data for the virtual machine. Finally, the system presents the correlated hypervisor data and operating system data for the virtual machine to a user.
US09471361B2	Virtual machine (VM) sequencer and scheduler to avoid boot storm In one aspect, a system includes at least one virtualization server configured to executed a hypervisor, and a storage server in communication to the at least one virtualization server. The storage server stores a plurality of virtual machine (VM) operating systems (OS's). The storage server comprises computer executable code, including a VM scheduler service (VMSS) module. The VMSS module is configured to determine a scheduled start time for each of the VM OS's based on configuration data corresponding to the VM OS's, generate a command based on the scheduled start time for each of the VM OS's, and send the command to the at least one virtualization server. Upon receiving the command, the hypervisor executed at the at least one virtualization server requests data of one of the VM OS's at the corresponding scheduled start time to start the one of the VM OS's.
US09471359B2	Virtual machine disk image backup using block allocation area The invention relates to a method for managing virtual machine image disk usage comprising a disk image emulator for a virtual machine provided by a hypervisor, comprising the steps of providing at least a first disk image comprising a sequence of data blocks for accumulating write operations to the first disk image, providing at least a second disk image comprising a sequence of data blocks for permanently storing disk image data, and providing a disk cleaning process for transferring disk image data from the first disk image to the second disk image and deleting unused data blocks in the first and/or the second disk image.
US09471357B2	Monitoring virtual machine interface and local graphical user interface on a thin client and alternating therebetween Technologies are described herein for alternating between a local graphical user interface (UI) and a virtual machine interface, on a computing device such as a thin client or a zero client. In particular, a virtual desktop client (VDC), which is in communication with a virtual machine hosted by a hypervisor on a remote computer system, receives desktop video display signals from the virtual machine. A monitoring application monitors the execution status of the VDC. Upon determining that the VDC has been terminated, the monitoring application is configured to present the UI by re-initializing, relaunching, or rebooting the UI, by retrieving display data associated with the UI from a RAM device, or by other means.
US09471355B2	Secure operations for virtual machines In one implementation, a secure operation system initiates a secure operation associated with a virtual machine hosted at a secured host, and determines when the secure operation is complete. In response to determining that the secure operation is complete, the secure operation system migrates the virtual machine to a host other than the secured host.
US09471352B1	Capability based placement Capability based placement can be used for placing virtual machine instances on server computers (which can be configured to support one or more virtual machine slots) that are capable of running the instances in an efficient manner. For example, capability tags can be determined from the detailed characteristics (e.g., detailed hardware, software, and/or other characteristics) of the server computer and/or slots. For example, capability tags can indicate capabilities such as disk throughput, network bandwidth, database support, encryption support, video editing support, etc. Requests to launch virtual machine instances can be received and capability tags can be determined from the requests. Servers and/or slots that match the determined capability tags can be identified and used for launching the instances.
US09471351B2	Scalable policy management in an edge virtual bridging (EVB) environment Embodiments of the invention relate to scalable policy management in an edge virtual bridging (EVB) environment. One embodiment includes fetching information from a virtual station interface (VSI) database. A first table is generated with at least a portion of the information from the VSI database. A message is received including virtual machine (VM) information for a created VM. A second table is generated including at least a portion of the VM information. A VM identification (ID) is retrieved based on VM type from the first table. Rules associated with the retrieved VM ID are retrieved from the second table. The associated rules for the VM are applied.
US09471345B2	Runtime generation and injection of java annotations An annotation generator utility is implemented. The annotation generator utility reads, from a properties file, configurations of a Java component. The annotation generator utility generates annotations corresponding to the configurations. The annotation generator utility injects the annotations into compiled source code of the Java component. In one aspect, the annotations are injected into compiled source code of the Java component at build time. In another aspect, the annotations are injected into compiled source code of the Java component at runtime.
US09471344B1	Hardware support for processing virtual machine instructions The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to providing hardware support for processing virtual machine instructions. In some implementations, an apparatus, systems, or methods can include an interface for a system-on-chip (SOC), a memory device, a central processing unit (CPU) coupled with the interface and the memory device, where the CPU can be configured to process instructions defined by a first instruction set and to direct instructions defined by a second instruction set to the memory device, and processing hardware coupled with the interface and the memory device, where the processing hardware can be separate from the CPU and configured to retrieve and process the instructions defined by the second instruction set, and where the second instruction set can be different from the first instruction set, and the instructions defined by the second instruction set include code of a predefined virtual machine environment.
US09471341B1	Optimizing latest user defined class loader A computer-implemented method for class load optimizing. The method identifies a class in which a context can be determined at a compile time, using a compiler. The method determines whether a caller method within the class has a specific signature call using the context of the class. The method determines a callee method within the class using the context of the class. The method determines whether the callee method's receiver is a first argument of the caller method. Furthermore, the method retrieves a class object of the class and converts the callee method to a second method, in response to the caller method having the specific signature, the callee method being of the specific signature and callee method being the first argument of the caller method.
US09471339B1	Enhanced computer performance based on selectable device capabilities An aspect includes receiving, by a processor, a capability indicating one or more performance aspects capable of being rendered by at least one hardware device of a computer system, determining a total number of hardware devices in the system, and determining a total number of the hardware devices having the capability. Upon determining, by the processor, that the total number of hardware devices in the system matches the total of the hardware devices having the capability, the capability is enabled for each of the hardware of the system with respect to a corresponding performance aspect.
US09471336B2	Mechanism for delivery of help content to a cloud landscape According to some embodiments, an apparatus and a method of capturing a type of file associated with a software deliverable is provided. A software deliverable is scanned for a predetermined type of file, a first file of the predetermined type of file is determined to exist in the software deliverable and the first file of the predetermined type of file is copied to a repository.
US09471330B2	System and method and for selecting boot configuration using near field communication A system and method to select boot configuration utilizes a processor, a near field communication (NFC) module coupled to the processor, and a near field communication (NFC) tag proximately located to the NFC module. The NFC tag operates as a system configuration tag to configure boot mode of the processor.
US09471325B2	Method and apparatus for selective renaming in a microprocessor A method and apparatus for allowing an out-of-order processor to reuse an in-use physical register is disclosed herein. The method and apparatus uses identifiers, such as tokens and/or other identifiers in a rename map table (RMT) and a physical register file (PRF), to indicate whether an instruction result is allowed or disallowed to be written into a physical register.
US09471323B2	System and method of using an atomic data buffer to bypass a memory location Methods and systems may provide for receiving a request to perform an atomic operation and adding the atomic operation to an execution pipeline of an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) for one or more pending atomic operations if the one or more pending atomic operations are associated with a memory location identified in the request. Additionally, at least a portion of the execution pipeline may bypass the memory location. In one example, adding the atomic operation to the execution pipeline includes populating a linked list with a modification associated with the atomic operation, wherein the linked list is dedicated to the memory location.
US09471320B2	Using L1 cache as re-order buffer A method is shown that eliminates the need for a dedicated reorder buffer register bank or memory space in a multi level cache system. As data requests from the L2 cache may be returned out of order, the L1 cache uses it's cache memory to buffer the out of order data and provides the data to the requesting processor in the correct order from the buffer.
US09471315B2	Run-time instrumentation reporting An aspect includes run-time instrumentation reporting. An instruction stream is executed by a processor. Run-time instrumentation information of the executing instruction stream is captured by the processor. Run-time instrumentation records are created based on the captured run-time instrumentation information. A run-time instrumentation sample point of the executing instruction stream on the processor is detected. A reporting group is stored in a run-time instrumentation program buffer. The storing is based on the detecting and the storing includes: determining a current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the determining based on instruction accessible run-time instrumentation controls; and storing the reporting group into the run-time instrumentation program buffer based on an origin address and the current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the reporting group including the created run-time instrumentation records.
US09471313B1	Flushing speculative instruction processing Technical solutions are described for avoiding a transaction abort in a multiprocessor that supports transactional memory during out-of-order execution of an instruction stream. An example method described includes detecting an instruction that represents an end of a transaction in the instruction stream. The method also includes identifying a conflict in execution of an outside instruction in conjunction with execution of the transaction, the outside instruction being after instruction that represents the end of the transaction, and where the conflict causes the transaction to abort. The method also includes flushing the outside instruction; and resuming the execution of the transaction, without aborting the transaction.
US09471303B2	Façade framework for IDE A framework for developing web and hybrid applications (Apps) of a project is described herein. In accordance with one aspect, a façade framework is provided. The façade framework includes a web library having a set of application program interfaces (APIs) of hybrid features of a mobile device, a hybrid library having a set of APIs of hybrid features of a mobile device, and a unified interface for interfacing with the web and hybrid libraries. Base code of a base project may be provided using an application development system. The base code may include common code to web assets common to the web and hybrid Apps of the project. The base code may be extended using the application development system to produce an extended code of the project, where the extended code includes hybrid features used by the project. The unified interface provides APIs from the web and hybrid libraries used by the project. The façade framework enables the extended code to serve as a unified code solution to both web and hybrid App of the project.
US09471302B1	Managing updates to different computer programs Data updates to a record created under a computer program that involve data values of interest to a different record created under a different computer program can be managed by computing an initial value based on the application of a function (such as a hash or checksum function) to identified data values of interest. A poll can be periodically performed to identify data updates. If an updated record is identified, a current value is computed based on the application of the function to the data values of interest associated with the updated record. The initial value is compared to the current value. If the values are determined to be different, the changes to the updated record are determined to involve changes to the data values of interest and the data values of interest are then transmitted to the different record.
US09471301B2	Packaging content updates Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to obtaining user feedback and causing a package of content updates to be created and distributed based on the received feedback. In accordance with one embodiment, a method is provided for creating a package that contains one or more content updates that are configured for implementation on a remote device.
US09471298B2	Information processing apparatus, control method, and storage medium A control method executed by an information processing apparatus, the control method includes deleting an application that is installed in the information processing apparatus; displaying a locked screen for which operation is limited; displaying an unlocked screen indicating a confirmation request for confirming that the application is deleted, when an input for releasing the operation limit for the locked screen is detected; and releasing the operation limit for the screen, when a response for the confirmation request is received.
US09471297B2	Methods and apparatus for uninstalling a software application Methods and apparatus for uninstalling an application are disclosed. When a user selects an application to be uninstalled, a database is queried to determine a plurality of software objects that are associated with the selected application. The system then displays a plurality of relationships between the plurality of software objects (e.g., a tree view with check boxes to select and unselect objects). The display indicates which software objects in the plurality of software objects can be deleted without affecting other software objects in the plurality of software objects. In addition, the display indicates which software objects in the plurality of software objects cannot be deleted without affecting other software objects in the plurality of software objects. Based on these results, the user then determines a new list of objects to keep and objects to delete. This process is repeated until the user approves the list and deletes the application.
US09471290B2	Utilizing special purpose elements to implement a FSM Apparatus, systems, and methods for a compiler are described. One such compiler generates machine code corresponding to a set of elements including a general purpose element and a special purpose element. The compiler identifies a portion in an arrangement of relationally connected operators that corresponds to a special purpose element. The compiler also determines whether the portion meets a condition to be mapped to the special purpose element. The compiler also converts the arrangement into an automaton comprising a plurality of states, wherein the portion is converted using a special purpose state that corresponds to the special purpose element if the portion meets the condition. The compiler also converts the automaton into machine code. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US09471288B2	Compile based obfuscation Compiler based obfuscation is described. To protect portions of a code project with obfuscations, the code is modified within a compiler to produce one or more modifications that obfuscate the code as part of a compilation process. A compiled version of the code is generated having the modifications that are produced within the compiler. In one approach, the compiler is configured to consume an obfuscation description that indicates portions of the code to protect and specifies the modifications to make to the indicated portions. Various different modifications of code may be performed during the compilation process to implement corresponding obfuscation features. For example, the modifications made within a compiler may include, but are not limited to, modifications designed to enable tamper detection, anti-debugging, and/or encryption of the code.
US09471283B2	Generating virtualized application programming interface (API) implementation from narrative API documentation A virtualized Application Program Interface (API) implementation is generated based upon narrative API documentation that includes sentences that describe the API, by generating programming statements for the virtualized API implementation based upon parsing the narrative API documentation, and generating the virtualized API implementation based on upon the programming statements for the virtualized API implementation. The parsing of the narrative documentation may use a natural language parser and a domain-specific ontology for the API that may be obtained or created for the API. The virtualized API implementation may be generated using an API virtualizer.
US09471281B2	Vectorized Galois field multiplication Embodiments relate to vectorized Galois field multiplication. An aspect includes a subdivision of first and second input operands into vector elements of equal sizes with multiple modes defined such that a base mode has a size corresponding to a smallest vector element size, which is a factor of a size of the first and second input operands, and a higher mode has a size that is a multiple of the base mode size. The vector elements of the first input operand are modified with a bit mask based on a size of the vector elements. The modified vector elements of the first input operand and the vector elements of the second input operand are input into a single hardware tree configured for subdivision into staggered subtrees a size of each of which being based on the base mode size.
US09471275B1	Reading device usability As disclosed herein a method, executed by a computer, for enabling enhanced reading device usability includes detecting, on an electronic device, a read operation that audibly reads visually presented information. The method further includes retrieving from a user profile a first threshold value and a second threshold value. The method further includes analyzing potential distractions to determine an estimated distraction level. The method further includes pausing the read operation if the estimated distraction level is greater than or equal to the first threshold value. The method further includes resuming the read operation if the estimated distraction level is less than or equal to the second threshold value. A computer system, and a computer program product corresponding to the method are also disclosed herein.
US09471272B2	Skip of a portion of audio In one aspect, a device includes a processor and a memory accessible to the processor. The memory bears instructions executable by the processor to determine that a portion of audio has been skipped a threshold number of times, and in response to the determination that the portion of the audio has been skipped the threshold number of times, skip the portion without input from a user to skip the portion upon a subsequent presentation of the audio.
US09471266B2	Printing system with printing apparatus and printing control apparatus for registering and managing sheet holding units based on sheet attributes A printing system includes a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus. The printing control apparatus stores, in association with a sheet holding unit of the printing apparatus, a combination of stored first attribute information about a sheet and stored second attribute information about the sheet. The printing control apparatus receives, from the printing apparatus, first attribute information about a sheet to be used in a job. Based on the received first attribute information about the sheet received from the printing apparatus, the printing control apparatus obtains the stored second attribute information and sends the obtained second attribute information to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus sets the received second attribute information as attribute information about a sheet to be stored in the sheet holding unit. The printing apparatus notifies a user about the sheet holding unit to which the second attribute information is set.
US09471264B2	Information processing system, information processing method, and recording medium An information processing system includes at least one information processor, an output data reception part configured to receive output data or output target data via a network, a determination part configured to determine whether user identification information, which is to be correlated with the received output data or output data generated based on the output target data, is specified from user information stored in a user information storage part, a storing part configured to store data identification information and the received or generated output data in correlation with each other in a data storage part when the user identification information is not specified; a notification part configured to give notice of the data identification information via the network; and a transmission part configured to transmit, via the network, the received or generated output data correlated with the user identification information or the data identification information received via the network.
US09471260B2	Printing system, printing assistance apparatus and method An angle of rotation of a sheet is determined so as to match a processing area that is processed in a processing step defined by specification information with a processing area that is processed on the sheet placed in a placement direction designated in correspondence with a processing apparatus used in the processing step. After rotating the designated placement method by the determined angle of rotation, the resultant direction is printed in, for example, an area to be trimmed off as a placement direction of the sheet in the processing step.
US09471257B2	Semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device includes a memory array, a setting unit and a control unit. The memory array consists of non-volatile memory cells. The setting unit set a page address of the memory array which is initially read out at startup. The control unit performs an internal sequence to read out the page address from the setting unit at startup and, according to the read-out page address, transmits page data corresponding to the read-out page address from the memory array to a page buffer.
US09471256B2	Systems and methods for restoring data in a degraded computer system Methods and systems for restoring data in a degraded computer system are presented. In an embodiment, a method includes storing user data to a hard disk drive that is local to a user interface device. The method may also include storing a sub-set of the user data to a internal data storage device that is local to the user interface device. Additionally, the method may include copying the sub-set of the user data from the internal data storage device to a remote data storage device in response to a degradation of system performance of the user interface device. In an embodiment, the data may be retrieved from the internal data storage by an external system, even when the user interface device is in a degraded or unresponsive state.
US09471254B2	Storage module and method for adaptive burst mode A storage module and method for adaptive burst mode are provided. In one embodiment, a storage module is provided comprising a memory and a controller. The controller is configured to receive a plurality of write commands from a host controller in communication with the storage module, store the plurality of write commands in a command queue in the storage module, and choose one of a plurality of burst modes in which to operate the memory based on how many write commands are stored in the command queue.
US09471246B2	Data sharing using difference-on-write When a virtual machine writes to a page that is being shared across VMs, a share value is calculated to determine how different the page would be if the write command were implemented. If the share value is below a predefined threshold (meaning that the page would not be “too different”), then the page is not copied (as it would be in a standard copy-on-write operation). Instead, the difference between the contents of the pages is stored as a self-contained delta. The physical to machine memory map is updated to point to the delta, and the delta contains a pointer to the original page. When the VM needs to access the page that was stored as a delta, the delta and the page are then fetched from memory and the page is reconstructed.
US09471244B2	Data sharing using difference-on-write When a virtual machine writes to a page that is being shared across VMs, a share value is calculated to determine how different the page would be if the write command were implemented. If the share value is below a predefined threshold (meaning that the page would not be “too different”), then the page is not copied (as it would be in a standard copy-on-write operation). Instead, the difference between the contents of the pages is stored as a self-contained delta. The physical to machine memory map is updated to point to the delta, and the delta contains a pointer to the original page. When the VM needs to access the page that was stored as a delta, the delta and the page are then fetched from memory and the page is reconstructed.
US09471239B2	Memory power management and data consolidation According to embodiments of the disclosure, methods, systems and computer program products for memory power management and data consolidation are disclosed. The method may include selecting a first real memory portion and a second real memory portion from a plurality of real memory portions coupled to a memory controller in a computer system by a memory bus. The first real memory portion may be connected to a first buffer and the second real memory portion may be connected to a second buffer. The first and second real memory portions may be selected by the memory controller. The method may include migrating data from the first real memory portion to the second real memory portion on a migration bus through the first and second buffers. The method may also include placing the first real memory portion into a reduced power mode.
US09471236B1	Security for memory module data A memory module contains a set of contacts configured to contact a second set of contacts on a memory module connector when the memory module is removed from the connector. The contacts on the connector can be activated. The memory module is configured to erase data on the memory module in response to the set of contacts on the memory module contacting the set of contacts on the connector when the set of contacts on the connector is activated.
US09471229B2	Scaling performance for raid storage controllers by predictively caching data for host write requests Methods and structure for predictively caching data to service host write requests. One embodiment includes a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage controller able to manage a RAID volume implemented on a plurality of storage devices. The storage controller includes a memory able to store a queue of write requests that are directed to the RAID volume, and an Input/Output (I/O) processor. The I/O processor is able to detect a stream of write requests in the queue that are directed to a sequence of Logical Block Addresses (LBAs) at the RAID volume, to predict, based on the stream, LBAs for new write requests, to cache data for the predicted LBAs from the storage devices to the storage controller, to receive the new write requests, and to utilize the cached data from the predicted LBAs to generate parity data for the new write requests.
US09471227B2	Implementing enhanced performance with read before write to phase change memory to avoid write cancellations A method, apparatus, and storage device are provided for implementing enhanced performance with read before write to phase-change-memory (PCM). Each write to PCM is preceded by a read to avoid write cancellations with urgent reads from nearby locations. For every write, a large block of data is read from PCM, such as an entire partition, prior to the write in PCM. The cache copy of the large block of data is kept in a controller for the duration of write. A read request from the pre-fetched region is provided from the cached copy thereby preventing read interrupt during write operation.
US09471225B2	Optimizing memory usage across multiple garbage collected computer environments A method, information processing system, and computer readable storage medium, vary a maximum heap memory size for one application of a plurality of applications based on monitoring garbage collection activity levels for the plurality of applications, each application including a heap memory, and unused memory in the heap memory being reclaimed by a garbage collector.
US09471223B2	Volume class management A method for setting up and managing large numbers of storage volumes is disclosed. In one embodiment, such a method enables a user to establish a volume class comprising various volume attributes. The method further enables the user to assign a volume or range of volumes to the volume class. Once the volume or range of volumes is assigned to the volume class, the method automatically sets up, without user invention, the volumes with the attributes designated for the volume class. When a new volume is assigned to the volume class, the method automatically sets up the new volume with the attributes of the volume class, including automatically calculating a VTOC size for the new volume based on VTOC sizes for volumes already assigned to the volume class. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed.
US09471217B2	Display management method and system of mobile terminal A display management method and system of a mobile terminal that provides the user with indications of the currently running applications and activation and deactivation progresses of the applications. A first execution screen of a first application is displayed, and an input signal is detected for activating a second application. A second execution screen is displayed corresponding to the second application in response to the input signal. The second execution screen includes at least one of a first intermediate image obtained by downsizing an image contained within the first execution screen, a second intermediate image obtained by downsizing an image contained within the second execution screen, and a task window containing at least the downsized first and second intermediate images in a sequential order.
US09471216B2	Circle type display device for a mobile terminal having a scroll bar at the edge of its display and method of controlling the same A mobile terminal having a circle type display and a method for controlling the same is disclosed herein. A scroll bar is provided at an edge of the circle type display in response to a user input. The user may control the mobile terminal and the circle type display through touch inputs on the scroll bar.
US09471211B2	Chaining applications Method, system, and computer program product to enforce application dependencies, by building a data model based on inputs specifying relationships between a plurality of applications, generating, based on the data model, a list of candidate executions for a first application having a specified relationship with a second application, and outputting a visual representation of the data model, the visual representation comprising a plurality of objects representing the plurality of applications and arranged to represent the relationships between the applications, the list of candidate executions, and one or more user interface elements allowing user navigation between the first application and the second application, of the list of candidate executions.
US09471210B1	Systems and methods for interleaving series of medical images After selecting two or more image series for comparison, images of the image series are interleaved so that they are alternatively displayed in a comparison pane on a display device. In one embodiment, after one or more image series are selected for comparison, an interleaved image series is created containing each of the images of the one or more selected image series, or, alternatively, the interleaved image series comprises links to the images arranged in the interleaved pattern. If differences exist in the images of the multiple image series, these differences may be more easily detectable as the display device cycles between the images. Comparison of images in an interleaved image series may be more advantageous if the images of each selected image series are of a common anatomical area, common image size, and the images are in the same order.
US09471204B2	System and method for data-driven web page navigation control A system and method for web application navigation control includes updating navigation data models used in navigation constraints with received data from an end-user or system. Without needing a centralized application-specific controller, from a collection of extensible navigation rules associated with each page of a plurality of pages, the extensible navigation rules are automatically selected which depend on changed data values and need re-evaluation. The navigation constraints associated only with the pages potentially changing their ready state to execute from among the plurality of pages in an entire application are evaluated to determine which pages are ready to run based on updated data from the navigation data models. A preferred page to be actually navigated to next is selected from among a set of all available and ready pages by execution of a set of second and separate navigation constraints using results of the navigation constraints of the evaluating step.
US09471197B2	Category search method and mobile device adapted thereto A category search method and a mobile device adapted thereto are provided. The mobile device includes a display unit for displaying screens according to a search function, and a controller. The controller controls the display unit to output a first search bar of higher category items, according to a first touch event that occurs on a certain area of the display unit, and a second search bar including lower category items of an item on the first search bar where a second touch event occurs.
US09471192B2	Region dynamics for digital whiteboard Roughly described, different drawing regions are opened for different users on the same whiteboard. Each drawing region has its own set of line appearance properties, which the user can set with a toolbar. Lines drawn in a drawing region adopt the line appearance properties then in effect for that drawing region, which also apply to replications of the line on other devices in the collaboration session. As the user draws toward a boundary of the user's drawing region, the boundary automatically moves so that the drawing continues to contain the user's drawing activity.
US09471191B2	Touch panel and touch display device with sensing bars arranged along one-dimensional direction A touch panel includes a substrate and a plurality of sensing units. The sensing units are disposed on the substrate. Each sensing unit includes two sensing bars respectively having a first end and a second end. The sensing bars extend along a direction and cross a touch region. The second end of one of the sensing bars of each sensing unit is configured for receiving a first signal respectively. The first ends of the sensing bars of each sensing unit are electrically connected to each other and configured to receive a second signal. The second end of the other one of the sensing bars of each sensing unit is configured to receive a third signal respectively.
US09471189B2	Sensing electrode structure A sensing electrode structure formed on a substrate of a touch device is provided. The sensing electrode structure includes: a first sensing electrode row; a second sensing electrode row, parallel to the first sensing electrode row, including a plurality of second sensing electrode units; and a guard ring, surrounding the second sensing electrode row, including a plurality of guard electrodes arranged between each two of the second sensing electrode units.
US09471188B2	Liquid crystal display device with touch panel A liquid crystal display device with a touch panel includes: pixel electrodes which are disposed in each pixel disposed in a display region and to which a potential is applied depending on a gradation value; common electrodes which extend in one direction across the display region; detection electrodes which extend in a direction different from the one direction across the display region, form an electric capacitance with driving electrodes that are a part of the common electrodes, and detect a contact position on a panel; a liquid crystal layer that is formed by a liquid crystal composition in which an orientation is changed by an electric field formed by the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes; and a driving pulse output section that applies a driving pulse once to the driving electrodes for detecting contact within two successive horizontal synchronizing periods that are periods of display.
US09471182B2	Semiconductor device having sensor circuits with amplifier circuits and light-receiving elements In a display portion of a liquid crystal display device, the dead space corresponding to a unit pixel is reduced while the aperture ratio of the unit pixel is increased. One amplifier circuit portion is shared by a plurality of unit pixels, so that the area of the amplifier circuit portion corresponding to the unit pixel is reduced and the aperture ratio of the unit pixel is increased. In addition, when the amplifier circuit portion is shared by a larger number of unit pixels, a photosensor circuit corresponding to the unit pixel can be prevented from increasing in area even with an increase in photosensitivity. Furthermore, an increase in the aperture ratio of the unit pixel results in a reduction in the power consumption of a backlight in a liquid crystal display device.
US09471179B2	Laser optical touch control module analog-to-digital conversion system and method of the same A laser optical touch control module includes a light emitting part with a laser light source and a light receiving part with a position sensor. A laser beam is emitted from the laser light source and reflected by a wide angle optical element. Thus a light fan of the reflected light is larger than 90 degrees to form a wide angle linear light beam. The position of a touch control widget is obtained by a sensor of the light receiving part that detects the linear light beam blocked and reflected by the touch control widget. An analog-to-digital conversion system includes a variable reference level generator that calculates to generate a variable reference level according to different variances. Then the sensor output data is converted into a digital signal based on the reference voltage level by a digital comparator and the digital signal is output to a processor.
US09471177B2	Drive circuit and drive method, shift register, pixel unit and display device The invention is directed to a drive circuit, drive method and a shift register for a display device with touch control function. The drive circuit includes a driving and amplifying module, a touch screen driving module and a time-sharing drive control module. The time-sharing drive control module is adapted to send a time-sharing drive control signal according to a first control signal and a second control signal. The driving and amplifying module is adapted to drive the OLED during an OLED drive phase according to the time-sharing drive control signal, amplify a touch sensor output signal during a touch screen drive phase and control the touch screen driver module to drive the touch screen according to a touch control signal and the amplified touch sensor output signal.
US09471176B2	Flight deck touch-sensitive hardware controls Touch or proximity sensors are integrated into control devices such as knobs, dials or wheels incorporated in a user control panel. A control output processor detects whether any of the sensors are outputting signals indicating that a control device is being touched (or nearly touched) by a user. The control output processor causes an associated display area to be highlighted or otherwise modified on a display screen to indicate to the user which control device is being touched. This feature allows for “no-look” interaction with control panels, and keeps the user's eyes focused on the relevant displays where the control devices produce effects. This allows users to preview and verify that the correct control device is being manipulated prior to taking any (potentially erroneous) control actions.
US09471170B2	Light-based touch screen with shift-aligned emitter and receiver lenses A touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing along two opposite edges of the display and arranged along the two edges so as to be shift-aligned relative to one another, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses of one of the two edges over the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and receive the light pulses through the collimating lenses of the opposite of the two edges, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, that determines a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
US09471169B2	Force enhanced input device Methods and devices are described for operating an input device for an electronic system which includes a housing. The input device includes an input surface and a first substrate having a first plurality of sensor electrodes configured to sense input objects proximate the input surface, and a pair of force sensing electrodes on the bottom of the first substrate. The input device includes a second substrate having a planar spring plate including a perimeter region surrounding an interior region, the perimeter region including a leaf spring coupled to the housing, and a spacing layer configured to physically couple the interior region of the second substrate to the first substrate. A force applied to the input surface deflects the first substrate and the interior region relative to the perimeter region, changing a variable capacitance formed between the force sensing electrodes.

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