| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09490281B2 |
Image sensor and image capturing apparatus
An image sensor comprising a plurality of image sensing pixel groups is provided. Each of the image sensing pixel groups has a plurality of first pixels each having photoelectric conversion portions arrayed in first and second directions for first and second numbers of divisions, respectively, and a plurality of second pixels each having photoelectric conversion portions arrayed in the first and second directions for third and fourth numbers of divisions, respectively. The photoelectric conversion portions comprising the first pixel and the second pixel have a function of photoelectrically converting a plurality of images formed by divided light fluxes of a light flux from an imaging optical system and outputting a focus detection signal for phase difference detection. The first and third numbers of division are coprime natural numbers, and the second and fourth numbers of divisions are coprime natural numbers. |
| US09490279B2 |
Sensor including TFT device and photodiode sensing device and method for fabricating the same
A sensor and its fabrication method are provided, the sensor includes: a base substrate, a group of gate lines and a group of data lines arranged as crossing each other, and a plurality of sensing elements arranged in an array and defined by the group of gate lines and the group of data lines, each sensing element comprising a TFT device and a photodiode sensing device, wherein: the TFT device is a top gate TFT; the photodiode sensing device includes: a bias electrode and a bias electrode pin connected with the bias electrode, both of which are disposed on the base substrate; a photodiode disposed on the bias electrode and a transparent electrode disposed on the photodiode and connected with the source electrode. |
| US09490277B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
It is an object to manufacture and provide a highly reliable display device including a thin film transistor with a high aperture ratio which has stable electric characteristics. In a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device having a thin film transistor in which a semiconductor layer including a channel formation region is formed using an oxide semiconductor film, a heat treatment for reducing moisture and the like which are impurities and for improving the purity of the oxide semiconductor film (a heat treatment for dehydration or dehydrogenation) is performed. Further, an aperture ratio is improved by forming a gate electrode layer, a source electrode layer, and a drain electrode layer using conductive films having light transmitting properties. |
| US09490272B2 |
Array substrate and display device
An array substrate includes a gate line, a data line and a plurality of pixel units defined by the gate line and the data line intersecting with each other, which are formed on a base substrate, and each pixel unit includes a thin film transistor. The farther the thin film transistor is away from a gate driver side of the array substrate, the more likely an overlapping area between an active layer and a source electrode of the thin film transistor shows an increasing trend. By changing the overlapping area between the active layer and the source electrode, a dielectric constant between a gate electrode and the source electrode increases to enlarge a gate-source capacitance Cgs, leading to an increase of ΔVp; as a result, a common electrode voltage tends to be stable, thus avoiding crosstalk at the time of displaying. |
| US09490268B2 |
Semiconductor device and display device including the semiconductor device
A semiconductor device including a transistor and a connection portion is provided. The transistor includes a gate electrode, a first insulating film over the gate electrode, an oxide semiconductor film over the first insulating film and at a position overlapping with the gate electrode, and source and drain electrodes electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor film; and the connection portion includes a first wiring on the same surface as a surface on which the gate electrode is formed, a second wiring on the same surface as a surface on which the source and drain electrodes are formed, and a third wiring connecting the first wiring and the second wiring. The distance between an upper end portion and a lower end portion of the second wiring is longer than the distance between an upper end portion and a lower end portion of each of the source and drain electrodes. |
| US09490266B2 |
Array substrate and method for producing the same and display apparatus
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the display field and provide an array substrate, a method for producing the same and a display apparatus, for reducing a via hole space without adding a step for patterning the gate insulation layer and thereby reducing product costs. The array substrate includes a gate metal layer, a gate insulation layer, a source and drain metal layer and a passivation layer, wherein the array substrate is provided with a via hole, which passes through the passivation layer, the source and drain metal layer and the gate insulation layer and at which a transparent conductive material is deposited for connecting the source and drain metal layer with the gate metal layer. |
| US09490261B2 |
Minimizing disturbs in dense non volatile memory arrays
A nitride read only memory (NROM) array includes a silicon substrate having trenches therein, a plurality of polysilicon bit lines deposited in the trenches and connecting columns of memory cells, a layer of (oxide nitride oxide) ONO at least within the memory cells and a plurality of polysilicon word lines to connect rows of the memory cells. An NROM array with a virtual ground architecture includes a plurality of bit lines to connect columns of NROM memory cells, a layer of ONO at least within the memory cells and a plurality of word lines to connect rows of the NROM memory cells, wherein a distance between word lines is at least twice the width of the word lines. |
| US09490260B2 |
Method for fabricating a semi-floating gate transistor
A semi-floating gate transistor structure includes a substrate, a first N-well region and a second N-well region separated from each other in the substrate, and a gate oxide layer on the substrate. The gate oxide layer includes a separation groove disposed on the first N-well region. The semi-floating gate transistor structure further includes a P-type doped floating gate having a first portion filling the separation groove and a second portion integrally formed on the first portion. The first portion of the P-type doped floating gate and the first N-well region form a pn-junction diode. |
| US09490257B2 |
Deep trench polysilicon fin first
After forming a recessed conductive material portion over a deep trench capacitor located in a lower portion of a deep trench embedded in a substrate, a hard mask layer is formed over a top semiconductor layer of the substrate and the recessed conductive material portion such that the hard mask layer completely fills the deep trench. Next, the hard mask layer, the top semiconductor layer and the recessed conductive material portion are patterned to form a laterally contacting pair of a semiconductor fin and a conductive strap structure over the deep trench capacitor as well as a dielectric cap embedded in the deep trench. The dielectric cap vertically contacts a lower portion of the conductive strap structure and laterally surrounds a portion of an upper portion of the conductive strap structure that is not in contact with the semiconductor fin. |
| US09490256B2 |
Semiconductor devices having contact plugs overlapping associated bitline structures and contact holes and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device can include a plurality of landing pads arranged according to a layout on a substrate, wherein a cross-sectional shape of each of the landing pads has a diamond shape so that opposing interior angles of the diamond shape are equal to one another and adjacent interior angles of the diamond shape are unequal to one another. |
| US09490252B1 |
MIM capacitor formation in RMG module
A method is provided for forming a metal-insulator-metal capacitor in a replacement metal gate module. The method includes providing a gate cap formed on a gate. The method further includes removing a portion of the gate cap and forming a recess in the gate. A remaining portion of the gate forms a first electrode of the capacitor. The method also includes depositing a dielectric on remaining portions of the gate cap and the remaining portion of the gate. The method additionally includes depositing a conductive material on the dielectric. The method further includes removing a portion of the conductive material and portions of the dielectric to expose a remaining portion of the conductive material and a remaining portion of the dielectric. The remaining portion of the conductive material forms a second electrode of the capacitor. The remaining portion of the dielectric forms an insulator of the capacitor. |
| US09490251B2 |
Diode-connected bipolar junction transistors and electronic circuits including the same
A diode-connected bipolar junction transistor includes a common collector region of a first conductivity, a common base region of a second conductivity disposed over the common collector region, and a plurality of emitter regions of the first conductivity disposed over the common base region, arranged to be spaced apart from each other, and arranged to have island shapes. |
| US09490250B2 |
Half-bridge circuit with a low-side transistor and a level shifter transistor integrated in a common semiconductor body
A half-bridge circuit includes a low-side transistor and a high-side transistor each having a load path and a control terminal. The half-bridge circuit further includes a high-side drive circuit having a level shifter with a level shifter transistor. The low-side transistor and the level shifter transistor are integrated in a common semiconductor body. |
| US09490249B2 |
Antenna effect discharge circuit and manufacturing method
An antenna effect discharge circuit is described for a device having patterned conductor layers, which may be exposed to charge inducing environments during a manufacturing process. The antenna effect discharge circuit has a terminal that is connected to a node on the device to be protected from charge accumulation and a gate, such as the gate of a field effect transistor in the circuit, and a terminal through which accumulated charge can be discharged to the substrate. A capacitor couples the gate in the antenna effect discharge circuit to the substrate. A voltage supply circuit is configured to provide voltage sufficient to bias the antenna effect discharge circuit in an off condition during operation of the device. A patterned conductor in the upper layer, and preferably the uppermost layer, of the device links the gate in the antenna effect discharge circuit to the voltage supply circuit. |
| US09490247B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing same
An IGBT (50) includes a p+ collector region (3) and an n−− drift region (1), in which a first transistor (TR1) and a second transistor (TR2) are formed on the n−− drift region (1). In the n−− drift region (1), a p-type hole extraction region (14) is formed in contact with the second transistor (TR2). When the IGBT (50) is in an on-state, electrons and holes flow through the first transistor (TR1), but a current does not flow through the second transistor (TR2). On the other hand, when the IGBT (50) is switched from the on-state to an off-state, holes flow through the first transistor (TR1), and holes flow through the hole extraction region (14) and the second transistor (TR2). |
| US09490245B1 |
Circuit and layout for a high density antenna protection diode
A MOS device for reducing an antenna effect is provided. The MOS device includes a diode including a first nMOS transistor having a first nMOS transistor source, a first nMOS transistor drain, a first nMOS transistor gate, and an nMOS transistor body. The nMOS transistor body is coupled to a first voltage source and is an anode of the diode. The first nMOS transistor source, the first nMOS transistor drain, and the first nMOS transistor gate are coupled together and are a cathode of the diode. The MOS device further includes an interconnect extending between a driver output and a load input. The interconnect is coupled to the cathode of the diode. The interconnect may extend on one metal layer only between the driver output and the load input. |
| US09490244B2 |
Integrated circuit comprising a clamping structure and method of adjusting a threshold voltage of a clamping transistor
An integrated circuit comprises a load transistor including first and second load terminals and a load control terminal. The integrated circuit further comprises a clamping structure. The clamping structure comprises a clamping transistor, the clamping transistor including first and second clamping transistor load terminals and a gate terminal. The clamping transistor is electrically coupled between the load control terminal and the first load terminal and a clamping voltage of the load transistor is determined by a threshold voltage Vth of the clamping transistor. |
| US09490242B2 |
Semiconductor device and semiconductor package
A semiconductor device capable of ensuring a withstand voltage of a transistor and reducing a forward voltage of a Schottky barrier diode in a package with the transistor and the Schottky barrier diode formed on chip, and a semiconductor package formed by a resin package covering the semiconductor device are provided. The semiconductor device 1 includes a semiconductor layer 22, a transistor area D formed on the semiconductor layer 22 and constituting the transistor 11, and a diode area C formed on the semiconductor layer 22 and constituting the Schottky barrier diode 10. The semiconductor layer 22 in the diode area C is thinner than the semiconductor layer 22 in the transistor area D. |
| US09490237B2 |
Semiconductor package including a plurality of chips
A reconfigured wafer of resin-encapsulated semiconductor packages is obtained by supporting with a resin, thereafter, a grinding process is performed on top and backside surfaces to expose only a bump interconnection electrode on a surface of a semiconductor chip. Further, a chip-scale package is obtained by a dicing process along a periphery of the chip. |
| US09490230B2 |
Selective die electrical insulation by additive process
Additive processes are employed for electrically insulating selected surface regions on a stack of die; and methods for electrically interconnecting die in a stack of die, include additive processes for electrically insulating selected surface regions of the die. Regions that are not insulated according to the invention are available for electrical connection using electrically conductive material applied in flowable form to make electrically conductive traces. |
| US09490228B2 |
Anisotropic conductive film including conductive adhesive layer and semiconductor device connected by the same
An anisotropic conductive film includes a conductive adhesive layer including conductive particles and insulating particles, and an insulating adhesive layer not including conductive particles. In the anisotropic conductive film, the conductive particles and the insulating particles of the conductive adhesive layer have a total particle density of 7.0×105/d2 to 10.0×105/d2 (particles) per square millimeter (mm2) (where d is a diameter of the conductive particles in μm). |
| US09490222B1 |
Wire bond wires for interference shielding
Apparatuses relating generally to a microelectronic package having protection from interference are disclosed. In an apparatus thereof, a substrate has an upper surface and a lower surface opposite the upper surface and has a ground plane. A first microelectronic device is coupled to the upper surface of the substrate. Wire bond wires are coupled to the ground plane for conducting the interference thereto and extending away from the upper surface of the substrate. A first portion of the wire bond wires is positioned to provide a shielding region for the first microelectronic device with respect to the interference. A second portion of the wire bond wires is not positioned to provide the shielding region. A second microelectronic device is coupled to the substrate and located outside of the shielding region. A conductive surface is over the first portion of the wire bond wires for covering the shielding region. |
| US09490219B2 |
Semiconductor package with shielding member and method of manufacturing the same
This invention provides a semiconductor package, including a substrate, a plurality of semiconductor elements disposed on the substrate, at least one shielding member disposed between at least two of the semiconductor elements, and an encapsulant encapsulating the semiconductor elements and shielding members. Through the shielding member, electromagnetic interference caused among semiconductor elements can be prevented. |
| US09490218B2 |
Method for manufacturing semiconductor device
To improve the assemblability of a semiconductor device.When a memory chip is mounted over a logic chip, a recognition range including a recognition mark formed at a back surface of the logic chip is imaged and a shape of the recognition range is recognized, alignment of a plurality of bumps of the logic chip and a plurality of projection electrodes of the above-described memory chip is performed based on a result of the recognition, and the above-described memory chip is mounted over the logic chip. At this time, the shape of the recognition range is different from any portion of an array shape of the bumps, as a result, the recognition mark in the shape of the recognition range can be reliably recognized, and alignment of the bumps of the logic chip and the projection electrodes of the above-described memory chip is performed with high accuracy. |
| US09490214B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
A semiconductor device may include a substrate having a lower via-hole, an epitaxial layer having an opening exposing a top surface of the substrate, a semiconductor chip disposed on the top surface of the substrate and including first, second, and third electrodes, an upper metal layer connected to the first electrode, a supporting substrate disposed on the upper metal layer and having an upper via-hole, an upper pad disposed on the substrate and extending into the upper via-hole, a lower pad connected to the second electrode in the opening, and a lower metal layer covering a bottom surface of the substrate and connected to the lower pad through the lower via-hole. |
| US09490205B2 |
Integrated circuit interconnects and methods of making same
A copper alloy layer is blanket deposited over a low k dielectric layer and in via openings within the low k dielectric layer. The blanket deposited layer is then anisotropically etch to form horizontal interconnects. The interconnects are annealed to form a metal oxide barrier lining. A second low k dielectric layer is then depositing over the horizontal interconnects. Air gaps can be formed between adjacent interconnects to lower parasitic capacitance therebetween. |
| US09490202B2 |
Self-aligned airgap interconnect structures
Devices and methods for forming a self-aligned airgap interconnect structure includes etching a conductive layer to a substrate to form conductive structures with patterned gaps and filling the gaps with a sacrificial material. The sacrificial material is planarized to expose a top surface of the conductive layer. A permeable cap layer is deposited over the conductive structure and the sacrificial material, Self-aligned airgaps are formed by removing the sacrificial material through the permeable layer. |
| US09490199B2 |
Interposer with programmable matrix for realizing configurable vertical semiconductor package arrangements
An interposer for establishing a vertical connection between semiconductor packages includes an electrically insulating substrate having a first main side and a second main side opposite the first main side, a plurality of first electrical conductors at the first main side of the substrate, a plurality of second electrical conductors at the second main side of the substrate, and a programmable connection matrix at one or both main sides of the substrate. The programmable connection matrix includes programmable junctions configured to open or close electrical connections between different ones of the first electrical conductors and different ones of the second electrical conductors upon programming of the junctions. |
| US09490198B1 |
Transmitting and receiving package
Provided is a transmitter and receiver package including an interposer substrate including a top surface, a bottom surface facing the top surface, and a through-via, semiconductor devices mounted on the top surface of the interposer substrate, an exothermic element mounted on the bottom surface of the interposer substrate, and a heat dissipation member disposed on the bottom surface of the interposer substrate, the heat dissipation member being configured to cover the exothermic element. |
| US09490192B1 |
Semiconductor structure and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor structure includes a through via, a molding surrounding the through via, a dielectric layer disposed over the die, the through via and the molding, and a conductive member disposed within the dielectric layer, disposed over the through via, and electrically connected with the through via, wherein the conductive member includes a first protruding portion and a second protruding portion, and the first protruding portion is laterally protruded from the through via along a first direction in a first length, and the second protruding portion is laterally protruded from the through via along a second direction in a second length, and the first direction is substantially orthogonal to the second direction, and the first length is substantially greater than the second length. |
| US09490191B2 |
Mounting structure of semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor-device mounting structure includes a first semiconductor device and a plate-shaped second semiconductor device connected to the first semiconductor device. The first semiconductor device includes a flexible board, an electronic component, and a sealing resin. The flexible board includes a bendable flexible portion and a hard portion. The flexible portion is bent at a boundary with the hard portion, along a shape of the electronic component such that the flexible board covers the electronic component. The flexible board and the electronic component are sealed with the sealing resin. The first semiconductor device is provided vertical to the second semiconductor device such that the hard portion is provided parallel to the second semiconductor device. |
| US09490190B2 |
Thermal dissipation through seal rings in 3DIC structure
A die includes a semiconductor substrate, a through-via penetrating through the semiconductor substrate, a seal ring overlying and connected to the through-via, and an electrical connector underlying the semiconductor substrate and electrically coupled to the seal ring through the through-via. |
| US09490189B2 |
Semiconductor device comprising a stacked die configuration including an integrated peltier element
A method of controlling temperature in a semiconductor device that includes a stacked device configuration is disclosed. The method includes providing a Peltier element having a metal-based heat sink formed above a first substrate of the stacked device configuration and a metal-based heat source formed above a second substrate of the stacked device configuration, and establishing a current flow through the Peltier element when the semiconductor device is in a specified operating phase. |
| US09490182B2 |
Measurement of multiple patterning parameters
Methods and systems for evaluating the performance of multiple patterning processes are presented. Patterned structures are measured and one or more parameter values characterizing geometric errors induced by the multiple patterning process are determined. In some examples, a single patterned target and a multiple patterned target are measured, the collected data fit to a combined measurement model, and the value of a structural parameter indicative of a geometric error induced by the multiple patterning process is determined based on the fit. In some other examples, light having a diffraction order different from zero is collected and analyzed to determine the value of a structural parameter that is indicative of a geometric error induced by a multiple patterning process. In some embodiments, a single diffraction order different from zero is collected. In some examples, a metrology target is designed to enhance light diffracted at an order different from zero. |
| US09490180B2 |
Method for processing wafer
The invention provides a method for processing a wafer by inserting the wafer into a holding hole of a carrier to hold the wafer, and interposing the carrier holding the wafer between an upper turn table and a lower turn table to process both surfaces of the wafer simultaneously, including: before processing the wafer, detecting a height position of the upper turn table by a laser displacement sensor while interposing the carrier holding the wafer between the upper turn table and the lower turn table; and determining that the wafer is not normally held to redo the holding of the wafer if a difference between the detected height position and a reference position exceeds a threshold. The method can automatically detect accurately a failure in holding the wafer before processing to prevent the wafer from breaking and eliminate the necessity of operator's inspection using touch to improve operation efficiency. |
| US09490175B2 |
Chemical mechanical polishing method for first interlayer dielectric layer
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a low-density region and a high-density region, forming a first gate structure in the low-density region and a second gate structure in the high-density region, form an etch stop layer on the first and second gate structures, and forming an interlayer dielectric layer on the etch stop layer and on the semiconductor substrate. The method further includes performing a first chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process on the etch stop layer to expose a surface of a portion of the etch stop layer disposed on the first gate structure, performing a second CMP process on the etch stop layer to expose a surface of a portion of the etch stop layer disposed on the second gate structure, and performing a third CMP process to completely remove the etch stop layer. |
| US09490174B2 |
Fabricating raised fins using ancillary fin structures
A method of fabricating a raised fin structure including a raised contact structure is provided. The method may include: providing a base fin structure; providing at least one ancillary fin structure, the at least one ancillary fin structure contacting the base fin structure at a side of the base fin structure; growing a material over the base fin structure to form the raised fin structure; and, growing the material over the at least one ancillary fin structure, wherein the at least one ancillary fin structure contacting the base fin structure increases a volume of material grown over the base fin structure near the contact between the base fin structure and the at least one ancillary fin structure to form the raised contact structure. |
| US09490170B2 |
Manufacturing method of semiconductor device
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes preparing a structure including a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of semiconductor elements thereon, a cover layer covering the semiconductor elements, a supporting substrate, and an adhesive layer between the first adhesive layer and the supporting substrate, removing side edge portions of the semiconductor substrate and the adhesive layer, such that a side surface of the cover layer is exposed, forming, in the supporting substrate, fragile portions, the fragile portions extending in a first direction, attaching an adhesive sheet on a surface of the supporting substrate that is opposite to a surface that is in contact with the adhesive layer, and pulling on the adhesive sheet in a second direction different from the first direction, to peel off the supporting substrate and the adhesive layer from the semiconductor substrate having the semiconductor elements. |
| US09490169B2 |
Method of forming vias in silicon carbide and resulting devices and circuits
A method of fabricating an integrated circuit on a silicon carbide substrate is disclosed that eliminates wire bonding that can otherwise cause undesired inductance. The method includes fabricating a semiconductor device including a Group III-V semiconductor layer on a surface on a silicon carbide substrate, wherein the semiconductor device defines at least one via through the silicon carbide substrate and the epitaxial layer. |
| US09490168B1 |
Via formation using sidewall image transfer process to define lateral dimension
A method of forming a via to an underlying layer of a semiconductor device is provided. The method may include forming a pillar over the underlying layer using a sidewall image transfer process. A dielectric layer is formed over the pillar and the underlying layer; and a via mask patterned over the dielectric layer, the via mask having a mask opening at least partially overlapping the pillar. A via opening is etched in the dielectric layer using the via mask, the mask opening defining a first lateral dimension of the via opening in a first direction and the pillar defining a second lateral dimension of the via opening in a second direction different than the first direction. The via opening is filled with a conductor to form the via. A semiconductor device and via structure are also provided. |
| US09490166B2 |
Apparatus and method for depositing a layer onto a substrate
Apparatus (1, 26) for depositing a layer (37, 38, 39) on a substrate (2) in a process gas comprises a chuck (3) comprising a first surface (4) for supporting the substrate (2), a clamp (4) for securing the substrate (2) to the first surface (14) of the chuck (3), an evacuatable enclosure (5) enclosing the chuck (3) and the clamp (4) and comprising an inlet, through which the processing gas is insertable into the enclosure (5), and control apparatus (19). The control apparatus (19) is adapted to move at least one of the chuck (3) and the clamp (4) relative to, and independently of, one another to adjust a spacing between the chuck (3) and the clamp (4) during a single deposition process while maintaining a flow of the processing gas and a pressure within the enclosure (5) that is less than atmospheric pressure. |
| US09490161B2 |
Channel SiGe devices with multiple threshold voltages on hybrid oriented substrates, and methods of manufacturing same
Multiple threshold voltage devices on hybrid oriented substrates, and methods of manufacturing same are disclosed. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprises performing a single epitaxy step on a hybrid orientation substrate including a first region having a first crystallographic orientation and a second region having a second crystallographic orientation different from the first crystallographic orientation, wherein the single epitaxy step forms a first layer disposed on the first region and a second layer disposed on the second region, the first layer has the first crystallographic orientation and a first composition, and the second layer has the second crystal orientation and a second composition different from the first composition. |
| US09490155B2 |
Wafer processing method using adhesive layer UV curing step and laser modified layer forming step to singulate individual device chips
A wafer processing method including a modified layer forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the wafer along each division line to thereby form a modified layer inside the wafer along each division line, and a back grinding step of grinding the back side of the wafer to reduce the thickness of the wafer to a predetermined thickness and also divide the wafer along each division line where the modified layer is formed as a break start point, thereby obtaining individual device chips. Prior to performing the back grinding step, the method further includes a protective tape attaching step of attaching a protective tape to the front side of the wafer, the protective tape having an adhesive layer curable by the application of ultraviolet light, and an adhesive layer curing step of applying ultraviolet light to the protective tape to thereby cure the adhesive layer. |
| US09490150B2 |
Substrate support for substrate backside contamination control
Embodiments of substrate supports are provided herein. In some embodiments, a substrate support may include a first aluminum plate for supporting a substrate, the first aluminum plate having a plurality of heating elements embedded therein to provide a plurality of heating zones; a second aluminum plate disposed beneath and supporting the first aluminum plate; a third aluminum plate disposed beneath and supporting the second aluminum plate; a non-metallic ring disposed atop the first aluminum plate; and a plurality of spacers having an upper portion disposed above a surface of the first aluminum plate, wherein the non-metallic ring and the plurality of spacers support the substrate above the first aluminum plate. |
| US09490148B2 |
Adhesion promoter apparatus and method
A structure comprises a substrate having a plateau region and a trench region, a reflecting layer formed over a top surface of the trench region, a first adhesion promoter layer formed over the reflecting layer, a bottom cladding layer deposited over the first adhesion promoter layer, a core layer formed over the bottom cladding layer and a top cladding layer formed over the core layer. |
| US09490145B2 |
Removal of surface passivation
Methods for removing a passivation film from a copper surface can include exposing the passivation film to a vapor phase organic reactant, for example at a temperature of 100° C. to 400° C. In some embodiments, the passivation film may have been formed by exposure of the copper surface to benzotriazole, such as can occur during a chemical mechanical planarization process. The methods can be performed as part of a process for integrated circuit fabrication. A second material can be selectively deposited on the cleaned copper surface relative to another surface of the substrate. |
| US09490143B1 |
Method of fabricating semiconductors
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor includes applying a planarization material to a substrate and forming an opening in the planarization material. The opening is filled with polysilicon. A plurality of etching modulation sequences are applied to the substrate, each of the etching modulation sequences including: applying a first etching process to the substrate, wherein the first etching process is more selective to polysilicon than the planarization material; and applying a second etching process to the substrate, wherein the second etching process is more selective to the planarization material than the polysilicon. |
| US09490141B2 |
Method for planarizing semiconductor device
A method for planarizing a semiconductor device includes steps herein. A substrate is provided, on which a stop layer is formed. A trench is formed in the substrate. A first semiconductor film is deposited conformally on the stop layer and the trench. A second semiconductor film is deposited to fill the trench and cover the first semiconductor film. A chemical-mechanical polishing process is performed until the stop layer is exposed. A removal rate of the chemical-mechanical polishing process on the first semiconductor film is higher than that on the second semiconductor film. The first dielectric layer on the substrate selectively is removed. |
| US09490132B2 |
Substrate, semiconductor device, and method of manufacturing the same
A substrate capable of achieving a lowered probability of defects produced in a step of forming an epitaxial film or a semiconductor element, a semiconductor device including the substrate, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device are provided. A substrate is a substrate having a front surface and a back surface, in which at least a part of the front surface is composed of single crystal silicon carbide, the substrate having an average value of surface roughness Ra at the front surface not greater than 0.5 nm, a standard deviation σ of that surface roughness Ra not greater than 0.2 nm, an average value of surface roughness Ra at the back surface not smaller than 0.3 nm and not greater than 10 nm, standard deviation σ of that surface roughness Ra not greater than 3 nm, and a diameter D of the front surface not smaller than 110 mm. |
| US09490128B2 |
Non-melt thin-wafer laser thermal annealing methods
Methods of annealing a thin semiconductor wafer are disclosed. The methods allow for high-temperature annealing of one side of a thin semiconductor wafer without damaging or overheating heat-sensitive electronic device features that are either on the other side of the wafer or embedded within the wafer. The annealing is performed at a temperature below the melting point of the wafer so that no significant dopant redistribution occurs during the annealing process. The methods can be applied to activating dopants or to forming ohmic contacts. |
| US09490127B2 |
Method for manufacturing semiconductor device
A method includes: forming a front surface structure of a semiconductor element on a front surface side of a semiconductor substrate; forming crystal defects in the semiconductor substrate by implanting charged particles into the semiconductor substrate; subjecting the semiconductor substrate to a heat treatment after having formed the crystal defects; attaching a supporting plate on the front surface side of the semiconductor substrate after the heat treatment; thinning the semiconductor substrate by grinding a back surface side of the semiconductor substrate to which the supporting plate has been attached; and forming a back surface structure of the semiconductor element on a back surface of the thinned semiconductor substrate. |
| US09490126B2 |
Resistive memory array using P-I-N diode select device and methods of fabrication thereof
An electronic structure includes a resistive memory device, and a P-I-N diode in operative association with the resistive memory device. A plurality of such electronic structures are used in a resistive memory array, with the P-I-N diodes functioning as select devices in the array. Methods are provided for fabricating such resistive memory device—P-I-N diode structures. |
| US09490125B2 |
Methods for forming a molecular dopant monolayer on a substrate
Methods for forming a conformal dopant monolayer on a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, a method for forming a semi-conductor device on a substrate includes forming a charged layer on a silicon containing surface disposed on a substrate, wherein the charged layer has a first charge, and forming a dopant monolayer on the charged layer, wherein dopants formed in the dopant monolayer include at least one of a group III or group V atoms. |
| US09490122B2 |
Method and apparatus of forming carbon-containing silicon film
A method of forming a carbon-containing silicon film includes: adsorbing a silicon source on a workpiece by supplying a silicon source gas containing at least one chlorine group into a reaction chamber accommodating the workpiece and activating the supplied silicon source gas to react the activated silicon source gas with the workpiece; and removing chlorine from the adsorbed silicon source containing chlorine by supplying an alkyl metal gas into the reaction chamber and activating the supplied alkyl metal gas to react the activated alkyl metal gas with the adsorbed silicon source. Adsorbing a silicon source and removing chlorine are sequentially repeated plural times. |
| US09490119B2 |
Fabrication of thin-film devices using selective area epitaxy
A thin film device described herein includes a first thin film layer, a second film layer and a heterostructure within the second film layer. The first thin film layer is atop a substrate. The second thin film layer is grown from the first thin film layer through a patterned mask, having openings, under selective area growth (SAG) conditions. The second thin film layer is configured to be released from the first thin film layer by etching a trench. The etched trench may provide access to the patterned mask and the patterned mask may be eliminated with a wet etchant. |
| US09490116B2 |
Gate stack materials for semiconductor applications for lithographic overlay improvement
Embodiments of the disclosure provide methods and system for manufacturing film layers with minimum lithographic overlay errors on a semiconductor substrate. In one embodiment, a method for forming a film layer on a substrate includes supplying a deposition gas mixture including a silicon containing gas and a reacting gas onto a substrate disposed on a substrate support in a processing chamber, forming a plasma in the presence of the depositing gas mixture in the processing chamber, applying current to a plasma profile modulator disposed in the processing chamber while supplying the depositing gas mixture into the processing chamber, and rotating the substrate while depositing a film layer on the substrate. |
| US09490115B2 |
Varying frequency during a quadrupole scan for improved resolution and mass range
Techniques are provided for scanning frequency and voltages of a multipole mass filter while maintaining substantially the same number of AC cycles per mass during a scan across a range of masses. For example, a mass spectrum can be obtained by controlling a DC axial voltage that accelerates ions into a mass filter, a DC resolving voltage applied to the mass filter, an AC voltage amplitude applied to the mass filter, and an AC frequency of the AC voltage. The settings can be controlled such that ions of different mass-to-charge ratios are within the mass filter for substantially a same number of AC cycles. To achieve the same number of AC cycles, the AC frequency is changed during the scan. For low masses, a higher AC frequency can be used. For high masses, a lower AC frequency can be used. |
| US09490113B2 |
Tailored nanopost arrays (NAPA) for laser desorption ionization in mass spectrometry
The production and use of semiconducting nanopost arrays made by nanofabrication is described herein. These nanopost arrays (NAPA) provide improved laser ionization yields and controllable fragmentation with switching or modulation capabilities for mass spectrometric detection and identification of samples deposited on them. |
| US09490112B2 |
System and method for characterizing ions using a superconducting transmission line detector
A system and method for characterizing incident ions are provided. The method includes positioning a transmission line detector to receive incident ions, the transmission line detector comprising a superconducting meandering wire defining a detection area for incident ions, and applying a bias current to the transmission line detector. The method also includes detecting a first signal produced in the transmission line detector due to an ion impacting the detection area, and detecting a second signal produced in the transmission line detector due to the ion impacting the detection area. The method further includes analyzing the first signal and the second signal to characterize the ion. In some aspects, the method further includes identifying a delay between the first signal and the second signal to determine, using the identified delay, a location of the ion on the detection area. |
| US09490111B2 |
Microdroplet ionisation mass spectrometry
Systems that employ microdroplets are used in embodiments for Microdroplet Electrospray Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (ESI MS). Thus, a method of detecting an analyte includes providing an oil composition comprising oil and an aqueous microdroplet comprising the analyte, the oil composition comprising a surfactant to stabilise the aqueous microdroplet in the oil composition; and performing ionisation mass spectrometry analysis of the oil composition. |
| US09490109B2 |
Generation of model of composition of petroleum by high resolution mass spectrometry and associated analytics
A method to determine the model-of-composition of a vacuum resid in which the resid is separated into fractions including the DAO fraction which is then separated into chemical classes including saturates, aromatics, sulfides and polars by a combination of soft ionization methods. The results of the ionization analysis are reconciled with other analysis such as bulk analysis, then consolidated to generate the modeol-of composition. |
| US09490106B2 |
Internal Faraday shield having distributed chevron patterns and correlated positioning relative to external inner and outer TCP coil
Plasma processing chambers having internal Faraday shields with defined groove configurations, are defined. In one example, the chamber includes an electrostatic chuck for receiving a substrate and a dielectric window connected to a top portion of the chamber, where the dielectric window disposed over the electrostatic chuck. Also included is a Faraday shield disposed inside of the chamber and defined between the electrostatic chuck and the dielectric window. The Faraday shield includes an inner zone having an inner radius range, a middle zone having a middle radius range, an outer zone having an outer radius range, where the inner zone is adjacent to the middle zone, and the middle zone being adjacent to the outer zone. Further defining the Faraday shield is a first set of radial slots (A) extending through the inner zone, the middle zone, and the outer zone, a second set of radial slots (C) extending through only the outer zone; and a third set of radial slots (B) extending through the middle zone and outer zone. In this configuration, the first, second and third radial slots are arranged radially around the Faraday shield in a repeating pattern of slots A, C, B, and C. |
| US09490104B2 |
Heat treatment apparatus
Provided is a heat treatment apparatus that is high in thermal efficiency and can reduce surface roughness of a substrate to be treated even when a specimen is heated at 1200° C. or higher.The heat treatment apparatus heating the specimen includes a heating plate heated by plasma formed in an area of a gap to heat the specimen. |
| US09490102B2 |
Device for generating plasma having a high range along an axis by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) from a gaseous medium
The device includes at least two coaxial waveguides each formed of a central conductor and of an external conductor to bring microwaves into a treatment chamber. The at least two electromagnetic wave injection guides are combined with a magnetic circuit elongated in one direction. The magnetic circuit surrounding the waveguides by creating a magnetic field capable of achieving an ECR condition close to the waveguides. |
| US09490100B2 |
Method of using a compound particle-optical lens
The invention relates to a compound objective lens for a Scanning Electron Microscope having a conventional magnetic lens excited by a first lens coil, an immersion magnetic lens excited by a second lens coil, and an immersion electrostatic lens excited by the voltage difference between the sample and the electrostatic lens electrode. For a predetermined excitation of the lens, the electron beam can be focused on the sample using combinations of excitations of the two lens coils. More BSE information can be obtained when the detector distinguishes between BSE's (202) that strike the detector close to the axis and BSE's (204) that strike the detector further removed from the axis. By tuning the ratio of the excitation of the two lens coils, the distance from the axis that the BSE's impinge on the detector can be changed, and the compound lens can be used as an energy selective detector. |
| US09490098B1 |
Thermal-field type electron source composed of transition metal carbide material
An electron source is made from mixed-metal carbide materials of high refractory nature. Producing field-enhanced thermionic emission, i.e., thermal-field or extended Schottky emission, from these materials entails the use of a certain low work function crystallographic direction, such as, for example, (100), (210), and (310). These materials do not naturally facet because of their refractory nature. The disclosed electron source made from transition metal carbide material is especially useful when installed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) performing advanced imaging applications that require a high brightness, high beam current source. |
| US09490097B2 |
Liquid filament for incandescent lights
A filament for a light bulb includes a tube and a filament material within the tube, wherein the filament material is configured to be in a liquid state while the light bulb is in use. |
| US09490092B2 |
Circuit breaker
A circuit breaker includes a housing, wiring boards and terminals disposed within the housing, wherein the terminal comprises a screw, a press board and a wire trap provided with a incoming line hole and a wiring space; the screw passes through a threaded hole on the top end face of the wire trap to contact the press board which is able to lift up and down and is embedded in the wire trap; the wiring board traverses the wire trap, and divides the wiring space of the wire trap into two independent wiring spaces; a first line hole is provided on the housing at a position above the screw of the terminal; and the press board and the wire trap perform a relative displacement with the wiring board under the action of the screw, to compress the two independent wiring spaces so as to realize the connection between wires. In the circuit breaker, with the wiring board as a boundary, the wiring space of the wire trap is divided into two independent wiring spaces, realizing a hybrid junction of commonly used wires while realizing the hybrid junction wiring function of single-strand wires with different diameter. |
| US09490091B2 |
Trip cause management device for an electronic trip device
A management device (1) of the causes of tripping in an electronic trip device enabling operation to take place in efficient and dependable manner by means of an architecture with three microcontrollers. The first microcontroller (3), second microcontroller (4) and third microcontroller (5), connected to one another, perform analysis and storage of characteristics typical to the electric power system (2) measured by the first microcontroller (3). Depending on the power supply situations and the analyzed events, one, two or three microcontrollers can be active to reduce the electric power requirements of the device (1). Storage of the data concerning the electric power system (2) is at least partially performed in redundant manner. |
| US09490088B2 |
Tactile presentation device
A tactile presentation device has a chassis having a top surface chassis, a bottom surface chassis, and an inner space, a button type operation unit fixed to the top surface chassis and having an operation surface, an actuator arranged in the inner space, and a vibration transmission member arranged between the actuator and the button type operation unit. The top surface chassis has a top surface having a top surface opening exposing the operation surface of the button type operation unit to outside, and a side surface formed along the peripheral edge of the top surface. The actuator is fixed to the side surface of the top surface chassis. |
| US09490087B2 |
Retractable keyboard keys
A laptop computer comprising a keyboard including a bezel having a plurality of key openings and a plurality of key holding features configured adjacent to the plurality of key openings on a bottom side of the bezel. The laptop computer also includes a plurality of keycaps having a touch surface for receiving a press force, each keycap positioned within a respective one of the plurality of key openings. The laptop computer also includes a chassis having a plurality of planar-translation effecting mechanisms each supporting a respective one of the plurality of keycaps such that, in response to receiving the press force, the respective keycap moves in a press direction and a second direction orthogonal to the press direction from an unpressed position toward a pressed position. |
| US09490073B2 |
Electronic device
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes at least one variable capacitor including a first electrode and a second electrode, and being brought into one of a first state and a second state according to a voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, the first electrode and the second electrode being closer to each other in the second state compared with in the first state, and a charge pump circuit provided in a first integrated circuit chip and producing a voltage for establishing the second state. An external capacitor is connectable to the first integrated circuit chip and is receivable the voltage produced by the charge pump circuit. |
| US09490069B2 |
Multilayer ceramic electronic component
There is provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component including: a ceramic body including a dielectric layer; and first and second inner electrode layers formed within the ceramic body, wherein, when a thickness of the dielectric layer is defined as td and a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of the first or second inner electrode layer are defined as tmax and tmin, respectively, td≦0.6 μm and (tmax−tmin)/td<0.30 are satisfied. According to the present invention, a large-capacity multilayer ceramic electronic component capable of improving withstand voltage characteristics and having excellent reliability can be realized by improving uniformity in the thickness of the inner electrode layers. |
| US09490068B2 |
Multilayer ceramic electronic component and board having the same
A multilayer ceramic electronic component includes a capacitance forming part in which a plurality of first and second dielectric layers are alternately disposed. The capacitance forming part includes first and second internal electrodes disposed to be spaced apart from each other. First floating electrodes are disposed to be spaced apart from the first and second internal electrodes on the plurality of first dielectric layers, and second floating electrodes are disposed on the plurality of second dielectric layers and partially overlap the first and second internal electrodes. The ceramic body further includes a protective part having a plurality of third dielectric layers on which first and second dummy electrodes are disposed and a plurality of third dummy electrodes are disposed between the first and second dummy electrodes. |
| US09490066B2 |
Method for producing ceramic electronic component
In order to prevent the ingress of moisture into a void section of a component main body of a ceramic electronic component, at least the component main body of the ceramic electronic component is provided with water repellency using a water repellent agent. The water repellent agent is dissolved in a supercritical fluid such as, a supercritical CO2 fluid, as a solvent to provide at least the component main body with water repellency. After providing the water repellency, the water repellent agent on the outer surface of the component main body is removed. As the water repellent agent, a silane coupling agent may be used. |
| US09490063B2 |
Shielded power coupling device
Axisymmetric solid of revolution derivable from section at FIG. 5 is generally toroidal with electric current(s) in windings 110, 160 preferably flowing circumferentially along major circle(s) during power coupling device operation. Current(s) in windings 110, 160; current(s) in half-shields 120, 170; and the volume of space swept out by shield airgap(s) 101 emerge from plane of paper perpendicularly at FIG. 5 but as these emerge therefrom they curve to follow toroidal major circle(s). Cores 115, 165 preferably shunt and align magnetic flux such that magnetic field lines escape therefrom primarily only in region(s) of core airgap(s) and such that magnetic flux loops lie in planes of toroidal minor circle(s). Half-shield(s) 120, 170 preferably have electrically conductive material(s) distributed therein as is sufficient to substantially cancel magnetic flux lines impinging thereon before effects of such impinging magnetic flux lines would reach shield airgap(s) 101 and/or outer surface(s) of half-shields 120, 170. |
| US09490056B2 |
Coil component and electronic module using the same
A coil component may include: a base board having an accommodation portion disposed therein and having conductive patterns disposed within the accommodation portion; an annular core disposed in the accommodation portion; and a laminated board laminated on the base board and having conductive patterns disposed on one surface thereof. The conductive patterns of the laminated board are connected to the conductive patterns of the base board to form a coil. |
| US09490048B2 |
Electrical contacts in layered structures
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to structures comprising a nanostructure layer that includes a plurality of transparent conductors and coating layer formed on a surface thereof. In some embodiments, the coating layer includes one or more conductive plugs having outer and inner surfaces. The inner surface the plug is placed in electrical communication with the nanostructure layer and the outer surface forms conductive surface contacts proximate an outer surface of the coating layer. In some embodiments, the structure includes a polarizer and is used as a shielding layer in flat panel electrochromic displays, such as liquid crystal displays, touch panels, and the like. |
| US09490047B2 |
Dielectric fluid with farnesene-based oligomer
The present disclosure is directed to a dielectric fluid comprising a farnesene-based oligomer and an antioxidant and devices containing the dielectric fluid. |
| US09490046B2 |
Conductive material and connected structure
There is provided a conductive material which has a rapid reaction rate and is high in fluxing effect. The conductive material according to the present invention includes a conductive particle having solder at at least an external surface, an anionically hardenable compound, an anionic hardener, and an organic acid having a carboxyl group and having a functional group that is an esterified carboxyl group. |
| US09490038B2 |
X-ray optical component device and X-ray analyzer
An X-ray optical component device having an X-ray optical component unit, a motor controller, and a connector. The connector has motor pins and motor terminals electrically connected to a motor when engaged with each other, and a signal pin and signal terminal for sensing detachment of the connector, the signal pin and signal terminal being capable of engaging with each other. A pin-side connector and a terminal-side connector are detachable. When the pin-side connector is detached from the terminal-side connector, the time that the signal pin is removed from the signal terminal is earlier than the time that the motor pins are removed from the motor terminals. During replacement of an X-ray optical component unit equipped with a motor for adjusting the position of an X-ray optical component, unwanted movement of the position of the X-ray optical component provided in the unit is prevented. |
| US09490037B2 |
Clamper and in-channel-head operation device
A clamper (23) includes a clamp mechanism (231) which inserts an insertion portion (2311a) into a tube member and clamps the tube member and a lifting and lowering mechanism (232) which lifts and lowers the clamp mechanism (231) in the insertion direction of the insertion portion (2311a). The clamp mechanism (231) includes a clamp body (2311) which has the insertion portion (2311a), a cotter (2312) which protrudes from the insertion portion (2311a) to come into friction-contact with the tube member and is movable in a reciprocating manner in the insertion direction of the insertion portion (2311a), a piston rod (2313) which presses the cotter (2312) so that the cotter protrudes from the insertion portion (2311a) when being pulled toward the opposite side to the insertion direction of the insertion portion (2311a), and a rod cylinder (2315) which is integrated with the clamp body (2311) and pulls the piston rod (2313). |
| US09490032B2 |
Integrated circuit chip and multi-chip system including the same
An integrated circuit chip includes a test circuit suitable for performing a test operation and generating a test result signal indicating whether there is an error or not in the integrated circuit chip, a transmitting unit suitable for transmitting the test result signal through an interlayer channel. The interlayer channel is precharged to a first level before the transmitting unit transmits the test result signal, and the interlayer channel is driven to a second level when there is an error. |
| US09490028B2 |
Low-power pulse width encoding scheme and counter-less shift register that may be employed therewith
A method of decoding, an encoded signal includes steps of receiving the encoded signal, creating a decoding signal by delaying the encoded signal by a predetermined amount of time Δ, sampling the encoded signal using the decoding signal, and determining a value of each of a plurality of decoded bits represented by the encoded signal based on the sampling. Also, a method of operating a shift register wherein the shift register has an initialization state wherein a first binary symbol is stored in a first position and a second binary symbol different than the first binary symbol is stored in each of one or more intermediate positions and a last position. The method includes determining that the shift register is full responsive to detecting that the first binary symbol has been stored in either one of the intermediate positions or the last position. |
| US09490025B2 |
Methods of programming memory devices
Methods of programming memory devices include biasing each data line of a plurality of data lines to a program inhibit voltage; discharging a first portion of data lines of the plurality of data lines, wherein the first portion of data lines of the plurality of data lines are coupled to memory cells selected for programming; and applying a plurality of programming pulses to the memory cells selected for programming while biasing a remaining portion of data lines of the plurality of data lines to the program inhibit voltage. |
| US09490024B1 |
Solid state storage device and reading control method thereof
A reading control method for a solid state storage device includes following steps. If a hard decoding process fails, a first histogram parameter and a second histogram parameter are generated in the hard decoding process according to a first sensing voltage, a second sensing voltage and a third sensing voltage. Then, a voltage shift amount is obtained according to the first histogram parameter, the second histogram parameter and a voltage shift function. The first sensing voltage, the second sensing voltage and the third sensing voltage are updated according to the voltage shift amount. Then, a soft decoding process is performed. The updated first sensing voltage, the updated second sensing voltage and the updated third sensing voltage are provided to a non-volatile memory, so that the non-volatile memory generates a soft data. |
| US09490009B2 |
Fast read speed memory device
A memory cell includes a first resistive memory element, a second resistive memory element electrically coupled with the first resistive memory element at a common node, and a switching element comprising an input terminal electrically coupled with the common node, the switching element comprising a driver configured to float during one or more operations. |
| US09490008B1 |
9T, 8T, and 7T Bitcells for 1R1W and single port static random access memories (SRAM) with single-ended read and single-ended write
The present patent application describes 9T, 8T, and 7T versions of bitcells used with 1R1W memories. It also describes 9T, 8T, and 7T versions of bitcells used with single port SRAM memories. Different circuits are discussed to support different bitcells and architectures mentioned above. Our 1R1W and single port bitcells and architectures give significant advantages over the conventional bitcells and architectures. |
| US09490002B2 |
Reduced refresh power
N out of every M number of refresh commands are ignored (filtered out) by a buffer chip on a memory module. N and M are programmable. The buffer receives refresh commands (e.g., auto-refresh commands) from the command-address channel, but does not issue a proportion of these commands to the DRAMs on the module. This reduces the power consumed by refresh operations. The buffer may replace some auto-refresh (REF) commands with activate (ACT) and precharge (PRE) commands directed to specific rows. These rows may have known ‘weak’ cells that require refreshing more often than a majority of the other rows on the module (or component). By ignoring some auto-refresh commands, and directing some others to specific rows that have ‘weak’ cells, the power consumed by refresh operations can be reduced. |
| US09489999B2 |
Magnetic tunnel junction resistance comparison based physical unclonable function
A method includes coupling a first magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element and a second MTJ element to a comparison circuit. The method also includes comparing, at the comparison circuit, a first resistance of the first MTJ element to a second resistance of the second MTJ element. The method further includes generating a first physical unclonable function (PUF) output bit based on a result of comparing the first resistance to the second resistance. |
| US09489997B2 |
Hardware assisted meta data lookup
A memory system including a memory device. The memory device includes a substrate. A memory array defines a plurality of pages, each page including a data area for storing data and a spare area for storing metadata. A compare circuit is configured to receive metadata retrieved from a plurality of pages sequentially and compare the retrieved metadata to a search pattern. The physical location of the page can be determined by finding the search pattern. The memory array and the compare circuit are formed in different layers of the substrate. |
| US09489992B2 |
Semiconductor device and semiconductor system including the same
A semiconductor device includes a pipe latch suitable for sequentially latching data in response to a pipe input control signal and sequentially outputting data in response to a pipe output control signal, a pipe latch control unit suitable for generating the pipe input/output control signals in response to a command signal and latency information, and resetting the pipe input/output control signals in response to a pipe reset signal, and an error detection unit suitable for receiving the pipe input control signal and the pipe output control signal, detecting a latency error, and generating the pipe reset signal. |
| US09489988B2 |
Memory device
To provide a memory device where multiple pieces of multilevel data can be written and read. The memory device includes first to fifth transistors, first to fourth capacitors, first to fourth nodes, and first and second wirings. The first node is connected to the first capacitor and a gate of the first transistor, the second node is connected to the second capacitor and a gate of the second transistor, the third node is connected to the third capacitor and a gate of the third transistor, and the fourth node is connected to the fourth capacitor and a gate of the fourth transistor. Multiple pieces of multilevel data is written to the first to fourth nodes through the second to fifth transistors. The second to fifth transistors each preferably include an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region. |
| US09489984B2 |
Display apparatus, information terminal, display system, and program
A display apparatus which can communicate with an information terminal via a network is disclosed. The display apparatus includes a receiving unit which receives content data which are caused to be displayed on the display apparatus and reproduction control information on reproduction of the content data from the information terminal, an execution information generation unit which causes the reproduction control information to be execution information corresponding to the display apparatus, and a display unit which causes the content data to be displayed on the display apparatus based on the execution information. |
| US09489983B2 |
Low bandwidth consumption online content editing
Various embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for low bandwidth consumption online content editing, where user-created content comprising high definition/quality content is created or modified at an online content editing server according to instructions from an online content editor client, and where a proxy version of the resulting user-created content is provided to online content editor client to facilitate review or further editing of the user-created content from the online content editor client. In some embodiments, the online content editing server utilizes proxy content during creation and modification operations on the user-created content, and replaces such proxy content with corresponding higher definition/quality content, possibly when the user-created content is published for consumption, or when the user has paid for the higher quality content. |
| US09489982B2 |
Television receiver storage management
Various arrangements are presented that may involve receiving from a television service provider, timers that are used to record a managed channel array. Each of these timers define a television channel, a time period, and a date. The received timers may be set at a television receiver. User input may be received that specifies an undesired television channel that is not to be recorded according to the received plurality of timers, the undesired television channel being part of the managed channel array. An amount of storage space for the managed channel array excluding the undesired television channel may be calculated. Storage space may be allocated based upon the calculated amount of storage space for the managed channel array excluding the undesired television channel. |
| US09489977B1 |
Storage device, controller, and recording and reproducing method
According to one embodiment, there is provided a storage device including a data converter, a recording medium, and an equalizer. The data converter converts data into sets of n number of four-ary symbols according to mapping rules in which 22n-1 or fewer types of bit labels are mapped onto the n number of four-ary symbols, where n is an integer of two or greater. Onto the recording medium, the converted n number of four-ary symbols are recorded in the form of a signal of one level among four levels. The equalizer equalizes a signal read from the recording medium into sets of the n number of four-ary symbols. |
| US09489972B2 |
Light source unit, heat-assisted magnetic recording head using the same, and light source for light source unit
A light source unit has a substrate, a light source that is mounted to the substrate. The light source includes; a first emission part that emits a forward light, the forward light being a laser light in an oscillation state; a second emission part that is located on a side opposite to the first emission part and that emits a rearward light, the rearward light being a laser light in an oscillation state; and a light leakage part located at a position different from the first emission part and the second emission part. The light source further includes a photodetector that is provided on the substrate, wherein the photodetector has a light receiving surface for detecting a leakage light that leaks from the light leakage part. |
| US09489970B2 |
Magnetic head and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus
A magnetic head of an embodiment includes a stack, side shields, and a first and a second magnetic shield. The stack includes a pin layer having a fixed magnetization direction, a first free layer having a magnetization direction to change in accordance with an external magnetic field, a second free layer antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled with the first free layer and having a magnetization direction to change in accordance with the field, and an antiferromagnetic layer exchange-coupled with the second free layer. A magnetic field is applied from the side shields to the first and second free layers, and a direction of the magnetic field is substantially parallel to the magnetization direction of one of the first and second free layers and substantially antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the other, and a magnetic volume of the one is larger than a magnetic volume of the other. |
| US09489968B2 |
Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head of the present invention includes: a stacked-layer structure including a first yoke, a second yoke, a first coil, a second coil, and a waveguide; a plasmon generator; a magnetic pole; and one or more contact pillars connecting the first coil in series to the second coil. Here, one or both of the first coil and the second coil include a plurality of wiring patterns connected in parallel. |
| US09489966B1 |
Discreet emergency response
A vehicle system includes a microphone programmed to capture sounds in a passenger compartment of a vehicle and output a sound signal. A speech analyzer analyzes the sound signal for distressed speech and for action words. The speech analyzer outputs an alert signal if distressed speech and action words are detected. A processing device receives the alert signal and initiates contact with an emergency service provider in response to the alert signal. |
| US09489965B2 |
Method and apparatus for acoustic signal characterization
Characterizing an acoustic signal includes extracting a vector from the acoustic signal, where the vector contains information about the nuisance characteristics present in the acoustic signal, and computing a set of likelihoods of the vector for a plurality of classes that model a plurality of nuisance characteristics. Training a system to characterize an acoustic signal includes obtaining training data, the training data comprising a plurality of acoustic signals, where each of the plurality of acoustic signals is associated with one of a plurality of classes that indicates a presence of a specific type of nuisance characteristic, transforming each of the plurality of acoustic signals into a vector that summarizes information about the acoustic characteristics of the signal, to produce a plurality of vectors, and labeling each of the plurality of vectors with one of the plurality of classes. |
| US09489964B2 |
Effective pre-echo attenuation in a digital audio signal
A method is provided for processing pre-echo attenuation in a digital audio signal generated from a transform coding, wherein, at the decoding point, the method includes: detection of a position of attack in the decoded signal; determination of a pre-echo region preceding the position of attack detected in the decoded signal; calculation of attenuation factors per sub-block of the pre-echo region, according to at least the frame wherein the attack has been detected and the preceding frame; and pre-echo attenuation in the sub-blocks of the pre-echo region by the corresponding damping factors. The method also includes application of a filter for the spectral shaping of the pre-echo region on the current frame up to the detected position of the attack. A device and a decoder including the device are also proved for implementing the method. |
| US09489957B2 |
Audio encoder and decoder
The present disclosure provides methods, devices and computer program products for encoding and decoding a multi-channel audio signal based on an input signal. According to the disclosure, a hybrid approach of using both parametric stereo coding and discrete representation of the processed multi-channel audio signal is used which may improve the quality of the encoded and decoded audio for certain bitrates. |
| US09489955B2 |
Indicating frame parameter reusability for coding vectors
In general, techniques are described for indicating frame parameter reusability for decoding vectors. A device comprising a processor and a memory may perform the techniques. The processor may be configured to obtain a bitstream comprising a vector representative of an orthogonal spatial axis in a spherical harmonics domain. The bitstream may further comprise an indicator for whether to reuse, from a previous frame, at least one syntax element indicative of information used when compressing the vector. The memory may be configured to store the bitstream. |
| US09489954B2 |
Encoding and rendering of object based audio indicative of game audio content
In some embodiments, a method (typically performed by a game console) for generating an object based audio program indicative of game audio content (audio content pertaining to play of or events in a game, and optionally also other information regarding the game), and including at least one audio object channel and at least one speaker channel. In other embodiments, a game console configured to generate such an object based audio program. Some embodiments implement object clustering in which audio content of input objects is mixed to generate at least one clustered audio object, or audio content of at least one input object is mixed with speaker channel audio. In response to the program, a spatial rendering system (e.g., external to the game console) may operate with knowledge of playback speaker configuration to generate speaker feeds indicative of a spatial mix of the program's speaker and object channel content. |
| US09489952B2 |
Wagering game having seamless looping of compressed audio
Gapless looping playback of an audio sound seamlessly without any silence between loops. An uncompressed digital audio file is divided and encoded using an MP3 encoder to produce two encoded files, A and B. The MP3 encoder adds a padding delay at the beginning and end of each file. Two timers are defined: T1=A−(a+b) and T2=B−(d+c), where a is the padding delay at the end of A, b is the delay at the beginning of B, c is the delay at the beginning of A, and d is the delay at the end of B. Simultaneously, a decoder starts to decode A on Track 1 and T1 is started. Immediately after T1 expires, a decoder starts to decode B on Track 2 and T2 is started. Thanks to the timers, the respective end and beginning of the sound portions of A and B temporally align so that no silence is heard. |
| US09489951B2 |
Information processing system, information processing method, communication terminal, information processing apparatus, and control method and control program thereof
An apparatus of this invention is directed to an information processing apparatus that determines a search range of one of the pieces of instruction information based on the other of a plurality of different pieces of instruction information, and effectively narrows down manipulation instruction candidates corresponding to a user even if the manipulation instruction candidates are extended. The information processing apparatus includes an instruction information receiver that receives instruction voice information indicating the instruction voice of the user acquired from the voice of the user, and instruction operation information indicating the instruction operation of the user acquired from the operation of the user, a search range determining unit that determines a search range for recognizing the instruction operation information according to the instruction voice information, or determines a search range for recognizing the instruction voice information according to the instruction operation information, and a user instruction recognizer that recognizes an instruction of the user based on a search result obtained by searching for one of the instruction voice information and the instruction operation information within the search range determined by the search range determining unit. |
| US09489947B2 |
Voicemail system and method for providing voicemail to text message conversion
A method and system for allowing a calling party to send a voicemail message as a text message are provided. A calling party leaves a voicemail message and that message is converted from voice to a text message. If the calling party wishes to confirm the conversion, the text message is then converted to a voicemail message. The converted voicemail message is presented to the calling party so that the calling party can review and edit the message. The calling party can review and edit any portion of the converted voicemail message. The edits of the voicemail message are applied and the voicemail message is converted to a new text message. If the calling party wishes to further review and edit the text message, it is converted to a new voicemail. Otherwise, the text message is sent to a called party. |
| US09489938B2 |
Sound synthesis method and sound synthesis apparatus
A sound synthesis apparatus connected to a display device, includes a processor configured to: display a lyric on a screen of the display device; input a pitch based on an operation of a user, after the lyric has been displayed on the screen; and output a piece of waveform data representing a singing sound of the displayed lyric based on the inputted pitch. |
| US09489932B2 |
Systems and methods for creating customized music arrangements
Systems and methods for creating customized music arrangements based on multiple criteria are provided herein. A user selects a musical composition and provides ensemble information about an ensemble, such as the number of instruments, instrument types, and playing ability of each member of an ensemble to the system. When inputted instrumentation or proficiency does not work within the pre-determined parameters of the musical selection, notification is provided to the user, and the system rebalances the arrangement to accommodate the proficiencies of the ensemble. In embodiments, the system is configured to transpose portions of a musical score into a range suitable for a substitute instrument or a player of limited skill. The user receives a conductor's score arrangement that has been adapted for each member of the ensemble and tailored to balance the entire ensemble. The system is capable of receiving ensemble information and creating customized musical arrangements in real-time. |
| US09489929B1 |
Tuning apparatus and method for electric guitar equipped with a tremolo system
An improved tuning and tensioning apparatus for an electric guitar equipped with a tremolo system, the plurality of guitar strings being tensionly secured between the tremolo bridge and a combination lug guide/nut secured below the headstock of the guitar, the strings secured in the lug guide/nut to a plurality of heaving lugs, each An improved tuning and tensioning apparatus for an electric of the heaving lugs being rigidly secured to a tension post on the headstock, the tension post being rotatable by a selective tensioner, thus allowing the musician to retune and retension the guitar strings in an uninterrupted manner while playing the guitar and utilizing the tremolo system. |
| US09489924B2 |
Boot display device detection and selection techniques in multi-GPU devices
Techniques for selecting a boot display device in the multi-GPU configured computing device include a graphic initialization routine for determining a topology of a plurality of GPUs. It is then determined if a display is coupled to any of the plurality of GPUs. The determination of whether the display is coupled to a GPU is communicated to the other of the plurality of GPUs based upon the determined topology. Thereafter, selection of a given GPU as a primary boot device, by a system initialization routine, is influenced by representing each GPU not coupled to the display as a graphics device and the GPUs coupled to a given display as the primary boot device if one or more displays are coupled to GPUs, and by representing the given GPU as the primary boot device and all other GPUs as graphics devices when the display is not coupled to any of the GPUs. In addition or in the alternative selection of the given GPU as the primary boot device may be influenced by hiding the expansion ROM of GPUs not coupled to a display. |
| US09489923B2 |
Synchronization of video wall movement with content on the wall
A controlling console and media server, and winch moving console all work together. |
| US09489914B2 |
Transparent electrode laminate and touch screen panel including the same
Disclosed is a transparent electrode laminate including: sensing electrodes including first patterns formed in a first direction, and second patterns formed in a second direction; bridge electrodes configured to electrically connected separated unit patterns of the second patterns; and an insulation layer disposed between the sensing electrodes and the bridge electrodes, wherein metal patterns are formed on the insulation layer exposed between the first pattern and the second pattern, thereby obtaining a high transparency by minimizing a difference in reflectance for each position and reducing the pattern visual recognition. |
| US09489911B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a first pixel group and a second pixel group. A central value of positive-side and negative-side grayscale voltages of the first pixel group is set to be a fixed value. A common voltage is adjusted to its optimal value with respect to the first pixel group. A difference between the common voltage adjusted to the optimal value with respect to the first pixel group and an optimal common voltage of the second pixel group is corrected by shifting entire positive-side and negative-side grayscale voltages of the second pixel group in a vertical direction. |
| US09489910B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a display panel including gate lines, data lines, and pixels connected to the gate lines and the data lines, a data driver configured to apply data voltages to the pixels through the data lines, and a common voltage generator configured to apply first and second common voltages to the pixels. The pixels connected to odd-numbered gate lines of the gate lines are connected to the data lines disposed at a first side thereof, the pixels connected to even-numbered gate lines of the gate lines are connected to the data lines disposed at a second side thereof, and the common voltage generator is configured to apply the first common voltage to the pixels connected to the odd-numbered gate lines and apply the second common voltage to the pixels connected to the even-numbered gate lines. |
| US09489908B2 |
Drive module, display panel, display device, and multi-display device
In order to realize display control of a display panel in which gate signals and source signals are supplied to the display panel via only one side of the display panel, a display device (1) includes a driving module (12) including: input terminals via which input signals from an input signal generating section (13) are supplied; output terminals via which gate signals and source signals are outputted; a gate driving circuit for generating the gate signals; and a source driving circuit for generating the source signals, and a display panel (11) in which control terminals are provided on only one side of the display panel (11). |
| US09489906B2 |
Driving structure of liquid crystal display panel, liquid crystal display panel, and driving method thereof
The present disclosure discloses a driving device for liquid crystal display panel, a liquid crystal display panel, and a driving method thereof, said driving device comprising: a plurality of scanning lines, a first control circuit, a second control circuit, and a third control circuit. According to the present disclosure, three control circuits are added to the driving device of the liquid crystal display panel, whereby normal two dimensional display can be realized without additional cost being added therein. The black frame insertion technology for eliminating the cross-talk phenomena during three dimensional display can be used, i.e., the dual-gates, which are used for reducing the influence of high frame rate on the charging of the liquid crystal panel, can be turned on simultaneously. |
| US09489904B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes image signal lines, a plurality of pixel circuits that is connected to the image signal lines, an image signal line driving circuit that is connected to the image signal lines, and sequentially outputs an image signal, a gate line driving circuit that supplies a scanning signal. A period in which the gate line driving circuit supplies a scanning signal to any pixel circuit is a first period in which the image signal is output to the pixel circuit when a polarity of the image signal in a previous frame is different from the polarity in the present frame, and the first period and a second period in which the image signal of a different polarity is supplied before the first period when the polarity in the previous frame is identical with the polarity in the present frame. |
| US09489895B2 |
Organic light-emitting display device with signal lines for carrying both data signal and sensing signal
An organic light-emitting display device having a signal line that is shared by a first column of pixels and a second column of pixels to transmit a data signal and a sensing signal. The organic light-emitting display device includes a plurality of columns of pixels, and a plurality of signal lines extending between the plurality of columns of pixels. Each of the plurality of signal lines is configured to transmit a data signal from a data driver to the first column of pixels at first times. The data signals control the operation of an organic light-emitting element in the first column of pixels. The same signal line transmits a sensing signal from the second column of pixels to the data driver at second times. The sensing signal represents a variable property of an electrical component in a pixel of the second column of pixels. |
| US09489892B2 |
Method of generating gamma correction curves, gamma correction unit, and organic light emitting display device having the same
A method of gamma correction for an organic light emitting display device includes calculating a high-power voltage to be supplied in an emission period of the organic light emitting display device based on a gray-level range of an input image data for each frame, generating a gamma correction curve for the calculated high-power voltage based on a predetermined minimum gamma correction curve and a predetermined maximum gamma correction curve, performing a gamma correction on image data based on the gamma correction curve to generate gamma-corrected image data, and displaying the gamma-corrected image data on the organic light emitting display device. |
| US09489891B2 |
Method and system for driving an active matrix display circuit
A method and system for driving an active matrix display is provided. The system includes a drive circuit for a pixel having a light emitting device. The drive circuit includes a drive transistor for driving the light emitting device. The system includes a mechanism for adjusting the gate voltage of the drive transistor. |
| US09489884B2 |
Method of driving display device
An active matrix type EL display device is provided, which is capable of suppressing the unevenness of luminance display due to the unevenness of the characteristics of TFTs which constitute pixels, or due to variations in the environmental temperature at which the display device is used. The active matrix type EL display is driven by a time gray scale method, and is capable of keeping the drain current of each of its EL driving TFTs constant by operating each of the EL driving TFTs in a saturation region in an ON state. Accordingly, constant current can be made to flow in each of the EL elements, whereby it is possible to provide an active matrix type EL display device with accurate gray scale display and high image quality. |
| US09489883B2 |
Electronic apparatus and method of displaying image thereof
An electronic apparatus includes a graphic processor to generate each of a plurality of images as a different signal, an incorporation unit to incorporate the plurality of generated images into one image, and a display to display the incorporated image. |
| US09489882B2 |
Display having selective portions driven with adjustable refresh rate and method of driving the same
There is provided a TFT backplane having at least one TFT with oxide active layer and at least one TFT with poly-silicon active layer. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one of the TFTs implementing the circuit of pixels in the active area is an oxide TFT (i.e., TFT with oxide semiconductor) while at least one of the TFTs implementing the driving circuit next to the active area is a LTPS TFT (i.e., TFT with poly-Si semiconductor). |
| US09489877B2 |
Detect circuit and display device
A detecting circuit comprises a first to a third detecting line, a first and a second control line, and a first to a sixth transistor set. Each transistor set comprises a first and a second transistor, a control terminal thereof couples to the first and the second control line, respectively, a first terminal thereof couples to one of the first to the third detecting line, a second terminal thereof couples to the second terminal of the second transistor in the same transistor set. The connection nodes compose a dot set [(3,3), (2,2), (3,1), (2,3), (3,2), (2,1)], wherein the numerals 1-3 represent the first to the third detecting line, a first and a second numeral of a dot represent that a first terminal of the first and the second transistor connect to the detecting lines represented by the numerals, respectively. |
| US09489876B2 |
Method of inspecting pixel array substrate and apparatus for inspecting pixel array substrate
An inspection method including following steps is provided. A pixel array substrate including a plurality of pixel units is in contact with a photoelectric inspection device. A plurality of electrical signals is inputted to the pixel units of the pixel array substrate and the photoelectric inspection device. Based on an optical property of the photoelectric inspection device, the pixel units of the pixel array substrate are being examined on whether they are normal or not. Moreover, an inspection apparatus realizing the inspection method is also provided. |
| US09489872B2 |
Label, printing paper top layer formation material, information-bearing medium, wristband clip, and carbon dioxide reduction method using same
Provided is one of labels 101, 120, 130 and 140, top layer materials formed on a printing medium 201, 246 and 266, information-bearing media 301, 330, 350 and 360, a solid fuel 401, and a wristband clip 510, having the function of absorbing carbon dioxide to which a new carbon dioxide absorbent is added. Provided are also carbon dioxide reduction methods of absorbing carbon dioxide by burning the same. |
| US09489871B2 |
Built-in indicator flags
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide an indicator integrated into an item. The indicator includes at least two separation edges. The first separation edge includes a first termination point and a second termination point. The second separation edge includes a third termination point and a fourth termination point. The indicator includes an aperture adjacent to the first and third termination points. The indicator includes a score adjacent to the second and fourth termination points. The indicator is separated from the item along the first and second separation edges using the aperture and folded over the score to an open position such that at least a portion of the indicator extends beyond a perimeter of the item and a void, contiguous with the aperture, exists between the first and second separation edges. The indicator is foldable over the score in an inward direction and an outward direction. |
| US09489860B2 |
Systems and methods for music instruction
Disclosed are systems and methods for instructing a musician to play an instrument. Methods can include importing a video file into a directory of a remote computing device. The video file can include video of a second musician playing the instrument and audio of the second musician playing the instrument. Methods can include playing the video file with the remote computing device, and decreasing a tempo of the video. The audio can continue to remain in pitch while the tempo of the video has been decreased. |
| US09489852B1 |
Unmanned aerial vehicle management system
An Unmanned Aerial System configured to receive a request from a user and fulfill that request using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The Unmanned Aerial System selects a distribution center that is within range of the user, and deploys a suitable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to fulfill the request from that distribution center. The Unmanned Aerial System is configured to provide real-time information about the flight route to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during its flight, and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is configured to dynamically update its mission based on information received from the Unmanned Aerial System. |
| US09489848B2 |
Radio device
A modulating and demodulating section receives, from another radio device, a packet signal including at least position information of another vehicle in which the other radio device is mounted. A position information acquiring section acquires position information of the vehicle in which the radio device is mounted. An estimating section estimates a time taken for the vehicle and the other vehicle to encounter each other on the basis of these two pieces of position information. A deriving section derives a distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle on the basis of these two pieces of position information. A determining section provides notification of an encounter with the other vehicle in a case where the estimated time is equal to or less than a first threshold value or in a case where the derived distance is equal to or less than a second threshold value. |
| US09489847B2 |
Method and arrangement for determining a trajectory
A method and an arrangement are provided for determining a trajectory for a host vehicle H in order to as smoothly as possible avoid or mitigate a collision. The arrangement may include a processor and at least one of a sensor system or a communication system. The method may include identifying positions of one or more external objects in relation to the host vehicle H within a predefined distance, generating a plurality of trajectories that are valid for enabling the host vehicle H to pass any desired number of external objects, removing any trajectories intersecting with any one of the external objects, estimating lateral position, lateral velocity, lateral acceleration and the lateral jerk that will act on the host vehicle H driving along any one of the trajectories, and selecting the trajectory for which the lateral jerk acting on the host vehicle H is minimized. |
| US09489845B2 |
System and method for providing vehicle and fleet profiles and presentations of trends
A computer system and products and methods therefor including at least one computer processor and computer readable storage medium or media including computer code and at least one storage device in which is stored GPS data for a plurality of vehicles the system including: a memory including a GPS event database including GPS event data transmitted from a plurality of GPS devices. The GPS event data is analyzed to derive a plurality of operational metrics for each of a plurality of vehicles. At least one trend for a GPS event history using the GPS event data is identified and a graphic user interface is provided with a representation including a representation of the at least one trend. |
| US09489844B2 |
Apparatus for locating a vehicle and methods utilizing the same
A mobile device includes a motion detector, a processing unit, and a wireless positioning module. The motion detector is configured to detect a motion of the mobile device to obtain a motion signal. The processing unit is configured to do the followings: process the motion signal to obtain a vibration frequency and a vibration regularity of the mobile device; determine a device activity status of the mobile device according to the vibration frequency and the vibration regularity; and generate a control signal when finding that the device activity status switches from a first activity status to a second activity status. The wireless positioning module is configured to identify a first location of the mobile device in response to the control signal. |
| US09489842B2 |
Method for choosing a traffic route
A system for identifying a fastest possible travel route is disclosed. A traveler data processor collects traffic speed data and associates the traffic speed data with road segments. The road segments collectively represent one or more possible travel routes from a start point to an end point. A forecast engine determines a predicted travel time for each of the road segments based on, for example, the traffic speed data for each of the road segments. A routing engine determines the fastest possible travel route from the start point to the end point. The fastest possible travel route is the possible travel route from the one or more possible travel routes with the shortest predicted travel time. |
| US09489840B2 |
Wireless vehicle detector aggregator and interface to controller and associated methods
Embodiments of systems and methods of the present invention include efficient, reliable aggregation and transfer of one or more sensor pods detect status to the base station and then the traffic controller. An embodiment of an access point maintains a sensor state array, which is the current status of the sensor pods in communication with the access point. The access point can maintain the sensor state array in its memory and relay the sensor state array to the base station. An embodiment of a base station can use the sensor state array information to generate and update a vehicle detector array, which is the current status of all the sensor pods in the wireless vehicle detector network. An embodiment of the base station emulates one or more bus interface units and uses the vehicle detector array to relay detector information to the traffic controller periodically or when polled. |
| US09489830B2 |
Communication method and communication system
A command sequence is restarted from the middle even when supply of power supply voltage to an internal circuit in a wireless tag is temporarily stopped (a power flicker occurs). A register or a cache memory included in a signal processing circuit in the wireless tag continues to retain data even after the supply of power supply voltage is stopped. After the power flicker occurs, the signal processing circuit in the wireless tag is returned to the state before the supply of power supply voltage is stopped and can restart signal processing. Consequently, the command sequence can be restarted from the middle. |
| US09489829B2 |
Smart-home hazard detector providing sensor-based device positioning guidance
A particular smart hazard detector may itself function as a guide during a process of installation of the same at an installation location. Additionally, the installation location of the particular smart hazard detector may play a central role in how various settings of the smart hazard detector are defined and adjusted over time. |
| US09489826B1 |
Aberration engine
An aberration engine that collects data sensed by a monitoring system that monitors a property of a user and aggregates the collected data over a period of a time. The aberration engine detects, within the aggregated data, patterns of recurring events and, based on detecting the patterns of recurring events within the aggregated data, takes action related to the monitoring system based on the detected patterns of recurring events within the aggregated data. |
| US09489822B2 |
Systems and methods of privacy within a security system
Systems and methods disclosed herein provide setting a mode for a door lock of a door in a building with an electronic device communicatively coupled to the door lock via a communications interface of the door lock, when the mode of the door lock is set in a privacy mode, correspondingly placing a security system device communicatively coupled to the door lock into a privacy mode via the communications interface, and updating an operation state of the security system in the building according to the setting of the privacy mode for the door lock and the device. |
| US09489814B1 |
Fire alarm system
A fire alarm control and monitoring system is disclosed. In some embodiments, the fire alarm and control system may include a plurality of fire alarm control panels connected together through a communication network. In some embodiments, the fire alarm control panels may communicate using a token passing protocol yet be arranged in a tree network topology. |
| US09489813B1 |
System for location in environment and identification tag
A system for location of animals and/or objects in an environment includes a signal processing and signal generation system consisting of electromagnetic tags on animals (or other objects) in an environment (typically a three dimension outdoor natural environment) where the animals or objects are physically present at arbitrary locations, and an electro-magnetic signal generating, signal receiving, and signal processing system that can move through or in relation to the environment. The system can compute the location and identity of the animals or objects based on signals received from their associated tags, including the calculated location of the ID tags, which function as “Reader-Locators.” The calculated location is enhanced by information about the environment provided by maps, satellite photos, GPS, GIS and/or other data specific to the probability of the location of the animals or objects within certain regions of the environment. The system includes a physical and electromagnetic modeling operation that is interactive with the environmental information derived from the actual environment, either historically or in “real-time” as the monitoring process occurs. |
| US09489801B2 |
Community gaming experience
A gaming environment may provide a user with a community gaming experience by providing, via a first interface at a first gaming machine, a display of a wagering game to a first player; determining an initial game outcome for a play of the wagering game by the first player, wherein the initial game outcome is a losing game outcome; based on the losing game outcome by the first player, receiving, from a second player, a selection of an option to wager on a final game outcome, the final game outcome being based in part on the losing game outcome; displaying, via a second interface at a second gaming machine, the final game outcome to the second player; and providing an award to the second player based on the final game outcome. |
| US09489800B2 |
Applications for gaming devices in a networked environment
A method comprises receiving a request from a gaming device to initiate a session of game play comprising a plurality of game plays to be played, and transmitting to the gaming device an amount of credit required to initiate a first game play of the session on the gaming device. |
| US09489797B2 |
Intermediate credit hybrid gaming system
An intermediate credit hybrid game that awards a player an intermediate credit. The intermediate credit is awarded to the player on the based on an outcome of a wager that was made in a gambling game but triggered by the player's play of a skill-based entertainment game. The intermediate credit may be converted by the player into an in-game resource within the entertainment game. |
| US09489796B2 |
Modifying wagering games based on secondary-participant data
A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In some examples, the operations can include connecting the wagering game system to client devices via the network communication interface. The operations can further include detecting an electronic indication of wagering game activity performed via a first of the client devices. A first user account is associated with the first of the client devices. The operations can further include determining, via an electronic game processing unit, that a second user account, associated with a second of the client devices, is indicated in the first user account as a social contact. The operations can further include automatically increasing, via the electronic game processing unit, a chance that a first casino wagering game associated with the second of the client devices will result in a winning outcome based on the wagering game activity performed via the first of the client devices. |
| US09489793B2 |
Gaming through mobile or other devices
Various embodiments that may generally relate to mobile gaming, location determination, mobile devices, authentication, and so on are described. Various methods are described. Various apparatus are described. Further embodiments are described. |
| US09489791B2 |
Sanitized vending machine having cup retention-and-release mechanism
A sanitized vending machine includes product and cup dispensing mechanisms and an actuation mechanism. The product dispensing mechanism, holding product items, rotates through a product dispensing cycle to dispense them. The cup dispensing mechanism, holding a stack of cups, rotates through a cup dispensing cycle to dispense an empty cup to an intermediate location in a drop chute spaced above a final discharge location. Dispensing cycles occur in predetermined sequence enabling dispensed product items to be received in a previously dispensed cup. A cup retention-and-release mechanism disposed about and adjacent to the drop chute at the intermediate location converts between a cup hold position, wherein the empty cup is caught and retained at the intermediate location awaiting receipt of dispensed product items into the cup, and a cup release position, wherein the cup now having dispensed product items received therein is released and enabled to drop to the discharge location. |
| US09489788B1 |
Luggage locking device and baggage handling method
Disclosed herein is an electronic luggage locking device and airline baggage handling method mainly characterized by ease-of-use, enhanced security and efficiency by utilizing proximity access-gaining and authentication technologies, a plurality of sensors, embedded electronic storage and retrieval of luggage information. The luggage locking device is incorporated with an electronic communication system enables interactions with other sensor modules within the luggage, external smart devices and airline transport systems to form an unitary baggage handling system. The baggage handling system contents a method using application software and capable of indicating and communicating the said luggage information and locational identification within an airline transport systems. |
| US09489787B1 |
Short-range device communications for secured resource access
Communications over short-range connections are used to facilitate whether access to resources is to be granted. For example, upon device discovery of one of an electronic user device and an electronic client device by the other device over a Bluetooth Low Energy connection, an access-enabling code associated with a user device or account can be evaluated for validity and applicability with respect to one or more particular resource specifications. An image can be generated to reflect a result of the assessment, so as to enable an image analysis to be performed to decode the assessment result. |
| US09489786B2 |
Method and system for controlling trunk of vehicle to be opened or closed using wearable device
A method and a system for controlling a trunk to be opened or closed using a wearable device. The trunk may be opened or closed using a non-contact arrangement by causing the wearable device to generate an electromyogram (EMG) signal of a user depending on whether or not the user carries heavy luggage, and causing the vehicle to receive the EMG signal wirelessly. |
| US09489785B2 |
RFID secure authentication
Authentication systems and methods for a population of devices each associated with an RFID tag are described. For each device, a secret key is combined cryptographically with a publicly-readable unique identifier (UID) of an RFID tag to obtain a unique authorization signature. The RFID tag is prepared utilizing the unique authorization signature as memory-access and/or tag-operation password(s). The systems and methods may safeguard against attacks whereby compromise of a single tag will not compromise the entire population of devices and may reduce or eliminate the use of inappropriate surgical devices during a surgical procedure. |
| US09489784B2 |
Intelligent entrance guard unlocking system and unlocking method thereof
An intelligent entrance guard unlocking method includes: transmitting electric energy of a power unit of a intelligent entrance guard in a wireless electromagnetic radiation via a transmit coil; receiving the electric energy via a receiver coil of a powerless smart key; capturing a face image of an user and storing the face image in a second storage unit of the powerless smart key; controlling a wireless transmit unit of the powerless smart key to transmit a wireless signal containing the face image to the intelligent entrance guard; obtaining a predefined face image from a first storage unit of the intelligent entrance guard and comparing the face image with the predefined face image; unlocking the intelligent entrance guard when the face image matches with the predefined face image and not unlocking the intelligent entrance guard when the face image does not match with the predefined face image. |
| US09489781B2 |
Systems and methods for utilizing telematics data
A computer system and method for performing predictive analytics on telematics data regarding an entity. The computer system having a memory configured to store instructions and a processor disposed in communication with the memory. The processor upon execution of the instructions is configured to receive telematics data regarding an entity and analyze the received telematics data to identify a pattern of behavior. A behavioral conclusion and/or meaning is then determined for the entity based on analysis of the received telematics data. |
| US09489780B2 |
Method for processing data
A method for processing data with parameters of a vehicle, power train or power train component of different origin comprises reading out of the data and the carrying out a statistical analysis for determining the minimum and maximum axis values of the data associated with the same parameters. Subsequently, the data is converted and compressed into a common format, and the data associated with the same parameters is provided with common axes and the same number of sampling points, wherein the start and end figures of the axes results from the minimum and maximum axis figures. The data processed in this way may then be subjected to further processing. |
| US09489779B2 |
Vehicle status notification and operator identification
A computing system located on-board a vehicle issues an event notification responsive to detection of an event condition. The on-board computing system detects the presence of wireless-enabled devices located within the vehicle or within proximity to the vehicle over a wireless communications link. The on-board computing system seeks to determine the identity of one or more persons that enter, attempt to enter, or operate the vehicle based on identifiers obtained from one or more wireless-enabled devices carried by those persons. The on-board computing system distinguishes multiple users from each other by designating one user as the vehicle operator, and one or more other users as passengers of the vehicle. The on-board computing system may include a removable on-board interface device that interfaces with an on-board vehicle control system. |
| US09489775B1 |
Building a three-dimensional composite scene
The capture and alignment of multiple 3D scenes is disclosed. Three dimensional capture device data from different locations is received thereby allowing for different perspectives of 3D scenes. An algorithm uses the data to determine potential alignments between different 3D scenes via coordinate transformations. Potential alignments are evaluated for quality and subsequently aligned subject to the existence of sufficiently high relative or absolute quality. A global alignment of all or most of the input 3D scenes into a single coordinate frame may be achieved. The presentation of areas around a particular hole or holes takes place thereby allowing the user to capture the requisite 3D scene containing areas within the hole or holes as well as part of the surrounding area using, for example, the 3D capture device. The new 3D captured scene is aligned with existing 3D scenes and/or 3D composite scenes. |
| US09489774B2 |
Three dimensional user interface in augmented reality
Technologies are generally described for a three dimensional user interface in augmented reality. In some examples, a method for generating a virtual object in a display area may include generating a first virtual object in the display area with use of at least two viewing cones generated by a display. The method may further include receiving spatial data that relates to a location of a real object in the display area and determining that the real object is interfering with at least one of the viewing cones. The method may further include generating a second virtual object corresponding to the first virtual object. The second virtual object may be located between the display and the location of the real object. |
| US09489770B2 |
Method for generating quartic bezier triangle patches from triangle mesh for computer graphics
Method for generating curved surface consisting of quartic Bezier triangles patches, from a mesh of planar triangles is disclosed. Mesh of planar triangles is used as input. For each vertices, faces that are joined at the vertex are evaluated to determine the desired surface orientation and a scalar parameter that describes the curvature. This can be expressed as a normal vector with its size representing the scalar parameter. Based on this normal vector, one cubic Bezier control point is generated on each side of triangles surrounding the vertex. Applying this to all vertices in the mesh will form cubic Bezier curve which is the boundary curve shared between the adjacent triangle patches. Once cubic Bezier boundary curves are obtained, quartic Bezier triangles patches can be generated for each triangle in the mesh. |
| US09489767B1 |
Cull streams for fine-grained rendering predication
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique to perform fine-grained rendering predication using an IGPU and a DGPU. A graphics driver divides a 3D object into batches of triangles. The IGPU processes each batch of triangles through a modified rendering pipeline to determine if the batch is culled. The IGPU writes bits into a bitstream corresponding to the visibility of the batches. The DGPU reads bits from the bitstream and performs full-blown rendering, including shading, but only on the batches of triangles whose bit indicates that the batch is visible. Advantageously, this approach to rendering predication provides fine-grained culling without adding unnecessary overhead, thereby optimizing both hardware resources and performance. |
| US09489759B1 |
File path translation for animation variables in an animation system
Systems and methods for customizing animation variables and modifications to animation variables in an animation system are provided. An animated model may be comprised of a hierarchical structure of rigs and sub-rigs. An animator may customize the location of animation variables within the hierarchical structure through a relocation operation from an original position to a relocated position. The animation system identifies the relocation operation, resulting in an association being generated between the original position and the relocated position. Modifications made to animation variables in the animation system may be received by the animation system and the animator can customize the scope of the modification and its application to the animated model or animated scene. |
| US09489758B2 |
Method contributing to making safe a synthetic graphics representation of the view outside an aircraft
A method of contributing to making safe a synthetic vision display of an aircraft for displaying on viewing means an at least partial view in perspective of the environment of the aircraft together with piloting symbology. During the method, at least one check point (P1, P2, P3) is defined that is situated in the environment and that co-operates with a reference point (Pr) of the aircraft to form a first straight line (DP). Thereafter, a first display function (F1) is used to calculate display coordinates (a1,b2), (a2,b2), (a3,b3) for each check point (P1, P2, P3) on the viewing means, and then the inverse (F2)−1 of a second display function (F2) is used together with the display coordinates (a1,b2), (a2,b2), (a3,b3) to calculate a second straight line (DS) passing through the reference point (Dr). Finally, the first and second lines (DP, DS) corresponding to a common check point (P1, P2, P3) are compared in order to define whether the synthetic vision display is trustworthy. |
| US09489756B2 |
Graph based degree of freedom counter for two dimensional drawings
A method, apparatus, system, article of manufacture, and computer program product provide the ability to utilize a degree of freedom (DOF) for a construction. In a preparation phase, a graph structure is constructed from a construction model that transforms construction primitives into graph primitives. In a search phase, all compact sub-graphs of the graph structure are identified. In a counting phase, a DOF is calculated for each compact sub-graph and adjusted based on interactions between the compact sub-graphs. In an internal DOF searching phase, an internal DOF is computed for each compact sub-graph and used to determine and solve overconstrained sub-graphs. A determination regarding whether a structure of the construction model can be modified based on the DOF and internal DOF is output. |
| US09489750B2 |
Exposure metering based on background pixels
The disclosed technology relates to image-capturing methods. In one aspect, a method includes receiving an image frame comprising a plurality of pixels and subtracting foreground pixels from the image frame to obtain background pixels. The method additionally includes determining an exposure condition for a next image frame based on at least a subset of the background pixels. The method further includes adjusting the foreground pixels such that a difference between a background luma value and a foreground luma value of the next image frame is within a predetermined range. Aspects are also directed to apparatuses configured for the methods. |
| US09489748B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method, image processing system, and non-transitory computer readable medium
An image processing apparatus includes the following elements. An image information obtaining unit obtains image information concerning a first image. A position information obtaining unit obtains first position information indicating a representative position of a specified region which has been specified by a user from the first image as an image region to be subjected to image processing. A region detector detects the specified region from the first position information. An image processor performs image processing on the specified region. |
| US09489742B2 |
Apparatus, method and computer-readable recording medium for detecting moving object using depth map
An apparatus, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for detecting a moving object using a depth map is provided. The apparatus includes a segment image generator unit that generates a segment image to distinguish each object using a depth image of a current input frame; a background image generator unit that generates a current background image by applying a moving average method to the depth image and a background image of a previous input frame; and a moving mask generator unit that generates a moving mask by comparing the depth image with the current background image to thereby find moving parts in the depth image. |
| US09489741B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for disparity estimation of foreground objects in images
In an example embodiment, method, apparatus and computer program product are provided. The method includes facilitating receipt of first image (I1) and second image (I2) of a scene. Cost volume between images I1 and I2 for set of foreground labels (FL) and set of background labels (BL) is determined that includes matching costs of pixels in I1 and corresponding pixels in I2 for FL and BL. Reduced cost volume is determined from the cost volume, including matching costs of pixels in I1 and corresponding pixels in I2 for FL and a background label (L1) of BL, where matching cost of an individual pixel in I1 and corresponding pixel of the individual pixel in I2 for L1 includes minimum matching cost from a set of matching costs of the individual pixel for BL. A disparity map is generated by performing cost aggregation of the reduced cost volume in I1 and I2. |
| US09489740B2 |
Camera tracking apparatus and method using reconstruction segments and volumetric surface
Provided are an apparatus and method for tracking a camera that reconstructs a real environment in three dimensions by using reconstruction segments and a volumetric surface. The camera tracking apparatus using reconstruction segments and a volumetric surface includes a reconstruction segment division unit configured to divide three-dimensional space reconstruction segments extracted from an image acquired by a camera, a transformation matrix generation unit configured to generate a transformation matrix for at least one reconstruction segment among the reconstruction segments obtained by the reconstruction segment division unit, and a reconstruction segment connection unit configured to rotate or move the at least one reconstruction segment according to the transformation matrix generated by the reconstruction segment division unit and connect the rotated and moved reconstruction segment with another reconstruction segment. |
| US09489732B1 |
Visual attention distractor insertion for improved EEG RSVP target stimuli detection
Described is a system for improved electroencephalograph (EEG) rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) target stimuli detection through visual attention distractor insertion. A first RSVP sequence is created comprising a set of image chips. The image chips are a combination of target images containing target events and non-target images containing comment events. A number of visual attention distractors to optimize target event detection is determined, and the determined number of visual attention distractors is inserted into the first RSVP sequence to generate a second RSVP sequence. The second RSVP sequence is reordered to generate a third RSVP sequence. The third RSVP sequence is presented to a user, and an EEG signal is received from the user. Finally, the EEG signal is decoded to identify a true target event via a P300 detection in the EEG signal. |
| US09489726B2 |
Method for processing a video sequence, corresponding device, computer program and non-transitory computer-readable-medium
The invention relates to a method for processing a video sequence formed by at least two video images, said method comprising: obtaining said at least two video images using a first capture module with a first field of view, each video image representing a same scene captured at different instants or from different points of view, wherein said method comprises: determining luminance information from at least one overall image obtained by a second capture module with a second field of view greater than said first field of view, said overall image representing the scene captured at different instants or from different points of view, down-converting a dynamic range of said video images taking into account said luminance information. |
| US09489721B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium
An image processing apparatus includes a selection unit, a pixel number setting unit, a determination unit, and a processing unit. The selection unit selects at least a pixel that is different from a pixel of interest in an image based on a similarity between a pixel value of the pixel different from the interest pixel and a pixel value of the interest pixel. The pixel number setting unit sets a number of pixels to be selected. The determination unit determines, from a pixel selected by the selection unit and based on whether a number of selected pixels has reached the set number of pixels, at least a pixel to be used in predetermined processing. The processing unit performs the predetermined processing on the interest pixel using a pixel value of the pixel determined by the determination unit. |
| US09489717B2 |
Shared image device
A mechanism or technique able to join a shared image device with a remote storage location via a network connection, and determine whether the shared image device can obtain better quality images of a subject or geographic location than those stored at the remote storage location. |
| US09489716B1 |
Street-level imagery acquisition and selection
A street-level imagery acquisition and selection process identifies which images are published in a street field view. An imagery database includes panoramas each corresponding to a set of images acquired from a single viewpoint. The panoramas are attached to corresponding positions on a road network graph. The graph is divided into a set of selection paths, each of which includes a topologically linear sequence of road segments. Each selection path is evaluated to select a set of panoramas to be published in the path. Panoramas of interior road segments are selected before panoramas at intersections. Selected panorama identifiers for each interior road segment of the selection paths and each intersection correspond to a position along the road network graph. The selected panorama identifiers are then published in the street field view. |
| US09489715B2 |
Image display apparatus and image display method
An image display apparatus includes: a display screen; an image output unit configured to output an image to the display screen; a region setting unit configured to extract one or more objects included in the image and to set a first region, which is a region corresponding to each of the objects; an operation acquisition unit configured to acquire a coordinate on the display screen that has been designated by a user; and an image zooming unit configured to zoom in the image, which is being displayed, on the basis of the designated coordinate. The image zooming unit zooms in the object included in the first region when the designated coordinate is within the first region. |
| US09489714B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus includes an obtaining unit configured to obtain information regarding a size of a display screen of a display terminal that displays reflow format document data including a font with a set font size, a determining unit configured to determine whether the size of the display screen obtained from the information differs from a predetermined size, a setting unit configured to, if determined that the size of the display screen differs from the predetermined size, set the font size to a size determined based on the set font size, the size of the display screen, and the predetermined size, and if not determined that the size of the display screen differs from the predetermined size, keep the font size at the set font size, and a controlling unit configured to control the display screen to display the font at the font size set by the setting unit. |
| US09489709B2 |
Real-time state-machine implemented with micro-controller
A system and method for implementing a real-time state machine with a microcontroller is disclosed. The method includes using a two-stage process, including a configuration stage and a run-time stage, for processing objects for a printing device. The configuration stage is executed prior to the run-time stage, which operates in real-time. During the configuration stage, the system predetermines a state transition list, devices that need to be monitored, devices that need to be controlled, and other variables used during the run-time stage. Once the configuration stage is complete, the system executes the run-time stage in real-time to complete processing of an object for a printing device. By pre-calculating items during the configuration stage, the system reduces the execution time of the run-time stage in real-time. As a result, the performance of the microcontroller in real-time is enhanced. |
| US09489707B2 |
Sampler load balancing
Embodiments described herein include a graphics processing unit. The graphics processing unit includes a plurality of execution units. The graphics processing unit also includes a plurality of sampler units. Each sampler unit corresponds to a sampler dispatch logic unit and at least one execution unit, and the sampler dispatch logic units are used to network the plurality of sampler units. |
| US09489703B2 |
Test management
Computing resource and mobile test reader are disclosed. Computing resource receives from external entity related to test at least one parameter relating to test result generation of test belonging to certain manufacturing batch, and transmits at least one parameter to at least one mobile test reader. Mobile test reader receives from computing resource at least one parameter, configures test reader application with received at least one parameter, takes, with digital camera controlled by test reader application configured with at least one parameter, image data depicting output area test, and transmits test use feedback to computing resource. |
| US09489702B2 |
Information processing device, data processing method thereof, and program
This information processing device (100) comprises: a video data acquisition unit (102) that sequentially acquires video data resulting from at least a portion of an imaging subject presenting a plurality of items being imaged by an imaging unit; an image recognition unit (104) that detects that at least a portion of a pre-registered image is contained in the video data, and recognizes the image; an appended data extraction unit (108) that extracts the respective appended data of each image from an appended data storage unit (106) that stores appended data corresponding to each of a plurality of recognized images; and an appended data display unit (110) that displays the extracted appended data of each image. |
| US09489699B2 |
Influence maximization with viral product design
The disclosure includes use of a feature-aware propagation model to identify one or more features of a product and one or more person(s), or members of a social network, to target, or user, for marketing the product having the identified features. The one or more person(s) identified using the model may be the person(s), or member(s), of a social network determined to have a maximum capability, relative to other members of the social network, for influencing the members of the social network in adopting, e.g., purchasing, a product having the identified features. In addition, parameters of the model may be determined using information about the social network, user preferences, and the products and features of the products. |
| US09489691B2 |
Article vending machine and method for exchanging an inoperable article for an operable article
An article vending machine in a network of article vending machines capable of exchanging an inoperable rental article received from a user for an operable replacement article. The article dispensing machine checks customer identification information against one or more customer rental criteria to determine if the customer is eligible to exchange an inoperable article for an operable one. The article vending machine searches for an identical replacement article within an inventory of the machine itself and within inventories of the networked article vending machines. Alternatively, the article vending machine may provide a refund for the inoperable article. |
| US09489690B1 |
Apparatus and method for providing product location information to customers in a store
A system and method are disclosed for providing product location information within a store. The system comprises a first user interface fixed within the store and an inventory information unit coupled to the first user interface. The first user interface is configured to receive an input signal from a user related to the identity of a product within the store, to process the input signal and to provide a product inquiry signal in response to the input signal. The first user interface is further configured to receive a location information signal, and to provide an output signal in response to the location information signal. The inventory information unit comprises a database containing product location information and is configured to provide the location information signal to the first user interface after receiving the product inquiry signal from the first user interface. |
| US09489675B2 |
Dynamic card validation using randomly determined cell identifiers
A card validation system receives a request to validate a card. The system receives a set of cell identifiers from a merchant, where the set of cell identifiers determined by the merchant. The system further receives a set of received cell values corresponding to the set of cell identifiers of a card validation matrix. The system determines a set of stored cell values corresponding to the set of cell identifiers of the card validation matrix. The system compares the set of received cell values to the set of stored cell values. Based at least in part upon the comparison, the system determines whether the card is validated. |
| US09489671B2 |
Systems and methods for mobile application, wearable application, transactional messaging, calling, digital multimedia capture and payment transactions
Systems and methods for multimedia capture and payment transactions are provided. A system comprises a payment and multimedia capture means and a cloud-based application. The payment and multimedia capture means is configured to communicate with an external device, transmit key data from the payment and multimedia capture means to the external device. The cloud-based application is configured to receive the key data from the external device, provide a payment and multimedia capture interface on a display of the external device, receive haptic input via the haptic control, analyze the haptic input to determine a duration of the haptic input, select an operation based on the duration, and perform the selected operation. The operation include a payment operation and a multimedia capture operation. |
| US09489666B2 |
Methods and systems for providing subsidized access to network content
An exemplary method includes a content delivery system 1) detecting a request provided by an access device associated with a user to access network content by way of a network provided by a network service provider, the network content associated with a content provider and maintained by a content provider subsystem, 2) determining that a data usage charge for access by the user to the network content by way of the network is subsidized by the content provider in accordance with a subsidized access arrangement between the content provider and the network service provider, and 3) providing the user with subsidized access to the network content in accordance with a rule set associated with the subsidized access arrangement. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. |
| US09489664B2 |
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. |
| US09489662B2 |
Apparatus and method for storing electronic receipts on a unified card or smartphone
A receipt system allows customers to store receipts on a Unified Card or smartphone when making purchases from different retailer merchants. The customer purchases goods or services and the receipt is recorded electronically onto a single Unified Card or smartphone. This eliminates the need for paper receipts. The user can then use the Unified Card or smartphone to make returns or exchanges or as proof of purchase. Unified Card readers can be located at Kiosks as part of a home based system that works with the user's home computer. |
| US09489661B2 |
Messaging system apparatuses circuits and methods of operation thereof
A messaging system may include a messaging client device that may be configured to output web browser renderable code comprising a text message and further configured to manage the web browser renderable code in accordance with a message management policy associated with the text message. The messaging system may further include a messaging server that is configured to validate said messaging client device as complying with the message management policy prior to sending a link to the web browser renderable code. The messaging system may include a second messaging client device configured to validate a first messaging client device as complying with the message management policy prior to authorizing transmission of the message to the first messaging client device. |
| US09489659B1 |
Progressive sharing during a collaboration session
In accordance with one example, a presenter device is configured to participate in a collaboration session with one or more attendee devices. A change in an image displayed at a screen of the presenter device is detected and captured to produce a captured image. The captured image is compressed to form a compressed lossless file and first and second compressed lossy files. The compressed lossless file and the first compressed lossy file are transmitted to the one or more attendee devices, and a determination is made as to whether a further change to the image displayed at the screen occurs within a predetermined period of time. The compressed lossy file is transmitted to the one or more attendee devices when no further change to the image displayed at the screen occurs within the predetermined period of time. |
| US09489658B2 |
Universal communication system
A universal communication system including a processor configured to execute a client application is described and includes first logic configured to provide a client interface for accessing a plurality of communication and media types from the command window, and second logic configured to integrate a plurality of contact information from the plurality of media and communication types into a single contact list, where the single contact list being accessible from the client interface. The system further includes third logic configured to receive executable instructions from a multi-protocol application program interface to alter the plurality of communication and media types and the plurality of contact information received therefrom. |
| US09489655B1 |
Distinguishing RFID tags using motion data
Disclosed are various embodiments for verifying that items have been correctly retrieved to fulfill orders or shipments. A plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags may be energized with an electromagnetic field emitted from an RFID reader, wherein individual ones of the plurality of RFID tags comprise a unique identifier. A signal strength reader may detect a change in a signal strength corresponding to the RFID tag. The RFID reader may then identify the unique identifier of the RFID tag in response to detecting the change in the signal strength corresponding to the RFID tag. |
| US09489651B2 |
Autonomic manufacturing operator authorization adjustment
Operator authorizations are autonomically adjusted in many ways to automatically account for many different variables. Operator authorization may be adjusted according to an operator's past activity record so previous experience is not lost when the operator is rehired. Operator authorization may be adjusted according to the operator's quality and performance. Operator authorization may also be adjusted by recognizing similar operations to those the operator is authorized to perform, and authorizing the operator to perform one or more similar operations. Operator authorization may also be adjusted to a lesser level or may be revoked for an operation based on the passage of time. A manufacturing system may efficiently track operators taking into account different activity periods, the passage of time, the operator's performance, and similar operations to autonomically adjust the authorization of the operators as needed. |
| US09489649B2 |
Message payload editor
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for editing messages via a message-specific user interface. In some implementations, a method may be provided. The method may include receiving, at a user interface, data content of a message corresponding to a business object; presenting, at the user interface, the data content of the message corresponding to the business object, the user interface generated specifically for a type associated with the message; and initiating, at the user interface, at least one of a change and a save to the data content. Related systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are also disclosed. |
| US09489648B2 |
Service request execution architecture for a communications service provider
A service request execution architecture promotes acceptance and use of self-service provisioning by consumers, leading to increased revenue and cost savings for the service provider as consumers order additional services. The architecture greatly reduces the technical burden of managing exceptions that occur while processing requests for services. The architecture accelerates the process of fulfilling requests for services by efficiently and effectively reducing the system resources needed to process exceptions by eliminating redundant exceptions corresponding to related service requests. |
| US09489646B2 |
Approach for intelligently parsing non-conformant encoded domain names and generating a conforming domain hierarchy
An approach for building management, energy management and facility management systems and particularly to data models representing building and operational configurations of the systems. More particularly, the disclosure pertains to standard data models for representing these configurations and their transformation from non-standard form into a standard form defined by domain ontologies. The transformation is of ad hoc and disparate technical reference information into an ontologically correct and validated complex hierarchy with an associated set of integrated digital information. |
| US09489644B2 |
Vehicle drive matching system and method
A vehicle includes a route collection module that collects drive history data describing a plurality of routes traveled by the vehicle and associated departure and arrival times for each of the routes, and a vehicle computing system that sends the drive history data and, in response, receives contact information for at least one driver of at least one other vehicle based on a similarity between the collected drive history data and drive history data associated with the at least one other vehicle. The vehicle further includes an interface that displays or plays the contact information to facilitate ride sharing between a driver of the vehicle and the at least one driver of the at least one other vehicle. |
| US09489642B2 |
Flow based visualization of business rule processing traces
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for visualizing processing traces as a flow diagram. Certain embodiments allow conversion of a text based processing trace, into an intermediate state which can then be projected using a flow diagram. A model transformation engine receives as an input, a trace log and also a pointer to the trace metadata. The model transformation engine uses the metadata information to convert the trace into a format from which a flow diagram can be built. Such an intermediate state could be, for instance, an XML document or a JSON object. Output of the model transformation engine is then fed to renderer, which reads the XML document or JSON object and displays it onto the screen. Embodiments may be particularly suited for visualizing processing traces of business rules in an enterprise system. |
| US09489641B2 |
Condition monitoring system
A computer based conditioning monitoring system for monitoring at least one condition data source. The system is adapted to determine condition data of interest to a user and build a user profile based on the condition data of interest. As and when new condition data sources are added, the system is adapted to identify these and automatically access or make available condition information from the existing data sources and any newly added condition data source. Relevant data in any of the available the condition data sources is identified and presented to the user based on the user profile. |
| US09489637B2 |
Method and apparatus for deriving spatial properties of bus stops and traffic controls
A method, apparatus and computer program products are provided for automatically detecting specific locations, i.e. bus stops, stop lights, and/or traffic signals, based on received GPS reports. The method can also be adopted to detect the utilization of the specific locations along the route. One example method includes receiving GPS data from a plurality of buses from along a transit route, and utilizes a machine learning classification strategy that captures the mobility patterns of the GPS equipped buses, at specific locations. The method may then generate mini-clusters, each comprised of a first location point from a first route and one or more subsequent location points located within a predetermined distance of the first location point. The mobility patterns of the mini-clusters within larger clusters are represented as a normalized histogram where the bin values become classification features. A machine learning model is then utilized to determine a location of the specific locations. |
| US09489634B2 |
Topological quantum computation via tunable interactions
A quasiparticle interactor induces interactions between non-Abelian quasiparticles. State information is teleported between non-Abelian quasiparticles due to the interactions. The interactions induced by the quasiparticle interactor may be induced adiabatically and may be localized. The teleportation of state information may be utilized to generate quasiparticle exchange transformation operators acting on the state space of non-Abelian quasiparticles. |
| US09489633B2 |
Trust rating metric for future event prediction of an outcome
In at least one embodiment, a trust rating system and method provide a precise and accurate, structured (yet adaptable and flexible), quantifying way of expressing historical trustworthiness so the user or decision maker can make more informed decisions on the data or information being evaluated. |
| US09489632B2 |
Model estimation device, model estimation method, and information storage medium
A model estimation device includes: a data input unit; a state number setting unit; an initialization unit which sets initial values of a variational probability of a latent variable, a parameter, and the type of each component; a latent variable variational probability computation unit which computes the variational probability of the latent variable so as to maximize a lower bound of a marginal model posterior probability; a component optimization unit which estimates an optimal type of each component and a parameter thereof so as to maximize the lower bound of the marginal model posterior probability separated for each component of the latent variable model; an optimality determination unit which determines whether or not to continue the maximization of the lower bound of the marginal model posterior probability; and a result output unit which outputs a result. |
| US09489630B2 |
Systems and techniques for predictive data analytics
Systems and techniques for predictive data analytics are described. In a method for selecting a predictive model for a prediction problem, the suitabilities of predictive modeling procedures for the prediction problem may be determined based on characteristics of the prediction problem and/or on attributes of the respective modeling procedures. A subset of the predictive modeling procedures may be selected based on the determined suitabilities of the selected modeling procedures for the prediction problem. A resource allocation schedule allocating computational resources for execution of the selected modeling procedures may be generated, based on the determined suitabilities of the selected modeling procedures for the prediction problem. Results of the execution of the selected modeling procedures in accordance with the resource allocation schedule may be obtained. A predictive model for the prediction problem may be selected based on those results. |
| US09489622B2 |
Event-driven universal neural network circuit
The present invention provides an event-driven universal neural network circuit. The circuit comprises a plurality of neural modules. Each neural module comprises multiple digital neurons such that each neuron in a neural module has a corresponding neuron in another neural module. An interconnection network comprising a plurality of digital synapses interconnects the neural modules. Each synapse interconnects a first neural module to a second neural module by interconnecting a neuron in the first neural module to a corresponding neuron in the second neural module. Corresponding neurons in the first neural module and the second neural module communicate via the synapses. Each synapse comprises a learning rule associating a neuron in the first neural module with a corresponding neuron in the second neural module. A control module generates signals which define a set of time steps for event-driven operation of the neurons and event communication via the interconnection network. |
| US09489619B2 |
Method for the computer-assisted modeling of a technical system
A method for computer-assisted modeling of a technical system is disclosed. At multiple different operating points, the technical system is described by a first state vector with first state variable(s) and by a second state vector with second state variable(s). A neural network comprising a special form of a feed-forward network is used for the computer-assisted modeling of said system. The feed-forward network includes at least one bridging connector that connects a neural layer with an output layer, thereby bridging at least one hidden layer, which allows the training of networks with multiple hidden layers in a simple manner with known learning methods, e.g., the gradient descent method. The method may be used for modeling a gas turbine system, in which a neural network trained using the method may be used to estimate or predict nitrogen oxide or carbon monoxide emissions or parameters relating to combustion chamber vibrations. |
| US09489618B2 |
Electronic comparison systems
An electronic comparison system includes input stages that successively provide bits of code words. One-shots connected to respective stages successively provide a first bit value until receiving a bit having a non-preferred value concurrently with an enable signal, and then provide a second, different bit value. An enable circuit provides the enable signal if at least one of the one-shots is providing the first bit value. A neural network system includes a crossbar with row and column electrodes and resistive memory elements at their intersections. A writing circuit stores weights in the elements. A signal source applies signals to the row electrodes. Comparators compare signals on the column electrodes to corresponding references using domain-wall neurons and store bit values in CMOS latches by comparison with a threshold. |
| US09489617B2 |
Neuromorphic system and method for operating the same
A neuromorphic system includes: an unsupervised learning hardware device configured to perform learning in an unsupervised manner, the unsupervised learning hardware device performing grouping on input signals; and a supervised learning hardware device configured to perform learning in a supervised manner with labeled values, the supervised learning hardware device performing clustering on input signals. |
| US09489610B2 |
Orientation identification label, reagent container carrier structure, analyzer device and reader module
A reagent container carrier structure for holding at least one reagent container, wherein the carrier structure has thereon an RFID assembly and an optically detectable definition pattern defining an orientation of the carrier structure, is disclosed. The reagent container carrier structure may have an orientation identification label that has a front surface and a back surface, and further include an RFID assembly positioned on the back surface, and an optically detectable definition pattern defining an orientation of the label on the front surface. A reader module for reading RFID data in combination with optically detectable data defining an orientation of a respective label is also disclosed. |
| US09489607B2 |
Semiconductor device and an identification tag
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a battery attached to the semiconductor substrate, and a sensor attached to the semiconductor substrate. The battery is electrically connected to the sensor and configured to supply the sensor with electrical power. |
| US09489606B1 |
Integrated on-chip antenna
The present disclosure is related to a microchip apparatus, where the microchip apparatus comprises a plurality of metallic layers. Each of the metallic layers may have a respective layer thickness. The microchip apparatus also comprises electronic components integrated within the metallic layers. The electronic components may be configured to communicate data. Further, the electronic components include an antenna feed. The microchip apparatus includes an antenna coupled to the antenna feed. The antenna includes multiple loops, each loop being formed by at least one layer of the metallic layers. |
| US09489601B2 |
Construction zone sign detection
Methods and systems for detection of a construction zone sign are described. A computing device, configured to control the vehicle, may be configured to receive, from an image-capture device coupled to the computing device, images of a vicinity of the road on which the vehicle is travelling. Also, the computing device may be configured to determine image portions in the images that may depict sides of the road at a predetermined height range. Further, the computing device may be configured to detect a construction zone sign in the image portions, and determine a type of the construction zone sign. Accordingly, the computing device may be configured to modify a control strategy associated with a driving behavior of the vehicle; and control the vehicle based on the modified control strategy. |
| US09489598B2 |
Systems and methods for object classification, object detection and memory management
A method for object classification by an electronic device is described. The method includes obtaining an image frame that includes an object. The method also includes determining samples from the image frame. Each of the samples represents a multidimensional feature vector. The method further includes adding the samples to a training set for the image frame. The method additionally includes pruning one or more samples from the training set to produce a pruned training set. One or more non-support vector negative samples are pruned first. One or more non-support vector positive samples are pruned second if necessary to avoid exceeding a sample number threshold. One or more support vector samples are pruned third if necessary to avoid exceeding the sample number threshold. The method also includes updating classifier model weights based on the pruned training set. |
| US09489597B2 |
Visualization and analysis of a topical element of a complex system
An apparatus is provided for implementation of a system for visualization and analysis of a complex system such as an aircraft composed of a plurality of elements. The apparatus may be caused to receive and process data for physical instance(s) of the complex system to identify a topical element. The apparatus may be caused to receive a digital 3D model of the complex system, generate a visual presentation of at least a portion of the digital 3D model, with the visual presentation depicting the topical element and one or more other elements of the plurality of elements. And the apparatus may be caused to apply a visual effect to the topical element depicted by the visual presentation to distinguish the topical element from the other element(s) depicted by the visual presentation. |
| US09489596B1 |
Optimal rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) spacing and fusion for electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain computer interface (BCI)
Described is system for optimizing rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) spacing and fusion. The system receives a sequence of a plurality of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) image chips. The plurality of RSVP image chips are generated from an image via a pre-processing step and have a high probability of containing a target of interest. The system alters the order of the sequence of the plurality of RSVP image chips to increase the probability of detection of a true target of interest when presented to a human subject. |
| US09489594B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method and program
An image processing device includes an evaluation unit which acquires a search pattern which is an appearance pattern of a person in a scene of a video content containing the scene, where a similar scene is to be searched, and a search target pattern which is an appearance pattern of a person in a video content which is to be a search target of the similar scene, calculates a degree of similarity between the search pattern and the search target pattern, and determines the similar scene on a basis of the calculated degree of similarity. |
| US09489593B2 |
Information processing apparatus and training method
An information processing apparatus, for training a classifier that classifies local regions of an object, includes a feature amount setting unit, a selection unit, and a training unit. The feature amount setting unit sets a feature amount to be used by the classifier. The selection unit selects a local region of the object based on a predetermined selection condition based on positions for obtaining the feature amount set by the feature amount setting unit. The training unit trains the classifier using the feature amount set by the feature amount setting unit and the local region selected by the selection unit. |
| US09489592B2 |
User characteristic prediction using images posted in online social networks
Methods and systems provide electronic instructions to a non-transitory electronic storage hardware device to record images uploaded by a user over a computerized network to a social networking site, and to record categories of network site locations to which the images are uploaded by the user. These methods and systems also provide electronic instructions to a computerized electronic image processor hardware device to analyze features within the images to identify content of each of the images, and to determine the user characteristics based on the categories of network site locations to which the images are uploaded by the user and on the content of the images uploaded by the user. Also, such methods and systems provide electronic instructions to the computerized electronic image processor hardware device to output the user characteristics on a graphic user interface hardware device. |
| US09489583B2 |
Road surface shape estimating device
A road surface shape estimating device includes a target detecting unit, a coordinate calculating unit and an estimating unit. The target detecting unit detects a known target from a captured image capturing an area ahead of a vehicle. The known target is a target of which a size and positional relationship to a road surface is known. The coordinate calculating unit determines three-dimensional coordinates for each known target from a size and position in the captured image of the known target detected by the target detecting unit. The estimating unit estimates a road surface shape using the three-dimensional coordinates calculated by the coordinate calculating unit. |
| US09489578B2 |
Hardware architecture for real-time extraction of maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs)
Hardware architecture for real-time extraction of maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs) is disclosed. The architecture includes a communication interface and processing circuitry that are configured in hardware to receive a data stream of an intensity image in real-time and provide labels for image regions within the intensity image that match a given intensity threshold. The communication interface and processing circuitry are also configured in hardware to find extremal regions within the intensity image based upon the labels and to determine MSER ellipses parameters based upon the extremal regions and MSER criteria. In at least one embodiment, the MSER criteria include minimum and maximum MSER areas, and an acceptable growth rate value for MSER area. In another embodiment, the MSER criteria include a nested MSER tolerance value. |
| US09489573B2 |
System and method for comparing documents
The present invention relates to a system and a method for comparing information contained on at least two documents belonging to an entity. The present invention includes at least one device configured to receive information from at least one first document and at least one second document; then, compare at least one first document information and at least one second document information; and determine whether at least one second document contains at least one first document information. The present invention then outputs a result of whether the at least one second document contains at least one first document information. |
| US09489567B2 |
Tracking and recognition of faces using selected region classification
Methods, apparatuses, and articles associated with facial tracking and recognition are disclosed. In embodiments, facial images may be detected in video or still images and tracked. After normalization of the facial images, feature data may be extracted from selected regions of the faces to compare to associated feature data in known faces. The selected regions may be determined using a boosting machine learning processes over a set of known images. After extraction, individual two-class comparisons may be performed between corresponding feature data from regions on the tested facial images and from the known facial image. The individual two-class classifications may then be combined to determine a similarity score for the tested face and the known face. If the similarity score exceeds a threshold, an identification of the known face may be output or otherwise used. Additionally, tracking with voting may be performed on faces detected in video. After a threshold of votes is reached, a given tracked face may be associated with a known face. |
| US09489566B2 |
Image recognition apparatus and image recognition method for identifying object
There are provided an image recognition apparatus and an image recognition method according to which, when registering a face model for a face image, face images are sequentially acquired from frames of a moving image, feature amounts are extracted from the sequentially acquired face images, and a hypersphere defined by Support Vector Data Description (SVDD) is obtained from the group of training samples. Then, training samples in a boundary region of the hypersphere are registered as boundary samples. When performing matching of a face image of a recognition target, the reliability is calculated using the boundary samples, and a person with the highest reliability is output as a recognition result. |
| US09489557B2 |
Decodable indicia reading terminal with optical filter
A decodable indicia reading terminal can comprise a housing including a housing window, a multiple pixel image sensor disposed within the housing, an imaging lens configured to focus an image of decodable indicia on the image sensor, an optical bandpass filter disposed in an optical path of light incident on the image sensor, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter configured to convert an analog signal read out of the image sensor into a digital signal representative of the analog signal, and processor configured to output a decoded message data corresponding to the decodable indicia by processing the digital signal. |
| US09489552B2 |
RFID timing system and method with integrated event participant location tracking
A system and method for determining and tracking a location of a participant traveling along a route wherein the participant being tracked with an RFID tag during an event. The system includes a tag reader system receiving one or more tag reads from the RFID tag, determining a time for each tag read, identifying the tag number of the RFID tag, and transmitting a tag read message including at least a portion of the received tag reads with the tag number and the determined times. A timing system is configured for receiving and storing the tag read message including the tag number from the tag reader. A location device that is associated with the RFID tag of the participant has a location data receiver for receiving location data from a location providing source, and a wireless communication interface. The location detection device receives location information from the location providing source, time stamps each received location information, and transmits tag location data over the wireless interface. A location detection device that is in at least periodic wireless communication with the location device receives the transmitted tag location data, and transmits the received location data to the timing system. The timing system stores the location data and associates the location data with the RFID tag number as provided by the RFID tag reader from at least one of the tag reads from the tag associated with the location device. |
| US09489551B2 |
Method for reading data stored in an electronic device for a tyre
A method is provided for reading data relating to a tire, in which the data is stored in an electronic device integrated into the tire, and in which the tire is identified by a serial number and a manufacturing week number. A storage unit of the electronic device includes a data storage zone having a storage range formed of a number of bits. The storage range is also referred to as a restricted range, and the number of bits of the restricted range is less than or equal to 38. According to the method, the data stored in the restricted range is read, and the data read from the restricted range is decoded in order to determine the serial number and the manufacturing week number of the tire. |
| US09489550B2 |
Positioning systems and methods
Manufacturing systems and methods are disclosed. In one example, a system includes a track to be positioned proximate a structure. The track has a length extending along an axis and a location indicator positioned along the length of the track. The location indicator provides a unique tag which identifies a location of the location indicator along the first axis. |
| US09489549B2 |
Implant telemetry with dynamic tuning
Systems and methods for maximizing the resonance frequency match between a reader and a controlled device interacting over a narrowband inductive link involve, in various embodiments, features of the controlled device, the reader, or both. |
| US09489544B2 |
Data communication authentication system for vehicle gateway apparatus for vehicle data communication system for vehicle and data communication apparatus for vehicle
A vehicular data communication system includes an authentication device for authenticating an external tool connected to a bus, an authentication control device for determining whether an external tool is authenticated by the authentication device and for setting an authenticated state to permit a data communication between the external tool and an access target ECU on the bus upon determining that the external tool is authenticated by the authentication device, and an authentication maintain device for maintaining the authenticated state within a predetermined period after the authenticated state is set by the authentication control device. |
| US09489543B2 |
Supporting port security on power-over-Ethernet enabled ports
Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for controlling power delivery to a port in a power sourcing equipment. The power sourcing equipment receives identity information from a device connected to the port and determines whether the device is a trusted device or a rogue device according to a security policy. If the device is a trusted device, the power sourcing equipment supplies data and electrical power to the port according to a priority policy. If the device is a rogue device, the power source equipment does not supply electrical power to the port. |
| US09489535B2 |
Retrieval of data across multiple partitions of a storage device using digital signatures
A system and method for exchanging data among partitions of a storage device is disclosed. For example, data stored in a first partition is exchanged with an application included in the first partition or with a second application included in a second partition. In one embodiment, the second application is associated with a global certificate while the first application is associated with a different platform certificate. A verification module included in the first partition receives a request for data and determines if the request for data is received from the first application. If the request for data is not received from the first application, the verification module determines whether the request is received from the second application and whether the global certificate is an authorized certificate. For example, the verification module determines whether the global certificate is included in a listing of authorized certificates. |
| US09489528B2 |
Single use recovery key
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to disclosing recovery keys. In aspects, when a recovery key is disclosed, data is updated to indicate that the recovery key has been disclosed. A machine that has locked data may determine whether a recovery key for the locked data has been disclosed and whether a new key needs to be generated for the locked data. If a new key needs to be generated for the locked data, the machine may generate the new key and send it to a recovery store for storage. In addition, old keys that protect the locked data may be deleted after the new key has been generated and stored. |
| US09489525B2 |
Secure storage system
A storage system includes a plurality of drives that write and read data to and from removable storage media communicatively connected to a storage controller. The storage controller receives comprehensible data and divides the comprehensible data into the plurality of data segments comprising the plurality of data units, manipulates one or more of the plurality of data units within each data segment to form the plurality of unintelligible data segments, generates a decoding key based upon the division and the manipulation, and sends each respective unintelligible data segment to the plurality of drives to store upon the removable storage media. The comprehensible data includes a sufficient number of data units arranged in an order of inherent meaning and the unintelligible data segments include an insufficient number of data units to be comprehensible arranged in an order such that the unintelligible data segments are incomprehensible. |
| US09489521B2 |
Format preserving encryption methods for data strings with constraints
Format preserving encryption (FPE) cryptographic engines are provided for performing encryption and decryption on strings. A plaintext string may be converted to ciphertext by repeated application of a format preserving encryption cryptographic algorithm. Following each application of the format preserving cryptographic algorithm, the resulting version of the string may be analyzed to determine whether desired string constraints have been satisfied. If the string constraints have not been satisfied, further applications of the format preserving cryptographic algorithm may be performed. If the string constraints have been satisfied, the current version of the string may be used as an output for the cryptographic engine. |
| US09489520B2 |
Decryption and encryption of application data
Examples disclose providing a decryption, validation and encryption process. Specifically, disclosure includes decrypting a first encrypted application data to then validate its integrity. Disclosure also includes encrypting the decrypted application data using a technique different from that used to provide the first encrypted application data and then storing the encrypted application data. |
| US09489518B2 |
Method and device for unlocking screen
A method for unlocking a screen of a device, including: detecting an inputting operation on the device for inputting an unlock password, the inputting operation causing one character to be inputted to the device; performing, in response to the detecting, a comparison to determine whether all input characters corresponding to a password indicator displayed on the screen match a preset password; and unlocking the screen of the device if it is determined that all the input characters corresponding to the password indicator match the preset password. |
| US09489514B2 |
Classifying malware by order of network behavior artifacts
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for classifying executable files as likely malware or likely benign. The techniques utilize temporally-ordered network behavioral artifacts together with machine learning techniques to perform the classification. Because they rely on network behavioral artifacts, the disclosed techniques may be applied to executable files with obfuscated code. |
| US09489513B1 |
Systems and methods for securing computing devices against imposter processes
A computer-implemented method for securing computing devices against imposter processes may include (1) identifying a process that is subject to a security assessment, (2) determining, based on comparing an attribute of the process to an attribute of a legitimate process, that the process comprises an imposter process of the legitimate process, (3) determining that a file may have been created by the imposter process, and (4) determining a security action for the file in response to determining that the file has been created by the imposter process. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US09489511B2 |
Wearable device and a method for storing credentials associated with an electronic device in said wearable device
The disclosure relates in general to a wearable device for serving as a personal id towards electronic devices. In particular the disclosure provides a wearable device for storing credential data or password from an electronic device, which device is configured for serving as personal id towards an electronic device, such as a mobile phone or other smart devices. |
| US09489508B2 |
Device functionality access control using unique device credentials
Apparatus and method for controlling access to protected functionality of a data storage device. In some embodiments, a plurality of identification (ID) values associated with a data storage device are combined to form a combined ID value. The combined ID value is cryptographically processed using a secret symmetric encryption key in combination with a hash function or a key derivation function to generate a unique device credential for the data storage device. The unique device credential is used as an input to a selected cryptographic function to control access to a protected function of the data storage device. |
| US09489504B2 |
Physically unclonable function pattern matching for device identification
A method is provided for using obtaining a reproducible device identifier from a physically unclonable function. An authentication device may receive a first physically unclonable function (PUF) dataset from the electronic device, the first PUF dataset including characteristic information generated from a physically unclonable function in the electronic device. The authentication device may then identify a pre-stored PUF dataset corresponding to the electronic device. Authentication of the electronic device may be performed by correlating the pre-stored PUF dataset and the first PUF dataset for the electronic device, wherein such correlation is based on a pattern or distribution correlation the pre-stored PUF dataset and the first PUF dataset. Because such correlation is performed on datasets, and not individual points, systematic variations can be recognized by the correlation operation leading to higher correlation than point-by-point comparisons. |
| US09489502B2 |
Biometric authentication display
A device can include a display; memory that stores biometric information and commercial information; a sensor that senses biometric information; authentication circuitry that authenticates sensed biometric information at least in part via a comparison to stored biometric information; and display circuitry that renders at least one graphic to the display based at least in part on a portion of the commercial information responsive to authentication of sensed biometric information. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed. |
| US09489501B2 |
Authentication method, authentication device, and system
An authentication method executed by a computer includes: receiving input data which is a target of authentication; specifying registration data, from among a plurality of registration data stored in a storage device, having a second feature value within a threshold value relative to a first feature value of the input data, the first feature value representing a distance between the input data and a reference, the second feature value representing another distance between the registration data and the reference, and the threshold value being used when a determination as to whether the authentication has been successfully performed; and executing a process of comparing the registration data with the input data. |
| US09489500B2 |
Manipulation apparatus
A remote manipulation apparatus includes a touch sensor and a manipulation control circuit to detect manipulation on a manipulation surface using a manipulator's finger. The touch sensor and the manipulation control circuit can acquire a manipulation entity distance between the manipulation surface and the finger. When the manipulation entity distance is shorter than a first threshold distance, the manipulation control circuit associates the finger manipulation with a pointer control to move a pointer on a display screen. When the distance exceeds the first threshold distance, the manipulation control circuit associates the finger manipulation with a map control to move a map on the display screen. The manipulation control circuit stores a specified finger manipulation as an authorization manipulation. The association between the finger manipulation and the map control is inhibited until the authorization manipulation using the finger is performed. |
| US09489494B2 |
Recommendation engine
Generally, described are methods, apparatuses and systems for a recommendation engine which determines a recommendation based upon a terrestrial parameter and an overall factor unrelated to the terrestrial parameter. The recommendation engine may receive as inputs: (1) some data relating to the terrestrial parameter and (2) some data relating to user operation of a mechanical device. An overall factor may be calculated or obtained, at least in part, from the data relating to user operation of the mechanical device. And based upon the data relating to the terrestrial parameter and the overall factor, a recommendation may be determined and transmitted. In one embodiment, as part of the transmission process, the recommendation may be displayed to a user requesting the recommendation. |
| US09489488B2 |
Protocol independent interface supporting general communications interface debugging and testing tool
A protocol independent debugging tool for debugging communication interfaces of devices is disclosed. The debugging tool is configured to receive communication protocol plug-ins corresponding to different communication protocols. The debugging tool instantiates a stack interface from the protocol plug-in, such that the stack interface implements a protocol-specific stack wrapper that communicates with a device being tested. The stack specific wrapper receives commands from a command interface for the device being tested, generates data packets in accordance with the communication protocol of the device being tested, and transmits the data packets to the device being tested. |
| US09489486B2 |
Records access and management
An electronic device for aggregating electronic medical records, in which electronic medical records are aggregated from multiple electronic repositories and displayed as a single set of records. The multiple electronic repositories may store records for a particular patient using varying identifying/access information to facilitate anonymous access to the electronic medical records. Emergency medical services providers may be able to access medical records for a patient using the electronic device after being authenticated as a valid/licensed medical services provider. |
| US09489485B2 |
System for managing and analyzing metabolic pathway data
A metabolic pathway data management and analysis system in a distributed communication network is provided comprising at least one application server running a metabolic pathway data management server application, at least one client workstation running a metabolic pathway data management client application in communication with the at least one application server via the distributed communication network, and at least one database for storing data in communication with the at least one application server via the distributed communication network, wherein said metabolic pathway data management client application provides a graphical user interface comprising a study editor and a pathway editor. |
| US09489480B1 |
Techniques for compiling and generating a performance analysis for an integrated circuit design
Techniques for compiling an integrated circuit (IC) design with an electronic design automation (EDA) tool are provided. The IC design may be compiled for different IC devices. When the IC design is compiled for a selected integrated circuit device, the EDA tool may analyze the IC design to determine whether the design is compatible with the selected IC device. If the IC design contains elements that are incompatible with the selected IC device, the EDA tool may compile the design based on a simulated removal of the incompatible elements. In some instances, the EDA tool may identify optimization opportunities in the IC design and may compile the design based on an optimized version of the IC design. The EDA tool may generate a compilation output (e.g., a performance analysis report) based on the simulated removal of the incompatible elements (or the optimized version of the IC design. |
| US09489476B2 |
Post processing finite element analysis geometry
A method for designing a component for a circumferential machine is disclosed. The method includes selecting one or more seed nodes, creating a cylindrical coordinate system, and selecting an output subset. The method further includes creating a node set from the one or more seed nodes based on a selected feature of the component to be analyzed. The method yet further includes extracting an output for the node set from the finite element analysis module for each load cycle and presenting a result from the extracted output. |
| US09489475B2 |
Reservoir simulation with scalable grid computing
Larger, expandable high performance computing (HPC) clusters which are of different generations and performance speeds are provided for reservoir simulation. This provides scalability and flexibility for running computation-intensive reservoir simulation jobs on HPC machines. Availability of larger numbers of processors in a processor pool makes simulation of giant models possible and also reduces fragmentation when multiple jobs are run. A hardware performance based domain decomposition is performed which results in computation load balancing. The reservoir domain is decomposed efficiently to reduce communication overhead. Adaptive detection of the available mix of computation resources is performed, and reservoir simulation decomposition methodology adjusts the distribution of load based on the available hardware and different processor generation resources to minimize the reservoir simulation runtime. |
| US09489473B2 |
Computer implemented method for product design
A computer program product and a computer-implemented method are disclosed. The method includes providing a square design structure matrix having a number of rows and a number of columns equal to the number of rows, wherein each row represents one of a plurality of elements, wherein each entry of the design structure matrix is a numerical quantity; providing a domain mapping matrix having a number of rows equal to the number of rows of the design structure matrix, each row having an identical representation of one of the plurality of elements as a corresponding row of the design structure matrix, the domain mapping matrix having any number of columns, wherein each entry of the domain mapping matrix is a numerical quantity; and using a computer processor to group one or more elements into a cluster arrangement, using a plurality of entries from each of the matrices. |
| US09489471B2 |
Flash redirection with caching
In particular embodiments, a server loads in a browser a webpage including flash content including an ActionScript, the ActionScript including at least one function. The browser loads a flash redirection plugin and requests the plugin to execute the ActionScript. The plugin determines whether a cache at the server includes the function, and if the cache includes the function, the plugin determines a result associated with the function in the cache and returns the result to the browser. |
| US09489469B2 |
Page display method, apparatus and terminal
The embodiments of the disclosure provide a page display method and apparatus, belonging to the field of terminals. The method comprises monitoring the page browsing mode of a browser while running the browser; determining a changed page browsing mode, if the page browsing mode of the browser is changed; and displaying a tips button on the current page of the browser, if the changed page browsing mode is a specified mode. The apparatus comprises a monitoring module, a determining module, and a displaying module. Thereby, the tips-making process while switching modes is simplified. The tips button is displayed on a specific location to remind users, without breaking the continuous browsing via the browser, so that non-trace switch can be achieved when the browser changes its page browsing mode. |
| US09489465B2 |
Dynamically generating an information code
In response to an event in a device, an information code comprising an address to an information source and a parameter relating to the device is dynamically generated. The parameter is dynamically based on a current state according to the event of the device at a time that the information code is generated. |
| US09489464B2 |
Enhanced search engine
A search engine system capable of displaying indicative information to a user from searches performed by entities connected directly or indirectly to the user, wherein said system includes at least one host computer processor connectable to one or more network(s), a database accessible over said network(s), a plurality of data input devices connectable to said network(s) said search engine being accessible over said network(s). |
| US09489458B1 |
Suggesting interaction among members of a social network
Techniques include receiving a search query; determining a topic related to the search query; identifying, within a specific time following receipt of the search query, one or more members of a social network who are available to interact and who are members of a group relating to the topic; and outputting, for use in augmenting a graphical user interface, data corresponding to information about the one or more members. The data can include data for a link to the group on the social network. |
| US09489450B2 |
Method and apparatus for responding to an inquiry
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for responding to an inquiry from a client via a network. The method and apparatus receive the inquiry from a client via a network. Based on the inquiry, question-answer pairs retrieved from the network are analyzed to determine a response to the inquiry. The QA pairs are not predefined. As a result, the QA pairs have to be analyzed in order to determine whether they are responsive to a particular inquiry. Questions of the QA pairs may be repetitive and, without more, will not be useful in determining whether their corresponding answer responds to an inquiry. |
| US09489446B2 |
Computer-implemented system and method for generating a training set for use during document review
A computer-implemented system and method for generating a training set for use during document review is provided. Classification codes are assigned to a set of documents. Further classification codes are assigned to the same set of documents. The classification code for at least one document is compared with the further classification code for that document. A determination regarding whether a disagreement exists between the assigned classification code and the further classification code for at least one document is made. Those documents with disagreeing classification codes are identified as training set candidates. A stop threshold is applied to the training set candidates and the training set candidates are grouped as a training set when the stop threshold is satisfied. |
| US09489445B2 |
System and method for distributed categorization
A generic categorization method may include receiving interaction data on a distributed computing system operating on a plurality of computing nodes. The distributed computing system may distribute the received interaction data across the plurality of nodes. On each node, categorization rules may be applied to the interaction data via parallel processing. The results, which may include a category associated with each interaction, may be written to a distributed storage system. A user interface may allow a user to define the categorization rules and schemas of interaction data. |
| US09489444B2 |
Determining associations between media objects
A system for correlating a user's interests to media content, said system comprising: (a) at least one data store comprising media content data relating to people, works, and tags; (b) a relationship generator configured to generate direct relationships among said people, works and tags; (c) a connection module to generate connections between a primary person, work or tag and a first set of said people, works, and tags, wherein each person, work and tag of said first set has a direct relationship with said primary person, work or tag; and (d) a display module for causing the display of at least a portion of said first set of said people, works and tags. |
| US09489442B1 |
Prevention of circular event publication in publish/subscribe model using path vector
Techniques to prevent circular event publication are disclosed. In various embodiments, a change in an entity's own value is detected. A change event is published based at least in part on the detected change, including by associating with the change event an event path vector that includes an identifier associated with the entity. |
| US09489435B2 |
Method and apparatus for operating a user interface
A method and apparatus for operating a user interface is provided, in which a first user input is detected, and a confidence analysis is carried out. Different kinds of system responses are generated depending on the result of the confidence analysis, wherein a first kind of system response comprises a system output which requires a second user input, and a second kind of system response comprises the automatic selection of a database entry. A third kind of system response comprises the first and second features, wherein the third kind of system response automatically changes into the first or second kind of system response after the expiry of a period of time. In this case, one of the two first kinds can be set as a standard or “default,” into which the automatic change then takes place after expiry of the period of time without further user interaction. |
| US09489434B1 |
System and method for replication log branching avoidance using post-failover rejoin
A system that implements a data storage service may store data on behalf of clients in multiple replicas stored on respective computing nodes. The system may employ a single master failover protocol, usable when a replica attempts to become the master replica for its replica group. Attempting to become the master replica may include acquiring a lock associated with the replica group, and gathering state information from other replicas in the group. The state information may indicate whether another replica supports the attempt (in which case it is included in a failover quorum) or stores more recent data or metadata than the replica attempting to become the master (in which case it is removed from the replica group). If replicas are removed from the group, they may re-join later or new replicas may be added. If the failover quorum includes enough replicas, the replica assumes mastership for the group. |
| US09489430B2 |
System and method for identifying applicable third-party applications to associate with a file
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for identifying an application for opening a file. A first user input indicative of a file selected by a user is received over a user interface. The selected file has an input file type and is an attachment to an email. Data indicative of the input file type is transmitted over a communications network. A reference list of applications is obtained by combining association requests from application developers to associate respective applications with one or more file types, and a matched list is obtained by removing applications from the reference list, each of the removed applications being associated with a set of one or more file types that each mismatch the input file type. The matched list is displayed over the user interface, which receives a second user input indicative of a selected application from the matched list. |
| US09489429B2 |
Computer system, data management method, and program
A computer system comprising a plurality of computers coupled through a network, the computer system performing service by using a database constructed by a storage area of each of the plurality of computers, wherein a plurality of pieces of data are located in the plurality of computers constructing the database based on a distributed algorithm for distributing and locating the plurality of pieces of data in the plurality of computers, wherein the computer system comprises: a load information management part to manage load information on a load of each of the plurality of computers constructing the database; an algorithm management part to switch the distributed algorithm of the computer system based on the load information; and a relocation processing part to relocate the plurality of pieces of data stored in each of the plurality of computers based on the switched distributed algorithm. |
| US09489426B2 |
Distributed feature collection and correlation engine
A distributed feature collection and correlation engine is provided, Feature extraction comprises obtaining one or more data records; extracting information from the one or more data records based on domain knowledge; transforming the extracted information into a key/value pair comprised of a key K and a value V, wherein the key comprises a feature identifier; and storing the key/value pair in a feature store database if the key/value pair does not already exist in the feature store database using a de-duplication mechanism. Features extracted from data records can be queried by obtaining a feature store database comprised of the extracted features stored as a key/value pair comprised of a key K and a value V, wherein the key comprises a feature identifier; receiving a query comprised of at least one query key; retrieving values from the feature store database that match the query key; and returning one or more retrieved key/value pairs. |
| US09489425B2 |
Routing order lookups
The present invention is generally directed to methods, systems, and computer program products for routing order lookups. Order data from order management system database is synchronized to an order cache. When an order lookup is received, a business layer determines if the cache can appropriately service the order lookup. If so, the business layer routes the order lookup to the cache. Otherwise, the business layer routes the order lookup to the order management system database. In some embodiments, order lookups configured to impact state of the order management system database (e.g., that write or change order data) are routed to the order management system database. In these same embodiments, order lookups configured to not impact state of the order management system database (e.g., that read order data) are routed to the cache. |
| US09489423B1 |
Query data acquisition and analysis
Described in this disclosure are systems and techniques for acquiring query data which includes an execution plan descriptive of how queries used to access a database are processed. In one implementation, an inquiry analysis system uses a copy of a production system to generate execution plan information. The copy includes tables, relationships, metadata, and so forth, but may omit data in the tables, allowing for a compact installation. By analyzing the query data, usage trends, inefficient queries, unused fields, and so forth may be determined and used for maintenance or performance improvements. |
| US09489420B2 |
System and method for in-context exploration of search results
A method of providing in-context exploration of a query results web page, wherein the web page has at least one element and a plurality of query results, receives an indication of interest in the at least one element, and in response to the indication, emphasizes at least one query result relative to the plurality of query results. |
| US09489419B2 |
System and method for optimizing business performance with automated social discovery
A system, process and method for automatically collecting, collating and transforming data into useful formats and displaying or otherwise outputting the transformed data into useable information. The system provides outputs that are useful in optimizing the enterprise performance of a business. The system, process and method are grounded in an established logical framework for systematically classifying areas of business concerns. |
| US09489411B2 |
High performance index creation
High performance index creation using parallel query plans with repartitioning scan and vector-based repartitioning scan is described. An example method includes extracting index key columns from data rows of the database table to build a set of index rows, wherein the index on the database table is defined by a plurality of index key columns including a first index key column and a second index key column. Partition boundary values are generated to divide up the index rows into range-partitioned sets, and the index rows are sorted based on values of the index key columns. A repartitioning scan, including a SARG-based or a vector-based partitioning scan is performed on the index rows, using a plurality of worker threads executing in parallel to build sub-indexes. Subsequently, each range-partitioned set of index rows are assigned to a worker thread in the plurality of worker threads. Accordingly, the sub-indexes generated from the plurality of work threads are merged to build the index for the database table. |
| US09489410B1 |
Bitmap index including internal metadata storage
A method includes receiving a query directed to a bitmap index. The bitmap index includes a plurality of bit strings, where a value stored in a particular location in each of the bit strings indicates whether a corresponding signal associated with a signal source has been received, and where the bitmap index includes at least a first metadata value associated with each of the bit strings, at least a second metadata value associated with each of a plurality of signal sources, or both. The method also includes generating a query execution plan for the query and generating query results based on the query execution plan. The query results identify at least one signal associated with at least one bit string of the plurality of bit strings, at least one signal source of the plurality of signal sources, and at least one of the first metadata value or the second metadata value. |
| US09489409B2 |
Rollover strategies in a N-bit dictionary compressed column store
Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for rollover strategies in an n-bit dictionary compressed column store. An embodiment operates by receiving a new value for addition to a compressed column store, determining that a current memory block of a most recently added token to the compressed column store is the insertion block. It is determined that the maximum token value has been reached for the current memory block. A new virtual memory block is created using the current insertion block, and a token corresponding to the new value is stored in the new virtual memory block. In another embodiment, when it is determined a maximum number of token values that may be stored in a compressed column store has been reached for a data dictionary, the compressed column store is converted into a composite store include a flat store where the new value is stored. |
| US09489407B2 |
Systems, methods, and machine-readable memories for partitioning a database
Systems, methods, and machine-readable memories are provided for partitioning a multi-tenant database between tenants. A first level partition of data in a table within the database is defined. A second level partition of the data in the table within the database is defined. A request is received from an entity associated with a tenant to access a first datum stored in the database. The tenant is determined to be assigned to one or both of the first level partition and the second level partition. Access to the first datum is granted to a first entity where the tenant corresponds to the first tenant and the first datum corresponds to the first level partition parameter value. Access to the first datum is granted to a second entity where the tenant corresponds to the second tenant and the first datum corresponds to the second level partition parameter value. |
| US09489401B1 |
Methods and systems for object recognition
An object identification system comprises at least one database of reference images. Each reference image comprises an identifiable reference object and is associated in the database with a corresponding text description of the reference object. The system also comprises image query resolution data structures, each containing a collection of records having an image descriptor of one of the reference images, and searchable using a corresponding search algorithm. Upon receiving a query comprising an input image including a query object, the system generates a query image descriptor of the input image corresponding with one or more search algorithms, and searches the corresponding image query resolution data structure to identify a closest match record. A best available match record is identified from the closest match records identified in the image query resolution data structures, and a text description of the query object is retrieved corresponding with the associated reference image. |
| US09489400B1 |
Interactive item filtering using images
Systems and methods are provided for generating one or more user interfaces that enable filtering of the contents of a collection of items based on user interaction with item images. For example, an initial configuration can be generated including image thumbnails corresponding to each of a number of items. One or more of the thumbnails may be selected by a user to indicate a desired filter range. When a user interacts with the thumbnails, for example, by selecting a thumbnail or range of thumbnails, the initial configuration and/or an associated collection of items for presentation may be updated to present images of items in the selected filter range. |
| US09489397B1 |
Impact data manager for dynamic data delivery
Techniques for dynamic delivery of client-indicated source data to an impact-on-demand or mapping system include a dynamic data delivery module configured to automatically transform the source data into a format that is compatible with the mapping system, validate at least a portion of the source data, and cause the transformed, validated source data to be delivered to the mapping system for storage in a client portfolio. The mapping system may, in real-time, map the client portfolio with impact events to determine risk exposure. The transformation may be based on one or more rules corresponding to the mapping system, and multiple original source data formats may be automatically transformed into the target format. The dynamic data delivery module may automatically correct or adjust source data contents or format to mitigate any anomalies or errors discovered during the transformation and/or validation processes. |
| US09489394B2 |
Systems and methods for prioritizing file uploads
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for uploading data to a cloud system. A plurality of files on a client system is identified for uploading to a cloud system. The plurality of files is associated with metadata, and a respective score is evaluated for each file in the plurality of files by applying a ranking scheme to the metadata. An upload process is initiated for each file in the plurality of files based on each file's respective score. |
| US09489393B2 |
Information system
The information system of the present invention is composed of multiple sites including a local file server and clients, and a data center having a center file server. When a user starts moving to a different site after using a file in the local file server through a client of any one site, the local file server replicates files of a user having the shortest predicted arrival site to a different site to a center file server preferentially based on a location information of each user. Further, at each site, files of a user having a short predicted time of arrival to its own site are downloaded based on the location information of the user. |
| US09489392B2 |
High availability data replication
A data replication system and method is disclosed in which a master file server uses a first filter in a kernel space to intercept file I/O events, send the file I/O events over a first network, for example a local area network, to a second filter in a kernel space of a first replica file server, and submit the file I/O event to a file system program in user space of the master file server to be processed. The second filter records the file I/O event in a memory of the second file server and sends an acknowledge message to the first filter indicating the file I/O event received by the second filter has been recorded in the replica file server. The first filter notifies user land in the first file server that the file I/O event has been processed if the first filter has received the acknowledge message and the file system program has completed processing the file I/O event in the first file server. In one embodiment, a data replication engine in the first replica file server replicates data stored in the first replica file server to a second replica file server in a location remote from the second replica file server, using a second network, for example a wide area network. |
| US09489391B2 |
File storage system based on coordinated exhaustible and non-exhaustible storage
A file storage system may be implemented by coordinating non-exhaustible and exhaustible storage devices. The exhaustible storage devices may be lower grade flash based storage devices. The non-exhaustible storage devices may be storage devices based on magnetic recording mechanisms or higher grade flash storage. The file storage system may store received content items on the exhaustible storage devices. The file storage system may additionally store metadata for the content items and/or the file storage system on the non-exhaustible storage devices. During operation, the file storage system may globally optimize the content items on the exhaustible storage devices such that more heavily accessed items are moved to exhaustible storage devices that have experienced relatively few data operations. The file storage system can move less frequently accessed content items to exhaustible storage devices that have experienced a relatively large number of data operations. As such, the operation lifetime of the exhaustible storage devices as a whole can be prolonged. |
| US09489387B2 |
Storage management of data streamed from a video source device
A computer implemented method for managing data received from a video source device is disclosed. At least a first storage tier and a second storage tier on a storage medium are identified for respectively storing different categories of data. As data streams are received from the video source, the data streams are associated with at least the first storage tier or the second storage tier and data from the received streams are stored in the associated storage tier. When the storage medium is full or meets some other specified maximum capacity threshold, data is deleted beginning with data that has an age that exceeds one or more specified maximum retention times, followed by data with the oldest age from one or both of the first and second storage tiers. |
| US09489385B1 |
Exact look and feel for sharepoint archived content
A system and method for archiving a version of a document are disclosed. The document to be archived may be web-based or written in a markup language. The content of the document is parsed. From a totality of style information accessed to display the document with an original display appearance, a subset of style information is determined. The subset of style information can impart a totality of the original display appearance to the document. An archival version of the document is created. The archival version of the document has the totality of style information represented by the subset of style information. The archival version of the document is stored. At least one of the actions of parsing, determining and creating is executed through a specially programmed processor. |
| US09489375B2 |
Speech recognition using an operating system hooking component for context-aware recognition models
Inputs provided into user interface elements of an application are observed. Records are made of the inputs and the state(s) the application was in while the inputs were provided. For each state, a corresponding language model is trained based on the input(s) provided to the application while the application was in that state. When the application is next observed to be in a previously-observed state, a language model associated with the application's current state is applied to recognize speech input provided by a user and thereby to generate speech recognition output that is provided to the application. An application's state at a particular time may include the user interface element(s) that are displayed and/or in focus at that time, and is determined by an operating system hooking component embedded in the automatic speech recognition system. |
| US09489374B2 |
Computer readable storage medium having input program stored therein, system, and input method
Upon receiving an input of an input character a1 by a user, a game apparatus stores the received input character a1 as an unfixed character, and displays the stored unfixed character a1. The game apparatus obtains option character strings a2 corresponding to the input character a1 from an option character string database, and receives an operation which the user performs for selecting an option character string a2 from the obtained option character strings a2. Upon receiving the operation for selecting an option character string a2, the game apparatus determines the selected option character string a2 to be a fixed character string, and stores the determined fixed character string, and then outputs the stored fixed character string. Here, only when receiving the operation for selecting an option character string, the game apparatus determines a fixed character string. |
| US09489371B2 |
Detection of data in a sequence of characters
A method for detecting data in a sequence of characters or text using both a statistical engine and a pattern engine. The statistical engine is trained to recognize certain types of data and the pattern engine is programmed to recognize the grammatical pattern of certain types of data. The statistical engine may scan the sequence of characters to output first data, and the pattern engine may break down the first data into subsets of data. Alternatively, the statistical engine may output items that have a predetermined probability or greater of being a certain type of data and the pattern engine may then detect the data from the output items and/or remove incorrect information from the output items. |
| US09489368B2 |
Suggesting a set of operations applicable to a selected range of data in a spreadsheet
A smart selection engine is provided. The smart selection engine may run in the context of a spreadsheet application on any device, service, or general endpoint capable of running the spreadsheet application. The smart selection engine reduces the cognitive load and complexity for performing spreadsheet operations by clearly presenting the user with easy to use and understand options that are big, simple, and lend themselves nicely to natural user interfaces, touch enabled devices, and devices with small displays as well as with graphical user interfaces, larger displays, and traditional input devices. By making contextually based suggestions, the smart selection engine reduces or eliminates the need for the user to be aware of the available operations or how to perform the operations. Further, the smart selection engine improves the consistency and efficiency of working with a spreadsheet. |
| US09489367B2 |
Systems and methods for mutations and operational transforms in a collaborative spreadsheet environment
Mutations representing spreadsheet edit operations are received at a server from client computers of collaborators and also at a collaborator's client computer from other collaborators and the server. Different mutations may conflict, i.e., provide contradictory instructions on how a spreadsheet is to be edited. Techniques for representing sort operations, cut-and-paste operations, and operations to change cell properties as mutations, and operational transform techniques that can be used to resolve conflicts between such mutations, are disclosed herein. Further disclosed herein are techniques for identifying and processing computationally intensive types of mutations in a calculation thread which operates asynchronously with respect to a UI thread at a collaborator's client computer. The processing may include performing an operational transform on results of the calculation thread based on results obtained in the UI thread. |
| US09489365B2 |
User interface for visualizing resizing of table elements
The present disclosure relates to the resizing of tables elements, such as rows or columns of a table. In one embodiment, a user selects two or more rows or columns to be resized and performs a column or row manipulation corresponding to the desired resize event, such as be interacting with an edge of one of the selected rows or columns. In an implementation, the user may toggle between the use of different resizing algorithms to see the effects of the different resizing algorithms. |
| US09489363B2 |
User configurable user interface
A system for data entry includes a form module, where the form module includes at least one form having multiple fields and the form module is configured to receive data into the fields. Each of the fields is user selectable to set a default value and each of the fields is user selectable for removal from display in a form view. The system includes a default value module, where the default value module includes a default value list, which includes the user selected fields having both a default value and user selected for removal from display in the form view. The system includes a display module that is configured to display the form view, where the form view displays the fields for data entry and collapses the list of displayed fields to remove the fields on the default value list from display in the form view. |
| US09489362B2 |
Method for generating a graphical questionnaire, and method for filling in the graphical questionnaire
In a questionnaire generating method for generating a graphical questionnaire, an electronic device provides a graphical element on a display, an editing interface that enables user input of graphical element information related to the graphical element, and an editing interface that enables user input of question information related to the question. Subsequently, the electronic device forms a schematic diagram that represents an object of interest using the graphical element and the graphical element information on the display, and generates the graphical questionnaire using the schematic diagram and the question information. |
| US09489359B2 |
Editing the text of an arbitrary graphic via a hierarchical list
The present invention includes a graphics software program that automatically creates graphical content when a user creates or modifies a hierarchical list of content data and chooses from one of a plurality of graphical definition choices for the graphical elements. In addition, the present invention includes a user interface with three different displays. The first display presents the user with one or more galleries including a gallery with a plurality of graphical definitions. The second display is a content entry area. The final display is a drawing canvas. |
| US09489355B2 |
Characterization of layered documents in HTML5 publishing
An education digital reading platform provides pages of a document requested by a user, the pages including additional content layers associated with the requested content. The additional content layers including related content, user generated content, advertisement content and other services content offered by the digital reading platform. The requested content and additional content layers require processing capability on a web browser application. The amount of data associated with a page of a document may vary dramatically especially considering the additional layers of content associated with the pages. In order to permit the web browser application anticipate the processing needs associated with each page, the digital reading platform provides markers indicating a difference in processing requirements associated between two pages of a document. The markers enable the web browser request additional resources to provide a seamless user experience or enable the web browser application to request additional or fewer content layers. |
| US09489354B1 |
Masking content while preserving layout of a webpage
A method and apparatus for masking and unmasking content. A system configured to practice the example method embodiment parses a markup language document to identify a location of a section of the markup language document to mask and selects, based on a content type for content within the section, replacement content for the section. Then the system saves a copy of the section in a storage external to the markup language document. The system inserts the replacement content in the markup language document at the location in place of the section to mask the section while preserving formatting and layout of the markup language document. Upon receiving an indication to restore the section, the system inserts the copy of the section in the markup language document at the location in place of the replacement content. |
| US09489352B1 |
System and method for providing content to users based on interactions by similar other users
A system and method indicates certain terms on a web page as links or portals to additional information and then allows the user to click the link or operate the portal to obtain the additional information, which may be a different web page on the world wide web. |
| US09489343B2 |
System and method for sparse matrix vector multiplication processing
Systems and methods for sparse matrix vector multiplication (SpMV) are disclosed. The systems and methods include a novel streaming reduction architecture for floating point accumulation and a novel on-chip cache design optimized for streaming compressed sparse row (CSR) matrices. The present disclosure is also directed to implementation of the reduction circuit and/or processing elements for SpMV processing into a personality for the Convey HC-1 computing device. |
| US09489336B2 |
Method and system for record access in a distributed system
A method for record access in a distributed system includes receiving a request for a record, wherein the request comprises a transmitted key and a record identifier, extracting a location identifier and a transmitted pseudorandom portion from the transmitted key, obtaining a stored pseudorandom portion from a location in a key memory specified by the location identifier, and providing access to the record identified by the record identifier when the transmitted pseudorandom portion matches the stored pseudorandom portion. |
| US09489333B2 |
Adaptive termination scheme for low power high speed bus
Methods and apparatus relating to an adaptive termination scheme for a low power, high speed bus are described. In an embodiment, logic at least partially causes termination of a portion (e.g., one or more transmission lines) of an interconnect. The logic adaptively optimizes the number of lines that are to be terminated based on one or more operating conditions of the interconnect. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US09489331B2 |
Method and protocol for high-speed data channel detection control
A system capable of bi-directional data transfer, the system including a host configured to send downstream data to a peripheral and to receive upstream data from the peripheral, a main link coupled to the host and configured to transfer the downstream data from the host to the peripheral, and an auxiliary link coupled to the host and including a first auxiliary link lane for transferring the upstream data from the peripheral to the host in a first mode, and for transferring the downstream data from the host to the peripheral in a second mode, wherein the host is configured to engage in one or more handshake processes with the peripheral to cause the auxiliary link to switch between the first and second modes. |
| US09489329B2 |
Supporting multiple channels of a single interface
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a request for a transaction from a first agent in a fabric and obtaining an address, a requester identifier, a tag, and a traffic class of the transaction, and determining a channel of a target agent to receive the transaction based on at least two of the address, the requester identifier, the tag, and the traffic class. Based on this channel determination, the transaction can be sent to the channel of the target agent. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09489328B2 |
System on chip and method for accessing device on bus
The present invention discloses a system on a chip and a method for accessing a device on a bus, and belongs to the electronics field. The system includes: a primary device, configured to send an access request; an extension module, configured to receive the access request sent by the primary device, and extend the ID signal in the access request according to the number of primary devices; a parsing module, configured to parse the access request output by the extension module to obtain an access response instruction; and a secondary device, configured to respond to the extended access request according to the access response instruction. By using the foregoing technical solution, the present invention allows the primary device to flexibly access the secondary device, thereby reducing requirements on the primary and secondary devices. |
| US09489327B2 |
System and method for supporting an efficient packet processing model in a network environment
A system and method can support efficient packet processing in a network environment. The system can comprise a thread scheduling engine that operates to assign a thread key to each software thread in a plurality of software threads. Furthermore, the system can comprise a pool of direct memory access (DMA) resources that can be used to process packets in the network environment. Additionally, each said software thread operates to request access to a DMA resource in the pool of DMA resources by presenting an assigned thread key, and a single software thread is allowed to access multiple DMA resources using the same thread key. |
| US09489326B1 |
Multi-port integrated circuit devices and methods
An integrated circuit device may include a first integrated circuit (IC) portion having a memory array that stores data units as storage locations and burst access circuitry that sequentially accesses N relates storage locations within the memory array, where N>1; and a second IC portion comprising a plurality of burst access registers coupled to the burst access circuitry, each burst access register having register locations to store at least N data units, and being coupled to a corresponding port by a single data unit access path. |
| US09489324B2 |
Data processing device, semiconductor external view inspection device, and data volume increase alleviation method
Provided is a data processing device with which, when a temporary network congestion occurs, it is possible to avoid a buffer overflow and sustain a process. When a request for retransmission of the same data with respect to a processor element from a buffer occurs continuously a prescribed number of iterations, a data processing device according to the present invention determines that it is possible that a buffer overflow occurs, and suppresses an increase in the volume of data which is accumulated in the buffer (see FIG. 1). |
| US09489322B2 |
Reducing latency of unified memory transactions
In an embodiment, an apparatus includes a consuming logic to request and process data including a critical data portion and a second data portion, the data stored in a memory coupled to a processor interposed between the apparatus and the memory. In addition, the apparatus includes a protocol stack logic coupled to the consuming logic to issue a read request to the memory via the processor to request the data and to receive a plurality of completions responsive to the read request. In an embodiment, the protocol stack logic includes a completion handling logic to send data of a first of the completions to the consuming logic before protocol stack processing is completed on the completions. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09489319B1 |
Operating time supervisory system
An operating time supervisory system includes a computer host, a computer screen and an input device. An application program and a device driver corresponding to the input device are installed in the computer host. The device driver contains a supervisory program. When the application program is opened, the supervisory program recognizes the application program and starts to calculate an operating time of the application program. After a prompt setting task is completed, the supervisory program acquires a prompt time point. If the supervisory program judges that the application program is still operated at the prompt time point, the operating time corresponding to the prompt time point is displayed on the computer screen under control of the supervisory program. |
| US09489313B2 |
Conditional page fault control for page residency
The present disclosure provides for systems and methods to process a non-resident page that may include attempting to access the non-resident page, an address for the non-resident page pointing to a memory page containing default values, determining that the non-resident page should not cause a page fault based on an indicator indicating that a particular non-resident page should not generate a page fault, returning an indication that a memory read did not translate and returning the default value when the access of the non-resident page is a read and the non-resident page should not cause a page fault. Another example may discontinue a write when the access of the non-resident page is a write and the non-resident page should not cause a page fault. |
| US09489312B2 |
Host side deduplication
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced. |
| US09489311B2 |
Systems and methods for cache management for universal serial bus systems
Systems and methods are provided for cache management. An example system includes a cache and a cache-management component. The cache includes a plurality of cache lines corresponding to a plurality of device endpoints, a device endpoint including a portion of a universal-serial-bus (USB) device. The cache-management component is configured to receive first transfer request blocks (TRBs) for data transfer involving a first device endpoint and determine whether a cache line in the cache is assigned to the first device endpoint. The cache-management component is further configured to, in response to no cache line in the cache being assigned to the first device endpoint, determine whether the cache includes an empty cache line that contains no valid TRBs, and in response to the cache including an empty cache line, assign the empty cache line to the first device endpoint and store the first TRBs to the empty cache line. |
| US09489307B2 |
Multi domain bridge with auto snoop response
An asynchronous dual domain bridge is implemented between the cache coherent master and the coherent system interconnect. The bridge has 2 halves, one in each clock/powerdown domain—master and interconnect. The powerdown mechanism is isolated to just the asynchronous bridge implemented between the master and the interconnect with a basic request/acknowledge handshake between the master subsystem and the asynchronous bridge. |
| US09489303B2 |
Techniques for controlling recycling of blocks of memory
The present disclosure relates to examples of controlling recycling of blocks of memory. In one example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a method comprises determining whether to reclaim one or more blocks of a memory. The method further comprises allocating at least one of the blocks to be written in accordance with the equalizing, in response to the determining, and selected from a subset of the blocks, wherein a respective lifetime factor is below a threshold set prior to the allocating. |
| US09489302B2 |
Control arrangements and methods for accessing block oriented nonvolatile memory
A memory system digitally communicates with a host device to provide data storage capacity for the host device. The memory system includes at least one module including a nonvolatile memory section that is made up of a plurality of memory devices and the module includes a bit density function to assign a storage density to each memory device such that one group of the memory devices is configured to store data at a high storage density and another group of the memory devices is configured to store data at a low storage density. The module independently performs the bit density function for the nonvolatile memory section of each module based on one or more module input parameters. |
| US09489301B2 |
Memory systems
Memory systems having a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory arranged in blocks, and a controller coupled to the volatile memory and to the non-volatile memory. The controller is configured to maintain, in the volatile memory, a list of addresses of erased blocks of the non-volatile memory. The list of addresses of erased blocks of the non-volatile memory is limited to a maximum number of list entries. The controller is further configured to transfer the list of addresses of erased blocks of the non-volatile memory from the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory in response to the list containing its maximum number of list entries and/or in response to an operation that would increase the number of list entries to a number equal to or greater than the maximum number of list entries. |
| US09489297B2 |
Pregroomer for storage array
Techniques are disclosed relating to arranging data on storage media. In one embodiment, a computer system is configured to access a storage array that includes a plurality of storage blocks. The computer system executes a first set of processes and a second set of processes, where the first set of processes operates on selected ones of the plurality of storage blocks to increase a likelihood that the selected storage blocks are operated on by the second set of processes. In some embodiments, the second set of processes determines whether to operate on a storage block based on an amount of invalid data within the storage block. In such an embodiment, the first set of processes increases a likelihood that the storage block is operated on by increasing the amount of invalid data within the storage block. |
| US09489294B2 |
Data encoding for non-volatile memory
A data storage device includes a memory and a controller. Mapping circuitry is configured to apply a mapping to received data to generate mapped data to be stored into the memory. The mapping is configured to reduce an average number of state changes of storage elements per write operation. |
| US09489288B1 |
System, method, and computer program for automating activities associated with a testing project
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for automating activities associated with a testing project. In use, design of a testing project is initiated. Additionally, one or more activities associated with the testing project in which to automate are identified based on criteria associated with the one or more activities. Further, the identified one or more activities are automated such that the one or more activities are performed automatically during performance of the testing project. |
| US09489287B2 |
Breaking code execution based on time consumption
An on-chip system uses a time measurement circuit to trap code that takes longer than expected to execute by breaking code execution on excess time consumption. |
| US09489286B2 |
Method and system for computer assisted hot-tracing mechanism
This invention provides a new mechanism for “Hot-Tracing” using a novel placeholder mechanism and binary rewriting techniques, which leverages existing compiler flags in order to enable light-weight and highly flexible dynamic instrumentation. Broadly, I-Probe can be divided in 2 distinct workflows—1. Pre-processing (ColdPatch), and 2. Hot Tracing. The first phase is a pre-processing mechanism to prepare the binary for phase 2. The second phase is the actual hot-tracing mechanism, which allows users to dynamically instrument functions (more specifically symbols) of their choice. |
| US09489285B2 |
Modifying run-time-instrumentation controls from a lesser-privileged state
Embodiments of the invention relate to modifying run-time-instrumentation controls (MRIC) from a lesser-privileged state. The MRIC instruction is fetched. The MRIC instruction includes the address of a run-time-instrumentation control block (RICCB). The RICCB is fetched based on the address included in the MRIC instruction. The RICCB includes values for modifying a subset of the processor's run-time-instrumentation controls. The subset of run-time-instrumentation controls includes a runtime instrumentation program buffer current address (RCA) of a runtime instrumentation program buffer (RIB) location. The RIB holds run-time-instrumentation information of the events recognized by the processor during program execution. The values of the RICCB are loaded into the run-time-instrumentation controls. Event information is provided to the RIB based on the values that were loaded in the run-time-instrumentation control. |
| US09489284B2 |
Debugging method and computer program product
A method for debugging a computer program is proposed. The method includes a step of running at least part of the computer program on a computer, thereby prompting the computer to execute a sequence of instructions and to generate a trace corresponding to the executed sequence of instructions. When the program has generated an exception, selecting a set of one or more exception strings on the basis of the trace, so that each of the exception strings is a unique substring of the trace. The exception strings are indicated to a user or to a debugging tool. The set of exception strings may notably include the ultimate shortest unique substring of the trace. A computer program product is also described. |
| US09489281B2 |
Access point group controller failure notification system
An access point IHS group controller failure notification system includes access point IHSs connected to a network and members of an access point IHS group. A first access point IHS group controller for the access point IHS group is also coupled to the network. The first access point IHS group controller detects a failure issue associated with its imminent failure and, in response, creates an imminent failure message that includes an identifier for the first access point IHS group controller. The imminent failure message may also include timing information that indicates when the first access point IHS group controller will again be available, and/or a second identifier for a second access point IHS group controller that is available for controlling the access point IHS group. The first access point IHS group controller then sends the imminent failure message through the network to each of the plurality of access point IHSs. |
| US09489279B2 |
Visualization of performance data over a network path
A system and technique for visualizing performance data over a network path are disclosed. More specifically, a network management system generates and displays an object that represents data for one or more performance characteristics related to a plurality of network nodes in the network path. In one embodiment, a graph having an x-axis and a y-axis is displayed, the x-axis being associated with two or more network nodes in the network path and the y-axis being associated with a first performance characteristic. Data corresponding to the first performance characteristic is plotted as data points corresponding to the network nodes associated with the x-axis. Data corresponding to a second performance characteristic may be represented via the size or the color of the data points. Alternatively, a characterization of the data corresponding to the first performance characteristic may be represented by the size or color of the data points. |
| US09489275B2 |
Techniques for error handling in parallel splitting of storage commands
Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for handling errors affecting the at least partially parallel performance of data access commands between nodes of a storage cluster system. An apparatus may include a processor component of a first node, an access component to perform a command received from a client device via a network to alter client device data stored in a first storage device coupled to the first node, a replication component to transmit a replica of the command to a second node via the network to enable performance of the replica by the second node at least partially in parallel, an error component to retry transmission of the replica based on a failure indicated by the second node and a status component to select a status indication to transmit to the client device based on the indication of failure and results of retrial of transmission of the replica. |
| US09489266B2 |
System and method of storing backup image catalog
A system and method for managing backup and restore operations associated with a backup system. Metadata associated with files/directories of one or more file systems associated with one or more resources may be received. A virtual catalog image associated with the metadata may be created in a virtual file system image format. Once the virtual catalog image is created, virtualization vendor specific technology may be utilized to mount the image on the backup system and search and browse operations may be performed. The virtual catalog image may contain the file/directory hierarchy without containing actual file data. |
| US09489264B2 |
Storing an encoded data slice as a set of sub-slices
A method begins by storage units of a dispersed storage network (DSN) receiving a set of encoded data slices for storage. The method continues with a first storage unit determining whether to store a first encoded data slice as a first set of encoded data sub-slices. The method continues with the first storage unit encoding the first encoded data slice in accordance with a first dispersed storage error encoding function to produce the first set of encoded data sub-slices. The method continues by a second storage unit of the storage units determining whether to store a second encoded data slice as a second set of encoded data sub-slices. The method continues with the second storage unit encoding the second encoded data slice in accordance with a second dispersed storage error encoding function to produce the second set of encoded data sub-slices. |
| US09489263B2 |
Selective ECC refresh for on die buffered non-volatile memory
Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for on die buffered non-volatile memory management. A method includes storing data in a first set of non-volatile memory cells. A method includes determining whether to perform an error-correcting code (ECC) refresh for data to be copied from a first set of non-volatile memory cells to a second set of non-volatile memory cells based on one or more attributes associated with the data. A method includes storing data in a second set of non-volatile storage cells representing data using more storage cells per cell than a first set of non-volatile storage cells. |
| US09489261B2 |
Background initialization for protection information enabled storage volumes
Technology is disclosed for performing background initialization on protection information enabled storage volumes or drives. In some embodiments, a storage controller generates multiple I/O requests for stripe segments of each drive (e.g., disk) of multiple drives of a RAID-based system (e.g., RAID-based disk array). The I/O requests are then sorted for each of the drives according to a pre-determined arrangement and initiated in parallel to the disks while enforcing the pre-determined arrangement. Sorting and issuing the I/O requests in the manner described herein can, for example, reduce drive head movement resulting in faster storage subsystem initialization. |
| US09489259B2 |
Low density parity check encoder having length of 16200 and code rate of 2/15, and low density parity check encoding method using the same
A low density parity check (LDPC) encoder, an LDPC decoder, and an LDPC encoding method are disclosed. The LDPC encoder includes first memory, second memory, and a processor. The first memory stores an LDPC codeword having a length of 16200 and a code rate of 2/15. The second memory is initialized to 0. The processor generates the LDPC codeword corresponding to information bits by performing accumulation with respect to the second memory using a sequence corresponding to a parity check matrix (PCM). |
| US09489257B2 |
Correcting soft reliability measures of storage values read from memory cells
A method for data storage includes reading storage values, which represent stored data, from a group of memory cells using read thresholds, and deriving respective soft reliability metrics for the storage values. The storage values are classified into two or more subgroups based on a predefined classification criterion. Independently within each subgroup, a subgroup-specific distribution of the storage values in the subgroup is estimated, and the soft reliability metrics of the storage values in the subgroup are corrected based on the subgroup-specific distribution. The stored data is decoded using the corrected soft reliability metrics. |
| US09489256B2 |
Device quality metrics using unsatisfied parity checks
An apparatus having a device and a circuit is disclosed. The device is configured to convey a codeword. The circuit is configured to (i) receive the codeword from the device, (ii) generate a syndrome by performing a portion less than all of an iterative decoding procedure on the codeword, (iii) generate a value by counting a number of unsatisfied parity checks in the syndrome and (iv) generate a quality metric of the device according to the value. |
| US09489253B2 |
Memory controller and method of operating memory controller for reading data from memory device at high speed
An method is provided for operating a memory system. The method includes reading data from memory cells connected to a selected word line to generate read data; performing an error correction operation based on the read data and generating segmented error correcting code (ECC) read data; transferring the segmented ECC read data to a host side buffer and increasing a value of a host DMA count; comparing the value of the host DMA count with a read latency count value; selectively updating an ECC status information signal according to the comparison result; and transferring the segmented ECC read data to a host. |
| US09489235B2 |
Request processing system, method and program product
A processing method has been claimed for reducing the average wait time of requests in a queue in a system environment where garbage collection may occur. In the method, a computer system treats as a unit each request in a queue and a completion time of garbage collection that may occur at the time of processing the request, and processes requests preferentially and systematically in ascending order of the processing times of the units including the garbage collection times, thereby, reducing the average wait time of the requests. While, the computer system managing the queue knows the remaining amount of heap just before processing a certain request, the computer system statistically calculates in advance the amounts of heap to be consumed on a request type basis and holds the values. Accordingly, before processing a certain request, the computer system can predict whether or not the processing of the request will cause garbage collection, in consideration of the estimated heap consumption of the request and the remaining amount of heap in the memory. |
| US09489234B2 |
Dynamically adjusting a log level of a transaction
A method dynamically adjusts a log level of a transaction. The method includes: buffering the most detailed logs of a transaction having highest log level into a memory; checking if all dependency-defined transactions within a dependency list/tree for the transaction are completed; and, in response to the completion of all dependency-defined transactions within the dependency list/tree for the transaction, obtaining a log filter level for the transaction in association with the transaction results (success/failure) of dependency-defined transactions, wherein the log filter level is a new log level for the transaction. |
| US09489223B2 |
Virtual machine wakeup using a memory monitoring instruction
A method and system for managing a virtual computing system including an event source configured to send an event to a destination virtual machine (VM) executing a memory monitoring instruction on a designated address range of a host memory. A hypervisor instructs a destination virtual central processing unit (VCPU) associated with the destination VM to execute the memory monitoring instruction to the designated address range of a memory. A physical CPU associated with the designated address range is configured not to perform an exit to the hypervisor in response to execution of the memory monitoring instruction by the destination VCPU. The hypervisor instructs an event source to write data to the designated address range to send an event for performance by the destination VM, wherein the destination VM wakes up and performs the identified event in response to the event source writing to the identified address range. |
| US09489216B2 |
Active tiled user interface
A computer interface can be customized by a user at run time (instead of by a developer or administrator at an earlier time). A rectangular area can be divided into a plurality of sub-areas, and content sources assigned to each sub-area; or two adjacent sub-areas can be coalesced into a single, larger area. Content sources are assigned to each sub-area, and live content from the assigned source is displayed in the sub-area. |
| US09489214B2 |
Adding functionality to existing code at exits
New code is added to existing object code in order to add new functionality. For example, a call to start a profiler function can be added at the beginning of a Java method and a call to stop the profiler function can be added at the exits of the Java method. A method may have many different exits. To insure that the profiler process is stopped regardless of which exit is performed, the byte code and exception table are modified. |
| US09489212B2 |
System and method for an access controller assisted boot
Systems and methods for reducing problems and disadvantages associated with network boots are disclosed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, an information handling system comprises a processor, a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, and an access controller communicatively coupled to the processor. The access controller has stored thereon a general pre-boot file and configured to receive boot configuration information from a management server. The access controller further configured to generate a boot script according to the boot configuration information and generate a specific pre-boot file based on the general pre-boot file and the boot script. The access controller is further configured to configure the information handling system to boot to a target based on the specific pre-boot file. |
| US09489207B2 |
Processor and method for partially flushing a dispatched instruction group including a mispredicted branch
Mechanisms are provided for partial flush handling with multiple branches per instruction group. The instruction fetch unit sorts instructions into groups. A group may include a floating branch instruction and a boundary branch instruction. For each group of instructions, the instruction sequencing unit creates an entry in a global completion table (GCT), which may also be referred to herein as a group completion table. The instruction sequencing unit uses the GCT to manage completion of instructions within each outstanding group. Because each group may include up to two branches, the instruction sequencing unit may dispatch instructions beyond the first branch, i.e. the floating branch. Therefore, if the floating branch results in a misprediction, the processor performs a partial flush of that group, as well as a flush of every group younger than that group. |
| US09489205B1 |
Compiler-assisted look-ahead instruction-fetch and branch-prediction system apparatus and method for microprocessors
A method and system of the compiler-assisted look-ahead instruction-fetch branch-prediction (CLIB) comprising simple, small, and twice as fast instruction caches are designed for improving both speed and accuracy of instruction fetch and branch prediction by prefetching and fetching a type of instructions for accurate, look-ahead instruction prefetching, fetching and branch prediction and another type of instructions for compatible instruction prefetch and fetch. The invention is also designed for converting each basic block found in the program compiled by compilers in prior arts to a look-ahead instruction and a single or plurality of compatible instructions. The invention is also designed for delivering the look-ahead instructions to branch predictors before fetching the compatible instructions of the look-ahead instructions. In particular, both of the different types of the instructions are concurrently fetched to a single or plurality of microprocessors in an accurate and timely manner while achieving compatibility of the original program. |
| US09489204B2 |
Method and apparatus for precalculating a direct branch partial target address during a misprediction correction process
An example method of storing a partial target address in an instruction cache includes receiving a branch instruction. The method also includes predicting a direction of the branch instruction as being not taken. The method further includes calculating a destination address based on executing the branch instruction. The method also includes determining a partial target address using the destination address. The method further includes in response to the predicted direction of the branch instruction changing from not taken to taken, replacing an offset in an instruction cache with the partial target address. |
| US09489202B2 |
Processor having a tripwire bus port and executing a tripwire instruction
A pipelined run-to-completion processor has a special tripwire bus port and executes a novel tripwire instruction. Execution of the tripwire instruction causes the processor to output a tripwire value onto the port during a clock cycle when the tripwire instruction is being executed. A first multi-bit value of the tripwire value is data that is output from registers, and/or flags, and/or pointers, and/or data values stored in the pipeline. A field of the tripwire instruction specifies what particular stored values will be output as the first multi-bit value. A second multi-bit value of the tripwire value is a number that identifies the particular processor that output the tripwire value. The processor has a TE enable/disable control bit. This bit is programmable by a special instruction to disable all tripwire instructions. If disabled, a tripwire instruction is fetched and decoded but does not cause the output of a tripwire value. |
| US09489201B2 |
Partitioned register file
A system includes a processing unit and a register file. The register file includes at least a first memory structure and a second memory structure. The first memory structure has a lower access energy than the second memory structure. The processing unit is configured to address the register file using a single logical namespace for both the first memory structure and the second memory structure. |
| US09489198B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing logical compare operations
A method and apparatus for including in a processor instructions for performing logical-comparison and branch support operations on packed or unpacked data. In one embodiment, instruction decode logic decodes instructions for an execution unit to operate on packed data elements including logical comparisons. A register file including 128-bit packed data registers stores packed single-precision floating point (SPFP) and packed integer data elements. The logical comparisons may include comparison of SPFP data elements and comparison of integer data elements and setting at least one bit to indicate the results. Based on these comparisons, branch support actions are taken. Such branch support actions may include setting the at least one bit, which in turn may be utilized by a branching unit in response to a branch instruction. Alternatively, the branch support actions may include branching to an indicated target code location. |
| US09489192B2 |
Device and method for upgrading data terminal
Provided are a device and method for upgrading a data terminal. The device includes a dialing component, a protocol component, a DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server component, a router component, an Internet Protocol (IP) processing component, an upgrading component and a web server component, wherein the dialling component implements a dialling flow; and the upgrading component acquires a private IP address from the DHCP server component, sends a request message of detecting whether there is a new version to a version server through the router component and the protocol component, and if there is the new version, downloads the new version from the version server and writes the new version into a flash of a data terminal, and then the data terminal is automatically restarted to finish upgrading. According to the technical solution, an upgrading process of the data terminal under a win8 operating system, a web server access process and a network access process of a Personal Computer (PC) are independently implemented, relevance between the upgrading process of the data terminal and an operating system of the PC is reduced, Microsoft win8 logo authentication can be passed, and a driver-free function may further be realized. |
| US09489188B1 |
Tag-based deployment
Methods and systems for deploying upgrades are provided. In an example, a release package containing upgrade for software application, operating system, firmware and the like may be tagged with one or more package tags. Each of the package tags may be associated with a tag category comprising one or more tag values which may form a tag hierarchy. In an example, a target host for a upgrade release may be tagged with one or more host tags similar to the package tags. In an embodiment, a release package may be selected from a plurality of release packages to be deployed to a host by matching the package tags associated with the release package to the host tags associated with the host. The package tags, host tags and associated tag categories may be arbitrarily defined and/or extended. |
| US09489186B2 |
Dynamically recommending configuration changes to an operating system image
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for dynamically recommending configuration changes to an operating system image are provided. Embodiments include monitoring, by an image deployment monitor, configurations of a plurality of deployed copies of a master operating system (OS) image; detecting, by the image deployment monitor, a change in one or more configurations of a first set of deployed copies of the plurality of deployed copies; and in response to detecting the change, generating, by the image deployment monitor, a configuration recommendation to recommend the change to an OS image. |
| US09489183B2 |
Tile communication operator
A high level programming language provides a tile communication operator that decomposes a computational space into sub-spaces (i.e., tiles) that may be mapped to execution structures (e.g., thread groups) of data parallel compute nodes. An indexable type with a rank and element type defines the computational space. For an input indexable type, the tile communication operator produces an output indexable type with the same rank as the input indexable type and an element type that is a tile of the input indexable type. The output indexable type provides a local view structure of the computational space that enables coalescing of global memory accesses in a data parallel compute node. |
| US09489182B1 |
Transparent process interception
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for transparently instrumenting a build system. One of the methods includes setting, in an execution environment of a computer system, a first environment variable that specifies a custom agent to be executed in the execution environment. A request by the system to create a virtual machine using a default create VM function is intercepted by a custom create VM function. The custom create VM function removes the first environment variable from the execution environment, and the custom create VM function executes the default create VM function to invoke a VM having the custom agent without the execution environment having the first environment variable being set. |
| US09489178B2 |
Method of website optimisation
A website optimisation system is integrated with a website by applying generic code to the website, that being the only code needed to be applied to the native source code of the website to enable the website optimisation system to optimise the website by altering one or more of: the data, functions or content assets of web pages in the website. Integration can be achieved on a one-time basis. The generic code can be placed into a website's page template or global page header, or manually to all pages in a website. The generic code can be just a single line of code, such as JavaScript® code. The generic code remains the same irrespective of any differences in the data, functions or content assets of the web pages. The generic code includes code for all commands that enable tracking of the actions that relate to the optimisation objectives. |
| US09489174B2 |
Rounding floating point numbers
Embodiments disclosed pertain to apparatuses, systems, and methods for floating point operations. Disclosed embodiments pertain to a circuit that is capable of processing both a normal and denormal inputs and outputting normal and denormal results, and where a rounding module is used advantageously to reduce operational latency of the circuit. |
| US09489171B2 |
Voice-command suggestions based on user identity
A computing system is configured to listen to user speech and translate the user speech into voice commands that control operation of the computing system. The identity of a user interacting with the computing system is determined, and a voice command is selected from a set of voice commands based on the user identity. A voice-command suggestion corresponding to the voice command is selected and presented via a display. If the user speaks the voice-command suggestion, the computing system executes the voice command corresponding to the voice-command suggestion. |
| US09489170B2 |
Audio control of multimedia objects
In some examples, aspects of the present disclosure may include techniques for audio control of one or more multimedia objects. In one example, a method includes receiving an electronic document that includes a group of one or more multimedia objects capable of generating audio data. The method also includes registering a multimedia object of the group of one or more multimedia objects, wherein registering the multimedia object comprises storing a multimedia object identifier that identifies the multimedia object. The method further includes receiving audio data; and determining, by a computing device, a volume level of the audio data generated by the registered multimedia object based on one or more configuration parameters, wherein the one or more configuration parameters define one or more volume levels associated with the multimedia object identifier. The method also includes outputting, to an output device, the audio data at the determined volume level. |
| US09489168B2 |
Projector for displaying electronic module components
A system is configured to portray information about at least one electronic module in an enclosure, including at least the positions of components in the electronic module. A projection device has a projection element, a first networking circuit configured to communicate with a server, and a first processor circuit that identifies an electronic module, requests information from a server about at least physical locations of some components in the module, renders an image based on the received information, and scales the image for display on the electronic module. The projection element is configured to display the scaled image on the electronic module after the module is withdrawn from the enclosure. |
| US09489167B2 |
Display control apparatus and control method therefor
A display unit that moves into a first position and a second position with respect to a main body portion includes setting, where the display unit is in the first position, any of a plurality of settings including a first setting, with which a normal image of an image is displayed, and a second setting, with which a mirror image of an image is displayed, and displaying, where the display unit is in the second position with the first setting, an image that has an orientation opposite to that of the image displayed when the display unit is in the first position with the first setting, and when the display unit is in the second position with the second setting, an image is displayed with the same orientation as the image displayed when the display unit is in the first position with the second setting. |
| US09489166B2 |
Data transmission method and display driving system
A data transmission method applied in a display, which includes a display panel, is provided. The data transmission method includes the following steps of: providing a host controller and n display drivers, n is a natural number greater than 1; providing a communication link under mobile industry processor interface (MIPI), connecting the host controller to the n display drivers; determining n virtual channel values Vc1-Vcn corresponding to the respective n display drivers; employing the host controller for providing a command with a virtual channel parameter through the communication link under MIPI; when the virtual channel parameter corresponds to an ith virtual channel values Vci, an ith display driver executing corresponding operations in response to the command, while the rest n−1 display drivers ignoring the command, wherein i is a natural number smaller than or equal to n. |
| US09489164B2 |
Function executing device with two types of wireless communication interfaces
In a case where a first information including an execution request of a specific function via a first type of interface is received, a function executing device may execute a change process for changing an interface for communicating with a terminal device from the first type of interface to a second type of interface in a case where a state of the function executing device is determined as a non-error state. The function executing device may not execute the change process in a case where the state of the function executing device is determined as an error state. The specific function may include a communication process for communicating object data with the terminal device. The function executing device may execute the specific function including the communication process via the second type of interface in a case where the change process is being executed. |
| US09489162B2 |
Control system, control apparatus, control method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
A control system that monitors a calibration status of a printer includes the following components. An obtaining unit obtains information that identifies a common media type to be used in calibration by a monitoring-target printer. A first determining unit determines whether a calibration status of the printer satisfies a first condition in accordance with a printing amount of the printer. A second determining unit determines whether a recording medium corresponding to the common media type is held in the printer by using the obtained information. A control unit causes the printer to perform calibration by causing the printer to perform printing on the recording medium corresponding to the common media type in a case where it is determined that the calibration status of the printer satisfies the first condition and that the recording medium corresponding to the common media type is held in the printer. |
| US09489155B2 |
Image processing device
An image processing device accepts a user-defined code, which is a command that implements a process desired by a user and is written in the same page description language as a print job to be processed, and merges the print job to be processed and the user-defined code. |
| US09489154B1 |
System, apparatus and method for tracking and managing devices
Tools, such as systems, apparatuses and methodologies, are provided to track and manage devices in a network, based on information retrieved from network switches in the system. |
| US09489153B2 |
Print server system, method for controlling the same, and program
The present invention relates to a print server system which suitably performs control of registration of a printer in accordance with a result of a determination as to whether an environment in which the printer is used corresponds to an enterprise environment. When the printer has been registered in a print service and a proxy is an enterprise supporting proxy, the printer is not registered whereas when the printer has been registered in the print service and the proxy is not the enterprise supporting proxy, multiple registration of the printer is performed by redundantly storing information on the printer. |
| US09489152B2 |
Object distribution in advanced function presentation environments
Systems and methods are provided for indexing in Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) systems. One embodiment is a system that includes a memory and a controller. The memory may store Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) print data. The controller may load the AFP print data, detect an AFP Object Container Data (OCD) structured field within the print data, and follow a pointer from within the OCD structured field to a global reference. The controller may also acquire Metadata Object Content Architecture (MOCA) header information within the global reference, and process the OCD structured field based on the MOCA header information within the global reference. |
| US09489151B2 |
Systems and methods including an application server in an enclosure with a communication link to an external controller
A system including a first array of storage drives in communication with a storage controller, the storage controller providing virtualized storage with the first array of storage drives; an application server running a storage warehouse application and communicatively coupled to a host device and the storage controller; and a communication port expander providing expansion slots to a first enclosure, wherein the first array of storage drives, the application server, and the communication port expander are contained in the first enclosure separate from the controller, further wherein the controller controls the first array of storage drives and is in communication with the first array of storage drives through the communication port expander. |
| US09489149B2 |
Methods and systems for using a write cache in a storage system
Methods and systems for storing data at a storage device of a storage system are provided. The data is first temporarily stored at a first write cache and an input/output request for a persistence storage device used as a second write cache is generated, when an I/O request size including the received data has reached a threshold value. The data from the first cache is transferred to the persistence storage device and a recovery control block with a location of the data stored at the persistence storage device is updated. An entry is added to a linked list that is used to track valid data stored at the persistence storage device and then the data is transferred from the persistence storage device to the storage device of the storage system. |
| US09489147B2 |
Semiconductor device, memory device, and system including the same
A memory device includes a memory array suitable for storing write data of the memory device and providing the stored data as read data of the memory device, a programmable storage unit suitable for storing information for the memory device, a command decoder suitable for storing decoding one or more command signals, and generating a write command for writing the write data, a read command for outputting the read data, and an information read command for outputting information stored in the programmable storage unit, a control unit suitable for controlling the information stored in the programmable storage unit to be sequentially read in response to activation of the information read command, and an output unit suitable for outputting the read information to an outside of the memory device in response to the information read command. |
| US09489146B2 |
Memory system and method for selecting memory dies to perform memory access operations in based on memory die temperatures
A memory system and method are provided for selecting memory dies for memory access operations based on memory die temperatures. The memory system has a plurality of memory dies, where each memory die has its own temperature sensor. In one embodiment, the memory system selects which memory dies to perform memory access operations in based on the temperatures of the memory dies. In another embodiment, a controller of the memory system selects which memory dies to thermal throttle memory access operations in based on the detected temperatures. In yet another embodiment, a temperature-aware media management layer module of the memory 1 system routes a memory access operation from a first memory die to a second memory die based on the temperatures of the memory dies. |
| US09489145B2 |
Disk drive including I-regions having configurable final logical block addresses
A disk drive includes a controller and at least one disk, which may include a first I-region, a second I-region, and an E-region. The first and second I-region may have a first final logical block address (LBA) and a second final LBA, respectively. The controller may be configured to cause information to be written to the first I-region and the second I-region using a first type and a second type of magnetic recording, respectively. The controller also may be configured to set at least one of the first final LBA or the second final LBA to a final LBA value higher than the at least one of the first final LBA or the second final LBA, respectively, after writing user data to at least a portion of the first I-region or the second I-region and without removing the user data. |
| US09489143B2 |
Method for accessing flash memory and associated controller and memory device
The present invention provides a method for accessing a flash memory, wherein the flash memory is a Triple-Level Cell flash memory and each word line of the flash memory constitutes a least significant bit (LSB) page, a central significant bit (CSB) page and a most significant bit (MSB) page, each storage unit of each word line of the flash memory is implemented by a floating-gate transistor, and each storage unit supports at least eight write voltage levels, the method includes: generating dummy data according to data of a first page and a second page corresponding to a specific word line of the flash memory, wherein the dummy data is going to be written in a third page corresponding to the specific word line; and writing the data and the dummy data into the flash memory. |
| US09489142B2 |
Transactional memory operations with read-only atomicity
Execution of a transaction mode setting instruction causes a computer processor to be in an atomic read-only mode ignoring conflicts to certain write-sets of a transaction during transactional execution. Read-set conflicts may still cause a transactional abort. Absent any aborting, the transaction's execution may complete, by committing transactional stores to memory and updating architecture states. |
| US09489140B2 |
Exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data
Exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data. In one example embodiment, one or more non-transitory computer-readable media store one or more programs that are configured, when executed, to cause one or more processors to perform a method of exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data. The method may include identifying a proprietary disk file having a proprietary file format, identifying a plugin file corresponding to the proprietary disk file with the plugin file having a plugin file format which is different from a native hypervisor disk file format, and intercepting read requests directed to the plugin file. The method may further include, in response to each read request, gathering data gathered from the proprietary disk file, restructuring the data to cause the data to appear to be gathered from a native hypervisor disk file, and responding with the restructured data. |
| US09489135B2 |
Systems and methods for highly scalable system log analysis, deduplication and management
Systems and methods for parsing raw log data into structured log data, and removing duplicate entries, storing the deduplicated log data into binary format, and managing system events. The subject matter can increase speed of log data analysis and storage, reduce data storage for log data, and manage easily system events. |
| US09489133B2 |
Optimizing migration/copy of de-duplicated data
A mechanism is provided for optimizing migration/copying of de-duplicated data from an internal storage system to a removable storage system. A preliminary number of clusters to be generated are determined for sets of data objects stored on the internal storage system based on a number of the sets of data objects. The preliminary number of clusters is generated based on shortest distances between the sets of data objects, each cluster comprising one or more sets of data objects and each set of data objects comprising one or more chunks of data. A chosen cluster is identified from a set of clusters by identifying a cluster having a greatest number of common chunks within as few sets of data objects. Responsive to an export-size of the chosen cluster failing to exceed the available storage capacity of the removable storage system, the chosen cluster is exported to the removable storage system. |
| US09489130B2 |
Mobile terminal selectively acting only part of a display and control method thereof
A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to provide wireless communication; a display; and a controller configured to control the display to be in at least one of a first state in which the entire display is deactivated, a second state in which the entire display is activated and a third state in which a partial region of the display is activated, receive a plurality of touches applied to the display in the partial region, and display a window including at least one of an icon indicating a newly generated event, an icon frequently used by a user and an icon corresponding to a predetermined function, in the activated partial region. |
| US09489129B2 |
Mobile terminal setting first and second control commands to user divided first and second areas of a backside touch screen
A mobile terminal comprising: a case having a front surface and a rear surface; a touch screen and first touch pad provided in the front surface of the case; a second touch pad provided in the rear surface of the case; and a controller configured to: divide an area of the second touch pad into at least first and second control command areas based on a touch point of a basic touch input on the second touch pad, set first and second control commands to the first and second command areas, respectively, control the mobile terminal according to the first control command in response to an additional touch input in the first control command area, and control the mobile terminal according to the second control command in response to an additional touch input in the first control command area. |
| US09489128B1 |
Soft keyboard with size changeable keys for a smart phone
An approach for a soft keyboard with size changeable keys for a smart phone is provided. Depending on a prior input to the keyboard, one or more keys on the soft keyboard can be increased in size. When an additional input to the keyboard is entered, the keys of increased size are re-sized to their original sizes, and depending on the additional input to the keyboard, one or more keys on the soft keyboard can be increased in size. |
| US09489122B2 |
Virtual phonograph
A processor-implemented method to control a playback of recorded sound is provided. The method includes displaying on a pressure-sensitive display screen a processor-generated image of a vinyl record and playing, by use of a processor in communication with a processor storage, a sound encoded in the processor storage, to produce a playback of the encoded sound. The method also includes animating the processor-generated image of the vinyl record, to produce an animation of the vinyl record rotating in synchronicity with the playback. The method further includes detecting touch on the animation, the touch including at least one first touch and at least two second touches and controlling the playback and the animation in response to the detected touch. |
| US09489119B1 |
Associative data management system utilizing metadata
Data management systems, interactions, interfaces, and methods are disclosed for utilizing metadata in the storage, management, organization, and retrieval of items through a visual interface. An associative interface component corresponds to an associative element of metadata including an associative category and one or more elements of associative data corresponding to the associative category. A user may interact with a data management system interface to associate a piece of selected data with a metadata element by dragging and dropping or otherwise adding a corresponding associative interface component to an interface panel associated with the piece of selected data. The user may access the piece of data by causing a search for data elements responsive to dragging and dropping or otherwise adding an associative interface component to a search interface panel. |
| US09489117B2 |
Video apparatus providing a user interface (UI) and method thereof
A video apparatus includes a receiving unit to receive a selection command for at least one item from among a plurality of items, and a control unit to provide quantity information about alternative items to the selected item when at least one item is selected. A user is provided with the quantity information about the alternative items placed alongside a currently selected item, and thus able to intuitively determine the distribution of the items and a direction in which he may choose to view or select the items. As a result, the user is able to navigate through a plurality of items with convenience. The user is also provided with the information about the items currently not displayed on a display, and thus does not feel inconvenience caused by the limited size of the display screen. |
| US09489116B2 |
Method and apparatus for establishing user-specific windows on a multi-user interactive table
The present invention is directed toward a method and apparatus in which one or more user specific windows may be launched within a single computing session executed and displayed on the display of an interactive table. More specifically, the present invention is directed toward detecting the position of one or more users around an interactive table and generating one or more user-specific windows proximate to one or more user/s on the display of the interactive table within a single session. |
| US09489112B2 |
Recommended news edition on a map using geo entities
Described embodiments enable the presentation to a user of news articles or other content that is of likely interest to a user and that is geographically relevant to the user's location or region of interest. A news delivery system includes an ingest module that assigns topics and locations to available content, a profile engine that determines profile topics and geographic locations that a particular user finds relevant, and a news delivery module that selects content for the user based on the operation of the ingest module and the profile engine. In one embodiment, the profile engine performs decay processing to remove stale topics and locations from a user's profile. In related aspects, the profile engine maintains multiple profiles for the user. |
| US09489105B2 |
Display device and method for controlling the same
A display device includes: a display having a plurality of display regions on a body that are configured to display images; a touch sensor configured to sense a first touch input; and a controller configured to control the images displayed on the plurality of display regions in response to the first touch input sensed by the touch sensor, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display to display at least one piece of content at at least one of the plurality of display regions, and to move the at least one piece of content to a first display region from among the plurality of display regions and to display the moved content at the first display region in response to the first touch input when the touch sensor senses the first touch input generated at the first display region. |
| US09489103B2 |
Techniques for optimizing stringing of solar panel modules
Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for performing design automation on a mobile computer system. In one example embodiment the present invention includes a computer-implemented method comprising storing design automation data on a mobile device, displaying a plurality of design automation process steps to a user, the plurality of design automation process steps guiding the user through a design automation process for a project, receiving design automation input data from the user in the mobile device for a plurality of the design automation process steps, executing one or more data processing algorithms specific to at least one of the design automation process steps, and generating output data for the design project. |
| US09489101B2 |
Touch panel and touch device with the same
A touch panel includes a substrate; and a sensing electrode with a conductive pattern on the substrate, wherein the sensing electrode includes: an electrode layer; and a first buffer layer on the electrode layer. |
| US09489099B2 |
Fabrication method of plate pattern
Disclosed herein is a fabrication method of a plate pattern including preparing an object on which the plate pattern will be formed, disposing hybrid particles having a hybrid structure of organic and inorganic substances on one surface of the object into a single layer, etching at least the hybrid particles, forming the plate pattern on the surface of the object on which the hybrid particles are disposed, and removing the hybrid particles. |
| US09489098B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for level shifting of common mode voltage from input to output for capacitive feedback transimpedance amplifier
A circuit for a level shifting of common mode voltage. The circuit includes a first amplifier, wherein the input of the first amplifier is coupled to a voltage source and another input of the first amplifier is coupled 2.5v, feedback resistor, Rfb, and feedback capacitor, Cfb, connected coupled to the voltage source, wherein other side of feedback resistor is coupled between two resistors, R2 and R2′, and wherein the other side of the feedback capacitor is coupled between R2′ and the output of the first amplifier, R2 is connected to Vbias from one side and Rfb and R2′ from the other, R2′ is connected to Rfb and R2 from one side and Cfb and output of the first amplifier from the other side, another resistor, R1, is connect to the output of the first amplifier, Cfb and R2′ from one side and R1′, yet another resistor, and input of amp2 from the other, a second amplifier, Amp2, is connected to the R1 and R1′ at one input and 1.5v at the other input, and wherein the output of the second amplifier is connected to R1′, and R1′ connects to one input of the second amplifier and the output of the second amplifier. |
| US09489090B2 |
Capacitive touch panel and a method of manufacturing the same
The present invention relates to a touch technology and provides a capacitive touch panel which has low-visibility metal jumper. The touch panel comprises of a transparent substrate and at least one metal juniper. A mask layer, reflectance of which is lower than that of the metal jumper, is set between the metal jumper and the transparent substrate to block the light reflected by the metal jumper. The mask layer can reduce light reflection of the metal jumper so as to reduce visibility of the metal jumper. |
| US09489086B1 |
Finger hover detection for improved typing
Typing on touchscreens is improved by dynamically and automatically positioning the desired home-row keys of an onscreen keyboard below the user's fingers while their fingers are hovering above the surface, thus reducing the need for the user to look at the onscreen keyboard while typing. The location of each of the user's fingers while hovering and/or resting is monitored. Correlation between the hover sensor data and touch sensor data increases the confidence level by which the system can determine which of the user's fingers were used to select a key. By determining which finger was used to make the selection, the system accurately disambiguates which letter the user intended to type. |
| US09489085B2 |
Optical touch panel system and positioning method thereof
The present invention discloses an optical touch panel system and a positioning method for positioning an object existing in a touch control area. The system includes: at least one reflective element disposed on a side of the touch control area; at least one light guide module disposed on a side of the touch control area adjacent to or opposite the reflective element and emitting light; an image sensor capturing an image of the object; a plurality of photo detectors arranged on a side of the touch control area adjacent to the image sensor and sensing the object to obtain shade information; and a processor calculating the coordinates of the object according to the image and the shade information. |
| US09489083B2 |
Touch panel controller, touch sensor system, and electronic device
A touch panel controller (1) includes a first capacitance distribution calculation unit (15) that outputs a first signal value map which indicates a distribution of signal values in a touch panel (10) and a first capacitance distribution correction unit (16) that configures a broader area than an area in which changes in the signal values due to an input operation on the touch panel occur on the first signal value map, performs correction calculation that cancels the changes in the signal values due to external factors which are different from the input operation on the touch panel in the region, and generates a second signal value map. |
| US09489079B2 |
Portable device comprising a touch-screen display, and method for controlling same
A method of controlling a portable device including at least one foldable panel and first and second touch screens is provided. The method includes displaying, on the first touch screen, a first page designated as a home screen and an icon related to at least one application, and a dock area, and displaying, on the second touch screen, first information in a state where the foldable panel is unfolded. The method also includes replacing the first page and the dock area with an outgoing call screen, receiving a phone number input, replacing the outgoing call screen with a dialing screen, and displaying, on the second touch screen, a guide message indicating to fold the portable device for a call. The method also includes replacing the dialing screen with a mid-call screen, and removing the guide message displayed on the second touch screen, and displaying the first information. |
| US09489077B2 |
Optical touch panel system, optical sensing module, and operation method thereof
The present invention discloses an optical touch panel system, an optical sensing module, and an operation method using for the same system. The system recognizes a track of an object moving on or above a touch control surface to determine a corresponding gesture function; it includes a touch control surface, at least one image sensor, and a processor. The touch control surface includes at least two touch control areas. The image sensor captures a plurality of continuous pictures including the images of the objects. The processer determines which touch control area the object is moving on or above according to a starting position or a path of the track, and executes a gesture function corresponding to the track and the touch control area. |
| US09489076B2 |
Touch sensitive display device having auxiliary lines supplying an auxiliary drive signal
A touch display device comprises a controller to generate a touch sync signal for controlling timing of a touch sensing period and a display period. A touch panel has a plurality of touch electrodes in a display area of the touch display device. The touch panel generates touch sensing signals indicating whether or not a touch occurs during the touch sensing period. A gate driver supplies gate pulses to gate lines of the touch panel during the display period and supplies a gate line auxiliary drive signal from the first transfer line onto the gate lines during the touch sensing period that mimics the touch drive signal. One or more auxiliary lines supply a supplemental auxiliary drive signal during the touch sensing period that mimics the touch drive signal. |
| US09489075B2 |
Display apparatus, display system, and display method
A client can return a display state of an object to the past. When a point body moves on a screen, a projector draws an object of a line representing a moving trajectory. The projector generates object data representing the object and transmits the generated object data to tablet terminals. The object data contains order information representing generation order of the object. The tablet terminals display the object represented by the transmitted object data on a touch panel. When performing an operation for returning the display, the tablet terminals return the display by object unit based on the order information contained in the object data. |
| US09489069B2 |
Method for controlling display scrolling and zooming and an electronic device thereof
A method and apparatus for zooming in/out and displaying display information in an electronic device are provided. The method includes detecting an angle according to a touch movement and zooming in/out display information based on the angle according to the touch movement. |
| US09489067B2 |
Scalable touchscreen processing with realtime role negotiation among asymmetric processing cores
A method for determining touch input data complexity and negotiating the processing of touch inputs from a touchscreen controller to a host processor. As touch input data is received from a touchscreen, the data may be evaluated by the touchscreen controller to determine the data's complexity. When the touchscreen controller determines the received touch input data is too complex for touchscreen controller processing, the host processor may be requested to process the data. The touchscreen controller may resume processing touch input data based on low complexity or host processor availability. Complexity may be determined based on evaluations of the number and frequency of touch inputs. Additionally, the touch input data may be evaluated to determine whether it represents multi-touch input. In an aspect, the touchscreen controller may disregard received touch input data determined to be noise. |
| US09489064B2 |
Inner-sensor based pointing device
An inner-sensor based pointing device is presented. The pointing device includes a central housing having an aperture and a sleeve disposed surrounding a portion of the central housing, the sleeves rotatable about the portion of the central housing and slidable along a generally horizontal axis about the portion of the central housing. The pointing device further includes a sensor disposed in the central housing and aligned with the aperture, the sleeve positioned surrounding the sensor, wherein the sensor is capable of detecting rotational movement of the sleeve relative to the central housing and wherein the sensor is capable of detecting axial movement of the sleeve relative to the central housing. Additionally, the pointing device has a circuit in communication with the sensor, the circuit disposed within the central housing, the circuit capable of transmitting data to a computer regarding the movement of the sleeve. |
| US09489059B2 |
Pointing device for interacting with touch-sensitive devices and method thereof
The present application is directed to a pointing device and a method for interacting with touch-sensitive devices. The pointing device includes a base; a housing configured to cover a portion of the base; a cavity formed between the housing and the portion of the base; a sliding member; a supporting member; a biasing member situated between the sliding member and the supporting member; a first contact point provided on the sliding member and configured to contact a screen of the touch-sensitive device when the pointing device is placed on the screen; and a second contact point provided on the supporting member and configured to contact the screen when the pointing device is placed on the screen; wherein the first contact point slides on the screen relative to the second contact point via the engagement of the housing and the sliding member when the housing moves towards the screen. |
| US09489057B2 |
Input apparatus of display apparatus, display system and control method thereof
An input apparatus of a display apparatus, a display system, and a control method thereof, are provided herein, the input apparatus including: a communication unit which communicates with the display apparatus; a sensing unit which detects angular speed and acceleration from a motion of the input apparatus; a storage unit which stores position information on a position of the input apparatus; and a controller which calculates the motion information based on the detected angular speed and the position information and transmits the calculated motion information through the communication unit if the input apparatus moves, and updates the position information in the storage unit based on the detected acceleration if the input apparatus does not move. |
| US09489053B2 |
Skeletal control of three-dimensional virtual world
A virtual skeleton includes a plurality of joints and provides a machine readable representation of a human target observed with a three-dimensional depth camera. A relative position of a hand joint of the virtual skeleton is translated as a gestured control, and a three-dimensional virtual world is controlled responsive to the gestured control. |
| US09489051B2 |
Display navigation using touch-less gestures
A device and method to facilitate display navigation by touch-less gesture are described. The device includes two or more ambient light sensors arranged at respective surface locations of the device, each of the two or more ambient light sensors measuring light intensity at the respective surface location. The device also includes a processor to detect a gesture as a detected gesture performed by an object in touch-less communication with the device and output a signal corresponding with the detected gesture, and a navigation gesture library to store two or more gestures and corresponding two or more signals, wherein the processor accesses the navigation gesture library when the device is not executing an application with an associated application gesture library. |
| US09489050B2 |
Method and user equipment for unlocking screen saver
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and user equipment for unlocking a screen saver, which can implement personalized operations of screen saver unlocking. The method includes: detecting a position of a first input on a screen; detecting a duration of the first input when the position of the first input falls into a user-preset track; and unlocking the screen saver when the duration exceeds a time threshold. The corresponding user equipment includes a position detecting module, a time detecting module, and a screen. The above technical solutions may implement personalized operations of screen saver unlocking and increase fun by detecting whether the position of a user input falls into a user-preset track and detecting the duration of the user input. |
| US09489045B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing a snapshot truthing system for a tracker
A method for detecting and correcting drift associated with operation of a hybrid tracking system is provided. The method obtains a data signal from a first tracker subsystem having a first tracker latency time; for a defined window of time, the method captures snapshot input data for a second tracker subsystem having a second tracker latency time which is longer than the first tracker latency time; and captures synchronized data from the data signal which corresponds to the defined window of time; wherein the defined window of time comprises a time duration shorter than the second tracker latency time, to capture the snapshot input data. The method further determines a level of drift associated with operation of the first tracker subsystem; and adjusts operation of the first tracker subsystem according to the determined level of drift. |
| US09489044B2 |
Visual stabilization system for head-mounted displays
Introduced herein are various techniques for displaying virtual and augmented reality content via a head-mounted display (HMD). The techniques can be used to improve the effectiveness of the HMD, as well as the general experience and comfort of users of the HMD. A binocular HMD system may present visual stabilizers to each eye that allow users to more easily fuse the digital content seen by each eye. In some embodiments the visual stabilizers are positioned within the digital content so that they converge to a shared location when viewed by a user, while in other embodiments the visual stabilizers are mapped to different locations within the user's field of view (e.g., peripheral areas) and are visually distinct from one another. These techniques allow the user to more easily fuse the digital content, thereby decreasing the eye fatigue and strain typically experienced when viewing virtual or augmented reality content. |
| US09489043B2 |
Display device and controlling method
An image display device and controlling method capable of optimizing a state of the image display device for a user at a desired position. The display device includes: an imaging section that takes an image of a predetermined range of a dynamic image with respect to an image display direction; an image analyzing section that analyzes the dynamic image taken by the imaging section and calculates a position of a user; a system optimization processing section that calculates system control information for optimizing a system based on the position of the user calculated by the image analyzing section; and a system controlling section that optimizes the system based on the system control information calculated by the system optimization processing section. |
| US09489038B2 |
Electronic apparatus and method for controlling the same
An electronic apparatus and a control method thereof are provided, which displays first voice guide information indicating voice commands available to control the electronic apparatus, and if a command to control an external device connected to the electronic apparatus is received, changes the first voice guide information and displays second voice guide information to indicating voice commands available to control the external device. |
| US09489037B2 |
Power management device and system-on-chip including the same
Provided is a power management device which includes a first regulator, a second regulator and a control register unit. The first regulator provides a first driving voltage to a first power domain of an application processor. The second regulator provides a second power domain of the application processor with a second driving voltage having a correlation with the first driving voltage. The control register unit controls, in response to a command from the application processor, a reference voltage generation circuit that provides a first reference voltage and a second reference voltage to the first regulator and the second regulator, respectively. The level of the first driving voltage is maintained in a first driving mode. The first driving voltage and the second driving voltage have a set voltage difference in a second driving mode. |
| US09489034B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling operation voltage of processor core, and processor system including the same
A method and an apparatus for controlling an operation voltage of a processor core and a processor system including the same are provided. The apparatus for controlling an operation voltage of a processor core includes a voltage supplier and an operation voltage searching core. The voltage supplier supplies the operation voltage to the processor core. The operation voltage searching core requests the processor core to execute a program, and controls the operation voltage based on whether the program has been normally operated. |
| US09489033B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing power consumption of a communication device
Generally, this disclosure describes an energy-efficient Ethernet communications approach including use of clock gating of transmit circuitry. |
| US09489029B2 |
Operating system independent network event handling
Methods and apparatuses for re-instantiating a firmware environment that includes one or more firmware functions available at pre-boot time when transitioning the computing device from a wake state to a sleep state. A network event received by the computing device while in a sleep state may be handled by the firmware environment independent of the operating system and without returning the entire computing device to the wake state. |
| US09489015B2 |
Cover for a tablet computing device having retaining mechanisms
A computing device accessory is provided. The computing device accessory includes a first cover segment that has an inner surface and an exterior surface. The interior surface includes a recessed region to receive a base of a tablet computing device. The computing device accessory also includes a magnetic component provided with the first cover segment, where the magnetic component is positioned to actively retain the tablet computing device when the base of the tablet computing device is received in the recessed region. |
| US09489014B2 |
Foldable display device
A foldable display device is provided. The device includes a top cover body and a transflective assembly rotatably connected to the top cover body. The device also includes a bottom cover body rotatably connected to the transflective assembly. Further, the device includes a viewing angle adjustment mechanism set on the bottom cover body and configured to expand and collapse with respect to the bottom cover body, wherein the top cover body, the transflective assembly, and the bottom cover body are configured to expand spatially to form a viewing angle when the foldable display device is in an open state, and the viewing angle adjustment mechanism is configured to expand with respect to the bottom cover body to adjust the viewing angle when the foldable display device is in a viewing angle adjustable state and to support the foldable display device when the foldable display device is in the open state. |
| US09489009B2 |
System on chip, bus interface and method of operating the same
A mobile system includes a first interface configured to transmit a payload in synchronization with a first clock signal through a first channel at a first transfer rate; and a second interface that includes: a payload storage connected to the first channel and configured to receive the payload from the first channel; and a payload receiver connected to the payload storage and configured to receive the payload from the payload storage in synchronization with a second clock at a second transfer rate through a second channel. A length of the second channel is shorter than a length of the first channel, and the first clock signal is asynchronous with the second clock signal. |
| US09489008B2 |
Method and apparatus for clock frequency ratio independent error logging
A method and system for error logging that is independent of the clock frequency ratio in an I/O subsystem. In one embodiment of the invention, the I/O subsystem has an error logging mechanism with a fixed queue depth of two and is independent of the clock frequencies in the I/O subsystem. The I/O subsystem has two queue entries for storing or logging the uncorrectable errors. In one embodiment of the invention, the I/O subsystem has two queue entries for storing or logging the 128-bit TLP Header and the First Error Pointer (FEP) of the uncorrectable errors detected in the I/O subsystem. |
| US09489006B2 |
Reaction force generator
A reaction force generator includes: a base member mounted on a supporter supporting an operating member pivotably; a dome member protruding from the base member; and a top member provided on a protruding-side end of the dome member to be pressed by the operating member toward the base member. The dome member is deformed to produce a reaction force when the top member is pressed by the operating member. A basal-end-side plane and a distal-end-side plane intersect each other at a position located on one of opposite sides of the dome member which is nearer to a pivot fulcrum of the operating member. The basal-end-side plane includes a line of intersection between the base member and the dome member adjacent to each other. The distal-end-side plane includes a line of intersection between the dome member and the top member adjacent to each other. |
| US09488998B2 |
Method and system for extending the lifetime of multi-core integrated circuit devices
Embodiments of a method and system are disclosed. One embodiment of an integrated circuit device is disclosed. The integrated circuit device includes first and second processor cores configured to perform a respective first and second set of functional processing. The integrated circuit device also includes a core-specific process state monitor associated with the first processor core, a core-specific process state monitor associated with the second processor core, a core-specific aging monitor associated with the first processor core, a core-specific aging monitor associated with the second processor core, a power management unit, a clock generation unit, and a control system configured to individually control operating points of the first and second processor cores and workload in response to feedback from the core-specific process state monitors and from the core-specific aging monitors. |
| US09488996B2 |
Bias techniques and circuit arrangements to reduce leakage current in a circuit
An apparatus includes an input/output (I/O) pin and an electrostatic discharge device. The electrostatic discharge device is coupled to the I/O pin and to a voltage regulator. |
| US09488995B2 |
Voltage converter and voltage conversion method having multiple converter stages
A voltage converter includes a first converter stage including a unipolar transistor coupled to a first inductive storage element, where the first converter stage is configured to provide a first output power signal including a first output current. Also, the voltage converter includes a second converter stage including a bipolar transistor coupled to a second inductive storage element, where the second converter stage is configured to provide a second output power including a second output current, and where a third output current is a sum of the first output current and the second output current. Additionally, the voltage converter includes a control circuit configured to control a power converter including the first output current and the second output current, where the first output current is higher than the second output current when the third output current has a first range of output current. |
| US09488994B2 |
Method and system for configuring wireless sensors in an HVAC system
An HVAC controller for controlling an HVAC system may be configured to enroll one or more wireless devices, and once one or more wireless devices are enrolled, to prompt the user to enter an identifier, a location, a device type and/or a function for one or more of the enrolled wireless devices. The HVAC controller may use the identifier, location and/or device type to identify each of the enrolled devices. This may facilitate a user in selecting various sensors to participate in sensor averaging, identifying where certain sensor data is originating, identifying devices having a low battery condition, as well as performing other tasks as desired. |
| US09488987B2 |
Controlling roll and pitch of a single-track legged vehicle
A single-track legged vehicle includes a frame having a length corresponding to a forward/backward direction of travel, and a width that is normal to the length. The single-track legged vehicle also includes a plurality of jointed legs attached to the frame, where the plurality of jointed legs are aligned in-line, one behind the other along the length of the frame. Moreover, a control system is in communication with mechanisms that operate the plurality of jointed legs to control the legged vehicle for movement by decoupling the positioning of each of the plurality of jointed legs along a major axis of motion corresponding to the length of the frame from the positioning of each of the plurality of jointed legs along the width of the body, normal to major axis of motion. Yet further, a power source that powers the control system and mechanisms that operate the plurality of jointed legs. |
| US09488983B2 |
Robot cleaner
A robot cleaner may include a main body, a light irradiation unit irradiating light towards a region in front of the main body, an image sensor including a plurality of horizontal lines sequentially exposed to form an image, an image processing unit constructing frames by synchronizing signals output from the horizontal lines, such that, after construction of any one frame, the image processing unit does not construct one or more frames by ignoring signals output from the horizontal lines, and then constructs a next frame, and a controller controlling the light irradiation unit to irradiate light while the horizontal lines are exposed to construct the one frame, such that the light irradiation unit stops irradiation of light between before exposure of all the horizontal lines to construct the frame is completed and one point of time while the image processing unit ignores signals output from the horizontal lines. |
| US09488981B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamic swarming of airborne drones for a reconfigurable array
A method, system and apparatus to detect when one or more airborne unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) are close to each other, and to take necessary actions to maintain a minimum distance between drones as well as a maximum distance among the drones in a dynamic environment by automatic navigation. A computer method and apparatus for holding a group of drones in a swarm formation by maintaining the group centroid of the group of drones within a tolerance of a predetermined location is also disclosed. Additionally, methods to move a swarm of drones along a predetermined path while maintaining the swarm formation of the drones is also disclosed. |
| US09488978B2 |
Method for controlling a multi-rotor rotary-wing drone, with cross wind and accelerometer bias estimation and compensation
The attitude and speed of the drone are controlled by angular commands applied to a control loop (120) for controlling the engines of the drone according to the pitch and roll axes. A dynamic model of the drone, including, in particular, a Kalman predictive filter, represents the horizontal speed components of the drone on the basis of the drone mass and drag coefficients, the Euler angles of the drone relative to an absolute terrestrial reference, and the rotation of same about a vertical axis. The acceleration of the drone along the three axes and the relative speed of same in relation to the ground are measured and applied to the model as to estimate (128) the horizontal speed components of the cross wind. This estimation can be used to generate corrective commands (126) that are combined with the angular commands applied to the control loop of the drone in terms of pitch and roll. |
| US09488977B2 |
Power storage system having modularized BMS connection structure and method for controlling the system
A power storage system includes n number of slave BMSs for transmitting data associated with an electric characteristic value of battery cells, included in battery modules managed by the slave BMSs, through slave communication networks; m number of master BMSs for primarily processing the data associated with an electric characteristic value of battery cells, transmitted through the slave communication networks, and transmitting the primarily processed data through a master communication network; and a super master BMS for secondarily processing the data transmitted through the master communication network. Since the data transmitted from each slave BMS are processed in a master BMSs, the amount of data loaded on a communication line may decrease. Therefore, even though the capacity of a power storage system increases, rapid data collection and data control may be achieved. |
| US09488971B2 |
Model-less control for flexible manipulators
A control method includes empirically constructing for a flexible manipulator an estimated mapping between an end-effector movement and a plurality of values representing movement of at least one actuator, measuring an actual end-effector movement and an actual movement of the at least one actuator, and, based on the measuring, updating the estimated mapping while the flexible manipulator is active such that the mapping is adapted to the present environment of the flexible manipulator. |
| US09488969B2 |
Configuring building energy management systems using knowledge encoded in building management system points lists
Techniques for configuring a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) using knowledge encoded in BMS point lists are provided. In one aspect, a method for configuring a BEMS of a site is provided. The method includes the following steps. A knowledge base is derived from subject matter expertise. The knowledge base is used to extract one or more building characteristics from a point list of a building management system (BMS) that are not directly available from the BMS point list. The BEMS is configured using the one or more building characteristics extracted from the BMS point list. |
| US09488968B2 |
Energy distribution system and related methods, devices, and systems
Aspects of the disclosure are directed to an autonomous energy distribution network including a plurality of solar tracker devices configured to receive solar energy and transform the solar energy into electrical energy, where each of the solar tracker devices is directly connected to a node in a power distribution grid. The network also includes a node manager configured to receive status information from the solar trackers, where the status information includes information regarding the state of the node to which each of the solar tracker device are directly connected. |
| US09488966B2 |
Control device, integrated circuit, control method, and program for controlling an appliance performing different operations
Provided is a control device that makes it possible to surely give an appropriate instruction to operate. An appliance control device that controls an electric appliance that performs one of a first operation and a second operation includes: a price obtaining unit that obtains information indicating a price of power; a detecting unit that detects a change in the price in a not shorter one of the first period and the second period, the price being indicated in the obtained information; a first calculating unit that calculates a first cost produced when the electric appliance performs the first operation, in the case where the change is detected; a second calculating unit that calculates a second cost produced when the electric appliance performs the second operation, in the case where the change is detected; a comparing unit; and an instructing unit that instructs performing of a determined operation. |
| US09488965B2 |
Numerical controller instructing a plurality of axes using a single instruction
In a numerical controller, a control table including the coefficient of an instruction pulse for each axis is stored and an instruction is provided for each axis of a machine based on the instruction pulse and the coefficient of the instruction pulse with reference to the control table. This eliminates the need for having a number of pulse generators and control cables corresponding to the number of motors, thereby providing a numerical controller with reduced hardware. |
| US09488964B2 |
Methods for maintaining accurate timing information on portable electronic devices
Methods for operating portable electronic devices to maintain accurate timing information are provided. In one suitable arrangement, an electronic device may have a real-time clock and a mach-time clock that can be used separately to track the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The offset of the real-time clock and the mach-time clock from UTC can be monitored to determine if there is any oscillator frequency drift, which can be characterized using a linear model. Any variation in drift caused by environment factors such as temperature may also be characterized. In another suitable arrangement, a primary electronic device that is capable of maintaining accurate timing information may transfer that information to a secondary user device. Timing information may be transferred using mach-time values and may then be converted to real-time clock values to ensure that the secondary user device can estimate time accurately even when the device goes to sleep. |
| US09488961B2 |
Assembly system utilising a conical, elastic locking element
An assembly system includes a member made of a first material including a staff and a shoulder, the staff of the member being received in an aperture of a part made of a second material having little or no plastic domain. The assembly system includes a locking element made of a third material arranged to elastically attach the part between the shoulder of the member and the locking element, and the locking element is a conical washer including an internal wall which radially grips the staff of the member. A peripheral portion of the locking element exerts an elastic radial force vertical to the shoulder of the member in order to secure assembly of the member, the part, and the locking element. |
| US09488960B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for manufacturing ultralong fiber Bragg gratings with arbitrary reflection wavelength
Described are methods and apparatuses for manufacturing ultralong fiber Bragg gratings with arbitrary reflection wavelength. The method may include: generating two holographic beams entering a fiber with a certain intersection angle there-between from one side of the fiber and forming holographic interference fringes in the fiber, driving the two holographic beams to scan along the fiber by a motorized translation stage controlled by a computer; and adjusting the intersection angle between the two beams by motorized rotation stages or motorized mirror mounts controlled by the computer. The present disclosure can be applied in manufacturing ultralong fiber Bragg gratings with arbitrary reflection wavelength, such as narrow-reflection-band gratings, chirped gratings, and apodized gratings, etc. |
| US09488959B2 |
Image forming apparatus that ensures cooling performance of toner container and downsized image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a frame member, an intermediate transfer unit, a plurality of image forming units, a plurality of toner containers. The frame member defines a plurality of concave portions to accommodate respective lower end portions of the toner containers, and includes an upper frame portion located to cover a top surface of an intermediate transfer belt. One concave portion among the plurality of the concave portions defined by a wall portion defines a vent hole. The upper frame portion defines a ventilation path located at an opposite side of the one concave portion with respect to the wall portion and communicating with the one concave portion via the vent hole. The image forming apparatus further includes a blast fan to discharge air in the ventilation path from the vent hole to a side of the one concave portion. |
| US09488958B2 |
Process cartridge having a driving force receiver
The invention relates to a process cartridge, which comprises a process cartridge housing, a photosensitive member, a driving force receiving opening, a retractable mechanism and a control mechanism, wherein the photosensitive member is arranged inside the process cartridge housing; the driving force receiving opening is connected with the photosensitive member and provides a driving force for the photosensitive member; the retractable mechanism allows the driving force receiving opening to extend or retract in the axial direction of the photosensitive member; and the control mechanism controls the extension and retraction of the retractable mechanism. |
| US09488952B2 |
Cleaning device and image forming apparatus
A cleaning device includes a removal member that removes residual objects from a surface of a target cleaning body by contacting with the surface in a linear manner and rubbing against the surface and forms a piled body which is constructed of a portion of the residual objects at a contact location, and a pressure device that presses the piled body to increase a strength of the piled body. |
| US09488950B2 |
Contact member, image holding member, and image forming apparatus
Provided is a contact member that comes in contact with an inner surface of a cylindrical member being rotated to press against the inner surface, is supported within the cylindrical member, is provided along the inner surface when viewed in an axial direction of the cylindrical member while being supported by the cylindrical member, has an arc shape in which both ends thereof face each other, and has first thin-wall regions which are respectively formed at both ends thereof in a circumferential direction to have thicknesses lower than thicknesses of other regions. |
| US09488949B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus, includes an image forming section that forms an image layer on a recording medium by supplying and fixing a toner based on image information, a winding section that winds the recording medium on which the image layer is formed by the image forming section, an extraction section that extracts step portion which is formed at end portion of the image layer based on the image information, and an adjustment layer forming section that forms an adjustment layer which suppresses the step portion that is extracted by the extraction section on the recording medium. |
| US09488941B2 |
Fixing device capable of retaining lubricant between nip member and fusing belt
A fixing device includes: an endless fusing belt; a heater; a nip member; and a backup member. The endless fusing belt is configured to circularly move in a moving direction. The endless fusing belt has widthwise ends in a widthwise direction. The backup member is configured to nip the endless fusing belt in cooperation with the nip member. The nip member includes: a base portion having a contact surface; and protruding portions respectively provided at positions outside the widthwise ends of the endless fusing belt in the widthwise direction and protruding toward the backup member relative to the contact surface. |
| US09488940B2 |
Fixing device with temperature sensor fitted in a recess of a nip plate
A fixing device configured to thermally fix a developing agent image to a recording sheet includes a fixing belt having a tubular shape defining an inner space, a heat generating member and a nip plate which are disposed in the inner space, and a rotating member disposed outside the inner space. The nip plate includes a plate-shaped portion holding the fixing belt against the rotating member, and a bent portion located downstream of the plate-shaped portion in a conveying direction of the recording sheet and bent to define a recess facing away from the rotating member. The bent portion protrudes farther away from the heat generating member than the plate-shaped portion. A temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the nip plate is fitted in the recess of the bent portion so as not to be displaced in the conveying direction. |
| US09488939B1 |
Fixing device including a blowing member for blowing air and image forming apparatus therewith
A fixing device has a fixing member, a guide member, and a blowing member. The guide member is pivotable to be located selectively either in a first position where it guides a recording medium to a fixing nip and a second position where it shuts a recording medium transport passage. When the fixing member is driven to rotate, the guide member is located in the first position to guide air blown from the blowing member to opposite ends of the fixing member. When the fixing member is not driven to rotate, the guide member is located in the second position to let air blown from the blowing member pass between the guide member and the fixing member. |
| US09488936B2 |
Image forming apparatus
In printing, a first power supply unit applies a transfer current with a polarity opposite to a charged polarity of toner to the transfer roller. A second power supply unit applies a toner scattering suppression current with a polarity opposite to the charged polarity of the toner to a stretching roller until a rear end of a sheet passes through a separation position after a front end of the sheet reaches the separation position. The first power supply unit applies a post-transfer current, which has a polarity opposite to the charged polarity of the toner and has an absolute value equal to or more than an absolute value of the toner scattering suppression current, to the transfer roller until the rear end of the sheet passes through the separation position after the rear end of the sheet passes through the nip position. |
| US09488934B2 |
Belt circling device, transfer device, and image forming apparatus
Provided is a belt circling device including a belt supported to be capable of circling by plural rotating members provided rotatably on side plates, a displacement member that is displaced while being in contact with the belt, a correction unit that includes a contact member that is in contact with the belt on an upstream side or on a downstream side from the displacement member in a circling direction of the belt and a movement section that causes the contact member to be movable in an intersecting direction intersecting with the circling direction and that corrects a deviation of the moving belt, and a connection member that is provided on the side plate, is displaced with respect to the side plate with following the displacement member, and connects the displacement member and the movement section to each other. |
| US09488931B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a latent image bearer; a developing device containing two-component developer and including a developer bearer, a development voltage source, and a toner concentration detector; a toner supply device to supply toner to the developing device; a transfer device; and a controller to keep a toner concentration in the developer in the developing device at a target toner concentration during image formation. The controller executes forced toner consumption in which the developing device supplies the toner to the latent image bearer the toner at a predetermined forced toner consumption timing, while inhibiting the toner supply device from supplying toner. When the toner concentration falls to a prescribed toner density lower than the target toner concentration, the controller completes the forced toner consumption and executes a post-consumption toner supply operation. |
| US09488929B2 |
Image forming unit and image forming apparatus
An image forming unit suppressing occurrences of jitters, includes an image carrier rotating by drive force transmitted via a first route to form an electrostatic latent image, and a developer carrier having an elastic layer carrying a developer on a surface thereof and rotating by drive force transmitted via a second route to develop the electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is developed with the developer under a development condition that, with the elastic layer of a thickness from 0.5 mm to 2.5 mm, the developer carrier is rotated with a circumferential speed ratio to the image carrier in a range from 1.10 to 1.45, or that, with the elastic layer of a thickness more than 2.5 mm but not more than 5.0 mm, the developer carrier is rotated with a circumferential speed ratio to the image carrier in a range from 1.10 to 1.24. |
| US09488923B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A porous member is used in a liquid removal system of an immersion lithographic projection apparatus to smooth uneven flows. A pressure differential across the porous member may be maintained at below the bubble point of the porous member so that a single-phase liquid flow is obtained. Alternatively, the porous member may be used to reduce unevenness in a two-phase flow. |
| US09488920B2 |
Exposure method, exposure apparatus, and method for producing device
An exposure apparatus and method exposes a substrate by projecting an image of a pattern onto the substrate through a liquid. A projection optical system projects the image of the pattern onto the substrate. A recovery port recovers the liquid supplied onto the substrate. A temperature sensor measures a temperature of the liquid recovered via the recovery port. |
| US09488915B2 |
Reagent for enhancing generation of chemical species
A reagent that enhances acid generation of a photoacid generator and composition containing such reagent is disclosed. Described is a reagent that generates a first chemical species in at least one of a composition including the reagent, a solution of the composition, and a film formed of the composition. Further described is a reagent that generates a first product in at least one of a composition including the reagent, a solution of the composition, and a film formed of the composition. |
| US09488914B2 |
Fluorine-containing sulfonic acid salt, fluorine-containing sulfonic acid salt resin, resist composition, and pattern forming method using same
Disclosed is a fluorine-containing sulfonic acid salt resin having a repeating unit represented by the following general formula (3). In the formula, each A independently represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom or a trifluoromethyl group, and n represents an integer of 1-10. W represents a bivalent linking group, R01 represents a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic group, and M+ represents a monovalent cation. A resist composition containing this resin is further superior in sensitivity, resolution and reproducibility of mask pattern and is capable of forming a pattern with a low LER. |
| US09488905B2 |
Extreme ultraviolet lithography process and mask with reduced shadow effect and enhanced intensity
A method of forming a mask for semiconductor fabrication is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate and forming a first reflective layer over the substrate, wherein the first reflective layer comprises pairs of alternating materials. The method further includes forming a buffer layer over the first reflective layer and forming a second reflective layer over the buffer layer. The second reflective layer has a total thickness less than 90 nanometer (nm). The method further includes patterning the second reflective layer to form a first state and a second state of the mask. A first reflection coefficient of the first state and a second reflection coefficient of the second state have a phase difference of about 180 degrees. |
| US09488902B2 |
Illuminator and projector
An illuminator includes a (solid-state light source array) including a plurality of solid-state light sources, a light collecting system that collects light from the solid-state light source group at a predetermined light collection position, a collimator system disposed on the opposite side of the light collection position to the light collecting system and substantially parallelizing light from the light collecting system, and an integrator system that homogenizes the in-plane light intensity distribution of light from the collimator system. The illuminator further includes a transmissive diffusing unit that is disposed in the vicinity of the light collection position and transmits the light from the light collecting system while diffusing the light from the light collecting system. |
| US09488895B2 |
Display device
In a device for displaying images by application of an electric field to a charged substance, a structure for reducing afterimages and a method for manufacturing the structure are provided. The device is a display device which includes a plurality of pixel electrodes and a charged layer (a layer including a charged substance) provided over the pixel electrodes. An end of one of two pixel electrodes that are adjacent to each other among the plurality of pixel electrodes has a depression in an end-face direction, and an end of the other of the pixel electrodes has a projection in the end-face direction. In a state in which the depression and the projection are in a set, a gap is formed between the two pixel electrodes. |
| US09488893B2 |
Active finish system for providing an image on a surface
An apparatus and method for an electronically activated grouping of charged particles for providing a changeable image on a surface is disclosed and claimed herein. The apparatus can include a capsule containing a plurality of first reflectance-type charged particles suspended in a dielectric fluid. Attached to the capsule can be a first rectenna having dipole elements attached to the capsule and conductively coupled to the capsule to effect switching of the plurality of first reflectance-type charged particles between a substantially visible state to a substantially non-visible state when a signal having the first rectenna's wavelength is received. |
| US09488892B2 |
Printed appliqué and method thereof
An electro-optic assembly that includes a front substrate having a first surface and a second surface substantially parallel to the first surface; a rear substrate spaced from and substantially parallel to the front substrate, and having a third surface and a fourth surface substantially parallel to the third surface; and a carrier operably connected to at least one of the front substrate and the rear substrate. Further, the electro-optic assembly includes an appliqué layer directly on at least a first portion of the fourth surface and having an opening over a second portion of the fourth surface; and an assembly component that is coupled to the carrier, behind the fourth surface and substantially coincident with the opening. The portions of the fourth surface are in a transmissive region of the rear substrate, and the front and rear substrates define a cavity at least partially filled with an electro-optic material. |
| US09488888B2 |
Display device
A display device improves horizontal crosstalk and an aperture ratio, and includes: a substrate; a gate line and a data line formed on the substrate; a thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the data line; a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor; a light block overlapping the thin film transistor on the pixel electrode; a light block passivation layer overlapping the thin film transistor and the data line on the light block; a common electrode formed on the pixel electrode, spaced apart from the pixel electrode with a plurality of microcavities interposed therebetween; a roof layer formed on the common electrode; an injection hole exposing a part of each of the plurality of microcavities; a liquid crystal layer filling the plurality of microcavities; and an encapsulation layer formed on the roof layer covering the injection hole to seal the microcavity. |
| US09488884B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
In a liquid crystal display device having wall structures, the generation of low-temperature shock bubbles is suppressed. Also, electrodes and the like within substrates are prevented from being damaged during manufacturing. The liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate that is disposed to face the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer that is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, wall structures that are formed on the first substrate, pixel electrodes that are disposed on at least side wall of the wall structures, a common electrode that is formed on the first substrate, and a plurality of pixels including the pixel electrodes and the common electrode, in which higher portions are partially disposed on a surface of the second substrate, and the higher portions come into contact with the wall structures to bring the first substrate into contact with the second substrate. |
| US09488878B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
There is provided a liquid crystal display device comprising: a first substrate (20); a second substrate (50); a first electrode (140) formed on a first surface of the first substrate (20), the first surface facing the second substrate (50), the first electrode (140) including a plurality of convex and concave portions (141); a first oriented film (21) formed on the first surface of the first substrate (20); a second electrode (160) formed on a second surface of a second substrate (50), the second surface facing the first substrate (20); and a liquid crystal layer (70) provided between the first substrate (20) and the second substrate (50), wherein at least one of the convex portions (143,144) includes a plurality of stepped portions. There is also provided a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device. |
| US09488877B2 |
Electrically-driven liquid crystal lens, display device and 3D liquid crystal display method
An embodiment of the present invention relates to an electrically-driven liquid crystal (LC) lens, which comprises: first electrodes, an electrode group arranged corresponding to each sub-pixel, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first electrodes and the electrode groups. Each electrode group includes a plurality of second electrodes; and where the voltages of the second electrodes in each electrode group are progressively increased or decreased from left to right sequentially, light passing through the sub-pixels is deflected to different directions. The electrically-driven LC lens can improve the resolution of 3D liquid crystal display. The embodiment of the present invention further discloses a display device and a 3D display method. |
| US09488874B2 |
Liquid crystal display
Provided is a liquid crystal display. The liquid crystal display comprises a substrate having a plurality of pixel areas; a first electrode on the substrate in each of the pixel areas; a fine space layer positioned on the first electrode; a roof layer defining the fine space layer between the substrate and the roof layer and including a liquid crystal injection port; a second electrode on a bottom surface of the roof layer; and a supporter on the liquid crystal injection port and divided into a plurality of portions to define a filling space. |
| US09488872B2 |
Cell-assembled motherboard and fabrication method thereof, and liquid crystal display panel and fabrication method thereof
A cell-assembled motherboard and a fabrication method thereof, and a liquid crystal display panel and a fabrication method thereof are disclosed. The cell-assembled motherboard comprises a first motherboard (1) and a second motherboard (1) which are arranged opposite to each other, wherein a plurality of liquid crystal cells (4) arranged in a matrix and having display regions (3) are arranged between the first motherboard (1) and the second motherboard (2), a first sealant (5) having a closed profile and surrounding the display region (3) of each of the liquid crystal cells (4) is arranged between the first motherboard (1) and the second motherboard (2), and a second sealant (6) having a closed profile and surrounding a region where the liquid crystal cells (4) arranged in a matrix exist is arranged between the first motherboard (1) and the second motherboard (2). A first elastic component (7) having elasticity is arranged in a position where the first motherboard (1) is in contact with the first sealant (5) and/or a position where the first motherboard (1) is in contact with the second sealant (6); and/or a second elastic component (8) having elasticity is arranged in a position where the second motherboard (2) is in contact with the first sealant (5) and/or a position where the second motherboard (2) is in contact with the second sealant (5). When the cell-assembled motherboard is cut, the elasticity of the added elastic components avoids the problem of non-uniform thicknesses of liquid crystal cells, which problem is caused due to the situation a sealant poor in elasticity cannot recover from deformation, thus preventing the problem of non-uniform display brightness of the liquid crystal cells (4) and improving the display quality; moreover, the addition of the elastic components in corresponding regions of the sealants also decreases the amount of the sealants used and consequentially reduces the production cost. |
| US09488871B2 |
Method for manufacturing display panel
A method for manufacturing a display panel, the display panel comprising an array substrate (1) and a color filter substrate which are cell assembled, liquid crystals filled between the array substrate (1) and the color filter substrate, which are adhered to each other by a sealant (2), the method comprising: coating the sealant (2) along peripheries of one side of one substrate among the array substrate (1) and the color filter substrate, the side being opposite to the other substrate; forming a light shielding layer (3) in an area encircled by the sealant (2) on a side of the array substrate (1) away from the color filter substrate; irradiating the array substrate provided with the light shielding layer (3) so as to cure the sealant (2); and removing the light shielding layer (3). The method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure effectively avoids the phenomenon that liquid crystal molecules in an effective display area (4) are damaged by UV light during cell assembling. |
| US09488864B2 |
Light distributing optical component
The present disclosure includes an optical component including one or more textured surfaces configured to diffuse light incident thereto from within the optical component. The optical component includes textured surfaces at least along a top periphery of its body. |
| US09488863B2 |
Lighting device
The present disclosure relates to a backlight for illuminating back lit displays (e.g. LC displays of LCD televisions). In order to enable a thin design of the backlight and a high uniformity of the light emitted by the backlight, an apparatus may be provided with transparent and diffusing masking elements that may mask individual light sources and may diffuse light back into a light guide. Absorbing elements and/or retro-reflective elements may be arranged proximate the light sources in order to avoid generation of bright spots or rings around the light sources. |
| US09488862B2 |
Displays with organic light-emitting diode backlight structures
An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may include a liquid crystal display cell and an organic light-emitting diode backlight unit. The liquid crystal display cell may include a color filter layer, a liquid crystal layer, and a thin-film transistor layer. The organic light-emitting diode backlight unit may include organic emissive material formed on a substrate. The organic emissive material may generate backlight for liquid crystal display cell. Display pixels in the liquid crystal display cell may control the emission of the backlight from the display. The organic light-emitting diode backlight unit may be attached to the display using adhesive, laminated to a polarizer layer of the display cell, or may be integrated into the liquid crystal display cell. The backlight unit may include conductive vias or bent extended edge portions for coupling the backlight unit to control circuitry. |
| US09488857B2 |
Method of strengthening an edge of a glass substrate
Methods of strengthening the edge surfaces of a glass substrate, and particularly glass substrates contained within a display panel, are disclosed. The methods include exposing edges of the display panel to an acid solution for a time and at a temperature effective to remove no more than about 20 micrometers of glass from edge surfaces, rinsing the acid solution from the edge and applying a polymer protective coating the rinsed edge to maintain the post-etching strength of the edge surfaces. Electronics on the display panel that may be exposed to the acid solution are masked with a terminal mask prior to the etching. The edge etching may be combined with etching of a surface of the display panel/cover glass substrate. |
| US09488853B2 |
Assembly bonding
A contact lens having a thin silicon chip integrated therein is provided along with methods for assembling the silicon chip within the contact lens. In an aspect, a method includes creating a plurality of lens contact pads on a lens substrate and creating a plurality of chip contact pads on a chip. The method further involves applying assembly bonding material to the each of the plurality of lens contact pads or chip contact pads, aligning the plurality of lens contact pads with the plurality of chip contact pads, bonding the chip to the lens substrate via the assembly bonding material using flip chip bonding, and forming a contact lens with the lens substrate. |
| US09488849B2 |
Coherent light source device and projector
Provided are a coherent light source apparatus and a projector. A first light emission region is formed on basis of a coherent light source; a first optical system projects light derived from a first light emission region to form a second light emission region; a light deflection section deflects a bundle of rays in vicinity of the second light emission region; a second optical system downstream of the light deflection section; and a light mixing section downstream of the second optical system that mixes components of angles and positions of rays incident on an incident end. The second optical system forms an image conjugate to the first light emission region and a third light emission region substantially conjugate to an exit pupil of the first optical system. The light deflection section continues to cause a direction in which the bundle of rays is deflected to be continuously changed. |
| US09488847B2 |
Variable optical attenuator
A variable optical attenuator in which a polarization beam splitter splits a beam incoming from the front into two linearly-polarized beams perpendicular to each other and separately outputs them to the back along first and second light paths. A Faraday rotator rotates a polarization plane of the two incoming linearly-polarized beams to an arbitrary angle by controlling a magnetic field to be applied to a Faraday element by a magnetism applying means and outputs them to the back. First and second analyzers arranged in the first and the second light paths and parallelly arranged perpendicular to these light paths are arranged in that order. The two analyzers have optical axes perpendicular to each other so that the optical axes are in the same direction as that of the polarization plane of the two linearly-polarized beams output from the polarization beam splitter. |
| US09488846B2 |
Optical unit and imaging apparatus
An optical unit includes a condensing lens which condenses light from an object; a pupil splitting polarization separation element which separately outputs two linearly polarized light beams of which polarizing directions are different from the condensed light using a left eye polarization separation region and a right eye polarization separation region which are formed by having a pupil splitting line which is orthogonal to an optical axis as a border; a polarizing direction conversion element which converts polarizing directions of the two linearly polarized light beams which are output from the pupil splitting polarization separation element; and a rotation driving unit which rotates the pupil splitting polarization separation element and the polarizing direction conversion element in an optical axis rotational direction. |
| US09488840B2 |
Optical device having a light transmitting substrate with external light coupling means
An optical device, includes a light-transmitting substrate having an input aperture and first and second major surfaces parallel to each other and edges, one partially reflecting surface located in the substrate which is non-parallel to the major surfaces of the substrate and an external optical arrangement having an output aperture optically attached to the input aperture of the substrate with the part of the substrate located next to the substrate input aperture, being substantially transparent. |
| US09488838B2 |
Virtual image display apparatus
An optical system of a virtual image display apparatus is configured such that, in regard to a width in a first direction and a width in a second direction at a first surface position, and a width in a first direction and a width in a second direction at a second surface position corresponding to the width in the first direction and the width in the second direction at the first surface position, predetermined conditional expressions are established. With this, in an optical system for an HMD which includes a light guide member having a free-form surface, it is possible to allow video light to be emitted toward eyes in an appropriate state while controlling the light guide of video light accurately and maintaining high performance. |
| US09488836B2 |
Spherical interface for binocular display
A binocular display includes a waveguide. A convex spherical mount has a fixed position relative to the waveguide. A light engine includes a concave spherical mount that adjustably mates with the convex spherical mount. |
| US09488833B2 |
Intelligent glasses for the visually impaired
An embodiment of the present invention is a method for communicating navigation information on a physical environment to a user. The method comprises receiving, by one or more computer processors, at least one digital image of a physical environment of a user that is captured by one or more digital video devices and converting the at least one digital image into a three-dimensional image. Furthermore, the method includes analyzing the three-dimensional image using object analysis to generate output data where the output data corresponds to the physical environment. Additionally, the method includes determining a device associated with the user and formatting the output data for use with the device. |
| US09488831B2 |
Aberration-correcting method, laser processing method using said aberration-correcting method, laser irradiation method using said aberration-correcting method, aberration-correcting device and aberration-correcting program
In an aberration-correcting method according to an embodiment of the present invention, in an aberration-correcting method for a laser irradiation device 1 which focuses a laser beam on the inside of a transparent medium 60, aberration of a laser beam is corrected so that a focal point of the laser beam is positioned within a range of aberration occurring inside the medium. This aberration range is not less than n×d and not more than n×d+Δs from an incidence plane of the medium 60, provided that the refractive index of the medium 60 is defined as n, a depth from an incidence plane of the medium 60 to the focus of the lens 50 is defined as d, and aberration caused by the medium 60 is defined as Δs. |
| US09488826B2 |
Electrowetting display device having banks of different hydrophilicities and method for manufacturing the same
Disclosed is an electrowetting display device including a plurality pixels. Each pixel includes a pixel electrode, a hydrophobic layer, a hydrophobic fluid, and a bank adapted to limit the range of movement of the hydrophobic fluid. The bank has a hydrophobic bank surface and a hydrophilic bank surface, which face each other. The hydrophobic fluid is moved from the hydrophilic bank surface towards the hydrophobic bank surface by the application of a voltage to the pixel electrode. |
| US09488825B2 |
Long-range optical device
The invention relates to a long-range optical device, in particular a sighting telescope, comprising an outer housing in which a reversal system is disposed between an objective lens and eyepiece, and having an adjusting mechanism for adjusting the sighting line by adjusting at least one optical component inside the outer housing, and having a resetting mechanism acting on the optical component which has at least one spring in order to generate the restoring force. The resetting mechanism comprises at least one lever which transmits the spring force of the spring to the optical component. |
| US09488823B2 |
Techniques for scanned illumination
Imaging systems are provided for high speed, high resolution imaging of biochemical materials. In an example embodiment, an imaging system comprises an objective lens component, a line generator, a digital camera, a positioning stage, and a scan mirror. The line generator generates a line of light that is scanned across a portion of a substrate that is mounted on the positioning stage. The positioning stage moves the substrate in a particular direction that is substantially normal to an optical axis of the objective lens component. The camera collects an image of the portion of the substrate through the objective lens component. The scan mirror moves in coordination with the positioning stage, while the line of light is being scanned across the portion of the substrate and the substrate is being moved in the particular direction, in order to keep the image still with respect to the camera while the image is being collected by the camera. |
| US09488820B2 |
Autofocus system
An autofocus apparatus is capable of detecting the position of a sample on a microscope. The sample may consist of a specimen mounted between a microscope slide and coverslip or specimens within a well plate. The device tracks the position of a sample by identifying refractive index boundaries through Fresnel reflections. A change in refractive index can correspond to the top and bottom of a coverslip, the top of a slide, the bottom of a well plate or the bottom of a well within a well plate. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) these reflections are used to form a depth scan of the sample which gives the positions of these surfaces relative to the objective. The device functions as an autofocus system by compensating for any variation of the position of the sample from the focal plane of the objective. |
| US09488818B2 |
Immersion objective for microscopes and use thereof
A microscope immersion objective having a numerical aperture of NA>1.36 includes a front lens group. The front lens group has a first, object-side optical element having a plane parallel plate and a second optical element having a hyper-hemisphere. The plane parallel plate is wrung together with a planar side of the hyper-hemisphere. |
| US09488814B2 |
Optical lens
An optical lens having an incident surface on which the light emitted from a light emitting diode is incident and having a concave portion into which the light is received and an emitting surface emitting the light incident on the incident surface therethrough, the optical lens including: a plurality of refraction prevention portions protruded unitarily from the emitting surface to allow the light around a light axis emitted through the emitting surface to travel straight, without having any refraction, each refraction prevention portion having an orthogonal surface formed thereon to the advancing direction of the light incident through the incident surface. |
| US09488810B2 |
Apparatuses and methods to image surfaces with small spot-size and large field of view
Apparatuses and methods to image onto a flat surface with a spot-size that is about less than or equal to the wavelength of an incident planar electromagnetic wave, and with large field of view, are disclosed herein. More specifically, the apparatuses and methods disclosed herein utilize two hemispheres comprised of one or more dielectric materials to produce the Fourier transform of an incident planar electromagnetic wave onto a flat surface located in a projection plane. |
| US09488809B2 |
Image lens assembly and image capturing device
An image lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element has positive refractive power. The third lens element has refractive power. The fourth lens element has refractive power. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has a concave object-side surface, wherein both of the surfaces of the fifth lens element are aspheric. The sixth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface, wherein the image-side surface thereof has at least one inflection point, and both of the surfaces of the sixth lens element are aspheric. The image lens assembly has a total of six lens elements with refractive power. |
| US09488807B2 |
Optical imaging lens assembly, image capturing unit and electronic device
An optical imaging lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The second lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The third lens element has refractive power. The fourth lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex and an image-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has an object-side surface being concave and an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof, wherein the image-side surface thereof has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof. |
| US09488804B2 |
Optical imaging lens
An optical imaging lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh lens elements arranged along an optical axis. The object-side surface of the first lens element has a convex portion and the image-side surface has a concave portion. The image-side of the third lens element is a concave surface. The object-side surface of the fourth lens element has a concave portion and the image-side surface of the fourth lens element has a convex portion. The image-side surface of the sixth lens element has a convex portion. The object-side surface of the seventh lens element has a convex portion and the image-side surface has a convex portion. The optical imaging lens only has seven lens elements having a refractive power. |
| US09488801B1 |
Optical image capturing system
An optical image capturing system, sequentially including a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element and a fourth lens element from an object side to an image side, is disclosed. The first lens element has positive refractive power. The second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element have refractive power respectively. At least one of the image side surface and the object side surface of each of the four lens elements are aspheric. The optical lens elements can increase aperture value and improve the imagining quality for use in compact cameras. |
| US09488796B2 |
Adapter panel with lateral sliding adapter arrays
An adapter panel arrangement including a chassis and a panel of adapters. The adapters defining open rearward cable connections and open forward cable connections of the panel arrangement. The adapters being arranged in arrays that slide independently of other adapter arrays to provide access to the open rearward and open forward cable connections. |
| US09488791B2 |
Optoelectronic module
The present invention provides an optoelectronic module including a substrate, an optoelectronic device and a control unit. The substrate includes a top surface, a bottom surface, a concave structure, a through hole structure and a conductive material. The concave structure is disposed on the top surface. The through hole structure passes through the substrate from the top surface to the bottom surface. The conductive material is filled into the through hole structure. The optoelectronic device is disposed on the substrate for providing or receiving an optical signal. The control unit is configured on the top surface and electrically connected to the conductive material and the optoelectronic device for controlling the optoelectronic device. |
| US09488790B2 |
Lens array and optical module including the same
In an exemplary configuration, a lens array and a light module using the same include a first lens surface 11 and a second lens surface 12 formed into surface shapes such that by expanding the luminous flux diameter of light as the light travels from the first lens surface 11 toward the second lens surface 12, a light spot on the second lens surface 12 is larger in diameter than a light spot on the first lens surface 11, whereby the effects on optical performance by foreign objects and scratches on the lens surface can be mitigated, the criteria for the outward appearance of the lens surface can therefore be mitigated and the yield rate improved, and costs can be reduced. |
| US09488789B1 |
Electro-optic device with dichroic mirror and related methods
An electro-optic device may include a photonic chip having an optical grating at a surface, and an IC coupled to the photonic chip. The electro-optic device may include an optical element defining an optical path above the optical grating, and a dichroic mirror above the optical grating and aligned with the optical path. |
| US09488780B2 |
Device for converting the transverse spatial profile of intensity of a light beam, preferably using a microstructured optical fibre
A device for converting transverse spatial profile of intensity of a light beam, using a microstructured optical fiber. Transverse dimensions of the fiber vary longitudinally and both its ends have opto-geometrical parameters such that at the wavelength of the beam the fiber has a fundamental mode having two different profile shapes at its two ends. Thus by introducing the beam with one of the profiles through one of the two ends, the beam emerges through the other end with the other profile, whose shape is different from that of the profile of the introduced beam. |
| US09488775B2 |
Systems and methods for producing robust chalcogenide optical fibers
In one embodiment, a chalcogenide glass optical fiber is produced by forming a billet including a chalcogenide glass mass and a polymer mass in a stacked configuration, heating the billet to a temperature below the melting point of the chalcogenide glass, extruding the billet in the ambient environment to form a preform rod having a chalcogenide glass core and a polymer jacket, and drawing the preform rod. |
| US09488774B2 |
Primary optical fiber coating composition containing non-radiation curable component
An optical fiber is disclosed that includes a primary coating formed from a radiation curable composition that includes a curable cross-linker essentially free of urethane and urea functional groups, a curable diluent, and a non-radiation curable component comprising (thio)urethane and/or (thio)urea groups. The primary coating features low Young's modulus, low Tg, and high tensile strength. The optical fiber exhibits low microbend losses in wire mesh drum and basketweave tests. |
| US09488773B2 |
Circuit board and flat panel display including the same
Provided are a circuit board for irradiating light to a light guide plate and a flat panel display having a structure for efficiently fixing the circuit board and the light guide plate, the circuit board, including: a support substrate comprising a first area and a second area, the second area being bent from the first area; a plurality of light emitting device mounting parts disposed in the first area; and a protective member connecting part of an outer side of the plurality of light emitting device mounting parts. |
| US09488772B2 |
Display device, electronic apparatus and illumination device
An illumination device of a display device is configured such that heat of light-emitting elements is dissipated via a light source substrate, a light source support member made of a metal, and a first frame made of a metal. The illumination device also includes a second frame made of a resin that is disposed such that a closed space is formed along the light source support member between the frame and the light source support member. The second frame has an opening portion that communicates with the closed space, and the first frame and a third frame each has an opening portion at a position that overlaps the opening portion of the second frame, thereby allowing heat of the light-emitting elements to be dissipated through the closed space and an opening which is formed by opening portions. |
| US09488770B2 |
Light source unit and display apparatus
A light source unit, comprising: a light guide plate; a light source facing to a peripheral surface of the light guide plate; and a reflection part reflecting light emitted from one surface of the light guide plate, wherein the reflection part comprises: an elongated portion, which is positioned at an outside of an edge of the light guide plate, being elongated in a direction crossing the one surface; and a protrusion portion, which is located at a position of the elongated portion that is away from the one surface, protruding from the position to the one surface, wherein the one surface side of the light source is covered with the protrusion portion. |
| US09488766B2 |
Partially reflecting multilayer optical films with reduced color
A multilayer optical film body includes a first and second packet of microlayers. Each packet partially transmits and partially reflects light over an extended wavelength range, such as the visible region, for normally incident light polarized along a first principal axis of the film body. In combination, the first and second packets have an intermediate reflection and transmission (e.g. 5-95% internal transmission, on average) for the normally incident light, and similar intermediate reflection/transmission (e.g. 10-90% internal transmission, on average) for oblique light. The packets are laminated or otherwise connected so that light can pass through the packets sequentially. In at least a first test area of the film body, a high frequency spectral variability of the combination of packets is less than a high frequency spectral variability of the first packet by itself, and may also be less than a high frequency spectral variability of the second packet by itself. |
| US09488763B2 |
Polycyclic organic compound, optically anisotropic film and method of production thereof
The polycyclic organic compounds which are substantially transparent for an electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectral range, an anisotropic optical film comprising at least one polycyclic organic compound and a method of producing thereof are disclosed. The polycyclic organic compounds have a general formula (I) wherein A and B are acid groups; n is the number of phenyl rings in the range from 3 to 10; m is 0, 1, 2 or 3; l is 1, 2, or 3; p is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6; C is a counterion from a list comprising H+, NH+4, Na+, K+, Li+, Cs+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Sr2+, La3+, Zn2+, Zr4+, Ce3+, Y3+, Yb3+, Gd3+, and any combination thereof; k is the number of counterions necessary for compensation of the negative electric charge equal to (−p). |
| US09488762B2 |
Polarizing element with moth eye structure between projection portions and a method for manufacturing the same
Provided is a polarizing element in which a desired polarization characteristics are achieved and the transmissivity is also good. The polarizing element comprises: a substrate transparent to light having a bandwidth to be used; and a grid pattern made of a translucent material and configured such that a plurality of projection portions continuous in one in-plane direction of said substrate are formed on a surface of the substrate at a pitch smaller than a wavelength of light having a bandwidth to be used, wherein each of the projection portions includes a base portion with a rectangular cross-section and a tapered surface portion formed at a top of the base portion, a fine particle layer made of an inorganic material is laminated on at least one surface of said tapered surface portion, and the fine particle layer does not protrude over a side face of the base portion. |
| US09488760B2 |
Enhanced, durable silver coating stacks for highly reflective mirrors
The disclosure is directed to a highly reflective multiband mirror that is reflective in the VIS-NIR_SWIR-MWIR-LWIR bands, the mirror being a complete thin film stack that consists of a plurality of layers on a selected substrate. In order from substrate to the final layer, the mirror consists of (a) substrate, (b) barrier layer, (c) first interface layer, (d) a reflective layer, (e) a second interface layer, (f) tuning layer(s) and (g) a protective layer. In some embodiments the tuning layer and the protective layer are combined into a single layer using a single coating material. The multiband mirror is more durable than existing mirrors on light weight metal substrates, for example 6061-Al, designed for similar applications. In each of the five layer types methods and materials are used to process each layer so as to achieve the desired layer characteristics, which aid to enhancing the durability performance of the stack. |
| US09488757B2 |
Display apparatus assembly
A display apparatus assembly includes: a display apparatus; and a speed measuring device that measures a movement speed of the display apparatus, wherein the display apparatus includes a glass-type frame that is mounted on a head of an observer and two image displaying devices for left and right eyes that are mounted in the frame, each of the image displaying devices includes an image forming device, an optical system that forms light output from the image forming device to be parallel light, and an optical device to which light output from the optical system is incident and in which the light is guided so as to be output, and a convergence angle is changed based on the movement speed of the display apparatus that is measured by the speed measuring device. |
| US09488756B2 |
Pressure-sensitive adhesive layer-attached polarizing film and image display
A pressure-sensitive adhesive layer-attached polarizing film of the invention includes: a polarizing film; and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on the polarizing film, wherein the polarizing film includes a polarizer and a transparent protective film provided on only one side of the polarizer, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on a side of the polarizer where the transparent protective film is absent, and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is made of a pressure-sensitive adhesive composition containing a (meth)acryl-based polymer (A) and an alkali metal salt (B). The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer-attached polarizing film has a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer with an antistatic function and satisfactory durability and whose optical properties are less likely to be degraded. |