最新美国发明专利第2016-11-08期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

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US09490435B2	Iridium complex and organic light-emitting device including the same Provided are an iridium complex represented by Formula 1 below and an organic light-emitting device including the same. Descriptions of substituents of Formula 1 are the same as described in the detailed description of the present specification.
US09490434B2	Organic light-emitting device An organic light-emitting device includes an organic layer including an emission layer between a first electrode and the second electrode, and a hole transport region including an auxiliary layer between the first electrode and the emission layer, the hole transport region. The auxiliary layer includes a first material and a second material that satisfy Equations 1-1 and 1-2: 0 eV 0 eV wherein in Equation 1-1 and 1-2, EH1 is a highest occupied molecular orbital energy (HOMO energy) of the first material; EL1 is a lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy (LUMO energy) of the first material; EH2 is a HOMO energy of the second material; and EL2 is a LUMO energy of the second material.
US09490433B2	Benzothienobenzothiophene derivative, organic semiconductor material, and organic transistor The present invention, the present invention relates to an organic semiconductor material having a benzothienobenzothiophene skeleton, an organic semiconductor ink containing the organic semiconductor material, and an organic transistor using the organic semiconductor material. An object of the present invention is to provide an organic semiconductor material that easily provides a film having a high carrier mobility without the need for a complicated process. It was found that a BTBT derivative having a particular arylene acetylene structure is crystallized by way of a high-order liquid crystal phase having a highly ordered molecular arrangement, and thus the BTBT derivative easily forms a film having a high mobility without requiring complicated heat treatment even when the film is formed by printing. This finding led to the achievement of the object.
US09490431B2	Copper(I) complexes, in particular for optoelectronic components The invention relates to copper(I) complexes of the formula A, in which X═Cl, Br, I, CN and/or SCN (i.e. independently of one another); N∩E=a bidentate ligand where E=phosphanyl/arsenyl group of the R2E form (where R=alkyl, aryl, alkoxyl, phenoxyl, or amide); N*=imine function, which is part of a N-heteroaromatic 5- or 6-membered ring, which is chosen from the group consisting of oxazole, imidazole, thiazole, isoxazole, isothiazole, pyrazole, 1,2,3-triazole, 1,2,3-oxadiazole, 1,2,5-oxadiazole, 1,2,3-thiadiazole and 1,2,5-thiadiazole, pyridine, pyrimidine, triazine, pyrazine and pyridazine; and “∩”=at least one carbon atom, which is likewise part of the aromatic group, wherein the carbon atom is directly adjacent to both the imine nitrogen atom and to the phosphorous or arsenic atom.
US09490427B2	Resistive random access memory cell structure A system including a resistive element of a memory cell and a device to access the resistive element of the memory cell. The resistive element includes (i) a first electrode, and (ii) a second electrode. The device includes (i) a first terminal connected to a first contact, and (i) a second terminal connected to a second contact. One or more of the first contact and the second contact of the device is respectively connected to one or more of the first electrode and the second electrode of the resistive element via a third contact. A size of the third contact decreases from the one or more of the first contact and the second contact of the device to the one or more of the first electrode and the second electrode of the resistive element of the memory cell.
US09490424B2	Sub-lithographic patterning of magnetic tunneling junction devices A method for fabricating a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device includes creating a recess within a second patterning layer, in which a first patterning layer overhangs the recessed second patterning layer. Such a method further includes depositing a film into the recess to create a keyhole pattern within the deposited film. The method further includes transferring the keyhole pattern through a hard mask layer to an MTJ stack. The method also includes depositing a conductive material into the transferred keyhole pattern and on an MTJ stack. The method also includes removing the hard mask layer to create a conductive hard mask pillar.
US09490423B2	Integrated circuit structures with spin torque transfer magnetic random access memory ultilizing aluminum metallization layers and methods for fabricating the same STT-MRAM integrated circuits employing aluminum metallization layers and methods for fabricating the same are disclosed. A method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes forming a first metallization layer including an aluminum material, forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure over the first metallization layer, and forming an encapsulation layer over the MTJ structure and over the first metallization layer. The method further includes etching the encapsulation layer and the first metallization layer to form an encapsulation segment overlying a first metal line, forming a contact plug to the MTJ structure, and forming a second metal line including an aluminum material over the contact plug.
US09490422B1	Current constriction for spin torque MRAM Magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) devices and methods for making the same include growing a tunnel barrier layer on a first magnetic layer. A thin layer of non-wetting material is formed on the tunnel barrier layer, such that the non-wetting material forms distinct regions on the tunnel barrier layer. A second magnetic layer is grown on the tunnel barrier layer.
US09490417B2	Method for producing an electrical contact A method for producing an electrical contact is disclosed. In an embodiment the method includes providing a piezoelectric component that includes an electromechanical transducer having two first electrodes and a second electrode arranged between the two first electrodes and spaced from the two first electrodes by a piezoelectric material, the transducer further including a first main side, a second main side opposite from the first main side and a first longitudinal side, and forming a contiguous metallization layer onto a first partial region of the first main side and onto a second partial region along the first longitudinal side, so that the second partial region along the first longitudinal side is at a distance from a side edge facing the second main side and the metallization layer in the second partial region of the first longitudinal side contacts the two first electrodes in an electrically conducting manner.
US09490409B2	Light emmiting diode chip A light emitting diode (LED) chip including a first type semiconductor layer, an light-emitting layer, a second type semiconductor layer, a current blocking layer, a transparent conductive layer and an electrode is provided. The light-emitting layer is disposed on the first type semiconductor layer. The second type semiconductor layer is disposed on the light-emitting layer. The current blocking layer is disposed on the second type semiconductor layer. The transparent conductive layer is disposed on the second type semiconductor layer and covered the current blocking layer. The electrode is disposed on the transparent conductive layer corresponding to the current blocking layer. The current blocking layer and the electrode respectively have a first width and a second width in a cross section view, and the first width of the current blocking layer is larger than the second width of the electrode.
US09490402B2	LED light-emitting device for white light A white light emitting LED device comprises: base, blue light LED chips, light reflector and transparent substrate covered with a phosphor coating; two ends of the light reflector connect the base and the transparent substrate, respectively, the inner surface of the light reflector is covered with a light-reflecting coating; blue light LED chips are set on the surface of the base pointing to the transparent substrate, and the electrode leads of blue light LED chips pass through the base; blue light LED chip is a single chip, or a group of chips connected in series, or in parallel, or in a mixed manner; the transparent substrate has the shape of a plane, or a convex, or a semi-cylinder. The present invention gets the white light by utilizing the blue lights emitted by the blue light LED chips to irradiate the transparent substrate which is covered with a phosphor coating.
US09490401B2	Method of manufacturing light emitting device There is provided a method of manufacturing a light emitting device which includes preparing a light emitting element emitting excitation light and a substrate on which the light emitting element is disposed. A fluoride phosphor is provided to absorb excitation light emitted from the light emitting element to emit visible light, and is represented by Chemical Formula (1). The fluoride phosphor is disposed on at least one of the light emitting element and the substrate, wherein Chemical Formula (1): AxMFy:Mn4+ (wherein 2≦x≦3 and 4≦y≦7, A is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs, and M is at least one element selected from the group consisting Si, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ge, and Sn).
US09490399B2	Illumination method and light-emitting device To provide an illumination method and a light-emitting device which are capable of achieving, under an indoor illumination environment where illuminance is around 5000 lx or lower when performing detailed work and generally around 1500 lx or lower, a color appearance or an object appearance as perceived by a person, will be as natural, vivid, highly visible, and comfortable as though perceived outdoors in a high-illuminance environment, regardless of scores of various color rendition metric. Light emitted from the light-emitting device illuminates an object such that light measured at a position of the object satisfies specific requirements. A feature of the light-emitting device is that light emitted by the light-emitting device in a main radiant direction satisfies specific requirements.
US09490394B2	Semiconductor light-emitting device A semiconductor light-emitting device comprises an epitaxial structure comprising a first semiconductor stack, a second semiconductor stack, and an active layer between the first semiconductor stack and second semiconductor stack for emitting a light; and a main light-extraction surface on the first semiconductor stack, wherein the light passes through the main light-extraction surface. The main light-extraction surface comprises a first light-extraction region, a second light-extraction region, and a maximum near-field luminous intensity. The distribution of the near-field luminous intensity in the first light-extraction region is between 70% and 100% of the maximum near-field luminous intensity, the distribution of the near-field luminous intensity in the second light-extraction region is between 0% and 70% of the maximum near-field luminous intensity. A ratio of an area of the first light-extraction region to an area of the second light-extraction region is between 0.25 and 0.45.
US09490392B2	P-type doping layers for use with light emitting devices A light emitting diode (LED) comprises an n-type Group III-V semiconductor layer, an active layer adjacent to the n-type Group III-V semiconductor layer, and a p-type Group III-V semiconductor layer adjacent to the active layer. The active layer includes one or more V-pits. A portion of the p-type Group III-V semiconductor layer is in the V-pits. A p-type dopant injection layer provided during the formation of the p-type Group III-V layer aids in providing a predetermined concentration, distribution and/or uniformity of the p-type dopant in the V-pits.
US09490387B2	Method of manufacturing a solar cell and equipment therefore Methods of manufacturing a solar cell are provided. Aspects of embodiments of the methods include introducing charge carriers into a substrate on a first side by ion implantation to produce an amorphized region followed by selectively recrystallizing material in part of the amorphized region to define a first recrystallized subregion and then at least partially removing recrystallized material from the first subregion. An apparatus for carrying out said method and a resulting solar cell having surface topology are also provided.
US09490382B2	Solar module and manufacturing method therefor A solar module is provided which has improved output characteristics. The solar module (1) includes a first protecting member (21), a second protecting member (22), a first solar cell (10a) and a second solar cell (10b), and a first wiring member (11A). The first solar cell (10a) and the second solar cell (10b) are arranged between the first protecting member (21) and the second protecting member (22). The first wiring member (11A) electrically connects the first solar cell (10a) to the second solar cell (10b). A first conductive member (17a) is arranged on the same surface of the first solar cell (10a) as the second protecting member (22). The tip of protrusion portions (11c) formed on the surface of the first wiring member (11A) and the first conductive member (17a) are connected electrically by welding.
US09490378B2	Cone shaped focusing lens An optical assembly can be used in various optical devices such as optical proximity sensors, gesture sensors, or imaging sensors. The optical assembly may include a lens assembly and a light detector. The lens assembly may be configured to limit off axis rays at a central area of the light detector. The lens assembly can be a high aspect ratio lens assembly.
US09490360B2	Semiconductor device and operating method thereof Provided is a semiconductor device including a P-type substrate, a P-type first well region, an N-type second well region, a gate, N-type source and drain regions, a dummy gate and an N-type deep well region. The first well region is in the substrate. The second well region is in the substrate proximate to the first well region. The gate is on the substrate and covers a portion of the first well region and a portion of the second well region. The source region is in the first well region at one side of the gate. The drain region is in the second well region at another side of the gate. The dummy gate is on the substrate between the gate and the drain region. The deep well region is in the substrate and surrounds the first and second well regions. An operation method of the semiconductor device is further provided.
US09490357B2	Vertical III-nitride semiconductor device with a vertically formed two dimensional electron gas A HEMT device comprising a III-Nitride material substrate, the surface of which follows a plane that is not parallel to the C-plane of the III-Nitride material; an epitaxial layer of III-Nitride material grown on said substrate; a recess etched in said epitaxial layer, having at least one plane wall parallel to a polar plane of the III-Nitride material; a carrier supply layer formed on a portion of the plane wall of the recess, such that a 2DEG region is formed along the portion of the plane wall of the recess; a doped source region formed at the surface of said epitaxial layer such that the doped source region is separated from said 2DEG region by a channel region of the epitaxial layer; a gate insulating layer formed on the channel region of the epitaxial layer; and a gate contact layer formed on the gate insulating layer.
US09490352B2	Bipolar transistor with carbon alloyed contacts A method for forming a bipolar junction transistor includes forming a collector intrinsic region, an emitter intrinsic region and an intrinsic base region between the collector intrinsic region and the emitter intrinsic region. A collector extrinsic contact region is formed in direct contact with the collector intrinsic region; an emitter extrinsic contact region is formed on the emitter intrinsic region and a base extrinsic contact region is formed in direct contact with the intrinsic base region. Carbon is introduced into at least one of the collector extrinsic contact region, the emitter extrinsic contact region and the base extrinsic contact region to suppress diffusion of dopants into the junction region.
US09490348B2	Method of forming a FinFET having an oxide region in the source/drain region Embodiments of the present disclosure include a semiconductor device, a FinFET device, and methods for forming the same. An embodiment is a semiconductor device including a first semiconductor fin extending above a substrate, the first semiconductor fin having a first lattice constant, an isolation region surrounding the first semiconductor fin, and a first source/drain region in the first semiconductor fin, the first source/drain having a second lattice constant different from the first lattice constant. The semiconductor device further includes a first oxide region along a bottom surface of the first source/drain region, the first oxide region extending into the isolation region.
US09490347B2	Capping dielectric structures for transistor gates The present description relates to the field of fabricating microelectronic transistors, including non-planar transistors, for microelectronic devices. Embodiments of the present description relate to the formation a recessed gate electrode capped by a substantially void-free dielectric capping dielectric structure which may be formed with a high density plasma process.
US09490345B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof A semiconductor device includes a gate structure on a substrate; a raised source/drain region adjacent to the gate structure; and an interconnect plug on the doped region. The raised source/drain region includes a top surface being elevated from a surface of the substrate; and a doped region exposed on the top surface. The doped region includes a dopant concentration greater than any other portions of the raised source/drain region. A bottommost portion of the interconnect plug includes a width approximate to a width of the doped region.
US09490342B2	Method for fabricating semiconductor device A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes the following steps. Firstly, a dummy gate structure having a dummy gate electrode layer is provided. Then, the dummy gate electrode layer is removed to form an opening in the dummy gate structure, thereby exposing an underlying layer beneath the dummy gate electrode layer. Then, an ammonium hydroxide treatment process is performed to treat the dummy gate structure. Afterwards, a metal material is filled into the opening.
US09490341B2	Semiconductor device having metal gate and method for manufacturing semiconductor device having metal gate A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having metal gate includes following steps. A substrate is provided. At least a transistor including a dummy gate is formed on the substrate and the transistor is embedded in an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer. A first removal process is performed to remove a portion of the dummy gate to form a first recess in the transistor. An etching process is subsequently performed to remove a portion of the ILD layer to widen the first recess and to form a widened first recess. A second removal process is subsequently performed to remove the dummy gate entirely and to form a second recess in the transistor. A metal gate is formed in the second recess and followed by forming an insulating cap layer on the metal gate.
US09490340B2	Methods of forming nanowire devices with doped extension regions and the resulting devices A method of forming a nanowire device includes patterning a plurality of semiconductor material layers such that each layer has first and second exposed end surfaces. The method further includes forming doped extension regions in the first and second exposed end surfaces of the semiconductor material layers. The method further includes, after forming the doped extension regions, forming epi semiconductor material in source and drain regions of the device.
US09490339B2	Semiconductor device having improved contact area A semiconductor device forms a salicide layer to surround an upper surface and a circumference of a lateral surface of a pillar. A contact area between the pillar and a lower electrode may be increased to reduce a contact resistance.
US09490337B2	Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor device includes: a plurality of n type pillar regions and an n− type epitaxial layer disposed on a first surface of an n+ type silicon carbide substrate; a p type epitaxial layer and an n+ region disposed on the plurality of n type pillar regions and the n− type epitaxial layer; a trench penetrating the n+ region and the p type epitaxial layer and disposed on the plurality of n type pillar regions and the n− type epitaxial layer; a gate insulating film disposed within the trench; a gate electrode disposed on the gate insulating film; an oxide film disposed on the gate electrode; a source electrode disposed on the p type epitaxial layer, the n+ region, and the oxide film; and a drain electrode disposed on a second surface of the n+ type silicon carbide substrate, wherein each corner portion of the trench is in contact with a corresponding n type pillar region.
US09490335B1	Extra gate device for nanosheet A method for forming semiconductor devices includes forming a highly doped region. A stack of alternating layers is formed on the substrate. The stack is patterned to form nanosheet structures. A dummy gate structure is formed over and between the nanosheet structures. An interlevel dielectric layer is formed. The dummy gate structures are removed. SG regions are blocked, and top sheets are removed from the nanosheet structures along the dummy gate trench. A bottommost sheet is released and forms a channel for a field effect transistor device by etching away the highly doped region under the nanosheet structure and layers in contact with the bottommost sheet. A gate structure is formed in and over the dummy gate trench wherein the bottommost sheet forms a device channel for the EG device.
US09490330B2	Controlling GaAsP/SiGe interfaces Initiation conditions and strain techniques are described that enable forming high quality GaAsP semiconductor material on an SiGe semiconductor material with low threading defect density. Suitable initiation conditions include exposing the SiGe semiconductor material to a gas comprising arsenic. A tensilely-strained region may be formed in the semiconductor structure between regions of GaAsP semiconductor material and SiGe semiconductor material.
US09490327B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes: a semiconductor substrate; an n-type SiC layer provided on one side of the semiconductor substrate; a p-type first SiC region provided in the n-type SiC layer; a metallic second SiC region provided in the p-type first SiC region, the second SiC region containing at least one element selected from the group of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Y, La, and lanthanoid; a gate electrode; a gate insulating film provided between the gate electrode and the n-type SiC layer, the gate insulating film provided between the gate electrode and the first SiC region; a first electrode provided on the second SiC region; and a second electrode provided on a side of the semiconductor substrate opposite to the n-type SiC layer.
US09490326B2	Wafer formed by slicing an ingot The instant disclosure relates to a wafer formed by slicing an ingot. The wafer has at least one side surface adjacent to the slicing path and topped with a nanostructure layer.
US09490325B2	Structures and devices including a tensile-stressed silicon arsenic layer and methods of forming same Structures including a tensile-stressed silicon arsenic layer, devices including the structures, and methods of forming the devices and structures are disclosed. Exemplary tensile-stressed silicon arsenic layer have an arsenic doping level of greater than 5 E+20 arsenic atoms per cubic centimeter. The structures can be used to form metal oxide semiconductor devices.
US09490322B2	Semiconductor device with enhanced 3D resurf A device includes a semiconductor substrate, source and drain regions in the semiconductor substrate and spaced from one another along a first lateral dimension, and a drift region in the semiconductor substrate and through which charge carriers drift during operation upon application of a bias voltage between the source and drain regions. The drift region has a notched dopant profile in a second lateral dimension along an interface between the drift region and the drain region.
US09490315B2	Power semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same and cutoff ring The invention provides a power semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same and a cutoff ring. A cutoff ring located at a periphery of an active area of the power semiconductor device is etched forming at least one trench below which an implant area is formed by implanting ions into the trench, and a silicon dioxide dielectric layer covering the trench and a surface of the active area, are formed. Since the ions are implanted into the trench formed by etching the cutoff ring to thereby increase a depth of the implanted ions and a density of the cutoff ring, a width of the cutoff ring can be shortened to thereby address the technical problem of a considerable area of a chip occupied by the cutoff ring and improve a utilization ratio of the area of the chip so as to lower a cost of fabricating the chip.
US09490314B1	High-throughput deposition of a voltage-tunable dielectric material High-throughput deposition of a voltage-tunable dielectric material onto a substrate comprising a conductive electrode is provided. Respective gradients in at least two grain size defining parameters of the deposition are simultaneously provided, the respective gradients occurring for a first time period thereby producing a smoothly changing columnar crystalline habit of the voltage-tunable dielectric material. When the first time period has ended, the deposition continues for a second time period where the grain size defining parameters are held constant. In particular, the smoothly changing columnar crystalline habit of the voltage-tunable dielectric material is intentionally distorted by simultaneously providing the respective gradients in the in at least two grain size defining parameters of the deposition.
US09490312B2	Organic light emitting diode display device with flexible printed circuit film There is provided a flexible display having a plurality of innovations configured to allow bending of a portion or portions to reduce apparent border size and/or utilize the side surface of an assembled flexible display.
US09490305B2	Organic light emitting display device having dummy sub-pixels with different shapes Provided are an organic light emitting display device, the display device including: a substrate defined into a display area and a non-display area; sub-pixels formed on the display area of the substrate; and dummy sub-pixels formed on the non-display area of the substrate, the dummy sub-pixels have a different shape for each position of the non-display area.
US09490303B2	Light source and display device using the light source The display device is arranged with a pair of reflection layers arranged facing each other and which function as an anode and cathode of a light emitting layer, a light emitting layer sandwiched between the pair of reflection layers and arranged in a pixel of a display region, a transparent conductive layer contacting the light emitting layer and arranged so as to overlap an aperture part seen from a planar view, wherein the aperture part is arranged in one of the pair of reflection layers and is arranged with a color filter including a pigment layer therein.
US09490300B2	Complementary carbon nanotube neuron device A method for forming a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate structure, which includes a carbon nanotube supported by two support structures on a substrate. The carbon nanotube includes a first portion and a second portion having different conductivity types. A multi-layer film structure is formed surrounding the carbon nanotube, the multi-layer film structure including a conductive material layer sandwiched between two dielectric layers. A plurality of first electrodes are formed surrounding the multi-layer film structure surrounding a channel region of the first portion, and a plurality of second electrodes are formed surrounding the multi-layer film structure surrounding a channel region of the second portion. A third electrode is formed to contact one end of the carbon nanotube, and a fourth electrode is formed to contact the other end of the carbon nanotube. A fifth electrode is formed and coupled to a center portion of the carbon nanotube.
US09490298B2	Magnetic memory devices having a perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction A magnetic memory device may include a free magnetic structure and a reference magnetic structure that are separated from each other by a tunnel barrier. The free magnetic structure may include an exchange-coupling layer, and first and second free layers that are separated from each other by the exchange-coupling layer. The first free layer may be provided between the second free layer and the tunnel barrier. A thickness of the first free layer may be greater than a first maximum anisotropy thickness, being the thickness at which the first free layer has maximum perpendicular anisotropy. A thickness of the second free layer may be smaller than a second maximum anisotropy thickness, being the thickness at which the second free layer has maximum perpendicular anisotropy. A magnetic tunnel junction having two free layers with different thicknesses can enable a magnetic memory device that has increased MR ratio and reduced switching current.
US09490294B2	Method of manufacturing semiconductor device To provide a semiconductor device having improved performance and reduce a production cost.The semiconductor device has a plurality of photodiodes placed in array form on the main surface of a semiconductor substrate, a p+ type semiconductor region surrounding each photodiode in plan view, and a plurality of transistors placed between the direction-Y adjacent photodiodes. A method of manufacturing the semiconductor device includes forming the p+ type semiconductor region by implanting a p type impurity into the semiconductor substrate through a mask layer opened at a p+ type semiconductor region formation region and implanting an n type impurity into the semiconductor substrate through the mask layer. In the latter step, in the main surface of the semiconductor substrate, an impurity ion is implanted into a region between photodiode formation regions adjacent in the Y direction but not into a region between the photodiode formation regions adjacent in the X direction.
US09490293B2	Solid-state imaging device, manufacturing method thereof, and electronic apparatus A solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions each provided in a semiconductor substrate and receives incident light through a light sensing surface, and a pixel separation portion provided to electrically separate a plurality of pixels. At least a pinning layer and a light shielding layer are provided in an inner portion of a trench provided on a side portion of each of the photoelectric conversion portions in an incident surface side, the trench includes a first trench and a second trench formed to be wider than the first trench in a portion shallower than the first trench, the pinning layer is formed in an inner portion of the first trench to cover an inside surface of the second trench, and the light shielding layer is formed to bury an inner portion of the second trench at least via the pinning layer.
US09490291B2	Solid state imaging device and camera system A MOS type solid state imaging device in which unit pixels, each having a photodiode, a transfer transistor for transferring the signal of the photodiode to a floating node, an amplifier transistor for outputting the signal of the floating node to a vertical signal line, and a reset transistor for resetting the floating node are arrayed in a matrix. A gate voltage of the reset transistor is controlled by three values of a power source potential (for example 3V), a ground potential (0V), and a negative power source potential (for example −1V).
US09490288B2	Image sensor with trenched filler grid within a dielectric grid including a reflective portion, a buffer and a high-K dielectric Among other things, one or more image sensors and techniques for forming such image sensors are provided. An image sensor comprises a photodiode array configured to detect light. A filler grid is formed over the photodiode array, such as over a dielectric grid. The filler grid comprises one or more filler structures, such as a first filler structure that provides a light propagation path to a first photodiode that is primarily through the first filler structure. In this way, signal strength decay of light along the light propagation path before detection by the first photodiode is mitigated. The image sensor comprises a reflective layer that channels light towards corresponding photodiodes. For example, a first reflective layer portion guides light towards the first photodiode and away from a second photodiode. In this way, crosstalk, otherwise resulting from detection of light by incorrect photodiodes, is mitigated.
US09490286B2	Photoelectric conversion device and method for producing photoelectric conversion device A photoelectric conversion device according to the present invention has a plurality of photoreceiving portions provided in a substrate, an interlayer film overlying the photoreceiving portion, a large refractive index region which is provided so as to correspond to the photoreceiving portion and has a higher refractive index than the interlayer film, and a layer which is provided in between the photoreceiving portion and the large refractive index region, and has a lower etching rate than the interlayer film, wherein the layer of the lower etching rate is formed so as to cover at least the whole surface of the photoreceiving portion. In addition, the layer of the lower etching rate has a refractive index in between the refractive indices of the large refractive index region and the substrate. Such a configuration can provide the photoelectric conversion device which inhibits the lowering of the sensitivity and the variation of the sensitivity among picture elements.
US09490285B2	Solid-state imaging device and manufacturing method thereof, and electronic apparatus A solid-state imaging device includes a supporting substrate that includes a concave portion, a solid-state imaging chip that is bonded on the supporting substrate so as to seal the concave portion in a view-angle region, a stress film that is formed on the surface of the solid-state imaging chip, and an imaging surface curved toward the concave portion at least in the view-angle region.
US09490284B2	Solid state imaging device, method of producing solid state imaging device, and electronic apparatus A solid state imaging device includes: a substrate; a photoelectric conversion unit that is formed on the substrate to generate and accumulate signal charges according to light quantity of incident light; a vertical transmission gate electrode that is formed to be embedded in a groove portion formed in a depth direction from one side face of the substrate according to a depth of the photoelectric conversion unit; and an overflow path that is formed on a bottom portion of the transmission gate to overflow the signal charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion unit.
US09490271B2	Array substrate having jump wire connecting first and second wirings The present disclosure discloses an array substrate, manufacturing method thereof, and display device. The array substrate comprises: a first wiring and a second wiring located in a first metal layer; a first insulating layer covering the first metal layer, wherein the first insulating layer is provided with via holes corresponding to the first wiring and the second wiring respectively; and a jumper located in a second metal layer provided on the first insulating layer, wherein the jumper is connected with the first wiring and the second wiring through the via holes, thereby the first wiring and the second wiring being electrically conducted with each other through the jumper. The array substrate of the present disclosure can be used in liquid crystal television, liquid crystal display, mobile phone, tablet personal computer and other display devices.
US09490269B2	Display device Disclosed are a display device and the manufacturing method thereof. In the display device, the pixel unit of the display substrate comprises: a gate line material layer, a transparent electrode layer, a semiconductor layer, and a metal layer; the semiconductor layer and the metal layer are disposed between the gate line material layer and the transparent electrode layer; the metal layer is located above the semiconductor layer. The present invention could cause the storage capacitor of the display device to be smaller, thereby reducing the RC delay of the scanning signal of the gate line.
US09490267B2	Semiconductor device A first field-effect transistor provided over a substrate in which an insulating region is provided over a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region is provided over the insulating region; an insulating layer provided over the substrate; a second field-effect transistor that is provided one flat surface of the insulating layer and includes an oxide semiconductor layer; and a control terminal are provided. The control terminal is formed in the same step as a source and a drain of the second field-effect transistor, and a voltage for controlling a threshold voltage of the first field-effect transistor is supplied to the control terminal.
US09490265B2	Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes: a substrate having a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor thereon, and an oxide semiconductor transistor adjacent to the MOS transistor. Preferably, the MOS transistor includes a first gate structure and a source/drain region adjacent to two sides of the gate structure, and the oxide semiconductor transistor includes a channel layer and the top surface of the channel layer is lower than the top surface of the first gate structure of the MOS transistor.
US09490262B1	Selective removal of charge-trapping layer for select gate transistor and dummy memory cells in 3D stacked memory Fabrication techniques for a three-dimensional stack memory device remove the charge-trapping material from the select gate transistors and the dummy memory cells to avoid unintentional programming which increases the threshold voltage. In one approach, a stack is formed with a sacrificial material for the a) control gate layers of the select gate transistors and the dummy memory cells and the b) control gate layers of the data memory cells. A slit is formed to allow etchants to be introduced to selectively remove the sacrificial material and then the charge-trapping material for the select gate transistors and dummy memory cells. A protective layer is provided partway in the slit, or the slit is etched in two steps.
US09490255B1	Complementary metal oxide semiconductor replacement gate high-k metal gate devices with work function adjustments An electrical device that includes a p-type semiconductor device having a p-type work function gate structure including a first high-k gate dielectric, a first metal containing buffer layer, a first titanium nitride layer having a first thickness present on the metal containing buffer layer, and a first gate conductor contact. A mid gap semiconductor device having a mid gap gate structure including a second high-k gate dielectric, a second metal containing buffer layer, a second titanium nitride layer having a second thickness that is less than the first thickness present, and a second gate conductor contact. An n-type semiconductor device having an n-type work function gate structure including a third high-k gate dielectric present on a channel region of the n-type semiconductor device, a third metal containing buffer layer on the third high-k gate dielectric and a third gate conductor fill present atop the third metal containing buffer layer.
US09490253B1	Gate planarity for finFET using dummy polish stop A method for forming a semiconductor device includes depositing a dielectric layer over fins formed in a semiconductor substrate. The dielectric layer includes a screen layer over tops of the fins. An etch stop feature is formed on the screen layer. The etch stop feature is patterned down to the screen layer in regions across the device. A dummy gate material formed over the fins is planarized down to the etch stop feature, a dielectric fill between gate structures patterned from the dummy gate material is planarized down to the etch stop feature and a gate conductor is planarized to the etch stop feature.
US09490248B2	Power cell, power cell circuit for a power amplifier and a method of making and using a power cell A power cell including an isolation region having a first dopant type formed in a substrate. The power cell further includes a bottom gate having a second dopant type different from the first dopant type formed on the isolation region and a channel layer having the first dopant type formed on the bottom gate. The power cell further includes source/drain regions having the first dopant type formed in the channel layer and a first well region having the second dopant type formed around the channel layer and the source/drain regions, and the first well region electrically connected to the bottom gate. The power cell further includes a second well region having the first dopant type formed around the channel layer and contacting the isolation region and a gate structure formed on the channel layer.
US09490241B2	Semiconductor device comprising a first inverter and a second inverter A semiconductor device which is downsized while a short-channel effect is suppressed and whose power consumption is reduced is provided. A downsized SRAM circuit is formed, which includes a first inverter including a first transistor and a second transistor overlapping with each other; a second inverter including a third transistor and a fourth transistor overlapping with each other; a first selection transistor; and a second selection transistor. An output terminal of the first inverter, an input terminal of the second inverter, and one of a source and a drain of the first selection transistor are connected to one another, and an output terminal of the second inverter, an input terminal of the first inverter, and one of a source and a drain of the second selection transistor are connected to one another.
US09490236B2	Light-emitting device and lighting device provided with the same A light-emitting device capable of ensuring an electric connection between a light-emitting element and an electrode without generating any problem in practical use, by both connecting methods with a solder and a connector, and a lighting device provided with the light-emitting device are provided. The light-emitting device according to the present invention has a plurality of LED chips, and a soldering electrode land and a connector connecting electrode land electrically connected to the chips, on a ceramic substrate. The soldering electrode land is formed of a first conductive material having a function to prevent diffusion to a solder, and the connector connecting electrode land is formed of a second conductive material having a function to prevent oxidation.
US09490233B2	Fingerprint recognition semiconductor device and semiconductor device A fingerprint recognition semiconductor device includes an insulation layer, a wiring pattern formed on a lower surface of the insulation layer, and a sensor element flip-chip-connected to the wiring pattern. The sensor element includes an active surface, including a sensor portion that recognizes a fingerprint, and a rear surface, located at a side opposite to the active surface. An encapsulation resin fills a gap between the lower surface of the insulation layer and an upper surface of a wiring substrate, facing the rear surface of the sensor element and connected to the wiring pattern by a connecting member. The entire active surface of the sensor element is covered by underfill formed between the active surface of the sensor element and the lower surface of the insulation layer. The insulation layer includes an upper surface, defining an uppermost surface and free from a wiring layer.
US09490227B2	Low-noise flip-chip packages and flip chips thereof A low-noise flip-chip package, comprising: a carrier substrate having first and second opposing main faces; and a flip-chip substrate connected in a face-down manner onto the first main face of the carrier substrate via a connection array, wherein: the flip-chip substrate comprises at least first and second circuitry portions spaced apart from one another; the flip-chip substrate comprises a substrate-contact boundary located between the first and second circuitry portions; and each of the first circuitry portion, the second circuitry portion and the substrate-contact boundary has its own separate signal-reference connection extending via a respective connection of the connection array through the carrier substrate to a respective electrical contact at the second main face of the carrier substrate for connection to a common signal-reference element in an external circuit.
US09490226B2	Integrated device comprising a heat-dissipation layer providing an electrical path for a ground signal Provided herein is an integrated device that includes a substrate, a die, a heat-dissipation layer located between the substrate and the die, and a first interconnect configured to couple the die to the heat-dissipation layer. The heat-dissipation layer may be configured to provide an electrical path for a ground signal. The first interconnect may be further configured to conduct heat from the die to the heat-dissipation layer. The integrated device may also include a second interconnect configured to couple the die to the substrate. The second interconnect may be further configured to conduct a power signal between the die and the substrate. The integrated device may also include a dielectric layer located between the heat-dissipation layer and the substrate, and a solder-resist layer located between the die and the heat-dissipation layer.
US09490225B2	Package structure and fabrication method thereof A package structure is provided, which includes: a substrate having opposite top and bottom surfaces and a plurality of conductive pads and a plurality of conductive posts formed therein, wherein the conductive pads are exposed from the bottom surface of the substrate, and the conductive posts are electrically connected to the conductive pads and each of the conductive posts has an end surface exposed from the top surface of the substrate; a plurality of first conductive bumps formed on the end surfaces of the conductive posts; a plurality of second conductive bumps formed on the top surface of the substrate, wherein the second conductive bumps are higher than the first conductive bumps; and at least a first electronic element disposed on and electrically connected to the first conductive bumps, thereby increasing the wiring flexibility and facilitating subsequent disposing of electronic elements without changing existing machines.
US09490220B2	Redistribution structures for microfeature workpieces Microfeature dies with redistribution structures that reduce or eliminate line interference are disclosed. The microfeature dies can include a substrate having a bond site and integrated circuitry electrically connected to the bond site. The microfeature dies can also include and a redistribution structure coupled to the substrate. The redistribution structure can include an external contact site configured to receive an electric coupler, a conductive line that is electrically connected to the external contact site and the bond site, and a conductive shield that at least partially surrounds the conductive line.
US09490213B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof The reliability of wirings, each of which includes a main conductive film containing copper as a primary component, is improved. On an insulating film including the upper surface of a wiring serving as a lower layer wiring, an insulating film formed of a silicon carbonitride film having excellent barrier properties to copper is formed; on the insulating film, an insulating film formed of a silicon carbide film having excellent adhesiveness to a low dielectric constant material film is formed; on the insulating film, an insulating film formed of a low dielectric constant material as an interlayer insulating film is formed; and thereafter a wiring as an upper layer wiring is formed.
US09490211B1	Copper interconnect A method of filling features in a dielectric layer is provided. A pure Co or pure Ru adhesion layer is deposited against surfaces of the features, wherein the adhesion layer is separated from some of the surfaces of the features of the low-k dielectric layer by no more than 10 Å. The features are filled with Cu or a Cu alloy.
US09490210B2	Electrical interconnection structure and fabrication method thereof An interconnection structure fabrication method is provided. The method includes providing a substrate; forming a conductive film with a first thickness and having a first lattice structure and a first grain size, wherein the first thickness is greater than the first grain size; and performing an annealing process to change the first lattice structure of the conductive film to a second lattice structure and to change the first grain size to a second grain size. The second grain size is greater than the first grain size, and the first thickness is greater than or equal to the second grain size. The method also includes etching portion of the conductive film to form at least one conductive layer; etching portion of the conductive layer to form at least one trench having a depth smaller than the first thickness in the conductive layer to form an electrical interconnection wire and conductive vias; and forming a dielectric layer covering the substrate, sidewalls of the conductive layer, and the trench.
US09490208B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip, a dielectric substrate, and bonding wires. The dielectric substrate includes wiring patterns formed on a surface and a ground metal layer formed on a back side. The semiconductor chip includes an active element and a drain pad that is connected to an output end of the active element. Wiring pattern is formed at a position closer to the drain pad than wiring pattern, wiring pattern and the ground metal layer constitute a first capacitative element, and wiring pattern and the ground metal layer constitute a second capacitative element. The drain pad is connected to wiring pattern through bonding wire, and connected to wiring pattern through bonding wire. Bonding wire and the first capacitative element constitute a high-pass matching circuit.
US09490204B2	Noise shielding techniques for ultra low current measurements in biochemical applications A device having an integrated noise shield is disclosed. The device includes a plurality of vertical shielding structures substantially surrounding a semiconductor device. The device further includes an opening above the semiconductor device substantially filled with a conductive fluid, wherein the plurality of vertical shielding structures and the conductive fluid shield the semiconductor device from ambient radiation. In some embodiments, the device further includes a conductive bottom shield below the semiconductor device shielding the semiconductor device from ambient radiation. In some embodiments, the opening is configured to allow a biological sample to be introduced into the semiconductor device. In some embodiments, the vertical shielding structures comprise a plurality of vias, wherein each of the plurality of vias connects more than one conductive layers together. In some embodiments, the device comprises a nanopore device, and wherein the nanopore device comprises a single cell of a nanopore array.
US09490203B2	Capacitor in post-passivation structures and methods of forming the same A device includes a metal pad and a passivation layer having a portion overlapping the metal pad. A capacitor includes a bottom capacitor electrode underlying the passivation layer, wherein the bottom capacitor includes the metal pad. The capacitor further includes a top capacitor electrode over the portion of the passivation layer; and a capacitor insulator including the portion of the passivation layer.
US09490200B2	Semiconductor device Disclosed is a semiconductor device having a structure capable of reducing the self-inductance of internal wiring. The semiconductor device includes: a lower board having a lower conductor layer formed on the surface thereof; a switching element bonded to the lower conductor layer in an element bonding area; a terminal bonded to the lower conductor layer in a terminal bonding area; an upper board stacked on the lower board in a board bonding area between the element bonding area and the terminal bonding area, and having an upper conductor layer on the surface thereof; and a switching element connecting member which connects the switching element with the upper conductor layer.
US09490197B2	Three dimensional organic or glass interposer A three-dimensional organic structure or glass interposer structure and methods of manufacture are disclosed. The method includes forming lined metal vias in a substrate. The method further includes removing the substrate, leaving the lined metal vias. The method further includes forming a new substrate about the lined metal vias. The method also includes connecting the lined metal vias to wiring layers using back end of the line processes.
US09490196B2	Multi die package having a die and a spacer layer in a recess Package assemblies for and methods of packaging integrated circuit chips are described. Disclosed package assemblies have spacers and recessed regions comprising IC chips. Architectural structures are provided that enable, for example, three dimensional (3D) packaging (or system in package (SiP) or multi-chip modules), systems-on-chip 3D packaging, and hybrid 3D bonding. Embodiments of the invention can be used, for example, to create logic-to-memory, memory-to-memory, and logic-to-logic interface stacking assemblies.
US09490194B2	Semiconductor device The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element, a main lead and a resin package. The semiconductor element includes an obverse surface and a reverse surface spaced apart from each other in a thickness direction. The main lead supports the semiconductor element via the reverse surface of the semiconductor element. The resin package covers the entirety of the semiconductor element. The resin package covers the main lead in such a manner that a part of the main lead is exposed from the resin package. The semiconductor element includes a part that does not overlap the main lead as viewed in the thickness direction.
US09490193B2	Electronic device with multi-layer contact The electronic device includes a carrier, a semiconductor substrate attached to the carrier, and a layer system disposed between the semiconductor substrate and the carrier. The layer system includes an electrical contact layer disposed on the semiconductor substrate. A functional layer is disposed on the electrical contact layer. An adhesion layer is disposed on the functional layer. A solder layer is disposed between the adhesion layer and the carrier.
US09490188B2	Compute intensive module packaging A package for a multi-chip module includes a top cold plate and a bottom plate whose perimeters are in thermal communication so the plates together completely encase the module except for a connector passing through the bottom plate. The cold plate has copper tubing pressed into a groove formed in a serpentine pattern. The perimeter of the cold plate has thermal conduction fins which mate with thermal conduction slots in the perimeter of the bottom plate. Thermal interface material is disposed in gaps between the plates and chips on the module, the gaps having dimensions controlled by support ribs of plates which abut the module substrate. The cold plate is used on the hottest side of the module, e.g., the side having computationally-intensive chips such as ASICs. A densely packed array of these packages can be used in a central electronic complex drawer with a shared coolant circulation system.
US09490186B2	Limiting adjustment of polishing rates during substrate polishing A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a region of a substrate at a first polishing rate, measuring a sequence characterizing values for the region of the substrate during polishing with an in-situ monitoring system, determining a polishing rate adjustment for each of a plurality of adjustment times prior to a polishing endpoint time, and adjusting a polishing parameter to polish the substrate at a second polishing rate. The time period is greater than a period between the adjustment times and the projected time is before the polishing endpoint time. The second polishing rate is the first polishing rate as adjusted by the polishing rate adjustment.
US09490184B2	Light emitting device and manufacturing method thereof The light-emitting device has a plurality of light-emitting elements that is mounted on one or more wiring patterns on a substrate. A new light-emitting element that replaces a defective element is mounted on the same wiring pattern on which the defective element is mounted. The defective element or a trace that remains alter removal of the defective element is sealed by a same sealing member by which the new light-emitting element is sealed.
US09490183B2	Nondestructive inline X-ray metrology with model-based library method Described is a method and system for measuring parameters of a structure on a substrate, such as a via or a through-silicon via (TSV) using an imaging X-ray metrology system. A previously-trained Support Vector Machine (SVM) model is used to extract structure parameters from the acquired structure X-ray images. Training of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model is accomplished by using a library of actual or simulated X-ray images, or a combination of the two image types, paired with structure parameter sets.
US09490171B2	Wafer processing method A wafer is divided along a plurality of crossing division lines to obtain a plurality of individual devices. The division lines are formed on the front side of the wafer to define a plurality of separate device regions. An adhesive film is applied to the back side of the wafer and the other side of the adhesive film is attached to a dicing tape composed of a base sheet and an ultraviolet curable adhesive layer formed on the base sheet. The adhesive film is attached to the ultraviolet curable adhesive layer of the dicing tape. Ultraviolet light is applied to the dicing tape to thereby cure the adhesive layer. A rotating cutting blade cuts the wafer together with the adhesive film along the division lines, dividing the wafer into the individual devices. The cutting blade is positioned so that its cutting edge cuts into the cured adhesive layer.
US09490165B2	Reliable interconnect integration scheme Embodiments relate to a method for forming reliable interconnects by preparing a substrate with a dielectric layer, processing the dielectric layer to serve as an IMD layer, wherein the IMD layer comprises a hybrid IMD layer comprising a plurality of dielectric materials with different k values.
US09490159B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming isolation layers in a first direction at trenches at isolation regions defined at a semiconductor substrate and forming gate lines in a second direction crossing the first direction over the isolation layers and active regions defined between the isolation layers, performing a dry-etch process to remove the isolation layers, and forming an insulating layer over the semiconductor substrate to form a first air gap extending in the first direction in the trenches and a second air gap extending in the second direction between the gate lines.
US09490158B2	Bond chuck, methods of bonding, and tool including bond chuck A bonding chuck is discussed with methods of using the bonding chuck and tools including the bonding chuck. A method includes loading a first wafer on first surface of a first bonding chuck, loading a second wafer on a second bonding chuck, and bonding the first wafer to the second wafer. The first surface is defined at least in part by a first portion of a first spherical surface and a second portion of a second spherical surface. The first spherical surface has a first radius, and the second spherical surface has a second radius. The first radius is less than the second radius.
US09490157B2	Semiconductor processing Semiconductor processing and equipment are disclosed. The semiconductor equipment and processing provide semiconductor wafers with reduced defects.
US09490153B2	Mechanical alignment of substrates to a mask A plurality of masks is attached to the underside of a mask frame. This attachment is made such that each mask can independently move relative to the mask frame in three directions. This relative movement allows each mask to adjust its position to align with respective alignment pins disposed on a working surface. In one embodiment, each mask is attached to the mask frame using fasteners, where the fasteners have a shaft with a diameter smaller than the diameter of the mounting hole disposed on the mask. A bias element may be used to allow relative movement between the mask and the mask frame in the vertical direction. Each mask may also have kinematic features to mate with the respective alignment pins on the working surface.
US09490149B2	Chemical deposition apparatus having conductance control A chemical deposition apparatus having conductance control, which includes a showerhead module having a faceplate and a backing plate, the showerhead module including a plurality of inlets which deliver reactor chemistries to a cavity and exhaust outlets which remove reactor chemistries, a pedestal module configured to support a substrate and which moves vertically to close the cavity between the pedestal module and an outer portion of the faceplate, and at least one conductance control assembly, which is in fluid communication with the cavity via the exhaust outlets. The at least one conductance control assembly selected from one or more of the following: a ball valve assembly, a fluidic valve, magnetically coupled rotary plates, and/or a linear based magnetic system.
US09490147B2	Stud bump structure and method for manufacturing the same A stud bump structure and method for manufacturing the same are provided. The stud bump structure includes a substrate, and a first silver alloy stud bump disposed on the substrate, wherein the first silver alloy stud bump has a weight percentage ratio of Ag:Au:Pd=60-99.98:0.01-30:0.01-10.
US09490139B2	Method and apparatus for forming silicon film Provided is a method of forming a silicon film in a groove formed on a surface of an object to be processed, which includes: forming a first silicon layer on the surface of the object to be processed to embed the groove; doping impurities near a surface of the first silicon layer; forming a seed layer on the doped first silicon layer; and forming a second silicon layer containing impurities on the seed layer.
US09490138B2	Method of substrate temperature control during high temperature wet processing Methods are provided for processing a substrate in single substrate tool. In one embodiment, the method includes providing the substrate in the single substrate tool, applying a first processing fluid at a first temperature greater than 100° C. to a lower surface of the substrate to heat the substrate to approximately the first temperature, and applying a second processing fluid at a second temperature greater than 100° C. to an upper surface of the substrate.
US09490137B2	Method for structuring a layered structure from two semiconductor layers, and micromechanical component A method for structuring a layered structure, for example, of a micromechanical component, from two semiconductor layers between which an insulating and/or etch stop layer is situated includes forming a first etching mask on a first side of the first semiconductor layer, carrying out a first etching step, starting from a first outer side, for structuring the first semiconductor layer, forming a second etching mask on a second side of the second semiconductor layer, and carrying out a second etching step, starting from the second outer side, for structuring the second semiconductor layer. After carrying out the first etching step and prior to carrying out the second etching step, at least one etching protection material is deposited on at least one trench wall of at least one first trench, which is etched in the first etching step.
US09490131B2	Control of P-contact resistance in a semiconductor light emitting device A device according to embodiments of the invention includes a semiconductor device structure (10) including a light emitting region (14) disposed between an n-type semiconductor region (16) and a p-type semiconductor region (12). A surface of the p-type semiconductor region (12) perpendicular to a growth direction of the semiconductor device structure (10) includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is less conductive than the second portion. The device further includes a p-contact (21) disposed on the p-type semiconductor region (12) and an n-contact (26) disposed on the n-type semiconductor region (16). The p-contact (21) includes a contact metal layer (20) and a blocking material layer (24). The blocking material layer (24) is disposed over the first portion and no blocking material layer (24) is disposed over the second portion.
US09490130B2	Method of manufacturing three-dimensional semiconductor memory device in which an oxide layer is formed at bottom of vertical structure of the device A method of manufacturing a three-dimensional semiconductor memory device comprises forming a thin layer structure by alternately stacking first and second material layers on a substrate, forming a penetration dent penetrating the thin layer structure and exposing a top surface of the substrate recessed by the penetration dent, forming a vertical insulation layer penetrating the thin layer structure to cover an inner wall of the penetration dent, forming a semiconductor pattern penetrating the vertical insulation layer at the penetration dent to be inserted into the substrate, and forming an oxide layer between the thin layer structure and the substrate by oxidizing a sidewall of the penetration dent.
US09490129B2	Integrated circuits having improved gate structures and methods for fabricating same Integrated circuits with improved gate structures and methods for fabricating integrated circuits with improved gate structures are provided. In an embodiment, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes providing a semiconductor substrate with fin structures. A gate-forming material is deposited over the semiconductor substrate and fin structures. The method includes performing a first etch process to etch the gate-forming material to form a gate line having a first side and a second side. The first side and second side of the gate line are bounded with material. The method includes performing a second etch process to etch a portion of the gate line bound by the material to separate the gate line into adjacent gate structures and to define a tip-to-tip distance between the adjacent gate structures.
US09490124B2	Polycrystalline silicon substrate and manufacturing method thereof The present invention discloses a polycrystalline silicon substrate and a manufacturing method thereof. The method comprises: provide a substrate; sequentially form an amorphous silicon layer, an insulating layer and a metal catalyst layer; anneal the substrate at the first time, so that metal ions of the metal catalyst layer extend down to the amorphous silicon layer through the insulating layer, thereby inducing the amorphous silicon on the amorphous silicon layer to crystallize at the first time; remove the insulating layer and the metal catalyst layer; anneal the substrate at the second time, so that the metal ions lateral diffuse along the amorphous silicon layer, thereby inducing the amorphous silicon on the amorphous silicon layer to crystallize at the second time, forming the polycrystalline silicon layer. Through the above way, it can reduce the metal catalyst residues during forming the polycrystalline silicon layer, decreasing the leakage current of the semiconductor layer in the thin film transistor, thereby raising the performance of the thin film transistor.
US09490118B2	Method for manufacturing germanium epitaxial layer and method for manufacturing device using the same A method for manufacturing a germanium (Ge) epitaxial layer is provided. First, a substrate is provided. Then, a first deposition process is performed to deposit a first Ge epitaxial film on the substrate. Next, a first annealing process is performed on the first Ge epitaxial film. Following that, a second deposition process is performed to directly deposit a second Ge epitaxial film on the first Ge epitaxial film. Thereafter, a second annealing process is performed on the second Ge epitaxial film, wherein the Ge epitaxial layer includes the first Ge epitaxial film and the second Ge epitaxial film, and a thickness of the Ge epitaxial layer is greater than 0.5 microns.
US09490114B2	Time-of-flight mass spectrometer In an ion reflector (4) configured from a plurality of electrodes, electrodes 42 disposed in a second stage region (S2) for reflecting ions after deceleration are formed thinner than electrodes (41) disposed in a first stage region (S1) for decelerating the ions. The thin electrodes suppress unevenness of potential, in particular, in a path away from the center axis of the reflector, which results in improvement of isochronism of an ion packet passing on the path. The thick electrodes (41, 43) disposed in the first stage region (S1) prevents stretching of the grid electrodes (G1, G2) from being affected, and unevenness of potential in the first stage region (S1) hardly affects isochronism of the ions. By appropriately adjusting thicknesses and a pitch of the electrodes (41, 42, 43, 44) adjacent to one another so as to align intervals between the electrodes (41, 42, 43, 44), it is possible to use spacers having the same size in common. Since the number of electrodes in the first stage region (S1) can be reduced, an increase in costs is suppressed. Consequently, it is possible to bring an electric field of an ion reflection region closer to an ideal state and improve mass-resolving power while suppressing costs.
US09490110B2	Multi-segment injection-capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (MSI-CE-MS): a multiplexed screening platform and data workflow for chemical analysis Various embodiments illustrating a multiplexed method for high throughput screening of ions in biological samples within a single capillary when using capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE-MS) are illustrated. The method includes sequential injection of multiple sample segments in series within a single capillary, the sample segments being separated by a spacer plug of buffer, and multiplexed analysis of the sample segments simultaneously within a single capillary electrophoresis (CE) run. The method also includes application of voltage to the single capillary subsequent to sequential injection and zonal separation of polar metabolites within each sample segment by CE such that each analyte zone migrates within its characteristic electrophoretic mobility offset in time by the spacer. The incorporation of a quality control/reference sample and the use of dilution patterning with specific injection configurations also enables encoding of information temporally for enhanced data processing with quality assurance.
US09490107B2	Plasma apparatus and method of fabricating semiconductor device using the same A plasma apparatus includes a process chamber having an inner space, a chuck disposed in the process chamber and having a top surface on which a substrate is loaded, a gas supply unit supplying a process gas into the process chamber, a plasma generating unit generating plasma over the chuck, and a direct current (DC) power generator applying a DC pulse signal to the chuck. A period of the DC pulse signal may include a negative pulse duration during which a negative pulse is applied, a positive pulse duration during which a positive pulse is applied, and a pulse-off duration during which the negative pulse and the positive pulse are turned off. The positive pulse duration is between the negative pulse duration and the pulse-off duration. The pulse-off duration may comprise a voltage having a lower magnitude than the voltage of the positive pulse, such as a ground voltage.
US09490105B2	Plasma processing apparatus and method A plasma processing apparatus includes a first and second electrodes disposed on upper and lower sides and opposite each other within a process container, a first RF power application unit and a DC power supply both connected to the first electrode, and second and third radio frequency power application units both connected to the second electrode. A conductive member is disposed within the process container and grounded to release through plasma a current caused by a DC voltage applied from the DC power supply. The conductive member is supported by a first shield part around the second electrode and laterally protruding therefrom at a position between the mount face of the second electrode and an exhaust plate for the conductive member to be exposed to the plasma. The conductive member is grounded through a conductive internal body of the first shield part.
US09490103B2	Separation of chips on a substrate Various methods and apparatuses are provided relating to separation of a substrate into a plurality of parts. For example, first a partial separation is performed and then the partially separated substrate is completely separated into a plurality of parts.
US09490101B2	System and method for scanning an object A system for scanning an object, the system may include (a) charged particles optics that is configured to: scan, with a charged particle beam and at a first scan rate, a first region of interest (ROI) of an area of the object; detect first particles that were generated as a result of the scanning of the first ROI; scan, with the charged particle beam and at a second scan rate, a second ROI of the area of the object; wherein the second scan rate is lower than the first scan rate; wherein first ROI differs from the second ROI by at least one parameter; detect second particles that were generated as a result of the scanning of the second ROA; and (b) a processor that is configured to generate at least one image of the area in response to the first and second particles.
US09490099B2	System and method for multi-source X-ray-based imaging An imaging module includes a plurality of cathodes and respective gates, each cathode configured to generate a separate beam of electrons directed across a vacuum chamber and each gate matched to at least one respective cathode to enable and disable each separate beam of electrons from being directed across the vacuum chamber. A target anode is fixed within the vacuum chamber and arranged to receive the separate beam of electrons from each of the plurality of cathodes and, therefrom, generate a beam of x-rays. A deflection system is arranged between the plurality of cathodes and the target anode to generate a variable magnetic field to control a path followed by each of the separate beams of electrons to the target anode.
US09490095B2	Fusible link unit A fusible link unit includes a conductive busbar, a resin housing, and a resin cover. The conductive busbar includes a fusible part. The resin housing is integrally formed at a predetermined position of the busbar. The resin cover is locked so as to cover an exposure window of the resin housing which is formed so that the fusible part is observed. The resin housing has an integral wall at the back position of the exposure window which faces the fusible part.
US09490094B2	Overcurrent protection apparatus An overcurrent protection apparatus that is connectable to a battery control unit to protect the battery control unit from an overcurrent. The overcurrent protection apparatus includes a fuse member that is provided with a fuse and a fusible wire that is connected in series to the fuse. The fusible wire is made of a conductor that has a melting point lower than that of copper, and has a fusing current value that is higher than that of the fuse. The fuse member is connected in series to the battery control unit.
US09490086B2	Molded case circuit breaker accessory wiring improvement The disclosed concept relates to electrical switching apparatus, such as, but not limited to, molded case circuit breakers, and more particularly, to a connector assembly for mechanically and electrically connecting the accessory components housed within the electrical switching apparatus to equipment located outside of the electrical switching apparatus.
US09490085B1	3-motion interlock for aligned switches An interlock arrangement is configured for controlling a pair of aligned switches connected to two alternate power supplies. An interlock member is positioned between the aligned switches and is moveable between a first interlock position and a second interlock position. The interlock member has first and second blocking components. In the first interlock position, the first switch is ON and the second blocking component prevents movement of the second switch to an ON position, and the interference between the first switch and first blocking component prevents the interlock member from moving to the second interlock position. In the second interlock position, the second switch is ON and the first blocking component prevents movement of the first switch to an ON position, and the interference between the second switch and second blocking component prevents the interlock member from moving to the first interlock position.
US09490083B2	Alternating current switch contactor An electrical contactor has a first terminal having a fixed member with at least one fixed electrical contact, a second terminal, and a busbar connected to the second terminal. Two conductive movable arms are connected to the busbar and have a contact thereon. One arm is biased-closed to contact the fixed electrical contact in the absence of a separating force, and the other arm is biased-open to be spaced away from the fixed electrical contact in the absence of a closing force. The first and second movable arms and the busbar are arranged so that, when the contacts close, contra-flowing current urges the movable arms towards the fixed member to increase a force between the contacts.
US09490082B2	Bicycle handle system Next to a handle element, a bicycle handle system comprises a control element adapted to be fastened on the handlebar and serving to control an electric auxiliary motor. The control element has an actuation element rotatable on a bearing element. By turning the actuation element from a rest position to in particular two different activation positions, the assisting power from the auxiliary motor can be increased or reduced. For a simple, intuitive actuation of the actuation element, a return element is provided by which the actuation element is automatically returned from the first and, if applicable, the second activation position to a rest position.
US09490079B2	Electrochemical energy storage device with flexible metal contact current collector and methods of manufacture Electrochemical energy storage devices such as electric double layer capacitors include flexible metal contact current collectors establishing electrical contact with a conductive housing and a conductive cover. The flexible current collector simplifies manufacturing of the device and avoids laser welding on the conductive housing. The manufacture devices are operable with a reduced direct current resistance by virtue of the flexible current collector.
US09490072B2	Method of making a high capacitance multilayer capacitor with high voltage capability A method for making multilayer ceramic capacitors is described with high voltage capability without the need of coating the part to resist surface arc-over. One design combines a high overlap area for higher capacitance whilst retaining a high voltage capability. A variation of this design has increased voltage capability over this design as well as another described in the prior art although overlap area and subsequently capacitance is lowered in this case.
US09490071B2	Multilayer capacitor, taping multilayer capacitor series, and mounting structure of multilayer capacitor A multilayer capacitor that achieves reduced acoustic noise includes a capacitor body including a capacitance generating portion, a first outer layer portion, and a second outer layer portion. First and second internal electrodes are provided in the capacitance generating portion. The first outer layer portion is located between the capacitance generating portion and a first principle surface. The second outer layer portion is located between the capacitance generating portion and a second principle surface. The second outer layer portion is thicker than the first outer layer portion. At least one of a concave portion and a convex portion is provided on the second principle surface.
US09490062B2	Chip electronic component A chip electronic component may include: a magnetic body including an insulating substrate; internal conductive pattern parts disposed on at least one surface of the insulating substrate; external electrodes disposed on the magnetic body and connected to the internal conductive pattern parts; and an additional magnetic layer disposed on a bottom surface of the magnetic body and covering portions of the external electrodes disposed on the bottom surface of the magnetic body.
US09490061B2	Coil component and board having the same A coil component includes a magnetic body including first and second coil patterns disposed on first surfaces of two substrates spaced apart from each other and third and fourth coil patterns disposed on second surfaces of the two substrates, respectively, the substrates having respective cores; and first to fourth external electrodes disposed on outer surfaces of the magnetic body and connected to the first to fourth coil patterns, respectively. A gap member is disposed between the two substrates and in a central portion of the magnetic body in a thickness direction thereof.
US09490060B2	Laminated coil component A laminated coil component includes a magnetic body part made of a Ni—Zn-based ferrite material and a coil conductor containing Cu as a main component, which is wound into a coil shape, and the coil conductor is embedded in the magnetic body part to form a component base. The component base is divided into a first region near the coil conductor and a second region other than the first region. The grain size ratio of the average crystal grain size of the magnetic body part in the first region to the average crystal grain size of the magnetic body part in the second region is 0.85 or less. The molar content of CuO in the ferrite raw material is set to 6 mol % or less, and firing is performed in a reducing atmosphere in which the oxygen partial pressure is an equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of Cu—Cu2O or less.
US09490058B1	Magnetic component with core grooves for improved heat transfer A magnetic component for an electronic circuit includes a core having one or more core surface grooves defined on a side wall, an end wall or both, along the outer core perimeter. Each core surface groove can improve heat flux away from the magnetic component. In some embodiments, a thermally conductive gap filler material is disposed adjacent one or more of the core surface grooves. An electronic device includes a magnetic component with one or more core surface grooves positioned on a circuit board inside an enclosure. The gap filler material spans a gap between the magnetic component and an enclosure wall interior surface, thereby providing a thermal bridge between the component and the enclosure facilitating heat flux away from the core to the enclosure wall.
US09490054B2	Seed layer for multilayer magnetic materials A magnetic element is disclosed wherein a composite seed layer such as TaN/Mg enhances perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying magnetic layer that may be a reference layer, free layer, or dipole layer. The first seed layer is selected from one or more of Ta, Zr, Nb, TaN, ZrN, NbN, and Ru. The second seed layer is selected from one or more of Mg, Sr, Ti, Al, V, Hf, B, and Si. A growth promoting layer made of NiCr or an alloy thereof may be inserted between the seed layer and magnetic layer. The magnetic element has thermal stability to at least 400° C.
US09490053B2	R-T-B based permanent magnet A R-T-B based permanent magnet which not only has equivalent magnetic properties as the existing Nd—Fe—B based permanent magnet but also has a high adhesive strength and which can be suitably used as a magnet for field system of a permanent magnet synchronous rotating machine. The magnet can be obtained in a case where the composition of the compound for forming the main phase is (R1-x(Ce1-zYz)x)2T14B (R is rare earth element(s) consisting of one or more elements selected from La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu, T is one or more transition metal elements with Fe or Fe and Co as essential element(s), 0.0
US09490051B2	Method for producing wire harness Disclosed is a method for producing a wire harness including a core inserting step of forming a widely open braided mesh portion by widening a braided mesh of a braid before crimping is performed, and of inserting a core into an end from the outside of the braid via the widely open braided mesh portion.
US09490050B2	Hybrid conductor core An electric conductor may be provided. The electric conductor may comprise a conductor core and a plurality of conductor strands wrapped around the conductor core. The conductor core may comprise a plurality of core strands comprising an overall number of strands. The plurality of core strands may comprise a first portion of core strands and a second portion of core strands. The first portion of core strands may comprise a first number of strands. The first portion of core strands may comprise steel. The second portion of core strands may comprise a second number of strands. The second portion of core strands may comprise a composite material. A ratio of the first number of strands to the overall number of strands and a ratio of the second number of strands to the overall number of strands may be optimized to give the conductor core a predetermined characteristic.
US09490045B2	Self-healing composites and applications thereof A battery electrode includes an electrochemically active material and a binder covering the electrochemically active material. The binder includes a self-healing polymer and conductive additives dispersed in the self-healing polymer to provide an electrical pathway across at least a portion of the binder.
US09490044B2	Coated metal fine particle and manufacturing method thereof Objects of the invention are to provide a method in which coated metal fine particles are smoothly manufactured when the coated metal fine particles are manufactured using a metal amine complex decomposition method, and, particularly, to provide coated metal fine particles that can be smoothly sintered even at a low temperature. The manufacturing method of coated metal fine particles includes a first step of mixing an amine liquid mixture of an alylamine having 6 or more carbon atoms and an alkylamine having 5 or less carbon atoms with a metal compound including one or more metal atoms, thereby generating a complex compound including the metal compound and amines; and a second step of heating and decomposing the complex compound, thereby generating coated metal fine particles.
US09490043B2	Highly conductive electrically conductive adhesives The present invention provides for a relatively simple method to decrease the electrical resistivity of conductive adhesives by in-situ nanoparticle formation and sintering using a reducing agent. The reducing agent was found to cause sintering within the conductive adhesive by facilitating the reduction of the silver salts of fatty acids on the surface of silver flakes, leading to the formation of nano-/submicron-silver necks. These silver necks bridge neighboring silver flakes, decreasing the contact resistance between flakes within the conductive adhesives. The reducing agent also removes at least a portion of the lubricant commonly found on silver flakes used in conductive adhesives, thus reducing the tunneling resistance between the silver flakes.
US09490042B2	Flexible transparent conductive film within LED flexible transparent display structure A conductive material having a mixture of PEDOT:PSS is provided. The conductive material can be used to form a flexible transparent conductive film. Furthermore, various LED-type flexible transparent displays can be formed by the flexible transparent conductive film.
US09490041B2	Composite particles comprising a conductive coating of PEDOT/PSS, methods of making, and articles including the same A composite particle includes a spheroidal core having a polymeric layer disposed thereon. In one embodiment, the polymeric layer includes a cationic surfactant and at least one of a nonionic polymer or an anionic polymer. In another embodiment, the polymeric layer includes a cationic polymer and an anionic polymer. Methods of making the composite particles, composite materials, and articles including them are also disclosed.
US09490040B2	Graphene for semiconductor co-doping boron and nitrogen at the same time and preparation method thereof Disclosed are boron/nitrogen co-doped graphene for semiconductor applications and a method for producing the same. The boron/nitrogen co-doping allows the use of the doped graphene in a wider variety of applications, including semiconductors. In contrast, graphene structures produced by conventional methods have good physical, chemical, and electrical stability but cannot be used in semiconductor applications due to the absence of band gaps therein. In addition, the boron/nitrogen co-doping makes the doped graphene highly dispersible in organic solvents.
US09490036B2	Control rod A control rod for a nuclear boiling water reactor is described. The control rod has a longitudinal centre axis and control rod blades, each control rod blade having a first and a second side and being substantially parallel to the longitudinal center axis. Each control rod blade comprises an absorber material which extends from a first absorber end to a second absorber end, the distance between the first absorber end and the second absorber end defining an active length. The control rod blades are provided with distance means on the first and second sides of the control rod blades, the distance means extending a distance of at least a third of the active length of the control rod blade.
US09490035B2	Centralized variable rate serializer and deserializer for bad column management A memory circuit includes an array subdivided into multiple divisions, each connectable to a corresponding set of access circuitry. A serializer/deserializer circuit is connected to a data bus and the access circuitry to convert data between a (word-wise) serial format on the bus and (multi-word) parallel format for the access circuitry. Column redundancy circuitry is connect to the serializer/deserializer circuit to provide defective column information about the array. In converting data from a serial to a parallel format, the serializer/deserializer circuit skips words of the data in the parallel format based on the defective column information indicating that the location corresponds to a defective column. In converting data from a parallel to a serial format the serializer/deserializer circuit skips words of the data in the parallel format based on the defective column information indicating that the location corresponds to a defective column.
US09490031B2	High-speed address fault detection using split address ROM High-speed address fault detection is described that uses a split address ROM (read only memory) for address fault detection in split array memory systems. In one aspect, a disclosed embodiment includes separate arrays of memory cells having a plurality of wordlines and being configured to be accessed based upon a wordline address. Two or more separate address ROMs are also provided with each address ROM being associated with a different one of the separate arrays and being configured to provide outputs based upon only a portion of the wordline address. Detection logic is coupled to the outputs from the address ROMs and is configured to provide one or more fault indicator outputs to indicate whether an address fault associated with the wordline address has occurred. The outputs form the address ROMs can also be used for wordline continuity fault detection. Other embodiments are also described.
US09490021B2	Semiconductor device The semiconductor device may include a memory block including a memory string electrically coupled between a bit line and a common source line, the memory string including source select transistors and memory cells configured to operate in response to operating voltages applied to select lines and word lines coupled to the memory cells and the source select transistors. The semiconductor device may include an operation circuit configured to apply a source voltage to the common source line for an erase operation, and to control floating states of the select lines and the word lines. The operation circuit may be configured to set the select lines to a floating state after the source voltage starts to increase from a precharge level to an erase level.
US09490019B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and data erase method thereof A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to an aspect includes a semiconductor substrate, a memory cell array, memory strings, drain side selection transistors, source side selection transistors, word lines, bit lines, a source line, a drain side selection gate line, a source side selection gate line, and a control circuit. The control circuit applies a first voltage to a selected bit line, thereby executing an erase operation on a selected memory string connected to the selected bit line, and the control circuit applies a second voltage to a non-selected bit line, thereby prohibiting the erase operation for the selected memory string connected to the non-selected bit line. The first voltage is more than the second voltage.
US09490016B2	Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes: a substrate; a floating gate on the substrate; a first silicon oxide layer between the floating gate and the substrate; a first tunnel oxide layer and a second tunnel oxide layer adjacent to two sides of the first silicon oxide layer; and a control gate on the floating gate. Preferably, the thickness of the first tunnel oxide layer and the second tunnel oxide layer is less than the thickness of the first silicon oxide layer.
US09490012B2	Semiconductor memory having both volatile and non-volatile functionality including resistance change material and method of operating Semiconductor memory is provided wherein a memory cell includes a capacitorless transistor having a floating body configured to store data as charge therein when power is applied to the cell. The cell further includes a nonvolatile memory comprising a resistance change element configured to store data stored in the floating body under any one of a plurality of predetermined conditions. A method of operating semiconductor memory to function as volatile memory, while having the ability to retain stored data when power is discontinued to the semiconductor memory is described.
US09490010B2	Non-volatile memory based synchronous logic A method for setting resistance states of a first and a second resistive memory element (RME) is disclosed. The method may include coupling, via a common node, a first RME to a second RME. The method may include setting the first RME to either a high voltage resistance state or a low voltage resistance state. The method may include setting the second RME to a different state relative to the state of the first RME, wherein setting the second RME is substantially simultaneous with setting the first RME.
US09490006B2	Time division multiplexed multiport memory In some embodiments, a time division multiplexing (TDM) circuit is configured to receive an external clock signal and generate an internal clock signal that has at least one pulse during a clock cycle of the external clock signal. An address selector is configured to select a current address before a first time within one of the at least one pulse, and select a next address starting from the first time to generate a selected address. An address storage element is configured to receive the selected address from the address selector and provide a passed through or stored address. The provided address is the current address substantially throughout the one of the at least one pulse. A single-port (SP) memory is configured to access at least one SP memory cell at the address provided by the address storage element in response to the internal clock signal.
US09490004B2	Semiconductor memory device controlling refresh cycle, memory system, and method of operating the semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a refresh control circuit, an address counter and an address converter. The memory cell array includes a plurality of memory cells. The refresh control circuit is configured to receive a refresh command and output m refresh control signals during one refresh cycle for refreshing all the memory cells of the semiconductor memory device. The address counter is configured to generate counting signals for refreshing memory cells in response to the m refresh control signals. The address converter is configured to receive the counting signals and output refresh addresses by converting the counting signals in response to a cycle select signal. The address converter is configured to output refresh addresses such that the number of m refresh control signals during one refresh cycle is variable.
US09490003B2	Induced thermal gradients A temperature difference between a first thermal sensor and a second thermal sensor on a first die is determined. The temperature difference is transmitted from the first die to a circuit on a second die. A temperature from a thermal sensor on the second die is determined. The temperature difference and the temperature from the thermal sensor are utilized on the second die to modify operational characteristics of one or more circuits on the second die.
US09490001B2	Semiconductor memory device that controls refresh period, memory system and operating method thereof A semiconductor memory device includes a cell array and a refresh controller coupled to the cell array. The refresh controller is configured to insert at least one insertion refresh address in a first refresh address sequence based on address information about the cell array to generate a second refresh address sequence and to apply the second refresh address sequence to the cell array, such that selected cells may be refreshed more frequently without increasing an overall refresh rate.
US09490000B2	Method and system for providing thermally assisted magnetic junctions having a multi-phase operation A magnetic junction usable in magnetic devices is described. The magnetic junction includes at least one reference layer, at least one nonmagnetic spacer layer and a free layer. The nonmagnetic spacer layer(s) are between the reference layer(s) and the free layer. The free layer has a magnetic thermal stability coefficient having a plurality of magnetic thermal stability coefficient phases. A first phase magnetic thermal stability coefficient has a first slope below a first temperature. A second phase magnetic thermal stability coefficient has a second slope above the first temperature and below a second temperature greater than the first temperature. The first and second slopes are unequal at the first temperature. The magnetic thermal stability coefficient is zero only above the second temperature. The free layer is switchable between stable magnetic states when a write current passed through the magnetic junction.
US09489998B1	Magnetic junctions having a magnetoelastic free layer programmable using spin transfer torque A magnetic junction and method and programming the magnetic junction are described. The magnetic junction has a free layer, a reference layer, and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between reference and free layers. The free layer is switchable between stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic junction. The free layer has a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy exceeding its out-of-plane demagnetization energy a quiescent state. The free layer has a magnetostriction such that the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy changes in the presence of a programming voltage applied for the magnetic junction, canting that the magnetic moment by at least five degrees from its quiescent direction. The programming voltage is at least 0.1 volt and not more than 2 volts. The nonmagnetic spacer layer is an insulating tunneling barrier layer and/or the magnetic junction includes an additional insulating layer adjacent to the opposite interface of the free layer.
US09489996B2	Data processing apparatus and method A data processing apparatus includes a controller configured to provide, using a unified connector, group data processing information for a processing operation of a data group processed based on the same data processing information. The data group comprises a plurality data transmitted or received through a plurality of connectors. An operation unit is configured to decode and/or encode the data group based on the group data processing information.
US09489993B2	Semiconductor memory apparatus optimized for setting operation parameter and operating parameter setting method thereof A semiconductor memory apparatus may include: a memory area; and a controller including a register configured to store parameter setting data, and to provide the parameter setting data to the memory area based on a data transmission enable signal enabled according to a parameter setting command or parameter get command.
US09489989B2	Voltage regulators, memory circuits, and operating methods thereof A voltage regulator includes an output stage electrically coupled with an output end of the voltage regulator. The output stage includes at least one transistor having a bulk and a drain. At least one back-bias circuit is electrically coupled with the bulk of the at least one transistor. The at least one back-bias circuit is configured to provide a bulk voltage, such that the bulk and the drain of the at least one transistor are reverse biased during a standby mode of a memory array that is electrically coupled with the voltage regulator.
US09489987B1	Manufacturing process for a disk drive aperture channel A method for reducing particulates within a disk drive may comprise providing a first component of a disk drive that is to be coupled to a second component of the disk drive by a fastener. The first component may define an aperture extending, along a central axis, through the first component. The aperture may comprise a channel, angularly-disposed relative to the central axis, that extends through the first component and has a greater cross-sectional dimension than the greatest cross-sectional dimension of the fastener. The first component may then be secured to the second component by advancing the fastener through the aperture and into the second component. Air may be drawn from within the aperture and/or from between the first and second components through the channel.
US09489986B2	Use of program-schedule text and teleprompter output to facilitate selection of a portion of a media-program recording In one aspect, an example method involves accessing first data representing a program schedule of a media program; making a determination that first text of the program schedule matches second text displayed by a teleprompter, where a portion of the media program was recorded proximate a time when the second text was displayed; using the first text of the program schedule as a basis to select a portion of the program schedule; and responsive to at least the determination, storing data indicative of a correlation between (i) the selected portion of the program schedule and (ii) the recorded portion of the media program. An example non-transitory computer-readable medium and an example computing device, both related to the example method, are also disclosed herein.
US09489981B2	Successive initialization of television channel recording In various arrangements, a television receiver system for successive initialization of television channel recording is presented. The system may include a control processor, configured to determine a plurality of television channels are configured to begin recording at a same time. The control processor may transmit a first request for recording of a first television channel of the plurality of television channels. The system may include a tuning management processor, configured to configure a first recording of the first television channel in response to the first request. The tuning management processor may also transmit an acknowledgement to the control processor following the first recording of the first television channel being configured. The control processor may, in response to receiving the acknowledgement, transmit, to the tuning management processor, a second request for recording of a second television channel of the plurality of television channels.
US09489976B2	Noise prediction detector adaptation in transformed space Technologies are described herein for adapting channel parameters of a read channel in a transformed space. A set of channel parameter values associated with one or more components of the read channel is received. A general transformation is performed on the channel parameter values, and insignificant terms in the transformed space are filtered out. Next, an inverse transformation is performed on the filtered terms in the transformed space to calculate a new set of channel parameter values for the component(s).
US09489969B1	Magnetic head including a main pole and a write shield to provide improved write characteristics without compromising the function of the write shield A magnetic head includes a main pole, a write shield and a gap section. The write shield includes a leading shield having a top surface opposed to a bottom end of the main pole. The gap section includes a leading gap section for separating the leading shield from the bottom end of the main pole. The leading gap section is formed using a first nonmagnetic layer and a second nonmagnetic layer. The first nonmagnetic layer has a first front end located closest to but at a distance from the medium facing surface. The second nonmagnetic layer has a second front end located in the medium facing surface.
US09489960B2	Bit allocating, audio encoding and decoding A bit allocating method is provided that includes determining the allocated number of bits in decimal point units based on each frequency band so that a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of a spectrum existing in a predetermined frequency band is maximized within a range of the allowable number of bits for a given frame; and adjusting the allocated number of bits based on each frequency band.
US09489959B2	Device and method for bandwidth extension for audio signals The purpose of the present invention is to more efficiently extend, using a low bit rate, the bandwidth of input signals having a harmonics structure, in order to obtain better audio quality. The present invention is installed in a device that extends bandwidth for audio signal encoding and decoding. This novel bandwidth extension encoding identifies a low-frequency spectrum component having the highest correlation to a high-frequency bandwidth signal among input signals, duplicates a high-frequency spectrum by energy adjustment of said component, and maintains the harmonic relationship between the low-frequency spectrum and the duplicated high-frequency spectrum by adjusting the spectral peak position of the duplicated high-frequency spectrum, on the basis of a harmonic frequency estimated from a composite low-frequency spectrum.
US09489958B2	System and method to reduce transmission bandwidth via improved discontinuous transmission The present disclosure is directed towards a method for discontinuous transmission (“DTX”) bandwidth reduction. The method may include receiving, at a processor, a frame identified as speech and determining that the frame was mistakenly identified as speech based upon, at least in part, a voice activity detection algorithm. The method may further include labeling the frame as a silence indicator frame.
US09489956B2	Audio signal enhancement using estimated spatial parameters Received audio data may include a first set of frequency coefficients and a second set of frequency coefficients. Spatial parameters for at least part of the second set of frequency coefficients may be estimated, based at least in part on the first set of frequency coefficients. The estimated spatial parameters may be applied to the second set of frequency coefficients to generate a modified second set of frequency coefficients. The first set of frequency coefficients may correspond to a first frequency range (for example, an individual channel frequency range) and the second set of frequency coefficients may correspond to a second frequency range (for example, a coupled channel frequency range). Combined frequency coefficients of a composite coupling channel may be based on frequency coefficients of two or more channels. Cross-correlation coefficients, between frequency coefficients of a first channel and the combined frequency coefficients, may be computed.
US09489950B2	Method and system for dual scoring for text-dependent speaker verification Embodiments of systems and methods for speaker verification are provided. In various embodiments, a method includes receiving an utterance from a speaker and determining a text-independent speaker verification score and a text-dependent speaker verification score in response to the utterance. Various embodiments include a system for speaker verification, the system comprising an audio receiving device for receiving an utterance from a speaker and converting the utterance to an utterance signal, and a processor coupled to the audio receiving device for determining speaker verification in response to the utterance signal, wherein the processor determines speaker verification in response to a UBM-independent speaker-normalized score.
US09489948B1	Sound source localization using multiple microphone arrays An augmented reality environment allows interaction between virtual and real objects. Multiple microphone arrays of different physical sizes are used to acquire signals for spatial tracking of one or more sound sources within the environment. A first array with a larger size may be used to track an object beyond a threshold distance, while a second array having a size smaller than the first may be used to track the object up to the threshold distance. By selecting different sized arrays, accuracy of the spatial location is improved.
US09489942B2	Method for recognizing statistical voice language The present invention is a method for recognizing a statistical voice language using a statistical technique without using a manually tagged corpus. The method comprises: a dialog act clustering step of clustering speech utterances of sentences based on similar dialog acts; a named entity clustering step of extracting a named entity candidate group from the result of the dialog act clustering step and clustering named entities based on the neighboring contextual information of the extracted named entity candidate group; and a main act clustering step of clustering main acts for each region based on the clustered dialog acts and named entity.
US09489940B2	Apparatus and methods to update a language model in a speech recognition system The technology of the present application provides a method and apparatus to allow for dynamically updating a language model across a large number of similarly situated users. The system identifies individual changes to user profiles and evaluates the change for a broader application, such as, a dialect correction for a speech recognition engine, as administrator for the system identifies similarly situated user profiles and downloads the profile change to effect a dynamic change to the language model of similarly situated users.
US09489936B2	Ultrasonic transducer An ultrasonic transducer as an important part of an ultrasonic flow meter is described, with a transducer housing and with a transducer element, the transducer housing having an ultrasound window and a housing tube, the transducer element being made for sending or receiving ultrasonic waves and being either near the ultrasound window of the transducer housing or away from the ultrasound window of the transducer housing, there being a relatively soft mechanical coupling system and the mechanical coupling system having preferably at least one weakly coupled mechanical resonator. The ultrasonic transducer is improved with respect to the prevention of the transmission of housing waves by there being a second soft mechanical coupling system.
US09489934B2	Method for selecting music based on face recognition, music selecting system and electronic apparatus A method for selecting music based on face recognition, a music selecting system and an electronic apparatus are provided. The method includes the following steps: accessing a database to retrieve a plurality of song emotion coordinates corresponding to a plurality of songs; mapping the song emotion coordinates to an emotion coordinate graph; capturing a human face image; identifying an emotion state corresponding to the human face image, and transforming the emotion state to a current emotion coordinate; mapping the current emotion coordinate to the emotion coordinate graph; updating a song playlist according to a relative position between the current emotion coordinate and a target emotion coordinate, wherein the song playlist includes a plurality of songs to be played that direct the current emotion coordinate to the target emotion coordinate.
US09489933B2	Resonance tone generating apparatus, method of generating resonance tones, recording medium and electronic instrument A resonance strength table is prepared, which stores a relation between a pitch difference and a resonance strength, wherein the pitch difference is a difference between a pitch assigned to the key number of a pressed key and a pitch assigned to each of key numbers of a resonance tone. When a key is pressed, the resonance strength table is referred to, and resonance strengths concerning the key numbers of a resonance tone are determined. Then, note-on events of a resonance tone are produced based on the key numbers and the decided resonance strengths and the produced note-on events are sent to a sound source.
US09489928B2	Adjustment of monitor resolution and pixel refreshment based on detected viewer distance Techniques are disclosed for improving energy efficiency of displays, and in particular, displays capable of selective refresh. In an embodiment, the techniques include adjusting the effective resolution of a display based on the viewer's distance from the display. The effective resolution adjustment can be accomplished by, for example, grouping individual pixels or blurring the display buffer (or both pixel grouping and blurring) based on the viewer's distance from the display. Such an adjustment has the effect of creating enlarged pixels from a plurality of smaller pixels. In any such cases, each of the enlarged pixels (also called macro-pixels) can then be selectively refreshed based on changes from the previous frame. In addition, even if one of the macro-pixels has changed from the last frame, it also need not be refreshed if the viewer would not perceive that change given a subtle or otherwise unperceivable difference in intensity.
US09489925B2	Using natural movements of a hand-held device to manipulate digital content A mobile device, such as a smart phone, is provided with a camera. Digital content displayed on display screen of the mobile device may be manipulated in response to natural movements of the mobile device by a user. Motion of the mobile device is detected relative to a nearby textured surface by analyzing images of the textured surface. The displayed digital content is manipulated in response to the detected motion of the mobile device.
US09489922B2	Electro-optical device and electronic apparatus In at least one embodiment, an electro-optical device displays a right-eye image and a left-eye image for each display period. The driving circuit supplies a gradation potential to each of the pixels according to a specific gradation using image data which corresponds to the unit period in each of a plurality of unit periods in each of the display periods, and sequentially selects one or more scanning lines in a plurality of lines and supplies a gradation potential to each of the signal lines according to a specific gradation of each of the pixels which corresponds to the one or more scanning lines in a selected state in a unit period in each of the display periods. A driving control section executes overdrive of each of the pixels in the driving circuit in a first unit period in each of the display periods.
US09489920B2	Method to control display device screen brightness and strength of dynamic range compression based on ambient light level A method of controlling in a display device screen brightness and strength of dynamic range compression of display data in dependence on ambient light level. Ambient light level values are required from one or more ambient light sensors. The ambient light level values are averaged using a first method to obtain a first average value and using a second, different method to obtain a second average value. The first average value is used for controlling the screen brightness and the second average value is used for controlling the strength of the dynamic range compression.
US09489919B2	System and method for primary-matched color gamut mapping This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, to map color of an input image pixel to a corresponding device element of a display device capable of displaying a plurality of device primary colors associated with the display element. The color mapping method includes dividing the display color gamut associated with the display device into a plurality of segments including a plurality of display colors. The input color gamut is also divided into a plurality of segments corresponding to the plurality of segments of the display color gamut. The color mapping further includes identifying a segment of the input color gamut including the image pixel color; determining a corresponding segment of the display color gamut; and assigning a display color that is a weighted combination of the colors included in the determined segment of the display color gamut.
US09489916B2	Processing method of an external-image device A processing method of an external-image device includes the following steps. A first number of basic area-updating requests are received, wherein each of the basic area-updating requests corresponds to an image-updating area. The first number of basic area-updating requests are generated by an electrical device and correspond to an updating content of a displayed image. The image-updating areas corresponding to the first number of basic area-updating requests are calculated to integrate the image-updating areas to a second number of transmission-image areas. The second number of transmission-image areas are transmitted to the external-image device through an external video adaptor.
US09489907B2	Gate driver circuit basing on IGZO process The present invention provides a gate driver circuit basing on IGZO process, comprising GOAs in cascade connection comprising a Nth-stage GOA, wherein the Nth-stage GOA further comprising a pull-up control part 100, a pull-up part 200, a transfer part 300, a pull-down part 400, a pull-down holding part 500, a boost part 600, a first negative supply VSS1, a second negative supply VSS2, a third negative supply VSS3, which are three gradually decreasing negative supplies and pull down an output terminal G(N), a first node Q(N), a second node P(N), and a driving single ST(N) to prevent the electrical leakage of TFTs effectively. And channels of the TFT switches of the gate driver circuit basing on the IGZO process are oxide semiconductor channels.
US09489905B2	Display device driving method A display device driving method is provided. The display device driving method comprises the steps outlined below. A display device is provided, in which each of the first gate lines of a driving circuit of the display device has a first RC value and each of the second gate lines of the drive circuit has a second RC value smaller than the first RC value. A first gate driving signal having a first pulse width is generated to each of the first gate lines to drive corresponding first pixel rows. A second gate driving signal having a second pulse width is generated to each of the second gate lines to drive corresponding second pixel rows, wherein the second pulse width is smaller than the first pulse width.
US09489903B2	Data-holding circuit and substrate for a display device A display device has a data-holding circuit with a capacitance and a display portion with a plurality of pixel electrodes, formed on a first carrier substrate. In the display device, a second carrier substrate disposed opposite the first carrier substrate is placed above the display portion, but the opposing substrate is not present above the area in which the data-holding circuit is disposed. The parasitic capacitance of the data-holding circuit can thereby be reduced. Therefore, the capacitance in the data-holding circuit can be reduced and the area required can be reduced as well. The display data of all the pixels is sent serially to the liquid crystal module without high-speed transfer for each frame time interval, and size can be reduced because the controller IC and interface circuit are formed on the same substrate as the display device substrate.
US09489902B2	Liquid crystal display device In a liquid crystal display device (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of color display pixels (CP) include three or more pixels (P) which exhibit different colors. The pixels (P) include a first sub-pixel (SP1) electrically connected to a first source bus line (SA) via a first TFT (T1) and a second sub-pixel (SP2) electrically connected to a second source bus line (SB) via a second TFT (T2). The control circuit (15) is configured to generate a first display signal voltage and a second display signal voltage that are to be supplied to the first sub-pixel (SP1) and the second sub-pixel (SP2) of a pixel (P) based on a grayscale level to be exhibited by the pixel (P) and grayscale levels to be exhibited by two or more remaining pixels (P) included in a color display pixel (CP) to which the pixel (P) belongs that are indicated by an input display signal, and output the generated first and second display signal voltages to the first source bus line (SA) and the second source bus line (SB), respectively.
US09489901B2	Display device A display device includes a divided display region that includes pixels and gate drivers each configured to scan gate lines included in the divided display region. The display device also includes source drivers each configured to output, for each of groups of data lines, a video signal based on a grayscale signal in order from a corresponding gate driver side based on each delay amount set in advance and a register unit configured to store the each delay amount. The register unit stores the each delay amount so that, when at least one gate driver scans in a first order from an edge of the divided display region toward a center, the video signal corresponding to the pixels positioned on a centermost side of the display region is output to the pixels, in a period including a part of a vertical flyback period of after one frame period has finished.
US09489897B2	System and methods for thermal compensation in AMOLED displays Disclosed is a circuit and technique to determine the temperature of an AMOLED display in order to calibrate programming data signals. The temperature of selected pixels of a plurality of pixels in an AMOLED display is measured via one of several disclosed methods. A thermal sensor for the selected pixels may be used. A measurement of output voltage data may be used to estimate temperature. A finite element analysis model may be used based on consumed power of the selected pixel. The temperature data for the selected pixel is then interpolated to the neighboring non-selected pixels to estimate the temperature of those pixels.
US09489896B2	Gate driving circuit and gate driving method, gate driver on array (GOA) and display device The present disclosure provides a gate driving circuit which can be applied in a display panel. The gate driving circuit may include a driving signal output unit, provided with a storage capacitor; a driving control unit, configured to sample an input signal in a first period of each scanning cycle, control the driving signal output unit to output a first gate driving signal which is configured to turn on thin film transistors (TFTs) in a display panel in a second period of each scanning cycle, and control the driving signal output unit to output a second gate driving signal which is configured to turn off the TFTs in the display panel by using the storage capacitor across which a voltage difference is within a predetermined range in a third period of each scanning cycle; and a compensating unit, configured to maintain the voltage difference across the storage capacitor to be within the predetermined range in the third period of each scanning cycle.
US09489893B2	AMOLED pixel driving circuit and driving method thereof, and array substrate There are disclosed an AMOLED pixel driving circuit and driving method thereof, and array substrate. The AMOLED pixel driving circuit comprises a driving thin film transistor (T1), and a gate initial voltage writing module (T2) configured to write an initial voltage signal into a gate of the driving thin film transistor (T1), a first terminal of a storage capacitor (C1), and a second terminal of the coupling capacitor (C2); a data voltage writing module (T3) configured to write a data voltage signal into a source of the driving thin film transistor (T1); a saturation discharging module (T4) configured to connect or disconnect a first terminal of a coupling capacitor (C2) with or from the drain of the driving thin film transistor (T1); an initializing module (T5) configured to connect or disconnect the source of the driving thin film transistor (T1) with or from the second power supply (Vss); and a light emitting control module (T6) configured to connect or disconnect one terminal of the organic light emitting diode (D1) with or from a drain of the driving thin film transistor (T1); the storage capacitor (C1); the coupling capacitor (C2); and an organic light emitting diode (D1). The AMOLED pixel driving circuit and driving method thereof can realize the purpose of sub-threshold saturation turn-off and compensating for threshold voltage of the driving TFT.
US09489890B2	Organic electroluminescent display device The present invention overcomes image defects such as the brightness inclination or smears by reducing the line resistance of a power source bus line which supplies electricity to organic EL elements. A plurality of pixels which are arranged in a matrix array is connected to power source lines, and the plurality of power source lines are connected to a power source bus line. Both ends of the power source bus line are connected to a power source part via a FPC. By supplying electricity to both ends of the power source bus line from the power source part, the line resistance of the power source bus line can be reduced.
US09489887B2	AMOLED microdisplay device with active temperature control An active-matrix organic light-emitting diode microdisplay device having a temperature control system including a temperature sensor and a control means for regulating the temperature of the OLED. The temperature is regulated by a bias transistor within the circuit, operating as a function of the temperature of the panel, such that low panel temperatures cause an increase in voltage of the bias transistor which draws a higher current through the top voltage drive transistor for self-heating the area surrounding the OLED.
US09489881B2	Shading correction calculation apparatus and shading correction value calculation method The apparatus calculates a first relation representing a relation of mapping from an image capturing coordinate system of a camera to a shading correction coordinate system of a display apparatus, by using a first captured image acquired by capturing a first display image, and calculates a second relation by removing, from the first relation, a part corresponding to an object located between the first display image and the camera. The apparatus calculates a first gradation value in the shading correction coordinate system by performing a mapping transformation using the second relation on a second captured image acquired by capturing a second display image, calculates from the first gradation value a first correction value for the shading correction coordinate system, and calculates through an interpolation using the first correction value a second correction value for a part thereof where the first gradation value is not calculated.
US09489880B2	Display system and driving method A method for driving a display device is disclosed. Each pixel of the display device includes a first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel. The method includes: driving the first sub-pixel of a first pixel disposed in a first column and in a first row to display a first color; driving the second sub-pixel of the first pixel to display a second color; driving the first sub-pixel of a second pixel disposed in the first column and in a second row or a third row to display a third color; driving the second sub-pixel of the second pixel to display the first color; and determining a pixel value of the first sub-pixel of the first pixel according to a predetermined region, the pixels adjacent to the first pixel, and a video signal.
US09489879B2	Display device A driving circuit of a display device includes first to third output signal lines which are continuously arranged, a first transistor that has a source connected to the second output signal line and a drain connected to a first clock signal line, and a second transistor that provides a non-active potential to a gate of the first transistor when a second clock signal becomes the active potential, wherein a circuit that outputs the active potential to the first output signal line and the third output signal line is disposed at an opposite side to a circuit that outputs the active potential to the second output signal line with a display region interposed therebetween, and wherein the gate of the first transistor is connected to the first output signal line and the third output signal line via rectifying circuits.
US09489878B2	Shift register A shift register has an input stage circuit, a first switch, a control circuit and a pull down circuit. A first end of the first switch receives a first clock signal. A second end and a control end of the first switch are respectively coupled to an output end of the shift register and a first output end of the input stage circuit. The control circuit controls electrical connection between a first power terminal and a node according to a second clock signal and controls electrical connection between the node and a second power terminal according to a voltage level of a second output end of the input stage circuit. The pull down circuit controls electrical connection between the second output end and the second power terminal and electrical connection between the output end and the second power terminal according to a voltage level of the node.
US09489875B2	Pixel, stereoscopic image display device, and driving method thereof A stereoscopic image display device includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels, a scan driver, a gate driver, a data driver, and a controller, and a sub-frame includes a first period during which a data voltage according to an image data signal emitted in the previous sub-frame is initialized, a second period during which a data voltage according to the image data signal written in the previous sub-frame is transmitted and a threshold voltage of a driving transistor of each pixel is compensated, a third period during which a data voltage according to a next sub-frame's data signal is sequentially written to the respective pixels, and a fourth period that is concurrent with and equal to or longer than the third period and during which the respective pixels concurrently emit light corresponding to the data voltage according to the image data signal written in the previous sub-frame.
US09489869B2	Portable low cost computer assisted surgical trainer and assessment system A system is provided for evaluating MIS procedures. The system includes a sensor configured to receive task-performance data, block components, and actuating components. The sensor, block components, and actuating components are configured to simulate a training task. The system also includes a processor. The processor is configured to determine, based on the received task-performance data, a trial task-performance metric corresponding to a trial performance of the training task. The processor is also configured to select a reference task-performance metric from a plurality of reference task-performance metrics. Each reference task-performance metric in the plurality corresponds to a respective reference performance of the training task. The processor is additionally configured to determine, based on a comparison of the trial task-performance metric to the reference task-performance metric, a task-performance classification level. The processor is further configured to cause a graphical display to provide an indication of the task-performance classification level.
US09489867B2	Component simulation shell and shipping container assembly having a component simulation shell The invention provides for a shell having four sides including a front side and a front side having contact points to simulate a host component where the number of contact points and spacing between the contact points on the front side of the shell simulate the number and spacing of receptacles located on the host component so that the shell may be temporarily populated with accessories and the accessories capable of being serially removed and serially attached to the receptacles of the host component. The shell may be carried in a shipment container along with the accessories for shipping to the location of the host component. The accessories may include cable harnesses and have fiber optic connectors temporarily mounted to the component simulation shell during shipping and upon arrival at the host component, the connectors may be removed in a one-to-one matching sequence between the component simulation shell and the host component where the connectors are finally mated.
US09489866B2	Acoustic representations of environments Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for acoustic representations of environments. A processor can execute an acoustic representation service. The processor can receive a request to provide acoustic representation data to a device. The processor can obtain input data from the device. The input data can include captured data. The processor can analyze the input data to recognize an object represented in or by the input data and a path associated with the object. The processor can generate acoustic representation data representing the object and the path, and provide the acoustic representation data to the device.
US09489864B2	Systems and methods for an automated pronunciation assessment system for similar vowel pairs Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for assessing non-native speech proficiency. a non-native speech sample is processed to identify a plurality of vowel sound boundaries in the non-native speech sample. Portions of the non-native speech sample are analyzed within the vowel sound boundaries to extract vowel characteristics associated with a first vowel sound and a second vowel sound represented in the non-native speech sample. The vowel characteristics are processed to identify a first vowel pronunciation metric for the first vowel sound and a second vowel pronunciation metric for the second vowel sound, and the first vowel pronunciation metric and the second vowel pronunciation metric are processed to determine whether the non-native speech sample exhibits a distinction in pronunciation of the first vowel sound and the second vowel sound.
US09489862B2	Music theory casino fundamentals game The invention is a game that contains several tactile pieces that can be manipulated to explain the fundamentals of music theory. The musical game hardware/teaching aids collectively called “Music Theory Casino Fundamentals Game” includes a scale isolator board, circle of 5ths spin wheel, 60 key cards, 1 wild card, 9 (or more) step tiles, major and 3 forms of minor formula flat board insert, accidental game pieces, 8-sided die containing the numbers 0-7, sharp/flat coin and harmonic/melodic coin. The teaching aids resemble game hardware found in gambling casinos and provide the user with a “game like” feel while they learn the fundamentals of music theory.
US09489861B2	Rythmic motor skills training device A computerized system and method for music practice and training to assist a musician to improve their skills in maintaining a tempo and to improve ear-hand coordination, eye-hand coordination and other motor skills while learning to play an instrument. The system receives user defined beats per minute (BPM), rhythms or short segments of a music piece and generates audio reference outputs and visual display of music notes as stimuli. The user responses to these stimuli are measured in time and in the force and intensity of the responses and provided as feedback to the user to improve their response time and intensity to stimuli and assists the user in modifying the responses to the output stimuli to reduce the time between the output stimuli and the user response and thus improve the user's timing accuracy while playing music.
US09489859B2	Music teaching device A music teaching device for the composition and reading of a score is described, of the type comprising coaxial elements assembled along a central axis and rotatable with respect thereto. Said coaxial elements are arranged according to a series of stable geometry configurations alternative to a series of geometric unstable configurations.
US09489858B2	Real-time simulation system of the effects of rotor-wake generated aerodynamic loads of a hover-capable aircraft on the aircraft itself, and method thereof A real-time simulation system of the aerodynamic loads generated by the wake of a rotor of a hover-capable aircraft on the aircraft itself is described, said system comprising: a cockpit seat; a simulated control device able to receive a simulated command to simulate a flight condition of the aircraft; a plurality of simulation devices able to generate a simulated representation of the flight condition; and a processing unit configured to receive a first signal associated with the command given via the control device and to generate a second control signal for the plurality of simulation devices associated with the simulated aerodynamic loads. The processing unit cyclically generates a vortex ring, associates one or more control points with the vortex ring, computes the velocity induced on the control points, moves and updates the vortex ring, and generates the second signal on the basis of the velocities induced on the control points.
US09489857B2	Controller for electrical impulse stress exposure training A control module used in combination with an activation device for generating an activation signal in response to a stress exposure training event and an electrical impulse device for delivering an electrical shock to the user. The control module has a housing for being carried on the user. The module includes a controller function which sends a shock signal to the impulse device to shock the user according to prescribed shock criteria in response to an activation signal. The control module can be used with various activation devices including light-based force-on-force training or video shoot-back simulations. An operator input of the controller enables the prescribed shock criteria stored on the controller which is carried on the user to be adjusted by an operator directly at the module or remotely.
US09489856B2	Interactive printed article with touch-activated presentation An interactive printed article includes a cover and a plurality of printed leaves on which a plurality of touchpoints are distributed. A particular printed leaf among the plurality of printed leaves includes first and second viewed surfaces and first and second inner surfaces and has a touch sensor incorporated therein proximate to a touchpoint among the plurality of touchpoints. At least one of the first and second viewed surfaces has content printed thereon, and at least one of the first and second inner surfaces has a conductive trace formed thereon. The interactive printed article further includes an electronics package electrically coupled to the conductive trace that initiates presentation of a particular presentation corresponding to the touchpoint in response to detection via the touch sensor of selection of the touchpoint.
US09489855B2	Interactive presentation system A computerized educational presentation system is provided. The system may include a presentation application program. The presentation application program may include a presentation module that is operable in an author mode to create an educational presentation having a plurality of educational resources. The educational resources may include at least a poll. Further, the presentation module may be operable in a presentation mode to make the educational presentation accessible for viewing at a plurality of student computing devices. The presentation application program further may include an interaction module. During the author mode, the interaction module may update one or more educational resources of the educational presentation in response to receiving user edits via an author tool. During the presentation mode, the interaction module may receive student feedback at a teacher computing device in response to presentation of the poll at the plurality of student computing devices.
US09489851B1	Landing signal officer (LSO) information management and trend analysis (IMTA) system Embodiments in accordance with the invention provide a Landing Signal Officer (LSO) Information Management and Trend Analysis (IMTA) system for electronically capturing landing performance data related to aircraft approaches and landings in an IMTA application residing on a portable electronic device (PED) and for automatically generating performance data and trend analysis of the data. In one embodiment, data is input by user, such as an LSO, to one or more context sensitive graphical user interfaces displayed on a touch screen PED. Data entered to and generated by the IMTA application can be further communicated to and updated by external computer systems and appended with additional data and/or video available from external computer systems.
US09489849B2	System and method for monitoring road conditions using blind spot information A system for monitoring roadway conditions for a vehicle has a control unit processing data captured by a plurality of existing blind spot information sensors coupled to the vehicle to detect objects around the vehicle, the data processed indicating congestion on the roadway.
US09489839B2	Tracking a vehicle using an unmanned aerial vehicle Tracking a vehicle using an unmanned aerial vehicle is disclosed. One or more first images may be received from a first camera of the first unmanned aerial vehicle located at a first location. A unique identifier of a first vehicle may be determined to be not identifiable in at least one of the one or more first images. The first unmanned aerial vehicle may be then repositioned. One or more second images having the second field of view and showing the first vehicle may then be received. The unique identifier of the first vehicle may then be determined based on at least one of the one or more second images.
US09489837B1	Providing storage system telemetry data Reducing telemetry data transmitted from a storage system includes selecting a data reduction algorithm from a plurality of data reduction algorithms, where selection includes eliminating data reduction algorithms that process frames of telemetry data at a lower rate than the frames of telemetry data are generated and applying the data reduction algorithm to the telemetry data. Selecting a data reduction algorithm may include selecting a remaining one of the data reduction algorithms that provides a greatest amount of data reduction. Reducing telemetry data transmitted from a storage system may also include determining if the data reduction algorithm sufficiently reduces an amount of data that is transmitted using a communications channel and removing some of the telemetry data in response to the data reduction algorithm not sufficiently reducing the amount of data that is transmitted. The data reduction algorithms may include data de-duplication and data compression.
US09489832B2	Industrial-enabled mobile device An industrial-enabled mobile electronic device, such as a personal mobile phone or tablet computer, allows a user to wirelessly interact with industrial devices for a variety of purposes. The mobile electronic device can communicate with an industrial device to read and write configuration settings, read and view log data, send commands to the industrial device, and other such functions. The mobile electronic device can perform various types of analysis on images and video of the industrial device captured by the mobile electronic device, including identifying and translating a model or device number printed on the device, or translating error codes displayed by the industrial device. The mobile electronic device can also retrieve additional information about the industrial device or the device's stored data via interaction with a remote technical support service, and can be used to facilitate dialog with a remote technical support person.
US09489831B2	Wireless sensor reader A wireless sensor reader is provided to interface with a wireless sensor. The wireless sensor reader transmits an excitation pulse to cause the wireless sensor to generate a ring signal. The wireless sensor reader receives and amplifies the ring signal and sends the signal to a phase-locked loop. A voltage-controlled oscillator in the phase-locked loop locks onto the ring signal frequency and generates a count signal at a frequency related to the ring signal frequency. The voltage-controlled oscillator is placed into a hold mode where the control voltage is maintained constant to allow the count signal frequency to be determined. The reader uses an ambient reading or other information to select a subset of the possible ring signal frequencies, and tunes or adjusts its circuits and algorithms to focus on that subset.
US09489824B2	Active probe, system and method for pest detection A pest detector (1) for actively detecting pest activity within the environs of a structure. The pest detector includes a pest detection unit (2) that detects pest activity through the analysis of sounds of pest activity within a pest bait. The pest bait is typically timber or cellulose material (3). Upon detection of pest activity, a signal is sent to wireless transmitting device which transmits a radio frequency signal which includes data identifying the pest detector. Advantageously, the radio frequency is in the cellular radio frequency spectrum and is transmitted via the cellular radio network to a remote base station. The signal can be in the form of a short message service message. In this way, the pest detector can be remotely monitored and any pest activity dealt with appropriately. The pest detector can be used within a pest detection system and the pest detection unit can be retrofitted to known pest monitoring systems.
US09489821B2	Device and method for monitoring the presence of an item Exemplary methods and systems for monitoring presence of an item or items are disclosed herein. An exemplary method may be carried out by a monitoring device having a processor and a memory, and may involve determining that presence data associated with an item meets one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to a list of items whose presence is monitored in a particular context, and based on determining that presence data associated with the item meets the one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context.
US09489820B1	Method for determining whether an individual leaves a prescribed virtual perimeter A method and system that allows healthcare providers, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other persons to monitor disabled, elderly or other high-risk individuals to prevent or reduce falls and/or mitigate the impact of a fall by delivering automated notification of “at risk” behavior and falls by such an individual being monitored where assistance is required.
US09489819B2	Personal monitor and tracking system In a method for tracking an offender in possession of a first offender cellular telephone that includes a global positioning system module and for presenting tracking information about first offender to an officer employing an officer communication device, a voiceprint from the first offender is stored on the tangible memory storage device at a server. A set of predetermined location criteria is generated for the first offender. Location data from the cellular telephone are received at the server and include an indication of a location of the telephone. Offender voice sample data are compared to the voiceprint. An alert is generated when the voice sample fails to match the voiceprint. The offender's location is compared to location criteria for the offender and an alert is generated when the location is inconsistent with predetermined location criteria. The alert is transmitted to the officer communication device.
US09489817B2	Infrared sensing of eye and eyelid movements to detect drowsiness The disclosed embodiments provide a head-mounted device. The head-mounted device includes a sensing apparatus, which contains a first infrared emitter and a second infrared emitter positioned below the first infrared emitter, wherein the first and second infrared emitters alternate emission of infrared pulses at an eye of a user. The sensing apparatus also includes a first infrared detector that produces a first measurement of a reflection of the infrared pulses from the eye of the user. The head-mounted device also includes a processing apparatus that analyzes the first measurement from the first infrared detector to characterize an eyelid movement of the user.
US09489816B2	Portable patient monitoring system profile switchover Portable patient monitoring systems are provided that include profiles that can be selectively overwritten with profiles stored in or otherwise accessible by docking stations that can mate with the portable patient monitoring systems. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09489815B2	Apparatus for use in a fall detector or fall detection system, and a method of operating the same There is provided a method of operating a fall detector, the method comprising, on detecting a fall event by a user of the fall detector, measuring at least one physiological characteristic of the user; and using the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic to determine whether to expedite an alert that the user has fallen. An apparatus comprising a processor that is configured to perform the method described above is also provided.
US09489812B2	Active infrared sensor Methods and systems are described for monitoring a monitored space. An example computer-implemented method for monitoring a monitored space includes periodically emitting with an active infrared sensor a modulated infrared signal into a monitored space being monitored by a home automation system, receiving with the active infrared sensor the modulated infrared signals reflected from objects in the monitored space, and determining at least one of whether a number of objects in the monitored space have changed and whether any of the objects are moving.
US09489811B2	Device and method for checking the integrity of physical objects The invention relates to a device for monitoring physical objects that comprises one or more short-range remote readers, memory elements to be attached to physical objects, and a controller adapted for executing a reading function capable of interaction with the one or more remote readers in order to acquire data contained in adjacent memory elements, and for executing an integrity validation function capable of distinguishing, from the acquired data, individual identifiers particular to each of the memory elements as well as group description data stored in at least some of said memory elements, and of checking the sufficiency of group description data while checking the compliance of individual identifiers with corresponding group description data.
US09489810B2	Haptic feedback touch-sensitive interface module The invention relates a haptic feedback touch-sensitive interface module (1) including a touch-sensitive surface (3), capable of detecting bearing by a user, and at least one actuator that is connected to the touch-sensitive surface (3), wherein said module is capable of generating haptic feedback on the basis of the bearing detected, and includes: a frame (11); a movable core (13) that engages with the frame (11) and is intended to be moved between extremal positions so as to generate the haptic feedback; and an electromagnetic actuation means (15, 17) for moving the movable core (13); wherein the actuator of said haptic feedback touch-sensitive interface module also comprises a first and second prestressed resilient means (19A and 19B), respectively arranged on either side of the movable core (13).
US09489808B1	Electrical device and methods of making and using the device An electrical device, processes for using and making the device, and products produced thereby. There can be an alarm device and an extension which includes a protrusion. The extension can have wiring, and the alarm device can detect for a change in electricity running through the wiring, such as a change that would occur when the electricity is interrupted when the wiring is cut. The protrusion is located adjacent to the extension, distant from the alarm device, and can include a key, switch, connector, or the like. The protrusion, in some cases, can be releasably connectable to a housing that is in turn connected to the extension, so as to form a loop in which an item can be secured for protection, e.g., from theft.
US09489806B2	Card game system and device having supplemental awards based on consecutive non-terminating outcomes A card game includes a plurality of rounds playable upon at least one base wager and at least one supplemental wager. Each one of the rounds results in an outcome, where a base award is associated with at least one of the outcomes. A pattern condition is fulfillable when a pattern of the outcomes corresponds to one of a plurality of designated patterns. Different supplemental awards are provided based on the fulfillment of the pattern condition.
US09489805B2	Multi-level wagering competitions Various embodiments that may generally relate to one or more competitions. Such competitions may include a plurality of rounds. A round may include a player attempting to choose a winner of an event on which a round is based. A surviving player after a number of rounds may be a winner of a competition. Various apparatus and methods are described.
US09489803B2	Gaming system with increasing odds of winning A system and method for operating gaming systems, such as casino gaming systems and methods, is provided with increasing or improving odds of winning. A display device displays a play area or game board having a plurality of interactive regions some of which are winning regions with others being losing regions. A player may select a region for wagering a fixed wager amount. When the player selects a winning region, the player may elect to take the payout or play at least one additional round of play with the payout. The probability of winning in each additional round of play is increased while increasing the payout by the fixed wager amount. When a losing region is selected, the payout accumulated from the rounds of play is lost. The game mechanic provides for long sequences of wins, or winning streaks, to attract players while reducing variance caused by large jackpot payouts.
US09489802B2	Enriched game play environment Systems and methods for a gaming system. A gaming system includes a game world engine connected to a real world engine and an entertainment software engine. The real world engine receives a trigger of execution of a gambling game, and determines a gambling outcome of the gambling game using a wager of real world credits. The entertainment software provides a skill based entertainment game to a player, and conveys, to the game world engine, a player action taken by the player during play of the of the entertainment game, the player action including use by the player of an enabling element. The game world engine receives the player action, correlates the wager of real world credit of the gambling game with the use of the enabling element by triggering execution of the gambling game, and accumulates game world credit for the player based on the player action.
US09489795B2	Controlling mechanical outcome indicators of gaming machines The present invention describes a system having a gaming machine using game circuitry logic and a primary controller to perform a primary wagering game. The system may further include a secondary controller using mechanical components of the gaming machine to perform secondary wagering games. The secondary controller is configured to actuate and control mechanical components of the gaming machine system controlled by the primary controller. The secondary controller further combines output of the primary and secondary wagering games to generate a unified graphical user interface displayed on a display device of the gaming machine. The secondary controller also actively translates input and output coordinate data between each of the primary and secondary controller graphical user interfaces and the unified graphical user interface.
US09489794B2	Systems and methods for providing control of a wagering device using a smartphone or mobile device Gaming systems and methods are set forth for players to link a player mobile communication device such as a Smart phone to a gaming terminal to present at the player mobile communication device display an auxiliary or substitute player interface for controlling the game.
US09489783B2	Door system with noncontact access control and noncontact door operation A door system includes a door frame, at least one door leaf and a door drive with a control unit. The door leaf is equipped with a hand vein scanner for detecting the hand vein profile when a hand is held a distance in front of the hand vein scanner for recognizing the user. A programmable computer with a memory element, in which a plurality of user hand vein profiles can be stored, is housed in the interior of the door leaf. A hand vein profile is compared to the hand vein profiles stored in the memory of the computer and, depending on a match, the door is opened or not. The computer is programmed and supplied with power via a network interface that terminates in the edge of the door leaf or the peripheral area and is the only interface between the door leaf and the door frame, other than a signal cable for the control unit for the door drive. The computer can be programmed by temporarily connecting an external computer to this network interface. The network interface is also used for connecting a power supply for the computer.
US09489778B2	Method and system for alerting a driver to a condition of a vehicle A system for alerting a driver to a condition of a vehicle is disclosed herein. The system includes, but is not limited to, a telematics unit that is mounted to the vehicle and that is configured to receive a fault notification from a subsystem on board the vehicle when a fault in the subsystem is detected. A call center is remotely located from the vehicle and is communicatively connected to the telematics unit. The telematics unit is configured to provide the fault notification to the call center. The call center is configured to initiate communication with the driver if the fault falls within a first category of faults and to set a trigger in the telematics unit to initiate contact with the call center upon a next ignition actuation of the vehicle if the fault falls within a second category of faults.
US09489777B2	Device for detecting the impact of an object on a vehicle The invention relates to a device for detecting the impact of an object on a vehicle, which comprises a hose filled with a filling medium. The device also comprises a first pressure sensor which is connected with a first end of the hose and a second pressure sensor connected with a second end of the hose. An electronic control unit is connected with the first and the second pressure sensor and is designed for the processing of the signals received by the first and the second pressure sensor. The hose is sealed off with respect to the environment and the first and the second pressure sensor, so that the internal pressure of the filling medium is independent of an ambient pressure. The electronic control unit is designed for processing temperature-caused changes of the internal pressure as a criterion for the diagnosis of the operability of the device.
US09489772B2	Environment actuation by one or more augmented reality elements Apparatuses, systems, media and methods may provide for environment actuation by one or more augmented reality elements. A location module may determine a location of one or more networked devices in a real space and/or establish a location of the one or more augmented reality elements in a virtual space, which may be mapped to the real space. A coordinator module may coordinate a virtual action in the virtual space of the one or more augmented reality elements with an actuation event by the one or more networked devices in the real space. The actuation event may correspond to the virtual action in the virtual space and be discernible in the real space.
US09489771B2	Techniques for spatially sorting graphics information Various embodiments are generally directed to an apparatus, method and other techniques for separating a group of polygons from a viewpoint of a scene into a dependent subgroup of polygons or a non-dependent subgroup of polygon and spatially sorting the non-dependent subgroup of polygons and the dependent group of polygons separately to form a sorted group of polygons.
US09489769B2	Dynamically updating compartments representing one or more geological structures Systems and methods for dynamically updating compartments representing one or more geological structures by performing one or more dynamic interactions on i) current data; ii) a predefined polygon area-of-interest and/or predefined minimum/maximum depths from volume-of-interest based model sealing; and/or iii) a fluid contact flag and/or a sealing state from a fluid fill analysis.
US09489761B2	Pinning a callout animation Animation for the attachment of content items to a location on a content surface in a user interface is provided. A user interface showing a content surface may be displayed on a computer. The content surface may include a content item at an initial position above the content surface. The content surface may display content formatted for display over an area comprising a totality of the content surface. The computer may then receive in the user interface a request to attach the content item to a final position on the content surface. The computer may then display an animation of the content item moving, from the initial position, across the content surface until the final position has been reached. The computer may then attach the content item to the content surface at the final position.
US09489760B2	Mechanism for facilitating dynamic simulation of avatars corresponding to changing user performances as detected at computing devices A mechanism is described for facilitating dynamic simulation of avatars based on user performances according to one embodiment. A method of embodiments, as described herein, includes capturing, in real-time, an image of a user, the image including a video image over a plurality of video frames. The method may further include tracking changes in size of the user image, the tracking of the changes may include locating one or more positions of the user image within each of the plurality of video frames, computing, in real-time, user performances based on the changes in the size of the user image over the plurality of video frames, and dynamically scaling an avatar associated with the user such that the avatar is dynamically simulated corresponding to the user performances.
US09489757B2	Resizable text backing shapes for digital images In one embodiment, a digital image viewer 110 may use an adjustable text backing shape 312 to preserve legibility of an image text segment 310 during size conversions of a digital image 304. The digital image viewer 110 may determine a viewport size of a viewport 302 for a display application 112 that downloads a digital image 304 with an image text segment 310. The digital image viewer 110 may interleave an adjustable text backing shape 312 of an independently adjustable shape size based on the viewport size between the digital image 304 and the image text segment 310.
US09489755B2	Determining reserve estimates for a reservoir Systems and methods for determining reserve estimates for a reservoir using a thickness grid multiplied by one or more grids of laterally-varying attributes to produce a unified grid from which the reserve estimates are determined.
US09489752B2	Ordered subsets with momentum for X-ray CT image reconstruction Methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable media for image reconstruction are presented. Measured data corresponding to a subject is received. A preliminary image update in a particular iteration is determined based on one or more image variables computed using at least a subset of the measured data in the particular iteration. Additionally, at least one momentum term is determined based on the one or more image variables computed in the particular iteration and/or one or more further image variables computed in one or more iterations preceding the particular iteration. Further, a subsequent image update is determined using the preliminary image update and the momentum term. The preliminary image update and/or the subsequent image update are iteratively computed for a plurality of iterations until one or more termination criteria are satisfied.
US09489751B2	Image processing apparatus and image processing method for color correction based on pixel proximity and color similarity An image processing apparatus comprises an image acquiring unit configured to acquire a face image including a face of a person; a lip extracting unit configured to extract a lip region from the face image; a color determining unit configured to determine a representative color of the lip based on pixels included in the lip region; a value acquiring unit configured to acquire a first value representing a proximity to the lip region and a second value correlated to similarity of a color to the representative color; a generating unit configured to generate, based on distributions of the first and second values, a lip correction map representing a distribution of weights used in correcting a color of the lip included in the face image; and an image correcting unit configured to correct the color of the lip using the lip correction map.
US09489747B2	Image processing apparatus for performing object recognition focusing on object motion, and image processing method therefor An image processing apparatus includes a detection unit configured to detect areas that have changed between a plurality of images, a calculation unit configured to calculate movement vectors for respective areas on the plurality of images, an estimation unit configured to estimate areas where a moving object exists in the plurality of images by using the movement vectors for respective areas calculated by the calculation unit, and information about the motion of an imaging unit, which captured the plurality of images, in the plurality of images, and an identification unit configured to identify moving object areas based on the changed areas detected by the detection unit, and the areas where a moving object exists estimated by the estimation unit.
US09489746B2	System and method for tracking objects using lidar and video measurements A system uses range and Doppler velocity measurements from a lidar system and images from a video system to estimate a six degree-of-freedom trajectory of a target. The system estimates this trajectory in two stages: a first stage in which the range and Doppler measurements from the lidar system along with various feature measurements obtained from the images from the video system are used to estimate first stage motion aspects of the target (i.e., the trajectory of the target); and a second stage in which the images from the video system and the first stage motion aspects of the target are used to estimate second stage motion aspects of the target. Once the second stage motion aspects of the target are estimated, a three-dimensional image of the target may be generated.
US09489744B2	Parameterized model of 2D articulated human shape A novel “contour person” (CP) model of the human body is proposed that has the expressive power of a detailed 3D model and the computational benefits of a simple 2D part-based model. The CP model is learned from a 3D model of the human body that captures natural shape and pose variations; the projected contours of this model, along with their segmentation into parts forms the training set. The CP model factors deformations of the body into three components: shape variation, viewpoint change and pose variation.The CP model can be “dressed” with a low-dimensional clothing model, referred to as “dressed contour person” (DCP) model. The clothing is represented as a deformation from the underlying CP representation. This deformation is learned from training examples using principal component analysis to produce so-called eigen-clothing. The coefficients of the eigen-clothing can be used to recognize different categories of clothing on dressed people.The parameters of the estimated 2D body can be used to discriminatively predict 3D body shape using a learned mapping approach. The prediction framework can be used to estimate/predict the 3D shape of a person from a cluttered video sequence and/or from several snapshots taken with a digital camera or a cell phone.
US09489743B2	Determining dimension of target object in an image using reference object Systems and methods for determining one or more dimensions of an object using a digital image are described.
US09489739B2	Scene analysis for improved eye tracking Technologies related to scene analysis for improved eye tracking are generally described. In some examples, detected gaze targets may be derived from gaze direction information from an eye-facing sensor. Detected gaze target positions and/or motion may be improved by capturing and analyzing digital scene information from a scene visible by the eye. Digital scene information captured by a digital camera may be analyzed to identify potential gaze targets, such as stationary gaze targets, moving gaze targets, and/or accelerating gaze targets. Detected gaze targets may be modified to positions of selected gaze targets.
US09489738B2	System and method for tracking non-visible structure of a body with multi-element fiducial A monitoring system tracks the non-visible structure of a body in three dimensions. A tracker obtains image information of the object and instruments in its vicinity, all bearing 3D tracking markers. A controller spatially relates image information with previously obtained scan data of the object revealing non-visible structure of the object. For the scan a fiducial reference detectable in the scan is removably attached to a location on the object. The scan data and image information is used by the controller to provide the user with real time information on the relative 3D locations and orientations of instruments and non-visible structure of the body. In a further embodiment the monitoring system may be used to model and track changes in the body itself. In other embodiments, a model of the body and instruments is used to track contemplated actions and warn about possibly inappropriate instrument procedures.
US09489736B2	Visualization of image transformation A method is provided comprising: obtaining first and second datasets representative of first and second images of an object at different times, respectively; obtaining a deformation field, representative of changes between the first and second data sets, by performing a rigid or non-rigid registration; generating one or more masks and/or segmentations for selecting elements of the first image; selecting elements of the first image; transforming the first dataset using the deformation field to project the selected elements onto the second image; visualizing the deformation field or previously specified portions thereof; processing the deformation field or previously specified portions thereof to obtain data representative of different predetermined types of deformation; and visualizing the deformation field or one or more selected portions thereof, thereby to visualize the predetermined types of deformations separately and to enable a differentiation between changes in the patient and changes, in particular errors in the patient's position.
US09489734B2	Determination of a body part position during radiation therapy The present invention relates to a data processing method for use in the field of radiation therapy and for determining a position of a treatment body part relative to an actual arrangement of at least one position of a treatment beam issued by a treatment device, the position being called monitoring tissue position and the treatment body part being a soft tissue part of an anatomical structure of a patient; the data processing method being constituted to be performed by a computer and comprising the following steps: ● providing CBCT data describing a three-dimensional CBCT image of the anatomical structure, the three dimensional CBCT image representing the treatment body part and a bony structure in a relative position to each other, called tissue-bone pre-alignment position, at a point in time, called pre-alignment time; ● providing x-ray data describing information on a position of the bony structure, called monitoring bone position, relative to the actual arrangement at a point in, time during treatment, called monitoring time, the monitoring time being after the pre-alignment time; ● determining the monitoring tissue position of the treatment body part relative to the actual arrangement ∘ based on the tissue-bone pre-alignment position represented by the CBCT image data, ∘ based on the information on the monitoring bone position described by the x-ray data, and ∘ based on a predefined relationship between a first relative position between the treatment body part and the bony structure at the pre-alignment time and a second relative position between the treatment body part and the bony structure at the monitoring time.
US09489731B2	Directional diffusion fiber tracking Systems and methods facilitating high definition fiber tracking are disclosed. These systems and methods can utilize a directional Axonal Volume (dAV) value that can quantify the direction and volume of anisotropic water diffusion in axons to assess brain connection integrity. dAV provides a robust and anatomically interpretable measurement of connectivity strength of axon tracts. One method include receiving diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) data, quantifying a vector axonal directional diffusion axon volume while removing extracellular isotropic water, segmenting fiber tracks from the data, voxelizing the fiber tracks into voxels, determining voxel dAV values for each voxel and directions, and determining fiber dAV values for each fiber track based on voxel dAV values. This non-invasive method can measure strength and integrity of brain tracts. Such measurements aid in detection of connection disorders like traumatic brain injury and mapping the location of brain tracts and their projection fields to improve neurosurgical outcomes.
US09489729B2	Method and system for storing statistical data of an image A system and method for determining statistical data for pixels of an image are provided, the pixels having a higher bit depth per band, the higher bit depth per band comprising greater than 8 bits per band. The method includes dividing the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band into a plurality of polygonal sections, each polygonal section including substantially homogenous features; computing statistical data for pixels within each polygonal section; storing data of each polygonal section with the image in a storage medium; and storing the statistical data within each polygonal section with data of each corresponding polygonal section in the storage medium.
US09489727B2	Method for generating a preferred image by replacing a region of a base image To generate a preferred image, at least two images may be captured. From the at least two images, a base image is selected to be edited and another image is selected as a source of image data used for editing the base image. A user selects an object of the base image to be replaced. The object on the base image is compared to the object on the another image to generate a region on the base image and the another image. The region on the base image is replaced with the region on the another image.
US09489722B2	Method and apparatus for implementing image denoising A method for implementing image denoising is provided. The method includes: calculating a tangent value of each pixel; determining whether a modulus value of the tangent value of each pixel is less than a preset threshold, if yes, determining a corresponding pixel as a non-boundary point of the image, and performing bilateral filter on a pixel determined as a non-boundary point of the image and pixels which are around the pixel and of which distances to the pixel are less than or equal to a first filtering radius; and if not, determining a corresponding pixel as a boundary point of the image, and performing bilateral filter on a pixel determined as a boundary point of the image and pixels whose distances along tangent directions and opposite directions of the tangent directions to the pixel are less than or equal to a second filtering radius.
US09489720B2	Non-local means image denoising with detail preservation using self-similarity driven blending System, apparatus, method, and computer readable media for texture enhanced non-local means (NLM) image denoising. In embodiments, detail is preserved in filtered image data through a blending between the noisy input target pixel value and the NLM pixel value that is driven by self-similarity and further informed by an independent measure of local texture. In embodiments, the blending is driven by one or more blending weight or coefficient that is indicative of texture so that the level of detail preserved by the enhanced noise reduction filter scales with the amount of texture. Embodiments herein may thereby denoise regions of an image that lack significant texture (i.e. are smooth) more aggressively than more highly textured regions. In further embodiments, the blending coefficient is further determined based on similarity scores of candidate patches with the number of those scores considered being based on the texture score.
US09489712B2	Multiple simultaneous unique outputs from a single display pipeline One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a system for generating multiple video output signals from a single video pipeline within a graphics processing unit. Pixel data from more than one display surface is retrieved and multiplexed before being transmitted to a video pipeline for processing. The resulting video pixel data is routed to video output encoders, which selectively accept the video pixel data for transmission to attached display devices.
US09489711B2	Systems and methods for recipient-side image processing Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media configured to create, process, and/or modify images are provided. Recipient image data associated with an original image captured by a second computing system can be received by a first computing system. A first intermediate image may be generated based on the recipient image data. A first viewable image for display on the first computing system may be generated based on the first intermediate image.
US09489710B2	Hybrid rendering in graphics processing This disclosure presents techniques and structures for graphics processing. In one example, a method of graphics processing may include rendering, with a graphics processing unit (GPU), one or more portions of a frame using one or more graphics operations, and writing, with the GPU, color data directly to a color buffer in a system memory in accordance with the one or more graphics operations. The method may further include writing, with the GPU, depth data to a depth buffer in a graphics memory in accordance with the one or more graphics operations, and resolving, with the GPU, the depth buffer in the graphics memory to the system memory when the rendering of the one or more portions of the frame is complete.
US09489705B2	Display device and method of displaying image capable of avoiding color shift in a large viewing angle A display device and a method for displaying an image are proposed. The first TFT and the second TFT are connected to a scan line and a data line. The first TFT and the second TFT are connected to a first sub-pixel area and a second sub-pixel area respectively. A switch unit is used for turning on/off a first current channel when the display panel is under 2D/3D display mode. The switch unit includes a third TFT for receiving a first control signal and turning a first current channel on or off according to the first control signal, and a fourth TFT for receiving a second control signal and the first control signal and providing the third TFT with the first control signal according to the second control signal.
US09489701B2	Adaptive energy management system Systems, methods, and devices related to a microgrid system for providing power to a facility. A self-contained power system provides power to a facility using a combination of power storage elements and renewable energy sources. A connection to an external power grid may also be provided. The system optimizes power flow to the facility using power from the storage elements and the renewable energy sources and, if necessary, the external power grid. The optimization process predicts future power usage by the facility using power usage data from a predetermined time window. The optimization process can also take into account predicted energy generation amounts by the renewable energy sources. To optimize economic effects, the optimization process can also determine whether to buy and when to buy power from the external power grid.
US09489700B2	System, method and medium for social network information feed in-line purchasing by image recognition Embodiments described herein disclose a system and method for providing an improved user experience for purchasing a product within an information feed. An information feed is displayed which includes an information post having a product link or otherwise referencing a product. A selection of the product link or the referenced product is received, and product information for a product associated with the product link or referenced product is retrieved. The product information and a purchase selector are displayed within the information feed, in association with the information post. A selection of the purchase selector is received. User payment information is retrieved and displayed in association with the information post in the information feed. User payment information is transmitted, based on a received confirmation from a user. The purchase is then executed, and a confirmation message may be displayed.
US09489698B2	Media content recommendations based on social network relationship A system includes a plurality of media content processing devices, a content server, and a recommendation server. Each media content processing device is configured to receive media content from a content provider. The content server is configured to provide the media content to each of the media content processing devices. The recommendation server is configured to collect viewing data from each of the media content processing device. The recommendation server is further configured to provide each media content processing device with a viewing recommendation based at least in part on the viewing data collected from one or more of the other media content processing devices and a social network relationship between at least two of the media content processing devices.
US09489697B1	Systems and methods of determining microroyalties Systems and methods for determining a payment to a contributor are provided herein. Methods may include determining the contributor of a portion of software in a collaborative work; tracking the number of times the portion of software is used in a collaborative work; determining a weighting for each contributed portion of software; and calculating the proportional payment to each contributor based on the weighing and an income from the collaborative work.
US09489693B2	Multi-purpose, multi-tenant kiosk In certain embodiments, a kiosk deployed at a customer location communicates a plurality of financial products available for provisioning by the kiosk and, for each financial product, one or more vendors that offers the financial product. The kiosk provisions a selected one of the financial products in response to input from a user. The input indicates the selected financial product and a selected one of the vendors.
US09489689B2	3D imaging The 3D models includes parametric data and metadata. A software enables a user to specify search criteria for a selected product among a plurality of products whose 3D models are stored on the data storage device. The search software returns a list of product(s) matching the search criteria. The user selects a product and the 3D model of the selected product is streamed to the user software. The 3D model is then displayed to the user, who now can interact with the 3D model by selecting, hovering over, or decomposing the 3D model to reveal parts or subassemblies of the product in one or more stages of decomposition. Finally, e-commerce software communicates with the user software allowing the user to initiate an ecommerce transaction with respect to the parts or subassemblies depicted in the 3D model of the selected product.
US09489685B2	Visual and spatial controls for privacy settings in a charitable giving application A graphical user interface includes objects for controlling privacy settings specific to particular user data corresponding to charitable giving. Graphically depicted sharing zones each represent a privacy setting. An information container represents particular user data. The user may drag and drop the information container between sharing zones to control privacy of the user data represented by the information container.
US09489683B2	Generating and using network data to provide a content customization service A system is configured to receive a request for a customization packet associated with a user device; retrieve data associated with the device; encode portions of the network data using a group of keys, wherein each portion is encoded using a different one of the keys, and wherein each key corresponds to a different set of fields, of one or more sets of fields within the packet; store the encoded portions in the one or more sets of fields within the packet; and transmit, to a content provider, the packet, wherein the packet enables the content provider to decode all or a portion of the network data using one of the keys, and wherein all or the portion of the decoded network data enables the content provider to generate customized content for the device.
US09489682B2	Affecting display of content based on negative reactions Techniques for affecting display of content may include receiving a request for content to supplement a response to an input initiated by a first user; outputting first content in response to the request, where the first content includes a control feature that is displayable along with the first content, and where the control feature enables the first user to register a negative reaction to the first content; obtaining information relating to the first content based on the negative reaction; identifying second content having one or more characteristics in common with the first content; identifying one or more second users having one or more characteristics in common with the first user; and using the information relating to the first content in determining whether to provide the second content to the one or more second users.
US09489681B2	Systems and methods for distributing coupons The present invention provides systems and methods for distributing coupons by a retailer. The coupons distributed in the invention are “third-party” coupons, that is, coupons for goods or services that are unrelated to those of the retailer and offered by a third-party retailer. For example, if the coupons are being distributed by a supermarket, then the coupons may be for tools at a home-improvement store or for tax services by an accountant. The distribution methods of the invention increases the revenue of a retailer. More specifically, a consumer is presented a coupon when the value of the transaction exceeds a threshold. In a number of embodiments, the threshold is the average sale per transaction of the retailer. Accordingly, consumers will be motivated to increase spending so that coupons can be earned. The methods and apparatus of the invention are equally applicable to both “brick and mortar” and “click and mortar” retailing. In the latter, consumers may shop on the Internet and print out coupons during checkout if the threshold for a particular website is met.
US09489680B2	Systems and methods for providing location based coupon-less offers to registered card members The system provides location based coupon-less offers based upon a location of a card member (CM). A location of a CM may be determined based upon one or more of a travel itinerary, a GPS signal, a proximity of a mobile communication device to a cellular base station, and/or a zip code. An offer from a merchant registered to provide coupon-less offers may be transmitted to a mobile communication device based upon the location. An offer, once accepted by a CM, may be matched to a record of charge associated with a transaction account held by the CM. A credit may be applied to the CM's transaction account and a debit may be applied to a transaction account of the registered merchant. One or more offer categories and/or one or more offer category classes may be transmitted to the mobile communication device based upon the CM's location.
US09489679B2	System and method for an interactive query utilizing a simulated personality A system and method provides for an interactive query comprising a first input module capable of receiving input for creating a simulated personality for a first user. An expert system is capable of creating and storing the simulated personality. An output module is used for presenting the simulated personality to a second user. An interactive query module is capable of allowing the second user to communicate with the simulated personality of the first user.
US09489678B2	Method and apparatus for connecting a network of electronic signs A method and apparatus allows owners of electronic signs, such as retailers, real estate owners, other space owners, and content providers, such as advertisers, entertainment producers, event promoters, visual artists, and the general community to participate in an open content network, in which electronic signs are universally uniquely identified and then added to a network in a distributed fashion, after which content is selectively downloaded to the electronic signs. The times at which the content is presented are determined collaboratively by the owners of the electronic signs and the content providers. A mechanism that verifies whether the content is actually presented on the electronic signs is also disclosed.
US09489673B2	Payment system and methods Disclosed are payment system and methods in which a shopper pays with a temporary payment token that is a number (such as a 7-digit number that appeared on the screen of the shopper's mobile phone) at a POS device, without the shopper needing have his own mag-stripe card.
US09489672B1	System and method for providing contactless payment with a near field communications attachment A system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include an attachment with a near field communication antenna, a secure element, a plug capable of connecting the attachment to an audio jack on a mobile device. Further, a system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include receiving a payment initiation instruction from a customer, using a near field communication antenna, sending payment information to a point of sale device, using one or more computer processors, encoding data related to the payment as audio data, and transmitting the data related to the payment through an audio jack.
US09489669B2	Secure contactless payment systems and methods According to the invention, a system for providing payments to a point of sale device is disclosed. The system may include a mobile device having a storage medium, an input device, a wireless transmission device, and a processor. The storage medium may include individual authentication information and device authentication information. The input device may be configured to receive an input. The wireless transmission device may be configured to selectively transmit the device authentication information to a nearby point of sale device. The processor may be configured to compare the input with the individual authentication information, and activate the wireless transmission device to transmit the device authentication information if the input is correlated with the individual authentication information.
US09489667B2	Systems for collecting retailer-specific data A purchaser can provide retailer-specific feedback using a retailer-specific machine executable code printed on a transaction document at a retailer. In an embodiment, a system may include a server subsystem and at least one point-of-sale (POS) subsystem. The POS subsystem may include a processor module configured to provide instruction to a printing terminal for printing, at the respective retailer, a retailer-specific machine readable code on a transaction document associated with a purchase order. The retailer-specific machine readable code may include a decodable instruction for interacting with a server module of the server subsystem to access an electronic platform configured to provide a respective retailer-specific request for information.
US09489665B2	Information processing system, information processing apparatus, method and program The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing apparatus and method, and a program in which the purchase of content can be facilitated. When a device to which content data is downloaded and a device for giving an instruction to purchase the content data are different, a purchase form for purchasing the content data is sent to the device for giving an instruction to purchase the content data. The user ID and password are input into the purchase form, and the device to which the content data is downloaded is determined by the user ID. If the device to which the content data is downloaded cannot be specified because the user registers a plurality of devices, a destination determination form for specifying the device to which the content data is downloaded is sent. The content data is then distributed to the device indicated in the destination determination form. The present invention is applicable to a server for executing processing concerning content data.
US09489663B2	Keypad for the entry of authentication data The invention provides for an electronic system with a keypad for manual entry of authentication data by a user. The keypad comprises: multiple keys for entering the authentication data. At least one of the multiple keys comprises a three position switch with an elastic element for restoring the three position switch to a first position. The three position switch is operable to be depressed in a motion direction to a second position and a third position. The motion direction is perpendicular to a surface where the keys are mounted. A first force is required to depress the three position switch to the second position and a second force is required to depress the three position switch from the second position to the third position. The second force is greater than the first force.The keypad further comprises a controller configured for monitoring key presses of the multiple keys and for monitoring key position data of the three position switch of each of the at least one of the multiple keys during the key presses. The controller is further configured for decoding the key presses and the key position data into the authentication data. The keypad is further configured for outputting the authentication data via a data connection.
US09489660B2	Methods and systems for public collaborative interface for private network groups Systems and methods are provided for a public collaborative interface for private computer networks. A system receives a domain name that enables users associated with the domain name to subscribe to a private network group, wherein the domain name differs from a domain name for the private network group. The system outputs a network feed from a user of the private network group to a display device associated with a user associated with the domain name in response to a determination that the user associated with the domain name is subscribed to the private network group. The system outputs a network feed from the user associated with the domain name to display devices associated with users of the private network group in response to a determination that the user associated with the domain name is subscribed to the private network group. The received domain name can be an email address.
US09489654B2	Artificial intelligence system and method for processing multilevel bills of materials A bill of material (BOM) management system is provided using artificial intelligence for processing a product data or configuration change of a product between a plurality of functional domains using a dynamic link and a semantic network having product knowledge about the change via a network. A Decompose/Recompose/Multi-arrange (DRM) process module manages product configuration information of the product by performing a decompose process, a recompose process, and a multi-arrange process, wherein the decompose process performs grouping of the product elements based on the product knowledge of the semantic network, the recompose process performs regrouping of the product elements in a selected domain context, and the multi-arrange process performs rearranging of the product elements to facilitate a different product structure of the BOM in the different functional domain.
US09489653B2	Identifying direct and indirect cost of a disruption of a resource A method and associated systems for automatically identifying critical resources in an organization. An organization creates a model of the dependencies between pairs of resource types, wherein that model describes how the organization's projects and services are affected when a resource type becomes unavailable. This model may include a system of directed graphs. This model may be used to automatically identify a resource type as critical if unacceptable cost is incurred by resuming projects and services rendered infeasible when the resource type is disrupted. The model may also be used to automatically identify a first resource type as critical for a second resource type when disruption of the first resource type forces the available capacity of the second resource type to fall below a threshold value.
US09489652B1	Obtaining and running a local query on a computing device A computing device that is configured for running a query on inventory information is described. The computing device includes a processor and instructions stored in memory that is in electronic communication with the processor. The computing device obtains inventory data. The computing device also obtains a query corresponding to the computing device. The computing device runs the query on the inventory data. The computing device further determines whether the query returns a record. The computing device additionally obtains a task corresponding to the query if a record is returned.
US09489645B2	Workflow decision management with derived scenarios and workflow tolerances Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for workflow decision management. Embodiments include maintaining a device state history; identifying a device usage pattern in dependence upon the device state history; and identifying a derived scenario in dependence upon the device usage pattern. The derived scenario has a tolerance. Embodiments also include identifying a workflow in dependence upon the derived scenario and executing the workflow in dependence upon the tolerance.
US09489643B2	Minimize downtime with immediate upgrade of data in databases Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for updating data stored within the database. In some implementations, actions include determining a cut-off date, defining a first group of data within a first table based on the cut-off date, defining a second group of data within the first table based on the cut-off date, providing the second group of data in a second table, converting the first group of data from a first data structure to a second data structure to provide converted first data within the first table, making the converted first data available for access over a network, converting the second group of data from the first data structure to the second data structure to provide converted second data in the second table, and making the converted second data available for access over the network.
US09489640B2	Methods and systems for compliance confirmation and incentives Methods and systems are disclosed for monitoring use by a user of a portable research device based on one or more kinds of monitored data. Methods and systems are disclosed for monitoring use by a user of a portable research device in accordance with at least one predetermined use criterion using actively and/or passively gathered data.
US09489639B2	Memory facilitation using directed acyclic graphs Memory facilitation using directed acyclic graphs is described, for example, where a plurality of directed acyclic graphs are trained for gesture recognition from human skeletal data, or to estimate human body joint positions from depth images for gesture detection. In various examples directed acyclic graphs are grown during training using a training objective which takes into account both connection patterns between nodes and split function parameter values. For example, a layer of child nodes is grown and connected to a parent layer of nodes using an initialization strategy. In examples, various local search processes are used to find good combinations of connection patterns and split function parameters.
US09489631B2	Cognitive map-based decision simulation for training (CMDST) Disclosed is a Cognitive Map-Based Tactical Decision Simulation for Training (CMDST) uses fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM's) to: 1) model high-stress tactical problems or engagements and their causal relationships; 2) simulate situational activities immediately prior to, during, and following the occurrence of a tactical problem or engagement; 3) calculate the relative values of different courses of action; 4) perform individual performance and comparative analysis of selected courses of action; 5) conduct after action reviews to solidify lessons learned from the simulation; and 6) develop individual decision making action plans to outline specific actions to be undertaken to improve future decision making performance.
US09489629B2	Tailored supporting evidence Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising receiving a case from a user, determining a level of sophistication of the user, determining a level of sophistication associated with each of a plurality of items of supporting evidence in a corpus of information, selecting a subset of the plurality of items of supporting evidence based on the determined levels of sophistication, and returning the selected subset to the user as part of a response to the case.
US09489628B2	Rule-based inference system and an inference method A computer-implemented method for processing rules in an inference system in order to determine the value of a target variable by an inference engine, wherein: the value of the target variable is determined on the basis of a set of rules to define conclusions depending on premises, the premises being functions of values of variables, wherein the variables can be: source variables, having values defined by costs stored in a database, or regulated variables, having values dependent on conclusions of the rules; and wherein the operation of the inference engine (110) is controlled by an inference control module (130) configured to determine a reasoning sequence based on values of costs defined for source variables in the database (140).
US09489626B2	Systems and methods for identifying and notifying users of electronic content based on biometric recognition Systems and methods are disclosed for manipulating electronic multimedia content to a user. One method includes generating a plurality of biometric models, each biometric model corresponding to one of a plurality of people; receiving electronic media content over a network; extracting image or audio data from the electronic media content; detecting biometric information in the image or audio data; and calculating a probability of the electronic media content involving one of the plurality of people, based on the biometric information and the plurality of biometric models.
US09489625B2	Rapid development of virtual personal assistant applications A platform for developing a virtual personal assistant (“VPA”) application includes an ontology that defines a computerized structure for representing knowledge relating to one or more domains. A domain may refer to a category of information and/or activities in relation to which the VPA application may engage in a conversational natural language dialog with a computing device user. Re-usable VPA components may be linked to or included in the ontology. An ontology populating agent may at least partially automate the process of populating the ontology with domain-specific information. The re-usable VPA components may be linked with the domain-specific information through the ontology. A VPA application created with the platform may include domain-adapted re-usable VPA components that may be called upon by an executable VPA engine to determine a likely intended meaning of conversational natural language input of the user and/or initiate an appropriate system response to the input.
US09489623B1	Apparatus and methods for backward propagation of errors in a spiking neuron network Apparatus and methods for developing robotic controllers comprising parallel networks. In some implementations, a parallel network may comprise at least first and second neuron layers. The second layer may be configured to determine a measure of discrepancy (error) between a target network output and actual network output. The network output may comprise control signal configured to cause a task execution by the robot. The error may be communicated back to the first neuron layer in order to adjust efficacy of input connections into the first layer. The error may be encoded into spike latency using linear or nonlinear encoding. Error communication and control signal provision may be time multiplexed so as to enable target action execution. Efficacy associated with forward and backward/reverse connections may be stored in individual arrays. A synchronization mechanism may be employed to match forward/reverse efficacy in order to implement plasticity.
US09489615B2	Counting mechanism for a drug delivery device and drug delivery device The present disclosure concerns a counting mechanism for a drug delivery device, comprising a first counting member comprising an interaction element, a second counting member comprising engagement elements that are configured to engage with the interaction element of the first counting member, and a separating member, wherein the first counting member is moveable relative to the separating member between a first and a second relative position, and the separating member is configured to prevent an engagement of the interaction element with the engagement elements when the first counting member is in the second relative position with respect to the separating member. Further, the present disclosure concerns a drug delivery device comprising said counting mechanism.
US09489614B2	Displaying an animated digital watermark A computer-implemented method for displaying an animated digital watermark including the display of a mobile payment card on a mobile display screen, wherein the mobile payment card is linked to a payment system, and the display of an animated digital watermark on the mobile display screen to ensure authenticity of the displayed mobile payment card.
US09489611B1	RFID integrated circuits with antenna contacts on multiple surfaces Embodiments are directed to a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC) having a first circuit block electrically coupled to first and second antenna contacts. The first antenna contact is disposed on a first surface of the IC and the second antenna contact is disposed on a second surface of the IC different from the first surface. The first and second antenna contacts are electrically disconnected from each other.
US09489609B2	System or device for receiving a plurality of biometric inputs A system or device includes a substrate and a plurality of sides. A plurality of pixel stacks, each of which includes a plurality of pixel elements, or a plurality of input layers are positioned on at least one of the sides. The pixel stacks or input layers are configured to receive a plurality of biometric, or multi-biometric, inputs, and at least one biometric input passes entirely through at least one pixel element or at least one pixel layer before being received by another pixel element or layer.
US09489604B2	Optically variable data storage device An optically variable device uses a data storage layer with a nano-optical bit system to store data. The optically variable device encodes the data using spectral signatures (such as colors) as variables. In some embodiments, the optically variable device uses angle multiplexing to store machine-readable data and an image. The optically variable device can be used as a secure data storage medium for a large volume of data. The storage capacity can be increased by increasing the number of color variables and by introducing additional variables such as intensity and polarization.
US09489603B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium that determine whether a white character exists inside a graphics object and convert density information accordingly An image processing apparatus includes a determining unit to determine whether or not a white character exists inside a graphics object. In a case when recording material saving processing is instructed and the determining unit determines that the white character exists inside the graphics object, a conversion unit converts the character so as to increase the density thereof and converts a region other than the character inside the graphics object so as to decrease the density thereof. An image forming device forms an image based on the conversions performed by the conversion unit.
US09489602B2	Image forming apparatus and method of forming images An image forming apparatus, method, and system are disclosed. The apparatus includes first and second image forming sections; a selector that selects one of a first halftone screen for a first printing mode in which the first image forming section forms a first image on the print medium, and a second halftone screen for a second printing mode in which the first image forming section forms the first image on the print medium and the second image forming section forms a second image on the first image so that the first image and the second image are printed one over the other. The first and second halftone screens include respective first and second numbers of raster lines per unit, the first halftone screen and the second halftone screen being different in the number of raster lines; a controller; and a discharging section.
US09489595B2	Method, apparatus, and device for detecting convex polygon image block The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for detecting a convex polygon image block, and a device. The method includes: acquiring an image collected by an image sensor; acquiring a corner set, where the corner set includes a corner in the image, and the corner is an intersection point at which any two straight line sides that are not parallel to each other in the image intersect; and detecting a convex polygon image block in the image according to the corner set, where a shape of the convex polygon image block is a preset shape and a similarity between the convex polygon image block and a preset image block exceeds a preset first threshold. The apparatus includes: a first acquiring module, a second acquiring module, and a detecting module. In the present invention, the convex polygon image block can be detected from the image.
US09489591B2	Haze image discriminating apparatus and discriminating method A haze image discriminating apparatus has a first calculator to calculate a difference between a color difference component of an image signal of each of a plurality of pixels in an image and a gray value, and calculate a first ratio of pixels in which the difference is lower than a first reference value, to the plurality of pixels, a second calculator to calculate a second ratio of pixels in which a luminance component of the pixel signal of each of the plurality of pixels is lower than a second reference value, to the plurality of pixels, and a haze-degree determining unit to determine that a degree of haze of the image is higher as the first ratio is higher and the second ratio is lower.
US09489589B2	Information processing apparatus and control method thereof An information processing method includes: converting voxel data to node data in which a voxel, which has a brightness value that is outside a certain brightness value range, is set as a first node, and a voxel, which has a brightness value that is within the certain brightness value range, is set as a second node that has a capability to extract relating nodes based on a neighborhood relationship between voxels; performing, for each second node, a calculation processing to calculate an output value of a reaction-diffusion equation by using a value corresponding to a brightness value of the second node and values corresponding to brightness values of relating nodes extracted from the second node, a predetermined number of times; and determining a brightness value of each second node from the output value of the reaction-diffusion equation after performing the calculation processing the predetermined number of times.
US09489587B2	Character reader and container inspection system using character reader A character reader 200 for reading and recognizing a character displayed at a predetermined height position on the outer peripheral surface of a plurality of cylindrical containers (for example, bottles BT), the character reader includes: a rotary drive mechanism 203 to 207 for supporting the cylindrical container to rotate the cylindrical container around the central axis thereof; a camera 201 positioned to face the cylindrical container so that a character displayed on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical container is captured within the visual field; and an image processing device for acquiring an image at the height position where the character is displayed over an angular range more than one rotation of the cylindrical container by controlling the imaging operation of the camera 201, thereby executing recognition processing. The image processing device includes: a search means for searching an image portion including all characters from the acquired image; a character recognition means for recognizing a character to be recognized by collating the image of a character to be recognized included in the image portion searched by the search means with the model images of a plurality of types of characters; and an output means for outputting a recognition result recognized by the character recognition means for each cylindrical container.
US09489586B2	Traffic sign recognizing apparatus and operating method thereof Disclosed are an apparatus for recognizing a traffic sign and an operating method thereof. The apparatus for recognizing a traffic sign according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: an image obtaining unit configured to obtain an image from a vehicle to a predetermined range; a region of interest designating unit configured to recognize a traffic sign within the image, and designate an area including the traffic sign as a region of interest; a valid area extracting unit configured to extract a valid area except for an area of a first color from the region of interest, and calculate valid area data; and a similarity calculating unit configured to calculate similarity of the traffic sign by using the valid area data.
US09489585B2	Lane mark recognition device An edge image generating unit 12 generates an edge image 22, into which edge points whose variation in luminance relative to a surrounding portion is equal to or more than a predetermined value have been extracted, from an image 21 captured by a camera 2. A candidate image portion extracting unit 13 extracts a candidate image portion, which is a candidate for an image portion of a dashed-line lane mark, from the edge image 22. A dashed-line lane mark recognizing unit 14 recognizes the dashed-line lane mark based on a plurality of candidate image portions each of whose length in the corresponding real space is within a predetermined range and which are continuous in a given direction among the candidate image portions.
US09489582B2	Video anomaly detection based upon a sparsity model Methods, systems, and processor-readable media for video anomaly detection based upon a sparsity model. A video input can be received and two or more diverse descriptors of an event can be computed from the video input. The descriptors can be combined to form an event matrix. A sparse reconstruction of the event matrix can be performed with respect to an over complete dictionary of training events represented by the diverse descriptors. A step can then be performed to determine if the event is anomalous by computing an outlier rejection measure on the sparse reconstruction.
US09489580B2	Method and system for cluster-based video monitoring and event categorization A computing system obtains a respective motion vector for each of a series of motion event candidates in real-time as said each motion event candidate is detected in a live video stream. In response to receiving the respective motion vector for each of the series of motion event candidates, the computing system determines a spatial relationship between the respective motion vector of said each motion event candidate to one or more existing clusters established based on a plurality of previously processed motion vectors, and in accordance with a determination that the respective motion vector of a first motion event candidate of the series of motion event candidates falls within a respective range of at least a first existing cluster of the one or more existing clusters, assigns the first motion event candidate to at least a first event category associated with the first existing cluster.
US09489579B2	Monitoring device and monitoring method A monitoring device configured to monitor whether a look of a target person is in a proper state suitable for a working environment, and comprising: an image input unit configured to input an image of the target person; a detector configured to analyze the image input by the image input unit and detect a predetermined region of a human body of the target person; a state estimator configured to estimate a state of the predetermined region detected by the detector; a proper state acquisition unit configured to acquire proper state information on a proper state of the predetermined region according to the working environment; and a controller configured to determine whether a present state of the predetermined region of the target person is proper by comparing an estimation result of the state estimator to the proper state information, and perform control according to a determination result.
US09489574B2	Apparatus and method for enhancing user recognition Disclosed is an apparatus for enhancing user recognition. The apparatus for enhancing user recognition comprises: a storage unit for storing content; a display unit for displaying the stored content; a scan path detection unit for detecting a scan path of a user on the content; an eye feature extraction unit for extracting eye feature information from the detected scan path; and a calculation unit for calculating a recognition state of the user for the content by using the extracted eye feature information.
US09489572B2	System and method for recognizing geometric shapes A system and method that is able to recognize a user's natural drawing of geometric shapes. The system and method is able to process single-stroke and multi-stroke geometric shapes. It can also apply implicit and user defined constraints to the geometric shapes. The system and method applies these constraints at the vector component level rather than the primitive level. It does this by breaking down both the geometric shapes and constraints on a vector component level. This allows the system and method to handle a larger number of geometric shapes and constraints. After applying the constraints to the geometric shapes at the vector component level, the system and method outputs smooth geometric shapes that incorporated both the implicit and user defined constraints.
US09489571B2	Display control device, recording medium and display device control method The inputted character candidate display section (1213)/inputted character string candidate display section (1214) cause candidates of a character/character string, which is predicted as an intended character/character string to be inputted by the user, to be displayed as inputted character candidates/inputted character string candidate, and the converted character string candidate display section (1215) causes converted character string candidates, which have been obtained by converting the inputted character string candidate, to be displayed.
US09489570B2	Method and system for emotion and behavior recognition A method and system for recognizing behavior is disclosed, the method includes: capturing at least one video stream of data on one or more subjects; extracting body skeleton data from the at least one video stream of data; computing feature extractions on the extracted body skeleton data to generate a plurality of 3 dimensional delta units for each frame of the extracted body skeleton data; generating a plurality of histogram sequences for each frame by projecting the plurality of 3 dimensional delta units for each frame to a spherical coordinate system having a plurality of spherical bins; generating an energy map for each of the plurality of histogram sequences by mapping the plurality of spherical bins versus time; applying a Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) algorithm on the plurality of energy maps to generate a single column vector; and classifying the single column vector as a behavior and/or emotion.
US09489569B2	Semantic representation module of a machine-learning engine in a video analysis system A machine-learning engine is disclosed that is configured to recognize and learn behaviors, as well as to identify and distinguish between normal and abnormal behavior within a scene, by analyzing movements and/or activities (or absence of such) over time. The machine-learning engine may be configured to evaluate a sequence of primitive events and associated kinematic data generated for an object depicted in a sequence of video frames and a related vector representation. The vector representation is generated from a primitive event symbol stream and a phase space symbol stream, and the streams describe actions of the objects depicted in the sequence of video frames.
US09489565B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, program, and image processing system An image processing apparatus including a region-of-interest decision unit that identifies an interest space region in which an object to be analyzed is likely to be present based on a distance image, which is shape information of an object space corresponding to a captured image to be analyzed acquired by a distance image sensor, to identify a region of interest in the captured image corresponding to the interest space region and an image analysis unit that performs different image analyses for the region of interest and other image regions.
US09489564B2	Method and apparatus for prioritizing image quality of a particular subject within an image A device capable of digital imaging detects multiple faces in image data received from an image sensor, performs pattern recognition to check if at least one of the detected faces is a priority face belonging to a ranked set of reference faces, adjusting at least one imaging related parameter (e.g., focus setting, exposure level, depth of focus in a plenoptic camera) of the device based on a region of interest (ROI) corresponding to the highest priority recognized face, and capturing an image.
US09489563B2	Method and arrangement for identifying a difference between a first 3D model of an environment and a second 3D model of the environment The invention relates to a method for identifying a difference between a first 3D model of an environment and a second 3D model of the environment. The first and second 3D model each comprise a plurality of points or parts, wherein each point or part of the first and second model comprises geometrical information and texture information. Corresponding points or parts of the first and second 3D model are matched based on the geometrical information and/or the texture information. The matched points or parts of the first and second model are compared to determine at least one difference value based on the geometrical information and the texture information of the first and second model. A difference between the first and second model is identified if the at least one difference value exceeds a predetermined value. The invention also relates to an arrangement, a computer program, and a computer program product.
US09489559B2	Electronic device with fingerprint sensing system and conducting housing The present invention relates to an electronic device comprising a fingerprint sensing system including a plurality of sensing elements, each being configured to capacitively couple to a finger arranged adjacent to the sensing element and to provide a sensing signal indicative of a response to a time-varying finger excitation signal provided to the finger; and an electrically conducting housing at least partly enclosing an interior of the electronic device. The electronic device further comprises housing connection circuitry connected to the electrically conducting housing, and arranged and configured to at least intermittently allow a potential of the electrically conducting housing to follow the finger excitation signal. Hereby the housing can be used to enhance the functionality of the fingerprint sensing system.
US09489555B2	Laser scanning code symbol reading system employing programmable decode time-window filtering A method and system for reading code symbols using a code symbol reading system having a programmable decode time-window filter mode of operation. During this mode of operation, only decoded code symbols that have been scanned within a selected (e.g. central) portion of the laser scan line field are processed according to a special decode time-window filtering function. In particular, if the decoded bar code symbol is a programming-type bar code symbol, then the system controller applies the function represented by the programming-type bar code symbol; and if the decoded bar code symbol is a non-programming-type bar code symbol, then the system controller either transmits symbol character data associated therewith to the host system or stores the symbol character data within memory aboard the bar code symbol reading system.
US09489554B2	Arrangement for and method of assessing efficiency of transactions involving products associated with electro-optically readable targets A reader electro-optically reads symbols associated with products to obtain read data, and a controller decodes the read data to obtain symbol data indicative of the associated products. Reading performance is assessed by collecting time-to-decode metadata by determining each decode time period that is taken for each symbol data to be successfully decoded, by associating the collected time-to-decode metadata with the symbol data, by comparing the collected time-to-decode metadata with a predetermined long amount of decode time that is indicative of a slow reading performance, by storing each decode time period that at least equals said predetermined long amount of decode time, and by storing the symbol data associated with each stored decode time period.
US09489553B2	Method and apparatus for recording status of shippable goods An apparatus includes a packaging supporter including a base having a top surface, an imaging device that is oriented and adapted to capture an image of a shipping carrier disposed on the top surface, and an image processing unit operable to extract identification data from the image, create an output file including the image, and index the output file using the extracted identification data.
US09489548B2	Magnetic stripe reader with card swipe information feedback A magnetic card reader module includes a magnetic sensor and an adjacent groove, a micro controller and an application. The magnetic sensor is configured to pick-up an analog magnetic signal generated by swiping a magnetic stripe through the groove. The magnetic stripe is attached to a card and comprises tracks with magnetically encoded data. The microcontroller is configured to convert the analog magnetic signal into a digital signal. The application is configured to analyze the digital signal, and to perform soft-decision decode of the digital signal and to generate an output comprising the magnetically encoded data and side information providing card swipe information feedback.
US09489547B2	Card reader A card reader may include a card insertion port; a card conveying passage; and a card lock mechanism. The card lock mechanism may include a motor; a rotation shaft; a gear provided with a power transmission gear part and a ratchet gear part; a clutch mechanism disposed between the rotation shaft and the gear; a ratchet member to engage with the ratchet gear part; a cam member held by the rotation shaft; a torque limiter which is disposed between the rotation shaft and the cam member; an urging member which urges the ratchet member in a direction where the cam follower is contacted with the cam face; a stopper for restricting a turnable range of the cam member; and a lock member.
US09489546B2	Data input device, data input method and computer readable storage medium A data input device includes a determination unit, a generation/selection unit and a storage control unit. The determination unit determines whether a predetermined automatic label generation condition is satisfied on the basis of (i) input data and (ii) predetermined data that has a type relevant to the input data and is stored in an automatic label generation condition storage unit. The generation/selection unit generates or selects electronic label information having a predetermined content fit for the automatic label generation condition when the determination unit determines that the automatic label generation condition is satisfied. The storage control unit correlates and stores the generated or selected electronic label information with input-data identification information of the input data in a label information storage unit.
US09489541B2	Content protection via online servers and code execution in a secure operating system A computer system comprising a processor and a memory for storing instructions, that when executed by the processor performs a copy protection method. The copy protection method comprises executing a software loop of a first software application in a first operating system. A first call is executed in the software loop to a code portion. A decrypted code portion of the first software application is executed in a second operating system in response to the first call. The code portion is decrypted in response to a successful validation of the first software application.
US09489540B2	Memory controller with encryption and decryption engine A method of operating a system on chip (SoC) includes converting plain data into cipher data by using an encryption key and transmitting the cipher data directly to a memory controller which controls an operation of a non-volatile memory. The encryption key may be output by a one-time programmable (OTP) memory.
US09489539B2	Allowing first module of computer code received from vendor to make use of service provided by second module while ensuring security of system A system for integrating modules of computer code may include a sandbox validator for receiving a first module and verifying that the first module complies with one or more sandbox constraints. A computing device may execute the first module within a runtime environment. A module integrator may operate within the runtime environment for receiving a request from the first module to access a service provided by a second module and only allowing the first module to access the service when the first module is authorized to access the service according to a service authorization table. The sandbox validator may ensure the first module correctly identifies itself when requesting a service provide by another module and that the first module includes runtime policing functions for non-deterministic operations. A service authorizer may generate an authorization policy for the first module, which is sent to the computing device along with the first module.
US09489536B2	System and method for secure reciprocal exchange of data A social media computer system and method for transmission of data between a first mobile phone and a second mobile phone includes a database that is configured to be in network communication with the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone. The database is configured to receive a first set of data input by the first mobile phone and a second set of data input by the second mobile phone. The database is configured to allow the second mobile phone to access at least a portion of the first set of data only after the second mobile phone authorizes the first mobile phone via the database to access the second set of data. The database can include a plurality of privacy levels that are alternately selectable by the first mobile phone to control the amount of the first set of data that is accessible by the second mobile phone. The first set of data can include one or more of video data, audio data, geographic location information, visual data and textual data, input into the database via the first mobile phone.
US09489529B2	Data security system Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of identifying unauthorized access to a data file on an unauthorized machine. The method includes: modifying the data file to include surreptitious code, the surreptitious code executing on a machine when the data file is opened or otherwise used by the machine; and receiving information transmitted by the surreptitious code, wherein the surreptitious code includes instructions for: gathering information about the executing machine, determining whether the executing machine is an unauthorized machine, and transmitting the information if the executing machine is an unauthorized machine. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the storage medium including instructions for: executing surreptitious code when the medium is accessed by a computing device; gathering information about the computing device; determining whether the computing device is an authorized machine; and transmitting the information if the computing device is an unauthorized machine.
US09489527B2	Content provider with multi-device secure application integration Methods and systems for providing access to content are disclosed. The method is performed at least in part at a client computer system having a processor and memory. The method includes detecting, via a supplemental application associated with a host application at the client computer, a user selection of content. The supplemental application is unauthorized to independently access the content. The method further includes accessing the content at a server computer via a communication channel between the host application and the server computer, in response to the user selection detected via the supplemental application. The communication channel is inaccessible to applications executed separately from the host application at the client computer. The method further includes initiating presentation of the content at the client computer.
US09489526B1	Pre-analyzing served content A computer-implemented method includes identifying first code for a content that has not been analyzed for purposes of transforming the first code before serving the code in response to future requests for the first code; analyzing the first code to identify portions of the first code that can be changed without affecting a manner in which the first code will function on client devices; subsequently receiving a request for the content; applying rules generated from analyzing the first code to a currently-served version of the first code, so as to obfuscated the currently-served version of the first code; and providing the obfuscated version of the currently-served version of the first code to a computing device that provide the request.
US09489522B1	Method for secure and resilient distributed generation of elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) based digital signatures with proactive security Described is system for generation of elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) based digital signatures. A Secret-Share protocol is initialized between a client and a set of servers to share a set of shares of a private key s among the set of servers. The set of servers initializes a protocol to generate a digital signature on a message using the set of shares of the private key s without reconstructing or revealing the private key s. The set of servers periodically initializes a Secret-Redistribute protocol on each share of the private key s to re-randomize the set of shares. A Secret-Open protocol is initialized to reveal the private key s to an intended recipient, wherein the private key s is used to compute the digital signature.
US09489515B2	System and method for blocking the transmission of sensitive data using dynamic data tainting Blocking transmission of tainted data using dynamic data tainting is described. For example, sensitive information is stored on a client device as tainted data. The client device generates a data request for retrieving data from a non-trusted entity via a network. A gateway is communicatively coupled to the client device and the network. The gateway receives computer code from the non-trusted entity via the network. The gateway executes the computer code. The gateway tracks the execution of the computer code to determine whether the computer code attempts to access tainted data and transmit the tainted data to an outside entity. The gateway blocks the transmission of the tainted data to the outside entity responsive to determining that the computer code has attempted to access tainted data and transmit the tainted data to an outside entity.
US09489512B2	Trustzone-based integrity measurements and verification using a software-based trusted platform module A “Firmware-Based TPM” or “fTPM” ensures that secure code execution is isolated to prevent a wide variety of potential security breaches. Unlike a conventional hardware based Trusted Platform Module (TPM), isolation is achieved without the use of dedicated security processor hardware or silicon. In general, the fTPM is first instantiated in a pre-OS boot environment by reading the fTPM from system firmware or firmware accessible memory or storage and placed into read-only protected memory of the device. Once instantiated, the fTPM enables execution isolation for ensuring secure code execution. More specifically, the fTPM is placed into protected read-only memory to enable the device to use hardware such as the ARM® architecture's TrustZone™ extensions and security primitives (or similar processor architectures), and thus the devices based on such architectures, to provide secure execution isolation within a “firmware-based TPM” without requiring hardware modifications to existing devices.
US09489510B1	Detecting generation of virtual machine authentication Systems and methods for detecting the generation of authentication credentials for virtual machine instances are described. In various embodiments, an intermediary system may detect or determine, for a virtual machine instance, one or more states associated with a credential (e.g., a password) generation process and/or a get password request from a requesting user. Based on detected or determined virtual machine states, the intermediary system may provide useful and/or timely status indicators or notifications to the requesting user. In various embodiments multiple states may be determined sequentially or in parallel in order to provide more detailed information regarding whether and why a credential is or is not available, contributing to an improved user experience. For example, timely indication that a password may not be available may be useful to the requesting user who can take immediate steps to remedy the situation, such as by contacting customer service.
US09489507B2	Secure personal storage device A storage device includes a memory and two physical interfaces. The first physical interface is configured to provide read-only memory access to a connected device. The second physical interface is configured to provide read/write memory access to a connected device.
US09489505B2	Method for displaying information on a display device of a terminal The invention relates to a method for displaying information on a display device (D1, D2) of a terminal, particularly a mobile terminal, wherein the terminal contains a microprocessor unit in which a normal runtime environment (NZ) and a protected runtime environment (TZ) are implemented, wherein display data (DD1, DD2, DD2′, TDD2) can be provided for reproduction on the display device (D1, D2) by means of the normal runtime environment (NZ) and the protected runtime environment (TZ). In this case, at least some display data (DD2) provided by means of the normal runtime environment (NZ) are transferred to the protected runtime environment (TZ), which checks whether the transferred display data (DD2) satisfy one or more security criteria, wherein if they do not satisfy at least one security criterion then the display data (DD2) are rejected or are altered such that they can be distinguished from display data (TDD2) provided by means of the protected runtime environment (TZ) when they are next reproduced on the display device (D1, D2).
US09489499B2	Security context passing for stateless system management Systems and methods for stateless system management are described. Examples include a method wherein a user sends the management system a request to act upon a managed system. The management system determines whether the user is authorized for the requested action. Upon authorization, the management system looks up an automation principal, which is a security principal native to the managed system. The management system retrieves connecting credentials for the automation principal, and connects to the managed system using the retrieved credentials. Once the managed system is connected, the management system performs the requested action on the managed system, and sends the result back to the user.
US09489498B2	Digital rights management using trusted processing techniques The present invention discloses several methods to strengthen the integrity of entities, messages, and processing related to content distribution as defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Digital Rights Management (DRM). The methods use techniques related to the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) specifications. A first embodiment uses TCG techniques to verify platform and DRM software integrity or trustworthiness, both with and without modifications to the DRM rights object acquisition protocol (ROAP) and DRM content format specifications. A second embodiment uses TCG techniques to strengthen the integrity of ROAP messages, constituent information, and processing without changing the existing ROAP protocol. A third embodiment uses TCG techniques to strengthen the integrity of the ROAP messages, information, and processing with some changes to the existing ROAP protocol.
US09489497B2	Systems and methods for network risk reduction Reducing risks associated with network usage is provided. Variable information is extracted from network activity log data that includes a request from a user in an organization for content from a network content source. The variable information includes a number of times that the network content source has been requested, a volume of organization users that have made a request from the network content source, and a period of time for which traffic with respect to the network content source has been detected. The variable information is scored to generate a risk score. An access control level is determined for the network content source based on the risk score and a content access policy for the organization. Access of the user in the organization to the network content source is controlled according to the access control level.
US09489496B2	Secure software updates Improved techniques to update software in electronic devices that are already in use are disclosed. In one embodiment, software can be updated in a secure and controlled manner using cryptography. The authenticity of the updated software as well as its appropriateness for the particular electronic device can be confirmed prior to update. The software can also be updated on a per module basis. In one embodiment, a server hosts software updates for various electronic devices, and supplies the appropriate software update to the electronic devices via a data network.
US09489495B2	System and method for detecting, collecting, analyzing, and communicating event-related information A system and method involves detecting operational social disruptive events on a global scale, assigning disease event staging and warnings to express data in more simplistic terms, modeling data in conjunction with linguistics analysis to establish responsive actions, generating visualization and modeling capabilities for communicating information, and modeling disease propagation for containment and forecasting purposes.
US09489487B2	Bio-information sensor monitoring system and method A bio-information monitoring system passively monitors a patient with a remote portable bio-information unit that takes various bio-information measurements at selected time intervals as well as at random times without patient intervention. The measurements are converted to digital signals which are transmitted from the bio-information unit to a modem when the bio-information unit is in proximity to the modem. The signals are stored in the modem and uploaded to a central monitoring network. Automatic alerts may be sent from the central monitoring network to a treatment provider. The treatment provider may also access the information through secured dedicated websites via the Internet.
US09489483B2	Method of estimating the volumetric carrying capacity of a truck body A method for estimating the effective volumetric capacity of a truck body includes establishing a side-to-side profile of a generic load model by extending load side lines upward at a predetermined material angle of repose from the upper edge of the side walls of the truck body and a front-to-rear profile by extending a front load line upward from the upper edge of the front wall and a rear load line upward from at or near a rear edge of the floor at the predetermined material angle of repose. Load plateau lines having predetermined dimensions are established and the height of the plateau lines is determined. A top profile of the generic load is then created and the shape of the load plateau is adjusted into a closed curve shape. A final three-dimensional generic load model is formed and the volume of the load model is calculated.
US09489482B1	Reliability-optimized selective voltage binning Disclosed is a method for improving integrated circuit (IC) chip reliability. In the method, IC chips, which are manufactured according to a given IC chip design, are sorted into multiple different groups associated with different process windows in the process distribution for the design. Different operating voltages are assigned to the different groups, respectively, in order to optimize overall reliability of IC chips across the process distribution. That is, each group is associated with a specific process window, comprises a specific portion of the IC chips and is assigned a group-specific operating voltage that minimizes the fail rate of the specific portion of the IC chips and that, thereby optimizes the reliability of the specific portion of the IC chips. The group-specific operating voltage will be within minimum and maximum voltages associated with either the process distribution or the specific process window (e.g., following power-optimized selective voltage binning).
US09489481B2	Layout design method and system A layout design method is disclosed. The layout design method includes: (a) providing an original layout file; (b) performing a redundant via (RV) filling on the original layout file so as to generate a second layout file; (c) merging the second layout file with the original layout file to generate a third layout file; (d) performing a design rule check (DRC) verification on the third layout file by directly invoking a DRC code in a Process Design Kit (PDK); (e) generating, based on a result of the DRC verification, a fourth layout file including DRC errors; (f) performing a layout operation to remove DRC errors from the second layout file using the fourth layout file, so as to generate a fifth layout file; and (g) merging the fifth layout file with the original layout file to generate a sixth layout file.
US09489479B2	Rule and lithographic process co-optimization A computer-implemented method for obtaining values of one or more design variables of one or more design rules for a pattern transfer process comprising a lithographic projection apparatus, the method comprising: simultaneously optimizing one or more design variables of the pattern transfer process and the one or more design variables of the one or more design rules. The optimizing comprises evaluating a cost function that measures a metric characteristic of the pattern transfer process, the cost function being a function of one or more design variables of the pattern transfer process and one or more design variables of the one or more design rules.
US09489478B2	Simplifying modes of an electronic circuit by reducing constraints A mode of a circuit design is simplified by eliminating clocks and corresponding timing exceptions and timing constraints from the mode. A system receives a description of a mode of a circuit. The system identifies sets of clock pairs and corresponding timing exceptions associated with timing nodes of the mode, each clock pair comprising a launch clock and a capture clock. The system compares time intervals between an edge of the launch clock and a corresponding edge of the capture clock for the clock pairs subject to timing exceptions associated with the timing path. The system identifies certain clock pairs as critical based on a comparison of the time interval associated with each clock pair. The system simplifies the mode by eliminating non-critical clocks and corresponding timing exceptions. The modified mode is used for performing timing analysis.
US09489472B2	Method and apparatus for detecting interference in design environment The disclosure provides a solution for clash detection in three-dimensional design by allowing multiple members to work on a centrally-located version of the model. The disclosure also provides massively-parallel processing of the design file which enables rapid processing and version control. The model can be maintained at one or more remote servers with significantly higher processing capability. Implementing clash detection on the remote server allows the system to take advantage of parallel processing. Complex 3D models can be identified and divided across multiple computational units to significantly increase processing speed.
US09489470B1	System and method for generating content comparison reports A system configured to perform content comparison between product web pages, or “product pages”, on one or more web sites through which products (e.g., goods, services, and/or other products) are sold is presented. The system may be configured to generate comparison reports and recommendations based on similarity scores. The similarity scores and/or recommendations may reduce instances in which product pages for the same or related products are identified as duplicates by search. The similarity scores and/or recommendations may enhance the content quality, the visibility, and/or relevance of the product pages by keeping them substantially different.
US09489463B2	Search systems and methods with integration of user annotations Computer systems and methods allow users to annotate content items found in a corpus such as the World Wide Web. Annotations, which can include any descriptive and/or evaluative metadata related to a document, are collected from a user and stored in association with that user. Users are able to annotate and view their annotations for any document they encounter while interacting with the corpus, including hits returned in a search of the corpus. Users are also able to search their annotations or to limit searches to documents they have annotated. Metadata from annotations can also be aggregated across users and aggregated metadata applied in generating search results.
US09489462B1	Personalizing search queries based on user membership in social network communities Methods and systems for improving user search experience with a search engine by providing a way for associated users to personalize search queries and/or search results based on users' information gathered from a social network. Search personalization can be achieved through the tailoring of search methodologies or the ranking or ordering of search results in accordance with information gathered for each user.
US09489461B2	Search ranking diversity based on aspect affinity Collaborative filtering along the aspect dimension and use of co-occurring aspects to qualify products that will be shown on a search page in response to unspecific user searches, such that diversity in the aspect value will add to the diversity of the search results and the collaborative nature of the aspects will induce diversity, is disclosed. A method and system for Search Ranking Diversity Based on Aspect Affinity includes collecting user search queries, parsing the collected user search queries for aspect phrases, identifying aspect metadata for the aspect phrases, creating a ranked index list of aspects from the aspect metadata, assigning weights to the ranked index list of aspects, receiving a user query and associating the received query with the ranked index list of aspects to produce ranked search results, and re-ranking the search results using diversified aspects from the ranked index list of aspects to produce user search results.
US09489460B2	System and method for generating expert curated results Aspects and embodiments are directed to systems and methods for managing validated information. Validated information can leverage previous research on an issue, track social interaction around the issue, and simplify any request from information on the same or related problems. Additionally, validated information can include background information on an issue being addressed (e.g., a tech support question), information on how the issue was resolved, links to source information used to resolve the issue, and can provide information on whether the resolution continues to be effective for other users. According to some embodiments, validated information can be organized into answer objects configured to provide an answer to a technical question. According to one embodiment, this capture of information into a validated knowledge base facilitates subsequent requests and better leverages the best resolutions by tracking, scoring, and elevating search results (including, for example, answer objects) and/or users that are the most effective.
US09489455B2	Method and apparatus for multi-dimensional content search and video identification A multi-dimensional database and indexes and operations on the multi-dimensional database are described which include video search applications or other similar sequence or structure searches. Traversal indexes utilize highly discriminative information about images and video sequences or about object shapes. Global and local signatures around keypoints are used for compact and robust retrieval and discriminative information content of images or video sequences of interest. For other objects or structures relevant signature of pattern or structure are used for traversal indexes. Traversal indexes are stored in leaf nodes along with distance measures and occurrence of similar images in the database. During a sequence query, correlation scores are calculated for single frame, for frame sequence, and video clips, or for other objects or structures.
US09489452B2	Image based spam blocking A fingerprint of an image identified within a received message is generated following analysis of the message. A spam detection engine identifies an image within a message and converts the image into a grey scale image. The spam detection engine analyzes the grey scale image and assigns a score. A fingerprint of the grey scale image is generated based on the score. The fingerprint may also be based on other factors such as the message sender's status (e.g. blacklisted or whitelisted) and other scores and reports generated by the spam detection engine. The fingerprint is then used to filter future incoming messages.
US09489451B2	Visual data definition for identifying data items in loosely-structured data A computer-implemented method is provided for identifying items in loosely-structured data. The method generally includes constructing a composite data definition for items which are to be identified and parsing input data using the data definition. The composite data definition is constructed by defining a layout for a composite data definition, where the layout indicates at least one of positional relationship of data items to each other and positional information for data items in the loosely-structured data; arranging data items in the layout, where each data item in the layout has a common meaning for applications that use the data item; creating an identification order list for the composite data definition, where the identification order list includes the data items in the layout and specifies an order in which the data items comprising the composite data definition are to be identified within the loosely-structured data.
US09489448B2	Network graph evolution rule generation A network's evolution is characterized by graph evolution rules. A graph, formed by merging multiple graphs representing the multiple snapshots of the network, that represents an evolutionary network is mined to identify evolutional patterns of the network. A pattern is selected from the identified patterns. Graph evolution rules are generated using identified evolutional patterns. The generated graph evolution rules represent the evolutional patterns of the network, the rules indicating that any occurrence of a child pattern of the selected pattern implies a corresponding occurrence of the selected pattern.
US09489447B2	Scalable current leaderboard using delta-encoded updates Systems and techniques are provided for providing a scalable current leaderboard. Entries may be received. The entries may include an identifier and a score. The entries may be sorted according to a sorting criterion to obtain a leaderboard. The entries may be ranked with a rank according to the position of the entry on the leaderboard. The entry may include the rank. The leaderboard may be divided into buckets. Each bucket may include consecutive entries from the leaderboard. One of the entries may be included at the end of a first buckets and at the beginning of a second buckets. The buckets may be ordered sequentially. The bucket may be updated with score versions to produce an updated bucket, where the score versions may include new versions and old versions.
US09489439B2	Generating portable interpolated data using object-based encoding of interpolation results Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating portable interpolated data using object-based encoding of interpolation results. A database can store sets of operational data, such as financial, medical, climate or other information. For given data, a portion of the input data can be known or predetermined, while for a second portion can be unknown and subject to interpolation. The interpolation engine can generate a conformal interpolation function and interpolated input sets that map to a set of target output data. In aspects, the interpolation engine can interact with an object encoder module to access, extract, and encode the interpolated inputs and/or other data in an object-based format or schema, such as the extensible markup language (XML). The object encoder can generate an object-oriented interpolated data container to transmit to a local or remote database, and expose that container to sets of applications for access and use by those applications. The applications can include other interpolation packages, and/or conventional applications such as databases or spreadsheets which do not have native interpolation capability. The applications can share, exchange, and/or modified the object-based interpolation data container(s), and can request further interpolation processing on updated objects via interpolation requests to remote interpolation engines.
US09489438B2	Systems and methods for visualizing master data services information According to some embodiments, a processor may receive an original set of records and automatically transform the original set of records into a transformed set of records. The processor may also generate a visualization display including both a first graphical representation associated with the original set of records and a second graphical representation associated with the transformed set of records.
US09489437B2	Master data management database asset as a web service A method, system, apparatus, and article of manufacture is configured to expose a database asset as a web service. A relational database management system (RDBMS) that stores information is executed in a computer system. As part of a process and framework, a series of business rules and process workflows are maintained that manage data that resides in RDBMS tables. A rule is created that contains an application programming interface definition with predefined input and output for exposing the database asset as the web service. The rule is exposed as the web service. The web service is used to invoke a database operation based on the database asset, and to output a result.
US09489436B2	Gateway enablement of analytic database services An example database system comprises one or more database servers configured to serve database data of a database and configured to provide database services and a generic database gateway server coupled to the one or more database servers, the generic database gateway server configured to provide an interface to define analytic database services which can be called during run-time by inputting a uniform resource identifier at a user device to provide to the user device with database server data processed by one or more predefined analytic operations, the generic database gateway server being configured to obtain, during design time, a specification of an analytic database service by selecting database server data of the one or more database servers and one or more analytic operations to be applied on the selected data by the analytic database service, convert the obtained specification of the analytic database service into one or more objects in a format that can be processed on the one or more database servers, wherein the one or more objects include one or more analytic database service data objects specifying one or more attributes of the analytic database service and one or more analytic database service metadata objects, the one or more analytic database service metadata objects including annotations to the attributes of the one or more analytic database service data objects to be processed by the one or more database servers to implement the one or more predefined analytic operations and provide the one or more converted objects to the one or more database servers to be called by a user by inputting a uniform resource identifier.
US09489432B2	System and method for using speech for data searching during presentations There is provided for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. A method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for real-time incorporation into an electronic presentation is discussed. One method includes controlling a media presentation using a multimodal interface. The method involves receiving from a presenter a content-based request associated with a plurality of segments within a media presentation preprocessed for context-based searching; displaying the media presentation and displaying to the presenter results in response to the content-based request; receiving a selection from the presenter of at least one result; and displaying the selected result to an audience.
US09489428B2	Search ranking method and system for community users Disclosed is a search ranking method for community users. The method includes: calculating a pre-ranking factor and an offline ranking factor according to historical behavior data of users; performing weighted ranking on inverted indices of the users by taking the pre-ranking factor as a weight, to obtain orderly inverted user index data; and with respect to a logged-in search user, in search results obtained according to the index data, performing weighted calculation on the search results according to the offline ranking factor, to obtain final ranking results. Also disclosed is a search ranking system for community users. The method and system can enable a user to obtain more optimized search ranking results.
US09489427B2	System, method and computer-readable medium for optimization of multiple-parallel join operations on skewed data Techniques that facilitate management of skewed data during a parallel multiple join operation are provided. Portions of tables involved in the join operation can be distributed among a plurality of processing modules, and each of the processing modules can be provided with a list of skewed values of a join column of a larger table involved in the join operation. Each of the processing modules can scan the rows of first and second tables distributed to the processing modules and compare values of the join columns of both tables with the list of skewed values. One or more of the processing modules can then redistribute the skewed values.
US09489421B2	Transmission apparatus, information processing method, program, reception apparatus, and application-coordinated system Disclosed herein is a transmission apparatus including: at least one content recognition section; and a timeline data generation section. The content recognition section has a database block configured to store reference data including at least signature data and a content identifier, and timeline data including at least an application identifier and timeline information. The content recognition section further has a response generation block configured to recognize content from which signature data included in a query, generate a response including the timeline data including a content identifier and the application identifier, and return the generated response to the reception apparatus. The timeline data generation section is configured to generate the timeline data and collectively supply the generated timeline data to the at least one content recognition section, the generated timeline data being common to the at least one content recognition section.
US09489417B2	Auto-search textbox in a content submission system Systems and methods for providing an auto-search text box in a content submission system are provided. In example embodiments, a message interface that is used to submit content to a content submission system is provided. The message interface includes a short text field that receives at least one keyword that summarizes the content to be submitted. In response to completion of entry of the at least one keyword in the short text field, a search of a content database for previously submitted content that matches the at least one keyword is automatically performed. Based on the search, a results list is displayed in proximity to the short text field on the message interface. The results list comprises a title and a link for each result in the results lists.
US09489415B2	System and method for updating infographics based on multiple online social networks Systems and methods are provided for updating infographics based on multiple online social networks. A system receives a request from a client to display an information graphic. The system retrieves previously stored information for the information graphic from a database. The system sends the information graphic, based on the previously stored information, to display to the client. The system activates a social media tool to generate updated information for the information graphic by analyzing content from a plurality of online social networks. The system stores the updated information in the database.
US09489408B2	Data processing device and method for controlling the same A data processing device including a processing unit that performs data processing and a history recording module that records an operation history of the processing unit. The history recording module includes a storage unit that stores therein history information, and a recording control unit that writes content recording information recording contents and count information recording a counted value in the storage unit as the history information, recording information being broken into the content recording information and the count information.
US09489406B1	Linear time processing of weak properties in a garbage collected environment A method includes traversing pointers reachable from a root node, identifying an object, determining whether the identified object has a weak property, determining, when the identified object has a weak property, whether the key object referenced by the identified weak property is traversed by the garbage collector, if the key object associated with the identified weak property is traversed by the garbage collector, queuing the value object for later traversal, otherwise, marking the key object as being watched and appending an entry in a table mapping the key objects to a list with value object pointer locations as an entry and determining whether the identified object is visited for the first time by the garbage collector.
US09489403B2	Method and apparatus for providing visual search engine results An approach is provided for modifying the image content of returned images resulting from a search query. The portions of each image that is unrelated to the search query is omitted or other wise obscured so as to reduce the amount of image data in the search results. Additionally, related advertising, hyperlinks, or other object can be combined with the image data to enhance the information returned to the user.
US09489402B2	Method and system for generating a pictorial reference database using geographical information For generating a pictorial reference database from a plurality of digital images, distributed geographical sub-areas are defined (S1). For the geographical sub-areas, selected (S2) from the plurality of digital images are images with a geo-tag located in the respective geographic sub-area. Feature vectors are generated (S31) for localized visual features of the selected images. Based on the feature vectors, matching features are determined (S32) for pairs of the selected images. For pairs with matching features, in each case, a measure of visual similarity is computed (S33) based on different geometric arrangements of the localized visual features. Based on the visual similarity, clusters of images with matching objects are determined (S5) and stored (S6) in the pictorial reference database. The pictorial reference database can be generated automatically from a huge collection of images by dividing the images into geographical subsets which can be processed individually and possibly in parallel.
US09489398B2	Columnwise range K-nearest neighbors search queries A range k-nearest neighbor search query of a database is processed by first defining an inner rectangle bounded within a circle around a center point specified by the range k-nearest neighbor search query. Thereafter, a distance to the center point is calculated for each point within the inner rectangle. Query results are returned if k or more points are within the inner rectangle. Otherwise, at least one additional query is executed. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09489395B2	System and method for exposing cloud stored data to a content delivery network A system for exposing data stored in a cloud computing system to a content delivery network provider includes a database configured to receive and store metadata about the data, the database being implemented in the cloud computing system to store configuration metadata for the data related to the content delivery network, and an origin server configured to receive requests for the data from the content delivery network provider, and configured to provide the data to the content delivery network provider based on the metadata.
US09489389B2	System and method for maintaining cache coherency A cache manager maintains coherency of cached objects used by applications in a computing system. The cache manager maintains a cache memory of objects as they are accessed by an application. The cache manager tracks cached objects on a per-application basis using a cache database, storing for each object metadata comprising the generation number of the application using the cached object, and the file generation number of the file from which the object was read. The cache manager determines whether cached objects are valid and can be used by the application, or are stale and must be reloaded, by using these generation numbers when an application attempts to use a file or object. In this fashion, cache coherency is maintained even in a distributed environment without the centralized cache management bottlenecks of prior approaches and without the need to eagerly purge the cache of stale versions of objects.
US09489388B2	Computing system, host system and method for managing data A computing system includes a storage device in which file data is stored through data blocks and metadata is stored through a node block, and a file system configured to manage the file data and the metadata stored in the storage device. The node block includes data pointers respectively pointing to the data blocks, and one or more extents each indicative of data block groups which include data blocks having continuous physical addresses among the data blocks.
US09489386B2	Inferred operations for data analysis A method may include importing into a memory a set of data into a data structure having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, and metadata for the set of data. A rules engine determines one or more operations on particular columns of the set of data according to a set of rules. A rule may include a condition defined in terms of the metadata. Determined operations are input into a data analysis tool, the determined operations are performed, and results of the operations are displayed. The rule can include comparing a metadata attribute of a first column with a metadata attribute of a second column; comparing a metadata attribute of a first column with a metadata attribute associated with the rule; or comparing a first scope of a first column with a second scope of a second column.
US09489383B2	Relevant content to enhance a streaming media experience A method, system and apparatus of relevant content to enhance a streaming media experience are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes selecting a media content from a content database having content of a plurality of artists and media labels based on a request of a user of a social community environment, automatically selecting a relevant content related to the media content from at least one of a user generated content library and a professional content library based on match between a meta-data associated with the media content and the relevant content, streaming the media content from a central server associated with the central content database to the user without requiring consideration of the user to access the media content, and displaying the relevant content to the user when the media content is being streamed.
US09489380B2	Methods and apparatus for management of unconsciously captured documents Methods and apparatuses for management of unconsciously captured documents are described. Various documents generated by networked devices are unconsciously captured and stored according to a non-semantic organization. The unconsciously captured documents are archived for possible search and retrieval at a later time. When an event occurs (e.g., lawsuit, audit, change in ownership) that results in a desire for a particular subset of the unconsciously captured documents, the documents are searched for a relevant subset. The subset of documents identified by the search are copied and stored according to a second organization (e.g., subject matter, particular audit). In one embodiment, subsequent unconsciously captured documents are stored according to the first organization. If the subsequent documents satisfy the criteria for the subset of documents, the subsequent documents are copied and stored according to the second organization.
US09489379B1	Predicting data unavailability and data loss events in large database systems Data unavailability and data loss events in a large distributed database system are predicted by proactively and substantially continuously collecting information about appliance states and operations in the database system, forming feature vectors of prescribed key information features, and classifying said feature vectors as indicative of possible DU/DL events based upon their similarity and closeness to stored historical feature vectors known to be relevant to DU/DL events.
US09489373B2	Interactive segment extraction in computer-human interactive learning A collection of data that is extremely large can be difficult to search and/or analyze. Relevance may be dramatically improved by automatically classifying queries and web pages in useful categories, and using these classification scores as relevance features. A thorough approach may require building a large number of classifiers, corresponding to the various types of information, activities, and products. Creation of classifiers and schematizers is provided on large data sets. Exercising the classifiers and schematizers on hundreds of millions of items may expose value that is inherent to the data by adding usable meta-data. Some aspects include active labeling exploration, automatic regularization and cold start, scaling with the number of items and the number of classifiers, active featuring, and segmentation and schematization.
US09489370B2	Synonym relation determination device, synonym relation determination method, and program thereof A synonym relation determination device comprises: a synonym expression candidate storage unit which associates and stores a synonym candidate (EW) with the synonym source (OW); a text gathering unit which associates and gathers text with an issuing time; a synonym candidate search unit which calculates from the issuing time of the text a time interval (PD) in which the synonym candidate is searched in a text set (TX); a synonym source search unit which searches for a synonym source from the text set of a period which overlaps with the time interval in which the synonym candidate is searched for and calculates an occurrence of the synonym source; and synonym relation extraction unit which, when the occurrence of the synonym source is present in the time interval in which the synonym candidate is searched for, extracts a synonym relation between the synonym candidate and the synonym source.
US09489361B2	Image processing device, image processing device control method, program, and information storage medium Provided is an image processing device capable of executing a determination of a display position of annotation information in consideration of a characteristic part of a target image without having a person designate a characteristic part of the target image or a part other than a characteristic part of the target image. An area setting unit sets a plurality of areas within a target image. A calculation unit calculates, as to each of the plurality of areas, a total value of edge amounts of the pixels within the area. An annotation information display area determination unit determines a display area of annotation information, based on the total value of each of the plurality of areas. A data output unit outputs data on the target image with the annotation information displayed in the display area determined by the annotation information display area determination unit.
US09489360B2	Identifying extra material in companion content Systems and methods are disclosed which facilitate identifying extra substantive material within a content item not included within corresponding companion content items. For example, extra substantive material may include commentary, interviews, or improvisation included within an audio book and not included within a corresponding electronic book. Specifically, an electronic marketplace is disclosed that may analyze two companion content items to determine similarities and differences between the content items. Thereafter, portions that differ between the content items may be further analyzed to determine whether these portions include extra substantive material. Also disclosed is an electronic marketplace for providing information regarding content items, including the existence of extra substantive material within a content item. In some instances, the electronic marketplace may be configured to provide samples of extra content within a content item to a user.
US09489357B2	Data processing system The present invention provides for a server computer, a data processing system and an access control system. Data related to items that are supposed to be in the possession of an employee is retrieved from distributed data sources. A web page is generated using these data values for the employee's information and review. These data values can be stored on a chip card that is used for access control and/or control of the circulation of items within the premises of a company.
US09489356B2	Enhanced document and event mirroring for accessing internet content Systems and methods for enhanced DOM and event mirroring and security in web applications provides an intermediate Master Browser between web content and client devices to improve security and other enhancements.
US09489350B2	Systems and methods for semantic search, content correlation and visualization Methods and systems for searching over large (i.e., Internet scale) data to discover relevant information artifacts based on similar content and/or relationships are disclosed. Improvements over simple keyword and phrase based searching over internet scale data are shown. Search engines providing accurate and contextually relevant search results are disclosed. Users are enabled to identify related documents and information artifacts and quickly, ascertain, via visualization, which of these documents are original, which are derived (or copied) from a source document or information artifact, and which subset is independently generated (i.e., an original document or information artifact).
US09489348B2	Screen generating method, image forming apparatus, and computer program product A screen generating method is implemented on a distribution managing system in which an image forming apparatus, a managing server, and a client device are connected. In the screen generating method, the client device receives input for designating an item for setting metadata on a generating screen; generates definition data of an input screen on which the metadata is set based on a descriptor that is arbitrary determined by a user for displaying the item on the input screen and the item designated on the generating screen; and transmits the definition data to the image forming apparatus.
US09489346B1	Methods and systems for early stop simulated likelihood ratio test A method for modeling a set of observed data comprises selecting a reference model and an alternative model as possible descriptions of the set of observed data, and storing an index function for measuring fit of models to data. The method further includes performing, by one or more processors, a simulated threshold-fitting for a first of the two models, deriving an initial simulated index for the second model for fitting the second model to the simulated data, and deriving an initial boundary for simulated index difference including calculating a difference between the threshold-fit simulated index for the first model and the initial simulated index for the second model. The method further includes determining, based on a comparison, whether to update a counter used in calculating a simulated p-value, and selecting, based on the simulated p-value, one of the reference and alternative models for modeling the set of observed data.
US09489344B2	Methods of and apparatus for approximating a function A data processor of a processing system, such as a graphics processing system, converts an input data value into an output data value by approximating a function which maps input values to output values. The data processor approximates the function using first and second predetermined ranges of values which are quantized into plural corresponding pairs of range sections, a predetermined gradient for each pair of range sections, and predetermined section end values for each pair of range sections. By using these predetermined parameters, the approximation of the function can be implemented efficiently by the data processor of the processing system.
US09489341B1	Prediction of impending failure of a climate control system A prediction of an impending failure in a climate control system is based on degradation of a second harmonic in a temperature history of the system.
US09489339B2	Method and system for generating material remover cutting paths for a machine tool A method of generating a plurality of cutting paths for a material remover, which generates a set of offsets from the perimeter of the model for each corner region of the model; creates, for each offset within each of the sets, a subset of cutting paths based upon each offset with each cutting path within the subset separated from a neighbouring cutting path within the subset by a stepover, wherein a portion of a first cutting path in one of the subsets has a distance of greater than the stepover to the last cutting path in a previous subset; joins cutting paths from within a subset at each corner region forming complete cutting paths causing a material remover to move between corner regions; and creates backfill cutting paths used to remove material from between subsets of cutting paths in the portion greater than the stepover between the subsets.
US09489334B2	Method for managing the operation of a circuit connected to a two-wire bus A method is provided for managing the operation of a circuit operating in a slave mode. The circuit is connected to a bus having at least two of wires and a priority logic level. The slave circuit imposes the priority logic level on a first wire of the bus. While imposing, the slave circuit detects a possible conflict on the first wire resulting from a forcing, external to the slave circuit, of the first wire to another logic level. Upon detecting a conflict, the slave circuit is placed in a state stopping the sending by the circuit of any data over the bus while leaving the circuit listening to the bus.
US09489330B2	Sensing system, electronic device and sensing method A sensing system is provided. The system includes an electronic device and a detachable sensor. The detachable sensor could be connected to the electronic device through a connecting interface. When the electronic device detects that the detachable sensor is connected to the electronic device, the electronic device obtains a plurality of sensing data, and transforms the sensing data into a plurality of sensing results. Also, when the electronic device is connected to a host device, the electronic device sends the sensing results to the host device.
US09489325B2	Method and a system for polling and processing data The embodiments herein provide a method and system for polling and processing data. The method comprises computing a maximum time from a source after a last update time, waiting for a preset time to ensure that all transactions with respect to a change in a data is completed, querying for a plurality of changes after an elapse of the preset waiting time since the last update time and up to the maximum time, generating a time window, collecting a list of changes occurred within the generated time window, sending the collected list of changes for processing; and updating the processed data at the destination. The time window comprises a time interval between the last update time and the maximum time.
US09489323B2	Folded memory modules A memory module comprises a data interface including a plurality of data lines and a plurality of configurable switches coupled between the data interface and a data path to one or more memories. The effective width of the memory module can be configured by enabling or disabling different subsets of the configurable switches. The configurable switches may be controlled by manual switches, by a buffer on the memory module, by an external memory controller, or by the memories on the memory module.
US09489321B2	Scheduling memory accesses using an efficient row burst value A memory accessing agent includes a memory access generating circuit and a memory controller. The memory access generating circuit is adapted to generate multiple memory accesses in a first ordered arrangement. The memory controller is coupled to the memory access generating circuit and has an output port, for providing the multiple memory accesses to the output port in a second ordered arrangement based on the memory accesses and characteristics of an external memory. The memory controller determines the second ordered arrangement by calculating an efficient row burst value and interrupting multiple row-hit requests to schedule a row-miss request based on the efficient row burst value.
US09489316B2	Method and device implementing execute-only memory protection Access requests to access data operands from memory space designated as a type of execute-only memory are allowed to precede in response to determining that the operand access request was generated using a particular type of addressing mode.
US09489315B2	Method of executing, by a microprocessor, a polymorphic binary code of a predetermined function Executing polymorphic binary code of a predetermined function includes acquiring polymorphic binary code of the function, the code having instruction blocks and control instructions. One block acquires a random number; the other defines a specific generator that generates target instructions to execute the function. The control instructions place the target instructions in memory. Each instruction has an opcode that codes a nature of an operation to be executed, and operands that define parameters of the operation. The generator incorporates coding variants of the function and selection instructions. Each variant generates instructions that perform the function. These instructions differ from each other and enable choosing a variant, based on the random number, to generate the target instructions. The choice is made only between different coding variants of the predetermined function.
US09489310B2	System, method and computer-readable medium for spool cache management A system, method, and computer-readable medium that facilitate efficient use of cache memory in a massively parallel processing system are provided. A residency time of a data block to be stored in cache memory or a disk drive is estimated. A metric is calculated for the data block as a function of the residency time. The metric may further be calculated as a function of the data block size. One or more data blocks stored in cache memory are evaluated by comparing a respective metric of the one or more data blocks with the metric of the data block to be stored. A determination is then made to either store the data block on the disk drive or flush the one or more data blocks from the cache memory and store the data block in the cache memory. In this manner, the cache memory may be more efficiently utilized by storing smaller data blocks with lesser residency times by flushing larger data blocks with significant residency times from the cache memory. The disclosed cache management mechanisms are effective for many workloads and are adaptable to various database usage scenarios without requiring detailed studies of the particular data demographics and workload.
US09489309B2	Method and system for dynamic cache partitioning using address remapping A system and method for providing a cache virtual partition to a data structure that includes receiving, at an address remapping device, a cache-check request including a memory address including bits, identifying, using a virtual partition table, the virtual partition by determining that the memory address falls within a data structure memory address range, obtaining a copy of virtual partition bits which include a portion of the bits, appending the copy of the virtual partition bits to the memory address, rewriting the virtual partition bits to obtain rewritten virtual partition bits corresponding to the virtual partition, and generating a remapped memory address by replacing the virtual partition bits with the rewritten virtual partition bits. The remapped memory address includes the copy of the virtual partition bits and rewritten virtual partition bits. The method also includes transmitting a remapped cache check request including the remapped memory address to the cache.
US09489306B1	Performing efficient cache invalidation Performing cache invalidation is disclosed, including: receiving an invalidation request to invalidate one or more invalidated cache entries of a cache storage, wherein the cache storage is configured to store cache entries; storing the invalidation request to invalidate the one or more invalidated cache entries in an invalidation data structure; prior to removing the one or more invalidated cache entries from the cache storage, receiving a data retrieval request for a requested cache entry from the cache storage; and using the invalidation data structure to determine whether the requested cache entry has been invalidated.
US09489304B1	Bi-domain bridge enhanced systems and communication methods A system on a chip includes a network, an interface and a bridge module. The network includes one or more devices. The network is configured to operate in a first domain. Communication in the first domain is based on a first set of read and write ordering rules. An interface is connected between the network and a second chip. Communication between the interface and the second chip is in a second domain. Communication in the second domain is based on a second set of read and write ordering rules. The second set of read and write ordering rules are different than the first set of read and write ordering rules. The bridge module is configured to map communication transactions between the first domain and the second domain.
US09489300B2	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 increase average reliability by reducing an average number of state changes of storage elements per write operation and to reduce average write time by reducing a number of operations for storing the mapped value into the storage elements.
US09489299B2	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 and is independent of the states of the storage elements prior to the writing of the mapped data.
US09489296B1	Methods, devices and systems for hardware-based garbage collection in solid state drives A data storage device may comprise non-volatile memory devices, each configured to store a plurality of physical pages, a controller and a first volatile memory configured to store a logical-to-physical address translation map that enables the controller to determine a physical location of logical pages. The controller may maintain, in the memory devices, a plurality of journals defining physical-to-logical page correspondences, each entry of which associating one or more physical pages to a logical page. Garbage collection may be carried out by reading entries of the journals; determining a validity of each logical page referenced by the read entries through a comparison with a corresponding entry in the map, the logical pages referenced by the read entries being stored in first physical pages; writing logical pages determined to be valid to second physical pages and updating the map accordingly; and designating at least the first physical pages as free space.
US09489295B2	Information processing apparatus and method An information processing apparatus includes a free page storage unit and a page allocating unit. The free page storage unit divides a memory region in a memory into pages of a plurality of different page sizes and manages the divided pages, and stores management information about an initialization state corresponding to an unused memory region in the memory. The page allocating unit selects a free page of a page size according to a requested region size or a requested page size from the free page storage unit when an allocation of the unused memory region is requested, and performs an initializing process on a memory region on which the initializing process has not been performed in a memory region corresponding to the free page using management information about the selected free page.
US09489291B2	Continuous integration of business intelligence software Methods for automatically testing a business intelligence artifact include authoring a business intelligence artifact selected from the group consisting of a report specification, an analysis cube, and a metadata model; creating an assertion to verify the proper functioning of the business intelligence artifact; and testing, with an automated agent interfaced with the business intelligence system, the business intelligence artifact to verify its proper functioning by determining whether the conditions of the assertion are satisfied upon execution of the business intelligence artifact in the business intelligence system.
US09489282B2	Selective purging of a log structure A method, system, and/or computer program product log at least one stream of records in a data-processing system. A stream of records is received in succession. Records from the stream of records are logged into a log structure. In response to fulfillment of a pre-defined purging condition: the logging of the records are diverted to a buffer structure; the log structure is purged according to a set of purging criteria in response to the diverting; the records logged in the buffer structure are moved to the log structure in response to a completion of the purging; and the logging to the log structure is restored in response to a completion of the moving.
US09489280B2	Method and apparatus for 3-D accelerometer based slope determination, real-time vehicle mass determination, and vehicle efficiency analysis Three dimensional accelerometer data is used to determine a slope the vehicle is traveling over at a specific point in time. The slope data can then be combined with other metrics to provide an accurate, slope corrected vehicle mass. The vehicle mass can then be used along with other vehicle data to determine an amount of work performed by a vehicle, enabling s detailed efficiency analysis of the vehicle to be performed. To calculate slope, horizontal ground speed (VHGS) can be calculated using the Pythagorean Theorem. One can take the Z/Up magnitude and divide it by the horizontal ground speed. Replacing Z, x and y with directional vectors enables one to calculate slope. The slope data is then used to determine the mass of the vehicle at that time. Pervious techniques to calculate mass did not factor in slope, and thus are not accurate.
US09489278B2	Field device A field device that provides a field device that allows the simplest possible logging of relevant operational data. The field device has at least one data storage device (3) designed as an integral component of the field device and a control unit designed as an integral component of the field device (1). In this case, the control unit stores a data set in the data storage device (3) depending on a monitoring event.
US09489277B2	Application component testing Systems and methods described here include embodiments for generating component test code for use in an application test generation program used to test an application under test. Certain embodiments include a computer server running the application test generation program with an integrated custom engine and function libraries, the custom engine configured to allow a user to define a component, allow the user to select at least one application area, allow the user to define a component step for the defined component, wherein defining a component step includes, an object repository associated with the selected application area, at least one object option associated with the selected object repository, wherein the selection of the object option determines subsequent sets of object options for selection by the user, repeating, and to generate the component test code, via associations in the function libraries between component test code portions and the defined component steps.
US09489276B2	Implementing enhanced wear leveling in 3D flash memories A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing enhanced wear leveling in a stack of flash memory chips. A flash memory includes plurality of flash memory chips including a number N data chips and one or more spare chips. To even wear among the plurality of flash memory chips, a memory controller for the flash memory periodically transfers data from a data chip to a current spare chip, the current spare chip becomes a data chip and the selected data chip becomes the current spare chip. Over time, each chip in the stack becomes the spare chip. If a chip becomes nonfunctional, whatever chip is currently the spare chip becomes a permanent data chip and no more rotating is done.
US09489273B2	Using stretched storage to optimize disaster recovery Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems include receiving a command to perform a failover workflow for a plurality of logical storage devices from a protected site to a recovery site. A first logical storage device within the plurality of logical storage devices is determined to be a stretched storage device. In response to the failover command, a site preference for the first logical storage device is switched from the protected site to the recovery site. The failover includes a live migration of a virtual machine that resides on the first logical storage device. The live migration is performed without interruption to one or more services provided by the virtual machine. The site preference for the first logical storage device is switched prior to performing the live migration of the virtual machine.
US09489272B2	Methods and apparatus for providing hypervisor level data services for server virtualization A cross-host multi-hypervisor system, including a plurality of host sites, each site including at least one hypervisor, each of which includes at least one virtual server, at least one virtual disk read from and written to by the at least one virtual server, a tapping driver in communication with the at least one virtual server, which intercepts write requests made by any one of the at least one virtual server to any one of the at least one virtual disk, and a virtual data services appliance, in communication with the tapping driver, which receives the intercepted write requests from the tapping driver, and which provides data services based thereon, and a data services manager for coordinating the virtual data services appliances at the site, and a network for communicatively coupling the plurality of sites, wherein the data services managers coordinate data transfer across the plurality of sites via the network.
US09489269B2	Global backup lock manager Techniques for mastering resources in a cluster of nodes are provided. A global backup lock manager (GBLM) is maintained for a cluster of nodes that implement distributed lock management. Before a server instance is taken down, for example, for maintenance purposes, such as installing a new version of the server instance code, the mastership information that the server instance stores is reflected in the mastership information maintained by the GBLM. Thus, shutting down the server instance does not involve remastering the resources mastered by the server instance. As a result, shutting down the server instance may take minimal time.
US09489265B2	Method and system for frequent checkpointing A virtualization platform provides fault tolerance for a primary virtual machine by continuously transmitting checkpoint information of the primary virtual machine to a collector process, such as a backup virtual machine. When implemented on a hardware platform comprising a multi-processor that supports nested page tables, the virtualization platform leverages the nested page table support to quickly identify memory pages that have been modified between checkpoints. The backup virtual machine provides feedback information to assist the virtualization platform in identifying candidate memory pages for transmitting actual modifications to the memory pages rather than the entire memory page as part of the checkpoint information. The virtualization platform further maintains a modification history data structure to identify memory pages that can be transmitted simultaneous with the execution of the primary virtual machine rather than while the primary virtual machine has been stunned.
US09489260B1	Flexible super block sizing for failed sector recovery The disclosed technology provides for a method or system comprising determining size of a super block for a track zone in a storage medium based on at least one parameter of the track zone, wherein the super block includes a super parity for recovery of a failed sector within the super block.
US09489258B2	Green NAND SSD application and driver A GNSD Driver coupled to host DRAM, and having a memory manager, a data grouper engine, a data ungrouper engine, a power manager, and a flush/resume manager. The GNSD driver is coupled to a GNSD application, and the host DRAM to a Non-Volatile Memory Device. The GNSD Driver further includes a compression/decompression engine, a de-duplication engine, an encryption/decryption engine, or a high-level error correction code engine. The encryption/decryption engine encrypts according to DES or AES. A method of operating a GNSD Driver and a GNSD application coupled to DRAM of a host, includes coupling: Configuration and Register O/S Settings to the host and the GNSD Application; a data grouper and data ungrouper to the host DRAM and to Upper and a Lower Filter; a power manager and a memory manager to the host; a flush/resume manager to the DRAM; and the DRAM to an SEED SSD.
US09489254B1	Verification of erasure encoded fragments Erasure encoded fragments may be originally generated by applying an erasure encoding scheme to a data file. An erasure encoded fragment may be subsequently generated directly from previously generated erasure encoded fragments or by reconstructing the original data file and then erasure encoding the reconstructed data file. The integrity or fidelity of such a subsequently generated erasure encoded fragment may be verified by newly generating an error detection code, such as but not limited to a checksum, for the subsequently generated erasure encoded fragment, and comparing that subsequently generated error detection code against an error detection code previously generated for a previous or original version of the erasure encoded fragment. Each error detection code is preferably stored in association with its corresponding erasure encoded fragment and with one or more other erasure encoded fragments. Thus, each error detection code is saved in at least two locations.
US09489251B2	Supervising and recovering software components associated with medical diagnostics instruments A system for applying a recovery mechanism to a network of medical diagnostics instruments is provided herein. The system includes the following: a plurality of medical diagnostics instruments, each associated with a network connected component; a plurality of communication modules, each associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of network connected components, wherein each one of the plurality of communication modules is arranged to report on malfunctioning components that are network connected with the corresponding component, and a recovery module, configured to: (i) obtain reports from the communication modules; (ii) re-establish the malfunctioning components; and (iii) notify all communication modules of the re-establishment of the malfunctioning components, wherein the communication modules are further configured to re-establish connection between the corresponding components and the re-established components.
US09489248B2	Method, apparatus and system for acquiring input events A method, apparatus and system for acquiring an input event in a computer system comprising different priorities for processes are provided, the method comprising: executing a servant process and a master process, wherein the servant process comprises a higher priority than the master process and an input event list; and upon the servant process acquiring an input event and determining that the input event is in the input event list, the servant process transmitting the input event to the master process. A servant process with a high priority is used to acquire input events, which facilitates the operation of other processes and enhances process execution efficiency.
US09489247B2	Context sensitive framework for providing data from relevant applications Functionality is disclosed herein for using a context sensitive framework to identify relevant applications to a current context and to provide data received from the relevant applications to a user. Instead of a user having to manually locate and launch an application, relevant applications determined by a contextual service may provide data in response to receiving the context data. The applications that are identified as relevant to the context determine the application data to provide to the contextual service. The contextual service selects at least a portion of the application data to provide for display within a user interface. In some configurations, the selected application data is displayed within a user interface that maintains a same look and feel regardless of the application data that is displayed.
US09489244B2	Seamless virtual machine recall in a data storage system The data storage system according to certain aspects can manage the archiving of virtual machines to (and restoring of virtual machines from) secondary storage. The system may archive virtual machines (VMs) that are determined to have a low level of utilization. The system may create a virtual machine placeholder for an archived VM, which may be a “light” or minimal version of the VM that acts like the actual VM. By using a VM placeholder, a VM may appear to be active and selectable by the user. When the user selects the VM, the VM placeholder can interact with the user in similar manner as the VM. Accessing the VM placeholder may trigger restore of the archived VM from secondary storage. The restore of the archived VM may be “seamless” to the user since the VM remains available while it is being restored.
US09489243B2	Federating computing resources across the web Hardware and software are configured to select and provision computing resources from heterogeneous on-demand computing environments through the framework of a layered, federated on-demand computing ecology of computing resource providers, users, and federation servers. These pieces of hardware and software include a mechanism for defining and managing the life cycle of different resource types; a mechanism for extending document-centric protocols to support computing resources as first order objects; a mechanism for routing messages to computing resources; federation topologies; and a mechanism for federation servers to access and use computing resources from providers controlled by other federation servers.
US09489242B2	Algorithm for faster convergence through affinity override A method is implemented by a network device having a symmetric multi-processing (SMP) architecture. The method improves response time for processes implementing routing algorithms in a network. The method manages core assignments for the processes during a network convergence process. The method includes determining a number of interrupts or system events processed by a subset of cores of a set of cores of a central processing unit and identifying a core within the subset of cores with a lowest number of interrupts or system events processed. The method further includes changing an affinity mask of at least one process implementing the routing algorithms during the network convergence to target the core within the subset of cores with a lowest number of interrupts or system events processed.
US09489240B2	Resource management in a multi-operating environment A method for providing user access to telephony operations in a multi operating environment having memory resources nearly depleted that include determining whether a predetermined first memory threshold of a computing environment has been reached and displaying a user interface corresponding to memory usage; and determining whether a predetermined second memory threshold, greater than the first, of the computing environment has been reached. Restricting computing functionality and allowing user access for telephony operations, corresponding to a mobile device, when the second memory threshold is reached is included as well. Also included is maintaining the computing restriction until the memory usage returns below the second memory threshold.
US09489239B2	Systems and methods to manage tiered cache data storage Systems and methods for managing records stored in a storage cache are provided. A cache index is created and maintained to track where records are stored in buckets in the storage cache. The cache index maps the memory locations of the cached records to the buckets in the cache storage and can be quickly traversed by a metadata manager to determine whether a requested record can be retrieved from the cache storage. Bucket addresses stored in the cache index include a generation number of the bucket that is used to determine whether the cached record is stale. The generation number allows a bucket manager to evict buckets in the cache without having to update the bucket addresses stored in the cache index. Further, the bucket manager is tiered thus allowing efficient use of differing filter functions and even different types of memories as may be desired in a given implementation.
US09489232B2	Techniques for attesting data processing systems A technique for attesting a plurality of data processing systems includes generating a logical grouping for a data processing system. The logical grouping is associated with a rule that describes a condition that must be met in order for the data processing system to be considered trusted. A list of one or more children associated with the logical grouping is retrieved. The one or more children are attested to determine whether each of the one or more children is trusted. In response to the attesting, the rule is applied to determine whether the condition has been met in order for the data processing system to be considered trusted. A plurality of logical groupings is associated to determine whether an associated plurality of data processing systems can be considered trusted.
US09489231B2	Selecting provisioning targets for new virtual machine instances One embodiment of a system for provisioning a new virtual machine instance on a target host based on an image of the new virtual machine instance includes a local storage for storing images of virtual machine instances currently running on the target host and a virtual machine creator coupled to the local storage for constructing the image of the new virtual machine instance at least in part using the images of virtual machine instances currently running on the target host.
US09489230B1	Handling of virtual machine migration while performing clustering operations Various systems and methods for performing clustering operations in distributed systems are disclosed. For example, one method involves performing a clustering operation that uses a virtual machine (VM). This VM is hosted by a first node. The method involves receiving an indication that indicates a migration of the virtual machine from the first node to a second node. The method also involves, in response to a receipt of this indication, suspending performance of the clustering operation using the virtual machine. The method can also involve resuming performance of the clustering operation using the virtual machine in response to receiving an indication of a successful migration of this virtual machine.
US09489228B2	Delivery of events from a virtual machine to a thread executable by multiple host CPUs using memory monitoring instructions A method and system for managing a virtual computing system including a hypervisor managing a virtual machine (VM) configured to communicate with a thread executable by multiple host central processing units (CPUs), using memory monitoring instructions. The hypervisor provides the virtual machine with a first notification identifying a first designated memory range writeable by a virtual central processing unit (VCPU) associated with the virtual machine and a first instruction to write to the first designated memory range to communicate with the thread running on a first host CPU. The hypervisor further identifies movement of the thread from the first host CPU to a second host CPU and provides to the virtual machine a second notification identifying a second designated memory range and a second instruction to write to the second designated memory range to communicate with the thread running on the second host CPU.
US09489222B2	Techniques for workload balancing among a plurality of physical machines A method for workload balancing among a plurality of physical machines hosting a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) is disclosed. The method comprises periodically measuring a utilization of each hardware resource in each of the plurality of physical machines; computing a resource utilization score for each hardware resource based on its respective measured utilization; computing a total physical machine utilization score for each physical machine based on the computed resource utilization scores of its respective resources; and upon reception of a client request corresponding to a software application, selecting one physical machine of the plurality of physical machines to serve the client request, wherein the selection is based on the computed total physical machine utilization.
US09489219B2	Integration and management apparatus, integration and management system and computer readable information recording medium An integration and management apparatus is connected via a network to an information processing apparatus including at least one software program running thereon. The integration and management apparatus includes a storing part that stores a linkage software component for performing a function linkage process using a program interface provided by the software program running on the information processing apparatus, an analyzing part that analyzes the linkage software component to obtain a setting for the function linkage process, and obtains a linkage program corresponding to the setting from the linkage software component, and an executing part that executes the obtained linkage program to perform the function linkage process using the program interface.
US09489218B2	Device and help server A device configured to connect to a terminal device, the device including: a supply unit, which supplies management screen data to the terminal device, wherein the management screen data represents a management screen including at least one item, which is related to the device, and which includes a target item for which help information is to be displayed, wherein, in response to a help command received by the terminal device, the management screen data include instructions to control the terminal device to: acquire the help information corresponding to the target item of the item displayed on the management screen; and display a help screen indicating the help information.
US09489217B2	Dynamic software documentation A computer device for modifying software documentation for a software package is provided. A first computer is configured to provide the software documentation including help information related to the software package to a second computer and to receive a command from the second computer that corresponds to providing the help information from the software documentation. The first computer is further configured to transmit the help information from the software documentation in response to the command and to receive an identification from the second computer indicating an identity of the second computer and a request from the second computer to modify the help information within the software documentation. The first computer is further configured to modify the help information within the software documentation in accordance to the request in response to determining that the identity of the second computer is authorized to modify the help information within the software documentation.
US09489213B2	Shutdown method, startup method, and communication terminal The present invention relates to the field of computers and communications, and discloses a shutdown method, a startup method, and a communication terminal. The startup method includes: receiving a startup signal, where the startup signal is used to trigger a terminal to perform a startup; supplying power to components of the terminal; starting the terminal according to a first startup mode; and if the startup according to the first startup mode fails, performing a startup according to a second startup mode. The technical solution is applied to help to increase the startup speed when the terminal is powered on and started.
US09489211B2	Exposing memory-mapped IO devices to drivers through firmware A mapping table is passed to system software upon loading of the system software in a computer system. The mapping table is generated from a user-defined configuration file and maps device identifiers of various devices implemented in the computer system, as assigned by the device manufacturers, to device identifiers that are recognizable by the system software. The mapping is used by the system software when it performs binding of device drivers to devices so that devices that have been given generic and sometimes obscure names by the device manufacturers can still be associated with and bound to device drivers loaded by the system software.
US09489197B2	Highly efficient different precision complex multiply accumulate to enhance chip rate functionality in DSSS cellular systems This invention is a digital signal processor capable of performing correlation of data with pseudo noise for code division multiple access (CDMA) decoding using clusters. Each cluster includes plural multipliers. The multipliers multiply real and imaginary parts of packed data by corresponding pseudo noise data. Within a cluster the real parts and the imaginary parts of the products are summed separately. This forms plural complex number outputs equal in number to the number of clusters. The pseudo noise data is offset relative to the data input differing amounts for different clusters. The clusters are divided into first half clusters receiving data from even numbered slots and second half clusters receiving data from odd numbered slots. The correlation unit includes a mask input to selectively zero a multiplier product.
US09489196B2	Multi-element instruction with different read and write masks A method is described that includes reading a first read mask from a first register. The method also includes reading a first vector operand from a second register or memory location. The method also includes applying the read mask against the first vector operand to produce a set of elements for operation. The method also includes performing an operation of the set elements. The method also includes creating an output vector by producing multiple instances of the operation's result. The method also includes reading a first write mask from a third register, the first write mask being different than the first read mask. The method also includes applying the write mask against the output vector to create a resultant vector. The method also includes writing the resultant vector to a destination register.
US09489194B2	Rapidly configurable program The present application describes a rapid application configuration program. The application configuration program allows for an enterprise to configure a standard framework into numerous applications without having to develop the software application anew. Herein, the application configuration program can be based on a data paradigm that encompasses most, if not all, of the different enterprise applications that may be developed by an enterprise. The data paradigm helps configure applications based on a hierarchical nodal structure that allows data or information to be input by a user for various enterprise tasks.
US09489193B2	Method and system for providing software updates to local machines In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a updating software in a plurality of devices coupled to one another in a communicating relationship through a local network, the method comprising receiving a descriptor file for a software update at the first device from a remote source outside the local network, the descriptor file including a hash code for each of a plurality of update sub-files and an order for assembling the update sub-files into the software update, downloading the plurality of update sub-files to the first device from a remote source outside the local network until the sub-files identified in the descriptor file are present on the first device, where a presence of the sub-files is evaluated using the hash codes in the descriptor file, and broadcasting every one of the plurality of update sub-files from the first device to the number of other devices.
US09489191B2	Application program update system, communication device for the same, portable communication terminal for the same, and computer readable medium for the same An application program update system includes: a communication device having a cooperative application program for executing a content in cooperation with a portable communication terminal; a communication device update program storage device that stores a communication device update program for updating the cooperative application program; and a communication device update program acquisition device that inputs the communication device update program to the communication device when a version of the cooperative application program installed on the communication device does not match a version of the communication device update program.
US09489190B1	Message processing engine Techniques are described for updating applications installed on devices. The applications may include native applications having a web view component to handle interpreted language instructions. The applications may also include web applications executable within a browser. A message may be sent to a computing device, the message including update information specifying one or more updates to the state or the features of an application. The update information may be described using interpreted language instructions. To handle the updates to an application in instances when the application is inactive, a stand-alone interpreter engine may be employed instead of the web view component or instead of the interpreter engine included in a browser. Use of the stand-alone interpreter engine may mitigate possible performance effects or intrusive user interface elements from launching the web view component or the browser-based interpreter engine to perform update operations.
US09489181B2	Correlation analysis of program structures System and method for performing correlation analysis. A program that includes multiple program structures and one or more data objects is stored. Each data object is shared by at least two of the program structures. For each program structure, decomposition effects on each of the data objects shared by the program structure resulting from each of a respective one or more optimizing transforms applied to the program structure are analyzed. One or more groups of correlated structures are determined based on the analyzing. Each group includes two or more program structures that share at least one data object, and at least one optimizing transform that is compatible with respect to the two or more program structures and the shared data object. For at least one group, the at least one optimizing transform is usable to transform the two or more program structures to meet a specified optimization objective.
US09489180B1	Methods and apparatus for joint scheduling and layout optimization to enable multi-level vectorization Methods, apparatus and computer software product for source code optimization are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, a first custom computing apparatus is used to optimize the execution of source code on a second computing apparatus. In this embodiment, the first custom computing apparatus contains a memory, a storage medium and at least one processor with at least one multi-stage execution unit. The second computing apparatus contains at least one vector execution unit that allow for parallel execution of tasks on constant-strided memory locations. The first custom computing apparatus optimizes the code for parallelism, locality of operations, constant-strided memory accesses and vectorized execution on the second computing apparatus. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules. This Abstract is submitted with the explicit understanding that it will not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.
US09489177B2	Methods for integrating and managing one or more features in an application and systems thereof A method, computer readable medium, and system for integrating and managing one or more features in an application includes obtaining data from at least one application provider system with at least one application and from one or more feature provider systems with one or more features. The obtained data is used to implement a programming interface between the syndication system and the application and the one or more features which can be integrated in the application. A selection of one or more of the features for integration in the application is received. The implementation of the programming interface between a syndication system and the application and the one or more selected features to be integrated in the application is generated. The generated implementation of the programming interface is provided to the application provider system with the application.
US09489175B2	Configurable IC's with large carry chains Some embodiments provide a configurable IC that includes several configurable logic circuits, where the logic circuits include several sets of associated configurable logic circuits. For each several sets of associated configurable logic circuits, the reconfigurable IC also includes a carry circuit for performing up to N carry operations sequentially, wherein N is greater than two.
US09489173B2	Resizable and relocatable queue A computing device with a queue stored in a memory of the computing device is described. The queue may be relocated and/or resized in the memory using a queue address, a queue size, a head pointer, and/or a tail pointer associated with the queue. During operation, a processor, at the request of a software entity, updates one or more values associated with the queue to relocate and/or resize the queue. In response, a write mechanism performs one or more operations to enable the use of the relocated and/or resized queue. In addition, when the queue is relocated, the processor, at the request of the software entity, performs one or more operations to process remaining valid entries in an original location of the queue.
US09489169B2	Method of substituting songs in a playlist A method for playing an original playlist and for substituting alternate versions of the songs during playback is disclosed. The user can set the extent to which the number and type of alternate versions are substituted into the original playlist.
US09489165B2	System and method for virtual displays An operating system creates one or more virtual display interfaces for communication of display data and user input events between the application layer and one or more virtual display devices. The one or more virtual display devices are not physically connected to the computing system managed by the operating system. One or more applications are executed in an application layer. At least one of the one or more applications communicates display data to and receives user input events from at least one of the one or more display devices using at least one of the display interfaces. At least one other of the one or more applications communicates display data to and receives user input events from at least one of the one or more virtual display devices using at least one of the one or more virtual display interfaces.
US09489161B2	Automatic selection of web page objects for printing A method includes receiving a request to print a current web page. A set of records that represent web pages that are similar to the current web page are identified from a print log that includes at least one record, each record including an indication of a web page and indicating one or more objects that had been previously selected for printing from that web page. Based on the objects that are indicated by the identified set of records, one or more objects of the current web page are selected to be printed on a printer.
US09489160B2	Image processing apparatus Provided are: an identifying process unit that calculates a product set of rendering instructions for objects included in a processing-target page and rendering instructions for objects included in a page different from the processing-target page; a blank sheet determining unit that identifies a body object and that determines whether the body object has been identified, the body object being obtained by excluding the objects corresponding to the rendering instructions included in the product set from objects included in the processing-target page; and a RIP processing unit that generates raster data after excluding a page for which a determination has been made that the body object has not been identified.
US09489159B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium for performing processing on a function based on a free space A method executed by an apparatus includes receiving selection of a function, and determining whether to perform hardware processing or software processing on the function based on a free space in a storage unit configured to store hardware information relating to the hardware processing on the function and function information relating to the function.
US09489157B2	Printable object processing In one implementation, a printable object processing system detects a user print action relative to a printable object and identifies an attribute of the printable object in response to detecting the user print action. The printable object processing system them defines a print rule based on the attribute.
US09489150B2	System and method for transferring data between different raid data storage types for current data and replay data The present disclosure relates to a data storage system including a RAID subsystem having a first and second type of RAID storage. A virtual volume configured to accept I/O is stored on the first type of RAID storage, and snapshots of the virtual volume are stored on the second type of RAID storage. A method of the present disclosure includes providing an active volume that accepts I/O and generating read-only snapshots of the volume. In certain embodiments, the active volume is converted to a snapshot. The active volume includes a first type of RAID storage, and the snapshots include a second type of RAID storage. The first type of RAID storage has a lower write penalty than the second type of RAID storage. In typical embodiments, the first type of RAID storage includes RAID 10 storage and the second type of RAID storage includes RAID 5 and/or RAID 6 storage.
US09489137B2	Dynamic storage tiering based on performance SLAs Data objects are stored on storage devices, taking into account service level agreements or other quality of service parameters. In one aspect, data objects grouped into storage volumes. In addition, the storage devices are classified into different level storage tiers, where higher level storage tiers have higher performance and lower level storage tiers have lower performance. Ranks for the data objects are calculated, based on both a data usage pattern for the data object (e.g., recency and frequency) and on quality of service (QOS) parameters for the storage volume containing the data object. Examples of QOS parameters include service level agreements, priority, minimum and maximum input/output operations per second. The data objects are then stored on storage devices, based on the data objects' ranks and the storage devices' storage tiers.
US09489134B2	Multiple layer optical disc, and device for writing such disc A method of operating a medium access device includes writing by a writer information in a logical storage space of a storage medium which has a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the logical storage space comprising storage locations within a first layer of the layers and within a subsequent layer of the layers, the storage locations in the logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; storing in an address limit memory at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the first layer; and changing by a processor the maximum value in the address limit memory and to provide an output when the maximum value cannot be changed to avoid attempting changing the maximum value.
US09489132B2	Utilizing unmapped and unknown states in a replicated storage system A system and method for utilizing unmapped and unknown states in a storage system. When a first portion of a first medium is determined to be unreachable from any other mediums, the first portion of the first medium may be put into an unmapped state, and its data may be discarded and the corresponding storage locations may be freed. During replication of the first medium to a replica storage array, the state of the first portion of the first medium may be translated from the unmapped state into an unknown state on the replica storage array. If another storage array has the data of the first portion of the first medium, this data may be used to overwrite the first portion of the first medium on the replica storage array, converting the first portion of the first medium from the unknown state into the mapped state.
US09489126B2	Portable terminal device using touch pen and handwriting input method thereof A portable terminal device using a touch pen and a handwriting input method thereof are provided. The handwriting input method of the portable terminal device using a touch pen includes displaying an execution screen of an application on a touch screen in response to the application being executed, overlapping a handwriting input layer, which is configured for a handwriting input, with the execution screen, inputting a handwriting image on an area of the handwriting input layer using the touch pen, determining a data type for recognizing the input handwriting image in consideration of an attribute of the area corresponding to a position in which the handwriting image has been input on the execution screen, and recognizing the input handwriting image as the determined data type, and applying a recognized result of the determined data type to the application.
US09489121B2	Optimal display and zoom of objects and text in a document An object is zoomed upon selection. A scaling factor is calculated for zooming the object based on current viewing properties of a document and properties of the object as well as the current size of the application window and device. The scaling factor to zoom the object is calculated such that after the object is zoomed, viewing the object is similar to a viewing experience for the rest of the document. Text of the document may be displayed to increase the readability of the document. For example, the text may be displayed such that each line of displayed text averages out to a predetermined number of characters (e.g. 50-75 characters) per line. A display size and width of an average character are determined and used to calculate how many columns of text to display within the display. When the zoom level of the text changes, the text is redisplayed.
US09489118B2	Drag and drop operation in a graphical user interface with size alteration of the dragged object A method and device are provided for enabling drag and drop targets of a first object onto one of a plurality of second objects in a graphical user interface (GUI), each object being characterized by a respective size. The method includes receiving a drag input on the first object, determining one or more second objects onto which the first object may is likely to be dropped using at least the received drag input, and altering the size of the first object based on the determined one or more second objects respective sizes.
US09489115B2	Method, apparatus and system for displayed content transfer between screens The present invention is applicable to the field of multi-screen display technologies. The method includes: detecting a sliding track of a user on the primary screen display device, where the sliding track includes a sliding direction, and an initial position and a real-time position of sliding; determining, according to the initial position and the real-time position of the sliding, a display area of a screen of the secondary screen display device after the sliding by using the sliding direction as a reference direction; tailoring currently displayed content of the primary screen display device according to the display area, to obtain tailored content; and sending the tailored content and the display area to the secondary screen display device, so that the secondary screen display device displays the tailored content on the display area.
US09489114B2	Showing interactions as they occur on a whiteboard Real-time interactions made by a client on a whiteboard are shown on remote client(s) currently viewing the whiteboard. The real-time interactions that are shown on the remote clients can include a variety of different interactions. For example, the location(s) of where a remote client is touching the whiteboard or interacting with the whiteboard using a stylus may be viewed. A current inking stroke of a remote user may also be viewed as it is occurring. Interactions on the whiteboard may be shown differently depending on the remote user performing the interaction. The whiteboard may also show a location on the whiteboard where each of the remote users are currently viewing. A user may also track the actions of another user. When a change is committed to the whiteboard, the remote clients update the display to reflect the committed state.
US09489110B2	Automatic deployment, configuration, and lifecycle management of applications and infrastructure components Apparatuses, computer readable media, methods, and systems are described for automatic deployment of applications and infrastructure components, which may include processing selection of an operating system, processing selection of a stack, creating a stencil based on the operating system and the stack, and publishing the stencil.
US09489107B2	Navigating among activities in a computing device A computing device runs multiple activities concurrently and provides at least two modes for interacting with the activities. The user may toggle between the modes as desired. In a full-screen mode, one activity occupies substantially an entire display screen. In a windowed mode, the activity is visible within a window, and a portion of at least one other window is also visible. In the windowed mode, the user can cause windows to move, thereby changing focus from one activity to another. For example, the window having focus can be moved off the screen, to be replaced by a new window that is then given focus. The windows are ordered in a sequence and move in concert with one another; pushing one window off one edge of the screen causes a new window to appear at the opposite edge. A persistent positional relationship can be established among windows.
US09489106B2	Portable electronic device configured to present contact images Methods and systems are disclosed for navigating or browsing through images, such as contact images, on electronic devices, such as portable electronic device having a touch screen display. In one embodiment, users of electronic devices are able to browse through contact images to locate a particular contact within a plurality of contacts available (e.g., stored) on the electronic devices.
US09489100B2	Pointer detection sensor and pointer detection apparatus A plurality of first conductors and a plurality of second conductors disposed in first and second directions crossing with each other are disposed in an opposing relationship to each other and in a spaced relationship by a determined distance from each other, and a variation of a capacitance formed between any of the first conductors and any of the second conductors based on a variation of a distance between the first conductor and the second conductor when one of the first conductor and the second conductor is deflected by pressing by a pointer is detected to detect a position pointed to by the pointer. A spacer is disposed between the first and second conductors in a region of a cross point such that a deflection amount of one of the first conductor and the second conductor by the pressing by the pointer has a value higher in a region other than the region of the cross point than in the region of the cross point at which the first conductor and the second conductor cross and overlap with each other.
US09489096B2	Touch screen touch force measurement based on finger deformation speed A device includes a capacitive sampling unit that measures, at the multiple instances of time during a touch interval, capacitance values of a capacitive touch screen display associated with an area in contact with a finger touching the capacitive touch screen display. The device further includes a touch deformation area unit that determines, at the multiple instances of time, a size of the area upon the capacitive touch screen display in contact with the finger touching the capacitive touch screen display. The device also includes a touch force estimation unit that determines a rate of change in the size of the area in contact with the finger, and estimates a touching force of the finger touching the capacitive touch screen display based on the determined rate of change in the size of the area.
US09489095B2	Liquid crystal display device A display device includes a display panel including a first surface, a second surface opposed to the first surface, and a side surface extending between the first surface and second surface, a frame fixed to the first surface of the display panel by a double-sided tape, and a capacitive touch panel adhered to the second surface of the display panel. The frame includes a first portion opposed to the first surface of the display panel, and a second portion surrounding the side surface of the display panel and opposed to a rear surface of the capacitive touch panel. The capacitive touch panel has a protruding end portion which protrudes beyond one end of the display panel. The protruding end portion overlaps the second portion of the frame, and a gap is delimited between the protruding end portion and the second portion of the frame.
US09489093B2	Capacitive sensing apparatus and methods One or more waveform generators impose an input waveform across touch sensor components. Phase shift detection logic measures a phase shift between the input waveform and an output waveform component associated with each waveform generator appearing across a touch sensor component. Amplitude ratio detection logic measures an output-to-input waveform magnitude ratio associated with each waveform generator. Translator logic converts the phase shift(s) and optionally the output-to-input waveform magnitude ratio(s) to capacitance values. Validation logic compares the resulting capacitance values to each other to determine consistency and validity during a particular waveform sampling time. The phase shift detection logic and the amplitude ratio detection logic are optionally implemented with discrete Fourier transform logic which includes narrow-band filtering to exclude electromagnetic interference frequency components from touch sensor signal measurements.
US09489087B2	Liquid crystal display having photo-sensing input mechanism A liquid crystal display having photo-sensing input mechanism includes a first gate line for transmitting a first gate signal, a second gate line for transmitting a second gate signal, a data line for transmitting a data signal, a pixel unit for outputting an image signal according to the first gate signal and the data signal, a readout line for transmitting a readout signal, a photo-sensing input unit and a driving adjustment unit. The photo-sensing input unit is utilized for generating a sensing voltage according to a driving voltage and an incident light signal, and is further utilized for outputting the readout signal according to the sensing voltage and the first gate signal. The driving adjustment unit is employed to provide the driving voltage according to the second gate signal and the incident light signal.
US09489084B2	Sensing method and sensing apparatus for sensing electrode cluster A sensing method for a sensing electrode cluster is provided. The sensing electrode cluster includes a plurality of groups, each comprising a plurality of bars. The sensing method includes scanning each of the groups according to a first scanning sequence, and scanning each of the groups according to a second scanning sequence, and determining a sensing position according to the first position and the second position. The first scanning sequence is different from the second scanning sequence.
US09489081B2	Electronic touch communication Touch inputs such as single-finger contacts and multiple-finger contacts are detected at an electronic device and translated into electronic touch communications for playback at an external electronic device.
US09489073B2	Multi-point contacts with pressure data on an interactive surface There is disclosed a method and apparatus for controlling a software application running on a computer system including an interactive display adapted to detect at least two contact points on the surface of the interactive display, the method comprising: detecting at least two contact points; determining pressure data associated with at least one of said contact points; and defining a condition of the software application in dependence on said detected at least two contact points and said at least one determined pressure value.
US09489072B2	Noise reduction in capacitive touch sensors In touch sensitive display devices, the display scanning circuitry responsible for driving images of the panel screen can cause noise on the electrodes of nearby touch sensors. The display controller circuit and/or the touch sensor controller circuit of the exemplary touchscreen display devices may be configured to reduce such noise during the touch sensor acquisition cycle by implementing one or more of several techniques in which a portion of each of the sensor acquisition cycles occurs within a period of reduced noise from a cycle of the scanning of the display.
US09489070B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program An information processing apparatus that controls a display to display first layer data, detects movement of the information processing apparatus, and controls the display to display second layer data corresponding to the first layer data together with the first layer data based on a movement detected by the detection unit.
US09489066B2	Computer system including mouse device with adjustable DPI based on screen size and operating method thereof A computer system includes a host and a mouse device. The host is configured to output a screen size signal. The mouse device adjusts a DPI value thereof according to the screen size signal from the host. The present disclosure further provides an operating method of the computer system.
US09489065B2	Safety driving system of display device and safety driving method of display device A safety driving system of a display device includes a display panel including at least one conductive detection line, the conductive detection line extending in a predetermined area of the display panel and being configured to detect voltage variation according to damage in the predetermined area, a panel detector configured to apply a reference voltage to one end of the detection line, to receive an output voltage corresponding to the reference voltage through the detection line from another end of the detection line, to compare the received output voltage with a predetermined normal voltage range, and to generate and output a detection result signal, and a controller configured to provide a detection set value for driving the panel detector and to interrupt the driving of the display panel when the output detection result signal indicates that the display panel is damaged.
US09489063B2	Information processing apparatus and computer-readable storage medium An information processing apparatus that is openable by a first case and a second case being unfolded, and includes an imaging section which is provided in the second case and opposed to the first case where a read target medium is placed, a recognition section which, when a predetermined indicator on the first case side is photographed by the imaging section, recognizes the predetermined indicator by analyzing a photographed image, a judgment section which judges whether or not the first case and the second case have been closed into a predetermined state, based on a result of recognition of the indicator by the recognition section, and a determination section which determines the photographed image taken by the imaging section as a storage target, when the judgment section judges that the first case and the second case have been closed into the predetermined state.
US09489062B2	User interfaces for remote management and control of network-connected thermostats Aspects of the present invention provide user interface methods for interacting with and managing network-connected thermostats through a thermostat management system. The user interface method identifies a primary enclosure associated with a thermostat management account with the remaining enclosures deemed secondary enclosures. The user interface displays the primary enclosure using a primary enclosure selection appearing in a foreground area of the user interface as a house and adjacent to thermostat selections representing each of the network-connected thermostats installed in the primary enclosure. In a background area of the user interface, a primary weather visual incorporates images of various weather patterns reflecting both a weather pattern in the vicinity of the primary enclosure and an approximate time of day at the geographic location of the primary enclosure. Secondary enclosure selections are visually deemphasized on the user interface when compared with the primary enclosure selection displayed on the user interface.
US09489058B2	Coordinate device with pressing down function The invention refers to a coordinate device (1) which enables manual control of x- and y- coordinates. The coordinate device (1) comprises a rolling cylinder (5) which freely can rotate around a rotation axle, be translated along the rotation axle and be pressed down to generate a pressure signal. The rolling cylinder (5) is carried in an upper support rail (8) and is held in this in bearings which allow the rolling cylinder to rotate. A lower support rail (11) receives the upper support rail (8) and comprises motion detector elements (13) which detect the rotation and translation of the rolling cylinder (5). The control element (5, 8, 11) comprising the rolling cylinder (5) and the upper (8) and lower (11) support rails are mounted to be pressed down from a standby position in a cover (2, 15) and activate a pressing down sensor (17). Since the whole control element then is being pressed down, without the rolling cylinder (5) being raised or lowered relative to the motion detector element (13) on the lower support rail (11), the pressing down does not affect the measurement values of the motion detector element (13). In one design of the coordinate device (1) the upper support rail (8) comprises feet (9a-d) which allow it to translate in the longitudinal extent of the lower support rail (11) and the lower support rail (11) comprises a recessed track (22) which is intended to receive a first pair of the feet (9c-d) on the upper support rail and allows this to move along the track. In another design of the coordinate device (1) the feet (9a-d) comprise wheels, which enable the translation movement to take place with even less friction.
US09489055B2	Hard key control panel for a video processing apparatus and video processing system A control panel comprising a plurality of hard key buttons which are arranged in different groups is suggested. A first group of buttons is assigned to select predefined scene settings. A second group of buttons is assigned to select signals for a currently broadcasted scene. A third group of buttons is assigned to select signals for a next scene which is selectable by operating a button of the first group. The hardware control panel provides an operating interface that matches with the workflow of TV productions. It enables context related direct access to all functionalities which are needed during the TV show. However, it does not provide access to those functionalities which are not needed in a specific scene. Hence, it significantly reduces or even prevents malfunctions during a TV production.
US09489048B2	Systems and methods for optical transmission of haptic display parameters Systems and methods for optical transmission of haptic display parameters are disclosed. One disclosed method includes receiving an image signal from an image sensor, the image signal associated with an image, determining a haptic signal based at least in part on the image signal, generating a haptic effect signal based at least in part on the haptic signal, and transmitting the haptic effect signal to a haptic output device.
US09489036B2	Customizing operation of a touch screen A method for customizing operation of a digitizer system operated with an electronic device is described, the electronic device including software applications. The method includes operating the digitizer system in a first mode of operation, the first mode of operation defined by a plurality of operating parameters, receiving instructions for adjusting one or more operating parameters of the digitizer system, wherein the instructions are defined by a software application, the software application operative to receive input from the digitizer system, and updating operation of the digitizer system responsive to the instructions defined by the software applications.
US09489025B2	I/O control systems and methods An input/output (“I/O”) port control system is provided. The system can include an I/O controller (110) comprising a power input (115) and an operably connected I/O interface (120). A power supply (150) and switch (130) can be operably connected to the power input. A detector (140) can be operably connected to the I/O interface and to the switch. The detector can be adapted to close the switch when an electrical circuit is completed through the I/O interface.
US09489024B2	Server rack system A sever rack system includes a rack body, multiple server units, a power control unit and a power supply module. Multiple storage cabinets, a first surface and a second surface are disposed on the rack body. The server units are respectively installed on each storage cabinet and perpendicular to the first surface. Each server unit includes a power socket and each power socket protrudes towards the second surface. The power control unit is installed on one of the storage cabinets and near one side of the server units. The power control unit includes multiple power supplies, a first conductive sheet and a second conductive sheet connected to each power supply. The power supply module includes a first conductive stick, multiple insulation blocks and a second conductive stick. Each insulation block is disposed between the first conductive stick and the second conductive stick for being coupled with the power socket.
US09489012B2	Video wall and fixing apparatus therefor Disclosed is a fixing apparatus for a video wall to fix a plurality of display panels disposed in a lattice pattern, including a plurality of top case units each positioned between neighboring ones of the display panels, each of the top case units comprising a middle frame inserted between the neighboring ones of the display panels to extend to rear surfaces of the display panels, and a bezel frame extending from the middle frame to opposite sides in a perpendicular direction to the middle frame to cover ends of front surfaces of neighboring display panels, and a fastening member fastened to the middle frame extending to the rear surfaces of the display panels to fix the display panels. In the fixing apparatus, neighboring display panels share one top case, and thus the gap between the display panels for a video wall may be reduced.
US09489011B2	Real-time-calibration circuit for multiple CPUS A real-time-calibration circuit for multiple CPUs includes the CPUs for communication, for control and for acting as a panel board. The CPUs each have a real-time clock built therein. The CPU for communication is connected with an external real-time clock, and only the external real-time clock is connected with a battery. Through the CPU for communication, a standard time is obtained from an external network and provided to the external real-time clock for time calibration. Then a calibration value generated from the time calibration is fed back to the CPU for communication to be used by the real-time clock of the CPU for communication and the real-time clocks of the other CPUs, so as to prevent the CPUs from interfering communication during time calibration, and reduce the need of power and of batteries, thereby saving energy and costs and being friendly to the environment.
US09489004B2	Bandgap reference voltage generator circuits Bandgap reference voltage generator circuits are provided that include an operational amplifier, a current mirror configured to be coupled to a supply voltage, a first branch coupled to the current mirror, a second branch coupled to the first branch, a third branch coupled to the second branch and a fourth branch. The operational amplifier includes a first input configured to receive a first voltage and a second input configured to receive a second voltage, and an output that is configured to generate an output voltage. The current mirror is configured to generate a third voltage and a first current. The first branch is configured to receive a second current that is a first portion of the first current, the second branch is configured to receive a third current that is a second portion of the first current, the third branch is configured to receive a fourth current that is a third portion of the first current, and the fourth branch is configured to receive a fifth current generated by the current mirror. The fifth current is used to generate a bandgap reference voltage.
US09489003B1	Active phase balancing in power zones Methods, systems, and apparatus for managing power in a data center. In one aspect, a method includes monitoring respective phase power level in each phase of an alternating current multi-phase supply that provides power to a plurality of data center alternating current devices in a data center, comparing the respective phase power levels to phase distribution criteria that describe a target phase power level for each respective phase and determine, based on the comparison, a deviation of one or more of monitored phase power levels from the respective one or more target phase power levels and in response generate, for each of two or more data center alternating current devices, respective control signals to adjust the one or more adjustable phase power supplies in the data center alternating current device according to a determined adjustment for the data center alternating current device.
US09489002B2	Providing power to a component Apparatus includes a first connection to a battery; a second connection to a component; a first path between the first and second connections including a non-upconverting voltage regulator and being absent of a voltage upconverter; a second path between the first and second connections including a voltage upconverter; and a controller. The controller is configured to determine a minimum operating voltage of the component; to determine whether a voltage provided at the first connection meets a predetermined relationship with respect to the minimum operating voltage of the component; and on a positive determination, to enable the first path and disable the second path, and on a negative determination, to disable the first path and enable the second path.
US09489001B2	Constant on-time or constant off-time switching power converter and control circuit thereof A constant ON-time or constant OFF-time switching power converter includes a control circuit for controlling a power switch. The control circuit includes: a constant ON-time or constant OFF-time calculation circuit, for calculating a constant ON-time or constant OFF-time; a logic circuit having inputs for receiving an output of the constant ON-time or constant OFF-time calculation circuit and a clock signal, respectively, wherein the clock signal has a frequency which is the desired fixed frequency; and a flip-flop for generating an output signal according to a set input and a reset input, wherein one of the set input and the reset input receives an output of the logic circuit, and the other one of the set input and the reset input receives a trigger signal which determines a start time of the ON-time or OFF-time.
US09489000B2	Use of a thermistor within a reference signal generator Reference signal generators using thermistors are disclosed. An apparatus includes a first device having a first temperature coefficient and a thermistor having a second temperature coefficient having a sign opposite to that of the first temperature coefficient. A circuit maintains equivalence of a first signal and a second signal and offsets a first temperature variation of the first device using a second temperature variation of the thermistor to generate the second signal having a low temperature coefficient. The first device may be a bipolar transistor configured to generate a base-emitter voltage and coupled in series with the thermistor. The first signal may be a first voltage on a first node. The second signal may be a second voltage on a second node. The circuit may be configured to maintain effective equivalence of the first voltage and the second voltage. The apparatus may include a resistor coupled to the second node.
US09488999B2	Voltage regulator for systems with a high dynamic current range A voltage regulator includes a reference current scaling circuit comprising an input reference current, a scaled output source current and a corresponding first bias voltage, and a scaled output sink current and a corresponding second bias voltage; and a decision making circuit having a first voltage input for receiving a first reference voltage, a second voltage input for receiving a second reference voltage, a third voltage input for receiving the first bias voltage, and a fourth voltage input for receiving the second bias voltage, and an output for providing a regulated voltage.
US09488992B2	Wall module configuration tool The invention is a system for selecting and previewing a configuration for a wall module before a download of the configuration to the wall module. The configuration may be selected from a set of standard applications or it may be a customized standard application. The configuration may instead be a new application. The configuration may be changed, such as screen segment selection, during a preview of it. A memory usage meter may indicate how much memory is used relative to the amount available in the wall module for the configuration. Also the system may have an autobind to a controller feature for time parameters. New application or customized standard application configurations may be saved to a library for future use.
US09488988B2	Push operation mechanism having tactile feedback An operating device includes a push operation mechanism that allows a push operation of an operation unit, a tactile feeling presenting unit including a drive transmission mechanism for presenting an operational feeling by driving the operation unit via the push operation mechanism, a detection unit that detects a motion of the operation unit, and a drive control unit that intermittently drives the operation unit by a drive control signal that is generated based on an activation pulse signal and an advance vibration pulse signal that includes a prescribed number of pulses and a voltage smaller than that of the activation pulse signal.
US09488986B1	System and method for tracking an item on a pallet in a warehouse A system and method for tracking an item on a pallet in a warehouse is provided. The system includes at least one pallet, designated storage locations in the warehouse, a vehicle for lifting, moving, and setting down pallets, a motion sensor, an image processor, a server, and an algorithm. The motion sensor and the image processer are provided on the vehicle. Both the motion sensor and the image processor are wireless enabled. The motion sensor is capable of determining the lifting, moving and setting down of pallets, and is configured to send lifting, moving, and setting down information when the motion sensor senses motion to the algorithm. The image processor is provided with a field of view capable of processing images of the pallet and the location of the pallet when the pallet is in contact with the vehicle.
US09488984B1	Method, device and system for navigation of an autonomous supply chain node vehicle in a storage center using virtual image-code tape Disclosed are a method, device and system for navigation of an autonomous supply chain node vehicle in a storage center using virtual image-code tape. In one aspect, a layout diagram with a set of shelves is analyzed. A trajectory for movement of the autonomous supply chain node vehicle avoiding the shelves is determined. A training set of discrete overlapping images of peripheral area along the trajectory is captured with an imaging device on the autonomous supply chain node vehicle in a learning mode. A virtual image-code tape capturing a continuous area of storage center with globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) associated with the peripheral area is generated. The GUIDs include spatial information and identifiable image features from the training set capturing floor marks. An operating set of discrete overlapping images is captured in a normal mode and compared with GUIDs of the virtual image-code tape to determine a current location.
US09488980B2	Smart notification systems for wearable devices According to the embodiments described herein, a smart notification system can include a vehicle, a mobile communication device, and a wearable processing device. A wearable processor or the wearable processing device, a mobile processor of the mobile communication device, a vehicular processor of the vehicle, or a combination thereof can execute machine readable instructions to monitor ambient conditions of the vehicle with a sensor. A notification can be provided upon a wearable display of the wearable processing device. The notification can be indicative of the ambient conditions of the vehicle. A command can be detected with physical input of the wearable processing device. A command signal can be received with vehicle communication hardware of the vehicle. The command signal can be indicative of the command detected by the physical input of the wearable processing device.
US09488975B2	Methods and media for lot dispatch priority Methods and media for prioritizing dispatch during semiconductor manufacturing are provided. A method of prioritizing dispatch of a lot during semiconductor fabrication includes calculating a lot level goal and prioritizing dispatch of the lot based on the lot level goal. Calculating the lot level goal for processing time of the lot includes calculating the lot level goal based on a normal goal in response to a lack of delay in processing the lot or in response to a recovered delay in processing the lot. Calculating the lot level goal further includes calculating the lot level goal based on a vectored goal in response to a delay in processing the lot and based at least in part on a predetermined time in which to reduce the normal goal to recover from a delay in processing the lot.
US09488967B2	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.
US09488956B2	Image forming apparatus having drawer An image forming apparatus has a drawer accommodating a plurality of photosensitive drums. The photosensitive drums are arranged in an arrangement direction. A supporting member is configured to support the drawer, inside the casing, such that the drawer is movable, in the arrangement direction, between an accommodated position and an exposed position at which the drawer is partially protruded outside the casing. A belt is arranged to convey the sheet, and has a stretched surface extending in the arrangement direction and facing the photosensitive drums. A registration roller pair serves to adjust an orientation of the sheet conveyed from the sheet feed tray and conveys the sheet through a nip between the first registration roller and the second registration roller toward the stretched surface of the belt. The registration roller pair is integrally secured to the drawer so as to be movable in the arrangement direction together with the drawer.
US09488955B2	Device for connecting a centerless auger to a rotatable member An auger assembly according to one example embodiment includes an auger having a helical flight extending along a longitudinal axis. The auger has a central opening running along the longitudinal axis. The auger has an end that includes at least a portion of a turn having substantially zero pitch. A retaining member has a body including a groove on an outer surface of the body. The groove has a shape complementary to the helical flight at the end of the auger. At least a portion of the end of the auger is retained within the groove. A rotatable coupling member extends along the longitudinal axis. At least a portion of the rotatable coupling member is positioned within the central opening of the auger and presses the outer surface of the retaining member against an inner diameter of the end of the auger.
US09488954B2	Image forming apparatus This image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a charging unit, an error detection unit, a determination unit, and a charge-condition changing unit. The image forming unit creates printouts. The charging unit charges for printouts created by the image forming unit. The error detection unit detects errors that occur during the creation of printouts by the image forming unit. The determination unit determines whether or not the error that occurred in the image forming unit is an error made intentionally by the user based on the detection results from the error detection unit. The charge-condition changing unit changes the charge conditions under which the charging unit makes a charge when the determination unit determines that the error is an error made intentionally by a user.
US09488951B2	Transmission device for photosensitive drum In one aspect of the invention, a transmission device for a photosensitive drum having a drum axis, which is adapted for engagement with a drive member of an electronic image forming apparatus, comprises a flange detachably attachable to the photosensitive drum coaxially to the drum axis, the flange having a receiving hole; and a transmission unit disposed to the flange coaxially to the drum axis. The transmission unit includes a shaft disposed in the receiving hole of the flange and being rotatable about the drum axis relative to the flange and movable along the drum axis relative to the flange; and an engagement structure being coaxial with the shaft and defining a receiving space for receiving the drive member.
US09488947B2	Method and system for managing field convertible customer replaceable components A method and system for managing field convertible operator replaceable components associated with a rendering device. A file that defines a set of operator replaceable components can be created and remotely installed on the device. The replaceable components associated with the device can be easily changed from a designation as a customer service engineer replacement component to an operator replacement component and vice versa. A determination that an operator is allowed to replace the component can be made based on a training level provided to the operator, the component availability, a usage pattern, and/or a security level. Such an approach enables the operator to perform the majority of maintenance on the device without requiring the services of a field engineer.
US09488944B2	Power saving power supply system having a low-capacity power supply circuit for use in an image forming apparatus A power supply system comprises: a switching power supply for generating a DC voltage by rectifying and smoothing an AC voltage of an AC power supply; a control device switching the switching power supply between the normal mode and a power saving mode; and a low-capacity power supply circuit supplying electric power to the control device in the power saving mode. The low-capacity power supply circuit includes: two capacitors, each including one end connected to the AC power supply; a rectifier circuit that is electrically connected between the other ends of the capacitors, and rectifies the AC voltage applied between the first and second capacitors; and a zero-crossing detecting circuit that is connected to a current path at the rear stage of the rectifier circuit, and detects zero-crossing points of the AC power supply.
US09488943B2	Image forming apparatus There is provided an image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit; a fixing unit; a motor; a transmission device configured to transmit a driving power from the motor with a speed transmission ratio selectable from a first speed transmission ratio and a second speed transmission ratio; and a control unit configured to control the transmission device to set the speed transmission ratio to one of the first speed transmission ratio and the second speed transmission ratio by controlling the transmission device to switch a connection state being set by a connection mechanism into one of a connected state and a disconnected state.
US09488942B2	Belt unit and image formation apparatus A belt unit includes: a belt member; a first pressing member provided to press the belt member; a second pressing member provided to press the belt member; and a driving member configured to change tension applied to the belt member by moving the first pressing member in a first direction and moving the second pressing member in a second direction.
US09488938B2	Heater and image heating apparatus including the same A heater includes: a substrate; a first electrical contact; a plurality of second electrical contacts; an electroconductive line portion electrically connected with the first electrical contact; a plurality of electrode portions including first electrode portions electrically connected with the first electrical contact through the electroconductive line portion and second electrode portions electrically connected with the second electrical contacts; and a plurality of heat generating portions provided between adjacent ones of the electrode portions. The cross-section of the electroconductive line portion in a side closer to the first electrical contact than the plurality of heat generating portions with respect to the longitudinal direction is larger than the cross-section of a predetermined electrode portion, between adjacent heat generating portions, of the plurality of electrode portions.
US09488935B1	Drive mechanism for an intermediate transfer member module of an electrophotographic imaging device An intermediate transfer member (ITM) module including a frame; a backup roll and a drive roll rotatably disposed along a first end portion of the frame. A tension roll is rotatably disposed along a second end portion of the frame. An ITM belt forms as an endless loop around the backup roll, the drive roll and the tension roll such that rotation of the drive roll causes the ITM belt to translate and the tension roll and the backup roll to rotate. The drive roll and the backup roll form a transfer nip with a transfer roll. A drive mechanism is coupled between the drive roll and the backup roll and includes a plurality of gears. The drive mechanism overdrives the backup roll relative to the drive roll while limiting an amount of tension of the ITM belt in the second transfer nip.
US09488926B2	Toner and method of manufacturing same A toner includes a plurality of toner particles that each include a toner mother particle and an external additive adhering to a surface of the toner mother particle. The toner mother particle includes a core and a shell layer disposed over a surface of the core. The external additive contains silica particles. The toner mother particle has a hydrophobicity of at least 0% and less than 20%. The external additive has a hydrophobicity of at least 5% and no greater than 20%. The hydrophobicity of the toner mother particle is less than the hydrophobicity of the external additive.
US09488924B2	Cleaning an object within a non-vacuumed environment A system that may include a mechanical stage that is arranged to move an object along a predetermined path in relation to an optical module during an illumination of the object by the optical module; a structural support element that is arranged to support at least a part of the optical module; a gas flow module that is arranged to direct clean gas towards the object through gas flow module openings that define a coverage area that is (a) bigger than the object and (b) is positioned directly above at least a majority of the object when the object is positioned anywhere along the predetermined path.
US09488922B2	Methods and apparatus for inspection of articles, EUV lithography reticles, lithography apparatus and method of manufacturing devices An EUV lithography reticle is inspected to detect contaminant particles. The inspection apparatus comprises illumination optics with primary radiation. An imaging optical system with plural branches is arranged to form and detect a plurality of images, each branch having an image sensor and forming its image with a different portion of radiation received from the illuminated article. A processor combines information from the detected images to report on the presence and location of contaminant particles. In one or more branches the primary radiation is filtered out, so that the detected image is formed using only secondary radiation emitted by contaminant material in response to the primary radiation. In a dark field imaging branch using the scattered primary radiation, a spatial filter blocks spatial frequency components associated with periodic features of the article under inspection, to allow detection of particles which cannot be detected by secondary radiation.
US09488910B2	Sulfonyl photoacid generators and photoresists comprising same New bis(sulfonyl)imide and tri(sulfonyl)methide photoacid generator compounds (“PAGs”) are provided as well as photoresist compositions that comprise such PAG compounds.
US09488908B2	Rapid fabrication of hierarchically structured supramolecular nanocomposite thin films in one minute Functional nanocomposites containing nanoparticles of different chemical compositions may exhibit new properties to meet demands for advanced technology. It is imperative to simultaneously achieve hierarchical structural control and to develop rapid, scalable fabrication to minimize degradation of nanoparticle properties and for compatibility with nanomanufacturing. The assembly kinetics of supramolecular nanocomposite in thin films is governed by the energetic cost arising from defects, the chain mobility, and the activation energy for inter-domain diffusion. By optimizing only one parameter, the solvent fraction in the film, the assembly kinetics can be precisely tailored to produce hierarchically structured thin films of supramolecular nanocomposites in approximately one minute. Moreover, the strong wavelength dependent optical anisotropy in the nanocomposite highlights their potential applications for light manipulation and information transmission. The present invention opens a new avenue in designing manufacture-friendly continuous processing for the fabrication of functional nanocomposite thin films.

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