| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09681129B2 |
Scalable video encoding using a hierarchical epitome
A method and apparatus are provided for encoding an image sequence and outputting a signal having a layered organization with at least a base layer and an enhancement layer. For at least one current image of the sequence, the method includes constructing a hierarchical epitome associated with the enhancement layer corresponding to a maximum resolution level of the current image, using: an epitome associated with the enhancement layer corresponding to the maximum resolution level of the current image; and at least one epitome associated with a preceding layer corresponding to a resolution level lower than the maximum resolution level of the current image. |
| US09681128B1 |
Adaptive pre-transform scanning patterns for video and image compression
Blocks of a frame of a video stream can be encoded using directional intra prediction modes followed by transforming the residual blocks. Coding efficiency can be improved by re-aligning pixels of a residual block before transformation to align the pixels of the block with the direction in which the prediction block for the original block was formed. Such an alignment can reduce the number of bits to be included in an encoded bitstream while maintaining the visual quality of the video stream by reducing the amount of structure or texture in the residual block that is not aligned with a horizontal or vertical axis. |
| US09681125B2 |
Method and system for video coding with noise filtering
A method of video coding includes receiving a video image having a plurality of pixels, selecting a plurality of Gaussian models for each pixel, classifying each pixel as a background or foreground pixel, determining if an object is always moving locally by detecting if an object is always moving within a predetermined distance and changing the direction of moving frequently for a second predetermined period of time, removing an object from classification as an object and ignoring motion of the object if the object is always moving locally, marking the area that the object moves within as a noisy area on a noise mask buffer, updating background models based on motion detection and noise filtering, updating current and evolving background images, and coding the current background image, background update blocks and objects for transmission. |
| US09681124B2 |
Method and device for testing an image sensor and motor vehicle
In a method for testing an image sensor having (i) regular pixels and test pixels, of which each is interconnected with one of two predefined voltage values, and (ii) a signal processing unit for providing digital signal values for output voltages of the pixels and test pixels, the following steps are performed: receiving digital signal values of the test pixels; and using the signal values of at least one proper or improper subset of the test pixels for testing the image sensor, all test pixels of the subset being interconnected with a first of the two voltage values. Using the test pixels for testing allows testing during ongoing operation, i.e., during reception of regular image signals. |
| US09681118B2 |
Method and system for recalibrating sensing devices without familiar targets
Methods and systems for recalibrating sensing devices without using familiar targets are provided herein. The method may include: capturing a scene using a sensing device; determining whether or not the device is calibrated; in a case that said sensing device is calibrated, adding at least one new landmark to the known landmarks; in a case that said sensing device is not calibrated, determining at least some of the captured objects as objects stored on a database as known landmarks at the scene whose position is known; and calibrating the sensing device based on the known landmarks. The system may have various architectures that include a sensing device which captures images of the scene and further derive 3D data on the scene of some form. |
| US09681117B2 |
Receiver apparatus and method for receiving a three-dimensional broadcast signal in a mobile environment
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for receiving a three-dimensional broadcast image in a mobile environment. The method for receiving a three-dimensional broadcast image according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises the following steps: receiving a broadcast signal including a left-view image and aright-view image for a three-dimensional broadcast image, and a service signaling channel for signaling the three-dimensional broadcast image; parsing a service map table (SMT) contained in the service signaling channel, parsing, from the parsed SMT, component-type information for indicating whether or not a three-dimensional video stream including the left-view image and the right-view image is contained in the broadcast signal, and parsing, from the SMT, left/right-view image information for indicating whether the left-view image or right-view image is transmitted through a specific region of a single video frame, if the component-type information indicates that the three-dimensional video stream containing the left-view image and the right-view image is contained in the broadcast signal; formatting the left-view image and the right-view image into a three-dimensional image on the basis of the parsed left/right-view image information; and displaying the three-dimensional image. |
| US09681116B2 |
System and method for delivering 3DTV content to variety of receivers
An internet protocol multicast provider is disclosed, which includes a bootstrap code component, a transcoder generator component, a content module and a packetizing module. The bootstrap code component can generate a bootstrap code. The transcoder generator component can generate a transcoder module. The content module can generate content in a first format. The packetizing module can generate internet protocol multicast packets, based on the bootstrap code, the transcoder module and the content. The bootstrap code can determine a second format for which an internet protocol multicast receiver can decode and render the content. The transcoder module can instruct the internet protocol multicast receiver to play the content when the first format is the second format. The transcoder module can instruct the internet protocol multicast receiver to transcode the content from the first format to the second format when the first format is not the second format. |
| US09681115B2 |
In-painting method for 3D stereoscopic views generation using left and right images and a depth map
A method for generating an intermediate view on the basis of left and right views of a 3D picture and a disparity map, the method including: using pixel information contained in the left and right views and the disparity map for creating an intermediate view, identifying occlusion pixels in the created intermediate view, and filling the occlusion pixels with information gained from adjacent pixels. |
| US09681113B2 |
Method and system of using floating window in three-dimensional (3D) presentation
A method and system for presenting stereoscopic images are described, in which a portion of at least one stereoscopic image of a stereoscopic pair is blocked while displaying the stereoscopic images. The blocked portion has a width at least equal to a magnitude of a minimum disparity associated with a region of the image near a vertical edge of the image or near a vertical edge of an area for displaying the image. By blocking the portion of the image during content display, one can avoid depth cue conflicts near the edge of the images or the display area. |
| US09681106B2 |
Viewer-personalized broadcast and data channel content delivery system and method
Data is transmitted by or collected from individual receivers of broadcast content on a particularized basis. The broadcast content is transmitted without regard to selection of a particular content stream by any one or more receivers. The receiver data is analyzed, and may be analyzed in conjunction with other information such as details on broadcast content streams made during certain times, and selections of broadcast streams by particular receivers. System configuration changes and targeted content may then be transmitted by a bidirectional data exchange medium to the individualized receivers based upon the analysis. |
| US09681104B2 |
Distributed control of a heterogeneous video surveillance network
A surveillance video broker arbitrates access by multiple clients to multiple surveillance video sources. Both clients and sources register with the broker. Each source independently specifies respective clients permitted real-time access to its video and conditions of access, if any. Preferably, the video source is a local surveillance domain having one or more cameras, one or more sensors, and a local controller, the source specifying clients or client groups permitted access, and independently specifying conditions of access for each client or client group, where conditions may include scheduled events, non-scheduled events, such as alarms or emergencies, and/or physical proximity. The broker automatically authorizes real-time access according to pre-specified conditions. Preferably, the broker can also arbitrate alert notifications to the clients based on pre-specified notification criteria. |
| US09681101B2 |
Split frame multistream encode
Techniques for video conferencing including receiving bandwidth and/or codec characteristics of a plurality of video conference participants, determining whether or not any of the bandwidth and/or codec characteristics are sufficiently different from others of the bandwidth and/or codec characteristics to warrant different treatment, when one or more of the bandwidth and/or codec characteristics are sufficiently different, grouping video conference participants into at least a first group and a second group according to video conference participants having same or similar bandwidth and/or codec characteristics, and establishing a video conference with at least first and second subconferences to service the first and second groups, respectively, wherein each of the video conference participants receives frames of video in which a first portion of the frames is encoded by a shared encoder, and wherein a second portion of the frames is encoded by different encoders respectively designated for each of the video conference participants. |
| US09681099B1 |
Multiplex live group communication
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving from a first group member a request to initiate a multiplex live communication with members of a group, wherein the first group member belongs to the group; sending a notification to each of one or more second group members notifying the one or more second group members that a multiplex live communication among members of the group is underway, wherein the one or more second group members belongs to the group; receiving one or more requests from a first subset of the one or more second group members to join the multiplex live communication; initiating the multiplex live video communication between the first group member and the first subset of the one or more second group members who requested to join the multiplex live communication. |
| US09681097B1 |
Secure video visitation system
Video conferencing in a controlled environment facility entails significant security concerns. These concerns are even more prevalent in a system that permits residents of such facilities to communicate via their own personal devices. Therefore, in order to alleviate these concerns and provide a secure system in which a resident is able to make video calls using their personal device, a kiosk unit is provided to which the personal device must be linked for completing a video call. When making the video call, the camera and display on the personal device are disabled, and all video data is captured and displayed by the kiosk unit. The link between the kiosk unit and the personal device facilitates the exchange of the image information for transmission to the outside party, or display to the user. By providing a fixed camera, and disabling the personal device camera, security can be maintained while permitting video calling services. |
| US09681095B2 |
Seamless call transitions with pre-escalation participation confirmation
The local address book of a device can be crawled for contact information, which is communicated to an address clearinghouse. The clearinghouse can indicate whether a contact is a participant in a video calling service. If so, an indication can be stored locally indicating that the contact is a participant. Later, during an audio-only call with the contact, an option to escalate the audio-only call to a video call via the video calling service can be presented. |
| US09681094B1 |
Media communication
Embodiments obtain a content item representing graphic content suitable for display as part of a shared media event, determine an activity metric for said content item, determine an activity metric for a participant of said shared media event, comparing the activity metric of the content item and the activity metric the participant, cause a display to render the graphic content associated with said content item, and render a representation of said participant. In at least some implementations, the relative displayed positions of said graphic content and said representation of the participant are based on the result of the comparison of the activity metric of the content item and the activity metric the participant. |
| US09681091B2 |
System and method for enhanced remote transcoding using content profiling
A system and method as described herein involve materially improving the quality of encoded content generated on systems or platforms such as remote or CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) platforms. An aspect of the described system and method comprises profiling the source content, for example, on a per title basis, and generating profile information as a set of metadata that reflects the optimal transcoding parameters. This metadata is transmitted along with the content to be transcoded to the remote device which can then perform a superior process on the content, compared to a generic non-hinted transcode. Other aspects of the described system and method comprise separation of profiling analysis from the actual transcoding at a remote location, and encapsulation of profile information with the program content for delivery to the remote premises. |
| US09681090B2 |
Personal video recording with messaging
Personal video recording including identifying a message point in operation of a PVR and transmitting a message. Embodiments include associating a message type with the message point and selecting, in dependence upon the message type, a message to be transmitted. Embodiments include receiving a response to the message; selecting, in dependence upon the response, a command to be executed; and executing the selected command. |
| US09681087B2 |
Method and system for still image capture from video footage
A method of providing one or more snapshots extracted from video footage includes displaying a first image in a first display area. The first image is associated with a first capture time. The method also includes displaying a first plurality of preview images in a second display area. The first plurality of preview images are associated with times prior to the first capture time. The method further includes displaying a second plurality of preview images in a third display area. The second plurality of preview images are associated with times subsequent to the first capture time. Moreover, the method includes selecting at least one of the first image, one of the first plurality of preview images, or one of the second plurality of preview images and saving the selected image to a memory. |
| US09681076B2 |
Solid-state imaging device and method of driving solid-state imaging device
A solid-state imaging device includes a pixel including a photoelectric conversion element, an accumulation unit accumulating charges generated by the photoelectric conversion element, a reset unit resetting the accumulation unit at a voltage of equal to or more than 4.05 V, and an amplifier transistor amplifying and outputting a signal corresponding to amount of accumulated charges, a vertical output line connected to the pixel, a current source circuit including first to third transistors flowing a constant current through the vertical output line, and a voltage setting circuit respectively setting the gate voltages of the first to third transistors to a first voltage, a second voltage higher than the first voltage, and a third voltage higher than the second voltage and lower than the power supply voltage so as to set the drain-source voltage of each of the first to third transistors to equal to or less than 1.75 V. |
| US09681075B2 |
Method and apparatus for fault detection for imager decoder
The teachings herein provide a method and apparatus for detecting erroneous pixel addressing in an imaging sensor. The method and apparatus advantageously leverage the characteristic “fixed pattern noise” of the sensor to detect addressing errors. Broadly, pixel addressing errors are detected based on comparing the pattern noise seen in data read outs from a targeted address of the sensor with characteristic fixed pattern noise known for the sensor. |
| US09681074B2 |
Pixel circuit including compensation unit, driving method thereof and detector
A pixel circuit is provided. The pixel circuit includes a photoelectric converter unit, an amplifier unit, a reset unit, a compensation unit, a charging unit, and a readout unit, wherein the photoelectric converter unit is connected to a first voltage terminal and the amplifier unit, and is configured to convert an optical signal into an electric signal, wherein the amplifier unit is connected to the photoelectric converter unit, the charging unit, and the readout unit, and is configured to amplify an output signal from the photoelectric converter unit, and wherein the reset unit is connected to a reset terminal, the first voltage terminal, and the amplifier unit, and is configured to reset the amplifier unit based on an input signal from the reset terminal and an input signal from the first voltage terminal. |
| US09681073B1 |
Method and apparatus for compensation of veiling glare in an image capturing device
Embodiments include an image capturing apparatus comprising: an image capturing module configured to capture (i) a first image of a first object, and (ii) a second image of a second object; a calibration module configured to, based on the first image of the first object, determine a correction factor; and an image processing module configured to, based on the correction factor, process the second image of the second object to compensate for veiling glare in the second image. |
| US09681072B2 |
Solid-state image pickup device with averaging of signals from individual pixels
A solid-state image pickup device 1A includes an image pickup section 2 having a pixel array P in which a pixel C is two-dimensionally arranged, a lens section 3 having a plurality of lenses 3a arranged on the pixel array P, and an image generating section 4A for generating an image by using an electrical signal SE. The image pickup section 2 has a plurality of the pixel arrays P including one image pickup region T. The image generating section 4A generates the image by averaging the electrical signals SE for each pixel C corresponding to one another among the image pickup regions T, in order to reduce noise present in the electrical signal SE. |
| US09681071B2 |
Image sensor with exception-coded output compression
In a pixel array within an integrated-circuit image sensor, each of a plurality of pixels is evaluated to determine whether charge integrated within the pixel in response to incident light exceeds a first threshold. N-bit digital samples corresponding to the charge integrated within at least a subset of the plurality of pixels are generated, and then applied to a lookup table to retrieve respective M-bit digital values (M being less than N), wherein a stepwise range of charge integration levels represented by possible states of the M-bit digital values extends upward from a starting charge integration level that is determined based on the first threshold. |
| US09681070B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, signal processing method of solid-state imaging device, and electronic apparatus
A solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array section and a signal processing section. The pixel array section is configured to include a plurality of arranged rectangular pixels, each of which has different sizes in the vertical and horizontal directions, and a plurality of adjacent ones of which are combined to form a square pixel having the same size in the vertical and horizontal directions. The signal processing section is configured to perform a process of outputting, as a single signal, a plurality of signals read out from the combined plurality of rectangular pixels. |
| US09681064B1 |
Lookup table interpolation in a film emulation camera system
An image capture and processing system accesses an image including image data. The image processing system receives a selection of a preset configuration. The preset configuration identifies first and second image effects, a first intensity value corresponding to the first image effect, and a second intensity value corresponding to the second image effect. The image processing system accesses a set of stored lookup tables (LUTs). Each accessed LUT in the set of stored LUTs is associated with the first and second image effects, and is associated with intensity values within a threshold proximity of the first and second intensity values. The image processing system generates a combined LUT by interpolating the accessed set of stored LUTs. The image processing system processes the image based on the combined LUT. |
| US09681062B2 |
Vehicle camera image quality improvement in poor visibility conditions by contrast amplification
A vision system for a vehicle includes an imaging sensor disposed at the vehicle and having an exterior field of view, and an image processor. The imaging sensor captures image data and the image processor is operable to process successive frames of captured image data. Responsive to a determination of a low visibility driving condition, the image processor increases the contrast of the captured images to enhance discrimination of objects in the field of view of the imaging sensor. The image processor may execute a first brightness transfer function on frames of captured image data to enhance the contrast of captured image data, and may execute a second brightness transfer function over successive frames of earlier captured image data and may execute a tone mapping of the earlier captured image data and the currently captured image data to generate a contrast enhanced output image. |
| US09681061B2 |
Image-processing device and image-processing method
An image-processing device is provided with: a flicker detecting portion that detects a flicker component in an input image signal for each frame and that generates a first signal; a storing portion that stores the generated first signal for a plurality of latest continuous frames; a phase-displacement detecting portion that selects, from the stored past first flicker correction signals, the first signal having substantially the same phase as the most-recent first signal, and that detects a phase displacement level with respect to the most-recent first signal; a phase-displacement correcting portion that corrects the selected past first signal on the basis of the detected phase displacement level; an infinite-impulse-response combining portion that generates a second signal by combining, at a predetermined ratio, the corrected past first signal and the most-recent first signal; and a flicker correcting portion that corrects the input image signal on the basis of the generated second signal. |
| US09681049B2 |
System and methods for damping lens ringing
Methods and systems are disclosed for damping unwanted vibrations or ringing of a lens in an imaging device. For example, one method includes determining a target distance to move a lens, and dividing the target distance into multiple steps having at least a first step and a subsequent step, moving the lens, via an actuator, by the first step, thereby causing a first vibration, retrieving a damping parameter indicative of a time delay, the damping parameter being based on at least one characteristic of the actuator and the number of steps, and repeating said moving the lens at least one subsequent step after delaying the subsequent step by one of the damping parameters, each moving the lens a subsequent step causing a subsequent vibration, and the damping parameters affecting the vibration such that the first and subsequent vibrations at least in part modify each other to lower overall vibration. |
| US09681043B2 |
Multi-camera imaging system, and compensation method for image reconstruction
The disclosure relates to a multi-camera imaging system, and a compensation method for image reconstruction. The main components of the multi-camera imaging system are an image capturing module having a multi-lens module and a multi-sensor module, and a distance adjustment unit automatically adjusting the distance between the multi-lens and multi-sensor modules. Note that the distance adjustment unit conducts compensation performed on the change of the system's focal length caused by temperature in the system. The multi-camera imaging system further includes a position-sensing module which is used to sense a displacement or change of the distance made by the distance adjustment unit. A set of image reconstruction parameters corresponding to the displacement or the change of distance is then provided. |
| US09681041B1 |
Apparatus, system and method for capturing and compositing an image using a light-emitting backdrop
An apparatus, system and method are disclosed for photographing an image in a photo booth employing a light-emitting backdrop. For example, the apparatus comprises a photo booth including a housing having an entrance on one side with movable closure member to minimize encroachment of exterior light, a seat, a first white light source facing the subject(s) for emitting a first selected light intensity upon the subjects, a second white light emitting source facing generally the rear of the subject(s) so as to provide a light-emitting photographic backdrop, and a device for receiving a selected form of payment, or alternatively, for activating the apparatus without payment. In addition, the apparatus includes a photography unit comprising a selected camera, a program-controlled apparatus, a printer, and the first light source, for taking a digital photograph of objects within a selected frame of reference. |
| US09681039B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program for filter processing
An image processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of divided filters being configured such that a calculation result becomes a target filter to be applied to an input image, a filter processing unit configured to apply the plurality of divided filters to the input image to generate intermediate images for the plurality of respective divided filters, and an addition unit configured to add the intermediate images generated for the plurality of respective divided filters while shifting positions of the respective intermediate images so that positions of focused pixels of the plurality of respective divided filters align with a position of a focused pixel of the target filter to generate an output image, wherein the filter processing unit generates the intermediate images while changing an area to be used for performing calculation, for each of the plurality of divided filters. |
| US09681036B2 |
Imaging apparatus, imaging system, imaging method, and computer program
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging module configured to continuously generate a live image and perform capture to generate still images, a communication module configured to transmit the live image to a display apparatus and receive a capturing command from the display apparatus, a transmission detection unit configured to detect whether the live image is being transmitted to the display apparatus, an information addition unit configured to add transmission information indicating whether the transmission of the live image is being performed before the capturing command is received to the still images generated based on the capturing command, and a storage module configured to store the still images with the transmission information. |
| US09681033B2 |
System for tracking cable tethered from machine
A system for locating a cable tethered from a machine along a worksite is disclosed. The system includes a laser scanner and a color camera. A location unit generates a position of the machine. The system includes a processing device disposed on the machine and in communication with the laser scanner, the color camera and the location unit. The processing device determines a location of the cable based on signals from the laser scanner and the color camera. The system further includes a server remotely located with respect to the machine and disposed in communication with the processing device. The server is configured to record locations of the cable at different instances of time and generates a map of the cable based on the locations of the cable. |
| US09681029B2 |
Swivel camera mount
A camera mount is configured to attach a camera to a mount base which, in turn, may be secured to sport equipment, musical instruments, vehicles, and the like. The camera mount includes a ball component that couples to a camera or camera housing and that allows a user to rotate a camera within a horizontal plane, and to pivot a camera in one or more vertical planes. The ball component is securely coupled within a sleeve component with a bucket or other coupling mechanism that allows the sleeve component (and thereby the ball component and coupled camera or camera housing) to couple to the mount base. |
| US09681028B2 |
Digital camera with wireless connectivity
Modular digital camera systems, such as modular digital still and motion cameras are disclosed. Individual modules may be removed from the system and replaced, such as to benefit from upgraded technology, while preserving the remaining modules in the system. The modules may be disassembled and reconstructed to convert the physical form of the camera, such as between still configurations, motion configurations, ENG configurations, DSLR configurations and studio configurations. The modules may be used to add wireless capabilities employing standard wireless protocols to allow a variety of devices to control or communicate with the modular digital camera system. The wireless capabilities may also be used to present a soft interface for camera control to the user, exposing a variety of variables and controls to the user that may otherwise be difficult or impossible to access. |
| US09681025B2 |
Non-transitory computer readable recording medium configured to cause a computer of an information processing apparatus to execute a method, the information processing apparatus capable of controlling a peripheral device that performs at least one of an image input operation and an image output operation based on an ICC profile, and corresponding control method
An acquisition unit acquires information in terms of a type of a device to be used. A storage unit stores a plurality of ICC profiles corresponding to respective devices. A generation unit generates a list of descriptions of usable ICC profiles. A determination unit determines whether the generated list includes a description of an ICC profile including the information unit in terms of the type of the device to be used. In a case where the determination made by the determination unit is affirmative, a change unit changes the description of determined ICC profile to a description including the information in terms of a device model name of the device to be used. A providing unit provides the list generated by the generation unit or the list changed by the change unit to a user. |
| US09681023B1 |
Image processing method and system for classification of halftone frequencies
The disclosed embodiments illustrate an image processing method and system for classification of halftone frequencies. Pixel values of a first pixel block in a binary image are converted into first pixel values. A second pixel block comprising second pixel values is generated, based on pixel shifting in the first pixel block by a pre-determined count. A frequency value for a pixel-of-interest in the first pixel block is determined, based on a count of a pre-specified type of third pixel values. Other plurality of frequency values for other pixels-of-interest in other plurality of first pixel blocks are estimated when a mode value, corresponding to a plurality of frequency values of pixels-of-interest in a plurality of first pixel blocks, exceeds a pre-determined threshold mode value. Based on the determined plurality of frequency values, one or more image processing operations on the binary image are performed. |
| US09681011B2 |
Original reading apparatus with original tray, and control method therefor
An original reading apparatus includes an original tray. A conveyance unit conveys an original of an original bundle on the original tray. A reading unit reads the original conveyed. A first detection unit detects a first length of the original in a principal scanning direction. A second detection unit detects a second length of the original bundle in an auxiliary scanning direction. A third detection unit detects the original conveyed. A prediction unit predicts an original size by selecting from candidates corresponding to the first length in a first prediction mode, or by determining based on the first and second lengths in a second prediction mode. A specifying unit specifies the original size based on the first length and a length in the auxiliary scanning direction detected by the third detection unit. A change unit changes the prediction mode when the predicted original size differs from the specified original size. |
| US09681010B2 |
Printing apparatus for controlling discharge to first stacking unit according to status of first stacking unit and second stacking unit
A printing apparatus has a stacker that includes a first stacking unit that stacks discharged sheets and a second stacking unit that slides a predetermined amount of sheets stacked on the first stacking unit from the first stacking unit and holds them. In a case in which a print job is executed, an operation of discharging sheets to the first stacking unit is controlled according to stacking statuses of the first stacking unit and the second stacking unit. |
| US09681009B2 |
Alignment sequencing of image data and to-be-acquired scan data executable by an information processing apparatus
A medium stores computer-executable programs. The programs cause an information processing apparatus to perform: displaying images based on scan data and a first icon which is draggable, on a display unit; acquiring a drag destination of the first icon; judging whether the drag destination of the first icon is one of a position overlapping with one image included in the images displayed on the display unit and a position adjacent to the one image; in a case that the drag destination of the first icon overlaps with the one image, determining an alignment sequence so that the one image is replaced with an image based on to-be-acquired scan data; and in a case that the drag destination of the first icon is adjacent to the one image, determining the alignment sequence so that the image based on the to-be-acquired scan data is arranged adjacent to the one image. |
| US09681005B2 |
Mobile communication device and prompting method thereof
A mobile communication device is provided in the present disclosure. The mobile communication device includes a prompting module, a detecting module, a determining module and a control module. The prompting module includes a speaker and a vibrator. The detecting module is configured for detecting a vibrating noise corresponding vibration of the vibrator. The determining module is configured for determining whether the vibrating noise is less than a threshold value. The control module is configured for controlling an operation state of the speaker according to a determining result of the determining module. The present disclosure further provides a prompting method of the mobile communication device. |
| US09681003B1 |
Method and system for managing device status and activity history using big data storage
In one or more embodiments, a computer-implemented method and system to receive, store and process status and activity information of subscriber devices connected to a network is disclosed. The method and system comprise delivering information relating to the status or activity of at least one device to one or more of the services used by the network operator for subscription and device management (such as a home subscriber server or HSS, gateway or policy and charging rules function or PCRF) and extracting all or at least a portion of the information received by the HSS, gateway or PCRF. The system and method further includes storing the status and activity information for the at least one device received by the at least one subscription and device management service into one or more distributed database nodes. |
| US09681001B1 |
Systems and methods for customer administered calling controls
Methods and systems for customer administered calling controls in an institutional setting comprising receiving customer control information from a customer outside of an institution where the customer control information comprising one or more control mechanisms and providing a resident of the institution, through a telephone network, phone services subject to the one or more control mechanisms. |
| US09680997B2 |
Systems and methods for routing callers to an agent in a contact center
Techniques for handling contacts and agents in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for handling contacts and agents in a contact center system including identifying a plurality of agents ordered for assignment to a contact queue, and assigning a first out-of-order agent from the plurality of agents to a first contact that arrives at the contact queue based on information about the first contact. |
| US09680996B2 |
Method and apparatus for scheduling callbacks via offline offer tasks to knowledge workers
In one embodiment, a method includes a request that is obtained by a call center system from a customer. The method also includes identifying a first set of experts that includes at least a first expert suitable for, or capable of, processing the request. The first expert is offline with respect to the call center system. An offer task is created and provided to the first set of experts. The offer task identifies the request and initiates the scheduling of a callback to address the request. |
| US09680995B2 |
Reporting on call center data across multiple concurrent activity sources
Aspects are directed towards methods including creating multiple states from at least two call center data sources; and combining at least two of the multiple states to obtain a data model, where the data model comprises an attribute related to the call center, and methods including collecting a set of call data from multiple sources, where the multiple sources comprise a management module source and at least one source not controlled by the management module, and analyzing the set of call data. |
| US09680994B2 |
Method and apparatus for data channel augmented auto attended voice response systems
Method of using a computerized smartphone to navigate remote auto attendant telephony systems with a menu structure. The auto attendant's menu structure is put into an online computer database. The caller uses the smartphone to call and establish a voice channel with remote auto attendant telephony system (using the telephone number of that system), software applications running on the caller's smartphone communication device intercept the telephone number and along with the voice channel, also establish a data channel with the online computer accessible database. The caller's smartphone retrieves at least some of the menu structure of the auto attendant telephony system through this data channel, and displays at least some of the menu structure of the remote auto attendant telephony system on the graphical user interface of the user's smartphone synchronized, with the audio delivery of the menu structure, thus facilitating interactions with the auto attendant system. |
| US09680992B1 |
IVR engagements and upfront background noise
Embodiments of the present invention pertain to reducing or eliminating speech recognition error when background noise is detected at a caller's location. For example, when background noise is detected at the caller's location, the caller may be prompted to use dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF). |
| US09680991B1 |
Identifying recorded call data segments of interest
A method and apparatus of processing a voice call are disclosed. One example method of operation may include recording at least a portion of a conference call and storing the portion of the conference call in memory. The method may also include processing the portion of the conference call to identify at least one segment of interest and adding the at least one segment of interest to an existing work order associated with a third party application. The method may further provide forwarding the at least one segment of interest to a third party computing device. |
| US09680990B2 |
Caller identification using communication network information
In one embodiment, a social networking system determines a user identifier of a caller placing a call to a receiving user based on the call's phone number, accesses one or more data stores for information associated with the caller, and present to the receiving user the information associated with the caller. |
| US09680989B2 |
Identifying recycled telephone numbers
An automated method begins by receiving a list of numbers that have been de-activated by a carrier. Periodically, and for each number, a request is made to identify a current carrier for the number. If the current carrier matches the carrier that provided the de-activation information, the mobile number is considered to be in a first state, i.e., shut off and returned to a pool of numbers that are available to this same carrier. Upon a determination that the number is in the first state, the provider issues a request to any opt-in database to delete any express consent or other similar data associated with the number. If, however, the number does not match the carrier of deactivation, the number is considered to be in a second state, i.e., likely to have been ported by the same user to a new carrier. This state is logged in an audit trail. |
| US09680976B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device including a casing, a control module, a micro-projecting unit and a motion sensing unit is provided. The control module is disposed in the casing. The micro-projecting unit is disposed on the casing and electrically connected to the control module. The micro-projecting unit is capable of projecting a projection beam to form a frame in a projection region. The motion sensing unit is disposed on the casing and electrically connected to the control module. The motion sensing unit is capable of sensing a motion in the projection region. The control module is capable of applying the motion sensed by the motion sensing unit to change the frame. |
| US09680973B2 |
Electronic device capable of NFC communication
Disclosed is an electronic device capable of near field communication (NFC) and of achieving high integration, size reduction, and good sensitivity. The electronic device includes an antenna chip provided inside a battery protection circuit package of a battery pack and having embedded an NFC antenna therein, and an extended antenna loop electrically connected to the antenna chip and provided outside the battery protection circuit package. |
| US09680972B2 |
SD switch box in a cellular handset
A cellular handset, including a base band modem that transitions between a normal mode, a sleep mode and a shutdown mode, flash memory, coupled with the base band modem, for storing code and data used for operation of the base band modem in normal mode, a memory controller, coupled with the flash memory, for accessing the flash memory, and a convergence controller, connected to the base band modem and to the memory controller, comprising a host port for connecting an external host device to the cellular handset, wherein the convergence controller enables the external host device to access the flash memory while the base band modem is in sleep or shutdown mode. |
| US09680971B2 |
Controlling a paravirtualized wireless interface from a guest virtual machine
A method, system and an apparatus to paravirtualize a wireless interface is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method receives a frame of data for a wireless service through a wireless interface of a host device using a processor. If the frame of data is associated with a first type of category, the frame of data is processed through a first standard interface. If the frame of data is associated with a second type of category, the frame is processed through a second standard interface. The method then sends the frame of data processed through the first standard interface or the second standard interface to a guest. A virtual wireless interface associated the guest that is emulating the wireless interface of the host device converts the frame of data processed through the first standard interface to the second standard of communication. |
| US09680963B2 |
In-vehicle web presentation
One or more controller may extract voice commands from retrieved web content, format the web content according to vehicle computing system (VCS) specific formatting information, provide the formatted web content for display by the VCS, and update the recognized voice commands of the VCS according to the extracted voice commands. A server may identify whether a received web request for web content is directed to a vehicle sub-domain for providing an in-vehicle-specific version of the content, identify whether the received web request is for presentation of web content via a VCS, and redirect the web request to the vehicle sub-domain when the request is not directed to the vehicle sub-domain and is for presentation via the VCS. |
| US09680950B1 |
Method and apparatus for causing delay in processing requests for internet resources received from client devices
A method and apparatus for delaying responses to requests in a server are described. Upon receipt, from a client device, of a first request for a resource at a first location, a response that includes a redirection instruction to a second location is transmitted, where the response includes a first number of redirects that the client device is to complete prior to the first request being fulfilled. Upon receipt of a following request including a number of redirects, determining whether the number of redirects has been performed. When the number of redirects has not been performed the transmission of the redirection instruction is repeated with a number of redirects smaller than the first number of redirects until the receipt of a request indicating that the number of redirects has been performed. When the number of redirects has been performed the request is fulfilled. |
| US09680946B2 |
System and method for detecting and reporting online activity using real-time content-based network monitoring
A computerized system and method for tracking and reporting online activity across a plurality of clients and servers is disclosed that intercepts and logs secure and non-secure HTTP request and response pages, analyzes each of the received page records, associates each page record to an event type based on user-defined parameters, identifies and extracts user-defined attributes of each page record based on its event type, and reports on the occurrence of the event along with its associated attributes. |
| US09680934B2 |
Vehicle communication channel management
A communication policy server may receive channel availability information indicative of a plurality of communication channels detected by a communication manager of a vehicle, each of the plurality of communication channels configured to provide messages to a target recipient associated with the vehicle. The communication policy server may recommend one of the plurality of detected communication channels as optimal based on factors such as preferences of the target recipient and preferences of the message source, the timing of the messages and the content of the messages. |
| US09680931B1 |
Message passing for low latency storage networks
A method of communication between networked devices in a local storage area network includes forming a message for in-band communication within a local storage area network. The message includes at least one major task and one or more associated sub tasks for execution within the storage area network. The method further includes establishing a first communication link at least between a first networked device and a second networked device in response to the formation of the message; transmitting the message from the first networked device to at least the second networked device within the local storage area network; and in response to receiving the message, executing the sub tasks within the message with a processor to complete the major task and support local storage area network functionality. |
| US09680930B2 |
Data communication system for a storage management system and communication method thereof
The present invention relates to a data communication system for storage management, the system comprises a storage management apparatus, an expander enclosure SCSI enclosure services (SES), the expander enclosure SES is connected to the storage management apparatus through a communication line, and a mainboard baseboard management controller (BMC), the mainboard BMC is connected to the expander enclosure SES through a communication medium, wherein each of the expander enclosure SES and the mainboard BMC has a instruction converting module. |
| US09680929B2 |
Concurrently uploading multimedia objects and associating metadata with the multimedia objects
In one embodiment, accessing a set of multimedia objects stored on a first computing device; initiating upload of the set of multimedia objects to a second computing device; and while the set of multimedia objects is being uploaded to the second computing device, receiving metadata entered by a user and associating metadata with each of one or more multimedia objects from the set of multimedia objects. |
| US09680928B2 |
Random linear coding approach to distributed data storage
A method and computer program product for providing a random linear coding approach to distributed data storage is presented. A file is broken into a plurality of pieces. For every peer (peer means storage-location with limited storage space), the number of coded-pieces the peer can store is determined. Each of the coded-piece is determined by taking random linear combination of all the pieces of the entire file. The associate code-vector is stored for every coded-piece. The file is retrieved by collecting code-vectors and the coded-pieces from the peers and viewing the collected code-vectors as a matrix. When a dimension of the matrix is equal to the number of pieces of the file, the file is recovered using the collection of code vectors in the matrix. |
| US09680924B2 |
System and method for resource selection during group communication broadcast
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving a request to initiate a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) to wirelessly distribute media content to mobile user equipment within a target geographical region using a common radio channel An efficiency metric is obtained, in response to the request, for each broadcast multicast service center (BMSC). The efficiency metric is evaluated for each of the BMSCs and one of the BMSCs is selected based on the evaluation result. Establishment of an MBMS bearer service is facilitated using the selected BMSC, and a first media content item is disseminated to the mobile user equipment within the target geographical region using the common radio channel by way of the MBMS bearer service. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09680923B1 |
Platform and network for joint distribution of content by multiple publishers
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for joint distribution of content by multiple publishers. In one aspect, a method performed by one or more computers includes receiving data from a first content publisher, as well as accessing a publisher database that indicates information about other content publishers. A first set of candidate publishers is selected based on compatibility with characteristics specified by the first content publisher. A second set of candidate publishing partners is selected, as a subset of the first set of candidate publishing partners, based on compatibility of the first content publisher with characteristics specified by the candidate publishing partners. One of the content publishers in the second set of candidate publishing partners is selected, and a jointly published content item that references both the first content publisher and the selected publishing partner is provided for presentation to content recipients. |
| US09680920B2 |
Anticipatory resource allocation/activation and lazy de-allocation/deactivation
A computer-implemented method, carried out by one or more processors, for managing resources in a server environment. The method includes determining, by one or more processors, to shut down a first resource consumer, wherein the first resource consumer is assigned a first virtual resource with a first set of one or more host resources. It is determined, by one or more processors, whether a second virtual resource assigned to a second resource consumer requires the first set of one or more host resources. If the second virtual resource assigned to the second resource consumer does not require the first set of one or more host resources, it is determined, by one or more processors, not to deactivate the one or more host resources assigned to the first virtual resource. |
| US09680917B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system of opening a web page
The present disclosure has disclosed a method, an apparatus, and a system of opening a web page and belongs to the technical field of the Internet. Said method comprises: A binding relationship among terminals stored in advance in a server; said server receives the web page information of a target web page sent by the first terminal; according to the binding relationship among terminals stored in advance, said server determines the second terminal, which has a binding relationship with said first terminal; according to the web page information of said target web page, said server sends a notice of web page information to said second terminal so that said second terminal opens said target web page according to said notice of web page information. |
| US09680914B1 |
Seamless service migration updates
A method of providing an update to a user mobile communication device, wherein the update comprises at least one new credential for a user mobile communication device following a change of a domain name related to a service, the method comprising changing the domain name, changing a state of an at least one old credential for the user mobile communication device used at the service to transient, granting access to the service to the user mobile communication device in response to a request for access using the at least one transient credential, determining if the user mobile communication device is in an acceptable environment to update to the at least one new credential and, when the user mobile communication device is in an acceptable environment, updating the user mobile communication device to the at least one new credential. |
| US09680906B2 |
Upstream fault detection
Techniques are described for detecting faults in media content based on the behavior of users viewing the media content. Embodiments stream a first instance of media content to one or more users. The behavior of the one or more users is monitored while the users are viewing the streaming first instance of media content. Embodiments then determine whether the first instance of media content is faulty, based on the monitored behavior of the one or more users. |
| US09680905B2 |
System for intelligible audio conversation over unreliable digital transmission media
During unfavorable network conditions, a system provides a fallback mode that ensures conversation intelligibility and eliminates dropouts. In the fallback mode, the system uses data retransmission and mitigates retransmission delay by breaking input and output audio into segments for flow control and by involving the users in flow control. On the receive end, when necessary, the system pauses audio output and indicates the pause to the receiving user to inform the receiving user that the pause is a system artifact rather than silence from the transmitting user. On the transmit end, when necessary to avoid accumulation of excessive end-to-end delay, the system suspends audio input and indicates the suspension to the transmitting user to inform the transmitting user that audio input is temporarily being ignored. The transmit end of the system decides when to suspend audio input based on current end-to-end delay, which is continually communicated from the receive end. |
| US09680904B2 |
Adaptive buffers for media players
A system and method relate to determining am initial buffer size associated with a buffer and modifying the initial buffer size when jitter is detected. The initial buffer size may be determined and modified based on a maximum initial buffer size, and the maximum initial buffer size may be determined based on delays associated with storing data to the buffer. For example, the maximum initial buffer size may correspond to a quantity of data that can be stored to the buffer during a maximum acceptable buffering delay. The maximum acceptable buffering delay may be identified by determining drop rates associated with different buffering delays and selecting, as the maximum acceptable buffering delay, one of the buffering delays associated with a maximum acceptable drop rate. |
| US09680897B2 |
Throttled scanning for optimized compression of network communicated data
A system can throttle compression of instrumentation data related to a page view, by throttled scanning processes. Then that data can be communication over the Internet to a server effectively. The scanning of instrumentation data can be performed via batch processing; and therefore, data for compression may be maximized or throttled. The system can also accelerate the various caching options involved with the streaming of content items and ad items. For example, such items can be retrieved by the local and/or remote caches associated with the client-side application and/or the page view, prior to the items being requested by and/or presented to a user, via batch retrieval processes. These batch retrieval processes can also be combined with the batch scanning processes. |
| US09680892B2 |
Providing integration of multi-bit-rate media streams
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, based on multi-bit-rate streaming for inserting secondary streaming media into primary streaming media are described. In some implementations, the secondary streaming media, also referred to as insertion-media, may be advertisements. In other implementations, the secondary streaming media may be breaking news, emergency notifications or public service announcements. The systems and methods disclosed in this specification enable seamless integration of insertion-media streams with a primary media stream for providing a viewer a high-quality online video experience. |
| US09680891B2 |
System, method and network device for streaming data from a network
A system, method and a network device for streaming data from a network are provided. A network device includes a software application for streaming network data. The application sets a ratio of local versus network content to a value. The application scans the network device's local media library metadata for local content and submits the metadata to the network server, wherein the server uses the metadata to identify and classify local content and create an integrated playlist using local and network content that is communicated to the network device, which starts content playback. In the event of no network connectivity, the content playback may be based entirely on locally stored content. The selection of local or network content is based on a randomly generated value and a set ratio of local to network content. |
| US09680889B2 |
System and method of managing multiple video players
A system and method are provided for managing multiple video players executing on a client software platform. Each video player can have at least one video data stream supplied over a data network. A priority value can be applied to selected video players, and an amount of available bandwidth can be determined. The determined amount of available bandwidth may also be used to calculate whether the selected video players can sustain a video playback quality above a pre-defined threshold. This operation can include appropriately apportioning and managing bandwidth and/or processing power allotments between the video players based on the priority assignments when the bandwidth and/or processing power is less than what the video players want to consume. A modify playback message may be sent to at least one video player when the video playback rate is not sustainable or has become sustainable again. |
| US09680886B2 |
Internet enabled universal remote control system
A Device-Based Control System (DBCS) enables a device-agnostic and source-agnostic entertainment experience through use of an internet-enabled device (IED). The IED includes a media management application for navigating through media or entertainment content, controlling media devices according to a type of media content selected by the user, and sharing media experiences via social networks. The IED includes smartphones, tablet computers, and other internet-enabled processor-based devices. The DBCS leverages the internet access of the IED to enable search and discovery of all available media content. A content recommendation system (CRS) coupled to the media management application learns media preferences from user behavior, generates from numerous disparate media sources media choices corresponding to the media preferences, and presents the media choices on the IED. |
| US09680885B2 |
Information processing apparatus and terminal device that communicate with each other
An information processing apparatus that communicates with a terminal device using a first communication manner, the information processing apparatus includes a processor that: generates a response including first information being described in a first format in response to a request from the terminal device; converts the first information being included in the response and being described in the first format into second information described in a second format conforming to the first communication manner; and transmits the response including the second information to the terminal device in the first communication manner. |
| US09680883B1 |
Techniques for integrating voice control into an active telephony call
Examples are disclosed for responding to voice commands within an existing telephony call between two or more end user communication devices mediated by an IP based communications server. The server is mediating a telephony call among the two or more end user communication devices where each end user communication device has its own communication link to the server. The server may detect a trigger event from one of the end user communication devices. Upon detecting the trigger event, the server may receive voice input over the communication link from the end user communication device that generated the trigger event. The received voice input may be parsed into one or more voice commands. The server may then cause the one or more voice commands to be executed. In other embodiments, much of the intelligence and processing may be carried out on the end user communication device directly. |
| US09680882B2 |
Automatic configuration of endpoint communication devices to set up a VoIP network
Implementations relate to automatic configuration of endpoint communication devices to set up a communication network such as a VOIP network. In some implementations, a method includes a server receiving an extension request for device extension from an endpoint communications device connected to a communication network, mapping an identifier for the endpoint communications device to a device extension, and transmitting the device extension to the endpoint communications device. |
| US09680880B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting IP multicast
The invention includes a method and apparatus for configuring legacy nodes to support multicast functions. The method includes determining, in response to a request for a first user device to join a multicast group, whether any node in a multicast path between the first user device and a second user device comprises a legacy node and forming, in response to a determination that a node in the multicast path is a legacy node, a message adapted for configuring the legacy node to start forwarding multicast traffic from a first interface to a second interface of the legacy node. The legacy node may be configured to stop forwarding multicast traffic from the first interface of the legacy node to the second interface of the legacy node. The legacy node may be configured to start/stop forwarding traffic from one or more input interfaces to one or more output interfaces. |
| US09680878B2 |
Electronic messaging exchange
A computer-implemented system and method for secure electronic message exchange including coupling a control platform to a workstation of a plurality of workstations via a communications medium, where the control platform includes one or more apparatuses for monitoring, controlling, conversion, and billing, related to messages exchanged between a plurality of local users and a plurality of remote users. The system prevents forwarding or copying of a message sent by a local user of the plurality of local users and received by a remote user of the plurality of remote users, to another party by the control platform. The system and method also provides for authenticating the remote user with the control platform. |
| US09680874B1 |
Containerized examination of sensitive data
Techniques are described for examining data that may be communicated to a recipient in an item such as a gift certificate. In some cases, the data may include personal information, financial data, or otherwise sensitive data. To prevent inadvertent leakage of sensitive data to unauthorized processes or individuals, the sensitive data may be placed in a portion of memory that is accessible by authorized software modules. The modules may execute in a container that has access to the portion of memory. In some cases, a module may expose functions that are callable from outside the container. The functions may examine the data to determine whether portions of the data comply with requirements. The return values of the functions may indicate the results of the examination of the data without communicating the examined data. |
| US09680872B1 |
Trusted-code generated requests
Custom policies are definable for use in a system that enforces policies. A user, for example, may author a policy using a policy language and transmit the system through an application programming interface call. The custom policies may specify conditions for computing environment attestations that are provided with requests to the system. When a custom policy applies to a request, the system may determine whether information in the attestation is sufficient for the request to be fulfilled. |
| US09680869B2 |
System and method for innovative management of transport layer security session tickets in a network environment
An example method includes identifying a transport layer security (TLS) session between a client and a server, parsing one or more TLS messages to identify a session ticket associated with the session, transforming the session ticket into a fixed size session token, and managing the session using the session token to identify the session. The transforming may include computing a hash value of the session ticket using a hashing algorithm. If any of the TLS messages is spread across more than one TLS protocol record, the method can include computing a hash value of a portion of the session ticket encountered in a TLS protocol record using a hashing algorithm, incrementally computing another hash value of another portion of the session ticket encountered in a subsequent TLS protocol record from the previously computed hash value, and repeating the incremental computing until portions of the session ticket have been processed. |
| US09680866B2 |
System and method for analyzing web content
A system and computer based method are provided for identifying active content in websites on a network. In one aspects, a method for classifying web content includes determining a first property associated with static content of a web page, determining a second property associated with the content of the web page based at least in part on active content associated with the web page, evaluating a logical expression relating the first property and the second property, at least in part by evaluating whether a constant value matches at least a portion of the content of the web page, associating the web page with a category based on a result of the evaluation, and determining whether to allow network access to the web page based on the category. |
| US09680865B2 |
Reliable user-device content and media delivery apparatuses, methods and systems
The RELIABLE USER-DEVICE CONTENT AND MEDIA DELIVERY APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (“SEME”) can allow for the delivery of electronic content in malware and security-comprised user-device environments. Embodiments of the SEME allow for the efficient use of user-device bandwidth by invoking secondary or tertiary content delivery channels only when the primary source of device content is actually compromised, when attempted content retrieval has been intercepted by malware, or when the normal content delivery vector has otherwise been rendered unavailable to the user-device. In some embodiments, the SEME transforms user device content delivery requests, via SEME components, into reliable delivery injection packages and content delivery outputs in order to ensure reliable content delivery. |
| US09680861B2 |
Historical analysis to identify malicious activity
Systems and methods may use historical analysis to identify malicious activity. A discovery/recovery system may comprise a processor in communication with a network and in communication with a database. The discovery/recovery system may gather filtered historical network data associated with an asset associated with the network. The discovery/recovery system may analyze the filtered historical network data to determine whether a subset of the filtered historical network data is associated with a malware infection of the asset. |
| US09680847B2 |
Structural recognition of malicious code patterns
Various embodiments include an apparatus comprising a detection database including a tree structure of descriptor parts including one or more root nodes and one or more child nodes linked to from one or more parent descriptor parts chains, each of the root nodes representing a descriptor part, and each root node linked to at least one of the child nodes, each root node and each child node linked to any possible additional child nodes, wherein the possible additional child nodes include any possible successor child nodes and a descriptor comparator coupled to the detection database, the descriptor comparator operable to receive data including a plurality of logic entities, once or successively, and to continuously compare logic entities provided to the tree structure of descriptor parts stored in detection database, and to provide an output based on the comparison. |
| US09680846B2 |
Techniques for sharing network security event information
This disclosure provides an architecture for sharing information between network security administrators. Events converted to a normalized data format (CCF) are stored in a manner that can be queried by a third party (e.g., an administrator of another, trusted network). Optionally made available as a service, stored event records can be sanitized for third party queries (e.g., by clients of a service maintaining such a repository). In one embodiment, each contributing network encrypts or signs its (sanitized) records using a symmetric key architecture, the key being unique to the contributing network. This key is used (e.g., by the repository) to index a set of permissions or conditions of the contributing network in servicing any query, e.g., by matching a stored hash of the event record or by decrypting the record. The information sharing service can optionally be provided by a hosted information security service or on a peer-to-peer basis. |
| US09680845B2 |
Detecting a malicious file infection via sandboxing
A device may receive a trigger to determine whether a malicious file is operating on a client device. The device may determine a network activity profile associated with the malicious file based on receiving the trigger to determine whether the malicious file is operating on the client device. The network activity profile may include information regarding network activity associated with the malicious file when the malicious file is executed in a testing environment. The device may monitor network activity associated with the client device. The device may determine that the network activity associated with the client device matches the network activity profile associated with the malicious file based on monitoring the network activity associated with the client device. The device may provide information indicating that the network activity associated with the client device matches the network activity profile associated with the malicious file. |
| US09680844B2 |
Automation of collection of forensic evidence
Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for automated collection of user-specified forensic data from a target computer associated with a case. In particular, embodiments herein disclosed provide for a system that is configured to provide a user interface to allow a user to select a target computer within a network, select one or more user profiles associated with the target computer, and specify one or more types of forensic data to be collected from the target computer. The system is also configured to create a subfolder in a folder linked to the case and one or more files in the subfolder for storing the user-specified data; connect the computer apparatus to the target computer; and collect the specified data and save the collected data to the files. |
| US09680838B1 |
System and method for communicating with inmates in privileged communication
A system and method for with an inmate in a privileged communication are disclosed. a communication system includes a portal subsystem that determines whether a communication should be monitored, or not, based on received information, including access information, from a first communication device. Based on the determination, the communication system bypasses a monitoring subsystem and stores and/or transmits the communication to a second communication device by way of a non-monitoring subsystem. |
| US09680834B2 |
Web document preview privacy and security protection
Techniques are disclosed for protecting the privacy and security of data associated with a web document. A web browser is configured to manipulate the URL, which contains an access token, of a preview web page document before the browser loads external resources (e.g., web page content) linked from the preview web page document. For example, the browser may change a current page URL containing the access token to another sacrificial URL that does not include the token. In addition, the browser will send the sacrificial URL, rather than the original URL, as a referrer to the various resources that provide the web page content, which prevents exposure of the access token to those resources while the web page content is loading. After the web page content is loaded into the browser, the current page URL of the browser is changed back to the original URL. |
| US09680830B2 |
Evaluating security of data access statements
Techniques are provided for evaluating the security of data access statements. Specifically, in one embodiment of the claimed subject matter there is provided a technique for evaluating the security of data access statements, comprising: evaluating the criticality of multiple SQL statements contained in multiple sessions accessing a database; generating a critical item set from the multiple sessions, each element in the critical item set indicating one or more SQL statements contained in a session; extracting at least one association rule from the critical item set, each of the at least association rule indicating a sequence of SQL statements contained in a session; and calculating the criticality of each of the at least one association rule. |
| US09680825B2 |
Token device re-synchronization through a network solution
A system is illustrated as including a One-Time Password (OTP) device operatively coupled to a computer system to receive data, and a server operatively coupled to the computer system via a network connection. A method is illustrated as including receiving and verifying credentials of a user accessing the site. In response to verifying the user, a request is transmitted to an authentication server for a first token value corresponding to the user. The first token value is received from the authentication server. The first token value is displayed to the user. The first token value is displayed at the same time as part of a list with other token values to the user. The user compares the list of token values to a token value generated by a password device to determine whether the token value generated by the password device is included in the list of token values. |
| US09680824B1 |
Method and system for authentication by intermediaries
A method and system for authenticating applications. The method includes receiving, by a service virtual machine (SVM), a secret from a management service. The SVM is executing on a computing device. The method also includes providing, by the SVM, the secret to an application executing on an application virtual machine (AVM). The AVM is executing on the computing device. The method further includes providing, by the application, the secret to a remote application server in order for the remote application server to authenticate the application. |
| US09680822B2 |
Point of sale pairing
Wireless pairing is automatically performed based on purchase. By providing a unique identifier of a cellular customer, a wireless device may be automatically paired to a residential wireless network. A central database, for example, may store networking credentials associated with residential wireless networks. When the cellular customer purchases the wireless device, a server may query the central database for a cellular telephone number associated with the cellular customer. The server may thus retrieve the networking credentials that are associated with the cellular telephone number. |
| US09680819B2 |
Method and system for co-termination of digital certificates
A method of renewing a plurality of digital certificates includes receiving, at a first time, a request from a user to renew a first digital certificate and determining an expiration date for the first digital certificate. The method also includes receiving, at a second time, a request from the user to renew a second digital certificate and determining an expiration date for the second digital certificate. The expiration date for the second certificate is later than the expiration date for the first certificate. The method further includes determining a new expiration date occurring after the first time and the second time and renewing the first digital certificate. An expiration date for the renewed first digital certificate is equal to the new expiration date. Moreover, the method includes renewing the second digital certificate. An expiration date for the renewed second digital certificate is equal to the new expiration date. |
| US09680817B2 |
Information display method, terminal, security server and system
Disclosed is an information display method, a terminal, a security server and a system, which belong to the field of computers. The method comprises: parsing received information which includes corresponding two-dimensional (2D) code carrying content data, the content data containing anti-fake information; acquiring the content data carried in the 2D code, and detecting whether the information is transmitted by a security server according to the anti-fake information contained in the content data; and acquiring content to be displayed corresponding to the information from the security server and displaying the content to be displayed if the information is detected as being transmitted by the security server. |
| US09680813B2 |
User provisioning
A method of credential provisioning on a target service utilizes three credential sets: authentication credentials, privileged credentials and provisioned credentials. An intermediate element receives a request from a user client to establish a session with a target service. The request includes authentication credentials. The intermediate element creates provisioned credentials using privileged credentials which are authorized for creating provisioned credentials for accessing the target service. Once provisioned credentials have been created, a dual session communication channel is established between the user client and the target service. The session between the user client and intermediate element is established using the authentication credentials and the session between the intermediate element and the target service is established using the provisioned credentials. Optionally, user authorization to establish a session with the target service is determined prior to creating the provisioned credentials. |
| US09680811B2 |
Method and system for implementing third-party authentication based on gray list
A communication method and system for implementing third-party authentication is disclosed. The method includes the steps of receiving a service request from a requesting party; performing a third-party authentication on the service request according to a gray list and obtaining an authentication result; and processing the service request according to the authentication result. The system includes one or more processing elements, for example, user equipment (UE), Proxy Call Session Control Function (PCSCF), Service Call Session Control Function (SCSCF) and Application Server (AS) which cooperate to perform the disclosed method. The present invention implements a third-party control of services based on the gray list, and can effectively manage a variety of services in the communication system. |
| US09680808B2 |
Preventing persistent storage of cryptographic information using signaling
Organizations maintain and generate large amounts of sensitive information using computer hardware resources and services of a service provider. Furthermore, there is a need to be able to delete large amounts of data securely and quickly by encrypting the data with a key and destroying the key. To ensure that information stored remotely is secured and capable of secure deletion, cryptographic keys used by the organization should be prevented from being persistently stored during serialization operations. Signaling methods are used to notify virtual machine instances of serialization events in order to prevent keying material from being stored persistently. |
| US09680805B1 |
Method and system for key management
A method and system for key management. The method includes receiving, by a control domain on a server, a request for a tenant key, and obtaining an authorization secret from a management service, where the management service is external to the server. The method further includes, in response to the request, decrypting, after obtaining the authorization secret, an encrypted platform master key to obtain a platform master key, decrypting an encrypted tenant key to obtain the tenant key using the platform master key, and providing the tenant key to an entity that issued the request. |
| US09680803B2 |
Systems and methods for secure short messaging service and multimedia messaging service
Systems and methods for managing (for example, creating, transmitting, delivering, encrypting, storing, and the like) secure SMS (short message service) and secure MMS (multimedia messaging service) communications are disclosed. |
| US09680801B1 |
Selectively altering references within encrypted pages using man in the middle
A request addressed to a particular resource is received and a determination is made that the request should be redirected to a man-in-the-middle gateway within the network. A first encrypted connection is established between the client device and the man-in-the-middle gateway, and a second encrypted connection between the man-in-the-middle gateway and the server. The resource is modified into a modified resource by changing pointers within the particular resource to point to a location in a domain associated with the man-in-the-middle gateway within the network. The modified resource is served. |
| US09680796B2 |
Asset management via virtual tunnels
An asset management system is presented. The management system includes monitoring devices able to provide asset data across firewalls without requiring reconfiguration of the firewalls. The asset data pass through a forwarding service that instantiates a virtual tunnel comprising a communication channel between the monitoring devices and remote asset management engines. The asset management engines can also be located behind firewalls. As the management engines aggregate asset data, the engines can present one or more alerts via a management interface. |
| US09680794B2 |
Secure one-way interface for archestra data transfer
A system for transmitting ArchestrA information from a first network in a first security domain to a second network in a second security domain. A first stand-alone server within the first security domain retrieves information via the first network from a first ArchestrA Galaxy and/or from a first historian in the first security domain and forwards the retrieved information to a send server coupled to the first network. The send server forwards the received information received to a receive server via a one-way data link. The receive server receives the information from the send server and forwards the received information to a second stand-alone server via the second network. The second stand-alone server receives the information from the receive server and forwards the information to a second ArchestrA Galaxy and/or to a second historian in the second security domain. |
| US09680793B2 |
Secure in-band signaling method for mobility management crossing firewalls
An in-band signaling method that enables secure updates of a care-of-IP address for a mobile host that roams between access networks. In the illustrative embodiment described herein, a mobile host includes an intelligent interface that handles IP networking functions and tunnels IP packets between the mobile host and the mobile host's home agent/remote access server (HA/RAS) transparently, as if the mobile host established a connection to a communicating or destination host (DST) from the home network (where the HA/RAS resides). In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided an in-band signaling method that employs encrypted three-way handshake signaling messages that are embedded in encapsulated IP packets to enable care-of IP address updates. This method can effectively protect mobile hosts from denial-of-service attacks and is transparent to NAT/NAPT firewalls. The signaling messages are communicated between the home agent and the mobile host, in a manner transparent to any NAT/NAPT firewall in the network. |
| US09680783B2 |
Dynamic email content update process
An email update system dynamically updates the content of an email when the originator of an email has sent the email, and the originator later determines that the email requires editing. The updating may take place transparent to the recipient and without the introduction of duplicative content into the recipient's email program. The email update system comprises a delta engine program and a delta temporary storage in a sender's computer, a queue manager program and an intermediate email queue in a server computer, and a recipient email retrieval program in a recipient's computer. |
| US09680774B2 |
Network interface card offloading
A network interface controller (NIC) executes a set of instructions with respect to received data communications packet and generates output data associated with the execution of the set of instructions. The NIC stores the output data in a location that is accessible to an operating system. |
| US09680770B2 |
System and method for using a multi-protocol fabric module across a distributed server interconnect fabric
A multi-protocol personality module enabling load/store from remote memory, remote Direct Memory Access (DMA) transactions, and remote interrupts, which permits enhanced performance, power utilization and functionality. In one form, the module is used as a node in a network fabric and adds a routing header to packets entering the fabric, maintains the routing header for efficient node-to-node transport, and strips the header when the packet leaves the fabric. In particular, a remote bus personality component is described. Several use cases of the Remote Bus Fabric Personality Module are disclosed: 1) memory sharing across a fabric connected set of servers; 2) the ability to access physically remote Input Output (I/O) devices across this fabric of connected servers; and 3) the sharing of such physically remote I/O devices, such as storage peripherals, by multiple fabric connected servers. |
| US09680764B2 |
Systems and methods for diameter load balancing
The present disclosure is directed generally to systems and methods for Diameter load balancing. In some embodiments, an intermediary device may receive a diameter connection request from a client that includes a CER. The intermediary device may initiate a connection with a server of a plurality of servers and place the server protocol control block in a reuse pool. Responsive to opening the connection with the server, the intermediary device may forward the received CER. The intermediary device may then receive a CEA message from the server and establish an AVP-based persistent connection. The intermediary device may modify the received CEA message, and then forward the message to the client. When the intermediary device receives a diameter message from a client, the intermediary device may match an AVP of the message with an AVP associated with a persistent server connection, and forward the diameter message to the corresponding server. |
| US09680759B2 |
Display aware transcoder source selection system
Systems and methods for efficiently managing the resources in a delivery system may include managing the processing power of a transcoder. By managing the input selection functions of a tuner and linking the selections with functions of a transcoder, the transcoder may process fewer instructions for a given request, resulting in the ability of the transcoder to support more streams. Modifying the inputs to the transcoder that need to be transcoded, therefore, may enable the media content delivery system to support more inputs and, thereby, more media playback devices. Managing the processing power of a transcoder can more efficiently support the delivery of media content to a media playback device, particularly where the delivery system supports multiple media playback devices. |
| US09680758B2 |
Apparatus and method to increase throughput of a transmitter
Described is an apparatus which comprises: a transmitter; an input-output (I/O) interface coupled to the transmitter; and logic to split data for transmission into a plurality of packets, wherein each packet is stored in a buffer and then transmitted via the I/O interface to a receiver, wherein the logic can vary a number of packets sent prior to the transmitter receiving an Acknowledgement (ACK) signal, and wherein the logic can vary a packet length of the number of packets. |
| US09680755B2 |
Apparatus for managing local devices
An apparatus for managing local devices, wherein the apparatus is operatively connectable with a network to manage network traffic. The apparatus can include computer instructions to identify and track a Media Access Control identifier using the network. The apparatus can also include computer instructions to direct traffic to a path associated with the Media Access Control identifier, computer instructions to measure the bit rate passing through the path associated with the Media Access Control identifier; and computer instructions to adjust the bit rate allowed to pass through the path. The decision to adjust the bit rate allowed to pass through the path can be determined using rolling quotas. |
| US09680753B2 |
Systems and methods for wireless communication with asymmetric numbers of transmit and receive chains
This disclosure includes systems and methods for wireless communication using asymmetric transmit and receive chains. A device having a greater number of receive chains may be optimized for data reception and a device having a greater number of transmit chains may be optimized for data transmission. The relative ratio in performance between desired uplink and downlink performance may be adjusted accordingly. In one aspect, one wireless protocol may be used for communications to maintain a unidirectional link on another. |
| US09680752B2 |
Node in network including a plurality of nodes
In a network including a plurality of nodes, a node transmits data to another node, receives data from another node, and stores a communication history between a plurality of other nodes and the node itself. When an acknowledge response to data transmitted to a first node among the plurality of other nodes is not received, the node generates a duplicate data of the transmitted data. When a duplication report indicating detection of duplicate data transmitted to a second node among the plurality of other nodes has been received from one of the plurality of other nodes, the node refers to the communication history, and identifies the first node as a cause of generation of the duplicate data. Thereafter, the node generates a check request that include a communication history between the first node and the node itself and that requests the first node to check the communication history. |
| US09680751B2 |
Methods and devices for providing service insertion in a TRILL network
The methods and devices discussed herein provide service clustering within a TRILL network without relying on an additional service insertion framework. A TRILL network can include one or more flow distribution RBridges for distributing flows to service nodes. Each flow distribution RBridge can have a virtual base identifier and one or more virtual cluster identifiers. An example method can include maintaining service cluster load balancing structures and receiving a packet that is encapsulated with an inner header and an outer header. The method can include determining whether the egress RBridge identifier is a virtual cluster identifier, and if so, selecting a service node from one of the service cluster load balancing structures. The method can include forwarding the packet to the selected service node. |
| US09680747B2 |
Internet protocol and Ethernet lookup via a unified hashed trie
An apparatus comprising a ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) configured to store a root node for each of a plurality of tries resulting in a plurality of root nodes, and at least one non-TCAM memory configured to store associated data that identifies each of the plurality of root nodes, and store a plurality of network address prefixes represented by one or more subtries which belong to a trie in the plurality of tries, wherein each subtrie is locatable at least partially based on the associated data for the root node. |
| US09680743B2 |
Message forwarding method, system, and relay agent device
The present disclosure provides a message forwarding method and system, and a relay agent device. The forwarding method includes receiving a first dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) for Internet Protocol (IP) version 6 (DHCPv6 ) message from a DHCPv6 client through a layer-3 interface, generating a relay-forward message, where the first DHCPv6 message is encapsulated into the relay-forward message and an identifier (ID) of the layer-3 interface is added therein, and sending the relay-forward message to a DHCPv6 server. |
| US09680742B2 |
Packet output processing
A circuit operates to manage transmittal of packets in a network packet processor. The circuit includes a packet descriptor manager (PDM), a packet scheduling engine (PSE), and a packet engines and buffering module (PEB). The PDM generates a metapacket and a descriptor from a command signal, where the command signal identifies a packet to be transmitted by the circuit. The PSE determines an order in which to transmit the packet among a number of packets, where the PSE determines the order based on information indicated in the metapacket. Once the packet is scheduled for transmission, the PEB performs processing operations on the packet to produce a processed packet based on instructions indicated in the descriptor. The PEB then causes the processed packet to be transmitted toward the destination. |
| US09680740B2 |
Service multiplexing and demultiplexing using a single pseudowire service/label switched path label in a multiprotocol label switching network
A system for packet transmission over an MPLS tunnel may include a plurality of network devices. The network devices may include ingress and egress routers and intermediate routers. The system may be configured to use payload type indication labels and payload type headers to transmit packets from a plurality of user devices having different payload types and service instances over a single pseudo-wire service in a label switched path of the MPLS network. |
| US09680736B2 |
Mixed media call routing
In one aspect, a method of mixed media communication is provided. The method includes initializing, via an electronic device, a session associated with a sender device, the session including data of a first media type; determining a destination for the data of a first media type, the determination based on the first media type and available destination information; providing the data of the first media type to the determined destination; receiving data of a second media type for the session with the sender device; determining a second destination for the data of the second media type, the determination based on the second media type and the available destination information; and providing the data of the second media type to the second destination. A device and computer-readable medium for mixed media communication are also described. |
| US09680731B2 |
Adaptive software defined networking controller
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, computer program products, and systems for generating a shortest data path for data packets. Embodiments of the present invention can be used to exclude switches at or near their maximum capacity of flow entries from the shortest data path calculation. Embodiments of the present invention can be used to reduce the “lag time” users can experience while waiting for data packets to be forwarded through different switches. |
| US09680724B2 |
Network communication and cost awareness
Network communication and cost awareness techniques are described. In one or more implementations, functionality is exposed through one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) that is accessible to a plurality of applications of the computing device to perform network communication. Data is returned to one or more of the plurality of applications regarding a cost network used to perform the network communication. |
| US09680722B2 |
Method for determining a severity of a network incident
The invention relates to a method for determining a severity of a network incident causing a network alarm in a communication network. The method comprises obtaining (201) a severity attribute associated with the network alarm, the severity attribute indicating an impact of the network incident on a communication service in the communication network, and relating (203) the severity attribute to a severity indicator from a predetermined set of severity indicators to determine the severity of the network incident. |
| US09680720B1 |
Operations, administration, and maintenance (OAM) engine
Network traffic that includes an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) unit is received. A first data flow to which the OAM data unit belongs is identified from among a plurality of data flows of network traffic. Based on identifying the first flow of communication traffic to which the OAM data unit belongs, a first entry corresponding to the first flow is retrieved from a memory that stores OAM action data including a plurality of entries indicating how OAM data units in different flows of communication traffic are to be processed. The first entry is from among the plurality of entries and indicates how OAM data units in the first flow are to be processed, including whether the network device should modify the data unit as part of an OAM action. The OAM data unit is processed in accordance with the first entry. |
| US09680717B2 |
Processing of data for the management of placement on standby
A processing of data for the management of the placement on standby of a client terminal connected to an operator terminal of an access network, the method comprising, in said client terminal, the following steps: a) determining a policy for placing the client terminal on standby, b) monitoring a client interface of said client terminal, disposed between said client terminal and a part of a local network situated downstream of said client terminal, c) monitoring an access network interface of said client terminal, disposed between said client terminal and said operator terminal. |
| US09680716B2 |
System and method for monitoring and managing data center resources in real time incorporating manageability subsystem
A method is disclosed for forming a distributed data store using a remote access appliance associated with a data center infrastructure management (DCIM) system. Data may be generated which is associated with operation of managed device being monitored by the DCIM system. At least one remote access appliance may be used to receive the data. An element library framework may be used by the remote access appliance to generate events from the data. The remote access appliance may also be used to implement a complex event processing subsystem to analyze the events and to generate event related signals therefrom. A bus may be used to transmit the event related signals from the appliance to a common platform services (CPS) subsystem of the DCIM system. The CPS subsystem may be used to receive the event related signals and to use the event related signals to inform the user of an aspect of performance of the managed device. |
| US09680713B2 |
Network management system
A technique for communicating in a network management system is disclosed. The technique includes transferring information from an application server to a gateway that processes the information, transferring the gateway processed information from the gateway to a plurality of adapters associated with the gateway that process the gateway processed information, and transferring the adapter processed information from one of the adapters to a client. |
| US09680711B2 |
Method and apparatus for visualizing dynamic-host-configuration-protocol scopes
A method and apparatus can be configured to determine that a first range of internet protocol addresses corresponds to a first scope. The method can also include displaying a first visual representation of the first scope. The first visual representation includes a first displayed bar. The length of the first displayed bar represents the span of the first scope. Each internet protocol address of the first scope has a representative position within the first displayed bar. |
| US09680709B2 |
Early frame bandwidth assessment in a multi-bandwidth wireless local area network
A method for determining the bandwidth of an incoming frame in a wireless local area network (WLAN), includes the following steps, executed at least by a processor, upon reception of a first plurality of samples representative of a first signal of the frame received at a primary WLAN channel, and of a second plurality of samples of the frame representative of a second signal of the frame received at a secondary WLAN channel: computing at least a correlation of a sample among the first plurality of samples with a sample among the second plurality of samples; if the correlation exceeds a threshold then setting a receiver mode to a first bandwidth otherwise setting a receiver mode to a second bandwidth. A device for setting the bandwidth of a receiver for a wireless local area network and a system integrating such device are also described. |
| US09680707B2 |
Automated change approval
An automated method for facilitating management of a data processing environment is disclosed. In various embodiments, the method may include facilitating creation of a first memorialization, in digital form, of first one or more changes made to a first data processing device of the data processing environment. In various embodiments, the method may further include facilitating creation of a second and a third memorialization, both in digital form, of second and third one or more changes made to a second and a third data processing device of the data processing environment, respectively. In various embodiments, the method may still further include facilitating automated approval of the second and third changes made to the second and third data processing devices, using the first, second and third memorializations. Other embodiments of the present invention may include, but are not limited to, apparatus adapted to facilitate practice of the above-described method. |
| US09680702B1 |
Network of networks diffusion control
Diffusion control in a network of networks (NoN) uses a connection degree of node pairs to control diffusion within the NoN. A method of increasing diffusion includes selecting an unconnected node pair having a lowest connection degree and connected nodes of the selected unconnected node pair. A method of decreasing diffusion includes selecting a connected node pair having a highest connection degree and disconnecting nodes of the selected connected node pair. A network diffusion control system includes the NoN and a diffusion controller to one or both of increase a diffusion rate and decrease the diffusion rate within the NoN. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes instructions that implement the diffusion control within the NoN. |
| US09680694B1 |
Overload functionality in overlay networks using fault detection protocols
In general, techniques are generally described for reducing or preventing transient black-holing of network traffic in an overlay network. A first customer edge (CE) network device positioned in a first customer network may be configured to perform the techniques. The first CE network device may comprise a control unit configured to execute an instance of a network protocol to detect faults between the first CE network device and a second CE network device positioned in a second customer network. The first CE network device may also comprise an interface configured to transmit a message to the second CE network device via the instance of the network protocol signaling that a provider edge (PE) network device is going to become nonoperational. The PE network device may be positioned in an intermediate network providing interconnectivity between the first customer network and the second customer network. |
| US09680692B2 |
Method and system for using a recursive event listener on a node in hierarchical data structure
Disclosed is a method and system for registering a recursive watch on a node in hierarchical data structure. Embodiments of the disclosed technique may include (i) receiving a request to register an event listener on a source node, the source node being one of a plurality of nodes that are related to each other in a hierarchy; (ii) registering the event listener on the source node, the event listener configured to notify a client of an occurrence of a first event in the source node; and (iii) if the source node has a descendant node in the hierarchy, setting the event listener to notify the client of an occurrence of a second event in the descendant node without requiring registration of another event listener on the descendant node. Each of the nodes may represent, for example, a logical partition of a storage device. |
| US09680687B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling sessions from one or more devices
An apparatus and mechanism to manage multi-modal real-time or quasi real-time sessions such as voice, video, instant messaging, or web-conferencing across multiple devices through a simple subscription to a session management service. A user can subscribe to the service from many devices (e.g. mobile device, desk phone, personal computer, internet appliance, internet TV, communication terminal, etc.) and through the service seamlessly move sessions back and forth between subscribed devices. In a preferred embodiment, a user utilizes a “virtual slider” in a simple “two touch” procedure to effectuate the movement of a communication session from one device to another device via the service. |
| US09680684B2 |
Coding and modulation apparatus using non-uniform constellation
A coding and modulation apparatus and method are presented. The apparatus (10) comprises an encoder (11) that encodes input data into cell words, and a modulator (12) that modulates said cell words into constellation values of a non-uniform constellation. The modulator (12) is configured to use, based on the total number M of constellation points of the constellation and the signal-to-noise ratio SNR in dB, a non-uniform constellation from a group of constellations comprising one or more constellations defined by a constellation position vector comprising a predetermined number of constellation positions, wherein in one or more constellation position vectors two or more constellation positions are identical resulting from a condensation of preliminary constellation positions optimized before. |
| US09680683B2 |
Radio receiver apparatus and radio transmitter apparatus
A radio receiver apparatus that can effectively utilize GI to improve the reception quality. In this apparatus, a data extracting part extracts a data portion of a direct wave from a signal subjected to a radio reception process by a received RF part. A GI extracting part extracts, from the signal subjected to the radio reception process by the received RF part, GI having a length determined by an extracted GI length deciding part. The extracted GI is adjusted by a data position adjusting part such that its rear end coincides with the read end of the extracted data portion. A combining part combines the extracted data portion with the GI the data position of which has been adjusted. The combined signal is then supplied to a frequency axis equalizing part, which equalizes the signal distortions of the combined signal on the frequency axis. |
| US09680682B2 |
Method and device for detecting uplink synchronization signal in each step in wireless access system supporting high frequency band
The present invention provides a method for detecting an uplink synchronization signal in a wireless access system supporting a high frequency band, a method for designing a detection filter for the same, and devices for supporting the methods. A method by which a base station detects a random access channel (RACH) signal in a wireless access system supporting a high frequency band, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises the steps of: allocating a cyclic shift value used in the base station; configuring a reception signal vector for signals transmitted through the RACH; deriving a cyclic shift candidate greater than or equal to a reference value from the reception signal vector by using a first detection filter; and detecting the RACH signal from the cyclic shift candidate by using a second detection filter, wherein the first detection filter and the second detection filter can be set on the basis of the cyclic shift value. |
| US09680680B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting broadcast signals, apparatus for receiving broadcast signals, method for transmitting broadcast signals and method for receiving broadcast signals
The present invention provides a method of transmitting broadcast signals. The method includes, encoding Data Pipe, DP, data according to a code rate, wherein the encoding further includes Low-Density Parity-Check, LDPC, encoding the DP data, Bit interleaving the LDPC encoded DP data, and mapping the bit interleaved DP data onto constellations; building at least one signal frame by mapping the encoded DP data; and modulating data in the built signal frame by an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, method and transmitting the broadcast signals having the modulated data. |
| US09680679B2 |
Terminal apparatus and base station apparatus
First information indicating a length of a cyclic prefix for an inter-terminal apparatus signal transmitted to the other terminal apparatus and second information indicating a length of a cyclic prefix for an uplink signal in the EUTRAN, from a base station apparatus of the EUTRAN are received from a base station apparatus of the EUTRAN. |
| US09680678B2 |
Communication systems and methods
Methods and apparatuses for communicating in a wireless network include methods and systems for producing a discovery signal for use in cellular context using unlicensed spectrum having contiguous resource elements in the time domain. |
| US09680674B2 |
I/Q calibration techniques
A receiver includes a static I/Q calibration block and a correlation/integration block. The static I/Q calibration block is configured to substantially eliminate mismatches between in-phase and quadrature components of a portion of the spectrum having associated I/Q mismatches that are relatively frequency-independent. The correlation/integration block is configured to substantially eliminate mismatches between the in-phase and quadrature components of portions of the spectrum having associated I/Q mismatches that are relatively frequency-dependent in accordance with a pair of signals generated by the static I/C calibration block. |
| US09680673B2 |
Communication system and method
A communication system comprises a packet stream transforming unit, a mapping unit and a transmission unit. The packet stream transforming unit is configured to receive a 4-bit packet stream and transform the 4-bit packet stream into a 6-bit packet stream. The mapping unit is configured to map the 6-bit packet stream into multiple ternary bit streams, and the mapping unit maps at least one idle symbol into the ternary bit streams according to at least one particular bit of the at least one idle symbol of the 6-bit packet stream. The transmission unit is configured to transmit the ternary bit streams to a remote communication device through a cable. |
| US09680671B2 |
Transceiver device and a method for generating a compensation signal
A transceiver device 100 includes a transmit path module 110, a receive path module 120 and a compensation signal generator module 130. The transmit path module 110 generates a high frequency transmit signal 112 based on a baseband transmit signal. The receive path module 120 generates a baseband receive signal 122 based on a received high frequency receive signal 114. Further, the compensation signal generator module 130 generates a compensation signal 132 comprising at least one signal portion with a frequency equal to a frequency of an undesired signal portion of the baseband receive signal 122 caused by an undesired signal portion within the high frequency transmit signal 112 comprising a frequency equal to an integer multiple larger than 1 of a transmit frequency of the high frequency transmit signal 112. |
| US09680670B2 |
Transmission device with channel equalization and control and methods for use therewith
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a transmission device that includes at least one transceiver configured to modulate data to generate a plurality of first electromagnetic waves in accordance with channel control parameters. A plurality of couplers are configured to couple at least a portion of the plurality of first electromagnetic waves to a transmission medium, wherein the plurality of couplers generate a plurality of second electromagnetic waves that propagate along the outer surface of the transmission medium. A training controller is configured to generate the channel control parameters based on channel state information received from at least one remote transmission device. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09680669B2 |
Wireless interference mitigation
Embodiments can relate to an apparatus for interference mitigation in a wireless communication. The apparatus can comprise at least one processing element arranged to extract, from a received PDCCH or EPDCCH signal, modulated symbols; the modulated symbols having been modulated using a linear m-ary modulation constellation. The apparatus also comprises a demodulator to demodulate the extracted PDCCH or EPDCCH modulated symbols; the demodulator being operable to demodulate the extracted symbols according to the linear m-ary modulation constellation. |
| US09680666B2 |
N-phase phase and polarity encoded serial interface
System, methods and apparatus are described that facilitate transmission of data, particularly between two devices within an electronic apparatus. Information is transmitted in N-phase polarity encoded symbols. Data is encoded in multi-bit symbols, and the multi-bit symbols are transmitted on a plurality of connectors. The multi-bit symbols may be transmitted by mapping the symbols to a sequence of states of the plurality of connectors, and driving the connectors in accordance with the sequence of states. The timing of the sequence of states is determinable at a receiver at each transition between sequential states. The state of each connector may be defined by polarity and direction of rotation of a multi-phase signal transmitted on the each connector. |
| US09680659B2 |
Obtaining, managing and archiving conference data
Tools can be provided for conducting a conference/meeting and/or obtaining, managing and archiving conference/meeting data. For example, a meeting participation application and multi-layer presentation data (including a presentation document and an overlay layer) can be provided through a network to a participant. The meeting participation application allows the participant to make annotations which overlay the presentation document, and captures the user input as data in the overlay layer. Thereafter, processing may be performed to extract keywords from the captured annotations, and such extracted keywords can be archived along with meeting materials, documents, information and other content as meeting data in a meeting database. |
| US09680650B2 |
Secure content delivery using hashing of pre-coded packets
Methods, systems, and devices are described for securing content for delivery via a communications network. The methods, systems and devices may involve coding a plurality of packets using a determined code to generate a coded set of packets. A plurality of packets of the coded set of packets may be hashed to generate a plurality of hashes. The plurality of hashes may be transmitted via the communications network to deliver the secured content. |
| US09680649B2 |
Policy-based key sharing
Methods of providing policy based access to master keys, enabling keys to be distributed to groups of users in a secure manner while minimizing disruptions to the user in the event of changes to group membership or changes to user attributes. User attributes are identified. Policies are rewritten in terms of user attributes. New unique user attribute keys are generated for each attribute for each user. An access tree is constructed with user attribute keys as leaf nodes and Boolean algebra operations as internal nodes. Shamir polynomials are used for AND nodes, and broadcast polynomials are used for OR nodes. Master keys are accessible by traversing the access tree from the leaf nodes to the root node constructing the polynomials attached to all the nodes along the access path. |
| US09680646B2 |
Relay service for communication between controllers and accessories
A relay service can relay messages between controllers and electronically controllable accessory devices that may be located remotely from the controllers. Relaying of messages by the relay service can be decoupled from any knowledge of the functionality of the accessory or the content of the messages. Device identification and relaying of messages can be managed using “relay aliases” that are meaningful only to the relay service and the endpoint devices (the controller and accessory). The endpoint devices can implement end-to-end security for messages transported by the relay service. |
| US09680642B2 |
Quantum cryptography service network implementation structure
In order to overcome the limitation of the prior art quantum key terminal equipment not being able to operate across different segments, the present invention discloses a quantum cryptography service network implementation technique to let a point-to-point quantum key equipment in one segment be redesigned to cooperate with other quantum key equipment in other segments to form a quantum key service network. As opposed to the prior art technique of having each segment generates its own quantum key, the present invention can map one pair of quantum key equipment with another pair of quantum key equipment, or map multiple pairs of quantum key equipment connected in series to have quantum keys entirely or partly shared by the quantum key equipment. Therefore, the generated quantum keys can be used across different segments. Each node in the quantum key service network can provide the quantum key to nearby telecommunication equipment in the telecommunication network of the same premises. |
| US09680639B2 |
Secret sharing apparatus and secret sharing method that restores secret data from at least two of generated shared data
A secret sharing apparatus generates, from secret data, a plurality of pieces of shared data from which the secret data is able to be restored. The secret data includes a plurality of pieces of divided data which does not include a random number. The secret sharing apparatus includes a shared data generating section which performs an XOR operation between the pieces of divided data and generates the plurality of pieces of shared data which includes the result of the XOR operation between the pieces of divided data. |
| US09680627B2 |
User station supporting a communication service and method for selecting duplex mode for the service
Embodiments of a system and method for selecting a duplex mode for a service operating in a Wireless Network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a mobile device may receive one or more traffic packets related to an establishment or a re-establishment of a service at the mobile device, and may select a duplex mode for the service. In some embodiments, the mobile device may be an IEEE 802.11 Station (STA). The mobile device may be configured to select full-duplex as the duplex mode when a delay requirement associated with the service is less than a predetermined delay threshold and when a calibration overhead associated with the mobile device or the service is less than a predetermined calibration overhead threshold. In addition, the mobile device may also be configured to select time-division duplex (TDD) or frequency-division duplex (FDD) as the duplex mode when the delay requirement is less than the delay threshold and when the calibration overhead is less than the calibration overhead threshold. |
| US09680623B2 |
Method for reporting channel state, and apparatus therefor
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for reporting the channel state of an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) in a wireless communication system is disclosed, comprising the steps of: selecting N sub-bands from a set of sub-bands; and reporting a channel quality indicator (CQI) for the N sub-bands. At least one sub-band from among the N sub-bands (hereinafter, referred to as an EPDCCH SB) may be a sub-band including a pair of physical resource blocks (PRB) set as the EPDCCH. |
| US09680622B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting reception confirmation in wireless system
Provided are a method and an apparatus for transmitting a reception confirmation in a wireless system. A terminal determines at least one downlink sub-frame for ACK/NACK feedback from each of a plurality of serving cells and determines the number of ACK/NACK bits for the plurality of serving cells. The terminal generates bundled ACK/NACK bits by arraying the ACK/NACK bits in the ascending order of the cell index of the plurality of serving cells, and transmits the bundled ACK/NACK bits. |
| US09680621B2 |
MU-MIMO acknowledgement protocol efficiency
A method for improving multiple-user (MU) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) acknowledge (ACK) protocol efficiency includes: receiving a sounding frame from a device, sending a feedback response, which includes quantized channel state information (CSI) to the device, receiving an MU physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU) frame from the device, and in response to receiving the MU PPDU frame, sending an ACK frame to the device without receiving a polling frame prior to the ACK frame. |
| US09680616B2 |
Tone reordering in a wireless communication system
One or more LDPC encoders generate two or more LDPC code words to be included entirely in an OFDM symbol. A frequency segment parser parses content of the two or more LDPC code words into a first frequency segment corresponding to a first subband of the communication channel and a second frequency segment corresponding to a second subband of the communication channel. A constellation mapper maps first content of the two or more LDPC code words to first constellation points corresponding to first OFDM tones in the first subband, and maps second content of the two or more LDPC code words to second constellation points corresponding to second OFDM tones in the second subband. A tone ordering unit reorders the first OFDM tones and the second OFDM tones such that the first content is distributed over the first subband, and the second content is distributed over the second subband. |
| US09680615B2 |
Methods and systems of wireless communication with remote radio heads
A method of operating an eNB in a wireless communication network is provided. The method comprises transmitting, by the eNB to a UE, configuration information of first and second sets of CSI-RS resources, wherein the first set of CSI-RS resources is used for long term measurement and the second set of CSI-RS resources is used for short term CSI feedback. |
| US09680611B2 |
Automatic retransmission in communications systems
Automatic retransmission in communications systems. In one embodiment, a portion of data is identified to be retransmitted based on feedback information indicating a negative acknowledgement (NACK) during a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on a previous transmission of the portion of data. A retransmission mode is selected for the portion of data, from at least a first mode that retransmits the portion of data on at least a first transmitter antenna while transmitting new data on at least a second transmitter antenna, based on first desired transmission characteristics; and a second mode that retransmits the portion of data simultaneously on at least the first and second transmitter antennas, based on second desired transmission characteristics. |
| US09680610B2 |
Method and apparatus for error control in 3D video transmissoin
Methods and apparatuses for error control in 3D video transmission over wireless network are described. Cooperative Automatic Repeat re Quest(ARQ) is disclosed, which is based on the selective repeat ARQ with consideration of two factors: one is the interdependent relationship between the multiple components of the 3D video, e.g. the 2D video and its depth information in the 2D-plus-Depth format; and the other is time constraints of video frames/packets for continuous video playback. The disclosed cooperative ARQ allows the sender to control ARQ strength adaptively on a per-frame/per-packet basis. |
| US09680606B2 |
Managing integrity of framed payloads using redundant signals
A frame error correction circuit may identify and correct errors in data frames provided to a receiver as part of a diversity communications scheme. The frame error correction circuit may further align the data frames so that the data frames can be compared. The frame error correction circuit may perform a bit-wise comparison of the data frames and identify inconsistent bit positions where bits in the data frames differ from one another. Once inconsistent bit positions have been identified, the frame error correction circuit may access a permutation table of permutations of bits at the inconsistent bit positions. In some implementations, the frame error correction circuit uses the permutation table to reassemble permutations of the data frames. In various implementations, the frame error correction circuit performs a CRC of each permutation of the data frames, and provides a valid permutation to a network. |
| US09680604B2 |
Method and apparatus for device to device communication
Methods and apparatus are provided for searching for a peripheral device and transmitting device information in a device-to-device service. First information is transmitted using a first tone in a first region of a search duration. A second tone is determined by transposing a subcarrier index and a symbol index of the first tone. The first information is transmitted through the second tone in a second region of the search duration. First information of a peripheral device is received in the first and the second region of the search duration. The second information is transmitted through a resource region corresponding to the first tone in a third region of the search duration. Second information of the peripheral device is received in the third region of the search duration. Device information of the peripheral device is determined by combining the first and second information of the peripheral device. |
| US09680602B2 |
Bit coding device, bit decoding device, transmission device, reception device, bit coding method, bit decoding method, transmission method, reception method, and program
A bit coding device that creates a coded bit sequence by performing error correction coding on an input bit sequence that is input, includes a coding unit that creates a first bit sequence by performing the error correction coding on the input bit sequence, an extraction unit that extracts a second bit sequence from the first bit sequence, and an information compression unit that creates a third bit sequence by performing lossy compression on the second bit sequence, in which coded bits include at least a portion of the third bit sequence. |
| US09680600B2 |
Modulation indication method for communication systems
A method and apparatus for improving performance in communication systems is provided. In one implementation, information is accessed indicating the quality of at least one communication channel. Based on the accessed information, a modulation scheme is indicated for sending data over the channel encoded with a rateless code. Various different information relating to the communication channel can be used to determine a quality metric for the channel. |
| US09680599B2 |
Multichannel data transport suitable for direct optical detection at the receiver
We disclose an optical transport system configured to transport the same data using two different channels of an optical transport link in a manner that enables an optical receiver to use direct detection of the optical power received through each of the two channels to measure the in-phase and quadrature components of the modulating electromagnetic field. In an example embodiment, an optical carrier of the modulated optical signal transported using the first of the two channels and an optical carrier of the modulated optical signal transported using the second of the two channels have a fixed relative phase offset of approximately 90 degrees. The resulting ability of the optical receiver to measure each of the in-phase and quadrature components of the modulating electromagnetic field advantageously enables the optical receiver to perform electronic signal equalization, including but not limited to electronic dispersion compensation. |
| US09680596B2 |
Span-wise spectrum management system and method
Methods and systems are provided for optical signal transmission using span-wise spectrum management. The method includes transmitting a first optical signal at a first wavelength by a control system. The first optical signal has a first optical path distance. The method further includes determining a first guard band requirement for the first optical signal, and transmitting a second optical signal by the control system. The second optical signal has a second optical path distance. The method includes determining a second guard band requirement for the second optical signal, and placing the second optical signal spectrally adjacent to the first optical signal by selecting a second wavelength. The second wavelength is selected to satisfy the first and second guard band requirements. |
| US09680593B2 |
Apparatus and method for receiving signal in wireless communication system
A technique for avoiding reception performance deterioration caused by a tone interference that occurs at a position carrying a pilot signal in a wireless communication system is provided. A receiving end includes an operator for converting a time-axis signal into a frequency-axis signal, an extractor for generating channel values in positions carrying pilot signals among the frequency-axis signals, a compensator for compensating for a channel value of a position at which tone interference occurs by using at least one channel value of a position at which no tone interference occurs among the channel values. |
| US09680585B2 |
Clock data recovery method and device for branch signal in SDH
Disclosed are a method and a device for recovering clock data of a tributary signal in SDH, wherein the method includes that: it is to extract valid data of the signal from a time slot of each tributary in a synchronous digital hierarchy SDH frame, and store into a storage space corresponding to a time slot of each tributary in a cache; it is to recover a clock signal and a readout signal for the time slot of each tributary by means of time division multiplexing; when the readout signal for the time slot of any tributary is valid, it is to read out contents of the data from the storage space corresponding to the time slot of the tributary in the cache, and latch into a latch corresponding to the time slot; the device includes: a data extracting module, a clock recovery circuit and a data recovery module. |
| US09680584B2 |
Methods and apparatus to generate threshold values for state detection
Methods and apparatus to generate threshold values for state detection are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a threshold generator to maintain, in memory, a collection of audio data elements representative of sound levels present in an environment at respective times when ON-indications are detected for a monitored media device. The threshold generator to replace, in response to detection of a next ON-indication in the environment, one of the audio data elements in the memory with a new audio data element representing a sound level in the environment at a time of the next ON-indication. A selector to select, for a value of a threshold condition of a state detection analysis, one of the audio data elements in the memory corresponding to a lowest sound level, at least one of the threshold generator or the selector implemented by at least one of a processor or hardware. |
| US09680581B2 |
Method and radio node for handling CSI reporting
Separate aperiodic channel state information (CSI) reports are handled for static subframe(s), in which the direction of signal transmission is fixed, and flexible subframe(s), in which the direction of signal transmission is variable. A method by a UE includes receiving a trigger for an aperiodic CSI report as part of an uplink (UL) grant from a radio node in a static downlink (DL) subframe, where the trigger indicates a CSI subframe set, out of at least two alternative CSI subframe sets. An aperiodic CSI measurement is performed for a CSI reference resource in the indicated CSI subframe set, and the result of the CSI measurement is reported to the radio node. One of the at least two alternative CSI subframe sets relates to the one or more static subframes, and another one of the at least two alternative CSI subframe sets relates to the one or more flexible subframes. |
| US09680568B2 |
Method and apparatus for alien device identification in passive optical networks
A manner of detecting the presence of alien devices, for example ONUs, that are transmitting upstream in an optical access network such as a PON. An alien detection device, for example a properly configured OLT, supports normal network operation and also monitors a selected performance characteristic. When the selected performance characteristic is evaluated to perform within satisfactory parameters, a protocol that includes a command to subscriber devices such as ONUs to go quiet, for example a rogue check, is executed and a signal detector monitored during the quiet period. An alarm may be generated if an alien device appears to be present. |
| US09680565B2 |
Free-space optical network with agile beam-based protection switching
A system includes a network having multiple network nodes each configured for free-space optical communication. Each network node includes one or more apertures through which optical beams are transmitted and received over optical links. The optical links include (i) a traffic link that transports higher-rate traffic between nodes and (ii) an acquisition/tracking link that transports lower-rate signals used to establish and maintain location knowledge of other nodes. Each network node also includes a network processor configured to determine one or more backup paths through the network. Each network node further includes a beam steering unit configured to redirect an optical beam from the traffic link onto the acquisition/tracking link to create a backup traffic link. |
| US09680558B2 |
Method for sending and receiving data on a cooperative communications system and a cooperative communications method
A data transmission method of a source node in a cooperative communication system includes: performing a beamforming to a relay node; transmitting data to the relay node; performing a beamforming to a destination node; and transmitting data to the destination node. |
| US09680556B2 |
Narrowband signal transport sub-system for distributed antenna system
Certain aspects involve narrowband signal transport sub-systems for a distributed antenna system (“DAS”). The narrowband signal transport sub-system includes one or more filter banks that are communicatively coupled to a port of a unit in the DAS. The input port can receive a broadband downlink signal that includes multiple carriers. Each filter bank can generate a set of narrowband downlink signals corresponding to a carrier from the broadband downlink signal. Each filter bank can include demodulators and filters. The demodulators can generate respective frequency-shifted downlink signals from the carrier. Each frequency-shifted downlink signal can have a respective frequency shift from the carrier's frequency that is based on a respective bandwidth for the carrier. Each filter can have a passband corresponding to the bandwidth of a narrowband channel associated with the carrier and can generate one of the narrowband downlink signals by filtering a respective one of the frequency-shifted downlink signals. |
| US09680548B1 |
Method for carrying out intelligent fast antenna steering technology (iFAST)
The present invention provides a method for carrying out an intelligent fast antenna steering technology (iFAST), and the method can be implemented by way of being integrated into a wireless network device under the form of software or firmware. Therefore, when the wireless network device installed with the method is initially set to work or rebooted, the method of the present invention would automatically set and adjust a plurality of wireless antennas of the wireless network device according to a variety of wireless network parameters of wireless network signals transceived by the wireless network, so as to make the wireless network signals radiated by the wireless network device be able to cover the application environment as comprehensive as possible; thereafter, a high-quality wireless network service is provided to the clients located in the application environment by the wireless network device. |
| US09680546B2 |
Apparatus, system and method of wireless communication beamforming
Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and/or methods of wireless communication beamforming. For example, an apparatus may include a wireless communication unit to process a beamforming frame communicated between a beamforming initiator station and a beamforming responder station subsequent to a Transmit (Tx) sector sweep by the beamforming initiator station, wherein transmission of the beamforming frame is from a first station of the beamforming initiator station or the beamforming responder station to a second station of the beamforming initiator station or the beamforming responder station, the beamforming frame comprises an indication of a selected Tx sector, based on the Tx sector sweep, to be used by the first station for transmitting a directional beamformed transmission to the second station. |
| US09680544B2 |
Beamforming codeword exchange between base stations
A first base station receives from a second base station at least one message comprising beamforming information indicating at least one second beamforming codeword. The at least one second beamforming codeword has a number of rows or columns equal to or less than a number of antenna ports employed by the second base station for beamforming. The first base station selects at least one first beamforming codeword. The selection is based, at least in part, on the beamforming information. The first base station transmits employing the at least one first beamforming codeword, signals on at least one resource block. |
| US09680540B2 |
Walsh-hadamard transformed GFDM radio transmission
A radio transmission system based on a frequency divisional multiplexing method is described, wherein a transmit symbol comprises a plurality of data symbols assigned to at least two subcarriers. The information of symbols of one time slot is spread across the data symbols of subcarrier of the time slot to produce a transmit symbol being more robust to frequency selective channels. |
| US09680539B2 |
Terminal, base station, communication system and communication method
In a communication system in which a base station is able to adaptively control a terminal, a base station, a terminal, a communication system and a communication method which are capable of efficiently supporting a precoding process are provided. The terminal that communicates with the base station selects any of a plurality of codebook subsets obtained by code-booking a precoding weight known to both the base station and the terminal, on the basis of control information which is set by the base station. |
| US09680538B2 |
Method for WiFi beamforming, feedback, and sounding (WiBEAM)
Methods for WiFi beamforming, feedback, and sounding (WiBEAM) are described. Codebook based beamforming feedback signaling and sounding mechanisms for use in wireless communications are disclosed. The methods described herein improve the feedback efficiency by using Givens rotation based decompositions and quantizing the resulting angles of the Givens rotation based decompositions using a range from a subset of [0, 2π]. Feedback may also be divided into multiple components to improve feedback efficiency/accuracy. Time domain beamforming reports for taking advantage of channel reciprocity while still taking into account practical radio frequency (RF) channel impairments are also described. Beamforming feedback that prioritizes the feedback bits in accordance with the significance of the bits is also disclosed. A preamble structure to enable the use of smoothing methods for improved channel estimation, codebook designs that may be used for codebook based beamforming feedback, and multi-resolution explicit feedback are disclosed as well. |
| US09680525B2 |
Signal processing method in DSL system, apparatus, and system
Embodiments of the present invention provide a signal processing method in a DSL system. The method includes: determining that there is no to-be-sent downstream signal on m subscriber lines in n subscriber lines; superimposing a signal X on the m subscriber lines, so that a signal output on the m subscriber lines after precoding processing is 0, where xm indicates a signal component loaded on the mth subscriber line in the m subscriber lines; performing precoding processing on a downstream signal on the n subscriber lines; and sending the downstream signal that has undergone the precoding processing on another line except the m subscriber lines in the n subscriber lines. The embodiments of the present invention further provide a network-side device and a DSL system. |
| US09680516B2 |
Retaining arrangement for a mobile communication device
A retaining arrangement for a mobile communication device has an accommodating means which accommodates a mobile communication device. The retaining arrangement includes a retaining setting in which the mobile communication device is retained in the accommodating means, and a release setting which allows the mobile communication device to be inserted into the accommodating means. The retaining arrangement is characterized by a locking means which can be moved into a locking setting and into an unlocking setting, wherein the accommodating means can be moved out of the release setting into the retaining setting only when the locking means is in the unlocking setting. |
| US09680515B2 |
Mobile device case and armband with fluid chamber
A case for a mobile device including a body with a fluid chamber configured to retain fluid therein. An armband for a mobile device includes a band with a fluid chamber configured to retain fluid therein. The fluid chamber may serve to cushion the mobile device or wearer's arm when in use. |
| US09680514B2 |
Methods for reducing near-field radiation and specific absorption rate (SAR) values in communications devices
A method is provided introducing a phase offset between signals applied to antenna ports of an antenna having multiple antenna elements, such that a first signal applied to one of the antenna ports operatively coupled to one of the antenna elements has a different phase than a second signal applied to another one of antenna ports operatively coupled to another one of the antenna elements to obtain an antenna pattern control. A reduced power is used that is lower than the power used in a non-pattern control operation of the antenna such that a wireless link performance criteria is met with equipment at a far-field point using the reduced power compared to the non-pattern control operation, thereby reducing near field radiation. |
| US09680512B2 |
Message retrieving system with signal collision mitigation and a method thereof
A message retrieving system and method for signal collision mitigation and the method thereof are disclosed. The message retrieving system transmits two orthogonal signals over two isolated antenna during a time period that it expects to receive the response. Two virtual channels are artificially created and the collision of response signals originated from the respondents is mitigated. |
| US09680508B1 |
Systems, methods and computer program products including features of transforming data involving a secure format from which the data is recoverable
Systems and methods are disclosed for processing data. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method of generating H output data from W data input streams produced from input data. Moreover, the method may include generating the H discrete output data components via application of the W data inputs to one or more transforming components or processes having specified mathematic operations and/or a generator matrix functionality, wherein the W data inputs are recoverable via a recovery process capable of reproducing the W data inputs from a subset (any W members) of the H output data streams. Further exemplary implementations may comprise a transformation process that includes producing an H-sized intermediary for each of the W inputs, combining the H-sized intermediaries into an H-sized result, and processing the H-sized result into the H output data structures, groups or streams. |
| US09680507B2 |
Offset selection for error correction data
A method includes determining, at a decoder of a first device, an offset value corresponding to an offset between a first particular packet and a second particular packet. The first device includes a de-jitter buffer. The method also includes transmitting the offset value to an encoder of a second device to enable the second device to send packets to the first device based on the offset value. |
| US09680506B2 |
DTV transmitting system and method of processing broadcast data
A DTV transmitting system includes an encoder, a randomizer, a block processor, a group formatter, a deinterleaver, and a packet formatter. The encoder codes enhanced data for error correction, permutes the coded data, and further codes the permuted data for error detection. The randomizer randomizes the coded enhanced data, and the block processor codes the randomized data at an effective coding rate of 1/H. The group formatter forms a group of enhanced data having data regions, and inserts the coded enhanced data into at least one of the data regions. The deinterleaver deinterleaves the group of enhanced data, and the packet formatter formats the deinterleaved data into corresponding data bytes. |
| US09680497B2 |
Conversion of a discrete-time quantized signal into a continuous-time, continuously variable signal
Provided are, among other things, systems, apparatuses, methods and techniques for converting a discrete-time quantized signal into a continuous-time, continuously variable signal. An exemplary converter preferably includes: (1) multiple oversampling converters, each processing a different frequency band, operated in parallel; (2) multirate (i.e., polyphase) delta-sigma modulators (preferably second-order or higher); (3) multi-bit quantizers; (4) multi-bit-to-variable-level signal converters, such as resistor ladder networks or current source networks; (5) adaptive nonlinear, bit-mapping to compensate for mismatches in the multi-bit-to-variable-level signal converters (e.g., by mimicking such mismatches and then shifting the resulting noise to a frequently range where it will be filtered out by a corresponding bandpass (reconstruction) filter); (6) multi-band (e.g., programmable noise-transfer-function response) bandpass delta-sigma modulators; and/or (7) a digital pre-distortion linearizer (DPL) for canceling noise and distortion introduced by an analog signal bandpass (reconstruction) filter bank. |
| US09680493B1 |
Signal monitoring systems for resolving nyquist zone ambiguity
A signal monitoring system includes a splitter circuit, a single-bit channel circuit, a multi-bit channel circuit, and a frequency processor circuit. The splitter circuit splits a first analog signal into second and third analog signals. The single-bit channel circuit samples the second analog signal at a sampling rate that is greater than or equal to a Nyquist rate of the second analog signal to generate a first digital signal. The multi-bit channel circuit under-samples the third analog signal at a sampling rate that is less than a Nyquist rate of the third analog signal to generate second digital signals. The frequency processor circuit resolves a Nyquist zone ambiguity in the second digital signals using the first digital signal to generate an unambiguous output signal. |
| US09680492B1 |
Threshold detection with digital correction in analog to digital converters
An analog to digital converter (ADC) includes a comparator and a plurality of capacitor pairs coupled between first and second inputs the comparator, where each one of the capacitor pairs corresponds to one of a plurality of cycles used by the ADC to generate a digital value representing a sampled analog voltage. The ADC also includes a voltage detection circuit and a state machine that is configured to, upon determining during a first cycle that the sampled voltage across the first and second inputs satisfies a threshold, maintaining a first pair of the plurality of capacitor pairs in a default state such that the sampled analog voltage is unchanged. Otherwise, the state machine is configured to switch the first pair of the plurality of capacitor pairs to change the sampled analog voltage. |
| US09680489B2 |
Background calibration of sampler offsets in analog to digital converters
A method for background calibration of sampler offsets in an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), according to which one of the samplers of the ADC is established as a reference sampler, whose threshold and timing offsets will be the criterion for adjusting threshold offsets and timing offsets of all other samplers. Then each of the other samplers of the ADC, one at a time, is calibrated by selecting an uncalibrated sampler and establishing it as the current Sampler Under Calibration (SUC); disregarding contribution of the SUC to the output of the ADC; adjusting the threshold of the SUC to be identical to the threshold of the reference sampler; performing one-bit cross-correlation between the reference sampler and the SUC; establishing an error surface representing the threshold offset and timing offset of the SUC with respect to the reference sampler; adjusting the threshold and the timing of the SUC to be equal to the threshold and timing of the reference sampler; restoring level of the SUC to its original threshold with respect to the overall ADC and restoring contribution of the SUC to the output of the ADC. |
| US09680476B2 |
Programmable logic device
A PLD in which a configuration memory is formed using a nonvolatile memory with a small number of transistors and in which the area of a region where the configuration memory is disposed is reduced is provided. Further, a PLD that is easily capable of dynamic reconfiguration and has a short startup time is provided. A programmable logic device including a memory element, a selector, and an output portion is provided. The memory element includes a transistor in which a channel is formed in an oxide semiconductor film, and a storage capacitor and an inverter which are connected to one of a source and a drain of the transistor. The inverter is connected to the selector. The selector is connected to the output portion. |
| US09680475B1 |
Early global set/reset signal determination for programmable logic devices
Techniques are provided to assign a set/reset signal of a user design to global set/reset (GSR) resources of a programmable logic device (PLD). By assigning a set/reset signal of the user design to the GSR resources during synthesis and prior to mapping, configurable resources consumed by the design may be reduced. In one example, a method includes receiving a user design for a programmable logic device (PLD) that comprises a plurality of configurable resources and global set/reset (GSR) resources. The method also includes identifying a plurality of set/reset signals of the user design. The method also includes determining, for each set/reset signal, a measurement of configurable resource savings associated with an assignment of the set/reset signal to the GSR resources. The method also includes assigning a selected one of the set/reset signals to the GSR resources based on the associated measurement. Additional methods and related systems are also provided. |
| US09680471B2 |
Apparatus for a reduced current wake-up circuit for a battery management system
An apparatus may include an energy monitoring circuit configured to generate a bitstream dependent upon an amount of charge passing through a sensing unit. The apparatus may also include a control unit configured to receive the bitstream from the energy monitoring circuit, and modify a count value in response to a determined state of each bit of the bitstream. The control unit may also read a first value of the count value at a first time and at a later second time read a second value of the count value. The control unit may assert a wake-up signal in response to a determination that a difference between the first value and the second value is greater than a predetermined threshold value. |
| US09680470B2 |
Digital circuits having improved transistors, and methods therefor
Digital circuits are disclosed that may include multiple transistors having controllable current paths coupled between first and second logic nodes. One or more of the transistors may have a deeply depleted channel formed below its gate that includes a substantially undoped channel region formed over a relatively highly doped screen layer formed over a doped body region. Resulting reductions in threshold voltage variation may improve digital circuit performance. Logic circuit, static random access memory (SRAM) cell, and passgate embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09680468B2 |
Bidirectional power switch with improved switching performance
A bidirectional power switch includes first and second thyristors connected in antiparallel between first and second conduction terminals of the switch. The first thyristor is of an anode-gate thyristor, and the second thyristor is of a cathode-gate thyristor. The gates of the first and second thyristors are coupled to a same control terminal of the switch by respective dipole circuits. At least one of the dipole circuits is formed by at least one diode or at least one resistor. |
| US09680467B2 |
Method and apparatus for driving power switch tube
A method and an apparatus for driving a power switch tube. The apparatus includes an input unit, a drive unit, a transformer and a power switch tube. The input unit is connected to the drive unit, which is configured to input a group of drive signals, and the group of drive signals includes four drive signals, where the first drive signal and the second are complementary signals, and a dead time exists; the third drive signal and the fourth are complementary signals, and a dead time exists; the phase difference between the first drive signal and the third is 180 degrees, and the phase difference between the second drive signal and the fourth is 180 degrees; the drive unit is configured to power on a field winding of the transformer; and the transformer provides a drive voltage signal for the power switch tube. |
| US09680466B2 |
Analog switch and multiplexer
The analog switch includes a first DMOS transistor of a second conductivity type that is connected to an input terminal at a first end of a current path thereof and to the gate of the first MOS transistor at a second end of the current path, and is controlled in accordance with the second current. The analog switch includes a second DMOS transistor of the second conductivity type that is connected to the second end of the current path of the first DMOS transistor at a first end of a current path thereof and to an output terminal at a second end of the current path and is controlled in accordance with the second current. The analog switch includes a first switch element that is connected between a gate and the second end of the current path of the first DMOS transistor. |
| US09680462B2 |
System and method for voltage regulation with zero voltage reduction and autotransformer modes
Various embodiments are described herein for methods and systems of regulating incoming voltage supplied from a utility power supply to a load. In one example embodiment, a voltage regulator adapted to be electrically interposed between the utility power supply and the load, each having at least one phase, is provided. The voltage regulator comprises an autotransformer having, for each phase, a series winding and a regulating winding, where the regulating winding has a plurality of taps and the series winding has a load side for connection to the load and a supply side for connection to the utility power supply. The voltage regulator comprises a controller coupled to the autotransformer, where the controller is configured to operate the voltage regulator in a zero voltage reduction mode and an autotransformer mode, and where the controller comprises a zero voltage reduction mode switch connected across a first subset of at least two taps of each regulating winding and a normally closed contactor connected across a second subset of at least two taps of each regulating winding. |
| US09680460B2 |
Signal transmission method of semiconductor integrated circuit for transmitting signal to a plurality of stacked semiconductor chips
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a plurality of semiconductor chips stacked in a multi-layer structure; a correction circuit in each semiconductor chip configured to reflect a delay time corresponding to the position of the chip in the stack into an input signal to output to each semiconductor chip; and a plurality of through-chip vias formed vertically through each of the semiconductor chips and configured to transmit the input signal to the semiconductor chip. |
| US09680459B2 |
Edge-aware synchronization of a data signal
A signal comprising a first edge and a second edge is received. The first edge of the signal is synchronized with a first clock and the synchronized first edge of the signal is passed to an output. The synchronization results in a delay of the first edge of the signal. The second edge of the signal is passed to the output. The passed second edge of the signal has a delay that is less than the delay of the first edge of the signal by at least one clock cycle of the first clock. |
| US09680458B1 |
Input-controlled multiple threshold debounce system
Disclosed herein are various implementations of input-controlled multiple threshold debounce circuits or algorithms. In one embodiment, an input-controlled multiple threshold debounce system is configured to receive an input signal and to control an output. An analysis subsystem may determine when an input signal exceeds an assertion threshold and may assess at least one additional characteristic of the input signal. Supervisory logic in communication with the analysis subsystem may select a variable delay based on the at least one additional characteristic of the input signal. A delay subsystem controlled by the supervisory logic may assert a first signal after the input signal remains above the assertion threshold for longer than the variable delay. Finally, a system output may be configured to receive the first signal and may be configured to assert the debounce system output based on the first signal. |
| US09680456B1 |
Digital-to-analog converter and high-voltage tolerance circuit
A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a high-voltage tolerance circuit are provided. The DAC includes a high-voltage tolerance circuit. The high-voltage tolerance circuit is configured to generate a reference voltage, and select the reference voltage or a first power-source voltage to control the node voltage of each branch of an operational amplifier circuit of the high-voltage tolerance circuit according the logical signal level of an input signal. |
| US09680454B2 |
Frequency tripler and local oscillator generator
A frequency tripler includes a double-frequency in-phase signal generator, a double-frequency quadrature signal generator and a mixer. The double-frequency in-phase signal generator is arranged for receiving at least an in-phase signal and a quadrature signal to generate a double-frequency in-phase signal whose frequency is twice that of the in-phase signal or the quadrature signal; the double-frequency quadrature signal generator is arranged for receiving at least the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal to generate a double-frequency quadrature signal whose frequency is twice that of the in-phase signal or the quadrature signal; and the mixer is arranged for receiving the in-phase signal, the quadrature signal, the double-frequency in-phase signal and the double-frequency quadrature signal to generate an output signal whose frequency is triple that of the in-phase signal or the quadrature signal. |
| US09680453B1 |
Oscillator circuit
Aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to applications utilizing oscillator circuits. In certain embodiments, an apparatus includes an oscillator circuit having one or more capacitors. The oscillator circuit is configured to generate an oscillating signal by repeated charging and discharging of the capacitors. The apparatus also includes a control circuit connected to the oscillator. The control circuit is configured to set the oscillation frequency of the oscillator circuit as a non-linear function of an input control signal. For instance, in a more specific embodiment, the control circuit may be configured to set oscillation frequency of the oscillator circuit to a frequency scaled by a value raised to an exponent specified by the input control signal. |
| US09680447B2 |
Saw filter having ground terminals separated
A SAW filter in which a plurality of IDT electrodes is disposed in the propagation direction of a SAW and ground terminals are separated. The present invention has an advantage in that the attenuation effect of the SAW filter is improved. Furthermore, a skirt characteristic on the high frequency side of a transmission stage and a skirt characteristic on the low frequency side of a reception stage can be improved. Furthermore, an equivalent pass band characteristic can be achieved and a skirt characteristic on the high frequency side and a skirt characteristic on the low frequency side can be improved. Furthermore, the number of bridge electrodes can be reduced and thus a process can be simplified because ground terminals are separated. |
| US09680444B2 |
Multiplexer with filters and resonant circuit
A multiplexer includes: a first filter connected between a common terminal and a first terminal; a second filter connected between the common terminal and a second terminal, and having a passband lower in frequency than a passband of the first filter; and a resonant circuit including: a first inductor and a capacitor connected in series between a first end and a second end of the resonant circuit, the first end being coupled to a node at which the common terminal diverges into the first filter and the second filter, the second end being coupled to the first filter, and a second inductor connected in parallel to the first inductor and the capacitor between the first end and the second end, wherein the passband of the first filter is higher in frequency than an antiresonant frequency of the resonant circuit. |
| US09680443B2 |
Apparatus and method for operating at least two antennas for a motor vehicle, and near-field communication network
An apparatus for operating at least two antennas for a motor vehicle. The apparatus has a switching device to be coupled to the at least two antennas and to perform at least one switching process for changing a respective input capacitance of one antenna of the at least two antennas. A multiplexing device is configured to select one of the at least two antennas for near field communication and to connect it to an output. The multiplexing device and the switching device are configured, when changing over from a first antenna having a first input capacitance to a second antenna having a second input capacitance, to match the second input capacitance to the first input capacitance by performing the switching process. |
| US09680442B2 |
Impedance tuning circuit
A circuit for tuning an impedance matching network is disclosed. The circuit includes a current sensor, a control circuit coupled to the current sensor and a reference current source and a tunable capacitor coupled to the control circuit. The control circuit is configured to generate a control signal based on an output of the current sensor, wherein the control signal is configured to vary a capacitance of the tunable capacitor. |
| US09680441B2 |
Impedance matching circuit and antenna system
An impedance matching circuit is connected to a first circuit block (impedance matching target circuit) that requires impedance matching and that has one terminal connected to a signal line and the other terminal connected to a ground, the impedance matching circuit having a second circuit block that has a first circuit and a second circuit connected in parallel. In the first circuit, a first capacitor having a variable capacitance and a first inductor having a first inductance are connected in series, and in the second circuit, a second inductor having a second inductance and a switch are connected are connected in series. The impedance matching circuit has one terminal connected to the signal line of the first circuit block and the other terminal connected to the ground of the first circuit block. |
| US09680439B2 |
Method of fabricating acoustic resonator with planarization layer
A method is provided for fabricating a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator device. The method includes forming an etch stop layer over a bottom electrode and a substrate; forming a dielectric layer on the etch stop layer; forming a photomask over the dielectric layer defining an opening over the bottom electrode; etching a portion the dielectric layer through the opening of the photomask to the etch stop layer to create a corresponding opening in the dielectric layer; removing the photomask, leaving un-etched protruding portions of the dielectric layer around the opening in the dielectric layer; and removing the protruding portions of the dielectric layer, a portion of the etch stop layer located over the bottom electrode, and a minimal portion of the bottom electrode to provide a planarized surface including a top surface of the bottom electrode and an adjacent top surface of the dielectric layer deposited over the substrate. |
| US09680438B2 |
Method and device for playing modified audio signals
A method and a device are provided for modifying audio signals in accordance with hearing capabilities of an individual who is listening to audio signals played by a music player. The method comprises the steps of: providing a music player operative to play audio signals, wherein the music player comprises a processor configured to modify audio signals that are about to be played, by taking into account the hearing capabilities of the individual; providing information that relates to the hearing capabilities of the individual; forwarding the information that relates to the hearing capabilities of the individual, from an electronic device to the music player; and using the music player processor to modify audio signals when the individual is listening to audio signals being played by the music player, wherein the audio signals are modified before they are played by taking into account the individual's hearing capabilities. |
| US09680436B1 |
System and method for setting analog front end DC gain
A system and method for setting analog front end in a serial receiver. The serial receiver includes a decision feedback equalizer. During initialization, taps of the decision feedback equalizer other than the zeroth tap are disabled, and the zeroth tap is used to estimate the amplitude of the signal at the output of the analog front end. The analog front end gain is iteratively adjusted until the estimated value of the zeroth tap is within a set range. |
| US09680433B2 |
Satellite volume control
Embodiments are provided for satellite volume control. An example method includes receiving an input at a playback device to adjust a volume for a plurality of playback devices that are grouped for synchronous playback of audio content, wherein the plurality of playback devices includes the playback device. The method also includes sending a first message over a network from the playback device to a device associated with the plurality of playback devices, the first message including information based on the input, wherein the information is used to adjust the volume of the plurality of playback devices. The method also includes receiving a second message at the playback device over the network, the second message including information for the volume of the playback device, wherein the volume is based on the adjusted volume of the plurality of playback devices. |
| US09680431B2 |
Amplifier circuit, pipeline ADC, and wireless communication device
An amplifier circuit has a sample-and-hold circuit to sample and hold an input signal, an amplifier which comprises an input terminal inputted with the input signal held by the sample-and-hold circuit and an output terminal outputting an amplification signal obtained by amplifying the input signal inputted, a feedback capacitor to be connected between the input terminal and output terminal of the amplifier, a successive approximation circuit to perform successive approximation operation to correct the amplification signal based on a voltage of the input terminal of the amplifier, the successive approximation operation being performed a predetermined number of cycles, and a control circuit to control the successive approximation circuit based on an amplification error included in the amplification signal. |
| US09680424B2 |
Power amplifier without a transformer
A power amplifier without transformer includes an audio isolator, a phase detector, a power protection controller, a rectifier and an amplifier. The audio isolator is used to isolate audio-source input end and the amplifier for making the amplifier directly connected to utility power via the rectifier without transformer to increase transformation efficiency and decrease weight and bulk of the power amplifier substantially. The phase detector is used to detect utility power phase whether correct. The power protection controller is used to determine utility power whether supply to the amplifier for preventing the amplifier from broken caused by excessive current. |
| US09680423B2 |
Under-sampling digital pre-distortion architecture
A amplifier system may include a predistorter receiving an input signal to generate a predistortion signal, a first converter receiving the predistortion signal to generate a preamplified signal, a power amplifier receiving the preamplified signal to generate an output signal based on the preamplified signal and the input signal, and a second converter sampling the output signal to generate a feedback signal. The power amplifier may produce a distortion signal at a first frequency, the second converter may sample the output signal using a timing signal with a second frequency that is lower than the first frequency to generate the feedback signal, and the predistorter, based upon the feedback signal, may predistort the predistortion signal to reduce the distortion signal at the first frequency. |
| US09680414B1 |
Frequency and amplitude stabilization in MEMS and NEMS oscillators
This invention comprises a nonlinear micro- and nano-mechanical resonator that can maintain frequency of operation and amplitude of operation for a period of time after all external power has been removed from the device. Utilizing specific nonlinear dynamics of the micromechanical resonator, mechanical energy at low frequencies can be input and stored in higher frequencies modes, thus using the multiple degrees of freedom of the resonator to extend its energy storage capacity. Furthermore, the energy stored in multiple vibrational modes can be used to maintain the resonator oscillating for a fixed period of time, even without an external power supply. This is the first demonstration of an “autonomous” frequency source that can maintain a constant frequency and vibrating amplitude when no external power is provided, making it ideal for applications requiring an oscillator in low power, or limited and intermittent power supplies. |
| US09680412B2 |
Method and apparatus for testing photovoltaic modules
A method and an apparatus for testing photovoltaic modules are provided, wherein power that a photovoltaic module outputs or draws is modulated a modulating frequency, the photovoltaic module is scanned using a camera and the camera signal generated by the camera is evaluated in order to obtain a luminescence image of the photovoltaic module which is used for detecting defects on the photovoltaic module. The photovoltaic module is operated only in the forward direction and the camera signal is evaluated using a digital filter, such as a lock-in filter. |
| US09680408B2 |
Roof installation support fixing device and roof installation system
A fastener for a roof installation support, in particular for a support of a solar technology system, comprising an at least sectionally flexible baseplate section and a substantially stiff profile section rising up from the baseplate section, which profile section is constructed to surround and positively fix a profile section of the roof installation support. |
| US09680407B2 |
Electric motor control device
An electric motor control device drives a power converter (30) by two-phase modulation drive based on calculation of a driving method setting and element loss calculation section (16) when an electric motor (4) is equal to or less than a predetermined rotational speed; and switches switching signals from a switching signal generation section (14) to switch a switching operation of the switching elements when a loss integrated value of a first switching element with a large switching loss or a second switching element exceeds a predetermined value. |
| US09680404B2 |
Abnormality detection apparatus and abnormality detection method
An abnormality detection apparatus configured to detect an abnormality of an inverter provided to control a motor generator when a value obtained by performing a predetermined process for a current value representing electric current flowing between an arm included in the inverter and the motor generator is greater than a threshold value, wherein when a reverse voltage by the motor generator is higher than a system voltage, the threshold value is larger than a value obtained by performing the predetermined process for electric current generated by the reverse voltage. |
| US09680403B2 |
Control device and method for controlling an induction machine
A control device for an induction machine includes an angle determining device designed to determine a rotor angle of the induction machine without requiring use of sensors. The angle determining device generates measuring voltage pulses which can be selectively used to replace control voltage pulses used to control the induction machine. Machine currents generated by the measuring voltage pulses can be used to determine a rotor angle without interrupting the control voltage pulses and/or operation of the induction machine. |
| US09680402B2 |
Driver circuit and method for single-phase and three-phase induction motors
A control circuit for an induction motor operates to determine whether the inductor motor is of the three-phase type or single-phase type. If three-phase, a variable frequency drive operation is implemented. If single-phase, a closed loop current control process is implemented. The closed loop current control process includes an operation by the control circuit to measure winding resistances and determine a turns ratio for the main and auxiliary motor windings. The turns ratio is used in the closed loop current control process to scale a measurement of current in the auxiliary winding for the purpose of generating the control voltage for the auxiliary winding. Phase of the current in the windings is further processed to generate a phase control signal. |
| US09680401B2 |
Strain gauge pump control switch
A control switch incorporates a solid state transducer, a strain gauge. The transducer responds to a local environmental condition, such as fluid level, or pressure and exhibits a parameter change which can be detected as an electrical output. Control circuits coupled to the transducer can sense the parameter change and switch a source of electrical energy to a load in response thereto. |
| US09680400B2 |
Method and device for generating electrical energy in a motor vehicle
A method and device for generating electrical energy in a motor vehicle involves thermoelectric generator having a plurality of thermoelectric modules and coupled to at least one electrical consumer. Module open-circuit voltages of the modules are determined and those modules for which a sum of their module open-circuit voltages attains twice a predefined generator output voltage with the smallest possible deviation are determined and electrically connected to one another in series. |
| US09680395B2 |
Five-level PV inverter based on a multi-state switching cell
A five-level active neutral-point-clamping inverter for converting a bipolar DC-voltage (VDC+ and VDC−) to a three-phase AC output voltage, the converter comprising first, second and third input terminals (P, MP, N) and first, second and third output terminals, where the inverter further comprises a first multi-state switching cell (MSSC) comprising three input terminals respectively connected to the input terminals of the inverter and a first output terminal, a second MSSC comprising three input terminals respectively connected to the input terminals of the inverter and a second output terminal and a third MSSC comprising three input terminals respectively connected to the input terminals of the inverter and a third output terminal. |
| US09680389B2 |
Power conversion device
A power conversion device includes a main circuit that includes a diode of which cathode is connected to a positive-side power supply path formed between a rectifier circuit and an inverter; and a switching element that is connected between an anode of the diode and a negative-side power supply path formed between the rectifier circuit and the inverter. In the main circuit, a portion between a first terminal and a second terminal, which are provided on the positive-side power supply path, is opened and a reactor is provided between the second terminal and a third terminal, which is provided at a connection point between the diode and the switching element, thus, forming a boost chopper circuit. |
| US09680388B2 |
System and method for starting a variable frequency drive with reduced arc flash risk
In one embodiment, a variable frequency drive system includes a main contactor, a variable frequency drive, a charging module structured to generate a magnetizing AC voltage, wherein the charging module is structured to selectively provide the magnetizing AC voltage to a transformer of the variable frequency drive, and a sensing and control circuit having a number of sensors operably associated with the variable frequency drive. The sensing and control circuit is structured to detect a short circuit condition in the variable frequency drive when the magnetizing AC voltage is provided to the transformer based on an output of at least one of the number of sensors, and responsive thereto prevent the main contactor from being closed and thereby prevent the main AC voltage from being provided to the transformer. |
| US09680387B2 |
Switched mode power supply, base station, and method of operating a switched mode power supply
A switched mode power supply comprising a switched mode converter and a controller for controlling the switched mode converter, the switched mode converter being provided for converting an input voltage to an output voltage and including, on a primary side, a primary winding and a controllable switch based circuitry connecting the input voltage over the primary winding; and, on a secondary side, a secondary winding coupled to the primary winding and a capacitive element connected over the secondary winding, wherein the output voltage is obtained as the voltage over the capacitive element. The primary winding comprises a first winding portion and at least one further winding portion and the switch based circuitry comprises controllable switches capable of controlling the duty cycle of the switched mode converter and capable of switching between a first operation state wherein the input voltage is connected only over the first winding portion and at least a second operation state wherein the input voltage is connected over the first and the at least one further winding portions, thereby enabling switching between two different transformer ratios. The controller comprises a first control arrangement connected to monitor the output voltage of the switched mode converter and operatively connected to the controllable switches to control the controllable switches to switch to thereby control the duty cycle in response to the monitored output voltage and a reference voltage using PID feedback control. The controller further comprises a second control arrangement connected to monitor the input voltage of the switched mode converter and operatively connected to the controllable switches to control the controllable switches to switch between the first and the at least second operation states in response to the monitored input voltage. |
| US09680385B2 |
Power converter
A power converter includes a circuit board having an elongated anode receiving an input voltage and an input current and an elongated cathode providing an output voltage and an output current, and a plurality of diodes electrically arranged in parallel between the anode and cathode. The parallel diodes convert the input voltage to an output voltage, convert the input current to an output current. |
| US09680380B2 |
Semiconductor device and power conversion device
Provided is a semiconductor device which drives a power semiconductor device, in which dead times generated when switch elements of upper and lower arms are turned on and off are minimized, and a loss of a power conversion device is reduced. A semiconductor device used in a power conversion device that includes a first switch element of which the drain is connected to a first power source voltage and a second switch element of which the source is connected to a second power source voltage includes a first drive circuit that drives the first switch element, a second drive circuit that drives the second switch element, a first level shift circuit, and a second level shift circuit. The first drive circuit is connected to a third power source voltage higher by a predetermined potential with respect to a source potential of the first switch element and the source potential of the first switch element. The second drive circuit is connected to a fourth power source voltage higher by a predetermined potential with respect to the second power source voltage and the second power source voltage. Power source potentials input to the first level shift circuit and the second level shift circuit are the third power source voltage and the second power source voltage. |
| US09680378B2 |
Switching power-supply device
A switching power-supply device that converts a first DC voltage into a second DC voltage and outputs the second DC voltage by turning on-and-off a switching element connected between the input power source and an inductor, includes: a drive unit, which drives the switching element based on a drive signal; a control unit, which performs intermittent oscillation control; and an error signal generator, which generates an error signal based on an error between a voltage corresponding to the second DC voltage and a reference voltage, wherein the control unit controls a timing, at which the turning-on of the switching element is permitted in the intermittent oscillation control, based on a signal indicating a comparison result between the error signal and a threshold value and an OFF time of the switching element based on the drive signal. |
| US09680376B2 |
Power conversion electronics having conversion and inverter circuitry
A power conversion apparatus and individual components thereof is described. In general, the power conversion apparatus converts a DC output received from an appropriate source, such as string of solar panels, to an AC output. The AC output may be a single-phase or three-phase, sinusoidal AC signal. The inverter system may include a boost converter, which is a DC-to-DC converter, and an inverter, which is essentially a DC-AC converter. In operation, the boost converter will boost the DC output from the appropriate source to a desired DC output voltage. The inverter will convert the DC output voltage to a desired single-phase or three-phase output voltage at a desired frequency, such as 50 or 60 hertz. The boost converter and the inverter may be packaged together in an appropriate sealed and weatherproof housing. |
| US09680375B2 |
Switching mode power supply with adaptively randomized spread spectrum
In described examples, a switching mode power supply includes an output filter, a driver, a pulse width modulator, and pulse adaptation circuitry. The output filter is configured to provide output of the switching mode power supply. The driver is coupled to the output filter and is configured to switch current to the output filter. The pulse width modulator is configured to generate pulses that control switching of current by the driver. The pulse width modulator includes spread spectrum logic configured to randomize timing of the pulses generated by the pulse width modulator. The pulse adaptation circuitry is configured to identify an instantaneous excursion of the output of the switching mode power supply beyond a predetermined threshold, and to modify the randomized timing of the pulses produced by the pulse width modulator based on the identified instantaneous excursion. |
| US09680373B2 |
Charge pump circuit
The present invention has: a pump capacitor (12), which has one end thereof connected to the source power supply (B) side via a diode (7), and which has the other end thereof connected to two kinds of voltage sources via switches (3, 4); and an output capacitor (13), which has one end there of connected to a high-potential terminal of a pump capacitor via a diode (8), and the other end thereof connected to a source power supply. A filter circuit configured with a resistor (15) and a capacitor (11) is provided between the source power supply and the diode (7). |
| US09680372B1 |
Hold up converter
A hold-up converter or other electronic circuit comprises a first switch configured to perform a first switching function in a first operation mode and to act as a first diode in a second operation mode. The electronic circuit further comprises a second switch configured as a second diode in the first operation mode and that performs a second switching function in the second operation mode. A hold-up capacitor is electronically coupled to the first switch and the second switch such that the hold-up capacitor charges in the first operation mode based, at least in part, on the first switching function and discharges in the second operation mode based, at least in part, on the second switching function. |
| US09680369B2 |
Power factor correction circuit of power converter
A power factor correction (PFC) circuit of a power converter is disclosed. The power converter includes a primary side coil, a secondary side coil, an inductive coil, and a power switch. The PFC circuit includes a zero current detection circuit for detecting an inductive signal of the inductive coil to generate a detection signal; an error detection circuit for generating an error signal corresponding to an output voltage signal or an output current signal according to a reference signal; a ramp signal generating circuit for generating a ramp signal; a comparison circuit for comparing the ramp signal with the error signal to generate a comparison signal; and a trigger circuit for generating a control signal to control the power switch and for controlling the ramp signal generating circuit to adjust a slope of the ramp signal according to the detection signal and the comparison signal. |
| US09680366B2 |
DC/DC power converter control strategy for source protection
A controller (11a) of a DC/DC converter (10a) responsive to power output of a fuel cell power plant (13) operates under a control strategy which determines if fuel cell voltage exceeds a limit, and if so, provided neither fuel cell output current nor DC/DC converter output current is excessive, causes an increase in DC/DC converter duty cycle to thereby increase power demanded from the fuel cell stack. This eliminates the need for conventional voltage limiting to protect fuel cells from corrosion. Digital control loops and state machines are illustrated. |
| US09680362B2 |
Stepping motor
Provided is a stepping motor which includes a bracket, a stator and a rotor disposed at the bracket, a lead screw of which both ends are fixed to the bracket, and rotating while coupled to the rotor, and a moving part coupled to the lead screw and guided along a side surface of the bracket to move, wherein guide protrusions are formed at both side surfaces of the moving part, the bracket includes guide slots formed at side surfaces and into which the guide protrusions are inserted, and the guide slots are formed to have heights higher than those of the guide protrusions, thereby providing an advantageous effect of minimizing friction contact. |
| US09680360B2 |
Method for producing a coated component of transparent or opaque fused silica
A method for producing a coated component consisting of transparent or opaque fused silica comprises a method step in which a SiO2 granulation layer is applied to a coating surface of a substrate, which in the area of the free surface has a relatively great granulation fine fraction. Starting from this, in order to achieve a smooth, preferably also dense surface layer, it is suggested according to the invention that the application of the SiO2 granulation layer comprises (i) providing a dispersion containing a dispersion liquid and amorphous SiO2 particles which form a coarse fraction with particle sizes ranging between 1 μm and 50 μm and a fine fraction of SiO2 nanoparticles having particle sizes of less than 100 nm, wherein the solids content of the dispersion is between 70 and 80 wt.-%, and of which between 2 wt.-% and 15 wt.-% are the SiO2 nanoparticles, (ii) applying the dispersion to the coating surface by casting or spraying it thereonto so as to form a slurry layer having a layer thickness of at least 0.3 mm; and (iii) drying the slurry layer by removing the dispersion liquid at a rate and in a direction such that under the action of the dispersion liquid being removed the fine fraction is enriched in the outer portion of the granulation layer, thereby forming a casting skin. |
| US09680357B2 |
Methods for manufacturing rotors for electric motors and rotors manufactured using said methods
A method for manufacturing a rotor with permanent magnets may include providing a central core with a desired cross-section; providing a plurality of ferromagnetic discs having a hole shaped in a complementary manner to the cross-section of the central core; stacking up the ferromagnetic discs around the central core to form a cylindrical structure with a longitudinal cavity, wherein the longitudinal cavity is formed by the holes of the stacked-up ferromagnetic discs; integrally blocking together the stacked-up ferromagnetic discs; and removing the central core. A rotor may be manufactured by the method. The rotor may be used in an electric motor. |
| US09680348B2 |
Actuator position sensing
Methods and systems for measuring angular position include measuring an angular position within one rotation of a primary gear and a secondary gear that are meshed together. The primary gear and secondary gear have a first and second number of teeth respectively, where the first number of teeth and the second number of teeth are different. An angular position for the secondary gear is estimated using the measured primary gear angle and a reference value for each of the primary and secondary angle sensors. A number of primary gear rotations is calculated using the estimated angular position for the secondary gear and the measured angular position of the secondary gear. An angular position of the primary gear is calculated over multiple rotations using the calculated number of primary gear rotations, a reference value for the primary angle sensor, and the measured angle value of the primary gear within one rotation. |
| US09680344B2 |
Multiphase electrical machine and method of use
An electrical machine is provided. The electrical machine includes a stator, a rotor, and a plurality of switches. The stator includes main windings and auxiliary windings. The rotor is couplable to a prime mover configured to turn the rotor relative to the stator to generate at least six phases of alternating current (AC) power at the main windings. The plurality of switches is respectively coupled between the auxiliary windings and groups of the main windings. The plurality of switches is configured to convert the at least six phases to three phases when the plurality of switches is closed. |
| US09680342B2 |
Magnet holding member used in rotating electrical machine, rotor, rotating electrical machine, and machine tool
A magnet holding member capable of increasing the rotating speed and improving or maintaining reliability of a rotating electrical machine, a rotor having the magnet holding member, a rotating electrical machine having the rotor, and a machine tool having the rotating electrical machine. When one section between one axial end and another axial end of the rotor is referred to as one traverse, the holding member has a cylindrical shape formed by spirally winding a fiber bundle, which is unbroken over at least one traverse, on the outer periphery of the rotor, from one axial end to the other axial end. The holding member is constituted by an FRP having a resin as a matrix, and a terminal treatment by using reactive curable resin is carried out on at least one of a winding start end and a winding terminal end of the fiber bundle. |
| US09680341B2 |
Rotating electric machine including rotor core with slots having protrusions
Provided is a rotating electric machine that combines high efficiency and high strength reliability. The rotating electric machine includes: a stator having a coil and a stator core; and a rotor opposed to the stator with a gap intervening between the rotor and the stator, the rotor having permanent magnets 3 and a rotor core 2. The rotor is configured such that the permanent magnets are buried in V-shape at hole-shaped slots 4 disposed in the rotor core to form one pole, and the pole is formed in plurality in a circumferential direction. Each of the slots is an open slot partially opened toward an outer circumference of the rotor core. The slot is provided with a hook-shaped structure 6 to support corresponding one of the permanent magnets in an open portion thereof. |
| US09680340B2 |
Electrically rotating machine
An electrically rotating machine, includes a rotor and a stator, the rotor and/or the stator including a laminated core, with an air gap being formed between the rotor and the stator, said rotor having axially and radially extending cooling paths in flow communication with each other and in flow communication with radially extending cooling paths of the stator via the air gap, wherein the radially extending cooling paths of the stator are respectively axially aligned with the radially extending cooling paths of the rotor; at least one fan for conducting an air flow through the axially and radially extending cooling paths of the rotor, the air gap and the cooling paths of the stator, wherein the air gap has at least one constriction defined by sheets of the laminated core of the rotor having an outer radius greater than remaining ones of the sheets of the laminated core of the rotor and/or by sheets of the laminated core of the stator having a smaller inner radius than remaining ones of the sheets of the laminated core of the stator. |
| US09680339B2 |
Metal ribbon stator and motor comprising same
A stator made from a ribbon of metal having multiple layers of slit metal, and motors made therefrom are described. A ribbon having multiple layers of metal is formed into a stator such as by flattening or pleating the ribbon to form each pole of a stator having a plurality of stator teeth, or poles. The stator formed from the metal ribbon may be configured into any suitable type of motor, such as an axial transverse flux motor. A magnetic flux return may also be made out of metal ribbon. |
| US09680338B2 |
Inductively powered mobile sensor system
An inductively powered sensor system includes a primary conductive path 100 capable of being energized to provide an electromagnetic field in a defined space 1. An inductive power pick-up 120 is associated with a sensor 124 and is capable of receiving power from the field to supply the sensor 124. The system includes a first sensing means to sense the power available to the pick-up 120 and control means to increase or decrease the power available to the sensor dependant on the sensed power available. A method of inductively powering a sensor, an inductively powered sensor and an animal enclosure including one or more primary conductive path of an inductive power supply are also disclosed. |
| US09680333B1 |
Power system for a medical cart with a direct current power bus
A power system for a medical cart includes a power supply, a direct current power bus electrically coupled to the power supply, and an electrical output power module electrically coupled to the direct current power bus. The power supply is positioned within the base of the medical cart and outputs direct current electrical power. The direct current power bus is the support of the medical cart, with the base being at one end of the support. The electrical output power module is within the work platform of the medical cart at the other end of the support. The electrical output power module inputs the direct current electrical power from the direct current power bus, and converts the input direct current electrical power to an electrical power output having a different state. |
| US09680330B2 |
Multiband wireless power system
The present disclosure relates to a module for relaying power wirelessly to a device implanted in a user. The module may include a structure adapted to be worn by the user, a receiver configured to receive a first wireless power transmission at a first frequency, a transmitter configured to transmit a second wireless power transmission at a second frequency different from the first frequency, and a frequency changer configured to convert energy generated by the first wireless power transmission into energy for generating the second wireless power transmission. Each of the receiver, transmitter and frequency changer may be disposed on or in the structure. |
| US09680329B2 |
Inductive wireless charging system
The invention relates to an inductive wireless charging system comprising a charger, a chargeable mobile device, a first coil for or in the charger, and a second coil for or in the chargeable mobile device, wherein each of the first and the second coil comprises a core part consisting of a soft magnetic material, and each of the first and the second coil is embedded in a polymer bonded soft magnetic material. The invention also relates to a charger, respectively a chargeable mobile device for an inductive wireless charging system, comprising at least one coil comprising a core part consisting of a soft magnetic material, wherein the coil is embedded in a polymer bonded soft magnetic material. |
| US09680328B2 |
Electronic apparatus and feed system
An electronic apparatus includes: a power reception section configured to receive first power from a feed unit through power transmission with use of a magnetic field or an electric field; a power input section configured to receive second power supplied from an external power source through wired connection; a switching section configured to output one of the first power supplied from the power reception section and the second power supplied from the power input section; and a secondary battery configured to be charged, based on power output from the switching section. |
| US09680327B2 |
RF energy harvesting by a network node
Disclosed are various embodiments for energy harvesting by circuitry of a node in a network. The node operates in a communication mode that includes communicating, via an RF transceiver, data with another node in the network. The node includes an energy storage device that provides power for the node. The node switches, via an RF switch, from said communication mode to an energy harvest mode. The energy harvest mode includes receiving RF emissions accessible to the node via an antenna. The RF emissions are converted to DC electrical energy, and the DC energy is stored in the energy storage device. |
| US09680326B2 |
Power transfer architecture employing coupled resonant circuits
An apparatus and method are disclosed to control the mutual coupling between wireless power transfer (WPT) enabled devices. Wireless power transfer is best achieved when both the transmitting and receiving device are tuned to substantially the same frequency. Because WPT-enabled devices are coupled to one another during WPT, tuning one WPT-enabled device can cause both devices to converge to a resonance together. Furthermore, a WPT-enabled receiving device can be intentionally detuned to avoid coupling excessive power from a WPT-enabled transmitter device. These concepts can be extended to WPT-enabled device pairs that each has WPT transmission and reception qualities. When multiple WPT-enabled devices interact, tuning information can be stored in one or both of the devices to make the configuration procedure for subsequent WPT interactions more efficient. Various systems are presented to control the mutual coupling between WPT-enabled devices to improve the WPT. |
| US09680321B2 |
Feeding apparatus and feeding method
A feeding apparatus configured to be supplied with electric-power from a noncontact power-feeding module and to feed electric-power to a power-feeding object, the feeding apparatus, includes: an electric-current variation detecting block configured to detect variation of power-feeding electric-current supplied from this noncontact power-feeding module; a battery configured to assist supply of electric-power from the noncontact power-feeding module; and a charger configured to perform setting for boosting, based on a request from the electric-current variation detecting block, wherein the battery assists supply of electric-power when the setting for boosting is performed. |
| US09680319B2 |
Electrical system for universal charging station
In an embodiment of the current invention, a battery charging system for charging a plurality of portable electronic devices includes a scaling module configured to receive a first voltage and scale the first voltage to a second voltage, a memory configured to store a value, and a processor configured to receive a signal representing the second voltage, retrieve the value stored in the memory, and adjust at least one charging parameter using a comparison between the retrieved value and the received signal representing the second voltage. |
| US09680317B2 |
Storage and charging station system for portable electronic devices
A storage and management assembly for a plurality of portable electronic devices is provided. The assembly includes a tower assembly to define a vertical channel along a first side of the tower assembly. A plurality of shelves are removably coupled to a second side of the tower assembly, each of the shelves includes a storage bay defined by a bottom portion provided perpendicular to the first member, and opposing raised edge portions provided about a portion of the perimeter of the bottom portion, the plurality of shelves provided in a stacked vertical arrangement along the tower assembly. A locking assembly having a top wall and sidewalls attached to the shelves, with a pivotable door to prevent removal of electronic devices but permit visual confirmation of shelf contents. |
| US09680313B2 |
Authorized based receipt of wireless power
Exemplary embodiments are directed to methods and devices for fee-based wireless power. A method may include subscribing to a wireless power plan and receiving wireless power at one or more electronic devices according to a wireless power subscription. |
| US09680308B2 |
Bidirectional demand response control
A method for managing allocation of electrical power includes selecting one or more power consuming entities for receiving a request to reduce electrical power usage (S23) based on data pertaining to past selections of entities for receiving requests to reduce power and a history of compliance with said requests (S22). A customized request to reduce power usage for each of the selected one or more power consuming entities is generated (S24). The generated customized request to reduce power usage is received at a corresponding power consuming entity and a cost associated with complying with the received customized request to reduce power usage is evaluated (S25). A commitment to comply with the received customized request to reduce power usage is returned when the evaluated cost is within a threshold of acceptability and negotiating a new request to reduce power when the evaluated cost is greater than a threshold of acceptability (S26). |
| US09680305B2 |
Implementation of fire safety shutdown for solar panels with high reliability
System and method for restricting output power from multiple serially coupled DC power sources, such as a solar cell array, controlled by power balancing circuitry, thereby enabling power restriction in the event of an emergency. Output bypass circuitry allows the output voltage to be selectively restricted, and though power for switching between states would be needed, use of bi-stable bypass circuitry would avoid a need for power to remain in a state of bypass operation. Additionally, with the serially coupled DC power sources controlled by power balancing circuitry, use of solid-state current switching elements ensures continued output power restriction due to the clamping action of the body diodes upon the output voltage. |
| US09680299B2 |
Battery protection integrated circuit, battery protection apparatus and battery pack
A battery protection integrated circuit includes a switch unit; a control unit that controls on and off of the switch unit based on a monitored result; a package; a plurality of external connection terminals that are electrically connected to a plurality of terminal portions of the switch unit and the control unit, respectively, all of the external connection terminals that are to be connected to a first terminal of a circuit board being provided at a first short side of the terminal providing surface that faces one of board short sides of a circuit board, and all of the external connection terminals that are to be connected to a second terminal of the circuit board being provided at a second short side that is opposite to the first short side, when being mounted on the circuit board. |
| US09680290B2 |
Electric cable with protection member
An electric cable with protection member that makes it possible to waterproof an electric cable, ensure shock resistance with respect to a portion of the electric cable, and maintain the shape of the electric cable and, furthermore, that is easily adaptable to specification changes and dimensional tolerances and is produced at low cost. An electric cable with protection member includes an electric cable, a tube that is continuous in a circumferential direction, a metal exterior member surrounding the circumference of a portion of the tube, and a plurality of fixing portions. The metal exterior member is a member that is formed in a tubular shape capable of bending deformation and that can maintain a fixed shape against the load of the electric cable and the tube. The fixing portions are portions that can be fixed to a support. |
| US09680286B2 |
Spectral and radiometric calibration using tunable lasers
A tunable laser system includes a tunable laser, an adjustable laser cavity for producing one or more modes of laser light emitted from the tunable laser, a first optical parametric oscillator positioned in a light path of the adjustable laser cavity, and a controller operable to simultaneously control parameters of at least the tunable laser, the first optical parametric oscillator, and the adjustable laser cavity to produce a range of wavelengths emitted from the tunable laser system. A method of operating a tunable laser system includes using a controller to simultaneously control parameters of a tunable laser, an adjustable laser cavity for producing one or more modes of laser light emitted from the tunable laser, and a first optical parametric oscillator positioned in a light path of the adjustable laser cavity, to produce a range of wavelengths emitted from the tunable laser system. |
| US09680283B2 |
Switchable-gain optical amplifier
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for optical communications. One optical amplifier includes an input port; a bar-cross switch optically coupled to the input port; a first gain stage optically coupled between first port of the bar-cross switch and to an output port; and a secondary gain stage optically coupled between a second port and a third port of the bar-cross switch, wherein in a bar-state of the bar-cross switch the secondary gain stage is bypassed and in a cross-state, the secondary gain stage and the first gain stage are applied to an input light beam. |
| US09680280B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling and protecting pulsed high power fiber amplifier systems
An electronic circuit for controlling a laser system consisting of a pulse source and high power fiber amplifier is disclosed. The circuit is used to control the gain of the high power fiber amplifier system so that the amplified output pulses have predetermined pulse energy as the pulse width and repetition rate of the oscillator are varied. This includes keeping the pulse energy constant when the pulse train is turned on. The circuitry is also used to control the temperature of the high power fiber amplifier pump diode such that the wavelength of the pump diode is held at the optimum absorption wavelength of the fiber amplifier as the diode current is varied. The circuitry also provides a means of protecting the high power fiber amplifier from damage due to a loss of signal from the pulse source or from a pulse-source signal of insufficient injection energy. |
| US09680273B2 |
Electrical connector with electrical contacts protected by a layer of compressible material and method of making it
Disclosed is an electrical connector having a substrate and movable electrical contacts which are mounted to the substrate and extend a distance D from the substrate. A layer of compressible material (such as a foam or elastomeric material) is positioned on the substrate adjacent at least some of the electrical contacts and ideally has an uncompressed thickness slightly greater than the distance D to provide for protection of the electrical contacts. When a mating electrical device such as an electrical connector or other circuit member is mated to the electrical connector with its electrical contacts and its layer of compressible material, the layer of compressible material is compressed to a thickness less than the distance D, allowing the contacts to make a suitable electrical interconnection to the mating electrical device. The compressible material may be selected which has a force-to-compression plot which includes at least one inflection, defining a first region on one side of the inflection where a given increment of force provides a larger increment of compression and a second region on the other side of the inflection where the same increment of compressive force provides a substantially smaller increment of compression. The compressible material can function to prevent damage to the movable electrical contacts from handling, packing, shipping, assembly, testing, connection and/or mating of the connector. |
| US09680272B2 |
Method for forming negative electrode and method for manufacturing lithium secondary battery
The number of steps is reduced in the formation process of an electrode. Deterioration of the electrode is suppressed. A highly reliable lithium secondary battery is provided by suppressing the deterioration of the electrode. A method for forming a negative electrode and a method for manufacturing a lithium secondary battery including the negative electrode are provided. In the method for forming the negative electrode, graphene oxide, a plurality of particulate negative electrode active materials, and a precursor of polyimide are mixed to form slurry; the slurry is applied over a negative electrode current collector; and the slurry applied over the negative electrode current collector is heated at a temperature higher than or equal to 200° C. and lower than or equal to 400° C. so that the precursor of the polyimide is imidized. The graphene oxide is reduced in heating the slurry to imidize the precursor of the polyimide. |
| US09680266B2 |
High density connector
In one embodiment, a method for increasing potential data capacity for a high-density transceiver connector includes: aligning at least two transceiver-switch copper contacts opposite at least one network switch copper contact associated with a network switch, aligning at least two transceiver-cable copper contacts opposite at least one cable copper contact, and connecting the at least two transceiver-switch copper contacts to the at least two transceiver-cable copper contacts, wherein the high-density transceiver connector shares a form factor with a low-density transceiver connector. |
| US09680256B1 |
Connector system with connector position assurance
An electrical connector includes a housing and a connector position assurance (CPA) element. The CPA element includes a beam that is deflected from a blocked position to a clearance position by a mating connector that is loaded into a cavity of the housing. When the beam is in the blocked position, movement of the CPA element from an extended position to an inserted position is mechanically blocked by a protrusion of the housing that abuts the beam. The beam of the CPA element, when moved to the clearance position, clears the protrusion to allow the CPA element to move from the extended position to the inserted position. The housing may include a pair of such deflectable beams, each with a slot having an opening at its distal end. The opening of one of the beams aligns with the protrusion when the beam is deflected to its clearance position. |
| US09680252B2 |
Connector pair including a connector having a face portion and a magnetic portion
A connector pair comprises a connector and a mating connector. A movement of the connector to a first position along a first direction and a subsequent movement of the connector from the first position to a second position along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction completes a connection between the connector and the mating connector. The connector comprises a magnetic portion, and the mating connector comprises a mating magnetic portion. When the connector is located at the first position, the magnetic portion receives a force, which urges the connector to be moved toward the second position, from the mating magnetic portion. When the connector is located at the second position, the magnetic portion receives a force, which binds the connector at the second position, from the mating magnetic portion. |
| US09680250B2 |
Method and light enclosure with jack through lens
Method and apparatus for supplying external power through a sealed light enclosure that includes a lens portion and a back portion, a first electrical connector mounted through the back portion; a light source inside the enclosure connected to the first electrical connector such that when electrical power is applied to the first electrical connector, the light source illuminates. A second electrical connector has a connection interface exposed on the outer face of the lens portion, wherein the second connector is electrically connected to the first electrical connector, optionally through a series-connected fuse. The second connector is mounted on the back portion and sealed to the lens portion. Some embodiments include a rubber plug that can be plugged into the second connector to keep moisture out, wherein the plug includes an indicator light for indicating whether power is available through the second connector (i.e., that the fuse is not blown). |
| US09680249B2 |
Molded enclosures having a seamless appearance
An enclosure for an AC to DC adapter has a continuous and seamless exterior surface. The enclosure includes a housing and a front wall that are joined by a bonded interface. The front wall is formed from a metallic interface plate and an exterior layer of plastic that is formed over the metallic interface plate and bonded to the housing. |
| US09680248B1 |
Hybrid plug connector
A hybrid plug connector is disclosed in this invention. The hybrid plug connector includes a plug housing, a row of signal terminal assemblies and a row of power terminals. Each power terminal includes two independent and symmetrical conductive plates, which are combined together. Each conductive plate has a first protrusion and a second protrusion located below the first protrusion. When the power terminal is mounted on the plug housing, the first and second protrusions can clamp a beam located in a corresponding power terminal-receiving passage to prevent the power terminal from falling off when being shook up and down. |
| US09680243B2 |
Card holding member and card connector set
A card holding member is provided which is able to hold a card having terminal members and is able to be inserted into a card connector. The card holding member includes a card holding frame portion facing the side surfaces of the card, and a first portion including a first connecting portion. The card holding member further includes a main body portion, and a second portion including a second connecting portion connected to the first connecting portion. The card holding member further includes a first elastic member mounted on the outer periphery of the main body portion. The card holding member further includes a second elastic member mounted between the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion. |
| US09680239B2 |
Grounding stud and electrical connections
An electrical connection includes an elongate stud defining a central longitudinal axis, and having a patterned segment, a shoulder, and a flange. The shoulder is generally circular in cross-section having one or more outwardly directed curved surfaces. The shoulder may have an outer continuous curved surface, an outer continuous undulating curved surface, an outer continuous undulating curved surface including alternating sectors of concave and convex regions relative to the longitudinal axis of the elongate stud. Convex regions of the shoulder define corresponding flutes whose cross sections each form a fraction of a first circle, and concave regions define corresponding lobes whose cross sections each form a fraction of a second circle. A diameter or radius of the first and second circles are the same. In an aspect, the diameters or radii of the first and second circles are different. The shoulder may be multilobular, pentalobular, hexalobular or octalobular. |
| US09680238B1 |
Vertical mount battery fuser terminal
A vertical mounted battery terminal mounting assembly includes a battery having a terminal post. A post attachment structure including a contact portion shaped to engage the terminal post of the battery is provided. The post attachment structure includes a wedge translation portion having an angled slide surface. An internal wedge is positioned within the post attachment structure. The internal wedge includes an angled wall and terminal contacts. A core bolt is rotationally fixed and extends through the post attachment structure and the internal wedge. A nut is threaded on the core bolt and contacts an upper edge of the internal wedge wherein the angled wall of the internal wedge engages the angled slide surface of the post attachment structure. Rotation of the nut imparts a downward force on the internal wedge wherein contact of the angled wall and the slide surface evenly translates the downward force to a horizontal force wherein the terminal contacts and the contact portion engage the battery terminal post. |
| US09680237B2 |
Spring-force clamping element with pivoting lever
A compact spring-biased connector includes a housing having a chamber containing a conductive bus bar, a clamping spring normally having an expanded clamping condition for biasing a conductor bare end toward electrical engagement with the bus bar, and a release lever pivotally connected with the housing for displacement from a normally closed clamping position toward an open position, such that a lateral projection on the clamping lever operates the clamping spring toward a compressed open condition, thereby permitting removal of the conductor bare end from the housing chamber. The clamping spring is a compression V-shaped leaf spring having a stationary support leg and a movable clamping leg, with the lateral operating projection extending within the chamber to engage the spring clamping leg adjacent its juncture with the support leg. |
| US09680236B2 |
Electrical connector
An electrical connector can include a connector housing including a housing body that can define an opening that is configured to receive a complementary electrically conductive component along a mating direction. The electrical connector can further include at least one contact member that is supported by the connector housing and is configured to contact the complementary electrically conductive component when the complementary electrically conductive component is received in the opening. The at least one contact member can include an arm having a proximate portion, a distal portion, and an intermediate portion between the proximal and distal portions. The intermediate portion can be spaced outward with respect to each of the proximate and distal portions, and the intermediate portion can bear against the retention rib so as to retain the at least one contact member with respect to the connector housing. |
| US09680235B2 |
Insulated wire-terminal connection structure, wire harness, and insulated wire-terminal connection method
In a terminal connection method of inserting a wire tip of an insulated wire, which is formed by stripping a front end of an insulating cover to expose an aluminum core wire, into a pressure-bonding section of a female crimp terminal to pressure bond the insulated wire to the female crimp terminal via the pressure-bonding section, signs are formed on the outer circumferential face of an insulated tip of the insulating cover at a distance of an internal length of the pressure-bonding section from a conductor tip face of the conductor tip, and the wire tip is inserted up to the signs in the pressure-bonding section to pressure-bond the wire tip to the pressure-bonding section. |
| US09680234B2 |
Dual polarization ground-based phased array antenna system for aircraft communications and associated methods
A ground-based antenna system includes a first phased array antenna to generate a first directional antenna beam at a first polarization, and a second phased array antenna to generate a second directional antenna beam at a second polarization. The first and second phased array antennas each include a lower antenna element row, an upper antenna element row, and medial antenna element rows therebetween. The ground-based antenna system further includes first and second antenna beam controllers cooperating with the first and second phased array antennas to generate a more steeply sloped phase taper associated with the lower antenna element row, a less steeply sloped phase taper associated with the medial antenna element rows, and a more steeply sloped phase taper associated with the upper antenna element row. |
| US09680233B2 |
Multi-antenna array system
A multi-antenna array system includes active antennas each of which includes an antenna element and an amplifier that includes a matching circuit, a failure detector, and a circuit controller. The failure detector detects a failure in each of the active antennas, and in a case where a failure is detected in any of the active antennas, the circuit controller performs control to change a matching condition of the matching circuit included in each of the active antennas not having a failure such that total output power of the multi-antenna array system is maintained. |
| US09680230B1 |
Antenna reflector hydrophobic coating and method for applying same
An improved antenna reflector coating and a method for applying the coating is disclosed. A region of the reflector surface smaller than the entire reflective surface is identified and designated for hydrophobic treatment, and thereafter hydrophobically treated. Provision is made for identifying the region according to desired parameters and in consideration of multiple LNB embodiments. |
| US09680228B2 |
Antenna apparatus and electronic device including the same
An antenna apparatus is provided. The antenna apparatus includes a first section including at least one slit spaced apart from an outer edge of the antenna apparatus by a predetermined distance, a second section distinguished from the first section through the slit, and a feeding module for supplying a current to at least one of the first section and the second section. |
| US09680225B2 |
Wireless power receiver and transfer, wireless power transceiver system, and wireless power transceiver mobile device
A wireless power receiver includes a receiver resonator configured to be coupled to a source resonator to receive a power from the source resonator, the receiver resonator comprising: an inverted U-shaped dielectric layer whose distal ends are bent inward; an antenna patterned in the form of a loop in line with the shape of the dielectric layer; and a meta-structure arranged around the antenna on the dielectric layer, wherein the meta-structure is configured to reinforce at least one of the electric fields and magnetic fields that are formed in the receiver resonator. |
| US09680216B2 |
Communication device with a ground element directly connected to an inverted T-shaped ground plane
A communication device includes a system ground plane, a ground element, an antenna element, and a metal guide line. The ground element is coupled to the system ground plane. The ground element has a first edge, a second edge, and a connection point. The first edge and the second edge are opposite to each other. The connection point is positioned at the second edge. The antenna element is disposed adjacent to, or at, the first edge. One end of the metal guide line is coupled to the connection point, and another end of the metal guide line is open. |
| US09680215B2 |
Omnidirectional broadband antennas including capacitively grounded cable brackets
Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of omnidirectional broadband antennas and capacitively grounded cable brackets. In an exemplary embodiment, an omnidirectional broadband antenna generally includes a ground element, an antenna element, an annular element, and a cable bracket capacitively grounded to the ground element. The cable bracket is configured to allow soldering of a cable braid to the cable bracket for feeding the antenna element without direct galvanic contact between the cable braid and the ground element. |
| US09680208B1 |
Data communications case having an internal antenna array
A data communications apparatus including a case having a base and a lid connectable to the base, the lid movable with respect to the base between an open position and a closed position. The case has an inner surface. A power supply is secured inside the case. A router device is secured inside the case, the router device selectively receiving power from the power supply. A plurality of mounting brackets can be adhered to the inner surface of the case. An antenna array is in electrical communication with the router device, the antenna array including at least two cellular antennas, at least two wireless networking antennas, and at least one global positioning system antenna, each antenna of the antenna array secured inside the case to a corresponding mounting bracket. |
| US09680205B2 |
Electronic device with peripheral display antenna
An electronic device may be provided with electrical components mounted in a housing. The electronic device may include wireless transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. A display may be mounted in the housing. The display may have a transparent layer such as display cover layer. The display cover layer may have an inner surface with a recess. The recess may be a groove that runs along a peripheral edge of the display cover layer. An antenna structure such as an inverted-F antenna resonating element may be formed from a metal trace on a plastic support structure. The metal trace and support structure may be mounted in the groove with adhesive. The housing may be a metal housing that forms an antenna ground. Springs may be used in forming an antenna feed and an antenna return path that couples the antenna resonating element to ground. |
| US09680204B2 |
Antenna device
An antenna device of the present invention includes an antenna element which transmits or receives an electromagnetic wave having a specific frequency by being supplied with electric power, a conductive element which is formed of a conductive material, arranged so as to be spaced apart from and face the antenna element, and serves as a parasitic element, and a housing having a sealed space therein. The antenna element is provided inside the housing, and the conductive element is provided on outer surface of the housing, or in inner part of the housing, or in a mount member by which the housing is worn on a human body, or in a holding member for holding the housing; the conductive element is electromagnetically coupled to the antenna element, resonates with the specific frequency; and transmits or receives the electromagnetic wave. |
| US09680199B2 |
System and apparatus for driving antenna
A multiple-antenna positioning system with a single drive element, providing reduced weight and complexity over systems that have a drive element for each antenna. In certain examples, each antenna can be coupled with a rotating spindle, with each antenna spindle being coupled with a pair of link arms. By driving a single drive spindle, each of the antenna spindles in the system can be rotated by the associated pair of link arms. The link arms can have an adjustable length, such as through a turnbuckle mechanism, to reduce backlash in the system, and in some examples can apply a preload to the system. By reducing backlash, the multiple antenna positioning system can have improved responsiveness to a rotation of the single drive element, as well as improved stability of the positioning of each antenna when the drive element is held in a fixed position. |
| US09680195B2 |
High-frequency signal line
A high-frequency signal line includes a dielectric body including a first dielectric layer and one or more other dielectric layers laminated together. A first signal line is provided on a first main surface, which is a main surface located on one side in a direction of lamination, of the first dielectric layer. A second signal line is provided on a second main surface, which is a main surface located on another side in the lamination direction, of the first dielectric layer so as to face the first signal line via the first dielectric layer. The second signal line is electrically connected to the first signal line. A first ground conductor is located on one side in the lamination direction than the first signal line. A second ground conductor is located on another side in the lamination direction than the second signal line. |
| US09680194B2 |
Orthomode transducers and methods of fabricating orthomode transducers
Orthomode transducers (OMTs) and methods of fabricating OMTs are disclosed. According to disclosed embodiments, an OMT includes a housing defining an internal waveguide. The housing may be composed of a first cast housing member attached to a second cast housing member. The first housing member may include a first side of the waveguide that is cast into the first housing member. The second housing member may include a second side of the waveguide that is cast into the second housing member. A method of fabricating an OMT may include arranging at least one casting insert in at least one mold, casting the housing in the mold and casting a waveguide in the housing using the at least one casting insert. The disclosed devices and methods provide cost effective solutions for fabricating OMTs of various operating frequencies that share a substantially similar outer housing shape and size. |
| US09680190B1 |
Intelligent multiple-loop electric vehicle cooling system
An intelligent multiple-loop electric vehicle cooling system includes a battery pack, an electric drive module, a battery radiator, an electric drive module radiator, electric pumps, pass-through valves, three-way valves, a PTC heater, a heat exchanger. The cooling system is provided with two electric pumps, two pass-through valves, and three three-way valves that are connected through pipelines to form multiple loops. Compared with the prior art, by means of the present invention, multiple three-way valves and pass-through valves are disposed, to connect pipelines to form loops meeting different cooling or heating requirements. These loops are selectively opened or closed according to features and working states of a battery pack and an electric drive module of an electric vehicle, to ensure temperature balance of the electric vehicle and efficient operation of the electric vehicle. |
| US09680185B2 |
Organosilicon-containing electrolyte compositions having enhanced electrochemical and thermal stability
Described are electrolyte compositions and electrochemical devices containing them. The compositions include an organosilicon compound, an imide salt and optionally LiPF6. The electrolytes provide improved high-temperature performance and stability and will operate at temperatures as high as 250 C. An electrolyte composition comprising, in combination: an organosilicon compound and an imide salt and optionally UPF6; wherein when subjected to cyclic voltammetry at a plurality of cycles ranging from about 3V to about 5V and using a cathode current collector comprising aluminum versus Li/Lit electrodes the composition exhibits an oxidative corrosion current of about 0.10 mA/cm2 or less for a second and subsequent cycles. |
| US09680184B2 |
Non-aqueous secondary battery and method for producing same
An easier method is provided for producing a battery comprising an oxalato complex-derived coating on the negative electrode. This invention provides a method for producing a non-aqueous secondary battery, the method comprising: preparing a negative electrode paste comprising a negative electrode active material, a binder, and a polycarboxylic acid-based gas formation inhibitor; fabricating a negative electrode by applying the negative electrode paste to a negative current collector surface; constructing an assembly with a positive electrode, the negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte solution comprising an oxalato complex; and subjecting the assembly to activation thereby to decompose the oxalato complex and forming a coating derived from the oxalato complex on the negative electrode surface while inhibiting gas formation with the gas formation inhibitor. |
| US09680183B2 |
Lithium secondary battery and method for producing same
This invention provides a lithium secondary battery comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte. On the negative electrode surface, there is present a cyclic siloxane and/or a reaction product thereof. The cyclic siloxane is a cyclic siloxane having at least one side chain comprising a dimethylsiloxy group (a siloxy side chain-containing cyclic siloxane). |
| US09680182B2 |
Solid polymer electrolyte composition for lithium ion battery
A composition suitable as a solid polymer electrolyte for a lithium ion battery comprises a mixture of polyoctahedral silsesquioxane-phenyl7(BF3Li)3 and a poly(ethylene oxide). |
| US09680179B2 |
Sulfide solid electrolyte material, cathode body and lithium solid state battery
The main object of the present invention is to provide a sulfide solid electrolyte material which copes with both the restraint of the increase in interface resistance and the restraint of the increase in bulk resistance. The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by providing a sulfide solid electrolyte material characterized by containing at least one of Cl and Br. |
| US09680173B2 |
Energy saving method in combined system of bioethanol producing device and solid oxide fuel cell
The present invention is to provide, in a combined system of a bioethanol producing device and an SOFC, a method that is capable of further enhancing the electric power generation efficiency of the SOFC, and is also capable of achieving further reduction of the energy required for distillation of the fermented liquid. A part of an anode off-gas is refluxed to the water-containing ethanol vapor line from the mash column to the reforming device at a reflux ratio ((flow rate of reflux gas)/(flow rate of (anode off-gas)−(reflux gas))) of from 1 to 2. The ethanol concentration of the water-containing ethanol vapor is controlled by refluxing, to a range of from 25 to 35% by weight with water contained in the anode off-gas of the solid oxide fuel cell. |
| US09680170B2 |
Gas generator with combined gas flow valve and pressure relief
A gas generator includes a reactant capable of producing a gas and a gas outlet valve that can function as both a gas flow valve and a pressure relief vent, using the same gas flow path through the valve. When the valve is closed and the pressure within the gas generator is below a threshold pressure, a moveable valve member is biased against a valve seat to block the outlet port. When gas generator is coupled to the apparatus, an actuator is inserted into the valve, displacing the moveable valve member and separating it from the valve seat to open the valve. When the gas generator is uncoupled, pressure at or above a threshold displaces the moveable member, separating it from the valve seat to open the outlet port so pressure can be released to the external environment. |
| US09680168B2 |
Fuel cell stack
A fuel cell stack includes cell units stacked on one another and each including a membrane electrode assembly and two separators defining gas passages on both sides of the membrane electrode assembly, a cooling fluid passage for flowing a cooling fluid provided between the separators of each adjacent two of the cell units, and a displacement absorber provided in the cooling fluid passage. The displacement absorber includes elastic protrusions provided in an array and configured to elastically absorb a displacement of the cell units in a stack direction, and flow-spread preventing protrusions provided in an array and configured to prevent the cooling fluid from flowing out of an active area. |
| US09680157B2 |
Bonding layer including particles having bimodal size distribution for solid oxide fuel-cells
A bonding layer used to join individually formed fuel cell units together to create a solid oxide fuel cell stack can include particles contained within a carrier material. The particles can have at least one material component in common with a porous electrode of a first type and a bimodal particle size distribution. In some embodiments, the particles of a first mode of the bimodal particle size distribution are small enough to fit at least partially into the porosity of the electrodes bonded together, while the particles of the second mode of the bimodal particle size distribution are larger than the porosity of the electrodes. |
| US09680155B2 |
Cable-type secondary battery
The present invention relates to a cable-type secondary battery having a horizontal cross section of a predetermined shape and extending longitudinally, comprising: an inner electrode comprising a wire-type inner current collector having a first metal tab formed to be extended in a predetermined length at one end thereof, and an inner electrode active material layer formed on the surface of the inner current collector; a separator layer formed on the outer surface of the inner electrode active material layer; and an outer electrode formed on the outer surface of the separator layer, and comprising an outer electrode active material layer and an outer current collector having a second metal tab formed to be extended in a predetermined length at one end thereof. |
| US09680154B2 |
Battery
A battery, including a cathode, an anode, an electrolyte; the cathode including a cathode active material capable of reversibly intercalating-deintercalating ions; the anode including an anode current collector that does not participate in the electrochemical reaction; the electrolyte including a solvent capable of dissolving solute, the solute being ionized to at least an active ions that can be reduced to a metallic state during a charge cycle and be oxidized from the metallic state to the dissolved ion state during a discharge cycle and/or an intercalation-deintercalation ions that can deintercalate from the cathode active material during the charge cycle and intercalate into the cathode active material during the discharge cycle; the anode further comprising an anode active material formed on the anode current collector capable of being oxidized and dissolved to active ion state during the discharge cycle. |
| US09680152B2 |
Transition metal hexacyanoferrate battery with carbonaceous anode
A transition metal hexacyanoferrate (TMH) cathode battery is provided. The battery has a AxMn[Fe(CN)6]y.zH2O cathode, where the A cations are either alkali or alkaline-earth cations, such as sodium or potassium, where x is in the range of 1 to 2, where y is in the range of 0.5 to 1, and where z is in the range of 0 to 3.5. The AxMn[Fe(CN)6]y.zH2O has a rhombohedral crystal structure with Mn2+/3+ and Fe2+/3+ having the same reduction/oxidation potential. The battery also has an electrolyte, and anode made of an A metal, an A composite, or a material that can host A atoms. The battery has a single plateau charging curve, where a single plateau charging curve is defined as a constant charging voltage slope between 15% and 85% battery charge capacity. Fabrication methods are also provided. |
| US09680149B2 |
Electrode material, paste for electrodes, and lithium ion battery
An electrode material includes an electrode active material having a carbonaceous film formed on a surface is used and which is capable of suppressing voltage drop when high-speed charge and discharge is carried out in a low-temperature environment.The electrode material has a particulate shape and is formed a carbonaceous film on surfaces of electrode active material particles. An average of discharge capacity ratios between a 35C discharge capacity at −10° C. of a single particle of the electrode material and a 1C discharge capacity at −10° C. of a single particle of the electrode material is 0.50 or more. |
| US09680148B2 |
Functionalized carbons for lithium-sulfur batteries
This invention provides for a functionalized porous carbon particle comprising a porous carbon particle linked to a functional group having affinity for a polysulfide, a porous solvent infused carbon particle comprising the porous carbon particle thereof, and a positive electrode comprising the porous carbon particle thereof. |
| US09680145B2 |
Prismatic secondary battery
A prismatic nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a convex portion on a stepped portion of a stepped through hole of a positive electrode external conduction member. An upper end side of a caulked portion of a positive electrode terminal member is caulked by being inserted from a side of a small-diameter portion into the stepped through hole of a positive electrode external conduction member, and a convex portion of the positive electrode external conduction member is covered with a tip side of the caulked portion. Therefore, a terminal member and an external conduction member have a great bond strength, and rarely rotate with respect to each other. Thus, there is less concern that a conductivity decreases even when the battery is used under an environment including a lot of vibrations. |
| US09680144B2 |
Electrode assembly, method of fabricating electrode assembly, and secondary battery including electrode assembly
An electrode assembly that includes a positive electrode assembly including a number of positive electrodes each having a positive electrode non-coating portion at a certain position, and a positive electrode tab coupling all the positive electrode non-coating portions, a negative electrode assembly including a plurality of negative electrodes each having a negative electrode non-coating portion at a certain position, and a negative electrode tab coupling all the negative electrode non-coating portions, and a separator disposed between each positive electrode and each negative electrode to insulate a region between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The positive electrodes of the positive electrode assembly and the negative electrodes of the negative electrode assembly are stacked alternately. |
| US09680140B2 |
Battery anode component for a battery cell and method for manufacturing a battery anode component for a battery cell
A battery anode component for a battery cell including a current collector component having a lithium receiving side in which at least two spatially separated recesses are formed as lithium receiving chambers, at least two lithium-based anode material units which are situated in the at least two lithium receiving chambers, and a protective cover which covers the lithium receiving side at least partially and with the aid of which outer surfaces of the at least two lithium-based anode material units which are exposed by the current collector component are covered. A method is also described for manufacturing a battery anode component for a battery cell. |
| US09680135B2 |
Pouch-type flexible film battery
A pouch-type flexible film battery, including: (a) a cathode structure including a cathode pouch, a cathode conductive carbon layer, and a cathode layer; (b) an anode structure including an anode pouch, an anode conductive carbon layer, and an anode layer; and (c) a polymer electrolyte layer that is provided between the cathode and anode structures, that is bonded to the cathode layer and to the anode layer, and that is a gel-type electrolyte having adhesive properties and including a cellulose-based polymer. |
| US09680133B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a plurality of pixels each including a light emitting region; and a light blocking layer provided on a side of the plurality of pixels on which light is output. In each of the plurality pixels, the light blocking layer has a plurality of openings allowing light from the light emitting region to be output. In one embodiment, in the light blocking layer, the openings adjacent to each other may be located line-symmetrically. In one embodiment, in the light blocking layer, the openings adjacent to each other may be located point-symmetrically. |
| US09680131B2 |
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel, manufacturing method thereof and display device
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device are provided. The OLED panel comprises: a base substrate, a plurality of OLED units formed on the base substrate, and a reflective structure formed on the base substrate, disposed along the periphery of the OLED units and configured to partially or completely encircle the OLED units. The OLED unit includes an anode layer, an organic emission layer and a cathode layer. The reflective structure is provided with a reflective surface which is configured to reflect light emitted from a side terminal of the organic emission layer to the outside of the OLED panel. The OLED panel can improve the utilization rate of light emitted by the OLED units and hence improve the display quality of the OLED panel. |
| US09680130B2 |
Display devices, display panels and manufacturing methods therefor
A display device, a display panel and a manufacturing method therefor are disclosed. The display panel can include a cover plate; an array substrate disposed opposite to the cover plate; an organic light emitting layer, which is of a top-emitting type or a bottom-emitting type, disposed between the cover plate and the array substrate; and at least one first transparent resin layer disposed between the organic light emitting layer and the cover plate. With the solution in the disclosure, the method for manufacturing the display panel is simplified. |
| US09680128B2 |
Foldable organic light emitting display device
A foldable organic light emitting display (OLED) device comprises a substrate including a display region and a non-display region, the non-display region located at a periphery of the display region; an emitting diode in the display region; and an encapsulation film covering both the emitting diode and an entirety of the display region, and the encapsulation film covering and a part of the non-display region without covering at least another part of the non-display region. |
| US09680124B2 |
Organic electroluminescent device, illumination apparatus, and illumination system
An organic electroluminescent device includes first and second electrode and an organic light emitting layer. The first electrode has an upper face. The organic light emitting layer is provided on the first electrode. The second electrode is provided on the organic light emitting layer. The second electrode includes a plurality of conductive parts. The conductive parts extend in a first direction parallel to the upper face and are arranged in a second direction. The second direction is parallel to the upper face and intersects with the first direction. When a length of each of the conductive parts in the second direction is set to W1 (micrometer), and a pitch of each of the conductive parts is set to P1 (micrometer). The W1 and the P1 satisfy a relationship of W1≧−647(1−W1/P1)+511 and a relationship of W1≦−882(1−W1/P1)+847. |
| US09680123B2 |
Light emitting device, electrode structure and manufacturing method thereof
A light emitting device including a substrate, a first electrode structure, an organic light emitting structure and a second electrode structure is provided. The first electrode structure includes a first transparent conductive layer, a patterned conductive layer and a second transparent conductive layer disposed on the substrate in sequence, so that the patterned conductive layer is interposed between the second transparent conductive layer and the first transparent conductive layer in a thickness direction of the substrate. The organic light emitting structure and the second electrode structure are disposed on the substrate, and the organic light emitting structure is located between the first electrode structure and the second electrode structure in the thickness direction of the substrate. An electrode structure and a manufacturing method thereof are also provided. |
| US09680120B2 |
Light-emitting element, light-emitting device, display device, electronic device, and lighting device
An object is to provide a light-emitting element which uses a plurality of kinds of light-emitting dopants and has high emission efficiency. In one embodiment of the present invention, a light-emitting device, a light-emitting module, a light-emitting display device, an electronic device, and a lighting device each having reduced power consumption by using the above light-emitting element are provided. Attention is paid to Förster mechanism, which is one of mechanisms of intermolecular energy transfer. Efficient energy transfer by Förster mechanism is achieved by making an emission wavelength of a molecule which donates energy overlap with the longest-wavelength-side local maximum peak of a graph obtained by multiplying an absorption spectrum of a molecule which receives energy by a wavelength raised to the fourth power. |
| US09680119B2 |
White organic light emitting display device and organic light emitting display apparatus using the same
Disclosed is a white organic light emitting display device comprising first and second electrodes, and a first emitting part between the first and second electrodes, the first emitting part including a red emitting layer and a blue emitting layer adjacent to the red emitting layer, wherein the red emitting layer includes a first host material which does not absorb a blue light emitted from the blue emitting layer, and an organic light emitting display apparatus using the same. |
| US09680117B2 |
Thin film small molecule organic photovoltaic solar cell
A thin film organic photovoltaic device or solar cell in one embodiment includes an organic active bilayer and an ultrathin two-dimensional metallic nanogrid as a transparent conducting electrode which receives incident light. The nanogrid excites surface plasmonic resonances at an interface between the nanogrid and active bilayer from the incident light to enhance photon absorption in the active bilayer below the nanogrid. In another embodiment, spatially separated nanograting electrodes may alternatively be formed by double one-dimensional nanogratings disposed on opposite sides of the organic active bilayer. The spatially separated nanogratings may be oriented perpendicular to each other. |
| US09680114B2 |
Flexible organic light emitting display and method for manufacturing the same
A flexible organic light emitting display and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. The method is: sequentially forming a first buffer layer, a switch array layer, a display unit layer, and a thin film package layer on a flexible underlay substrate. When the flexible organic light emitting display bends along the flexible underlay substrate, a first bending deformation force is generated. The first buffer layer is used to absorb the first bending deformation force, and the material of the first buffer layer is an organic insulating material. |
| US09680111B2 |
Compositions for electronic applications
This invention relates to a composition including (a) a dopant, (b) a first host having at least one unit of Formula I, and (c) a second host compound. Formula I has the structure where Q is a fused ring linkage having the formula In Formula I: R1 is the same or different at each occurrence and is D, alkyl, aryl, silyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, cyano, vinyl, or allyl; R2 is the same or different at each occurrence and is H, D, alkyl, or aryl, or both R2 are an N-heterocycle; R3 is the same or different at each occurrence and is H, D, cyano, alkyl or aryl; and a is the same or different at each occurrence and is an integer from 0-4. |
| US09680108B2 |
Organic light-emitting device
An organic light-emitting device includes a first electrode; a second electrode facing the first electrode; and an organic layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the organic layer includes at least one first material represented by Formula 1 below, and at least one second material represented by Formula 2 below: |
| US09680106B2 |
Pyrene-based compound and organic light-emitting device including the same
A pyrene-based compound is represented by Formula 1: where R11 to R14, L11, m11, n11, k11, a12, a13, and a14 are as defined in the specification. |
| US09680098B2 |
Element manufacturing method and element manufacturing apparatus
An element manufacturing method and apparatus for efficiently manufacturing an element such as an organic semiconductor element. First, an intermediate product that includes a substrate and a protrusion extending in a normal direction of the substrate is provided. Next, in a stacking chamber conditioned to a vacuum environment, a stacked structure is formed by continuously stacking a lid member on the intermediate product at a side where the protrusion is provided. After this operation, the stacked structure is transported from the stacking chamber to a first pressure chamber coupled to the stacking chamber and conditioned to a first pressure higher than the pressure in the vacuum environment. Next, the stacked structure is further transported from the first pressure chamber to a separation chamber coupled to the first pressure chamber and conditioned to a vacuum environment, and then the stacked structure is separated into the intermediate product and the lid member. |
| US09680095B2 |
Resistive RAM and fabrication method
A structure for a resistive memory device and a method to fabricate the same is disclosed. The method includes providing a bottom electrode comprising a metal and forming a memory layer on the bottom electrode. The memory layer includes a first layer of metal oxide, and a second layer including the nitrogen-containing metal oxide. A top electrode is formed over the memory layer. |
| US09680092B2 |
Current selectors formed using single stack structures
Provided are hybrid electrodes comprising base structures and plugs disposed within the base structures. Also provided are selector elements comprising such hybrid electrodes and memory arrays with selector elements used for addressing individual memory cells. Specifically, the base structure and plug of a hybrid electrode have different compositions but both interface the same dielectric of the selector element. This design allows anti-parallel diode and other configurations with a very few components. The base structure and plug may have different dopants, different stoichiometry of the same alloy, or formed from completely different materials. The interfacing surface portions of a hybrid electrode may have different sizes. A combination of these surface portions (e.g., areas, surface conditions) and materials (e.g., compositions) can be used for tuning operating characteristics of selector elements using such hybrid electrodes. |
| US09680091B2 |
Structure and method for a complimentary resistive switching random access memory for high density application
The present disclosure provides a resistive random access memory (RRAM) structure. The RRAM structure includes a bottom electrode on a substrate; a resistive material layer on the bottom electrode, the resistive material layer including a defect engineering film; and a top electrode on the resistive material layer. |
| US09680089B1 |
Magnetic tunnel junctions
A magnetic tunnel junction comprises a conductive first magnetic electrode comprising magnetic recording material, a conductive second magnetic electrode spaced from the first electrode and comprising magnetic reference material, and a non-magnetic tunnel insulator material between the first and second electrodes. The magnetic reference material of the second electrode comprises a synthetic antiferromagnetic construction comprising two spaced magnetic regions one of which is closer to the tunnel insulator material than is the other. The one magnetic region comprises a polarizer region comprising CoxFeyBz where “x” is from 0 to 90, “y” is from 10 to 90, and “z” is from 10 to 50. The CoxFeyBz is directly against the tunnel insulator. A non-magnetic region comprising an Os-containing material is between the two spaced magnetic regions. The other magnetic region comprises a magnetic Co-containing material. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09680084B2 |
Piezoelectric element driving apparatus and method, and piezoelectric system using the same
A piezoelectric element driving apparatus may apply a predetermined driving signal to a piezoelectric element to drive the piezoelectric element. The driving signal may be an asymmetrical waveform in which amplitudes of first and second polarities thereof are different from each other. An exemplary embodiment in the present disclosure may provide a piezoelectric element driving apparatus and method having a high output while protecting dielectric characteristics of a piezoelectric element by driving the piezoelectric element using an asymmetrical driving signal. |
| US09680082B2 |
Device for charging and discharging a capacitive actuator and configuration having such a device
A device for charging and discharging a capacitive actuator connectable to an output connection has a first capacitor disposed between an input connection and a reference potential. The device has a series connection composed of a first and a second power switching element which is connected in parallel with the first capacitor. The device additionally has a first coil with a first connection connected to the center tap of the series connection, wherein the second connection of the first coil is connected to the reference potential via a third power switching element and to the output connection via a fourth power switching element. Wherein the power switching elements have diodes connected in parallel therewith such that they are reverse-biased from the input connection or the output connection to the reference potential. Wherein a connection of the fourth power switching element is connected to the input connection via a diode. |
| US09680081B2 |
Precursor wire for Nb3Al superconducting wire, Nb3Al superconducting wire, method for producing precursor wire for Nb3Al superconducting wire, and method for producing Nb3Al superconducting wire
ProblemThere is proposed an innovative cross-sectional structure, with an idea contrary to the conventional one, utilizing the non-reactivity between Cu and Ta (or between Ag and Nb, Ta) in a high-temperature short-time heat treatment, thus achieving (1) the suppression of the low magnetic-field instability, (2) excellent wire drawability of a precursor wire, and (3) the reduction of the cost required for the incorporation of a stabilizer.Means for ResolutionThere is proposed a structure having an assembly of a plurality of single wires, wherein the assembly is covered with an outer cover (skin) formed from Nb or Ta, wherein each of the single wires has an Nb/Al composite filament region which is formed from a composite of Nb and Al mixed in an Nb:Al molar ratio of 3:1, and which is covered with a partition formed from Nb or Ta, and further covered with an interfilamentary barrier formed from Cu or Ag disposed around the partition. |
| US09680079B2 |
Production method of thermoelectric converter, production method of electronic device equipped with thermoelectric converter, and thermoelectric converter
As the first conductive paste, a paste is used which is made by adding an organic solvent to powder of alloy in which a plurality of atoms keep a given crystal structure constant. As the second conductive paste, a paste is used which is made by adding an organic solvent to powder of metal different in kind from the alloy. In a step of making the stack body, cavities are formed in the stack body. In a uniting step, the cavities work to facilitate flow of thermoplastic resin to absorb pressure acting in a direction different from a direction in which pressure exerted on the first conductive paste to unite the stack body, thereby resulting in an increase in pressure for the uniting to solid-state sinter the first conductive paste to make the first layer-to-layer connecting member. |
| US09680078B2 |
Wiring substrate and light emitting device
A wiring substrate includes ceramic layers and a conductive member. The ceramic layers have an uppermost ceramic layer and a lowermost ceramic layer. The conductive member includes an upper conductive layer disposed on an upper surface of the uppermost ceramic layer, an internal conductive layer interposed between the ceramic layers, and a lower conductive layer disposed on a lower surface of the lowermost ceramic layer. The conductive member defines vias electrically connecting the upper conductive layer, the internal conductive layer, and the lower conductive layer. A total number of a first vias connected to the lower conductive layer is larger than a total number of a second vias connected to the upper conductive layer. |
| US09680077B1 |
Light-emitting diode lighting device
A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting device includes a substrate, an isolation layer, a first bottom electrode, a second bottom electrode, at least one first vertical LED, a first conductive bonding layer, at least one second vertical LED, a second conductive bonding layer, a first transparent sealing material, a second transparent sealing material, and a top electrode. The substrate has a base portion and a plurality of protruding portions present on the base portion. The base portion and the protruding portions cooperate to define at least one first recess and at least one second recess. At least one of the first recess and the second recess has a bottom surface and at least one sidewall adjacent to the bottom surface. The bottom surface and the sidewall are reflective. The first vertical LED and the second vertical LED are electrically connected in series. |
| US09680069B2 |
Light emitting device package, wavelength conversion film, and manufacturing method thereof
A light emitting device package is provided. The package includes a light emitting device including a substrate, and a light emitting structure having a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer stacked on the substrate; and a wavelength conversion film disposed in a path of light emitted by the light emitting device and having phosphor layers stacked on each other. A portion of the phosphor layers includes phosphor structures including a wavelength conversion material receiving light emitted from the light emitting device and converting a wavelength thereof and a binding resin binding the wavelength conversion material, and a transparent resin filling spaces between the phosphor structures. |
| US09680068B2 |
Quantum dot films utilizing multi-phase resins
Multi-phase polymer films containing quantum dots (QDs) are described herein. The films have domains of primarily hydrophobic polymer and domains of primarily hydrophilic polymer. QDs, being generally more stable within a hydrophobic matrix, are dispersed primarily within the hydrophobic domains of the films. The hydrophilic domains tend to be effective at excluding oxygen. |
| US09680064B2 |
Light emitting diode and method of manufacturing the same, and light emitting device and method of manufacturing the light emitting device
Disclosed are a light emitting device, a conductive substrate; a second electrode layer on the conductive substrate and including a center portion and a peripheral portion surrounding the center portion; a protective layer on the peripheral portion of the second electrode layer; and a light emitting structure including a second conductive semiconductor layer on the second electrode layer, an active layer on the second conductive semiconductor layer and a first conductive semiconductor layer on the active layer; and a first electrode layer on the first conductive semiconductor layer, wherein the second conductive semiconductor layer includes edge portions extending outside of the light emitting structure. |
| US09680062B2 |
Optoelectronic devices incorporating single crystalline aluminum nitride substrate
The invention provides an optoelectronic device adapted to emit ultraviolet light, including an aluminum nitride single crystalline substrate, wherein the dislocation density of the substrate is less than about 105 cm−2 and the Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of the double axis rocking curve for the (002) and (102) crystallographic planes is less than about 200 arcsec; and an ultraviolet light-emitting diode structure overlying the aluminum nitride single crystalline substrate, the diode structure including a first electrode electrically connected to an n-type semiconductor layer and a second electrode electrically connected to a p-type semiconductor layer. In certain embodiments, the optoelectronic devices of the invention exhibit a reverse leakage current less than about 10−5 A/cm2 at −10 V and/or an L80 of at least about 5000 hours at an injection current density of 28 A/cm2. |
| US09680056B1 |
Ultraviolet light-emitting device with a heavily doped strain-management interlayer
A heteroepitaxy strain-management structure for a light emitting device includes: a substrate or template; an epitaxial layer to be epitaxially formed over the substrate or template, wherein a calculated in-plane compressive strain to be exerted by the substrate or template to the epitaxial layer is equal to or larger than 1%; and a heavily doped interlayer inserted in-between the epitaxial layer and the substrate or template; wherein the heavily doped interlayer is of substantially the same material composition as that of the epitaxial layer, with a thickness of 40-400 nm, and doped at a doping level in the range of 5×1019 to 5×1020 cm−3. Also provided is an ultraviolet light emitting device having a heteroepitaxy strain-management structure. |
| US09680051B2 |
Light emitting diode with quantum barrier doping
A light emitting diode including a substrate, a p-type and n-type semiconductor layers, an active layer, an interlayer, an electron barrier layer, a first and a second electrodes are provided. The n-type semiconductor layer is disposed on the sapphire substrate. The active layer has an active region with a defect density greater than or equal to 2×107/cm2. The active layer is disposed between the n-type and p-type semiconductor layers. The wavelength of light emitted by the active layer is λ, and 222 nm≦λ≦405 nm. The active layer includes i quantum barrier layers and (i−1) quantum wells, each quantum well is disposed between any two quantum barrier layers, and i≧2. N-type dopant is doped in at least k layers of the i quantum barrier layers, wherein k is a natural number and k≧1, when i even, k≧i/2, and when i is odd, k≧(i−1)/2. |
| US09680050B2 |
Semiconductor light emitting device
There is provided a semiconductor light emitting device including a conductive substrate, a first electrode layer, an insulating layer, a second electrode layer, a second semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a first semiconductor layer that are sequentially stacked. The contact area between the first electrode layer and the first semiconductor layer is 3% to 13% of the total area of the semiconductor light emitting device, and thus high luminous efficiency is achieved. |
| US09680049B2 |
Method for producing an optoelectronic semiconductor chip and optoelectronic semiconductor chip
In at least one embodiment, a method is designed to produce optoelectronic semiconductor chips. A carrier assembly, which is a sapphire wafer, is produced. A semiconductor layer sequence is applied to the carrier assembly. The carrier assembly and the semiconductor layer sequence are divided into the individual semiconductor chips. The dividing is implemented by producing a multiplicity of selectively etchable material modifications in the carrier assembly in separation region(s) by focused, pulsed laser radiation. The laser radiation has a wavelength at which the carrier assembly is transparent. The dividing includes wet chemically etching the material modifications, such that the carrier assembly is singulated into individual carriers for the semiconductor chips solely by the wet chemical etching or in combination with a further material removal method. |
| US09680045B2 |
III-V solar cell structure with multi-layer back surface field
Photovoltaic devices including direct gap III-V absorber materials and operatively associated back structures enhance efficiency by enabling photon recycling. The back structures of the photovoltaic devices include wide bandgap III-V layers, highly doped (In)GaAs layers, patterned oxide layers and metal reflectors that directly contact the highly doped (In)GaAs layers through vias formed in the back structures. Localized ohmic contacts are formed in the back structures of the devices. |
| US09680044B2 |
Tandem nanofilm photovoltaic cells joined by wafer bonding
An energy conversion device comprises at least two thin film photovoltaic cells fabricated separately and joined by wafer bonding. The cells are arranged in a hierarchical stack of decreasing order of their energy bandgap from top to bottom. Each of the thin film cells has a thickness in the range from about 0.5 μm to about 10 μm. The photovoltaic cell stack is mounted upon a thick substrate composed of a material selected from silicon, glass, quartz, silica, alumina, ceramic, metal, graphite, and plastic. Each of the interfaces between the cells comprises a structure selected from a tunnel junction, a heterojunction, a transparent conducting oxide, and an alloying metal grid; and the top surface and/or the lower surface of the energy conversion device may contain light-trapping means. |
| US09680043B2 |
Photovoltaic module with adjustable height concentrator
The invention relates to a photovoltaic concentrator module comprising at least one lens and at least one photovoltaic cell, further comprising a distance adjustment means configured to adjust the distance between the at least one lens and the at least one photovoltaic cell. Using the distance adjustment means, the cell and the lens can be kept at a desired distance, e.g., the focal distance. The distance adjustment means can be a pressure varying means. The invention further relates to a photovoltaic concentrator array comprising a plurality of photovoltaic concentrator modules and to a method for improving the energy conversion efficiency of a photovoltaic concentrator module. |
| US09680042B2 |
Plated electrical contacts for solar modules
The present invention concerns a plating method for manufacturing of electrical contacts on a solar module wherein the wiring between silicon solar cells in a solar module is deposited by electroplating onto a conductive seed. The wiring between individual silicon solar cells comprises wiring reinforcement pillars which improve the reliability of said wiring. |
| US09680036B2 |
Organometallic and hydrocarbon additives for use with aluminum back solar cell contacts
A method of reducing bow and/or improving the electrical performance of an aluminum back contacted silicon solar cell includes applying to a silicon wafer substrate a paste including aluminum and an organometallic compound, and firing the substrate. The organometallic compound is a C1 to C30 organometallic compound of a metal selected from the group consisting of Ag, Al, Ba, Bi, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nd, Ni, Sb, Si, Sn, Sr, Ta, V, Zn, Zr. A paste is formed having an exothermic reaction peak at a temperature of at least 300° C. to less than 660° C. |
| US09680031B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
Provided is an in-wiring-layer active element (component) which allows for electrical isolation between a gate electrode and a channel in a top gate structure. A semiconductor device includes a first wiring layer, a second wiring layer, and a semiconductor element. The first wiring layer has a first interlayer insulating layer, and a first wire embedded in the first interlayer insulating layer. The second wiring layer has a second interlayer insulating layer, and second wires embedded in the second interlayer insulating layer. The semiconductor element is provided at least in the second wiring layer. The semiconductor element includes a semiconductor layer provided in the second wiring layer, a gate insulating film provided in contact with the semiconductor layer, a gate electrode provided on the opposite side of the semiconductor layer via the first gate insulating film, and a first side wall film provided over a side surface of the semiconductor layer. |
| US09680029B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device includes a bit line; two or more word lines; and a memory cell including two or more sub memory cells that each include a transistor and a capacitor. One of a source and a drain of the transistor is connected to the bit line, the other of the source and the drain of the transistor is connected to the capacitor, a gate of the transistor is connected to one of the word lines, and each of the sub memory cells has a different capacitance of the capacitor. |
| US09680028B2 |
Semiconductor device
The concentration of impurity elements included in an oxide semiconductor film in the vicinity of a gate insulating film is reduced. Further, crystallinity of the oxide semiconductor film in the vicinity of the gate insulating film is improved. A semiconductor device includes an oxide semiconductor film over a substrate, a source electrode and a drain electrode over the oxide semiconductor film, a gate insulating film which includes an oxide containing silicon and is formed over the oxide semiconductor film, and a gate electrode over the gate insulating film. The oxide semiconductor film includes a region in which the concentration of silicon is lower than or equal to 1.0 at. %, and at least the region includes a crystal portion. |
| US09680027B2 |
Nickelide source/drain structures for CMOS transistors
A nickelide material with reduced resistivity is provided as source/drain contact surfaces in both NMOS and PMOS technology. The nickelide material layer may be a ternary material such as NiInAs, and may be formed from a binary material previously formed in the source/drain regions. The binary material may be the channel material or it may be an epitaxial layer formed over the channel material. The same ternary nickelide material may be used as the source/drain contact surface in both NMOS and PMOS transistors. Various binary or ternary channel materials may be used for the NMOS transistors and for the PMOS transistors. |
| US09680025B2 |
TFT switch and method for manufacturing the same
The present invention proposes a TFT switch and a method for manufacturing the same. The TFT switch includes a gate, a drain, a source, a semiconductor layer and a fourth electrode. The drain is connected to a first signal, the gate is connected to a control signal to control the switch on or off. The source outputs the first signal when the switch turns on. The fourth electrode and the gate are respectively located at two sides of the semiconductor layer. The fourth electrode is conductive and is selectively coupled to different voltage levels, thereby reducing leakage current in a channel to improve switch characteristic when the switch turns off. |
| US09680014B2 |
Semiconductor device including Fin structures and manufacturing method thereof
A p-type semiconductor Fin FET device includes a fin structure disposed over a substrate. The fin structure includes a channel layer. The Fin FET device also includes a gate structure including a gate electrode layer and a gate dielectric layer, covering a portion of the fin structure. Side-wall insulating layers are disposed over both main sides of the gate electrode layer. The Fin FET device includes a source and a drain, each including a stressor layer disposed in a recess formed by removing the fin structure not covered by the gate structure. The stressor layer includes a first stressor layer and a second stressor layer formed in this order. In the source, an interface between the first stressor layer and the channel layer is located under one of the side-wall insulating layers closer to the source or the gate electrode. |
| US09680004B2 |
Power MOSFET with seperate gate and field plate trenches
A power MOSFET includes a gate electrode in a gate trench in a main surface of a semiconductor substrate, the gate trench extending parallel to the main surface. The power MOSFET further includes a field electrode in a field plate trench in the main surface. The field plate trench has an extension length in a first direction which is less than double and more than half of an extension length of the field plate trench in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, the first and the second directions being parallel to the main surface. The gate electrode includes a gate electrode material which comprises a metal. |
| US09680002B2 |
Semiconductor device with a variable-width vertical channel formed through a plurality of semiconductor layers
Semiconductor devices and manufacturing methods are provided for making channel and gate lengths independent from lithography. Also, semiconductor devices and manufacturing methods are provided for increasing resistivity between drain and channel to allow for higher voltage operation. For example, a semiconductor device includes a first doped layer implanted in a semiconductor substrate forming one of a source or a drain and a gate metal layer disposed over the first doped layer. The semiconductor device further includes a second doped layer disposed over the gate metal forming the other the source or the drain, where the first doped layer, the gate metal layer and the second doped layer form a vertical stack of layers of the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device further includes a conduction channel formed in a trench that extends vertically through the vertical stack of layers and terminates at the semiconductor substrate. |
| US09679996B2 |
Semiconductor device having buried region beneath electrode and method to form the same
A semiconductor device and a process to form the same are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a support, an active semiconductor stack including a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer, and a third semiconductor layer, the first to third semiconductor layers being sequentially stacked on the support, and an electrode on the third semiconductor layer. The first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer provide a buried region in a portion under the electrode, the buried region being filled with a material having a first dielectric constant smaller than a second dielectric constant of the first semiconductor layer and a third dielectric constant of the second semiconductor layer. |
| US09679994B1 |
High fin cut fabrication process
A method of forming fins on a substrate is provided. The method comprises depositing first fin spacers comprising first fin spacer material and second fin spacers comprising second fin spacer material on a plurality of locations on a substrate having a hard mask above the substrate's semiconductor material, wherein the first fin spacers comprise desired first fin spacers and dummy first fin spacers and the second fin spacers comprise desired second fin spacers and dummy second fin spacers. The method further comprises forming fins on the substrate under the first fin spacers and the second fin spacers. The fins comprise a plurality of dummy fins and a plurality of desired fins. The dummy fins comprise a plurality of dummy first fins formed under the dummy first fin spacers and a plurality of dummy second fins formed under the dummy second fin spacers. The method further comprises removing the dummy first fin spacers separately from removing the dummy second fin spacers, removing the dummy second fin spacers, and removing the dummy fins without damaging the desired fins. |
| US09679990B2 |
Semiconductor structure(s) with extended source/drain channel interfaces and methods of fabrication
Semiconductor structures and methods of fabrication are provided, with one or both of an extended source-to-channel interface or an extended drain-to-channel interface. The fabrication method includes, for instance, recessing a semiconductor material to form a cavity adjacent to a channel region of a semiconductor structure being fabricated, the recessing forming a first cavity surface and a second cavity surface within the cavity; and implanting one or more dopants into the semiconductor material through the first cavity surface to define an implanted region within the semiconductor material, and form an extended channel interface, the extended channel interface including, in part, an interface of the implanted region within the semiconductor material to the channel region of the semiconductor structure. In one embodiment, the semiconductor structure with the extended channel interface is a FinFET. |
| US09679986B2 |
Silicon carbide semiconductor device
A gate insulating film is provided on a trench. The gate insulating film has a trench insulating film and a bottom insulating film. The trench insulating film covers each of a side wall and a bottom portion. The bottom insulating film is provided on the bottom portion with a trench insulating film being interposed therebetween. The bottom insulating film has a carbon atom concentration lower than that of the trench insulating film. The gate electrode is in contact with a portion of the trench insulating film on the side wall. Accordingly, a low threshold voltage and a large breakdown voltage can be attained. |
| US09679985B1 |
Devices and methods of improving device performance through gate cut last process
Devices and methods of fabricating integrated circuit devices for increasing performance through gate cut last processes are provided. One method includes, for instance: obtaining an intermediate semiconductor device having a substrate including a plurality of fins, an STI layer, an oxide layer, and a gate material over the oxide layer, the fins extending into the gate material; removing the gate material and the oxide layer; depositing a high k material on a top surface of the STI layer, surrounding the fins; depositing a gate stack over the high k material; filling the top of the device with a gate contact metal; etching a portion of the gate contact metal, the metal gate stack, and the high k material; and filling the portion with an inter-layer dielectric. Also disclosed is an intermediate device formed by the method. |
| US09679983B2 |
Semiconductor devices including threshold voltage control regions
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate including isolation regions defining first and second active regions having a first and second conductivity type, respectively, first threshold voltage control regions in predetermined regions of the first active region, wherein the first threshold voltage control regions have the first conductivity type and a different impurity concentration from the first active region, a first gate trench extending across the first active region, wherein portions of side bottom portions of the first gate trench adjacent to the respective isolation region are disposed at a higher level than a central bottom portion of the first gate trench, and the first threshold voltage control regions remain in the first active region under the side bottom portions of the first gate trench adjacent to the respective isolation region, and a first gate pattern. Methods of manufacturing such semiconductor devices are also provided. |
| US09679978B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same
A semiconductor device includes a substrate having first and second regions, a first fin-type pattern and a second fin-type pattern formed in the first region and extending in a first direction, and a third fin-type pattern and a fourth fin-type pattern formed in the second region and extending in a third direction. A first source/drain is formed on the first fin-type pattern and a second source/drain region is formed on the second fin-type pattern. Each of first and second source/drains have a cross section defining a same convex polygonal shape. A third source/drain is formed on the third fin-type pattern and a fourth source/drain region is formed on the fourth fin-type pattern. Cross-sections of the third and fourth source/drains define different convex polygonal shapes from one another. |
| US09679974B2 |
Nitride semiconductor element, nitride semiconductor wafer, and method for forming nitride semiconductor layer
According to one embodiment, a nitride semiconductor element includes: a stacked body; and a functional layer. The stacked body includes a first GaN layer, a first layer, and a second GaN layer. The first GaN layer includes a first protrusion. The first layer is provided on the first GaN layer and contains at least one of Si and Mg. The second GaN layer is provided on the first layer and includes a second protrusion. Length of bottom of the second protrusion is shorter than length of bottom of the first protrusion. A functional layer is provided on the stacked body and includes a nitride semiconductor. |
| US09679972B1 |
Thin strain relaxed buffers with multilayer film stacks
A semiconductor structure can include a substrate and a substrate layer. The substrate can be formed of silicon and the substrate layer can be formed of silicon germanium. Above the substrate and under the substrate layer there can be provided a multilayer substructure. The multilayer substructure can include a first layer and a second layer. The first layer can be formed of a first material and the second layer can be formed of second material. A method can include forming a multilayer substructure on a substrate, annealing the multilayer substructure, and forming a substrate layer on the multilayer substructure. |
| US09679971B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device of an embodiment includes an n-type SiC region, a metal layer, and a conductive layer provided between the n-type SiC region and the metal layer, the conductive layer including titanium (Ti), oxygen (O), at least one first element from zirconium (Zr) and hafnium (Hf), and at least one second element from vanadium (V), niobium (Nb), and tantalum (Ta). |
| US09679970B1 |
Graphene transistors on microbial cellulose
A device including a biopolymer membrane, a passivation layer on the biopolymer membrane, a graphene layer on the passivation layer, a source electrode on the graphene layer, and a drain electrode on the graphene layer, wherein the graphene layer extends between the source electrode and the drain electrode. |
| US09679967B1 |
Contact resistance reduction by III-V Ga deficient surface
A method for forming a semiconductor device includes forming a III-V semiconductor substrate and forming a gate structure on the III-V semiconductor substrate. The method also includes forming a thin spacer surrounding the gate structure and forming a source/drain junction with a first doped III-V material at an upper surface of the III-V semiconductor substrate. The method also includes oxidizing a surface the source/drain forming an oxidation layer; removing natural oxides from the oxidation layer on a surface of the source/drain to expose ions of the first doped material at least at a surface of the source/drain. The method further includes applying a second doping to the source/drain to increase a doping concentration of the first doped III-V material, forming metal contacts at least at the second doped surface of the source/drain; and then annealing the contact. |
| US09679966B2 |
Electronic device containing nanowire(s), equipped with a transition metal buffer layer, process for growing at least one nanowire, and process for manufacturing a device
The electronic device comprises a substrate (1), at least one semiconductor nanowire (2) and a buffer layer (3) interposed between the substrate (1) and said nanowire (2). The buffer layer (3) is at least partly formed by a transition metal nitride layer (9) from which extends the nanowire (2), said transition metal nitride being chosen from: vanadium nitride, chromium nitride, zirconium nitride, niobium nitride, molybdenum nitride, hafnium nitride or tantalum nitride. |
| US09679964B2 |
Semiconductor constructions having peripheral regions with spaced apart mesas
Some embodiments include semiconductor constructions having semiconductor material patterned into two mesas spaced from one another by at least one dummy projection. The dummy projection has a width along a cross-section of X and the mesas have widths along the cross-section of at least 3X. Some embodiments include semiconductor constructions having a memory array region and a peripheral region adjacent the memory array region. Semiconductor material within the peripheral region is patterned into two relatively wide mesas spaced from one another by at least one relatively narrow projection. The relatively narrow projection has a width along a cross-section of X and the relatively wide mesas have widths along the cross-section of at least 3X. |
| US09679959B2 |
Capacitor and contact structures, and formation processes thereof
Capacitor and contact structures are provided, as well as methods for forming the capacitor and contact structures. The methods include, for instance, providing a layer of conductive material above a conductive structure and above a lower electrode of a capacitor; etching the layer of conductive material to define a conductive material hard mask and an upper electrode of the capacitor, the conductive material hard mask being disposed at least partially above the conductive structure; and forming a first conductive contact structure and a second conductive contact structure, the first conductive contact structure extending through an opening in the conductive material hard mask and conductively contacting the conductive structure, and the second conductive contact structure conductively contacting one of the lower electrode of the capacitor, or the upper electrode of the capacitor. |
| US09679957B2 |
Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a substrate including a display area and a non-display area disposed on one side of the display area, a line unit including a plurality of lines extending in one direction and disposed on the substrate in the non-display area, an insulating film disposed on the line unit and exposing one end of the line unit, and a metal layer disposed between the line unit and the insulating film. |
| US09679955B2 |
Light emitting device
A light emitting device is provided which can prevent a change in gate voltage due to leakage or other causes and at the same time can prevent the aperture ratio from lowering. A capacitor storage is formed from a connection wiring line, an insulating film, and a capacitance wiring line. The connection wiring line is formed over a gate electrode and an active layer of a TFT of a pixel, and is connected to the active layer. The insulating film is formed on the connection wiring line. The capacitance wiring line is formed on the insulating film. This structure enables the capacitor storage to overlap the TFT, thereby increasing the capacity of the capacitor storage while keeping the aperture ratio from lowering. Accordingly, a change in gate voltage due to leakage or other causes can be avoided to prevent a change in luminance of an OLED and flickering of screen in analog driving. |
| US09679954B2 |
Electroluminescent substrate, method for producing same, electroluminescent display panel, and electroluminescent display device
The EL substrate includes semiconductor layers of TFTs, a pixel electrode, and an upper part electrode of a Cs section which are provided on a gate insulating film. The semiconductor layers are covered with a protective film which has openings via which the pixel electrode and the upper part electrode are exposed. The semiconductor layers are an oxide semiconductor layer, and the pixel electrode and the upper part electrode are reduction electrodes of the oxide semiconductor layer. |
| US09679953B2 |
WOLED back panel and method of manufacturing the same
The present invention discloses a WOLED back panel and a method of manufacturing the same. The method comprises: forming a pattern of a color filter layer on a substrate; exposing the pattern of the color filter layer by halftone exposure so as to form a groove structure in the pattern of the color filter layer; forming a pattern of a resin material layer on a surface of the substrate formed with the groove structure, and heavily doping a partial region of the resin material layer so as to form a heavily doped part having a conductivity; the heavily doped partial region of the resin material layer corresponding to a pixel electrode region, a via region, and a connection region between the pixel electrode region and the via region; and forming an organic light-emitting layer and a cathode in order on a surface of the substrate after heavily doping the partial region of the resin material layer. The production cost is reduced in the present invention by forming a groove structure in the color filter layer instead of manufacturing a conventional pixel defining layer. |
| US09679952B2 |
Organic electroluminescence display device
An organic electroluminescence display device including pixels, a first bank provided between the pixels and covering a periphery edge part of a pixel electrode, a second bank provided on a first upper surface of the first bank and including a second upper surface and a first side surface, an auxiliary wiring provided on the second upper surface and including a third upper surface and a second side surface, an organic electroluminescence layer in contact with the pixel electrode, the first and second banks, and the auxiliary wiring, a common pixel electrode bridging the pixels, the organic electroluminescence layer includes a first region in contact with the pixel electrode, the first upper surface and the first side surface, and a second region in contact with the auxiliary wiring and separated from the first region, and the common pixel electrode is in contact with the second side surface. |
| US09679951B2 |
Pixel defining layer, organic electroluminescent device and display device
The present invention relates to the field of display technology, particularly to a pixel defining layer, an organic electroluminescent device and a display device. The pixel defining layer comprises a first defining layer on an array substrate and a second defining layer on the first defining layer, wherein the first defining layer is made of a lyophilic inorganic material, and the second defining layer is made of a lyophobic organic material. The present invention provides a pixel defining layer, an organic electroluminescent device and a display device, wherein ink-jet printing technology is used to patternize pixels of an organic material, which serves as not only a protective layer on the first inorganic material layer during dry etching, but also a lyophobic layer on the second layer; the making of the double-layered pixel defining layer omits the process of using two masks, which can effectively reduce costs and improve production efficiency. |
| US09679948B2 |
Image sensor having light guide members
Image sensors include a color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device, a first color filter and a second color filter disposed under the color photo-sensing photoelectric conversion device, a first photodiode and a second photodiode disposed under the first color filter and the second color filter, respectively, a first light guide member disposed between the first color filter and the first photodiode, and a second light guide member disposed between the second color filter and the second photodiode. |
| US09679947B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A plurality of first conductive layers are stacked at a predetermined pitch in a first direction perpendicular to a substrate. A memory layer is provided in common on side surfaces of the first conductive layers and functions as the memory cells. A second conductive layer comprises a first side surface in contact with side surfaces of the first conductive layers via the memory layer, the second conductive layer extending in the first direction. A width in a second direction of the first side surface at a first position is smaller than a width in the second direction of the first side surface at a second position lower than the first position. A thickness in the first direction of the first conductive layer at the first position is larger than a thickness in the first direction of the first conductive layer at the second position. |
| US09679945B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing the same
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer separated from the first conductive layer in a first direction, a resistance change layer provided between the first and second conductive layers, a third conductive layer, a fourth conductive layer and a first intermediate layer. The third conductive layer is arranged with the first conductive layer in a second direction crossing the first direction. The fourth conductive layer is arranged with the second conductive layer in a direction crossing the first direction. The fourth conductive layer is arranged with the third conductive layer in the first direction. The fourth conductive layer is electrically connected with the third conductive layer. The first intermediate layer is provided between a portion of the third conductive layer and a portion of the fourth conductive layer. |
| US09679943B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device may include a first magnetic layer including a plurality of first regions configuring a plurality of memory cells and spaced apart from each other on a substrate, and a second region encompassing the plurality of first regions and electrically isolated from the first regions, a tunnel barrier layer disposed on the first magnetic layer, and a second magnetic layer disposed on the tunnel barrier layer. |
| US09679942B2 |
Light emitting device
A light emitting device includes: a ceramic substrate; a plurality of LED chips; a printed resistor(s) connected in parallel with the plurality of LED chips; a dam resin made of a resin having a low optical transmittance; a fluorescent-material-containing resin layer; and an anode-side electrode and a cathode-side electrode, (a) which are provided on a primary surface of the ceramic substrate so as to face each other along a first direction on the primary surface and (b) which are disposed below at least one of the dam resin and the fluorescent-material-containing resin layer. With the configuration in which a plurality of LEDs, which are connected in a series-parallel connection, are provided on a substrate, it is possible to provide a light emitting device which can achieve restraining of luminance unevenness and an improvement in luminous efficiency. |
| US09679941B2 |
Image-sensor structures
An image-sensor structure is provided. The image-sensor structure includes a substrate having a first surface and a second surface and including a sensing area, a first metal layer formed above the first surface of the substrate and surrounding the sensing area, and a protection layer formed above the first surface of the substrate and overlying the sensing area and a part of the first metal layer to expose an exposed area of the first metal layer. The exposed area includes a first portion having a first width, a second portion having a second width, a third portion having a third width and a fourth portion having a fourth width. |
| US09679940B2 |
Fractal-edge thin film and method of manufacture
A fractal-edge thin film includes a material layer having a perimeter with a fractal dimension exceeding one, the material layer having greater peel resistance as compared to a thin-film material layer with fractal dimension equaling one.A method of manufacturing a fractal-edge thin film includes determining an area shape to be covered by the fractal-edge thin film. The method also includes generating a thin-film perimeter based upon the area shape, the thin-film perimeter having a fractal dimension exceeding one. The method also includes determining a photomask perimeter such that a photomask with the photomask perimeter, when used in a photolithography process, yields a fractal-edge thin film with the thin-film perimeter. The method may also include photolithographically etching a thin-film, the thin film having a photoresist layer disposed thereon, the photoresist layer having been exposed through the photomask, wherein the etching results in the fractal-edge thin film. |
| US09679939B1 |
Backside illuminated image sensor device
A backside illuminated (BSI) image sensor device includes a device layer, a doped isolation region and a doped radiation sensing region. The device layer has a front side and a backside, in which the device layer has a thickness greater than or equal to 4 μm. The doped isolation region having a first dopant of a first conductivity is through the device layer to define a plurality of pixel regions of the device layer, in which the doped isolation region includes a first upper region adjacent to the front side and a first lower region between the first upper region and the backside, and the first upper region has a width less than a width of the first lower region. The doped radiation sensing region having a second dopant of a second conductivity opposite to the first conductivity is in one of the pixel regions of the device layer. |
| US09679935B2 |
Image sensors
An image sensor may include a device isolation structure defining a plurality of pixel regions in a substrate and a photoelectric conversion element formed in each of the pixel regions. The device isolation structure may include an insulating gapfill layer extending from an upper portion to a lower portion of the device isolation structure, a spacer provided at the upper portion of the device isolation structure and interposed between the insulating gapfill layer and the substrate, and a lower impurity region provided at the lower portion of the device isolation structure and interposed between the insulating gapfill layer and the substrate. |
| US09679933B2 |
Image sensors and methods of forming the same
An image sensor is provided. The image sensor includes a red (R) pixel, a green (G) pixel, a blue (B) pixel and an infrared (IR) pixel, and R, G and B filters respectively disposed at the R, G and B pixels. The image sensor also includes an IR pass filter disposed at the IR pixel and an IR filter stacked with the R, G and B filters, wherein the IR filter cuts off at least IR light with a specific wavelength. Furthermore, a method of forming an image sensor is also provided. |
| US09679929B2 |
Binary image sensors including quantum dots and unit pixels thereof
A binary image sensor includes a plurality of unit pixels on a substrate having a surface on which light is incident. At least one quantum dot is disposed on the surface of a substrate. A column sense amplifier circuit is configured to detect binary information of a selected unit pixel among the plurality of unit pixels from a voltage or a current detected from the selected unit pixel, and a processing unit is configured to process binary information of the respective unit pixels to generate pixel image information. Related devices and methods of operation are also discussed. |
| US09679928B2 |
Imaging device
A solid-state imaging device includes a substrate and a photoelectric conversion region. The substrate has a charge accumulation region. The photoelectric conversion region is provided on the substrate. The photoelectric conversion region is configured to generate signal charges to be accumulated in the charge accumulation region. The photoelectric conversion region comprises a material that is not transparent. |
| US09679927B2 |
Liquid crystal display with pixel transistors having different channel widths
A liquid crystal display includes a first pixel and a second pixel that extend in a data line direction. The first and second pixels are connected to a same data line, and the first pixel is closer to a data driver than the second pixel. A channel width of a thin film transistor of the first pixel is less than a channel width of a thin film transistor of the second pixel. |
| US09679926B2 |
Method of manufacturing pixel structure and pixel structure
A method of manufacturing a pixel structure includes: forming a source, a drain and a first capacitor electrode; forming a semiconductor layer in contact with a portion of the source and a portion of the drain; forming a gate and a second capacitor electrode, and the second capacitor electrode substantially aligned with the first capacitor electrode; forming a gate insulating layer between the semiconductor layer, the source, the drain and the first capacitor electrode, and the gate and the second capacitor electrode; forming a passivation layer over the source, the drain, the first capacitor electrode, the semiconductor layer, the gate and the second capacitor electrode; and forming a pixel electrode over the passivation layer, and the pixel electrode substantially aligned with the first capacitor electrode. |
| US09679925B2 |
Active matrix substrate, display device, defect modification method for display device, and method for manufacturing display device
An active matrix substrate (10) includes a first line (101), a second line (102), a third line (103), a fourth line (104) and a fifth line (105) provided in a non-display region F. The first line crosses a non-input-side end portion of at least one bus line of a first bus line group with an insulating layer interposed therebetween. The second line crosses a non-input-side end portion of at least one bus line of a second bus line group with an insulating layer interposed therebetween. The third line crosses an input-side end portion of the first bus line group with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, and does not cross the second bus line group. The fourth line crosses an input-side end portion of the second bus line group with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, and does not cross the first bus line group. The fifth line is routed so as to cross the first, second, third and fourth lines with an insulating layer interposed therebetween. The third line and the fourth line are electrically separated from each other. |
| US09679922B2 |
Display device having vertical oxide semiconductor channel layer on sidewall of insulating spacer
A display device includes a substrate, a first insulating layer having a first side wall, an oxide semiconductor layer on the first side wall, a gate electrode facing the oxide semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer between the oxide semiconductor layer and the gate electrode, a first transparent conductive layer between the oxide semiconductor layer and the substrate, the first transparent conductive layer being connected with a first portion of the oxide semiconductor layer, a first electrode on the first insulating layer on the side opposite to the substrate, the first electrode being connected with a second portion of the oxide semiconductor layer, and a second transparent conductive layer connected with the first transparent conductive layer, the second transparent conductive layer forming the same layer with the first transparent conductive layer. |
| US09679918B2 |
Silicon nitride film, and semiconductor device
An object of the present invention is to apply an insulating film of cure and high quality that is suitably applicable as gate insulating film and protective film to a technique that the insulating film is formed on the glass substrate under a temperature of strain point or lower, and to a semiconductor device realizing high efficiency and high reliability by using it. In a semiconductor device of the present invention, a gate insulating film of a field effect type transistor with channel length of from 0.35 to 2.5 μm in which a silicon nitride film is formed over a crystalline semiconductor film through a silicon oxide film, wherein the silicon nitride film contains hydrogen with the concentration of 1×1021/cm3 or less and has characteristic of an etching rate of 10 nm/min or less with respect to mixed solution containing an ammonium hydrogen fluoride (NH4HF2) of 7.13% and an ammonium fluoride (NH4F) of 15.4%. |
| US09679916B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit
Provided is a semiconductor integrated circuit including: a plurality of first input/output cells arranged on a semiconductor integrated circuit substrate; a plurality of second input/output cells arranged on the semiconductor integrated circuit substrate along the plurality of first input/output cells; and a potential supply portion formed on a semiconductor package substrate, a portion of the potential supply portion protruding in a surface of the semiconductor package substrate, and configured to supply a predetermined potential to a target cell which is one of the plurality of first input/output cells and a cell neighboring the target cell among the plurality of second input/output cells through a region including the protruding portion. |
| US09679915B2 |
Integrated circuit with well and substrate contacts
An integrated circuit comprises standard cells arranged in rows and columns. The integrated circuit also comprises tap cells arranged in rows and columns. The tap cells each comprise a substrate having a first dopant type and a thickness from a first surface of the substrate to a second surface of the substrate. The integrated circuit further comprises a well region in the substrate having a second dopant type different from the first dopant type and a depth from the first surface of the substrate less than the thickness of the substrate. The integrated circuit additionally comprises a first quantity of rows of tap cells and a second quantity of rows of tap cells less than the first quantity. Each row of the first quantity of rows of tap cells comprises at least one well contact, and each row of tap cells of the second quantity of tap cells comprises at least one substrate contact. |
| US09679912B1 |
Semiconductor device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes: a substrate; a stacked body; a columnar portion; and a plate portion. The substrate has a major surface. The stacked body includes a plurality of electrode layers stacked with an insulator interposed. The columnar portion includes a semiconductor body and a memory film. The memory film includes a charge storage portion. The plate portion is provided in the stacked body. The plate portion extends along the stacking direction of the stacked body and a major surface direction of the substrate. The plate portion includes a plate conductor and a sidewall insulating film. The sidewall insulating film provided between the plate conductor and the stacked body. The stacked body includes an air gap. The air gap is provided between the sidewall insulating film and the electrode layer. |
| US09679911B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and production method thereof
A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment includes a memory cell array which has: a first conductive layer which is arranged in a first direction on a first semiconductor layer; a second conductive layer which is arranged in the first direction above the first conductive layer; a columnar second semiconductor layer which extends in the first direction; and a contact unit which electrically connects the first semiconductor layer and the second conductive layer. The contact unit has a first film which contains silicide as a first metal, and is in contact with the first semiconductor layer; and a second film which contains the first metal, is in contact with the first film, and is in contact with the first semiconductor layer with the first film interposed therebetween. |
| US09679907B1 |
Three-dimensional memory device with charge-trapping-free gate dielectric for top select gate electrode and method of making thereof
A portion of a charge trapping layer adjacent to a select drain gate electrode can be removed employing a differential-rate etch process that provides an accelerated etch rate to a doped portion with respect to an undoped portion. If a silicon nitride layer is employed as the charge trapping layer, then angled ion implantation of boron atoms to an upper portion of the silicon nitride layer can increase the etch rate of the boron-doped portion of the silicon nitride layer in phosphoric acid. The charge trapping layer is etched back such that a remaining portion of the charge trapping layer can be present only at levels of control gate electrodes, and absent at each level of select drain gate electrodes. Threshold voltage shift for the select drain gate electrodes can be eliminated or reduced by removal of the charge trapping layer at each level of the select drain gate electrodes. |
| US09679906B2 |
Three-dimensional memory devices containing memory block bridges
A monolithic three-dimensional memory device includes a first memory block containing a plurality of memory sub-blocks located on a substrate. Each memory sub-block includes a set of memory stack structures and a portion of alternating layers laterally surrounding the set of memory stack structures. The alternating layers include insulating layers and electrically conductive layers. A first portion of a neighboring pair of memory sub-blocks is laterally spaced from each other along a first horizontal direction by a backside contact via structure. A subset of the alternating layers contiguously extends between a second portion of the neighboring pair of memory sub-blocks through a gap in a bridge region between two portions of the backside contact via structure that are laterally spaced apart along a second horizontal direction to provide a connecting portion between the neighboring pair of memory sub-blocks. |
| US09679904B2 |
Method of manufacturing semiconductor device
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a conductive film over a semiconductor substrate; forming a first ferroelectric film over the conductive film; forming an amorphous second ferroelectric film over the first ferroelectric film; forming a transition metal oxide material film containing ruthenium over the second ferroelectric film; forming a first conductive metal oxide film over the transition metal oxide material film without exposing the transition metal oxide material film to the air; annealing and crystallizing the second ferroelectric film; and patterning the first conductive metal oxide film, the first ferroelectric film, the second ferroelectric film, and the conductive film to form a ferroelectric capacitor. |
| US09679901B1 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a plurality of active areas, and an isolation structure. The substrate has a device region and a peripheral region surrounding the device region. The active areas are located in the substrate in the device region. When viewed from above, the edges of the ends of the active areas adjacent to the boundary of the device region are aligned with each other, and the width of the ends of the active areas adjacent to the boundary of the device region is greater than the width of the other portions of the active areas. The isolation structure is disposed in the substrate and surrounds the active areas and is located in the peripheral region. |
| US09679898B2 |
Semiconductor device having metal gate
A semiconductor device having metal gate includes a first metal gate structure and a second metal gate structure disposed in a first device region and in a second device region on a substrate respectively. The first metal gate structure includes a gate insulating layer, a first bottom barrier layer, a top barrier layer, and a metal layer disposed on the substrate in order, wherein the top barrier layer is directly in contact with the first bottom barrier layer. The second metal gate structure includes the gate insulating layer, a second bottom barrier layer, the top barrier layer, and the metal layer on the substrate in order, wherein the top barrier layer is directly in contact with the second bottom barrier layer. The first bottom barrier layer and the second bottom barrier layer have different impurity compositions. |
| US09679897B1 |
High density nanofluidic structure with precisely controlled nano-channel dimensions
A nanofluidic structure including a semiconductor substrate and a dielectric layer positioned above and in contact with the semiconductor substrate. A first reservoir and a second reservoir are defined by the semiconductor substrate and the dielectric layer. The second reservoir is spaced apart from the first reservoir. Bottom passage fins protrude from the semiconductor substrate and extend from the first reservoir to the second reservoir. Top passage fins, above and spaced apart from the bottom passage fins, extend from the first reservoir to the second reservoir. Nanofluidic passages between the top and bottom fins connect the first reservoir and the second reservoir. Each of the nanofluidic passages includes a bottom wall, a top wall and sidewalls. The bottom wall is defined by a respective bottom passage fin. The top wall is defined by a respective top passage fin. The sidewalls are defined by the dielectric layer. |
| US09679895B2 |
Semiconductor device having switchable regions with different transconductances
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having an outer rim, a plurality of switchable cells defining an active area, and an edge termination region arranged between the switchable cells and the outer rim. Each of the switchable cells includes a gate electrode structure. The semiconductor device further includes a gate metallization in contact with the gate electrode structure. The active area includes at least a first switchable region having a first specific transconductance and at least a second switchable region having a second specific transconductance which is different from the first specific transconductance. The second switchable region is arranged between the gate metallization and the first switchable region. A ratio of the area of the second switchable region to the total area of the switchable regions is in a range from 5% to 50%. |
| US09679891B2 |
Optimized ESD clamp circuitry
ESD protection circuitry is disclosed. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes first and second sensor circuits. The first sensor circuit has a first resistive-capacitive (RC) time constant, while the second sensor circuit has a second RC time constant. The RC time constant of the first sensor circuit is at least one order of magnitude greater than that of the second sensor circuit. A first clamp transistor is coupled to and configured to be activated by the first sensor circuit responsive to the latter detecting an ESD event. A second clamp transistor is coupled to and configured to be activated by the second sensor circuit responsive to the latter detecting the ESD event. |
| US09679889B2 |
Semiconductor device including electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit and manufacturing method thereof
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes providing a substrate; forming a well region on the substrate; forming at least one first gate structure on the well region, wherein the first gate structure includes a gate insulating layer and a first gate electrode formed on the gate insulating layer, wherein the first gate electrode is formed having a first enclosed pattern on a surface of the well region; wherein an area inside the first enclosed pattern is defined as a first region, and an area outside the first enclosed pattern is defined as a second region; performing ion implantation on the first region such that the first region has a first conductivity type, and performing ion implantation on the second region such that the second region has a second conductivity type, wherein the first conductivity type and the second conductivity type are different. |
| US09679887B1 |
Over-voltage protection circuit
A device is disclosed that includes a first transistor, a second transistor, and a first PODE device. The second transistor is electrically coupled to the first transistor. The first PODE device is adjacent to a drain/source region of the second transistor. A control end of the first PODE device is electrically coupled to a drain/source end of the second transistor. |
| US09679884B2 |
ESD protecting circuit
An ESD protecting circuit comprising: a first and a second voltage pad; an I/O pad; a first ESD protecting module, comprising a first terminal coupled to the first voltage pad, and comprising a second terminal; a switch, comprising a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first ESD protecting module, comprising a second terminal coupled to the I/O pad, and comprising a control terminal for receiving a control signal; a second ESD protecting module, comprising a first terminal coupled to the first terminal of the MOS transistor, and comprising a second terminal coupled to the second voltage pad; and an ESD detecting circuit, for detecting if an ESD voltage exists, for generating the control signal to control the MOS transistor to be conductive when an ESD voltage is detected and to control the MOS transistor to be nonconductive when the ESD voltage is not detected. |
| US09679883B2 |
Hollow metal pillar packaging scheme
An integrated circuit includes a bottom substrate, a metal layer disposed over the bottom substrate and a hollow metal pillar disposed on the metal layer. The metal layer and the hollow metal pillar are electrically connected. |
| US09679878B1 |
Embedded stacked die packages and related methods
Forming a semiconductor package includes coupling electrically conductive elements with a substrate, coupling a first die with one or more of the electrically conductive elements, and at least partially encapsulating the first die and electrically conductive elements in a first mold layer. A first redistribution layer (RDL) is placed over the first mold layer and electrically coupled with the first die. A second die is coupled with the first RDL, and the second die and first RDL are at least partially encapsulated in a second mold layer. A second RDL is formed over the second mold layer and is electrically coupled with the second die. A third mold layer at least partially encapsulates the second RDL. A portion of the substrate is removed to expose (and a solder mask is applied to) surfaces of the electrically conductive elements and of the first mold layer to form a stacked embedded package. |
| US09679874B2 |
Semiconductor package and semiconductor device including the same
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a first semiconductor package disposed on the substrate, and a second semiconductor package spaced apart from the first semiconductor package on the substrate. The second semiconductor package includes a semiconductor chip stacked on the substrate, an adhesion part covering the semiconductor chip, and a heat-blocking structure disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor chip. Heat generated from the first semiconductor package and transmitted to the second semiconductor package through the substrate is blocked by the heat-blocking structure. |
| US09679872B1 |
Connection structure for semiconductor package having plural vias located within projection of conductive unit
A connection structure is provided. The connection structure comprises a conductive unit, a solder bump, a first insulating layer, a second insulating layer, a third insulating layer, and a plurality of vias. The solder bump is in direct contact with the conductive unit. The first insulating layer is located under a flange of the conductive unit. The second insulating layer is located under a base of the conductive unit. The third insulating layer is located under the second insulating layer. The third insulating layer has a via zone. A plurality of vias are located in the via zone. The via zone is within a vertical projection of the conductive unit. |
| US09679870B2 |
Integrated circuit device with shaped leads and method of forming the device
An integrated circuit (IC) device includes an IC and encapsulating material surrounding the IC. Leads are coupled to the IC and extend outwardly from sides of the encapsulating material, with each lead having three contiguous exposed segments with upper and lower bends defining a Z-shape. In another example, the leads include an upper horizontal segment, lower horizontal segment, and intermediate curved segment extending upwardly from the upper horizontal segment and downwardly to the lower horizontal segment. |
| US09679866B2 |
Bonding stage and method of manufacturing the same
Provided is a bonding stage including: a rigid block (10) having a plurality of projections (11) on a surface (16) of the base body, upper surfaces of the projections being flat; a flat plate (20) fixed to supporting surfaces (18) on the projections (11); a ceramic plate (30) suctioned and fixed to the flat plate (20); a plate-shaped heater (40) disposed on a side of the rigid block (10) of the flat plate (20); and coil springs (50) disposed between the heater (40) and the rigid block (10), the coil springs (50) bringing the heater (40) into close contact with a surface of the flat plate (20) on the side of the rigid block (10). |
| US09679859B2 |
Interconnect structure and method of forming same
An apparatus comprises a dielectric layer formed on a first side of a substrate, a first side interconnect structure comprising a first metal line and a pad formed in the dielectric layer, wherein the pad comprises a bottom portion formed of a first conductive metal and an upper portion formed of a second conductive metal, and wherein sidewalls of the upper portion are surrounded by the bottom portion and a top surface of the pad is coplanar with a top surface of the first metal line and a passivation layer formed over the dielectric layer. |
| US09679858B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing same
To provide a semiconductor device having improved reliability. The semiconductor device is equipped with a first polyimide film, rewirings formed over the first polyimide film, first and second dummy patterns formed over the first polyimide film, a second polyimide film that covers the rewirings and the dummy patterns, and an opening portion that exposes a portion of the rewirings in the second polyimide film. The first dummy pattern is, in plan view, comprised of a closed pattern surrounding the rewirings while having a space therebetween. |
| US09679857B2 |
Semiconductor device and method including an intertial mass element
Disclosed is a semiconductor device comprising a stack of patterned metal layers separated by dielectric layers, the stack comprising a first conductive support structure and a second conductive support structure and a cavity in which an inertial mass element comprising at least one metal portion is conductively coupled to the first support structure and the second support structure by respective conductive connection portions, at least one of said conductive connection portions being designed to break upon the inertial mass element being exposed to an acceleration force exceeding a threshold defined by the dimensions of the conductive connection portions. A method of manufacturing such a semiconductor device is also disclosed. |
| US09679854B2 |
Reconfigurable repeater system
The present disclosure is directed to a reconfigurable repeater system. A system may comprise a PCB to which devices are coupled. At least one communication channel may convey communications signals between the devices. At least one receptacle may also be coupled to the PCB and may intersect the at least one communication channel so as to separate the at least one communication channel into sections. Inserting at least one extender module into the at least one receptacle may couple the at least one extender module to the sections of the communication module. The at least one extender module may include at least one conductor to convey communication signals between the sections of the at least one communication channel. Another configuration of the at least one extender module may include a repeater to receive, amplify and transmit communication signals between the sections of the at least one communication channel. |
| US09679851B2 |
Graphene wiring structure and manufacturing method thereof
A graphene wring structure of an embodiment includes multilayer graphene, a first interlayer compound existing in an interlayer space of the multilayer graphene, and a second interlayer compound existing in the interlayer space of the multilayer graphene. The second interlayer compound containing at least one of an oxide, a nitride and a carbide. |
| US09679848B2 |
Interconnect structure for semiconductor devices
An interconnect and a method of forming an interconnect for a semiconductor device is provided. The interconnect is formed by treating an upper surface of a dielectric layer to create a high density layer. The treatment may include, for example, creating a high density monolayer using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), trimethylsilydiethylamine (TMSDEA) or trimethylsilylacetate (OTMSA). After treating, the dielectric layer may be patterned to create openings, which are subsequently filled with a conductive material. Excess conductive material may be removed using, for example, a chemical mechanical polishing. |
| US09679847B2 |
Self-aligned bottom up gate contact and top down source-drain contact structure in the premetallization dielectric or interlevel dielectric layer of an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit includes a source-drain region, a channel region adjacent to the source-drain region, a gate structure extending over the channel region and a sidewall spacer on a side of the gate structure and which extends over the source-drain region. A dielectric layer is provided in contact with the sidewall spacer and having a top surface. The gate structure includes a gate electrode and a gate contact extending from the gate electrode as a projection to reach the top surface. The side surfaces of the gate electrode and a gate contact are aligned with each other. The gate dielectric layer for the transistor positioned between the gate electrode and the channel region extends between the gate electrode and the sidewall spacer and further extends between the gate contact and the sidewall spacer. |
| US09679846B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of forming conductive layer over substrate with vents to channel bump material and reduce interconnect voids
A semiconductor device has a semiconductor die with a plurality of bumps formed over a surface of the semiconductor die. A first conductive layer having first and second segments is formed over a surface of the substrate with a first vent separating an end of the first segment and the second segment and a second vent separating an end of the second segment and the first segment. A second conductive layer is formed over the surface of the substrate to electrically connect the first segment and second segment. The thickness of the second conductive layer can be less than a thickness of the first conductive layer to form the first vent and second vent. The semiconductor die is mounted to the substrate with the bumps aligned to the first segment and second segment. Bump material from reflow of the bumps is channeled into the first vent and second vent. |
| US09679845B2 |
Necked interconnect fuse structure for integrated circuits
Interconnect fuse structures including a fuse with a necked line segment, as well as methods of fabricating such structures. A current driven by an applied fuse programming voltage may open necked fuse segments to affect operation of an IC. In embodiments, the fuse structure includes a pair of neighboring interconnect lines equidistant from a center interconnect line. In further embodiments, the center interconnect line, and at least one of the neighboring interconnect lines, include line segments of lateral widths that differ by a same, and complementary amount. In further embodiments, the center interconnect line is interconnected at opposite ends of a necked line segment. In further embodiments, the necked line segment is fabricated with pitch-reducing spacer-based patterning process. |
| US09679841B2 |
Substrate and method of forming the same
Methods and apparatus for formation of a semiconductor substrate with photoactive dielectric material, embedded traces, a padless skip via extending through two dielectric layers, and a coreless package are provided. In one embodiment, a method for forming a core having a copper layer; laminating the copper layer a photoactive dielectric layer; forming a plurality of trace patterns in the photoactive dielectric layer; plating the plurality of trace patterns to form a plurality of traces; forming an insulating dielectric layer on the photoactive dielectric layer; forming a via through the insulating dielectric layer and the photoactive dielectric layer; forming additional routing patterns on the insulating dielectric layer; removing the core; and applying a solder mask. |
| US09679840B2 |
Method for layout design and structure with inter-layer vias
A computer implemented layout method for an integrated circuit (IC) structure and IC structure are provided. The layout method can include placing a circuit cell and an inter-layer via together in a first device layer of the IC structure, and placing a metal pattern in a second device layer of the IC structure. The inter-layer via and the metal pattern may be configured to form a direct connection channel for the circuit cell and the metal pattern. |
| US09679835B2 |
Method of manufacturing resin-encapsulated semiconductor device, and lead frame
A resin-encapsulated semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor chip mounted on a die pad. A plurality of leads each having an inner lead and an outer lead are arranged in spaced relation from the die pad with the inner leads facing the die pad. A metal plating layer is formed on top surfaces of the inner leads, and the inner leads are connected by metal wires to the semiconductor chip. An encapsulation resin encapsulates the semiconductor chip, die pad, metal wires and inner leads leaving the outer leads exposed. The outer edge of the metal plating layer coincides with the outer surface of the encapsulation resin and with the outer edge of the metal plating layer. |
| US09679833B2 |
Semiconductor package with small gate clip and assembly method
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor package having a small gate clip is disclosed. A first and second semiconductor chips, each of which includes a source electrode and a gate electrode at a top surface, are attached on two adjacent lead frame units of a lead frame such that the lead frame unit with the first chip formed thereon is rotated 180 degrees in relation to the other lead frame unit with the second semiconductor chip formed thereon. A first and second clip sets are mounted on the first and second semiconductor chips, wherein the first clip set is connected to the gate electrode of the first chip, the source electrode of the second chip, and their corresponding leads and the second clip set is connected to the gate electrode of the second chip, the source electrode of the first chip and their corresponding leads. |
| US09679832B1 |
Rough leadframe with a nanolayer of silver
One or more embodiments are directed to leadframes and leadframe semiconductor packages. One embodiment is directed to copper leadframes with one or more die pads and one more leads with a roughened surface. Covering the roughened surface of the die pad of the leadframe is nanolayer of Silver (Ag). The thickness of the nanolayer preferably has a thickness that corresponds to the roughened surface of the copper leadframe. For instance, in one embodiment, the copper leadframe is roughened to have peaks and valleys that approximately average 10 nanometers and the thickness of the nanolayer is 10 nanometers. Covering a portion of the nanolayer of Ag is a microlayer of Ag, which provides a suitable bonding surface for coupling a semiconductor die to the die pad by an adhesive material. |
| US09679831B2 |
Tape chip on lead using paste die attach material
According to various embodiments, systems and methods for packaging a semiconductor device are provided. The disclosure discusses a semiconductor die having a top side and a bottom side that is disposed on a lead frame. An adhesive paste is then applied to attach the semiconductor die to the lead frame such that the adhesive paste fixes the die to a portion of the lead frame. The adhesive paste may be applied directly between die and the lead frame or may be applied in conjunction with a frame tape. |
| US09679828B2 |
System-on-chip electronic device with aperture fed nanofilm antenna
An electronic device may include a first substrate, an electrically conductive feed line on the first substrate, an insulating layer on the first substrate and the electrically conductive feed line, a second substrate on the insulating layer, and an antenna on the second substrate and having nanofilm layers stacked on the second substrate. The antenna is coupled to the feed line through an aperture. |
| US09679825B2 |
Array substrate for display device and manufacturing method thereof
The present disclosure provides an array substrate for a display device and a manufacturing method thereof. A transparent electrode pattern (ITO) may be formed between a source/drain metal pattern and a passivation layer located above the source/drain metal pattern, which are formed in a passivation hole area of a non-active area of the array substrate. Accordingly, it may be possible to prevent display failure caused by a delamination phenomenon or peel-off of a material of the passivation layer due to the lack of adhesion strength between a metal layer and the passivation layer in the passivation hole area. |
| US09679822B1 |
Method for monitoring epitaxial growth geometry shift
A method of monitoring an epitaxial growth geometry shift is disclosed. First, second and third trenches are formed on a semiconductor wafer. An epitaxial layer is grown. The epitaxial layer covers the first trenches and the second trenches but not the third trenches. First and second recesses on a top surface of the epitaxial layer are formed. First and second openings aligned with the first and the second recesses and a third openings aligned with the third trenches are formed in a photoresist layer. A corresponding first offset between a top center and a bottom center of each first recess is measured. An offset value of the top center from the bottom center of said each first recess is determined. A corresponding second offset between a top center of each second recess and a center of corresponding second opening is determined. A corresponding third offset between a center of each third trench and a center of corresponding third opening is measured. A corresponding offset value of each second recess from the difference between corresponding second offset and corresponding third offset is determined. |
| US09679821B2 |
Methods of revising overlay correction data
Provided are methods of generating and revising overlay correction data, a method of performing a photolithography process using the overlay correction data, and a method of performing a photolithography process while revising the overlay correction data. The method of revising the overlay correction data includes forming a plurality of overlay keys on a first set of wafers using first overlay correction data, measuring first overlay keys formed on first overlay coordinates in a first shot area of a first wafer among the first set of wafers, generating first overlay error data, and revising primarily the first overlay correction data using the first overlay error data, measuring second overlay keys formed on second overlay coordinates in a second shot area of a second wafer among the first set of wafers, generating second overlay error data, and revising secondarily the primarily revised first overlay correction data using the second overlay error data, and measuring third overlay keys formed on third overlay coordinates in a third shot area of a third wafer among the first set of wafers, generating third overlay error data, revising tertiarily the secondarily revised first overlay correction data, and generating second overlay correction data. The first overlay coordinates, the second overlay coordinates, and the third overlay coordinates are mutually exclusive. |
| US09679815B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
A semiconductor device fabrication method includes sequentially forming a hard mask layer and a sacrificial layer on a substrate, forming an upper mandrel which includes first to third upper sub-mandrels on the sacrificial layer, the first to third upper sub-mandrels extending in a first direction and being spaced apart from each other in a second direction, a width of the first upper sub-mandrel being smaller than widths of the second and third upper sub-mandrels, forming first spacers on sidewalls of each of the upper sub-mandrels, removing the upper mandrel, etching the sacrificial layer using the first spacers as etching masks to form a lower mandrel that includes a plurality of sub-mandrels, forming second spacers on sidewalls of the lower sub-mandrels, removing the lower mandrel, patterning the hard mask layer and the substrate using the second spacers as etching masks to form first to tenth fins which extend alongside each other in the first direction and are spaced apart from each other in the second direction, removing the first, second, fifth and eighth fins, and forming a first gate electrode that intersects the third, fourth, sixth and seventh fins, and a second gate electrode that intersects the sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth fins while not intersecting the third and fourth fins. |
| US09679814B2 |
Epitaxial lift off stack having a pre-curved handle and methods thereof
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to epitaxial lift off (ELO) thin films and devices and methods used to form such films and devices. In one embodiment, a method for forming an ELO thin film is provided which includes depositing an epitaxial material over a sacrificial layer on a substrate, adhering a flattened, pre-curved support handle onto the epitaxial material, and removing the sacrificial layer during an etching process. The etching process includes bending the pre-curved support handle to have substantial curvature while peeling the epitaxial material from the substrate and forming an etch crevice therebetween. Compression is maintained within the epitaxial material during the etching process. The flattened, pre-curved support handle may be formed by flattening a pre-curved support material. |
| US09679813B2 |
Semiconductor structure and process for forming plug including layer with pulled back sidewall part
A semiconductor process for forming a plug includes the following steps. A dielectric layer having a recess is formed on a substrate. A titanium layer is formed to conformally cover the recess. A first titanium nitride layer is formed to conformally cover the titanium layer, thereby the first titanium nitride layer having first sidewall parts. The first sidewall parts of the first titanium nitride layer are pulled back, thereby second sidewall parts being formed. A second titanium nitride layer is formed to cover the recess. Moreover, a semiconductor structure formed by said semiconductor process is also provided. |
| US09679812B2 |
Semiconductor device with self-aligned contact
Self-aligned contacts are provided. In an embodiment the self-aligned contacts are formed by partially removing a first dielectric material from adjacent to a gate electrode and fully removing a second dielectric material from adjacent to the gate electrode. A conductive material is deposited into the regions of the removed first dielectric material and the second dielectric material, and the conductive material and metal gates are recessed below a spacer. A dielectric layer is deposited over the recessed conductive material and the recessed metal gates, and the self-aligned contacts are formed through the dielectric layer. |
| US09679806B1 |
Nanowires for pillar interconnects
An embodiment of the invention may include a semiconductor structure, and method of forming the semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure may include a first set of pillars located on a first substrate. The semiconductor structure may include a second set of pillars located on a second substrate. The semiconductor structure may include a joining layer connecting the first pillar to the second pillar. The semiconductor structure may include an underfill layer located between the first and second substrate. |
| US09679805B2 |
Self-aligned back end of line cut
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for self-aligned metal cuts in a back end of line structure. Sacrificial Mx+1 lines are formed above metal Mx lines. Spacers are formed on each Mx+1 sacrificial line. The gap between the spacers is used to determine the location and thickness of cuts to the Mx metal lines. This ensures that the Mx metal line cuts do not encroach on vias that interconnect the Mx and Mx+1 levels. It also allows for reduced limits in terms of via enclosure rules, which enables increased circuit density. |
| US09679804B1 |
Multi-patterning to form vias with straight profiles
A method includes forming a carbon-containing layer with a carbon atomic percentage greater than about 25 percent over a first hard mask layer, forming a capping layer over the carbon-containing layer, forming a first photo resist over the capping layer, and etching the capping layer and the carbon-containing layer using the first photo resist as a first etching mask. The first photo resist is then removed. A second photo resist is formed over the capping layer. The capping layer and the carbon-containing layer are etched using the second photo resist as a a second etching mask. The second photo resist is removed. A third photo resist under the carbon-containing layer is etched using the carbon-containing layer as etching mask. A dielectric layer underlying the third photo resist is etched to form via openings using the third photo resist as etching mask. The via openings are filled with a conductive material. |
| US09679800B2 |
Method for manufacturing bonded wafer
Method for manufacturing a bonded wafer, including implanting at least one gas ion into a bond wafer from a bond wafer surface forming an ion implantation layer, bonding the surface from the ion implantation into bond wafer and base wafer surface, and delaminating the bond wafer part along the ion implantation layer by heat treatment forming a bonded wafer having thin-film on the base wafer, wherein heat treatment is at most 400° C. to delaminate bond wafer part along the ion implantation layer, including measuring bond wafer thicknesses and base wafer, selecting a combination of bond and base wafers so difference between both wafers thicknesses is 5 μm or more before bonding the bond and base wafers. Inhibition of film thickness unevenness with marble pattern caused in thin-film when a bonded wafer is manufactured by ion implantation delamination method, and can manufacture a bonded wafer having thin-film with high thickness uniformity. |
| US09679799B2 |
Process for fabricating a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate
The present disclosure relates to a process for fabricating a plurality of semiconductor-on-insulator structures, the insulator being a layer of silicon dioxide having a thickness smaller than 50 nm, each structure comprising a semiconductor layer placed on the silicon dioxide layer, the fabrication process comprising a step of heat treating the plurality of structures, which heat treatment step is designed to partially dissolve the silicon dioxide layer, the heat treatment step being carried out in a non-oxidizing atmosphere and the pressure of the non-oxidizing atmosphere being lower than 0.1 bar. |
| US09679797B2 |
Dicing-tape integrated film for backside of semiconductor and method of manufacturing semiconductor device
The present invention is to provide a dicing-tape integrated film for the backside of a semiconductor that is capable of suppressing the transfer of the coloring agent contained in a film for the backside of a flip-chip semiconductor formed on the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the dicing tape onto the dicing tape. The dicing-tape integrated film for the backside of a semiconductor has a dicing tape having a substrate and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer formed on the substrate and a film for the backside of a flip-chip semiconductor formed on the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the dicing tape, the film for the backside of a flip-chip semiconductor contains a coloring agent, and the solubility of the coloring agent to toluene at 23° C. is 2 g/100 ml or less. |
| US09679796B2 |
Anodized metal on carrier wafer
A method for processing a semiconductor wafer where an electrostatic layer is located on a surface of a handling wafer is used so the surface of the handling wafer may be handled with machinery that uses an electrostatic chuck. The electrostatic layer may be manipulated to increase or decrease the conductivity, and may be removed to allow light to pass through the handling wafer. |
| US09679791B2 |
Heater elements with enhanced cooling
A heater assembly with enhanced cooling pursuant to various embodiments described herein makes use of fluidic flow in the insulation or in the space used for insulation. By creating a natural convection or forced convection flow, the heater cools down faster, it can operate at lower temperatures and/or higher temperature precision, and it can improve temperature controllability by generating higher heat loss rates. |
| US09679789B2 |
Wafer processing apparatus
A wafer in which a modified layer is internally formed along planned dividing lines is placed on a placement table and a water tank allows the wafer placed on the placement table to be submerged in cleaning water. An ultrasonic supply unit supplies ultrasonic waves to the wafer submerged in the cleaning water. By the ultrasonic waves supplied by the ultrasonic supply unit, the wafer is divided along the planned dividing lines and is turned into small pieces to generate plural chips and the generated chips are cleaned. |
| US09679782B1 |
Planarization method, method for manufacturing semiconductor structure, and semiconductor structure
A planarization method includes at least two steps. One of the steps is to implant at least one impurity into a wafer to form a polish stop layer in the wafer. The other one of the steps is to polish a top surface of the wafer until reaching the polish stop layer. |
| US09679781B2 |
Methods for integrated circuit fabrication with protective coating for planarization
Various pattern transfer and etching steps can be used to create features. Conventional photolithography steps can be used in combination with pitch-reduction techniques to form superimposed, pitch-reduced patterns of crossing elongate features that can be consolidated into a single layer. Planarizing techniques using a filler layer and a protective layer are disclosed. Portions of an integrated circuit having different heights can be etched to a common plane. |
| US09679779B2 |
Systems and methods for depositing materials on either side of a freestanding film using selective thermally-assisted chemical vapor deposition (STA-CVD), and structures formed using same
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for depositing materials on either side of a freestanding film using selectively thermally-assisted chemical vapor deposition (STA-CVD), and structures formed using same. A freestanding film, which is suspended over a cavity defined in a substrate, is exposed to a fluidic CVD precursor that reacts to form a solid material when exposed to heat. The freestanding film is then selectively heated in the presence of the precursor. The CVD precursor preferentially deposits on the surface(s) of the freestanding film. |
| US09679774B2 |
Method for removing crystal originated particles from a crystalline silicon body
A method for removing crystal originated particles from a crystalline silicon body having opposite first and second surfaces includes increasing a surface area of at least one of the first and second surfaces. The method further includes oxidizing the increased surface area at a temperature of at least 1000° C. and for a duration of at least 20 minutes. |
| US09679772B2 |
Method for handling thin brittle films
A method including: providing a structure comprising: a spalled layer having a first side and a second side; and a tape layer provided on the first side of the spalled layer, wherein the tape layer is provided at below a first temperature range; applying a temporary substrate layer to the second side of the spalled layer, wherein the temporary substrate layer is applied at a second temperature range, and wherein at least a portion of the second temperature range is lower than the first temperature range; and after applying the temporary substrate layer, separating the tape layer from the spalled layer. |
| US09679769B1 |
Integrated circuit packaging system with photoimagable dielectric-defined trace and method of manufacture thereof
A system and method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: a photoimagable dielectric layer having a trace opening for exposing the carrier; a trace within the trace opening; an inner solder resist layer directly on the photoimagable dielectric layer and the trace, the inner solder resist layer having a bond pad opening for exposing the trace; an integrated circuit over the inner solder resist layer, the integrated circuit electrically connected to the trace through the bond pad opening; an encapsulation directly on the integrated circuit and the inner solder resist layer; and an external interconnect electrically coupled to the trace and the integrated circuit. |
| US09679768B2 |
Method for removing hydrogen from oxide semiconductor layer having insulating layer containing halogen element formed thereover
An object is to provide a semiconductor device with stable electric characteristics in which an oxide semiconductor is used. An impurity such as hydrogen or moisture (e.g., a hydrogen atom or a compound containing a hydrogen atom such as H2O) is eliminated from an oxide semiconductor layer with use of a halogen element typified by fluorine or chlorine, so that the impurity concentration in the oxide semiconductor layer is reduced. A gate insulating layer and/or an insulating layer provided in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer can be formed to contain a halogen element. In addition, a halogen element may be attached to the oxide semiconductor layer through plasma treatment under an atmosphere of a gas containing a halogen element. |
| US09679764B2 |
Semiconductor device structures comprising polycrystalline CVD diamond with improved near-substrate thermal conductivity
Disclosed is a semiconductor device structure including a III-V compound semiconductor material layer, a polycrystalline CVD diamond material layer, and an interface region, having a diamond nucleation layer, between the III-V compound semiconductor material layer and the polycrystalline CVD diamond material layer. A Raman signal generated from a region having the diamond nucleation layer exhibits an sp3 carbon peak at 1332 cm−1 having a full width half-maximum of no more than 5.0 cm−1. The Raman signal further exhibits one or both of the following characteristics: (i) an sp2 carbon peak at 1550 cm−1 having a height no more than 20% of a height of the sp3 carbon peak; and (ii) the sp3 carbon peak at 1332 cm−1 is no less than 10% of local background intensity. The diamond nucleation layer further includes an average nucleation density range of 1×108 cm−2 to 1×1012 cm−2. |
| US09679759B2 |
Type rectangular ion trap device and method for ion storage and separation
The present invention discloses a rectangular ion trap device and method for ion storage. The device comprises a front end cover including left electrode, middle layer insulator, and right electrode, wherein the left electrode and the right electrode are respectively positioned at both sides of the middle layer insulator; a rear end cover, wherein the rear end cover has the same axis as the front end cover, and the central position of the rear end cover electrode is penetrated; the front and rear electrodes and the upper and lower electrodes are symmetric along the axis of the front end cover, and these electrodes form a space region for ion storage about the axis between the front end cover and the rear end cover electrode. The present invention can increase the number of ions in storage within a unit time prominently. |
| US09679757B2 |
Liquid chromatography systems and methods
One aspect of the invention provides a liquid chromatography system including: a first solvent manager configured to dispense various ratios of a first solvent and a second solvent; a first column in fluid communication with the first solvent manager; a mixer in fluid communication with the first column; a first valve in fluid communication with the mixer; a second column having a first end in fluid communication with a first port of the first valve and a second end in fluid communication with a second port of the first valve; a second solvent manager adapted and configured to dispense various ratios of a third solvent and a fourth solvent; and a second valve in fluid communication with the second solvent manager, the first valve, and the mixer. The first valve and the second valve are adapted and configured for actuation between and a second position. In the first position: solvent dispensed by the first solvent manager and an injected sample flow over the first column; eluent from the first column is mixed with solvent dispensed by the second solvent manager in the mixer to produce a combined mobile phase; and the combined mobile phase is passed through the first valve and over the second column in a first direction to trap analytes of interest on the first column. In the second position, solvent dispensed by the second solvent manager is passed over the second column in a second direction to release the analytes of interest from the second column. |
| US09679755B2 |
Ionization apparatus
In an ion source 3 in which a repeller electrode 32 for forming a repelling electric field that repels ions toward an ion emission port 311 is provided inside of an ionization chamber 31, ion focusing electrodes 36 and 37 are respectively arranged between an electron introduction port 312 and a filament 34 and between an electron discharge port 313 and a counter filament 35. An electric field formed by applying a predetermined voltage to each of the ion focusing electrodes 36 and 37 intrudes into the ionization chamber 31 through the electron introduction port 312 and the electron discharge port 313, and becomes a focusing electric field that pushes the ions in an ion optical axis C direction. Ions at positions off a central part of the ionization chamber 31 receive the combined force of the force of the repelling electric field and the force of the focusing electric field, and move toward the ion emission port 311 while approaching the ion optical axis C. Accordingly, the amount of ions sent out from the ion emission port increases. Further, even if a charge-up phenomenon occurs, the ion trajectories less easily change, and the stability of the sensitivity can be enhanced. |
| US09679754B2 |
Mass spectrometer inlet with reduced average flow
An interface configured to transfer ions produced at or near atmospheric pressure conditions into a mass spectrometer for mass analysis is provided. The interface includes a first conduit including an inlet configured to receive a fluid containing the ions and an outlet configured to direct the fluid containing the ions into the mass spectrometer. The first conduit defines a first flow path extending from the inlet to the outlet. The interface includes a pump. The interface includes a second conduit. The second conduit includes an inlet. The second conduit defines a second flow path extending from a location between the inlet and the outlet of the first conduit to an outlet of the second conduit. The pump is configured to divert a portion of the fluid including the ions moving in the first flow path to the second flow path. |
| US09679749B2 |
Gas distribution device with actively cooled grid
A grid assembly for a substrate processing system includes a first portion including a first body defining a central opening, an inlet, an outlet, and an upper manifold that is located in the first body and that is in fluid communication with the inlet or the outlet. A second portion is arranged adjacent to the first portion and includes a second body defining a central opening. A plurality of tubes is arranged in the central opening of the second body. First ones of the plurality of tubes are in fluid communication with the upper manifold. A lower manifold is located in the second body and is in fluid communication with the other one of the inlet or the outlet. Second ones of the plurality of tubes are in fluid communication with the lower manifold. The grid assembly is arranged between a remote plasma source and a substrate. |
| US09679747B2 |
Dynamic pattern generator and method of toggling mirror cells of the dynamic pattern generator
The present disclosure provides a method for operating a dynamic pattern generator (DPG) having a mirror array. The method comprises receiving a clock signal, determining a time delay based on the period of the clock signal, determining a first clock signal for toggling a first group of mirror cells in the mirror array, determining a second clock signal, lagging behind the first clock signal by the time delay, for toggling a second group of mirror cells in the mirror array, toggling the first group of mirror cells in the mirror array in response to the first clock signal, and toggling the second group of the mirror cells in the mirror array in response to the second clock signal. |
| US09679746B2 |
Ion implantation tool and ion implantation method
An ion implantation tool includes a process chamber, a platen, an ion source, and a plurality of controlling units. The platen is present in the process chamber and configured to hold a wafer. The ion source is configured to provide an ion beam onto the wafer. The controlling units are present on the platen and configured to apply a plurality of physical fields that are able to affect motions of ions of the ion beam onto the wafer. |
| US09679745B2 |
Controlling an ion beam in a wide beam current operation range
Provided herein are approaches for controlling an ion beam within an accelerator/decelerator. In an exemplary approach, an ion implantation system includes an ion source for generating an ion beam, and a terminal suppression electrode coupled to a terminal, wherein the terminal suppression electrode is configured to conduct the ion beam through an aperture of the terminal suppression electrode and to apply a first potential to the ion beam from a first voltage supply. The system further includes a lens coupled to the terminal and disposed adjacent the terminal suppression electrode, wherein the lens is configured to conduct the ion beam through an aperture of the lens and to apply a second potential to the ion beam from a second voltage supply. In an exemplary approach, the lens is electrically insulated from the terminal suppression electrode and independently driven, thus allowing for an increased beam current operation range. |
| US09679740B2 |
Charged particle beam device
A processing apparatus and a processing method are provided, which use a charged particle beam device that achieves defection of secondary electrons/reflected electrons at a large angle and cancels out noises of an electromagnetic deflector and an electrostatic deflector to suppress a position shift of a primary electron beam caused by circuit noises of a primary beam/secondary beam separation circuit. In the charged particle beam device that includes an electronic optical system radiating a concentrated electron beam onto a sample placed on a stage to perform scanning and captures an image of the sample, a reference signal and a signal generation unit of a voltage-source control signal applied to the electrostatic deflector generating the electrostatic deflector and a reference signal and a signal generation unit of a current-source control signal applied to the electromagnetic deflector generating a magnetic field are made common in an overlapping-electromagnetic-deflector control unit that controls a path of the secondary electrons/reflected electrons incident on a detector, and frequency characteristics and phase characteristics of the voltage control signal are coincident with those of the current-source control signal. |
| US09679731B2 |
Fault circuit interrupter device
In one embodiment, there is a fault interrupter device comprising at least one sensor comprising at least one first transformer having at least one outer region forming an outer periphery and at least one inner hollow region. There is also at least one second transformer that is disposed in the inner hollow region of the at least one first transformer. The transformers can be substantially circular in configuration, and more particularly, ring shaped. In another embodiment there is a rotatable latch which is used to selectively connect and disconnect a set of separable contacts to selectively disconnect power from the line side to the load side. The rotatable latch is in one embodiment coupled to a reset button. In at least one embodiment there is a slider which is configured to selectively prevent the manual tripping of the device. |
| US09679730B2 |
Circuit interrupter with wireless unit, communication system including the same and associated method
A circuit interrupter includes a first terminal structured to electrically connect to a power source, a second terminal structured to electrically connect to a load, separable contacts electrically connected between the first terminal and the second terminal and being moveable between a closed position and an open position, an operating mechanism structured to trip open the separable contacts, an electronic trip unit structured to detect a fault condition based on power flowing between the first and second terminals and to retrieve diagnostic or setting information associated with the circuit interrupter, and a wireless unit structured to provide the setting or diagnostic information associated with the circuit interrupter to an external device via a wireless communication protocol. |
| US09679728B2 |
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to regulate relay coil switching
Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to regulate relay coil switching are disclosed. A disclosed example method of regulating switching times of a relay having a pair of contacts to selectively and electrically couple an analog alternating current (AC) power source and a load includes forming a digital pulse train representative of an AC signal at the load, determining a first value corresponding to a representative pulse width of the digital pulse train, providing a first relay switching signal to the relay at a first time relative to a zero crossing of the AC signal, selecting a second time for providing a second relay switching signal to the relay based the first value and a second value representative of the width of a first pulse of the digital pulse train associated with the first relay switching signal at the first time, and providing the second relay switching signal to the relay at the second time. |
| US09679726B2 |
Anti-interference switch signal transmission circuit
An anti-interference switch signal transmission circuit, in which a changeover switch is used at a signal terminal, is disclosed. A normally closed contact is connected to DC−, a normally open contact is connected to DC+, and a common contact is connected to a switch signal acquisition circuit. When no signal exists, DC− is provided to a positive input terminal of the switch signal acquisition circuit via the normally closed contact. Since a negative input terminal of the switch signal acquisition circuit is also connected to DC−, even if interference is caused, no false signal is generated. When a signal exists, the position of the changeover switch changes and DC+ is connected to DC− via the closed normally open contact through the switch signal acquisition circuit thus a loop is formed, so that the signal can be detected. |
| US09679722B2 |
Interlock apparatus of vacuum circuit breaker
There is provided an interlock apparatus of a vacuum circuit breaker for adjusting withdrawal of a circuit breaker main body, which is installed in a truck and moves to a connected position in which the circuit breaker main body is connected to a cradle and moves to a disconnected position in which the circuit breaker main body is separated from the cradle within the cradle, to outside of the cradle, includes: a lift including a rotation adjusting plate provided on an upper portion thereof, and moving forwardly and backwardly such that the rotation adjusting plate is inserted into the interior of the cradle or separated from the cradle; and an interlock plate provided within the cradle and rotating according to movement of the rotation adjusting plate so as to be tightly attached to the truck or released from the tightly attached state to thereby adjust withdrawal of the circuit breaker main body to the outside of the cradle. |
| US09679719B2 |
Arc extinguishing contact assembly for a circuit breaker assembly
An arc extinguishing contact assembly for a circuit breaker assembly is provided. The arc extinguishing contact assembly includes a fixed contact assembly, a movable contact assembly and an arc extinguishing assembly. The fixed contact assembly includes a fixed arc contact assembly, a fixed main contact assembly, and a number of movable, intermediate arc contact assemblies. The movable contact assembly includes a movable arc contact assembly and a movable main contact assembly. The arc extinguishing assembly is structured to extinguish an arc generated as the movable contact assembly moves between an open, first position and a closed, second position. |
| US09679718B2 |
Knife switch safety device
A safety device is provided for use in conjunction with a knife switch disposed in a switch well. The safety device comprises an elongate base member having a head end and an insertion portion extending distally away therefrom. The insertion portion is configured for at least partial insertion into the switch well between the knife switch and an internal wall of the switch well when the knife switch is in its open configuration. The device further comprises a slot formed in at least a portion of the insertion portion of the base member. The slot is sized and positioned to receive at least a portion of the blade when the knife switch is in its open configuration and the insertion portion is inserted into the switch well between the knife switch and the internal wall. |
| US09679716B2 |
Modular electromechanical switching element
An electromechanical switching device for providing an electrical connection between terminals as a function of a switched state based on a manual activation, where the switching device has a rotatably mounted activation unit that can be activated manually and a switching unit which is connectable to the activation unit, the switching unit provides pat least two electrical terminals and electrically interconnects them as a function of the electrical switched state, for which purpose the switching unit has at least one switching element slideably mounted in a longitudinal direction of the switching device, the switching device has a coupling unit that mechanically interconnects the activation and switching units and that is configured to transmit the manual activation of the activation unit to the switching element of the switching unit, and where the electromechanical switching device is formed in a modular manner via at least the activation, coupling unit and switching units. |
| US09679710B1 |
Switching module controller for a voltage regulator
A voltage regulator comprising a tap selector switch, a switching module and a switching module controller. The tap selector can comprise stationary contacts and movable contacts which can be adjusted for regulating the voltage between a source and a load. The switching module can comprise first and second bypass switches controlled by a bypass actuator and a non-arcing switch, such as a vacuum interrupter, controlled by an interrupter actuator. The switching module controller can be configured to perform a tap change operation through a series of steps that involve actuating a bypass switch and the non-arcing switch. In one example, the switching module controller can wait a predetermined amount of time before proceeding with each step of the tap change operation. In other examples, the switching module controller can receive signals or measurements from the system before proceeding with each step of the tap change operation. |
| US09679708B2 |
Circuit interrupters with masses in contact spring assemblies
Devices and assemblies are provided for operating circuit interrupters. A circuit interrupter assembly includes a circuit interrupter and a contact spring assembly. The circuit interrupter is located within the housing and includes a moving contact and a stationary contact. Contact spring assembly includes a mass, a plunger, a ferrule, a spring, and a dielectric drive rod. The mass defines an inner bore with a first diameter at a first portion of the mass and a second diameter that is larger than the first diameter at a second portion of the mass. The plunger has a flange portion and a body portion. The flange portion is located within the inner bore at the second portion and has a flange diameter that is larger than the first diameter. The spring is disposed within the inner bore between the plunger and the ferrule. |
| US09679707B2 |
Contact device and electromagnetic relay
A contact device includes a pair of fixed contacts, a movable contactor, a contactor holder, a movable shaft, and a base. The pair of fixed contacts are aligned in a first direction. The movable contactor comes into or out of contact with the pair of fixed contacts in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The contactor holder holds the movable contactor. The movable shaft moves the contactor holder in the second direction so that the movable contactor comes into or out of contact with the fixed contacts. The base accommodates the fixed contacts, the movable contactor, and the contactor holder. The base has a projection projecting from a position opposing the contactor holder in a third direction orthogonal to both the first and second directions. |
| US09679706B2 |
Device for disconnecting an electrical supply line with a high-intensity current
A disconnecting device having a plurality of modules for disconnecting an electrical supply line of an intensity higher than 1000 A. Each module includes a tight contact casing (10) having at least one fixed-contact conductive element (12, 14) in contact with a mobile-contact conductive element (20, 26), and a mechanism for interrupting the contact between the fixed-contact element and the mobile-contact element so as to disconnect the supply line; metal connection bars (60, 62, and 64, 66) for connecting to a current input and to a current output; and intermediate conductive elements such as blades (68, 70, et 72, 74) connected to the connection bars and to the casing. At least one of the mobile-contact elements includes a silver pellet fixed to the surface of the element, allowing the contact resistance between the mobile-contact element and the fixed-contact element to be reduced by half. |
| US09679700B2 |
Capacitor module and power conversion device
Provided is a capacitor module (10) for connection to a plurality of power conversion circuits, which includes: a dielectric part (11) that has a plurality of flat-film dielectric layers (18A, 18B) laminated; a capacitance formation part (12) that has conductors opposed to each other with the dielectric layers (18A, 18B) interposed therebetween within the dielectric part (11); and multiple pairs of output terminals (13A, 13B, 13C) that are connected respectively to the multiple power conversion circuits, where the multiple pairs of output terminals (13A, 13B, 13C) are connected to each other with the capacitance formation part (12) interposed therebetween. |
| US09679698B2 |
Multi-layer ceramic capacitor and method of manufacturing the same
A multi-layer ceramic capacitor has a structure where the dispersion, nd, of average grain size of the dielectric grains constituting the dielectric layer (a value (D90/D10) obtained by dividing D90 which is a grain size including 90% cumulative abundance of grains by D10 which is a grain size including 10% cumulative abundance of grains) is smaller than 4. |
| US09679696B2 |
Wireless load control device
A provided wireless wallbox dimmer may accommodate a plurality of button configurations. The dimmer may be configured to contain a variable number of controllably conductive devices. The dimmer may include a yoke that defines a first plane and an antenna that defines a second plane that is substantially parallel to and spaced apart from the first plane. The yoke may have a flange that is oriented angularly offset relative to the first plane and provides a plurality of mounting locations for controllably conductive devices. The antenna may provide the dimmer with a first wireless transmission range. The dimmer may include a faceplate that cooperates with the antenna to provide the dimmer with a second wireless transmission range that is broader than the first wireless transmission range. The dimmer may include a button assembly that is supported independently of the yoke. |
| US09679695B2 |
Tuning circuit and method for wireless power transfer systems
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for wireless power transfer and particularly wireless power transfer to remote systems such as electric vehicles. In one aspect, a wireless power transfer system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes a first inductive element and a current generator. The current generator supplies a current to the first inductive element to generate an electromagnetic field. The receiver includes a second inductive element, a tuning circuit, and a controller. The second inductive element receives wireless power from the electromagnetic field. The tuning circuit has a reactance and includes a plurality of capacitive elements connected to the second inductive element. The plurality of capacitive elements supply an output current to a load. The controller selectively connects the plurality of capacitive elements in a plurality of configurations. The tuning circuit has substantially the same reactance in each of the plurality of configurations. |
| US09679692B2 |
Reactor device
Provided is a reactor device which is inexpensive, has high heat radiation and with which there is a high degree of freedom when positioning the transformer core. A heat-radiating plate (105) of U-shaped cross section is contacted onto an upper face and both side faces of an upper part E core (102) forming a transformer (101) upper part, and a transformer (101) provided with the heat-radiating plate (105) is housed from one face which is open of a reactor case (106), and a potting resin material is charged into the gap between the transformer (101) and the reactor case (106) until a lower edge part of the heat-radiating plate (105) is submerged. The reactor case (106) housing the transformer (101) is installed and secured onto a base providing a cooling mechanism. |
| US09679691B2 |
Wind turbine transformer arrangement
An improved transformer arrangement of a wind turbine is provided. A wind turbine transformer arrangement comprises a transformer that is arranged in the wind turbine. The transformer comprises a housing. The transformer housing is filled with an oil. The transformer arrangement comprises at least one decompression chamber and the interior of the transformer housing is connected to the interior of the decompression chamber by a pressure release tube in a way that an increase in the pressure in the transformer housing due to a malfunction of the transformer is transferred through the pressure release tube into the decompression chamber. |
| US09679690B2 |
Solenoid with an over-molded component
A solenoid (30) is provided. The solenoid (30) includes a magnetic core (304). The solenoid (30) also includes a pole piece (305) positioned substantially coaxially with the magnetic core (304). An over-molded component (303) is provided that is over-molded around at least a portion of the magnetic core (304) and at least a portion of the pole piece (305). |
| US09679679B2 |
Electrical line exterior structure for wire harness
An electrical line exterior structure for a wire harness is provided that allows water accumulated in a gap formed between adjacent electrical lines or between an exterior member and a group of electrical lines to quickly drain. A tape-like exterior member is wrapped around insulated electrical lines. The exterior member includes a base layer having multiple water suction openings open on the inner circumferential surface that faces the electrical lines, and multiple water suction tube portions that protrude on the outer circumferential surface side of the base layer, and a capillary structure having water suction holes in communication with the water suction openings. When water comes into contact with the electrical lines, negative pressure is generated by capillary action of the water suction holes on the base layer side, and water inside the water suction holes is vaporized on the protruding end side of the water suction tube portions. |
| US09679677B2 |
Cable
A cable that has a cable core with a first armor wire layer and a second armor wire layer. The second armor wire layer is segregated from the first armor wire layer, and an outer jacket is disposed about the second armor wire layer. |
| US09679675B2 |
Manufacturing and applications of metal powders and alloys
Disclosed is a process to reduce mixtures of at least one metal halide by molten metal reduction of the liquid phase metal halide in an alkali or alkaline earth metal to form a reaction product comprising at least one metal mixture and a halide salt coating, in which the at least one metal halide is in stoichiometric excess to the molten metal reductant and wherein the reductant is consumed in the reaction and does not need to be removed at the end of the reaction. |
| US09679674B2 |
Dielectric mineral oil conditioned with graphene nanoflakes
The invention relates to a dielectric mineral oil composition for a transformer, formed by at least one dielectric mineral oil and graphene nanoflakes decorated with metal nanoparticles and/or ceramic nanoparticles. The dielectric mineral oil composition has improved thermal conductivity and stability. |
| US09679669B2 |
Storage and transportation method for low level radioactive mixed wastes
A method for preparing low level radioactive hazardous wastes (LLHZ) for disposal in a landfill. The method includes providing a softsided transportable container at a hazardous debris collection site, where the softsided container has at least three layers of materials, an outer, middle and an inner layer, where the middle layer is a water impervious material. Each layer has a closable opening located on the top of the softsided layer. Hardsided closed containers containing LLHZ located in the interior of the hard container are loaded into the interior of the softsided container. Each layer of the softsided container is then closed, and the package transported and shipped to a disposal site for burial. |
| US09679667B2 |
Submerged electricity production module
An underwater electricity production module includes an elongated cylindrical casing, which includes an integrated electricity generation unit having a nuclear boiler. The generator is connected to an external electricity distribution station by electrical cables. The nuclear boiler is placed in a dry chamber of a reactor compartment associated with a chamber forming a safety water storage reservoir of the reactor. At least a radial wall of the reservoir chamber is in a direct heat exchange relationship with a marine environment that surrounds the underwater electricity production module in which the underwater electricity production module is submerged. |
| US09679666B2 |
Uranium dioxide nuclear fuel pellet having metallic microcells and fabricating method thereof
Disclosed is a uranium dioxide nuclear fuel pellet, which includes metallic microcell partitions having a high protection capacity for fission products and a high thermal conductivity simultaneously. These metal microcell partitions are arranged in the nuclear fuel pellet to trap fission products. Further disclosed is a method of making the uranium dioxide nuclear fuel pellet. The method includes providing a mixture of uranium dioxide powder and additive powder of Cr-containing compound or Mo-containing compound; compressing the powder mixture to form a green pellet; and then sintering the green pellet under reducing gas environment to form the metallic microcell partitions. |
| US09679652B2 |
Threshold based multi-level cell programming for reliability improvement
A memory management method, a memory storage device and a memory controlling circuit unit are provided. The method comprises: obtaining an erased state voltage of a first memory cell and a programmed state voltage of the first memory cell, where the first memory cell is operated in a first programming mode; and operating the first memory cell in a second programming mode if a width of a gap between the erased state voltage and the programmed state voltage is larger than a first threshold value. Accordingly, the reliability of the first memory cell may be improved. |
| US09679648B2 |
Memory cells, memory cell arrays, methods of using and methods of making
A semiconductor memory cell and arrays of memory cells are provided In at least one embodiment, a memory cell includes a substrate having a top surface, the substrate having a first conductivity type selected from a p-type conductivity type and an n-type conductivity type; a first region having a second conductivity type selected from the p-type and n-type conductivity types, the second conductivity type being different from the first conductivity type, the first region being formed in the substrate and exposed at the top surface; a second region having the second conductivity type, the second region being formed in the substrate, spaced apart from the first region and exposed at the top surface; a buried layer in the substrate below the first and second regions, spaced apart from the first and second regions and having the second conductivity type; a body region formed between the first and second regions and the buried layer, the body region having the first conductivity type; a gate positioned between the first and second regions and above the top surface; and a nonvolatile memory configured to store data upon transfer from the body region. |
| US09679643B1 |
Resistive memory device having a trimmable resistance of at least on of a driver and a sinker is trimmed based on a row location
A device is disclosed that includes a driver, a sinker, a memory column, a reference column, a reference resistor and a sensing unit. At least one of the driver and the sinker has a trimmable resistance. For write operation, one of resistive memory cells is conducted based on a row location in the memory column thereof, the driver provides a write current flowing therethrough and the trimmable resistance is trimmed based on the row location. For read operation, the sensing unit senses a read current of the memory column and a reference current of the reference column and the reference resistor when one of the resistive memory cells and a positionally corresponding one of the reference bit cells are conducted. |