| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09685358B2 |
Apparatus for liquid treatment of wafer shaped articles and heating system for use in such apparatus
An apparatus for treating a disc-shaped article comprises a spin chuck and at least three individually controllable infrared heating elements. The infrared heating elements are mounted in a stationary manner with respect to rotation of said spin chuck. At least the transparent plate positioned between the infrared heating elements and the underside of a wafer is mounted for rotation with the spin chuck. Alternatively, the transparent plate is part of a housing that encloses the infrared heating elements and that rotates with the spin chuck as the heating elements are stationary relative thereto. |
| US09685354B2 |
Separation apparatus and a method for separating a cap layer from a chip package by means of the separation apparatus
An embodiment of this invention provides a separation apparatus for separating a stacked article, such as a semiconductor chip package with sensing functions, comprising a substrate and a cap layer formed on the substrate. The separation apparatus comprises a vacuum nozzle head including a suction pad having a top surface and a bottom surface, a through hole penetrating the top surface and the bottom surface of the suction pad, and a hollow vacuum pipe connecting the through hole to a vacuum pump; a stage positing under the vacuum nozzle head and substantially aligning with the suction pad; a control means coupling to the vacuum nozzle head to lift upward or lower down the vacuum nozzle head; and a first cutter comprising a first cutting body and a first knife connecting to the first cutting body. The cap layer is pressed against by the bottom surface of the suction pad and sucked by the suction pad of the vacuum nozzle head after the vacuum pump begins to vacuum the air within the hollow vacuum pipe and the through hole. Then, the first cutter cuts into the interface between the substrate and the cap layer, and the cap lay is separated from the substrate by the suction force of the vacuum nozzle head and the lift force generated by the upward movement of the vacuum nozzle head. |
| US09685352B2 |
Apparatus for conserving electronic device manufacturing resources including ozone
An electronic device manufacturing system is provided that may reduce the amount of resources used in electronic device manufacturing processes. In some embodiments, unreacted ozone exiting a process tool operating in an ozone mode may be diverted and used as an oxidant in an abatement tool when the process tool is operating in a non-ozone mode. Numerous other embodiments are provided. |
| US09685351B2 |
Wire bond mold lock method and structure
A method and apparatus are described for fabricating a microchip structure (70) which protects interior electrical integrated circuits and components (120) attached to a lead frame die flag (104) using a molding compound (124) that mechanically interlocks with one or more positive mold lock structures formed as dummy wire loops (114) or stud bumps (214) that are attached to the lead frame (100) and/or die flag (104). |
| US09685350B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of forming embedded conductive layer for power/ground planes in Fo-eWLB
A semiconductor device has a first conductive layer and a semiconductor die disposed adjacent to the first conductive layer. An encapsulant is deposited over the first conductive layer and semiconductor die. An insulating layer is formed over the encapsulant, semiconductor die, and first conductive layer. A second conductive layer is formed over the insulating layer. A first portion of the first conductive layer is electrically connected to VSS and forms a ground plane. A second portion of the first conductive layer is electrically connected to VDD and forms a power plane. The first conductive layer, insulating layer, and second conductive layer constitute a decoupling capacitor. A microstrip line including a trace of the second conductive layer is formed over the insulating layer and first conductive layer. The first conductive layer is provided on an embedded dummy die, interconnect unit, or modular PCB unit. |
| US09685347B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for producing the same
A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor body with a front face and a back face, having an active zone located at the front face, a front surface metallization layer having a front face and a back face directed towards the active zone, the front surface metallization layer being provided on the front face of the semiconductor body and being electrically connected to the active zone, and a first barrier layer, comprising amorphous metal nitride, located between the active zone and the metallization layer. Further, a method for producing such a device is provided. |
| US09685341B2 |
Abrasive composition and method for producing semiconductor substrate
The polishing composition has a pH of 7 or more and is used in applications for polishing a silicon substrate. The polishing composition contains abrasive grains and a water-soluble polymer. The water-soluble polymer is a copolymer including a first monomer unit having a characteristic value P of 50-100 inclusive, and a second monomer unit having a characteristic value P of at least −100 and less than 50. The characteristic value P is the result of subtracting an adsorption coefficient S2 of the abrasive grains obtained through a specific standard test B from a wettability coefficient S1 of the silicon substrate obtained through a specific standard test A. |
| US09685340B2 |
Stable contact on one-sided gate tie-down structure
After forming a first contact opening to expose a portion of a first source/drain contact located at one side of a functional gate structure followed by forming a second contact opening that intersects the first contact opening to expose the functional gate structure and a portion of a second source/drain contact located at an opposite side of the functional gate structure, the exposed portions of the first source/drain contact and the second-side source/drain contact are recessed. A dielectric cap is subsequently formed over the recessed portion of the second source/drain contact. A shared contact is formed in the first contact opening and the second contact opening to electrically connect a gate conductor of the functional gate structure to the first source/drain contact. The dielectric cap isolates the second source/drain contact from the shared contact, thus preventing contact shorts in a one-sided gate tie-down structure for 7 nm node and beyond. |
| US09685337B2 |
Method for fabricating semiconductor device
A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of : providing a substrate; forming a first gate structure on the substrate; forming a first contact plug adjacent to the first gate structure; and performing a replacement metal gate (RMG) process to transform the first gate structure into metal gate. |
| US09685336B1 |
Process monitoring for gate cut mask
A method of monitoring critical dimensions of gate electrode structures is provided including providing a substrate, forming a gate electrode pattern on the substrate comprising forming gate electrode lines parallel to each other, forming a mask layer on the gate electrode pattern and forming openings in the mask layer in a crosswise direction with respect to the direction of the parallel gate electrode lines, thereby exposing portions of the gate electrode pattern, etching exposed portions of the gate electrode pattern through the mask layer openings, thereby obtaining a negative image of the mask layer openings, removing remaining portions of the mask layer, and monitoring dimensions of the mask layer openings. |
| US09685335B2 |
Power device including a field stop layer
Provided are a power device having an improved field stop layer and a method of manufacturing the same. The power device includes: a first field stop layer formed of a semiconductor substrate and of a first conductive type; a second field stop layer formed on the first field stop layer and of the first conductive type, the second field stop layer having a region with an impurity concentration higher than the first field stop layer; a drift region formed on the second field stop layer and of the first conductive type, the drift region having an impurity concentration lower than the first field stop layer; a plurality of power device cells formed on the drift region; and a collector region formed below the first field stop layer, wherein the second field stop layer includes a first region having a first impurity concentration and a second region having a second impurity concentration higher than the first impurity concentration. |
| US09685330B1 |
Manufacturing method of semiconductor device
Methods for manufacturing semiconductor devices are disclosed. A photoresist layer is formed over a substrate. A cryogenic process is performed on the photoresist layer. After the cryogenic process, a cleaning process is performed on the photoresist layer to remove the photoresist layer. |
| US09685327B2 |
Electronic device using group III nitride semiconductor and its fabrication method and an epitaxial multi-layer wafer for making it
The present invention discloses an electronic device using a group III nitride substrate fabricated via the ammonothermal method. By utilizing the high-electron concentration of ammonothermally grown substrates having the dislocation density less than 105 cm−2, combined with a high-purity active layer of Ga1-x-yAlxInyN (0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1) grown by a vapor phase method, the device can attain high level of breakdown voltage as well as low on-resistance. To realize a good matching between the ammonothermally grown substrate and the high-purity active layer, a transition layer is optionally introduced. The active layer is thicker than a depletion region created by a device structure in the active layer. |
| US09685326B2 |
Method of manufacturing a polysilicon (poly-Si) layer
A method of manufacturing a polysilicon (poly-Si) layer, a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display apparatus using the method, and an organic light-emitting display apparatus manufactured by using the method. The method includes forming an amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer on a substrate having first and second areas, thermally treating the a-Si layer to partially crystallize the a-Si layer into a partially crystallized Si layer, removing a thermal oxide layer through a thermal treatment, selectively irradiating the first areas with laser beams to crystallize the partially crystallized Si layer. |
| US09685322B2 |
Layer deposition on III-V semiconductors
The present disclosure relates to a method (100) for depositing a layer on a III-V semiconductor substrate, in which this method comprises providing (102) a passivated III-V semiconductor substrate comprising a III-V semiconductor surface which has a surface passivation layer provided thereon for preventing oxidation of said III-V semiconductor surface. The surface passivation layer comprises a self-assembled monolayer material obtainable by the reaction on the surface of an organic compound of formula R-A, wherein A is selected from SH, SeH, TeH and SiX3. X is selected from H, Cl, O—CH3, O—C2H5, and O—C3H2, and R is a hydrocarbyl, fluorocarbyl or hydrofluorocarbyl comprising from 5 to 20 carbon atoms. The method further comprises thermally annealing (107) the III-V semiconductor substrate in a non-oxidizing environment such as to decompose the self-assembled monolayer material, and depositing (108) a layer on the III-V semiconductor surface in the non-oxidizing environment. |
| US09685321B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing the same
A semiconductor memory device in an embodiment includes a semiconductor layer, a control gate electrode, an organic molecular layer provided between the semiconductor layer and the control gate electrode, and a first insulating layer provided between the organic molecular layer and the semiconductor layer, the first insulating layer having a first layer containing alkyl chains and a second layer containing siloxane, the second layer being provided between the first layer and the organic molecular layer. |
| US09685318B2 |
Method of forming semiconductor device
Provided is a method of forming a semiconductor device. The method can include loading a semiconductor substrate into semiconductor equipment. A base layer can be formed on the loaded semiconductor substrate by performing a base deposition process using a base source material. A first silicon layer can be formed on the base layer to a greater thickness than the base layer by performing a first silicon deposition process using a silicon source material different from the base source material. A first nitrided silicon layer can be formed by nitriding the first silicon layer using a first nitridation process. The semiconductor substrate having the first nitrided silicon layer can be unloaded from the semiconductor equipment. |
| US09685317B2 |
Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, method of processing substrate, substrate processing apparatus, and recording medium
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes carrying a substrate into a process container, forming a thin film on the substrate by supplying a source gas into the process container with the substrate accommodated therein, performing a first modification treatment to a byproduct adhered to an inside of the process container by supplying an oxygen-containing gas and a hydrogen-containing gas into the heated process container under a pressure less than an atmospheric pressure, while accommodating the thin film-formed substrate in the process container, carrying the thin film-formed substrate out of the process container, and performing a second modification treatment to the byproduct adhered to the inside of the process container after the first modification treatment by supplying an oxygen-containing gas and a hydrogen-containing gas into the heated process container under the pressure less than the atmospheric pressure, while not accommodating the substrate in the process container. |
| US09685310B2 |
System for recording spatial and temporal properties of ions emitted from a quadrupole mass filter
An ion detection system for a detecting a quantity of ions exiting from a mass analyzer of a mass spectrometer comprises: (a) photon generating means configured to receive the quantity of ions and to generate a quantity of photons that is proportional to the quantity of ions; (b) a linear array of photo-detectors configured along a line for detecting a variation of a portion of the quantity of generated photons along the line; and (c) an optical system for directing the portion of the quantity of photons from the photon generating means to the linear array of photo-detectors comprising: (c1) a first cylindrical lens having a first lens axis disposed parallel to the line; (c2) a second cylindrical lens or rod lens having a second lens axis disposed parallel to the line; and a doublet lens. |
| US09685309B2 |
Collision cell for tandem mass spectrometry
A method and apparatus for tandem mass spectrometry is disclosed. Precursor ions are fragmented and the fragments are accumulated in parallel, by converting an incoming stream of ions from an ion source (10) into a time separated sequence of multiple precursor ions which are then assigned to their own particular channel of a multi compartment collision cell (40). In this manner, precursor ion species, being allocated to their own dedicated fragmentation cell chambers (41, 42 . . . 43) within the fragmentation cell (40), can then be captured and fragmented by that dedicated fragmentation chamber at optimum energy and/or fragmentation conditions. |
| US09685305B2 |
Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method
A plasma processing apparatus includes a dielectric member having communication holes through which an internal space communicates with a processing space; a first electrode and a second electrode; a first gas supply device which supplies a first processing gas; a first high frequency power supply which supplies a first high frequency power to at least one of the electrodes to generate a first plasma of the first processing gas; a depressurizing device which introduces the first processing gas and radicals in the first plasma; a second high frequency power supply which supplies a second high frequency power to generate a second plasma of the first processing gas and to attract ions; and a control unit which adjusts, by controlling a total amount of the first high frequency powers, the radical amount in the second plasma and adjusts, by controlling a ratio therebetween, the ion amount therein. |
| US09685302B2 |
Electron microscope and method of operating same
An electron microscope is offered that is capable of achieving noise cancellation which results in a low level of noise and which can be implemented at high speed. An electron microscope (1) associated with the present invention includes: an electron beam source (11) for producing an electron beam; a noise detector (4) for detecting a part of the beam to thereby produce a beam detection signal and dividing a dividend by the beam detection signal; at least one image signal detector (6) for detecting an image signal obtained by making the beam impinge on a sample (A); and an arithmetic section (60) for performing a multiplication between an output signal of the image signal detector (6) and an output signal of the noise detector (4). |
| US09685301B2 |
Charged-particle radiation apparatus
The present invention provides a charged-particle radiation apparatus with a defect observation device for observing defects on a sample, the apparatus including a control unit and a display unit. The control unit is configured to execute a drift correction process on one or more images acquired with the defect observation device under a plurality of correction conditions, and display the plurality of correction conditions and a plurality of corrected images obtained through execution of the drift correction process in association with each other, as a first screen on the display unit. |
| US09685300B2 |
Method for processing and/or for observing an object, and particle beam device for carrying out the method
A method is provided for processing and/or observing an object using at least one particle beam that is scanned over the object. A scan region on the object is determined, the scan region having scan lines, and the particle beam is moved in a first scanning direction along one of the scan lines. The first scanning direction is changed to a second scanning direction at a change-of-direction time. Changing from the first scanning direction to the second scanning direction comprises setting of a point of rotation in that scan line of the scan region in which the particle beam is situated at the change-of-direction time, with an axis of rotation extending through the point of rotation. The first scanning direction is changed into the second scanning direction by rotating the scan region about the axis of rotation, with the point of rotation being selected dependent on the direction of rotation. |
| US09685299B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus, etching method of metal film, and manufacturing method of magnetoresistive effect element
In order to easily exchange a depleted dielectric member in a substrate processing apparatus, a faraday shield provided opposite to an antenna across a component member made of a dielectric, a first dielectric member provided opposite to the antenna across the component member and the faraday shield, and a second dielectric member provided opposite to the antenna across the component member, the faraday shield, and the first dielectric member are provided, and the second dielectric member is placed on a protrusion part formed on a vacuum container in the substrate processing apparatus. |
| US09685298B1 |
Apparatus and method for contamination control in ion beam apparatus
An apparatus may include an ion source generating an ion beam, the ion source coupled to a first voltage. The apparatus may further include a stopping element disposed between the ion source and a substrate position; a stopping voltage supply coupled to the stopping element; and a control component to direct the stopping voltage supply to apply a stopping voltage to the stopping element, the stopping voltage being equal to or more positive than the first voltage when the ion beam comprises positive ions, and being equal to or more negative than the first voltage when the ion beam comprises negative ions, wherein at least a portion of the ion beam is deflected backwardly from an initial trajectory as deflected ions when the stopping voltage is applied to the stopping element. |
| US09685296B1 |
Nonlinear transmission line based electron beam density modulator
An apparatus for modulating the density of an electron beam as it is emitted from a cathode, comprised of connecting a source of pulsed input power to the input end of a nonlinear transmission line and connecting the output end directly to the cathode of an electron beam diode by a direct electrical connection. |
| US09685295B2 |
Electron emission device
Provided herein are electron emission devices and device components for optical, electronic and optoelectronic devices, including cantilever-based MEMS and NEMS instrumentation. Devices of certain aspects of the invention integrate a dielectric, pyroelectric, piezoelectric or ferroelectric film on the receiving surface of a substrate having an integrated actuator, such as a temperature controller or mechanical actuator, optionally in the form of a cantilever device having an integrated heater-thermometer. Also provided are methods of making and using electron emission devices for a range of applications including sensing and imaging technology. |
| US09685293B1 |
Apparatus and method of blocking and unblocking a breaker handle of a circuit breaker
An apparatus and a method are provided to block and unblock a breaker handle of a circuit breaker having main contacts. The apparatus comprises a locking mechanism including a locking handle shaft and a locking latch. The locking handle shaft is configured to latch the locking mechanism for keeping the breaker handle in a mid-position in which the main contacts stay open. The locking handle shaft has a latching surface configured to be removed from its position in order to rotate the breaker handle to a fully ON position in which the main contacts fully close. The locking latch is configured to prevent rotation of the locking handle shaft. The locking latch is configured to engage and disengage with the locking handle shaft in order to rotate the breaker handle from a reset position to the mid-position in which the locking mechanism locks the breaker handle rotation thus preventing the main contacts from closing. The breaker handle is stopped at the mid-position by the locking mechanism until a self-test is passed. |
| US09685291B2 |
Frequency addressable microactuators
Frequency addressable micro-actuators having one or more movable resonating elements actuators, such as cantilevers, can be forced into oscillation by, e.g., electromagnetic actuation. The movable structure is designed to latch at a certain amplitude using one of several latching techniques, such as a near-field magnetic field. In operation, the movable element is driven into resonance, producing a large amplitude, which results in the structure latching. Through resonance, a small force applied in a repeating manner can result in the latching of the actuator, an operation which would normally require a large force. If two or more units, each with different harmonic frequencies, are placed under the same influence, only the one with a harmonic response to the driving force will latch. A single influencing signal may be used to latch more than one device on demand by tuning the frequency to match the natural frequency of the device of interest. |
| US09685284B1 |
Push-type switch with sound feedback
A push-type switch with sound feedback, includes a casing having a plurality of positioning slots, a movable seat, a cap lid, a conducting unit, and an audio module. The movable seat includes a wall body, an interference element, and multiple engaging portions movably connected to the positioning slots. The conducting unit includes a conducting module which forms a conducting space and includes a base board, a connecting element, and at least an audio element built in with at least an audio message. When the cap lid is depressed to enable the movable seat to move, the interference element moves in conjunction with the movable seat into the conducting space, whereby allowing the conducting unit to generate and transmit an electrical signal to actuate an electronic product and the audio element concurrently playing the audio message so that users are able to recognize a controlling state of the switch. |
| US09685282B2 |
Door interlock device for vacuum circuit breaker
The present invention relates to a door interlock device for a vacuum circuit breaker, and more particularly, a door interlock device for a vacuum circuit breaker, which is operable in cooperation with an operation of a cradle shutter. A door interlock device for a vacuum circuit breaker according to one embodiment disclosed herein includes a pressing unit that is provided on one end portion of a shutter lever driving a terminal shutter of a cradle, a driving force transfer unit that is rotatably or slidably installed on a cradle side frame, the driving force transfer unit performing a rotary motion or a sliding motion by a force applied from the pressing unit, and a sliding member that is configured to lock or unlock a door lock plate in response to a driving force transferred from the driving force transfer unit. |
| US09685272B2 |
Multilayer ceramic capacitor having multilayer external electrodes and board having the same
A multilayer ceramic capacitor and a board having the same are provided. The multilayer ceramic capacitor includes three external electrodes including a conductive layer, a nickel plating layer, and a tin plating layer sequentially stacked on a mounting surface of the ceramic body, and spaced apart from each other. When an outermost portion of a lead-out portion of an internal electrode exposed to the mounting surface is P, a total thickness of the conductive layer, the nickel plating layer, and the tin plating layer in a normal line direction of the conductive layer from P is a, a thickness of the conductive layer in the normal line direction of the conductive layer from P is b, and a sum of pore heights of pores existing in the conductive layer in the normal line direction of the conductive layer from P is bp, (b−bp)/a satisfies 0.264≦(b−bp)/a≦0.638. |
| US09685271B2 |
Multilayer ceramic electronic component and board having the same
A multilayer ceramic electronic component includes: a ceramic body including dielectric layers; an active part including first and second internal electrodes which are exposed to both end surfaces of the ceramic body in a length direction thereof, and floating electrodes which are partially overlapped with the first and second internal electrodes; upper and lower cover parts including the dielectric layers and disposed above and below the active part; dummy electrodes disposed in the upper and lower cover parts to be overlapped with the floating electrodes; and first and second external electrodes. |
| US09685268B1 |
Wire wound-type inductor
A wire wound-type inductor is a chip type and includes a core including a winding core part having a substantially taper-shaped portion and flange portions, a winding wire that is coated with an electrically insulating coating film, terminal electrodes to which respective end portions of the winding wire are connected, and a resistive conductor containing conductive powder. The core is made of ceramics and the resistive conductor is arranged so as to cover at least a part of the surrounding of an outer side portion of the winding wire. |
| US09685266B2 |
Immersion cooled inductor apparatus
An immersion cooled inductor includes an inductor at least partially submerged in cooling liquid and a localized boiling feature operable to instigate boiling of the cooling liquid prior to oversaturation. |
| US09685253B2 |
Conductive film composition, conductive film fabricated using the same, and optical display apparatus including the same
A conductive film composition for forming a conductive film in a single coating layer on one or both sides of a base film, the composition including a metal nanowire, and polyfunctional monomers. |
| US09685250B2 |
Method of preparing radioisotope hybrid nanocomposite particles using sol-gel reaction and radioisotope hybrid nanocomposite particles prepared using the same
A method of preparing radioisotope hybrid nanocomposite particles using a sol-gel reaction, and radioisotope hybrid nanocomposite particles prepared using the same are provided. The method includes preparing a complex precursor using a metal ion and an unshared electron pair reactive compound, growing hybrid nanocomposite particles based on the complex precursor by means of a sol-gel reaction, calcining the nanocomposite particles in the air to remove organic matters present in the nanocomposite particles, and irradiating the nanocomposite particles with neutrons to prepare radioisotope hybrid nanocomposite particles. The radioisotope nanocomposite particles prepared using the method can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic particles in the fields of oil refining, chemistry, cement, agriculture, water resources, environment, ocean, and medicine, and can also be used as a radioisotope tracer for evaluating the risk of nanomaterials. |
| US09685248B2 |
Snap-in insert for reactivity control in spent nuclear fuel pools and casks
A neutron absorbing apparatus, for insertion into a fuel cell storage system, includes a corner spine, a first all and a second wall, each wall being affixed to the corner spine to form a chevron shape. Each wall includes an absorption sheet affixed to the corner spine, each absorption sheet being formed of a metal matrix composite having neutron absorbing particulate reinforcement, and a guide sheet affixed to and covering a fractional upper portion of the absorption sheet and extending over a top of the absorption sheet. The absorption sheet extends along the corner spine a greater length than the guide sheet. |
| US09685247B2 |
Radiation protection device
A radiation protection device is disclosed in the embodiment of the present invention. The radiation protection device is used for a system which is configured to perform safety inspection of a cargo or a vehicle by a ray. The radiation protection device comprising: at least one container, and a radiation protection part disposed within the container. The radiation protection material may comprise at least one of concrete, sandstone, and water, or the radiation protection part may comprise a steel-lead protection wall or a concrete protection wall. With the radiation protection device according to the embodiment of the present invention, after the container is transported to the site, it can be directly put in place to be capable of shielding rays without needing operation or with only simple operation. The amount of on-site work, construction time, and construction cost are low. |
| US09685246B2 |
Control system for nuclear facility and control method for nuclear facility
A control system allows controlling a nuclear facility in an evacuation area. The control system includes a control device in ordinary use disposed in a non-evacuation area, an emergency control device—for emergency in the evacuation area, a plant control facility connectable to the control device—and the emergency control device, a signal switching unit that switches from a normal coupling to an emergency coupling based on an emergency switch signal, a first selector switch in the non-evacuation area, a second selector switch-in the evacuation area, an AND circuit configured to output the emergency switch signal to the signal switching unit in the case where the emergency switch signal is input from the first selector switch and the emergency switch signal is input from the second selector switch. |
| US09685245B2 |
Remotely installed fuel transfer tube closure system
A system, method and apparatus for remotely installing a flange cover assembly on a fuel transfer tube fixed flange in a containment pit in a nuclear power plant is presented. In one example, the flange cover assembly includes J-bolt spring assemblies in which the feet of the J-bolt are rotated between a clamping and non-clamping orientation to engage with the rear face of the fixed flange. A tool frame is lowered into the containment pit to engage with the flange cover assembly to compress the J-bolt springs and extend the J-bolt foot toward and away from the flange cover. Dual acting cylinders move a spring compression frame on the frame tool to compress and relax the J-bolt spring assemblies. |
| US09685243B2 |
Determining soft data from a hard read
Apparatuses and methods involving the determination of soft data from hard reads are provided. One example method can include determining, using a hard read, a state of a memory cell. Soft data is determined based, at least partially, on the determined state. |
| US09685241B2 |
Memory test circuit and method for controlling memory test circuit
A test circuit includes a control circuit that tests a memory having a plurality of data holding circuits holding data, a plurality of write ports, and a plurality of read ports, a write port selection circuit that selects any one of the plurality of write ports based on the write port identification information identifying any one of the plurality of write ports; and a read port selection circuit that selects any one of the plurality of read ports based on the read port identification information identifying any one of the plurality of read ports, wherein the control circuit sets the write port identification information and sets the read port identification information and carries out a test on the memory via the selected write port and the selected read port. |
| US09685239B1 |
Field sub-bitline nor flash array
A Field Sub-bitline NOR-type (FSNOR) flash array and its operating methods are disclosed. In contrast to the conventional NOR flash array, the FSNOR array is configured in column with multiple 90° rotated NOR pairs linked by field side sub-bitlines to achieve the minimum 4F2 cell size. The FSNOR flash array is divided into multiple sectors by selection transistors for connecting the even/odd sub-bitlines to the global main first metal bitlines. For each FSNOR sector, the two drain electrodes of column-adjacent NOR pairs form the even/odd sub-bitlines separated by trench field oxides respectively, and the common source electrodes of NOR pairs in a column form the common diffusion source lines tied with metal contacts connected to the first metal common source lines. The FSNOR flash array design has enhanced the electrical isolation of the selected NVM cell devices from the unselected NVM cell devices. |
| US09685234B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for performing multiple memory operations
The disclosed technology relates to a memory device configured to perform multiple access operations in response to a single command received through a memory controller and a method of performing the multiple access operations. In one aspect, the memory device includes a memory array comprising a plurality of memory cells and a memory controller. The memory controller is configured to receive a single command which specifies a plurality of memory access operations to be performed on the memory array. The memory controller is further configured to cause the specified plurality of memory access operations to be performed on the memory array. |
| US09685231B2 |
Irreproducible and re-emergent unique structure or pattern identifier manufacturing and detection method, system, and apparatus
An irreproducible and re-emergent unique structure or pattern identifier manufacturing and detection method, system, and apparatus is provided. A non-volatile floating gate charge storage device can include a block of floating gate transistors that can include a semiconductor region, a source region, a drain region, a floating gate region, a tunnel oxide region, an oxide-nitrite-oxide region, and a control gate region. A structure altering stress effect is applied to the block of transistors to create a passage region in a random number of floating gate regions of floating gate transistors which changes charge storage or electrical characteristics of random elements of the block of transistors. The passage region alters charges on a floating gate region to escape in a different manner than pre-alteration form causing the floating gate region to lose its charge. An apparatus for recording and detecting such differences in pre and post alteration can also be provided. |
| US09685230B2 |
Semiconductor devices including resistive memory cells
A resistive memory device resistive memory device includes a bit line configured to be driven by a bit line driver, a source line configured to be driven by a source line driver adjacent to the bit line driver, and a plurality of memory cells connected between the bit line and the source line. An electrical path of the bit line from each of the plurality of memory cells to the bit line driver increases as an electrical path of the source line from each of the plurality of memory cells to the source line driver decreases. |
| US09685221B1 |
Memory control circuit unit, memory storage device and reference voltage generation method
A memory control circuit unit, a memory storage device and a reference voltage generation method are provided. The method comprises: detecting a first impedance characteristic of a memory controller via a first connection interface of a memory interface and detecting a second impedance characteristic of a volatile memory via a second connection interface of the memory interface; generating an internal reference voltage according to a detection result; and resolving data signal received by the memory interface according to the internal reference voltage. Therefore, an influence on the internal reference voltage owing to the manufacture deviation of impedance element of the memory controller and/or the volatile memory can be reduced. |
| US09685219B2 |
Semiconductor memory device for deconcentrating refresh commands and system including the same
A memory device includes a buffer memory configured to receive commands from a memory controller via first to Nth channels, wherein N denotes an integer which is equal to or greater than ‘2’; and first to Nth core memories each connected to the buffer memory via one of the first to Nth channels. The buffer memory may deconcentrate refresh commands corresponding to the first to Nth core memories, based on a number of commands input during a specific time. |
| US09685214B2 |
Devices and methods for controlling magnetic anisotropy with localized biaxial strain in a piezoelectric substrate
Devices and methods for controlling magnetic anisotropy and orientation of magnetic single domain structures between stable states are provided based on piezoelectric thin films and patterned electrodes. By using patterned electrodes, piezoelectric strain is manipulated to achieve a highly localized biaxial strain in a piezoelectric substrate and rotate the magnetic anisotropy of magnetic materials. Reorientation of a magnetic single domain between different stable states is accomplished by pulsing voltage across pairs of electrodes. Since only a small region surrounding the electrodes is strained, the methods can be applied to arrays of indexed magnetic elements and to piezoelectric thin films clamped to silicon base substrates. |
| US09685210B1 |
Overlapping precharge and data write
A memory includes a plurality of memory cells and a plurality of bitlines. Each of the plurality of bitlines is coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of memory cells. A precharge circuit precharges each of the plurality of bitlines before a read operation and precharges all but one of the plurality of bitlines following the read operation. A write driver drives the one of the plurality of bitlines following the read operation. A method includes precharging each of a plurality of bitlines before a read operation. Each of the plurality of bitlines is coupled to a corresponding one of a plurality of memory cells. The method further includes precharging all but one of the plurality of bitlines following the read operation and driving the one of the plurality of bitlines following the read operation. |
| US09685201B2 |
Corrosion and/or oxidation damage protection for tunnel junctions
A system according to one embodiment includes a magnetic structure having a tunnel junction, and a controller and logic integrated with and/or executable by the controller. The logic is configured to reduce a local relative humidity in a vicinity of the tunnel junction by passing a current through the tunnel junction for at least a period of time that the tunnel junction would otherwise not have a current passing therethrough. A method according to one embodiment includes determining a relative humidity in an environment of a tunnel junction that is part of a magnetic structure and selecting an operating current from a range of allowable operating currents based on the determined relative humidity. The selected level of the current is high enough to heat the tunnel junction to a temperature which reduces a local relative humidity in a vicinity of the tunnel junction. |
| US09685198B1 |
Synchronizing recordings based on an encoded audio signal
The method may include generating an encoded audio signal. The method may include receiving metadata from a user about an event. The method may also include generating a unique identifier (ID) that is associated with the metadata. The method may also include providing the metadata and the unique ID to a database. The method may also include encoding the unique ID in an audio signal using a robust signal modulation scheme. The method may also include playing, using a mobile device, the audio signal, where the audio signal is played within an audible detection range of recording devices configured to record the audio signal. |
| US09685193B2 |
Dynamic character substitution for web conferencing based on sentiment
In an approach to determining a pre-recorded video for use in place of a video feed of a user in a video conference, a computer determines a sentiment of the video conference and determines a first video of one or more pre-recorded videos of a user that corresponds to the sentiment. The computer displays the first video in the video conference. |
| US09685191B2 |
Recording tape cartridge
A recording tape cartridge includes a release member, a sliding protrusion portion, a metallic plate and a reference portion. The release member is provided in a reel hub to be rotatable integrally with the reel. The release member moves a locking member from a locking position to an allowing position when a pushing surface of the release member is pushed from an outer side of a case. The sliding protrusion portion protrudes from the locking member toward the side thereof at which the release member is disposed. The metallic plate is provided in the release member. A distal end of the sliding protrusion portion touches the metallic plate. The reference portion is provided at the release member. The reference portion positions a position of the metallic plate relative to the pushing surface in the axial direction of the reel. |
| US09685187B1 |
Bonding tool and method for high accuracy chip-to-chip bonding
A chip-to-chip eutectic bonding system includes a stage with a top surface, a bottom surface, and a plurality of vacuum apertures extending therebetween and a carrier with a top surface, the top surface including one or more smooth surface portions and one or more rough surface portions, wherein at least one smooth carrier surface portion laterally aligns to at least one vacuum aperture, and at least one of the stage's rough surface portions frictionally couples to at least one of the carrier's rough surface portions when the carrier top surface couples to and opposes the stage bottom surface. |
| US09685186B2 |
HDD pattern implant system
Methods and apparatus for forming substrates having magnetically patterned surfaces is provided. A magnetic layer comprising one or more materials having magnetic properties is formed on a substrate. The magnetic layer is subjected to a patterning process in which selected portions of the surface of the magnetic layer are altered such that the altered portions have different magnetic properties from the non-altered portions without changing the topography of the substrate. A protective layer and a lubricant layer are deposited over the patterned magnetic layer. The patterning is accomplished through a number of processes that expose substrates to energy of varying forms. Apparatus and methods disclosed herein enable processing of two major surfaces of a substrate simultaneously, or sequentially by flipping. In some embodiments, magnetic properties of the substrate surface may be uniformly altered by plasma exposure and then selectively restored by exposure to patterned energy. |
| US09685179B2 |
Tape device and controller thereof
A tape device includes a tape drive, a storage unit, and a processor. The tape drive is configured to write plural data units in a magnetic tape formed with plural tracks. The storage unit is configured to store information indicating a reversal position set in a middle of the magnetic tape. The processor is configured to instruct the tape drive to start writing of a first data unit in the magnetic tape. The processor is configured to control the tape drive to continue the writing up to an end of the first data unit when a first write area crosses over the reversal position. The first data unit is written in the first write area. The processor is configured to control the tape drive to change a write destination from the first track to a second track after the first data unit is written and to reverse the write direction. |
| US09685177B2 |
Sensor stabilization in a multiple sensor magnetic reproducing device
A multi-sensor reader that includes a first sensor that has a sensing layer with a magnetization that changes according to an external magnetic field. The first sensor also includes first and second side biasing magnets having a magnetization substantially along a first direction. The first and second side biasing magnets align the magnetization of the sensing layer substantially along the first direction when the sensing layer is not substantially influenced by the external magnetic field. The multi-sensor reader further includes a second sensor that is stacked over the first sensor. The second sensor includes a reference layer that has a magnetization that is set substantially along a second direction. The first sensor further includes at least one sensor-stabilization feature that counteracts an influence of a magnetic field utilized to set the magnetization of the reference layer of the second sensor in the second direction on the magnetization of at least one of the first and second side biasing magnets in the first direction. |
| US09685174B2 |
Mood monitoring of bipolar disorder using speech analysis
A system that monitors and assesses the moods of subjects with neurological disorders, like bipolar disorder, by analyzing normal conversational speech to identify speech data that is then analyzed through an automated speech data classifier. The classifier may be based on a vector, separator, hyperplane, decision boundary, or other set of rules to classify one or more mood states of a subject. The system classifier is used to assess current mood state, predicted instability, and/or a change in future mood state, in particular for subjects with bipolar disorder. |
| US09685173B2 |
Method for non-intrusive acoustic parameter estimation
A system and method for non-intrusive acoustic parameter estimation is included. The method may include receiving, at a computing device, a first speech signal associated with a particular user. The method may include extracting one or more short-term features from the first speech signal. The method may also include determining one or more statistics of each of the one or more short-term features from the first speech signal. The method may further include classifying the one or more statistics as belonging to one or more acoustic parameter classes. |
| US09685165B2 |
Method and apparatus for predicting high band excitation signal
A method and an apparatus for predicting a high band excitation signal are disclosed. The method includes: acquiring, according to a received low band bitstream, a set of spectral frequency parameters that are arranged in an order of frequencies, calculating a spectral frequency parameter difference between every two spectral frequency parameters that have a same position interval; acquiring a minimum spectral frequency parameter difference from the calculated spectral frequency parameter differences; determining, according to a frequency bin that corresponds to the minimum spectral frequency parameter difference, a start frequency bin for predicting a high band excitation signal from a low band; and predicting the high band excitation signal from the low band according to the start frequency bin. By implementing embodiments of the present invention, a high band excitation signal can be better predicted, thereby improving performance of the high band excitation signal. |
| US09685163B2 |
Transforming spherical harmonic coefficients
In general, techniques are described for transforming spherical harmonic coefficients. A device comprising one or more processors may perform the techniques. The processors may be configured to parse the bitstream to determine transformation information describing how the sound field was transformed to reduce a number of the plurality of hierarchical elements that provide information relevant in describing the sound field. The processors may further be configured to, when reproducing the sound field based on those of the plurality of hierarchical elements that provide information relevant in describing the sound field, transform the sound field based on the transformation information to reverse the transformation performed to reduce the number of the plurality of hierarchical elements. |
| US09685162B2 |
Electrically operated food processor
An electrically operated food processor with a mixing bowl and a mixer in the mixing bowl is provided with an acoustic transducer and with stored speech recognition software, it being possible to use speech recognition to cause the food processor to carry out a routine task. The speech recognition may be activated by turning on the food processor. |
| US09685158B2 |
Systems and methods to present voice message information to a user of a computing device
Systems and methods to process and/or present information relating to voice messages for a user that are received from other persons. In one embodiment, a method implemented in a data processing system includes: receiving first data associated with prior communications or activities for the user on a mobile device; receiving a voice message for the user; transcribing the voice message using the first data to provide a transcribed message; and sending the transcribed message to the mobile device for display to the user. In one embodiment, options are displayed for selection by the user to correct a misspelled word in the transcribed message. |
| US09685157B2 |
Vehicle and control method thereof
A vehicle of recognizing received voice based on a language set in an external apparatus includes: a communication unit configured to receive text data stored in an external apparatus; a data converter configured to convert the received text data into voice data; a speech input unit configured to receive a speech from a user; a speech recognizer configured to recognize the received speech based on a language set in the external apparatus; and a controller configured to search for voice data corresponding to the recognized speech in the converted voice data, to generate a control command including the voice data found by the controller based on the recognized speech, and to transmit the control command to the external apparatus through the communication unit. |
| US09685156B2 |
Low-power voice command detector
A low-power voice command detection method uses an audio monitoring device to capture sound. The captured sound is analyzed in steps to determine if it fulfills a number of criteria regarding sound level, voice content and identifiable voice commands. For each step the processing is more complex and power demanding. A threshold between the first and subsequent steps is used to gate further processing. This threshold is dynamically adjusted, based on the outcome of the analysis, to avoid unnecessary processing and increase system performance. |
| US09685155B2 |
Method for distinguishing components of signal of environment
A method distinguishes components of a signal by processing the signal to estimate a set of analysis features, wherein each analysis feature defines an element of the signal and has feature values that represent parts of the signal, processing the signal to estimate input features of the signal, and processing the input features using a deep neural network to assign an associative descriptor to each element of the signal, wherein a degree of similarity between the associative descriptors of different elements is related to a degree to which the parts of the signal represented by the elements belong to a single component of the signal. The similarities between associative descriptors are processed to estimate correspondences between the elements of the signal and the components in the signal. Then, the signal is processed using the correspondences to distinguish component parts of the signal. |
| US09685154B2 |
Apparatus and methods for managing resources for a system using voice recognition
The technology of the present application provides a method and apparatus to managing resources for a system using voice recognition. The method and apparatus includes maintaining a database of historical data regarding a plurality of users. The historical database maintains data regarding the training resources required for users to achieve an accuracy score using voice recognition. A resource calculation module determines from the historical data an expected amount of training resources necessary to train a new user to the accuracy score. |
| US09685153B2 |
Detecting potential significant errors in speech recognition results
In some embodiments, the recognition results produced by a speech processing system (which may include a top recognition result and one or more alternative recognition results) based on an analysis of a speech input, are evaluated for indications of potential significant errors. In some embodiments, the recognition results may be evaluated to determine whether a meaning of any of the alternative recognition results differs from a meaning of the top recognition result in a manner that is significant for the domain. In some embodiments, one or more of the recognition results may be evaluated to determine whether the result(s) include one or more words or phrases that, when included in a result, would change a meaning of the result in a manner that would be significant for the domain. |
| US09685149B2 |
Acoustic-electronic music machine
A music machine, comprising: a platform; a plurality of arcos disposed around a perimeter of the platform, the plurality of arcos disposed in a substantially vertical orientation; a central mast disposed substantially at a center of the platform; and a hand wheel disposed on the central mast, wherein each of the plurality of arcos is strung with a musical instrument string, and wherein each musical instrument string is tuned to produce a musical tone when caused to vibrate. |
| US09685148B2 |
Method and device for wireless power source for an instrument
A musical instrument requiring power has a wireless resonate power receiver to receive electric energy from electromagnetic waves transmitted by a wireless resonate power transmitter when the wireless resonate power receiver is within an area covered by the wireless resonate power transmitter. The electric energy can be stored in a rechargeable power supply, such that the musical instrument can be charged wirelessly. |
| US09685147B2 |
Method and device for detecting a velocity of an actuation of a deflectable transmitter component or key of an electronic musical instrument
The invention relates to a method for detecting actuation of a deflectable transmitter component, comprising the steps of: recording (20) a measured value (U) corresponding to a deflection of the deflectable transmitter component; comparing (30) the measured value (U) with a predefined threshold value (Us); if a result of the comparison (30) is that a predefined condition has been satisfied (34): storing the measured value (U) as a first measured value (U1); allowing (40) a predefined time difference (Δt) to elapse; recording (50) a second measured value (UM) corresponding to a deflection of the transmitter component; and calculating (60) a value representing the actuation. |
| US09685146B2 |
Drum beater and drum foot pedal apparatus
Disclosed are a drum beater and a drum foot pedal apparatus which are simple in construction with reduced numbers of component parts and yet allow weight adjustment of the beater to be performed promptly and reliably through a mere manual operation without using any tool, and which include: a beater head for striking a drum; a beater rod having the beater head mounted thereon; a retention member mounted on the beater rod, through a mere manual operation without using any tool, in such a manner that it is axially displaceable relative to the beater rod; a spring normally biasing the retention member toward the beater rod; and a weight member held sandwiched between the retention member and the beater head by the biasing force of the spring. |
| US09685143B2 |
Display control device, display control method, and computer-readable storage medium for changing a representation of content displayed on a display screen
A display control device for displaying content, the representation form of which is changeable by a user's operation on a display screen, on a display screen is provided. The display control device includes an operation acquisition unit configured to acquire a change instruction to change the representation form of the content and an image changing unit configured to distort the representation form of the content, in response to a change instruction which instructs to change the representation form of the content beyond a threshold value, to be different from the representation form as instructed. Thus, the display control device facilitates the user to recognize the threshold for change when the representation form of the content is changed by zooming in, zooming out, scrolling the content and the like. |
| US09685140B1 |
Optimized rendering of multimedia content
Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for optimized rendering of multimedia content as described herein. An embodiment includes identifying one or more content layers for display and promoting the multimedia content layer for display over all layers of the one or more content layers, when no content is to be displayed over the multimedia content layer. Another embodiment includes identifying one or more content layers for display and displaying a bitmap representing a multimedia content layer directly on a display device, when no content is to be displayed over the multimedia content layer. |
| US09685128B2 |
Display apparatus and method of driving the display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a set control circuit configured to generate a plurality of transmission signals and transmitting the transmission signals through a transmitting interface, a display control circuit configured to receive the transmission signals through a receiving interface and to drive a display panel based on the transmission signals, and a transmission channel connecting the transmitting interface and the receiving interface, and configured to transfer the transmission signals. The display control circuit is configured to transmit and receive a transmission signal with the set control circuit through the transmission channel, and to control the set control circuit to determine a signal level of the transmission signal into an optimal signal level being a receivable signal level for the display control circuit. |
| US09685126B2 |
Device and method for tuning color temperature in digital display device
The present invention relates to method and device for tuning a color temperature in a digital display device, in which variation of color temperatures and color feelings between gradients is reduced for improving a picture quality. |
| US09685115B2 |
Display module
A display module including a substrate having a plurality of pixels, a data line that supplies a data signal to a pixel, a current supply line that supplies electric current to the pixel, a data driving circuit that supplies a data signal to the data line, and a gate driving circuit thereon. The plurality of pixels are arranged in a display area of the substrate, and each of the plurality of pixels includes a light emitting device, a first thin film transistor connected to the data line that supplies the data signal, a second thin film transistor connected to the current supply line, and a capacitor. The light emitting device includes a first electrode layer connected to the second thin film transistor, an organic layer formed on the first electrode layer, and a second electrode layer formed on the organic layer. |
| US09685110B2 |
Scanning drive circuit and display device including the same
A display device including a display area. The display area having a plurality of pixel circuits, a peripheral area including a scanning circuit, a plurality of first scanning lines, a plurality of second scanning lines, and a plurality of third scanning lines. Each of the plurality of pixel circuits includes a write transistor, a drive transistor, a first switching transistor, a second switching transistor, a third switching transistor, a fourth switching transistor, a capacitor, and a light emitting element. Duration of a conductive state of the third switching transistor is variably controlled by changing a width of the input pulse and duration of a conductive state of the fourth switching transistor is variably controlled by changing the width of the input pulse. |
| US09685109B2 |
Luminance boost method and system
A system and method for increasing perceived contrast in a medical display (174) is provided. The method involves temporarily increasing luminance output of at least part of a display (174) in response to a received request for improved visualization. To compensate for the change in luminance especially while the viewer's eyes adapt to the change in luminance, the method includes continuously modifying the display parameters especially during an adaptation period to match an adaptation of the viewer's eyes. The modified parameters at any given may correlate to the degree of adaptation by the viewer's eyes to the change. After a period of time, the display (174) may be returned to its normal operating luminance and corresponding settings, which may be selected to maximize the lifetime of the display (174). |
| US09685108B2 |
Computer system display driving method and system
An image display system includes an LCD (liquid crystal display) or other display driven by alternating current and driven in an inverted manner by a predetermined driving method on a pixel basis, and an LCD driving device for generating a Frame Rate Control (FRC) pattern which is the same as the pattern utilized by the predetermined driving method. The display is thereby driven so as to allow the display to make an expression in gradations higher (for example, 256 gradations) than gradations (for example, 64 gradations) natively supported by the display. |
| US09685107B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to the first substrate. The first substrate includes a plurality of color pixels and a white pixel that outputs a second white light having a same gray scale as a first white light formed by mixing light outputted from the plurality of color pixel. The white pixel is activated by a second current that is lower than a first current that activates the color pixels. |
| US09685105B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes: n primary scan lines extending in a first direction, where n denotes a positive integer; n secondary scan lines extending in a second direction that is different from the first direction, the secondary scan lines respectively connected to one of the primary scan lines; pixels connected to the primary scan lines; and a gate driver configured to transmit scan signals to the primary scan lines via the secondary scan lines, wherein a first primary scan line having a first length is connected to a first secondary scan line having a second length, and a second primary scan line having a third length that is longer than the first length is connected to a second secondary scan line having a fourth length that is shorter than the second length. |
| US09685102B1 |
LED lighting assembly with uniform output independent of number of number of active LEDs, and method
A lighting assembly includes LEDs arranged at a surface of a substrate, and optical elements proximate the LEDs such that each optical element overlies a single LED and each LED underlies a single optical element. Each optical element includes a first part, a second part intersecting the first part such that a normal to surface of the second part intersects a normal to the surface of the first part, and a third part extending away from the associated LED beyond a region between the first and second part. The LEDs and optical elements are configured such that light from each LED is directed towards an area to be illuminated in a uniform pattern covering the area. |
| US09685099B2 |
System for characterizing manual welding operations
A system for characterizing manual welding exercises and providing valuable training to welders that includes components for generating, capturing, and processing data. The data generating component further includes a fixture, workpiece, at least one calibration devices each having at least two point markers integral therewith, and a welding tool. The data capturing component further includes an imaging system for capturing images of the point markers and the data processing component is operative to receive information from the data capturing component and perform various position and orientation calculations. |
| US09685095B2 |
Systems and methods for assessment administration and evaluation
The present disclosure provides systems and methods relating to administration, evaluation, and review of assessments, such as quizzes and tests. According to various embodiments, a first challenge problem of an assessment may be displayed to an assessor, such as an instructor of students. The first challenge problem may include one or more answers provided by an assessee, such as a student. For example, an assessee may have answered the challenge problem by providing one or more digital ink stroke answers, a draggable object answer, and/or an annotation answer. The systems and methods described herein facilitate the automatic and/or semi-automatic evaluation of the assessee answer items. |
| US09685094B2 |
Text to training aid conversion system and service
A method and system of an embodiment may include receiving an image of printed material from a device associated with a user, receiving a request from the user to generate a training aid utilizing the printed material, generating the training aid utilizing the printed material; and providing access to the training aid to the user, wherein providing access includes one of transmitting the training aid to a device associated with the user or providing notification regarding access to the training aid to a device associated with the user. |
| US09685082B2 |
Traffic signaling apparatus
In one aspect, traffic signaling apparatus are described herein. In some embodiments, a traffic signaling apparatus described herein comprises a first traffic light structure and a second traffic light structure. The second traffic light structure is operable to display a plurality of traffic signals, such as a red traffic signal and a green traffic signal. Further, the second traffic light structure is attached to a horizontal or substantially horizontal cable or to a horizontal or substantially horizontal mast arm. Moreover, the first traffic light structure is attached to the second traffic light structure or to the mast arm by a pole. Additionally, in some cases, the first traffic light structure is disposed at least three feet above the second traffic light structure. The first traffic light structure can also be substantially vertically aligned with the second traffic light structure. |
| US09685080B2 |
Traffic light preemption management system
A method and system for managing a set of traffic lights at an intersection, measuring the Doppler Effect of a signal emitted by a vehicle, where such Doppler Effect being a function of the vehicle movement with respect to said intersection, and deciding as a function of such measure a new state for each traffic light at the intersection so as to facilitate passage of the approaching vehicle. |
| US09685079B2 |
Short-time stopping detection from red light camera evidentiary photos
A method for detecting a vehicle running a stop signal includes acquiring at least two evidentiary images of a candidate violating vehicle captured from at least one camera monitoring an intersection. The method includes extracting feature points in each of the at least two evidentiary images. The method includes computing feature descriptors for each of the extracted feature points. The method includes determining a correspondence between feature points having matching feature descriptors at different locations in the at least two evidentiary images. The method includes extracting at least one attribute for each correspondence. The method includes determining if the candidate violating vehicle is in violation of running the stop signal using the extracted attribute. |
| US09685076B2 |
Generating segment data
A method of processing data relating to an electronic map, the map comprising a plurality of segments representing navigable segments in the area covered by the map, the method comprising using a processing apparatus to generate segment data and comprising the steps of: collecting historic travel data for the segment; defining a jam condition for the segment, such that where the jam condition is satisfied the segment is classified as jammed and otherwise as not jammed; generating a jam probability for the segment according to the historic travel data and the jam condition definition; generating a jam speed for the segment using the historic travel data, the jam speed being indicative of the speed on the segment when the segment is considered jammed; and associating the jam probability and the jam speed with the segment in the electronic map. |
| US09685073B2 |
Systems and methods that enable selecting a range for two-way wireless communication between a key fob and a vehicle
A computing device for use in selecting a range for communication between a key fob and a vehicle is described. The computing device is located in the vehicle. The computing device is configured to receive a designation of a desired range for communication between the vehicle and the key fob, and transmit a signal corresponding to the designated range to the key fob. |
| US09685072B2 |
Privacy level indicator
A method includes responsive to receiving a command to view multimedia content, displaying the multimedia content. A selection of a privacy level for the multimedia content is received, the privacy level indicating whether information associated with a user's viewing of the multimedia content may be published. A visual indicator of the privacy level is displayed concurrently with displaying the multimedia content. |
| US09685071B1 |
eReceptionist and eNeighborhood watch system for crime prevention and/or verification
A system comprising an antenna module and a processor sub-module. The antenna module is configured to connect and send data to a network through a wireless connection. The network is configured to (A) connect to web services in a first mode and (B) integrate with user devices in a second mode. The processor sub-module is configured to provide a physical connection to (i) the antenna module, (ii) a plurality of output devices, and (iii) a plurality of sensors. The plurality of output devices are configured to implement a virtual receptionist. The plurality of sensors send data to the network. |
| US09685070B2 |
Device, system and method for informing alarm
An alarm informing device is provided. The alarm informing device receives detection information from one or more sensors and informs an alarm to a user when either one of failure in the one or more sensors and error in the reception of the information from the one or more sensors occurs. The alarm informing device includes a time synchronizing module configured to synchronize an internal clock of the alarm informing device with an internal clock of another alarm informing device, an alarm sound output timing control module configured to control a timing of outputting an alarm sound when the alarm is issued, based on the internal clock of the alarm informing device, and a sound outputter configured to output the alarm sound at the timing controlled by the alarm sound output timing control module. |
| US09685069B2 |
Device for emergency signaling from a vehicle, system for emergency signaling and method of operation
The invention describes a device for emergency signaling from a vehicle, having: a housing; a detection device, which is arranged in the housing and which is suitable for recording measurement information concerning an emergency vehicle state from one or more sensor arrangements, which are formed in a housing and/or externally; a data communication management, which is arranged in the housing and configured for emitting data signals concerning an emergency message via a data interface, wherein the emergency message comprises the electronic measurement information at least partially and/or electronic vehicle status information derived therefrom; and a plug-in device, which is arranged on the housing and has a plug connector for plugging into a motor vehicle socket. The invention further relates to a method for operating the device. |
| US09685067B2 |
Machine-to-machine (M2M) emergency communications
System, methods, and devices may provide alerts, such as emergency alerts, using machine-to-machine communications. A method may include receiving a state of a mammal associated with a device, receiving a state of an environment that is approximate to the location of the mammal associated with the device, determining a likelihood of a harmful activity based on the aforementioned states, and automatically sending alert message based on the determined likelihood of the harmful activity. |
| US09685066B2 |
Leash notification for tracking device
The communication between a tracking device and a secondary device that tracks the tracking device can be severed. On detecting a loss of connection, the secondary device retrieves a last known location of the tracking device from the tracking server. On receiving the last known location, the secondary device activates location detection functionality to determine a current location of the secondary device. If the current location is further than a predetermined threshold distance from the last known location of the tracking device, a notification is displayed by the secondary device indicating that the connection to the tracking device is lost. If the secondary device is within the predetermined threshold distance from the tracking device's last known location, the secondary device waits for a predetermined interval of time to elapse, and if the tracking device is not detected during this interval, a notification is displayed by the secondary device. |
| US09685059B2 |
Devices and methods for providing heat-source alerts
A computing system receives blackbody radiation data from a thermal radiation sensor that is located in a room with a heat source and is directed at the heat source. An operating state of the heat source is determined using the blackbody radiation data. Occupancy data is received for a dwelling that includes the room with the heat source; using this data, an occupancy of the dwelling is determined, including an occupancy for the room. It is determined, using the operating state of the heat source and the occupancy of the dwelling, including the occupancy of the room, whether a heat-source alert condition that includes a first threshold time is met. If so, a heat-source alert is provided. A request of a first type is then received to cancel the heat-source alert. In response, the heat-source alert is canceled and the heat-source alert condition is modified. |
| US09685054B2 |
Mounting bracket including emergency lighting
The present invention provides a mounting bracket for supporting a detachable device and includes emergency lighting. In one embodiment, the mounting bracket includes an attachment means for mounting the detachable device, and at least one light source, wherein the mounting bracket is configured to receive power from a first power source, to receive power from a second power source, and to illuminate the at least one light source if the first power source is not available. |
| US09685053B2 |
Conducting and guiding individuals safely
Systems and methods are providing which utilize data collection to determine whether an event requiring routing of individuals through a structure has occurred and thereafter controlling the operation of guidance devices to conduct and guide individuals safely through and out of the structure. |
| US09685052B2 |
System and method for alerting a user
The alarm monitoring system provides various alerts of events that are not readily discernable to those individuals that are deaf or hard of hearing. The system generates visual, vibratory, and high decibel alerts separately or in combination to alert the user to a wide variety of events in combination with a vibratory illuminating puck shaped device and allows a user to filter out alerts based upon a variety of modifiers. |
| US09685050B2 |
Alert sound alteration
A method of updating a notification preference of a system includes detecting a remote alert, identifying at least one feature of the remote alert, determining a plurality of alerts available to the system, mapping the at least one feature of the remote alert and the available alerts to a concept map, and selecting an alert from the plurality of available alerts using the mapping, wherein a selected alert changes a notification preference of the system. |
| US09685044B2 |
Methods and systems for conducting a new game based on poker and a live or virtual or pre-recorded event
A computer-implemented system and method that includes displaying a group of numbers to a first and second player. The system and method further includes receiving a group of N numbers and a sequence of numbers for first and second players. The system and method includes receiving a wager, fold indication or raise indication from the first or second player and receiving an event result that includes N winning numbers corresponding to winning participants and a winning sequence of N winning numbers. The system and method includes receiving a wager, fold indication or raise indication from a first or second player and comparing the N winning numbers and winning sequence to the numbers and sequences for the first and second players. The system and method includes identifying a winning player matching winning criteria of a higher ranking winning category and distributing a winning pool of wagers to the one winning player. |
| US09685041B2 |
System and method for conducting on-line tournament contest
Systems and methods for conducting on-line tournaments, and in particular such tournaments as permit participants to receive prizes without having to place wagers. Participants are permitted to enroll in an on-line tournament pool and submit tokens. The tokens act as each respective participant's prediction regarding the outcome of one or more events associated with a sporting event or other contest. Tokens may be completed “brackets” representing a participant's prediction of winners of all games in various rounds of a sporting event, or partially completed brackets representing the participant's prediction of winners of only some games thereof. Cash prizes are awarded for top scoring participants but no wagers or entry fees of any kind are accepted from or required to be paid by the participants. |
| US09685039B2 |
Gaming system and method which provides players an opportunity to win a progressive award
A gaming system is provided that includes a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines. The gaming system includes a progressive award adapted to be provided to a designated winning player of the gaming machines in the gaming system. In one embodiment, the gaming system designates the winning player when the progressive award reaches a player threshold value. In such an embodiment, the gaming system provides the progressive award to the designated winning player when the progressive award reaches an award threshold value. In one embodiment, each player who contributes to the progressive award is eligible to win that progressive award, even if that player is not playing one of the gaming machines in the gaming system. The gaming system provides the progressive award to the designated winning player or causes a notification of being provided the progressive award to the winning player. Accordingly, the gaming system stores the progressive award until one of the players of one of the gaming machines is designated. |
| US09685037B2 |
Anti-cheating system
An electromechanical gaming machine constructed to receive real world credits from a user, including a real world engine that provides a randomly generated payout of real world credits for a wager, an entertainment software engine that executes an entertainment game, a game world engine that manages the entertainment software engine and communicates gambling events and wager results, and an anti-cheating module that applies an anti-cheating measure to the entertainment game and allows the execution of the entertainment game based upon a determination that the anti-cheating measure has been applied to the entertainment game. |
| US09685034B2 |
Methods and systems for interfacing with a third-party application
A system for interfacing with a third-party application is described. The system includes a third-party device, a server-based system configured to communicate with the third-party device, and a gaming device configured to communicate with the server-based system to display content of the product or service. The gaming device is configured to generate an outcome of a wager-based game independent of the content that is displayed. |
| US09685032B2 |
Electronic system for playing of reel-type games
There is disclosed an electronic gaming system (100) comprising one or more player interfaces (6, 7, 17), and a main video display screen (1). The system enables players to simultaneously play a plurality of reel-type games and to place bets on lines of the games. The system displays a plurality of display windows on the main display screen, each window being associated with a respective one of the simultaneously played games and displaying the reels of that game, each reel displaying reel indicia. The system is configured for any one of the games to enter a feature phase when a feature-triggering event occurs. At the start of the feature phase, all the display windows on the main screen, except the particular display window associated with the feature phase, reduce in size or disappear, while the size of the feature game's display window increases, and the other games are also suspended, until the feature phase is completed. |
| US09685031B2 |
Method and apparatus for enhancing a wagering experience using a wagering terminal
A method and apparatus for use in a wagering environment are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment comprises a wagering terminal including a processor, a memory, a primary display, and a secondary display. The primary display is configured for displaying visual messages. These visual messages are displayed as part of a graphical user interface and include at least one wagering transaction message. The secondary display is configured for displaying additional visual messages associated with the visual messages of the primary display. These additional visual messages are displayed as part of an additional graphical user interface. The wagering terminal may further include a proximity detector configured for detecting the presence of a gaming patron, a user identification unit configured for sampling a unique physical attribute of a user, and an image capture unit configured for capturing at least one image in a vicinity of the wagering terminal. |
| US09685030B2 |
Method of gaming, a gaming system and a game controller
A method of gaming comprising: selecting in at least one game round a plurality of symbols for display to a player in a set of display positions; modifying the displayed symbols copying each symbol in an original subset of the display positions to at least one clone subset of the display positions which is identical to or laterally displaced from the original subset, in response to determining that a subset of the symbols should be cloned; and determining an outcome based on the modified symbols. |
| US09685028B2 |
Method of gaming, a gaming system and a game controller
A method of gaming comprising: conducting an initial play round comprising: selecting and displaying a first set of normal symbols at a plurality of display positions; displaying at least one special symbol at a display position; determining a game outcome based on each at least one special symbol and the first set of normal symbols, and conducting one or more further play rounds until an end condition is met, each further play round comprising: retaining the at least one special symbol from the previous play round; selecting a new display position at random for each retained special symbol; selecting and displaying a further set of normal symbols at a plurality of display positions; and determining a further game outcome based on the new display position of each special symbol and the further set of normal symbols. |
| US09685026B1 |
Smart bin lottery ticket dispenser with varying ticket size inserts
A lottery ticket dispenser array includes a plurality of separate bins, with each bin defined by a housing having a defined first internal space for receipt of first stack of interconnected lottery tickets. A plurality of different sized bin inserts are also provided, with each bin insert insertable into the bin housings and defining a second internal space that is less than the first internal space of the housing for receipt of a second stack of lottery tickets having a lesser individual length than the first stack of lottery tickets. A controller within each bin housing recognizes placement and size of the bin insert within the housing. The controller is in communication with an electronic drive mechanism to modify operation thereof to accommodate the lesser individual length of the lottery tickets in the second stack of lottery tickets. |
| US09685024B2 |
System for personal authorization control for card transactions
An authorization system allows for cardholder-provided parameters to a personal authorization subsystem. The parameters can be selected by the cardholder to limit the authorizations that would otherwise be granted on the card. The parameters can indicate limits by frequency, dollar amount, merchant, geographic location, time of day, combinations thereof, or the like. Authorization for a given transaction, even where authorized by an issuer and a network operator, might be denied based on self-constraints set by the cardholder. In some variations, messages are sent to the cardholder based on constraints set by the cardholder and transactions might be approved and messaged, or denied and messaged. |
| US09685023B2 |
Cash processing device
Provided is a cash processing device including a pay-in section, a pay-out section, a medium identification section, one or plural medium storage sections that each includes a stacking function and a separating function, a temporary holding section that includes a stacking function and a separating function, and a pay-in processing section that, based on a classification result by the medium identification section for a medium taken in through the pay-in section, conveys a medium to be stored in the one or plural medium storage sections to the corresponding one or plural medium storage sections, and that conveys a medium not to be stored in the one or plural medium storage sections to the temporary holding section. |
| US09685022B2 |
Image compensation correction method and banknote recognition and detection device
An image compensation correction method and a banknote recognition and detection device. The image compensation correction method is applied to the banknote recognition and detection device. The banknote recognition and detection device comprises: a micro controller; a programmable logic device which is connected to the micro controller; an AD chip, a drive circuit and a static random access memory which are connected to the programmable logic device respectively; and a contact image sensor which is connected to the AD chip and the drive circuit respectively. A compensation correction lookup table is pre-stored in the static random access memory, and the programmable logic device can acquire banknote compensation correction data corresponding to a banknote image pixel point by accessing the static random access memory, and send same to the micro controller. Therefore, the micro controller acquires banknote compensation correction data directly from the programmable logic device rather than performing compensation correction on the obtained banknote image pixel point any more, thereby improving the system performance of the micro controller, and thus improving the work efficiency of the banknote recognition and detection device. |
| US09685020B2 |
Apparatus and method for checking value documents
An apparatus and a corresponding method for checking the security element of a value document, as well as to an apparatus for processing value documents involve at least one sensor for capturing electromagnetic radiation emanating from along a dimension of the security element and for generating a corresponding sensor signal pattern along the one dimension of the security element. Also included is an evaluation device for checking the value document with the help of the sensor signal pattern of the security element, from the sensor signal pattern along the one dimension there being generated a binary signal pattern which has only two different signal values and with the help of which the security element of the value document is checked with regard to a microwriting of the security element. |
| US09685016B2 |
System and method for providing access to a defined space
A method provides a guest access to a defined space selectively accessible through an automated gate. The method includes the steps of causing a resident interface to be displayed to a resident via a resident data device. Guest data is received from the resident about the guest using the resident data device. The guest data is transmitted to a central station. The guest identifies when the guest arrives at the automated gate. The method also opens the automated gate to allow the guest to travel into the defined space after the automated gate is opened. |
| US09685015B2 |
Intelligent door lock system with wireless access control system
A wireless access control system is provided to lock or unlock a first door at a dwelling. A remote access device accepts input based on haptic feedback or motion. The remote access device is configured to be in communication with: an apparatus that controls transmission of displacement or rotational mechanical energy, a bolt coupled to the first door with the bolt coupled to an input rod and an output rod, in operation the bolt locks and unlocks the first door, an energy source coupled to the apparatus that controls transmission of displacement or rotational mechanical energy, a wireless communication device to communicate with the remote access device, a drive shaft associated with the first door that assists in locking and unlocking the bolt in response to the remote access device accepting input based on haptic feedback or motion. The remote access device is configured to be in communication with a second lock at a vehicle of the or at an office. In response to the remote access device accepting input based on haptic feedback or motion the second lock is locked or unlocked. The remote access device has a controller for using haptic motion to lock or unlock locks. |
| US09685013B2 |
System and method for authenticating components of a vehicle
System and method for authenticating components of a vehicle are described. In an embodiment, a method for authenticating components of a vehicle involves transmitting an interrogation signal to tags attached to the components of the vehicle from an authentication base station in response to a trigger event, comparing an authentication code received from each of responding tags with an authentication code key at the authentication base station to authenticate the responding tags, and transmitting a disengage signal to an immobilizer installed in the vehicle from the authentication base station to enable the vehicle if all the tags have been authenticated. Other embodiments are also described. |
| US09685006B2 |
Method and device for inserting a 3D graphics animation in a 3D stereo content
The invention concerns a method and a device for inserting 3D graphic animation in a 3D image, each 3D graphic element of the graphic animation being defined in size and in depth for the insertion in a determined insertion zone of said 3D image. The method comprises the step of determining for the graphic element to be inserted a depth range with a maximum allowed depth value, replacing the out of range depth values by the maximum allowed depth value when depth values of the graphic element are out of range and compensating the depth difference between the depth values of the graphic element and the maximal allowed depth value in reducing the graphic element in size proportionally to the reduction of depth for the graphic element. |
| US09685004B2 |
Method of image processing for an augmented reality application
An apparatus for and method of image processing in an augmented reality application is provided. The method includes the steps of: providing at least one image of a real environment; performing image processing in an augmented reality application with the at least one image employing visualization of overlaying digital information with visual impressions or the image of the real environment and employing vision-based processing or tracking; and adjusting at least one of a parameter and operating flow of the vision-based processing or tracking depending on at least one of the following: a usage of the image processing, a usage of the visualization, a visually perceivable property of the digital information or the real environment, a property of a display device employed in the visualization, or a manner in which a user is viewing the visualization. |
| US09685003B2 |
Mixed reality data collaboration
Embodiments that relate to sharing mixed reality experiences among multiple display devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving current versions of a plurality of data subtypes geo-located at a keyframe location. A world map data structure is updated to include the current versions, and a neighborhood request including the keyframe location is received from a display device. Based on the keyframe location, an identifier and current version indicator for each data subtype is provided to the device. A data request from the device for two or more of the data subtypes is received, and the two or more data subtypes are prioritized based on a priority hierarchy. Based on the prioritization, current versions of the data subtypes are sequentially provided to the device for augmenting an appearance of a mixed reality environment. |
| US09685002B2 |
Information processing apparatus and information processing system having a marker detecting unit and an extracting unit, and information processing method by using the same
Provided is an information processing apparatus, including: an image-taking unit configured to take an image of real scenery to thereby obtain real image; a marker-detecting unit configured to extract a marker image from the real image, the marker image being an image of marker projection light, the marker projection light being projected by a projection device to the real scenery in order to provide spatial first information, the first information being necessary to display virtual information such that the virtual information is superimposed on the real scenery, second information being added to the marker projection light; and an extracting unit configured to extract the second information added to the extracted marker image. |
| US09684994B2 |
Modifying perspective of stereoscopic images based on changes in user viewpoint
Modifying perspective of stereoscopic images provided by one or more displays based on changes in user viewpoint. The one or more displays may include a first display that is provided substantially horizontal for displaying 3D horizontal perspective images and/or a second display that is provided substantially vertical for displaying text or conventional images such as 2D images, or 3D vertical perspective images. The horizontal display surface may be typically positioned directly in front of the user, and at a height of about a desktop surface so that the user can have about a 45° looking angle. The vertical display surface may be positioned in front of the user and preferably behind and above the horizontal display surface. |
| US09684993B2 |
Flight path correction in virtual scenes
A method includes receiving a first motion path for an object, where an orientation of the object is not aligned with the first motion path for the object for at least a portion of the first motion path. The method also includes receiving a first motion path for a virtual camera and determining a speed of the object along the first motion path for the object. The method additionally includes calculating a second motion path for the object based on the speed of the object along the first motion path for the object and the orientation of the object, where the second motion path of the object is aligned with second motion path. The method further includes calculating a second motion path for the virtual camera based on a difference between the first motion path of the object and the second motion path of the object. |
| US09684990B2 |
Method and terminal for displaying an animation
A method for a terminal to display an animation, including: generating one or more supplementary image frames on a moving path between first and second adjacent original image frames of an animation; and displaying the animation with the generated one or more supplementary image frames at a predetermined frame rate. |
| US09684989B2 |
User interface transition between camera view and map view
A user interface transition between a camera view and a map view displayed on a mobile platform is provided so as present a clear visual connection between the orientation in the camera view and the orientation in the map view. The user interface transition may be in response to a request to change from the camera view to the map view or vice-versa. Augmentation overlays for the camera view and map view may be produced based on, e.g., the line of sight of the camera or identifiable environmental characteristics visible in the camera view and the map view. One or more different augmentation overlays are also produced and displayed to provide the visual connection between the camera view and map view augmentation overlays. For example, a plurality of augmentation overlays may be displayed consecutively to clearly illustrate the changes between the camera view and map view augmentation overlays. |
| US09684979B2 |
MRI 3D cine imaging based on intersecting source and anchor slice data
A method of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of a volume undergoing repetitive motion includes obtaining source slice data indicative of a plurality of source slices during the repetitive motion, and obtaining anchor slice data indicative of an anchor slice during the repetitive motion. The anchor slice intersects the plurality of source slices. The source slice data and the anchor slice data are reconstructed. A three-dimensional image assembly procedure is implemented to generate, for each phase of the repetitive motion, volume data based on a respective subset of the reconstructed source slice data. For each phase of the repetitive motion, the respective subset of slices is selected based on a correlation of the source slice data and the anchor slice data along an intersection between each source slice and the anchor slice. The source slice data of the selected subset is corrected for misalignment with the anchor slice data. |
| US09684976B2 |
Operating system-resident display module parameter selection system
A display module parameter selection system is presented. A processor can be coupled to a display. The processor can be configured to execute software applications, each having corresponding graphical output specifications. The processor can execute a display control module resident in an operating system. The display control module can maintain an application data structure to store the corresponding graphical output specifications of each of the plurality of software applications. The display control module can maintain a display capability data structure to store a plurality of settings for each of the variable display parameters. In response to one of the plurality of software applications being launched, the display control module can process data stored in the application data structure and the display capability data structure to generate a set of display parameter settings to output to the display module for use in outputting graphical output from the launched application. |
| US09684963B2 |
Systems and methods for dynamic registration of multimodal images
Various techniques are disclosed for a system and method to dynamically co-register images captured by two or more separate imaging modules. For example, in one embodiment, a method includes: capturing a thermal image of an object; capturing a visible light (VL) image of the object; determining a plurality of thermal image reference points from the thermal image; determining a plurality of VL image reference points from the VL image; determining a geometric transform based on the plurality of thermal image reference points and the plurality of VL image reference points; and applying the geometric transform to the thermal image or the VL image to align the thermal image and the VL image. In another embodiment, an imaging system comprises two or more separate imaging modules and one or more processors configured to perform the method above to dynamically co-register images. |
| US09684962B2 |
Method and system for calibrating surveillance cameras
A method and a system for calibrating a plurality of surveillance cameras are provided. The method includes: sampling a plurality of first images in a monitoring scene of the plurality of surveillance cameras by a sampling device and sampling a second image by each of the plurality of surveillance cameras; performing a feature matching on the plurality of first images to obtain a matching result between the plurality of first images; reconstructing a three-dimensional point set of the monitoring scene according to the matching result between the plurality first of images; and calculating parameters of each of the plurality of surveillance cameras according to the three-dimensional point set and the second image sampled by each of the plurality of surveillance cameras. |
| US09684959B2 |
Methods and systems for automatic location of optic structures in an image of an eye, and for automatic retina cup-to-disc ratio computation
A method is proposed for automatically locating the optic disc or the optic cup in an image of the rear of an eye. A portion of the image containing the optic disc or optic cup is divided into sub-regions using a clustering algorithm. Biologically inspired features, and optionally other features, are obtained for each of the sub-regions. An adaptive model uses the features to generate data indicative of whether each sub-region is within or outside the optic disc or optic cup. The result is then smoothed, to form an estimate of the position of the optic disc or optic cup. |
| US09684955B2 |
Cardiac contour propagation
The invention relates to a method for analyzing a multidimensional cardiac image set, the multidimensional cardiac image set comprising: a first image set of a heart; and a second image set of a heart, wherein the first image set is segmented resulting into respective first cardiac contours for each image within the first image set; and the second image set is segmented resulting into respective second cardiac contours for each image within the second image set, the method comprising: determining resulting cardiac contours for each image within the first image set and for each image within the second image set from the first cardiac contours and the second cardiac contours. |
| US09684949B2 |
Camera system encoder/decoder architecture
An image capture accelerator performs accelerated processing of image data. In one embodiment, the image capture accelerator includes accelerator circuitry including a pre-processing engine and a compression engine. The pre-processing engine is configured to perform accelerated processing on received image data, and the compression engine is configured to compress processed image data received from the pre-processing engine. In one embodiment, the image capture accelerator further includes a demultiplexer configured to receive image data captured by an image sensor array implemented within, for example, an image sensor chip. The demultiplexer may output the received image data to an image signal processor when the image data is captured by the image sensor array in a standard capture mode, and may output the received image data to the accelerator circuitry when the image data is captured by the image sensor array in an accelerated capture mode. |
| US09684945B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method for transferring image data
The order of the respective elements constituting image data is changed according to an order specified by a designated operation mode. The resultant data are transferred to a memory in a predetermined transfer unit. The respective elements constituting the data transferred to the memory are then processed after changing to the order before changing the order according to the above order. |
| US09684943B2 |
Multi core graphic processing device
A multi core graphic processing device includes a first graphic core that processes a first segment of a graphic frame divided into a plurality of segments and generates a first local decision that defines a scene property of the first segment, a second graphic core that processes a second segment of the graphic frame different from the first segment and generates a second local decision that defines a scene property of the second segment, and a global decision unit that receives the first local decision and the second local decision from the first graphic core and the second graphic core, and selects one of the received first local decision and second local decision as a global decision. |
| US09684942B2 |
Link aggregator for an electronic display
Video data and auxiliary data may be sent between a processor and a display device via a single cable using a link aggregator. As such, the link aggregator may receive a first parallel signal that may include the video data and a second parallel signal that may include auxiliary data from the processor. The link aggregator may then send the first parallel signal and the second parallel signal as an aggregated signal to the display device. Upon receiving the aggregated signal at the display device, the link aggregator may de-aggregate the aggregated signal into the first parallel signal and the second parallel signal. The link aggregator may then send the first parallel signal and the second parallel signal to a timing controller of the display device, such that the timing controller may display the video data using the display device. |
| US09684941B2 |
Determining pose for use with digital watermarking, fingerprinting and augmented reality
Image recognition and augmented reality experiences utilize auxiliary data extracted from an image or video, or image fingerprints, or a combination of both. One claim recites a method comprising: receiving a plurality of imagery frames captured by a device sensor; identifying a plurality of key points in each of the plurality of imagery frames; resolving image pose by utilizing relative relationships of the key points between different frames of the plurality of frames; modifying imagery of at least one of the plurality of frames based on resolved image pose; and deriving a fingerprint from modified imagery. Of course other claims and combinations are provided as well. |
| US09684939B2 |
System and method for provisioning of internet access services in a guest facility
A system and method for provisioning Internet access services to guests of a facility (e.g., one or more hotel chains). Equipment and devices for access service are installed throughout the facility. Each device that supports the Internet access services has a unique identifier. Zones representing various public and private areas within each facility are defined and one or more devices are associated with each zone. Service offerings for wired and wireless connections are defined and associated with one or more zones. Service offerings are also paired with pricing plans that provide various payment options and amounts. A web-based administration application allows an administrator to define and manage service offerings associated with the zones. The application also allows the administrator to define and manage the pricing plans. The ability to customize offerings in each facility allows development of consistent offerings, regardless of the size or layout of the facility. |
| US09684938B2 |
Methods for generating electronic appliance identifier and managing information by using electronic appliance identifier
A method of generating an integrated identifier includes generating a product identifier of an electronic appliance from information indicating a product type of the electronic appliance, generating an individual identifier of the electronic appliance from information regarding an entity to which the electronic appliance belongs, and generating an integrated identifier of the electronic appliance by combining the product identifier and the individual identifier. |
| US09684937B2 |
Allowing a user to view network contacts of other users when visiting an environment of a different organization
A method, system and computer program product for allowing a user to view network contacts of other users when visiting an environment of a different organization. A visitor requests to view a profile of a user while the visitor is visiting the environment or tenant space of a different organization. The organization of the visitor is obtained. Furthermore, the organization and network contacts of the user whose profile is requested to be viewed are obtained in response to validating the visitor's organization. The requested profile is then displayed to the visitor containing the accessible network contacts (if any) of the user based on whether the user and the visitor belong to the same organization. |
| US09684936B2 |
Methods, systems, and user interfaces for presenting local favorites
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for providing local favorites are described. In some embodiments, the method entails receiving an indication from a first user of the social network of a local favorite to add or change on the local favorites page for a particular geographic location, updating the first user's local favorites page based on the received indication and storing the updated page in a database of the social network, and creating and publishing a posting regarding the first user's updated local favorites page on the social network on behalf of the first user of the social network. |
| US09684935B2 |
Content composer for third-party applications
In one embodiment, a method includes presenting a comment icon in connection with a third-party application, the comment icon being associated with a first party and enabling a user to compose comment concerning the third-party application; and while the user is interacting with the third-party application, in response to the user activating the comment icon, creating a comment post concerning the third-party application; enabling the user to input comment inside the comment post; and enabling the user to submit the comment post to the first party for publication. |
| US09684934B1 |
Inspection facility
An enhanced claims settlement apparatus may process insurance claims rapidly and accurately. The apparatus may first receive a notification of loss associated with an insured item (e.g., car, boat, truck, home, etc.). The apparatus may then apply various algorithms for using sensors to identify, analyze, and estimate the cost of damage associated with the insured item. The sensors that are a part of the enhanced claims settlement server may include cameras, tactile sensors, electromagnetic sensors, etc. that may communicate data to a processor associated with the server. Once the data has been generated and analyzed by the sensors, a claim settlement file may be transmitted to a claimant. |
| US09684933B2 |
Computer system for interaction with user devices presenting a keyboardless data entry interface and third party data systems
A computer system for interaction with user devices presenting a keyboardless data entry interface and third party data systems is configured to provide data for display on a user device of a selectable input graphical user interface, the graphical user interface including a series of user selectable inputs not requiring user keyboard-type information entry. The system is configured to obtain data from a user device and from third party computer systems. The system is further configured to determine an insurance quotation based on inputs via the graphical user interface not requiring user keyboard-type information entry and the data from one or more of the user device and third party computer systems. |
| US09684932B2 |
Systems and methods for graphical representation of status of an insurance claim
Systems and methods for an interactive graphical user interface for depicting the status of a claim are provided. The system includes a database for storing claim data and a server in communication with the database. The stored claim data includes a claim workflow associated the claim. The workflow defines the processing steps associated with processing the claim. The server receives a user request to check the status of the claim. The server determines status data of the claim based on stored claim data and outputs the status data to a graphical user interface for depicting a graphical representation of the status data. The graphical representation includes a timeline corresponding to the workflow of the claim and a progress bar indicative of the status of the claim. |
| US09684927B2 |
Consumer purchase decision scoring tool
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with a consumer purchase decision scoring tool are described. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a target identifier that identifies a target product. The example method also includes calculating a buy score for the target product. |
| US09684923B2 |
Communication infrastructure and method for exchanging plurality of bidirectional signals with terminals of a building
Circuits and method for connecting a communication terminal to at least one end of a twist pair of a building infrastructure and to a complimentary circuit terminating the other end of the twist pair for propagating distinctly modulated higher carrier frequency and lower carrier frequency for propagating simultaneously two modulated information signals comprising higher speed data and lower speed data via at least one twist pair, the higher speed data is used for upgrading and loading data into a memory of the communication terminal and the lower speed data controls and directs the higher speed data through I/O ports of each of the CPUs included in the two circuits terminating the twist pair, the communication terminal uses the stored data to select items of service and merchandise for shopping in a closed circuit e-commerce by propagating a completed order to a server of the building. |
| US09684921B2 |
Apparatus and method interlocking plurality of servers and terminals in a synchronous closed circuit
A method and apparatus for communicating information and e-shopping signals between servers within a closed circuit e-commerce, and between servers and shopping terminals via main router and interface of a building, propagating the information and e-shopping signals via at least one twisted pair including ASK and FSK modulated data and commands including high speed updating signals for updating the content and programs of said e-commerce stored in the shopping terminals. A delivery station for picking up and deliver the ordered merchandise located within the building or outside the building using delivery devices, and storage devices for verifying the pickup and deliver with no error. |
| US09684914B1 |
Techniques for real-time dynamic pricing
A request to view an item may be received in an electronic marketplace. The request may cause an offer request to be sent to one or more merchants. The merchants may respond with corresponding offers. Upon receipt of the offer, so long as the offered is received during a time when offers are being accepted, a price may be determined for the item based at least in part on the received offers. |
| US09684911B2 |
Method of communicating and repartitioning vehicles
Described herein is, inter alia, a method and a device for providing a number of rental vehicles at a station, determining at least one of a number of rental vehicles available at the station and a number of vehicle-receiving spaces available at the station, and sending the at least one of a number of rental vehicles available at the station and a number of vehicle-receiving space available at the station to a user. A distance and historical use of stations are also considered to suggest preferred stations and provide incentives associated therewith. A graphical user interface and a systems adapted to carry the method are also provided hereby. |
| US09684910B1 |
Method and apparatus for generating an electronic communication
A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed to improve generation of electronic communications. The method may include providing a plurality of content slots each configured to receive content. The method may also include maintaining a database comprising a plurality of content generators, and determining, using a processor, one of the plurality of content generators for providing content to each of the plurality of content slots. The determining the one of the plurality of promotion content generators or non-promotion content generators may include providing a first content generator of the plurality of content generators with a set of selection parameters, and receiving a first bid for one of the plurality of content slots from the first content generator. The first content generator may determine the bid based at least in part on the set of selection parameters. The method may also include assigning the first content generator to the one of the plurality of content slots based on the bid. |
| US09684904B2 |
Issue response and prediction
Systems and methods of presentation of a response related to a dispute element are herein disclosed. A request from a device associated with a first user is received. The request including a request to access a customer service page with information related to a transaction between the first user and a second user. Transaction characteristics of the transaction and user characteristics of the first user may be identified. A dispute element associated with the transaction is detected based on the transaction characteristics and the user characteristics of the first user. A response related to the detected dispute element is generated. Presentation of the response related to the detected dispute element is caused. |
| US09684903B2 |
Expert collaboration system and method
A system and method for remotely providing expert assistance receive identification information from a mobile device that is representative of a component and communicate the identification information to remotely located expert personnel. The system and method also receive an expert-identified work scope that includes guidance information for display on the mobile device to guide the operator through diagnosing, repairing, testing, and/or replacing the component. The system and method also store the expert-identified work scope and the identification information such that the expert-identified work scope is associated with the identification information. The system and method compare subsequently received identification information with the stored identification information and automatically select and communicate the expert-identified work scope based on comparing the subsequently received identification information with the stored identification information. |
| US09684899B1 |
Secure authentication and payment system
A transaction and payment and processing system securely conducts transactions over the public telephone network. The transactions may be between and among entities of any type such as individuals, merchants, utilities, banks, etc. Nothing more than access to a telephone is required after initial registration of a user. |
| US09684895B2 |
Information output control apparatus and point-of-sale system
An information output control apparatus includes a code reader, a POS terminal configured to receive codes read by the code reader, a first printer having a first code associated therewith, and a second printer having a second code associated therewith. When the code reader reads the first code, the POS terminal transmits printing information to the first printer, the printing information including information about products selected for purchase, and when the code reader reads the second code, the POS terminal transmits the printing information to the second printer. |
| US09684893B2 |
Apparatus and method for a wireless point of sale terminal
A wireless point of sale (POS) transaction terminal, for acceptance of bankcard payment pursuant to a sales transaction has a mobile and portable wireless device that communicates wirelessly via a wireless communication network to a payment system. The wireless device wirelessly sends a payment authorization request record incident to a payment for a sales transaction to the payment system for forwarding via a gateway to a card authorization network. The wireless device then wirelessly receives from the payment system a payment approval record for the sales transaction. |
| US09684891B2 |
System and a method for access management and billing
An access management system for managing network access of an end-user to one or more online content sources of a number of content providers. The system comprises a content proxy unit that stores the concealed addresses of the content sources. The content proxy unit is designed to receive a request for accessing one or more content sources from the end-user. The system further comprises an access management unit that stores an access rights record of the end-user. The access management unit is designed to authorize the request according to the access rights record of the end user. If the request is authorized, the content proxy unit facilitates the accessing using the concealed addresses of the requested content sources. |
| US09684888B2 |
Online fraud solution
Various embodiments of the invention provide solutions (including inter alia, systems, methods and software) for dealing with online fraud. Some embodiments function to access and/or obtain information from (and/or receive data from) a data source; the data might, for example, indicate a possible instance of online fraud. Certain embodiments, therefore, can be configured to analyze the data, e.g., to determine whether the data indicate a likely instance of online fraud. Such instances may be further investigated, and/or a response may be initiated. Data sources can include, without limitation, web pages, email messages, online chat sessions, domain zone files, newsgroups (and/or postings thereto), etc. Data obtained from the data sources can include, without limitation, suspect domain registrations, uniform resource locators, references to trademarks, advertisements, etc. |
| US09684886B2 |
Cross-domain business mashup integration
Techniques and configurations for establishing cross-domain communications between a business application, a third party website or service, and mashup components of a mashup user interface are generally described herein. In one example embodiment, a scripting library which establishes socket connections between domains and between components of a common mashup user interface is included or referenced in a mashup component and in a third party component that are displayed in the common browser-based mashup user interface. A scripting library executing in the browser may be used to establish and control the socket connections that communicate changes to the business application data, transmitted from the third party webpage to the mashup. The changes to the business application data, communicated and received in front-end objects, then may be processed or further communicated for persistence at the business application. |
| US09684885B2 |
Method and system for converting UBL process diagrams to OWL
The present invention includes a method and a system for creating Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontology from a Universal Business Language (UBL) process diagram. The UBL process diagram includes one or more processes, one or more partitions, one or more activities, one or more objects, an initial node, and a final node. At least one of the processes, the partitions, the activities, and the objects are extracted from the UBL process diagram. A first OWL class, a second OWL class, and a third OWL class are created corresponding to the processes, partitions, and objects, respectively. Thereafter, an object property is created corresponding to each of the activities, the initial node, and the final node. Finally, the first OWL class, the second OWL class, the third OWL class, and each of the created object property are added to obtain the OWL ontology. |
| US09684880B2 |
Project scheduling and management system that uses product data with product classes
Systems and methods of the present disclosure facilitate scheduling and managing a project. In some embodiments, the system includes a quoting module, a product data module, and a project planning module executing on at least one processor of a server. The product data module may be configured to store at least one product. The product stored in the project module may have a product class indicating that the product is a labor product, parts product, or agreements product. The system may be configured to copy products from the product data module to the quoting module. The system may be configured to also copy products from the product data module to the project planning module, and generate tasks for the project planning module based on the products. |
| US09684876B2 |
Question answering system-based generation of distractors using machine learning
Generating distractors for text-based MCT items. An MCT item stem is received. The stem is transmitted to a QA system and a plurality of candidate answers related to the stem is received from the QA system. Incorrect answers in the plurality of candidate answers are identified. Textual features are extracted from the stem. A set of semantic criteria associated with the extracted textual features is generated. Based on the generated semantic criteria, a subset of the incorrect candidate answers is selected. |
| US09684873B2 |
Logic circuits with and-not gate for fast fuzzy decoders
A logic decoder circuit capable of performing Boolean or fuzzy logic has one or more logic components configured to perform a logic function of an AND-NOT gate, each AND-NOT gate comprising a circuit that performs a conjunction of an excitatory input X and an inhibitory input Y to obtain an output X-AND-NOT-Y substantially linearly for given ranges for X and Y. Certain preferred designs are provided for an X-AND-NOT-Y logic gate and a family of fast fuzzy decoders composed of such gates. |
| US09684872B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating data in a missing segment of a time data sequence
A method and an apparatus for generating data in a missing segment of a target time data sequence are disclosed. The method includes: determining whether there is a breakpoint in the missing segment; determining candidate values of the data in the missing segment; and generating values of the data in the missing segment by selectively using the candidate values of the data in the missing segment, according to whether there is the breakpoint in the missing segment. With the method and the apparatus, the data in the missing segment of the target time data sequence can be generated more accurately. |
| US09684866B1 |
Data analytics computing resource provisioning based on computed cost and time parameters for proposed computing resource configurations
A work package is obtained defining a data analytic plan for analyzing a given data set associated with a given data problem. The work package is generated in accordance with an automated data analytics lifecycle. The data analytic plan and the given data set are analyzed. Based on at least a portion of results of the analysis, at least one of a cost parameter and a time parameter is computed for one or more computing resource configurations proposed for implementing the data analytic plan. One of the one or more computing resource configurations is selected based on at least one of the cost parameter and the time parameter. A computing resource infrastructure is caused to be provisioned in accordance with the selected computing resource configuration. The above steps are performed on one or more processing elements associated with a computing system. |
| US09684865B1 |
System and method for configuration of an ensemble solver
In a system for enabling configuration of an ensemble of several solvers, such that the ensemble can efficiently solve a constraint problem, for each one of several candidate configurations, an array of scores is computed. The array corresponds to a statistical parameter related to a problem solution, and the computation is based on, at least in part, a set of features associated with the problem. One candidate configuration is assigned to a solver, and based on the array of scores associated with that candidate configuration the same or a different candidate configuration is assigned to a another solver. A system for dynamically reconfiguring an ensemble of solvers obtains runtime data from several solvers, and a new configuration is determined by applying a machine learning and/or heuristic analysis procedure to the runtime data. The configuration of a solver may be updated according to the new configuration while that solver is running. |
| US09684864B1 |
Method of making RFID antenna by placing wire on fabric
An RFID device assembly is fabricated by positioning an electrically conductive wire onto a fabric as a pattern that forms an antenna, and securing the wire to the fabric by stitching a non-electrically conductive thread over the wire and to the fabric. The two ends of the electrically conductive wire are positioned for coupling to antenna contact pads on an RFID device. The RFID device is attached to the fabric either before or after the electrically conductive wire is secured to the fabric by the stitched non-electrically conductive thread. |
| US09684860B2 |
Personal cards formed from precious metals or precious metal alloys
An example embodiment includes a transaction card. The transaction card includes a card body and information. The card body is made from a precious metal alloy. The card body has a front surface and a back surface. At least some portion of the information is defined by disruptions to the precious metal alloy of the card body. |
| US09684857B2 |
Long medium
A plurality of marks (11) equidistantly provided on both side edge parts (1a) of a long medium (1), a plurality of first indicator holes (12) equidistantly given on at least one of the side edge parts (1a), and a plurality of second indicator holes (13) given on at least one of the side edge parts (1a) on a straight line different from a row of the first indicator holes (12) at spacings shorter than spacings of the first indicator holes (12) are provided, and the second indicator holes (13) are each provided to a side of a trailing-end mark (11b), and each gradually comes closer to a leading-end mark (11a) as the long medium (1) runs toward a trailing end. |
| US09684854B2 |
Print processor and printer to reduce deterioration of print quality in layered printing
A printer includes a control section that generates print data specifying the amount of image forming ink for forming an image and the amount of undercoating ink for forming an undercoat for each pixel on the basis of color information of pixels included in image data. Also, when the amount of the image forming ink to be used is small in each pixel included in the print data, the control section reduces the amount of the undercoating ink to be used to an amount smaller than that of when the amount of the image forming ink to be used is large. |
| US09684851B2 |
Objectionable content detector
A arbitrated image classifier can be trained to identify whether an image contains specified features, such as sexual, violent, or other potentially objectionable content. An arbitrated image classifier can include a configuration of classifiers and an arbitrator that determines a final image classification based on classification results from the classifiers. An arbitrated image classifier can be trained to identify image features by dividing images labeled as including or not including a specified feature into portions, which are provided to the classifiers of the arbitrated image classifier. The arbitrator of the arbitrated image classifier can determine a result for whether or not the image includes the specified feature. If the final result does not match the image label, parameter values for various of the classifiers or the arbitrator combining procedure can be adjusted. A trained arbitrated image classifier can then be used to determine whether new images include the particular feature. |
| US09684850B2 |
Biological information processor
According to one embodiment, a biological information processor includes: an area detection unit configured to detect an area in which a person is displayed from image information; a feature extraction unit configured to extract feature information based on a characteristic portion of a person from the area detected by the area detection unit from the image information; and a determination unit configured to determine an extraction precision indicating whether or not the characteristic portion of the person can be extracted, with respect to the feature information extracted by the feature extraction unit based on a position of the characteristic portion. |
| US09684846B2 |
Viewpoints of a point of interest
A method, computer program product, and a computer system is provided. A processor determines a first viewpoint of the point of interest, the first viewpoint includes a first image group captured from a first location. A processor retrieves an image from an online repository. In response to content of the image matching content of the first image group, a processor assigns a location of the image to the first viewpoint. A processor determines a second viewpoint of the point of interest, the second viewpoint includes a second image group captured from a second location. A processor determines a first ranking score for the first viewpoint based, in part, on the first image group. A processor determines a second ranking score for the second viewpoint based, at least in part, on the second image group. A processor generates a ranked list of the first viewpoint and the second viewpoint based. |
| US09684844B1 |
Method and apparatus for normalizing character included in an image
A method for normalizing at least one character included in an image is provided. The method includes steps of: (a) an apparatus for normalizing a specific character adding or supporting to add at least one margin, which is determined by referring to information on at least one another character related to the specific character detected in the image, around a bounding box which includes the specific character; and (b) the apparatus normalizing or supporting to normalize an area of the bounding box around which the at least one margin is added. |
| US09684837B2 |
Self-location calculating device and self-location calculating method
A self-location calculating device projects a patterned light onto a road surface around a vehicle, as well as thereby captures and obtains an image of the road surface around the vehicle. Furthermore, the self-location calculating device detects a running condition of the vehicle. When it is determined that the vehicle is a running stable state, the self-location calculating device calculates a current position and a current attitude angle of the vehicle by adding an amount of change in an attitude to a predetermined initial attitude angle of the vehicle. |
| US09684829B2 |
Method of capturing iris image, computer-readable recording medium storing the method, and iris image capturing apparatus
Methods and apparatuses are provided for capturing an image in a portable terminal. An image is received at the portable terminal. An eye region is detected in the image. An eye center of the eye region is determined. It is determined whether a reflection region is detected in the eye region. When the reflection region is detected, a shape of the reflection region is determined, and guide information for preventing the reflection region is output based on the shape of the reflection region. |
| US09684828B2 |
Electronic device and eye region detection method in electronic device
A method and an electronic device are provided in association with iris recognition. The electronic device includes a camera module that obtains a Near-Infrared Ray (NIR) image, and a controller that converts the NIR image into an integral image, detects at least one candidate eye region from the integral image using at least one mask, detects a pupil region and an eyebrow region from the at least one candidate eye region, and to detect an eye region based on the pupil region. |
| US09684827B2 |
Eye gaze tracking based upon adaptive homography mapping
The subject disclosure is directed towards eye gaze detection based upon multiple cameras and/or light sources along with an adaptive homography mapping model. Learning of the model includes compensating for spatially-varying gaze errors and head pose dependent errors simultaneously in a unified framework. Aspects including training the model of adaptive homography offline using simulated data at various head positions. |
| US09684825B2 |
Digital image manipulation
Techniques for assigning context to a digitally captured image, and for manipulating recognized data fields within such image. In an exemplary embodiment, a context of an image may be assigned based on, e.g., user input or pattern recognition. Based on the assigned context, recognized data fields within the image may be manipulated according to context-specific processing. In an aspect, processing specific to a sales receipt context may automatically manipulate certain data, e.g., calculate updated sales tax and subtotals based on user-designated fields, and display the automatically calculated data in an output receipt. Fields not designated by the user may be selectively concealed in the output receipt for privacy. Further aspects disclose processing techniques specific to other contexts such as restaurant menu, store shelf, and fillable form contexts. |
| US09684823B2 |
Moving body position estimating device, moving body position estimating method, and non-transitory recording medium
A moving body position estimating device includes an acquisition unit and a processor. The acquisition unit acquires information including first data relating to a first image and second data relating to a second image including a difference between the first image and the second image accompanying a movement of a moving body. The processor implements estimating, based on the information, a direction of a rotation accompanying the movement; detecting, based on the direction of the rotation, first feature points inside a first region inside the first image and second feature points inside a second region inside the first image; and determining first corresponding points inside a third region inside the second image and estimating a change of a position of the moving body based on each of the first feature points and each of the first corresponding points. |
| US09684821B2 |
Method and apparatus for user recognition
A method for user recognition, comprising receiving user information from an information unit of a user; detecting the user face in a captured user image; and recognizing the user identity in the captured image according to a predetermined gesture associated with the user information and performed by the user. |
| US09684819B2 |
Apparatus and method for distinguishing whether an image is of a live object or a copy of a photo or moving picture
A method for recognizing an image in an electronic device is provided so as to determine whether or not a specific object is actually within the presence of (immediate photographable vicinity) of the electronic device based on certain characteristics of one or more images of the specific object. Images of the specific object which is focused and shot at different magnifications are obtained. Characteristics of an object region and a background region between the obtained images are compared. Whether the object is real is determined depending on the comparison result. An apparatus hardware configured for operation of the method in electronic devices including but limited to mobile terminals. |
| US09684816B2 |
Method of detecting gas-producing microbial colonies
A first method comprises using an imaging device to produce a plurality of images of a culture device, analyzing a first image to identify a microorganism colony at a first location, analyzing a second image to identify a gas bubble at a second location, and determining whether the first location is proximate the second location. A second method comprises analyzing an image of a culture device to detect gas bubbles and classifying the gas bubbles according to a size parameter associated with each of the gas bubbles. A third method comprises analyzing a first area of an image of a culture device to detect a first number of gas bubbles, analyzing a second area of the image to detect a second number of gas bubbles, and comparing the first number of gas bubbles to the second number of gas bubbles. |
| US09684815B2 |
Mobility empowered biometric appliance a tool for real-time verification of identity through fingerprints
A system for transforming an image of a fingerprint, comprises a mobile device, comprising: a first communication interface, a camera configured to capture at least one image of at least one fingerprint, and a mobile device processor configured to execute instructions, the instructions configured to cause the mobile device processor to receive the image from the camera and transmit them to an image processing system via the first communication interface; and an image processing system, comprising: a second communication interface configured to receive the image, and an image processor configured to execute instructions, the instructions configured to cause the image processor receive the image form the second communication interface, and: render the image into a high contrast image, establish focus and image resolution for the image, perform noise reduction on the image, and perform distortion elimination on the image. |
| US09684813B2 |
System and method of biometric enrollment and verification
A system and method for biometric enrollment and verification compares a test biometric image (e.g., of a fingerprint) with each of a plurality of reference biometric images of one or more enrolled users. Verification of a user as an enrolled user is based on the cumulative amount of overlap between the test image and the reference images. The reference images are defined during an enrollment process by comparing a plurality of sample images, identifying overlapping data in each of the images, computing one or more quality measures, and storing at least a portion of the sample images. The enrollment process is deemed complete when each quality measures meets or exceeds an associated threshold. |
| US09684803B2 |
Protecting content displayed on a mobile device
A method of protecting content displayed on a mobile device screen is provided. The mobile device screen may receive both sensitive and non-sensitive content. An image of one or more authorized users viewing the mobile device screen is detected, whereby, based on the detected image of the one or more authorized users, the received content is generated on the mobile device screen using a plurality of pixels. The plurality of pixels have both first sub-pixel units that include a first viewing angle and second sub-pixel units that include a second viewing angle. The first sub-pixel units generate an image of the non-sensitive content on the mobile device screen at the first viewing angle and the second sub-pixel units generate an image of the sensitive content at the second viewing angle, such that, the second viewing angle is smaller relative to the first viewing angle for obscuring the sensitive content. |
| US09684801B2 |
Data protection for keychain syncing
Some embodiments provide a program that provides data protection for a device when synchronizing a set of keychains stored on the device with a set of other devices. The program receives keychain data for synchronizing the set of keychains stored on the device with the set of other devices. The keychain data is specified as belonging to a protection domain. The program determines whether a set of conditions defined for the protection domain is satisfied. When the set of conditions is determined as satisfied, the program allows access to the keychain data in order to process the keychain data and synchronize the set of keychains stored on the device with the set of other devices. |
| US09684800B2 |
Tokenization in a centralized tokenization environment
Data can be protected in a centralized tokenization environment. A request to tokenize sensitive data is received by an endpoint. A token for use in tokenizing the sensitive data is identified. A token certificate store is queried for a token certificate associated with the identified token. The token certificate can include a token status and use rules describing a permitted use of the token. Responsive to the token certificate store storing the queried token certificate, the endpoint tokenizes the sensitive data using the identified token if the token status indicates the token is available, and subject to the use rules included in the token certificate being satisfied. The token certificate is updated based on the tokenization of the sensitive data with the identified token and stored at the token certificate store. |
| US09684798B2 |
Audience-based sensitive information handling for shared collaborative documents
A method for providing audience-based redaction of sensitive information in an electronic document may include receiving a request from a computing device to access an electronic document, retrieving the electronic document, identifying the user(s) associated with the computing device, determining an access level for each user associated with the computing device, determining the lowest access level for the user(s) associated with the computing device, generating a rendering of the electronic document for display on the computing device based on the lowest access level for the user(s) associated with the computing device, and providing the rendering of the electronic document to the computing device for display. When generating the rendering of the electronic document for display, sensitive information in the electronic document is typically redacted based on the lowest access level for the user(s) associated with the computing device. |
| US09684795B2 |
Inspecting code and reducing code size associated to a target
Code is associated to a target based on an inspection of the code. A target may be a device or a user. A number of code components may be inspected at one time and then transferred or otherwise associated to a target based on the target's profile. A code component may be a policy of an information management system. |
| US09684792B2 |
Critical data transmission architecture in avionics systems
A critical data transmission architecture in avionics systems is disclosed. The system includes a module of production, a module of consumption, and at least one physical pathway linking the module of production to the module of consumption. The module of production is configured to transmit each critical datum by at least two data, one of a first independent type and one of a second independent type that cannot interfere with one another. Each datum of the first type or the second type is transmitted in the form of a data transmission unit including a portion of an application message and a message. The additional message of each transmission unit includes a verification sequence and each datum of the first type and the second type is transmitted by the same physical pathway and is generated by different module of generation. |
| US09684791B2 |
Method and system for providing a secure secrets proxy and distributing secrets
A secure secrets proxy is instantiated in a first computing environment and includes secure secrets proxy authentication data for identifying itself to a secrets distribution management system in a second computing environment as a trusted virtual asset to receive and cache secrets data in a secure secrets cache outside the second computing environment. A virtual asset requests one or more secrets, triggering a process to authenticate the requesting virtual asset, gathering authorized secrets data representing secrets the virtual asset is allowed to have. The secure secrets proxy is provided data representing the requested secrets and stores that secrets data in the secure secrets cache of the proxy. |
| US09684790B2 |
Application processing apparatus and method for mobile terminal
An apparatus and a method for processing an application in a mobile terminal are provided. The method includes loading, by a bootloader upon system booting, a kernel, determining whether the kernel is modified, creating, when the kernel is modified, kernel verification information indicating a custom kernel, encrypting the kernel verification information, and sending the encrypted kernel verification information, activating, by a kernel handler, the kernel, and receiving the kernel verification information from the bootloader, and forwarding the kernel verification information, decrypting, by a rooting detector, the kernel verification information into kernel status information and delivering the kernel status information when a specified Application Programming Interface (API) is invoked, and invoking, by an application handler, the API when an application is executed and controlling an execution of the application when the kernel status information indicating the custom kernel is received. |
| US09684789B2 |
Arbitrary code execution and restricted protected storage access to trusted code
A method comprises signing boot code with a public/private cryptographic key pair, and writing to storage the boot code, the public cryptographic key, and the signed boot code. |
| US09684787B2 |
Method and system for inferring application states by performing behavioral analysis operations in a mobile device
Methods, systems and devices compute and use the actual execution states of software applications to implement power saving schemes and to perform behavioral monitoring and analysis operations. A mobile device may be configured to monitor an activity of a software application, generate a shadow feature value that identifies actual execution state of the software application during that activity, generate a behavior vector that associates the monitored activity with the shadow feature value, and determine whether the activity is malicious or benign based on the generated behavior vector, shadow feature value and/or operating system execution states. The mobile device processor may also be configured to intelligently determine whether the execution state of a software application is relevant to determining whether any of the monitored mobile device behaviors are malicious or suspicious, and monitor only the execution states of the software applications for which such determinations are relevant. |
| US09684786B2 |
Monitoring an application in a process virtual machine
An application that runs in a process virtual machine is monitored by injecting listening code into a target class of the application. The listening code collects and forwards data to a monitoring agent. The target class is configured for monitoring according to alternative embodiments. In response to the process virtual machine providing notification of an event, such a loading the target class, the listening code may be injected into the target class. In another embodiment, the process virtual machine is configured to load a first minor class containing a minor entry point to the application. A mirror target class is loaded in response to a request to load the target class. The minor target class contains a minor entry point to the target class and the listening code. In another embodiment, listening code may be added to the target class before running the application. |
| US09684783B2 |
Self-authentication device and method
A self-authentication device and method. The self-authentication device being for the user or owner of an electronic security device, wherein the self-authentication recovery device is separate from the security device and is configured for connecting to a computing device via a first communication link for authentication processing, preferably for authentication and recovery processing. |
| US09684782B2 |
System for processing lost password using password long-term memory of user, and method for processing lost password
The present invention relates to a system and method for processing a lost password by selectively providing a reset process under the password in the long-term memory of the user. According to the present invention, the system includes a user terminal including: a long-term memory condition registration unit receiving the registration of long-term memory conditions; a long-term condition determination unit determining the long-term memory conditions are satisfied; a user identification unit, after the occurrence of a lost password, authenticating the user through a user identification verification scheme or through a enhanced user identification verification scheme whether or not the password resides in the long-term memory of the user, and a lost state resetting unit cancelling the lost password occurrence state. According to the present invention, provided are an identification verification service or an enhanced identification authentication service whether or not the password resides in the long term memory of user. |
| US09684779B2 |
Secure face authentication with liveness detection for mobile
An authentication method can include, a random expression prompt, recording of the user's expression actions, and an authentication result. This is completed using a terminal device configured to display authentication information, record the user's inputted information, and send an authentication result. The terminal device may be further configured to package an authentication result, and send it to an authentication server. Subsequent actions of the user are allowed or denied based on the authentication result. |
| US09684777B2 |
Identity authentication method of an internet account, identity authentication device of an internet account and server
An identity authentication method of an internet account, an identity authentication device of an internet account and a system are provided. The method may includes: receiving an identity authentication request sent by a client device, where the identity authentication request includes account information; acquiring identity authentication information corresponding to the account information, where the identity authentication information is pre-generated based on the account information and includes at least one authentication question and at least two answer options corresponding to the authentication question; sending the identity authentication information to the client device; and receiving, from the client device, answer information obtained by choosing an answer from the at least two answer options corresponding to the authentication question, determining whether the answer information meets a preset condition and providing an identity authentication response to the client device according to a determined result. |
| US09684775B2 |
Methods and systems for using behavioral analysis towards efficient continuous authentication
A computing device processor may be configured with processor-executable instructions to implement methods of using behavioral analysis and machine learning techniques to identify, prevent, correct, and/or otherwise respond to malicious or performance-degrading behaviors of the computing device. As part of these operations, the processor may perform multifactor authentication operations that include determining one or more of a transaction type criticality value, a user confidence value, a software integrity confidence value, and a historical behavior value, using the one or more of these values to determine a number of authentication factors that are be evaluated when authenticating a user of the computing device, and authenticating the user by evaluating the determined number of authentication factors. |
| US09684774B2 |
Flexible authentication using multiple radius AVPs
An apparatus, method and machine readable storage medium, for an authentication server such as a RADIUS server, for authenticating a subscriber are disclosed. The method comprises: receiving a request message including a plurality of attributes such as attribute value pairs (AVPs) having respective attribute names and respective attribute values; retrieving an authentication profile object; identifying a plurality of authentication attributes to use for authentication from the authentication profile object; extracting the plurality of authentication attribute values from the message; pre-processing one or more of the extracted attribute values; and authenticating the request message based on the pre-processed extracted attribute values. |
| US09684773B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing product leak source identifications
An approach is provided for providing product leak source identification. A product leak detection platform determines one or more identifiers associated with one or more devices. The product leak detection platform further processes and/or facilitates a processing of the one or more identifiers to determine one or more variations of one or more user interface elements to be presented in at least one user interface of the one or more devices. The product leak detection platform also causes, at least in part, an installation of the one or more variations of the one or more user interface elements at the one or more devices, wherein a rendering of the one or more variations at the one or more devices facilitates, at least in part, a determination of the one or more identifiers. |
| US09684768B2 |
System and method for determining an optimal type and position of an implant
A computer-assisted orthopedic surgery system includes a device for generating a three dimensional geometrical surface model of a first bone and a database containing three 3 dimensional implant models of a plurality of available implants. The system includes a computer that is configured to permit a user to select from the database a first implant and display on a screen the three dimensional implant model of the first implant. The computer superimposes on the screen the implant model on top of the model of the first bone such that the two models are visually identifiable from one another. |
| US09684761B1 |
Method for representing a photonic waveguide port and port specification
Disclosed herein are embodiments of an interactive design tool for designing electronic and photonic circuits, where features of the design may be displayed on the interactive layout GUIs as design objects. Design objects in a design database may include various types of design features, such as circuits, pins or ports, wires, and photonic waveguides. The design objects may be displayed on interactive layout GUIs according to the attribute data stored in the design database. The design objects may also be displayed according to a type of design feature represented by the design object. For example, the embodiments described herein may represent a “port” as having a shape and size that comports with the eccentricities of both electrical and photonic designs. A port may be a hierarchical connection element in the database allowing the logical and physical connection between an instance and the geometries in the corresponding instance master. |
| US09684759B2 |
De-coupling capacitance placement
A method, executed by one or more processors, includes receiving IR-drop information as a function of location for a placement for a plurality of circuit blocks corresponding to an integrated circuit, calculating a target density for decoupling capacitors as a function of location based on the IR-drop information, placing a plurality of decoupling capacitors according to the target density to provide placed decoupling capacitors. The placed decoupling capacitors may be locally clustered to improve decoupling performance. The method may also include incrementally moving circuit elements or placed decoupling capacitors to avoid collisions within one or more circuit blocks, and routing the integrated circuit. A corresponding computer program product and computer system are also disclosed herein. |
| US09684756B1 |
Assigning nets to wiring planes using zero wire load and signal propagation timing for chip design
Nets are assigned to wiring planes for generating a chip design. A computer is caused to execute a zero wire load timing session for a placed but unbufferred chip design. All nets of the chip design are set to a single wide wiring track without wiring plane assignments. A delta time delay is added to each sink of each of the nets to represent an estimated time of flight (TOF) delay. The nets wiring plane or width type for a particular pin is upgraded to a type having improved TOF characteristics. Each of the nets are compared against new predetermined slack and distance targets and new assigned wiring plane or width type determined to consume additional wiring track resources, and based on results, the upgrade is repeated or a design for session timing state for the nets is output to represent the unbufferred chip design. |
| US09684744B2 |
Verification of system assertions in simulation
A method for design verification includes receiving a definition of a design of an integrated circuit device and at least one assertion of a property that is to be verified over the design. The definition is compiled into a graph of processing elements, including first processing elements that simulate operation of the device and at least one second processing element representing the at least one assertion. The at least one second processing element includes a hierarchical arrangement of at least one operator node and one or more leaf nodes corresponding to inputs of the at least one assertion. A simulation of the design is executed by triggering the processing elements in the graph in multiple, consecutive clock cycles and evaluating the property during execution of the simulation. |
| US09684737B2 |
Accessing an N-way linked list
Computer-implemented methods for accessing a particular element of a plurality of elements stored in an N-way linked list in a computer memory provide for adding or removing elements at locations within the list. The methods may be employed with LIFO or FIFO N-way linked lists. The methods may include traversing the N sub-lists in parallel as well as the use of single instruction multiple data operations. |
| US09684736B2 |
Communication handler for flex integration with a secure application
Systems and methods are provided for a global communication handler to facilitate communication between an Flex application and an Enterprise Application Server (“EAS”) database. Data is obtained from the EAS database by the global communication handler, and the global communication handler instantiates at least one object that provides that data to a Flex application. The global communication handler also receives data from the Flex application, and writes that data to the EAS database. |
| US09684735B2 |
System and method for recommending fonts
Recommending fonts includes obtaining a product category and determining whether a font recommendation should be made. In the event that the font recommendation should be made, the technique further includes determining a recommended font that corresponds to the product category, the determination being based at least in part on a plurality of predetermined correspondences, the plurality of predetermined correspondences indicating associations between a plurality of product categories and a respective plurality of fonts, and outputting information pertaining to the recommended font. |
| US09684734B2 |
Server side web browsing and multiple lens system, methods and apparatus
A user may access a host server and receive display information within a single browser window. The display information includes at least one lens, wherein each lens controls server side web browsing and allows the user to view a separate web page from the Internet. The host server provides personalized web browsing capability specific to a particular user independent of the browser, device or location of the user. After the user submits a request to view a particular web page, the web page information is retrieved by the host server and transmitted to the user for display within a selected lens. Each lens controls server-side web browsing through independent navigational controls, such as a horizontal and vertical scroll bar, a resize button and the like. One lens may also control the web content displayed in another lens. The host server may reformat entire web pages so that they can be displayed within a lens without the need for scrolling. Additionally, each lens may have multiple cookies associated therewith. Users may further submit bookmarks which are applicable to one or more of the lenses. Bookmarks may be recognized through initiating a single command. |
| US09684733B2 |
Abstract internationalization of web applications
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for abstract internationalization of web applications may be provided. In this method, a first set of object files may be generated according to a locale of a plurality of locales and one or more properties files. Each properties file may be associated with a web application of a plurality of web applications. A localization module operable to facilitate abstract internationalization of a web application may be stored. A request to use the web application may be received from a client. The request may indicate a locale of the client. A second set of one or more object files may be selected according to the web application and the locale of the client. A response comprising markup language that describes the web application, the second set of object files, and the localization module may be generated and transmitted to a client. |
| US09684730B1 |
Systems and methods for determining food miles
Food miles for a product can be determined by comparing a present location for the product to an origin location. A traceability code associated with the product is linked to the origin location, while the present location can be determined in a variety of ways such as with the GPS capabilities of a mobile device. The food miles can be provided on an electronic signage in a retail store, or displayed on a mobile device. |
| US09684726B2 |
Realtime ingestion via multi-corpus knowledge base with weighting
An approach is provided for updating corpora in a Question and Answer (QA) system. Ingestion of a first set of sources into a first corpus and a second set of sources into a second corpus with the second set of sources including updates to the first set of sources. A question is received. The system identifies candidate answers to the question using the sources included in the corpuses. Each candidate answer has a weighting. The system determines whether the first and second corpuses have an overlapping source from which two candidate answers were identified. If an overlapping source is found, the candidate answer from the overlapping source in the first corpus is assigned a lower weighting than the candidate answer from the second corpus. Likely answers are selected from the candidate answers based on the weighting and returned to the requestor. |
| US09684715B1 |
Audio identification using ordinal transformation
This disclosure relates to audio identification using ordinal transformations. A media matching component receives a sample audio file. The sample audio file can include, for example, a cover song. The media matching component includes a vector component that computes a set of vectors using auditory feature values included in the sample audio file. A hashing component employs a hash function to generate a fingerprint, including a set of sub-fingerprints, for the sample audio file using the set of vectors. The fingerprint is invariant to variations including but not limited to variations in key, instrumentation, encoding formats, performers, performance conditions, arrangement, and/or recording and processing variations. An identification component determines if any reference audio files are similar to the sample audio file using the fingerprint and/or sub-fingerprints, and identifies any similar reference audio files. |
| US09684709B2 |
Building features and indexing for knowledge-based matching
Disclosed herein is a system and method for generating an enhanced index for documents contained in a knowledge base. Documents or configuration snapshots are tokenized and then passed through a number of filters. The filters modify the token stream to generate an enhanced token stream for the document by removing words from the stream and adding domain level knowledge to the tokens in the stream. The token stream is then added to the index for the document so that searches can be completed against the knowledge base when searches are generated from configuration snapshots or from inputted search queries. |
| US09684701B2 |
Semantic replication
Replicating data in a distributed database having a plurality of nodes is disclosed. Replicating includes receiving a semantic command at a local version of the database at a node, interpreting the semantic command, and applying the semantic command to the local version of the database. |
| US09684699B2 |
System to convert semantic layer metadata to support database conversion
In a system to convert semantic layer metadata to support a database conversion, semantic layer information is read from a semantic layer file defined for an input database. The read semantic layer information is converted to converted semantic layer information using a metadata integration bridge. The converted semantic layer information is loaded as a model. Prologue code is written to a replication code file based on the loaded model. Data source information is identified from the loaded model. Data source information code is written to the replication code file based on the identified data source information. Epilog code is written to the replication code file. Replication code stored in the replication code file is executed to create an information map. Data stored in the input database is accessed using the created information map. |
| US09684696B2 |
Information cataloging
An information cataloging system disclosed herein provides a system and method for inferring relationships between various elements, such as e-mail address, phone number, etc., of various observations, such as business cards, observations obtained from the Internet, etc. The method comprises representing various elements, such as name, e-mail address, etc., using nodes, representing the relations between the various elements using edges connecting these nodes, computing a distance between two disparate nodes, wherein each of the two disparate nodes represent an element related to the entity. An implementation of the information cataloging system disclosed herein also provides a method of calculating noise and signal to noise ratio attached to various nodes and using such noise information in calculating confidence level of relationships between various elements. |
| US09684693B1 |
On-device query rewriting
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, relating to on-device query annotating. In some implementations, a search query is received, and a mobile device identifies a reference to a particular entity and a reference to a category based on the query. A model that is stored on the mobile device and stores one or more facts that are associated with one or more entities is accessed. A subset of facts from among the facts that are stored in the model for the particular entity is selected. The search query is annotated based at least on one or more facts of the subset of facts that are stored in the model for the particular entity. The annotated search query is transmitted, from the mobile device to a search engine, for processing. A result of processing the annotated search query is received by the mobile device. |
| US09684691B1 |
System and method to facilitate the association of structured content in a structured document with unstructured content in an unstructured document
This disclosure relates to facilitating the association of structured content in a structured document with unstructured content in an unstructured document. The system described herein may be configured to facilitate the association by linking numeric instances in the structured document to corresponding numeric instances in the unstructured document. In some implementations, the system may be configured to link the numeric instances in the structured document to the corresponding numeric instances the unstructured document based on a uniqueness of the numeric instances in the structured document, structural information assigned to non-unique numeric instances, structural information assigned to unique numeric instances related to the non-unique numeric instances, unstructured contextual information related to non-unique numeric instances, and/or other information. In some implementations, the system may include one or more of one or more processors, a user interface, a display, electronic storage, and/or other components. |
| US09684690B2 |
Flights search
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for information retrieval. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a search query in a search interface; determining that the received search query is a flights-related query; and in response to determining that the search query is a flights-related query and without further user input, providing a flight search interface including a plurality of search dimensions and a plurality of flight search results, each dimension associated with an attribute of flight search and each dimension having an associated value, wherein one or more dimension values correspond to values extracted from the search query, and wherein the plurality of flight search results are filtered according to the dimension values. |
| US09684687B1 |
Multi-phase data expiration path for a database
Each row of data in a first database table is associated with a plurality of time thresholds that indicate, respectively, when a given row of data in the first table is current, stale, or expired. When a given row of data expires, that row is moved from the first table to a second database table that stores expired data. One of the time thresholds indicates a predetermined amount of time that the expired data will be maintained in the second table. Once that threshold expires, that row of data is deleted from the second table. Until then, however, a user may issue queries to access the expired data along with the current data and the stale data. |
| US09684685B2 |
Using message-passing with procedural code in a database kernel
Each of a plurality of database objects can be assigned to a specific message-passing worker of a plurality of message-passing workers, each executing on a first logical core that shares with at least a second logical core one or more resources of a physical processor core of a plurality of physical processor cores. The second logical core can execute a job worker of a plurality of job workers that implement procedural code. Exclusive write access can be provided to a database object of the plurality of database objects via a message-passing worker of the plurality of message-passing workers while read-only access is provided to any database object of the plurality of database objects via any of the plurality of job workers. Operations can be executed by the message-passing worker in an order in which request messages are received in a message queue of the message-passing worker. |
| US09684684B2 |
Index updates using parallel and hybrid execution
A method can include receiving a request to execute a database command identifying a target table; identifying a plurality of rows to insert into the target table based in part on the database command; writing rows, from the plurality of rows, into a data page until the data page is full; determining, by an index thread manager, a number of threads to use for updating indexes defined for the target table; and upon determining the data page is full, updating, in parallel, the indexes defined for the target table using the number of threads. |
| US09684683B2 |
Semantic search tool for document tagging, indexing and search
A semantic tagging engine automatically generates semantic tags for the given documents and enables semantic search, based on meanings of search terms and content tags. A Semantic Knowledge Management Tool (SKMT) forms a semantic search and knowledge management platform to search, analyze and manage enterprise content. SKMT scans different content sources and generates indexes of semantic keywords. Its interface allows users to manage various data sources, search, explore and visualize search results at semantic level. SKMT provides high precision of semantic search and semantic data visualization. |
| US09684675B2 |
Reduction of search ambiguity with multiple media references
Methods and apparatus implementing a technique for searching media objects. In general, in one aspect, the technique includes receiving user input specifying a plurality of reference objects (2), defining a set of features for them, and combining the features to generate composite reference information (4) defining criteria for search (6). In general, in another aspect, the technique includes combining object information for a plurality of reference objects to produce composite reference information, comparing (10) the composite reference information to object information for media objects in a collection of media objects, and selecting a media object based upon the comparison. |
| US09684674B2 |
Image data processing
A data structure stored on a non-transitory medium includes: a first image object and a second image object, each comprising image data and series data corresponding to a series to which the image data belongs; and at least one linking object which is an instance of a linking class which is configured to provide for instantiation of linking objects which each define a link from at least one source to a target, the source corresponding to at least one of a series and a set of image data and the target corresponding solely to a series. The linking object includes target data corresponding to a target series which is other than the series to which the first and second sets of image data belong and source data corresponding to the first image data. |
| US09684671B1 |
Parallel streaming of external data
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for streaming external data in parallel from a second distributed system to a first distributed system. One of the methods includes receiving a query that requests a join of first rows of a first table in a first distributed system with second rows of an external table, the external table representing data in a second distributed system. Each of the segment nodes communicates with a respective extension service that obtains fragments from one or more data nodes of the second distributed system according to location information for the respective fragments, and provides to the segment node a stream of data corresponding to second rows of the external table. Each of the segment nodes computes joined rows between the first rows of the first table and the stream of data corresponding to second rows of the external table. |
| US09684666B1 |
Parallel streaming of external data
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for streaming external data in parallel from a second distributed system to a first distributed system. One of the methods includes receiving a query that requests a join of first rows of a first table in a first distributed system with second rows of an external table, the external table representing data in a second distributed system. Each of the segment nodes communicates with a respective extension service that obtains fragments from one or more data nodes of the second distributed system according to location information for the respective fragments, and provides to the segment node a stream of data corresponding to second rows of the external table. Each of the segment nodes computes joined rows between the first rows of the first table and the stream of data corresponding to second rows of the external table. |
| US09684665B2 |
Storage apparatus and data compression method
A storage apparatus includes a data storage unit, management information storage unit, compression judgment unit, and compression control unit. The data storage unit stores the data of files. The management information storage unit stores management information on the files. The compression judgment unit evaluates compression effectiveness for a file at prescribed execution timing and determines whether the compression of the file is appropriate or not. The compression control unit updates the management information so as to reflect the determination result obtained by the compression judgment unit, and then stores the compressed data of the file in a compressed format in the data storage unit if the determination result indicates that the compression is appropriate, and stores the uncompressed data of the file in an uncompressed format in the data storage unit if the determination result indicates the compression is inappropriate. |
| US09684662B2 |
Systems, apparatuses and methods configured for document cabinet creation
Apparatuses, systems and methods are provided for managing documents, files, folders and cabinets. A user interface is provided for creating a new cabinet as well as allowing the user to customize a permission set for access to the new cabinet. |
| US09684659B1 |
Fine-grain policy-based snapshots
Providing a snapshot copy of data includes selectively collecting a plurality of data objects based on evaluation of a predicate associated with each of the data objects and performing a snapshot operation in connection with modifying at least one of the plurality of data objects. The snapshot operation may be performed prior to modifying the at least one of the plurality of data objects. The snapshot operation may be a copy on write operation. Providing a snapshot copy of data may also include providing a data structure that maintains a plurality of snapshot instances. The data structure may be a table. Each of the snapshot instances may include at least one of: an object set description, a timestamp indicating when the snapshot was initiated, a snapshot name and a handling policy. |
| US09684657B2 |
Dynamically updating content in a live presentation
A method for dynamically updating content in a live presentation. The method includes a computer processor determining a first content of a live presentation. The computer processor monitors a plurality of data sources and determines at least one of the plurality of data sources includes the first content and a second content. The computer processor retrieves information related to the second content. The computer processor then updates the live presentation with the information related to the second content. |
| US09684656B2 |
Creating personalized and continuous playlists for a content sharing platform based on user history
A method for creating personalized and continuous playlists for a content sharing platform based on user history is disclosed. The method includes grouping content items into groups based on whether users access the content items close together in time and whether the content items appear together in search results and are both selected by the users, the groupings representing a relatedness between pairs of the content items, determining probabilities that the users transition between the groups when viewing the content items, assigning, for a user of the users, a score to each group in a subset of the groups, wherein the scores represents preferences of the user for viewing the content items of the subset, selecting, for the user, a group in the subset based on the assigned scores and the probabilities, and providing a content item from the selected group to include in a playlist generated for the user. |
| US09684655B2 |
Systems and methods for spatial thumbnails and companion maps for media objects
Under one aspect, a computer-implemented method of displaying information about a media object, the media object being associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, includes receiving a request to display a representation of the media object; in response to the request, obtaining a summary of the media object; in response to the request, obtaining a spatial thumbnail of the media object, the spatial thumbnail comprising an image of a spatial domain encompassing the location; and simultaneously displaying both the summary of the media object and the spatial thumbnail on a visual display. |
| US09684652B2 |
Multicultural communication management
Disclosed aspects include initiating an electronic communication configured to be transmitted to a first intended recipient. Based on a set of profile data, a first cultural indicator may be identified for the first intended recipient. Using a natural language processing technique, a cultural element of the electronic communication may be detected. Based on both the first cultural indicator and the cultural element, a first cultural-version of the cultural element may be determined for the first intended recipient. Using the first cultural-version, a cultural translation object may be established in the electronic communication. In response to establishing the cultural translation object in the electronic communication, the electronic communication may be transmitted to the first intended recipient. |
| US09684651B2 |
Multicultural communication management
Disclosed aspects include initiating an electronic communication configured to be transmitted to a first intended recipient. Based on a set of profile data, a first cultural indicator may be identified for the first intended recipient. Using a natural language processing technique, a cultural element of the electronic communication may be detected. Based on both the first cultural indicator and the cultural element, a first cultural-version of the cultural element may be determined for the first intended recipient. Using the first cultural-version, a cultural translation object may be established in the electronic communication. In response to establishing the cultural translation object in the electronic communication, the electronic communication may be transmitted to the first intended recipient. |
| US09684650B2 |
Language model with structured penalty
A penalized loss is optimized using a corpus of language samples respective to a set of parameters of a language model. The penalized loss includes a function measuring predictive accuracy of the language model respective to the corpus of language samples and a penalty comprising a tree-structured norm. The trained language model with optimized values for the parameters generated by the optimizing is applied to predict a symbol following sequence of symbols of the language modeled by the language model. In some embodiments the penalty comprises a tree-structured lp-norm, such as a tree-structured l2-norm or a tree-structured l∞-norm. In some embodiments a tree-structured l∞-norm operates on a collapsed suffix trie in which any series of suffixes of increasing lengths which are always observed in the same context are collapsed into a single node. The optimizing may be performed using a proximal step algorithm. |
| US09684646B2 |
Reference representation and transformation in collaborative documents
The present disclosure relates to implementing changes to a data structure, such as a formula, in a collaborative context. In certain embodiments, collaborative changes made to a formula containing references to other portions of a table are retained or account for when an undo operation is performed. In one aspect, unique identifiers are used to identify and track table features, such as columns, rows, or cells, which may be moved, deleted, or created during a collaborative session. In some instances, collaborative changes may be logged for later application or applied to commands in an undo stack to prevent loss of changes. |
| US09684640B2 |
Methods and apparatus for processing markup language documents
A method for facilitating the processing of markup language documents, e.g., XML documents, uses a code generator that creates programs configured to read dynamic XML documents at run time, avoiding many of the complexities arising from the use of conventional “XML Parse” statements. In one embodiment, this process involves (1) creating a template document using the markup language, wherein the template document includes a set of tags associated with the markup language documents; (2) parsing the template document to determine a data structure corresponding to the tags in the template document; and (3) generating an application program in the programming language (e.g., COBOL), wherein the application program includes a definition of the data structure, and is configured to read, during run-time, the markup language document and generate a corresponding set of data elements corresponding to the data structure. |
| US09684639B2 |
Efficient validation of binary XML data
Data used and generated by the process of validating XML documents is divided into two categories: compile-time static data and runtime data. Runtime data may be specific to a particular XML document and changes when validating the XML document, while compile-time data does not change in this way. For example, compile-time data may be data that defines, according to a schema, the descendant elements and ordering between them. Runtime data is information generated to track which descendants occurred in a particular XML document being validated. Compile-time static data, once generated to validate a particular XML document, is cached within a shared volatile memory. Once the compile-time data is cached, the compile-time static data may be used to validate other XML documents without the need to regenerate the compile-time static data. |
| US09684636B2 |
Ad blocking page display method and device
The present invention discloses a page display method and device. The method comprises: in response to a click operation on a browser by a user, updating, by the browser, a current page display rule according to parameters downloaded from a server corresponding to the browser, and classifying and parsing the updated display rule; receiving, by the browser, a text from a target page, wherein the text contains a tag string used for displaying the target page; when the browser parses a predetermined tag string in the tag strings, invoking, by the browser, the classified and parsed page display rule corresponding to the predetermined tag string to display the page. The technical solution according to the present invention accelerates the display speed of a target page, thus saving network traffic and improving the user experience. |
| US09684635B2 |
Packaging, distributing, presenting, and using multi-asset electronic content
One exemplary embodiment involves receiving, at a computer device, packaged content, wherein the packaged content comprises a manifest and assets. The exemplary method further comprises presenting, via a processor of the computer device, the packaged content in a content consumption environment based at least in part upon the manifest, wherein the manifest identifies stacks, each stack comprising one or more of the assets that are logically related to one another, wherein navigation amongst and within the stacks is specified by the manifest. |
| US09684624B2 |
Receive clock calibration for a serial bus
Master and slave devices may be coupled to a control data bus. A method includes controlling data transmissions over a bus using a master device. A clock signal is provided by the master device on a clock line (SCL) of a serial bus, a receive clock generated from transitions on the SCL line when a slave device is transmitting data on the SDA line, is calibrated using a delay based on a duration of time measured between an edge of the clock signal provided on the SCL line and at least one transition produced on the SDA line by a slave device in response to the edge of the clock signal. Data, including double data rate data, may be reliably received using the calibrated receive clock. |
| US09684623B2 |
Memory system with independently adjustable core and interface data rates
An integrated circuit device is disclosed including core circuitry and interface circuitry. The core circuitry outputs in parallel a set of data bits, while the interface circuitry couples to the core circuitry. The interface circuitry receives in parallel a first number of data bits among the set of data bits from the core circuitry and outputs in parallel a second number of data bits. The ratio of the first number to the second number is a non-power-of-2 value. |
| US09684619B2 |
I2C router system
An I2C router system includes an I2C router part, a first slave device and a second slave device. The I2C router part includes a first I2C router configured to output a first I2C signal via a first I2C bus, and a second I2C router configured to output a second I2C signal via a second I2C bus. The first slave device can be configured to receive the first I2C signal via the first I2C bus. The second slave device can be configured to receive the second I2C signal via the second I2C bus. |
| US09684612B1 |
Mobile device capable of determining spatial relationships and methods
A mobile device having a plurality of connectors each for interconnecting with another device of a plurality of other devices, each of the plurality of connectors located in a defined relative physical location on the mobile device and each of the plurality of connectors configured to provide an indication of when a connection to one of the other devices is made or lost. The mobile device further includes a processor and a memory such that the memory stores instructions that cause the processor to: maintain a data store that indicates connectivity information for each of the other devices that are interconnected to the mobile device. The processor is further configured to determine a relative spatial location of each of the other interconnected devices relative to the mobile device based on the relative physical location of the plurality of connectors and the connectivity information; and update the data store to reflect when connection to one of the other devices by way of one of the plurality of connectors is made or lost. |
| US09684609B2 |
Electronic device with integration function and multiple devices integrating control method
A multiple device integrating control method, includes: detecting whether a first connection port of an electronic device is connected to a first device; determining whether a power port of the electronic device is connected to a power adapter when the first connection port is connected to the first device; and driving a processor of the first device to work and cooperate with a processor of the electronic device to compute. |
| US09684600B2 |
Dynamic process/object scoped memory affinity adjuster
An apparatus, method, and program product for optimizing a multiprocessor computing system by sampling memory reference latencies and adjusting components of the system in response thereto. During execution of processes the computing system, memory reference sampling of memory locations from shared memory of the computing system referenced in the executing processes is performed. Each sampled memory reference collected from sampling is associated with a latency and a physical memory location in the shared memory. Each sampled memory reference is analyzed to identify segments of memory locations in the shared memory corresponding to a sub-optimal latency, and based on the analyzed sampled memory references, the physical location of the one or more identified segments, the processor on which one or more processes referencing the identified segments, and/or a status associated with the one or more identified segments is dynamically adjusted to thereby optimize memory access for the multiprocessor computing system. |
| US09684598B1 |
Method and apparatus for fast distributed cache re-sync after node disconnection
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a method, a system, and a computer program product for re-syncing a distributed cache after node disconnection. The method includes stopping cache coherency among a plurality of nodes at times a first node among the plurality of nodes is in a disconnected state and determining the first node is no longer in the disconnected state. A second cache at a second node then may dump portions of the second cache at the second node inconsistent with changes made to a first cache at the first node at times the first node was in the disconnected state. |
| US09684596B2 |
Application cache replication to secondary application(s)
Replicating a primary application cache that serves a primary application on one network node into a secondary application cache that serves a secondary application on a second network node. Cache portions that are within the primary application cache are identified, and then identifiers (but not the cache portions) are transferred to the second network node. Once these identifiers are received, the cache portions that they identify may then be retrieved into the secondary application caches. This process may be repeatedly performed such that the secondary application cache moves towards the same state as the primary application cache though the state of the primary application cache also changes as the primary application operates by receiving read and write requests. |
| US09684595B2 |
Adaptive hierarchical cache policy in a microprocessor
A method for determining an inclusion policy includes determining a ratio of a capacity of a large cache to a capacity of a core cache in a cache subsystem of a processor and selecting an inclusive policy as the inclusion policy for the cache subsystem in response to the cache ratio exceeding an inclusion threshold. The method may further include selecting a non-inclusive policy in response to the cache ratio not exceeding the inclusion threshold and, responsive to a cache transaction resulting in a cache miss, performing an inclusion operation that invokes the inclusion policy. |
| US09684593B1 |
Techniques using an encryption tier property with application hinting and I/O tagging
Techniques are described for storing data. A command is issued from a client to a data storage system. The data storage system includes a plurality of storage tiers comprising a first storage tier of physical storage devices and a second storage tier of physical storage devices, wherein data stored on any physical storage device of the first storage tier is stored in an encrypted form and data stored on any physical storage device of the second storage tier is not stored in an encrypted form. The command includes a hint indicating whether data stored at a first logical address range of a first logical device is stored in an encrypted form. The command is received at the data storage system. First data written to the first logical device at the first logical address range is stored on one or more physical storage devices of any of said first storage tier and said second storage tier in accordance with the hint. |
| US09684590B2 |
Storing corresponding data units in a common storage unit
A storage device controller may segregate data units that are typically accessed together to a common storage unit. In one example, a storage device includes a control unit configured to receive a plurality of logical blocks to be stored in the storage device, wherein a first set of addresses comprises logical block addresses (LBAs) of the plurality of logical blocks, and a non-volatile memory configured to store logical blocks in a plurality of storage units, wherein one of the plurality of storage units includes logical blocks corresponding to a second set of addresses. The control unit may determine an intersection of the first set of addresses with the second set of addresses and to store each of the logical blocks having LBAs in the determined intersection of addresses in a common storage unit of the storage device, wherein the common storage unit comprises one of the plurality of storage units. |
| US09684589B2 |
Memory module including memory resistors
A computing device includes, a memory component, a memory module including memory resistors, and a virtualization module. The virtualization module intercepts communication between an application and a memory component and directs the communication to the memory module including memory resistors. The virtualization module directs communication from the memory module to the application. |
| US09684587B2 |
Test creation with execution
In a method of executing a test while creating the test, a portion of a line of a test case for a software item is received. The syntax of the received portion of the line is validated upon entry of the portion of the line. The line is executed after the syntax validation. Any error based on execution is indicated. |
| US09684577B2 |
Shared storage system and method for controlling access to storage device
According to one embodiment, a shared storage system includes a plurality of host servers, a plurality of storage devices, and a management server. The management server manages each of a plurality of logical units using first address management information, and manages a revision of the first address management information using first revision data. The host servers each hold respective copies of the first address management information and first revision data. When a first host server has requested a first storage device to execute access, based on a copy (second revision data) of the first revision data, the first storage device executes the requested access on condition that the second revision data coincides with revision data notified by the management server. |
| US09684576B1 |
Replication using a virtual distributed volume
In one aspect, a method includes mirroring a logical unit between a first site and a second site, tracking the changes to the logical unit on a backlog mirrored between the first site and the second site, replicating a virtual machine from the first site to a third site, storing virtual machine disks on a file system on the mirrored logical unit and resuming replication of the virtual machine to the third site from the second site using the mirrored logical unit after failure of the first site. |
| US09684570B1 |
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for fixing logical or physical corruption in databases using immutable LSM trees
In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided methods, systems, and apparatuses for fixing logical or physical corruption in databases using immutable LSM trees including, for example, means for storing records in a LSM database at the host organization; processing transactions to the LSM database by writing the transactions into immutable extents for subsequent merge into the LSM database; recording a history of the transactions in a log; identifying corruption in at least one of the records of the LSM database represented within the immutable extents prior to merge of the immutable extents to the LSM database; and correcting the identified corruption to the at least one of the records of the LSM database based at least in part on the recorded history of the transactions in the log during live operation of the LSM database. Other related embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09684569B2 |
Data deduplication using chunk files
Systems and methods are disclosed for performing file backup and restore in a computing system. Certain embodiments provide a communication interface for communicating with a non-volatile memory and a controller configured to determine that a file stored in the non-volatile memory has been modified, identify a chunk of the file that has been modified, determine a new chunk associated with the modified chunk, the new chunk reflecting the modification, generate a separate chunk file including the new chunk and a filename, and storing the chunk file in the non-volatile memory using the communication interface. |
| US09684568B2 |
Data storage device and flash memory control method
A data storage device and a flash memory control method with high erasing efficiency are disclosed. A microcontroller is configured to maintain a plurality of logical-to-physical address mapping tables and a link table on a flash memory to record mapping information between a host and the flash memory. The link table indicates positions of the plurality of logical-to-physical address mapping tables, and each entry in the link table corresponds to one logical-to-physical address mapping table. When erasing user data of logical addresses corresponding to N logical-to-physical address mapping tables, the microcontroller is configured to invalidate N entries corresponding to the N logical-to-physical address mapping tables in the link table, where N is an integer. |
| US09684565B2 |
Plural architecture master data management
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for managing data within a plurality of data management architectures comprises at least one processor. The system persists an entity managed by a first data management architecture to a second data management architecture. The first data management architecture manages entity data within one or more data sources, while the second data management architecture manages persisted entities with data from the one or more data sources within a common repository. A modification to data of the persisted entity is detected within the one or more data sources, and the modified data is synchronized with the persisted entity in the repository of the second data management architecture. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for managing data within a plurality of data management architectures in substantially the same manner described above. |
| US09684562B2 |
Automatic serial starting of resource groups on failover based on the prediction of aggregate resource usage
A method for automatically prioritizing startup of resource groups during a migration event. The method may include monitoring resource usage of a first and a second set of applications associated, respectively, with a first and a second resource group executing on a first computing node. The method may additionally include generating respective first and second resource usage models for the first and second resource groups based on resource usage. The method may then include extrapolating, based on the first and second resource usage models, respective first and second resource group usage scores for the first and second resource groups at a second time in response to a migration event, the second time occurring subsequent to the first time. The method may further include determining, based on the extrapolating, a priority order for serially starting the first and second set of applications on a second computing node at the second time. |
| US09684557B2 |
System and method for facilitating recovery from a document creation error
A system and method for facilitating recovery from an error occurring during creation or alteration of a target document from a form or template. The method may involve gathering some or all input collateral (e.g., the document template, input data, instructions for creating the document) and adding it to the target document. If the target document is not created, the input collateral may be placed in an error document. The target or error document is dispatched to the user and may also be sent to support personnel (e.g., help desk, technical support personnel) or forward to such personnel by the user. Capturing the document creation conditions and parameters in the target or error document allows the support personnel (or user) to diagnose and/or recover from the error without expending the time and effort that would be required to gather the separate input collateral items, log files, configuration parameters, etc. |
| US09684555B2 |
Selective memory error reporting
A correctable memory error may be identified at a first address within a memory device. Based on at least the identifying, a first correctable memory error count may be updated from a first quantity to a second quantity. The second quantity may be determined to exceed or not exceed a threshold. In response to the determining, the first correctable memory error count of the second quantity may be: converted to a third quantity and reported to a host device accordingly, reported to a host device, or not reported to a host device. |
| US09684552B2 |
Method for driving nonvolatile memory device
A method for driving a nonvolatile memory device using a resistive element is provided. The method includes storing data in a page buffer, the data including a first data block and a second data block, writing the first data block to a memory cell, performing a verify-read operation on the first data block of the memory cell region, writing the second data block to the memory cell region, and performing a verify-read operation on the second data block of the memory cell region, wherein the first data block and the second data block are smaller than the page buffer in size. |
| US09684551B2 |
Addressing for inter-thread push communication
In a data processing system, a switch includes a receive data structure including receive entries each uniquely corresponding to a receive window, where each receive entry includes addressing information for one or more mailboxes into which messages can be injected, a send data structure including send entries each uniquely corresponding to a send window, where each send entry includes a receive window field that identifies one or more receive windows, and switch logic. The switch logic, responsive to a request to push a message to one or more receiving threads, accesses a send entry that corresponds to a send window of the sending thread, utilizes contents of the receive window field of the send entry to access one or more of the receive entries, and pushes the message to one or more mailboxes of one or more receiving threads utilizing the addressing information of the receive entry or entries. |
| US09684542B2 |
Smart cloud workload balancer
A method and system. A cloud computing system is configured into an operative status by defining a virtual machine (VM) topology representing a respective virtual machine assignment for each physical server of the cloud computing system. An objects database (ODB) stores: a respective software cost per software application in one or more software license pools, and a power cost of the cloud computing system. It is determined that the cloud computing system does not perform optimally with respect to a total cost of the cloud computing system, which is a sum of the respective software cost and the power cost. The workload of the cloud computing system is distributed pursuant to a new VM topology that has a minimum total cost of the cloud computing system. |
| US09684541B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining thread execution parallelism
An apparatus and method for determining thread execution parallelism. For example, a processor in accordance with one embodiment comprises: a plurality of cores to execute a plurality of threads; a plurality of counters to collect data related to the execution of the plurality of threads on the plurality of cores; a dependency analysis module to analyze the data related to the execution of the threads and responsively determine a level of inter-thread dependency; and a control module to responsively adjust operation of the plurality of cores based on the determined level of inter-thread dependency. |
| US09684532B2 |
Virtual machine reboot information persistence into host memory
A host machine may host a virtual machine. Virtual machine reboot information, used to reboot the virtual machine in the event of a failure or restart of the virtual machine, may be identified (e.g., file system metadata buffers, a virtual non-volatile random access memory log, user data buffers, and/or data used to reboot the virtual machine such as to perform a reboot mounting operation and/or a reboot replay operation of a volume of data associated with the virtual machine). The virtual machine reboot information may be cached within relatively fast host memory of the host machine (e.g., instead of merely within a relatively slower hard drive or other storage device). In this way, the cached virtual machine reboot information may be quickly retrieved so that the virtual machine may be rebooted in a relatively shorter amount of time. |
| US09684528B2 |
Planned virtual machines
A planned virtual machine, for use in staging the construction of a virtual machine. Such a planned virtual machine may be used as part of a method for migrating virtual machines. The method may include creating a planned virtual machine based on a first realized virtual machine or a template, performing a configuration operation on the planned virtual machine, and converting the planned virtual machine to a second realized virtual machine. The configuration operation may comprise interaction with a virtualization platform managing the planned virtual machine and may be based on input provided by a user. |
| US09684525B2 |
Apparatus for configuring operating system and method therefor
Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for configuring an operating system. An apparatus for configuring an operating system may comprise a system resource management part managing system resources by assigning control permission for system resources which interwork with the operating system to a first domain of the operating system; and a system operation part executing an application program in a second domain of the operating system which is independent from the first domain by utilizing the system resources managed by the system resource management part. Therefore, performance of the operating system may be enhanced at the same time of supporting high security of the operating system so that reliability of the operating system can also be enhanced. |
| US09684523B2 |
In-vehicle information system, information terminal, and application execution method
In an in-vehicle information system including a portable information terminal and an in-vehicle device, the information terminal includes: a storage unit that stores applications; a control unit that executes a start-up application; a running application determination unit that determines an application that is executed by the control unit by a predetermined time interval; a comparison unit that compares the start-up application and the running application; and a restriction information transmission unit that transmits to the in-vehicle device restriction information corresponding to contents of action regulation imposed on the running application while a vehicle is in a traveling state based upon a result of the comparison by the comparison unit. |
| US09684518B2 |
Option read-only memory use
Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to altered option read-only memory. A copy of an option read-only memory is stored. The copy is used during a boot process based on a determination that the option read-only memory has been altered. |
| US09684517B2 |
System monitoring and debugging in a multi-core processor system
A multi-core processor system includes a first resource, a first core, a second resource, and a second core. The first core runs a first operating system (OS), and the first resource is allocated to the first OS. The second core runs a second OS, and the second resource is exclusively allocated to the second OS. The first OS and the second OS are designed for running at the same time, and the second OS is configured for monitoring or debugging the first resource, the first core, or the first OS. |
| US09684515B2 |
Inference based condition code generation
A condition code can depend upon a numerical output of a floating point operation for a processing pipeline. A classification can be determined for the floating point operation of a received instruction. In response to the classification and using condition determination logic, a value can be calculated for the condition code by inferring from data that is available from the processing pipeline before the numerical output is available. The value for the condition code can be provided to branch decision logic of the processing pipeline. |
| US09684513B2 |
Adaptive map-reduce pipeline with dynamic thread allocations
In an approach to adaptively pipeline a MapReduce job, a processor receives one or more data records from a storage and inserts the one or more data records into a map queue, wherein a size of the map queue is adaptive to one or more utilizations of one or more resources in the processor. One or more processors apply a map function to the one or more data records in the first buffer and sort the records that are output from the map function and store the sorted records. One or more processors receive and insert the sorted records into a reduce queue, wherein a size of the reduce queue is adaptive to one or more utilizations of resources in the one or more processors. One or more processors apply a reduce function to the sorted records in the reduce queue and store a result in a storage. |
| US09684512B2 |
Adaptive Map-Reduce pipeline with dynamic thread allocations
In an approach to adaptively pipeline a MapReduce job, a processor receives one or more data records from a storage and inserts the one or more data records into a map queue, wherein a size of the map queue is adaptive to one or more utilizations of one or more resources in the processor. One or more processors apply a map function to the one or more data records in the first buffer and sort the records that are output from the map function and store the sorted records. One or more processors receive and insert the sorted records into a reduce queue, wherein a size of the reduce queue is adaptive to one or more utilizations of resources in the one or more processors. One or more processors apply a reduce function to the sorted records in the reduce queue and store a result in a storage. |
| US09684507B2 |
Effective defect management across multiple code branches
A computer-implemented method is disclosed which detects that new source code linked to a defect identifier has been checked in to a source code repository for a given code branch of a software application. The new source code is automatically checked in to additional code branches of the software application based on the defect identifier. For each additional code branch into which the new source code is automatically checked in, code coverage metrics are determined which indicate an extent to which application source code of the code branch is tested by its corresponding test case source code before and after the automatic check in. If a difference between the code coverage metrics indicates that code coverage for the code branch has decreased by more than a predefined threshold, a notification is transmitted that indicates a test case deficiency for the code branch. |
| US09684505B2 |
Development environment system, development environment apparatus, development environment providing method, and program
There is provided a development environment system that appropriately controls the version of a development environment and prevents a conflict between a plurality of users over the same program. The development environment system includes a work area managing unit that allocates a work area 126 associated with user information, to a development environment apparatus when a user logs in; and a development environment managing unit 122 that extracts, from a development environment repository 123, a development environment associated with a development environment ID included in a development environment use request from the user, and makes the allocated work area 126 and the extracted development environment available. The development environment managing unit 122 disposes, on a development environment server 100, a development environment service unit 125 that executes a development environment service for a program and disposes, on a client terminal 200, a development environment client unit 202 which is a user interface of the development environment service unit 125. |
| US09684504B1 |
Methods and systems for transferring data over a network
A method of distributing a software upgrade to user computer systems having a software application installed thereon is disclosed. A determination is made as whether the software upgrade is to be a forced upgrade or a recommended upgrade for a first user based on a parameter related to the first user or the software upgrade. A determination is made as to whether a software upgrade file is to be downloaded to a user computer using a trickle mode or a burst mode. |
| US09684500B2 |
Remote vehicle programming system and method
A system and method for remotely programming a vehicle including a vehicle connector with a plurality of pins in communication with one or more vehicle sub-systems or modules, a vehicle communication device connected to the vehicle connector; a bi-directional communication link between the vehicle communication device and a remote communication device, and a computer system connected to the remote communication device. The vehicle communication device is configured to receive signals from the pins, convert the signals to a network compatible data packet which can then be transmitted to the remote communication device, which re-converts the signals to the pin signals, which can be read by a computing system, such as a vehicle scan tool. Programming instructions can be sent from the scan tool to the vehicle, over the bi-directional communication link between the remote communication device and the vehicle communication device. |
| US09684489B2 |
Squaring circuit
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for squaring an operand include identifying a fixed-point value with a fixed word size and a substring size for substrings of the fixed-point value, wherein the fixed-point value comprises a binary bit string. A square of the fixed-point value can be determined using the fixed point value, the substring size, and least significant bits of the fixed-point value equal to the substring size. |
| US09684488B2 |
Combined adder and pre-adder for high-radix multiplier circuit
Circuitry accepting a first input value and a second input value, and outputting (a) a first sum involving the first input value and the second input value, and (b) a second sum involving the first input value and the second input value, includes a first adder circuit, a second adder circuit, a compressor circuit and a preprocessing stage. The first input value and the second input value are input to the first adder circuit to provide the first sum. The first input value and the second input value are input to the preprocessing stage to provide inputs to the compressor circuit, which provides first and second compressed output signals which in turn are input to the second adder circuit to provide the second sum. The preprocessing stage may include circuitry to programmably zero the first input value, so that the first sum is programmably settable to the second input value. |
| US09684481B2 |
Job processing apparatus, method of controlling the same, and storage medium
In a job processing apparatus and a method of controlling the same according to this invention, if a setting has been made to automatically transmit history information of an executed job, history information printed by a print unit is not managed as output history information. On the other hand, if no setting has been made to automatically transmit the history information, control is performed to manage, as output history information, the history information printed by the print unit. |
| US09684480B2 |
Server receiving image data from terminal device and generating print data based on image data
A server receives parameter-related data and sheet information from a first terminal device, determines a printing parameter based on the parameter-related data, registers, in a storage device, the printing parameter in association with registration-sheet information indicative of a sheet indicated by the sheet information received from the first terminal device, transmits, to a second terminal device, a list of sheets indicated by registration-sheet information registered in the storage device, receives a print command from the second terminal device, generates print data by using: the image data included in the print command; and a printing parameter associated with target sheet information, and transmits the print data to a printing device. The target sheet information is registration-sheet information indicative of a sheet specified by sheet-specifying data included in the print command. The print data is used for printing an image on the sheet specified by the sheet-specifying data. |
| US09684479B1 |
Label-making techniques and systems
In a method for adapting a label-making tool, a selection component may be presented via a user interface. The selection component may include a finite set of items corresponding to types of objects for labels. User input selecting an item corresponding to a type of label object may be received. Data-acquisition actions performable by the label-making tool to obtain data for the label object may be identified based on the type of the label object. A selection component including a finite set of items corresponding to the data-acquisition actions may be presented. User input selecting an item corresponding to a data-acquisition action may be received. The workflow of a label-making tool may be adapted to include the data-acquisition action. The tool may be configured to perform the data-acquisition action to generate a label including the obtained data. |
| US09684476B2 |
Method and system for remote diagnostic, control and information collection based on various communication modes for sending messages to users
A method, system, and program product for communicating with machines and end users connected to a network. Information sent to or from the machines is transmitted using electronic mail or a via a direct connection. The electronic mail may be transmitted over the Internet to a service center or from a service center to a resource administrator, but also may remain within a local or wide area network for transmission between a machine and an end user or a resource administrator. E-mail messages may be transmitted from a computer which is attached to a device which is being monitored or controlled and include information regarding the status, usage or capabilities of the attached device. The device may send status messages and usage information of the device by an end user to either a resource administrator or to a service center on the Internet through a firewall. |
| US09684463B1 |
Predictive block allocation in a flash device
Predictive block allocation in a flash device, where the flash device includes a plurality of blocks may include: receiving a request to store data to the flash device; determining, in dependence upon one or more characteristics of the data, a usage prediction value for the data; determining, in dependence upon the usage prediction value for the data and upon wear levels for the plurality of blocks, a block from among the plurality of blocks; and; and storing the data in the block of the plurality of blocks. |
| US09684460B1 |
Proactively correcting behavior that may affect I/O performance in a non-volatile semiconductor storage device
A system and method for scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The data storage controller is configured to receive requests targeted to the data storage medium, said requests including a first type of operation and a second type of operation. The controller is further configured to schedule requests of the first type for immediate processing by said plurality of storage devices, and queue requests of the second type for later processing by the plurality of storage devices. Operations of the first type may correspond to operations with an expected relatively low latency, and operations of the second type may correspond to operations with an expected relatively high latency. |
| US09684459B2 |
Memory system
According to one embodiment, there is provided a memory system including a nonvolatile memory, a host interface, and a controller. The host interface is configured to receive a first read command including a logical address to access the nonvolatile memory from a host system. The controller is configured to, when a size of read data requested in the first read command matches a predetermined data size, execute a process according to a second read command including a logical address sequential to the logical address included in the first read command before the host interface receives the second read command. |
| US09684458B2 |
Exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data
Exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data. In one example embodiment, one or more non-transitory computer-readable media store one or more programs that are configured, when executed, to cause one or more processors to perform a method of exposing proprietary data to a hypervisor as native hypervisor data. The method may include identifying a proprietary disk file having a proprietary file format and creating a plugin file corresponding to the proprietary disk file with the plugin file having a plugin file format which is different from a native hypervisor disk file format. |
| US09684456B1 |
Techniques for modeling disk performance
Described are techniques for determining whether to move data between devices. A first cost metric is determined for a first device and a second device. At least one portion of data is selected for movement from one of the first device and the second device to another of the first device and the second device. A second cost metric is determined for the first device and the second device based on moving said at least one portion of data between said first device and said second device. It is determined using the first cost metric and the second cost metric whether to move the at least one portion of data. |
| US09684450B2 |
Profile-based lifecycle management for data storage servers
Technology is described for a profile-based lifecycle management for data storage servers. The technology can receive a profile, monitor events emitted by devices of the data storage system, determine based on the monitored events that a device of the storage system matches the indicated condition, and perform the action corresponding to the indicated condition, wherein the action includes managing data stored by the data storage system. The received profile can indicate a condition and an action corresponding to the condition. |
| US09684447B2 |
Methods and systems for displaying vehicle data parameters with drag-and-drop inputs
Methods and system pertaining to displaying vehicle data parameters (VDP) are described. A vehicle service tool (VST) with a display can receive vehicle data messages or signals from a vehicle to receive the VDP. Some of the VDP can be associated with a PID. The VST can display VDP thresholds and indicators when a received VDP has breached a VDP threshold. The VST can determine being changed from a landscape orientation to a portrait orientation or vice versa and responsively change the presentation of VDP graphs displayed by the display. The display can receive various inputs such as a drag-and-drop or pinch-and-expand input to alternatively change the presentation of the VDP graphs being displayed. Changing a VDP presentation of graphs can include resizing or repositioning one or more VDP graph windows including a VDP graph. |
| US09684440B2 |
Progressive rotational view
Systems and methods for receiving and displaying images or sending the images for display include images having multiple key images of an object. Each key image depicts a perspective view of an item from a different angle around the object. The multiple key images are displayed in a gallery view. During the gallery view, multiple supplementary images are received or sent. Each supplementary image includes a perspective view of the object from an angle between adjacent angles used for the key images. After transmission of at least some of the supplementary images, the key images and the supplementary images are mixed into a rotational view of the object. |
| US09684439B2 |
Motion control touch screen method and apparatus
An apparatus and method of controlling a motion of an object on a touch screen of a device including recognizing pressures at least two positions on the touch screen of the device, and controlling a motion of the object on the touch screen using a difference in pressure between the at least two recognized positions. |
| US09684436B2 |
User interface for providing consolidation and access
Methods and systems for providing graphical user interfaces are described. To provide greater access and consolidation to frequently used items in the graphical user interface, a userbar is established which includes a plurality of item representations. To permit a greater number of items to reside in the userbar, a magnification function can be provided which magnifies items within the userbar when they are proximate the cursor associated with the graphical user interface. |
| US09684434B2 |
System and method for displaying a user interface across multiple electronic devices
A system and method are provided for displaying a user interface using multiple electronic devices. The method comprises providing a first user interface framework on a first electronic device having a first display screen; the first user interface framework determining that a second display screen on a second electronic device is available via a connection between the first and second electronic devices; the first user interface framework using application logic from an application on the first mobile device to determine a first user interface portion to be displayed on the first display screen and a second user interface portion to be displayed on the second display screen; and the first user interface framework providing data associated with the second user interface portion to the second electronic device. |
| US09684430B1 |
Linguistic and icon based message conversion for virtual environments and objects
Systems and methods that convert messages to virtual actions and behaviors of virtual objects are provided herein. An example method includes receiving a message in from a user, the message having linguistic content, performing a lexical analysis of the linguistic content to determine one or more tokens within the linguistic content, where a token includes words or phrases of the linguistic content that are indicative of an emotion, and selecting one or more expressions for an avatar of the user based on the one or more tokens present in the linguistic content. |
| US09684424B2 |
Transforming cursor graphics information
A client computing device receives cursor graphics information from a server computing device. The client computing device transforms the cursor graphics information from a received format to a new format supported by the client computing device. The client computing device displays a client-side cursor at a current position on a client desktop based on the received cursor graphics information. |
| US09684423B2 |
Conductive sheet and conductive sheet for touch panel
A conductive sheet, method for using conductive sheet and touch panel, having a base substance and conductive parts formed on one of the principal surfaces of the base substance. The conductive parts respectively extend in primary directions, and have two or more conductive patterns made from metal wires arranged in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction. The conductive pattern is constituted by serially connecting two or more large gratings in the first direction, and each of the large gratings is constituted by combining two or more small gratings. Around the edges of the large grating, non-connective patterns are formed from metal wires which are not connected with the large gratings. |
| US09684422B2 |
Smart device having ability for rejecting mistaken touching
A smart device having ability for rejecting mistaken touching is illustrated, which comprises a capacitive button module which comprises a contacting layer, a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer and an elastic layer. A first electrode of the first electrode layer and a second electrode of the second electrode layer form a first inductive capacitor, and the second electrode and a third electrode of the second electrode layer form a second inductive capacitor. When the elastic layer receives a pressure and generates a deformation, a pressing signal is generated according to a capacitance variation of the first inductive capacitor. When a conductor is close to or in contact with the contacting layer, a moving signal is generated according to a capacitance variation of the second inductive capacitor. |
| US09684414B2 |
Efficient tomographic processing for touch determination
Touch sensitivity is enabled using a touch system that comprises a panel configured to conduct signals, e.g. by TIR, along detection lines across a rectangular touch surface with first and second spatial dimensions. A signal processor operates to transform energy values for the detection lines into Fourier coefficients arranged as data points on a regular grid defined by first and second frequency dimensions. To generate an interaction pattern for the touch surface, the signal processor operates a first 1D inverse FFT on the data points with respect to the second frequency dimension, so as to generate first values transformed into the second spatial dimension, and operates a second 1D inverse FFT on a selected subset of the first values with respect to the first frequency dimension to generate second values that represent the interaction pattern. The selected subset is defined by the data points that fall within an extent of the touch surface in the second spatial dimension, thereby reducing the total number of inverse FFT operations. |
| US09684411B1 |
Method and apparatus of position tracking and detection of user input information
A method and apparatus of detecting user initiated movement by an input element handled by a user is disclosed. The method may include performing a calibration procedure that is initiated by the user via a physical movement performed by the user. The method may also include positioning at least one sensor to dynamically adjust a size of an effective workspace range capable of detecting the user's movement of the input element. |
| US09684408B2 |
Touch panel
A touch panel having an active area where a touch input is performed, including: a tempered glass substrate having a compressive stress layer formed in a surface thereof; a transparent electrode made of an inorganic oxide film formed within the active area of the touch panel over the tempered glass substrate; a base layer made of an organic film provided between the transparent electrode and the compressive stress layer, the base layer being sandwiched between the transparent electrode and the compressive stress layer such that the transparent electrode and the compressive stress layer are not in contact with each other; and an overcoat layer made of an organic film provided on a side of the transparent electrode that is opposite to the compressive stress layer, the overcoat layer covering the transparent electrode so as to contact the transparent electrode on the base layer. |
| US09684403B2 |
Method, device, and computer-readable medium for changing size of touch permissible region of touch screen
A method of controlling a touch screen of an electronic device includes the following steps: switching the touch screen from a normal state into a shrunk state; and confining a touch interactive region of the touch screen to a sub-region of the touch screen and positioning a non-interactive region of the touch screen away from an edge of the touch screen to be partially covered by a finger performing an operation when the touch screen is in the shrunk state. The touch interactive region is a region within which the touch screen displays an interactive frame, and when the touch screen is in the normal state, the touch interactive region extends beyond the sub-region. |
| US09684401B2 |
Touch electrode and fabricating method thereof, capacitive touch device and touch dislay device
The present invention disclose a touch electrode structure and a fabricating method thereof, a capacitive touch device and a touch display device to improve the touch linearity and the report rate of the capacitive touch device. The touch electrode structure provided by the embodiments of the present invention comprises a plurality of electrode assemblies and a plurality of electrode pins for connecting a touch circuit. Wherein, each electrode assembly comprises two electrodes which are disposed at the same layer, insulated from each other and cross with each other complementarily, and each electrode comprises at least two sub-electrodes which are in mutual electrical connection with each other. The sub-electrodes of different electrodes of each electrode assembly are spaced apart from each other one by one, and each electrode is connected with an electrode pin. |
| US09684397B2 |
Laminated structure, a touch display having a laminated structure, and a laminating method thereof
A touch display having a laminated structure is provided in present disclosure. The touch display comprises a touch panel, a display module, and a step-shaped gasket element. The display module has a step-shaped structure formed due to a height difference, wherein the step-shaped structure is located in an edge area of the display module. The gasket element inosculates with the step-shaped structure of the display module to fill the height difference in the edge area of the display module. In accordance with present disclosure, the gasket element is not in a suspended state usually caused when the gasket element is not being supported by display module and is effectively laminated to an outer frame of display module, thereby enhancing the reliability of lamination of touch panel and display module. Moreover, a laminated structure and a laminating method for touch display having the laminated structure are provided in present disclosure. |
| US09684393B2 |
Display control device, communication terminal, display control method, and computer-readable recording medium on which program is recorded
A display control device (500) is the display control device (500) that controls output of display data to a plurality of display units that are arranged on different surfaces of a case, comprising a posture detection unit (510), a visibility state determination unit (520), and a display data output unit (530). The posture detection unit (510) detects a posture of the case. The visibility state determination unit (520) determines a display unit that is visually recognizable to the user from among the plurality of display units according to the posture of the case detected by the posture detection unit (510). The display data output unit (530) outputs the display data to the display unit that the visibility state determination unit (520) determined as visually recognizable to the user. |
| US09684386B2 |
Optical pointing system
There is provided an optical pointing system including at least one reference beacon, an image sensor, a storage unit and a processing unit. The image sensor is configured to capture an image frame containing a beacon image associated with the at least one reference beacon. The storage unit is configured to save image data of at least one object image in the image frame. The processing unit is configured to sequentially process every pixel of the image frame for identifying the object image and real-timely remove or merge the image data, saved in the storage unit, associated with two object images within a pixel range of the image frame thereby reducing the used memory space. |
| US09684381B1 |
Finger gesture recognition for touch sensing surface
Touch sensor methods, devices and systems are disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention pertains to a method comprising monitoring a finger movement along a touch sensing surface based on position data of a finger touching the touch sensing surface, where the position data is obtained by locating a position of a force applied by the finger in a coordinate of the touch sensing surface. In addition, the method comprises generating direction data associated with the finger movement if the finger movement travels for more than a threshold distance. Furthermore, the method comprises determining a finger gesture which corresponds to the finger movement using a lookup table having multiple preconfigured finger gestures based on the direction data. |
| US09684379B2 |
Computing system utilizing coordinated two-hand command gestures
A computing system utilizing coordinated two-hand command gestures. An embodiment of an apparatus includes a sensing element to sense a presence or movement of a user of the apparatus, including the sensing of command gestures by the user to provide input to the apparatus, a processor, wherein operation of the processor includes interpretation of the command gestures of the user and the implementation of actions in response to the command gestures, and a display screen to display elements to the user, where the display screen may display one or more elements use in command gestures, where command gestures include coordinated two-hand command gestures of the user. |
| US09684373B2 |
Apparatus and method for automatic calibration of gaze detection
There is provided an information processing apparatus including an operation detecting unit configured to detect an operation of an operator to an object that is displayed in a display screen image for performing a predetermined input, a sight line detecting unit configured to detect a movement of a sight line of the operator on the display screen image, and a correction coefficient acquiring unit configured to acquire a correction coefficient for correcting an error of a case where the operator performs sight line input, on the basis of the movement of the sight line detected during the operation of the operator to the object. |
| US09684371B1 |
Virtual reality system for providing individuals with customized live experiences
An interactive system and method of the present invention provides a customized experience to individual spectators of a live performance. An input device receives a performance parameter selected by a spectator, and physical features of the spectator are scanned into a processor. Real time data collectors are associated with performers in the live performance, wherein the processor receives the performance parameter from the input device and real time performance data from the real time data collectors, and generates an individually customized real time performance based on the performance parameter and the physical features of the spectator as superimposed with the real time performance data, and further provides the customized real time performance to a virtual reality device for real time presentation to the spectator. |
| US09684369B2 |
Interactive virtual reality systems and methods
An immersive virtual reality system for larger, theater-sized audiences is disclosed. The system enables multiple users to collaborate or work together as a group, or enable groups to compete. Users interact with the virtual reality system through the manipulation of handheld interactive devices. Each device has multiple lights forming a pattern. Tracking sensors monitor the handheld devices, and the system interprets the motions of the users and dynamically changes the virtual reality environment based on the motions of the users. The system may assign unique roles for users within a group. |
| US09684368B2 |
Event detection method for waking up a portable electronic device and action sensor using same
The present invention discloses an event detection method for waking up a portable electronic device and an action sensor using same. The event detection method includes the steps of: under a normal operation mode, sensing action events by the action sensor with a first data sensing frequency, wherein the action sensor operates by a normal current to detect the action events; entering into a sleep mode; under the sleep mode, detecting a wake-up event by the action sensor with a second data sensing frequency, wherein the action sensor operates by a weak current to detect the wake-up event, wherein the weak current is smaller than the normal current, and the second data sensing frequency is not higher than the first data sensing frequency; and returning to the normal operation mode when the wake-up event is detected. |
| US09684364B2 |
Technologies for out-of-band power-based task scheduling for data centers
Technologies for data center power management include a number of computing nodes in communication over a network. Each computing node establishes a firmware environment that monitors power consumption of the computing node and if the power consumption exceeds an optimal level broadcasts a request to offload tasks to the other nodes. The firmware environment of a receiving computing node traps the request and determines power requirements and/or compute requirements for the tasks based on the request. The firmware environment determines whether to accept the offloaded task based on the requirements and available resources of the computing node. If accepted, the requesting computing node offloads one or more tasks to the receiving nodes. The firmware environment may be established by a manageability engine of the computing node. Power consumption may be monitored on a per-component basis. Compute requirements may include processor requirements or other requirements. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09684362B2 |
Battery powered device
A battery powered device providing battery power to a processing device via a positive terminal and a negative terminal and including a first switch, a second switch, a battery unit and a control unit is provided. The first switch is coupled to the positive terminal. The second switch is coupled to the first switch. The battery unit is coupled between the second switch and the negative terminal. The control unit operates in an off mode when the control unit receives the turn-off command. The control unit operates in a power-saving mode when the control unit receives the save command. When the control unit operates in the off mode, the control unit turns off the first and second switches. When the control unit operates in the power-saving mode, the control unit turns off the first switch and turns on the second switch. |
| US09684360B2 |
Dynamically controlling power management of an on-die memory of a processor
In one embodiment, a processor comprises: at least one core to execute instructions; a memory coupled to the at least one core, the memory including a plurality of pages to store information; and a page manager coupled to the memory, the page manager to access metadata of a page table entry associated with a page of the memory and update usage information of an entry of a database, the entry of the database associated with the page of the memory. The page manager may cause at least a portion of the memory to be dynamically powered down based at least in part on the usage information. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09684359B2 |
Storage device and method for processing power disable signal
A storage device for connection with a host device via an interface bus, includes a storage unit and a storage controller configured to control access to the storage unit and receive a power disable signal from the host device. The storage controller includes a plurality of processing units, each of which receives an interrupt signal to initiate power disable processing, in response to assertion of the power disable signal. |
| US09684356B2 |
Method for determining remaining service time of battery, client device and mobile terminal
A method for determining remaining battery service time of a mobile terminal includes determining a plurality of battery usage times, wherein each battery usage time corresponds to a respective predefined battery power level interval. Upon receipt of a request to determine the remaining battery service time, the mobile terminal determines a current battery power level of the mobile terminal and compares the current battery power level with at least one of the plurality of battery usage times and their associated predefined battery power level intervals to determine the remaining battery service time. The remaining battery service time is then displayed on the mobile terminal. |
| US09684353B2 |
Wearable equipment and mode switching method using the same
A mode switching method of wearable equipment and the wearable equipment are disclosed. The method comprising: confirming a current mode being a sleep mode, detecting an accumulated time of a motion state, judging whether the accumulated time is greater than a first predetermined time period and switching to a fake sleep mode if it is; and detecting an accumulated footsteps and a sleep state, which by judging whether the accumulated footsteps in a second predetermined time period is greater than a threshold footsteps and switching to the motion state if it is; and judging whether the second predetermined time period is experienced in the sleep state and switching to the sleep mode if it is. The present invention can improve the accuracy, while reducing power consumption. |
| US09684351B2 |
Discovery of connectivity between PDU outlet and device
Power distribution management comprises: detecting an establishment of a connection between a PDU outlet of a PDU and a device to be powered by the PDU; and causing the identification specific to the connection to be shared between the PDU and the device over optical communication in response to establishment of the connection. Corresponding system and power cable are also disclosed. According to embodiments of the present inventive subject matter, the connection relationship between any devices and PDU outlets can be determined efficiently and effectively by checking and matching the connection identifications. |
| US09684348B2 |
Method and system for boosting power supply
Various embodiments of the present technology provide methods for boosting a voltage differential of an energy storage by using a boost component, determining a server system being switched to a boost mode, and discharging the energy storage to provide additional power supplies to the server system during the boost mode. In some embodiments, processing demands of a server system can be monitored. In response to determining that a boost mode is needed to support processing demands of the server system or detecting a component being a bottleneck in processing pipelines of the server system, a boost activation signal can be generated. The boost activation signal can cause a CPU, the bottleneck component, or another component of the server system to operate under a higher clock speed such that a higher processing capacity can be achieved. |
| US09684342B2 |
Mobile terminal having foldable display and operation method for the same
A mobile terminal having a foldable display and an operation method for the same are disclosed. The foldable display unit includes a plurality of display zones, wherein the application of program depends on the degree of folding angle of the display unit, and the display unit displays on its screen according to the folding angle. Further, variations of closing and opening motion of the foldable display unit triggers different modes of operation and displays. |
| US09684341B2 |
Mobile electronic device with an adaptively responsive flexible display
A mobile electronic device having a flexible display device is disclosed. A request to retrieve information from a server over a wireless network is triggered based on flexing the flexible display device and other gestures. |
| US09684338B1 |
Multifunctional layer for a display device
A multifunctional device layer may include a lightguide substrate having an optically patterned surface and an opposing non-patterned surface. The non-patterned surface of the lightguide substrate is coated with a first material having a first refractive index and the patterned surface is coated with a second material having a second refractive index. The first refractive index may be lower than the second refractive index and each may be lower than a refractive index of the lightguide substrate. A touch sensor may be formed on the coated non-patterned surface of the lightguide substrate, the coated patterned surface, or on an interstitial layer deposited on the coated non-patterned surface or the coated patterned surface. An anti-glare/anti-reflective coating potentially having ultraviolet (UV) absorption properties may be applied to the touch sensor. |
| US09684337B2 |
Smartphone/tablet stand
A mounting stand for a portable electronic device that includes: a base; a pedestal at one end of a top surface of the base; an arm extending from the pedestal; a cradle at a distal end of the arm; and a audio speaker on the top surface of the base abutting the pedestal. Preferably, the base is rectangular in shape and includes a LED light surrounding the perimeter of the base. In one particular embodiment, the cradle includes side supports, a bottom support and a back support. Preferably the arm is flexible allowing rotation of the cradle. The speaker connects to a portable electronic device, where the portable electronic device includes a smartphone or a tablet. |
| US09684335B2 |
Rotary device and electronic device having the same
A rotary device may include: a binding unit detachably coupled to a part of an external object and including a side surface defining a geometric plane and having a length through which a longitudinal axis extends; a stationary unit positioned adjacent to the side surface of the binding unit and formed integrally with or coupled to the binding unit; and a rotary unit coupled to the stationary unit, the rotary unit including a first end and a second end, the first and second ends being opposite one another, the first end being rotatably coupled to the stationary unit, wherein the rotary unit is rotatable between a first position where the rotary unit forms a first angle with respect to the longitudinal axis and a second position where the rotary unit forms a second angle with the respect to the longitudinal axis, wherein at the first position, the second end of the rotary unit is a first distance from the geometric plane, and wherein at the second position, the second end of the rotary unit is a second distance from the geometric plane, the second distance being different from the first distance. |
| US09684332B2 |
Timing control circuit
A timing control circuit includes a first variable-delay circuit, a multiplexer, a second variable-delay circuit, a decision circuit, and a control circuit. The first variable-delay circuit receives first data having a first communication speed and delays the first data by a variable delay. The multiplexer receives a first variable-delay circuit output and converts, based on a first control signal, the first data into second data having a second communication speed different from the first communication speed. The second variable-delay circuit receives third data having the first communication speed, and delays the third data by another variable-delay corresponding to the variable-delay of the first variable-delay circuit. The decision circuit compares a second variable-delay circuit output phase and a first control signal phase. The control circuit controls the variable-delay of the first variable-delay circuit and the another variable delay of the second variable-delay circuit based on decision circuit comparison. |
| US09684331B2 |
Vehicle pedal assembly with plastic pedal shaft structure
A vehicle pedal assembly with a stationary plastic pedal shaft structure made of different plastic materials and more specifically a vehicle pedal assembly with a pedal shaft including an exterior bearing surface adapted for abutting bearing contact with the surface of the drum of the pedal shaft. The bearing surface is made of a different plastic material that minimizes wear and friction between the shaft surface and the pedal drum surface. The pedal shaft includes opposed key shaped ends that are inserted into respective key hole shaped through-holes defined in the pedal assembly housing for aligning and securing the pedal shaft in the pedal housing. |
| US09684324B2 |
Voltage regulator with improved electrical properties and corresponding control method
A voltage-regulator device includes an error-amplifier stage configured to receive a first reference voltage and a feedback voltage, an output amplifier stage coupled to the error-amplifier stage and configured to generate an output voltage related to the first reference voltage by an amplification factor, and a feedback stage configured to generate the feedback voltage. A compensation stage is configured to implement a second feedback loop, and cause, in response to a variation of the output voltage, a corresponding variation of a first biasing voltage for the output amplifier stage. The compensation stage includes a coupling-capacitor element coupled between the output amplifier stage and a first internal node, and a driving module coupled between the first internal node, and the output amplifier stage and configured to generate a compensation voltage for driving the output amplifier stage. |
| US09684323B2 |
Regulator circuit that suppresses an overshoot of output voltage
A regulator circuit includes a first MOS transistor having a current channel connected between an input terminal and an output terminal, a regulator control circuit configured to control an amount of a current flowing through the current channel of the first MOS transistor towards the output terminal, a second MOS transistor having a current channel connected between the input terminal and the current channel of the first MOS transistor, and a body diode, a forward direction of which is along a direction from the input terminal to the output terminal, and a switch control circuit configured to switch off the second MOS transistor when a voltage at the input terminal decreases to a predetermined value that is equal to or greater than a voltage at the output terminal. |
| US09684318B2 |
Lightweight combined ductwork/plenums for space applications
A gas distribution system is provided for use in an enclosed volume. This system includes a distribution duct and a first inflatable duct portion in fluid communication with the distribution duct. A passageway is provided defining an opening which extends through the passageway wherein the opening is in fluid communication with the first inflatable duct portion and wherein a cross-sectional area of the opening is less than a cross-sectional area of the first inflatable duct portion. Additionally, an inflatable enclosure is provided which is in fluid communication with the opening of the passageway wherein the inflatable enclosure is configured to form a volume within and separated from the enclosed volume. |
| US09684317B2 |
Thermostat facilitating user-friendly installation thereof
A thermostat for controlling an HVAC system and related systems, methods, and computer program products for facilitating user-friendly installation of the thermostat are described. For one embodiment, automated installation verification is performed by the thermostat by automatically sensing which wires have been inserted, selecting a candidate HVAC operating function (e.g., heating or cooling) that is consistent with a subset of HVAC signal types indicated by the inserted wires, applying control signals to the HVAC system to invoke that HVAC operating function, and processing a time sequence of acquired temperature readings to determine whether that HVAC operating function was successfully carried out. For one embodiment, the initial automated testing of the heating and cooling functions are only carried out at times for which such heating or cooling function would normally be invoked during normal operation of the thermostat. Automated determination of a heat pump call convention is also described. |
| US09684316B2 |
Controlling current for power stealing in climate control systems
A thermostat for use in a climate control system has a power stealing circuit that provides power from a voltage supply through a load of the climate control system when the load is in an “off” mode. The power stealing circuit has a current limiting circuit that provides a maximum level of instantaneous current predetermined to be a threshold beyond which the load is switched to an “on” mode. |
| US09684315B2 |
Control valve
A control valve includes a poppet valve moving in an axial direction relative to a seat hole so as to change a flow-path cross-sectional area of the seat hole and a spring disc biasing the poppet valve in a valve opening direction against the return spring. The spring disc includes: a secondary-pressure receiving surface being a portion moving along with a movement of the poppet valve, the secondary-pressure receiving surface configured to receive secondary pressure introduced to the secondary port; and a pilot-pressure receiving surface configured to receive pilot pressure serving as a reference pressure. The spring disc deforms elastically in accordance with pressure difference between the secondary pressure and the pilot pressure to cause the poppet valve to move in the axial direction. |
| US09684314B1 |
Gas collection
A system includes a vessel configured to couple with a gas source for drawing gas into the vessel. The vessel is also configured to receive liquid. The system includes an overflow port in fluid communication with the environment external to the vessel. The overflow port is configured to separate gas within the vessel from the external environment. The system also includes an overflow conduit having an end within the overflow port so that when gas pressure within the vessel increases, liquid is received by the overflow conduit. Another system includes a tank defining an air space for receiving gas generated during the biodegradation of biomass feedstock. The second system also includes an exhaust port, a first evaporator, a first condenser, an expansion valve, and a compressor. The second system also includes a heat exchanger, a second evaporator, and a second condenser. |
| US09684313B2 |
Automatic drain for fuel processor
An automatic water drain apparatus includes a reservoir, a fluid inlet, and a fluid outlet. A first valve member is moveable between an open position for admitting fluid to the reservoir via the fluid inlet and a closed position for preventing admission of fluid to the reservoir. A second valve member is moveable between an open position for exhausting fluid from the reservoir and a closed position for preventing exhaust of fluid from the reservoir. At least one actuator is operable to move the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet between their respective open and closed positions. A sensor is disposed outside the reservoir and is operable to produce a first sensor output signal in response to detection of the presence of water, wherein the at least one actuator moves the first valve to the open position in response to the first sensor output signal. |
| US09684311B2 |
System and method for control and optimization of PCP pumped well
A method of controlling the production efficiency of a well includes determining one or more parameters of a pump model for a pump of the well, determining an inflow rate of liquid into the well, and adjusting a pumping speed of the pump based on the one or more parameters of the pump model to maintain a outflow rate of liquid from the well at a desired fraction of the inflow rate. |
| US09684310B2 |
Compensated performance of a solenoid valve based on environmental conditions and product life
The present disclosure provides a solenoid valve and associated method of control for compensated performance based on environmental conditions and optionally product life. The solenoid coil power consumption is proactively optimized based on predetermined database information to cross reference a given operating temperature and optionally, valve operating cycles. The net effect is to reduce power consumption under normal conditions and selectively apply higher power to the valve coil when required. |
| US09684309B2 |
Aircraft guidance based on partial differential equation for miss distance
A guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system guides an aircraft based on a special partial differential equation (PDE). The system does not depend on a predetermined desired flight path. To overcome effects of unpredictable wind speed and direction, systems and methods effectively repeatedly determine the worst landing the wind can cause and issue flight control commands that minimize among these worst outcomes. A function C that satisfies the PDE calculates smallest miss distance a guidance system can bring about by appropriately steering an aircraft, given the aircraft's current heading, current location relative to a target and current remaining amount of time to fly. The system repeatedly determines at least a component of a current gradient of the function C. A value of the gradient component is used to select an appropriate flight control command, such as turn left or turn right. |
| US09684307B2 |
Control value generation unit based automatic flight control system
An autopilot system, comprising: an auto-pilot unit adapted to provide one or more controlling parameters to control one or more control components of an aircraft; an override unit operatively coupled to said auto-pilot unit; at least one sensor adapted to capture data associated with at least one external parameter; and a Control value generation unit (CGU) operatively coupled to said override unit, said CGU comprising at least one processor and a database, said database stores information pertaining to at least one flight data; characterized in that said CGU configured to generate one or more predictive control values based on the flight data and the external parameters and provide the generated control values to override unit; and the override unit is configured to accept or ignore the predicted control values based on the pilot's selection. |
| US09684306B2 |
Transitioning from autonomous vehicle control to operator vehicle control
A method for transitioning vehicle control includes obtaining a one or more operator vehicle control inputs, analyzing the one or more operator vehicle control inputs to determine operator compliance with one or more autonomous vehicle control inputs that are actively controlling motion of a vehicle, and based on the analysis of the one or more operator vehicle control inputs, allowing an operator to assume manual control of the vehicle when the operator vehicle control inputs match the one or more autonomous vehicle control inputs to within a threshold value. |
| US09684303B2 |
Welding resource tracking and analysis system and method
Metal fabrication systems, such as welding systems and related equipment may be monitored and parameters sensed or calculated during metal fabrication operations. The parameter values are stored and transmitted to a web based analysis system. Sampled values of the parameters are used to generate graphical presentations that are used to populate user viewable pages. The pages may be configured by users, and systems and parameters of interest selected. |
| US09684302B2 |
Control device and nuclear power plant control system
A nuclear power plant control system including: a detection unit for detecting a specific event occurring in the nuclear power plant; an on-site equipment handling the event; and a majority decision judging device and an on-site equipment control device which constitute a plurality of control devices respectively operating independently. Each of the control devices includes a plurality of arithmetic units which perform arithmetic processes independently and in parallel based on a detection result of the detection unit, and output a signal for controlling the on-site equipment according to the results of operations of the arithmetic processes. The plurality of arithmetic units perform a matching process for harmonizing process statuses of the arithmetic processes of respective arithmetic units with each other when starting up the control devices, and after completing the matching process, respectively perform the arithmetic processes independently and in parallel. |
| US09684297B2 |
System and method for double rotation optimization
A system and a method for optimizing a rotational orientation of a cylindrical workpiece for a shaping process. The system having a first scanner configured to perform a first scan of the workpiece. A processor configured to perform a first optimization using data from the first scan to determine a first amount of rotation. A turning mechanism configured to perform a first rotation of the workpiece. A second scanner configured to perform a second scan of the workpiece after the first rotation. The processor further configured to determine a second actual rotational orientation of the workpiece using the data from first scan and data from the second scan, to perform a second optimization using the data from first scan to determine a second amount of rotation. The turning mechanism further configured to perform a second rotation of the workpiece by the second amount of rotation. |
| US09684294B2 |
Multi-core processor for optimized power consumption in a security and home automation system
Techniques for using a multi-core processor for optimizing power consumption in a security and home automation system are described. The security and home automation system may include a multi-core processor having a first core and a second core. The first core may be partitioned from the second core to form an asymmetric multi-core processor. The first core is a master core assigned to execute a real time operating system (RTOS) and configured to periodically transition between a partial sleep state and an awake state during a power shortage condition. The second core is a slave core assigned to execute a standard operating system (OS) and configured to enter a deep sleep state during the power shortage condition. |
| US09684291B2 |
Goal-driven human-machine interface
A Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for industrial equipment which is operable to assume several operating states, and to achieve several user-selectable goals, each achievable from one or more operating states. The HMI is designed to be coupled with an equipment control unit of the industrial equipment. The equipment control unit is designed to determine a current operating state assumed by the industrial equipment based on received equipment operating data; in response to a goal selection, to cause the industrial equipment to achieve the selected goal; and to execute equipment-related functions including user-selectable functions, each of which is associated with one or more user-selectable goals and is executed by the equipment control unit in response to a function selection. The HMI comprises a display unit and a display control unit, which is coupled with the display unit and is couplable also with the equipment control unit to acquire therefrom data. |
| US09684290B2 |
Motor controller and method for controlling a motor after a power-loss event
A motor controller and methods of controlling a variable speed motor using the motor controller after a power-loss event are described. The motor controller is configured to be coupled to a motor. The motor controller includes a computing device configured to determine power is being supplied to the motor controller a power-loss event. The computing device is also configured to operate the motor in accordance with a predetermined operating schedule such that the computing device operates the motor at a first speed for a first time period, and after completion of the first time period, the computing device operates the motor at a second speed for a second time period. |
| US09684288B2 |
Motion control systems with improved energy efficiency
Aspects of the present invention provide a motion control system implementing an electronic motion profile for a load that is highly optimized for power efficiency by implementing several performance parameters that are non-overlapping with respect to time. Each performance parameter may characterize an acceptable level of performance or error with respect to the electronic motion profile. Performance parameters may include, for example, maximum position error, maximum velocity error, maximum error for regions or sections of the electronic motion profile, position settling time, position repeatability, position accuracy, position bandwidth, velocity bandwidth, acceleration time, motor thermal capacity, motor temperature and drive temperature. |
| US09684286B2 |
Security system with point bus abstraction and partitioning
Security systems and methods of operating the same. One security system includes a plurality of point devices positioned in a premises, a plurality of interim devices, and a control panel. The system also includes a first communication bus connecting the control panel and each of the plurality of interim devices and a plurality of second communication buses. Each of the plurality of second communication buses connects one of the plurality of interim devices with at least one of the plurality of point devices. The control panel is also configured to address a message for one of the plurality of point device based on an identifier of the one of the plurality of point devices and an identifier of at least one of the plurality of interim devices connected to the point device over one of the plurality of second communication buses. |
| US09684285B2 |
Mechatronic assembly for driving an external member using a brushless motor and a simple assembly of electronic components
The present disclosure relates to a mechatronic assembly for positioning a member including a control unit and an actuator, the control unit including a control algorithm and a power bridge, the algorithm controlling the power bridge, the power bridge outputting a two-wire electric signal, the actuator including a polyphase brushless electric motor having N phases (N being or higher), binary probes for detecting the position of the rotor of the motor, and power switches suitable for supplying the N phases of the motor from the two-wire electric signal, and states of the power switches is controlled directly by a signal emitted by the detection probes. |
| US09684284B2 |
Setting an alarm clock on a smart device
Embodiments of the present application relate to a method and apparatus for setting an alarm clock. The method includes receiving an input directed at a time-display area on a display screen of a device, adjusting time information displayed on the display screen according to the input, and setting an alarm clock according to the adjusted time information. |
| US09684282B2 |
System, method and apparatus for wavelength-coded multi-focal microscopy
A volume holographic imaging system, apparatus, and/or method enables the projection of a two-dimensional (2D) slice of a four-dimensional (4D) probing object. A 4D probing source object is illuminated to emit or scatter an optical field. A holographic element having one or more recorded holograms receives and diffracts the optical field into a diffracted plane beam having spectral information. A 4-f telecentric relay system includes a pupil filter on the relayed conjugate plane of the volume hologram and images the pupil of the volume hologram onto the front focal plane of the collector lens. A collector lens focuses the diffracted plane beam to a 2D slice of the 4D probing source object. The focused 2D slice is projected onto a 2D imaging plane. The holographic element may have multiple multiplexed holograms that are arranged to diffract light from the corresponding slice of the 4D probing source object. |
| US09684281B2 |
Method and system for detecting and/or classifying cancerous cells in a cell sample
The current invention concerns a method for detecting cancerous cells and/or classifying cells in a cell sample comprising the following steps: providing a cell sample; obtaining holographic information from said cell sample by digital holographic microscopy (DHM); deriving at least one cellular parameter from said holographic information, and; classifying said cells of cells sample; characterized in that said classification occurs by appointing a Scoring Factor to said cells of cell sample, based on said cellular parameters. In a second aspect, a system for the detection of cancerous cells and/or classification of cells in a cell sample is provided, employing the method as disclosed in the invention. In a final aspect, a method for updating and/or improving a database comprising thresholds linked to holographic information and the database related thereof is equally disclosed. |
| US09684278B2 |
Image forming apparatus and process for supporting cartridge used for the same
An image forming apparatus includes a movement member arranged to move a cartridge and is movable between a first position for disposing the cartridge at a position where image formation is possible and a second position where the cartridge is attachable to and detachable from the movement member. At least one coupling provided in the cartridge is, when the movement member is at the first position, moved to a drive position where the coupling is arranged to engage with a drive member to rotate at least one rotating member, and while the movement member is being moved from the second to first positions, the at least one coupling is at an inclined position. |
| US09684277B2 |
Process cartridge and image-forming method
Provided are a process cartridge and an image-forming method each of which has a satisfactory cleaning property even at the initial stage of the use of a brand-new process cartridge or electrophotographic apparatus, and hence can suppress a reduction in image quality due to the contamination of a charging member. The charge transporting layer of an electrophotographic photosensitive member contains a specific polyarylate resin or polycarbonate resin, and a toner contains a specific fine particle on the surface of a toner particle. |
| US09684271B2 |
Controlling apparatus, image heating apparatus and image forming apparatus
A controller for controlling an image heating device which includes first and second rollers for heating therebetween a toner image on a sheet, a first rubbing roller for rubbing the first roller, and a second rubbing roller for rubbing the second roller, said controller including a counter configured to count a number of heated sheets; a first executing portion configured to execute rubbing by the first rubbing roller in accordance with an output of the counter; a second executing portion configured to execute rubbing by the second rubbing roller in accordance with an output of the counter; an acquiring portion execution instructions of an image glossiness improving mode operation provided by an operator; and a determination portion configured to determine which roller or rollers of the first second rollers is to be rubbed in accordance with an output of the counter, when the acquiring portion acquires the execution instructions. |
| US09684270B2 |
Fixing apparatus having storage device for storing characteristics of fixing member
A fixing apparatus fixes an image onto a recording material. A first fuse and a second fuse are connected in series each other. A power supply line is connected to one end of the first fuse. A signal line is connected to a connection point between another end of the first fuse and one end of the second fuse. A ground line is connected to another end of the second fuse. Information regarding the fixing apparatus is held in accordance with melt states of the first and second fuses. |
| US09684269B1 |
Transparent belt, light irradiating device, and image forming apparatus
Provided is a transparent belt which is wound around a transparent roll and pressed at a nip portion and through which light from a light source transmits, the transparent belt including a base material layer, and an elastic layer that is exposed on a transparent roll side with respect to the base material layer and is elastically deformed greater than the base material layer in the nip portion. |
| US09684263B2 |
Developer supplier, developing device including the same, image forming apparatus, and developer container included in the developer supplier
A developer supplier includes a developer container and a main unit. The developer container includes a container body, a container seal, a developer discharge port and a container shutter. The container shutter covers or exposes the developer discharge port. The container shutter includes a container shutter body and a container sheet member. The main unit includes a housing and a main unit seal. The housing has a developer supply port. The developer container is mounted into a mounting section in a first orientation, and subsequently the container body is rotated in a first rotational direction so that the developer container changes to a second orientation and the developer discharge port communicates with the developer supply port. The container sheet member has a downstream end and configured to come into contact with the main unit seal when the developer container is mounted into the mounting section in the first orientation. |
| US09684257B1 |
Toner compositions with antiplasticizers
Disclosed herein include styrene-acrylic-based binder compositions containing an antiplasticizer with particles having a core-shell type structure and methods for their preparation. |
| US09684253B2 |
Triphenylamine derivative, electrophotographic photosensitive member, and image forming apparatus
A triphenylamine derivative is represented by general formula (1). In general formula (1), R1 to R7 each represent, independently of one another, a chemical group selected from the group consisting of a halogen atom, an optionally substituted alkyl group having a carbon number of at least 1 and no greater than 6, an optionally substituted alkoxy group having a carbon number of at least 1 and no greater than 6, and an optionally substituted aryl group having a carbon number of at least 6 and no greater than 12. Also, k, l, m, n, o, and p each represent, independently of one another, an integer of at least 0 and no greater than 4. When any of k, l, m, n, o, or p represents an integer greater than 1, chemical groups R3, R4, R5, R6, or R7 bonded to the same aromatic ring may be the same or different. |
| US09684250B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A liquid supply system for an immersion lithographic projection apparatus is disclosed in which a space is defined between the projection system, a barrier member and a substrate. The barrier member is not sealed such that, during use, immersion liquid is allowed to flow out the space and between the barrier member and the substrate. |
| US09684245B2 |
Exposure apparatus
An exposure apparatus is configured to include an electronic optical system 108 that generates an electron ray and irradiates a wafer W with the electron ray, a wafer stage WS that holds the wafer W, and an electron detector 44 and a fog preventing mechanism 70 that are placed between the electronic optical system 108 and the wafer stage WS. A substrate 71 constitutes the fog preventing mechanism 70, and opening holes 71a0 that penetrate up to the upper surface of the substrate 71 are formed in a first area of the bottom surface of the substrate 71, and opening holes 71a0 that are closed in the substrate 71 are formed in a second area of the bottom surface. |
| US09684243B2 |
Blocking element for protecting optical elements in projection exposure apparatuses
A projection exposure apparatus for microlithography, in particular an EUV projection exposure apparatus, having a beam path along which propagates electromagnetic radiation with which the projection exposure apparatus is operated, and having at least one filter (55) arranged in the beam path, wherein the projection exposure apparatus furthermore comprises at least one sensor device for monitoring the filter, wherein at least one blocking element (60) is provided which is movable between a standby position and a bather position, and wherein the movement of the blocking element can be effected at least in a manner dependent on a signal of the sensor device. An associated method for operating an apparatus of this type is also disclosed. |
| US09684242B2 |
Illumination optical apparatus having deflecting member, lens, polarization member to set polarization in circumference direction, and optical integrator
An illumination optical apparatus illuminates a pattern on a mask with illumination light. The illumination optical apparatus includes an optical integrator arranged in an optical path of the illumination light, a deflecting member arranged in the optical path on an incidence side of the optical integrator, which deflects the illumination light, a lens element arranged in the optical path between the deflecting member and the optical integrator, which distributes the illumination light in a region, on a pupil plane of the illumination optical apparatus, away from an optical axis of the illumination optical apparatus, and a polarization member arranged in the optical path between the lens element and the optical integrator, which changes a polarization state of the illumination light so that a polarization direction of the illumination light in the region is substantially coincident with a circumferential direction about the optical axis. |
| US09684241B2 |
Compositions and methods for pattern treatment
Pattern treatment compositions comprise a block copolymer and an organic solvent. The block copolymer comprises a first block and a second block. The first block comprises a unit formed from a first monomer comprising an ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable group and a hydrogen acceptor group, wherein the hydrogen acceptor group is a nitrogen-containing group. The second block comprises a unit formed from a second monomer comprising an ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable group and an aromatic group, provided that the second monomer is not styrene. Wherein: (i) the second block comprises a unit formed from a third monomer comprising an ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable group, and the second monomer and the third monomer are different; and/or (ii) the block copolymer comprises a third block comprising a unit formed from a fourth monomer comprising an ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable group. Also provided are pattern treatment methods using the described compositions. The pattern treatment compositions and methods find particular applicability in the manufacture of semiconductor devices for providing high resolution patterns. |
| US09684240B2 |
Negative-working photosensitive siloxane composition
To provide a negative-working photosensitive siloxane composition developable inorganically, and also to provide a cured film-manufacturing method employing that. The present invention provides a negative-working photosensitive siloxane composition comprising a polysiloxane, a silicon-containing compound having an ureido bond, a polymerization initiator, and a solvent. This composition is coat on a substrate, exposed to light, and developed, so that a cured film can be obtained without carrying out post-exposure baking. |
| US09684239B2 |
Photosensitive resin composition, resist laminate, and cured product thereof (2)
The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a photosensitive epoxy resin composition and/or a resist laminate of said resin composition that makes it possible to use photolithography to form an image having a vertical sidewall shape and fine resolution, low stress, and heat/humidity resistance; and a cured product of said resin composition and said resist laminate. The present invention is a photosensitive resin composition comprising: (A) an epoxy resin; (B) a polyphenol compound having a specific structure; (C) a photocationic polymerization initiator; and (D) an epoxy group-containing silane compound. The epoxy resin (A) comprises: an epoxy resin (a) obtained by reacting a phenol derivative that is represented by formula (1) with an epihalohydrin; and an epoxy resin (b) that is represented by formula (2). |
| US09684234B2 |
Sequential infiltration synthesis for enhancing multiple-patterning lithography
Simplified methods of multiple-patterning photolithography using sequential infiltration synthesis to modify the photoresist such that it withstands plasma etching better than unmodified resist and replaces one or more hard masks and/or a freezing step in MPL processes including litho-etch-litho-etch photolithography or litho-freeze-litho-etch photolithography. |
| US09684233B2 |
Curable composition for imprints, patterning method and pattern
A curable composition for imprints, containing (A1) a polymerizable compound having at least one of a fluorine atom and a silicon atom, (A2) a polymerizable compound having an aromatic group and (B) a photopolymerization initiator, exhibits good patternability in repeated pattern transferring and solvent resistance. |
| US09684231B2 |
Projector comprising a light-shape adjusting element
A projector includes at least one light source, a light combination assembly, a light-shape adjusting element, an illuminating assembly, and an imaging assembly. The light source is used for emitting at least one light beam. The light combination assembly is disposed at the transmission path of the light beam for transferring the light beam to an illumination beam. The light-shape adjusting element is disposed in the light combination assembly and located at the transmission path of the light beam for adjusting a light shape of the light beam, in which the light shape of the light beam is adjusted to be an elliptical shape. The imaging assembly is disposed at the transmission path of the illumination beam for transferring the illumination beam to an image beam. The imaging assembly is disposed at the transmission path of the image beam for projecting the image beam. |
| US09684229B2 |
Camera accessory and camera
The camera accessory is attachable to a camera. The camera accessory includes an accessory mount to be detachably coupled with a camera mount). The accessory mount is provided with accessory bayonet claws and brought, by relative rotation with the camera mount, from a first state in which each of the accessory bayonet claws is inserted between camera bayonet claws provided in the camera mount into a second state in which the accessory bayonet claws engage with the camera bayonet claws to complete coupling of the accessory and camera mounts. The camera accessory is further provided with accessory contact surfaces arranged in a relative rotation direction of the mounts in the accessory mount. The accessory contact surfaces includes a first accessory contact surface used for indicating type of the camera accessory and is provided adjacent to the accessory bayonet claw. |
| US09684227B1 |
Protective container for a 360 degree camera and method of forming same
A housing assembly for a panoramic camera provides a protective housing that the camera can be placed in, and removed from, and which substantially reduces or eliminates undesirable second order reflections that would otherwise occur due to the presence of the additional optical layers of a transparent housing member and the gap between the transparent housing member and the cylindrical lens of the camera. Sealing members form a seal such that the concentric gap between the transparent housing member and the cylindrical lens can be filled with transparent liquid, thereby changing the optical properties of the system formed by the cylindrical lens, gap, and transparent housing member. |
| US09684225B2 |
Optical apparatus and drive controlling method
A controller controls a focus lens driver so as to maintain an in-focus state associated with a magnification variation, based on information on a tracking curve that represents a position of the focus lens corresponding to an object distance and a focal length of an image-pickup optical system. The controller controls the focus lens driver so as to prevent the focus lens from being moved for focusing based on a difference between an actual position of the focus lens and the position of the focus lens indicated by the tracking curve in a case the focus lens driver is driving the focus lens based on information on the tracking curve. |
| US09684223B2 |
High efficiency fiber optical parametric oscillator
An optical apparatus that includes an optical source that generates a first optical pulse with a first optical wavelength. The optical apparatus also includes an optical amplifier that outputs an amplified pulse. The optical apparatus also includes a first waveguide that is connected to the optical amplifier and a second waveguide. Wherein the second waveguide converts the energy of the amplified pulse into energy of a second pulse that has a second optical wavelength different from the first optical wavelength. Wherein, the following equation is satisfied: L_min≦L≦π/γP. In which a length of the first waveguide is L, a nonlinear coefficient of the first waveguide is γ, a peak power of the amplified pulse as it is received by the first waveguide is P, and a minimum length of the first waveguide is L_min or L is equal to zero. |
| US09684218B2 |
Low-cost chromatic devices
In one embodiment, a chromatic device includes an active layer and an electrolyte layer in contact with the active layer, wherein the active layer has an opaque color that blocks light but changes to a translucent color that transmits light when a metal object is placed in electrical contact with the active layer in the presence of the electrolyte layer. |
| US09684217B2 |
Array substrate, method for manufacturing the same and liquid crystal display device
An array substrate, a method for manufacturing the same and a liquid crystal display device are provided. A metal oxide semiconductor layer and an etching stop layer are sequentially formed on a gate insulating layer. One patterning process is performed in the etching stop layer to form a source electrode contact region via hole, a drain electrode contact region via hole and an insulation region. A source-drain electrode layer is formed on the etching stop layer. During a process of performing one patterning process in the source-drain electrode layer to form a source-drain electrode pattern, a portion of the metal oxide semiconductor layer corresponding to the insulation region is removed so that the metal oxide semiconductor layer is disconnected at a position corresponding to the insulation region. The insulation region surrounds the source-drain electrode pattern. |
| US09684216B2 |
Pixel structure and fabrication method thereof
A pixel structure includes a first patterned transparent conductive layer, an active layer, an insulating layer and a second patterned transparent conductive layer. The first patterned transparent conductive layer is disposed on a substrate and includes a source, a drain and a pixel electrode connected to the drain. The active layer connects the source and the drain. The insulating layer covers the source, the drain and the active layer. The second patterned transparent conductive layer is disposed on the insulating layer and includes a gate disposed above the active layer and a common electrode disposed above the pixel electrode. A fabrication method of a pixel structure is also provided. |
| US09684205B2 |
Display panel and manufacturing method thereof
A display panel including a first substrate, a pixel array disposed on the first substrate, a first alignment layer covering the pixel array, a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, a second alignment layer disposed on the second substrate and a display medium disposed between the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer is provided. The first alignment layer has first alignment particles. A number of the first alignment particles each having an area ranged from 250 nm2 to 1000 nm2 occupies 40% or less of a total number of the first alignment particles in a unit area. The second alignment layer has second alignment particles. A number of the second alignment particles each having the area ranged from 250 nm2 to 1000 nm2 occupies 40% or less of a total number of the second particles in the unit area. |
| US09684203B2 |
Wire grid polarizer with dual absorptive regions
A selectively-absorptive wire grid polarizer comprising an array of parallel, elongated rods disposed over a surface of a transparent substrate with gaps between adjacent rods, each of the rods including a reflective wire sandwiched between two absorptive ribs. A method of making this wire grid polarizer. A use of this wire grid polarizer in an image projection system. |
| US09684199B2 |
Liquid crystal display substrate and device
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer. The first substrate includes a first transparent substrate including a first surface and a second surface, a color filter layer formed on the first surface of the first transparent substrate, a first alignment film formed on the color filter layer, and a first electrode interlayered in the color filter layer. The second substrate includes a second transparent substrate comprising a third surface and a fourth surface, a second electrode and a third electrode formed on the third surface of the second transparent substrate sequentially, and a second alignment film is formed on the third electrode. The second electrode and the third electrode are arranged at different insulation layers respectively and electrically insulated with each other. The LCD device of the present invention has an improved transmittance and a fast response time. |
| US09684198B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes an array substrate, an opposed substrate and a liquid crystal layer. The array substrate includes a first line, a second line, a light shielding pattern, a first pixel electrode, and a second pixel electrode. The opposed substrate includes a light shielding layer, a first colored layer, and a second colored layer. |
| US09684194B2 |
Method for making electro-optical device
An electro-optic device, comprising a layer of light-carrying material; and a rib, projecting from the layer of light-carrying material, for guiding optical signals propagating through the device. The layer of light-carrying material comprises a first doped region of a first type extending into the rib, and a second doped region of a second, different type extending into the rib such that a pn junction is formed within the rib. The pn junction extends substantially parallel to at least two contiguous faces of the rib, resulting in a more efficient device. In addition, a self-aligned fabrication process can be used in order to simplify the fabrication process and increase reliability and yield. |
| US09684193B2 |
Optical closed loop microresonator and thyristor memory device
A semiconductor device that includes an optical resonator spaced from a waveguide structure to provide for evanescent-wave optical coupling therebetween. The optical resonator includes a closed loop waveguide defined by an epitaxial layer structure that includes at least one quantum well. The semiconductor device also includes circuitry configured to supply an electrical signal that flows within the epitaxial layer structure of the closed loop waveguide. The electrical signal affects charge density in at least quantum well of the closed loop waveguide and controls refractive index of the closed loop waveguide. In one embodiment, the electrical signal is a DC current signal that flows within a vertical thyristor structure of the closed loop waveguide to control refractive index of the closed loop waveguide such that resonance frequency of the closed loop waveguide corresponds to a characteristic wavelength of light. |
| US09684188B2 |
Frame joint and hinge for eyewear
A hinge and joint for a pair of eyeglasses is disclosed. A split frame has upper and lower rim end pieces that bend and extend rearwardly. A vertically-extending hollow shaft is provided on the end of a temple. A spring or springs are positioned laterally between the rim end pieces and the shaft, such that the shaft bears against the spring or springs. A U-shaped housing fits over the exterior top, bottom, and side of the joint and has a pair of aligned slots in top and bottom flanges. A pin is placed through the aligned slots in the housing and the shaft of the temple. Lateral force provided by the spring or springs biases the joint away from the aligned position, and that force, in combination with upper and lower shoulders on the pin, keep the joint and hinge together. |
| US09684187B2 |
Flexible, silicone eyeglass frame without legs
The silicone eyeglass frame (1) according to the invention consists of a highly flexible and mobile siloxane structure. It is capable of being folded without being broken and of being directed to particular surfaces. Thanks to the material providing the frame to stand on the nose, the need for legs extending to the ears in the eyeglass frame (1) is eliminated. |
| US09684185B2 |
Therapeutic eyewear frame
A therapeutic eyewear frame is disclosed. A therapeutic agent is integrated with one or more frame before, during or after forming a material into the frame, the therapeutic agent having between 100 and 10,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter. |
| US09684182B2 |
Optical image offset device, optical image stabilization device and optical observation apparatus
An optical image offset device for compensating for or producing a lateral offset of an image of an observation object (41) in an optical observation device (33) is provided. The optical image offset device comprises at least two optical wedges (1, 3) which are arranged successively along an optical axis (OA) and which are respectively composed of at least two optical elements (5, 7, 9, 11). Each optical wedge (1, 3) has an adjustable wedge angle (α, β) Furthermore the optical wedges (1, 3) have different refractive indices and different dispersions. |
| US09684179B2 |
Presentation device including a plate
A presentation device according to the present invention includes a panel-shaped image-forming optical element and a flat panel display, and forms a video picture (image) appearing on the display as a spatial image in space over the image-forming optical element. Between the upper surface of the image-forming optical element and the spatial image, a plate (guide plate) having an opening corresponding to the planar shape of the image-forming optical element is disposed at an attitude inclined upwardly from the front toward the back side with respect to the image-forming optical element, whereby the spatial image floats up through the opening of the guide plate. This allows anyone to view a three-dimensional spatial image rich in a sense of depth without experience and skill automatically in an appropriate direction from an appropriate position. |
| US09684177B2 |
Polarization glasses type stereoscopic image display
A polarization glasses type stereoscopic image display includes: a thin film transistor array substrate; a color filter array substrate having a plurality of black matrix patterns formed on a first plane facing the thin film transistor array substrate; a plurality of black stripe patterns that are aligned in a first direction correspondingly to the black matrix patterns on a second plane of the color filter array substrate opposite to the first plane; and a patterned retarder disposed over the second plane of the color filter array substrate. The width of the black stripe pattern is different depending on a display position with respect to the first direction. The first direction is directed from an upper side of the display to a lower side of the display. |
| US09684175B2 |
Beam transforming optical system, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with optical member with optical rotatory power having different thicknesses to rotate linear polarization direction
An illumination optical apparatus illuminates a pattern on a mask with illumination light. The illumination optical apparatus includes an optical integrator arranged in an optical path of the illumination light, and a polarization member made of optical material with optical rotatory power, which is arranged in the optical path on an incidence side of the optical integrator, and which changes a polarization state of the illumination light. The illumination light from the polarization member is irradiated onto the pattern through a pupil plane of the illumination optical apparatus. |
| US09684170B2 |
Displays
A display apparatus is described that comprises an optical ocular part (3) arranged for viewing a scene therethrough, and a waveguide display part (6) arranged for guiding image-bearing light to a transparent display output area (16) thereof and thereat displaying the image. The ocular part and/or the waveguide display part are positioned, or are arranged to be positioned, mutually in register for viewing simultaneously the scene with the displayed image incorporated in it, through the transparent display output area. A focuser part (17) positioned in register with the display output area focuses simultaneously the scene and the incorporated image for focused viewing by a user (13). |
| US09684168B2 |
Apparatus for digital projection using holographic techniques
An apparatus for generating and displaying a projected digital image includes an actuator, a holographic encoded medium with a holographic pattern, a light source, and a controller. The holographic encoded medium is disposed in operable communication with the actuator. The light source is configured to produce a coherent light disposed in optical communication with the holographic encoded medium. The controller is operable to control synchronization of the coherent light from the light source with a position of the holographic encoded medium as driven by the actuator to produce the projected digital image on a projection surface based on directing the coherent light to different portions of the holographic pattern at different times. |
| US09684164B2 |
Digital exposure device
A digital exposure device includes: a stage having a substrate seated thereon where a pattern is to be formed and moving in a scan direction; a data modification unit receiving design data and generating modified data by extending the design data; and a digital exposure unit receiving the design data and projecting a light controlled according to the design data on the substrate, wherein the modified data includes intermedial data corresponding to the size difference between an image of the design data and an image of the modified data and some of unit data forming the intermedial data are data obtained when unit data of the design data are shifted in any expansion direction. |
| US09684160B2 |
Electrowetting display device and manufacturing method thereof
The present disclosure relates to an electrowetting display device and a manufacturing method for the same, using a UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer. The UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer can include a UV-cured fluorine based material positioned above a cured UV reactive material. In an embodiment, the electrowetting display device can also include a substrate with a layer of pixel electrodes formed over the substrate, and partition walls formed over at least a portion of the layer of pixel electrodes. In one embodiment, the UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer can be formed between the partition walls and above an inter-layer insulation film. In another embodiment, the UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer can be formed between the partition walls and above the layer of pixel electrodes. The electrowetting display can also include a water repellent layer formed over the UV light reactive fluorosurfactant layer. |
| US09684159B2 |
Scanning microscope
A scanning microscope includes a stage for holding a sample, a scan mechanism, a probing system for probing a region of the sample, a position sensor, and a controller. The scan mechanism is configured to translate the stage between at least two axial positions. The probing system includes an optical element and a photosensor having a readout region, where the readout region extends in a direction which is transverse to an ideal orientation of the stage. The position sensor is configured to measure a transverse position of the stage and/or of an orientation of the stage. The controller is configured to adapt the probing system as a function of the measured transverse position and/or the measured orientation. |
| US09684155B2 |
Optical system and image pickup apparatus including the same
In an optical system including, in order from an object side to an image side: a front unit (LF) having a negative refractive power; an aperture stop; and a rear unit (LR) having a positive refractive power, the front unit (LF) includes a meniscus-shaped negative lens (g1) closest to the object side, and a focal length (fw) of the entire optical system, a focal length (fg1) of the meniscus-shaped negative lens (g1), and a curvature radius (R2) of a lens surface on the image side of the meniscus-shaped negative lens (g1) are appropriately set. |
| US09684154B2 |
Zooming optical system, optical apparatus and method for manufacturing zooming optical system
A compact zooming optical system having high zooming ratio and superb optical performance and a manufacturing method are provided. The zooming optical system includes, in order from an object along the optical axis, a first lens group having positive refractive power, a second lens group having negative refractive power, a third lens group having positive refractive power, a fourth lens group having negative refractive power, and a fifth lens group having negative refractive power. Upon zooming from a wide angle end state to a telephoto end state, respective distances between the first lens group and the second lens group, between the second lens group and the third lens group, between the third lens group and the fourth lens group, and between the fourth lens group and the fifth lens group, are varied. |
| US09684150B2 |
Optical image capturing system
An optical image capturing system includes, along the optical axis in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, and a fifth lens. At least one lens among the first to the fifth lenses has positive refractive force. The fifth lens can have negative refractive force, wherein both surfaces thereof are aspheric, and at least one surface thereof has an inflection point. The lenses in the optical image capturing system which have refractive power include the first to the fifth lenses. The optical image capturing system can increase aperture value and improve the imagining quality for use in compact cameras. |
| US09684147B2 |
Changeable lens barrel
A changeable lens barrel includes a fixed barrel formed in an annular shape a straight-advancing barrel housed in the fixed barrel during non-photographing and extended to an outside of the fixed barrel during photographing, and a first annular member that turns according to manual operation. When the changeable lens barrel is in a photographable state, a part of an outer circumference of the first annular member is exposed to an outside and a front end face of the annular member forward in an optical axis direction is located further forward than a front end face of the fixed barrel, and, when the changeable lens barrel is in an un-photographable state, a rear end face backward in the optical axis direction is within the fixed barrel and the rear end face is present further backward in the optical axis direction than when the changeable lens barrel is in the photographable state. |
| US09684144B2 |
Rapid deployment packaging for optical fiber
An example method for installing fiber optic cables between a fiber distribution hub and a plurality of access points includes: pulling the fiber optic cables from a farthest access point to the fiber distribution hub, with each of the fiber optic cables being of a different length and sized to be positioned adjacent to one of the plurality access points when the fiber optic cables are pulled to the fiber distribution hub; connecting a pulled end of the each of the fiber optic cables to the fiber distribution hub; and connecting a free end of each of the fiber optic cables to a respective access point to connect each of the access points to the fiber distribution hub. |
| US09684141B1 |
Techniques for reducing ingress of foreign matter into an optical subassembly
Techniques are disclosed for filling gaps formed between a press-fit component and an optical subassembly housing to introduce a seal or barrier that can prevent or otherwise mitigate the ingress of contaminants. In an embodiment, a layer of sealant material is applied to one or more surfaces of an optical component prior to press-fitting the component into an optical subassembly housing. Alternatively, or in addition to applying sealant to one or more surfaces of an optical component, a layer of sealant material may be disposed on an interface formed between an outer surface of the optical subassembly housing and the optical component press-fit into the same. Techniques disclosed herein are particularly well suited for small form-factor optical subassemblies that include one or more optical components press-fit into openings of a subassembly housing during manufacturing. |
| US09684139B2 |
Optical fiber connector with changeable gender
A multi-fiber, fiber optic connector is interchangeable between a male connector and a female connector by including a pin retainer having a releasable retention device configured to lock the pins in place within the retainer. The retention device may be opened, for example, with a release tool, to free the retention pins for removal of the pins. A method for switching a connector between a male connector configuration and a female connector configuration may be possible as a result of the releasable retention configuration. |
| US09684138B2 |
Ruggedized fiber optic connector
The present disclosure relates to a fiber optic connector that includes a main outer housing, an inner housing that mounts within the main outer housing and a plug interface housing secured at the distal end of the inner housing. The fiber optic connector also includes a ferrule assembly mounted at least partially within the plug interface housing, a spring for biasing the ferrule assembly in a distal direction and a resilient cable seal that mounts within the main outer housing. |
| US09684136B2 |
Fiber optic connector with ferrule boot
A fiber optic connector for a plurality of optical fibers includes: a housing portion, a ferrule assembly at least partially disposed in the housing portion, a spring push positioned behind the ferrule, and a spring positioned between the spring push and ferrule. The ferrule assembly includes a ferrule defining an end face of the fiber optic connector and having a plurality of bores arranged in at least two linear rows. The ferrule assembly also includes a ferrule boot coupled to the ferrule, with the ferrule boot including a fiber alignment portion and a cover portion. The fiber alignment portion defines a first groove for a first row of the optical fibers and a second groove for a second row of the optical fibers. |
| US09684133B2 |
Component assembly apparatus
A component assembly apparatus includes a first device supportive of a first component and a second device configured to bring a second component into contact with the first component. The second device is further configured to apply a first pressurizing force directed to force respective first surfaces of the first and second components together, and the first device is configured to convert a portion of the first pressurizing force into a second pressurizing force directed transversely with respect to the first pressurizing force to force respective second surfaces of the first and second components together. |
| US09684131B2 |
Apparatus and method for an optical switch having a 2×1 multi-mode interferometer and photodetector
Embodiments are provided for an improved 2×1 switch cell design with integrated photodiode for off-state monitoring. In an embodiment, am optical switch comprises a 2×1 multi-mode interferometer (MMI) coupler including two input waveguides jointly coupled to an output waveguide, and a photodetector coupled to an edge of a first waveguide of the input waveguides, and positioned next to a side of the output waveguide. In another embodiment, an optical chip comprises two input waveguides parallel to each other, and an output waveguide coupled to the two input waveguides. The optical chip further includes a photodetector coupled to a first waveguide of the two input waveguides, and positioned next to the output waveguide, and a branch waveguide extending from the first waveguide into the photodetector. |
| US09684129B2 |
Optical waveguide device and module
In a waveguide device, unnecessary optical power is appropriately terminated. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the waveguide device has a termination structure filled with a light blocking material to terminate light from a waveguide end. In the termination structure, a cladding and a core are removed to form a groove on an optical waveguide. The groove is filled with a material (light blocking material) that attenuates the intensity of light. Thus, light input to the termination structure is attenuated by the light blocking material, suppressing crosstalk which possibly effects on other optical devices. Thus, such a termination structure can restrain crosstalk occurred in optical devices integrated in the same substrate and can also suppress crosstalk which possibly effects on any other optical device connected directly to the substrate. |
| US09684125B2 |
Transport of polarized laser-radiation using a hollow-core fiber
Plane-polarized laser-radiation from a laser-source is converted to circularly polarized radiation by a quarter-wave plate. The circularly polarized radiation is input into a hollow-core fiber for transport to a point of use. The transported radiation is converted back to plane-polarized radiation by another quarter-wave plate between the fiber and the point of use. |
| US09684124B2 |
LED assembly for transparent liquid crystal display
A transparent electronic display assembly is disclosed. The assembly comprises an electronic display and a light guide placed behind the electronic display. The assembly preferably has a front bracket that contacts the front surface of the light guide and a rear bracket that contacts the rear surface of the light guide. The electronic display may be adhered to the brackets. While the light guide may be constrained from movement towards or away from the electronic display by the front and rear brackets, the light guide is generally permitted to move and thermally expand parallel to the electronic display. |
| US09684122B2 |
Backlight assembly including light leakage preventing unit and liquid crystal display including the same
Provided is a backlight assembly including: a light source which generates and emits light; a light leakage preventing member including a first horizontal portion and a first vertical portion; a light guide plate including a light input surface and a light output surface; an optical sheet disposed on the light output surface of the light guide plate; and a bottom chassis configured to receive the light source, the light leakage preventing member and the light guide plate therein, in which the light source is disposed at a side of the light guide plate, the first vertical portion of the light leakage preventing member is attached to a rear surface of the light source, and the first horizontal portion is positioned above the light source to overlap a portion of the light output surface of the light guide plate. |
| US09684121B2 |
Side-edge backlight module having non-uniformly sized backlight sections and design method thereof
A side-edge backlight module having non-uniformly sized backlight sections and a design method thereof. The backlight module includes backlight sections that have relative sizes satisfying the condition that the backlight sections have higher ranks are of greater sizes. Ranking the backlight sections is made by conducting an simulation operation for a process of sectionalized lighting of backlight to display liquid crystal panel signals on the basis of uniformly sized backlight sections and conducting analysis of the number of zones where an interference signal appears and distance of the interference signal when each of backlight sections is lit in the simulation operation on the basis of uniformly sized backlight sections and ranking the backlight sections according to strength of cross-talking caused by the interference signal so that a backlight section having less strong cross-talking is set with a higher rank. |
| US09684120B2 |
Optical article having viscoelastic layer
An optical article, such as a backlight for electronic display devices, is disclosed. The optical article includes a lightguide, a viscoelastic layer disposed on the light guide and a nanovoided polymeric layer disposed on the viscoelastic layer. The nanovoided polymeric layer comprises a plurality of interconnected nanovoids and at least some of the interconnected nanovoids are connected to one another by hollow passages. The lightguide may be optically coupled to a light source, and the viscoelastic layer and the nanovoided polymeric layer may be used in conjunction with the lightguide to manage light emitted by the light source. The viscoelastic layer may be a pressure sensitive adhesive. |
| US09684118B2 |
Method for improving luminance uniformity of side-edge curved module
The present invention relates to a method for improving luminance uniformity of a side-edge curved module. The method includes: (1) dividing a display zone of a curved panel display zone into a plurality of panel grid cells and sequentially marking the plurality of grid cells as panel grid cells 1-n, where n is a natural number; (2) dividing a light guide plate located exactly under the curved panel display zone into a plurality of corresponding light guide plate grid cells, each of the light guide plate grid cells having a dot density being indicated by Pn; (3) measuring transmittance of each of the panel grid cells, the transmittance of each of the panel grid cells being indicated by tn; and (4) taking the transmittance tc of the panel grid cell c that is located close to a center of the curved panel display zone as a reference, where c is a natural number less than n and the dot density of the light guide plate grid cell c corresponding to the panel grid cell c is indicated by Pc, wherein the dot density Pn of a light guide plate grid cell n is set between Pc×0.25×tc/tn to Pc×4×tc/tn. The present invention helps eliminate dark zones of a curved module and improves the luminance uniformity without increasing the product design expenditure. |
| US09684117B2 |
Backlight assembly with brightness enhancing mechanism
A backlight assembly includes an upper reflective layer including a plurality of first openings; a lower reflective layer secured to the upper reflective layer; a light guide plate disposed between the upper and lower reflective layers; an opaque shading layer disposed on one surface of the upper reflective layer; and a circuit board disposed above the shading layer and including a circuit and a plurality of second openings. Light with enhanced brightness is transmitted to bottoms of keycaps of an input device of a 3C product with energy consumed to a minimum during light transmitting. |
| US09684113B2 |
Light guide plate, and backlight unit and display device including the same
The present invention relates to a light guide plate, and a backlight unit and display device including the same. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light guide plate, including: a light output surface configured to output light toward the outside; a reflective surface positioned at the opposite side of the light output surface; a light incident surface provided on at least one side surface among the side surfaces connecting the light output surface to the reflective surface to receive light irradiated from a light source; and a reflective pattern having a quadrilateral shape when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the reflective surface, and having a concave portion recessed toward an inner portion of the reflective surface and an embossed portion protruding from an edge of the concave portion toward an outer portion of the reflective surface. |
| US09684111B2 |
Display apparatus
Provided is a display apparatus including a display panel, a light guide plate, a first light source unit, and a first reflective member. The display panel may receive light to display an image. A first recess may be defined on a surface of the light guide plate. The first light source unit may include a plurality of light sources that generate the light and are received in the first recess. The first reflective member may be received in the first recess and disposed between two mutually adjacent light sources of the first light source unit to reflect the light. |
| US09684109B2 |
Light guide plate, lighting device, display device, and television device
A light guide plate having a rectangular plate-like shape includes a light entrance surface, a light exit surface, an opposite plate surface, and a light reflection pattern. The light entrance surface is a peripheral surface. The light exit surface is a plate surface. The opposite plate surface is opposite from the light exit surface. The light reflection pattern includes light reflection portions having distribution densities different from section to section of the opposite plate surface. The distribution densities are defined such that a difference between the distribution density in a section in the middle row and each end column and the distribution density in a section in the middle row and the middle column is larger than a difference between the distribution density in a section in the end row and each end column and the distribution density in the section in the end row and the middle column. |
| US09684106B2 |
System, method and apparatus for phase contrast enhanced multiplexing of images
A volume holographic imaging system, apparatus, and/or method enables the projection of a two-dimensional (2D) slice of a four-dimensional (4D) probing object. A 4D probing source object is illuminated to emit or scatter an optical field. A holographic element having one or more recorded holograms receives and diffracts the optical field into a diffracted plane beam having spectral information. A 4-f telecentric relay system includes a pupil filter on the relayed conjugate plane of the volume hologram and images the pupil of the volume hologram onto the front focal plane of the collector lens. A collector lens focuses the diffracted plane beam to a 2D slice of the 4D probing source object. The focused 2D slice is projected onto a 2D imaging plane. The holographic element may have multiple multiplexed holograms that are arranged to diffract light from the corresponding slice of the 4D probing source object. |
| US09684101B2 |
Optical zoom structure
An optical zoom structure includes an amplifying set, a focusing set, and an image display region. The amplifying set resembles the diverging optical effect and includes a first fixed focal set and a first liquid crystal lens. The focusing set resembles a converging optical effect and includes a second fixed focal set and a second liquid crystal lens. The first liquid crystal lens and the second fixed focal set are disposed between the first fixed focal set and the second liquid crystal lens. The first distance is from the first fixed focal set to the first liquid crystal lens. The second distance is from the first liquid crystal lens to the second fixed focal set. The third distance is from the second fixed focal set to the second liquid crystal lens. The fourth distance is from the second first liquid crystal lens to the image display region. |
| US09684099B2 |
Flexible display device
A flexible display device includes an antireflective film on an image display surface of the flexible display device, wherein the antireflective film includes an antireflective layer disposed on at least one surface of a transparent resin film having flexibility and including inorganic particles and matrix resin, wherein a volumetric ratio of the inorganic particles in the antireflective layer is equal to or larger than 40 vol %, wherein a diameter of each of the inorganic particles is within a range of 5 to 200 nm, wherein a thickness of the antireflective layer is within a range of 50 to 200 nm, and wherein there is no crack when a bending test of the antireflective film is performed based on JIS K 5600-5-1 and using a cylindrical mandrel with a diameter of 2 mm. |
| US09684093B2 |
Method and system of determining characteristics of a formation
Determining characteristics of a formation. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are methods including determining at least one characteristics of a shale formation. The determining may include: collecting optically interacted electromagnetic radiation from a portion of the shale formation; directing a first portion of the optically interacted electromagnetic radiation from the formation to a first multivariate optical element (MOE), the first MOE creates first modified electromagnetic radiation; applying the first modified electromagnetic radiation to a first detector, the first detector creates a first signal; and determining a first characteristic of the shale formation from the first signal. |
| US09684092B2 |
Methods for estimating resource density by integrating seismic methods with fluid density and pressure in shale resource plays
A method of evaluating a shale source rock formation comprising: determining in situ partial pressures of a light hydrocarbon utilizing a downhole Raman tool and producing a map of spatial and vertical variations of the in situ partial pressures of the light hydrocarbon in the shale source rock formation. |
| US09684091B2 |
Apparatus and method for simultaneously obtaining quantitative measurements of formation resistivity and permittivity in both water and oil based mud
An apparatus and method for simultaneously obtaining quantitative measurements of vertical and horizontal resistivity and permittivity formation parameters by firing, using at least one transmitter in each of a horizontally and vertically polarized array on opposite sides of a drill collar, signals in the direction of a downhole formation, the fired signals from the transmitters in the arrays being fired simultaneously and engaging the downhole formation. The apparatus and method continues by receiving, using at least one receiver in each of the arrays, signals associated with the fired signals after the fired signals have engaged the downhole formation, where the received signals represent apparent formation data. The apparatus and method further involves determining, using the measured apparent formation data, the true formation data including one or more vertical and horizontal formation parameters. |
| US09684088B2 |
Rigid-stem active method and system
Disclosed are methods and systems for using a rigid-stem assembly comprising a plurality of interconnected rigid stems in a marine survey. An embodiment discloses a geophysical sensor streamer comprising a rigid-stem assembly comprising a plurality of rigid stems that are interconnected and each comprise a stem body defining one or more interior chambers, wherein a geophysical sensor is incorporated into one or more of the rigid stems. |
| US09684084B2 |
Three-dimensional multi-modal core and geological modeling for optimal field development
A roadmap for a field development strategy for optimal recovery is provided in a high quality 3D geological model. This geological model combines geological attributes, pore and rock properties for an optimum 3D representation of the reservoir thousands of feet beneath the surface. The model is based on the pertinent geological facies, derived from well core description and detailed studies of rock, as well as fluid and pore properties (Full Pore System) obtained from laboratory analyses of core material and well log data. These data differentiate various important pore throat and pore body regions and relationships, i.e., macroporosity and microporosity. Understanding hydrocarbon volumes in the various pore type groups and then establishing proper recovery techniques through focused laboratory studies yields a field development strategy that can significantly increase hydrocarbon recovery from a reservoir. |
| US09684083B2 |
X-ray detector panel
An X-ray detector panel includes a plurality of photodetector wafers are arranged in a photodetector array. Each photodetector wafer comprises a sensing surface, a contact surface disposed opposite the sensing surface, and an electrical contact coupled to the contact surface. A substrate is coupled to the photodetector array such that the photodetector array is substantially surrounded by the substrate and a face surface of the substrate is substantially coplanar with the sensing surface. A scintillator is coupled to the face surface of the substrate and substantially covers the sensing surfaces of the photodetector array. A scintillator cover is substantially sealingly coupled to the face surface. |
| US09684082B2 |
Scintillator panel and method for manufacturing scintillator panel
The present invention provides a scintillator panel including: a plate-like substrate; a barrier rib provided on the substrate; and a scintillator layer including a phosphor filled in cells divided by the barrier rib, wherein the barrier rib is formed of a material which is mainly composed of a low-melting-point glass containing 2 to 20% by mass of an alkali metal oxide, a value obtained by dividing a top width Lt of the barrier rib or a 90%-height width L90 of the barrier rib by a half-value width Lh of the barrier rib is 0.45 to 1, and a value obtained by dividing a bottom width Lb of the barrier rib or a 10%-height width L10 of the barrier rib by the half-value width Lh is 1 to 3. |
| US09684079B2 |
Determining context of a mobile computer
A mobile computer may determine it is located in a vehicle or a conveyance based on a measured distance, satellite related positioning information, and a touch input. |
| US09684077B2 |
Frequency quadrupled laser using thulium-doped fiber amplifier and method
An apparatus, method and associated fiber-laser architectures for high-power pulsed operation and pumping wavelength-conversion devices. Some embodiments generate blue laser light by frequency quadrupling infrared (IR) light from Tm-doped gain fiber using non-linear wavelength conversion. Some embodiments use a fiber MOPA configuration to amplify a seed signal from a semiconductor laser or ring fiber laser. Some embodiments use the frequency-quadrupled blue light for underwater communications, imaging, and/or object and anomaly detection. Some embodiments amplitude modulate the IR seed signal to encode communication data sent to or from a submarine once the modulated light has its wavelength quartered. Other embodiments transmit blue-light pulses in a scanned pattern and detect scattered light to measure distances to objects in a raster-scanned underwater volume, which in turn are used to generate a data structure representing a three-dimensional rendition of the underwater scene being imaged for viewing by a person or for other software analysis. |
| US09684076B1 |
Frequency multiplexed ranging
Methods, systems, and apparatuses are provided for measuring and mapping ranges, reflectivities, and/or velocities of multiple locations on an object by illuminating the locations with uniquely frequency-encoded sensing beams, which may be generated using one or more acousto-optic devices. A detector is used to sense the interference of the sensing beams reflected from the object and one or more reference beams, which may be co-propagating with the sensing beams to/from the object and/or may be provided via a separate reference path. A processor is used to estimate lateral coordinates, ranges, reflectivities, and/or velocities of the illuminated locations based on the frequencies, phases, amplitudes, and Doppler shifts, respectively, of the corresponding spectral components of the temporal beat signal produced by the detector in response to the interference of the sensing and reference beams. The processor may also disambiguate the range at each measured location using a pair of closely-spaced spectral components. |
| US09684070B2 |
Radar apparatus with quiet switch calibration and associated methods
A radar apparatus measures at least one characteristic of at least one object. A sweep generator generates a sweep signal to modulate an oscillator to generate a varying frequency signal. A transmitter transmits the varying frequency signal as a radar signal. A receiver receives a reflected radar signal to produce a received signal using the varying frequency signal. A compensation signal memory holds a previously stored compensation signal. A compensation circuit compensates the received signal based on the previously stored compensation signal to produce a compensated received signal. A quiet switch quiets the reflected radar signal and determines the previously stored compensation signal, during calibration of the radar apparatus, and the received signal is written into the compensation signal memory. Switched loads can be used to quiet the reflected radar signal. For field calibration, the compensated signal can be adjusted but not necessarily written back into the compensation signal memory. |
| US09684067B2 |
Sound wave sensor, correction value setting device, and distance detecting device
A sound wave sensor in a distance detecting system determines a presence or absence of a target object and a distance to the target object by receiving, with a preset sensitivity, a reflected wave obtained from a transmitted sound wave reflected by the target object. A correction value used to correct the sensitivity of the sound wave sensor is obtained from outside the sound wave sensor, and the sensitivity is corrected by using this correction value. |
| US09684066B2 |
Light radar signal processing apparatus, systems and methods
Samples of a light radar (“LIDAR”) return signal are stored in an analog circular buffer following the transmission of a LIDAR pulse. Sampling continues for a fixed period of time or number of samples during a post-trigger sampling period after the occurrence of a trigger signal from a trigger circuit. The trigger circuit indicates the receipt of a return pulse associated with a target object based upon one or more return signal characteristics. Following the post-trigger sampling period, the stored analog samples are sequentially read out and converted to digital sample values. The digital sample values may be analyzed in a digital processor to further confirm the validity of the returned LIDAR pulse, to determine a time of arrival of the LIDAR pulse, and to calculate a distance to the target object. Some versions include multiple circular buffers and capture clocks, enabling the capture of samples from multiple return pulses. |
| US09684065B2 |
Method and device for detecting structures in an object under investigation
A method for detecting structures (41, 42) such as edges and material transitions on and/or in an object (40) under investigation has an antenna arrangement which transmits microwave signals and registers the signals reflected from the object (40) under investigation in magnitude and phase. A three-dimensional image of the object (40) under investigation is reconstructed at sampling points of the object under investigation from the latter. It operates with the method steps: determination of a spatial position of a structure (41, 42) from the magnitude of the reflected signal, determination of the sign of the reflection coefficient of the reflected signal at the spatial position of the structure (41, 42), and identification of structures (41, 42) on the basis of the spatial arrangement of the sign of the reflection coefficient. |
| US09684063B1 |
Radar signal data processor
A system provides high-throughput radar signal processing without resorting to costly parallel processing tool kits. The system breaks the signal processing chain into a series of independent data processing units (DPUs) that execute independently and in parallel. Queuing theory is used to efficiently distribute processing across multiple processor cores and/or computers. The system scales to an arbitrary number of cores/computers. The independent nature of the DPUs readily allows addition/replacement of new filters into the system. |
| US09684059B2 |
Device for estimating location and method for estimating location by using uplink access point
Provided are a device and a method for position estimation using an uplink access point, and more particularly, a device and a method for position estimation capable of estimating a position of a user terminal by allowing an uplink access point including at least two antennas to receive signals transmitted from the user terminal and using a phase difference between the received signals. |
| US09684057B2 |
Method and arrangement of determining timing uncertainty
A network node such as a positioning node, and a related method of determining an uncertainty of a timing measurement used for positioning of a wireless device are disclosed. The method includes estimating a timing measurement uncertainty, and determining if an uncertainty reducing measurement is available. If an uncertainty reducing measurement is available, the method also comprises determining a timing measurement uncertainty based on the estimated timing measurement uncertainty and the uncertainty reducing measurement. |
| US09684056B2 |
Automatic object tracking camera
An automatic ball tracking camera for taking video images of a ball game includes a two-stage video camera unit including two sets of camera modules arranged on top of each other, each camera module including a video camera, a zoom lens, and a pan-tilt pod. A video switcher selects one video camera as output and an image processor analyzes an video image currently in use for output and determines whether a ball position moves out from a preset area defined on that video image. A controller determines a target viewing direction to recapture the ball within the preset area in a close-up mode, adjusts the video camera currently not in use for output to achieve the target viewing direction, and switches the output to the video camera adjusted when determined that the ball position moves out from the preset area. |
| US09684055B2 |
Method and apparatus for using gestures to control a laser tracker
A method and system are provided for controlling a measurement device remotely through gestures performed by a user. The method includes providing a relationship between each of a plurality of commands and each of a plurality of user gestures. A gesture is performed by the user with the user's body that corresponds to one of the plurality of user gestures. The gesture performed by the user is detected. A first command is determined from one of the plurality of commands based at least in part on the detected gesture. Then the first command is executed with the laser tracker. |
| US09684054B2 |
Frequency channel diversity for real-time locating systems, methods, and computer program products
Provided are architectures, systems, methods, and computer program products for real-time object locating and position determination using frequency channel diversity for transmitting and receiving position determination signals including bursts of location signals. Channelized frequency diversity of a short burst of small location signals that “hop” across multiple frequency channels is used to collectively produce a quasi-wideband position determination signal. Object tags operating with frequency channel diversity for transmitting location signals of position determination signals require low power consumption, but can still efficiently provide adequate position determination signals for reliable position determination. |
| US09684048B2 |
Optimization of a pulse sequence for a magnetic resonance system
In a method and a pulse sequence optimization device to determine a pulse sequence for a magnetic resonance system, a pulse sequence is selected for optimization that includes a number of radio-frequency pulses and a number of gradient pulses chronologically coordinated therewith. An automatic analysis of the pulse sequence takes place to identify fixed point/time periods in the pulse sequence that are to be left unmodified, and modifiable time intervals in the pulse sequence that may be optimized. An automatic optimization of gradient pulses in the modifiable time intervals takes place according to a predetermined optimization criterion, while keeping the length of modifiable time intervals constant. |
| US09684047B2 |
Method and system for rapid MRI acquisition using tailored signal excitation modules (RATE)
A system and method for rapid acquisition of MRI data at multiple points in time in an. MRI scan using tailored excitation modules, said method comprising the steps of: obtaining tailored signal excitation modules by using RF excitation pulses in combination with one or more magnetic field gradients; acquiring an aliased k-space dataset at a point in time using a pulse sequence that employs said obtained tailored signal excitation modules, which tag and overlap distinct k-space points; repeating steps (a) and (b) for acquiring aliased k-space datasets at multiple time points in a scan while tagging the overlapped, k-space points as a function of time to obtain an accelerated k-t dataset; undoing k-space aliasing m the acquired k-space datasets by Fourier transforming them along the time axis followed by a filtering process to separate the overlapped points; and performing a Fourier transformation along one or more axes, of the un-aliased k-space datasets to generate image frames for the different time points at which data was acquired. |
| US09684044B2 |
Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and antenna device
In order to provide a technique which can suppress coupling to homogenize the spatial distribution of an RF magnetic field and can improve penetration of the RF magnetic field into the subject, pad-like electric field conductors having a predetermined area are provided outside both ends of a rung conductor as a part of a configuration which forms a loop-like circuit and is driven as an antenna. An antenna device includes a sheet-like conductor, a rung conductor which is arranged at a predetermined distance from the sheet-like conductor, two electric field conductors which are arranged in both end portions of the rung conductor at a predetermined distance from the sheet-like conductor, and connection terminals which are transmission and reception terminals provided in the rung conductor and the sheet-like conductor. The rung conductor and the sheet-like conductor configure a loop circuit which resonates at a preset frequency. |
| US09684042B2 |
Magnetic field sensor with improved accuracy and method of obtaining improved accuracy with a magnetic field sensor
A magnetic field sensor includes a circular vertical Hall (CVH) sensing element comprising a plurality of vertical Hall elements, each one of the plurality of vertical hall elements comprising respective first and second current receiving contacts. The magnetic field sensor additionally includes a sequence switches circuit coupled to the plurality of vertical Hall elements. The magnetic field sensor also includes a first current source sequentially coupled by the sequence switches circuit to the first current receiving contact of sequentially selected ones of the plurality of vertical Hall elements. The magnetic field sensor further includes a second current source sequentially coupled by the sequence switches circuit to the second current receiving contact of the sequentially selected ones of the plurality of vertical Hall elements. The first and second current sources can swap couplings in half-period intervals for each of a plurality of coupling arrangements. A corresponding method is also described. |
| US09684036B2 |
Method and device for characterizing a module for storing energy via a capacitive effect
A device is provided for characterising at least one element for storing energy via a capacitive effect. The device includes a measuring component for measuring the voltage across the terminals of the storing element and another measuring component for measuring the current flowing through the storing element, having response times of the same order of magnitude. The device includes a controller for controlling the measuring component and a calculator for calculating a statistical quantity from the measurements taken. The controller is configured to control the measuring component so that the voltage-measurement period and the current-measurement period overlap temporally by at least 70%, especially 90%, of a total period including the voltage and current-measurement periods. A method is also provided for characterising an element for storing energy via a capacitive effect and to an assembly including at least one element for storing energy via a capacitive effect and a characterising device. |
| US09684032B2 |
High speed interconnect circuit test method and apparatus
A Propagation Test instruction, a Decay Test instruction and a Cycle Test instruction provide testing of DC and AC interconnect circuits between circuits including JTAG boundary scan cells. A few additions to the Test Access Port circuitry, including gating producing a Capture Test Strobe (CTS) signal, and the boundary scan cells are required to implement the additional instructions. The instructions are extensions of the conventional JTAG operating structure. |
| US09684027B2 |
Measuring apparatus
A measuring apparatus includes a measuring unit for measuring an electrical characteristic of a measurement object by applying an electrical signal, and a discharge detection unit connected to the measuring unit, the discharge detection unit obtaining an electrical signal value that is the value of the electrical signal applied to the measurement object, wherein if the electrical signal value is smaller than a predetermined reference value, the discharge detection unit issues a discharge alarm to the outside when a difference value between the electrical signal value and the reference value becomes larger than a predetermined first comparison value after the difference value becomes smaller than the first comparison value, and wherein the reference value is set equal to or larger than the maximum of the electrical signal value when no electric discharge occurs. |
| US09684015B2 |
Measuring apparatus and measuring method utilizing insulating liquid
A measuring apparatus includes a stage on which an object to be measured is placed, an insulating base plate, a probe fixed on the insulating base plate, a measuring unit which measures an electrical characteristic of the object to be measured through the probe, a side wall part having such a shape as to surround the probe and smaller in width than the stage, and a supply tube through which an insulating liquid is supplied, wherein when an electrical characteristic of the object to be measured is measured, the stage, the side wall part and the insulating base plate form a measurement region surrounding the object to be measured, and the insulating liquid is applied from the supply tube to the object to be measured in the measurement region. |
| US09684014B2 |
Prober for inspecting semiconductor devices formed on semiconductor wafer
A prober can suppress a decrease of a throughput in inspection of semiconductor devices on a substrate. The prober 10 includes a stage 11 having a horizontal mounting surface 11a that mounts thereon a wafer W on which semiconductor devices are formed; a probe card 16 provided to face the stage 11; three roller devices 26, each having a vertical rotational shaft, equally-spaced along a circumference of the mounted wafer W. Each roller device 26 is configured to rotate the wafer W on a horizontal plane while being in contact with a peripheral edge of the wafer W. |
| US09684013B2 |
Motion detecting device, portable terminal device and motion detecting method
A motion detecting device has: an input section to which acceleration signals, that express accelerations of respective axes of three axes of a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system, are respectively inputted; and a motion detecting section that sets each of plural axes, that include two different axes that are selected from among the three axes, as a designated axis in a predetermined order, and outputs a motion detection signal if it is judged that directions of motion, that are detected on the basis of the acceleration signals of the respective axes that were inputted to the input section, are directions of respective designated axes that have been set. |
| US09684011B2 |
Method for detecting turbulence conditions, using the interaction of a laser beam with a thin photochromic film, and device for implementing said method
A method for assessing turbulence parameters of a medium comprises the following steps: the illumination, by a laser beam being propagated in said medium, of a film of photochromic organic material that can comprise molecules of azobenzene, or of spyropyrane, or of stilbene, or of coumarin, or of fulgide, said illumination creating a surface grating in said film comprising scratches, the deformations of which are a function of the turbulence parameters; a step of acquisition of images comprising individual areas of structures linked to said scratches, more or less reduced and representative of the turbulence parameters of said medium; a step of processing of said images that makes it possible to assess the turbulence parameters of said medium. A device is also provided. |
| US09684008B2 |
Circuits and methods for artifact elimination
Disclosed are apparatus and methods that provide the ability to electrical stimulate a physical system, and actively eliminate interference with signal acquisition (artifacts) that arises from the stimulation. The technique implemented in the circuits and methods for eliminating interference connects a discharge path to a physical interface to the system to remove charge that is built-up during stimulation. By placing the discharge path in a feedback loop that includes a recording preamplifier and AC-coupling circuitry, the physical interface is brought back to its pre-stimulation offset voltage. The disclosed apparatus and methods may be used with piezoelectric transducers, ultrasound devices, optical diodes, and polarizable and non-polarizable electrodes. The disclosed apparatus can be employed in implantable devices, in vitro or in vivo setups with vertebrate and invertebrate neural tissue, muscle fibers, pancreatic islet cells, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, bacteria, algae, fungi, protists, and plants. |
| US09684007B2 |
Storage and supply for vessel holders
An automated system and method for processing vessels containing biological samples are presented. The system comprises vessel holders, a transport medium for transporting the vessel holders between the components of the system, a work cell for processing, a storage module for empty vessel holders, wherein the storage module is connected to the transport medium, a robotic manipulator for engaging and/or disengaging the vessels with empty vessel holders, an empty vessel holder transfer unit for introducing empty vessel holders into or retrieving them from the storage module, and an empty vessel holder detection unit, including an empty vessel holder detector for discriminating between filled and empty vessel holders as well as a transfer initiator configured to initiate the introduction or re-introduction of an empty vessel holder detected in or on the transport medium into the storage module by the empty vessel holder transfer unit. |
| US09684006B2 |
Surface markings for an optically guided device
Methods and systems for use with an automation system in an automated clinical chemistry analyzer can include one or more surfaces configured to dynamically display a plurality of optical marks, a plurality of independently movable carriers configured to move along surfaces and to observe them to determine navigational information from the plurality of optical marks, and a processor configured to update the plurality of optical marks to convey information that pertains to each respective independently movable carrier. The plurality of marks can include two-dimensional optically encoded marks, barcodes oriented in a direction of travel of the carriers, marks that dynamically convey data, dynamic lines configured to be followed by the carriers, marks indicating a collision zone, or dynamic marks displayed at a location coincident with the location of a pipette. |
| US09684005B2 |
Apparatus and method for spectroscopic analysis of vinification liquids using coded sample containers
An apparatus for spectroscopic analysis of vinificition liquids features a sample holder for a sample container of vinification liquid, a light source for directing a beam of light into the sample supported by the sample holder, a spectrometer arranged for receiving and measuring the beam of light after interaction thereof with the sample in order to perform a spectroscopic scan of the sample and generate measured spectral data thereon, and a scanning device positioned for scanning a machine readable code on the sample container. A computing device in communication with the spectrometer and the scanning device applies a classification to the measured spectral data of the sample according to a classification code read from the sample container. The classification code is used to determine what parameters should be calculated from the spectral data for the particular sample in question. |
| US09684004B2 |
Method for measurement of peptidic degradation products of a proteolytic cascade in blood samples
The invention discloses a method for measurement of peptidic degradation products of a proteolytic cascade (for example, the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and the bradykinin system) in biological samples, especially blood samples, wherein the sample is incubated until a steady state equilibrium is reached for at least one peptidic degradation product involved in said proteolytic cascade and wherein said at least one peptidic degradation product in steady state equilibrium of the proteolytic cascade is quantified in the sample. |
| US09684003B2 |
Detection device, detection kit, and detection method
Disclosed is a detection method, including steps of: providing an elongated carrier with a plurality of recognition substances fixed thereon; bringing a first end of the elongated carrier in contact with a liquid sample to permit the liquid sample to move towards an opposite second end along the elongated carrier, therewith a plurality of coloring elements in the liquid sample forming a colored band on the elongated carrier; and determining whether the liquid sample contains analytes based on the length of the colored band. Accordingly, the analytes can be detected by recognizing the agglutination based on the length of the colored band. Additionally, the present invention also provides a detection device and a detection kit for the aforementioned detection process. |
| US09683994B2 |
High throughput mobility shift
The present invention provides novel methods for performing pulsed field mobility shift assays in microfluidic devices. In particular, the methods of the invention utilize differences between electrophoretic mobilities (e.g., as between reactants and products, especially in non-fluorogenic reactions) in order to separate the species and thus analyze the reaction. |
| US09683991B2 |
Method of generating a metamaterial, and a metamaterial generated thereof
A method of generating a metamater-operable in the visible-infrared range is provided. The method comprises a) depositing a layer of a conductive material on a substrate; b) forming a layer of electron beam resist on the layer of conductive material; c) patterning the layer of electron beam resist using electron beam lithography to form a patterned substrate; d) depositing a layer of a noble metal on the patterned substrate; and e) removing the resist. A metamaterial operable in the visible-infrared range comprising split-ring resonators having a least line width of about 20 nm to about 40 nm on a substrate is provided. A transparent photonic device or a sensor for chemical or biological sensing comprising the metamaterial is also provided. |
| US09683989B2 |
Optically sensitive cell network
A neural network is disclosed. The neural network comprises a plurality of optogenetically modified neural cells being three-dimensionally distributed in a hydrogel medium and being disconnected from any solid support having a shear modulus above 1 GPa. |
| US09683987B2 |
Gastric cancer cell line derived from murine gastric adenocarcinoma lacking p53 and E-cadherin and use thereof
Provided is a gastric cancer cell line derived from a mouse deficient in E-cadherin and p53, and a use thereof. The E-cadherin- and p53-deficient, murine-derived gastric cancer cell line of the present invention was confirmed to have histopathological characteristics similar to those of human gastric cancer, have an epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype and an activated β-catenin pathway, and promote cancer growth in vivo due to potential of carcinogenesis, and thus the gastric cancer cell line of the present invention can be effectively used for the evaluation of the activity of new anticancer drugs and the development of metastasis inhibitors. |
| US09683985B2 |
Methods for assessing and identifying or evolving conditionally active therapeutic proteins
Methods for evolving or selecting or producing therapeutic proteins that exhibit reduced adverse side-effects and the resulting proteins are provided. For example, provided herein is an in vitro assay to identify conditionally active therapeutic proteins that exhibit better activity within one in vivo environment compared to another in vivo environment. The methods include the steps of a) testing the activity of a protein under conditions in which normal or increased activity is desired; b) testing the activity of the protein under conditions in which reduced activity compared to normal is desired; and c) comparing the activity in a) with b) and selecting/identifying a protein that has greater activity in a) compared to b). The selected/identified protein is a conditionally active protein. |
| US09683984B2 |
Optical imaging based on viscoelastic focusing
An apparatus arranged for examining particles, comprising: a cartridge having at least one microchannel, a viscoelastic fluid flowing in the microchannel, the fluid comprising a suspension of particles, thereby effecting alignment of the particles in at least one-dimensional array parallel to the fluid flow, and an optical magnifying means generating an image of the particles in the microchannel. |
| US09683983B2 |
Method and insert for density gradient separation
An insert for a centrifuge tube suitable for use in density gradient separation is described. The insert includes a member sized to fit within the tube for dividing the tube into a top portion and a bottom portion. Optionally the insert has a support extending or depending from the member for positioning the member within the tube. At least two openings are located on the member so that a first opening is closer to a bottom end of the tube relative to a second opening when the insert is positioned in the centrifuge tube. Also described are methods for separating a target population of cells from a sample using the insert for a centrifuge tube. |
| US09683982B2 |
Method for diagnosis and/or prognosis of cancers by analysis of the mechanical properties of tumor cells
In a method for diagnosing and/or prognosis of cancers, diagnosing origin of tumor cells, optimizing cancer therapy, and screening active substances for oncology, the mechanical properties of tumor cells and reference cells are analyzed under mechanical load that causes linear or non-linear deformation of the loaded cell. The engineering strain of the cells caused by directed mechanical stress being introduced is used to determine metastasis risk and the presence of uncontrollably proliferating and/or invasive cells, or the origin of the tumor. The metastasis risk is determined based on the proportion of cells in the sample exhibiting engineering strain in a direction opposite to the stressing direction. The risk of the presence of uncontrollably proliferating cells for non-linear deformation of the cell is determined in the sample based on the mean value of the engineering strain in the direction of cell stressing. |
| US09683973B2 |
Method and system of consolidating multiple phased array instruments
A non-destructive testing and inspection (NDT/NDI) system and method operable to conduct an ultrasonic scanning test on a test object that synchronizes and merges the apertures of two or more NDT sub-instruments in frequency and phase. Disclosed are a method of using a Phased Lock Loop (PLL) as a synchronizing clock/trigger generator, and also a method of using a General Positioning Clock (GPS) and a pulse per second (PPS) output. Both methods combine ultrasonic scanning data acquisition from two or more NDT sub-instruments, and transform the sub-instruments into one bigger NDT instrument. |
| US09683969B2 |
Method of characterizing an object including, at least locally, a plane of symmetry
A method of characterizing an object that includes, at least locally, a plane of symmetry, the method including performing at least one observation of ultrasound transmitted through the object, each observation being performed on an axis perpendicular to the plane of symmetry, each observation resulting from an emission of ultrasound generated along a respective one of the axes and meeting the object along the axis at an angle of incidence other than normal, the ultrasound meeting the object to follow a path that is symmetrical relative to the plane of symmetry. |
| US09683960B2 |
Detection of genetic sequences using PNA probes and isotachophoresis
The present invention provides a system including: a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) molecule; a DNA molecule, an RNA molecule, or a combination thereof; and an Isotachophoresis (ITP) system. Furthermore, the invention provides a method for sequence-specifically separating and/or identifying a nucleic acid molecule of interest by utilizing the system of the invention to separate and possibly label and/or detect a nucleic acid molecule of interest. |
| US09683957B2 |
Field effect transistor and a gas detector including a plurality of field effect transistors
A field effect transistor comprising a source including a plurality of electrode projections with spaces in between. A drain includes a plurality of electrode projections each located in one of the spaces between the electrode projections of the source thereby forming a drain-source electrode connection area of alternating drain and source projections. A gate is spaced apart from the drain-source electrode area thereby forming a channel between the gate and the drain-source electrode connection area wherein the gate runs parallel to the channel. A plurality of nano-structures is located in the drain-source electrode area thereby to form an electrical connection between the electrode projections of the drain and source in the drain-source electrode connection area. The invention extends to a gas detector including a plurality of field effect transistors as described above located on a substrate. |
| US09683955B2 |
Grain bin capacitive moisture sensor system
Each grain bin includes a data collector coupled to multiple capacitive moisture cables, each with multiple sensor nodes spaced along it. Each sensor node includes a pair of longitudinally extending capacitive plates of the capacitive moisture sensor positioned in side-by-side, spaced-apart relationship to form a longitudinally extending gap between the capacitive plates. Positioned within the longitudinal gap between the capacitive plates is a circuit board including a microprocessor, memory, and temperature sensor. An outer housing provides a sealed enclosure that surrounds the circuit board, the capacitive plates, and a longitudinal length of the moisture cable that extends through and seals openings in each longitudinal end of the housing. |
| US09683954B2 |
System and method for non-contact assessment of changes in critical material properties
A material signature detector that provides for the assessment of changes in critical material properties of materials such as pharmaceuticals and solutions is disclosed. The material signature detector is non-contact and non-invasive and provides the ability to detect unintended changes in the contents of a vial or other container during the fill-finish process, transport, compounding, or storage. The material signature detector uses a novel resonant electrical impulse spectroscopy circuit that employs quadrature demodulation at lower frequencies to detect changes in the capacitance and conductance (resistance) of the sample under test. A series of digital signatures are created at different frequencies to provide an overall assessment of changes in the properties of the material under test. These digital signatures may in turn be stored in an electronic library for subsequent analytics. |
| US09683953B2 |
XRF analyzer communication
An x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis system 10 can include an XRF analyzer 20 which can communicate wirelessly with other devices. The system 10 can also include remote-processor software configured to be loaded onto a handheld electronic device 23 and/or remote-computer software configured to be loaded onto a remote-computer 28. The XRF analyzer 20 can include a microphone 18 and/or an output device 31 to allow a user 19 to communicate conveniently with the XRF analyzer 20. |
| US09683951B2 |
Sample holder for X-ray analysis and jig for sample installation
A sample holder for X-ray analysis is provided with: a first annular member; a second annular member configured to be inserted and fitted into the first annular member in a state where a first film is sandwiched between the first annular member and the second annular member while the first film is being stretched to cover a lower opening portion of the second annular member; and a third annular member configured to be inserted and fitted into the second annular member in a state where a second film is sandwiched between the second annular member and the third annular member while the second film is being stretched to cover a lower opening portion of the third annular member. The first film and the second film are configured to hold a sample for X-ray analysis by sandwiching the sample between the first film and the second film. |
| US09683948B2 |
Systems and methods for iterative multi-material correction of image data
Systems and methods for iterative multi-material correction are provided. A system includes an imager that acquires projection data of an object. A reconstructor reconstructs the acquired projection data into a reconstructed image, utilizes the reconstructed image to perform a multi-material correction on the acquired projection data to generate a multi-material corrected reconstructed image, and utilizes the multi-material corrected reconstructed image to perform one or more iterations of the multi-material correction on the projection data to generate an iteratively corrected multi-material corrected image. |
| US09683947B2 |
Defect inspection device
According to one embodiment, a defect inspection device includes a first beam splitter configured to branch light into a first optical path and a second optical path, a first optical system on the first optical path, a second optical system on the second optical path, a first aperture configured to form an illumination field of an inspection sample by light from the first optical system, a second aperture configured to form an illumination field of the inspection sample by light from the second optical system, and a third optical system configured to illuminate, with a first illumination, an image of the first aperture on a first area of the inspection sample, and to illuminate, with a second illumination, an image of the second aperture on a second area of the inspection sample. |
| US09683946B2 |
Method and device for detecting defects and method and device for observing defects
The present invention is suppressing the elongating phenomenon in the dark field image of defects in detecting a minute defect by using a dark field microscope. Provided is a method for detecting defects in which scattered light generated from the sample, is concentrated to form an image and is captured and processed to extract a defect to find the positional information of the defect, and the positional information is output, wherein an image of the scattered light that suppresses the occurrence of the elongating phenomenon is formed for which partial shielding of a component of the forward scattered light, that passes through a region near the outer edge of the field of view of the objective lens, and the positional information for the defect is found from a luminance signal for a defect that is extracted from a captured scattered light image that suppresses the occurrence of the elongating phenomenon. |
| US09683944B2 |
Method for the surface inspection of long products and apparatus suitable for carrying out such a method
Disclosed are a method and apparatus for the surface inspection and detection of defects of long products by means of a combination of images of the same region of the long product. The images are taken under different lighting condition in order to reconstruct the shape of the surface and thus obtain information on the presence of defects. |
| US09683942B2 |
Luminescence measuring device
The present invention relates to a luminescence measuring device that includes a holder that holds a container for containing a sample, a plate member that holds the holder, a light detector that detects luminescence in the sample, and has a light receiving surface facing a bottom surface of the container, a first temperature control unit that performs control of a temperature of the light detector, and a ventilator that sends air to the light receiving surface of the light detector. The first temperature control unit may be provided on a side face of the light detector, and provided with a flow path therein. The air sending may be performed via the flow path in the first temperature control unit, so that the air having the same temperature as that of the light detector is sent to the light receiving surface. |
| US09683941B2 |
Method and apparatus for online analysis by laser-induced spectroscopy
A presentation module is provided for presenting a fluid sample to a Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis. The presentation module comprises an inlet for admitting a fluid sample flow from a process flow, a measurement opening for co-operating with measurement optics, and a stabilizer surface facing towards the measurement opening. The stabilizer surface is adapted to form a stabilized sample flow along the stabilizer surface such that the depth and the outer surface of the sample flow are stabilized, and the surface fluctuation and depth variation of the stabilized sample slurry flow are reduced. As laser pulses are focused on the outer surface of the planar sample flow to transform at least a part of the sample into a state of a plasma, the accuracy and repeatability of the LIBS measurement are significantly improved due to the stabilized sample flow. |
| US09683938B2 |
Fluorescent imaging using a flatbed scanner
A scanning system for fluorescent imaging includes a sample holder configured to hold a sample therein, the sample holder defining a sample holding region. A scanner head spans the sample holding region and is movable relative to the sample holder. An array of light sources is disposed on an opposing side of the sample holder and is angled relative thereto. Respective controller are operably coupled to the scanner head and the array of light sources, wherein one controller selectively actuates a one or more rows of the array of light sources and another controller controls movement of the scanner head to capture fluorescent light emitted from within the sample holder in response to illumination from the actuated light sources. A filter designed to filter out scattered light from the sample may be interposed between the sample holder and the scanner head. |
| US09683929B2 |
Optical measuring system for measuring optical polarization properties of a sample
An optical measuring system measures polarization optical properties of a sample. The system includes (a) a light source that emits measuring light along an optical axis of an analysis beam path, (b) a polarization state generator, arranged downstream with respect to the light source in the analysis beam path which provides light with a defined polarization state, (c) a sample holder, arranged downstream with respect to the polarization state generator in the analysis beam path which accommodates the sample, (d) a polarization state analyzer, arranged downstream with respect to the sample holder in the analysis beam path which measures the polarization state of the measuring light after passing through the sample, and (e) a mechanical support structure, at which at least the polarization state generator, the sample holder and the polarization state analyzer are directly attached. Also described is a method for producing such an optical measuring system. |
| US09683926B2 |
Exhaust gas sampling apparatus and exhaust gas sampling method
The present invention is one that can, with suppressing moisture from condensing, easily set a dilution ratio to that enabling measurement accuracy to be improved, and provided with a constant volume sampling part that samples mixed gas that is controlled to have a constant flow rate, wherein the constant volume sampling part is provided with: a main flow path that is connected with an exhaust gas flow path and a diluent gas flow path, and intended to flow the mixed gas that is a mixture of exhaust gas and diluent gas; a constant flow rate mechanism that is configured to control a flow rate of the mixed gas to the constant flow rate; and a moisture detecting part that is provided on an upstream side of the constant flow rate mechanism to detect moisture in the mixed gas or the diluent gas. |
| US09683923B2 |
Internally reflective chamber for fluorescent radiation collection and concentration, and method for using the same
A system for collecting and analyzing maximized amounts of fluorescent radiation using frequency scattering ports or waveguides that absorb a desired size of wavelengths. |
| US09683921B2 |
Devices and methods for determination of bioavailability of pollutants
Contaminant mass collection in saturated sedimentary environments for bioavailability determination. A casing includes a screen between the environment that is subject to sampling, such as a saturated sediment and the device itself. The casing includes a water intake zone, a pump, and sorptive media. The water intake zone, the pump, the screen and the sorptive media, are all operably linked in sequence. The screened casing is secured to form an in situ device; the screen is in fluid communication with the water intake zone and excludes endemic sediments and aquatic life. The in situ device is deployed in the saturated sedimentary environment. The pump operates to concentrate analytes from the selected environment in the sorptive media, where the concentrated analytes include the analyte mass of time-weighted fluid samples. |
| US09683919B2 |
Viscometer cell attachment device
A viscometer cell attachment device which greatly improves efficiency, accuracy, precision, and safety when testing viscosity of a substance with a viscometer. The viscometer cell attachment device generally allows dangerous, high pressure, potentially explosive/flammable methane/fluids in a viscometer cell to be partially removed and contained safely, sheared by a constriction member, generally comprised of a length of OD tubing, which generates foams/emulsions, and then put back in the viscometer cell. The invention can be attached to some types of viscometers. It can handle methane safely and can be used to produce homogeneous methane/fluids foams/emulsions by repeating the process. |
| US09683912B2 |
Drive signal distribution for direct field acoustic testing
A direct field acoustic testing system provides an acoustic field having a higher degree of spatial uniformity. The system includes a control microphone, a controller, a combiner, and at least four acoustic transducers. The controller is operatively coupled to the control microphone such that the controller receives at least one input signal from the control microphone and provides at least four separately controllable controller output signals. The combiner combines the at least four separately controllable output signals to form at least four secondary output signals, each composed of combinations of one or more of the at least four separately controllable controller output signals. Each of the at least four transducers is operatively coupled to at least one of the at least four secondary output signals such that the output of the transducer varies in response to changes in at least two of the at least four separately controllable controller output signals. |
| US09683911B2 |
Service panel with microprocessor
A service panel for controlling at least one utility actuator to control the availability of a utility comprises a covered enclosure having an exterior region and an interior region, at least one readily accessible utility control providing ON and OFF request signals and a limited access control in the exterior region providing a temporary activate signal. The service panel has a controller and data storage programmed with code and data and control circuitry providing an “ON” control signal to the at least one utility actuator to switch the at least one utility actuator to the “ON” state, and the control circuitry providing an “OFF” control signal to the at least one utility actuator to switch the at least one utility actuator to an OFF state, the control circuitry further providing a re-key signal to the at least one actuator in response to activation of a switch. |
| US09683909B2 |
Pressure-measuring device for measuring dynamic pressure and gas-turbine combustion chamber having pressure measuring device
The present invention relates to a pressure-measuring device for measuring dynamic pressures in the high-temperature range, with a pressure line connected to a volume subjected to pressure and with a pressure sensor which is arranged at a distance from the inlet area of the pressure line to the volume, wherein the pressure line is provided with at least one pinhole diaphragm and connected to an additional damping volume, as well as to the use of the pressure-measuring device in a combustion chamber of a gas turbine. |
| US09683906B2 |
Redundant torque sensor—multiple band arrays
A device for determining an external magnetic influence has a component comprising ferromagnetic material and a magnetizable region comprising at least three opposing magnetic tracks. The at least three magnetic opposing magnetic tracks are magnetizable in opposite directions, form at least two groups, and are arranged axially relative to the component. A first magnetic field sensor for emitting a signal is arranged radially to the component and assigned to the first group. A second magnetic field sensor for emitting a signal is arranged radially to the component and assigned to the second group. Redundant magnetic field sensors, each configured for emitting a signal, may be arranged radially in relation to the component for each of the first and second groups. The signals of the first and the second sensors can be set in relation to each other and in relation to the signals of the redundant first and second sensors. |