| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09729406B2 |
Cloud provider, service, and tenant classification in cloud computing
A cloud provider supports cloud-based services accessible to tenants of the cloud provider over a network. In the cloud provider, classification information including a cloud-identifier to identify the cloud provider, service-identifiers each to identify a respective one of the services, and tenant-identifiers each to identify a respective one of the tenants is maintained. The classification information is distributed within the cloud provider, including to the services, and may also be distributed outside of the cloud provider, to enable a respective tenant to exchange IP packets with, and thereby access, a respective service based on the classification information, wherein each IP packet includes the cloud-identifier, the service-identifier of the respective service, and the tenant-identifier of the respective tenant. |
| US09729403B1 |
Proficiency-based GUI adaptation
One embodiment is directed to a method performed by a computing device. The method includes (1) receiving a command from a user to display a current GUI page of a set of GUI pages on a client device, the set of GUI pages providing the user with control over a system, (2) selecting, with reference to a proficiency level associated with the user, a version of the current GUI page from a plurality of versions of the current GUI page, and (3) causing the selected version of the current GUI page to be displayed to the user on a display of the client device. Other embodiments are directed to a computerized apparatus and a computer program product for performing a method similar to that described above. |
| US09729402B2 |
Network device and call simulation tool
A first network device executing a device simulation tool receives a selection of a second network device in a communications network. The first network device receives a selection of at least one use case, scenario or error condition associated with operation of the second network device or the communications network, and executes a network simulation of the communications network based on the at least one use case, scenario or error condition. The first network device generates a call flow diagram, which involves the selected second network device, based on the executed network simulation, and provides a graphical display of the generated call flow diagram. |
| US09729401B2 |
Automatic remediation of poor-performing virtual machines for scalable applications
A management system and method for remediating poor-performing clients running in a distributed computer system uses a machine learning technique to automatically detect one or more poor-performing clients among a plurality of clients running in the distributed computer based on at least performance data and resource usage data of the clients. An action is then initiated to mitigate the effects of the poor-performing clients. |
| US09729400B2 |
Realization method and system for enabling LLDP function on non-ethernet link
The disclosure provides a realization method for enabling a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) function on a non-Ethernet link, which includes: starting LLDP global enabling on a network device at an end and a network device at an opposite end respectively; starting LLDP port enabling on a non-Ethernet interface of the network device at the end and a non-Ethernet interface of the network device at the opposite end respectively. The disclosure further provides a realization system for enabling an LLDP function on a non-Ethernet link, correspondingly. The disclosure extends and improves the physical interface scope supported by an LLDP, and achieves the purpose of enabling the LLDP neighbor discovery function on the non-Ethernet link such as a POS interface by means of supporting usage of the LLDP on the interface such as the POS interface. |
| US09729395B2 |
Collaborative conference experience improvement
An example computing device creates a resource module that acquires resource information relating to resources of the computing device and acquire quality of experience information corresponding to a quality of audio, and creates a roster module that displays a participant list including resource information relating to resources of a plurality of other computing devices connected to the teleconference and display quality of experience information corresponding to a quality of audio a user of each of the plurality of other computing devices experiences when connected to the teleconference. The device also creates a policy module configured to evaluate the resource information and quality of experience information acquired by the client resource module against rules of a teleconference policy and implement actions based on a determination that the computing device is non-compliant with one or more of the rules of the teleconference policy to control quality of audio during the teleconference. |
| US09729393B2 |
Device and a method at the device for configuring a wireless interface
The present invention concerns a device comprising a first network interface, a wireless network interface and a network configuration module adapted to configure the wireless network interface, so that, when the wireless network interface is disabled, if the device is connected to a second device through the first network interface, the second device comprising a wireless access point interface compatible with the wireless network interface, configuring the wireless network interface into a wireless access point mode of operation, and if the device is not connected to the second device through the first network interface, configuring the wireless network interface into a wireless client mode of operation and connecting the wireless network interface to the wireless access point interface. |
| US09729392B2 |
Intelligent message manager
A message manager is capable of analyzing a number of inputs to dynamically adjust rules used to delete messages as well as determine what kinds of messages are likely candidates to be deleted due to their being stale. If a message is determined to be a likely candidate for deletion, the message manager may query the user if they want to delete all messages with similar characteristics, e.g., sender, title, dates sent, time sent, recipients, content, context, and the like. If the user selects “yes” then the message manager may automatically update its deletion rules and further delete all messages in accordance with the user's selection. |
| US09729390B2 |
Dead drop network architecture
A dead drop at a node in a dead drop (DD) domain performs actions responsive to detecting events in the DD domain. The node receives a notification request specifying an event to be monitored, the notification request including a dead drop identifier (DDID) referencing a storage location in the DD domain associated with the specified event and a token associated with the DDID. The node further specifies the action to perform in response to detecting the occurrence of the specified event. The node monitors for an occurrence of a specified event within the DD domain. The node detects the occurrence of the specified event within the DD domain. The node further performs a specified action in response to detecting the occurrence of the specified event within the DD domain. |
| US09729388B2 |
Method and apparatus for wireless link recovery between BSs in a wireless communication system
An operating method of a Base Station (BS) in a wireless communication system supporting a wireless link based communication between BSs is provided. The method includes, if a wireless link with a counterpart BS is interrupted, transmitting a report on the wireless link interruption to a management server, receiving information about at least one candidate BS for a detour path from the management server, determining a detour path with the counterpart BS on the basis of the information about the at least one candidate BS, and performing communication with the counterpart BS through the detour path. |
| US09729384B2 |
Method and system for transferring information between network management entities of a wireless communication system
A method and wireless communication system may be used for transferring management information. An access point (AP) may transmit a management information base (MIB) information request including a category field and an action details field to a wireless transmit/receive (WTRU). In response to receiving the information request, the WTRU may determine whether or not to provide management information to the AP. When the WTRU provides management information to the AP, the WTRU may compile management information stored in a MIB located in the WTRU and transmit a MIB information report to the AP. The MIB may list a plurality of tables containing information associated with radio resource management (RRM) and at least one table containing physical layer measurements. The AP may include a MIB for storing MIB information of the WTRU. The AP may transmit the stored MIB information of the WTRU in response to a request. |
| US09729383B2 |
Flexible rules engine for managing connected consumer devices
A processing device executing a rules engine receives a notification of a first event on a first network-connected device. The processing device identifies a first rule associated with a first user account, wherein the first user account is further associated with the first network-connected device, and wherein the first event on the first network-connected device is an input for the first rule. The processing device determines that the first event satisfies a first criterion of the first rule and generates a first command for a second network-connected device also associated with the first user account. The processing device then transmits the first command to the second network-connected device on behalf of the first user account, wherein the first command causes the second network-connected device to perform an action. |
| US09729382B2 |
Method and apparatus for realizing load balance in distributed Hash table network
The disclosure discloses a method and an apparatus for realizing load balance in a DHT network, wherein the method comprises: determining the quantity Z of first virtual identifiers according to the node planning of the DHT network and a preset threshold of load unbalance degree, wherein Z is a natural number; equally dividing the whole load space of the DHT network into Z portions, and each portion of the load space is respectively identified by a different first virtual identifier; allocating the Z first virtual identifiers to each node according to the ability of each node so that each node is in charge of the load space corresponding to the first virtual identifier allocated to the node. The disclosure can reduce workload for managing and transferring virtual identifiers while realizing data storage load balance in the DHT network. |
| US09729379B2 |
Method and network equipment for maintaining a media stream through another network equipment while suspending an associated media stream connection in a communication network
A method for maintaining a media stream through a first network equipment while suspending the associated media stream connection in a communication network, comprising receiving within a second network equipment a trigger for suspending a media stream, sending a signalling command for maintaining the media stream and blocking the maintained media stream is provided. |
| US09729378B1 |
Receiver architecture for constant envelope OFDM
A system and method involve receiving, at a processor, a phase modulated signal such as an optical or electromagnetic signal, using one or more samples of an in-phase component I(t) and a quadrature component Q(t) of the received phase modulated signal to generate, at the processor, a processed signal using the equation [A−B×I(t)]×Q(t), where A and B are numerical parameters, and inputting the processed signal into a receiver operatively connected to the processor. The processed signal may be filtered prior to being input into the receiver. Parameters A and B may be selected to vary complexity and performance of the receiver while controlling distortion for different modulation indices. |
| US09729376B2 |
Reception apparatus and frequency error correction method
Provided is an OFDM reception apparatus that can reduce, even in an environment where the influence of noises is strong, this influence of the noises, thereby improving the precision of detecting a carrier frequency error. In this apparatus, a filtering unit (151) receives received signals each including a short preamble (STF) in which a plurality of pilot subcarriers are intermittently arranged in the frequency domain and repeatedly arranged in the time domain, and the filtering unit (151) attenuates the frequency components between respective two adjacent ones of the plurality of pilot subcarriers in the frequency domain. A correction unit (154) corrects a carrier frequency error of the received signal on the basis of the signals of the plurality of pilot subcarriers having passed through the filtering unit (151). |
| US09729371B2 |
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol formats for a wireless local area network (WLAN)
In a method of generating an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a plurality of information bits is encoded to generate a plurality of coded bits. The plurality of information bits corresponds to a first bandwidth, while the OFDM symbol includes a number of data tones corresponding to a second bandwidth. The coded bits are mapped to a plurality constellation symbols. The constellation symbols are mapped to a first plurality of data subcarriers corresponding to a first portion of the OFDM symbol and to a second plurality of data subcarriers corresponding to a second portion of the OFDM symbol. A subset of data subcarriers in the first plurality of data subcarriers and in the second plurality of data subcarriers are set to one or more predetermined values. The OFDM symbol is then generated to include at least the first plurality of data subcarriers and the second plurality of data subcarriers. |
| US09729370B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving data in single carrier frequency division multiple access system
The present invention provides a method for transmitting and receiving data in a single carrier frequency division multiple access system to which a precoding matrix is applied, and to a transmitting/receiving apparatus for same. The method for transmitting data comprises the steps of: applying selected mapping algorithm (SLM) sequences of an SLM sequence subset corresponding to a precoding matrix, to respective data; selecting the SLM sequence in which each of the applied data has the smallest peak to average power ratio (PAPR) value; and transmitting the index of the selected SLM sequence and data to which the selected SLM sequence is applied. The method for receiving data, to which a precoding matrix is applied, comprises the steps of: receiving the index of the SLM sequence selected from the SLM sequence subset corresponding to the precoding matrix, and data to which the selected SLM sequence is applied; and removing the SLM sequence from the data to which the SLM sequence is applied using the SLM sequence indicated by the index, in order to recover data. |
| US09729368B2 |
System and method for high efficiency wireless local area network communications
System and method embodiments are provided for high efficiency wireless communications. In an embodiment, a method in a network component for transmitting a frame of two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes includes generating a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different FFT sizes, wherein the frame comprises a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion comprises a first FFT size and the second portion comprises a second FFT size; and transmitting the frame during a single transmission opportunity. |
| US09729366B2 |
Digital radio transmissions
A digital radio receiver adapted to receive radio signals modulated using continuous phase frequency shift keying, CPFSK. The receiver comprises means for receiving a radio signal (2), a correlator (8) arranged to estimate a frequency offset between the carrier frequency of the received radio signal and a nominal carrier frequency, means for correcting said frequency offset (4) and outputting a frequency-corrected radio signal (6), and a matched filter bank, MFB, which comprises a plurality of filters (20,22), each of which corresponds to a different bit pattern, for determining a bit sequence (36) from the frequency-corrected radio signal (6). |
| US09729364B1 |
Frequency shift keying (FSK) demodulator and method therefor
A frequency shift keying (FSK) demodulator for demodulating symbols includes correlation circuits configured to output correlation metrics based on a buffered portion of an input signal as the input signal is continuously received by the FSK demodulator. The FSK demodulator also includes a result combining stage configured to output a set of first correlation results based on correlation metrics generated for a first portion of the input signal encoding a current symbol and at least one past symbol, and a set of second correlation results based on correlation metrics generated for a second portion of the input signal encoding the current symbol and at least one next symbol; and a time combining stage configured to combine a set of delayed first correlation results with the set of second correlation results to produce a demodulation decision that returns a most likely symbol value for the current symbol. |
| US09729360B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing bit-interleaved data traffic in a communication network
A manner of processing bit-interleaved data traffic in a communication network. In the increasingly-common scenario where data traffic is bit interleaved and scrambled using a PRBS (pseudo-random binary sequence) before it is transmitted from a sender to a receiver, the receiver is configured to receive the transmitted bit stream and decimate it, that is, remove the bits of the bit stream that are allocated for the receiver, prior to descrambling. To accomplish this, the receiver employs an LFSR (linear feedback shift register) similar or identical to the one used by the sender to scramble the data. The LFSR is initialized by employing helper bits inserted by the sender or an initialization unit, and may employ other techniques for phase adjustment or state skipping depending on the nature of the transmitted bit stream. |
| US09729359B1 |
Methods and apparatus for transponder oscillator with optimized timing
Circuitry includes: a resonant circuit for receiving a radio frequency signal; a rectifier outputting a first rectified signal matching a portion of the radio frequency signal and a second rectified signal having portion that matches the radio frequency signal and is out of phase with the first rectified signal; a clock regenerator circuit outputting a clock waveform corresponding to the first and second rectified signals; an oscillator timing circuit forming a first sloped waveform having a linear slope and a second sloped waveform having a linear slope, and comparators to compare the first sloped waveform and the second sloped waveform. The oscillator timing circuit outputs a master clock signal having transitions when the first and the second sloped waveform have equal magnitudes. A pluck pulse generator forms a pulse of a predetermined length when the master clock signal transitions. |
| US09729358B2 |
Tunable radio frequency (RF) equalizer
A radio frequency (RF) equalizer includes a coupler including an input port, an output port, a coupling port, and an isolation port; a combination circuit including; a coupling node electrically coupled to the coupling port; a first digitally controlled capacitor (DTC) connected between the coupling node and ground; a resistor connected between the coupling node and ground for controlling a quality factor (Q) of resonance of the equalizer; an isolation node coupled to the isolation port; and a second DTC connected between the isolation node and ground. A system and a method of operation are provided. |
| US09729355B2 |
Method, device and system for remote management of terminal peripheral
A method, a device and a system for remote management of a terminal peripheral are described. The method includes that: a Machine-to-Machine/Man (M2M) gateway forwards data sent from a terminal peripheral to an M2M application or an M2M service platform; the M2M application or the M2M service platform sends a remote management operation to the terminal peripheral through the M2M gateway according to the data forwarded by the M2M gateway; and the M2M gateway processes the remote management operation according to remote management operation execution information fed back by the terminal peripheral and reports a remote management result. |
| US09729354B2 |
Cable signal detector
A cable signal detector for being provided at a connector at an end of a communication cable transmitting differential signals or at a relay connector to be connected to the connector to detect an existence of information communication. The cable signal detector includes an amplifier circuit that branches and extracts a portion of a signal transmitted through the communication cable, amplifies the extracted signal and outputs the amplified signal, and a display portion that display the existence of information communication based on the output of the amplifier circuit. The amplifier circuit is mounted on a detection device formed separately from the connector or the relay connector. The connector or the relay connector is configured to transmit the extracted signal to the detection device. |
| US09729352B1 |
Assisting participation in a social network
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for assisting participation in a social network. In one aspect, a method is performed by a system of one or more data processing devices. The method includes receiving, at the system, a historical record of message exchange between an individual and members in a member network, the system determining, for each of the members, whether the individual is likely to want to be related to the respective member, each determination considering the number and transactional characteristics of the message exchange between the individual and the respective member in the historical record, and the system outputting the determinations that the individual is likely to want to be related to at least two of the respective members. |
| US09729348B2 |
Tunnel-in-tunnel source address correction
In one embodiment, a device in a network identifies a translated source network address for a tunnel source of a tunnel-in-tunnel packet. The device includes the translated source network address within a header of the packet. The header of the packet identifies an inner tunnel that is encapsulated within an outer tunnel during transmission of the packet within the network. The device sends the packet with the translated source network address within the header of the packet. |
| US09729347B2 |
System and method for selection of a conference bridge master server
A system and method are disclosed herein for managing conference bridge communication sessions. The system and method involves receiving a plurality of calls containing user media from users into a conference bridge, then connecting the plurality of calls via a load balancer to a plurality of conference servers on a network. A master broker dynamically selects a master conference server from among the plurality of conference servers to which the calls are connected. Once the master conference server is selected, the master broker directs all other conference servers to bridge the user media for the calls that are connected to the master conference server. The master conference server receives the user media from each of the connected conference servers. The master conference server is able to organize and mix the various user media and return this mixed media to each of the connected conference servers and thereby back to each user. |
| US09729345B2 |
Noise suppression circuit for a switchable transistor
A noise suppression circuit comprises a switchable transistor and an amplifier having a first amplifier input terminal electrically coupled to an output terminal of the switchable transistor for sensing a voltage thereat, and an amplifier output terminal electrically coupled to a control terminal of the switchable transistor for outputting a control voltage thereto. The amplifier is configured, based on the sensed voltage and a transition mode threshold voltage of the switchable transistor which defines a boundary between operation modes of the switchable transistor, to set the voltage at the transistor output terminal to at least the transition mode threshold voltage such that for noise frequencies below or corresponding to the switching frequency of the switchable transistor a resistive path is provided between the transistor output terminal and the transistor reference terminal and for noise frequencies above the switching frequency of the switchable transistor the resistive path is substantially interrupted. |
| US09729342B2 |
Defining and implementing sensor triggered response rules
A single controller platform for controlling and monitoring security, home automation, and monitoring devices is provided. This controller platform further provides for a rules-based response to receiving sensor events, including causing actions to be performed by the controller platform or to cause actions to be performed by sensor devices. |
| US09729341B2 |
Building automation and building information system
A building automation and building information system has a central unit, at least one control unit and first components. The central unit is connected to the at least one control unit via a bidirectional data line, as means for reception of data from the at least one control unit, and means for open-loop and/or closed-loop control of the at least one control unit. Each control unit is associated with at least one first component, to which the control unit is connected by radio. The control unit has means for open-loop and/or closed-loop radio control of the associated first components. The first components associated with each control unit can be connected to one another by radio. The central unit, the at least one control unit and the first components each have a plug-and-play capability. |
| US09729339B2 |
Transmission method for common message and device
The present disclosure provides a transmission method for a common message and a device, which relates to a field of communication technologies and is invented for effectively ensuring that both a low cost MTC terminal and a normal LTE terminal may reliably receive the common message. The transmission method for the common message includes: determining common message transmission time instances corresponding to a first terminal, wherein the common message transmission time instances corresponding to the first terminal are a part of time instances of cell common message transmission time instances; sending a common message at the determined common message transmission time instances corresponding to the first terminal, a bandwidth of frequency resources used for sending the common message being no larger than a data processing bandwidth that the first terminal is capable of supporting. The present disclosure may be used in an M2M application based on an LTE network. |
| US09729338B2 |
Fast hardware switchover in a control path in a network ASIC
A multicast destination table contains a list of links. The list of links includes the main link that is currently in use and alternate links to reach the same destination. The links in the list of links are ordered based on a metric. Each of the links is stored as an entry in the multicast destination table. A multicast replication engine traverses the list of links until an enabled link in the list of links is reached, and replicates a packet according to data associated with the enabled link in the list of links. |
| US09729335B2 |
Method for remotely accessing data and local apparatus using the method
A method for remotely accessing data and a local apparatus using the method are provided. An embedded controller determines whether a power management state of the local apparatus is switched to a power saving state when the embedded controller receives a remote control signal through a network unit from a cloud server. The embedded controller activates a first switch unit to switch, such that data received from the network unit is transferred to a storage unit. |
| US09729331B2 |
Corrupting a hash value corresponding to a key based on a revocation of the key
A request associated with a revocation of a key may be received. A hash value corresponding to the key that is stored in a memory may be identified. Furthermore, the hash value that is stored in the memory may be corrupted in response to the request associated with the revocation of the key. |
| US09729330B2 |
Secure pairing of eHealth devices and authentication of data using a gateway device having secured area
A gateway device, system, and method are presented for securely obtaining health information from a personal medical device. The system installs a gateway application in a gateway device. The gateway application executes in a secure area of the gateway device. The system establishes first secure communications with the gateway application and receives aggregated personal medical device information from the gateway application. The gateway application establishes second secure communications with a personal medical device and receives information from the personal medical device via the second secure communications. The gateway application aggregates information from the personal medical device and send the aggregated information to the system via the first secure communications. |
| US09729328B2 |
Information processing apparatus, software updating method, and image processing apparatus
An information processing apparatus which updates a basic software package is disclosed. The information processing apparatus includes an encryption and decryption unit which stores values calculated uniquely from software and encrypts information based on the calculated values and decrypts encrypted information based on the calculated values. The basic software package includes a firmware authenticating module for authenticating a firmware updating file which includes new software for updating the basic software package, a value uniquely calculated from the new software, and a public key signature. The information processing apparatus further includes a software updating module which updates the basic software package by using the authenticated firmware updating file, and an encryption key managing module for encrypting again the information encrypted by the values based on a value changed by updating the basic software package. |
| US09729325B2 |
Apparatus and method for protecting message data
Disclosed is a method for protecting message data. In the method, the message data is padded with padding bits generated based on a deterministic function performed on the message data. The padded message data is compressed to generate compressed data. A length of the compressed data is dependent on the padding bits. The compressed data is encrypted to generate encrypted message data. |
| US09729323B2 |
Method of cryptographic processing of data on elliptic curves, corresponding electronic device and computer program product
In one embodiment, it is proposed a method of cryptographic processing of data, the method being executed by an electronic device, and comprising obtaining at least two points belonging to a same elliptic curve defined on an algebraic structure being a finite ring, each point being represented by at least two coordinates. The method is remarkable in that it comprises:obtaining a parameterization of an isomorphism between said elliptic curve and another elliptic curve, said parameterization defining some configuration parameters, each configuration parameter having a range of possible values;determining in function of values of coordinates of said at least two points said configuration parameters, delivering determined configuration parameters; andobtaining coordinates of another point corresponding to an image of an addition of said at least two points through said isomorphism, said another point belonging to said another elliptic curve, and said obtaining being performed without an inversion operation in said algebraic structure, due to said determined configuration parameters. |
| US09729321B2 |
Autonomous private key recovery
Approaches described herein allow a stateless device to recover at least one private key. In particular, a stateless device can provide service-account credentials to a directory service to establish a first session and acquire a certificate and private key using information associated with the stateless device. The stateless device can store its private key before the first session ends. A stateless device can then provide user-account credentials to the directory service to establish a second session. After the second session begins, a private key can be acquired by the stateless device. |
| US09729318B2 |
Using everyday objects as cryptographic keys
This disclosure involves the notion of using physical objects to generate public key-based authenticators and, in particular, to use “everyday” physical objects to create a generator seed for a key generator that will use that seed to generate a key pair comprising a public key, and its associated private key. In a preferred approach, the physical object is used to create a digital representation (of the physical object) that, together with some uniqueness associated to the user, gives rise to a key generator seed value. Without knowledge of (a) the physical object itself, (b) how the physical object characteristic is converted (to a digital representation), and (c) the uniqueness value, an attacker cannot reproduce the key generator seed (or the key(s) generated from that seed). |
| US09729313B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for scrambled communication of data to, from, or over a medium
The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer readable medium for scrambled communication of data to, from, or over a medium. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for communicating data in scrambled form to or over a medium. The method includes receiving analog or digital data to be transmitted to or over a medium. The method further includes modulating samples representing at least signal using the analog or digital data to produce data modulated signal samples. The method further includes scrambling the data modulated signal samples using a predetermined scrambling algorithm. The method further includes transmitting the scrambled data modulated signal samples to or over the medium. The method further includes descrambling samples received from the medium using the inverse of the predetermined scrambling algorithm to obtain the unscrambled modulated signal samples, which can then be demodulated to retrieve original data. |
| US09729310B2 |
Scrambled counter mode for differential power analysis resistant encryption
A system and method for providing a scrambled counter mode encryption for a device that mitigates the effect of side channel attacks based on differential power analysis (DPA). The scrambled counter mode encryption engine creates noise at the start of the encryption process by obfuscating the counter value with the use of the very fast mixing function, such as a mixing function based on a XOR tree, substitution-permutation networks, or double-mix Feistel networks. The mixing function uses some secret key material, which diversifies its behavior between different instantiations. Because the counter values are scrambled and the mixing functions operate very fast in parallel hardware, the input of the block cipher is pseudorandom and groups of blocks can't be correlated. The output of the block cipher is XORed with a plaintext message to obtain a cipher text message. |
| US09729303B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for controlling glitch behavior in a network
The embodiments herein relate to a method performed in a user equipment, a user equipment, a method performed in a network node and a network node for controlling glitch behavior of the user equipment. The method comprising: receiving a message from the network node. Determining if the message includes an indicator indicating if the UE shall perform a glitch at cell configuration or at cell activation, and performing the glitch depending on the indication received in the message. |
| US09729301B2 |
Method and apparatus for mitigating signal interference in a feedback system
A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, a process that includes adjusting a filter in electrical communication between an input terminal and a demodulator. The filter is applied to an information bearing signal, e.g., to mitigate interference, received at the input terminal, resulting in a filtered signal. An error signal is received, indicative of errors detected within information obtained by demodulation of a modulated carrier of the filtered signal. A modified filter state is determined in response to the error signal and the filter is adjusted according to the modified filter state, e.g., to improve mitigation of the interference. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09729298B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting ACK/NACK in a TDD-based wireless communication system
A method of configuring a positive acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) in a wireless communication system based on time division duplex (TDD) in which M, M=4, downlink subframes are associated with an uplink subframe. The method is performed by a user equipment receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The user equipment receives at least one downlink transport block in the M downlink subframes from a first serving cell. The user equipment determines ACK/NACK states {HARQ-ACK(1), HARQ-ACK(2), HARQ-ACK(3), HARQ-ACK(4)} for the first serving cell. The use equipment determines an ACK/NACK response based on the ACK/NACK states. |
| US09729296B2 |
Non-convex optimization of resource allocation in multi-user networks with time-variant capacity
A plurality of resource requests and a plurality of estimated link capacities are received at a first device from other devices coupled to a network. Each of the plurality of resource requests is indicative of a requested data rate for a different one of a plurality of communication links. Each of the plurality of estimated link capacities is indicative of an available data rate for the different ones of the plurality of communication links. An allocation of time slots within a first time interval is determined at the first device, based on at least the plurality of resource requests and the plurality of estimated link capacities, according to a branch and bound algorithm. At least some of the other devices of the plurality of devices are caused to communicate via the plurality of communication links according to the determined allocation of time slots. |
| US09729294B2 |
Communications system, wireless base station, wireless terminal, and communications method
A communications system in which, in each cell, a common reference signal to wireless terminals of the cell is transmitted at a first timing at a frequency that is based on identification information of the cell, and the communications system includes a wireless base station that transmits the common reference signal at the first timing, and transmits at a second timing that is different from the first timing, a wireless-terminal-specific reference signal to the wireless terminals of the cell of the wireless base station and a control signal to the wireless terminals of the cell of the wireless base station, concurrently at different frequencies; and a wireless terminal that based on the wireless-terminal-specific reference signal transmitted by the wireless base station, demodulates the control signal transmitted by the wireless base station. |
| US09729287B2 |
Codec with variable packet size
Various of the disclosed embodiments improve encoding during a network call, such as a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) connection, by adjusting the size of a data communications packet (“packet”). Particularly, given a corpus of codecs with which to encode data, the embodiments may identify a packet size based upon a common multiple of each codec's minimum raw data size. The packet size may be selected to accommodate the inclusion of data encoded in each codec format, as well as error correction code data, and codec transition commands. The packet size may be tailored to trade off measured latency and data efficiency. |
| US09729285B2 |
Flexible OFDMA packet structure for wireless communications
A communication device includes a processor configured to generate OFDMA packets using various OFDMA packet structures and to transmit such OFDMA packets, via a communication interface, to at least one other communication device. The processor is also configured to receive, interpret, and process such OFDMA packets. One example of an OFDMA packet includes common SIG for two or more other wireless communication devices modulated across all sub-carriers of the OFDMA packet. The common SIG is followed by first SIG and first data for a first other wireless communication device modulated across first subset of the sub-carriers of the OFDMA packet and is also followed by second SIG and second data for a second other wireless communication device modulated across second subset of the sub-carriers of the OFDMA packet. Another example of an OFDMA packet includes the common SIG followed directly by first data and second data modulated as described above. |
| US09729284B2 |
High-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) station and access point (AP) and method for resource allocation signaling
Embodiments of a high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) station, access point (AP), and method for communication in a wireless network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the HEW AP may transmit a resource allocation message to indicate an allocation of sub-channels to one or more HEW stations for uplink data transmissions. Information included in the resource allocation message may include various indicators related to full or partial allocation of the sub-channels and whether equal allocations are made for each of the HEW stations. A sub-channel mapping block may also be included to indicate how the sub-channels are assigned to the HEW stations. In some cases, the length of the sub-channel mapping block may vary based at least partly on the indicators included in the message. |
| US09729283B2 |
Systems, methods and devices for flexible retransmissions
A hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process enables a retransmission to be sent on a carrier (or medium, set of frequencies, band, etc.) different from the carrier on which the previous transmissions (initial transmission and/or retransmissions) were sent. An enhanced HARQ process can improve system performance by aiding user throughput, system throughput, and delay performance by making retransmissions possible even when the unlicensed band is not available (e.g., when occupied by other RATs or the same RAT deployed by another operator). For example, a transmitter sends a subpacket in an unlicensed band. The receiver feeds back a NACK to the transmitter due to the packet decoding failure. If the medium is not idle, the transmitter sends the retransmission in another band or another channel that can be either a licensed band/channel or another unlicensed band/channel. The retransmission can be sent in multiple licensed and/or unlicensed bands/channels at the same time. |
| US09729280B2 |
ARQ with adaptive modulation for communication systems
A method and apparatus for improving performance in communication systems is provided. In order to maintain the real time constraints of the communication systems, time intervals and indication signals are used in various implementations to indicate and/or force subsequent transmissions of encoded data. An indication signal can include, for example, modulation modification information for subsequent transmissions. In various other implementations, a quality metric is computed for the communication channel and is used to provide modified modulation scheme information to be subsequently used on the communication channel. |
| US09729279B2 |
Packet transmission and reception system, apparatus, and method
Provided are a packet transmission and reception system, apparatus, and method. The packet transmission and reception system for distributing and transmitting data through a plurality of multi-lanes includes a first transmission and reception apparatus configured to include a plurality of first physical lanes and a plurality of first logical lanes connected to the plurality of first physical lanes, and a second transmission and reception apparatus configured to include a plurality of second physical lanes and a plurality of second logical lanes connected to the plurality of second physical lanes. |
| US09729276B2 |
Decoding method and decoder
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications, and provide a decoding method and a decoder, which are used to reduce decoding complexity. The method includes: receiving a to-be-decoded signal; performing region decision on the to-be-decoded signal according to a region decision rule formed by S region decision formulas, to acquire a region decision result; acquiring N constellation points according to the decision result, where the N constellation points are separately constellation points that are in the N subsets and that are closest to the to-be-decoded signal; acquiring N non-encoded bits corresponding to the N constellation points, and branch metrics between the to-be-decoded signal and the N constellation points; and performing Viterbi decoding based on the branch metrics and the N non-encoded bits, and outputting a decoding result corresponding to the to-be-decoded signal. The present invention is applicable to a signal decoding scenario. |
| US09729270B2 |
Self-adaptively improving system stability
In a wireless communication system, a base station may adopt AMC and HARQ mechanisms to improve the system stability and may further be configured to combine the feedback features of AMC and HARQ to save computing resources. |
| US09729267B2 |
Multiplexing two separate optical links with the same wavelength using asymmetric combining and splitting
An optical communications system includes an optical transmitter and an optical receiver optically coupled to an optical combiner/splitter, the combiner/splitter coupled to optical media; and, another optical transmitter and another optical receiver optically coupled to another optical combiner/splitter, the another combiner/splitter remotely coupled to the optical media; wherein the optical transmitter and the another optical transmitter are configured to transmit optical signals at substantially the same wavelength. |
| US09729264B2 |
Interference-removed reception method and terminal
One embodiment of the present specification provides an interference-removed reception method. The interference-removed reception method may comprise the steps of: encoding, in a binary in a physical channel, stored information for an attacker cell which causes interference; performing a comparison between the encoded binary and a new binary in the physical channel received from the attacker cell; and if the binaries match, removing interference caused by the new binary in the physical channel received from the attacker cell by using the encoded binary, and thereby receiving a signal from a serving cell. |
| US09729263B2 |
Radio transceiver
A radio transceiver circuit for FDD communication is disclosed. It comprises a transmitter for FDD signal transmission in a first frequency band, a first receiver for FDD signal reception in a second frequency band, separate from the first frequency band, and a duplexer. An output port of the transmitter is operatively connected to a first port of the duplexer for transmitting, through the duplexer, signals in said first frequency band. An input port of the first receiver is operatively connected to a second port of the duplexer for receiving, through the duplexer, signals in said second frequency band. The radio transceiver circuit comprises a second receiver, separate from the first receiver, for reception in said first frequency band. An input port of the second receiver is operatively connected to said first port of the duplexer for receiving, through the duplexer, signals in said first frequency band. A related radio communication apparatus is also disclosed. |
| US09729257B2 |
Isolating an upstream noise source in a cable television network
Systems and methods presented herein provide for isolating an upstream noise source in a cable television network. In one embodiment, a cable television network is communicatively coupled to a plurality of CPEs through a node. The cable television network comprises a CMTS with a CPE polling module and a noise monitor communicatively coupled to the CMTS through the node of the cable television network. The noise monitor is operable in a band of frequencies unused by the CPEs for upstream communications to determine when noise in the band breaches a threshold level, and to indicate when the noise breaches the threshold level to the CPE polling module. The CPE polling module then polls each of the CPEs to retrieve transmit power levels and locations of the CPEs, and identifies the first CPE with the intermittently noisy connection based on the retrieved transmit power level and location of the first CPE. |
| US09729252B2 |
Method and system for direct communication
Information is communicated to an individual by directing an acoustic signal transcranially to a target region in the brain. The target region is stimulated to produce a cognitive effect, and the cognitive effect is modulated or encoded to carry the desired information. |
| US09729250B2 |
Methods and apparatus for coherent duobinary shaped PM-QPSK signal processing
Systems, devices and techniques for receiving a signal comprising a quadrature duobinary modulated signal include performing channel equalization of the received signal using a constant multi-modulus to obtain a set of channel estimation coefficients and a stream of symbols, partitioning, based on modulus, the stream of symbols into three partitions, estimating carrier frequency based on the partitioned stream of symbols, recovering a phase of the signal using a maximum likelihood algorithm, and decoding the partitioned stream of symbols to recover data. |
| US09729249B2 |
Amplification circuit
According to one embodiment, an amplification circuit includes an amplifier having a gain based on a gain control signal and amplifying an input signal by the gain, and a control portion outputting the gain control signal for increasing the gain after decreasing the gain based on an amplitude of the input signal, when the amplitude of the input signal is detected. |
| US09729245B2 |
Using artificial justifications to apply noise shaping to actual justifications associated with mapping client data
A transmitter may receive client data, associated with a client rate, to be mapped to frames associated with a server rate. The transmitter may generate justifications associated with the mapping of the client data to the frames. The transmitter may create, based on the justifications, artificial justifications that include information associated with justifications created to shape phase variations present in a recovered client clock associated with the client rate. The phase variations may be shaped based on the artificial justifications to cause shaped phase variations to be present in the recovered client clock. The shaped phase variations may include phase variations that can be filtered from the recovered client clock. The transmitter may map the client data to the frames based on the artificial justifications to cause the shaped phase variations to be present in the recovered client clock. |
| US09729243B2 |
Optoelectronic transmitter, optoelectronic receiver and optoelectronic transceiver
An optoelectronic transmitter including a semiconductor substrate, at least one laser source, and a high numerical aperture (NA) waveguide is provided. The laser source is disposed on the semiconductor substrate and configured to emit at least one laser beam. The high numerical aperture (NA) waveguide has an NA greater than or equal to 0.5 and is disposed on the semiconductor substrate. At least a part of the laser beam from the laser source enters the high NA waveguide, wherein no lens is disposed on the light path of the laser beam between the laser source and the high NA waveguide. An optoelectronic receiver and an optoelectronic transceiver are also provided. |
| US09729240B2 |
Optical communication interface utilizing N-dimensional double square quadrature amplitude modulation
The present invention is directed to data communication system and methods. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention provide a communication interface that is configured to transfer data at high bandwidth using nDSQ format(s) over optical communication networks. In certain embodiments, the communication interface is used by various devices, such as spine switches and leaf switches, within a spine-leaf network architecture, which allows large amount of data to be shared among servers. |
| US09729235B2 |
Multi-link mobile communications
Systems and methods presented herein provide for improved access to data. In one embodiment, a communication system includes an RF communication link that is operable to receive first communications from a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or other “user equipment”). The communication system also includes a processor operable to determine a location of the mobile device based on the first communications and a plurality of directional communication links. Each directional communication link is operable to transfer data to the mobile device based on the location of the mobile device as determined by the processor. The processor is also operable to coordinate the transfer of data from each of the directional communication links to the mobile device. |
| US09729231B2 |
Enhanced transmission and reception of remote digital diagnostic information of optical transceivers
Methods and apparatuses for optical communications are provided. By way of example, an optical transceiver includes a processing device coupled to a memory, an optical subassembly, and a programmable device. The optical subassembly is configured to receive and modulate a first signal carrying high speed user data for transmission to a remote device over an optical link. The programmable device is coupled to the processing device and configured to receive data relating to digital diagnostic monitoring information (DDMI) of the optical transceiver from the processing device, perform forward error correction encoding on the DDMI data to produce a remote digital diagnostic monitoring (RDDM) signal, and send the RDDM signal to the optical subassembly as a second signal to modulate for transmission. The optical subassembly is configured to current modulate the second signal on the first signal to produce a double modulated optical signal for transmission to the remote device. |
| US09729226B2 |
Communication system for an aircraft with an external assembly and related method
A communication system for an aircraft with an external assembly and related method are provided. The system includes a unit for receiving incoming text messages, received from the outside assembly, and sending outgoing text messages, sent to the outside assembly; a display screen and a display management station, the display management station being able to display, on the display screen, a synthesis window showing a series of incoming text messages and/or outgoing text messages, each text message containing operating information about the aircraft. The display management station is able to display, in the synthesis window, an execution status indicator for an action to be performed remaining to be executed, associated with the incoming text message and/or the outgoing text message, in addition to the operating information of the aircraft. |
| US09729219B2 |
Methods for signaling and using beam forming quality indicators
A method in a node is disclosed. The method comprises determining a beam forming quality indicator for the network node, the beam forming quality indicator indicating a beam forming performance gain from the network node having beam forming capability, wherein the beam forming quality indicator comprises at least or is a function of at least a reference signal quality and an achievable signal quality. The method further comprises performing one or more radio operations using the determined beam forming quality indicator. |
| US09729215B2 |
OFDM signal compression
Methods and apparatuses for fronthaul signal compression and decompression. An apparatus for fronthaul signal compression includes a receiver, signal processing circuitry, and a fronthaul interface. The receiver is configured to receive one or more signals comprising complex samples. The signal processing circuitry is configured to construct vectors representing at least a portion of the complex samples; map the vectors to codeword indices in a vector quantization codebook; and process the codeword indices into an output signal. The fronthaul interface is configured to transmit the output signal via a fronthaul communication link of a wireless network. The vectors may be constructed according to the selected vectorization method. The vector quantization codebook may be selected from a set of vector quantization codebooks generated based on training signals and signaled. |
| US09729213B2 |
MIMO antenna system
A multiple input, multiple output (“MIMO”) antenna system is provided for operation on a radio frequency (“RF”) module that may be used in a wireless access device. The MIMO antenna system includes a plurality of multi-band antenna elements connected to a radio in a MIMO configuration. The multi-band antenna elements and the radio are configured to operate on an RF module. A reflector is formed on the RF module to contain the plurality of multi-band antenna elements and a common director is positioned in front of the multi-band antenna elements to concentrate signal communication in a sector. The plurality of multi-band antenna elements are oriented to provide a sector coverage pattern formed by beam patterns generated by each of the multi-band antenna elements. |
| US09729210B2 |
Chassis NFC antenna booster
A communication device used for near filed communications (NFC). The device includes circuitry that generates a differential signal for communication with an analog front end of the device. The analog front end includes an impedance matching network and an antenna. The antenna is disposed at a predetermined distance away from the boundary of a battery compartment. The antenna forms a single loop around the battery compartment and is coupled to the matching network either in a differential manner or a single ended manner. The communication device includes a protective back casing that is either metallic or plastic in nature. With the single loop antenna configuration, both types of back covers enable efficient NFC. |
| US09729209B2 |
Near field communication method of detection of a tag presence by a tag reader
A Near Field Communication method performed by a tag reader detects whether a tag is present. The method includes stimulating the tag reader's transmitter to generate an impulse response, evaluating the impulse response generated by the transmitter to obtain an evaluated impulse response, and assessing whether a tag is present based on the evaluated impulse response. |
| US09729207B2 |
Heat dissipation member and portable terminal having same
Provided are a heat radiation member and a mobile terminal having the same, in which the heat radiation member includes: a heat radiation sheet configured to disperse and radiate transferred heat and block and insulate transferred heat; and a passage formed in the heat radiation sheet and configured to pass a communication radio signal, wherein the passage comprises at least one punching area penetrating the heat radiation sheet. |
| US09729202B2 |
Method of connecting one or more contactless components to a single antenna, and corresponding system
A first component (CMP1) is connected to the antenna (ANT) and to an impedance matching circuit (CAI) configurable on command and connected to the antenna, and in the absence of another component (CMP2) connected to the antenna, the impedance matching circuit is placed in a first configuration in which it forms with the first component and the antenna a resonant circuit having a first resonant frequency compatible with a carrier frequency. In the presence of a second component (CMP2) connected to the antenna, the impedance matching circuit is placed in a second configuration in which it forms with the first component, the second component and the antenna a resonant circuit having a second resonant frequency compatible with the carrier frequency. |
| US09729199B2 |
Method for processing an analog signal coming from a transmission channel, in particular a signal carried by power line communications
A method is for processing an analog signal coming from a transmission channel. The analog signal may include a useful signal modulated on a sub-set of carriers. The method may include analog-to-digital converting of the analog signal into a digital signal, and synchronization processing the digital signal. The synchronizing may include determining, in a time domain, a limited number of coefficients of a predictive filter from an autoregressive model of the digital signal, and filtering the digital signal in the time domain by a digital finite impulse response filter with coefficients based upon the limited number of coefficients to provide a filtered digital signal. The method may include detecting of an indication allowing a location in the frame structure to be identified, using the filtered digital signal and a reference signal. |
| US09729195B2 |
Configurable correlator for joint timing and frequency synchronization and demodulation
At least one embodiment of a correlator comprising a plurality of correlator taps is configurable to provide synchronization and symbol modulation for a plurality of modulation systems. Among other uses, at least one embodiment of the correlator can provide a coarse symbol timing value. In response to determining the coarse symbol timing value, a receiver can receive a signal. Among other uses, at least one embodiment of the correlator can provide a carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimate. In response to determining the CFO estimate, a receiver can receive a signal. |
| US09729194B2 |
Clock control circuit, demodulation device and spread spectrum method
To provide a clock control circuit, a demodulation device, and a spread spectrum method, which can reduce interference caused by a clock signal on which spread spectrum is performed when demodulating a signal. A clock controller 22 according to the present invention disperses a harmonic of a clock signal in a used frequency band of a reception signal and controls a harmonic remaining in the used frequency band after the dispersion. For example, the clock controller 22 controls an amplitude of the harmonic on the basis of a spread frequency used for the dispersion and a spread width of the harmonic. |
| US09729192B2 |
Transceiver front end with low loss T/R switch
A transceiver or RF front end employing a transformer with a low loss transmit/receive (T/R) switch circuit in the ground path. In various embodiments, differential outputs of a power amplifier are coupled to the first winding of the transformer, while the input of a low noise amplifier is coupled to the second side of the transformer via a matching inductor. The T/R switch circuit, which may be a thin oxide CMOS transistor, is coupled between the second side of the transformer and ground. In operation, the T/R switch circuit may be enabled during transmit mode operations of the power amplifier, such that a low impedance path to ground is provided at the input of the low noise amplifier, thereby protecting it from high voltage swings generated by the power amplifier. |
| US09729189B2 |
Ultra low power sensing platform with multimodal radios
An apparatus comprises a system on a chip (SoC). In some embodiments, the SoC includes a power supply circuit, a power management circuit operatively coupled to the power supply circuit, a first wireless communications circuit and a second wireless communications circuit. The first wireless communications circuit is configured to receive an RF signal and is operatively coupled to the power supply circuit and the power management circuit. The first wireless communications circuit has a net radio frequency (RF) power gain no more than unity before at least one of downconversion of the RF signal or detection of the RF signal. The second wireless communications circuit is operatively coupled to the power supply circuit and the power management circuit. |
| US09729188B2 |
Protecting wireless communication components in a highly resonant field
A system for harnessing and conditioning wirelessly transmitted electrical energy by near field magnetic induction configured with various magnetic field shielding embodiments is disclosed. The shielding embodiments are designed to minimize electromagnetic interference and induced electrical current. The system comprises an electrical energy capture circuit and an RF communication circuit. The electrical energy capture circuit conditions and modifies the wirelessly received electrical energy. The RF communication circuit enables the system to wirelessly communicate with its sub-circuits and other energy capture systems. The system comprises a tunable band stop filter that is electrically connected to the RF communication sub-circuit. In addition, the RF communication sub-circuit is configured with opposing electrically conductive plates that isolate and shield the circuit from an oscillating magnetic field. |
| US09729184B2 |
Case for electronic device
A case for an electronic device having a pressure-sensitive touchscreen includes a cover configured to adhere to the pressure-sensitive touchscreen when the cover is in a closed state. The pressure-sensitive touchscreen receives touch input through the cover. |
| US09729183B2 |
Mobile terminal case and method of manufacturing the same
A mobile terminal case and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The mobile terminal case includes a three-dimensional curved body or plane shape having a circumferential edge lower than its center and formed from a fiber reinforced composite material; and a gradation paint layer formed at an outer surface of the body formed from fiber reinforced composite material. |
| US09729181B2 |
Network access device faceplate
The front side of a vehicle infotainment system head unit is provided with a removable faceplate that carries a network access device such as a cell phone or GPS receiver and an associated antenna. A removable user-interface display panel, also referred to herein as a display screen, is also carried by the faceplate. When the head unit and faceplate are assembled into a vehicle dashboard, a removable bezel conceals the network access device, antenna and provides access to the display panel. The network access device and its antenna are thus readily accessible by simply removing the bezel. |
| US09729179B1 |
Feed-forward interference cancellation in a receiver
Systems and methods for interference cancellation in a receiver of wireless signals include receiving a signal comprising an aggressor and a desired signal. The received signal is amplified in a low noise amplifier (LNA) to generate an amplified received signal. The aggressor is extracted from the received signal in a feed-forward path between an input of the LNA and an output of the LNA, to generate an extracted aggressor and the extracted aggressor is subtracted from the amplified received signal to provide the desired signal. An amplify and rotate block in the feed-forward path is used to align a phase of the aggressor to a phase of the amplified received signal in order to enable the subtraction. |
| US09729176B2 |
Data transmission terminal, data transmission/reception system and data transmission method
A data transmission terminal according to the present invention comprises: a communication unit which performs communication with a server; a noise collection unit which collects a peripheral noise; a data transmission unit which transmits data to a data reception terminal through an audible frequency band; and a control unit which analyzes the collected noise to generate a noise analysis result and controls the communication unit to transmit the noise analysis result to the server. |
| US09729175B2 |
Techniques to manage radio frequency chains
Various embodiments may be generally directed to techniques for configuring a secondary RF chain of a mobile device—in particular, a secondary receiver chain—to perform wireless network measurements when the secondary RF chain is not used for data communications. Various embodiments provide for a primary RF chain to provide data communications with a wireless network and for the secondary RF chain to be capable of providing aggregated data communications with the wireless network. Various embodiments provide for the mobile device to determine that the wireless network does not support carrier aggregation and to reconfigure the secondary receiver chain, which would otherwise be left unused or inactive, to perform wireless network measurements. System throughout can be improved in comparison to using the primary RF chain for performing the wireless network measurements. |
| US09729172B2 |
Low density parity check encoder having length of 64800 and code rate of 7/15, and low density parity check encoding method using the same
A low density parity check (LDPC) encoder, an LDPC decoder, and an LDPC encoding method are disclosed. The LDPC encoder includes first memory, second memory, and a processor. The first memory stores an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 7/15. The second memory is initialized to 0. The processor generates the LDPC codeword corresponding to information bits by performing accumulation with respect to the second memory using a sequence corresponding to a parity check matrix (PCM). |
| US09729170B1 |
Encoding scheme for processing pulse-amplitude modulated (PAM) signals
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a serial-to-parallel converter configured to receive a serial input signal to provide one or more parallel output signals. The serial input signal is an M-level Pulse-Amplitude Modulated (PAM) signal, wherein M is a positive integer. The serial-to-parallel converter includes a data converter configured to receive the serial input signal and provide a data converter output signal. The data converter output signal represents information of the serial input signal with N1 bits, and N1 is a positive integer. An encoder is configured to encode the data converter output signal to provide encoder output signal with N2 bits, wherein N2 is a positive integer less than half of N1. One or more sub-deserializers are configured to receive the encoder output signal and generate the one or more parallel output signals. |
| US09729168B1 |
Decompression of a compressed data unit
A method that may include retrieving, by a decompression processor, a compressed data unit; wherein the compressed data unit comprises a control section and a data section; wherein the control section comprises multiple decompression instructions for a retrieval of data portions from one or more sources; wherein the one or more source comprise the data section; wherein the control section does not include any data portion; and executing, by a decompression processor, the multiple decompression instructions to provide a decompressed data unit. |
| US09729167B2 |
System and method for conversion of numeric values between different number base formats, for use with software applications
Described herein are systems and methods for conversion of numeric values between different number base formats, for use with software applications. In accordance with an embodiment, an integral part of a passed floating-point numeric value in a source number base (e.g., binary) format is isolated and converted to an integer. A fractional part of the numeric value is also isolated and converted to an integer, while limiting the isolation and conversion of the fractional part to a required precision or number of digits, depending on the particular requirements of a software application. The fractional part can be rounded, including determining an exact roundoff as appropriate, and if necessary propagating the rounding to the integral part. Digits from the resulting integers representing the integral and fractional parts can then be collected and used to prepare a representation of the original numeric value in a target number base (e.g., decimal) format. |
| US09729164B2 |
Dual processing paths for differential mode and common mode signals for an adaptable analog-to-digital converter (ADC) topology
One method of processing microphone input in an ADC to determine microphone configuration is to process the microphone input signals in two processing paths, in which one processing path processes a difference between differential input signals and another processing path processes an average value of the differential input signals. The outputs of these processing paths may be combined to generate a digital signal representative of the analog signal from the microphone. The digital signal contains a digital version of the audio in the environment around the microphone, but may also be used to detect microphone topology and configure aspects of the processing paths to match the detected microphone topology. An apparatus for an ADC may implement the two processing paths as two delta-sigma modulator loops. |
| US09729163B1 |
Apparatus and method for in situ analog signal diagnostic and debugging with calibrated analog-to-digital converter
An integrated circuit (IC) chip includes an on-chip analog signal monitoring circuit for monitoring a set of analog signals generated by one or more mixed signal cores within the IC chip, converting the analog signals into digital signals, storing the digital signals in an on-chip memory, and providing the digital signals to a test equipment upon request. The analog signal monitoring signal includes an on-chip reference generator for generating precise voltages and/or currents, a switching network for routing a selected reference signal to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for calibration purpose and for routing a selected analog signal from one of the mixed signal cores to the ADC for digitizing purposes. The IC chip further includes an on-chip memory for storing the digitized analog signals for subsequent accessing by a test equipment for analysis. The IC chip includes a digital analog test point (ATP) for outputting the digitized analog signals. |
| US09729159B1 |
Systems and methods of phase-locked loop involving closed-loop, continuous frequency range, auto calibration and/or other features
Systems and methods involving phase-locked-loop (PLL) circuitry are disclosed. In one illustrative implementation, a PLL circuit device may comprise voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) circuitry having a bias signal that sets a frequency range, circuitry that shifts the VCO circuitry to operate in one of the frequency ranges, and other circuitry to compare/calibrate signals and/or set the bias current. According to further implementations, as a function of operation of the circuitry, an operating frequency range of the VCO circuitry may be shifted to a different operating frequency range, and closed-loop, continuous frequency range, auto-calibration or other features may be provided. |
| US09729157B2 |
Variable clock phase generation method and system
A variable phase generator is disclosed that includes a delay line with an input, and output, and a delay lone control signal input. A signal on the delay line output has a phase offset relative to the delay line input signal such that the phase offset is controlled by a digital offset signal. A phase detector process the input signal and the output signal to generate a phase detector output signal. A charge pump, responsive to the phase detector output signal, generates a charge pump output. A digital to analog converter receives and converts the digital offset signal to an analog offset signal. A control node is connected to the delay line control input, the charge pump, and the digital to analog converter, and is configured to receive and combine the charge pump output and the analog offset signal to create the delay line control signal. |
| US09729152B2 |
Reducing spontaneous emission in circuit quantum electrodynamics by a combined readout and filter technique
A mechanism relates a superconductor circuit. A Δ circuit includes a first node connecting a Purcell capacitor to a qubit coupling capacitor, a second node connecting the Purcell capacitor to a readout coupling capacitor, and a third node connecting the qubit coupling capacitor to the readout coupling capacitor. A qubit is connected to the first node and has a qubit frequency. A readout resonator connects to the third node combining with the Purcell capacitor to form a filter. Capacitance of the Purcell capacitor is determined as a factor of the qubit frequency of the qubit and blocks emissions of the qubit at the qubit frequency. Capacitance of the Purcell capacitor causes destructive interference, between a first path containing Purcell capacitor and a second path containing both the qubit coupling capacitor and readout coupling capacitor, in order to block emissions of the qubit at the qubit frequency to the external environment. |
| US09729148B2 |
Semiconductor device, electronic component, and electronic device
To provide a semiconductor device including element layers that are stacked. A first wiring layer and a second wiring layer are stacked between a first element layer and a second element layer. A third wiring layer and a fourth wiring layer are stacked over the second element layer. Transistors of logic cells are provided in the first element layer. Wirings of the logic cells are provided in the first wiring layer or the second wiring layer. Input ports and output ports of the logic cells are provided in the third wiring layer. The input port of one of the logic cells is connected to the output port of another logic cell through the wiring of the third wiring layer or the fourth wiring layer. Connecting the logic cells through the wiring layers over the second element layer improves the efficiency of steps of arranging and connecting the logic cells. |
| US09729146B2 |
Gate driving circuit and display device having the same
A gate driving circuit including first through (N)th stages is provided. An (M)th stage of the first through (N)th stages includes a pull-up control part, a pull-up part, a carry holding part, a carry part, and a first pull-down part. The pull-up control part applies a second node signal of a second node to a first node in response to the second node signal. The pull-up part outputs a clock signal as an (M)th gate output signal in response to the first node signal. The carry holding part applies the (M)th gate output signal to the second node in response to the (M)th gate output signal. The carry part outputs the clock signal as an (M)th carry signal in response to the first node signal. The first pull-down part pulls down the (M)th gate output signal to a first off voltage. |
| US09729145B2 |
Circuit and a method for selecting a power supply
A circuit is provided, the circuit including: a first power supply terminal connected to a first p-type metal oxide semiconductor transistor; a second power supply terminal connected to a second p-type metal oxide semiconductor transistor; an output node connected between the first p-type metal oxide semiconductor transistor and second p-type metal oxide semiconductor transistor; and a decision circuit connected to the first power supply terminal and the second power supply terminal, wherein the decision circuit is powered by the output node and wherein gate terminals of the first p-type metal oxide semiconductor transistor and second p-type metal oxide semiconductor transistor are complementarily and actively controlled by the decision circuit. |
| US09729143B2 |
GOA circuit based on LTPS semiconductor TFT
A GOA circuit based on LTPS semiconductor TFT includes a plurality of GOA units which are cascade connected, in which an Nth GOA unit includes a pull-up control part, a pull-up part, a first pull-down part and a pull-down holding part. The pull-down holding part utilizes a high/low voltage reverse design and includes first, second and third DC constant low voltage levels, which are sequentially abated, and a DC constant high voltage level so that the influence of electrical property of the LTPS semiconductor TFT to the GOA driving circuit and particularly the bad function due to the electric leakage issue can be solved. Also, the existing issue that the second node voltage level of the pull-down holding circuit part in the GOA circuit based on the LTPS semiconductor TFT cannot be at higher voltage level in the functioning period can be solved. |
| US09729142B2 |
Coil driver IC having a circuit capable of placing a coil connected output terminal into a floating state
A coil-driving IC having a first output terminal configured connected to a first terminal of a coil and a second output terminal configured connected to a second terminal of the coil is disclosed. The coil-driving IC comprises a first switch connected to the first output terminal; a second switch connected to the second output terminal; a current driving part comprising a first current terminal connected to the first output terminal via the first switch and a second current terminal connected to the second output terminal via the second switch; and a gate driving part controlling the first switch and the second switch so that, when the coil is driven by a current provided from the first current terminal or the second current terminal, the first switch and the second switch are in an ON state, otherwise, the first switch and the second switch are in an OFF state. |
| US09729141B2 |
Electronic circuit arrangement for use in an explosive area
An electronic circuit arrangement for use in an explosive area may include an electrical signal line, which connects an electrical input connector to an electrical output connector, and an electrical earth line, which can be or is electrically connected to the electrical signal line by at least one electrical earthing line. An inductive component and a semiconductor switch may be arranged in the at least one earthing line. The semiconductor switch may be switched between a closed state, in which the signal line is electrically connected via the at least one earthing line to the earth line, and an open state, in which this electrical connection is interrupted. |
| US09729138B1 |
Circuits and systems having low power power-on-reset and/or brown out detection
A circuit can include a signal section that includes a first signal transistor configured to operate in a subthreshold region to maintain the signal node at about VCC as VCC rises from a low level; a high threshold section that enables a current path from the signal node to the low power supply node only after a voltage at the detect node exceeds a level greater than a threshold voltage (Vt); and an output section having transistors with relatively long channels, for reduced crowbar current. |
| US09729137B2 |
Semiconductor circuit, voltage detection circuit, and voltage determination circuit
The present disclosure provides a semiconductor circuit including: a PMOS transistor that includes a first source connected to a power supply, a first drain, and a first gate to which a fixed potential is supplied; an output circuit that outputs a first output signal, which is a reset signal or a power-on signal, and that outputs a second output signal according to a potential of the first drain; a constant current source connected to the first drain; and an NMOS transistor that includes a second source to which a fixed potential is supplied, a second drain connected to the first drain, and a second gate to which the second output signal from the output circuit is applied. |
| US09729136B2 |
Circuit arrangement and method for controlling semiconductor switching element
In order to reduce the problems with sharp-edged control voltages of semiconductor switching elements, it is provided that the control terminal (6) of the semiconductor switching element (1) is connected to the output terminal (7) of the semiconductor switching element (1) via a ramp generation unit (5), and the ramp generation unit (5) flattens the sharply ascending and descending edges of the driver control voltage (VS) into the form of a ramp, in order to generate a transistor control voltage (VG) at the output of the ramp generation unit (5). |
| US09729135B2 |
Gate driver
In a gate driver for driving a first transistor, the gate driver includes first, second and third push-pull circuits, in each of the push-pull circuits, two transistors are connected in series, an output terminal of the first push-pull circuit is connected to the gate of the first transistor, an output terminal of the second push-pull circuit is connected to the gate of a second transistor included in the first push-pull circuit and an output terminal of the third push-pull circuit is connected to the gate of a third transistor included in the first push-pull circuit. |
| US09729130B2 |
Building sample rate independent timing diagrams using digital edge averaging
A method can include receiving an input signal having multiple signal edges, performing an initial scan of the input signal to identify peaks corresponding to the signal edges, and determining whether each peak is a Uniformly Synchronous (US) edge or a Quasi-Synchronous (QS) edge. The method can also include generating a final waveform and displaying the final waveform on a display device. |
| US09729129B2 |
System and method for reducing metastability in CMOS flip-flops
A circuit and method for reducing metastability of a CMOS SR flip flop is provided. The circuit comprises a first switching module and a second switching module that are operatively coupled to a first and second output terminal of the CMOS SR flip-flop. The method includes injecting current onto the first and second output terminals of the CMOS SR flip-flop at mutually opposite directions during permissible mid-range voltages of the output terminals. Further, the method includes driving the output terminals of the CMOS SR flip-flop into the predetermined state of zero and predetermined stable state of Vdd by utilizing the currents injected onto the output terminals. As a result, the metastable point of the CMOS flip-flop is diverted from the corresponding metastable voltage and thereby reduces the metastability of the CMOS SR flip-flop. |
| US09729126B2 |
Method and implementation for accurate gain-bandwidth product tuning
Method and implementation of gain-bandwidth product (GWB) tuning are disclosed. In an embodiment an operational amplifier (opamp) includes an input stage of the opamp including a differential device pair coupled to a tail device and configured to be responsive to a differential input signal for conducting a first current and an output stage of the opamp including a class AB interface stage circuit and a pair of output devices connected to the class AB interface stage circuit, wherein a first constant gm bias circuit is coupled to an input terminal of the class AB interface stage circuit. |
| US09729123B2 |
Common-mode filter
A common-mode filter includes a first transmission line, a second transmission line, a first wiring layer, a second wiring layer and a third wiring layer. The first wiring layer includes a first conductive capacitor plate, in which at least partial first transmission line is in the first wiring layer, and electrically coupled with the first conductive capacitor plate. The second wiring layer includes a second conductive plate and a first inductor, and the second conductive capacitor plate is electrically coupled with the first inductor. The third wiring layer includes a third conductive capacitor plate, in which at least partial second transmission line is in the second wiring layer, and electrically coupled with the third conductive capacitor plate. The first conductive capacitor plate at least partial faces the second conductive capacitor plate, and the second conductive capacitor plate at least partial faces the third conductive capacitor plate. |
| US09729121B2 |
LC tank capable of reducing electromagnetic radiation by itself and manufacturing method thereof
The present invention discloses an LC tank capable of reducing electromagnetic radiation by itself and the manufacturing method of the same. An embodiment of said LC tank comprises: a first tank area whose boundary is defined by a first part of an inductance; a second tank area whose boundary is defined by a second part of the inductance in which the second part includes a gap; a cross-interconnection structure operable to electrically connect the first and second parts of the inductance and distinguish the first tank area from the second tank area; and at least one capacitance formed inside at least one of the first and second tank areas, wherein the area ratio of the first tank area to the second tank area is between 20% and 80%. |
| US09729120B1 |
System and method to monitor audio loudness and provide audio automatic gain control
An audio loudness data collection module collects and stores audio data. The data can be stored for a first time period. A monitoring system can access and store the audio data collected and stored by the loudness data collection module according to a second time period. The stored audio data can be processed and displayed to a user in a number of ways. The data can also be used to provide loudness data control. For example, a loudness data control module can perform an audio AGC function to control audio loudness. |
| US09729110B2 |
Radio-frequency device calibration
Exemplary embodiments are related to method and devices for calibration a radio-frequency (RF) transceiver. A method may include calibrating an RF device by calculating input voltage values and bias voltage values of a power amplifier for each desired output voltage value of the power amplifier to generate a desired compression point. The method may also include applying digital pre-distortion (DPD) values to the input voltage of the power amplifier, and measuring a value of the output voltage after applying the DPD values. |
| US09729109B2 |
Multi-channel amplifier with chopping
Aspects of this disclosure relate to an amplifier with at least two chopper amplifier channels in parallel between a shared input and differential nodes. The amplifier can multiplex outputs of the chopper amplifier channels to provide the output of one or more chopper amplifier channels to the differential nodes at a time. In certain embodiments, this can mask dynamic settling errors. |
| US09729105B2 |
Distributed solar power generation and hot water supplying system
A distributed solar power generation and hot water supplying system includes: a photovoltaic power generation self-service sun tracking system, an inverter, a controller, a storage battery, a heat-exchanging water tank and an electric heater provided therein, wherein a solar battery and a solar collector are mounted on the photovoltaic power generation self-service sun tracking system, an electricity output terminal of the photovoltaic power generation self-service sun tracking system is respectively connected to an inversing input terminal of an inverter and a surplus power supplying input terminal of a controller; an MCU-controlled power output terminal of the inverter is respectively connected for off-grid power consumption or grid-connected power generation, and to an inversing output terminal of the controller; a charging/discharging control output/input terminal inside the inverter is connected to an input/output terminal of the storage battery and a storage battery power supplying input terminal of the controller. |
| US09729100B2 |
Mobile body and mobile body system
A mobile body moves along a magnetic pole path having a magnetic pole section and a magnetic pole missing section. The mobile body includes a plurality of linear motors, a first detector, a second detector, and an estimator. The plurality of linear motors include a first linear motor. The first detector is disposed on one side with respect to the first linear motor in the path direction of the magnetic pole path, and detects a first phase angle. The second detector is disposed on the other side with respect to the first linear motor in the path direction of the magnetic pole path, and detects a second phase angle. The estimator compares a phase difference between the first phase angle and the second phase angle with a reference phase difference, to estimate whether or not the first linear motor is located in the magnetic pole missing section. |
| US09729099B1 |
Sensorless control of AC induction motor method and apparatus
A method and apparatus are provided for controlling a sensorless alternating current induction motor (ACIM) having a rotor and a stator comprising a plurality of stator windings by applying a plurality of phase shifted voltages to the plurality of stator windings in the ACIM such that two energized stator windings are connected to first and second phase shifted voltages to cause rotation of the rotor relative to the stator while a third unconnected stator winding is floating so that a DC bus current and an inducted voltage can be measured from the ACIM and used to compute an estimated rotor speed. |
| US09729095B2 |
Stepping motor control circuit, semiconductor device, and analog electronic timepiece
A stepping motor control circuit includes a drive pulse generation section that generates forward-rotation drive pulses that drive a stepping motor stepwise in a forward rotation direction and reverse-rotation drive pulses that drive the stepping motor stepwise in a reverse rotation direction and a forward/reverse rotation switching control section that switches the drive pulses outputted to the stepping motor from one of the forward-rotation drive pulses and the reverse-rotation drive pulses to the other, and the forward/reverse rotation switching control section switches the drive pulses outputted to the stepping motor from one of the forward-rotation drive pulses and the reverse-rotation drive pulses to the other and then provide a predetermined period before the other drive pulses are outputted to the stepping motor. |
| US09729090B2 |
Brushless direct current motor and cleaner using the same
A cleaner includes a BLDC motor and a power unit. The BLDC motor includes a rotor and a stator provided with a DC coil and an AC coil in a separate manner. The power unit is configured to supply DC power and AC power to the DC coil and the AC coil, respectively. |
| US09729082B2 |
Self-resonance sensing dynamic power converter and method thereof
A power converter and a method of operation thereof is disclosed including an input, an output, a sensor unit, a switched power converter, and a processor module. The power converter may convert an input power into an output power. The power converter may sense real-time measurements of the input power and the output power to determine a real-time calculated efficiency. The power converter may chop the input power into sized and positioned portions of the input power based on a plurality of determined operating parameters. The power converter may determine the operating parameters based on the real-time calculated efficiency and on a plurality of other operating factors/conditions. |
| US09729080B2 |
Power supply control circuit and power supply device
A power supply control circuit, which is connected to a stabilized direct current power supply having a pair of first and second output terminals and a pair of first and second remote sensing terminals, includes: a current detector configured to detect an output current that is supplied to a load from the stabilized direct current power supply, and to output a current detection voltage; a current difference output unit configured to output a current difference voltage corresponding to a voltage difference between the current detection voltage and a current setting voltage; and a control voltage generator configured to generate a control voltage and output the control voltage to the first remote sensing terminal so as to perform a constant current control operation. The current detector, the current difference output unit and the control voltage generator are operated by only the direct current voltage supplied by the auxiliary power supply. |
| US09729077B2 |
Front end protection power controller
A power controller monitors and controls supply of AC power to a load. A power supply derives DC power supply voltages from the input AC power. The power supply includes power dissipation circuit that dissipates excess power as a function of one of the supply voltages. A voltage sensing circuit provides a voltage sense signal that is a function of the voltage of the input AC power. A digital processor controls a switch that connects a load to the AC power based upon the voltage sensed signal. |
| US09729075B2 |
High efficiency DC-to-DC converter with adaptive output stage
A circuit and method for providing an improved efficiency for a DCDC converter. A power converter, comprising a buck converter comprising an adaptive output, an adaptive transconductance block configured to evaluate resistive power terms, a multiplier block configured to provide capacitive power terms, and a comparator configured to compare resistive power and capacitive power terms for determining the selection of the branches of said adaptive output. The method for improved efficiency includes providing a switching converter with an adaptive output stage comprising the steps of providing a switching converter, evaluate capacitive power loss, evaluate resistive power loss, compare capacitive power loss and resistive power loss, and lastly adapting the output stage size. |
| US09729074B2 |
Multifunctional signal isolation converter
A multifunctional signal isolation converter (10) is arranged in a safe area (20), and is applied to an electronic apparatus (40) arranged in a dangerous area (30). The multifunctional signal isolation converter (10) includes a microprocessor (108) and a power supply unit (116). The microprocessor (108) determines whether internal functions of the multifunctional signal isolation converter (10) are normal or not to obtain a first judgment value. The electronic apparatus (40) sends an input signal (42) to the microprocessor (108). The microprocessor (108) determines whether functions of the electronic apparatus (40) are normal or not to obtain a second judgment value according to the input signal (42). The microprocessor (108) controls whether the power supply unit (116) supplies a driving power (122) to the electronic apparatus (40) or not according to the first judgment value and the second judgment value. |
| US09729071B2 |
Multi-cell power conversion method and multi-cell power converter
A method includes converting power by a power converter comprising a plurality of converter cells, and selectively operating at least one converter cell of the plurality of converter cells in one of an active and an inactive mode based on a level of a power reference signal. |
| US09729070B2 |
Interleaved resonant converter
Provided are methods and circuits for a resonant converter comprising at least one switch-controlled capacitor, wherein the at least one switch-controlled capacitor controls a resonant frequency of the resonant tank circuit. Provided are constant and variable switching frequency embodiments, and full-wave and half-wave switch-controlled capacitor embodiments. Also provided are interleaved resonant converters based on constant and variable switching frequency, and full-wave and half-wave switch-controlled capacitor resonant converter embodiments. Interleaved embodiments overcome load sharing problems associated with prior interleaved resonant converters and enable phase shedding to improve light load efficiency. |
| US09729068B2 |
Switching mode converter
The present disclosure relates to a switching mode converter. A secondary-side power switch is connected in series in a second output circuit, and an output voltage of a second secondary-side winding is fed back to a first secondary-side winding with a value less than an output voltage of the first secondary-side winding. Thus, a freewheeling current flows completely through the secondary-side winding of the second output circuit when the secondary-side power switch is turned on, and flows through secondary-side windings of other output circuits when the secondary-side power switch is turned off. The freewheeling current flows in a time division manner in each switching cycle for the constant current output circuit and for the constant voltage output circuit. Only one stage of power conversion is needed for multiple constant current/voltage outputs. The switching mode converter increases conversion efficiency, and reduces size because only one group of magnetic components is used. |
| US09729067B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing electromagnetic interference by adjusting switching processes
System and method for regulating a power conversion system. An example system controller for regulating a power conversion system includes a signal generator and a driving component. The signal generator is configured to receive a feedback signal associated with an output signal of a power conversion system and a current sensing signal associated with a primary current flowing through a primary winding of the power conversion system and generate a modulation signal based on at least information associated with the feedback signal and the current sensing signal. The driving component is configured to receive the modulation signal and output a drive signal to a switch based on at least information associated with the modulation signal. |
| US09729053B2 |
Light-load control device, light-load control method, and voltage converter
Light-load control devices and methods implemented in applications such as voltage converters. In some embodiments, a control system for a voltage converter can be configured to determine whether the voltage converter is in a first load state such as a light-load state. The control system can be further configured to generate a first driving signal when the voltage converter is in the light-load state. The control system can be further configured to route the first driving signal to a control element of the voltage converter when the voltage converter is in the light-load state, and to route a second driving signal to the control element when the voltage converter is in a second load state such as a heavier-load state. Such a control system can yield reduced power consumption of the control element when the voltage converter is in the light-load state. |
| US09729052B1 |
Systems and methods for controlling DC-to-DC converters including unregulated operating modes
A method for controlling a DC-to-DC converter includes: (a) regulating a magnitude of an output voltage of the DC-to-DC converter according to a magnitude of a reference voltage; (b) in response to a command to enter the unregulated operating mode, allowing the magnitude of the output voltage to fall; and (c) adjusting the magnitude of the reference voltage to track the magnitude of the output voltage. A controller for a DC-to-DC converter includes reference and switching modules. The reference module generates a reference voltage, such that: (a) a magnitude of the reference voltage is fixed, in a regulated operating mode, and (b) the magnitude of the reference voltage tracks a magnitude of an output voltage of the DC-to-DC converter, in the unregulated operating mode. The switching module controls a power stage of the DC-to-DC converter to regulate the magnitude of the output voltage, in the regulated operating mode. |
| US09729050B2 |
Power supply device
The invention relates to a power supply device (3) for supplying power to an electrical consumer (2) having a variable power consumption in a power distribution system (1), particularly in a DC power distribution system for lighting applications, wherein the power supply device (3) is output current controlled and is adapted to provide the output current depending on the power consumed by the electrical consumer (2). Since the output current is not constant, but controlled depending on the power consumed by the electrical consumer (2) being preferentially a lamp, the output current can be adapted to the actually consumed power, thereby allowing for an improved efficiency of distributing the power in the power distribution system (1). In particular, if less power is consumed by the electrical consumer (2), a lower output current can be provided, thereby reducing losses in cables and electrical connectors of the power distribution system. |
| US09729049B2 |
Supply voltage generating circuit and switching power supply
The present disclosure relates to a supply voltage generating circuit and a switching power supply having the circuit. The supply voltage generating circuit provides a supply voltage for a power terminal of a control circuit in the switching power supply. The supply voltage generating circuit includes a switching circuit, a unidirectional conduction circuit and an energy storage circuit. In a time period during which a main power transistor is turned off, the switching circuit is turned off and a rectifying device provides a current to the energy storage circuit through the unidirectional conduction circuit, in a case that the supply voltage is smaller than a predetermined voltage reference; and the switching circuit is turned on and the current output from the rectifying device flows to the switching circuit, in a case that the supply voltage is larger than or equal to the predetermined voltage reference. When the supply voltage generating circuit is used in a switching power supply, the control circuit has improved controllability for supplying electric energy, and the switching power supply has an increased integration level and a simplified circuit structure, and will not be adversely influenced by resonance. |
| US09729046B1 |
Power supply apparatus
A power supply apparatus includes a switch, a converting module and a control module. When the switch operates in an ON state, an input voltage is outputted through the switch to serve as an output voltage. The converting module selectively converts the input voltage into the output voltage. When the power supply apparatus operates in a mode where the switch operates in an OFF state, where the converting module performs the conversion, and where the output voltage is stabilized at a target voltage value, and when a condition associated with the input voltage is met, the control module causes the output voltage to gradually change toward the input voltage. |
| US09729042B2 |
Power supply apparatus for power converters
In a power supply apparatus, an upper-arm control unit includes a first switching element connected between a DC power source and a primary side of each upper-arm transformer. The upper-arm control unit controls on and off operations of a first voltage-controlled switching element to control supply of an output voltage of the DC power source to the primary side of each upper-arm transformer. A lower-arm control unit includes a second voltage-controlled switching element connected between the DC power source and a primary side of the at least one lower-arm transformer. The lower-arm control unit controls on and off operations of a second switching element to control supply of the output voltage to the primary side of the at least one lower-arm transformers. Each upper-arm transformer is arranged adjacent to the upper-arm control unit, and the at least one lower-arm transformer is arranged adjacent to the lower-arm control unit. |
| US09729037B2 |
Brushless motor
A brushless motor has a stator and an outer rotor. The stator includes a stator core having 6N teeth and 6N coils wound respectively around the teeth where N is an integer equal to or greater than 1. The rotor includes 6N±2 permanent magnets. The permanent magnets are arranged circumferentially around the stator core and face the teeth across an air gap. The radial thickness of the air gap is uneven along the circumferential direction of the motor. |
| US09729034B2 |
Rotor with 2-step shaped slot and induction motor having the same
A rotor with a two-step shaped slot may include a rotor core configured to include a plurality of shoe structures which have a two-step shaped slot, a plurality of rotor bars configured to be inserted into and coupled to the two-step shaped slot, and end rings configured to be coupled to both ends of the rotor core and to fix the rotor bars. |
| US09729032B2 |
Limiting radial expansion in rotor balancing
A rotor including: a shaft; a structure comprising at least one end ring and rotor bars, wherein at least the end ring comprises a material subject to expansion or movement radially outward from the shaft upon a rotor balancing process that involves spinning of the structure; a core that at least partially encloses the rotor bars; and means for limiting the expansion or movement of the structure radially outward. A method including: providing a structure comprising at least one end ring and rotor bars, wherein at least the end ring comprises a material subject to expansion or movement radially outward from the shaft upon spinning of the structure; assembling a rotor from the structure and a core, the core at least partially enclosing the rotor bars; spinning the rotor in a rotor balancing process; and limiting the expansion or movement of the structure radially outward in the rotor balancing process. |
| US09729028B2 |
Rotary electric machine having integrated drive control device
In a rotary electric machine having an integrated drive control device, a motor housing joined to a mounting housing, which is a cast member, is made of a steel material. Therefore, an outer diameter is reduced and strength for retaining a stator core is satisfactorily ensured even under high-temperature environments. |
| US09729027B2 |
Cooling structure of rotary electric machine
A cooling structure of a rotary electric machine (10) that includes a rotating shaft (16), a rotor (18), and a stator (20) that includes a coil end (22), includes a coolant passage (38) that is included in the rotating shaft (16) and through which coolant flows, and a squirt hole (42) that is included in the coolant passage (38). The squirt hole (42) is included in the coolant passage (38). An opening portion of the squirt hole (42) is positioned on an outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft (16) and to an outside of the coil end (22) in the axial direction. The squirt hole (42) squirts the coolant such that the coolant is distributed to an inner peripheral surface (C1, C2) of the coil end (22) and an end surface (A1, A2) of the coil end (22) in the axial direction. |
| US09729022B2 |
Electric power steering device
An electric power steering device (1) according to the present invention includes: a gearbox; and a driving control unit (4) connected to the gearbox through a mounting-portion contact surface (7). The driving control unit (4) includes an outer-diameter gradually increasing surface (11) formed on one end portion thereof, the outer-diameter gradually increasing surface (11) being connected so that an outer diameter thereof on the mounting-portion contact surface (7) matches with an outer diameter of the gearbox. Thus, it is possible to prevent a liquid from entering inside through the mounting-portion contact surface (7), thereby preventing electrical insulating properties of internal electric components from being lowered. |
| US09729021B2 |
Coil former having integrated retainers for a phase isolation paper
The invention relates to a coil former (110) for a coil (100) of an electric machine (400). The coil former has a coil core (112) and a terminating wall (115) having a first edge (118) and a second edge (119). The first edge is arranged opposite the second edge, and the terminating wall is designed to retain a coil wire (120), which can be wound around the coil core, in a wound position. The terminating wall has a first retaining projection (130) and a second retaining projection (140), wherein the first retaining projection extends in an extension plane (117) of the terminating wall from the first edge in a first projection direction (131) along a first center axis (132) of the first retaining projection and the second retaining projection extends in the extension plane (117) of the terminating wall from the second edge in a second projection direction (141) along a second center axis (142) of the second retaining projection. |
| US09729019B2 |
Rotor structure of rotary electric machine
Provided is a rotor structure of a rotary electric machine, which is easily adaptable to offer a wide variety of products. The rotor structure of a rotary electric machine includes at least: a rotor shaft (3); a rotor core including a first rotor core section (15) and a second rotor core section (17); a boss section (9); and a pressurizing section. The second rotor core section and the boss section are arranged on an outer circumference of the rotor shaft. The first rotor core section is arranged on an outer circumference of the boss section. The pressurizing section is positioned on an axially outer side of the rotor core. The second rotor core section is pressurized by an abutment surface of the boss section. The first rotor core section arranged on the boss section is pressurized by the pressurizing section. |
| US09729017B2 |
Dynamoelectric machine support system having bolted springbar
A support system for a dynamoelectric machine is disclosed. In one embodiment, the support system includes: a mounting pad having a first face and a second face, the second face including a pair of slots; a pair of spring bars bolted to the mounting pad at the pair of slots; a collar welded or brazed to the first face of the mounting pad; and a key bar between and affixed to the pair of spring bars. |
| US09729016B1 |
Multi-tunnel electric motor/generator
Disclosed are various embodiments for a new and improved electrical motor/generator, specifically a motor/generator comprising: a plurality of coils radially positioned about a coil assembly, a plurality of magnetic tunnels forming a relative rotational path for the coil assembly, wherein the all of plurality of magnets forming each magnetic tunnel have like poles facing inward toward the interior of the magnetic tunnel or facing outward away from the interior of the magnetic tunnel such that each magnetic field of any magnetic tunnel is of an opposite polarity to the magnetic field of an adjacent magnetic tunnel. |
| US09729013B2 |
Wireless power transmission system, and method for controlling wireless power transmission and wireless power reception
A wireless power transmission system, and a method for controlling wireless power transmission and wireless power reception are provided. According to an aspect, a method for controlling a wireless power transmission may include: detecting a plurality of target devices used to wirelessly receive power; selecting a source resonating unit from among a plurality of source resonating units, based on the amount of power to be transmitted to one or more of the plurality of target devices, a coupling factor associated with one or more of the plurality of target devices, or both; and wirelessly transmitting power to a target device using the selected source resonating unit. |
| US09729011B2 |
System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements
Systems, methods, and apparatus embodiments for electric power grid and network registration and management of grid elements. Grid elements are transformed into grid elements following initial registration of each grid element with the system, preferably through network-based communication between the grid elements and a coordinator, either in coordination with or outside of an IP-based communications network router. A multiplicity of grid elements function in the grid for supply capacity, supply and/or load curtailment as supply or capacity. Also preferably, messaging is managed through a network by a Coordinator using IP messaging for communication with the grid elements, with the energy management system (EMS), and with the utilities, market participants, and/or grid operators. |
| US09729010B2 |
System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements
Systems, methods, and apparatus embodiments for electric power grid and network registration and management of active grid elements. Grid elements are transformed into active grid elements following initial registration of each grid element with the system, preferably through network-based communication between the grid elements and a coordinator, either in coordination with or outside of an IP-based communications network router. A multiplicity of active grid elements function in the grid for supply capacity, supply and/or load curtailment as supply or capacity. Also preferably, messaging is managed through a network by a Coordinator using IP messaging for communication with the grid elements, with the energy management system (EMS), and with the utilities, market participants, and/or grid operators. |
| US09729006B2 |
Power management system
A power supply system includes at least one power supply module and at least one redundant power supply module. A power supply module may include a charging resistor in parallel with an OR-ing device to keep all filter capacitors charged as long as at least one power supply module remains operational. This may avoid current spikes at turn on and may enable the redundant module to turn on without using soft start. |
| US09729003B1 |
Wireless charging device and method thereof
Disclosed is a wireless charging device and a method facilitating wireless charging of one or more portable electronic devices. The wireless charging device may include a battery assembly comprising a receiving unit electrically coupled with the transmitting unit. A first set of charging coils within the receiving unit may wirelessly receive, via an electromagnetic induction, electrical energy from a second set of charging coils within an external power source. A third set of charging coils within the transmitting unit may wirelessly transmit, via an electromagnetic induction, the electrical energy received by the receiving unit to one or more portable electronic devices positioned within a predetermined transmission distance from the transmitting unit. A fourth set of charging coils within the one or more portable electronic devices may receive the electrical energy from the transmitting unit thereby facilitating charging of one or more batteries of the one or more portable electronic devices. |
| US09729001B2 |
Far field telemetry operations between an external device and an implantable medical device during recharge of the implantable medical device via a proximity coupling
Far field telemetry operations are conducted between an external device and an implantable medical device while power is being transferred to the implantable medical device for purposes of recharging a battery of the implantable medical device. The far field operations may include exchanging recharge information that has been collected by the implantable medical device which allows the external device to exercise control over the recharge process. The far field operations may include suspending far field telemetry communications for periods of time while power continues to be transferred where suspending far field telemetry communications may include powering down far field telemetry communication circuits of the implantable medical device for periods of time which may conserve energy. The far field operations may further include transferring programming instructions to the implantable medical device. |
| US09729000B2 |
Wireless power multi-charging method and power transmitter
A power transmitter and method are provided for wireless multi-charging. A power transmitter includes a resonator configured to wirelessly transmit power to one or more power receivers; and a controller configured to increase a transmission power of the resonator to charge a first power receiver when the first power receiver is located in a charging area of the resonator; decrease the transmission power of the resonator when a second power receiver is located in the charging area of the resonator; and increase the transmission power of the resonator to charge both of the first power receiver and the second power receiver. |
| US09728999B2 |
Wirelessly charging a second device from a first device
A mechanism is provided for a first device to wirelessly charge a second device. When in a first charging mode, the first device has a first chargeable radius as a charging radius thereof. An external power source is provided to the first device. In response to the external power source providing power to the first device, the first device changes from the first charging mode to a second charging mode. In response to the first device changing to the second charging mode, the charging radius of the first device changes from the first chargeable radius to a second chargeable radius. |
| US09728994B2 |
Device for charging an accumulator and having a storage charge mode
A device for determining the charge state of an accumulator and having a charging current supply unit that can be operated in a plurality of charging modes is provided. When the storage charge mode is activated, the accumulator is charged only up to a predefined, optimized partially charged state. If the charge state determined at the start of the storage charge mode is higher than the predefined partially charged state, then the discharging device discharges the accumulator as far as the predefined partially charged state. |
| US09728990B2 |
Fast charge mode for extended trip
A system and method for early identification of an impending fast-charge or fast-charge opportunity and use of that information to prepare the battery cells for the fast-charge. |
| US09728988B2 |
Charging circuit for USB port
A charging circuit for a USB port includes a first connector, a second connector, and a voltage booster circuit. The first connector includes a first power pin. The second connector includes a second power pin. The voltage booster circuit is connected between the first connector and the second connector. The voltage booster boosts a voltage provided by the first power pin of the first connector and provides the boosted voltage to the second power pin of the second connector to charge an electronic device. |
| US09728987B2 |
Smart battery with a supply voltage control circuit and method for manufacturing the battery
The smart battery (1) includes an electronic module provided with an electronic circuit (8) for controlling the supply voltage, which is disposed in a case having a cover (2) as the external negative terminal, fixed to a cup (3), as the external positive terminal. A first chemical substance (4) as the anode and a second chemical substance (5) as the cathode, are inside the case. The electronic module includes a printed circuit board (7) having a first face with conductive paths, connected to the electronic circuit, and a second insulating face fixed to the second chemical substance. The electronic circuit is connected at output to a first connection pad connected to the cup. The electronic circuit is connected to the chemical substances by a second connection pad on a first tab (7′) and by a third connection pad on a second tab (7″) folded at 180° on the second face of the printed circuit board. |
| US09728986B2 |
Inrush current limiting circuit
In various embodiments a circuit is provided including: an input terminal to receive an input voltage; a switch, a first controlled input of which being coupled to the input terminal; an inductor, a first terminal of which may be coupled in series to a second controlled input of the switch; a freewheeling diode, wherein a first diode terminal may be coupled with the second controlled input of the switch and with the first terminal of the inductor, and wherein a second diode terminal may be coupled with a reference potential; a capacitor coupled with a second terminal of the inductor; and a controller configured to operate the switch and the inductor in continuous current mode to charge the capacitor. |
| US09728983B2 |
Weak component detection for charging capacity control
A charger and a mobile device exchange messages indicating that high wattage charging is supported over a bidirectional communication channel. After the message exchange, the charger sends a controlled output voltage and current to the mobile device over a cable connected between the charger and the mobile device. The mobile device takes an input voltage measurement that corresponds to the controlled output voltage after being passed through the cable. The charger or mobile device may then calculate a resistance of the cable based on a difference between the controlled output voltage and the input voltage measurement. Based on the resistance of the cable, the controlled voltage and current used to charge a battery of the mobile device is adjusted in order to avoid exceeding capacity of the cable. |
| US09728981B2 |
Feedback controlled coil driver for inductive power transfer
A fully integrated feedback controlled coil driver is disclosed for inductive power transfer to electronic devices. For efficient power transfer, a voltage across a switch that switchably couples the coil between a DC input power source and ground is sampled and compared with a preselected reference voltage to generate an error voltage. The error voltage is integrated over time and compared to a voltage ramp. The value of the integrated error voltage relative to the voltage ramp is used to obtain an optimal on time for the switch such that coil current is maximized for a given DC input power. The coil driver can also provide ASK modulation on the coil current by changing the size of the switch according to input data. |
| US09728976B2 |
Method and system for allocating energy
A method for allocating energy to a plurality of devices, wherein each device is configured to consume, store and/or supply energy, the method includes the steps of: assigning each device to a group of devices; assigning an aggregation node device to each group of devices; for a selection of devices transmitting local power cost functions of the devices and/or power usage profiles of the devices with respect to a predetermined time slot to the assigned aggregation node device; at the aggregation node device, generating aggregated data as a function of the received local power cost functions and/or power usage profiles; transmitting the aggregated data to a central processing device; at the central processing device, optimizing a global cost function for allocating power to the devices as a function of the aggregated data. |
| US09728974B2 |
Renewable energy site reactive power control
Methods, systems, controller devices, and computer program products for reactive power control at a renewable energy site are provided. Embodiments address dynamic performance problems associated with control loop delay and the changing modes of operation for meeting utility voltage and reactive power constraints. Provided is a method for reactive power control involving: (a) determining a site-wide reactive power command comprised by a sum of a reactive power feedforward or compensation term and an integrator term; and (b) distributing the site-wide reactive power command among inverters. Embodiments can include a reactive power control term based on the sum of a single integrator and reactive power compensation term, an integrator anti-windup mechanism based on the status of individual inverters, a means for decreasing detrimental effects of loop delay during reactive power reference changes, and/or a means of implementing voltage and power factor limits with smooth transfer between reactive power operating regions. |
| US09728972B2 |
Alternative energy bus bar by pass breaker, methods of use and installation
The present invention is directed, in part, to electrical components and methods of use associated with such components. In particular, the invention relates to an electrical device and improved method of back feeding energy generated from alternative energy devices such as solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells, electrical generators and other alternative energy sources, to the utility without the necessity of installing a sub panel or replacing an existing panel, resulting in significant cost savings for the user and increased electrical energy available to the power grid. The invention further discloses installation of a back feed circuit breaker into an existing main panel and main circuit breaker thus, eliminating the need of a home owner to completely reinstall a new electrical system in order to install alternative energy sources such as for example, solar panels and the like. |
| US09728968B2 |
Device for stable subsea electric power transmission to run subsea high speed motors or other subsea loads
The invention provides a device for operative connection between a subsea step out cable far end and subsea loads such as pumps, compressors and control systems, distinctive in that the device is a rotating frequency stepper device, more specifically a rotating step up or step down device, and it comprises: a motor and a generator operatively connected so that the motor drives the generator, at least one gas and/or liquid filled vessel into which at least one of the motor and generator are arranged, and the step out length is long, which means long enough to cause problems due to the Ferranti effect at frequency and power levels feasible for subsea pump and compressor motors, and where the device via the step out cable receives input electrical power at a low enough frequency to have stable transmission and the device, operatively connected to the subsea motor, delivers an output electrical frequency, amperage and voltage feasible for operation of the connected motors. System for pressure boosting of hydrocarbon fluid or other fluid subsea, comprising the device. |
| US09728962B2 |
Apparatus for filtering harmonics in railway contact lines and method
An apparatus and a method for filtering harmonics in a power transmission contact line of a railway system includes a multilevel converter multilevel converter having one single phase leg, which phase leg comprises switching cells, each switching cell comprises semi-conductor switches arranged to selectively provide a connection to a corresponding energy storage element. The multilevel converter also includes a controller provided to control the switching of each switching cell, and wherein the phase leg is configured in two parallel branches of cascaded switching cells, which branches is interconnected in a closed circuit. The controller is provided to monitor the content of harmonics in the contact line, and is adapted to filter the monitored harmonics by means of adapting the switching of the switching cells to absorb the harmonics. |
| US09728957B2 |
One quarter wavelength transmission line based electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for integrated circuits
Device and a method of forming an integrated circuit (IC) that offers protection against ESD in RE applications is disclosed. The device includes a transmission line (TL) coupled to a signal pad. The TL is a short circuited stub that is configured as an ESD protection device and as a band pass filter in dependence of a center frequency of the band pass filter. The TL is configured to pass through a signal in response to a frequency of the signal being within an allowable range of frequencies of the band pass filter. The TL functioning as an ESD protection device is configured to shunt the signal in response to the frequency being outside the allowable range. The IC may include an array of control switches that are operable to change an electrical length L of the TL. The center frequency is tunable by controlling the electrical length L. |
| US09728948B2 |
Lightning protector device
A lightning protector device for laying on a structure that is to be protected the device comprises: a surface coating including at least one conductive paint layer. A plurality of electrically conductive elements is arranged in spaced-apart manner on the structure, and the elements are in contact with the conductive paint layer. A protective coating is arranged on the surface coating and comprises a material that is thermally insulating and electrically conductive. The protective coating covers the electrically conductive elements in part. |
| US09728947B2 |
Screwless and seamless cover plate and cover plate assemblies for electrical fixtures
Cover plates are provided for electrical fixtures including a screwless cover plate and/or cover plate assembly for electrical devices that cover the outlets but provide holes for plugs, light switches, audio, data, or video connectors, and the like, and that do not show screw or attachment holes and where the cover plate is part of a cover plate assembly that have screwless attachment to a rectangular ring shaped mounting or strapping plate that attaches to the outlet, switch, wall, or housing or receptacle box without showing screw holes, e.g., via tabs or other attachment mechanism, with or without a backing plate. |
| US09728942B2 |
Portable racking device for draw-out power circuit breakers
Disclosed are various embodiments for racking a draw-out circuit breaker. A portable motorized racking device may be connected or disconnected from an racking assembly of the circuit breaker. The portable racking device includes a gearmotor, a drive socket for engaging with the racking screw of the circuit breaker, and a locking disk for securing the portable racking device to the racking assembly of the circuit breaker. The gearmotor may be remotely controlled to rack the draw-out circuit breaker. |
| US09728935B2 |
Chip-scale package and semiconductor device assembly
A chip-scale package for an edge-emitting semiconductor device and a semiconductor device assembly including such a chip-scale package are provided. The chip-scale package includes an edge-emitting semiconductor device chip, a top submount disposed on a top surface of the chip, and a bottom submount disposed on a bottom surface of the chip. The top-submount area and the bottom-submount area are each greater than the chip area and less than or equal to about 1.2 times the chip area. |
| US09728934B2 |
Back-side-emitting vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) wafer bonded to a heat-dissipation wafer, devices and methods
A wafer-to-wafer bonded arrangement is provided comprising a VCSEL wafer and a highly thermally-conductive (HTC) wafer that are bonded together with the front side of the VCSEL wafer bonded to the HTC wafer. The VCSEL wafer is fabricated to include, at least initially, a native substrate. The HTC wafer includes a thermally-conductive, non-native substrate. All or a portion of the native substrate may be removed after performing wafer-to-wafer bonding. In effect, the HTC wafer becomes the substrate of the bonded pair. During operation of VCSEL dies diced from the bonded wafer, heat generated by the dies flows into the non-native substrate where the heat spreads out and is dissipated. Laser light generated by the VCSEL die is emitted through the back side of the VCSEL die. |
| US09728933B2 |
Tunable laser source
A tunable transmission optical filter is optically coupled between a laser section and semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) section of a tunable laser device. The optical filter may be tuned to provide a high transmission near the lasing peak while suppressing a significant portion of back-propagating amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the SOA section. Without the optical filter, the laser output spectrum may develop side lobes of higher intensity after the ASE is amplified and reflected in the forward direction by the laser gain and mirror sections. While lessening the side lobes, the optical filter simultaneously transmits the laser peak for amplification by the SOA section. |
| US09728931B2 |
Electron injector and free electron laser
An injector arrangement for providing an electron beam. The injector arrangement comprises a first injector for providing electron bunches, and a second injector for providing electrons bunches. The injector arrangement is operable in a first mode in which the electron beam comprises electron bunches provided by the first injector only and a second mode in which the electron beam comprises electron bunches provided by the second injector only. |
| US09728930B2 |
Quantum cascade external cavity laser with metasurfaces
A metasurface reflector for quantum cascade lasing is disclosed. The metasurface reflector uses an array of subcavities disposed on a substrate and spaced with a sub-wavelength period. Each of the subcavities includes a layer of quantum-cascade-laser-active material sandwiched between two metallic layers. The array of subcavities reflect an incident light of a resonant frequency with amplification. When used with an output coupler, a quantum cascade laser beam can be generated. |
| US09728926B2 |
Method and apparatus for radial ultrasonic welding interconnected coaxial connector
A coaxial connector assembly for interconnection with a coaxial cable with a solid outer conductor is provided with a monolithic connector body with a bore. A mating surface with a decreasing diameter toward a connector end is provided on an outer diameter of the connector body proximate the connector end. An overbody may be provided overmolded upon a cable end of the connector body. An interface end may be seated upon the mating surface, the interface end provided with a desired connection interface. The interface end may be permanently coupled to the mating surface by a molecular bond interconnection. In a method of interconnection, the interface end is coupled to the mating surface by application of radial ultrasonic welding. |
| US09728925B2 |
Carbon brush having a centering sleeve
The invention relates to a carbon brush (2), having a wear limit indicating function, having a current-carrying stranded wire being arranged in the brush body (4), and having a stranded indicating wire (10), which, at a stranded wire end section (12), is surrounded and fixed by a sleeve (8) having an infeed opening (22), wherein the sleeve (8) is arranged in a recess (6) being formed in the brush body (4). The sleeve (8) is formed as a centering sleeve, the inner diameter (26a, 26b) of which at the infeed opening (22) nearly corresponds to the outer diameter (24) and features a tapering (30) that is conical in the infeed direction. |
| US09728922B2 |
Electrical adapter, and related switchgear panel
An electrical adapter is disclosed for connecting a connection contact of a circuit breaker with an associated contact piece of an electrical circuit along which the circuit breaker has to be inserted, including a hollow tubular element having a first end portion and a second end portion configured to be electrically connected to a connection contact and a contact piece, respectively, an inner cavity of the hollow tubular element having, at the first end portion, a first frusto-conical shape. A first connector having a hollow deformable body and configured to be accommodated inside the first end portion. A locking body configured to be securely placed along the inner cavity of the hollow tubular element. A second connector including a first connection portion configured to be accommodated inside the first end portion of the hollow tubular element. |
| US09728920B2 |
Connectors for smart windows
This disclosure provides connectors for smart windows. A smart window may incorporate an optically switchable pane. In one aspect, a window unit includes an insulated glass unit including an optically switchable pane. A wire assembly may be attached to the edge of the insulated glass unit and may include wires in electrical communication with electrodes of the optically switchable pane. A floating connector may be attached to a distal end of the wire assembly. The floating connector may include a flange and a nose, with two holes in the flange for affixing the floating connector to a first frame. The nose may include a terminal face that present two exposed contacts of opposite polarity. Pre-wired spacers improve fabrication efficiency and seal integrity of insulated glass units. Electrical connection systems include those embedded in the secondary seal of the insulated glass unit. |
| US09728915B2 |
Tapered-fang electronic connector
An electronic connector includes a base, and one or more tapered extensions protruding from the base. Each tapered extension includes a nose forming a terminal end of that tapered extension. Each tapered extension further includes first and second connection faces that form respective opposing sides of that tapered extension, and that taper toward each other from the base to the nose. Each tapered extension further includes first and second flank surfaces that form respective opposing sides of that tapered extension, and that taper toward each other from the base to the nose between the first and second connection faces. Each tapered extension further includes a first forward set of plural electrical contacts and a first rearward electrical contact located along the first connection face. Each tapered extension further includes a second forward set of plural electrical contacts and a second rearward electrical contact located along the second connection face. |
| US09728914B2 |
Connection device and reception device
A connection device includes a rod-shaped electrode, a plurality of cylindrical electrodes through which the rod-shaped electrode passes, the plurality of cylindrical electrodes being sequentially exposed on a surface in order from a front end side of the rod-shaped electrode, an insulation section configured to insulate the rod-shaped electrode and the plurality of cylindrical electrodes from each other, and a plurality of connection terminals electrically connected to the rod-shaped electrode and the plurality of cylindrical electrodes in a vicinity of a rear end of the rod-shaped electrode, the plurality of connection terminals being protruded from a rear side. |
| US09728913B2 |
Apparatus for receiving a plug to form an electrical connection, a method
An apparatus comprising: a socket cavity extending longitudinally and configured to receive a plug inserted longitudinally through an aperture; a first socket contact positioned within the socket cavity; an actuator configured to automatically switch the apparatus from a first configuration to a second configuration, when the plug is inserted longitudinally beyond a threshold insertion distance at which a tip of the plug has been inserted past the first socket contact and a first plug contact is positioned adjacent the first socket contact, wherein, in the first configuration, the first socket contact is laterally retracted from an insertion path of the plug through the socket cavity and wherein, in the second configuration, the first socket contact laterally extended towards the plug to form an electrical connection with the first plug contact. |
| US09728912B2 |
Micro-coax cable adaptor board
An adaptor board may include a multi-layer circuit board having at least three layers, namely a first board layer, a second board layer, and a third board layer. A first plurality of cable contacts may be provided at the first board layer, and a second plurality of cable contacts may be provided at the third board layer. |
| US09728911B2 |
Dielectric spacer for coaxial cable and connector
A dielectric spacer for a coaxial connector includes: a narrow ring; a wide ring attached to the narrow ring, the wide and narrow rings sharing a longitudinal axis; a plurality of posts positioned within the wide ring, each of the posts extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis; and a plurality of bores in the narrow ring, each of the bores extending substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis and being aligned with a corresponding post. Each of the posts is mounted on a frangible section that separates the post from its corresponding bore. |
| US09728910B2 |
Coaxial connector
The present invention relates to a coaxial connector. According to the present invention, there is provided a coaxial connector which is installed for electrical connection of a communication module, and includes a first connector in which an insulator through which a conductor penetrates is installed inside a first housing, and a conductive gasket is seated between the first housing and the insulator; and a second connector which is coupled so that a front end comes into close contact with the conductive gasket. |
| US09728904B2 |
Method for connecting differential transmission cable, differential transmission cable and electric device
A method for connecting a differential transmission cable, (and a differential transmission cable and an electric device) includes: connecting a pair of conductors for transmitting a differential signal to transceivers; and connecting a second shield provided on the periphery of a first shield via an insulating layer to frame grounds, without electrically connecting anywhere the first shield that is provided on the periphery of the pair of conductors via a dielectric layer. |
| US09728899B2 |
Electrical connector
An electrical connector includes an insulating body, a middle shielding sheet disposed in the insulating body, at least one row of terminals disposed in the insulating body and located on one side of the middle shielding sheet, an inner metal shell arranged on the insulating body, and an outer metal shell, enclosing the insulating body and the inner metal shell to form a mating cavity. The row of terminals includes at least one ground terminal. The ground terminal is projected laterally to form an urging portion. The inner metal shell at least partially encloses the terminals and the middle shielding sheet, and is in contact with the plate edge of the urging portion. |
| US09728898B1 |
Conductive shell for a cable assembly
A cable assembly includes a connector head and a conductive shield arranged to at least partially encase the connector head. The conductive shield includes a first plurality of contact members. A conductive shell is arranged to at least partially encase the connector head and the conductive shield. Each of the first plurality of contact members extends outwardly from the conductive shield toward the conductive shell to electrically couple the conductive shield to the conductive shell. |
| US09728897B2 |
Power connector assemblies
A power connector assembly includes a connector housing and a plurality of receptacles defined in the connector housing. Each of the receptacles defines a keyed interface profile such that each interface profile is adapted to individually couple to a respective feeder connector. Each one of the receptacles has an interface profile different from the other interface profiles.The plurality of receptacles can include a first profiled interface, a second profiled interface and a third profiled interface. Each of the first, second and third profiled interfaces can define a longitudinal connector axis. The number of profile interfaces can be increased by selection of other angle positioned within the housing which prevent incorrect receptacles from be installed (i.e. connected). |
| US09728896B2 |
Lever-type electrical connector with connector positioning assurance member
An electrical connector comprising a cover, a mating assist lever pivotally mounted to the cover and configured to pivot between an open position and a closed position, and a connector positioning assurance (CPA) member slideably mounted to the cover and configured to slide between an inoperative position and a locked position. The CPA member comprises a flexible locking arm that is bendable between a bent position and a rest position. The flexible locking arm comprises a blocking ramp that cooperates with a blocking shoulder on the cover to generate a first threshold force resisting the CPA member from sliding from the inoperative position to the locked position and a locking ramp that cooperates with the locking shoulder on the mate assist lever to bend the flexible locking arm from the rest position to the bent position to prevent the blocking ramp and the blocking shoulder from cooperating. |
| US09728888B1 |
Socket
Provided is a socket which hermetically seals a contact space in which plug-side contacts and socket-side contacts are in contact with each other by a small-scale simple structure. The socket includes an elastic seal member that surrounds one or a plurality of socket-side contacts, is fixed to an inner surface of an accommodation recess, and makes elastic contact with an exposure surface of a plug connection portion accommodated in the accommodation recess, a plug-side contact or contacts being exposed in the exposure surface. A contact space in which the plug-side contact(s) of the plug connection portion slid to a connection position in the accommodation recess and a contact portion or portions of the corresponding contact-side contact(s) make elastic contact with each other is surrounded and hermetically sealed by the inner surface of the accommodation recess, the elastic seal member, and the exposure surface of the plug connection portion. |
| US09728885B2 |
Connector
A connector is mateable with a mating connector along a front-rear direction. The connector includes a contact member and a ground member. The contact member includes a plurality of contacts and an arrangement member. The arrangement member holds and arranges the contacts in a pitch direction perpendicular to the front-rear direction. The arrangement member is provided with two press-fit protrusions and an island-like protrusion. Each of the press-fit protrusions protrudes in a protruding direction perpendicular to both the front-rear direction and the pitch direction. The island-like protrusion protrudes in the protruding direction while extending long in a predetermined direction perpendicular to the protruding direction. The ground member has a plate-like main portion. The main portion of the ground member is formed with two holes and a protrusion accommodation portion. The press-fit protrusions are press-fit into the holes, respectively. The island-like protrusion is accommodated in the protrusion accommodation portion. |
| US09728884B1 |
Connector
A connector includes a housing including a terminal reception chamber in which a terminal can be received, and a front holder that is attached to the housing so as to double-lock the terminal in the terminal reception chamber, wherein the front holder includes a plate-like rib portion extending in a direction crossing a fitting direction of the front holder, the housing includes a groove portion and a mountain-like protrusion portion in a mounting position where the front holder is mounted, the groove portion being recessed into a shape that can receive the rib portion while supporting the rib portion, the groove portion extending in a direction in which the rib portion extends, the protrusion portion protruding in an extension direction of the groove portion and extending in the fitting direction of the front holder. |
| US09728881B2 |
Connector terminal, electrical connector, and method for manufacturing connector terminal
A connector terminal includes first and second arm parts, an interconnection part, a first contactor formed of a piece of sheet which is in a bent shape so as to have the first end laid over on a second end of the sheet with reference to a bent part that is an opposite side to a side where the first end of the sheet and the second end thereof are present, and a second contactor formed of a piece of sheet which is in a bent shape so as to have the first end laid over on a second end of the sheet with reference to a bent part that is an opposite side to a side where the first end of the sheet and the second end thereof are located, and the second contactor facing the first contactor. |
| US09728879B2 |
Sealed connector
A sealed electrical connection assembly joins an electrical component to a plug-in component. For liquid-tight sealing, the free, deformable ends of the conductor tracks of the electrical component and/or the contact elements of the plug-in component are provided with hydrophobic surfaces at least regionally, so that even after a plurality of plug contact operations have been performed, in the coupling position and, optionally, in the uncoupled position, the contact region is surrounded by hydrophobic surfaces. |
| US09728878B2 |
Press-fit terminal and electronic component using the same
There are provided a press-fit terminal which has an excellent whisker resistance and a low inserting force, is unlikely to cause shaving of plating when the press-fit terminal is inserted into a substrate, and has a high heat resistance, and an electronic component using the same. A press-fit terminal comprises: a female terminal connection part provided at one side of an attached part to be attached to a housing; and a substrate connection part provided at the other side and attached to a substrate by press-fitting the substrate connection part into a through-hole formed in the substrate. At least the substrate connection part has the surface structure described below, and the press-fit terminal has an excellent whisker resistance. The surface structure comprises: an A layer formed as an outermost surface layer and formed of Sn, In, or an alloy thereof; a B layer formed below the A layer and constituted of one or two or more selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Os, and Ir; and a C layer formed below the B layer and constituted of one or two or more selected from the group consisting of Ni, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Cu. The A layer has a thickness of 0.002 to 0.2 μm. The B layer has a thickness of 0.001 to 0.3 μm. The C layer has a thickness of 0.05 μm or larger. |
| US09728874B2 |
Electrical connector
An electrical connector includes an insulating body having at least one terminal slot, and at least one terminal received in the terminal slot. The terminal slot is provided with a first inner wall and a second inner wall. The terminal has a fixing portion. The fixing portion is sequentially provided with a bonding section and a thinned section. A thickness of the thinned section is smaller than that of the bonding section. The bonding section forms interference fit with the second inner wall. The thinned section forms interference fit with the first inner wall, and extends to the second inner wall. In a direction perpendicular to the second inner wall, a gap exists between the thinned section and the second inner wall. |
| US09728871B1 |
Electrical connector having a dual-actuated releasable latch
An electrical connector includes a housing having a mating end, a rear end opposite the mating end, and an exterior wall extending at least partially between the mating end and the rear end. The exterior wall includes a cavity with a latch held on the housing at least partially received in the cavity and a latch actuator at least partially received in the cavity. The latch actuator has first and second release mechanisms. The first release mechanism includes a pull tab being linearly movable within the cavity during a pull release operation, and the second release mechanism includes a push button being movable within the cavity during a push release operation for interacting with the latch to release the latch during the push release operation. |
| US09728869B2 |
Printed substrate and printed substrate with terminal using same
The present invention provides a printed substrate having a novel structure in which substrate terminals can be fixed to the printed substrate without needing a base, and the substrate terminals can be press-fitted into through-holes without applying pressing force to printed wiring and a plating layer in the through-holes, and also provides a printed substrate with terminals that uses this printed substrate. A printed substrate includes through-holes into which the first end portions of substrate terminals are to be inserted. The through-holes each include press-fitting regions into which the first end portion of a substrate terminal is to be press-fitted, and conduction regions arranged so as to oppose the outer circumferential surfaces of the first end portion of the substrate terminal via gaps in directions perpendicular to the axis. Printed wiring is connected to the conduction regions, and a plating layer is adhered to the conduction regions. |
| US09728867B2 |
Magnetic coupling systems
This patent pertains to magnetic coupling systems. One implementation includes magnetic jumper cables, which include magnetic couplers and elongate, insulated, electrically-isolated electric conductors. |
| US09728866B2 |
Electrical connector
An electrical connector comprises a plurality of terminal blocks arranged along a transverse direction. The terminal block includes a vertical insulative plate, a pair of first terminals, and a pair of second terminals. The first terminal includes a first deflectable contacting arm and a first connecting foot. The second terminal includes a second deflectable contacting arm and a second connecting foot. The first deflectable contacting arm and the second deflectable contacting arm are arranged one by one along the transverse direction. The first deflectable contacting arms of the pair of first terminals bend in a face to face style to form an inserting space in the vertical direction. The second deflectable contacting arms of the pair of second terminals bend in a face to face style to form the inserting space in the vertical direction. |
| US09728865B1 |
Sealed, solderless, replaceable, electrical connector
Described herein is an electrical connector. One embodiment takes the form of an electrical connector that includes a pogo-pin connector having: a pogo-pin-connector longitudinal axis, a first end compressible along the pogo-pin-connector longitudinal axis, and a second end; and a leaf-spring connector having: a leaf-spring-connector longitudinal axis, a first end that is mechanically and electrically connected to the second end of the pogo-pin connector at a junction point, and a second end that comprises a contact portion; wherein when the pogo-pin connector and the leaf-spring connector are connected, (i) the pogo-pin-connector longitudinal axis and the leaf-spring-connector longitudinal axis are substantially parallel and (ii) the contact portion of the leaf-spring connector is configured to exert a force substantially normal to the substantially parallel longitudinal axes. |
| US09728864B2 |
Electrical connector contact terminal
An electrical contact terminal includes a base portion for positioning and retaining the electrical contact terminal within a connector housing, an insulation displacement connecting portion extending upwardly from the base portion and comprising a pair of spaced apart arms defining an opening therebetween for receiving and making electrical contact with an electrical conductor, and a contact portion extending downwardly from the base portion and configured to float when the electrical contact terminal is retained and positioned within a connector housing. The contact portion includes a first arm, a second arm, and an arcuate base portion. The first arm extends downwardly and includes a first end attached to the base portion and an opposite second end. The second arm extends downwardly and includes a free first end closer to the base portion and an opposite second end farther from the base portion. The second arm is configured to deflect when making electrical contact with a mating contact pin. The arcuate base portion connects the second ends of the first and second arms. |
| US09728860B2 |
Spherical lens array based multi-beam antennae
A radio frequency antenna uses an array of spherical lens and mechanically movable radio frequency (RF) elements along the surface of the spherical lens to provide cellular coverage for a narrow geographical area. The antenna includes at least two spherical lens, where each spherical lens has an associated element assembly. Each element assembly has a track that curves along the contour of the exterior surface of the spherical lens and along which a radio frequency (RF) element can move. The antenna also includes a phase shifter configured to adjust a phase of the signals produced by the RF elements. The antenna includes a control mechanism configured to enable a user to move the RF elements along their respective tracks, and automatically configure the phase shifter to modify a phase of the output signals from the elements based on the relative positions between the RF elements. |
| US09728852B2 |
Matching circuit for antenna and associated method
A matching circuit for an antenna of whatever type, includes a ground circuit and a feed circuit. The ground circuit connects a ground terminal of the antenna to a ground voltage, and provides an inductive impedance between the ground terminal and the ground voltage. The feed circuit connects a feed signal to a feed terminal of the antenna. The feed circuit is capable of switching between a first mode and a second mode for respectively providing a first equivalent impedance and a second equivalent impedance between the feed signal and the feed terminal. An associated method is also disclosed. |
| US09728849B2 |
Antenna alignment apparatus and method
A method of adjusting at least one cellular communications antenna mounted on an antenna structure, wherein the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, is movable relative to the antenna structure, the method comprising the steps: determining or retrieving current position values of the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, in first, second and third dimensions; receiving a desired position value for the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, in the first dimension relating to a desired position of the antenna; determining a new position value for the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern, of the antenna in the second dimension based on required movement of the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, relative to the antenna structure to reach the desired position value in the first dimension; determining a new position value for the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, in the third dimension based on required movement of the antenna relative to the antenna structure to reach the desired position value in the first dimension; calculating the difference between the current and new position values in the second dimension; calculating the difference between the current and new position values in the third dimension; adjusting the position of the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, towards the desired position by moving the antenna, and/or direction of the radiation pattern of the antenna, relative to the antenna structure based at least in part on the calculated difference of first and second positions in at least the second dimension. |
| US09728846B2 |
Low passive intermodulation antenna apparatus and methods of use
Low passive intermodulation (PIM) antenna assemblies and methods for utilizing the same. In one embodiment, the low PIM antenna assembly includes an ultra-wide band quarter wave monopole over ground plane antenna apparatus that operates within a band from 698-5900 MHz. The radiating element is comprised of three (3) features that are separated from one another by one hundred twenty (120°) thus producing a triangular shaped pattern. Such a configuration reduces the nulls by about twenty percent (20%) as compared with similar antenna implementations having flat radiating elements. Moreover, in order to reduce the diameter of the ground plane while simultaneously increasing the electrical length of the ground plane, forming of the ground plane is required. Methods of using the aforementioned low PIM antenna assembly are also disclosed. |
| US09728844B2 |
High-gain digitally tuned antenna system with modified swept-back fractal (MSBF) blade
A high-gain digitally tuned antenna system comprises a modified swept-back fractal (MSBF) radiator element, with the fractal preferably being a Sierpinski carpet fractal based on a parallelogram. A digital tuning circuit coupled to the radiator comprises an array of inductors which can be selectively connected to form a network which tunes the antenna system to a selected tuning frequency. The system is preferably arranged to selectively connect the inductors in series such that the combined inductances substantially cancel the capacitance of the radiator at a selected tuning frequency. The antenna system is preferably arranged to operate over the 30-88 MHz, 108-174 MHz, and 225-600 MHz bands, with a radiator height of 15″ or less. |
| US09728842B2 |
Antenna structure and wireless communication device using the antenna structure
An antenna structure includes an antenna holder, a feed portion, a grounding portion, and a radiating body. The antenna holder includes a plurality of surfaces. The feed portion and the ground portion are both positioned on one surface of the antenna holder. The radiating body is positioned on at least one surface of the antenna holder. The feed portion is electronically connected to a first end of the radiating body. The ground portion is electronically connected to a second end of the radiating body so as to form a loop antenna. |
| US09728838B2 |
On chip antenna with opening
Approaches for an on-chip antenna are provided. A method includes forming an antenna in an insulator layer at a front side of a substrate. The method also includes forming a trench in the substrate underneath the antenna. The method further includes forming a fill material in the trench. The substrate is composed of a material having a first dielectric constant. The fill material has a second dielectric constant that is less than the first dielectric constant. |
| US09728836B2 |
Electronic device including main body, movable portion and connector
An electronic device includes a main body, a movable portion, and a connector. A positional relationship between the main body and the movable portion is changeable via the connector. The main body includes a first surface having a display unit, the movable portion includes a second surface having a long side adaptive to a short side of the first surface, the movable portion has a first communication antenna unit. |
| US09728835B2 |
Plasma-integrated switching devices
A switching device includes a first electrode at least partially disposed within a sealed chamber. The sealed chamber encloses a plasma phase change material. The switching device includes a second electrode at least partially disposed within the sealed chamber. The second electrode is physically separated from the first electrode. When subjected to a signal that satisfies a threshold, the plasma phase change material forms a plasma within the sealed chamber. The first electrode is electrically coupled to the second electrode via the plasma when the plasma is formed. The first electrode is electrically isolated from the second electrode when the plasma is not formed. The switching device includes a first connector electrically coupled to the first electrode and a second connector electrically coupled to the second electrode. The first connector, the second connector, or both, are configured to receive the signal. |
| US09728834B2 |
Connector apparatus and wireless transmission system
A connector apparatus includes a first connector unit provided at an end section of a waveguide cable and a second connector unit that is provided at a terminal section of a transmission wire formed on a print substrate and is detachable from the first connector unit, the second connector unit being structured to perform a signal transmission with the first connector unit by an electromagnetic induction. |
| US09728829B1 |
DC blocking circuit with bias control and independent cut-off frequency for AC-coupled circuits
A circuit for blocking undesired input direct current of AC-coupled broadband circuits. The circuit includes a capacitor coupled to an input port and a common node. The input port receives a RF input signal. Additionally, the circuit includes a current source supplying a DC current to the common node leading a bias current to an output port. Further, the circuit includes a variable voltage source through an internal load and a close loop with an application circuit having an input load coupled to the output port to determine various bias voltages to control the bias current at the output port in association with a RF output signal that is substantially free of any input direct current originated from the RF input signal and is associated with an inherent low cut-off frequency independent of the various bias voltages. |
| US09728825B2 |
Device for indirectly cooling battery module of eco-friendly vehicle
A device for indirectly cooling a battery module of an eco-friendly vehicle is provided that cools the battery module using an interfacial plate into which a heat pipe is inserted to maximize battery heat emission performance and simultaneously prevent degradation of battery performance. A thermally-conductive interfacial plate in which a heat pipe is embedded by over-molding is disposed between battery cells and a heat sink, which is a condensation unit, integrally connected to an upper end of the heat pipe is disposed in a cooling air flow path to improve contact strength between the interfacial plate and the battery cells. A planar heat emitter is disposed between the battery cells where the interfacial plate is not disposed to heat the battery to a proper-level temperature in a cold-start environment and a low-temperature environment, thereby improving battery performance and preventing degradation in vehicle power. |
| US09728824B2 |
Rechargeable battery
A rechargeable battery, particularly a rechargeable tool battery, includes at least one cell block which has at least one heat dissipation element, which is provided to dissipate heat from the cell block, and a rechargeable battery housing, which has at least one heat radiation element, which is provided at least to radiate the heat dissipated by the heat dissipation element to the surroundings. It is provided that the heat dissipation element and the heat radiation element are formed as components configured separately from each other. |
| US09728823B2 |
Battery for a vehicle and method for producing a battery
The invention relates to a battery (10) for a vehicle. Said battery comprises a plurality of battery cells (12), which are arranged in a housing (16, 18, 20) of the battery (10), and also a cooling device (22, 24) for dissipating heat from the battery cells (12). A material (32), which takes up a first volume in a basic state and takes up a volume which is greater than the first volume in an expanded state, is introduced between the housing (20) and the cooling device (22, 24). The cooling device (22, 24) is pressed against the battery cells (12) by the material (32) which has changed over to its expanded state. The invention also relates to a method for producing a battery (10) of this kind. |
| US09728819B2 |
Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery system
A non-aqueous electrolyte battery system includes a battery voltage output section for outputting a voltage of a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and a freezing determination section for performing freezing determination to a non-aqueous electrolyte. In the freezing determination, the freezing determination section executes freezing determination current control for supplying a current at a freezing determination current value at a freezing determination time in a direction to charge the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery. When a voltage value output from the battery voltage output section exhibits a transition that rises once to a peak value during execution of the freezing determination current control, and then decreases with time, it is determined that the non-aqueous electrolyte is in a frozen state. |
| US09728815B2 |
Assembled battery
An assembled battery includes a plurality of air cells arranged in a horizontal direction and a plurality of connection flow paths. Each air cell includes a storage portion between a positive electrode and a metal negative electrode to store an electrolysis solution. The storage portions of the respective adjacent air cells communicate with each other by the respective connection flow paths. An insulation fluid for electrically insulating the electrolysis solution in the respective adjacent air cells is sealed in the respective connection flow paths. |
| US09728810B2 |
Electrolyte and lithium ion secondary battery
An electrolyte contains a non-aqueous solvent, a lithium salt, and a fluorine-containing ether compound represented by the following Formula (I). In the following formula, R1 represents an alkyl group having 3 to 8 carbon atoms; R2 represents an alkyl group having 1 carbon atom; at least 6 carbon atoms among carbon atoms bonded to the alkyl group represented by R1 are substituted with fluorine atoms; and at least one hydrogen atom among hydrogen atoms bonded to the alkyl group represented by R2 is substituted with a fluorine atom. |
| US09728807B2 |
Electrochemical or electric layer system, method for the production and use thereof
An electrochemical or electric layer system, having at least two electrode layers and at least one ion-conducting layer disposed between two electrode layers. The ion-conducting layer has at least one ion-conducting solid electrolyte and at least one binder at grain boundaries of the at least one ion-conducting solid electrolyte for improving the ion conductivity over the grain boundaries and the adhesion of the layers. |
| US09728803B2 |
Redox flow battery system including an anode electrode having a subsurface alloy
A hydrogen/bromine reduction-oxidation flow battery system includes a bromine electrode, a hydrogen electrode, a membrane, a first catalyst, and a second catalyst. The membrane is positioned between the bromine electrode and the hydrogen electrode. The first catalyst is associated with the bromine electrode. The second catalyst is associated with the hydrogen electrode and at least partially formed from a subsurface alloy configured (i) to promote facile dissociation of H2, and (ii) to prevent bromide from adsorbing onto the hydrogen electrode. |
| US09728800B2 |
Stable proton exchange membranes and membrane electrode assemblies
A proton exchange membrane and a membrane electrode assembly for an electrochemical cell such as a fuel cell are provided. A catalytically active component is disposed within the membrane electrode assembly. The catalytically active component comprises particles containing a metal oxide such as silica, metal or metalloid ions such as ions that include boron, and a catalyst. A process for increasing peroxide radical resistance in a membrane electrode is also provided that includes the introduction of the catalytically active component described into a membrane electrode assembly. |
| US09728797B2 |
Fuel cell and fuel cell stack
A fuel battery and a fuel cell stack, the fuel battery including: a fuel cell that generates electric power through a power generating reaction of reactant gases and includes a solid electrolyte layer having a first main surface and a second main surface, a first electrode disposed on the first main surface and serving as one of a cathode and an anode, and a second electrode disposed on the second main surface and serving as the other one of the cathode and the anode; an interconnector disposed so as to face the first electrode; and a current collecting member that electrically connects the first electrode to the interconnector. The first electrode includes: an inner portion connected to the current collecting member; and an outer portion disposed outward of the current collecting member and having a height larger than the height of the inner portion. |
| US09728796B2 |
Fluidic distribution system and related methods
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a fluid distribution system. The system may include one or more electrochemical cell layers, a bulk distribution manifold having an inlet, a cell layer feeding manifold in direct fluidic contact with the electrochemical cell layer and a separation layer that separates the bulk distribution manifold from the cell feeding manifold, providing at least two independent paths for fluid to flow from the bulk distribution manifold to the cell feeding manifold. |
| US09728793B2 |
Joining device and joining method involving acquistion of a parameter relating to expansion or contraction
There is provided a technique that readily performs positioning of a joining member relative to a strip member during conveyance. A joining device 100 joins a gas diffusion layer 7 with a first catalyst electrode layer 2 of a strip body 5r which is a continuous strip member of a membrane electrode assembly 5, while conveying the strip body 5r. A controller 101 of the joining device 100 obtains a detection time td based on a detection signal of a catalyst layer detector 130 when a front end 3e of a second catalyst electrode layer 3 placed on the strip body 5r passes through a detection point DP. The controller 101 subsequently obtains a joining position reach time tt based on the detection time td when the gas diffusion layer 7 reaches a press point PP of joining rollers 152. The controller 101 starts conveying the gas diffusion layer 7 by means of a transfer at a conveying start time ts that is obtained based on the joining position reach time tt and a specified speed pattern of the transfer 141. |
| US09728792B2 |
Ion exchange membrane filling composition, method of preparing ion exchange membrane, ion exchange membrane, and redox flow battery
A composition for filling an ion exchange membrane, a method of preparing the ion exchange membrane, the filled ion exchange membrane, and a redox flow battery using the filled ion exchange membrane. The composition includes an ion conductive material and a water soluble support. |
| US09728791B2 |
Self-sealing flow frame for flow battery stack
A self-sealing flow frame is provided having a first frame component and a second frame component. Each frame component is provided with a tongue-and-groove configuration that when assembled forms a tessellation engagement, which creates the seal. When each frame component is assembled into a flow frame, with the inner surfaces facing towards each other, the tongue-and-groove arrangements create a seal profile that circumscribe constituent parts of a device within which the self-sealing flow frame is being employed. As the frame components are compressively secured and fastened together, a tessellation engagement of the seal profile forms the fluid seal. Fluids of the device are prevented from exfiltrating the device, and are contained within the self-sealing flow frame by the fluid seal. |
| US09728779B2 |
Negative electrode for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery
The present invention provides a negative electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, the negative electrode comprising a negative electrode active material layer containing: negative electrode active materials including carbon active material and silicon active material composed of SiOx at least partially coated with lithium carbonate where 0.5≦x≦1.6; and binders including carboxymethyl cellulose or metal salt thereof, polyacrylic acid or metal salt thereof, and styrene-butadiene rubber or polyvinylidene fluoride, and a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery including this negative electrode. The negative electrode can increase the battery capacity and improve the cycle performance and first charge and discharge efficiency. |
| US09728778B2 |
Negative electrode active material containing a titanium oxide compound having a crystal structure of monoclinic system titanium dioxide
A negative electrode active material according to one embodiment includes a titanium oxide compound having a crystal structure of monoclinic system titanium dioxide. The titanium oxide compound is modified by at least one kind of ion selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal cation, an alkali earth metal cation, a transition metal cation, a sulfide ion, a sulfuric acid ion and a chloride ion. |
| US09728777B2 |
Methods for mass-producing silicon nano powder and graphene-doped silicon nano powder
Disclosed is a facile and cost effective method of producing nano silicon powder or graphene-doped silicon nano powder having a particle size smaller than 100 nm. The method comprises: (a) preparing a silicon precursor/graphene nano composite; (b) mixing the silicon precursor/graphene nano composite with a desired quantity of magnesium; (c) converting the silicon precursor to form a mixture of graphene-doped silicon and a reaction by-product through a thermal and/or chemical reduction reaction; and (d) removing the reaction by-product from the mixture to obtain graphene-doped silicon nano powder. |
| US09728776B2 |
Germanium-containing lithium-ion devices
Lithium ion devices that include an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte are provided. The anode having an active material including germanium nano-particles, boron carbide nano-particles and tungsten carbide nano-particles, wherein the weight percentage of the germanium is between 5 to 80 weight % of the total weight of the anode material, the weight percentage of boron in the anode material is between 2 to 20 weight % of the total weight of the anode material and the weight percentage of tungsten in the anode material is between 5 to 20 weight % of the total weight of the anode materials. |
| US09728774B2 |
Storage structure of an electrical energy storage cell
A storage structure of an electrical metal-air energy storage cell is provided including an active storage material and an inert material, wherein particles of the inert material have an aspect ratio of less than 0.7, and wherein subregions of the inert particles are incorporated in a grain volume of grains of the active storage material. |
| US09728772B2 |
Flooded lead-acid battery and method of making the same
Positive active material pastes for flooded deep discharge lead-acid batteries, methods of making the same and lead-acid batteries including the same are provided. The positive active material paste includes lead oxide, a sulfate additive, and an aqueous acid. The positive active material paste contains from about 0.1 to about 1.0 wt % of the sulfate additive. Batteries using such positive active material pastes exhibit greatly improved performance over batteries with conventional positive active material pastes. |
| US09728770B2 |
Storage battery electrode, manufacturing method thereof, storage battery, and electronic device
In manufacture of a storage battery electrode containing graphene as a conductive additive, the efficiency of reduction of graphene oxide is reduced with high efficiency under mild conditions, and cycle characteristics and rate characteristics of a storage battery are improved. Provided is a manufacturing method of a storage battery electrode. In the manufacturing method, a paste containing an active material, a binder, graphene oxide, and a solvent is formed; the paste is applied to a current collector and the solvent contained in the paste is evaporated to form an active material layer; the active material layer is immersed in a liquid containing alcohol; and the active material layer is taken out from the liquid and heated so that the graphene oxide is reduced. |
| US09728769B2 |
Method of manufacturing electrode of secondary battery by ESD method
The present invention aims to provide a multi-layer electrode. A method of manufacturing the multi-layer electrode according to the present invention is used in a secondary battery. The manufacturing method includes a process of sequentially spraying suspension liquid 51 to 54 that contain an active material onto a base material 50 to form two, three, four or more electrode layers 56 to 59. The process of forming the electrode layers 56 to 59 includes a process of spraying suspension liquid onto the base material 50 having a predetermined surface temperature to form an electrode layer 56 and a process of spraying suspension liquid onto the electrode layer 56 or another electrode layer having a surface temperature different from the predetermined surface temperature to form an electrode layer that is more distal than the electrode layer 56 with respect to the base material 50. |
| US09728761B2 |
Rechargeable battery and battery module
A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly, a case accommodating the electrode assembly, and first and second electrode terminals electrically coupled to the electrode assembly and protruding out of the case, the first electrode terminal having a first terminal magnet, and the second electrode terminal having a second terminal magnet. |
| US09728753B2 |
Cell module
A cell module includes a battery pack in which a plurality of electrical cells are arranged; and a bottom plate member that supports the battery pack. The bottom plate member includes an ejector for ejecting a liquid on the bottom plate member in a direction intersecting in an arrangement direction of the electrical cells and in an extending direction of the bottom plate member. |
| US09728752B2 |
Alkaline battery including cathode can with coating composed of nickel-cobalt alloy
There is provided An inside-out alkaline battery, including: a cylindrical cathode can that has a bottom, that performs a function of a cathode current collector, that has a nickel-plated layer on an inner surface of the cathode can, and that has a coating on a surface layer of the nickel-plated layer, the coating being composed of nickel-cobalt alloy, a thickness of the coating being between 0.15 μm and 0.25 μm (both inclusive), a ratio of cobalt in the nickel-cobalt alloy being between 40% and 60% (both inclusive); and a cathode mixture that is disposed in the cathode can, that is annular in shape, and that contains a cathode active material. |
| US09728742B2 |
Display panel assembly and method of manufacturing a display panel therefrom
A display panel assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: an upper mother substrate; a lower mother substrate disposed opposing the upper mother substrate and including a plurality of thin film transistor (TFT) arrays; a sealing member formed between the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate and formed with a closed loop shape to surround the thin film transistor array; and a seal pattern formed on an edge region of the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate to bond the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate and in which an open region is formed to connect the inside and outside of the bonded upper mother substrate and lower mother substrate. |
| US09728740B2 |
Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
Provided are an organic light-emitting display apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same. The organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a first substrate; an organic light-emitting device provided on the first substrate and including a first electrode, a second electrode, and an intermediate layer positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode; a second substrate covering the organic light-emitting device and disposed to face the first substrate; and a sealant bonding the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein at least a portion of the sealant is a intermixing region which is formed as an inorganic material permeates an organic material. |
| US09728738B2 |
Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a substrate, and a thin-film transistor and a capacitor formed over the substrate. The apparatus further includes an interlayer insulation layer, a first organic insulating layer and a second organic insulation layer sequentially stacked over the substrate and covering the thin-film transistor and a capacitor. The first organic insulation layer includes a first hole that does not overlap with the thin-film transistor and the capacitor when viewed in a direction perpendicular to a major surface of the substrate. The apparatus further includes a pixel electrode formed over the interlayer insulating layer and the first organic insulating layer. The pixel electrode includes a first portion disposed inside the first hole and a second portion disposed over the first organic insulating layer and outside the first hole. The apparatus includes a light emission layer and an opposite layer formed over the pixel electrode. |
| US09728737B2 |
Light-emitting device, lighting device, and manufacturing method of light-emitting device
The manufacturing method of the light-emitting device is provided in which an auxiliary electrode in contact with an electrode formed using a transparent conductive film of a light-emitting element is formed using a mask, and direct contact between the auxiliary electrode and an EL layer is prevented by oxidizing the auxiliary electrode. Further, the light-emitting device manufactured according to the method and the lighting device including the light-emitting device are provided. |
| US09728721B2 |
Resistive memory device
A non-volatile memory device and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The memory device includes a substrate, a lower cell dielectric layer with gate conductors and a body unit conductor disposed on the lower cell dielectric layer and gates. Memory element conductors are disposed on the body unit and lower cell dielectric layer. An upper cell dielectric layer may be on the substrate and over the lower cell dielectric layer, body unit conductor and memory element conductors. The upper cell dielectric layer isolates the memory element conductors. |
| US09728717B2 |
Magnetic tunnel junction patterning using low atomic weight ion sputtering
A method of magnetic tunnel junction patterning for magnetoresistive random access memory devices using low atomic weight ion sputtering. The method includes: providing a magnetoresistive random access memory device including a hard mask metal, a MTJ element, and a semiconductor substrate, wherein the hard mask metal is disposed on the MTJ element and, wherein the MTJ element is disposed on the semiconductor substrate; and etching back the MTJ element into a plurality of MTJ element pillars using a low atomic weight ion sputtering. A magnetoresistive random access memory device using low atomic weight ion sputtering. The device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of MTJ element pillars disposed on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the plurality of MTJ element pillars is etched from a MTJ element using a low atomic weight ion sputtering; and a hard mask metal disposed on the MTJ element pillars. |
| US09728715B2 |
Storage element and memory
A storage element includes a storage layer, a fixed magnetization layer, a spin barrier layer, and a spin absorption layer. The storage layer stores information based on a magnetization state of a magnetic material. The fixed magnetization layer is provided for the storage layer through a tunnel insulating layer. The spin barrier layer suppresses diffusion of spin-polarized electrons and is provided on the side of the storage layer opposite the fixed magnetization layer. The spin absorption layer is formed of a nonmagnetic metal layer causing spin pumping and provided on the side of the spin barrier layer opposite the storage layer. A direction of magnetization in the storage layer is changed by passing current in a layering direction to inject spin-polarized electrons so that information is recorded in the storage layer and the spin barrier layer includes at least a material selected from oxides, nitrides, and fluorides. |
| US09728712B2 |
Spin transfer torque structure for MRAM devices having a spin current injection capping layer
A magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) device is disclosed. The device described herein has a spin current injection capping layer between the free layer of a magnetic tunnel junction and the orthogonal polarizer layer. The spin current injection capping layer maximizes the spin torque through very efficient spin current injection from the polarizer. The spin current injection capping layer can be comprised of a layer of MgO and a layer of a ferromagnetic material. |
| US09728706B2 |
Method for producing a multilayer element
A method for producing a ceramic multilayer element is disclosed. In an embodiment the method includes forming a plurality of multilayer segments in a green state, wherein each multilayer segment is formed by pressing together a plurality of ceramic layers in the green state and pressing together the multilayer segments in the green state to form a multilayer element that is in the green state. The method further includes sintering the multilayer element that is in the green state to form a ceramic multilayer element that includes the ceramic layers and electrode layers arranged one on top of another, wherein at least one or more of a temperature at which the multilayer segments are pressed together, a pressing force applied during the pressing of the multilayer segments, and/or a duration of the pressing of the multilayer segments are adjusted. |
| US09728700B2 |
Phonon scattering material, nanocomposite thermoelectric material, and method of producing the same
Provided is a compound which is mixed with a thermoelectric conversion material matrix as a phonon scattering material. The compound is represented by the following formula: (In the above formula, G1 represents a functional group capable of binding to the thermoelectric conversion material matrix; G2 independently represents G1 or CH3; 0≦m≦5; 0≦m′≦5; 6≦n≦1000; and 1/1000<(the number of G1/n)≦1). |
| US09728692B2 |
Display contrast
Display devices with improved display contrast and methods of manufacturing the display devices. Some embodiments include a method of manufacturing a light emitting diode (LED) array. The method includes forming two mesa areas on a substrate, where a trench is defined between the two mesa areas. A pixel and a N-bus formation is formed on each of the two mesa areas to create a first LED and a second LED separated by the trench between the two mesa areas. At least a portion of the trench is filled with a non-transparent or substantially non-transparent polymeric material that absorbs light emitted from the first and second LEDs. |
| US09728691B2 |
Light-emitting diode structure
The present invention relates to a light-emitting diode (LED) structure, which comprises an LED unit. The LED unit is doped with a plurality of fluorescent powders in at least an arbitrary layer on one side of a light-emitting layer. Alternatively, the LED unit includes a plurality of fluorescent powder particles arranged on at least a light-emitting surface of the LED unit. No gel is adopted for disposing or packaging fluorescent powders. Thereby, gel yellowing caused by long-term high-temperature heating of the LED structure will not occur. The yellowing phenomenon will affect the light-emitting efficiency of LED and induce color deviation. |
| US09728683B2 |
Optoelectronic semiconductor component
An optoelectronic semiconductor component includes an optoelectronic semiconductor chip having side areas covered by a shaped body; at least one via including an electrically conductive material; and at least one electrically conductive connection electrically conductively connected to the semiconductor chip and the via, wherein the via is laterally spaced part from the semiconductor chip; the via includes a contact pin, the contact pin including an electrically conductive material; and the contact pin is laterally completely enclosed by the shaped body. |
| US09728673B2 |
Method for the production of monolithic white diodes
The invention relates to a method for the production of a light-emitting diode, characterized in that the method comprises a step of preparing a light-emitting layer (20) on a front face of a support (10), said emitting layer comprising at least two adjacent quantum wells (21, 22, 23) emitting at different wavelengths, said quantum wells (21, 22, 23) being in contact with the front face of the support. According to the invention, the step in which the light-emitting layer is deposited comprises a sub-step consisting in locally varying the temperature of a rear face of the support opposite the front face such that the front face of the support comprises at least two zones at different temperatures. |
| US09728672B2 |
Light emitting diode and manufacturing method thereof
A light-emitting diode (LED) and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The method includes following steps. An LED wafer is fixed on a crafting table and is processed such that a substrate of the LED wafer has a thickness smaller than or equal to 100 μm. A fixing piece is pasted on the LED wafer surface. The LED wafer is detached from the crafting table. The LED wafer together with the fixing piece are cut and broken, such that the LED wafer forms a plurality of LEDs. The fixing piece is removed. Before the LED wafer is detached from the crafting table, the fixing piece is pasted on the LED wafer to provide a supporting force to the LED wafer to maintain the flatness of the wafer and avoid the wafer being warped or the substrate being broken or damaged, such that product quality and reliability can be improved. |
| US09728671B2 |
Monolithic nano-cavity light source on lattice mismatched semiconductor substrate
An optoelectronic light emission device is provided that includes a gain region of at least one type III-V semiconductor layer that is present on a lattice mismatched semiconductor substrate. The gain region of the type III-V semiconductor layer has a nanoscale area using nano-cavities. The optoelectronic light emission device is free of defects. |
| US09728668B2 |
Integrated photosensitive film and thin LED display
A system to configure a conductive pathway and a method of forming a system of configurable conductivity pathways are described. The system includes a photosensitive layer that becomes conductive based on photoexcitation, and a light source layer deposited over the photosensitive layer, the light source layer selectively providing the photoexcitation to the photosensitive layer. The system further includes a controller to control the light source layer, the controller illuminating a portion of the light source layer corresponding with a user input image to photoexcite the photosentive layer and configure the conductive pathway in the photosensitive layer according to the image. |
| US09728666B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a first insulation layer formed on the substrate in a first region, a photon absorption seed layer formed on the first insulation layer in the first region and on the substrate in a second region separate from the first region, and a photon absorption layer formed on the photon absorption seed layer in the first region. The photon absorption seed layer has a particular structure that may assist in reducing dislocation density in a region that includes a photon absorption layer. |
| US09728664B2 |
Solar module with connection socket, and method for producing the same
A solar module, particularly a thin-layer solar module, is described. The solar module has a laminated complex with two substrates between which there is a layer structure which has a front electrode layer, a back electrode layer and an intermediate semiconductor layer for forming a plurality of solar cells connected up in series, two contact elements at least one top element two contact pieces, and at least one connection socket. A method for producing the solar module is also described. |
| US09728663B1 |
Solar cell assembly and method of bonding a solar cell component to a flexible support
A solar cell assembly and a method of bonding a solar cell component to a flexible support are disclosed. The solar cell assembly comprises a flexible support with a predetermined size, a solar cell component, bonding adhesive between the support and the solar cell component, wherein the support with the predetermined size has substantially uniform borders of 0.003 inches to 0.2 inches in width extending beyond the edges of the solar cell component. |
| US09728662B2 |
Semiconductor infrared photodetectors
A semiconductor device capable of enhanced sub-bandgap photon absorption and detection is described. This semiconductor device includes a p-n junction structure formed of a semiconductor material, wherein the p-n junction structure is configured such that at least one side of the p-n junction (p-side or n-side) is spatially confined in at least one dimension of the device (e.g., the direction perpendicular to the p-n junction interface). Moreover, at least one side of the p-n junction (p-side or n-side) is heavily doped. The semiconductor device also includes electrical contacts formed on a semiconductor substrate to apply an electrical bias to the p-n junction to activate the optical response at target optical wavelength corresponds to an energy substantially equal to or less than the energy band-gap of the first semiconductor material. In particular embodiments, the semiconductor material is silicon. |
| US09728660B2 |
Optically-triggered linear or avalanche solid state switch for high power applications
The present invention relates to a solid state switch that may be used as in optically-triggered switch in a variety of applications. In particular, the switch may allow for the reduction of gigawatt systems to approximately shoebox-size dimension. The optically-triggered switches may be included in laser triggered systems or antenna systems. |
| US09728657B2 |
Photodetector
Provided is a photodetector including a substrate, a first doped region on the substrate, a second doped region having a ring structure, wherein the second doped region is provided in the substrate, surrounds the first doped region and is horizontally spaced apart from a side of the first doped region, an optical absorption layer on the first doped region, a contact layer on the optical absorption layer, a first electrode on the contact layer, and a second electrode on the second doped region. |
| US09728655B2 |
Termination structure for gallium nitride schottky diode
A termination structure for a nitride-based Schottky diode includes a guard ring formed by an epitaxially grown P-type nitride-based compound semiconductor layer and dielectric field plates formed on the guard ring. The termination structure is formed at the edge of the anode electrode of the Schottky diode and has the effect of reducing electric field crowding at the anode electrode edge, especially when the Schottky diode is reverse biased. In one embodiment, the P-type epitaxial layer includes a step recess to further enhance the field spreading effect of the termination structure. |
| US09728652B2 |
Sensor device and method
A sensor device includes a semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip has a sensing region sensitive to mechanical loading. A pillar is mechanically coupled to the sensing region. |
| US09728651B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
A transistor including an oxide semiconductor, which has good on-state characteristics, and a high-performance semiconductor device including a transistor capable of high-speed response and high-speed operation. In the transistor including an oxide semiconductor, oxygen-defect-inducing factors are introduced (added) into an oxide semiconductor layer, whereby the resistance of a source and drain regions are selectively reduced. Oxygen-defect-inducing factors are introduced into the oxide semiconductor layer, whereby oxygen defects serving as donors can be effectively formed in the oxide semiconductor layer. The introduced oxygen-defect-inducing factors are one or more selected from titanium, tungsten, and molybdenum, and are introduced by an ion implantation method. |
| US09728650B1 |
Thin film transistor array panel and conducting structure
A thin film transistor array panel includes a first conductive layer including a gate electrode; a channel layer disposed over the gate; and a second conductive layer disposed over the channel layer. The second conductive layer includes a multi-layered portion defining a source electrode and a drain electrode, which includes a first sub-layer, a second sub-layer, and a third sub-layer sequentially disposed one over another. Both the third and the first sub-layers include indium and zinc oxide materials. An indium to zinc content ratio in the first sub-layer is greater than that in the third sub-layer. The content ratio differentiation between the first and the third sub-layers affects a lateral etch profile associated with a gap generated in the second conductive layer between the source and the drain electrodes, where the associated gap width in the third sub-layer is wider than that that in the first sub-layer. |
| US09728649B2 |
Semiconductor device including embedded crystalline back-gate bias planes, related design structure and method of fabrication
A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device can include a first dielectric layer disposed on a substrate; a set of bias lines disposed on the first dielectric layer; a second dielectric layer disposed on the first dielectric layer and between the set of bias lines, wherein a thickness of the second dielectric layer is less than a thickness of the first dielectric layer; a patterned semiconductor layer disposed on portions of the second dielectric layer; and a set of devices disposed on the patterned semiconductor layer above the set of bias lines. |
| US09728644B2 |
Semiconductor device including field effect transistors
A semiconductor device includes a fin structure on a substrate and extending in a first direction, a gate electrode crossing over the fin structure, source/drain regions on the fin structure at opposite sides of the gate electrode, and a barrier layer between the fin structure and each of the source/drain regions. The fin structure includes a material having a lattice constant different from that of the substrate, the fin structure, the source/drain regions, and the barrier layer include germanium, and a germanium concentration in the barrier layer is greater than that in the fin structure and less than a maximum germanium concentration in each of the source/drain regions. |
| US09728639B2 |
Tunnel field effect transistors having low turn-on voltage
Tunnel field effect transistors include a semiconductor substrate; a source region in the semiconductor substrate; a drain region in the semiconductor substrate; a channel region in the semiconductor substrate between the source region and the drain region; and a gate electrode on the semiconductor substrate above the channel region. The source region comprises a first region having a first conductivity type, a third region having a second conductivity type that is different from the first conductivity type, and a second region having an intrinsic conductivity type that is between the first region and the third region. |
| US09728638B2 |
Semiconductor device with one-side-contact and method for fabricating the same
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a first conductive layer doped with an impurity for forming a cell junction over a semiconductor substrate, forming a second layer over the first conductive layer, forming a plurality of active regions by etching the second layer and the first conductive layer, the plurality of the active regions being separated from one another by trenches, forming a side contact connected to a sidewall of the first conductive layer, and forming a plurality of metal bit lines each connected to the side contact and filling a portion of each trench. |
| US09728623B2 |
Replacement metal gate transistor
A replacement metal gate transistor is described. Various examples provide a replacement metal gate transistor including a trench, a first sidewall and a second sidewall. A layer is disposed in the trench where the layer has a bottom section disposed on a bottom of the trench and sidewall sections disposed on the first and second sidewalls, wherein the sidewall sections of the layer are at least 50% thinner than the bottom section of the layer. |
| US09728614B2 |
Semiconductor device comprising a field electrode
A semiconductor device is manufactured by forming a gate electrode adjacent to a body region in a semiconductor substrate, forming a field plate trench in a main surface of the substrate, the field plate trench having an extension length in a first direction parallel to the main surface, and forming a field electrode and a field dielectric layer in the field plate trench so that the field electrode is insulated from an adjacent drift zone by the field dielectric layer. The extension length of the field plate trench in the first direction is less than double an extension length of the field electrode in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction and is parallel to the main surface. The extension length in the first direction is more than half the extension length in the second direction. |
| US09728612B2 |
Silicon carbide substrate, semiconductor device and methods for manufacturing them
A silicon carbide substrate capable of reducing on-resistance and improving yield of semiconductor devices is made of single-crystal silicon carbide, and sulfur atoms are present in one main surface at a ratio of not less than 60×1010 atoms/cm2 and not more than 2000×1010 atoms/cm2, and oxygen atoms are present in the one main surface at a ratio of not less than 3 at % and not more than 30 at %. |
| US09728611B2 |
GaN semiconductor device comprising carbon and iron
A semiconductor device includes: a substrate; a first GaN layer on the substrate and containing carbon; a second GaN layer on the first GaN layer and containing transition metal and carbon; a third GaN layer on the second GaN layer and containing transition metal and carbon; and an electron supply layer on the third GaN layer and having a larger band gap than GaN. A transition metal concentration of the third GaN layer gradually decreases from that of the second GaN layer from the second GaN layer toward the electron supply layer and is higher than 1×1015 cm−3 at a position of 100 nm deep from a bottom end of the electron supply layer. A top end of the second GaN layer is deeper than 800 nm from the bottom end. A carbon concentration of the third GaN layer is lower than those of the first and second GaN layers. |
| US09728608B2 |
Semiconductor device, inverter circuit, and vehicle
A semiconductor device according to embodiments described herein includes a p-type SiC layer, a gate electrode, and a gate insulating layer between the SiC layer and the gate electrode. The gate insulating layer includes a first layer, a second layer, a first region, and a second region. The second layer is between the first layer and the gate electrode and has a higher oxygen density than the first layer. The first region is provided across the first layer and the second layer, includes a first element from F, D, and H, and has a first concentration peak of the first element. The second region is provided in the first layer, includes a second element from Ge, B, Al, Ga, In, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Y, La, and lanthanoid, and has a second concentration peak of the second element and a third concentration peak of C. |
| US09728604B2 |
Semiconductor devices
Semiconductor devices may include a diffusion prevention insulation pattern, a plurality of conductive patterns, a barrier layer, and an insulating interlayer. The diffusion prevention insulation pattern may be formed on a substrate, and may include a plurality of protrusions protruding upwardly therefrom. Each of the conductive patterns may be formed on each of the protrusions of the diffusion prevention insulation pattern, and may have a sidewall inclined by an angle in a range of about 80 degrees to about 135 degrees to a top surface of the substrate. The barrier layer may cover a top surface and the sidewall of each if the conductive patterns. The insulating interlayer may be formed on the diffusion prevention insulation pattern and the barrier layer, and may have an air gap between neighboring ones of the conductive patterns. |
| US09728602B2 |
Variable channel strain of nanowire transistors to improve drive current
A semiconductor device includes a nanowire structure and a stressor. The nanowire structure includes a first channel section and a second channel section. The stressor subjects the first channel section to a first strain level and the second channel section to a second strain level greater than the first strain level. The difference between the second strain level and the first strain level is less than the second strain level. |
| US09728599B1 |
Semiconductor device
An edge termination structure that surrounds an active region is disposed outside the active region. In the active region, a MOS gate structure is disposed. Inside an n−-type drift layer, an n-type CS region that becomes a minority carrier barrier is disposed in a surface layer on a p+-type base layer side. The n-type CS region is disposed in the active region and is not disposed in the edge termination structure. Thus, the impurity concentration of the n−-type drift layer inside the edge termination structure is low enough to enable high breakdown voltage to be realized. In the n−-type drift layer, which has a low impurity concentration, a JTE structure that is formed from first and second JTE regions is disposed. |
| US09728598B2 |
Semiconductor device having barrier layer to prevent impurity diffusion
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type region including a first conductivity type impurity. A first gate structure is on the semiconductor substrate overlying the first conductivity type region. A second conductivity type region including a second conductivity type impurity is formed in the semiconductor substrate. A barrier layer is located between the first conductivity type region and the second conductivity type region. The barrier layer prevents diffusion of the second conductivity type impurity from the second conductivity type region into the first conductivity type region. |
| US09728593B2 |
Organic light emitting display device
An organic light emitting display device includes: a curved organic light emitting display panel. The organic light emitting display panel includes a flexible substrate, a thin film transistor layer including a semiconductor layer, and an organic light emission layer including an organic light emitting material. In the curved organic light emitting display panel, the thin film transistor layer receives a compressive stress, or a neutral plane in which the compressive stress and a tensile stress maintain equilibrium is defined in the thin film transistor layer. |
| US09728585B1 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment includes: a semiconductor substrate which extends in first and second directions that intersect each other; a plurality of first wiring lines which are arranged in a third direction that intersects the first direction and the second direction, and which extend in the first direction; a plurality of second wiring lines which are arranged in the first direction and extend in the third direction; and a plurality of memory cells disposed at intersections of the first wiring lines and the second wiring lines, one of the memory cells having a first film whose resistance changes electrically, a thickness in the second direction of the first film changing with respect to a change of position in the third direction, and the first films of two of the memory cells adjacent in the third direction being separated between the two memory cells. |
| US09728584B2 |
Three dimensional memory array with select device
Three dimensional memory arrays and methods of forming the same are provided. An example three dimensional memory array can include a stack comprising a plurality of first conductive lines separated from one another by at least an insulation material, and at least one conductive extension arranged to extend substantially perpendicular to the plurality of first conductive lines such that the at least one conductive extension intersects each of the plurality of first conductive lines. Storage element material is arranged around the at least one conductive extension, and a select device is arranged around the storage element material. The storage element material is radially adjacent an insulation material separating the plurality of first conductive lines, and the plurality of materials arranged around the storage element material are radially adjacent each of the plurality of first conductive lines. |
| US09728580B2 |
Power transistor with integrated temperature sensor element, power transistor circuit, method for operating a power transistor, and method for operating a power transistor circuit
A power transistor has a semiconductor body with a bottom side and top side spaced distant from the bottom side in a vertical direction. The semiconductor body includes a plurality of transistor cells, a source zone of a first conduction type, a body zone of a second conduction type, a drift zone of the first conduction type, a drain zone, and a temperature sensor diode having a pn-junction between an n-doped cathode zone and a p-doped anode zone. The power transistor also has a drain contact terminal on the top side, a source contact terminal on the bottom side, a gate contact terminal, and a temperature sense contact terminal on the top side. Depending on the first and second conduction types the anode or cathode zone is electrically connected to the source contact terminal and the other diode zone is electrically connected to the temperature sense contact terminal. |
| US09728578B2 |
Pixel circuit
A pixel arrangement includes a photodiode, a reset transistor configured to be controlled by a reset signal and coupled to a reset input voltage, a transfer gate transistor configured to transfer charge from the photodiode to a node, wherein the transfer gate transistor is controlled by a transfer gate voltage, and a source follower transistor controlled by the voltage on the node and coupled to a source follower voltage. A capacitor is coupled between the node and an input voltage. During a read operation the input voltage is increased to boost the voltage at the node. The increased input voltage may, for example, be one the reset input voltage, said source follower voltage, said transfer gate voltage and a boosting voltage. |
| US09728577B2 |
Infrared image sensor
An infrared image sensor includes a bias circuit receiving a timing signal, the bias circuit generating a bias voltage having a first value and a second value in response to the timing signal; a semiconductor light-receiving device including a photodiode, the semiconductor light-receiving device receiving the bias voltage; a read-out circuit including a read-out electrode connected to the photodiode, the read-out electrode receiving an electrical signal from the photodiode; and a signal processing circuit processing a read-out signal from the read-out circuit synchronously with the timing signal. The photodiode includes an optical absorption layer made of a III-V group compound semiconductor. The optical absorption layer has a type II multi quantum well structure including first compound semiconductor layers containing antimony as a constituent element and second compound semiconductor layers that are stacked alternately. |
| US09728573B2 |
Backside illuminated image sensor and method of manufacturing the same
A back side illuminated (BSI) image sensor device, includes: a substrate including a front side and a back side opposite to the front side; a radiation-sensing region disposed in the substrate; and a deep trench isolation (DTI) grid disposed in the substrate and defining the radiation-sensing region. The DTI grid extends from the back side toward the front side, and includes a segmented strip in a top view from the back side. |
| US09728565B2 |
Low full-well capacity image sensor with high sensitivity
Image sensor pixels having low full-well capacity and high sensitivity for applications such as DIS, qDIS, single/multi bit QIS. Some embodiments provide an image sensor pixel architecture, comprises a transfer gate, a floating diffusion region both formed on a first surface of a semiconductor substrate and a buried-well vertically pinned photodiode having a charge accumulation/storage region disposed substantially or entirely beneath the transfer gate. Image sensor may also comprise an array of pixels, wherein each pixel comprises: a vertical bipolar structure including an emitter, base, collector configured for storing photocarriers in the base; and a reset transistor coupled to the base, configured to be completely reset of all free carriers using the reset transistor. The emitter may be configured as a pinning layer to facilitate full depletion of the base. Such image sensor pixels may have a full well capacity less than that giving good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). |
| US09728564B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, method of manufacturing the same, and imaging apparatus
A solid-state imaging device includes a photoelectric conversion section which is disposed on a semiconductor substrate and which photoelectrically converts incident light into signal charges, a pixel transistor section which is disposed on the semiconductor substrate and which converts signal charges read out from the photoelectric conversion section into a voltage, and an element isolation region which is disposed on the semiconductor substrate and which isolates the photoelectric conversion section from an active region in which the pixel transistor section is disposed. The pixel transistor section includes a plurality of transistors. Among the plurality of transistors, in at least one transistor in which the gate width direction of its gate electrode is oriented toward the photoelectric conversion section, at least a photoelectric conversion section side portion of the gate electrode is disposed within and on the active region with a gate insulating film therebetween. |
| US09728562B2 |
Manufacturing method and apparatus of low temperature polycrystalline silicon, and polycrystalline silicon
A manufacturing method and apparatus of low temperature polycrystalline silicon, and a polycrystalline silicon are provided. The manufacturing method of low temperature polycrystalline silicon includes forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate; scanning the amorphous silicon layer by using a laser to emit a strip-shaped laser beam to go through a mask which includes transmissive stripes and partially-transmissive stripes arranged alternately, to form low temperature fusion regions and high temperature fusion regions which are arranged alternately on the amorphous silicon layer; recrystallizing the amorphous silicon layer from the low temperature fusion regions to the high temperature fusion regions. |
| US09728561B1 |
Pixel structure for an electronic display
A method for fabricating a stacked thin film transistor (TFT) structure comprises: forming at least two TFTs on a substrate of a display device; at least partially covering the at least two TFTs with an insulating layer; forming a common electrode on the insulating layer and the at least two TFTs; covering, at least partially, the common electrode with a dielectric material, wherein the insulating layer, the common electrode, and the dielectric material each include a contact hole; filling, at least partially, the contact hole with a conductive material; and depositing the conductive material over the dielectric material to form a pixel electrode. |
| US09728559B2 |
Device, manufacturing method thereof, and electronic device
A wiring having excellent electrical characteristics is provided. A wiring having stable electrical characteristics is provided. A device is manufactured through the steps of forming a first insulating film over a substrate, forming a second insulating film over the first insulating film, removing part of the first insulating film and part of the second insulating film to form a first opening, forming a first conductor in the first opening and over a top surface of the second insulating film, and forming a second conductor by planarizing a surface of the first conductor so as to remove part of the first conductor. |
| US09728555B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
A more convenient and highly reliable semiconductor device which has a transistor including an oxide semiconductor with higher impact resistance used for a variety of applications is provided. A semiconductor device has a bottom-gate transistor including a gate electrode layer, a gate insulating layer, and an oxide semiconductor layer over a substrate, an insulating layer over the transistor, and a conductive layer over the insulating layer. The insulating layer covers the oxide semiconductor layer and is in contact with the gate insulating layer. In a channel width direction of the oxide semiconductor layer, end portions of the gate insulating layer and the insulating layer are aligned with each other over the gate electrode layer, and the conductive layer covers a channel formation region of the oxide semiconductor layer and the end portions of the gate insulating layer and the insulating layer and is in contact with the gate electrode layer. |
| US09728553B1 |
Integrated circuit containing standard logic cells and library-compatible, NCEM-enabled fill cells, including at least via-open-configured, AACNT-short-configured, GATE-short-configured, and TS-short-configured, NCEM-enabled fill cells
An IC includes logic cells, selected from a standard cell library, and fill cells, configured for compatibility with the standard logic cells. The fill cells contain structures configured to obtain in-line data via non-contact electrical measurements (“NCEM”). The IC includes such NCEM-enabled fill cells configured to enable detection and/or measurement of a variety of open-circuit and short-circuit failure modes, including at least one via-open-related failure mode, one AACNT-short-related failure mode, one GATE-short-related failure mode, and one TS-short-related failure mode. |
| US09728541B1 |
Static random-access memory (SRAM) cell array and forming method thereof
A static random-access memory (SRAM) cell array forming method includes the following steps. A plurality of fin structures are formed on a substrate, wherein the fin structures include a plurality of active fins and a plurality of dummy fins, each PG (pass-gate) FinFET shares at least one of the active fins with a PD (pull-down) FinFET, and at least one dummy fin is disposed between the two active fins having two adjacent pull-up FinFETs thereover in a static random-access memory cell. At least a part of the dummy fins are removed. The present invention also provides a static random-access memory (SRAM) cell array formed by said method. |
| US09728537B2 |
Dual fin integration for electron and hole mobility enhancement
A technique for forming a semiconductor device is provided. Sacrificial mandrels are formed over a hardmask layer on a semiconductor layer. Spacers are formed on sidewalls of the sacrificial mandrels. The sacrificial mandrels are removed to leave the spacers. A masking process leaves exposed a first set of spacers with a second set protected. In response to the masking process, a first fin etch process forms a first set of fins in the semiconductor layer via first set of spacers. The first set of fins has a vertical sidewall profile. Another masking process leaves exposed the second set of spacers with the first set of spacers and the first set of fins protected. In response to the other masking process, a second fin etch process forms a second set of fins in semiconductor layer using the second set of spacers. The second set of fins has a trapezoidal sidewall profile. |
| US09728532B2 |
Clamp based ESD protection circuits
An electro-static discharge (ESD) protection circuit utilizes a gate-drain breakdown characteristic of high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) in a dual stacked configuration to provide a discharge path for electro-static discharges, while having a minimal effect on the associated circuit which is being protected. |
| US09728528B2 |
Method and apparatus for floating or applying voltage to a well of an integrated circuit
In one well bias arrangement, no well bias voltage is applied to the n-well, and no well bias voltage is applied to the p-well. Because no external well bias voltage is applied, the n-well and the p-well are floating, even during operation of the devices in the n-well and the p-well. In another well bias arrangement, the lowest available voltage is not applied to the p-well, such as a ground voltage, or the voltage applied to the n+-doped source region of the n-type transistor in the p-well. This occurs even during operation of the n-type transistor in the p-well. In yet another well bias arrangement, the highest available voltage is not applied to the n-well, such as a supply voltage, or the voltage applied to the p+-doped source region of the p-type transistor in the n-well. This occurs even during operation of the p-type transistor in the n-well. |
| US09728527B2 |
Multiple bond via arrays of different wire heights on a same substrate
An apparatus relating generally to a substrate is disclosed. In such an apparatus, a first bond via array has first wires extending from a surface of the substrate. A second bond via array has second wires extending from the surface of the substrate. The first bond via array is disposed at least partially within the second bond via array. The first wires of the first bond via array are of a first height. The second wires of the second bond via array are of a second height greater than the first height for coupling of at least one die to the first bond via array at least partially disposed within the second bond via array. |
| US09728524B1 |
Enhanced density assembly having microelectronic packages mounted at substantial angle to board
A microelectronic assembly includes a plurality of stacked microelectronic packages, each comprising a dielectric element having a major surface, an interconnect region adjacent an interconnect edge surface which extends away from the major surface, and plurality of package contacts at the interconnect region. A microelectronic element has a front surface with chip contacts thereon coupled to the package contacts, the front surface overlying and parallel to the major surface. The microelectronic packages are stacked with planes defined by the dielectric elements substantially parallel to one another, and the package contacts electrically coupled with panel contacts at a mounting surface of a circuit panel via an electrically conductive material, the planes defined by the dielectric elements being oriented at a substantial angle to the mounting surface. |
| US09728516B2 |
Electric apparatus including electric patterns for suppressing solder bridges
An electric apparatus may include a plurality of electric patterns arranged on a substrate. Each of the electric patterns may include a pad for connection with a solder ball, an electrical trace laterally extending from a portion of the pad to allow an electrical signal to be transmitted from or to the pad, a first dummy trace laterally extending from other portion of the pad, and a first connection line connecting the first dummy trace to the electrical trace. The first dummy trace may be provided at a position deviated from a straight line connecting the pad to the electrical trace. |
| US09728513B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device includes a fuse pattern disposed over a semiconductor substrate, an epoxy mold compound (EMC) layer disposed over the fuse pattern, a first package substrate disposed over the EMC layer, an insulating film disposed over the first package substrate, and a second package substrate disposed over the insulating film. To the first package substrate, a Vss voltage or a negative voltage lower than the Vss voltage is applied to prevent impurities from migrating to the fuse pattern. |
| US09728510B2 |
Cavity package with composite substrate
An integrated device package is disclosed. The package can include a package substrate comprising a composite die pad having an upper surface and a lower surface spaced from the upper surface along a vertical direction. The composite die pad can include an insulator die pad and a metal die pad. The insulator die pad and the metal die pad can be disposed adjacent one another along the vertical direction. The substrate can include a plurality of leads disposed about at least a portion of a perimeter of the composite die pad. An integrated device die can be mounted on the upper surface of the composite die pad. |
| US09728508B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacture
A device comprising a semiconductor device, a conductive via laterally separated from the semiconductor, an encapsulant between the semiconductor device and the conductive via, and a mark. The mark is formed from characters that are either cross-free characters or else have a overlap count of less than two. In another embodiment the mark is formed using a wobble scan methodology. By forming marks as described, defects from the marking process may be reduced or eliminated. |
| US09728507B2 |
Cap chip and reroute layer for stacked microelectronic module
A cap chip or high density reroute layer for use in a stacked microelectronic module. A first set of electrically conductive reroute layers are defined on a sacrificial substrate. One or more stud bump columns are defined on an exposed conducive pad on a conductive reroute layer. One or more active or passive electronic elements, or both may be electrically coupled to one or more exposed conductive pads. The layer is encapsulated in an encapsulant and the stud bump columns exposed by removing a portion of the encapsulant. A second set of electrically conductive reroute layers is defined on the layer and electrically coupled to the stud bumps. The sacrificial substrate is removed to provide a cap chip or reroute layer. |
| US09728503B2 |
Via pre-fill on back-end-of-the-line interconnect layer
In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a conductive interconnect layer. The conductive interconnect layer has a dielectric layer disposed over a substrate. An opening with an upper portion above a horizontal plane and a lower portion below the horizontal plane extends downwardly through the dielectric layer. A first conductive layer fills the lower portion of the opening. An upper barrier layer is disposed over the first conductive layer covering bottom and sidewall surfaces of the upper portion of the opening. A second conductive layer is disposed over the upper barrier layer filling the upper portion of the opening. |
| US09728501B2 |
Method of forming trenches
A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming a material layer over a substrate and forming a first trench in the material layer, forming a conformal capping layer along sidewalls of the first trench, forming a second trench in the material layer while the capping layer is disposed along sidewalls of the first trench and forming a conductive feature within the first trench and the second trench. |
| US09728499B2 |
Set of stepped surfaces formation for a multilevel interconnect structure
A trench can be formed through a stack of alternating plurality of first material layers and second material layers. A dielectric material liner and a trench fill material portion can be formed in the trench. The dielectric material liner and portions of first material layer can be simultaneously etched to form laterally-extending cavities having level-dependent lateral extents. A set of stepped surfaces can be formed by removing unmasked portions of the second material layers. Alternately, an alternating sequence of processing steps including vertical etch processes and lateral recess processes can be employed to laterally recess second material layers and to form laterally-extending cavities having level-dependent lateral extents. Lateral cavities can be simultaneously formed in multiple levels such that levels having laterally-extending cavities of a same lateral extent are offset across multiple integrated cavities. |
| US09728498B2 |
Package structure
Provided is a package structure including a die, an encapsulant, a through via, a first dielectric layer, a conductive line structure, an adhesion promotion layer, a second dielectric layer and a connector. The encapsulant is formed aside the die. The through via is formed aside the die and penetrates through the encapsulant. The first dielectric layer is formed overlying the die, the encapsulant and the through via. The conductive line structure includes a pad over the first dielectric layer. The adhesion promotion layer overlays a first portion of a top surface and a sidewall of the pad and overlying the first dielectric layer. The second dielectric layer overlays the adhesion promotion layer. The connector is in contact with a second portion of the top surface of the pad. The second portion of the top surface of the pad is exposed by the adhesion promotion layer. |
| US09728494B2 |
Body-mountable device with a common substrate for electronics and battery
An example device includes a silicon substrate having a first substrate surface and a second substrate surface; a plurality of layers associated with one or more electronic components of an integrated circuit (IC), where the plurality of layers are deposited on the second substrate surface; a lithium-based battery having a plurality of battery layers deposited on the first substrate surface of the silicon substrate, where the lithium-based battery includes an anode current collector and a cathode current collector; a first through-silicon via (TSV) passing through the silicon substrate and providing an electrical connection between the anode current collector and the plurality of layers associated with the one or more electronic components of the IC; and a second TSV passing through the silicon substrate and providing an electrical connection between the cathode current collector and the plurality of layers associated with the one or more electronic components of the IC. |
| US09728491B2 |
Systems and methods for lead frame locking design features
Systems and methods for lead frame locking design features are provided. In one embodiment, a method comprises: fabricating a lead frame for a chip package, the lead frame having a paddle comprising a step-out bottom locking feature profile across at least a first segment of an edge of the paddle that provides an interface with a mold compound; etching the paddle to have at least a second segment of the edge having either an extended-step-out bottom locking feature profile or an overhanging top locking feature profile; and alternating first and second segments along the edge of the paddle. |
| US09728489B2 |
Systems, methods and devices for inter-substrate coupling
Inter-substrate coupling and alignment using liquid droplets can include electrical and plasmon modalities. For example, a set of droplets can be placed on a bottom substrate. A top substrate can be placed upon the droplets, which uses the droplets to align the substrates. Using the droplets in a capacitive or plasmon coupling modality, information or power can be transferred between the substrates using the droplets. |
| US09728485B1 |
Semiconductor device with interconnect structure having catalys layer
A semiconductor device structure is provided. The semiconductor device structure includes a semiconductor substrate and a dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor device structure also includes a conductive feature in the dielectric layer, and the conductive feature includes a catalyst layer and a conductive element. The catalyst layer is between the conductive element and the dielectric layer, and the catalyst layer is in physical contact with the conductive element. The catalyst layer continuously surrounds a sidewall and a bottom of the conductive element. The catalyst layer is made of a material different from that of the conductive element, and the catalyst layer is capable of lowering a formation temperature of the conductive element. |
| US09728484B2 |
Power module package and method for manufacturing the same
Disclosed relates to a power module package and a method for manufacturing the same. The power module package includes a lower substrate on which a pattern is formed, a power semiconductor element and a ribbon which are separated apart from each other at a predetermined distance to be mounted on an upper surface of the lower substrate, a first spacer attached to an upper portion of the power semiconductor element via a first adhesive layer, a second spacer attached to an upper portion of the ribbon via a second adhesive layer, and an upper substrate attached to an upper portion of each of the first and second spacers via a third adhesive layer. |
| US09728480B2 |
Passivation layer and method of making a passivation layer
A passivation layer and a method of making a passivation layer are disclosed. In one embodiment the method for manufacturing a passivation layer includes depositing a first silicon based dielectric layer on a workpiece, the first silicon based dielectric layer comprising nitrogen, and depositing in-situ a second silicon based dielectric layer on the first silicon based dielectric layer, the second dielectric layer comprising oxygen. |
| US09728479B2 |
Multi-chip package structure, wafer level chip package structure and manufacturing process thereof
A multi-chip package structure includes a first chip, a second chip, a circuit layer, a plurality of first conductive bumps, a plurality of second conductive bumps and an underfill. The first chip has a chip bonding region, a plurality of first inner pads and first outer pads. The circuit layer is disposed on the first chip and includes a plurality of insulating layers and at least one metal layer. The insulating layers have a groove disposed between the first inner pads and the first outer pads and surrounding the first inner pads. The first conductive bumps are disposed on the first outer pads. The second chip is flipped on the chip bonding region. Each first inner pad is electrically connected to a second pad of the second chip through the second conductive bump. The underfill is disposed between the first and second chips and covers the second conductive bumps. |
| US09728478B2 |
Resin-encapsulatd semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A first resin encapsulated body (25) and a second resin encapsulated body (26) are stacked to form a resin-encapsulated semiconductor device. The first resin encapsulated body (25) includes: a first semiconductor element (2); an external terminal (5); inner wiring (4); and a first resin (6) for covering those components, at least a rear surface of the external terminal (5), a rear surface of the semiconductor element (2), and a surface of the inner wiring (4) are exposed from the first resin (6). The second resin encapsulated body (26) includes: a second semiconductor element (7) having an electrode pad formed on a surface thereof; a second resin (8) for covering the second semiconductor element; and a metal body connected to the electrode pad, and is partly exposed from the second resin. The inner wiring and the metal body are electrically connected to each other. |
| US09728476B2 |
Fingerprint sensor and manufacturing method thereof
A fingerprint sensor device and a method of making a fingerprint sensor device. As non-limiting examples, various aspects of this disclosure provide various fingerprint sensor devices, and methods of manufacturing thereof, that comprise an interconnection structure, for example a bond wire, at least a portion of which extends into a dielectric layer utilized to mount a plate, and/or that comprise an interconnection structure that extends upward from the semiconductor die at a location that is laterally offset from the plate. |
| US09728469B2 |
Methods for forming a stress-relieved film stack by applying cutting patterns
Disclosed herein is a method of forming a stress relieved film stack, the method comprising forming a film stack on a first side of a substrate, the film stack comprising a plurality of film layers and creating a plurality of film stack openings according to a cutting pattern and along at least a portion of a buffer region. The plurality of film stack openings extend from a top surface of the film stack to the substrate. A deflection of the substrate may be determined, and the cutting pattern selected prior to creating the film stack openings based on the deflection of the substrate. The substrate may have a deflection of less than about 2 μm after creating the plurality of film stack openings. And at least one of the plurality of film layers may comprise one of titanium nitride, silicon carbide and silicon dioxide. |
| US09728468B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A first well in a first conductivity type which is formed at a first region and is electrically connected to a first power supply line, a second well in a second conductivity type being an opposite conductivity type of the first conductivity type which is formed at a second region and is electrically connected to a second power supply line, a third well in the second conductivity type which is integrally formed with the second well at a third region adjacent to the second region, a fourth well in the first conductivity type integrally formed with the first well at a fourth region adjacent to the first region, a fifth well in the first conductivity type which is formed at the third region to be shallower than the third well, and a sixth well in the second conductivity type which is formed at the fourth region to be shallower than the fourth well, are included. |
| US09728466B1 |
Vertical field effect transistors with metallic source/drain regions
Semiconductor devices having vertical FET (field effect transistor) devices with metallic source/drain regions are provided, as well as methods for fabricating such vertical FET devices. For example, a semiconductor device includes a first source/drain region formed on a semiconductor substrate, a vertical semiconductor fin formed on the first source/drain region, a second source/drain region formed on an upper surface of the vertical semiconductor fin, a gate structure formed on a sidewall surface of the vertical semiconductor fin, and an insulating material that encapsulates the vertical semiconductor fin and the gate structure. The first source/drain region comprises a metallic layer and at least a first epitaxial semiconductor layer. For example, the metallic layer of the first source/drain region comprises a metal-semiconductor alloy such as silicide. |
| US09728463B2 |
Methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices
Methods of manufacturing a semiconductor device are provided. The methods may include forming a fin-type active region protruding from a substrate and forming a gate insulating film covering a top surface and both sidewalls of the fin-type active region. The gate insulating film may include a high-k dielectric film. The methods may also include forming a metal-containing layer on the gate insulating film, forming a silicon capping layer containing hydrogen atoms on the metal-containing layer, removing a portion of the hydrogen atoms contained in the silicon capping layer, removing the silicon capping layer and at least a portion of the metal-containing layer, and forming a gate electrode on the gate insulating film. The gate electrode may cover the top surface and the both sidewalls of the fin-type active region. |
| US09728462B2 |
Stable multiple threshold voltage devices on replacement metal gate CMOS devices
A technique for a multiple voltage threshold transistor structure is provided. A narrow channel and long channel are formed on a fin. An epitaxial layer is formed on the fin, and an interlayer dielectric layer is formed on the epitaxial layer. Spacers on the fin define the narrow channel and the long channel. A high-k dielectric material is deposited in the narrow and long channels. A metal layer is deposited on the high-k dielectric material in the narrow and long channels. A height of the high-k dielectric material in the narrow channel is recessed. The metal layer is removed from the narrow and long channels. A work function metal is deposited in the narrow and long channels. A gate conduction metal is deposited to fill the narrow channel and long channel. A capping layer is deposited on the top surface of the structure. |
| US09728458B2 |
Methods for fabrication of semiconductor structures using laser lift-off process, and related semiconductor structures
Methods of fabricating a semiconductor structure include bonding a carrier wafer over a substrate, removing at least a portion of the substrate, transmitting laser radiation through the carrier wafer and weakening a bond between the substrate and the carrier wafer, and separating the carrier wafer from the substrate. Other methods include forming circuits over a substrate, forming trenches in the substrate to define unsingulated semiconductor dies, bonding a carrier substrate over the unsingulated semiconductor dies, transmitting laser radiation through the carrier substrate and weakening a bond between the unsingulated semiconductor dies and the carrier substrate, and separating the carrier substrate from the unsingulated semiconductor dies. Some methods include thinning at least a portion of the substrate, leaving the plurality of unsingulated semiconductor dies bonded to the carrier substrate. |
| US09728454B1 |
Semiconductor structure and manufacturing method thereof
The present invention provides a semiconductor structure, includes a substrate, a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate, a first gate structure and a second gate structure disposed in the dielectric layer, a hard mask disposed in the dielectric layer, where the hard mask covers a sidewall of the first gate structure, and covers the second gate structure, and a contact structure disposed in the dielectric layer. The contact structure at least crosses over the hard mask. The contact structure includes a first contact portion and a second contact portion. The first contact portion contacts the first gate structure directly, the second contact portion contacts the substrate directly, and the hard mask is disposed between the first contact portion and the second contact portion. |
| US09728448B1 |
Method of manufacturing semiconductor device
Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, including: forming a stacked structure including a plurality of layers, the stacked structure including a cell region, and first and second contact regions; forming a first mask pattern covering the cell region and the second contact region of the stacked structure; forming steps of n layers at a boundary of the cell region and the first contact region, where n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1; forming a second mask pattern on the stacked structure, wherein the second mask pattern covers the cell region and the formed steps and is expanded to partially cover the first and second contact regions; and etching the stacked structure by k layers by using the second mask pattern as an etch barrier, where k is a natural number greater than or equal to 2. |
| US09728445B2 |
Method for forming conducting via and damascene structure
In accordance with some embodiments, a method for forming via holes is provided. The method includes providing a substrate with an etch stop layer and a dielectric layer sequentially formed thereon. The method also includes etching the dielectric layer to form a first via hole of a first size and a second via hole of a second size within the dielectric layer by a plasma generated from an etch gas, until both the first via hole and the second via hole are reaching the etch stop layer. The etch gas includes CH2F2 and an auxiliary gas of N2 or O2. |
| US09728444B2 |
Reactive ion etching assisted lift-off processes for fabricating thick metallization patterns with tight pitch
Lift-off methods for fabricating metal line patterns on a substrate are provided. For example, a method to fabricate a device includes forming a sacrificial layer on a substrate and forming a photoresist mask over the sacrificial layer, isotropically etching a portion of the sacrificial layer exposed through an opening of the photoresist mask to form an undercut region in the sacrificial layer below the photoresist mask, wherein the undercut region defines an overhang structure, and anisotropically etching a portion of the sacrificial layer exposed through the opening of the photoresist mask to form an opening through the sacrificial layer down to the substrate. Metallic material is deposited to cover the photoresist mask and to at least partially fill the opening formed in the sacrificial layer without coating the overhang structure with metallic material. The sacrificial layer is dissolved to lift-off the metallic material covering the photoresist mask. |
| US09728440B2 |
Non-transparent microelectronic grade glass as a substrate, temporary carrier or wafer
A method for processing a semiconductor wafer where an opaque layer is located on a surface of a handling wafer is used so the surface of the handling wafer may be detected through optical sensors. The opaque layer may be modified, or oriented, to allow light to pass through unobstructed. |
| US09728437B2 |
High temperature chuck for plasma processing systems
A wafer chuck assembly includes a puck, a shaft and a base. An insulating material defines a top surface of the puck, a heater element is embedded within the insulating material, and a conductive plate lies beneath the insulating material. The shaft includes a housing coupled with the plate, and electrical connectors for the heater elements and the electrodes. A conductive base housing couples with the shaft housing, and the connectors pass through a terminal block within the base housing. A method of plasma processing includes loading a workpiece onto a chuck having an insulating top surface, providing a DC voltage differential across two electrodes within the top surface, heating the chuck by passing current through heater elements, providing process gases in a chamber surrounding the chuck, and providing an RF voltage between a conductive plate beneath the chuck, and one or more walls of the chamber. |
| US09728434B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus, storage device, and method of transporting substrate storing container
In a substrate processing apparatus, a storage device, an indexer block, a processing block and an interface block are arranged to line up in this order. The storage device includes a plurality of openers on which a carrier storing a plurality of substrates can be placed. The carrier is carried in the storage device. In the storage device, the carrier is transported among the plurality of openers by a transport device. The transport device includes first and second hands configured to be able to hold the carrier and move in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. The second hand is provided below the first hand. |
| US09728429B2 |
Parasitic plasma prevention in plasma processing chambers
Parasitic plasma in voids in a component of a plasma processing chamber can be eliminated by covering electrically conductive surfaces in an interior of the voids with a sleeve. The voids can be gas holes, lift pin holes, helium passages, conduits and/or plenums in chamber components such as an upper electrode and a substrate support. |
| US09728428B2 |
Single use rinse in a linear Marangoni drier
An apparatus for drying of wet substrates in a post CMP cleaning apparatus is provided. The apparatus provides a waterfall or shallow reservoir of rinsing solution, such as DIW, through which a substrate may be lifted. A solvent vapor may be provided at the rinsing solution interface on the substrate, such as in a Marangoni process. In certain embodiments, the volume of solution through which the substrate is lifted is reduced, which may provide for reduced or eliminated particle reattachment to the substrate. |
| US09728424B2 |
Method of fabricating a packaged integrated circuit with through-silicon via an inner substrate
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor package includes forming a bonding layer on a carrier substrate, bonding an inner substrate to the carrier substrate, removing the carrier substrate, and forming a gap-filling portion by removing a portion of the bonding layer to expose a portion of a solder ball provided in the inner substrate. The inner substrate may be mounted on a package substrate and a semiconductor chip may be mounted on the inner substrate. |
| US09728415B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of wafer thinning involving edge trimming and CMP
A semiconductor device has a substrate including a plurality of conductive vias formed vertically and partially through the substrate. An encapsulant is deposited over a first surface of the substrate and around a peripheral region of the substrate. A portion of the encapsulant around the peripheral region is removed by a cutting or laser operation to form a notch extending laterally through the encapsulant to a second surface of the substrate opposite the first surface of the substrate. A first portion of the substrate outside the notch is removed by chemical mechanical polishing to expose the conductive vias. A second portion of the substrate is removed by backgrinding prior to or after forming the notch. The encapsulant is coplanar with the substrate after revealing the conductive vias. The absence of an encapsulant/base material interface and coplanarity of the molded substrate results in less over-etching or under-etching and fewer defects. |
| US09728413B2 |
Method for preparing film patterns
A method for preparing film patterns; firstly, a complementary film pattern (1) to a desired film pattern (201) is prepared on a substrate (3) with an erasable agent; secondly, a whole layer of film (2) is formed on the complementary film pattern (1); and thirdly, the desired film pattern (201) is obtained by removing the complementary film pattern (1). The preparation method can simplify the production process and reduce the production cost of the film patterns. |
| US09728411B2 |
Integrated circuits with backside metalization and production method thereof
An embodiment of an integrated device, including a chip of semiconductor material wherein an integrated circuit is integrated, is proposed; the integrated device includes a set of contact terminals for contacting the integrated circuit. At least one contact terminal of said set of contact terminals includes a contact layer of metal material being suitable to be directly coupled mechanically to an element external to the chip, and a coupling element for improving an electrical and/or mechanical coupling between the contact layer and the chip. The coupling element includes a coupling layer being formed by a combination between the metal material of the contact layer and the semiconductor material of the chip, with the coupling layer that is directly coupled to the chip and to the contact layer. |
| US09728410B2 |
Split-gate non-volatile memory (NVM) cell and method therefor
A split gate memory device includes a semiconductor substrate and a select gate over the substrate. The select gate has a bottom portion and a top portion over the bottom portion, wherein the top portion has a top sidewall and the bottom portion has a bottom sidewall, and wherein the bottom sidewall extends beyond the top sidewall. The devices also includes a control gate adjacent the select gate, a charge storage layer located between the select gate and the control gate and between the control gate and the substrate, and an isolation region over the bottom portion of the select gate and between the top sidewall of the select gate and the charge storage layer. The bottom sidewall of the bottom portion extends to the charge storage layer. |
| US09728406B2 |
Multi materials and selective removal enabled reverse tone process
Embodiments described herein generally relate to methods for device patterning. In various embodiments, a plurality of protrusions and gaps are formed on a substrate, and each gap is formed between adjacent protrusions. Each protrusion includes a first line, a second line and a third line. The first and third lines include a first material, and the second lines include a second material that is different from the first material. A fourth line is deposited in each gap and the fourth line includes a third material that is different than the first and second materials. Because the first, second and third materials are different, one or more lines can be removed by selective etching while adjacent lines that are made of a different material may not be covered by a mask. The critical dimensions (CD) and the edge displacement errors (EPE) of the mask are increased. |
| US09728396B2 |
Substrate cleaning method and substrate cleaning apparatus
An ultrasonic wave applying liquid is supplied to one principal surface of a substrate while a liquid film of a first liquid being formed on another principal surface of the substrate. The ultrasonic wave applying liquid is obtained by applying ultrasonic waves to a second liquid. Ultrasonic vibration is transmitted to the other principal surface and the liquid film, thereby ultrasonically cleaning the other principal surface. The first liquid has a higher cavitation intensity, which is a stress per unit area acting on the substrate by cavitation caused in the liquid when ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the liquid present on the principal surface of the substrate, than the second liquid. |
| US09728395B2 |
Method for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, and semiconductor device having a low concentration of interstitial oxygen
A method for manufacturing a substrate wafer 100 includes providing a device wafer (110) having a first side (111) and a second side (112); subjecting the device wafer (110) to a first high temperature process for reducing the oxygen content of the device wafer (110) at least in a region (112a) at the second side (112); bonding the second side (112) of the device wafer (110) to a first side (121) of a carrier wafer (120) to form a substrate wafer (100); processing the first side (101) of the substrate wafer (100) to reduce the thickness of the device wafer (110); subjecting the substrate wafer (100) to a second high temperature process for reducing the oxygen content at least of the device wafer (110); and at least partially integrating at least one semiconductor component (140) into the device wafer (110) after the second high temperature process. |
| US09728394B2 |
Excimer discharge lamp
Disclosed herein an excimer discharge lamp that is capable of mitigating a stress concentration occurring due to a fixing method of an outer electrode, and achieving a desired life of lamp in an ensured manner. The excimer discharge lamp comprises: an arc tube for enclosing a luminous gas inside and having a sealing portion formed contiguous to, via a reduced diameter portion, one end of a tube shaped luminous portion; and an outer electrode of a net-like shape arranged on an outer peripheral surface of the art tube. The one end of the outer electrode being fixed via an outer electrode fixing member provided on an outer surface of the sealing portion. |
| US09728391B2 |
Orthogonal acceleration coaxial cylinder time of flight mass analyser
A Time of Flight mass analyzer is disclosed comprising an annular ion guide having a longitudinal axis and comprising a first annular ion guide section and a second annular ion guide section. Ions are introduced into the first annular ion guide section so that the ions form substantially stable circular orbits within the first annular ion guide section about the longitudinal axis. An ion detector is disposed within the annular ion guide. Ions are orthogonally accelerated in a first axial direction from the first annular ion guide section into the second annular ion guide section. An axial DC potential is maintained along at least a portion of the second annular ion guide section so that the ions are reflected in a second axial direction which is substantially opposed to the first axial direction. The ions undergo multiple axial passes through the second annular ion guide section before being detected by the ion detector. |
| US09728390B2 |
Mass analyzing electromagnet and ion beam irradiation apparatus
A mass analyzing electromagnet is provided. The mass analyzing electromagnet includes an analysis tube having an internal zone formed as a passage for the ion beam; and a shield member mounted to an inner wall surface of the analyzing tube, a portion of the shield member intersecting with a direction perpendicular to a traveling direction of an ion beam and a mass-based separation direction of the ion beam so as to block a portion of the ion beam. |
| US09728389B2 |
Concentric APCI surface ionization ion source, ion guide, and method of use
A concentric APCI surface ionization probe, supersonic sampling tube, and method for use of the concentric APCI surface ionization probe and supersonic sampling tube are described. In an embodiment, the concentric APCI surface ionization probe includes an outer tube, an inner capillary, and a voltage source coupled to the outer tube and the inner capillary. The inner capillary is housed within and concentric with the outer tube such that ionized gas (e.g., air) travels out of the outer tube, reacts with a sample, and the resulting analyte ions are sucked into the inner capillary. A supersonic sampling tube can include a tube coupled to a mass spectrometer and/or concentric APCI surface ionization probe, where the tube includes at least one de Laval nozzle. |
| US09728388B2 |
Measurement device, measurement apparatus, and method
A metal film of a measurement device including a transparent dielectric substrate is irradiated with first light from a transparent dielectric substrate side, an optical electric field enhanced by an optical electric field enhancing effect of a localized plasmon induced to a surface of the metal film by the irradiation is generated, light emitted from the transparent dielectric substrate side is detected, a specimen installed on a surface of a metal fine concavo-convex structure layer and a matrix agent are irradiated with second light from a side opposite to the side of the irradiation with the first light in a state where a voltage is applied to the metal fine concavo-convex structure layer through a voltage application electrode, an analysis target substance for mass spectrometry in the specimen is desorbed from the surface by the irradiation, and the desorbed analysis target substance is detected. |
| US09728387B2 |
Solid phase extraction with capillary electrophoresis
Methods, systems and devices that provide fluid devices with at least one SPE bed adjacent (upstream of) a separation channel which may be in communication with an inlet of a Mass Spectrometer. The fluid device can be configured to operate using independently applied pressures to a BGE reservoir and a sample reservoir for pressure-driven injection that can inject a discrete sample plug into a separation channel that does not require voltage applied to the sample reservoir and can allow for in-channel focusing methods to be used. The methods, systems and devices are particularly suitable for use with a mass spectrometer but optical or other electronic detectors may also be used with the fluidic devices. |
| US09728384B2 |
Electrostatic trap mass spectrometer with improved ion injection
A method of mass spectral analysis in an analytical electrostatic trap (14) is disclosed. The electrostatic trap (14) defines an electrostatic field volume and includes trap electrodes having static and non-ramped potentials. The method comprises injecting a continuous ion beam into the electrostatic field volume. |
| US09728382B2 |
Evaporation source
Evaporation source, in particular for use in a sputtering process or in a vacuum arc evaporation process, preferably a cathode vacuum arc evaporation process. The evaporation source includes an inner base body which is arranged in an outer carrier body and which is arranged with respect to the outer carrier body such that a cooling space in flow communication with an inlet and an outlet is formed between the base body and the carrier body. In accordance with the invention, the cooling space includes an inflow space and an outflow space, and the inflow space is in flow communication with the outflow space via an overflow connection for the cooling of the evaporation source such that a cooling fluid can be conveyed from the inlet via the inflow space the overflow connection and the outflow space to the outlet. |
| US09728379B2 |
Plasma processing apparatus
A plasma processing apparatus (5) comprises an outer shell (51) which is provided with a reaction chamber (52) in the interior, a bottom electrode which is arranged in the reaction chamber (52) and a cantilever support device (53) which goes through the outer shell (51) and supports the bottom electrode. The cantilever support device (53) is pivotally mounted on the side wall of the outer shell (51) and can rotate in the outer shell (51). The plasma processing apparatus (5) further comprises a locating device so as to selectively fix the relative position of the cantilever support device (53) and the outer shell (51). |
| US09728376B2 |
Compact high-voltage plasma source for neutron generation
Systems and methods are described herein for coupling electromagnetic (EM) energy from a remotely-located primary antenna into a plasma ion source. The EM energy is radiated by a first by through an intermediary secondary antenna. The embodiments described herein enable the elevation of the plasma ion source to a high electric potential bias relative to the primary antenna, which can be maintained at or near a grounded electric potential. |
| US09728370B2 |
Focusing structures with non-rectilinear focusing apertures
An example embodiment includes a cathode assembly. The cathode assembly includes a cathode head, a filament, a focusing structure, and a non-rectilinear focusing aperture. The cathode head defines a filament slot. The filament is positioned in the filament slot that is capable of emitting electrons by thermionic emission. The focusing structure is positioned at least partially between the filament and an anode. The non-rectilinear focusing aperture is defined in the focusing structure. The non-rectilinear focusing aperture is configured to shape an emission profile of electrons emitted by the filament. |
| US09728369B2 |
Two-part high voltage vacuum feed through for an electron tube
A high voltage vacuum feed through (23) for an electron tube (25) has an anode (28) and an insulating body (1) of ceramic material, the insulating body (1) having a continuous hollow space (10). The anode (28) has a rear part (2) and a front part (3) mounted thereto. The rear part (2) consists of a first metallic material, having a thermal expansion coefficient corresponding to a thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic material. The rear part (2) is arranged in the hollow space (10) of the insulating body (1) and is soldered into the insulating body (1) in a vacuum-tight fashion. The front part (3) has a second metallic material whose heat conductivity is larger than that of the first metallic material. The high voltage vacuum feed through reliably remains vacuum-tight during operation and can be easily provided with different target materials. |
| US09728368B2 |
Continuous contact X-ray source
An x-ray device utilizes a band of material to exchange charge through tribocharging within a chamber maintained at low fluid pressure. The charge is utilized to generate x-rays within the housing, which may pass through a window of the housing. Various contact rods may be used as part of the tribocharging process. |
| US09728367B2 |
Digital X-ray source
The present invention discloses a digital X-ray source. The digital X-ray source includes an X-ray generation unit that emits X-rays, wherein the X-ray generation unit includes a cathode electrode; an emitter formed above the cathode electrode; an anode electrode located above the emitter; a gate electrode located between the emitter and the anode electrode; first and second focusing electrodes located between the emitter and the anode electrode; and an electrode connecting unit configured to include one or more insulating tubes capable of fixing and adjusting the locations of the gate electrode and the first and second focusing electrodes on the cathode electrode, and also configured to individually insulate and connect the cathode electrode, the gate electrode and the first and second focusing electrodes from and with electric lines |
| US09728366B2 |
Sealed fuse holder
The invention relates to a fuse holder comprising two housing elements which, once assembled, together form a tube in which a fuse is accommodated. The first housing element includes a base extending longitudinally along the direction of assembly of the two housing elements with each other. A seal is placed on the base mainly in a plane perpendicular to the direction of assembly. During assembly, the second housing element is brought to at least partially cover the base to sandwich the seal between the two housing elements. A rim extends around the base in the direction of assembly in order to protect the seal until the two housing elements are assembled together. |
| US09728360B2 |
Power relay for a vehicle
A power relay for a vehicle has a housing and two connecting bolts that are introduced into the housing so as to contact a load current circuit. The power relay further having a coil assembly that is arranged in the housing, the coil assembly contains a magnetic coil and a magnetic armature that is coupled by way of a force-transferring member to a contact bridge that can be moved in a reversible manner between a closed position and an opened position and can be displaced in the housing under the effect of a magnetic field that is generated by the magnetic coil. The contact bridge supports two contact elements that together with the mating contacts of the connecting pin form a first contact pair and a second contact pair. The contact pairs form a three point bearing arrangement in the closed position. |
| US09728355B2 |
Rotary encoder switch
A rotary encoder switch includes a cover cap, a fixing sleeve, a first base board, an actuating device, and a second base board disposed under the actuating device. The actuating device includes a base seat and a rotary element rotatably connected to the base seat and mounted to the cover cap. The first base board is disposed on the actuating device and has multiple first lighting elements. The rotary element is rotatable in conjunction with rotation of the cover cap so as to generate encoding signals according to each rotary position of the cover cap for controlling functions of an applied product. The first lighting elements are capable of emitting light in sequence subject to the rotation of the cover cap, while the light being emitted is permeable to the cover cap for users to easily recognize the exact rotary position of the cover cap. |
| US09728354B2 |
Isolating ground switch
An isolating ground switch includes an enclosure with a frontal surface. A slide channel opens through the top of the enclosure. A conductive switch plate is received in the channel and is bi-directionally slidably positionable between the first position and the second position. A plurality of terminal studs project forwardly from the frontal surface of the enclosure and rearwardly conductively communicate with a conductive portion. When the switch plate is in the first position, the conductive portion engages the switch plate. When the switch plate is in the second position, the conductive portion is isolated from the switch plate. |
| US09728353B2 |
Keyswitch using magnetic force
A key for user input having superior tactile qualities. The key is suspended by a magnetic field force to improve the smoothness of motion. Two compact interleaved members link a keycap to a key base to provide highly precise parallel travel with reduced tilt and flexion, and improved durability. |
| US09728348B2 |
Electrical switching apparatus with electronic trip unit
An electrical switching apparatus includes a housing, a line terminal, a load terminal, separable contacts disposed on a conductive path between the line terminal and the load terminal, an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts, said operating mechanism including a trip bar, and an electronic trip unit. The electrical switching apparatus also includes a trip actuator assembly including an actuator housing coupled to said housing, an actuator coupled to said actuator housing, and a connector structured to electrically connect the actuator to an electronic trip unit. The electrical switching apparatus further includes a current transformer assembly including a rod-shaped conductor electrically coupled to the load terminal and a current transformer disposed around the rod-shaped conductor, wherein the electronic trip unit is structured to electrically control actuation of the actuator. |
| US09728346B2 |
Redox polymer energy storage system
An energy storage system includes, in an exemplary embodiment, a first current collector having a first surface and a second surface, a first electrode including a plurality of carbon nanotubes on the second surface of the first current collector. The plurality of carbon nanotubes include a polydisulfide applied onto a surface of the plurality of nanotubes. The energy storage system also includes an ionically conductive separator having a first surface and a second surface, with first surface of the ionically conductive separator positioned on the first electrode, a second current collector having a first surface and a second surface, and a second electrode including a plurality of carbon nanotubes positioned between the first surface of the second current collector and the second surface of the ionically conductive separator. |
| US09728343B2 |
Electrical storage device element and electrical storage device
A highly-reliable electrical storage device element and electrical storage device, in each of which on predetermined regions of predetermined end surfaces of a laminate forming an electrical storage component, sprayed end surface electrodes each having a high bond strength to the laminate are provided. |
| US09728341B2 |
Electronic component, method for producing same, and sealing material paste used in same
An electronic component has an organic member between two transparent substrates, in which outer peripheral portions of the two transparent substrates are bonded by a sealing material containing to melting glass. The low melting glass contains vanadium oxide, tellurium oxide, iron oxide and phosphoric acid, and satisfies the following relations (1) and (2) in terms of oxides. The sealing material is formed of a sealing material paste which contains the low melting glass, a resin binder and a solvent, the low melting glass containing vanadium oxide, tellurium oxide, iron oxide and phosphoric acid, and satisfies the following relations (1) and (2) in terms of the oxides. Thereby, thermal damages to an organic element or an organic material contained in the electronic component can be reduced and an electronic component having a glass bonding layer of high reliability can be produced efficiently. V2O5+TeO2+Fe2O+P2O5≧90(mass %) (1) V2O5>TeO2>Fe2O3>P2O5 (mass %) (2) |
| US09728340B2 |
Variable capacitance capacitor element
A variable capacitance capacitor element according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a supporting substrate; a first electrode layer provided on the supporting substrate; a second electrode layer provided opposite to the first electrode layer; and a dielectric layer positioned between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer. In accordance with an aspect, a main component of the dielectric layer is represented by a composition formula Ba1−xSrxTiO3 (0.5≦x≦0.8), and the first thin film dielectric layer has a thickness of 200 nm or smaller. |
| US09728336B2 |
Multilayer ceramic capacitor, multilayer ceramic capacitor series including the same, and multilayer ceramic capacitor mount body including the same
A body of a multilayer ceramic capacitor includes an inner layer portion and first and second outer layer portions sandwiching the inner layer portion therebetween. The inner layer portion includes an area extending from a conductive layer positioned closest to a first main surface to a conductive layer positioned closest to a second main surface in the stacking direction. The height of the body is smaller than the width of the body. The height of the inner layer portion is smaller than the width of the inner layer portion. The first outer layer portion includes a dielectric layer positioned closest to the first main surface. The second outer layer portion includes a dielectric layer positioned closest to the second main surface, and is thicker than the first outer layer portion. The total height of the first and second outer layer portions is smaller than the height of the inner layer portion. |
| US09728334B2 |
Multilayer ceramic capacitor and board for mounting thereof
A multilayer ceramic capacitor may include three external electrodes disposed on a mounting surface of a ceramic body so as to be spaced apart from each other. When a height of at least one portion of the external electrode formed on one side surface of the ceramic body in a width direction is defined as d, and a thickness of the ceramic body is defined as T, a ratio of d/T satisfies 0.10≦d/T. |
| US09728332B2 |
Wire rod and steel wire having superior magnetic characteristics, and method for manufacturing same
A wire rod and steel wire having superior magnetic characteristics and a method for manufacturing same, wherein the wire rod and the steel wire can be used in transformers, vehicles, electric or electronic products, or the like which require low iron loss and high permeability. Provided are a wire rod and steel wire having superior magnetic characteristics and a method for manufacturing same, wherein the wire rod or the steel wire comprises, by wt %, 0.03 to 0.05% of C, 3.0 to 5.0% of Si, 0.1 to 2.0% of Mn, 0.02 to 0.08% of Al, 0.0015 to 0.0030% of N, and the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities. The wire rod and steel wire having directional properties may be provided by a general manufacturing process without using expensive alloying elements and without having to add a manufacturing facility. |
| US09728331B2 |
Method for making a choke
A method to form a choke is disclosed, wherein the method comprises: encapsulating a hollow coil by a molding body; forming a first core, wherein the first core comprises a pillar; and disposing at least one first portion of the pillar inside the encapsulated hollow coil. The method avoids the overflow or vertical flow issue during a molding process for encapsulating a coil that has been wound on a core already. |
| US09728327B2 |
External on-load tap changer
Disclosed is a suspensible external combined on-load tap changer, including: a switch box, a switch body and a motor mechanism, a top box wall of the switch box being opened with a top opening, a top box cover being mounted on the top opening, wherein the switch body is detachably mounted in the switch box and is entirely lifted in and lifted out by the top opening; and the motor mechanism is connected with the switch body in a driving manner. The switch body in the present invention uses a hoisting structure, and the top box wall of the switch box is opened with a top opening with a size large enough, so that the switch body is directly lifted in and lifted out of the switch box from the top opening, and installation and maintenance are easier. |
| US09728325B2 |
Power feeding coil unit and wireless power transmission device
A power feeding coil unit includes a power feeding coil, and first and second auxiliary coils located outside of the region defined by a wire of the power feeding coil. The axis of the first auxiliary coil and the axis of the second auxiliary coil are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the power feeding coil. The power feeding coil and the first and second auxiliary coils simultaneously generate respective magnetic fluxes, each of which interlinks the corresponding one of the power feeding coil and the first and second auxiliary coils in a direction from the center to the outside of the power feeding coil unit. |
| US09728322B2 |
Ignition coil for internal combustion engine
An ignition coil for an internal combustion engine is equipped with an assembly of a connector casing and a coil body. The coil body includes a primary winding wound around a primary spool. The connector casing has terminals each of which is equipped with a conductor fastener. The conductor fastener has a slit in which one of ends of the primary winding is fit to make an electric connection between the terminal and the primary winding. The primary spool has conductor guides and a backup support to establish alignment of each of the ends of the primary winding with one of the conductor fasteners and also to facilitate insertion of each of the ends of the primary winding into one of the conductor fasteners when the coil body is fitted into the connector casing, thereby ensuring the stability of electric connection between the primary winding and the terminal. |
| US09728321B2 |
Transformer with ferromagnetic foil windings
The proposed transformer includes windings made of a multi-layer ferromagnetic foil tape having an even number m of ferromagnetic layers, coated by interlayer insulation. The winding's upper ends are connected through a first yoke, the winding's bottom ends are connected through a second yoke. Each winding is wrapped by a short-circuited coil, and contains a component for transposition of layers connected in a break at the middle of tape. The insulation's thickness is determined by a ratio of di>un2, pic*/(En2, pic·m), where un2, pic is a maximum peak voltage between adjacent winding turns, En2, pic is a maximum electric field strength of the insulation. The insulation uses either ferroelectric material Fe2O3, or multi-layered material with an intensive antiferromagnetic interaction formed as a plurality of pairs of alternating layers of Cu—Fe with a ratio of thicknesses of Cu and Fe ranged from 5:1 to 10:1. |
| US09728316B2 |
Coil component, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic device
A coil component includes an air-core coil embedded in a magnetic body constituted by resin and metal magnetic grains. Both ends of the coil are exposed on the surface of the magnetic body, and the side on which both ends are exposed is polished and etched to form terminal electrodes. To be specific, an underlying layer of metal material is formed across the surface of the magnetic body and the ends by means of sputtering, and then a cover layer is formed. Where the magnetic body contacts the underlying layer, the areas where the underlying layer is in contact with the resin ensure insulation, while the contact between the underlying layer and the exposed parts of the metal magnetic grains ensures adhesion, thus increasing the adhesion strength with respect to the terminal electrodes. |
| US09728314B2 |
Latching solenoid regulator valve
A latching solenoid assembly is provided which includes a solenoid actuator. A housing is also provided which has an axial passage. An intermediate piston is moved by the solenoid actuator. A reaction member is also placed within the housing axial passage spring biased by a transfer spring from the intermediate piston. The housing has a latching port allowing pressure to latch the intermediate piston in position to set the force which is transmitted to the reaction member. |
| US09728312B2 |
Non-oriented electrical steel sheet and manufacturing method thereof
A non-oriented electrical steel sheet containing: in mass %, C: 0.005% or less; Si: 0.1% to 2.0%; Mn: 0.05% to 0.6%; P: 0.100% or less; and Al: 0.5% or less, in which 10 pieces/μm3 or less in number density of non-magnetic precipitate AlN having an average diameter of 10 nm to 200 nm are contained, and an average magnetic flux density B50 in a rolling direction and in a direction perpendicular to rolling is 1.75 T or more. This non-oriented electrical steel sheet can be manufactured by two methods of a method of performing hot rolling annealing at a temperature of 750° C. to an Ac1 transformation point and a method of setting a coil winding temperature to 780° C. or higher and performing self annealing. |
| US09728308B2 |
Surge arrester comprising traction elements maintained by loops
A surge arrester has several tensioning elements which brace the discharge column in the axial direction. One or more loop arrangements radially surround the tensioning elements. One loop arrangement has a plurality of loops. Each loop of the plurality of loops surrounds only some, but not all, of the tensioning elements. |
| US09728307B2 |
R-stack arrester
An elbow arrester with a T-body is disclosed capable of coupling with an apparatus for protection from transient over voltage, and coupling with additional cable accessories, without having to loosen the initial connection with the coupled apparatus. The elbow body of the T-body arrester has a first portion, and a second portion protruding from an intermediate section of the first portion to define a T-body. A receiving feature is located within the first portion extending towards a first end, while a male feature is coupled to a second end of the first portion, opposite from the receiving feature. A coupling fastener is integrally molded into the first portion, providing for an apparatus coupled to the coupling fastener to be decoupled without loosening the connection of another apparatus connected to the T-Body elbow. Further, decoupling the other apparatus does not loosen the apparatus coupled to the coupling fastener. |
| US09728304B2 |
Shielding tape with multiple foil layers
A coaxial cable of the present invention comprises a center conductor, a dielectric surrounding the center conductor, a shielding tape surrounding the dielectric, a braided metal surrounding the shielding tape, and an outer jacket surrounding the braided metal. The shielding tape comprises: (i) a first shielding layer bonded to a first separating layer; (ii) a second shielding layer bonded to the first separating layer and a second separating layer; and (iii) a third shielding layer bonded to the second separating layer. The present invention eliminates the potential problem of the outer shielding structures separating and interfering with connector attachment. Furthermore, the use of three or more shielding layers in the shielding tape of the present invention improves the flex life of the shield tape by covering micro-cracks in the metal layers with additional shielding layers, thus reducing signal egress or ingress. Accordingly, the present invention provides cost savings and/or an improvement in shielding performance. |
| US09728302B1 |
Flame retardant communication cables incorporating extinguishants
Flame retardant communications cables may include at least one transmission media and at least one other component, such as a separator, buffer tube, jacket, shield layer, or wrap. The at least one other component may include a body portion, and at least one cavity formed in the body portion in which an extinguishant is positioned. Additionally, the at least one transmission media is not positioned within the at least one cavity. |
| US09728301B2 |
Insulated wire and electric or electronic equipment
An insulated wire having a conductor, and a multilayer insulating layer composed of two or more layers coating the conductor, wherein the innermost insulating layer of the multilayer insulating layer is an insulating layer formed of a crystalline thermoplastic resin having a storage elastic modulus of 10 MPa or more at 300° C. and outer insulating layer(s) other than the innermost insulating layer include(s) an insulating layer formed of a crystalline thermoplastic resin having a melting point of 260° C. or higher and a storage elastic modulus of 1,000 MPa or more at 25° C., and adjacent insulating layers have a relationship such that the storage elastic modulus at 25° C. of the thermoplastic resin of the outer insulating layer is equal to or smaller than the inner insulating layer; and electric/electronic equipment formed using the insulated wire as a winding and/or lead wire of a transformer that is incorporated into the electric/electronic equipment. |
| US09728298B2 |
Radiation crosslinked fluoropolymer compositions containing low level of extractable fluorides
A composition for manufacturing a crosslinked ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) copolymer with enhanced abrasion resistance and heat resistance is provided, the composition including ETFE, about 0.1-10% w/w of a metal oxide that effectively scavenges high levels of fluoride ions; and a crosslinking agent. Methods of using and making the composition are also provided. |
| US09728297B2 |
Mobile electronic device
A mobile electronic device comprising at least one part made of a polymer composition [composition (C), herein after] comprising at least one part made of a polymer composition [composition (C), herein after] comprising from at least one polyaryletherketone polymer [(PAEK) polymer], and at least one nitride (NI) of an element having an electronegativity (∈) of from 1.3 to 2.5, as defined in < |
| US09728294B2 |
Resin composite material
A resin composite material includes: fine graphite particles including plate-like graphite particles, an aromatic vinyl copolymer which is adsorbed on the plate-like graphite particles, and which contains a vinyl aromatic monomer unit represented by the following formula (1): —(CH2—CHX)— (1) (in the formula (1), X represents a phenyl group, a naphthyl group, an anthracenyl group, or a pyrenyl group, provided that these groups may have each a substituent), and at least one hydrocarbon chain which is bonded to the aromatic vinyl copolymer, and which is selected from the group consisting of alkyl chains, oligoolefin chains, and polyolefin chains. |
| US09728290B2 |
Energy shield for radiation system
Among other things, an energy shield (212) for a radiation system, such as a security imaging system, is provided. The energy shield is comprised of one or more flaps (300). At least one flap defines an aperture (320) providing a demarcation between a first flap segment (322) of the flap and a second flap segment (324) of the flap. The aperture (e.g., and a flexible member (326) positioned spatially proximate the aperture) provide for (e.g., facilitate) movement of the second flap segment relative to the first flap segment. In this manner, an amount of force required to be applied by an object to pass by the flap may be reduced when the object is small and merely contacts the second flap segment, for example. In this manner, baggage jams may be mitigated, for example, by reducing the likelihood that certain objects will be impeded from passing through the energy shield. |
| US09728289B1 |
Passive radiation shield
The Radiation shield comprises one or more passive elements. A material having a high internal electric field is used to intensify the shielding effect. The material internal electric field generates a force that slows and/or diverts the incoming particle. The charged particle transfers kinetic energy into the shielding material. The charged particle slows down/diverts away from the protected direction. The incoming particle also interacts with the material transferring energy through traditional interactions. The path of the particle within the protective material can be lengthen. The shield can be combined with other passive shields that would maximize the electric deceleration effect and absorbs energy from the incoming particle. The shield can take different shapes, textures and colors, can also be included into other materials and its material be used for dual purposes. |
| US09728286B2 |
System for low profile translation of high level radioactive waste
An apparatus, system and method for handling and translating high level radioactive waste. The apparatus comprises a body for supporting the cask close to the ground so that the cask and the apparatus can pass underneath over head doors. The apparatus further comprises rollers for translating the cask. The apparatus additionally supports the storage cask during spent nuclear fuel transfer procedures. |
| US09728281B2 |
Auxiliary condenser system for decay heat removal in a nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor includes an internal steam generator and a nuclear core disposed in a containment structure. A condenser is disposed outside the containment structure, and includes a condenser inlet line tapping off a steam line connected to the steam generator outside the containment structure, and a condensate injection line conveying condensate from the condenser to the integral steam generator. Isolation valves are located outside the containment structure on a feedwater line, the steam line, and the condensate injection line. The valves have an operating configuration in which the isolation valves on the feedwater and steam lines are open and the isolation valve on the condensate injection line is closed, and a heat removal configuration in which the isolation valves on the feedwater and steam lines are closed and the isolation valve on the condensate injection line is open. |
| US09728280B2 |
Dielectric wall accelerator utilizing diamond or diamond like carbon
Provided are a plurality of embodiments, including, but not limited to, a device for generating efficient low and high average power output Gamma Rays via relativistic particle bombardment of element targets using an efficient particle injector and accelerator at low and high average power levels suitable for element transmutation and power generation with an option for efficient remediation of radioisotope release into any environment. The devices utilize diamond or diamond-like carbon materials and active cooling for improved performance. |
| US09728279B2 |
Memory system including a memory device, and methods of operating the memory system and the memory device
A method is provided for operating a memory device. The method includes counting, from among memory cells, a number of first off-cells with respect to a first reading voltage and a number of second off-cells with respect to a second reading voltage, comparing the number of first off-cells and the number of second off-cells, and determining, based on a result of the comparing, whether a programming error exists in a storage region in which the memory cells are included. |
| US09728278B2 |
Threshold voltage margin analysis
The present disclosure is related to a threshold voltage margin analysis. An example embodiment apparatus can include a memory and a controller coupled to the memory. The controller is configured to determine a previous power loss of a memory to be an asynchronous power loss, and identify a portion of the memory last subject to programming operations during the determined asynchronous power loss. The controller is further configured to perform a threshold voltage (Vt) margin analysis on the portion of the memory responsive to the determined asynchronous power loss. |
| US09728277B2 |
Method of repairing non-volatile memory based storage device and method of operating electronic system including the storage device
A method of repairing a storage device including a non-volatile memory includes powering on the storage device, performing a booting sequence, determining whether an error has occurred during the booting sequence or during a normal mode, writing a failure signature to a predetermined signature address in the non-volatile memory upon determining that the error has occurred, reporting a failure to a host upon writing the failure signature, entering into a repair mode upon reporting the failure, and operating in the normal mode upon determining that the error has not occurred. |
| US09728276B2 |
Integrated circuits with built-in self test mechanism
An embodiment of the invention provides an integrated circuit including a core circuit and a memory. The core circuit executes operations of the integrated circuit. The memory stores a subsystem and a repair system. When the repair system runs, the repair system detects whether there is a defect in the memory. When the repair system detects the defect, the repair system repairs the defect, and when the repair system does not detect the defect, a fake defect is injected in the memory to verify whether the repair system runs correctly. |
| US09728273B2 |
Embedded memory testing using back-to-back write/read operations
In one embodiment, a BIST (built-in self-test) engine performs BIST testing of embedded memory in an integrated circuit device (e.g., an FPGA) via an (e.g., hard-wired, dedicated, low-latency) bus from the configuration bitstream engine. During BIST testing, data is written into the embedded memory at-speed, which may require the bitstream engine to produce a higher frequency than originally used for configuration. Between consecutive write operations, the BIST engine is capable of reading the previously written set of data from the embedded memory and comparing that read-back data with the corresponding original set of data to determine whether a BIST error has occurred. By performing back-to-back write/read-back operations faster than the configuration speed and using a dedicated W/RB bus, BIST testing can be optimally performed without false-positive-invoking delays and undesirable resource utilization. |
| US09728271B2 |
Charge injection noise reduction in sample-and-hold circuit
A sample-and-hold circuit includes a first transistor; a second transistor disposed between a gate electrode and a drain electrode of the first transistor; a sampling capacitor, an electrode of the sampling capacitor being connected to the gate electrode of the first transistor; and a first current source connected to the drain electrode of the first transistor, where a gate electrode of the second transistor receives a gate control signal. A minimum voltage of the gate control signal is Vth2+Vsat2+Vth1+Vsat1, where Vth1 is a threshold voltage of the first transistor, Vsat1 is a saturation voltage of the first transistor, Vth2 is a threshold voltage of the second transistor, and Vsat2 is a saturation voltage of the second transistor. |
| US09728268B1 |
Memory device
According to one embodiment, a memory device includes a controller, and a nonvolatile memory controlled by the controller, the nonvolatile memory executing an erase operation by an algorithm which repeats loops, each loop including an erase step applying an erase pulse to a memory cell and a verify step verifying a threshold voltage of the memory cell after the erase step, an erase-verify-read voltage using the verify step changing in a x-th loop (x is a natural number equal to or larger than 2). The controller is capable of changing a value of x, and indicates the value of x to the nonvolatile memory. |
| US09728266B1 |
Memory device including multiple select gates and different bias conditions
Some embodiments include apparatuses and methods using first and second select gates coupled in series between a conductive line and a first memory cell string of a memory device, and third and fourth select gates coupled in series between the conductive line and a second memory cell string of the memory device. The memory device can include first, second, third, and fourth select lines to provide first, second, third, and fourth voltages, respectively, to the first, second, third, and fourth select gates, respectively, during an operation of the memory device. The first and second voltages can have a same value. The third and fourth voltages can have different values. |
| US09728264B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device, operating method thereof, and data storage device including the same
A nonvolatile memory device includes a memory cell array including a data cell area, and a mode cell area that stores write mode information of the data cell area, a mode information storage block storing previous write mode information read out from the mode cell area in a previous read operation, and a control logic reading out the write mode information from the mode cell area comparing the read-out write mode information and the previous write mode information, and reading the data cell area in a read mode selected based on a comparison result. |
| US09728257B2 |
Semiconductor device having a write prohibited region
An object of the present invention is to realize a highly reliable long-life information processor capable of high-speed operation and easy to handle. The processor includes a semiconductor device comprising a nonvolatile memory device including a plurality of overwritable memory cells, and a control circuit device for controlling access to the nonvolatile memory device. The control circuit device sets assignments of second addresses to the nonvolatile memory device independently of first addresses externally supplied, such that the physical disposition of part of the memory cells used for writing of first data to be written externally supplied is one of the first to (N+1)th of every (N+1) memory cells (N: a natural number) at least in one direction. |
| US09728253B2 |
Sense circuit for RRAM
A resistive random-access memory device includes a RRAM array including a plurality of RRAM cells coupled to a source line, a controller, a bit-line decoder, and a sense circuit. Each of the RRAM cells storing a logic state and is selected by the corresponding bit line and word line. The controller selects a selected RRAM cell by a bit-line signal and a selected word line and determines the logic state according to a sense signal. The bit-line decoder couples a data bit line to the selected bit line according to a bit-line signal. The sense circuit is coupled to the data bit line and compares a memory current flowing through the selected RRAM with a reference current to generate the sense signal. The sense circuit sinks the memory current from the data bit line when operating in a reset operation and a reverse read operation. |
| US09728251B2 |
Resistance variable memory sensing using programming signals
Apparatuses and methods for sensing a resistance variable memory cell include circuitry to apply a programming signal to a memory cell in the array, the programming signal associated with programming resistance variable memory cells to a particular data state, and detect a change in resistance of the memory cell to determine if a data state of the memory cell changes from an initial data state to a different data state during application of the programming signal. |
| US09728248B2 |
Semiconductor structure and memory device including the structure
A semiconductor structure includes first and second source/drain region disposed in a semiconductor body and spaced from each other by a channel region. A gate electrode overlies the channel region and a capacitor electrode is disposed between the gate electrode and the channel region. A first gate dielectric is disposed between the gate electrode and the capacitor electrode and a second gate dielectric disposed between the capacitor electrode and the channel region. A first electrically conductive contact region is in electrical contact with the gate electrode and a second electrically conductive contact region in electrical contact with the capacitor electrode. The first and second contact regions are electrically isolated from one another. |
| US09728241B2 |
Non-volatile flip-flop with enhanced-scan capability to sustain sudden power failure
Non-volatile flip-flops (NVFFs) based circuitries and schemes that incorporate magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) are provided to ensure fast data storage and restoration from an intentional or unintentional power outage. The NVFFs based circuitries and schemes also include enhanced scan mode testing capability by exploiting the nonvolatile latch to function as hold latch for delay testing. The NVFFs based circuitries and schemes eliminate additional write drivers, and may operate at an operation frequency of, for example, up to 2 GHz at a supply voltage of 1.1 V and with 0.55 pJ of energy consumption. A near uniform write latency can be achieved through transistor sizing, given write asymmetry of MTJs. NVFFs based circuitries and schemes incorporating data-dependent power gating circuitries can be used to mitigate high static currents generated during retention and back-to-back writing of identical input data. |
| US09728240B2 |
Pulse programming techniques for voltage-controlled magnetoresistive tunnel junction (MTJ)
A method of programming a voltage-controlled magnetoresistive tunnel junction (MTJ) includes applying a programming voltage pulse (Vp), reading the voltage-controlled MTJ, and determining if the voltage-controlled MTJ is programmed to a desired state and if not, changing the Vp and repeating the applying and reading steps until the voltage-controlled MTJ is programmed to the desired state. |
| US09728239B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a first memory cell array including a first memory cell having a variable resistive element, a second memory cell array including a second memory cell having the variable resistive element, a reference signal generation circuit which generates a reference signal, a sense amplifier having a first input terminal and a second input terminal, and a read enable control circuit which generates a read enable signal in accordance with a command from outside and control switching between a single cell read mode and a twin cell read mode. |
| US09728235B2 |
Semiconductor device and semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor device includes a non-volatile memory unit, a data line configured to transfer data sequentially outputted from the non-volatile memory unit, and a shift register unit configured to include a plurality of registers that shift and store the data transferred through the data line in synchronization with a clock. The semiconductor device includes a non-volatile memory unit having an e-fuse array, and transfers the data stored in an e-fuse array to other constituent elements of the semiconductor device that use the data of the e-fuse array in order to have the data stored in the e-fuse array, including diverse setup information and repair information. |
| US09728234B1 |
Operating method of semiconductor memory device
A method for operating a semiconductor memory device includes receiving input/output signals including a command, an address and data, through input/output lines; and receiving a first control signal and a second control signal, wherein, regardless of a state of the second control signal, when the first control signal which is enabled is received, the input/output signals received through the input/output lines are recognized as the command. |
| US09728230B2 |
Techniques to bias video thumbnail selection using frequently viewed segments
Techniques for intelligently biasing video thumbnail selection to popular segments of the video file are provided. In one aspect, a method of selecting video thumbnails used to represent a video file is provided. The method includes the steps of: (a) acquiring trending data from viewers related to the video file; (b) using the trending data to identify one or more segments of the video file that are popular among the viewers; and (c) adapting a selection of the video thumbnails used to represent the video file to the segments identified in step (b). |
| US09728223B2 |
Storing random and sequential data on different track widths of a recording medium
Host data to be written to a recording medium is categorized as one of sequential data or random data. The sequential data is written to a first track width on the recording medium. The random data is written to a second track width on the recording medium, the second track width being larger than the first track width. |
| US09728220B2 |
Charge control agent for fluid dynamic bearing motor lubricant
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to magnetic recording systems having a spindle motor and, more particularly, to an optimized lubricant for bearings within the spindle motor. A lubricant used in a fluid dynamic bearing motor has an antioxidant additive and a charge control agent dissolved in a diester base oil. The charge control agent is chemically attached to the same diacid reactant used in the diester lubricant base oil, and is prepared through an esterification reaction. The charge control agent is then dissolved in the lubricant base oil. The charge control agent is soluble in the lubricant, and is resistant to free radical oxidation. The charge control agent effectively controls the charge of the lubricant by creating electron donor/acceptor sites in the lubricant, facilitating an independent electronic pathway through the lubricant. |
| US09728218B2 |
Magnetic recording medium for heat-assisted magnetic recording
A magnetic recording medium for heat-assisted magnetic recording is provided. A magnetic recording layer includes upper and lower magnetic recording layers. The lower magnetic recording layer has a lower granular structure including lower magnetic crystal grains, and a lower non-magnetic portion, that surrounds the lower magnetic crystal grains, mainly composed of carbon. The upper magnetic recording layer has an upper granular structure including upper magnetic crystal grains, and an upper non-magnetic portion, that surrounds the upper magnetic crystal grains, formed from a material selected from the group consisting of silicon nitride, titanium oxide and titanium nitride. |
| US09728216B2 |
Feromagnetically coupled magnetic recording media
A ferromagnetically coupled magnetic recording medium having a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, and a ferromagnetic coupling layer to ferromagnetically couple the first ferromagnetic layer to the second ferromagnetic layer is used as stable magnetic media with high MrT in high density recording hard drives. The first ferromagnetic layer is the stabilization layer and the second ferromagnetic layer is the main recording layer. The ferromagnetic coupling layer comprises a conductive material having a thickness which produces ferromagnetic coupling between said first ferromagnetic layer and said second ferromagnetic layer via the RKKY interaction. |
| US09728202B2 |
Method and apparatus for voice modification during a call
A method for voice modification during a telephone call comprising receiving a source audio signal associated with at least one participant, wherein the source audio signal comprises a voice of the at least one participant, detecting a source dialect of the at least one participant, selecting a target dialect based on at least a characteristic of a target participant and creating a modulated audio signal based on the source audio signal, the source dialect, and the target dialect and transmitting the modulated audio signal to the target participant. |
| US09728200B2 |
Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for adaptive formant sharpening in linear prediction coding
A method of processing an audio signal includes determining an average signal-to-noise ratio for the audio signal over time. The method includes, based on the determined average signal-to-noise ratio, a formant-sharpening factor is determined. The method also includes applying a filter that is based on the determined formant-sharpening factor to a codebook vector that is based on information from the audio signal. |
| US09728195B2 |
Noise signal processing method, noise signal generation method, encoder, decoder, and encoding and decoding system
Present disclosure provide a linear prediction-based noise signal processing method includes: acquiring a noise signal, and obtaining a linear prediction coefficient according to the noise signal; filtering the noise signal according to the linear prediction coefficient, to obtain a linear prediction residual signal; obtaining a spectral envelope of the linear prediction residual signal according to the linear prediction residual signal; and encoding the spectral envelope of the linear prediction residual signal. According to the noise processing method, the noise generation method, the encoder, the decoder, and the encoding and decoding system that are in the embodiments of the present disclosure, more spectral details of an original background noise signal can be recovered, so that comfort noise can be closer to original background noise in terms of subjective auditory perception of a user, and subjective perception quality of the user is improved. |
| US09728194B2 |
Audio processing
An audio processing system (100) for spatial synthesis comprises an upmix stage (110) receiving a decoded m-channel downmix signal (X) and outputting, based thereon, an n-channel upmix signal (Y), wherein 2≦m |
| US09728190B2 |
Summarization of audio data
Aspects of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, a service, and a system for generating a summary of audio on one or more computing devices. The method includes one or more processors retrieving an audio recording. The method further includes one or more processors identifying supplemental information associated with the audio recording, wherein the supplemental information includes information associated with content in the audio recording and information associated with one or more speakers of the audio recording. The method further includes one or more processors converting the audio recording to a transcript of the audio recording. The method further includes one or more processors generating a summary of the transcript of the audio recording based at least in part on the identified supplemental information. |
| US09728186B2 |
Analysis of professional-client interactions
One or more processors receive recording data of a meeting between a professional and a client. One or more processors analyze the recording data to make one or more determinations. One or more processors identify one or more characteristics of the professional based on the one or more determinations. One or more processors match the one or more characteristics of the professional to one or more preferences of an individual seeking one or more professionals. One or more processors build a profile of the professional based on the one or more characteristics and store the profile in a database. One or more processors search the database for one or more profiles that provide a match of the one or more preferences of the individual seeking one or more professionals and display the one or more profiles. |
| US09728182B2 |
Method and system for generating advanced feature discrimination vectors for use in speech recognition
A method of renormalizing high-resolution oscillator peaks, extracted from windowed samples of an audio signal, is disclosed. Feature vectors are generated for which variations in both fundamental frequency and time duration of speech are substantially mitigated. The feature vectors may be aligned within a common coordinate space, free of those variations in frequency and time duration that occurs between speakers, and even over speech by a single speaker, to facilitate a simple and accurate determination of matches between those AFDVs generated from a sample of the audio signal and corpus AFDVs generated for known speech at the phoneme and sub-phoneme level. The renormalized feature vectors can be combined with traditional feature vectors such as MFCCs, or they can be used exclusively to identify voiced, semi-voiced and unvoiced sounds. |
| US09728180B2 |
Accoustic wave reproduction system
A method of and a system for generating an acoustic wave representing reverberations from a desired acoustic environment are described including having a recording surface (11) defined by a spatial distribution of recording transducers (o) and an emitting surface defined by a spatial distribution of emitting transducers (x), wherein the emitting surface (12) defines a volume within which the recording surface (11) is located, recording an acoustic wave (14) originating from within a volume defined by the recording surface (11) using the recording transducers (x), extrapolating the recorded wave (14) to the emitting surface using wavefield propagator system (IS) representing the desired acoustic environment, and emitting the extrapolated wave from the emitting transducers (o). |
| US09728179B2 |
Calibration and stabilization of an active noise cancelation system
A method of calibrating an earphone may include: securing an ANC earphone to a calibration fixture, the calibration fixture including an ear model configured to support the ANC earphone, the ear model having an ear canal configured to anatomically resemble a human ear canal and a concha configured to anatomically resemble a human ear concha, the ear canal extending from the concha to an inner end of the ear canal; generating, with the ANC earphone, an audio signal based on a reference tone; determining a characteristic of the audio signal; comparing the characteristic of the audio signal to a previously determined reference characteristic; and adjusting a gain value of the ANC earphone based on the comparing. Additional methods and apparatus are also disclosed. |
| US09728176B2 |
Active design of exhaust sounds
A sound generator (1) includes a casing (10) with at least one exhaust gas inlet (11) and at least one exhaust gas outlet (12) that is different from the at least one exhaust gas inlet (11) and at least one electro-acoustical transducer (20). The electro-acoustical transducer (20) is configured to produce sound in dependence on an electrical control signal. The electro-acoustical transducer (20) is located within the casing or directly attached to the casing. An active noise control system (9) includes the sound generator (1). A vehicle (8) with an internal combustion engine (6) includes the active noise control system (9). |
| US09728175B2 |
Interchangeable pickup system for an electric stringed musical instrument
A guitar body having an inner sidewall forming an opening extending from a front to a back of the guitar body is provided. The inner sidewall includes electrical contacts electrically connected to a wiring of the guitar. A seat with magnets is formed about a periphery of the inner sidewall. A pickup cartridge includes a pickup, electrical contacts, and a flange with magnets. The opening is sized to receive the pickup cartridge so that the magnets of the seat attract to the magnets of the flange and releasably retain the pickup cartridge within. The electrical contacts of the pickup cartridge electrically connect with the electrical contacts of the inner sidewall. |
| US09728173B2 |
Automatic arrangement of automatic accompaniment with accent position taken into consideration
Performance information of main music is sequentially acquired, and an accent position of the music is determined. An automatic accompaniment is progressed based on accompaniment pattern data. Upon determination that the current time point coincides with the accent position, an accompaniment event whose tone generation timing arrives within a predetermined time range following the current time point is extracted from the accompaniment pattern data, the tone generation timing of the extracted accompaniment event is shifted to the current time point, and then, accompaniment data is created based on the accompaniment event having the tone generation timing thus shifted. If there is no accompaniment event whose tone generation timing arrives at the current time point or within the predetermined time range following the current time point, automatic accompaniment data with the current time point set as its tone generation timing is additionally created. |
| US09728170B2 |
Mounting system for pivotal coupling of a tuner to an instrument
Disclosed herein are embodiments of a mounting system for pivotal coupling to an instrument, the mounting system including a tuner, a ball element outwardly extending from the tuner, and a socket element having a wall defining a socket in communication with a wall opening; whereby the socket is configured to pivotally receive at least a portion of the ball element via the wall opening to pivotally couple the ball element to the socket element. |
| US09728169B2 |
Acoustic dampening for musical strings; use, method, and string
A viscoelastic polymer matrix is used for configuration and adjustment of acoustical properties of a musical string for bowed and plucked instruments; the polymer matrix is not covering the surface of the string but is provided between the core and the at least one sheath or between wound sheaths around the core: The polymer matrix comprises a polymeric binding agent and insoluble, sub-micrometer size, nano-scale solid state particles embedded in the binding agent. |
| US09728163B2 |
Operation mode switching method and electronic device
An electronic device and an operation mode switching method thereof are described. The operation mode switching method is applied to an electronic device that includes a display unit, and the electronic device has a first operation mode and a second operation mode. The display unit has a first light-transmittance in the first operation mode and a second light-transmittance in the second operation mode such that the first high light-transmittance is higher than the second light-transmittance. The method includes detecting to obtain a trigger event; judging whether or not the trigger event satisfies a predefined condition to get a judgment result and, when the judgment result indicates that the trigger event satisfies the predefined condition, generating a switching instruction, and according to the switching instruction, switching the electronic device between the first operation mode and the second operation mode. |
| US09728159B2 |
Systems and methods for ISO-perceptible power reduction for displays
Several embodiments of systems and methods are disclosed that create iso-perceptible image data from input image data. Such iso-perceptible image data may be created from Just-Noticeable-Difference (JND) modeling that leverages models from the Human Visual System (HVS). From a set of iso-perceptible image data set, an output image data may be selected, such that the chosen output image data has a less power and/or energy requirement to render than the input image data. Further, the output image data may have a substantially lower power and/or energy requirement than the set of iso-perceptible image data. |
| US09728158B2 |
Single user input mechanism for controlling electronic device operations
A unique input mechanism for controlling several operations of an electronic device is provided. Using the unique input mechanism, which may be the single input mechanism for providing user inputs to the electronic device, a user may provide different inputs or combinations of inputs to control different operations based on the current mode or capacity of the electronic device. For example, a single, short click of a button may control a media operation (e.g., play/pause) in a media mode, and the same input may control a telephony operation (e.g., initiate/terminate call) in a telephony mode. In some embodiments, different inputs may be associated with different types of operations. The unique input mechanism may include, for example, a button, a switch, a key, or an actuator. |
| US09728157B2 |
Program, display apparatus, television receiver, display method, and display system
A television receiver segments a part of an image depending on image information received from a communication device and pixel information representing the number of pixels in a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction of the image. The television receiver judges a size between the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction and that in the lateral direction in the pixel information, and when it is judged that the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction is larger than that in the lateral direction, displays two screens in which the segmented image and another image are juxtaposed on a display unit. Meanwhile, when it is judged that the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction is not larger than that in the lateral direction, the television receiver receives a signal designating the number of screens to be displayed on the display unit and displays the two screens in which the segmented image and another image are juxtaposed or one screen of the segmented image on the display unit depending on the received signal. |
| US09728156B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a display panel comprising a plurality of gate lines extending in a first diagonal direction of a display area, and a plurality of vertical lines extending in a vertical direction, the gate lines comprising a plurality of first gate lines disposed in a first sub-area of the display area, a plurality of second gate lines disposed in a second sub-area of the display area, a plurality of third gate lines disposed in a third sub-area of the display area, the third gate lines respectively connected to the vertical lines, and a gate driver disposed in the first peripheral area in which the data driver is disposed and configured to provide at least one of the first, second and third sub-areas with a gate signal different from a reference gate signal. |
| US09728153B2 |
Display system and method using set/reset pixels
Displays and display driving methods implement a pixel set/reset scheme. Pixel cells of an example display each include a set terminal, a reset terminal, an output terminal, and a set/reset circuit. Responsive to receiving a set signal on the set terminal, the set/reset circuit asserts a first signal on the output terminal and maintains the first signal on the output terminal until a reset signal is received on the reset terminal. Responsive to receiving a reset signal on the reset terminal, the set/reset circuit asserts a second signal on the output terminal and maintains the second signal on the output terminal until a set signal is received on the set terminal. The optical output of the pixel depends on when the first signal and the second signal are asserted on the output terminal of the set/reset circuit during a predefined modulation period. |
| US09728146B2 |
Liquid-crystal display device and electronic apparatus
According to an aspect, a liquid-crystal display device includes: a liquid crystal layer including a pixel; a driving circuit unit for applying a driving voltage to the pixel; a status detection unit that detects a response speed of the liquid crystal layer; and a control unit that controls a gradation of the pixel by controlling the driving voltage. The control unit switches between a first mode and a second mode based on a detection result from the status detection unit. In the first mode, the control unit uses each of a predetermined number of voltage values from a minimum voltage value to a maximum voltage as a voltage value of the driving voltage corresponding to a gradation value. In the second mode, the control unit uses part of the predetermined number of voltage values as a voltage value of the driving voltage for overdrive. |
| US09728143B2 |
System and method for driving electrowetting display device
A system and method of driving an electrowetting display device including a plurality of sub-pixels are presented. A sub-pixel in the plurality of sub-pixels is determined to be in an open state or a closed state and a target reflectance value is determined for the sub-pixel. For the sub-pixel in the open state, the target reflectance value is determined to be less than a first threshold value, and a reflectance value of the sub-pixel is set to either a minimum reflectance value or the first threshold value. For the sub-pixel in the closed state, the target reflectance value is determined to be less than a second threshold value, and the reflectance of the sub-pixel is set to either the minimum reflectance value or the second threshold value. |
| US09728135B2 |
Voltage programmed pixel circuit, display system and driving method thereof
A voltage programmed pixel circuit, display system having the pixel circuit and driving method thereof is provided. The pixel circuit includes a light emitting device, a driving transistor connected to the light emitting device and a programming circuit. The programming circuit adjusts a pixel current during a programming cycle of the pixel circuit. |
| US09728133B2 |
Pixel unit driving circuit, pixel unit driving method, pixel unit and display apparatus
The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a pixel unit driving circuit comprising: a driving unit; a charging unit; a storage unit configured to be charged during the charging stage of the pixel unit driving circuit, and provide a control voltage to the driving unit during a driving stage of the pixel unit driving circuit; a lighting control unit configured to make that a driving current provided from the driving unit to the lighting element during the driving stage of the pixel unit driving circuit is independent on a threshold voltage of the driving unit; and the driving control unit connected to the lighting control unit, the storage unit and the driving unit and configured to control the supply of the control voltage of the driving unit. According the embodiments of the present disclosure, the influence of the threshold voltage of the driving unit on the operating current is eliminated by providing the lighting control unit and the driving control unit, so as to moderate the drift of the threshold voltage caused by process procedure and a long term operation and to ensure the uniformity of the displayed brightness of the lighting element. |
| US09728129B2 |
Display device and the method for driving the same
The present disclosure provides a display device and a method for driving the same, which reduce or prevent a common voltage distortion phenomenon caused by a coupling phenomenon and thereby improve image quality. |
| US09728125B2 |
AMOLED pixel circuit
The present invention provides an AMOLED pixel circuit. The third thin film transistor (T3) are located between the first, the second thin film transistors (T1, T2), and the control line (Control) is employed to input the control signal for controlling on and off of the third thin film transistor (T3), and thus controlling the AMOLED pixel circuit to measure the drive current with the current measurement circuit (1) and correcting the signal voltage with the signal voltage drive circuit (2), or displaying normally. The drive current entering the organic light emitting diode (D) in respective pixels can be corrected to solve the issues of unstable brightness and uneven display caused by the properties of the organic light emitting diode (D), which is changing along with the time and temperature, and to improve the display effect. |
| US09728121B2 |
Organic el display panel with color shutter glass unit selecting a monochromatic, a color, a monochromatic three-dimensional and a color three-dimensional display mode
A display device allows an optimal display mode to be selected in accordance with the form of use, so that the total power consumption is decreased. The display device includes an organic EL display panel for displaying a monochromatic image; and a color shutter glass unit including a pair of shutters. The pair of shutters are each controllable to be in a light transmissive state for a first color, a second color and a third color or in a light non-transmissive state. The pair of shutters corresponding to left and right glasses are each controllable in synchronization with display of an image on the organic EL display panel, so that one of a monochromatic image display mode, a color image display mode, a monochromatic three-dimensional image display mode, and a color three-dimensional image display mode is selected. |
| US09728120B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a plurality of light emitting elements, at least one common line, a power supply, a plurality of drive lines, and a controller. The at least one common line is connected to first ends of the plurality of light emitting elements. The plurality of drive lines are connected to second ends of the plurality of light emitting elements. The controller is to execute delay control on lighting possible periods in which the plurality of light emitting elements are to light in unit delay control periods so that an order of delaying the lighting possible periods in a single unit delay control period among the unit delay control periods is different from an order of delaying the lighting possible periods in any one of the unit delay control periods other than the single unit delay control period. |
| US09728118B2 |
DC-DC converter and display device having the same
A DC-DC converter for supplying a display panel with first and second power voltages, the DC-DC converter includes: a first converting module to convert an input power voltage into the first power voltage in response to a control signal; a sensor to detect a drive current of the display panel when the first power voltage is output; and a second converting module to convert the input power voltage into the second power voltage lower than the first power voltage in response to the control signal, the second converting module including: a first inverting converter to generate the second power voltage corresponding to the input power voltage regardless of an amount of the detected drive current; and a second inverting converter to selectively generate the second power voltage corresponding to the input power voltage and according to the amount of the detected drive current. |
| US09728117B2 |
Tone and gamut mapping methods and apparatus
Tone and/or gamut mapping apparatus and methods may be applied to map color values in image data for display on a particular display or other downstream device. A mapping algorithm may be selected based on location and/or color coordinates for pixel data being mapped. The apparatus and methods may be configured to map color coordinates differently depending on whether or not a pixel corresponds to a light source in an image and/or has special or reserved color values. |
| US09728116B2 |
Display apparatus and method of driving the same
A display apparatus includes a display panel, a timing controller, a gate driver, and a data driver. The display panel includes a plurality of pixel groups. Each of the pixel groups includes a first pixel and a second pixel disposed adjacent to the first pixel. The first and second pixels together include n (n is an odd number equal to or greater than 3) sub-pixels. The first and second pixels share their collective {(n+1)/2}th sub-pixel. |
| US09728111B2 |
Display drive method and apparatus, and method and apparatus for generating sampling region
The present disclosure provides a display drive method for driving a 3D display device. The method comprises: dividing a first view and a second view to be displayed into a plurality of theoretical pixel units, respectively, and determining a respective gray value corresponding to a color of each type of subpixels in original display information corresponding to each theoretical pixel unit; and for each subpixel of each view, determining brightness of the subpixel based on respective gray values corresponding to the color of the subpixel in the original display information corresponding to respective theoretical pixel units which are covered by a rectangular sampling region of the subpixel and belong to the view. The present disclosure further provides a display drive apparatus and a method and apparatus for generating a sampling region. |
| US09728108B2 |
Sign and display systems
A sign and display system including a faceplate, lens, backing plate, and at least one magnet is described. The faceplate includes a viewing aperture and the back of the faceplate includes a recess in which the at least one magnet is mounted. The recess in the faceplate is configured to receive the lens and backing plate. The lens may include one or more edge protrusions configured to enter one or more small recesses in the side of the faceplate recess to secure the lens to the faceplate. When the lens and backing plate are positioned in the recess of the faceplate, the one or more magnets exert a force on the backing plate to secure the faceplate and lens to the backing plate. An insert capable of displaying text and/or graphics can also be positioned between the lens and backing plate in the recess of the faceplate. |
| US09728106B2 |
Device for simulating the ingestion of chunks of ice by an engine
A device for simulating an ingestion of chunks of ice by an engine, including: a main tank forming a cavity for a fuel, and connected to an inlet of the engine by a pipe; an injection system including an injection member arranged in the pipe; a secondary tank forming a cavity for a fuel, which tank is connected to the injection system by a selector member; and a reservoir connected firstly to a reserve of water and secondly to the injection system via the selector member. The selector member is configured to place the injection system selectively in communication with the secondary tank or with the reservoir to inject a determined quantity of water into the engine. |
| US09728105B2 |
Vascular neck restraint training device
A vascular neck restraint training device is used for raining a first person to execute a vascular neck restraint on a second person. The training device includes a supporting structure, such as a collar for being supported about the neck of the second person, upon which a tracheal pressure sensor, and two arterial pressure sensors are supported for alignment with the trachea and the carotid arteries of the second person respectively. The sensors detect if an applied pressure during a vascular neck restrain exceeds a prescribed pressure threshold for that sensor and provides corresponding indication to the first person applying the pressure. The training device indicates if too much pressure is applied to the trachea corresponding to a respiratory neck restraint, and if sufficient pressure is applied to each of the carotid arteries for executing a successful vascular neck restraint. |
| US09728104B2 |
System and method for manual welder training
A method for manual welder training that includes providing a welding training apparatus that includes both hardware and software components and that is operative to gather and process data in real time, wherein the data is derived from an actual training exercise conducted by a welding trainee; selecting training objectives from a predetermined number of predefined objectives; initializing a curriculum, wherein the curriculum is based on the selected training objectives; performing at least one training exercise, wherein the training exercise is a component of the curriculum; providing real-time feedback to the trainee, wherein the real-time feedback is based on the performance of the trainee during the training exercise; evaluating the performance of the trainee based on data gathered and processed during the training exercise; optionally, adapting the curriculum based on the trainee's performance evaluation; and awarding credentials or certifications to the trainee following successful completion of the curriculum. |
| US09728103B2 |
Data storage and analysis for a welding training system
A welding training system includes a camera configured to capture video data corresponding to a welding training operation. The welding training system also includes a storage device configured to store the video data, and to store welding parameter data corresponding to the welding training operation. The welding training system includes a welding training software configured to retrieve the video data from the storage device, to retrieve the welding parameter data from the storage device, to synchronize the video data with the welding parameter data, and to provide the synchronized video and welding parameter data to a display device. |
| US09728102B2 |
Mobile computing weight, diet, nutrition, and exercise management system with enhanced feedback and goal achieving functionality
An illustrative mobile computing device executing weight, nutrition, health, behavior and exercise application software serves as a simulated combination personal trainer and dietician/nutritionist for the user using comprehensive databases storing personalized health, nutrition and exercise information. A mobile computing device, such as a smartphone, executing such software monitors, tracks and/or adjusts caloric intake, energy expenditure taking into account nutritional information and behavioral factors. The mobile computing device receives food consumption, exercise-related, behavior and other input using speech input and the device's GPS subsystem to ease data entry burden on users and to promote continued long-term usage. The system rewards user goal achievement in an automatic, seamless manner, through, for example, downloading music, books, or other media. In illustrative implementations, the system assists users to make healthy food and exercise choices by using a comprehensive color code system to identify good choices, bad choices and those in between. |
| US09728100B2 |
Hazard suppression training simulator and method of training
A hazard-suppression training simulator for training, for example, first responders, is provided. The simulator includes a housing; at least one source of sensation (for example, a visual or an audio sensation) representing a hazardous condition, for example, a fire; at least one sensor adapted to detect a simulated or an actual hazardous condition suppressant; and a controller adapted to vary the sensation in response to the simulated or the actual suppressant detected by the at least one sensor. The simulator may also include one or more “props” to better simulate an actual hazardous conditions, for example, a trash can or a stove pot that is on fire. The simulated suppressant may be provided by a simulated fire extinguisher, for example, a simulated extinguisher emitting an electromagnetic or sonic signal representing a fire suppressant. A hazard-suppression training method employing this simulator is also disclosed. |
| US09728098B2 |
Interactive culinary game applications
A culinary application enables consumers, such as a parent and a child, to engage in discovering cooking recipes in a fun interactive way while also learning about various topics, including math, science, geography and social responsibility. The culinary application can be focused towards children of various age groups. Consumers engage with the culinary game application in an interactive way to search for recipes based on various user preferences such as a favorite ingredient, a diet, a cooking duration, an ethnic group, a particular country, etc. The culinary application can also present trivia related to a recipe, such as benefits of a particular ingredient in the recipe, information about a country where a dish is popular, math involved in measurements of ingredients, etc. The culinary application can generate separate sets of instructions for a parent and child. |
| US09728096B2 |
Methods and systems for dynamically generating a training program
Learning content management systems and processes are described that enable a user to independently define or select learning content, frameworks, styles, and/or protocols. The frameworks may be configured to specify a flow or an order of presentation to a learner with respect to a learning content presentation. The style definition may define an appearance of learning content. At least partly in response to a publishing instruction, the received learning content and the received framework definition are merged and then rendered in accordance with the defined style. The rendered merged learning content and framework definition are packaged in accordance with the defined/selected protocol to provide a published learning document. |
| US09728092B2 |
Method and a device for determining the wind speed to be taken into account in order to optimize the takeoff weight of an aircraft
A method of determining the speed of the wind to be taken into account for determining a maximum authorized takeoff weight of an aircraft. A measured speed TASmes of the local wind is calculated from at least one current speed TASinst of the local wind and an observed speed TASobs of the local wind on the basis of weather observations and on the basis of a heading value. The measured speed TASmes is compared with the observed speed TASobs in order to determine a calculated speed TASperfo of the local wind while also making use of at least one instability criterion of the local wind as supplied by the weather observations and weather forecasts. The calculated speed TASperfo is then for taking into account in order to optimize the maximize authorized takeoff weight of the aircraft. |
| US09728089B2 |
System and method for controlling autonomous flying vehicle flight paths
A method is provided for limiting access to airspace by drones. The method includes receiving position information from a user associated with a property identified by the position information. The method also includes assembling the position information with other position information to compile a comprehensive configurable flight zone database. The method further includes pushing the configurable flight zone database to at least one drone. The drone accesses the configurable flight zone database to determine if movement is allowed, and the drone is programmed to not fly into areas identified in the configurable flight zone database. In the method, the drone may be further programmed to prohibit directing a camera into the areas identified in the configurable flight zone database. |
| US09728088B2 |
Method to operate a system of categorization/degradation of operating procedures for low visibility (LVP) of an airport runway
A method to operate a system in support of air traffic control of an airport provides, automatically, to operators, in the same screen, status information for the systems required during low visibility operation, meteorological information and runway category of operation, making easier the operation of the controller and increasing airport security. The method comprises monitoring the status of all low visibility operation systems, calculation of a category more convenient for the operation of the airport runway, and degradation automatic (down grade) when it degrades a key system and upgrade or downgrade manually the category by operator decision. The method includes an architecture oriented for high availability with three blocks (Management, Input/Output and Visualization) and uses an application “alive” that performs automatic switching between servers, in case of failure or malfunction of one of them, increasing the availability of the system. |
| US09728083B2 |
Control apparatus, control target apparatus, and alarm-setting method using the apparatuses
Provided is a method of a control device to set an alarm. The method includes: discovering a first control target device including an alarm service and a second target device including a content providing service; receiving a device list registered for the alarm service from the first target device; receiving available content information from the second target device; selecting an alarm target device and a content from the device list and the content information; and transmitting an alarm setting request message to the first target device on the basis of the selected alarm target device and content. |
| US09728079B2 |
Instrument for measuring dimensions equipped with an interface and corresponding interface
Electronic measuring instrument equipped with a removable intelligent processing and radio communication interface. The interface allows managing additional features such as bidirectional communication of commands and measurement data with printers, computers or other external devices, as well as the transmission of instructions or measurement programs to the instrument. The radio interface may be connected with several measuring instruments such as callipers, micrometers, comparators or height gauges. It is integrated into the lid of the battery compartment of the instrument, so that it can be installed and removed easily and without impairing the seal. The cover also includes an extra battery for the processing and radio transmission interface. |
| US09728076B2 |
Adaptive exception handling in security system
A method of controlling a security system of a premises includes detecting one or more exceptions when the system is set to an alarm mode, determining whether any of the one or more exceptions is a terminal exception, automatically executing an arming procedure according to the alarm mode when all of the exceptions are determined to be non-terminal exceptions, preventing execution of the arming procedure when any of the exceptions are determined to be a terminal exception, and, while in the alarm mode, preventing a sensor associated with a security exception from triggering an alarm when the security exception is fully corrected, and triggering an alarm when a condition that is causing the security exception is adjusted without resulting in full correction of the security exception. |
| US09728074B2 |
Modular wireless mass evacuation notification system
Monitoring and mass notification systems, such as fire alarm systems, for use in occupied structures, and more particularly to wireless monitoring and mass notification systems include wireless base units that can be modular in design. This allows horns, mini horns, strobes, and audio messaging modules (e.g., speakers) to be physically plugged into the wireless base unit creating a unit with the appearance of a single physical unit. Preferably standardized plugs are used. In some cases, visual and audio modules (i.e., notification devices) have their own battery pack or external power interface. Each wireless base unit can optionally function as a repeater if it has dual transceivers (master transceiver and slave transceiver). |
| US09728072B2 |
Method for detecting, recognizing, and automatic disarming of an alarm control unit, and alarm system suitable for its use
A method and system for detecting, recognizing, and automatic disarming of an alarm control unit (3) for monitoring a secure space that is closed by at least one door, the system including the control unit (3), at least one autonomous detection and identification assembly including a proximity transmitter/receiver (4b) and at least one detection sensor (5b) making it possible to detect an opening of the door and/or a passage through the latter, and at least one active wireless communication portable medium (6) including an identification code. The method includes, following detection, in the armed state of the control unit, controlling the activation of the transmitter/receiver to activate it, then to deactivate it, after a predetermined time t0, to put it on standby and, in the disarmed state, to keep it on standby. |
| US09728066B2 |
Electric fence monitor including a gas discharge lamp
An electric fence monitor is operable to provide an audible and/or visual indicator of an operating condition (i.e., falter no-fault) of an electric fence and electric fence box. The electric fence monitor is operable to remain continuously connected between the electric fence and earth ground during normal operation of the fence. The electric fence monitor includes a gas discharge lamp light source for providing the visual indicator of the operating condition of the electric fence and electric fence box. |
| US09728063B1 |
Environmental monitoring pipeline closure and wireless positioning and warning system thereof
An environmental monitoring pipeline closure and a wireless positioning and warning system thereof are disclosed. The environmental monitoring pipeline closure is composed of an upper platen, an expansion body, a lower platen, a plurality of bolts, and a plurality of compression rings, on which a plurality of clamping holes are provided for holding and fixing a cable line. A gas sensing device is provided inside the pipeline closure to detect gas concentrations within the space inside a manhole channel when being installed in the underground manhole channel. The measured data is transferred to a monitoring device through wireless transmissions to keep monitoring gas concentrations within the manhole channel. This prevents injuries and deaths of people working inside the manhole channel due to a lack of oxygen or inhalation of harmful gases. |
| US09728061B2 |
Systems, devices and methods for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers, bed exits, falls, and other conditions
Methods, systems and devices for monitoring patient orientation, direction, altitude and location to determine the need for turns as well as to detect impending or actual bed exits or falls. A patient-worn sensor communicates with at least one host server through a mesh network of relay antennae to provide data representative of various patient characteristics. The sensor comprises one or more of an accelerometer, a magnetometer and an altimeter, along with optional other sensors. Various user interfaces are provided for managing patient care using the information developed by algorithms processed at the server based on data received from the patient sensors. |
| US09728059B2 |
Sedentary period detection utilizing a wearable electronic device
Systems and methods for determining a sedentary state of a user are described. Sensor data is collected and analyzed to calculate metabolic equivalent of task (MET) measures for a plurality of moments of interest. Based on the MET measures and a time period for which the MET measures exceed a threshold value, it is determined whether the user is in a sedentary state. If the user is in the sedentary state, the user is provided a notification to encourage the user to perform a non-sedentary activity. |
| US09728057B2 |
Pneumatic detection using a liquefied compressed gas
A pneumatic detection system and a method of forming the pneumatic detection system are described. The system includes a sealed tube, a refrigerant disposed within the sealed tube, and a switch configured to be activated based on a specified pressure being reached within the sealed tube. |
| US09728056B2 |
Proximity alerting systems and methods
Systems and methods for detecting a breach of a proximity threshold associated with a first electronic device comprising a first electronic device configured to transmit a first wireless signal; and a second electronic device configured to: 1) measure a strength of the first wireless signal, 2) determine, based on the measured strength of the first wireless signal, a proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device, 3) instruct the first electronic device, via a second wireless signal, to subsequently transmit the first wireless signal at a predetermined interval corresponding with a proximity of the second electronic device to a proximity threshold associated with the first electronic device, and 4) measure a strength of the first wireless signal being transmitted at the predetermined interval to detect when the second electronic device breaches the proximity threshold associated with the first electronic device. |
| US09728053B2 |
Security device
A security device for preventing or deterring theft of an object from a retail store or similar comprising a housing; a loop of cable extending from the housing for placement around said object; spool means rotatably mounted on the housing, the loop of cable being attached to the spool means such that, in use, rotation of the spool means in a first direction with respect to the housing causes the cable to unwind from the spool means, and rotation of the spool means in a second direction causes the cable to be wound around the spool means; latching means; alarm means; and retracting means arranged to apply a biasing force to the spool means. |
| US09728046B2 |
Systems and methods for providing electronic gaming pieces
Systems and methods are provided for providing playing cards. An exemplary method may include retrieving data related to a selection of a set of numbers for bingo and determining matching bingo patterns on a predetermined number of cards from a library of bingo cards against the set of selected numbers. The method may further include selecting corresponding playing cards based on the matching bingo patterns on the predetermined number of cards and providing the corresponding playing cards for display. The exemplary method may be used to deal playing cards for poker using a set of selected numbers. |
| US09728040B2 |
Printing and dispensing system for an electronic gaming device that provides an undisplayed outcome
An electronic gaming system has been developed. The system includes an electronic gaming device that receives a wager and generates an outcome of the wager. The outcome is not disclosed to the player and is issued in the form of a cashless instrument. An outcome display device accepts the cashless instrument and displays the outcome to the player. |
| US09728038B2 |
Betting ticket information provision device, betting ticket information provision method, and program for betting ticket information provision device
A betting type of a betting ticket uniquely designating the order of arrival of one or more racers out of racers to participate in a race of a racing, a racer number pattern corresponding to the order of the racers in the betting type, and a receipt amount for the racer number pattern are received from a user (S2, S3), a betting type different from the received betting type is extracted (S6), a racer number pattern for the extracted betting type is extracted so as to cover all the received racer number patterns (S7), a first payout amount is calculated from odds information corresponding to the received betting type and racer number pattern and the receipt amount (S8), and an allotment amount to be allotted to the extracted racer number pattern is calculated so that the lowest second payout amount of second payout amount calculated from the odds information on the extracted betting type and racer number pattern becomes higher than an amount of money related to the first payout amount (S9). |
| US09728036B2 |
Enhanced slot-machine for casino applications
A gaming system is provided, the gaming system including a terminal including an entertainment software engine constructed to provide an entertainment game and display a received wager result separately of the entertainment game; a first and second real world engine constructed to provide a wager result in response to a wager request; and a game world engine connected to the entertainment software engine, the first and second real world engine using a network, the game world engine constructed to: receive a request for a wager for a player of the entertainment game, each request being triggered by a player action taken while playing the entertainment game in head-to-head competition; communicate, the first and second wager requests; receive a first and second wager result; and generate, based on the first and second wager result, a controlled sequence of a portion of the entertainment game, the controlled sequence changing the state of the entertainment game. |
| US09728034B2 |
Reel-type games and gaming machines
Games such as reel-type slot games may have various features, including: an attribute accumulate feature which a player attempts to form combinations of collectable special symbols; a geometric pattern feature in which symbols within a geometric pattern or area may take on special attributes or features; a moving trigger feature; a symbol-triggered game transformation feature using logical rules; a player symbol selection in which reel symbols are player selected; and a reel-locking feature. |
| US09728033B2 |
Providing auto-stereo gaming content in response to user head movement
Devices and methods are set forth to perform operations that perform head tracking of a player of a wagering game machine. The operations can further include presenting different auto-stereo content in response to determining the movement of the head of the player. |
| US09728031B2 |
System and method for awarding bonus features in a video carousel
A video carousel bonus feature system is disclosed that includes gaming presentations for a plurality of players, one or more game processors, and a plurality of base game cabinets that each contain base game presentations that display base games. The system also includes a video carousel with a plurality of video monitors, wherein each of the plurality of video monitors is positioned above a base game cabinet, wherein a visual representation of one or more bonus features is displayed independently on each video monitor of the video carousel. The system is configured to award one of the plurality of players at least one bonus feature that appears to move from video monitor to video monitor on the video carousel, wherein the awarded bonus feature coincides with the visual representation of the bonus feature being displayed on the video carousel monitor positioned directly above the triggering base game cabinet. |
| US09728025B2 |
Portable device, communication device, and communication system
A communication system includes: a vehicle-mounted communication device and a portable device. The communication device includes: a vehicle transmission unit which transmits a plurality of first signals to the portable device, and a vehicle reception unit which receives a second signal transmitted from the portable device. The portable device includes: a portable device reception unit which receives the first signals, a portable device controller which detects signal intensities of the received first signals, and which compares the signal intensities of the first signals, and a portable device transmission unit which transmits the second signal according to control of the portable device controller. The portable device controller sets an output value of the second signal to a predetermined value when a difference between the compared signal intensities of the first signals is equal to or less than a threshold. |
| US09728020B2 |
Encrypted communications for a movable barrier environment
An at least partially secure communication environment is provided in which accessory devices can be communicated with and controlled in the context of a movable barrier operator system. In one example approach, a gateway device can be configured to coordinate and control such communications in a secure manner. Three example approaches to such a communication environment include: a gateway device's receiving an accessory device control signal and sending a rolling code based accessory command signal to a target accessory device; receiving a rolling code based accessory device control signal and sending a command signal to an accessory device; and receiving a rolling code based accessory device control signal and sending a rolling code based accessory command signal to a target accessory device. Combinations are possible. An integrated system provides for automatic functioning of one device in response to status changes of one or more other devices. |
| US09728016B2 |
Wheel monitoring system and method
Systems and methods for monitoring a vehicle determine a baseline wheel rotational speed and wheel rotational speeds of a wheel for different positions along an outer perimeter of the wheel. One or more deviations between the wheel rotational speeds and the baseline wheel rotational speed are determined, and the deviations between the wheel rotational speeds and the baseline wheel rotational speed are correlated with one or more identified positions of the positions along the outer perimeter of the wheel. One or more of damage to the wheel or damage to a drivetrain of the vehicle is identified based at least in part on the one or more deviations being correlated with the one or more identified positions. |
| US09728013B2 |
Engine detection
Various implementations described herein are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, may cause the computer to detect electrical noise corresponding to one or more engines starting or running. The computer may record a first timestamp corresponding to the engines starting or running. The computer may detect that the engines have stopped. The computer may record a second timestamp corresponding to the engines stopping. The computer may also use the first and second timestamps to determine engine runtimes. |
| US09728005B2 |
Method of calibrating a computer-based vision system onboard a craft
This method of calibration comprising the reconstruction of a 3D mapping of 3D landmarks of an environment on the basis of digital images of the environment captured by the computer-based vision system (10) during the movement of the craft (2) along a trajectory. It comprises the optimization of at least one 3D mapping corresponding to a first sequence of images by considering at least one extrinsic parameter and/or at least one intrinsic parameter and/or at least one parameter of poses and/or one parameter of 3D landmarks as constant and the optimization of at least one 3D mapping corresponding to a second sequence of images, longer than the first image sequence and including the first image sequence, by considering said at least one extrinsic parameter and/or said at least one intrinsic parameter and/or said at least one parameter of poses and/or said at least one parameter of 3D landmarks as variable so as to estimate it. |
| US09728002B2 |
Texel shading in texture space
A graphics processing unit is configured to map pixels of a first frame of a video stream to texels, select a subset of the texels for shading based on previously cached texels that were shaded for a second frame, and shade the subset of the texels. The graphics processing unit is also configured to cache the shaded subset of the texels with the previously cached texels and determine values for the pixels of the first frame based on the cached texels. |
| US09727997B2 |
Electronic device and method of providing handwriting animation
An electronic device for and a method of providing handwriting animation are provided. The electronic device includes an input and output interface configured to receive a text selection signal; and a management module configured to use vector data for stroke data on text to generate at least one piece of masking data, mask the stroke data with the masking data, and sequentially remove the masking data. The method includes checking vector data for stroke data on selected text; generating at least one piece of masking data from the vector data; masking the stroke data with the masking data; and sequentially removing the masking data. |
| US09727996B2 |
Modifying virtual object display properties to increase power performance of augmented reality devices
A display device may be provided and may be configured to present a virtual field of view comprising a virtual object superimposed on a real-world scene. A controller may be provided and configured to modify display of the virtual object by the display device based on a first color of a real-world object in the real-world scene. The virtual object in the virtual field of view may be superimposed over the real-world object. A lumen output of the display device for displaying the virtual object may be decreased. |
| US09727989B2 |
Modifying and formatting a chart using pictorially provided chart elements
A chart element representing a chart modification for a standard chart may be provided pictorially by a computing device. The standard chart may be modified using the chart element through the presentation of a first gallery representing a feature of the standard chart for possible modification. The feature may include a horizontal axis title and a vertical axis title. A selection of the vertical axis title for possible modification from the first gallery may be received. A set of visual representations of how the vertical axis title could be modified in a second gallery may then be presented. The visual representations may include options for not displaying an axis title and for displaying an axis title in a rotated orientation. One of the options may be selected to modify the standard chart. The modified chart may then be displayed by the computing device. |
| US09727988B2 |
Logic graph displaying apparatus and logic graph display method, both for use with molding machines
A logging data about a signal identifier of the I/O signals which changed in on/off state are stored in a ring buffer. A logging screen includes identifier display parts, logic-graph display parts and first and second cursors. The logic-graph display parts display logic graphs associated with signal identifiers, respectively. When any one of the identifier display parts displayed on the logging screen is clicked, the logging screen is changed to an input window. If a desired input identifier is input in the input window, the logging data associated with the signal identifier is read from the ring buffer and the logic graph is displayed in the logic-graph display parts. The logic graph can be modified. |
| US09727985B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image-capturing apparatus, and storage medium having image processing program stored thereon
A technique is disclosed to calculate a new pixel value of a particular color of second-viewpoint color image data in such a manner that a difference between the new pixel value of the particular color of the second viewpoint and the pixel value of the particular color of the first-viewpoint color image data maintains correlation with a sum of a difference between the pixel value of a first color component of the second-viewpoint color image data and the pixel value of the first color component of third-viewpoint color image data and a difference between the pixel value of a second color component of the second-viewpoint color image data and the pixel value of the second color component of the third-viewpoint color image data. |
| US09727984B2 |
Electronic device and method for processing an image
An electronic device and an image processing method are provided. The method acquires image detailed information of an image, detects an edge region and a texture region from the image detail information, and corrects the image detail information by applying different gain values to image signals corresponding to different regions. |
| US09727981B2 |
Visualizing data model sensitivity to variations in parameter values
A method that facilitates optimization analysis and sensitivity analysis of a data model comprises: receiving first data identifying a value function, parameters for the value function, and one or more specific parameter values for one or more of the parameters; storing a data model based on the value function and the specific parameter values; determining which parameters of the data model are capable of taking variable values; receiving second data identifying one or more selected parameters; receiving third data specifying a value selection approach for each of the selected parameters; determining a plurality of result values by substituting, based on the value selection approach, a plurality of input values for each of the selected parameters and evaluating the value function using the selected parameters and the substituted values; and generating and causing displaying a table of the result values. |
| US09727979B1 |
Lifeguard positioning system and method
A method of determining proper positioning of lifeguard stations at a swimming pool or body of water to minimize the risk of bather drowning. The method includes: positioning submersible devices or other objects on a bottom of the swimming pool or body of water according to an established grid or pattern; imaging the submersible devices from different locations and different heights at the same locations; analyzing the images and other data to determine locations and heights of the lifeguard stations which provide the best sightlines of the swimming pool from the surface of the water to the bottom of the swimming pool or body of water; and positioning the lifeguard stations at the locations and the heights determined by analyzing the data. |
| US09727973B2 |
Image processing device using difference camera
A fast and stable image processing system detecting a mark from a differential image is described. The system includes a display displaying a first image and a second image alternately. A camera captures the first image that contains a mark and the second image. An image processing device detects the mark from a non-zero pixel region of a difference image between the first image that is captured and the second image that is captured. |
| US09727972B2 |
Method and terminal for generating thumbnail of image
A method for generating a thumbnail of an image, includes: filtering an image to obtain an edge intensity value for each pixel point in the image; sliding a preset rectangular box on the image to perform a search and, at each searched position, calculating a distribution value of information amount in the rectangular box according to the edge intensity values of the pixel points therein; and selecting the rectangular box with the largest distribution value of information amount, and intercepting content of the image corresponding to the selected rectangular box to obtain a thumbnail of the image. |
| US09727969B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, program, and image processing system
Provided is an image processing device including a dividing unit which divides a captured image of skin into regions in a multidimensional manner, a feature value calculating unit which calculates a feature value of a color property in each region divided by the dividing unit, and an evaluating unit which calculates an evaluation value of the skin using the feature values calculated by the feature value calculating unit. |
| US09727968B2 |
Tubular structure tracking
A method includes segmenting a tubular structure of interest in volumetric image data, thereby creating a tracking segmentation, visually presenting a user interactive three dimensional rending of the tracking segmentation, receiving a signal indicative of a user identified tracking path endpoint of interest in the tracking segmentation through the user interactive three dimensional rending, tracking the tubular structure in the tracking segmentation based on the signal, and visually presenting at least the tracked path through the tubular structure. |
| US09727965B2 |
Medical image processing apparatus and medical image processing method
According to one embodiment, a medical image processing apparatus includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry extracts a rigid region from predetermined medical image data among a plurality of items of medical image data. Further, between first medical image data and second medical image data among the plurality of items of medical image data, the processing circuitry performs rigid registration on the rigid region and performs non-rigid registration on a region other than the rigid region. |
| US09727955B2 |
Restoration filter generation device and method, image processing device and method, imaging device, and non-transitory computer-readable medium
A restoration filter generation device which generates a restoration filter for performing a restoration process on luminance system image data, the restoration process being based on a point-image distribution in an optical system, the luminance system image data being image data relevant to luminance and being generated based on image data for each color of multiple colors, the restoration filter generation device including an MTF acquisition device which acquires a modulation transfer function MTF for the optical system; and a restoration filter generation device which generates the restoration filter based on the modulation transfer function MTF, the restoration filter suppressing an MTF value of image data for each color of the multiple colors to 1.0 or less at least in a region of a particular spatial frequency or less, the image data for each color of the multiple colors corresponding to the luminance system image data after the restoration process. |
| US09727952B2 |
Control device for controlling a control value in a first order infinite impulse response filter
A control device includes a flatness calculator and control-value logic. The flatness calculator calculates flatness of an image corresponding to an image signal. The control-value logic determines a control value based on the flatness. The control value controls a size of an operation region on which a first-order infinite impulse response (IIR) filter is to process the image signal to reduce noise. |
| US09727950B2 |
Noise-reduction processing device
A noise-reduction processing device including: a part that calculates an edge strength indicating the edge amount at the pixel of interest based on the pixel of interest and surrounding pixels that surround the pixel of interest; a part that discriminates the edge direction at the pixel of interest; a first filter-processing part that subjects the pixel of interest to smoothing processing along a direction that is based on a direction-discrimination result and outputs a first filter-processing result; a second filter-processing part that subjects the pixel of interest to smoothing processing producing a lower low-pass effect than that of the first filter-processing part and outputs a second filter-processing result and a part that synthesizes the first and second filter-processing results, with the ratio of the first filter-processing result increased as the edge strength becomes higher and the ratio of the second filter-processing result increased as the edge strength becomes lower. |
| US09727945B1 |
Construction and evolution of invariants to rotational and translational transformations for electronic visual image recognition
A spherical harmonic is defined which is an operationally optimal small finite subset of the infinite number of spherical harmonics allowed to exist mathematically. The composition of the subset differs depending on its position on virtual hemisphere. The subsets are further divided into small spherical tesserae whose dimensions vary depending on the distance from the hemispherical center. The images of the outside visual scenes are projected on the flat surface of the webcam and from there are read and recalculated programmatically as if the images have been projected on the hemisphere. rotational invariants are then computed in the smallest tesserae using numerical integration, and then invariants from neighboring tesserae are added to compute the rotational invariant of their union. Every computed invariant is checked with the library and stored there if there is no match. The rotational invariants are solely used for visual recognition and classification and operational decision making. |
| US09727942B2 |
Selective utilization of graphics processing unit (GPU) based acceleration in database management
A method for the selective utilization of graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration of database queries in database management is provided. The method includes receiving a database query in a database management system executing in memory of a host computing system. The method also includes estimating a time to complete processing of one or more operations of the database query using GPU accelerated computing in a GPU and also a time to complete processing of the operations using central processor unit (CPU) sequential computing of a CPU. Finally, the method includes routing the operations for processing using GPU accelerated computing if the estimated time to complete processing of the operations using GPU accelerated computing is less than an estimated time to complete processing of the operations using CPU sequential computing, but otherwise routing the operations for processing using CPU sequential computing. |
| US09727941B1 |
Optimizing optical scanners for digital watermark detection
The present disclosure relates generally to digital watermarking for retail product packaging. A digital watermark can be carried in different color channels, and at with different signal polarities. Detection can utilize different illumination sources to highlight signal in one or more channels. |
| US09727939B1 |
System for facilitating the execution of law enforcement duties
A system for facilitating the execution of law enforcement duties is disclosed. More particularly, according to one aspect of the invention, an electronic system is configured to facilitate the performance of law enforcement duties by quasi-instantaneously providing actionable intelligence to its users, such as front-line law enforcement officers, in response to a real-time query (e.g., a query related to paper currency). According to another aspect of the invention, a system implements a set of automated status classifications for subjects with suspected or confirmed involvement in criminal and/or terrorist activities. The status classifications specifically and concisely establish the subject's involvement in criminal and/or terrorist activities. According to yet another aspect of the invention, a system generates and sends investigative alert notifications that contain information related to a law enforcement operation. |