最新美国发明专利第2017-08-22期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US09742054B2	Electrical component holder A holder is provided for holding an electrical component on a circuit board having a lead hole. The holder includes a body having a base for holding the electrical component and a connection member for mounting the body to the circuit board. The base includes a lead opening that is configured to hold a solder lead of the electrical component therein. The connection member extends from the base and is configured to mechanically connect to the circuit board such that the base holds an end of the solder lead of the electrical component within the lead hole of the circuit board.
US09742053B2	Methods of modifying erect concealed antenna towers and associated modified towers and devices therefor The disclosure describes installing an antenna canister in a portion of a concealed antenna pole at a location that is below a top of the pole while the antenna pole is erect and associated components to facilitate the procedure, as well as multi-piece vertical rods, pole mounting bracket assemblies and retrofit kits.
US09742052B2	Device for transmitting between a microstrip on a circuit board and a waveguide using a signal line disposed within a housing that is soldered to the circuit board A device for transmitting millimeter-wave signals between a microstrip formed on a circuit board and a waveguide, characterized by a housing which is soldered onto the circuit board with the aid of solder contacts and which contains a signal line, which is connected to the microstrip via a soldered connection suitable for use at high frequencies, and which connects this microstrip to a coupling point for the millimeter-wave signals, the coupling point facing the waveguide.
US09742051B2	High-frequency signal transmission line and manufacturing method thereof A high-frequency signal transmission line includes a body including a plurality of first base layers and a second base layer stacked on one another in a stacking direction. The first base layers have a first relative permeability, and the second base layer has a relative permeability lower than the first relative permeability. A first signal line and a second signal line extending along the first signal line are provided in the body. In a cross section perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a first direction in which the first signal line extends, the second base layer occupies at least a portion of an area between the first signal line and the second signal line. In the cross section perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the first direction, the plurality of first base layers define a loop enclosing the first signal line, the second signal line and the second base layer.
US09742050B2	Methods and devices for grounding deep drawn resonators Difficulties in grounding a non-integral, deep drawn resonator (DDR) to the filter body of a cavity may be substantially eliminated by preventing the movement of the DDR away from a grounding contact area on the filter body. The addition of a compression plate and stop limiter in the connection of the non-integral DR to the filter body helps insure that any such movement is eliminated or substantially reduced.
US09742049B2	Gravoltaic cells Gravoltaic cell devices and methods are disclosed for producing robust electrochemical gravoltaic cells that convert a gravitational force into electrical energy. The cells includes a reaction vessel and a first stationary homogeneous volume of dissociated aqueous cations and a second stationary homogeneous aqueous volume of dissociated aqueous reactant cations, both volumes being disposed within the reaction vessel, and providing bulk solvent and anions a stationary bulk volume of a homogeneous mixture of solvent and dissociated anions collectively disposed homogeneously throughout the two layers of dissociated aqueous cations. The cell also includes an anode junction providing electrochemically active dissimilar anode/cation chemical species junction. The cell also includes a cathode junction providing a gravity-sustained electrochemically passive similar cathode/cation chemical species junction. One of the several purposes of the present invention is to further study and define said properties and to develop longer lasting interfaces.
US09742048B2	Metal-air battery The invention provides a metal-air battery in which a metallic electrode can be smoothly inserted into a metal-air battery main body.The metal-air battery of the invention includes at least one cell. The cell includes an electrolytic tank that stores an electrolytic solution, a metallic electrode that is provided in the electrolytic tank and serves as an anode, at least one air electrode that serves as a cathode, an electrode insertion opening through which the metallic electrode is inserted into the electrolytic tank, and a position adjustment section. The position adjustment section is provided to adjust a position of the metallic electrode through contact between the metallic electrode and the position adjustment section during insertion of the metallic electrode into the electrolytic tank.
US09742044B2	Battery cell A battery cell, in particular a lithium-ion battery cell, includes a housing, at least two electrical storage elements and a conductive cooling sheet metal. The at least two storage elements and the conductive cooling sheet metal are situated in the housing.
US09742042B2	Voltage protection and health monitoring of batteries with reference electrodes In some variations, an apparatus provides real-time monitoring of voltage and differential voltage of both anode and cathode in a battery configured with at least one reference electrode. Voltage monitors are connected to a computer programmed for receiving anode voltage signals; receiving cathode voltage signals; calculating the derivative of the anode voltage with respect to time or with respect to capacity; and calculating the derivative of the cathode voltage with respect to time or with respect to capacity. Other variations provide an apparatus for real-time assessment of capacities of both anode and cathode in a battery, comprising a computer programmed for receiving electrode voltage signals; estimating first and second electrode open-circuit voltages at two different times, and correlating the first and second electrode open-circuit voltages to first and second electrode states of charge, respectively, for each of anode and cathode. The anode and cathode capacities may then be estimated independently.
US09742041B2	Lithium ion secondary battery system An object of the present invention is to provide a battery system improved in output characteristics and/or storage characteristic while taking advantage of high energy density of a lithium ion secondary battery comprising a positive electrode containing a positive electrode active material having an operating potential of 4.5 V or more relative to a lithium metal. The present invention relates to a battery system having a first battery consisting of a 5 V-level battery(s), a second battery consisting of a 4 V-level battery(s), and a control system.
US09742040B2	Sodium-sulfur battery A sodium-sulfur battery according to the present invention is provided with a reservoir space 100 that retains and solidifies a high-temperature molten material having flowed out of a cell 4, in order to prevent the high-temperature molten material from leaking out of a casing 1, even when an accident occurs to generate the high-temperature molten material inside the casing. The reservoir space 100 can be formed along a perimeter of the casing 1, or alternatively, can be formed inside the casing 1. The reservoir space 100 includes, for example, a composite member 15 of a rigid member 11, a heat-insulating material 12, and a heat-resisting material 13.
US09742037B2	Nonaqueous electrolyte battery A nonaqueous electrolyte battery includes: a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a nonaqueous electrolyte, wherein the positive electrode contains, as a positive electrode active material, a positive electrode material having a surface composition represented by the following formula (I); the nonaqueous electrolyte contains a halogenated carbonate represented by any of the following formulae (1) to (2) and an alkylbenzene represented by the following formula (3); a content of the halogenated carbonate is 0.1% by mass or more and not more than 50% by mass relative to the nonaqueous electrolyte; and a content of the alkylbenzene is 0.1% by mass or more and not more than 5% by mass relative to the nonaqueous electrolyte
US09742031B2	Lithium battery and the preparation method thereof The present invention discloses a lithium battery, which comprises of a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode current collector substrate, a separator and electrolyte between the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode current collector substrate. The positive electrode plate comprises a positive electrode collector, a positive electrode active material-containing positive electrode layer attached to the positive electrode collector and positive electrode tab welded to the positive electrode collector. The negative electrode current collector substrate comprises a negative electrode current collector and negative electrode tab welded to the negative electrode current collector. The negative electrode current collector substrate is a current collector substrate with 6˜60 μm thickness having a planar or concavo-convex structure which is made from metal foil material or metal mesh with 6˜25 μm thickness. The electrolyte contains lithium salt and solvent, wherein the lithium salt is lithium hexafluorophosphate and its concentration in the electrolyte is between 1.5˜7 mol/L. The lithium battery of the present invention has characteristics of high power, high energy and low self-discharge rate. Meanwhile, the present invention also discloses a preparation method of the lithium battery and use thereof.
US09742029B2	Secondary battery including a gel electrolyte, battery pack, electric vehicle, electric power storage system, electric power tool, and electronic apparatus including the same A secondary battery includes a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte layer including non-aqueous electrolytic solution and a polymer compound. The polymer compound includes a graft copolymer. The graft copolymer includes a block copolymer as a main chain, and includes one or both of a homopolymer and a copolymer as one or more side chains. The block copolymer includes, as polymerization units, vinylidene fluoride and hexafluoropropylene. The homopolymer includes, as a polymerization unit, one selected from the group consisting of vinylidene fluoride, hexafluoropropylene, monomethyl maleate, trifluoroethylene, chlorotrifluoroethylene, acrylic acid, and methacrylic acid. The copolymer includes, as polymerization units, two or more selected from the group consisting of vinylidene fluoride, hexafluoropropylene, monomethyl maleate, trifluoroethylene, chlorotrifluoroethylene, acrylic acid, and methacrylic acid.
US09742016B2	Fuel cell startup apparatus and method A fuel cell startup apparatus and method reduces high-voltage generation and corrosion of a cathode electrode that may occur because the density of oxygen is locally high in a cell near a central flow distributor after long-term parking of a fuel-cell vehicle. To this end, density control gas is selectably injected into a fuel supply line prior to supply of reaction gas of hydrogen and air in a fuel cell startup process after long-term parking to forcedly mix anode-side gas in the fuel supply line and the cell with the density control gas.
US09742014B2	Method for forming channels on diffusion media for a membrane humidifier A membrane humidifier assembly for a membrane humidifier for a fuel cell system and a method for making the same is disclosed, the method comprising the steps of providing a material for forming a diffusion medium; forming a plurality of channels in the material with one of a channel-forming roller, a means for etching the material, and a press for forming the diffusion medium; and providing a pair of membranes, wherein the diffusion medium is disposed between the pair of membranes.
US09742013B2	System for inspecting quality of membrane-electrode assembly of fuel cell and quality inspection method thereof A system for inspecting quality of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) of a fuel cell includes a bonding device configured to bond the MEA and a gas diffusion layer (GDL) to manufacture a bonded unit thereof. A transfer device adsorbs one surface of the bonded unit to transfer the bonded unit. An inspection device is disposed on one side of the bonded unit transferred by the transfer device and inspects an outer appearance of the bonded unit. A reversing device places the bonded unit thereon by the transfer device and reverses the bonded unit vertically. A loading and lifting device loads the bonded unit thereon after being transferred by the transfer device and adjusts a loading height.
US09742006B2	Method for preparing lithium iron phosphate nanopowder coated with carbon The present invention relates to a method for preparing a lithium iron phosphate nanopowder coated with carbon, including the steps of (a) preparing a mixture solution by adding a lithium precursor, an iron precursor and a phosphorus precursor in a triethanolamine solvent, (b) putting the mixture solution into a reactor and reacting to prepare amorphous lithium iron phosphate nanoseed particle, and (c) heat treating the lithium iron phosphate nanoseed particle thus to prepare the lithium iron phosphate nanopowder coated with carbon on a portion or a whole of a surface of a particle, and a lithium iron phosphate nanopowder coated with carbon prepared by the above method. The lithium iron phosphate nanopowder coated with carbon having controlled particle size and particle size distribution may be prepared in a short time by performing two simple steps.
US09742001B2	Graphene foam-protected anode active materials for lithium batteries A lithium-ion battery anode layer, comprising an anode active material embedded in pores of a solid graphene foam composed of multiple pores and pore walls, wherein (a) the pore walls contain a pristine graphene material having essentially no (less than 0.01%) non-carbon elements or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.01% to 5% by weight of non-carbon elements; (b) the anode active material is in an amount from 0.5% to 95% by weight based on the total weight of the graphene foam and the anode active material combined, and (c) some of the multiple pores are lodged with particles of the anode active material and other pores are particle-free, and the graphene foam is sufficiently elastic to accommodate volume expansion and shrinkage of the particles of the anode active material during a battery charge-discharge cycle to avoid expansion of the anode layer. Preferably, the solid graphene foam has a density from 0.01 to 1.7 g/cm3, a specific surface area from 50 to 2,000 m2/g, a thermal conductivity of at least 100 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 1,000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.
US09741998B2	Method for manufacturing energy-storage composite material The present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing an energy-storage composite material. The method includes (a) providing a solution having a carbon substrate, and placing the solution in a pressure container, and a surface of the carbon substrate having an energy-storage active precursor; (b) stirring the solution having the carbon substrate at a first stirring speed, and venting air in the pressure container at a first temperature, such that a pressure in the pressure container reaches a first pressure and is maintained for a first period of time; and (c) introducing a fluid into the pressure container, stirring the solution having the carbon substrate at a second stirring speed, increasing a pressure and a temperature in the pressure container to a second pressure and a second temperature and maintaining for a second period of time, and then reducing the pressure to the atmosphere pressure to obtain an energy-storage composite material.
US09741997B2	Rechargeable battery A rechargeable battery includes fuses inside and outside a cell, thereby improving safety by preventing abnormal breakdown from occurring in the cell due to an electric short circuit. The rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly including a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate and a separator between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, a case accommodating the electrode assembly, and a first electrode terminal and a second electrode terminal electrically connected to the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate and protruding to the outside of the case. One of the first electrode terminal and the second electrode terminal includes a fuse part.
US09741993B1	Power terminal for implantable devices A battery terminal for an implantable battery is described. The battery terminal includes a foil stack, first and second side elements, and a weld joint coupling the foil stack and the side elements. The side elements define a varying height profile and a greatest height adjacent an inner surface of the side element in contact with the foil stack. Each element may define a height profile along the width that tapers toward an outer surface, biasing mass of the element close to the foil stack.
US09741991B2	Integrated voltage sense and bus bar system and method for vehicles having a traction battery A vehicle includes a traction battery having a plurality of battery cells positioned in an array with a non-conductive bus bar housing having a plurality of compartments insulated from one another and containing one or more bus bars each having an integrally formed voltage sense connector. Each compartment may accommodate terminals of a pair of adjacent battery cells to be coupled by the associated bus bar. The voltage sense connector may include fingers for crimping and securing a voltage sense wire or a welding pad for welding, soldering, or similar connection. The voltage sense wires connect to a battery control module.
US09741989B2	Polyolefin microporous membrane Disclosed is a polyolefin microporous membrane including a multilayer film having two or more layers. In this polyolefin microporous membrane, at least one surface layer has a thickness of not less than 0.2 μm but not more than 5 μm and contains inorganic particles, while at least one layer contains a polyethylene and has an air permeability of not less than 50 second/100 cc but not more than 1000 second/100 cc and a puncture strength of not less than 3.0 N/20 μm.
US09741988B2	Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and method of manufacturing the same A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a separator including a base material and a heat resistance layer formed on at least one main surface of the base material and containing inorganic particles and a resin binder. The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery further includes an electrode composite material layer stacked on the heat resistance layer and containing electrode active material particles and an interposed layer interposed between the heat resistance layer and the electrode composite material layer. In the interposed layer, the inorganic particles, the resin binder, and the electrode active material particles are present as being mixed. A ratio of a thickness of the interposed layer to a thickness of the base material is not lower than 1% and not higher than 5%.
US09741987B2	Accumulator device An electricity storage device includes a first electrode sheet, separators, and a second electrode sheet. The separators each include primary protrusions, which are located on the opposite sides of the first electrode sheet and protrude from the first electrode sheet, and secondary protrusions, which are located on the opposite sides of the first electrode sheet and protrude from the first electrode sheet in a direction different from the protrusion direction of the primary protrusions. The primary protrusions are welded to each other in a first weld region, and the secondary protrusions are welded to each other in a second weld region. The region width of the first weld region in the protrusion direction of the primary protrusions is greater than the region width of the second weld region in the protrusion direction of the secondary protrusions.
US09741985B2	Sealing plate for prismatic secondary battery, method for producing the same, and prismatic secondary battery using the same A sealing plate for a prismatic secondary battery includes a pair of mouths for attaching a negative and positive electrode terminals, one mouth being formed near one end in a longitudinal direction of the sealing plate, and the other mouth being formed near the other end, coining areas used for positioning of an insulating member and formed around the pair of mouths on a front face of the sealing plate, a gas release valve and an electrolyte pour hole formed between the pair of mouths, and grooves formed between the respective coining areas and the long side edge of the sealing plate. The groove has a smaller depth near the gas release valve than the depth near the coining area. Even when the sealing plate is produced through forging, the front face has good flatness and the coining areas are unlikely to have a sink mark or a shear drop.
US09741975B2	Safely ingestible batteries A battery for use in electronic devices and which is safely ingested into a body and a related method of making the battery. The battery includes an anode, a cathode and a quantum tunneling composite coating. The quantum tunneling composite coating covers at least a portion of at least one of the anode or the cathode and provides pressure sensitive conductive properties to the battery including a compressive stress threshold for conduction. The compressive stress threshold may be greater than a pre-determined applied stress in a digestive tract of the body in order to prevent harm if the battery is ingested. The battery may include a waterproof seal that extends between the quantum tunneling composite coating and a gasket separating the anode and cathode to inhibit the battery from short circuiting in a conductive fluid below the compressive stress threshold.
US09741973B2	Display device and method for manufacturing the same A display device and a method for manufacturing the same, the display device including a substrate that includes a first area and a second area; a first pixel electrode on the first area of the substrate; a first organic layer on the first pixel electrode, the organic layer including a first light emitting layer; a first counter electrode on the first organic layer; an auxiliary layer on the first counter electrode at the first area of the substrate; a second pixel electrode on the second area of the substrate; a second organic layer on the second pixel electrode, the second organic layer including a second light emitting layer; a second counter electrode on the second organic layer; and an upper reflective layer on the second counter electrode at the second area of the substrate.
US09741966B2	Method for hybrid encapsulation of an organic light emitting diode Methods and apparatus for encapsulating organic light emitting diode (OLED) structures disposed on a substrate using a hybrid layer of material are provided. The encapsulation methods may be performed as single or multiple chamber processes. The processing parameters used during deposition of the hybrid layer of material allow control of the characteristics of the deposited hybrid layer. The hybrid layer may be deposited such that the layer has characteristics of an inorganic material in some sublayers of the hybrid layer and characteristics of an organic material in other sublayers of the hybrid layer. Use of the hybrid material allows OLED encapsulation using a single hard mask for the complete encapsulating process with low cost and without alignment issues present in conventional processes.
US09741964B2	Frameless display device with concealed drive circuit board and manufacturing method thereof The present invention provides a frameless display device and a manufacturing method thereof, in which a conductive connection body is formed on a substrate; a first via is formed in a protective layer to be located above the conductive connection body and a second via hole is formed in the substrate to be located under the conductive connection body. A circuit layout layer is connected through the first via with the conductive connection body and a flexible connection circuit connected to a drive circuit board is connected through the second via with the conductive connection body thereby achieving electrical connection between the drive circuit board and the circuit layout layer. The method is simple and easy to operate and in a frameless display device so manufactured, the flexible connection circuit and the drive circuit board are both arranged at a back side of the substrate without occupying an effective display zone thereby achieving frameless displaying and improving displaying quality.
US09741961B2	Organic light emitting display device and method for manufacturing the same The present disclosure relates to an organic light emitting display device and a method for manufacturing the same. The present disclosure suggests an organic light emitting display device including an organic layer; a display element layer including a display area representing video data and a pad area extended from the display area, on the organic layer; film elements formed on the display element layer; a film type printed circuit board connected to the pad area; and a reinforcing adhesive filling a space between the film type printed circuit board and the film elements.
US09741955B2	Light-emitting element, light-emitting device, and method for manufacturing the same An object is to provide a light-emitting element with high emission efficiency. Another object is to provide a light-emitting element with a long lifetime and high reliability. Another object is to provide a light-emitting element driven at low voltage. A first light-emitting layer whose one surface is in contact with a hole-transport layer, and a second light-emitting layer which is in contact with the other surface of the first light-emitting layer and includes a bipolar host material and a light-emitting substance are provided, where the hole-transport property of the first light-emitting layer is higher than that of the second light-emitting layer. A recombination region of holes and electrons is preferably provided in the light-emitting layer. The hole-transport layer preferably includes an anti-reducing substance.
US09741948B2	Self-assembled peptide nucleic acids Ordered (e.g., self-assembled) structures, arranged from peptide nucleic acids and/or analogs thereof, are disclosed. The peptide nucleic acids forming the ordered structures comprise from 1 to 10 PNA backbone units, at least one comprising a guanine nucleobase or an analog thereof. Processes of generating the ordered structures, uses thereof and articles-of manufacturing, devices and systems containing same are also disclosed.
US09741943B2	Condensed fluoranthene compound, material for organic electroluminescent element using this compound, organic electroluminescent element using this material, and electronic device A fused fluoranthene compound which includes an indeno[3,2-b]fluoranthene skeleton having a hetero atom is a novel compound, which is useful as a material for organic electroluminescence devices for use in an organic electroluminescence device and an electronic equipment.
US09741941B2	Organic electroluminescent materials and devices A compound that has the structure according to Formula 1: as well as, devices and formulations containing the compound of Formula 1 are disclosed. In the compound of Formula 1: X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, and X6 are independently selected from the group consisting of C—R and N; each R is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, deuterium, halide, alkyl, cycloalkyl, heteroalkyl, arylalkyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, amino, silyl, alkenyl, cycloalkenyl, heteroalkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, acyl, carbonyl, carboxylic acids, ester, nitrile, isonitrile, sulfanyl, sulfinyl, sulfonyl, phosphino, and combinations thereof; and at least one R comprises a donor group with at least two electron donating nitrogens.
US09741940B2	Thiadiazole, light-emitting element, light-emitting apparatus, authentication apparatus, and electronic device The thiadiazole represented by formula (2) or (4), when used as a light-emitting material in a light-emitting element, allows the light-emitting element to emit near-infrared light: wherein in formulae (2) and (4), each R independently represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group. There may be a ring formed by a carbon linkage between two adjacent R's.
US09741937B2	Fluorene derivative, light-emitting element, light-emitting device, electronic device, and lighting device An object is to provide a light-emitting element having high light-emission efficiency by provision of a novel fluorene derivative as represented by General Formula (G1) below. In the formula, R1 to R8 independently represent any of a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted phenyl group, or a substituted or unsubstituted biphenyl group. Further, α1 to α4 independently represent any of a substituted or unsubstituted arylene group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms. Furthermore, Ar1 and Ar2 independently represent any of an aryl group having 6 to 13 carbon atoms in a ring and Ar3 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms. J, k, m, and n each independently represent 0 or 1.
US09741935B2	Organic light-emitting device An organic light-emitting device including a first electrode, a second electrode and an organic layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode is provided.
US09741930B2	Materials and components in phase change memory devices Phase change memory cells, structures, and devices having a phase change material and an electrode forming an ohmic contact therewith are disclosed and described. Such electrodes can have a resistivity of from 10 to 100 mOhm·cm.
US09741929B2	Method of making a spin-transfer-torque magnetoresistive random access memory (STT-MRAM) A method of making a novel STT-MRAM is disclosed, wherein the STT-MRAM comprises a novel apparatus along with a method of operating a spin-torque magnetoresistive memory and a plurality of magnetoresistive memory elements having spin-transfer torques acting on a recording layer from a MTJ stack and a novel magnetoresistance with a spin-valve layer. The spin-valve layer is field-reversible between two stable magnetization states either parallel or anti-parallel to the fixed reference layer magnetization through a set/reset current pulse along a conductive line provided by a control circuitry, accordingly, the magetoresistive element is pre-configured into a reading mode having canceled spin-transfer torques or a recording mode having additive spin-transfer torques.
US09741922B2	Self-latching piezocomposite actuator A self-latching piezocomposite actuator includes a plurality of shape memory ceramic fibers. The actuator can be latched by applying an electrical field to the shape memory ceramic fibers. The actuator remains in a latched state/shape after the electrical field is no longer present. A reverse polarity electric field may be applied to reset the actuator to its unlatched state/shape. Applied electric fields may be utilized to provide a plurality of latch states between the latched and unlatched states of the actuator. The self-latching piezocomposite actuator can be used for active/adaptive airfoils having variable camber, trim tabs, active/deformable engine inlets, adaptive or adjustable vortex generators, active optical components such as mirrors that change shapes, and other morphing structures.
US09741921B2	Hydrogen free amorphous silicon as insulating dielectric material for superconducting quantum bits A hydrogen-free amorphous dielectric insulating film having a high material density and a low density of tunneling states. The film is prepared by deposition of a dielectric material on a substrate having a high substrate temperature Tsub under high vacuum and at a controlled low deposition rate. In one embodiment, the film is amorphous silicon while in another embodiment the film is amorphous germanium.
US09741920B1	System and method for providing multi-conductive layer metallic interconnects for superconducting integrated circuits Superconducting integrated circuits require several wiring layers to distribute bias and signals across the circuit, which must cross each other both with and without contacts. All wiring lines and contacts must be fully superconducting, and in the prior art each wiring layer comprises a single metallic thin film. An alternative wiring layer is disclosed that comprises sequential layers of two or more different metals. Such a multi-metallic wiring layer may offer improved resistance to impurity diffusion, better surface passivation, and/or reduction of stress, beyond that which is attainable with a single-metallic wiring layer. The resulting process leads to improved margin and yield in an integrated circuit comprising a plurality of Josephson junctions. Several preferred embodiments are disclosed, for both planarized and non-planarized processes. These preferred and other methods may be applied to digital circuits based on Rapid Single Flux Quantum logic, and to quantum computing using Josephson junction qubits.
US09741918B2	Method for increasing the integration level of superconducting electronics circuits, and a resulting circuit A method for increasing the integration level of superconducting electronic circuits, comprising fabricating a series of planarized electrically conductive layers patterned into wiring, separated by planarized insulating layers, with vias communicating between the conductive layers. Contrary to the standard sequence of patterning from the bottom up, the pattern of vias in at least one insulating layer is formed prior to the pattern of wiring in the underlying conductive layer. This enables a reduction in the number of planarization steps, leading to a fabrication process which is faster and more reliable. In a preferred embodiment, the superconductor is niobium and the insulator is silicon dioxide. This method can provide 10 or more wiring layers in a complex integrated circuit, and is compatible with non-planarized circuits placed above the planarized wiring layers.
US09741915B2	LED module having LED element connected to metal layer exposed by opening in multi-layer resist A light emitting diode (LED) module including: a substrate; a resist including a plurality of layers above the substrate; and an LED element mounted above the substrate. A content percentage of at least one of a phenyl group, an ester bond, and a carbon double bond in a second layer that is an uppermost layer of the plurality of layers is lower than a content percentage of the at least one of the phenyl group, the ester bond, and the carbon double bond in a first layer that is an underlying layer of the plurality of layers, the underlying layer being located below the uppermost layer.
US09741914B2	Lens for light-emitting device and method of manufacturing light-emitting device package Disclosed are a lens for a light-emitting device usable in a display apparatus or a lighting apparatus, and a method of manufacturing a light-emitting device package. The lens may include a lens body including a light-receiving portion provided in a lower surface of the lens body, a light-emitting portion provided on an upper surface of the lens body, and a recess provided at a center of the upper surface of the lens body, and a flat portion provided in a horizontal shape on a bottom surface of the recess perpendicularly to a main emission line of light emitted from a light-emitting device to emit at least a part of light received through the light-receiving portion, upward. A diameter of the flat portion may be 1/100 to 1/10 of an inlet diameter of the light-receiving portion.
US09741911B2	Curable resin composition, optical element and optical semiconductor device Disclosed is a curable resin composition that has significantly high transparency in the UV region, UV resistance and heat resistance, does not cause cracking, peeling or coloration even when used for sealing a UV LED to which high power is applied, and inhibits shrinking during curing. The curable resin composition includes 20-85 wt % of an alkoxy oligomer having a specific structure and present as liquid at room temperature and 15-80 wt % of a silicone resin present as solid at room temperature. The curable resin composition preferably includes 0.1-20 parts by weight of phosphoric acid, as a catalyst, based on 100 parts by weight of the combined weight of the alkoxy oligomer and the silicone resin.
US09741909B2	Package, light emitting device, and methods of manufacturing the package and the light emitting device A package and a light emitting device with which production of burrs can be suppressed, and methods of manufacturing the package and the light emitting device easily are provided. A package includes a pair of lead electrodes made of metal plates and a resin molded body. A recess portion for mounting a light emitting element is formed. The pair of lead electrodes are exposed on a bottom surface of the recess portion. At least one of the pair of lead electrodes includes a groove portion that is formed on the metal plate and along a periphery of a surface of the metal plate exposed on a bottom surface of the recess portion.
US09741907B2	Light emitting diode package and manufacturing method thereof A light emitting diode package includes a light emitting diode chip disposed in a housing, a first phosphor configured to emit green light, and a second phosphor configured to emit red light. White light is configured to be formed by a synthesis of light emitted from the light emitting diode chip, the first phosphor, and the second phosphor. The second phosphor has a chemical formula of A2MF6:Mn4+, A is one of Li, Na, K, Rb, Ce, and NH4, and M is one of Si, Ti, Nb, and Ta, and the Mn4+of the second phosphor has a mole range of about 0.02 to about 0.035 times the M.
US09741906B2	Light-emitting dies incorporating wavelength-conversion materials and related methods In accordance with certain embodiments, electronic devices feature a polymeric binder, a frame defining an aperture therethrough, and a semiconductor die (e.g., a light-emitting or a light-detecting element) suspended in the binder and within the aperture of the frame.
US09741905B2	Optoelectronic element An optoelectronic element includes an optoelectronic unit, a first metal layer, a second metal layer, a conductive layer and a transparent structure. The optoelectronic unit has a central line in a top view, a top surface, and a bottom surface. The second metal layer is formed on the top surface, and has an extension portion crossing over the central line and extending to the first metal layer. The conductive layer covers the first metal layer and the extension portion. The transparent structure covers the bottom surface without covering the top surface.
US09741903B2	Light-emitting device and light emitting device package having the same The light-emitting element provides: a light-emitting structure, which comprises a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer under the first conductive semiconductor layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer under the active layer. A first electrode is disposed under a first region under the light-emitting structure and electrically connected to the second conductive semiconductor layer; a second electrode disposed under a second region under the light-emitting structure and electrically connected to the first conductive semiconductor layer. A connection electrode is connected the second electrode with the first conductive semiconductor layer. An insulating layer is disposed between the first and second electrodes; a first protective layer is disposed around the lower circumference of the light-emitting structure; and a second protective layer is disposed between the insulating layer and the light-emitting structure.
US09741900B2	Nitride semiconductor light emitting element A nitride semiconductor light emitting element 1 includes a second conductivity type nitride semiconductor layer which is formed above a first conductivity type nitride semiconductor layer, a first electrode 17a which is formed on a first region of the second conductivity type nitride semiconductor layer with a first current non-injection layer 13a in between, a first current diffusing layer 14a which is formed between the first current non-injection layer 13a and the first electrode 17a, a second electrode 17b which is formed on a second region of the second conductivity type nitride semiconductor layer with a second current non-injection layer 13b in between, a second current diffusing layer 14b which is formed on the second region and on the second current non-injection layer 13b, and an extending portion 17c which extends from the first electrode 17a and reaches the exposed first conductivity type nitride semiconductor layer.
US09741899B2	Device with inverted large scale light extraction structures An interface including roughness components for improving the propagation of radiation through the interface is provided. The interface includes a first profiled surface of a first layer comprising a set of large roughness components providing a first variation of the first profiled surface having a first characteristic scale and a second profiled surface of a second layer comprising a set of small roughness components providing a second variation of the second profiled surface having a second characteristic scale. The first characteristic scale is approximately an order of magnitude larger than the second characteristic scale. The surfaces can be bonded together using a bonding material, and a filler material also can be present in the interface.
US09741895B2	Removal of 3D semiconductor structures by dry etching Various embodiments include methods of fabricating a semiconductor device that include providing a plurality of nanostructures extending away from a support, forming a flowable material layer between the nanostructures, forming a patterned mask over a first portion of the flowable material and the first portion of the plurality of nanostructures, such that a second portion of the flowable material and a second portion of the plurality of nanostructures are not located under the patterned mask and etching the second portion of the flowable material and the second portion of the plurality of nanostructures to remove the second portion of the flowable material and the second portion of the plurality of nanostructures to leave the first portion of the flowable material and the first portion of the plurality of nanostructures unetched.
US09741894B2	Ion implant system having grid assembly An ion implantation system having a grid assembly. The system includes a plasma source configured to provide plasma in a plasma region; a first grid plate having a plurality of apertures configured to allow ions from the plasma region to pass therethrough, wherein the first grid plate is configured to be biased by a power supply; a second grid plate having a plurality of apertures configured to allow the ions to pass therethrough subsequent to the ions passing through the first grid plate, wherein the second grid plate is configured to be biased by a power supply; and a substrate holder configured to support a substrate in a position where the substrate is implanted with the ions subsequent to the ions passing through the second grid plate.
US09741892B2	Solar cell module production method, and solar cell module adhesive application system A solar cell module production method involves applying an adhesive on a light-receiving surface and a rear surface of a solar cell having electrodes on the light-receiving surface and the rear surface, and positioning and attaching a wiring material on the adhesive. Specifically, the solar cell, which is positioned with the light-receiving surface facing upward, is inverted so that the rear surface is facing upward, and the adhesive is applied on the rear surface; and then the solar cell is inverted once again so that the light-receiving surface is facing upward, and the adhesive is applied to the light-receiving surface.
US09741891B2	Eva sheet comprising microparticles for solar cell and method for manufacturing the same An EVA sheet for a photovoltaic module comprising microparticles, the main component of which is an ethylene-vinyl acetate resin is provided.A method for manufacturing an EVA sheet for a photovoltaic module comprising the steps of: (a) preparing microparticles, the main component of which is an ethylene-vinyl acetate resin; (b) dispersing the microparticles; and (c) sintering the dispersed microparticles is provided.
US09741889B2	Contact for silicon heterojunction solar cells A photovoltaic device and method include a substrate coupled to an emitter side structure on a first side of the substrate and a back side structure on a side opposite the first side of the substrate. The emitter side structure or the back side structure include layers alternating between wide band gap layers and narrow band gap layers to provide a multilayer contact with an effectively increased band offset with the substrate and/or an effectively higher doping level over a single material contact. An emitter contact is coupled to the emitter side structure on a light collecting end portion of the device. A back contact is coupled to the back side structure opposite the light collecting end portion.
US09741888B2	Monolithic multiple solar cells A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.
US09741883B2	Floating cover sheet assembly having a solar module A floating cover sheet of a liquid reservoir is configured to rest on the liquid surface and includes a plurality of elongated sheet panels each defining edges and a lower region. The sheet panels are connected to one another and each of the sheet panels has a buoyant carrier sheet disposed in the lower region thereof. The buoyant carrier sheet is made of plastic and defines a carrier surface. A plurality of panel-shaped solar modules are applied to corresponding ones of the carrier surfaces of the carrier sheets. The solar module has a width less than the width of the corresponding sheet panel so as to define, on each sheet panel, a strip of carrier material free of the solar module corresponding thereto and configured to be walked on and to be slip resistant.
US09741881B2	Photovoltaic module including integrated photovoltaic cells A photovoltaic module and its manufacturing method. The module includes a first support wafer made of sintered silicon and a second layer of single-crystal silicon.
US09741880B2	Three-dimensional conductive electrode for solar cell A photovoltaic device and method include forming a plurality of pillar structures in a substrate, forming a first electrode layer on the pillar structures and forming a continuous photovoltaic stack including an N-type layer, a P-type layer and an intrinsic layer on the first electrode. A second electrode layer is deposited over the photovoltaic stack such that gaps or fissures occur in the second electrode layer between the pillar structures. The second electrode layer is wet etched to open up the gaps or fissures and reduce the second electrode layer to form a three-dimensional electrode of substantially uniform thickness over the photovoltaic stack.
US09741877B2	Composition for solar cell electrode and electrode prepared using the same A composition for solar cell electrodes, the composition including silver (Ag) powder; a glass frit; an organic binder; and a solvent, the organic binder including a compound containing a repeat unit represented by Formula 1: wherein R1 is Na+, K+, NH4+, or PH3+; R2 is a hydrogen atom or a C1 to C2 alkyl group; and n is an integer of 1 to 3,500.
US09741874B2	Scalable voltage source A scalable voltage source having a number N of partial voltage sources implemented as semiconductor diodes connected to one another in series, wherein each of the partial voltage sources has a semiconductor diode with a p-n junction. A tunnel diode is formed between sequential pairs of partial voltage sources, wherein the tunnel diode has multiple semiconductor layers with a larger band gap than the band gap of the p/n absorption layers and the semiconductor layers with the larger band gap are each made of a material with modified stoichiometry and/or a different elemental composition than the p/n absorption layers of the semiconductor diode. The partial voltage sources and the tunnel diodes are monolithically integrated together, and jointly form a first stack with a top and a bottom, and the number N of partial voltage sources is greater than or equal to two.
US09741860B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a gate electrode, a gate insulating film which includes oxidized material containing silicon and covers the gate electrode, an oxide semiconductor film provided to be in contact with the gate insulating film and overlap with at least the gate electrode, and a source electrode and a drain electrode electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor film. In the oxide semiconductor film, a first region which is provided to be in contact with the gate insulating film and have a thickness less than or equal to 5 nm has a silicon concentration lower than or equal to 1.0 at. %, and a region in the oxide semiconductor film other than the first region has lower silicon concentration than the first region. At least the first region includes a crystal portion.
US09741857B2	Approach for an area-efficient and scalable CMOS performance based on advanced Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI), Silicon-On-Sapphire (SOS) and Silicon-On-Nothing (SON) technologies New, distinct, and useful architectures for single-legged SOI-MOS were established and fabricated for the very first time. They incorporated into their architectures an innovative new configuration to wire the device Body to the Body-Tied-Source. This new configuration drastically increased the conductance between the Body and the Body-Tied-Source. This consequently allowed these devices to effectively support much higher operating biases. Same configuration also functioned on structures with very large peripheries. These gave proportional increase in this same conductivity, and for same area-efficiency, with the increase of their peripheries to accommodate higher currents. The functional model that governs this proportional scaling in these new architectures for single-legged SOI-MOS devices was established and is being claimed through this patent for the very first time. Through it, single-legged SOI-MOS devices will efficiently scale to area-efficient ultra large peripheries with minimal hits to their bandwidth.
US09741854B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device There is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device including a substrate including a plurality of active regions, a plurality of gate electrodes extending in a first direction to intersect a portion of the plurality of active regions, and including first and second gate electrodes disposed to be adjacent to each other in the first direction, a gate isolation portion disposed between the first and second gate electrodes. The gate isolation portion includes a first layer and second layers disposed on both ends of the first layer in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
US09741846B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a lateral transistor having: a semiconductor substrate including a drift layer; a first impurity layer in the drift layer; a channel layer in the drift layer; a second impurity layer in the channel layer; a separation insulation film on the drift layer between the channel layer and the first impurity layer; a gate insulation film on a channel region between the second impurity layer and the drift layer connected with the separation insulation film; a gate electrode on the gate insulation film and the separation insulation film; a first electrode connected with the first impurity layer; a second electrode connected with the second impurity layer and the channel layer; and a field plate on the separation insulation film between the gate electrode and the first electrode and connected with the first electrode. The field plate is larger than the gate electrode in a current direction.
US09741845B2	Lateral high voltage transistor A device and a method for forming a device are disclosed. The device includes a substrate with a high voltage (HV) device region. The HV device region is defined with first and second device isolation regions and an internal dielectric region which are shallow trench isolation (STI) regions. A HV transistor is disposed in the HV device region. The HV transistor includes a gate dielectric layer on the substrate, a gate disposed on the gate dielectric layer, and a source region disposed in the substrate adjacent to the gate and first device isolation region while a drain region disposed in the substrate adjacent to the second device isolation region. A drift well and a body well are disposed in the substrate. At least one buried RESURF region is disposed under the internal dielectric region.
US09741843B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device in which current sensing accuracy is maintained while ruggedness of a current sensing region is improved. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; a main element provided on the semiconductor substrate and having a first trench gate structure including a first trench disposed on a first main surface side of the semiconductor substrate; a gate insulating film disposed along an inner wall of the first trench; and a gate electrode disposed inside the first trench; and a current detecting element for detecting a current flowing into the semiconductor substrate when the main element is operating provided on the semiconductor substrate and having a second trench gate structure including a second trench disposed on the first main surface side of the semiconductor substrate; the gate insulating film disposed along an inner wall of the second trench; and the gate electrode disposed inside the second trench.
US09741841B2	Group III-V semiconductor device with strain-relieving layers According to one exemplary embodiment, a group III-V semiconductor device includes at least one transition layer situated over a substrate. The group III-V semiconductor device further includes a first strain-relieving interlayer situated over the at least one transition layer and a second strain-relieving interlayer situated over the first strain-relieving interlayer. The group III-V semiconductor device further includes a first group III-V semiconductor body situated over the second strain-relieving interlayer. The first and second strain-relieving interlayers comprise different semiconductor materials so as to reduce a strain in the first group III-V semiconductor body. The second strain-relieving interlayer can be substantially thinner than the first strain-relieving interlayer.
US09741838B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a plurality of gate electrodes. Each gate electrode includes a first portion extending from a first end to a second end and a second portion extending parallel the first portion from a first end to a second end. The first and second portions are spaced from each other. A third portion of at least one gate electrode connects the first end of the first portion to the first end of the second portion of the gate electrode. A first insulating film is on the plurality of gate electrodes. A first interconnect portion is disposed on the first or second portion the gate electrode to electrically connecting the gate electrode to a gate pad. A second interconnect portion is disposed on semiconductor regions between the gate electrodes and electrically connects the semiconductor regions to an emitter pad.
US09741832B2	Tunneling field effect transistors with a variable bandgap channel Tunneling field effect transistors (TFETs) including a variable bandgap channel are described. In some embodiments, one or more bandgap characteristics of the variable bandgap channel may be dynamically altered by at least one of the application or withdrawal of a force, such as a voltage or electric field. In some embodiments the variable bandgap channel may be configured to modulate from an ON to an OFF state and vice versa in response to the application and/or withdrawal of a force. The variable bandgap channel may exhibit a bandgap that is smaller in the ON state than in the OFF state. As a result, the TFETs may exhibit one or more of relatively high on current, relatively low off current, and sub-threshold swing below 60 mV/decade.
US09741831B2	FinFET and method for manufacturing the same A method for manufacturing a FinFET, and FinFETs are provided. In various embodiments, the method for manufacturing a FinFET includes forming a fin structure over a substrate. Next, a dummy gate is deposited across over the fin structure. The method continues with forming a pair of first spacers on sidewalls of the dummy gate. Then, a source/drain region is formed in the fin structure not covered by the dummy gate. The method further includes removing the dummy gate to expose the fin structure. After that, the first spacers are truncated, and a gate stack is formed to cover the exposed fin structure and top surfaces of the first spacers.
US09741824B2	Semiconductor device and fabrication method thereof The present disclosure provides a method for forming a semiconductor device. The method includes providing a semiconductor substrate; forming a gate structure on the semiconductor substrate; and forming trenches in the semiconductor substrate on both sides of the gate structure. The method also includes forming a stress layer on inner sidewalls of each trench to fill up the trench; forming an interlayer on the stress layer, and forming a capping layer on the interlayer, wherein a top surface of the capping layer is higher than a top surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a lattice mismatch between the interlayer and the capping layer is lower than a lattice mismatch between the capping layer and the stress layer.
US09741822B1	Simplified gate stack process to improve dual channel CMOS performance A semiconductor device and method of making the same wherein the semiconductor device includes a pFET region including a SiGe channel having a Si-rich top surface within the gate portion, and an nFET region including a Si channel. The method includes subjecting both the pFET and nFET regions to a single high-temperature anneal process thereby avoiding the need for an additional spike anneal process at RMG module.
US09741816B2	Electrical device and method for manufacturing same A method for manufacturing an electrical device is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes providing a first layer of a first conductivity type, providing an intrinsic layer onto the first layer, providing one or more trenches into the intrinsic layer, filling the one or more trenches with a material of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type, and providing a second layer of a second conductivity type onto the intrinsic layer.
US09741814B2	Semiconductor device with fin transistors and manufacturing method of such semiconductor device A semiconductor device including: a first conductivity type transistor and a second conductivity type transistor, wherein each of the first conductivity type transistor and the second conductivity type includes agate insulating film formed on a base, a metal gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film, and side wall spacers formed at side walls of the metal gate electrode, wherein the gate insulating film is made of a high dielectric constant material, and wherein offset spacers are formed between the side walls of the metal gate electrode and the inner walls of the side wall spacers in any one of the first conductivity type transistor and the second conductivity type transistor, or offset spacers having different thicknesses are formed in the first conductivity type transistor and the second conductivity type transistor.
US09741813B2	Pure boron for silicide contact A semiconductor device includes a gate disposed over a substrate; a source region and a drain region on opposing sides of the gate; and a pair of trench contacts over and abutting an interfacial layer portion of at least one of the source region and the drain region; wherein the interfacial layer includes boron in an amount in a range from about 5×1021 to about 5×1022 atoms/cm2.
US09741812B1	Dual metal interconnect structure Source/drain contact structures that exhibit low contact resistance and improved electromigration properties are provided. After forming a first contact conductor portion comprising a metal having a high resistance to electromigration such as tungsten at a bottom portion of source/drain contact trench to form direct contact with a source/drain region of a field effect transistor, a second contact conductor portion comprising a highly conductive metal such as copper or a copper alloy is formed over the first contact conductor portion.
US09741811B2	Integrated circuit devices including source/drain extension regions and methods of forming the same Integrated circuit devices may include a stack that includes channel regions and gate electrodes stacked in an alternating sequence in a vertical direction. The channel regions may include impurities having a first conductivity type. The integrated circuit devices may also include source/drain regions on respective opposing sides of the stack, and the source/drain regions may be spaced apart from each other in a horizontal direction and may include impurities having a second conductivity type that is different from the first conductivity type. The integrated circuit devices may further include extension regions that may be between respective ones of channel regions and one of the source/drain regions and may include impurities having the second conductivity type. Each of the extension regions may have a thickness in the vertical direction that is less than those of the channel regions and the one of the source/drain regions.
US09741808B2	Split-gate trench power MOSFET with protected shield oxide A plurality of gate trenches is formed into a semiconductor substrate in an active cell region. One or more other trenches are formed in a different region. Each gate trench has a first conductive material in lower portions and a second conductive material in upper portions. In the gate trenches, a first insulating layer separates the first conductive material from the substrate, a second insulating layer separates the second conductive material from the substrate and a third insulating material separates the first and second conductive materials. The other trenches contain part of the first conductive material in a half-U shape in lower portions and part of the second conductive material in upper portions. In the other trenches, the third insulating layer separates the first and second conductive materials. The first insulating layer is thicker than the third insulating layer, and the third insulating layer is thicker than the second.
US09741804B2	Thin film transistor substrate and display panel having film layer with different thicknesses A thin film transistor (TFT) substrate includes a substrate and a TFT. The TFT is disposed on the substrate and comprises a gate, a gate dielectric layer, a film, a source and a drain. The gate is disposed on the substrate. The gate dielectric layer is disposed on the gate and the substrate. The film is disposed above the gate dielectric layer, and the source and the drain are disposed on the film and contacts with the film respectively. Wherein, there is an interval between the source and the drain, and the film corresponding to the interval has an arc concave portion. In addition, a display panel is also disclosed.
US09741793B2	Semiconductor device with false drain An electronic apparatus includes a semiconductor substrate and first and second transistors disposed in the semiconductor substrate. The first transistor includes a channel region and a drain region adjacent the channel region. The second transistor includes a channel region, a false drain region adjacent the channel region, and a drain region electrically coupled to the channel region by a drift region such that the second transistor is configured for operation at a higher voltage level than the first transistor. The respective channel regions of the first and second transistors have a common configuration characteristic.
US09741782B2	Active matrix organic light-emitting display and display apparatus An AMOLED comprises a plurality of pixel structures arranged in a matrix and one layer of power supply signal electrode configured to provide a power supply voltage signal for the pixel structures, and the power supply signal electrode has a planar structure. The planar power supply signal electrode can greatly reduce its resistance and hence can reduce the IR drop of power supply voltage signals that are transmitted over the power supply signal electrode, effectively reduce the impact of the IR drop on the display effect, and remarkably reduce the power consumption of a panel.
US09741780B2	Organic light-emitting diode display An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. In one aspect, the display includes a substrate including a display area configured to display an image and the display area includes first and second regions. A plurality of OLEDs are formed in the display area and separated from one another, and a plurality of pixel circuits are formed in the display area and include first and second pixel circuits respectively formed in the first and second regions. First and second contact holes are respectively formed in the first and second pixel circuits, each pixel circuit including thin film transistors (TFTs) including first and second TFTs and electrically connected to the OLEDs. Each pixel circuit includes a node line configured to electrically connect the first TFT to the second TFT through the first and second contact holes, and the first contact hole of is different from the second contact hole.
US09741779B2	Oxide semiconductor device One object is to provide a semiconductor device with a structure which enables reduction in parasitic capacitance sufficiently between wirings. In a bottom-gate type thin film transistor including a stacked layer of a first layer which is a metal thin film oxidized partly or entirely and an oxide semiconductor layer, the following oxide insulating layers are formed together: an oxide insulating layer serving as a channel protective layer which is over and in contact with a part of the oxide semiconductor layer overlapping with a gate electrode layer; and an oxide insulating layer which covers a peripheral portion and a side surface of the stacked oxide semiconductor layer.
US09741778B2	Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. In one aspect, the OLED display includes a thin film transistor comprising an active layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode. A first insulating layer is formed at least between the active layer and the gate electrode and a second insulating layer formed at least between the gate, source, and drain electrodes. The OLED display also includes a third insulating layer covering the source and drain electrodes and a pixel electrode including a first portion formed in first and second openings respectively defined in the second and third insulating layers and a second portion formed outside of the second opening. A pixel defining layer is formed over the second portion of the pixel electrode and the third insulating layer and has a third opening. The third opening has an area greater than that of the second opening.
US09741777B2	Bottom-emitting OLED display panel A bottom-emitting OLED display panel is provided. The bottom-emitting OLED display panel includes: a driving transistor disposed on a substrate; a protective layer covering the driving transistor; a planarization layer disposed on the protective layer; and a OLED device disposed on the planarization layer; and a reflective structure disposed between the protective layer and the planarization layer, the reflective structure is configured for reflecting light emitted from the OLED device and radiated on the reflective structure; a bottom surface of the reflective structure which is close to the protective layer at least covers a region occupied by the driving transistor.
US09741772B2	Display device comprising bending sensor A display device including a bending sensor is provided. A display device including a bending sensor may include a flexible substrate including a display area and a bezel area surrounding the display area; and the bending sensor including a curved unit disposed in the bezel area and in which an electric change occurs when the flexible substrate is bent, and a detection unit detecting bending information by sensing the electric change.
US09741770B2	Organic light emitting diode display An organic light emitting diode display includes a substrate, a transistor on the substrate, a reflecting electrode connected to the transistor, a color filter on the reflecting electrode, a first electrode on the color filter and electrically connected to the reflecting electrode, a pixel definition layer on the color filter and having an opening exposing the first electrode, a white emission layer in the opening and a second electrode on the white emission layer.
US09741769B1	Vertical memory structure with array interconnects and method for producing the same Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for fabricating a memory device. The memory device has a vertical stack of alternating layers of conductive and insulating layers wherein a top layer and a bottom layer are insulating layers. A plurality of vias is formed through the vertical stack from the top layer to the bottom layer. A memory layer disposed adjacent the conductive layers in the vias. A selector device disposed adjacent the memory layer wherein the selector device comprises multiple layers of dissimilar metal oxides. A lateral electrical contact to the memory layer through the conductive layer. And a top contact electrically connected to the conductive layer through a portion of the memory layer and the portion of the memory layer wherein the portion of the memory layer is configured to store data therein.
US09741759B2	Image sensor and method of manufacturing the same Image sensor and method of manufacturing the same are provided. The image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate including a pixel area, a voltage connection area, and a pad area, a plurality of photoelectric conversion devices in the pixel area, an anti-reflective layer on a back side of the semiconductor substrate and on the plurality of photoelectric conversion devices, a device isolation structure between the plurality of photoelectric conversion devices, at least one voltage connection structure in the voltage connection area, and electrically connected to the device isolation structure, at least one voltage applying device electrically connected to the at least one voltage connection structure, an internal circuit including at least one conductive inner wire and at least one conductive inner via in an insulating layer, and a through via structure in the pad area.
US09741758B2	Methods of forming image sensors including deposited negative fixed charge layers on photoelectric conversion regions A method of forming an image sensor can be provided by forming a respective photoelectric conversion region in each of a plurality of unit pixel regions of a substrate and depositing a material configured to provide a negative fixed charge layer on the photoelectric conversion region.
US09741754B2	Charge transfer circuit with storage nodes in image sensors Apparatuses and methods for charge transfer in image sensors are disclosed. One example of an image sensor pixel may include a first charge storage node and a second charge storage node. A transfer circuit may be coupled between the first and second charge storage nodes, and the transfer circuit may have a first region proximate the first charge storage node and configured to have a first potential. The transfer circuit may also have a second region proximate the second charge storage node configured to have a second, higher potential. An input node may be configured to control the first and second potentials based on a transfer signal provided to the input node.
US09741752B1	Method for manufacturing TFT substrate Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a TFT substrate, which uses one partial transmitting mask to form patterns of an active layer, a gate insulation layer, and a gate electrode through photolithography such that the entire process for manufacturing TFT substrate can be completely conducted by using only three masks. Compared to the prior art, one mask is save so that the operation is simplified and the manufacturing cost is reduced.
US09741751B2	Array substrate fabricating method The present invention provides an array substrate fabricating method. The array substrate fabricating method comprises the steps of: forming a semiconductor material layer and a first photoresist layer on a substrate successively, forming a pattern of an active layer comprising thin film transistors by using the semiconductor material layer and the first photoresist layer through photoetching technology, and reserving the first photoresist layer at least on conductive areas of the active layer when the thin film transistors are turned on; and forming a first material layer on the substrate on which the active layer is formed and the first photoresist layer is reserved on the active layer, and forming a pattern comprising first structures by using the first material layer through the photoetching technology. The method is adapted for fabricating an array substrate using metal oxide thin film transistors.
US09741750B2	Thin film transistor, pixel structure, and method for manufacturing the same, array substrate and display device A thin film transistor, a pixel structure, an array substrate, a display device, a method for manufacturing a thin film transistor, and a method for manufacturing a pixel structure are disclosed. The thin film transistor includes a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode, wherein a first passivation layer made from an aluminum oxide material is provided on the source electrode and the drain electrode, and an active layer made from an aluminum oxide material doped with ions is provided in a region of the first passivation layer corresponding to the gate electrode. Since the first passivation layer as insulation material is doped with the ions to form an active layer, the etching stop layer may be omitted, thereby simplifying the structure of the thin film transistor.
US09741749B2	Digital circuit having correcting circuit and electronic apparatus thereof Provided is a digital circuit (30) that comprises: a switching circuit (31) having first transistors (32, 33) supplied with power supply potentials (VDD, VSS); correcting circuits (34, 36) connected between an input terminal (IN) inputted with an input signal and control terminals (gates) of the first transistors; capacitors (C2, C3) connected between the control terminals and the input terminal; diode-connected second transistors (35, 37) that are provided between nodes (N5, N6) between the capacitors and the control terminals and the power supply potentials and have the substantially same threshold voltage as the first transistors; and switches (SW2, SW3) connected in series with the second transistors.
US09741745B2	Array substrate, method for manufacturing the same and display device The present disclosure discloses an array substrate including a display area and a data lead area. The display area includes data signal lines and gate lines. The data lead area includes peripheral wirings connecting the data signal lines and wiring terminals. The peripheral wirings include a plurality of metal traces which are corresponding to the data signal lines in a one-to-one manner and manufactured from a same layer as the gate lines. Each of the metal traces is connected to one of the data signal lines which is corresponding to the each of the metal trace.
US09741744B2	Array substrate, method for manufacturing the same, and display device An array substrate comprises a TFT, a data line, a gate line and a passivation layer covering the TFT, the data line and the gate line. The array substrate further includes a first conductive structure and a second conductive structure connected with the first conductive structure, the first conductive structure is disposed on the passivation layer and above the TFT, and the second conductive structure is disposed on the passivation layer and above the data line and/or gate line. A method for manufacturing the array substrate and a display device having such an array substrate are also provided.
US09741743B2	Array substrate and fabrication method thereof, display panel and display device Embodiments of the present invention disclose an array substrate comprising: a base substrate, a gate line and a gate electrode located on the base substrate; an insulating layer covering the gate line and the gate electrode; an active layer on the insulating layer, corresponding to the gate electrode; an etch stop layer above the active layer, the etch stop layer including a first via hole and a second via hole located above the active layer; a data line, a source electrode and a drain electrode and a pixel electrode on the etch stop layer, wherein the source electrode is connected with the active layer through the first via hole, wherein the etch stop layer is made of a light-shielding material.
US09741741B1	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 GATECNT-short-configured, NCEM-enables 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 GATECNT-short-related failure mode.
US09741740B2	Semiconductor device A well potential supply region is provided in an N-type well region of a cell array. Adjacent gates disposed in both sides of the well potential supply region in the horizontal direction and adjacent gates disposed in further both sides thereof are disposed at the same pitch. In addition, an adjacent cell array includes four gates each of which is opposed to the adjacent gates in the vertical direction. In other words, regularity in the shape of the gate patterns in the periphery of the well potential supply region is maintained.
US09741739B2	Semiconductor manufacturing method and semiconductor device A semiconductor manufacturing method includes alternately stacking first films and second films to form a stack film. The method includes forming a plurality of recessed portions in a stack direction of the stack film at an interval in a first direction substantially perpendicular to the stack direction. The semiconductor manufacturing method includes forming third films in the recessed portions. The method includes forming a mask material on the stack film and the third films and diminishing the mask material to expose the stack film in a first range between an end of a stepped portion to be formed on the stack film and one of the third films and to position an end of the mask material on the third film. The method includes removing a predetermined number of layers of films from the stack film in the first range using the diminished mask material as a mask.
US09741738B2	Non-volatile semiconductor storage device and method of manufacturing the same A non-volatile semiconductor storage device has a plurality of memory strings to each of which a plurality of electrically rewritable memory cells are connected in series. Each of the memory strings includes first semiconductor layers each having a pair of columnar portions extending in a vertical direction with respect to a substrate and a coupling portion formed to couple the lower ends of the pair of columnar portions; a charge storage layer formed to surround the side surfaces of the columnar portions; and first conductive layers formed to surround the side surfaces of the columnar portions and the charge storage layer. The first conductive layers function as gate electrodes of the memory cells.
US09741734B2	Memory devices and systems having reduced bit line to drain select gate shorting and associated methods 3D NAND memory devices and systems having reduced bit line to drain select gate shorting, including associated methods, are provided and described.
US09741733B2	Three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the semiconductor devices are provided. The semiconductor devices may include a semiconductor pattern including an opening on a semiconductor substrate. A peripheral transistor and a peripheral interconnection structure may be disposed between the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor pattern. The peripheral interconnection structure may be electrically connected to the peripheral transistor. Cell gate conductive patterns may be disposed on the semiconductor pattern. The cell vertical structures may extend through the cell gate conductive patterns and may be connected to the semiconductor pattern. Cell bit line contact plugs may be disposed on the cell vertical structures. A bit line may be disposed on the cell bit line contact plugs. A peripheral bit line contact structure may be disposed between the bit line and the peripheral interconnection structure. The peripheral bit line contact structure may extend through the opening of the semiconductor.
US09741730B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same According to one embodiment, the first separation film separates the control electrode, the first insulating layer, the charge storage layer, the intermediate insulating layer, the floating electrode layer, and the second insulating layer in a first direction. The second separation film separates a first stacked unit in a second direction. The first stacked unit includes the charge storage layer, the intermediate insulating layer, the floating electrode layer, the second insulating layer, and the semiconductor layer. The second direction intersects the first direction. The second separation film contains silicon.
US09741728B2	Method for forming a split-gate flash memory cell device with a low power logic device A method of manufacturing an embedded flash memory device is provided. A pair of gate stacks are formed spaced over a semiconductor substrate, and including floating gates and control gates over the floating gates. A common gate layer is formed over the gate stacks and the semiconductor substrate, and lining sidewalls of the gate stacks. A first etch is performed into the common gate layer to recess an upper surface of the common gate layer to below upper surfaces respectively of the gate stacks, and to form an erase gate between the gate stacks. Hard masks are respectively formed over the erase gate, a word line region of the common gate layer, and a logic gate region of the common gate layer. A second etch is performed into the common gate layer with the hard masks in place to concurrently form a word line and a logic gate.
US09741722B2	Dummy gate structure for electrical isolation of a fin DRAM Trench capacitors can be formed between lengthwise sidewalls of semiconductor fins, and source and drain regions of access transistors are formed in the semiconductor fins. A dummy gate structure is formed between end walls of a neighboring pair of semiconductor fins, and limits the lateral extent of raised source and drain regions that are formed by selective epitaxy. The dummy gate structure prevents electrical shorts between neighboring semiconductor fins. Gate spacers can be formed around gate structures and the dummy gate structures. The dummy gate structures can be replaced with dummy replacement gate structures or dielectric material portions, or can remain the same without substitution of any material. The dummy gate structures may consist of at least one dielectric material, or may include electrically floating conductive material portions.
US09741720B1	Higher ‘K’ gate dielectric cap for replacement metal gate (RMG) FINFET devices A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate, n-type and p-type FinFETs on the substrate, each of the n-type and the p-type FinFETs include a channel region and a gate structure surrounding the channel region, each gate structure having a phase-changed high-k gate dielectric layer lining a gate trench thereof, the gate trench defined by a pair of spacers. The semiconductor structure further includes a conformal dielectric capping layer over each phase-changed high-k gate dielectric layer, the conformal dielectric capping layer having a higher dielectric constant than the phase-changed high-k gate dielectric layer. Further included on the n-type FinFETs is a multi-layer replacement gate stack of n-type work function material over the phase-changed high-k gate dielectric layer. A method of fabricating the semiconductor structure is also provided.
US09741718B2	High voltage CMOS with triple gate oxide An integrated circuit containing a first plurality of MOS transistors operating in a low voltage range, and a second plurality of MOS transistors operating in a mid voltage range, may also include a high-voltage MOS transistor which operates in a third voltage range significantly higher than the low and mid voltage ranges, for example 20 to 30 volts. The high-voltage MOS transistor has a closed loop configuration, in which a drain region is surrounded by a gate, which is in turn surrounded by a source region, so that the gate does not overlap field oxide. The integrated circuit may include an n-channel version of the high-voltage MOS transistor and/or a p-channel version of the high-voltage MOS transistor. Implanted regions of the n-channel version and the p-channel version are formed concurrently with implanted regions in the first and second pluralities of MOS transistors.
US09741717B1	FinFETs with controllable and adjustable channel doping A method of forming features of a finFET structure includes forming fins on a surface of a substrate. A first liner is formed around each fin and a shallow trench isolation region is formed around each fin. A dopant layer is implanted in each fin. A portion of the shallow trench isolation region is etched from each fin. A first portion of the structure is blocked and the first liner replaced with a second liner in a second portion of the structure.
US09741716B1	Forming vertical and horizontal field effect transistors on the same substrate A method of forming a vertical FET device and a horizontal FINFET device on a common semiconductor substrate includes forming, on the semiconductor substrate, vertical device fins for the vertical FET device and the horizontal FINFET device with a sacrificial layer and a hard mask (HM) layer. The method also includes forming a vertical FET device doped source and drain (S/D) on the substrate, forming a shallow trench isolation (STI) and a bottom spacer, removing the HM layer and the sacrificial layer for horizontal FINFET device, and forming a sacrificial gate. The method further includes forming an oxide inter dielectric (ILD) layer, and opening the sacrificial gate, forming high-k vertical FET device gate and a high-k horizontal FINFET device gate, and forming contacts.
US09741715B2	Structure to prevent lateral epitaxial growth in semiconductor devices A semiconductor device includes a set of fin structures having a set of fin ends at a respective vertical surface of a fin structure and is separated by a set of trenches from other fin structures. Each of the fin structures has a top surface which is higher than a top surface of a dielectric material in the set of trenches. A set of dielectric blocks is disposed at the set of fin ends, the dielectric blocks having a top surface level with or above the top surfaces of the fin structures which inhibit excessive epitaxial growth at the fin ends.
US09741713B1	Parasitic lateral bipolar transistor with improved ideality and leakage currents A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate of n-type or p-type, a well of a type opposite the substrate, the well acting as the base of a diode, a first region of the same type as the substrate at a top of the well, a second region of the same type as the substrate is situated separate from the first region at the top of the well, the first region acting as an emitter of the diode and the second region acting as a collector of the diode, and a gate situated between the first region and second region over a top surface of the well.
US09741712B2	Semiconductor devices with trench gate structures in a semiconductor body with hexagonal crystal lattice A semiconductor device includes trench gate structures in a semiconductor body with hexagonal crystal lattice. A mean surface plane of a first surface is tilted to a <1-100> crystal direction by an off-axis angle, wherein an absolute value of the off-axis angle is in a range from 2 degree to 12 degree. The trench gate structures extend oriented along the <1-100> crystal direction. Portions of the semiconductor body between neighboring trench gate structures form transistor mesas. Sidewalls of the transistor mesas deviate from a normal to the mean surface plane by not more than 5 degree.
US09741708B2	Transient voltage suppressor and ESD protection device and array thereof Provided is a transient voltage suppressor including a substrate, a well region of a first conductivity type, a first doped region of a second conductivity type, and a second doped region of the second conductivity type. The substrate is electrically floating. The well region is located in the substrate. The first doped region is located in the well region to form a diode, and the first doped region is electrically connected to a first voltage. The second doped region is located in the well region, and the second doped region is electrically connected to a second voltage.
US09741706B2	Immunity to inline charging damage in circuit designs Approaches for checking a design of an integrated circuit using an antenna rule are provided. A method includes determining a figure of merit for a transistor based on a resistance of a shunt path of the transistor relative to the size of the antenna and the size of the transistor. The method also includes comparing the determined figure of merit to a limit. The method further includes deeming the transistor to pass the antenna rule when the figure of merit is less than the limit, and deeming the transistor to fail the antenna rule when the figure of merit is greater than the limit. The determining and the comparing are performed by a computer device.
US09741704B2	Silicon-controlled rectifier and an ESD clamp circuit A silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) includes a first-type field, a second-type first field and a second-type second field disconnectedly formed in a first-type well; an entire first-type doped region formed within the first-type field; a segmented second-type doped region formed within the second-type first field; and a segmented first-type doped region formed within the second-type second field.
US09741701B2	Method of manufacturing a package-on-package type semiconductor package A method for manufacturing a semiconductor package, for example a package-on-package type semiconductor device package. As non-limiting examples, various aspects of this disclosure provide high-yield methods for manufacturing a package-on-package type semiconductor package, or a portion thereof.
US09741699B2	Light emitting device The present invention relates to a light emitting device comprising a transparent substrate which light can pass through and at least one LED chip emitting light omni-directionally. Wherein the LED chip is disposed on one surface of the substrate and the light emitting angle of the LED chip is wider than 180°, and the light emitted by the LED chip will penetrate into the substrate and at least partially emerge from another surface of the substrate. According to the present invention, the light emitting device using LED chips can provide sufficient lighting intensity and uniform lighting performance.
US09741698B2	Light-emitting device A light-emitting device includes a substrate, a first light-emitting element mounted on the substrate, an annular transparent dam formed on the substrate so as to surround the first light-emitting element, a second light-emitting element that is mounted on the substrate so as to be embedded in an interior of the dam and that has a shorter peak emission wavelength than that of the first light-emitting element, and a sealing material filled inside the dam so as to seal the first light-emitting element.
US09741697B2	Three-dimensional 3D-oP-based package The present invention discloses a three-dimensional 3D-oP (three-dimensional offset-printed memory)-based package (3D2-oP). The mask-patterns for different dice in a same 3D2-oP package are merged onto a same data-mask. At different printing steps, a wafer is offset by different values with respect to the data-mask. Accordingly, data-patterns from a same data-mask are printed into different dice in a same 3D2-oP package.
US09741696B2	Thermal vias disposed in a substrate proximate to a well thereof An apparatus relates generally to a three-dimensional stacked integrated circuit. In such an apparatus, the three-dimensional stacked integrated circuit has at least a first die and a second die interconnected to one another using die-to-die interconnects. A substrate of the first die has at least one thermal via structure extending from a lower surface of the substrate toward a well of the substrate without extending to the well and without extending through the substrate. A first end of the at least one thermal via structure is at least sufficiently proximate to the well of the substrate for conduction of heat away therefrom. The substrate has at least one through substrate via structure extending from the lower surface of the substrate to an upper surface of the substrate. A second end of the at least one thermal via structure is coupled to at least one through die via structure of the second die for thermal conductivity.
US09741692B2	Methods to form high density through-mold interconnections Methods of fabricating a microelectronic device comprising forming a microelectronic substrate having a plurality microelectronic device attachment bond pads and at least one interconnection bond pad formed in and/or on an active surface thereof, attaching a microelectronic device to the plurality of microelectronic device attachment bond pads, forming a mold chase having a mold body and at least one projection extending from the mold body, wherein the at least one projection includes at least one sidewall and a contact surface, contacting the mold chase projection contact surface to a respective microelectronic substrate interconnection bond pad, disposing a mold material between the microelectronic substrate and the mold chase, and removing the mold chase to form at least one interconnection via extending from a top surface of the mold material to a respective microelectronic substrate interconnection bond pad.
US09741689B2	3-D package having plurality of substrates A package includes an interposer, which includes a first substrate free from through-vias therein, redistribution lines over the first substrate, and a first plurality of connectors over and electrically coupled to the redistribution lines. A first die is over and bonded to the first plurality of connectors. The first die includes a second substrate, and through-vias in the second substrate. A second die is over and bonded to the plurality of connectors. The first die and the second die are electrically coupled to each other through the redistribution lines. A second plurality of connectors is over the first die and the second die. The second plurality of connectors is electrically coupled to the first plurality of connectors through the through-vias in the second substrate.
US09741683B2	Device packaging facility and method, and device processing apparatus utilizing phthalate Provided are a device packing facility and method using phthalate and a device processing apparatus utilizing the phthalate. The device packaging facility includes a mounting unit providing phthalate between first and second devices to attach the first and second devices to each other, a processing unit thermally processing the first and second devices that are attached to each other to remove the phthalate and fix the first and second devices to each other, and a transfer unit transferring the first and second devices that are attached to each other from the mounting unit to the processing unit.
US09741680B1	Wire bond through-via structure and method A stackable integrated circuit chip layer and module device that avoids the use of electrically conductive elements on the external surfaces of a layer containing an integrated circuit die by taking advantage of conventional wire bonding equipment to provide an electrically conductive path defined by a wire bond segment that is encapsulated in a potting material so as to define an electrically conductive wire bond “through-via” accessible from at least the lower or second surface of the layer.
US09741678B2	Laser welding machine and laser welding method using the same A laser welding machine includes: an elevator that is capable of sliding an elevating platform; a pressing actuator that is fixed to the elevating platform at a base part of the pressing actuator and has a tip slidably connected to the base part and pressing a conductive upper terminal toward a conductive lower terminal; a laser oscillator; a machining optical device that is fixed to the elevating platform and has a lens to focus the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator; a position detector that detects a vertical positioning of the pressing actuator; a counter that receives an output of the position detector and delivers position information; and a control circuit that controls, based on the received signal from the counter, the elevator, the pressing actuator, and the machining optical device, and controls operation of the laser oscillator.
US09741677B1	Semiconductor device including antistatic die attach material A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a semiconductor die, and an antistatic die attach material between the substrate and the semiconductor die. The antistatic die attach material includes a mixture of a nonconductive adhesive material and carbon black or graphite. In one example, the antistatic die attach material has a resistivity between 101 Ω·cm and 1010 Ω·cm.
US09741673B2	RF transistor packages with high frequency stabilization features and methods of forming RF transistor packages with high frequency stabilization features A packaged RF transistor device includes an RF transistor die including a plurality of RF transistor cells, an RF input lead coupled to the plurality of RF transistor cells, an RF output lead, and an output matching network coupled between the plurality of RF transistor cells and the RF output lead. The output matching network includes a plurality of capacitors having respective upper capacitor plates, wherein the upper capacitor plates of the capacitors are coupled to output terminals of respective ones of the RF transistor cells. The plurality of capacitors may be provided as a capacitor block that includes a common reference capacitor plate and a dielectric layer on the reference capacitor plate. The upper capacitor plates may be on the dielectric layer.
US09741672B2	Preventing unauthorized use of integrated circuits for radiation-hard applications An integrated circuit, a method of forming an integrated circuit, and a semiconductor are disclosed for preventing unauthorized use in radiation-hard applications. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit comprises a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure, a radiation insensitive sub-circuit, and a radiation sensitive sub-circuit. The SOI structure comprises a silicon substrate, a buried oxide layer, and an active silicon layer. The radiation insensitive sub-circuit is formed on the active layer, and includes a partially depleted transistor. The radiation sensitive sub-circuit is formed on the active layer, and includes a fully depleted transistor, to prevent operation of the radiation sensitive sub-circuit under specified radiation conditions. Each of the partially depleted transistor and the fully depleted transistor includes a channel region formed in the active silicon layer, and the channel regions of the partially depleted transistor and the fully depleted transistor have substantially the same thickness but different doping concentrations.
US09741670B2	Electronic chip comprising multiple layers for protecting a rear face An electronic chip and a method of making thereof is provided, where the electronic chip includes at least: an electronic circuit arranged at a front face of a substrate; a first protective layer arranged on a rear face of the substrate; a resistive element arranged on the first protective layer and facing at least one part of the electronic circuit, mechanically supported by the first protective layer and connected electrically and/or in an inductive manner to the electronic circuit; a second protective layer covering at least the resistive element; and in which the first protective layer comprises at least one dielectric material having a resistance to chemical etching by at least one chemical etching agent less than or equal to that of a dielectric material of the second protective layer.
US09741669B2	Forming large chips through stitching A method includes performing a first light-exposure and a second a second light-exposure on a photo resist. The first light-exposure is performed using a first lithograph mask, which covers a first portion of the photo resist. The first portion of the photo resist has a first strip portion exposed in the first light-exposure. The second light-exposure is performed using a second lithograph mask, which covers a second portion of the photo resist. The second portion of the photo resist has a second strip portion exposed in the second light-exposure. The first strip portion and the second strip portion have an overlapping portion that is double exposed. The method further includes developing the photo resist to remove the first strip portion and the second strip portion, etching a dielectric layer underlying the photo resist to form a trench, and filling the trench with a conductive feature.
US09741667B2	Integrated circuit with die edge assurance structure Integrated circuits with edge assurance structures are provided for more reliable and efficient monitoring of the die edge integrity using, for example, Automatic (or Automated) Test Equipment (ATE). The edge assurance structures can be used to test, for example, all (100%) of the production materials with virtually no extra cycle time and cost. The edge assurance structure can be located around an edge of the integrated circuit. The edge assurance structure can include a plurality of v-shaped structures that are connected to each other using a plurality of ultra-thick vias. The integrated circuit can include a pad that is coupled to the edge assurance structure. The pad can be used to measure a resistance of the edge assurance structure.
US09741666B1	Electromagnetic wall in millimeter-wave cavity An apparatus includes a package, a wall and a lid. The package may be configured to mount two chips configured to generate one or more signals in a millimeter-wave frequency range. The wall may be formed between the two chips. The wall generally has a plurality of conductive arches that attenuate an electromagnetic coupling between the two chips in the millimeter-wave frequency range. The lid may be configured to enclose the chips to form a cavity.
US09741665B2	Alignment marks in non-STI isolation formation and methods of forming the same A method includes forming a photo resist over a semiconductor substrate of a wafer, patterning the photo resist to form a first opening in the photo resist, and implanting the semiconductor substrate using the photo resist as an implantation mask. An implanted region is formed in the semiconductor substrate, wherein the implanted region is overlapped by the first opening. A coating layer is coated over the photo resist, wherein the coating layer includes a first portion in the first opening, and a second portion over the photo resist. A top surface of the first portion is lower than a top surface of the second portion. The coating layer, the photo resist, and the implanted region are etched to form a second opening in the implanted region.
US09741664B2	High density substrate interconnect formed through inkjet printing Generally discussed herein are systems and apparatuses that include a dense interconnect bridge and techniques for making the same. According to an example a technique can include creating a multidie substrate, printing an interconnect bridge on the multidie substrate, electrically coupling a first die to a second die by coupling the first and second dies through the interconnect bridge.
US09741661B2	Logic semiconductor devices A logic semiconductor device includes a plurality of active patterns extending in a horizontal direction and being spaced apart from each other in a vertical direction, an isolation layer defining the active patterns, a plurality of gate patterns extending in the vertical direction on the active patterns and the isolation layer, the gate patterns being spaced apart from each other in the horizontal direction, a plurality of lower wirings extending in the horizontal direction over the gate patterns, a plurality of upper wirings extending in the vertical direction over the lower wirings, a through contact connecting at least one upper wiring of the upper wirings and at least one gate pattern of the gate patterns, the through contact extending from a bottom surface of the upper wiring to a position under a bottom surface of one of the lower wirings relative to the active patterns.
US09741656B2	High-frequency integrated device with an enhanced inductance and a process thereof The present invention provides a high-frequency integrated device, comprising a substrate including at least an on-chip active and passive member and a ferrite layer bonded to the substrate through an interfacial bridge and substantially wrapping plurality of surfaces of said at least on-chip active and passive members. The present invention also provides a system incorporating the high-frequency integrated device of the present invention. The present invention further provides a process for the preparation of the high-frequency integrated device.
US09741654B2	Integrated circuit having slot via and method of forming the same An integrated circuit includes a first conductive line on a first metal level of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit further includes a second conductive line on a second metal level of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit further includes a slot via electrically connecting the first conductive line with the second conductive line. The slot via overlaps with the first conductive line and the second conductive line. The slot via extends beyond a periphery of at least one of the first conductive line or the second conductive line.
US09741652B1	Wiring substrate A wiring substrate includes a wiring layer on a projection of an insulating layer. The wiring layer includes a first metal layer on an end face of the projection with a peripheral portion of the end face exposed, a second metal layer that is on the first metal layer and wider than the end face, and a third metal layer. The second metal layer includes first and second opposite surfaces with the second surface on the first metal layer with a peripheral portion thereof exposed. The third metal layer covers side surfaces of the first metal layer, and the first surface, the peripheral portion of the second surface, and side surfaces of the second metal layer, and fills in a region where the end face and the peripheral portion of the second surface face each other. The materials of the second and third metal layers are different.
US09741649B2	Integrated interposer solutions for 2D and 3D IC packaging An integrated circuit (IC) package includes a first substrate having a backside surface and a top surface with a cavity disposed therein. The cavity has a floor defining a front side surface. A plurality of first electroconductive contacts are disposed on the front side surface, and a plurality of second electroconductive contacts are disposed on the back side surface. A plurality of first electroconductive elements penetrate through the first substrate and couple selected ones of the first and second electroconductive contacts to each other. A first die containing an IC is electroconductively coupled to corresponding ones of the first electroconductive contacts. A second substrate has a bottom surface that is sealingly attached to the top surface of the first substrate, and a dielectric material is disposed in the cavity so as to encapsulate the first die.
US09741648B2	Wiring board A wiring board includes an insulating substrate having a plurality of laminated insulating layers and a mounting part in one surface of the insulating substrate, a large number of semiconductor element connection pads, a large number of external connection pads, and a solid pattern extending from a region corresponding to the mounting part to the peripheral portion of the insulating substrate, and including a straight line shaped current path without intervention of gas vent openings.
US09741646B2	Package substrate and its fabrication method This disclosure provides a package substrate and its fabrication method. The package substrate includes: a carrier; a first wiring layer formed on the carrier; a conductive pillar layer having a plurality of metal pillars on the first wiring layer; a molding compound layer formed on the first wiring layer, covering all the first wiring layer and the metal pillars, and exposing one end face of each metal pillar; a second wiring layer formed on the molding compound layer and the exposed end faces of the metal pillars; and a protection layer formed on the second wiring layer.
US09741645B2	Dense interconnect with solder cap (DISC) formation with laser ablation and resulting semiconductor structures and packages Dense interconnect with solder cap (DISC) formation with laser ablation and resulting semiconductor structures and packages are described. For example, a method of fabricating a semiconductor structure includes forming an insulative material stack above a plurality of solder bump landing pads. The solder bump landing pads are above an active side of a semiconductor die. A plurality of trenches is formed in the insulative material stack by laser ablation to expose a corresponding portion of each of the plurality of solder bump landing pads. A solder bump is formed in each of the plurality of trenches. A portion of the insulative material stack is then removed.
US09741642B1	Semiconductor package with partial plating on contact side surfaces Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a semiconductor package with partial plating on contact side surfaces. The semiconductor package includes a top surface, a bottom surface opposite the top surface, and side surfaces between the top and bottom surfaces. Contacts are located on peripheral edges of the bottom surface. Each of the contacts includes a first surface that is flush with the bottom surface, a second surface that is flush with one of the side surfaces, and a third surface between the first surface and the second surface. Each of the side surfaces can include a step such that the area of the bottom surface is differently sized from the area of the top surface and the third surface is located at the step. The first surface is plated, while the second surface is exposed (not plated). At least a portion of the third surface is plated.
US09741641B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and semiconductor device A semiconductor device, includes a die pad that has a first main surface and a second main surface located on the opposite side of the first main surface; a lead arranged next to the die pad; a semiconductor chip that has a surface, a first electrode and a second electrode formed on the surface, and a reverse side located on the opposite side of the surface, and is mounted on a chip mounting area of the first main of the die pad; a first wire that electrically couples the first electrode of the semiconductor chip and the lead; a second wire that electrically couples the second electrode of the semiconductor chip and the die pad; and a sealed body that seals the semiconductor chip, the first wire, and the second wire.
US09741639B2	Semiconductor chip, method for producing a semiconductor chip and method for soldering a semiconductor chip to a carrier A semiconductor chip includes a semiconductor body and a chip metallization applied on the semiconductor body. The chip metallization has an underside facing away from the semiconductor body. The chip further includes a layer stack applied to the underside of the chip metallization and having a number N1≧1 or N1≧2 of first partial layers and a number N2≧2 of second partial layers. The first partial layers and the second partial layers are arranged alternately and successively such that at least one of the second partial layers is arranged between the first partial layers of each first pair of the first partial layers and such that at least one of the first partial layers is arranged between the second partial layers of each second pair of the second partial layers.
US09741637B2	Electronic device having a heat dissipation unit and method of manufacturing an electronic device An embodiment discloses an electronic device, including: a processing component; and a heat dissipation unit thermally coupled to the processing component, the heat dissipation unit comprising: a first thermal conductive layer that directs heat that is generated by the processing component away from the processing component in a first direction, and a second layer disposed in relation to the first thermal conductive layer, where the second layer has a lower thermal conductivity as compared with the first thermal conductive layer in the first direction. Other aspects are described and claimed.
US09741634B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate having a main plane; a semiconductor element provided on the main plane of the semiconductor substrate; an electrode pad provided on the main plane of the semiconductor substrate and connected to the semiconductor element; a guard ring surrounding the semiconductor element and the electrode pad, and provided on the main plane of the semiconductor substrate; and an insulating film covering all region of a semiconductor of the main plane of the semiconductor substrate exposed inside the guard ring, wherein the insulating film is made of a water impermeable material.
US09741630B2	Electronic component package and method of manufacturing the same An electronic component package includes a wiring part including an insulating layer, a conductive pattern formed on the insulating layer, and a conductive via connected to the conductive pattern through the insulating layer, an electronic component disposed on the wiring part, a frame disposed on the wiring part and having a through hole accommodating the electronic component, an adhesive layer bonding the wiring part and the frame to each other, and an encapsulant filling at least a portion of the through hole.
US09741629B2	Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method A plasma processing method of processing layer structure previously formed on an upper surface of a wafer disposed in a processing chamber within a vacuum container and having a layer to be processed and an undercoating layer disposed under the layer by plasma in the processing chamber, includes a step of calculating an etching amount of the layer to be processed at time during processing of any wafer by using result of comparing real pattern data with detection pattern data obtained by combining two patterns of intensity having as parameter wavelength of interference light obtained by processing the layer structure containing three or more undercoating layers having different thickness and the layer to be processed in advance of the processing of the any wafer and a real pattern of intensity having as parameter the wavelength of the interference light obtained during processing of the layer structure on the any wafer.
US09741625B2	Method of forming a semiconductor device with STI structures on an SOI substrate In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of forming a semiconductor device, including providing an SOI structure comprising a base substrate, a buried insulating material layer formed on the base substrate and an active semiconductor layer formed on the buried insulating structure, forming a germanium-comprising layer on an exposed surface of the active semiconductor layer, forming a trench isolation structure, the trench isolation structure extending through the germanium-comprising layer and the active semiconductor layer, performing an annealing process after the trench isolation structure is formed, the annealing process resulting in an oxide layer disposed on a germanium-comprising active layer which is formed on the buried insulating material layer, and removing the oxide layer for exposing an upper surface of the germanium-comprising active layer.
US09741624B2	Spacer shaper formation with conformal dielectric film for void free PMD gap fill An integrated circuit may be formed by removing source/drain spacers from offset spacers on sidewalls of MOS transistor gates, forming a contact etch stop layer (CESL) spacer layer on lateral surfaces of the MOS transistor gates, etching back the CESL spacer layer to form sloped CESL spacers on the lateral surfaces of the MOS transistor gates with heights of ¼ to ¾ of the MOS transistor gates, forming a CESL over the sloped CESL spacers, the MOS transistor gates and the intervening substrate, and forming a PMD layer over the CESL.
US09741622B2	Methods of forming NMOS and PMOS FinFET devices and the resulting product One illustrative method disclosed herein includes, among other things, recessing first and second fins to define replacement fin cavities in a layer of insulating material, forming an initial strain relaxed buffer layer such that it only partially fills the replacement fin cavities, implanting carbon into the initial strain relaxed buffer layer in the NMOS region, forming a channel semiconductor material on the initial strain relaxed buffer layer within the replacement fin cavities in both the NMOS region and the PMOS region to thereby define an NMOS fin comprised of the channel semiconductor material and a carbon-doped strain relaxed buffer layer and a PMOS fin comprised of the channel semiconductor material and the initial strain relaxed buffer layer and forming gate structures for the NMOS and PMOS devices.
US09741620B2	Structures and methods for reliable packages A device and method of forming the device that includes cavities formed in a substrate of a substrate device, the substrate device also including conductive vias formed in the substrate. Chip devices, wafers, and other substrate devices can be mounted to the substrate device. Encapsulation layers and materials may be formed over the substrate device in order to fill the cavities.
US09741618B2	Methods of forming semiconductor devices In one embodiment, a method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming openings in a substrate. The method includes forming a dummy fill material within the openings and thinning the substrate to expose the dummy fill material. The dummy fill material is removed.
US09741608B2	Methods of fabricating semiconductor devices including supporting patterns in gap regions between conductive patterns An integrated circuit device includes spaced apart conductive patterns on a substrate surface, and a supporting pattern on the substrate surface between adjacent ones of the conductive patterns and separated therefrom by respective gap regions. The adjacent ones of the conductive patterns extend away from the substrate surface beyond a surface of the supporting pattern therebetween. A capping layer is provided on respective surfaces of the conductive patterns and the surface of the supporting pattern. Related fabrication methods are also discussed.
US09741605B2	Reducing defects and improving reliability of BEOL metal fill A method of reducing defects in and improving reliability of Back-End-Of-Line (BEOL) metal fill includes providing a starting metallization structure for semiconductor device(s), the metallization structure including a bottom layer of contact(s) surrounded by a dielectric material. The starting metallization structure further includes an etch-stop layer over the bottom layer, a layer of dielectric material over the etch-stop layer, a first layer of hard mask material over the dielectric layer, a layer of work function hard mask material over the first hard mask layer, a second layer of hard mask material over the work function hard mask layer, via(s) to the first hard mask layer and other via(s) into the etch-stop layer. The method further includes protecting the other via(s) while removing the second hard mask layer and the layer of work function hard mask material, and filling the vias with metal. Protecting the other via(s) may include, prior to the removing, filling the other via(s) with an Energy Removal Film (ERF) up to a top surface of the first hard mask layer, and, after the removing, removing the ERF material.
US09741603B2	Method for producing hybrid substrate, and hybrid substrate A hybrid substrate has an SOI structure having a good silicon active layer, without defects such as partial separation of the silicon active layer is obtained without trimming the outer periphery of the substrate. An SOI substrate is obtained by sequentially laminating a first silicon oxide film and a silicon active layer in this order on a silicon substrate. A terrace portion that does not have the silicon active layer is formed in the outer peripheral portion of the silicon substrate surface. A second silicon oxide film is formed on the silicon active layer surface of the SOI substrate The bonding surfaces of the SOI substrate and a supporting substrate that has a thermal expansion coefficient different from that of the SOI substrate is subjected to an activation treatment. The SOI substrate and the supporting substrate are bonded with the second silicon oxide film being interposed therebetween.
US09741598B2	Protective tape and method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same A protective tape and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same capable of achieving excellent connection properties. The protective tape includes an adhesive layer, a thermoplastic resin layer and a backing material film in that order; a modulus ratio of a shear storage modulus of the adhesive layer to a shear storage modulus of the thermoplastic resin layer at an application temperature at which the protective tape is applied is 0.01 or less. This suppresses resin residue on bumps thereby achieving excellent connection properties.
US09741597B2	Positioning device for glass substrate The present invention provides a positioning device configured to position a glass substrate. The positioning device comprises a support base, a pair of first positioning mechanisms located on two neighboring sides of the glass substrate, a pair of second positioning mechanisms located on another two neighboring sides of the glass substrate, respectively, a pair of connecting bars, a driving member, a gear group and a conveying belt sleeved on the gear group. One end of the one of the pair of connecting bar is fixed with the conveying belt, and another end is fixed with one of the pair of first positioning mechanisms. One end of another one of the pair of connecting bar is fixed with the conveying belt, and another end is fixed with another one of the pair of first positioning mechanisms.
US09741594B2	Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method for performing heat treatment on substrate Each of substrates which are sequentially loaded into an apparatus is transferred to one of empty (available) cooling units, and the cooling unit is reserved as a unit to be used for performing a cooling treatment after a post-exposure bake process for the substrate and the reservation information is stored. After one of the cooling units is reserved in advance before the post-exposure bake process, the substrate is transferred from the cooling unit to one of heating units without being subjected to a cooling treatment and is subjected to a post-exposure bake process therein. After the post-exposure bake process, the substrate is transferred from the heating unit to the reserved cooling unit which is reserved in advance and subjected to a cooling treatment therein.
US09741592B2	Micro device stabilization post A method and structure for stabilizing an array of micro devices is disclosed. The array of micro devices is formed on an array of stabilization posts formed from a thermoset material. Each micro device includes a bottom surface that is wider than a corresponding stabilization post directly underneath the bottom surface.
US09741589B2	Substrate pad structure A structure comprises a plurality of top pads protruding over a top surface of a package substrate, wherein a top pad comprises a first half-circle portion, a second half-circle portion and a first rectangular portion between the first half-circle portion and the second half-circle portion, a plurality of bottom pads embedded in the package substrate, wherein a bottom pad comprises a third half-circle portion, a fourth half-circle portion and a second rectangular portion between the third half-circle portion and the fourth half-circle portion and a plurality of vias coupled between the top pads and their respective bottom pads.
US09741586B2	Method of fabricating package structures Some embodiments contemplate methods for forming a package structure and a package structure formed thereby. An embodiment method includes depositing a photosensitive dielectric layer on a support structure; forming a first layer on a surface of the photosensitive dielectric layer; exposing the photosensitive dielectric layer to radiation; and after the forming the first layer and the exposing to radiation, developing the photosensitive dielectric layer. The support structure includes an integrated circuit die. The layer has a different removal selectivity than the photosensitive dielectric layer during the developing. According to some embodiments, a thickness uniformity of the photosensitive dielectric layer after developing may be increased, and thickness loss from developing the photosensitive dielectric layer can be reduced.
US09741580B2	Substrate mask patterns, methods of forming a structure on a substrate, methods of forming a square lattice pattern from an oblique lattice pattern, and methods of forming a pattern on a substrate A method of forming a pattern on a substrate comprises forming spaced, upwardly-open, cylinder-like structures projecting longitudinally outward of a base. Sidewall lining is formed over inner and over outer sidewalls of the cylinder-like structures, and that forms interstitial spaces laterally outward of the cylinder-like structures. The interstitial spaces are individually surrounded by longitudinally-contacting sidewall linings that are over outer sidewalls of four of the cylinder-like structures. Other embodiments are disclosed, including structure independent of method.
US09741579B2	Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method A plasma processing apparatus includes a sample stage disposed in a processing chamber within a vacuum chamber. A wafer mounted on a top surface of the sample stage is processed by using plasma formed in the processing chamber. The plasma processing apparatus further includes electrodes disposed on a part on a center side and a part on a peripheral side within the sample stage and supplied with radio frequency power. Large amplitude and small amplitude are repeated with a predetermined period in each of the radio frequency powers supplied respectively to the electrode on the center side and the electrode on the peripheral side. A control apparatus adjusts a length of large amplitude term, or the length of the large amplitude term and a ratio of the length to a period in each of the radio frequency powers to different values.
US09741578B2	Manufacturing method of semiconductor device A technique of reducing the contact resistance between a semiconductor substrate and a metal layer is provided. A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device comprises a process of forming a metal layer on an N surface of a nitride semiconductor substrate. The process of forming the metal layer includes a first process of forming a metal layer by sputtering at a film formation rate controlled to 4 nm/minute or lower.
US09741576B2	Light irradiation type heat treatment method and heat treatment apparatus A metal film is deposited on a front surface of a semiconductor wafer of silicon. After the semiconductor wafer is received in a chamber, the pressure in the chamber is reduced to a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure. Thereafter, nitrogen gas is supplied into the chamber to return the pressure in the chamber to ordinary pressure, and the front surface of the semiconductor wafer is irradiated with a flash of light, so that a silicide that is a compound of the metal film and silicon is formed. The oxygen concentration in the chamber is significantly lowered during the formation of the silicide because the pressure in the chamber is reduced once to the pressure lower than atmospheric pressure and then returned to the ordinary pressure. This suppresses the increase in resistance of the silicide resulting from the entry of oxygen in the atmosphere in the chamber into defects near the interface between the metal film and a base material.
US09741574B2	Cyclic deposition method for thin film and manufacturing method for semiconductor, and semiconductor device Provided is a method of cyclically depositing a thin film including: performing an oxide depositing operation of repeatedly performing a deposition operation, a first purge operation, a reaction operation, and a second purge operation, wherein the deposition operation deposits silicon on a target by injecting a silicon precursor into a chamber into which the target is loaded, the first purge operation removes a non-reacted silicon precursor and a reacted byproduct from inside the chamber, the reaction operation supplies a first reaction source including oxygen into the chamber to form the deposited silicon as an oxide including silicon, and the second purge operation removes a non-reacted first reaction source and a reacted byproduct from the inside of the chamber; and performing a plasma processing operation of supplying plasma made of a second reaction source including nitrogen to the inside of the chamber to process the oxide including the silicon.
US09741568B2	Sulfur doping method for graphene The invention provides a sulfur doping method for graphene, which comprises the steps of: 1) providing graphene and placing the grapheme in a chemical vapor deposition reaction chamber; 2) employing an inert gas to perform ventilation and exhaust treatment in the reaction chamber; 3) introducing a sulfur source gas to perform sulfur doping on the graphene at 500-1050° C.; and 4) cooling the reaction chamber in a hydrogen and inert gas atmosphere. The present invention can perform sulfur doping on the graphene simply and efficiently, the economic cost is low, and large-scale production can be realized. Large area sulfur doping on graphene can be realized, and doping of graphene on an insulating substrate or metal substrate can be carried out directly.
US09741558B2	Selectively lateral growth of silicon oxide thin film Implementations disclosed herein generally relate to methods of forming silicon oxide films. The methods can include performing silylation on the surface of the substrate having terminal hydroxyl groups. The hydroxyl groups on the surface of the substrate are then regenerated using a plasma and H2O soak in order to perform an additional silylation. Further methods include catalyzing the exposed surfaces using a Lewis acid, directionally inactivating the exposed first and second surfaces and deposition of a silicon containing layer on the sidewall surfaces. Multiple plasma treatments may be performed to deposit a layer having a desired thickness.
US09741557B1	Silicon nitride process for reduction of threshold shift A semiconductor device has a substrate with a semiconductor material. The semiconductor device includes a field effect transistor in and on the semiconductor material. The field effect transistor has a gate dielectric layer over the semiconductor material of the semiconductor device, and a gate over the gate dielectric layer. The gate dielectric layer includes a layer of nitrogen-rich silicon nitride immediately over the region for the channel, and under the gate.
US09741553B2	Elliptical and dual parabolic laser driven sealed beam lamps The invention is directed to a sealed high intensity illumination device configured to receive a laser beam from a laser light source. A sealed chamber is configured to contain an ionizable medium. The chamber includes a reflective chamber interior surface having a first parabolic contour and parabolic focal region, a second parabolic contour and parabolic focal region, and an interface surface. An ingress surface is disposed within the interface surface configured to admit the laser beam into the chamber, and an egress surface disposed within the interface surface configured to emit high intensity light from the chamber. The first parabolic contour is configured to reflect light from the first parabolic focal region to the second parabolic contour, and the second parabolic contour is configured to reflect light from the first parabolic contour to the second parabolic focal region.
US09741552B2	Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry coupled to trapped ion mobility separation The invention provides a method for acquiring fragment ion spectra of substances in complex substance mixtures wherein a trapped ion mobility spectrometer (“TIMS”) is used as the ion mobility separation device coupled to a triple quadrupole mass filter assembly. The fragment ion spectra may be used for the identification of high numbers of proteins in complex mixtures, or for a safe quantification of some substances, by their fragment ion mass spectra in a mass spectrometer with upstream substance separator. TIMS, in particular equipped with parallel accumulation, provides the unique possibility to prolong the ion accumulation duration to find more detectable ion species without decreasing the measuring capacity for fragment ion mass spectra. The high measurement capacity for fragment ion mass spectra permits the repeated measurement of low abundance ion species such as to improve the quality of the fragment ion spectra.
US09741549B2	Mass spectrometer vacuum interface method and apparatus A mass spectrometer vacuum interface can include a skimmer apparatus having a skimmer aperture and an internal surface. A method of operating the mass spectrometer vacuum interface can include establishing an outwardly directed flow along the internal surface of the skimmer apparatus.
US09741546B2	Symmetric plasma process chamber Embodiments of the present invention provide a plasma chamber design that allows extremely symmetrical electrical, thermal, and gas flow conductance through the chamber. By providing such symmetry, plasma formed within the chamber naturally has improved uniformity across the surface of a substrate disposed in a processing region of the chamber. Further, other chamber additions, such as providing the ability to manipulate the gap between upper and lower electrodes as well as between a gas inlet and a substrate being processed, allows better control of plasma processing and uniformity as compared to conventional systems.
US09741544B2	System and method for control of high efficiency generator source impedance Systems and methods for adjusting the source impedance of a generator are disclosed. An exemplary method includes generating a first signal and applying the first signal to a first input of a combiner, generating a second signal and applying the second signal to a second input of said combiner, and combining the first and second signals with the combiner at an output of the combiner to produce power that is delivered to the plasma load. A controllable variable impedance is provided to an isolation port of the combiner, and the controllable variable impedance is adjusted to vary the source impedance of the generator.
US09741541B1	Apparatus of high frequency plasma A high frequency plasma apparatus includes a reaction chamber, a first electrode, a second electrode, and a plurality of feed points located at one of the two electrodes at least. The feed points are used to simultaneously generate a first standing wave and a second standing wave, with different temporal and spatial patterns. By adjusting amplitudes of the two standing waves and the temporal and spatial phase differences between the two standing waves appropriately, plasma uniformity of the high frequency plasma apparatus can be effectively improved.
US09741539B2	RF power delivery regulation for processing substrates Methods of operating a plasma enhanced substrate processing system using pulsed radio frequency (RF) power are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of operating a plasma enhanced substrate processing system using pulsed radio frequency (RF) power includes providing a first pulsed RF power waveform to a process chamber at a first power level during a first time period, providing a second pulsed RF power waveform at a first power level to the process chamber during the first time period, obtaining a first reflected power created by the first and second pulsed RF power waveforms provided during the first time period, and performing a first load leveling process to adjust the first power level of the first pulsed RF power waveform to compensate for the obtained reflected power during the first time period to produce a delivered power at a preset power level.
US09741535B2	Charged particle beam apparatus A charged particle beam apparatus includes a stage for fixing a sample, a driving mechanism for driving the stage, a focused ion beam column, an electron beam column, a detector that detects a secondary charged particle emitted from the sample irradiated with a charged particle beam, a gas supplying device that supplies gas for forming a deposition film on a surface of the sample, and a control device that generates image data indicating the position distribution of the secondary charged particle detected by the detector. The control device irradiates the sample with the electron beam prior to irradiating the sample with a focused ion beam, recognizes an alignment mark provided in the sample in the image data by the electron beam, and performs positioning of an irradiation region of the sample using the alignment mark.
US09741534B2	Monitoring device, ion implantation device, and monitoring method A monitoring device includes a filtering section that extracts and outputs at least one of a high frequency component or a low frequency component of a beam current received from a detection output section of an ion implantation device; and a computation section that computes at least one of a value corresponding to a content ratio of the high frequency component in the beam current, or a value corresponding to a content ratio of the low frequency component in the beam current.
US09741529B2	Micro-chamber for inspecting sample material A micro-chamber for inspecting sample material can be filled with sample material immersed in a liquid without the need of applying vacuum tubing's to the micro-chamber. The micro-chamber includes an inspection volume for holding the sample material for observation. The inspection volume is defined by a first rigid layer, a second rigid layer spaced from the first rigid layer, and a hermetic seal between the first and the second rigid layers. One of the rigid layers includes thin part can be punctured. The liquid with immersed sample material, when placed upon the thin part, is sucked into the evacuated inspection volume when the thin part is punctured.
US09741528B2	Charged particle optical apparatus having a selectively positionable differential pressure module Disclosed is a charged particle optical apparatus, which includes a particle optical arrangement, configured to define a particle beam path for inspecting an object. The object is accommodated in a pressure-controlled interior of a specimen chamber during the inspection of the object. The charged particle optical apparatus further includes a differential pressure module having a differential pressure aperture. A positioning arm is arranged in the specimen chamber for selectively position the differential pressure module within the pressure-controlled interior of the specimen chamber into an operating position in which the particle beam path passes through the differential pressure aperture. The selective positioning includes an advancing movement of the differential pressure module toward the primary particle beam path. The advancing movement is transmitted to the differential pressure module by a track-guided movement of the positioning arm.
US09741525B1	Charged-particle microscope with astigmatism compensation and energy-selection A method of producing a corrected beam of charged particles for use in a charged-particle microscope, comprising the following steps: Providing a non-monoenergetic input beam of charged particles; Passing said input beam through an optical module comprising a series arrangement of: A stigmator, thereby producing an astigmatism-compensated, energy-dispersed intermediate beam with a particular monoenergetic line focus direction; A beam selector, comprising a slit that is rotationally oriented so as to match a direction of the slit to said line focus direction, thereby producing an output beam comprising an energy-discriminated portion of said intermediate beam.
US09741523B2	X-ray tube According to one embodiment, an X-ray tube includes an elongated anode target, a cathode, and a vacuum envelope. The cathode includes an electron emission source and a converging electrode including a trench portion. The trench portion includes a closest inner circumferential wall, an upper inner circumferential wall, and a lower inner circumferential wall. The electron emission source projects towards a opening of the trench portion from a boundary between the closest inner circumferential wall and the upper inner circumferential wall.
US09741521B1	Vacuum electron device drift tube Technology is described for vacuum electron device (e.g., sheet beam klystron) that includes a hollow tube structure. In one example, the hollow tube structure includes at least three resonant cavities and at least two drift tube sections. Each resonant cavity includes a cavity width along a major axis and a cavity height along a minor axis. Each drift tube section includes a drift tube section width and a drift tube section height, and the cavity height is greater than the drift tube section height. A first drift tube section is disposed between a first resonant cavity and a second resonant cavity. A second drift tube section is disposed between the second resonant cavity and a third resonant cavity. A drift tube section width of the first drift tube section is substantially different from a drift tube section width of the second drift tube section.
US09741520B2	Molded case circuit breaker The present invention relates to a molded case circuit breaker, in which a locking member is formed at an inner side of a lever and an anti-rotation member is formed at an upper like. Accordingly, the locking member can be brought into contact with the anti-rotation member even though a handle is rotated to an OFF position even in a fused state between a fixed contactor and a movable contactor, thereby preventing a rotation of the handle to the OFF position.
US09741511B2	Rotary operation type electronic component A technology for making the heat load on an electronic component attached to a target object smaller than before is provided. The electronic component includes a main body, the main body including an electronic component unit adapted to generate an electrical signal and click feeling in accordance with rotation of an engaged portion, a shaft support having a cylindrical portion to be inserted into a through-hole formed in the target object, and a retaining member; and a control shaft made of metal and capable of rotating the engaged portion, the control shaft being inserted into the cylindrical portion after a reflow soldering process of the target object is completed, and being engaged with the engaged portion. The control shaft inserted into the cylindrical portion is retained by the retaining member.
US09741509B2	Slide input component assemblies of an electronic device and methods for making the same Slide input component assemblies of an electronic device and methods for making the same are provided. In some embodiments, a slide input component assembly may include a slide button subassembly that may have a knob, a base, a retention mechanism that may couple the knob to the base, and a shell part that may be provided about at least a portion of the base. The slide input component assembly may also include a slide switch subassembly that may have a switch that may be configured to move along a switch path when the slide button subassembly moves along a button path.
US09741506B1	Keyboard device A keyboard device includes plural keycaps and a membrane switch circuit member. The membrane switch circuit member is disposed under the plural keycaps. The membrane switch circuit member includes a wiring board and plural separate covering pads. The wiring board includes plural first trace patterns and plural second trace patterns corresponding to the plural keycaps. The plural second trace patterns are disposed on the wiring board and separated from the plural first trace patterns. There is a gap between each first trace pattern and the adjacent second trace pattern. The covering pads are disposed over the wiring board. The plural covering pads are aligned with the corresponding keycaps and cover the corresponding gaps. The covering pad has a triggering trace pattern over the corresponding gap.
US09741503B2	Control circuit of switch device The invention provides a control circuit of a switch device. A single output pin of the control unit outputs an enable signal to control terminals of two switch units to control an on-state of the two switch units, and adjust a current size of a control current of the on-state of the switch device. One of the switch units after receiving the enable signal for a predetermined time is switched to an off-state, so as to reduce power consumption of the switch device.
US09741499B2	Production process for a supercapacitor having a high volumetric energy density A process for producing a supercapacitor cell, comprising (a) Assembling a porous cell framework composed of a first conductive foam structure, a second conductive foam structure, and a porous separator, wherein the first and/or second conductive foam structure has a thickness no less than 200 μm and at least 80% by volume of pores; (b) Preparing a first suspension of an anode active material dispersed in a liquid electrolyte and a second suspension of a cathode active material (e.g. graphene sheets) dispersed in a liquid electrolyte; and (c) Injecting the first suspension into pores of the first conductive foam structure to form an anode and injecting second suspension into pores of the second conductive foam structure to form a cathode, wherein the anode active material or the cathode active material constitutes an electrode active material loading >10 mg/cm2, preferably >15 mg/cm2, more preferably >20 mg/cm2.
US09741497B2	Beta-alumina and alpha-alumina bonding method using alpha-alumina and calcium oxide and thermal to electric converter using the same Disclosed is an insulating bonding part for bonding to a solid electrolyte including beta-alumina, the insulating bonding part comprising a plurality of layers which have different mixing ratios of the alpha-alumina and CaO, wherein the layer closer to the solid electrolyte including the beta-alumina has a higher ratio of the CaO, and wherein the layer farther from the solid electrolyte including the beta-alumina has a higher ratio of the alpha-alumina.
US09741495B2	Solid electrolytic capacitor including pillow member having edge overlapping recessed portion or through hole, and production method therefor A solid electrolytic capacitor comprising a capacitor element disposed on an insulating substrate, in which a positive electrode lead-out structure electrically connected to a positive electrode member of the capacitor element comprises a first positive electrode connection member disposed on the insulating substrate, a positive electrode terminal disposed on the insulating substrate, a pillow member configured to electrically connect the positive electrode member to the first positive electrode connection member, and a positive electrode bonding member. The first positive electrode connection member has a recessed portion or a through hole. The positive electrode bonding member partially enters the recessed portion or the through hole, and is in contact with an edge of a bottom surface of the pillow member at a position above the recessed portion or the through hole, or at the nearby position.
US09741489B2	Ceramic electronic component and method for producing ceramic electronic component A ceramic electronic component includes a ferrite material magnetic body part and a Cu conductive part, the ferrite containing 20 to 48% trivalent Fe in terms of Fe2O3 and divalent Ni. The ferrite can contain Mn so that it is less than 50% of the total of Fe and Mn in terms of Mn2O3 and Fe2O3. The magnetic and conductive parts are co-fired at a pressure not exceeding the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of Cu—Cu2O thereby ensuring insulating performance and favorable electrical characteristics.
US09741485B2	Reconfigurable multi-stack inductor A reconfigurable multi-stack inductor formed within a semiconductor structure may include a first inductor structure located within a first metal layer of the semiconductor structure, a first ground shielding structure located within the first metal layer that is electrically isolated from and circumferentially bounds the first inductor structure, and a second inductor structure located within a second metal layer of the semiconductor structure, whereby the second inductor structure is electrically coupled to the first inductor structure. A second ground shielding structure located within the second metal layer is electrically isolated from and circumferentially bounds the second inductor structure, whereby the first and second inductor generate a first inductance value based on the first ground shielding structure and second ground shielding structure being coupled to ground, and the first and second inductor generate a second inductance value based on the first ground shielding structure and second ground shielding structure electrically floating.
US09741483B2	Noise filter and electronic device with integrated common mode and normal mode noise filters A noise filter and an electronic device including the same are disclosed. The noise filter is configured to suppress noise generated in a power line or a ground line of a power circuit unit provided in an electronic device. The electronic device including: at least one coil connected to the power line and the ground line; and a core around which the coil is wound, a common core portion configured to suppress common mode noise generated at the ground line and a normal core portion configured to suppress normal mode noise generated at the power line are formed as a single body. Thus, the common mode noise filter and the normal mode noise filter are integrated with each other to thereby improve productivity and reduce production costs.
US09741478B2	Multi-resolution potentiometer An electrical assembly including a conductor arrangement and a multi-resolution potentiometer electrically connected to the conductor arrangement. The multi-resolution potentiometer includes a first resistive element having a first adjustment mechanism and a first wiper, and a second resistive element having a second adjustment mechanism and a second wiper. The first adjustment mechanism is coupled in a hysteresis arrangement to the second adjustment mechanism. A resistor network provides an electrical output for the potentiometer and electrically couples the first wiper with the second wiper.
US09741475B2	Flange attachment An insulating device includes a body portion including a first surface feature extending between a first surface end and a second surface end. The first surface end defines a first surface cross-sectional size. The second surface end defines a second surface cross-sectional size. The second surface cross-sectional size is less than the first surface cross-sectional size. The body portion includes a second surface feature extending between a third surface end and a fourth surface end. The third surface end defines a third surface cross-sectional size. The fourth surface end defines a fourth surface cross-sectional size. The fourth surface cross-sectional size is less than the third surface cross-sectional size. The insulating device includes a flange portion having a flange wall. The flange wall includes a first mating portion that engages the first surface feature and a second mating portion that engages the second surface feature of the body portion.
US09741473B2	Cable with an integrated coiling and reinforcing wrapper The present invention is a cable, which carries signal, having an integrated coiling and reinforcing wrapper. The cable has a segment near an end that is stiffer than the cable generally. This segment can be bent by hand, and once bent, will retain its bent shape. If the flexible part of the cable is wrapped into a coil, or otherwise gathered together, then the stiffer portion can be bent around the gathered portion to secure it in its gathered form.
US09741471B2	Semifinished wire with PIT elements for a superconducting wire containing Nb3Sn and method of producing the semifinished wire A semifinished wire (1) for a superconducting wire containing Nb3Sn has a Cu stabilization cladding tube (2), a ring-shaped closed diffusion barrier (3) in the inside of the Cu stabilization cladding tube (2) and a plurality of PIT elements (6) in the inside of the diffusion barrier (3), each having a cladding (8) containing Cu, a small tube (9), and a powder core (10) containing Sn. The small tube (9) consists of Nb or an alloy containing Nb and the diffusion barrier (3) has a percentage of area ADF in cross-section of the semifinished wire (1) of 3% ADF 9% and a wall thickness WDF with 8 μm≦WDF≦25 μm. A plurality of filler elements (5) are arranged inside the diffusion barrier (3), with the inner sides of the filler elements (5) abutting the PIT elements (6).
US09741470B1	Communication cables incorporating separators with longitudinally spaced projections A cable may include a plurality of twisted pairs of individually insulated conductors, a separator positioned between the twisted pairs, and a jacket formed around the twisted pairs and the separator. The separator may include a longitudinally extending spine positioned between the plurality of twisted pairs, and one or more respective projections extending from the spine at each of a plurality of longitudinally spaced locations. Each projection at a given spaced location may extend between a respective set of adjacent twisted pairs. Additionally, a respective longitudinal gap of at least approximately twenty centimeters may be present between each adjacent pair of longitudinally spaced locations.
US09741467B2	Fluoro copolymer coatings for overhead conductors A coating composition includes a fluoroethylene vinyl ether copolymer, a cross-linking agent, and water. The coating composition reduces the operating temperature of an overhead conductor by at least about 5° C. or more compared to a similar uncoated overhead conductor when the operating temperatures of each overhead conductor are measured at about 100° C. or higher and the coating composition is substantially free of solvent. Methods for making a coating composition and for making a coated overhead conductor are disclosed.
US09741466B2	Waterproof structure for stopping water between bare wires of multiple circuits A waterproof structure for stopping water between bare wires of multiple circuits stopping water between bare wires all together for plural covered wires each of which has a stripped wire exposed part formed by removing a cover material in an intermediate portion thereof, and is folded over at the stripped wire exposed part; a non-electrically conductive wire support supporting plural covered wires so as to prevent short-circuits between the stripped wire exposed parts of plural covered wires; a container accommodating portions of plural covered wires supported by the wire support and the stripped wire exposed part; and a thermosetting waterproofing agent filled into the container to immerse at least the stripped wire exposed parts of plural covered wires and cured to immerse the stripped wire exposed part and clearance between plural covered wires.
US09741464B1	Conductive ground tab template and grounding method A conductive ground tab template is provided and a corresponding method for providing a ground utilizing the same. According to one aspect, a conductive ground tab template includes a barrier layer and an adhesive layer. The adhesive layer provides for removable attachment to a structure. A cutout region of the conductive ground tab template is encompassed by the barrier layer and has a configurable arrangement for receiving conductive material and creating a ground tab.
US09741461B2	Contact pins for glass seals and methods for their production Contact pins for glass seals is provided having an iron alloy and a method for their production. The contact pins are provided with a nickel layer and coated with rhodium and/or platinum or with palladium. The contact pins may be additionally provided with a layer of gold. The contact pins are first cleaned by degreasing and activating, preferably by activating through acid etching. Thereafter, the application of a nickel layer is performed under a protective gas atmosphere, followed by formatting at 850 to 1050° C. The protective gas atmosphere is preferably made up of 10 to 100% hydrogen, with the balance formed of nitrogen. This is followed by a coating with palladium or with rhodium and platinum, or with platinum, or with rhodium and gold.
US09741460B2	Abyssal sequestration of nuclear waste and other types of hazardous waste A system and method of disposing nuclear waste and other hazardous waste includes means for, and the steps of, blending a waste stream, which includes either a radioactive waste or a hazardous waste (or both), with a liquid and, optionally, a solid material to produce a dense fluid and pumping the dense fluid into a tubing string of an injection boring. The dense fluid then exits a perforation in a casing of the injection boring and enters a fracture in a rock strata, where it continues to propagate downward until it reaches an immobilization point. The dense fluid may be a slurry formed by a metal and a cross-linked polymer gel or hydrated clay slurry. The metal can be one that has a melting temperature less than the temperature at the bottom of the injection boring. The solid material could also be other nuclear waste or a radionuclide.
US09741455B1	Semiconductor memory device and operating method thereof A semiconductor memory device includes: a cell array region storing and outputting data selected based on an input address and including a first cell region storing a failure address; an input control signal generator generating a compression signal informing presence of failure cells, and generating an input control signal based on the compression signal; an output control signal generator generating an output control signal in response to the input control signal and a pre-charge signal; a failure address latch storing the input address as the failure address in response to the input control signal, and outputting the failure address based on the output control signal; a failure address mapper mapping the failure address to the data line to store the failure address in the first cell region; and a non-volatile memory device receiving the failure address from the first cell region and programming it in a rupture mode.
US09741453B2	Prober chuck for magnetic memory, and prober for magnetic memory provided with said chuck There is provided a prober chuck capable of carrying out low leakage evaluation on a magnetic memory under environment in which a magnetic field is applied. A prober chuck 1 for a magnetic memory retains a wafer W having a magnetic memory formed thereon. The chuck 1 includes: a chuck top 10 that is made of a conductive material and has a wafer W placed thereon; an insulating layer 11 that is made of an insulating material and is adapted to support the bottom surface of the chuck top 10; and a guard layer 12 that is made of a conductive material and is arranged under the insulating layer 11, the guard layer being insulated from the chuck top 10 via the insulating layer 11. All of the members constituting the chuck 1 including the chuck top 10 and the guard layer 12 are made of a non-magnetic material.
US09741452B2	Read-assist circuits for memory bit cells employing a P-type field-effect transistor (PFET) read port(s), and related memory systems and methods Read-assist circuits for memory bit cells employing a P-type Field-Effect Transistor (PFET) read port(s) are disclosed. Related memory systems and methods are also disclosed. It has been observed that as node technology is scaled down in size, PFET drive current (i.e., drive strength) exceeds N-type FET (NFET) drive current for like-dimensioned FETs. In this regard, in one aspect, it is desired to provide memory bit cells having PFET read ports, as opposed to NFET read ports, to increase memory read times to the memory bit cells, and thus improve memory read performance. To mitigate or avoid a read disturb condition that could otherwise occur when reading the memory bit cell, read-assist circuits are provided for memory bit cells having PFET read ports.
US09741451B2	Data storage device and data maintenance method thereof A data storage device including a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory includes a plurality of chips, each of the chips includes a plurality of pages, the pages are arranged to assemble into a super block, the pages of the super block are numbered 0˜X from top to bottom of the super block, the pages with number 0˜Y−1 constitute a data area, and the pages with numbers Y˜X constitute a RAID parity area. The controller corrects data of the data area according to data of the RAID parity area when the data in the data area cannot be successfully read.
US09741449B1	Sample and hold circuit Aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to applications utilizing voltage sampling. In certain embodiments, a sample and hold circuit is configured to sample voltages that exceed a tolerance voltage of components. The circuit includes a first and a second capacitors. In a first mode, a voltage difference between an input node and a first reference voltage is sampled using the first capacitor. Also in the first mode, a voltage stored by the second capacitor is referenced to a second reference voltage and provided to a first output node. In a second mode, a voltage difference between an input node and a first reference voltage is sampled using the second capacitor. Also in the second mode, a voltage stored by the first capacitor is referenced to the second reference voltage and provided to a second output node.
US09741448B2	Three-dimensional offset-printed memory with multiple bits-per-cell The present invention discloses a three-dimensional offset-printed memory (3D-oP) with multiple bits-per-cell. The mask-patterns for different bits-in-a-cell are merged onto a same data-mask. At different printing steps, a wafer is offset by different values with respect to the data-mask. Accordingly, data-patterns from a same data-mask are printed into different bits-in-a-cell.
US09741447B2	Semiconductor device including fuse circuit Disclosed here is a semiconductor device that comprises a plurality of input nodes configured to be supplied with input signals, a decoder coupled to the input nodes, the decoder configured to decode the input signals and output decoded signals, and a plurality of fuse circuits provided correspondingly with the decoded signals and configured to be programmed responsive to the decoded signals, respectively.
US09741445B1	Cut layer programmable memory Various implementations described herein are directed to an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit may include a bitline. The integrated circuit may include a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells. The integrated circuit may include a plurality of via paths coupling each of the memory cells to the bitline. The integrated circuit may include one or more open paths formed to decouple one or more memory cells from their corresponding via path to the bitline.
US09741440B2	Memory device and read method of memory device In a method of reading a memory device, difference information is generated based on a distance difference between a position of a read word-line and a position of a boundary word-line. The read word-line corresponds to a read address. The boundary word-line corresponds to a last programmed word-line in a memory block included in a memory cell array. A read word-line voltage and an adjacent word-line voltage are determined based on the difference information. The read word-line voltage is applied to the read word-line. The adjacent word-line voltage is applied to an adjacent word-line that is adjacent to the read word-line. A read data corresponding to the read address is outputted based on the read word-line voltage and the adjacent word-line voltage. The read method of the memory device according to example embodiments may be capable of increasing the performance by controlling the voltages applied to the adjacent word-line and the read word-line according to the difference information determined based on the read word-line and the boundary word-line.
US09741438B2	Nonvolatile memory device and program method thereof A nonvolatile memory device includes at least two strings that are vertically stacked on a substrate and share one bit line. A program method of the nonvolatile memory device includes setting a pre-charge condition on the basis of a disturb environment between the at least two cell strings, pre-charging or not pre-charging an unselected cell string among the at least two cell strings in response to the pre-charge condition and programming memory cells in a selected cell string among the at least two cell strings.
US09741437B2	Semiconductor memory device and operating method thereof Disclosed are a semiconductor memory device, and an operating method thereof. The semiconductor memory device includes: a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells; a peripheral circuit configured to perform a program pulse application operation and a verification operation on the memory cell array; a pass/fail check circuit configured to output a pass/fail signal according to a result of the verification operation; and a control logic configured to control the peripheral circuit to perform the program pulse application operation and the verification operation such that two or more program pulses are continuously applied during the program pulse application operation, and first and second verification operations are continuously performed during the verification operation.
US09741433B2	Apparatuses and methods for bi-directional access of cross-point arrays The disclosed technology generally relates to apparatuses and methods of operating the same, and more particularly to cross point memory arrays and methods of accessing memory cells in a cross point memory array. In one aspect, an apparatus comprises a memory array. The apparatus further comprises a memory controller configured to cause an access operation, where the access operation includes application of a first bias across a memory cell of the memory array for a selection phase of the access operation and application of a second bias, lower in magnitude than the first bias, across the memory cell for an access phase of the access operation. The memory controller is further configured to cause a direction of current flowing through the memory cell to be reversed between the selection phase and the access phase.
US09741429B1	Memory with write assist circuit A memory device with an array of memory cells, a write driver circuit, and a write assist circuit is disclosed. The write driver circuit and the write assist circuit can be located opposite to one another relative to the array of memory cells. The write assist circuit can compensate for a parasitic element in bitlines by transferring write voltages to addressed memory cells located in a portion of a memory array opposite to the write driver circuit. The parasitic element can be, for example, a bitline path resistance that causes a voltage differential between a voltage at the output of the write driver circuit and another voltage at a bitline location associated with the addressed memory cell. The write assist circuit can compensate for the voltage differential at the bitline location associated with the addressed memory cell; thus improving the performance of memory write operations.
US09741428B2	Integrated circuit devices and methods An integrated circuit can include multiple SRAM cells, each including at least two pull-up transistors, at least two pull-down transistors, and at least two pass-gate transistors, each of the transistors having a gate; at least one of the pull-up transistors, the pull-down transistors, or the pass-gate transistors having a screening region a distance below the gate and separated from the gate by a semiconductor layer, the screening region having a concentration of screening region dopants, the concentration of screening region dopants being higher than a concentration of dopants in the semiconductor layer, the screening region providing an enhanced body coefficient for the pull-down transistors and the pass-gate transistors to increase the read static noise margin for the SRAM cell when a bias voltage is applied to the screening region; and a bias voltage network operable to apply one or more bias voltages to the multiple SRAM cells.
US09741427B2	Performing logical operations using sensing circuitry Apparatuses and methods for performing logical operations using sensing circuitry are disclosed. An apparatus comprises an array of memory cells, sensing circuitry coupled to the array of memory cells via a sense line, and a controller coupled to the array of memory cells and the sensing circuitry. The sensing circuitry includes a sense amplifier and does not include an accumulator. The controller is configured to perform logical operations using the array of memory cells as an accumulator without transferring data out of the memory array and sensing circuitry.
US09741426B2	Semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device may include: a plurality of memory mats; and a plurality of sense amplifier arrays arranged alternately with the memory mats, each sense amplifier array being suitable for sensing and amplifying data of memory mats adjacent thereto, wherein during a data sensing operation to a memory mat among the plurality of memory mats, in addition to a sense amplifier for the memory mat and sense amplifiers positioned immediately above and below the sense amplifier for the memory mat, at least one additional sense amplifier closest to the sense amplifier for the memory mat is also activated for providing additional amplification.
US09741424B2	Memory controller A memory controller component includes transmit circuitry and adjusting circuitry. The transmit circuitry transmits a clock signal and write data to a DRAM, the write data to be sampled by the DRAM using a timing signal. The adjusting circuitry adjusts transmit timing of the write data and of the timing signal such that an edge transition of the timing signal is aligned with an edge transition of the clock signal at the DRAM.
US09741421B1	Refresh circuitry The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to refresh circuitry. An example apparatus can include a memory array including a main portion and a redundant portion. The apparatus can include refresh circuitry configured to, responsive to a determination of a hammering event, refresh at least a portion of the redundant portion.
US09741415B2	Magnetic devices having insulating spacer that surrounds portion of wiring structure and variable resistance structure and methods of manufacturing the same Disclosed are a magnetic device and a method of manufacturing the same. The magnetic device includes an insulation spacer that surrounds a portion of a wiring structure and a variable resistance structure. In order to manufacture the magnetic device, a magnetic resistance element and an electrode covering the magnetic resistance element are formed on a substrate by using a sacrificial mask pattern as an etch mask, and then, an insulation spacer that surrounds the magnetic resistance element, the electrode, and the sacrificial mask pattern and exposes the sacrificial mask pattern is formed. A contact space that is limited by the insulation spacer and exposes the electrode is provided by removing the sacrificial mask pattern. A conductive pattern contacting the electrode is formed in the contact space.
US09741414B2	Spin orbit and spin transfer torque-based spintronics devices A spin orbit torque-based spintronics device that includes a ferromagnet layer having a first surface and a second surface opposed to each other, a metal layer and a spacer layer covering the first surface and the second surface of the ferromagnet layer, respectively, and an dielectric layer covering either the metal layer or the spacer layer. Also disclosed are two related spin orbit torque-based spintronics devices and methods of using these three spintronics devices.
US09741413B2	Methods of reading six-transistor cross-coupled thyristor-based SRAM memory cells A six-transistor memory cell based upon a thyristor for an SRAM integrated circuit is described together with methods of operation. Methods of increasing the operational speed in reading the contents of a selected memory cell in an array of such memory cells while lowering power consumption, and of avoiding an indeterminate memory cell state when a memory cell is “awakened” from Standby are described.
US09741409B2	Apparatuses and methods for targeted refreshing of memory Apparatuses and methods for targeted row refreshes are disclosed herein. In an example apparatus, a predecoder receives a target row address and determines whether a target row of memory associated with the target row address is a primary or a redundant row of memory. The predecoder is further configured to cause one or more rows of memory physically adjacent the primary row of memory to be refreshed if the primary row is the target row or one or more rows of memory physically adjacent the redundant row of memory to be refreshed if the redundant row of memory is the target row of memory.
US09741405B2	Digital phase controlled delay circuit An adjustable phase clock generator circuit is described that may include a DLL and a phase adjustor to further adjust the phase of a selected clock phase from the DLL. Both the DLL and phase adjustor may be formed from current starved delay elements that are biased from a common bias generator circuit.
US09741401B2	Reception circuit for reducing current and electronic apparatus including the same Provided is a reception circuit provided in a chip, the reception circuit including a controller that generates a reception control signal which is activated for a preset time on a basis of a first control signal individually provided to a plurality of chips, a buffer that receives a second control signal commonly provided to the plurality of chips, and a delay circuit that receives the second control signal from the buffer in response to the reception control signal and provides the second control signal to other elements in the chip.
US09741397B2	Semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device includes a memory array including a plurality of element blocks, the plurality of element blocks including end-portion element blocks arranged at an end portion of the memory array, and at least one dummy block disposed adjacent to the end-portion element blocks, the at least one dummy block being not in practical use. A layout pattern of the at least one dummy block is configured to correspond to only a portion of a layout pattern of the plurality of element blocks.
US09741393B2	Method and method for shortening video with event preservation A method of shortening a video includes: determining shortened key frames by selecting one key frame for every preset time interval of a time line of the video or for every preset position interval of a camera which captures the video, from among original key frames of the video; determining event key frames from which an event is detected, from among the original key frames; determining event-preserved key frames using the shortened key frames and the event key frames; and generating a shortened video using the event-preserved key frames.
US09741391B1	On the fly formatting The disclosure is related to systems and methods of On the Fly Formatting. Various parameters that influence areal density of hard disc regions can be changed on the fly based on storage capacity and reliability needs. Further adjustments can be made to the formatting of the region to fine tune achievable storage capacity and reliability values. In some cases, the formatting can include error correction code strength, gap widths between user data sectors and servo data sectors, other characteristics or parameters, or any combinations thereof.
US09741389B1	High performance robotic optical storage system An apparatus includes one or more disc media cassettes configured to store multiple disc-based media. Multiple disc drives are configured to read and write data to the multiple disc-based media. A robotic delivery device is configured to transport a selected disc-based media to and from at least one disc drive of the multiple disc drives, and to transport the selected disc-based media directly to a spindle on the at least one disc drive.
US09741388B2	Magnetic tape appliance with selectably always-leading head assemblies A tape appliance with selectably always-leading head assemblies. The tape appliance includes a first tape head module, a second tape head module, and a tape guide assembly for guiding a tape past the first and second tape head modules such that the first tape head module is the leading module for both first and the reverse directions of longitudinal tape travel.
US09741387B2	Optical disc and optical disc device In a multilayer optical disc having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, because the type of each information layer is not recorded in the other information layers, in read and write operations by a compatible optical disc device conforming to a plurality of optical disc standards, every time the information layer being accessed changes, it has been necessary to read the type of the information layer and select a method of generating a tracking error signal adapted to the type of information layer, so access has taken time. In order to solve the above problem, in the optical multilayer disc according to the present invention, having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, in an area in one of the information layers, information about the other information layers is recorded. The time required to access the other information layers can be reduced by using this information to select a tracking error signal generating method.
US09741386B1	Setting laser current based on modulation level of an optical power sensor measurement Before writing to a heat-assisted magnetic recording medium, a current of a laser is modulated about a default threshold current level. A modulation level of an optical power sensor is measured, the optical power sensor being coupled to detect optical output of the laser in response to the modulated current. A bias current for subsequent activation of the laser is adjusted based on the modulation level of the optical power sensor.
US09741383B2	Optical disk recording method, optical disk apparatus, and optical disk medium A track of an optical disk is formed by wobbling and divided into zones, a clock ratio of a recording clock to a wobble clock is preset for each zone, a wobble signal is detected from the optical disk, the wobble clock is generated from the wobble signal, a present position is identified by reproducing ADIP indicating a position of the track from the wobble signal and the wobble clock, the recording clock is generated with respect to the wobble clock, a data address present position is identified from the present position, a start end position of the ADIP in a recording target zone, a start end position of the data address in the recording target zone, and the clock ratio, a recording start position is identified based on the data address present position; and the data is recorded from the recording start position of the recording target zone.
US09741382B2	Hexagonal ferrite powder and magnetic recording medium An aspect of the present invention relates to hexagonal ferrite powder, which comprises equal to or more than 70% on a particle number basis of isotropic hexagonal ferrite particles satisfying equation (1): major axis length/minor axis length<2.0 (1), having an average particle size of equal to or greater than 10.0 nm but equal to or less than 35.0 nm, and having a saturation magnetization of equal to or greater than 30 A·m2/kg.
US09741378B1	Health monitoring for head of a heat-assisted magnetic recording device using a writer-reader offset A method includes moving a heat-assisted magnetic recording head relative to a magnetic recording medium comprising a plurality of tracks, the head comprising a reader and a writer including a near-field transducer (NFT) optically coupled to a laser diode, the writer comprising a center which is laterally offset relative to a center of the reader to define a writer-reader offset (WRO) therebetween. Patterns are written to a particular track at a plurality of laser diode current levels. The patterns are read and a WRO value is calculated at a peak amplitude position for each of the laser diode current levels. A slope of the WRO values is determined with the laser current diode levels. A health condition of the NFT is determined by determining if the slope is greater than a predetermined threshold indicative of non-uniform activation across the NFT.
US09741376B1	Multi-layer PZT microactuator having a poled but inactive PZT constraining layer A multi-layer piezoelectric microactuator assembly has at least one poled and active piezoelectric layer and one poled but inactive piezoelectric layer. The poled but inactive layer acts as a constraining layer in resisting expansion or contract of the first piezoelectric layer thereby reducing or eliminating bending of the assembly as installed in an environment, thereby increasing the effective stroke length of the assembly. Poling only a single layer would induce stresses into the device; hence, polling both piezoelectric layers even though only one layer will be active in use reduces stresses in the device and therefore increases reliability.
US09741375B2	Slider trailing edge contamination sensor A slider of a magnetic recording head has a leading edge, a trailing edge, and an air bearing surface between the leading and trailing edges. A sensor is situated at the trailing edge of the slider and configured to sense presence of a lube droplet or other contaminant at the trailing edge.
US09741373B1	Microwave assisted magnetic head, head gimbal assembly, and magnetic recording device A microwave assisted magnetic head is equipped with a main magnetic pole that generates a recording magnetic field to be applied to a magnetic recording medium from an end surface forming a portion of an air bearing surface opposed to the magnetic recording medium, a trailing shield that is disposed interposing a write gap at a trailing side of the main magnetic pole, and that forms a magnetic path with the main magnetic pole, two side shields that are disposed at both sides of the main magnetic pole in the cross track direction, respectively, and a spin torque oscillator that is disposed within the write gap. The write gap is configured to substantially linearly extend along the cross track direction when viewed from an air bearing surface side, and is positioned between trailing-side end surfaces of the main magnetic pole and the two side shields, and a leading-side end surface of the trailing shield.
US09741370B2	Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording including a coil having an inclined surface A magnetic head includes a coil, a main pole, a write shield, a gap section, and a return path section. The main pole has a top surface including an inclined portion and a flat portion. The coil includes a specific coil element. The specific coil element has a front end portion, and an inclined surface contiguous with the front end portion. The write shield includes a top shield layer located on the front side in the direction of travel of a recording medium relative to the main pole, and located closer to a medium facing surface than the specific coil element. The top shield layer is located on the rear side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to an imaginary plane including the inclined surface of the specific coil element.
US09741369B2	Multi-track reader for improved signal to noise ratio A system according to one embodiment includes a magnetic head having a plurality of sensors arranged to simultaneously read at least three immediately adjacent data tracks on a magnetic medium, wherein none of the sensors share more than one lead with any other of the sensors. Such embodiment may be implemented in a magnetic data storage system such as a disk drive system, which may include a magnetic head, a drive mechanism for passing a magnetic medium (e.g., hard disk) over the magnetic head, and a controller electrically coupled to the magnetic head.
US09741368B2	Method of forming a non-uniform write gap perpendicular writer for shingle writing A method of forming a PMR writer is disclosed wherein at least one of a recessed center section in the write pole trailing edge and a center recessed trailing shield is used to improve the field gradient at track edge. In all embodiments, there is a non-uniform write gap formed between the trailing edge and the trailing shield. The recessed portion of the write pole trailing edge and/or center recess of the trailing shield has a thickness from 10 to 40 nm in a down-track direction and a width in a cross-track direction of 20 to 200 nm. The distance between the center recess and a corner of the trailing edge is from 20 to 80 nm. A sequence of steps is provided to fabricate the two embodiments of the present invention.
US09741366B1	Method for fabricating a magnetic writer having a gradient in saturation magnetization of the shields A method provides a magnetic transducer having a media-facing surface (MFS). The method includes providing a pole, providing a side gap, providing coil(s) for energizing the pole and providing side shield(s). A portion of the pole resides at the MFS. The side gap is between the pole and the side shield(s). The side shield(s) have a gradient in a saturation magnetization such that the saturation magnetization increases in a yoke direction perpendicular to the MFS. The step of providing the side shield(s) further includes providing a nonmagnetic structure having a side surface parallel to the MFS and providing at least one side shield layer. A portion of the side shield layer(s) are on the side surface. The portion of the side shield layer(s) has the gradient in the saturation magnetization. At least part of the side shield being formed by the portion of the side shield layer(s).
US09741364B2	Laser power optimization for heat assisted interlaced magnetic recording A storage device disclosed herein stores data on a storage media using interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) and it includes a storage controller configured to determine power levels applied to the power source such that power levels applied to heat various tracks can be different from each other. An implementation of the storage device determines the track density, linear densities and power levels for even and odd tracks in IMR HAMR for the storage media.
US09741361B2	Automatic sound level control A method includes identifying, at a computing device, a plurality of words in data. Each of the plurality of words corresponds to a particular word of a written language. The method includes determining a sound output level based on a location of the computing device. The method includes generating sound data based on the sound output level and the plurality of words identified in the data.
US09741359B2	Hybrid audio delivery system and method therefor Methods and systems to produce audio output signals from audio input signals. In one embodiment, a first portion of the audio input signals can be pre-processed, with the output used to modulate ultrasonic carrier signals, thereby producing modulated ultrasonic signals. The modulated ultrasonic signals can be transformed into a first portion of the audio output signals, which is directional. Based on a second portion of the audio input signals, a standard audio speaker can output a second portion of the audio output signals. Another embodiment further produces distortion compensated signals based on the pre-processed signals. The distortion compensated signals can be subtracted from the second portion of the audio input signals to generate inputs for the standard audio speaker to output the second portion of the audio output signals. In yet another embodiment, noise can be added during pre-processing of the first portion of the audio input signals.
US09741355B2	System and method for narrow bandwidth digital signal processing The present invention provides methods and systems for narrow bandwidth digital processing of an input audio signal. Particularly, the present invention includes a high pass filter configured to filter the input audio signal. A first compressor then modulates the filtered signal in order to create a partially processed signal. In some embodiments, a clipping module further limits the gain of the partially processed signal. A splitter is configured to split the partially processed signal into a first signal and a second signal. A low pass filter is configured to filter the first signal. A pass through module is configured to adjust the gain of the second signal. A mixer then combines the filtered first signal and the gain-adjusted second signal in order to output a combined signal. In some embodiments, a tone control module further processes the combined signal, and a second compressor further modulates the processed signal.
US09741352B2	Method and apparatus for processing an audio signal The present invention relates to a method for processing an audio signal, comprising: a step of performing a frequency conversion process on an audio signal to obtain a plurality of frequency transform coefficients; a step of selecting either a general mode or a non-general mode, on the basis of a pulse ratio, for the frequency transform coefficients having a high frequency band from among the plurality of frequency transform coefficients; and a step of performing, if the non-general mode is selected, the following steps: extracting a predetermined number of pulses from the frequency transform coefficients having the high frequency band, and generating pulse information; generating an original noise signal from the frequency transform coefficients having the high frequency band, excluding the pulses; generating a reference noise signal using the frequency transform coefficient having a low frequency band from among the plurality of frequency transform coefficients; and generating noise position information and noise energy information using the original noise signal and the reference noise signal.
US09741351B2	Adaptive quantization noise filtering of decoded audio data A method including steps of decoding an encoded audio signal indicative of encoded audio content (e.g., audio content captured during a teleconference) to generate a decoded signal indicative of a decoded version of the audio content, and performing adaptive quantization noise filtering on the decoded signal. The filtering is performed adaptively in the frequency domain in response to data indicative of signal to noise values in turn indicative of a post-quantization signal-to-quantization noise ratio for each frequency band of each of at least one segment of the encoded audio content. In some embodiments, each signal to noise value is a bit allocation value equal to the number of mantissa bits of an encoded audio sample of a frequency band of a segment of the encoded audio content. Other aspects are decoder, or post-filter coupled to receive a decoder's output, configured to perform an embodiment of the adaptive filtering.
US09741350B2	Systems and methods of performing gain control A particular method includes determining, based on an inter-line spectral pair (LSP) spacing corresponding to an audio signal, that the audio signal includes a component corresponding to an artifact-generating condition. The method also includes, in response to determining that the audio signal includes the component, adjusting a gain parameter corresponding to the audio signal. For example, the gain parameter may be adjusted via gain attenuation and/or gain smoothing.
US09741348B2	Segment-based speaker verification using dynamically generated phrases Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for verifying an identity of a user. The methods, systems, and apparatus include actions of receiving a request for a verification phrase for verifying an identity of a user. Additional actions include, in response to receiving the request for the verification phrase for verifying the identity of the user, identifying subwords to be included in the verification phrase and in response to identifying the subwords to be included in the verification phrase, obtaining a candidate phrase that includes at least some of the identified subwords as the verification phrase. Further actions include providing the verification phrase as a response to the request for the verification phrase for verifying the identity of the user.
US09741344B2	System and method for operating devices using voice commands System and method for operating electric devices based on voice commands, as well as electric devices that can be controlled via voice commands. An electric device comprises an audio sensor to capture audio that contains speech; and a transmitter to transmit the captured audio to a remote server, together with a dictionary identifier that indicates to the remote server which particular dictionary or vocabulary-set to utilize for performing speech recognition on the recorded audio. The remote server performs speech recognition using the relevant dictionary table; and selects a command-code that is transmitted back to the electric device, to trigger an operational modification of the electric device.
US09741342B2	Method and apparatus for recognizing speech by lip reading A dictation device includes: an audio input device configured to receive a voice utterance including a plurality of words; a video input device configured to receive video of lip motion during the voice utterance; a memory portion; a controller configured according to instructions in the memory portion to generate first data packets including an audio stream representative of the voice utterance and a video stream representative of the lip motion; and a transceiver for sending the first data packets to a server end device and receiving second data packets including combined dictation based upon the audio stream and the video stream from the server end device. In the combined dictation, first dictation generated based upon the audio stream has been corrected by second dictation generated based upon the video stream.
US09741339B2	Data driven word pronunciation learning and scoring with crowd sourcing based on the word's phonemes pronunciation scores Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining pronunciations for particular terms. The methods, systems, and apparatus include actions of obtaining audio samples of speech corresponding to a particular term and obtaining candidate pronunciations for the particular term. Further actions include generating, for each candidate pronunciation for the particular term and audio sample of speech corresponding to the particular term, a score reflecting a level of similarity between of the candidate pronunciation and the audio sample, wherein the said score for the particular term is obtained by using a minimum of individual scores of phonemes comprising the term. Additional actions include aggregating the scores for each candidate pronunciation and adding one or more candidate pronunciations for the particular term to a pronunciation lexicon based on the aggregated scores for the candidate pronunciations.
US09741338B2	System and method for machine-mediated human-human conversation Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for processing speech. A system configured to practice the method monitors user utterances to generate a conversation context. Then the system receives a current user utterance independent of non-natural language input intended to trigger speech processing. The system compares the current user utterance to the conversation context to generate a context similarity score, and if the context similarity score is above a threshold, incorporates the current user utterance into the conversation context. If the context similarity score is below the threshold, the system discards the current user utterance. The system can compare the current user utterance to the conversation context based on an n-gram distribution, a perplexity score, and a perplexity threshold. Alternately, the system can use a task model to compare the current user utterance to the conversation context.
US09741332B2	Noise reducing device, noise reducing method, noise reducing program, and noise reducing audio outputting device A noise reducing device includes: an acoustic-to-electric conversion section for collecting noise and outputting an analog noise signal; an analog-to-digital conversion section for converting the analog noise signal into a digital noise signal; and a digital processing section for generating a digital noise reducing signal on a basis of the digital noise signal and a desired parameter. The device further includes: a retaining section for retaining a plurality of parameters corresponding to a plurality of kinds of noise characteristics; a setting section for setting one of the plurality of parameters as the desired parameter of the digital processing section; a digital-to-analog conversion section for converting the digital noise reducing signal into an analog noise reducing signal; and an electric-to-acoustic conversion section for outputting noise reducing sound on a basis of the analog noise reducing signal.
US09741330B2	Dual-diaphragm microphone module to reduce vibration noise A microphone module disposed in an electronic device for reducing echo noise. The microphone module includes a casing, a first diaphragm disposed in the casing, a second diaphragm disposed in the casing and a substrate disposed between the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm and joined to the casing to define a first space and a second space which are isolated and separated from each other. The first diaphragm is disposed in the first space, the second diaphragm is disposed in the second space, and the substrate is electrically connected with the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm.
US09741328B2	Apparatus for varying the pitch of audible tones driven by a turntable A musical instrument adapted for use with a turntable. Said apparatus uses a rotary pulse generator to create musical tones when in contact with the rotating platter of the turntable. Said apparatus mounts to the turntable in such a way that a rotary pulse generator rotates when in contact with the rotating turntable platter. As the radius at which the rotary pulse generator contacts the turntable platter is increased the frequency of the tone produced increases proportionally, likewise when the radius at which the rotary pulse generator contacts the turntable platter is decreased the frequency of the tone produced decreases proportionally allowing a range of pitches to be sounded.
US09741323B2	Insertable percussion system A percussion system comprising a pedal and an inserting/retracting mechanism operably connected to a percussion instrument and the pedal from moving the percussion instrument horizontally from a first position to a second position and from the second position to the first position by operation of the pedal.
US09741321B1	Arrangements, features, techniques and methods for securing strings of stringed instruments Apparatus and methods for securing a string to an acoustic, stringed instrument are disclosed. Example apparatus include string anchors secured to a bridge of the stringed instrument. The apparatus provide components enabling selective tensioning of the string. A seat arrangement provided by string anchors receives an anchor end of string and the string passes from the seat arrangement through a base arrangement and towards a headstock of the acoustic instrument.
US09741319B2	Memory control device, mobile terminal, and computer-readable recording medium In a case where a determination section (34) determines that a distance between rp and wp is less than RDIST, a period control section (33) carries out a suspending control of a reading operation of a next line, until the distance between rp and wp is not less than RDIST.
US09741317B2	Touch electronic device with touch panel, wireless transmission module, and touch link module and related touch link method A touch electronic device includes a touch panel, a wireless transmission module and a touch link module. The wireless transmission module is utilized to receive data request information transmitted by a first external electronic device. The data request information relates to a data transmission function. The touch link module is utilized to develop a touch link between the touch electronic device and a second external electronic device through the touch panel when the wireless transmission module receives the data request information, and receive identification information transmitted by the second external electronic device through the touch link. The wireless transmission module transmits the identification information to the first external electronic device to execute identification of the touch electronic device, and the second external electronic device is different from the first external electronic device.
US09741315B2	Adjusting a transparent display with an image capturing device A system and method for adjusting a transparent display an image capturing device is provided. The system includes an image receiving module to receive an image from the image capturing device, the image capturing device being situated on an opposing side in which the transparent display presents content; an interfacing module to interface with the transparent display; an analysis module to analyze the received image with the interfacing module to perform an analysis; and an output module to perform a display modification or an error indication based on the analysis.
US09741310B2	Method of driving display panel and display apparatus for performing the same A method of driving a display panel includes charging a pixel with first data during a first charging period, comparing a first grayscale of the first data and a second grayscale of second data, charging the pixel with compensated data during a second charging period if the first grayscale is greater than the second grayscale, and charging the pixel with the second data during a third charging period.
US09741308B2	Active matrix substrate An active matrix substrate (100) includes a display region (R1) in which a plurality of pixels are provided and a frame region (R2) provided around the display region, the frame region including a plurality of peripheral circuit TFTs (5) which are constituents of a driving circuit, wherein each of the plurality of peripheral circuit TFTs includes a gate electrode (12), a source electrode (16), a drain electrode (18), and an oxide semiconductor layer (14), and in at least some of the plurality of peripheral circuit TFTs, a source connecting region (Rs) that is a connecting region between the oxide semiconductor layer and the source electrode and a drain connecting region (Rd) that is a connecting region between the oxide semiconductor layer and the drain electrode are asymmetrically provided.
US09741306B2	Display device According to an embodiment, a display device includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels respectively connected to a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines, a gate driver driving the plurality of gate lines, a data driver configured to output a plurality of data output signals to the plurality of data lines in response to a data signal, a demultiplexer circuit configured to provide the plurality of data output signals to the plurality of data lines in response to a first selection signal and a second selection signal; and a timing controller configured to provide the data signal to the data driver, outputting the first selection signal and the second selection signal, and controlling the gate driver.
US09741299B2	Display panel including a plurality of sub-pixel A display panel according to an embodiment includes a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines disposed to cross each other and define a plurality of sub-pixel regions; and a plurality of sub-pixels disposed in the plurality of sub-pixel regions and configured to share one of the data lines adjacent thereto. The sub-pixels sharing the same data line are arranged in a shape of zigzagging along a vertical direction by four sub-pixels.
US09741297B2	Image display apparatus with conversion analog signal generator An image display apparatus includes a conversion analog signal generator. A histogram value output section outputs histogram value data of image data of pixels of a line. An accumulator accumulates the histogram value data. The cumulative sums represent the number of analog switches turned off among a plurality of analog switches. A ramp signal data generator generates ramp signal data having a non-linear slope variably-controlled in accordance with the cumulative sum so as to reduce voltage fluctuation of the ramp signal due to load variation caused depending on the number of analog switches turned off. A DA converter converts the ramp signal data to an analog ramp signal and supplies the analog ramp signal to the plurality of analog switches.
US09741294B2	Display device and display characteristic correction method A display device includes: a display panel that displays an image; an optical sensor which measures an irradiation amount of light emitted by a display panel as a measured optical value; a measured value revising unit which revises a revision target measured optical value using a function and outputs it as a revised measured optical value; and a signal processing unit which generates from the revised measured optical value, a control value and generates a post-processing video signal from the control value and an input video signal supplied from an external device. The function represents a change in the irradiation amount during a disabled period in which the signal processing unit disables a stabilizing function of keeping the irradiation amount of the light source of the display panel constant.
US09741288B2	Pixel circuit, organic electroluminescent display panel and display apparatus A pixel circuit, an organic electroluminescent display panel and a display apparatus are provided. The pixel circuit comprises: a light-emitting device (D1), a drive control module (1), a reset control module (2), a charge control module (3) and a light-emitting control module (4). The reset control module (2) is used for resetting the light-emitting device (D1) in an internal compensation mode, and exporting a current signal of the drive control module (1) for driving the light-emitting device (D1) and comparing the same with a preset standard current value to determine a compensation factor in an external compensation mode. The charge control module (3) is used for charging and writing a data signal (Data) into the drive control module (1) in the internal compensation mode and writing the data signal (Data) into the drive control module (1) in the external compensation mode. The light-emitting control module (4) is used for charging the drive control module (1) and controlling the drive control module (1) to drive the light-emitting device (D1) to emit light in the internal compensation mode, and controlling the drive control module (1) to drive the light-emitting device (D1) to emit light in the external compensation mode. Therefore, a same pixel circuit can be shared for both internal compensation and external compensation.
US09741286B2	Interactive display panel with emitting and sensing diodes Exemplary methods and systems use a micro light emitting diode (LED) in an active matrix display to emit and sense light. Display panels, systems, and methods of operation are described in which LEDs may be used for both emission and sensing.
US09741280B2	Display source driver A source driver for a display device includes a gamma voltage generation circuit, first through (2m)-th data driving circuits, and a switch circuit. The gamma voltage generation circuit generates R, G and B gamma voltages. The (2k−1)-th data driving circuits consecutively receive red image data and blue image data, and consecutively generate a R driving voltage and a B driving voltage using the R gamma voltages and B gamma voltages, respectively, during one horizontal period. The (2k)-th data driving circuits consecutively receive first green image data and second green image data, and consecutively generate a G1 driving voltage and a G2 driving voltage, respectively, using the G gamma voltages during the one horizontal period. The switch circuit outputs the R, B, G1, and G2 driving voltages through different data lines from each other based on a first selection signal and a second selection signal.
US09741278B2	Organic light emitting diode display An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. In one aspect, the OLED display includes a display unit positioned over a substrate and a lighting test circuit positioned outside the display unit on the substrate. The OLED display also includes a pad unit including a plurality of first pads configured to supply a control signal to the display unit, and a plurality of second pads positioned outside the first pads and configured to transfer a DC signal. The second pads include a power pad configured to supply power to the display unit, and a lighting test pad positioned outside the power pad.
US09741277B2	Test structure of display panel and test structure of tested display panel A test structure of a display panel is provided. The test structure is within a buffer display region which is between a display region and a non-display region of the display panel and includes a substrate, at least one signal line on the substrate, an insulation layer covering the signal line, a planar layer on the insulation layer, and an electrode layer on the planar layer. The planar layer has at least one opening exposing a portion of the insulation layer. The electrode layer has a display electrode portion on the planar layer, at least one test electrode portion connecting the insulation layer via the opening and electrically insulated from the signal line, and at least one ring-shaped trench surrounding the test electrode portion and exposing a portion of the planar layer. The display electrode portion surrounds the ring-shaped trench and is electrically insulated from the test electrode portion.
US09741276B2	Electro-optical device, method of measuring characteristics of electro-optical device, and semiconductor chip An electro-optical device includes: a display unit having a plurality of pixel circuits each including a driving transistor and a light emitting element that emits light depending on a current output from the driving transistor when a voltage is applied to a gate terminal of the driving transistor; and a test unit having a test unit connection switch connected to the gate terminal of the driving transistor of each of the pixel circuits, and a test voltage supply circuit connected to the gate terminal of each of the driving transistors through the test unit connection switch and configured to supply a test voltage to the gate terminal of each of the driving transistors when the test unit connection switch is turned on.
US09741267B2	Gripping element for data carrier for vegetables, fruits, and indoor plants A gripping element for a data carrier, e.g. a label, for vegetables, fruits, and indoor plants can be used to attach information to vegetables (e.g. vine tomatoes), fruits and indoor plants, among others. The data carrier may be a three-dimensional gripping element obtained from folding and gluing a piece of punched or cut paper, cardboard, or other thin material.
US09741265B2	System, design and process for secure documents credentials management using out-of-band authentication The invention provides an easy to use credential management mechanism for multi-factor out-of-band multi-channel authentication process to protect a large number of documents without the need to remember all the document passwords. When opened, the secure document application generates a multi-dimensional code. The user scans the multi-dimensional code and validates the secure document application and triggers an out-of-band outbound mechanism. The portable mobile device invoices the authentication server to get authenticated. The authentication server authenticates the user based on shared secret key and is automatically allowed access to the secure document. The process of the invention includes an authentication server, a secure document application to generate an authentication vehicle or an embodiment (i.e. multi-dimensional bar code) and handle incoming requests, secret keys and a portable communication device with a smartphone application.
US09741261B2	Educational timepiece An educational timepiece provided with the hour hand and the minute hand, which comprises a base plate having an upper surface on which the hour hand and the minute hand rotate, and an angle hand rotating on the upper surface of the base plate for measuring the angle between the hour hand and the minute hand, wherein the angle hand serves to measure the angle between the hour hand and one of the hour indication parts adjacent to the hour hand, the interval between every two adjacent hour indication parts being divided by a given angle.
US09741259B2	Identification for performing tasks in open social media Embodiments of the invention relate to user identification in social media for task performance based on past usage and traits. One embodiment includes identifying users of a social media platform for ability of performing a task. Readiness scores are predicted based on past usage of the social media platform. A predicted readiness score includes a value corresponding to whether a user is predicted to be ready for performing the task. Users that are ready to perform the task are determined based on comparing the readiness scores with a threshold. Willingness scores for performing the task by the users determined to be able and ready to perform the task are determined. A willingness score includes a value corresponding to whether a user is estimated to be willing for performing the task. Users that are willing to perform the task are determined based on comparing the willingness scores with a threshold.
US09741257B1	System and method for coordinated learning and teaching using a videoconference system A system and method for collaborative online desktop sharing is described, wherein a teacher can view the teacher's own desktop as well as the desktop(s) of the teacher's student(s), and the student(s) can see their own desktop as well as the teacher's desktop. As a result, the teacher and student(s) can monitor each other's screens, thus allowing the students to follow a teacher's on-screen actions in real time or near real time and allowing the teacher to ensure that student's are successfully completing demonstrated tasks.
US09741255B1	Airborne unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring station Described is an airborne monitoring station (“AMS”) for use in monitoring a coverage area and/or unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAVs”) positioned within a coverage area of the AMS. For example, the AMS may be an airship that remains at a high altitude (e.g., 45,000 feet) that monitors a coverage area that is within a line-of-sight of the AMS. As UAVs enter, navigate within and exit the coverage area, the AMS may wirelessly communicate with the UAVs, facilitate communication between the UAVs and one or more remote computing resources, and/or monitor a position of the UAVs.
US09741254B2	System and method for defining and predicting aircraft trajectories The method of the present invention comprises acquiring input data of both aircraft performance characteristics and atmospheric data, and defining trajectory parameters to which the aircraft trajectory must be subjected, the method further comprising defining aircraft trajectory parameters; acquiring a plurality of atmospheric forecast ensembles; calculating a predicted trajectory from each atmospheric forecast of an atmospheric forecast ensemble, said predicted trajectory having associated information regarding a certain figure of merit of the aircraft trajectory, wherein an ensemble of predicted trajectories is obtained from each atmospheric forecast ensemble, each predicted trajectory of the ensemble of predicted trajectories having an associated probability derived from the probability of each atmospheric forecast within an atmospheric forecast ensemble; the system of the present disclosure comprising all the necessary equipment to carry out the method of the present disclosure.
US09741253B2	Distributed air traffic flow management A price to utilize air-traffic resources is determined using a projected capacity for each air-traffic resource. The air-traffic resources include predefined geographic locations and future time periods. The price for a given air-traffic resource is based on the projected capacity of the given air-traffic resource. Data including the determined price is transmitted to each of a plurality of distributed computing systems to enable each of the distributed computing systems to independently determine, based on the price, proposed trajectories for one or more of the plurality of aerial vehicles. Data characterizing the proposed trajectories is received from the plurality of distributed computing systems. Whether the capacity required by the proposed trajectories in aggregate exceed the projected capacity for each of the plurality of air-traffic resources is determined using the proposed trajectories. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09741250B2	Parking assist apparatus, parking assist method, and computer program product A parking assist apparatus of an embodiment includes an area detection unit, a line detection unit, and a target position calculation unit. The area detection unit detects a parking allowable area where the parking of a vehicle is allowable. The line detection unit detects a parking section line provided on a track surface. The target position calculation unit calculates a target parking position by using a detection result of the parking allowable area by the area detection unit when the parking allowable area is detected by the area detection unit, the parking section line is detected by the line detection unit, and the parking section line is located outside the parking allowable area.
US09741242B2	Handheld terminal with integrated wireless appliance control Disclosed is a terminal that integrates control of multiple appliances, where a corresponding control interface is provided in response to a physical design feature of the terminal. For example, in some cases the physical design feature may be a toggle switch, a pop-up button, or a deformable region of a flexible display. In this way, in response to activation of a physical design feature of a device, a user may use a single control interface integrating controls for multiple appliances to easily, immediately, and seamlessly control multiple different appliances.
US09741240B2	Use of optical reflectance proximity detector in battery-powered devices Various methods, systems, and devices for identifying a condition of a battery-powered device are presented. For example, a device may include a smoke detection sensor that detect smokes and, in response to detecting smoke, generate a smoke detection signal. The device may include test circuitry that tests an aspect of the battery-powered device. The device may include an audio output device that outputs a sound in response to the test circuitry determining a particular condition is present. The device may include a proximity detector that monitors for a wave movement of an object within a distance of the battery-powered device and generates a proximity detection signal when the proximity detector detects the wave movement performed by the object within the distance of the smoke detector device.
US09741238B2	Security-focused network monitoring system In some implementations, data from security monitoring devices of a facility is collected and analyzed within the facility and the results of the analysis is transmitted to another computer that is outside of the facility via a non-VPN communication path.
US09741232B2	Portable device searching device, portable device searching method, portable device searching program A portable device searching device includes a transmitter that transmits search information to a search area near a vehicle to search for a portable device, a receiver that receives authentication information returned from the portable device as a response to the search information, and a controller that controls the transmitter and the receiver. The receiver includes an authentication portion to authenticate the portable device based on the authentication information and notifies the controller of an authentication result. The controller performs control to transmit the search information in a normal operation state, subsequently transitions to a low-power consumption state, and returns from the low-power consumption state to the normal operation state when notified of the authentication result from the receiver.
US09741230B2	Plant monitoring system, plant monitoring method, and program storage medium In one embodiment, a plant monitoring system includes a threshold acquiring module, a judging module, and a warning module. The threshold acquiring module acquires in advance, based on a value obtained by leveling the dispersion in first process values corresponding to output values at a first point in a monitoring object and a value representing the dispersion, first thresholds representing a first range of the dispersion in the first process values and second thresholds representing a second range. The judging module compares the first process values chronologically acquired based on the output values at the first point with the corresponding first thresholds and second thresholds. The warning module creates alert information containing information on at least a time point when the first process value exceeds one of the first thresholds and the second thresholds.
US09741229B2	Optical sensor, optical sensor assembly and monitoring device An optical sensor (100) comprises: a holding sleeve (11); a fixed ferrule (12) fixedly mounted in said holding sleeve (11); a movable ferrule (13) movably mounted in said holding sleeve (11), a predetermined distance existing between a first movable end of said movable ferrule (13) and a first fixed end of said fixed ferrule (12) in said holding sleeve (11); a reflection part (14) arranged at a second movable end of said movable ferrule (13) opposite to said first movable end, for reflecting light entering the movable ferrule (13); and an actuation part (15), said actuation part (15) being constructed to drive said movable ferrule (13) to move so that said first movable end moves towards said first fixed end. An optical sensor assembly and a monitoring device comprising the optical sensor (100), or another sensor (1012) can remotely detect a mechanical movement in a passive mode. A first reflector (14, 1016) is configured to provide a first reflected optical signal. The sensor (100, 1012) is connected to the first reflector and has a first position and a second position, the second position configured to attenuate the first reflected optical signal more than the first position. The sensor is configured to move between the first and second positions in response to a monitored parameter (1018).
US09741227B1	Method and process for determining whether an individual suffers a fall requiring assistance A method for monitoring an individual in a dwelling so as to know when such individual falls or indicates the need of assistance. A plurality of 3D motion and sound sensors are located in the dwelling and provide data to a computerized monitoring system. The sensors are configured to recognize one or more biometric identifiers of the individual being monitored. When the monitoring system detects that the individual has fallen or gestured, a computerized communication system contacts the individual to determine the need to send assistance to help the individual. Where assistance is required the system automatics contacts the previously designated caregiver for the individual and can also contact emergency personnel.
US09741221B1	Active intruder mitigation system and method A life safety system for mitigating injuries and fatalities to occupants of a multi-zone structure comprising a plurality of controllers, and coupled to said controller, a plurality of digital imaging devices, a plurality of locking mechanisms, a plurality of dispersion points for the dispersion of at least one dispersible substance, and a plurality of thermostatic members. The life safety system further comprises at least one monitoring location physically removed from at least one of said controllers and from at least one of said dispersion points and from at least one of said locking mechanisms and from at least one of said thermostatic members.
US09741220B2	Multi spectral detection device including an acoustic array, a protection system, and related methods A multi-spectral detection device is provided that includes a housing, a bezel spacer, a microphone, an end cap and electro-optical sensors mounted to the end cap. The housing has an inner chamber that holds sensor components. The bezel spacer has a first end and an opposed, second end. The first end of the bezel spacer extends from a first end of the housing. The bezel spacer has a central bezel passage leading to the inner chamber of the housing. The bezel spacer further has at least four side walls. Each side wall is positioned 90 degrees away from an adjacent side wall. A microphone is coupled to each side wall of the bezel spacer in such a manner that each microphone is faced 90 degrees with respect to an adjacent microphone to form a compact acoustic array. The end cap is coupled to the second end of the bezel spacer and the electro-optical sensors are mounted to the end cap.
US09741219B1	Tamper-proof building alarm system A tamper-proof building alarm system comprising a number of sensing devices for sensing when a building entry point has been opened and an alarm unit comprising a tamper-proof housing and an alarm assembly. The tamper-proof housing includes a mounting base and a cover. The cover at least partially encloses the housing and prevents lateral access to the alarm assembly. The tamper-proof housing may include a locking system such that only authorized users have access to the alarm assembly.
US09741218B2	Explicit real-time fire disaster alarming device and method An explicit real-time fire disaster alarming device includes a fire disaster detector, human body detector, controller and outdoor light displaying portion. If the fire disaster detector detects any fire inside a space or room, it will send out a fire signal. The human body detector detects whether there is any human inside the space and send out a YES signal or a NO signal accordingly. When the controller receives the fire signal, the outdoor light displaying portion changes from a storing form to an extending form. When the controller receives the YES signal, the outdoor light displaying portion turns on a light for showing there is a human inside the space. When it receives the NO signal, the outdoor light displaying portion turns on another light for showing there is no human inside. Hence, fire fighters and rescuers are provided with a priority reference for life rescue.
US09741214B2	Indication apparatus An indication apparatus includes a square tub-shaped housing having at least one transparent side surface formed of a transparent member, an indication panel that is disposed on the transparent side surface and includes one or more indicator designs, a wiring board that includes one or more light sources corresponding to the one or more indicator designs and an electric circuit for turning the one or more light sources on/off, wherein the wiring board is inserted and received in the housing through an opening of a tub end of the housing, and a sponge light-shielding wall that is adhered on a surface of the wiring board for surrounding at least a portion of outer circumferential sides of at least one target light source of the one or more light sources.
US09741213B2	Radio communication apparatus and radio communication system Disclosed is a radio communication apparatus capable of stopping useless transmission of a calling signal to a locator. A calling apparatus transmits, using a near field radio communication apparatus, a calling signal to a locator attached to an item and outputting a notification sound, the calling signal being used for calling the locator. The calling apparatus periodically stands by for reception of a response signal from the locator using one slot when performing consecutive transmission of the calling signal to the locator using a plurality of slots. The calling apparatus stops the consecutive transmission of the calling signal by being triggered upon reception of the response signal from the locator.
US09741211B2	Checkout station A checkout station includes a display that is rotatable between a first position and a second position and a barcode scanner that is directed in a first direction in the first position and in a second direction in the second position.
US09741209B2	Systems, methods, and devices for playing progressive wagering games with award-based incrementing features Gaming devices, gaming systems, methods of conducting a wagering game, and computer programs for executing a wagering game are presented herein. A gaming system for conducting a wagering game is disclosed, which includes an input device for receiving wagers, a display for displaying the wagering game, and a controller. The controller is configured to: determine whether one or more progressive jackpots are active, each jackpot having a respective progressive value and a respective trigger value; randomly determine an outcome of the base game; determine if the base-game outcome has an award associated therewith; if one or more progressive jackpots are active and the base-game outcome has an award associated therewith, provide the award to the player and increment the progressive value for each active jackpot by at least the base-game award; and, if the incremented value of an active progressive jackpot is equal to or greater than its respective trigger value, award the incremented value to the player.
US09741208B2	Bonus jackpots in enriched game play environment Systems and methods for a providing a jackpot bonus in a gaming system A jackpot bonus element is generated in an entertainment game portion of a hybrid game and a gambling game in a gambling game portion of the hybrid game is triggered when a player initiates an encounter in the entertainment game with the bonus element. It is then determined if the player wins the gambling game triggered by the player's encounter with the bonus element in the entertainment game a payout is provided to the player when it is determined that the player has won the gambling game.
US09741206B2	Apportionment of pay out of casino game with escrow A gaming apparatus which, for each of a plurality of plays of a primary game: randomly generates one of a plurality of different primary game outcomes, displays the generated primary game outcome, and displays any award associated with the displayed primary game outcome. If a bonus triggering event occurs, the gaming apparatus: determines a first part of a constant value, causes the determined first part of the constant value to be provided to a first player, determines a second part of the constant value, wherein the determined first part of the constant value and the determined second part of the constant value form the constant value, and causes the determined second part of the constant value to fund a designated award.
US09741205B2	Asynchronous persistent group bonus game An asynchronous persistent group bonus game system, method and apparatus may have a plurality of gaming machines including a first processor and a bonus server having a second processor. The first processor may be configured to: determine when a bonus game session event is triggered, transmit a bonus game session request to the second processor, and receive an end session notification from the second processor. The second processor may be configured to execute and maintain the always-on asynchronous persistent group bonus game, receive a bonus game session request from at least one of the plurality of gaming machines, instantiate a bonus game session inside the continuous asynchronous persistent group bonus game for the at least one gaming machine, determine when an end session trigger has been triggered for the bonus game session, and transmit an end session notification to the at least one gaming machine if it is determined that the end session condition has been triggered.
US09741204B2	Methods and devices for anonymous competition Methods and devices are presented for facilitating anonymous gameplay in multi-state, multiplayer games, such as poker. A gaming server may allow players to anonymously join instances of a game. The gaming server may represent an anonymous player to himself or herself using a non-anonymous alias, while the gaming server may represent the anonymous player to the other players or entities using an anonymous alias. Additionally, the gaming server may record events occurring in the game, and provide similarly anonymized versions of these events to other players and entities.
US09741199B2	Wagering game system manager Embodiments of a wagering game system manager are described herein. In one embodiment, a wagering game system includes a plurality of wagering game machines. The wagering game system can also include a plurality of wagering game managers, wherein each of the wagering game managers is configured to acquire a different set of manufacturer-specific wagering game information from ones of the wagering game machines. Additionally, the wagering game system can include a multi-system manager configured to generate an interface including a plurality of views, each view to presents one of the different sets of manufacturer-specific wagering game information.
US09741195B2	Systems and methods for facilitating coin hopper maintenance Implementations described and claimed herein involve systems and methods for facilitating coin hopper maintenance. In one implementation, a top plate is received in a bucket assembly of the coin hopper at a proximal end. The top plate seals one or more coins in an interior of the bucket assembly. The coin hopper is positioned in an inverted orientation by meeting a target surface with the top plate. The inverted orientation positions the bucket assembly at a distal end near the target surface and a base assembly at the proximal end. A hopper dispenser is disengaged from the base assembly of the coin hopper.
US09741193B2	Paper currency number recognition apparatus and recognition method A paper currency number recognition apparatus and method. The apparatus comprises: a contact-type sensor (10) for acquiring paper currency image data; a white-light LED transmission light source board (20); an image acquisition processing board (40) which is integrated with an FPGA and a DSP, the FPGA being used for controlling ON/OFF of the white-light LED transmission light source board (20) and driving the contact-type sensor (10) to acquire an image, and the DSP being used for processing and recognizing the paper currency image data; and two pairs of position sensors (30) for detecting whether there is a paper currency entering the paper currency number recognition apparatus, wherein the white-light LED transmission light source board (20) has two light source modes which are strong and weak, and the two light source modes alternately provide a transmission light source for the contact-type sensor (10) to acquire the paper currency image data. The apparatus can acquire two white-light transmission images with different brightness of one and the same paper currency each time; therefore, the numbers of both new and old paper currencies can be effectively recognized, and the accuracy rate of paper currency number recognition is improved.
US09741189B2	Utility cart with electronic lock cabinet A utility cart includes a cabinet with a latch and strike lock, which is unlocked in the presence of a passive near field RFID key device and held open by a latch controller for sufficient time to allow the user to open the unlocked cabinet door. The latch is biased to its locking position, to which it returns when released by the controller. The latch includes a ramp surface which is engaged by the leading edge of the strike as the cabinet door is closed. In this way, the strike pushes the latch out of the way as it passes over the end of the latch, and the biased latch then returns to its locking position engaging a keeper in the strike as the keeper passes into position opposite the latch.
US09741186B1	Providing wireless access to a secure lock based on various security data A remote security access procedure for granting access to a wirelessly controlled lock may include one of receiving an address location at a server to setup a temporary access, receiving a security question at the server required to be answered prior to the temporary access being granted, receiving a time window at the server for the temporary access to be granted, encrypting via the server an access credential comprising the address location, the security question and the time window, and transmitting from the server the encrypted access credential to a guest device.
US09741182B2	Method and circuit structure for displaying state parameters of central air-conditioning system A method for displaying state parameters using an integrated controller. The integrated controller includes: a central control microprocessor, an LED display, an inquiry button, and a plurality of state parameter detecting units. The method includes: 1) detecting data of a plurality of monitoring points by the plurality of state parameter detecting units, and sending the data to the central control microprocessor; 2) receiving an order from the inquiry button by the central control microprocessor, and actively scanning state parameters of the monitoring points by the central control microprocessor by turns; and 3) transmitting the state parameters from the central control microprocessor to the LED display in accordance with the order input from the inquiry button, and sequentially displaying the state parameters on the LED display in a rolling mode.
US09741172B2	Providing volume indicators based on received images of containers In order to aid a user in filling a container with a target volume of a substance, an image is received. The image includes a view of the container and a view of a reference object. The reference object has a known dimension. The view of the reference object and the view of the container are then compared with reference to the known dimension. Based on the comparison, a volume of the container is determined. Based on the volume of the container, a volume indicator is provided.
US09741171B2	Image processing device and image processing method An image processing device includes memory; and a processor configured to execute a plurality of instructions stored in the memory, the instructions comprising: recognizing a target object recognized from a first image, which is a captured image, including the target object in a real world; controlling a second image, which is an augmented image, including information of the target object from the first image, and a third image which is an augmented image of the second image and to be formed so as to inscribe an outer surrounding the second image and covers a center of visual field of a user relative to the second image; and displaying, in a state where the user directly visually recognizes the target object in the real world, the second image and the third image such that the second image and the third image are caused to correspond to a position.
US09741169B1	Wearable augmented reality devices with object detection and tracking The technology disclosed can provide capabilities to view and/or interact with the real world to the user of a wearable (or portable) device using a sensor configured to capture motion and/or determining the path of an object based on imaging, acoustic or vibrational waves. Implementations can enable improved user experience, greater safety, greater functionality to users of virtual reality for machine control and/or machine communications applications using wearable (or portable) devices, e.g., head mounted devices (HMDs), wearable goggles, watch computers, smartphones, and so forth, or mobile devices, e.g., autonomous and semi-autonomous robots, factory floor material handling systems, autonomous mass-transit vehicles, automobiles (human or machine driven), and so forth, equipped with suitable sensors and processors employing optical, audio or vibrational detection.
US09741166B2	Generation and viewing of panoramic images A method of creating a panoramic peripheral image may include identifying a virtual observer at a position in a modeled scene. Peripheral images of the modeled scene may be obtained, including views at multiple angles from the virtual observer. The peripheral images may be arranged to depict a panoramic peripheral view of the modeled scene.
US09741163B2	3-D polarimetric imaging using a microfacet scattering model to compensate for structured scene reflections A system and method for more accurately generating the surface normal calibration maps φ(AoLP) and θ(DoLP,φ) to compensate for structured scene reflections for 3-D polarimetric imaging. This is accomplished using a microfacet scattering model to develop the functional form of a polarized bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the object surface. The ambient radiance is ray traced to the BRDF to create the calibration maps φ(AoLP) and θ(DoLP,φ), which may be combined into a single calibration map θ(DoLP, AoLP). These maps are applied to the AoLP and DoLP images to compute an array of surface normals, which are then mapped to form a 3-D image of the object.
US09741161B2	Method, system, and medical imaging device for shading with multiple light sources A method, system and medical imaging device include accessing a 3D medical imaging dataset and generating a volume-rendered image from the 3D medical imaging dataset. Generating the volume-rendered image includes calculating a shading for the volume-rendered image based on a first light source, a second light source, and a third light source. The second light source and the third light source are both positioned differently than the first light source. The method, system, and medical imaging device also include displaying the volume-rendered image.
US09741159B2	Graphics processing systems To simulate the effect of shadows in an image being rendered a light source bounding frustum is produced for a tile for a light source, and used to determine a set of geometry for the tile that could cast a shadow in the tile. The determined set of geometry is then used to determine a light source visibility parameter for each sampling position in the tile by determining for each tile screen space sampling position, whether rays cast between the tile sampling position and a set of sampling positions representing the light source would intersect occluding geometry or not. The determined number of visible light source sampling positions for each tile sampling position is used to determine a light source visibility parameter value for each tile sampling position, and the determined light source visibility parameters are then used to modulate the light source when shading the geometry.
US09741154B2	Recording the results of visibility tests at the input geometry object granularity According to some embodiments of the present invention, pixel throughput may be improved by performing depth tests and recording the results on the granularity of an input geometry object. An input geometry object is any object within the depiction represented by a primitive, such as a triangle within an input triangle list or a patch within an input patch list.
US09741153B2	Combining sampling arrangements and distributions for stochastic integration in rendering Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for sampling visual characteristics of a three-dimensional scene. Embodiments include collecting a plurality of samples within the three-dimensional scene. Upon determining that a combined stratified importance sampling algorithm will result in reduced error for a rendered image of the three-dimensional scene, embodiments collect the plurality of samples using the combined stratified importance sampling algorithm, and otherwise the plurality of samples are collected using a stratified sampling algorithm. The combined stratified importance sampling algorithm integrates an antithetic sampling algorithm. One or more lighting effects for the three-dimensional scene are simulated based on the plurality of samples and data describing one or more light sources for the three-dimensional scene. Embodiments further include rendering the image based on the simulated one or more lighting effects and data describing characteristics of the three-dimensional scene.
US09741151B2	Mobile interactive comparison chart An animated visualization of data on an electronic device having a limited display area (such as a mobile device with a touch screen input) is disclosed. The limited display area is partitioned into a thumbnail view of a full data set and an expanded view of a subset of the data that is highlighted within the thumbnail. The views are correspondingly animated such that the highlighted data appears to progressively slide across the thumbnail view such that the full set of data is ultimately displayed in the expanded view. The data displayed in the expanded view is kept in context by dynamically highlighting the corresponding data within the thumbnail view. Various actions are also disclosed, such as pausing/re-starting the animation, selectively pinning data and consolidating coupled data elements—in each case at any time during the animation.
US09741148B2	Onion skin animation platform and time bar tool A system includes hardware processor(s), an HMD, an input device, and an onion skin animation module. The animation modules is configured to receive a character rig of a 3D character, receive a first 3D animation of the 3D character, the first 3D animation defines a motion sequence of the 3D character based on the character rig, create a virtual time bar within the virtual environment, the virtual time bar displaying a timeline associated with the first 3D animation, identify a first animation time within the first 3D animation, the first animation time is a point in time during the motion sequence, create a first pose object of the 3D character in the virtual environment, pose the first pose object based on the first 3D animation at the animation time, and positioning the first pose object within the virtual environment proximate the first animation time on the virtual time bar.
US09741147B2	System and method to modify avatar characteristics based on inferred conditions A system and method to modify avatar characteristics and, in particular, to modify avatar characteristics based on inferred conditions. The system comprises a collection engine configured to collect one or more inputs and at least one rule set. The system also comprises an emotion engine configured to accept the one or more inputs and operate on the at least one rule set by comparing the one or more inputs to the at least one rule set, the emotion engine configured to modify at least one characteristic of a user participating in a virtual universe when the comparing produces a match.
US09741146B1	Kinetic energy smoother Embodiments disclose an animation system designed to generate animation that appears realistic to a user without using a physics engine. The animation system can use a measure of kinetic energy and reference information to determine whether the animation appears realistic or satisfies the laws of physics. Based, at least in part, on the kinetic energy, the animation system can determine whether to adjust a sampling rate of animation data to reflect more realistic motion compared to a default sampling rate.
US09741143B2	Multocular imaging system, synthesis process method of acquired images, and program A basis image is converted into a more functional image by image synthesis technology using a number of imaging devices arranged independently of each other. A multocular imaging system is provided with a plurality of imaging parts that can be arranged independently of each other, a similar component search part operable to acquire a basis image outputted from at least one imaging part of the plurality of imaging parts and a reference image outputted from another imaging part of the plurality of imaging parts and to search a similar component included in the reference image for each of components included in the basis image, and an image synthesis part operable to perform a synthesis process on at least one component included in the basis image into a desired image with reference to the similar component extracted by the similar component search part and to output the desired image as a synthesis image.
US09741142B2	Method and apparatus for enabling text editing in a scanned document while maintaining fidelity of the appearance of the text A computer implemented method and apparatus for enabling text editing in a scanned document while maintaining fidelity of appearance of the text. The method comprises creating a synthesized font comprising a plurality of characters using characters present in a scanned document; replacing the plurality of characters in the scanned document with characters from the plurality of characters from the synthesized font; and enabling editing of the scanned document wherein enabling editing comprises adding at least some characters from the plurality of characters of the synthesized font to the document for at least some characters added during editing.
US09741141B2	Image processing device, program, and image processing method There is provided an image processing device including: a recognition unit configured to recognize a plurality of users present in an input image captured by an imaging device; an information acquisition unit configured to acquire display information to be displayed in association with each user recognized by the recognition unit; a weight determination unit configured to determine a weight of each user recognized by the recognition unit; and an output image generation unit configured to generate an output image by determining a display position of the display information associated with each user on the basis of the weight of each user determined by the weight determination unit and overlaying the display information on the input image in the determined display position.
US09741140B2	Fast solving for loop closure using a relative state space The subject disclosure is generally directed towards a relatively fast and accurate technology that corrects mobile device (e.g., mobile robot) mapping data into corrected map data based upon detection of loop closure. A variation of stochastic gradient descent (with constraints in a deterministic order) may be used in a first correction phase to provide an updated graph in a relatively fast manner by operating in a relative state space. A graph-based variant of Gauss-Seidel that operates in a global state space may be used in a later phase to refine the updated graph into a more exact graph.
US09741136B2	Systems and methods of object shape and position determination in three-dimensional (3D) space Methods and systems for capturing motion and/or determining the shapes and positions of one or more objects in 3D space utilize cross-sections thereof. In various embodiments, images of the cross-sections are captured using a camera based on edge points thereof.
US09741135B2	Method for measuring object and smart device A method for measuring an object and a smart device are provided. The method includes: detecting by a smart device a track of a target object moving along the object to be measured; calculating a parameter of the track by the smart device according to the track; and acquiring a parameter of the object to be measured by the smart device according to the parameter of the track.
US09741130B2	Method and apparatus for detecting object A method and an apparatus for detecting an object are disclosed. The method comprises the steps of obtaining a plurality of depth images of the object; extracting foregrounds; fusing the foregrounds in a unified three-dimensional world coordinate system; calculating an appearance two-dimensional histogram from the fused foreground by the following steps of dividing the foreground into vertical members and getting statistics of the numbers of foreground points in the vertical members so as to obtain the appearance two-dimensional histogram; determining an overlapping region and the number of overlaps based on the placement of stereo cameras; determining a detection parameter relating to a detection position based on the overlapping region and the number of overlaps; and detecting the object by the appearance two-dimensional histogram based on the determined detection parameter.
US09741129B2	Technique for automatically tracking an object by a camera based on identification of an object Automatic tracking by a camera (16) of an object (12) such as on-air talent appearing in a television show commences by first determining whether the object lies within the camera field of view matches a reference object. If so, tracking of the object then occurs to maintain the object in fixed relationship to a pre-set location in the camera's field of view, provided the designated object has moved more than a threshold distance from the pre-set location.
US09741127B1	Image processing device The image processing device generates an operation image by adding or subtracting an original image and a standard deviation image which maps the standard deviation for the pixels configuring the original image. In this operation image, images of the structures seen in parts in the original image other than metal pieces are erased. Consequently, structures that are not metal pieces appearing in the original image in a whitish color, for example, do not appear in the operation image. If such an operation image is subjected to binarization processing in which the metal pieces appearing in a whitish color, for example, are extracted, since accurate graph cut processing is then possible, images originating from structures that are not metal pieces do not appear in the resulting image.
US09741126B1	Edge and vertex based segmenting of a three dimensional surface mesh A method for segmenting a mesh, the method may include receiving or generating the mesh, wherein the mesh is a three dimensional surface mesh that represents a three dimensional object and comprises vertexes, edges and faces; finding, by a computerized search module, first edges of the mesh that have an edge angle below an edge angle threshold; wherein each first edge is a border of a pair of faces of the mesh and wherein an edge angle of a first edge is an angle between normals to the pair of faces; finding, by the computerized search module, first vertices of the mesh that have a negative angular defect that is below a negative angular defect threshold and have exactly one neighboring first edge; wherein each first vertex is shared by multiple faces of the mesh; wherein an angular defect of a first vertex is responsive to angles between all pairs of neighboring faces of the edges that share one of the multiple faces; finding, by the computerized search module, second edges of the mesh that link the first vertices of the mesh; clustering faces of the edge to provide first clusters by joining faces of the mesh that share and edge of the mesh that is not a first edge and is not a second edge; searching, by the computerized search module, for cutting edges out of the boundaries between the first clusters; and segmenting, by a computerized segmentation module, the mesh along the cutting edges to provide mesh segments.
US09741124B2	Method and system of defining a region of interest on medical scan images A method, medical imaging workstation (1000) and hybrid medical imaging scanner (1100) are provided for defining a region of interest (RoI) for display on at least two medical scan images. When displaying a first medical scan image (740), input data defining a RoI on the image is captured, and stored as at least a first region representation (760). The RoI is displayed on a second medical scan image (750), based on the first region representation (760). Changes to the RoI on the second medical scan image (750) are used to update the first region representation (760). There may be separate region representations (760, 770) associated with each of several medical scan images. The invention may improve the definition of a region of interest, by allowing editing on each of multiple image displays (820, 830, 880) to feed through to all medical scan images.
US09741123B2	Transformation of 3-D object for object segmentation in 3-D medical image A method and apparatus for segmenting an object from a three-dimensional image are disclosed. According to the method, first, a surface of the object is estimated using scale estimation processes such as Laplacian-of-Gaussian filters in one, two or three dimensions. Second, the estimated surface is transformed by having a shrink function applied to it independently in each dimension to give a regularly shaped (preferably substantially spherical), non-isotropic shape. The object is segmented from the volume around it, and is inverse-transformed to obtain the original shape, which shape is then isolated from the image volume.
US09741122B2	Method and device for determining a distance between two optical boundary surfaces which are spaced apart from each other along a first direction A method is provided for determining the distance between two optical boundary surfaces spaced apart from each other in a first direction. A first image is ascertained wherein the plane into which the pattern acquired coincides with a first of two optical boundary surfaces or has the smallest distance to the first optical boundary surface in a first direction. A position of the first image in the first direction is determined. A second image is ascertained wherein the plane into which the pattern acquired coincides with a second of two optical boundary surfaces or has the smallest distance to the second optical boundary surface in the first direction. The position of the second image in the first direction is determined. The distance is calculated by means of determined positions of the first and second image.
US09741118B2	System and methods for calibration of an array camera Systems and methods for calibrating an array camera are disclosed. Systems and methods for calibrating an array camera in accordance with embodiments of this invention include the detecting of defects in the imaging components of the array camera and determining whether the detected defects may be tolerated by image processing algorithms. The calibration process also determines translation information between imaging components in the array camera for use in merging the image data from the various imaging components during image processing. Furthermore, the calibration process may include a process to improve photometric uniformity in the imaging components.
US09741115B2	System and method for detecting trachea Disclosed are systems, devices, and methods for detecting a trachea, an exemplary system comprising an imaging device configured to obtain image data and a computing device configured to generate a three-dimensional (3D) model, identify a potential connected component in a first slice image, identify a potential connected component in a second slice image, label the first slice image as a top slice image, label the connected component in the top slice image as an active object, associate each connected component in a current slice image with a corresponding connected component in a previous slice image based on a connectivity criterion, label each connected component in the current slice image associated with a connected component of the preceding slice image as the active object, and identify the active object as the trachea, based on a length of the active object.
US09741113B2	Image processing device, imaging device, image processing method, and computer-readable recording medium An image processing device includes: an acquisition unit configured to acquire image data generated by an imaging element where each of narrow band filters constituting a predetermined array pattern is disposed at a position corresponding to any one of a plurality of pixels; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a light amount of the invisible light range under an environment at the time when the imaging element generates the image data is larger than a threshold value; and a generation unit configured to generate vital information of a subject based on the determination result of the determination unit.
US09741112B2	Generating image-based diagnostic tests by optimizing image analysis and data mining of co-registered images A method for generating an image-based test improves diagnostic accuracy by iteratively modifying rule sets governing image and data analysis of coregistered image tiles. Digital images of stained tissue slices are divided into tiles, and tiles from different images are coregistered. First image objects are linked to selected pixels of the tiles. First numerical data is generated by measuring the first objects. Each pixel of a heat map aggregates first numerical data from coregistered tiles. Second objects are linked to selected pixels of the heat map. Measuring the second objects generates second numerical data. The method improves how well second numerical data correlates with clinical data of the patient whose tissue is analyzed by modifying the rule sets used to generate the first and second objects and the first and second numerical data. The test is defined by those rule sets that produce the best correlation with the clinical data.
US09741111B2	Subject information acquiring device and subject information acquiring method A subject information acquiring device has: an acoustic detector which receives an acoustic wave propagated in a subject and converts into an electrical signal; and a data processing device which generates a subject information distribution using the electrical signal, and the data processing device has a matching processing unit which acquires a similarity distribution by calculating a similarity between: template data indicating a relationship between a real image; and an artifact and the subject information distribution used as a matching information distribution, so that it is possible to provide a photoacoustic image forming diagnosing device which can distinguish between an image and a background even when the contrast is poor.
US09741110B2	Cell culture evaluation system for measuring suspension cells, cell culture evaluation method for measuring suspension cells, and cell culture evaluation program for measuring suspension cells There is provided a cell culture evaluation system, a cell culture evaluation method, and a cell culture evaluation program which are capable of estimating and evaluating the lag time or the minimum doubling time and objectively and adequately determining whether or not a cell population is stimulated for proliferation by using an average projected area of a cultured cell population or the rate of increasing the ratio of the non-single-cells as an evaluation parameter when culturing the cells. Images of the cell population to be cultured statically are acquired in a culture vessel, the average projected areas of the cells are calculated from the images for the respective culture times, and the lag times at lag phase are calculated from the calculated average projected areas of the cells. The single-cells and the non-single-cells are discriminated from the images, and the increasing rate of the non-single-cells is calculated from the ratio of the non-single-cells in the cell population to determine the minimum doubling time from the increasing rate of the non-single-cells. Whether or not the cell population is stimulated for proliferation is determined from the ratio of the non-single-cells.
US09741109B2	Tire inner surface imaging method and device An imaging device inserted into an opening of a tire includes a light source, a mirror, and a camera and is configured so that the mirror revolves around a rotation shaft while an orientation of a surface of the mirror changes. The mirror is set in an imaging position by being revolved around the rotation shaft to be inserted into a tire cavity region. The tread inner surface of the tire is scanned with slit light by being irradiated with the slit light. During the scanning with the slit light, a line irradiation region on the tread inner surface formed through the irradiation of the slit light is imaged via the mirror by the camera from a direction tilted with respect to the tire circumferential direction, and image data is output.
US09741108B2	Image processing apparatus and image processing system for conveyor tracking An image processing apparatus, connected to an imaging part to capture an image of workpieces conveyed on a conveyer, includes an interface that receives a signal indicating a travel distance of the conveyer, an interface that communicates with a control device for controlling a moving machine disposed downstream of an imaging area of a imaging part, a positional information acquisition unit that processes the image captured by the imaging part and thereby acquiring positional information of a pre-registered workpiece in the image, a travel distance obtaining unit that obtains the travel distance of the conveyer synchronized with the control device, an initiating unit that initiates the capturing by the imaging part in response to an imaging command, and a transmission unit that transmits, to the control device, the positional information and the travel distance upon the capturing of the image used to acquire the positional information.
US09741106B2	Computed tomography (CT) systems and methods analyzing rock property changes resulting from a treatment The effect of a treatment on a rock sample or sub-sample extracted from the rock sample can be analyzed through computed tomography (CT). To determine the effect of a treatment of a rock sample or the sub-sample, pre-treatment and post-treatment CT images of the rock sample or the sub-sample are captured. Further, the pre-treatment CT images and post-treatment CT images of the rock sample or the sub-sample are compared based on one or more alignment markers added to the rock sample or the sub-sample. In some embodiments, pre-treatment and post-treatment CT scans of an extracted sub-sample provide higher-resolution information regarding the effect of the treatment. Further, pre-treatment and post-treatment CT scans of a rock sample with a restored sub-sample may be considered and may provide additional information regarding the effect of the treatment on the rock sample or the sub-sample.
US09741104B2	Apparatus, method, and computer-readable medium for quad reconstruction using hybrid filter convolution and high dynamic range tone-mapping An apparatus for image reconstruction is provided, including processing circuitry to obtain, from a scan of a region of interest of a patient, raw projection data of the region of interest; reconstruct the raw projection data to produce image data; apply high dynamic range tone-mapping to the image data to produce tone-mapped image data by applying window width and window level parameters to the image data to produce adjusted image data, and calculating a contrast adjustment based on both the image data and the adjusted image data; and quantize the tone-mapped image data to produce quantized tone-mapped image data for display.
US09741102B2	Method to evaluate the presence of a source of x-ray beam inhomogeneity during x-ray exposure A statistical analysis is performed on pixel values of at least one region of interest in an image obtained by substantially uniform irradiation of an x-ray detector and deciding upon the presence of a source of x-ray beam in-homogeneity by comparing the results of the statistical analysis with at least one predetermined acceptance criterion.
US09741100B2	Optimization of plenoptic imaging systems The spatial resolution of captured plenoptic images is enhanced. In one aspect, the plenoptic imaging process is modeled by a pupil image function (PIF), and a PIF inversion process is applied to the captured plenoptic image to produce a better resolution estimate of the object.
US09741099B2	Systems and methods for local tone mapping Systems and methods for local tone mapping are provided. In one example, an electronic device includes an electronic display, an imaging device, and an image signal processor. The electronic display may display images of a first bit depth, and the imaging device may include an image sensor that obtains image data of a higher bit depth than the first bit depth. The image signal processor may process the image data, and may include local tone mapping logic that may apply a spatially varying local tone curve to a pixel of the image data to preserve local contrast when displayed on the display. The local tone mapping logic may smooth the local tone curve applied to the intensity difference between the pixel and another nearby pixel exceeds a threshold.
US09741098B2	System and method for optimizing image quality in a digital camera A digital camera includes an image optimization engine configured to generate an optimized image based on a raw image captured by the digital camera. The image optimization engine implements one or more machine learning engines in order to select rendering algorithms and rendering algorithm arguments that may then be used to render the raw image.
US09741097B2	Image processing device Provided is an image processing device including a scaling unit configured to enlarge an input image represented by an input image signal to generate an enlarged image, a gain calculating unit configured to calculate a gain for enhancing the enlarged image for each target pixel of the enlarged image on a basis of the input image signal, and an adding unit configured to add, for each target pixel, a pixel value of the target pixel and the gain corresponding to the pixel value of the target pixel.
US09741096B2	Guided image upsampling using bitmap tracing A method of increasing resolution of an image includes generating vector contours associated with a first image and scaling the vector contours to a second resolution. The first image has a first resolution, and the second resolution is greater than the first resolution. The vector contours are rendered to generate a guiding image at the second resolution, and a second image is generated from the first image based on the guiding image, by using joint upsampling. The second image is generated at the second resolution. The vector contours can be generated by bitmap tracing binary images at different quantization levels. An apparatus and computer readable device implementing the method of increasing the resolution of an image are also provided.
US09741089B2	Graphics processing systems A tile-based graphics processing pipeline comprising a rasteriser 3, a renderer 6, a tile buffer 10 configured to store rendered fragment data locally to the graphics processing pipeline prior to that data being written out to an external memory, a write out stage 13 configured to write data stored in the tile buffer to an external memory, and a programmable processing stage 14. The programmable processing stage 14 is operable under the control of graphics program instructions to read fragment data stored in the tile buffer 10 on a random access basis, perform a processing operation using the read fragment data, and write the result of the processing operation into the tile buffer 10 or to an external memory.
US09741084B2	Method and system for providing remote access to data for display on a mobile device A method and system for providing remote access to data for display on a client computer via a computer network is provided. A first and second server computer connected to a computer network execute a first and second server remote access program, respectively, for communicating with an associated first and second application program. The client computer, which is also connected to the computer network, executes a client remote access program for simultaneously communicating with the first and second server remote access programs via a first and second communication link. The first and second server remote access programs determine first and second presentation data indicative of an application state of the first and second application programs. The client remote access program receives the first and the second presentation data and determines display data in dependence thereupon for substantially simultaneously displaying the first and the second presentation data.
US09741079B2	Method and apparatus for replicating and analyzing databases Methods and apparatus for analyzing and replicating databases are provided. Methods may include receiving an accounts receivable information query from a system user. The accounts receivable information query may include a payment. The payment may include a credit card payment, an EFT, a paper check and any other suitable payment. Methods may include reviewing a central database for information pertaining to the accounts receivable query. The central database may include replicated credit card databases, replicated EFT databases, replicated paper check databases and any other suitable databases. Methods may include locating, in the central database, an invoice which may exceed a threshold level of correlation to the account receivable information query. Methods may include displaying to a system user the accounts receivable information query and the corresponding invoice. Methods may include presenting to the system user a user-selectable option to reconcile the invoice with the account receivable information query.
US09741078B2	Dashboard interface, platform, and environment for automated negotiation, benchmarking, compliance, and auditing The present application describes dashboard user interfaces, methods, systems, and transactional environments for automated reinsurance negotiation, benchmarking, compliance, and auditing. During the automated process, in some embodiments, a quote template engine aids the user in customizing quote requests and follow-on quote information based upon learned parameters used in past negotiations, a real-time notification engine alerts parties to the negotiation when new information is available and/or automatically presents updating information for user review, and an audit trail management engine tracks information shared during the negotiation and stores the steps of the negotiation for later audit review. Further, a data mining engine may analyze the audit trail information to identify negotiation metrics related to the parties participating in the transactional environment.
US09741077B2	Systems and methods for controlling payment processing A computer-implemented method for generating a financial product that is configured to be used for one or more payment transactions. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of core accounts for providing financial backing for the financial product, and generating the financial product based on one or more control parameters that define use restrictions for the financial product.
US09741073B2	Optimizing aggregation routing over a network In one example embodiment, a method for optimizing aggregation routing over a network may include detecting that aggregated account data is unavailable over a network from a first data aggregator server, detecting that the aggregated account data is available over the network from a second data aggregator server, formatting a request for the aggregated account data to be compatible with the second data aggregator server, routing the formatted request over the network to the second data aggregator server, and receiving the requested aggregated account data over the network from the second data aggregator server.
US09741069B2	Method of using a user device for remote payment of a shopping basket on a merchant server, and an associated system A user device configured to connect to a mobile telephony network and associated with an identification number in the mobile telephony network. The user device selects a method of paying for the shopping basket on a first page of the merchant server; upon selection, the user device sends a payment request to a payment validation module, which is enriched with identification data of the user device; the user device receives a local authentication request message from the payment validation module over the mobile telephony network; on receiving the local authentication request message, the user device triggers execution of an operation of locally authenticating a user of the user device; the user device sends a local authentication response message to the payment validation module; and the user device is redirected by the payment validation module to a second page of the merchant server giving the result of the payment transaction.
US09741066B2	Tool for selling and purchasing vehicle history reports Systems and methods for selling and purchasing vehicle history reports are described. In one embodiment, a method includes determining a set of vehicles in a dealer inventory, determining a subset of the vehicles in the dealer inventory for which the dealer has not purchased a vehicle history report, presenting a summary report to a dealer, the summary report including information about at least one of the vehicles in the subset of the vehicles, receiving a selection to purchase a vehicle history report for at least one of the vehicles in the summary report, and providing the vehicle history report corresponding to the selection to the dealer.
US09741060B2	Recursive navigation in mobile CRM A method and apparatus for recursive navigation. In one embodiment of the method, a first reply is generated in response to receiving a first request from a mobile device. The first reply is generated as a function of a page definition, and the first reply comprises data selected from a first object of a logical data model, but not a second object of the logical data model. The first and second objects are distinct from each other. A second reply is generated in response to receiving a second request from the mobile device. The second reply is generated as a function of the page definition, and the second reply comprises data selected from the second object but not the first object.
US09741053B2	System and method for promoting media in an online distribution platform A system and method for promoting media in an online distribution platform includes accessing one of a plurality of gaming applications provided on an online distribution platform with a client device over a network, wherein the content of each of the plurality of gaming applications includes metadata corresponding to media provided by the online distribution platform. The system and method further includes displaying information related to the media being promoted on during the gaming application gameplay and allowing a user to purchase and download and/or stream the media being promoted.
US09741052B2	Systems and methods for providing offers using a mobile device A wireless device is enabled to provide offers. The wireless device receives card data for a financial account card and stores the card data in a memory associated with the wireless device. Responsive to using the card data in a transaction at a first merchant location, the wireless device receives transaction line-item data from a computing system associated with the first merchant location. The wireless device determines merchant information for a second merchant location and determines an offer associated with the second merchant location based on the line-item data and the merchant information for the second merchant. The wireless device presents the offer when the wireless device is near the second merchant location.
US09741051B2	Tokenization and third-party interaction Processing of a transaction involving one or more third-parties and offers is described. Certain embodiments allow for suspending a received authorization request message which includes a transaction amount and a token mapped to a primary account number. One or more third-parties may be queried for an offer or discount eligible towards the transaction. The authorization request message may be adjusted to reflect one or more eligible offers from the one or more third-parties. The authorization request message may also be adjusted to replace the token with the mapped PAN. The authorization request message may then be sent to an issuer for further processing.
US09741048B2	Predicting economic conditions Computer-implemented methods for identifying or assessing any type of risk and/or opportunity that may arise can include either, alone or in combination, band pass filtering, principal component analysis, random matrix theory analysis, synchronization analysis, and early-warning detection. Each technique can also be viewed as a process that takes a set of inputs and converts it to a set of outputs. These outputs can be used as inputs for a subsequent process or the outputs may be directly actionable for formulating certain economic predictions to make certain decisions.
US09741047B1	System and method for creating segmentation of a population A system including a processor may filter a population to identify a group having members, and deliver, over an electronic network, a survey to members of the group to determine value preferences and value gaps. The survey may be made according to a set of paired comparisons or other related techniques. The system may generate vectors according to the determined value preferences and value gaps for members of the group, which may have lengths equal to numbers of determined values for the members. The system may cluster members of the group into segments by calculating patterns of differences between generated vectors. Results of this process enable the creation of a predictive model to estimate segment membership, which can be used in the generation of a promotion for display corresponding to a clustered segment, and deliver the promotion to a client device associated for display.
US09741045B1	Ranking of merchants for cardless payment transactions A method for ranking merchants that includes receiving in a cardless payment system a current location of a mobile device of a customer; receiving data identifying a plurality of merchants based on proximity to the current location, each merchant having an account with the cardless payment system; ranking the plurality of merchants based on at least one or more indicators, the one or more indicators including purchase data or a dwell time; sending the ranking of the plurality of merchants to the mobile device.
US09741044B2	Demand response system and method using a smart portal The demand response system comprises an automatic meter reading (AMR) unit to generate metering information. The demand response system comprises a multiple utility complex unit (MUC) which provides DR information based on the metering information and manages utility supply schedule in combination. The demand response system comprises an eco index (EI) calculation unit which calculates an eco index based on the metering information. The demand response system comprises a demand response (DR) unit which obtains the CBL information based on the metering information and computes a the DR bill by using the CBL data, the DR information and EI obtained, and outputs the DR bill. The demand response system comprises a smart portal (SP) unit which provides users with the calculated DR bill. According to the disclosure, the demand response system can provide environmental and social information, in addition to economic information.
US09741043B2	Message optimization The present invention provides a system and method for optimizing a message. Components of a starting message are identified, and at least one rule is applied for modifying at least one message component to create at least one variation of the starting message. Message variants are tested by sending each variant to a sample of people and measuring a response rate for each sent message variant. The measured response rates are used to create an optimal version of the message. In one embodiment, message variants may be created and tested in multiple rounds.
US09741041B1	Service representative and remote location document communication The present disclosure provides apparatus, systems, and methods for service representative and remote location document communication. One or more embodiments include a memory, and a processor configured to execute executable instructions stored in the memory to identify a remote location of a customer, identify a type of device available to be utilized at the remote location, and provide to the device at the remote location instructions for capturing information from a document.
US09741039B2	Click modeling for ecommerce A system and method of click modeling are disclosed. A ranking algorithm is modified using a click model. The click model makes inferences based on user click data. The user click data includes indications of user intent to transact a shopping action for an item for sale. Item listings are ranked for a search results page using the ranking algorithm in response to receiving a search query. Each item listing comprises an item for sale on an e-commerce site. The user click data can also include user clicks of item listings in a search results page. The shopping action can include bidding on an item for sale or purchasing an item for sale.
US09741038B2	Systems and methods for risk triggering values Systems and methods for facilitating risk assessment for point of sale transactions utilizing at least one risk triggering value (RTV) is disclosed. An RTV is a condensed version of a set of complex risk data and strategies usually found in central processing sites. After receiving a request for payment authorization, a risk value is calculated for the request. The distributed processing site compares the risk value to the RTV to determine whether to authorize payment. If the risk value is less than or equal to the RTV, the payment is authorized while a risk value greater than the RTV will not be authorized. The central site calculates a new RTV for the account and distributes the new RTV to the distributed processing site.
US09741036B1	Provisioning account numbers and cryptographic tokens Disclosed herein are systems and methods for real-time provisioning of new card numbers to users of a consumer computing system. A consumer computing system (“CCS”) may have servers and databases situated within a banking infrastructure in order to provide various features to users via a software application executed by a client device. The software application may interact with the CCS servers, such that the CCS servers and the software application offer the client device and the user certain features not ordinarily available in conventional banking infrastructures. These features may include the real-time provisioning of card numbers for a user's banking account. In operation, the client device may submit a request for a new card number to a CCS server, which may be generated in real-time and active in the payment stream when the card number is generated.
US09741033B2	System and method for point of sale payment data credentials management using out-of-band authentication The invention provides an easy to use credential management mechanism for multi-factor out-of-band multi-channel authentication process to protect payment credentials without the risk of malware and skimming attacks. When opened, the secure payment application generates a multi-dimensional transitory key. The user authenticates the multi-dimensional transitory key and validates the secure payment application, triggering an out-of-band outbound mechanism. The portable mobile device invokes the authentication server and the authentication server authenticates the user based on the authenticated transitory key. After authentication, the merchant is allowed access to the payment credentials to complete the transaction. The process of the invention includes an authentication server, a secure payment application to generate an authentication vehicle or an embodiment (i.e. multi-dimensional transitory key) and handle incoming requests, and a portable communication device with a smartphone application.
US09741032B2	Security broker An attempted transaction is identified involving a customer device and the first customer device is redirected to a security broker. A security report for the first customer device is received from the security broker. The security report is based on security data transmitted from the customer device to the security broker. An action can be performed in association with the attempted transaction based at least in part on the received security report. In some aspects, the security broker receives security data describing security conditions on the customer device in connection with the transaction between the customer device and a transaction partner. A risk tolerance policy is identified that corresponds to the transaction partner, such as an ecommerce provider. A security report is generated based on a comparison of the risk tolerance policy and the security data and the security report.
US09741029B2	Mobile computing device network of multi-vendor, multi-interface computers An apparatus 10, and system 70 may be embodied as an article 70 or method implementing transactions between a central or “core” application 72, a fulfillment application 96 at a venue, and a wireless communication application 84, 86 hosted on a computing device 10, such as a cell phone, of an attendee at an event at that venue. Customers may sign up online, through various types of web applications 88 or dedicated applications 92, to receive information, such as menus, catalogs, or the like of available products to be at the event. The core application 72 may manage a database 74 of records of customers, products, and fulfilment locations, and may send to fulfilment locations instructions to dispatch “runners” to deliver products to seat locations of customers ordering through wireless computer devices 12 at a venue.
US09741027B2	Memory card based contactless devices A memory card compatible token includes a host interface, radio circuits to transmit signals and a controller to determine if the memory card access commands are for contactless devices attached to the memory card slot or general memory. User payment account information is stored in the contactless chip as part of the contactless devices. The radio circuits can be activated and deactivated by the user for signal transmission using the controller through a mobile computing device.
US09741024B2	Systems and methods of bank transfer A financial institution and a payment initiator may exchange public keys to enable the secure exchange of data. A business wishing to collect payment can provide its account information to the payment initiator. A customer wishing to pay can instruct the payment initiator to encrypt the business's account information along with details for a particular invoice and transmit the information to the financial institution. The financial institution can decrypt the information and initiate a transfer of money from the customer to the business. The financial institution may present the information about the transaction to the customer for modification or confirmation before initiating the transfer. The information may be sent from the payment initiator to the financial institution via the customer. After the payment has been initiated by the financial institution, a confirmation may be sent to the customer, the payment initiator, the business, or any suitable combination thereof.
US09741023B2	HVAC system remote monitoring and diagnosis A method of operating a heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) monitoring service is described. The method includes: providing a local device for installation in an HVAC system of a residential or commercial building; periodically receiving data from the local device across a wide area network, wherein the received data includes electrical sensor data including at least one of current or power; and storing the received data. The method further includes: analyzing the stored data to selectively identify problems and selectively predict faults of the HVAC system; receiving a subscription fee corresponding to the building, the subscription fee applying to a calendar period; and during the calendar period, providing information on the identified problems and the predicted faults to a customer corresponding to the building.
US09741022B2	Parental controls A web service platform to improve end-user engagement in a captive audience environment. Mobile and web-based clients allow application users to authorize and approve usage of entitlements of other users, including their children, based upon preconfigured rules and the proximity between the user requesting and the user approving authorization to use the entitlement.
US09741019B2	Restoring deleted items with context Deleted property information relating to deleting an item, such as an electronic message, is used for restoring the deleted item. The deleted property information is stored in response to deleting the item. The stored deleted property information identifies a location of where the item was deleted from and may include other information. The location information may be a specific location such as a folder (e.g. inbox, sent, folder 1, . . . ), a calendar, a network location, and the like. In response to a request to restore a deleted item, the deleted property information is used to restore the deleted item to the location where the item was when deleted. A graphical user interface may be used to assist a user in restoring deleted items. The user interface may display a user friendly name (e.g. “Inbox”, “Folder 1”, . . . ) of where the deleted item(s) will be/have been restored.
US09741016B2	Business model data management A business model data management method can include identifying a business object within a business object structure document for a business application, locating data management rules for the identified business object in a business object descriptor document, and executing the located data management rules to represent the identified business object in a database for the business application.
US09741015B2	Map based routing from bill of materials A method and system includes a bill of materials stored on a computer readable storage device, listing multiple components to be assembled. A mapping table is stored on a computer readable storage device having rows listing attributes of components of the bill of materials and a routing operation attribute identifying work centers or another unique attribute. A plurality of routing templates stored on a computer readable storage device, the routing templates identifying work centers and routing operations between work centers. A route generator utilizes the mapping table to map components from the bill of materials to a routing template and its operations.
US09741014B2	Automated asset management system with multiple sensing technologies An automated asset management system includes a plurality of storage locations for storing objects, and first and second sensing subsystems each configured to sense presence or absence of the objects in the plurality of storage locations. The first and second sensing subsystems are used to sense the presence or absence of a same particular object using different respective sensing modalities. In operation, a first scan of the storage locations is performed using the first sensing subsystem, and the presence or absence of the particular object is determined using the first sensing modality. In turn, a second scan of the storage locations is performed using the second sensing subsystem, and the presence or absence of the particular object is confirmed using both the result of the determination made using the first sensing modality and a determination of the presence or absence of the particular object using the second sensing modality.
US09741010B1	System and method for securely delivering packages to different delivery recipients with a single vehicle A delivery system and method for delivering packages to multiple recipients uses a mobile robot having a delivery package space suitable for accommodating at least two packages, at least one package sensor configured to output first data reflective of the presence or absence of packages within with package space, at least one processing component configured to receive and process the package sensor's first data and at least one communication component configured to at least send and receive second data. The mobile robot travels to a first delivery location, permits a first recipient to access the package space, and identifies the first recipient's package to the first recipient. The system and method use data from the package sensor to verify that the first recipient removed only his or her package, if other package(s) are also present. The mobile robot then travels to a second delivery location associated with a second recipient.
US09741007B1	Position-based item identification in a materials handling facility Positional placement guidelines for storing items in an inventory area may allow determination and tracking of the position of the items in the inventory area. Position information may be associated with each item in a materials handling facility to assist in locating an item in an inventory area. The position information may represent a position relative to the inventory area and/or to the other items therein. Position information may be determined based on a count of items in the inventory area or based on a time stamp corresponding to the time the item was stored in the inventory area. Position information may be presented to an agent to facilitate picking the item with or without descriptive information. Feedback may provide an indication that the position information is incorrect and may trigger a review or a reset of position information for one or more items in the inventory area.
US09741003B2	Method and system for providing centralized notifications to an administrator Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a user interface that enables an administrator to monitor the status of one or more long-running processes executing on a system. According to one or more embodiments, information about the long-running processes is received, analyzed and converted into a single format. This information is then stored in a storage device in the single format. In response to a command request periodically received from a user interface, summary information about the one or more long-running processes is provided to, and displayed on, the user interface. Upon receipt of a user selection of at least a portion of the summary information, the user interface issues a second command request that is similar to the first command request, but includes additional parameters, to retrieve additional information about the selected summary information. Once the additional information is received, the additional information is presented on the user interface.
US09740995B2	Coordinate-based document processing and data entry system and method Embodiments of the presently disclosed invention are directed to a document processing system and method that facilitates the processing and extraction of data from the documents. The system and method receive at least one document, where the document may contain data for extraction. The document may then be converted into a preferred document format and outputted to a user interface. The system and method may then receive a selection of at least a portion of the document, wherein the selection contains data for extraction. Based on the selection, at least one coordinate set corresponding to the selection and associated with at least one data field of interest is generated. Then the data from the selection of the document is extracted using the at least one coordinate set. Finally, a structured data set that includes the extracted data is generating, and storing in a computer memory.
US09740990B2	Method and system for reserving and controlling access to products and services at a remote location via a communications network This invention is a method and system for reserving and controlling access to products and services at a remote location via a communications network. In one or more embodiment, a user uses a client computer to select desired products and services. The system returns a price offer for the packaged products and services. Upon acceptance of the price offer, the selection of products and services is forwarded to an operations center for the building of an event regarding the redemption of the products and services. The system allocates a time frame for the redemption of each of the products and services as well as determining the order of redemption, based on polling a plurality of users desiring the same products and services in an event. The information generated by the operation center is then forwarded to a location for the redemption of the products and services. Access to the goods and services is then controlled by using machine readable labels coupled with interrogation devices for the relating of users to information regarding the user's reservation.
US09740988B1	System and method for using unique device indentifiers to enhance security A method for detection and use of device identifiers to enhance the security of data transfers between electronic devices. A first electronic device can transmit access data to a second electronic device. The access data can be associated with a first access code that can be generated based at least in part on data representing a device identifier of the first electronic device. A device identifier can uniquely identify the first electronic device from a plurality of electronic devices. Transferring the access data can involve transforming the first access code into a second access code that can include data representing a device identifier associated with the second electronic device. Transforming the first access code into the second access code can facilitate access to a resource associated with the access data for a second user, but not for a first user.
US09740981B2	Performing sub-system attribute modification A tool and technique are employed to distill and prioritize multiple organizational (sub-system) capabilities based on ranked customer requirements or desires. A translational matrix is employed to organize preferences of the sub-system with respect to the customer requirements or desires. Relative importance scores are input into the matrix to reflect prioritized input versus prioritized capabilities. An adjusted relative importance score of the sub-system is automatically calculated and a resultant re-prioritization of sub-system attributes is created for application to new designs, services, or processes.
US09740977B1	Method and system for recognizing the intentions of shoppers in retail aisles based on their trajectories The present invention is a method and system for automatically recognizing which products a shopper intends to find or purchase based on the shopper's trajectory in a retail aisle. First, the system detects and tracks the person to generate the trajectory of the shopper. Then some of the dynamic features are extracted from the shopper trajectory. The shopper trajectory features of a given trajectory are typically the positions, the motion orientations, and speeds at each point of the trajectory. A shopper behavior model is designed based on some of the primitive actions of shoppers. The last step of the method is to analyze a given shopper trajectory to estimate the shopper's intention. The step either utilizes decision rules based on the extracted shopper trajectory features, or utilizes a trained Hidden Markov Model, to estimate the progression of the primitive actions from the trajectory. The decoded progression of the shopper behavior states is then interpreted to finally determine the shopper's intention.
US09740972B2	Preventing loss of print job information in a restart operation of a print engine A control apparatus includes an execution controller, a stop controller, a connection processing unit, a print job information holding unit, a resumption controller, and a power supply controller. The execution controller causes an image forming unit to execute a print job. When the restart of the image forming unit is detected, the stop controller causes the image forming unit to stop the print job currently in process. When the completion of restart of the image forming unit is detected, the connection processing unit connects the control apparatus and the image forming unit. After the connection, the resumption controller resumes execution of the print job being stopped by the stop controller based on the print job information held by the print job information holding unit. The power supply controller supplies power to the print job information holding unit even if a failure requiring a restart of the image forming unit occurs.
US09740969B2	Printer device The present invention is to provide a printer device capable of obtaining a print result having a good balance between characters in a predetermined print area and thus having good appearance. When the print length of an input character string is to be corrected, a comparison is first made in terms of the length of blank in each character and/or clearance between characters. In a case where minus correction is performed to reduce the print length, the blank or clearance is deleted by one column at a time preferentially from the area where the length of the blank and/or clearance is larger; while in a case where plus correction is performed to increase the print length, the clearance is added by one column at a time preferentially to the area where the length of the blank and/or clearance is smaller.
US09740968B2	Method and device for automatic insertion of proof sheets in running printing applications in digital printing systems In a method or controller to execute a proof job of a copy print job, the proof job including a printing of a proof sheet, at a first point in time first raster data for the print sheet of the copy print job is provided. After expiration of a first provisioning time period at least one first job is inserted for printing a plurality of copies of the print sheet into a print buffer. A second point in time is determined at which the print buffer includes a first number of copies of the print sheet that are to be printed, the first number being such that a time period for printing of the first number of copies is greater than or equal to a second provisioning time period for providing of second raster data for the proof sheet of the proof job. After expiration of the second provisioning time period a second job is inserted to print the proof sheet into the print buffer so that copies of the print sheet and the proof sheet are printed according to an order of the first and the second jobs in the print buffer.
US09740966B1	Tagging similar images using neural network An approach is provided in which a knowledge manager selects an extraction layer from a convolutional neural network that was trained on an initial set of images. The knowledge manager processes subsequent images obtained from crawling a computer network that includes extracting image feature sets of the subsequent images from the selected extraction layer and generating tags from metadata associated with the subsequent images. In turn, the knowledge manager receives a new image, extracts a new image feature set from the selected extraction layer, and assigns one or more of the tags to the new image based upon evaluating the new image feature set to the image features sets of the subsequent images.
US09740963B2	Multi-dimensional realization of visual content of an image collection A computing system for realizing visual content of an image collection executes feature detection algorithms and semantic reasoning techniques on the images in the collection to elicit a number of different types of visual features of the images. The computing system indexes the visual features and provides technologies for multi-dimensional content-based clustering, searching, and iterative exploration of the image collection using the visual features and/or the visual feature indices.
US09740962B2	Apparatus and method for spatially referencing images Provided is a method of spatially referencing a plurality of images captured from a plurality of different locations within an indoor space by determining the location from which the plurality of images were captured. The method may include obtaining a plurality of distance-referenced panoramas of an indoor space. The distance-referenced panoramas may each include a plurality of distance-referenced images each captured from one position in the indoor space and at a different azimuth from the other distance-referenced images, a plurality of distance measurements, and orientation indicators each indicative of the azimuth of the corresponding one of the distance-referenced images. The method may further include determining the location of each of the distance-referenced panoramas based on the plurality of distance measurements and the orientation indicators and associating in memory the determined locations with the plurality of distance-referenced images captured from the determined location.
US09740959B2	Acceleration of exposure fusion with pixel shaders A method of fusing images includes encoding first image data of a pixel in a first image and second image data of a like pixel in a second image. The first image and the second image have different exposures and are captured by an image capture device of the same scene from the same location, and the pixel and the like pixel map to an identical coordinate location within their respective images. The method also includes determining, by a graphics processing unit (GPU), a first quality measure for the first image data and a second quality measure for the second image data. A weighted blending of the first image data with the second image data is performed to achieve fused image data for a third pixel at the identical coordinate location in a fused image.
US09740956B2	Method for object segmentation in videos tagged with semantic labels The present invention provides a method for object segmentation in videos tagged with semantic labels, including: detecting each frame of a video sequence with an object bounding box detector from a given semantic category and an object contour detector, and obtaining a candidate object bounding box set and a candidate object contour set for each frame of the input video; building a joint assignment model for the candidate object bounding box set and the candidate object contour set and solving the model to obtain the initial object segment sequence; processing the initial object segment, to estimate a probability distribution of the object shapes; and optimizing the initial object segment sequence with a variant of graph cut algorithm that integrates the shape probability distribution, to obtain an optimal segment sequence.
US09740950B1	Method and system for automatic registration of images A computer-implemented method and system register plural images using a computer processor and computer memory, where computer code stored in the computer memory causes the computer processor to perform the registration. The registration includes receiving a reference image; receiving a sensed image; computing an approximate image transformation between the reference image and the sensed image; finding plural candidate tie points by utilizing template matching; applying radiometric filtering to at least a portion of the plural candidate tie points; applying geometric filtering to at least a portion of the plural candidate tie points; computing a calculated image transformation using candidate points of the plural candidate points that were not filtered out by the radiometric and geometric filtering; transforming the sensed image using the calculated image transformation; and registering the sensed image with the reference image.
US09740948B2	Information input/output device, and medium, using dot patterns with at least two kinds of inks with different reaction characteristic To achieve an information output device in which information of a medium disposed on a stage surface can be surely and efficiently read out, and a stage effect and a security are high. In the information output device, media are disposed on a stage surface in a state where the media are opposite to the stage surface, the media where dot patterns are printed on medium surfaces on the basis of a predetermined rule, the dot patterns are read by imaging units disposed in a space below the stage and converted into code values or coordinate values indicating the dot patterns from photographed images obtained by the imaging units, and information corresponding to the code values or the coordinate values is outputted. Further, light transmitting reading holes are respectively provided at a plurality of medium disposing locations on the stage surface, and the imaging units are disposed in the space below the stage corresponding the respective reading holes such that the imaging units photograph the medium surfaces of the media disposed on the reading holes.
US09740947B2	Hardware architecture for linear-time extraction of maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs) An architecture for linear-time extraction of maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs) having an image memory, heap memory, a pointer array and processing hardware is disclosed. The processing hardware is configured to in real-time analyze image pixels in the image memory using a linear-time algorithm to identify a plurality of components of the image. The processing hardware is also configured to place the image pixels in the heap memory for each of the plurality of components of the image, generate a pointer that points to a location in the heap memory that is associated with a start of flooding for another component and store the pointer in the array of pointers. The processing hardware is also configured to access the plurality of components using the array of pointers and determine MSER ellipses based on the components and MSER criteria.
US09740941B2	Apparatus and method for visualizing loitering objects A method for visualizing loitering objects includes: detecting at least one object determined to have been in a selected area of an input image for a preset time period; obtaining representative still images of each of the detected at least one object in respective time periods during the preset time period; and displaying the representative still images in a time order, or generating a video summary in which images of each of the detected at least one object, respectively included in the representative still images, are displayed together on a single image with indication of the time order.
US09740939B2	Image processing device, information storage device, and image processing method An image processing device includes an image sequence acquisition section that acquires an image sequence that includes a plurality of images, and a processing section that performs an image summarization process that deletes some of the plurality of images included in the image sequence acquired by the image sequence acquisition section to acquire a summary image sequence, the processing section selecting a reference image and a determination target image from the plurality of images, and determining whether or not the determination target image can be deleted based on the results of a process that utilizes deformation information about the reference image and the determination target image, and a process that utilizes a structural element that corresponds to an attention area.
US09740938B2	Eye gaze correction A user's eye gaze is corrected in a video of the user's face. A facial tracking module is configured, in an active tracking mode, to track at least one angular coordinate of the user's face and to output a current value of the at least one angular coordinated that is within a range of possible values. Frames of the video are modified to correct the eye gaze of the user, whereby the user is perceived to be looking directly at the camera in the modified frames, only when the tracking module is in the active tracking mode and the current value is within a restricted subrange of the range of possible values for which the user's face is oriented towards the camera.
US09740937B2	System and method for monitoring a retail environment using video content analysis with depth sensing A method and system for monitoring a retail environment by performing video content analysis based on two-dimensional image data and depth data are disclosed. Accuracy in customer actions to provide assistance, change marketing behavior, safety and theft, for example, is increase by analyzing video containing two-dimensional image data and associated depth data. Height data may be obtained from depth data to assist in object detection, object classification (e.g., detection a customer or inventory) and/or event detection.
US09740931B2	Image processing device, electronic apparatus, and glasses characteristic determination method An image processing device includes a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, configured to determine a characteristic of glasses based on a first contour position and a second contour position, the first contour position indicating a contour position of a face that appears without the glasses and being detected from an obtained face image data of a user, and the second contour position indicating a contour position of the face that appears through the glasses and being detected from the obtained face image data of the user.
US09740930B2	Read determining device and method A read determining device includes: a similar portion identifying unit configured to identify a similar portion in a document which is similar to a portion in the document or a similar portion in a document which is similar to a portion in another document which is already read; and a determination unit that lowers a threshold value with which a document is determined to be read with respect to the document which includes more similar portions than those in another document which includes less similar portions and thereby determines whether or not the document is read, so that the determination accuracy is improved.
US09740927B2	Identifying screenshots within document images Systems and methods for identifying screenshots within document images. An example method comprises: receiving an image of at least a part of a document; identifying, within the image, a polygonal object having a visually distinct border comprising a plurality of edges of one or more intersecting rectangles; asserting a screenshot image hypothesis with respect to the identified polygonal object; and responsive to evaluating at least one condition associated with one or more attributes of the identified polygonal object, classifying the identified polygonal object as a screenshot image.
US09740918B1	Detecting objects in multiple images using integral images Subject matter disclosed herein relates to arrangements and techniques that provide for identifying objects within an image such as the face position of a user of a portable electronic device. An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is configured to locate objects within images. The ASIC includes an image node configured to process an image and a search node configured to search the image for an object in the image. The ASIC also includes an ensemble node configured to confirm the presence of the object in the image. The ensemble node progressively compares, using computational engines that include accumulators, the pixel values of a template with pixel values of a region of interest in the image to create comparison result values.
US09740917B2	Biometric identification systems and methods An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a method of verifying an identity of a person-to-be-identified using biometric signature data. The method comprises creating a sample database based on biometric signature data from a plurality of individuals, calculating a feature database by extracting selected features from entries in the sample database, calculating positive samples and negative sampled based on entries in the feature database, calculating a key bin feature using an adaptive boosting learning algorithm, the key bin feature distinguishing each of the positive samples and negative samples, and calculating a classifier from the key bin feature for use in identifying and authenticating a person-to-be-identified.
US09740915B2	System and method for link analysis based on image processing Methods and systems to identify relationships between individuals by analyzing digital images and automatically detecting individuals who appear together in the images. A link analysis system accepts one or more digital images, and automatically recognizes individuals who appear together in the images. The system may recognize the individuals, for example, by applying a suitable face recognition process to the images. Upon identifying individuals who appear together, the system defines a relationship between them and acts upon the relationship.
US09740910B2	Array substrate, driving method and display device There are disclosed in the present disclosure an array substrate, a driving method of a fingerprint recognition circuit and a display device. The array substrate comprises a substrate. There are formed on the substrate a fingerprint recognition circuit, a fingerprint signal read line, an initialization signal line, a common voltage input terminal and an output control signal line. As such, on one hand, since it is not needed a separate film layer or panel to carry the fingerprint recognition circuit, thickness of a corresponding display device can be reduced; on the other hand, the fingerprint recognition circuit and related signal lines can be formed simultaneously in the process of manufacturing the array substrate, thereby decreasing difficulty in manufacturing the corresponding display device.
US09740908B2	Capacitive fingerprint sensor and package method thereof A capacitive fingerprint sensor includes a plate, a frame, a capacitive fingerprint sensor chip and a package body. The plate comprises a first surface, an opposite second surface and a plurality of first conductive pads arranged on the first surface. A plurality of second conductive pads and third conductive pads are respectively arranged on opposite surfaces of the frame, wherein the second conductive pads are electrically connected with the corresponding first conductive pads and third conductive pads. The capacitive fingerprint sensor chip is disposed at the central area of the frame by a flip chip manner and electrically connected with the first conductive pads. The package body is filled in the central area of the frame to cover the chip. The above-mentioned sensor has a flat sensing surface with wear resistance and better ESD toleration. A package method of the above-mentioned sensor is also disclosed.
US09740907B1	Systems and methods for a self-identifying barcode The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and software for encoding self-identifying barcode data. Selection criteria can be received from a user to encode the self-identifying barcode data. The selection criteria can comprise one or more of a barcode version, a product code, a location, a date, a serial number, and a checksum version. A checksum of the self-identifying barcode data can be calculated and determined whether the checksum is valid. If the checksum is valid, the checksum can be appended to the self-identifying barcode data. The self-identifying barcode data can be sent to an external device to generate a self-identifying barcode.
US09740904B2	Method of using camera sensor interface to transfer multiple channels of scan data using an image format A computer system for decoding a signal of decodable indicia is disclosed. The computer system includes a laser scanner configured that outputs a signal of decodable indicia and a microprocessor that include a camera sensor interface that is configured to receive the signal from the laser scanner.
US09740902B2	Apparatus for and method of triggering electro-optical reading only when a target to be read is in a selected zone in a point-of-transaction workstation Products associated with targets to be read by image capture are processed in a workstation having a window, a solid-state imager looking at a field of view extending through the window to a target to be imaged, and an illumination system for illuminating the field of view. A proximity system detects a product associated with the target in a selected zone outside the window. The proximity system has an infrared (IR) emitter for emitting IR light into an IR emission field, and an IR sensor for sensing return IR light within an IR detection field that intersects the IR emission field in the selected zone. A controller energizes the illumination system in response to the detection of the product in the selected zone, and processes return illumination light captured in the field of view by the imager.
US09740901B2	Graphical menu builder for encoding applications in an image The present invention provides a method and apparatus for encoding applications in an image. One embodiment of the method includes forming a first image that encodes information indicative of a map relating one or more pixel patterns to functionality implemented by a processor-based device. The first image is formed so that the processor-based device can decode the information to generate the map. The method also includes forming a second image that includes the pixel pattern(s). The second image is formed so that the processor-based device can detect the pixel pattern(s) and implement the functionality using the map.
US09740898B1	Person-monitoring system The person monitoring system is a proximity surveillance system. The person monitoring system comprises an interrogator, a tag, and an accessory. A communication link is established between the interrogator and the tag at predetermined, but not necessarily regular, intervals to ensure that the tag is in the proximity of the interrogator. The tag is attached to an accessory. The person monitoring system is adapted for use with a first person and a second person. The first person carries the interrogator. The second person wears the accessory with the tag. Should the communication link fail to be established, the interrogator initiates an alarm informing the first person that the second person is no longer nearby.
US09740896B1	Method and system for managing an efficient production floor, via the internet of things The invention discloses a computerized method for planning and monitoring an efficient production floor. A production site is provided with communication access to a central server configured to:receive input data comprising details a planned job run of the production floor;receive status and location parameters pertaining to tagged central key assets of a production floor, from tracking readers located in the production site;compare the parameters to preconfigured rules using a context analyzing component;output decisions based on the comparison; the decisions resulting in generating alerts and/or recommendations pertaining to the parameters of the key assets,communicate the alerts, and/or recommendations, digitally to specified personnel; these alerts and/or recommendations related to flow of the production floor.A system of the invention is also disclosed.
US09740889B2	Determining a computer's position and system for manufacturing a tag A method for accurately positioning a computer position, and identifying a specific rack position where the computer is without manual intervention. A camera is installed on the computer to read the contents of a tag on the rack, so as to identify the position information of the computer. Specifically, the computer is provided with a self-positioning function, wherein: a camera is installed on the computer, and the camera is configured to read the contents of a tag attached on a side of a rack to house the computer to identify the rack position where the computer is.
US09740888B1	Tamper evident detection Systems or methods can be used to detect evidence of tampering. The tampering can be physical tampering, such as the turning of a screw, or removal or modification of an electronic component. In some examples, a tamper detection value can be determined from a tamper detection device and compared to a predetermined tamper detection value to determine if tampering is indicated. The system can, upon detection of the tampering, halt an operation, disable device or circuit functionality, disable future operations, physically disable a device, or any combination thereof.
US09740887B2	Methods and systems to restrict usage of a DMA channel In at least some embodiments, a system comprises a processor and a direct memory access (DMA) subsystem coupled to the processor. The system further comprises a component coupled to the DMA subsystem via an interconnect employing security rules, wherein, if the component requests a DMA channel, the DMA subsystem restricts usage of the DMA channel based on the security rules.
US09740886B2	Enhanced security for hardware decoder accelerator A software security layer may be used to protect a system against exploitation of a hardware encoder accelerator by malicious data embedded in the one or more frames of encoded digital streaming data. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US09740882B2	Sensor privacy mode Technologies for sensor privacy on a computing device include receiving, by a sensor controller of the computing device, sensor data from a sensor of the computing device; determining a sensor mode for the sensor; and sending privacy data in place of the sensor data in response to a determination that the sensor mode for the sensor is set to a private mode. The technologies may also include receiving, by a security engine of the computing device, a sensor mode change command from a user of the computing device via a trusted input/output path of the computing device; and sending a mode command to the sensor controller to set the sensor mode of the sensor based on the sensor mode change command, wherein the sending the mode command comprises sending the mode command over a private bus established between the security engine and the sensor controller. Other embodiments are described herein.
US09740881B2	Defense against search engine tracking Techniques for enhancing electronic privacy utilize noise to prevent third parties from determining certain information based on search queries. Users submit search queries as part of their normal activities. For a user, the search queries submitted and information regarding search results used to generate additional search queries on different, but related topics. The generated additional search queries are submitted automatically on behalf of the user at a sufficient frequency to prevent high accuracy data analysis on search queries.
US09740877B2	Systems and methods for data loss prevention while preserving privacy Systems and methods for data loss prevention while preserving privacy are described, including receiving a data communication originating from an online account of a user device associated with the enterprise; performing an analysis to determine that the data communication is a candidate data leakage, based on a context of the data communication; encrypting the data communication, and providing the host-encrypted data communication to a software agent at the enterprise; receiving a software agent-encrypted database of enterprise communication and the host-encrypted data communication, re-encrypted by the software agent; decrypting a host-encrypted aspect of the re-encrypted data communication to generate a software agent-encrypted data communication; performing a matching operation to determine whether a match exists between the encrypted database of information and the software agent-encrypted data communication; if the match exists, reporting the match to the software agent; and if the match does not exist, the host taking an action.
US09740875B2	Mobile device sharing facilitation methods and systems featuring exclusive data presentation Structures and protocols are presented for using or otherwise relating to a first mobile device (a smartphone or tablet computer or wearable device, e.g.) configured to be shared by two or more parties such that a subset of the parties may be addressed selectively (in content directed to such parties, e.g.) in a cost-effective manner.
US09740874B2	Content preview including sharable information A user of a content management system can store one or more content items at the user's account with the system. In some instances, the system can generate and present a preview of a content item of interest (e.g., a content item selected by the user). In addition to the preview of the content item, the system can generate and present a web address or other machine-readable code referring to (or otherwise associated with) the preview of the content item. Various embodiments of the present disclosure can enable the web address or other machine-readable code to be sharable and to provide access to the content item (or a copy thereof). For example, the user who is previewing the content item can share the web address of the preview with one or more other users. The one or more users can then access the content item via the web address.
US09740872B2	Data access control systems and methods Various hardware and software configurations are described herein which provide improved security and control over protected data. In some embodiments, a computer includes a main motherboard card coupled to all input/output devices connected to the computer, and a trusted operating system operates on the main motherboard which includes an access control module for controlling access to the protected data in accordance with rules. The trusted operating system stores the protected data in an unprotected form only on the memory devices on the main motherboard. The computer may also have a computer card coupled to the main motherboard via a PCI bus, on which is operating a guest operating system session for handling requests for data from software applications on the computer. A tamper detection mechanism is provided in the computer for protecting against attempts to copy the unprotected form of the protected data onto memory devices other than the one or more memory devices used by the motherboard or computer card.
US09740868B2	Customizing a security report using static analysis Respective edge weights are assigned to edges of a plurality of paths in a control flow graph representing a model of data flow of a computer program. Edge weights assigned to each edge are processed to determine a total edge weight for the respective paths, the total edge weight for a respective path being a sum of the edge weights assigned to the respective edges of the path. At least one path in the control flow graph whose total edge weight satisfies a particular total edge weight criteria can be identified, and the control flow graph can be updated to indicate to the user the at least one path in the control flow graph whose total edge weight satisfies the particular total edge weight criteria. The updated control flow graph can be presented to the user.
US09740861B2	Method for detecting eavesdropping activity and terminal device A method for detecting an eavesdropping activity and a terminal device. The method includes determining whether a terminal device is in a conversation; when the terminal device is in a conversation, determining whether the terminal device has an application that starts a recording function; and when the terminal device has an application that starts a recording function, sending out an eavesdropping alarm prompt. By adopting the technical solutions of the present invention, an eavesdropping activity in a manner of recording may be detected.
US09740856B2	Apparatus and method for managing gaming engine file in a mobile platform The present invention relates to managing a UNITY file in a mobile platform in order to forestall a UNITY library executable in a mobile platform from being analyzed by reverse engineering and decompiling and provides an apparatus for managing a UNITY file in a mobile platform comprising a file extracting section that extracts a UNITY library file from a UNITY application; an encrypting section that encrypts a programming library file in the UNITY library file thus extracted and creates an encrypted programming library file; a file creating section that creates a decrypting library to decrypt the encrypted programming library file and creates a secured UNITY application using the decrypting library and the encrypted programming library file; and a file executing section that, upon request to execute the secured UNITY application, executes the secured application by decrypting the encrypted programming library file using the decrypting library.
US09740850B2	Controlling which users from an organization are to be part of a community space in an easy and error-free manner A method, system and computer program product for controlling which users from an organization are to be part of a community space. A community collaboration mechanism provides a list of organizations authorized to collaborate with the organization of the user. The mechanism then receives from the user a selection of organizations from this list of organizations. Upon receiving indication(s) (e.g., e-mail addresses) of users to be added to the community space, the mechanism provides a list of users who are members of the user selected organizations to engage in a collaborative activity with the user based on these indication(s). The mechanism then receives a selection of users from this list of users and adds those users to the community space. In this manner, the user can control which users from an organization are to be part of a community space in an easy and error-free manner.
US09740849B2	Registration and authentication of computing devices using a digital skeleton key A method for registering a computing device to a user account using at least one user-selected fingerprintable device externally accessible to the computing device including transmitting a registration information request to the computing device, receiving at least one device fingerprint of the at least one user-selected fingerprintable device accessible by the computing device, and primary identification data of the computing device, generating a skeleton key, recording the primary identification data, and associating the skeleton key and the primary identification data with the user account. A method for authenticating the computing device including transmitting an authentication information request to the computing device, receiving an encrypted identification data from the computing device, decrypting the encrypted identification data using a skeleton key associated with the user account, comparing the decrypted identification data with a primary identification data associated with the user account, and authenticating the computing device.
US09740843B2	Method, system, license server for providing a license to a user for accessing a protected content on a user device and software module A method for providing a license to a user for accessing a protected content on a user device is provided, the method comprising: transmitting user authentication data from the user device to a user account server; transmitting user identification data from the user account server to a license server if the user authentication data corresponds to a valid user account on the user account server; checking in the license server, whether the user is entitled to the license; and transmitting the license from the license server to the user device, if the user identification data is validated and if the user is deemed entitled to the license. A corresponding system, a license server and a software module are provided as well.
US09740841B2	Using biometric user-specific attributes Techniques are provided for determining two or more user-specific parameters that can be measured or obtained using various methods, and using values of the two or more user-specific parameters to uniquely identify or authenticate an individual. Examples of the user-specific parameters may include biometric parameters, textual-based parameters, a combination of biometric parameters and textual-based parameters, and the like.
US09740840B2	User authentication using voice and image data Techniques are generally described for user authentication. Example techniques may include providing a data set including audio data and image data, wherein the audio data includes voice recordings of multiple people, wherein the image data includes at least a facial image of at least one of the multiple people, receiving a response to the data set from a user device, and determining whether the received response corresponds to at least a part of content of the voice recording of the one of the multiple people whose facial image is included in the image data.
US09740839B2	Computing device chording authentication and control Chording techniques are described that may be utilized in a variety of ways to provide inputs to a computing device. The computing device, for instance, may include sensors disposed on a housing of the computing device such that the sensors are configured to detect fingers of a user when grasping the device. Detection of a likely indexed relative position of the fingers of the user's hand in relation to each other, and even an amount of pressure used by respective ones of the fingers, may be used to define and input chords that may be used to initiate operations of the computing device.
US09740823B2	Healthcare tracking A computer-implemented method is disclosed. The method includes obtaining location-time data automatically generated by a mobile electronic device associated with a healthcare provider, correlating the location-time data with a location of a healthcare patient, and using the location-time data to bill for care of the healthcare patient by the healthcare provider.
US09740822B2	Tags for automated location and monitoring of moveable objects and related systems An example embodiment provides a method, including: communicating, using a plurality of receivers placed throughout a hospital, with a tag affixed to a moveable object; receiving, via one or more of the plurality of receivers, location data of the tag affixed to the movable object; identifying, using data received from the tag, the movable object; determining, based on the one or more of the plurality of receivers transmitting the location data, a location within the hospital of the movable object; associating, using location information of a database, a use state for the movable object based on the location of the movable object within the hospital, the database storing the location information associated with placements of the plurality of receivers and a use state for a movable object associated with the placements; and updating, using a processor, a use state for the movable object. Related methods and products are also described and/or claimed herein.
US09740819B2	Method for determining risk of diabetes A method of determining risk of diabetes is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises: a) measuring the levels of a plurality of biomarkers in a blood samples obtained from a patient, wherein the plurality of biomarkers comprises at least five of the following biomarkers: glucose, adiponectin, CRP, IL2RA, ferritin, insulin and HbAIc; b) calculating a diabetes risk score for the patients using the levels and, optionally, patient age and/or gender. Results obtained from performing the assay on a reference population are similar or identical to those obtained using Formula I.
US09740816B2	Method and apparatus for network traffic simulation Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for network traffic simulation. The method includes: obtaining traffic information and user requirement information of a to-be-simulated IP network; analyzing the traffic information to generate a traffic characteristic; according to correspondence between user requirement information and traffic models, obtaining a traffic model corresponding to the user requirement information; and generating, through simulation, traffic of the to-be-simulated IP network according to the traffic characteristic and the traffic model. The embodiments of the present invention can improve flexibility and an emulation degree of traffic simulation.
US09740814B1	Method and system for triple patterning technology (TPT) violation detection and visualization A method, system, and computer program product for triple patterning technology (TPT) violation detection and visualization within an integrated circuit design layout are disclosed. In a first aspect, the method comprises mapping a plurality of violations of the integrated circuit design layout to a graph, generating a color graph corresponding to the graph, detecting at least one TPT violation from the color graph; and visualizing the at least one TPT violation on a layout canvas. In a second aspect, the system comprises a graph generator module for mapping a plurality of violations of the integrated circuit design layout to a graph and to generate a color graph corresponding to the graph, a detector module for detecting at least one TPT violation from the color graph, and a visualizer module for visualizing the at least one TPT violation on a layout canvas.
US09740813B1	Layout effect characterization for integrated circuits An aspect includes forming a layout effect characterization circuit by incorporating a plurality of inverting device chains including a reference chain and one or more chains having a different inverting device arrangement and a same number of inverting devices per chain in an integrated circuit layout. A low pass filter is coupled to an output of the inverting device chains to produce a filtered output. An output capture circuit is coupled to the filtered output to enable a comparison of a captured filtered output of the one or more chains having the different inverting device arrangement to a captured filtered output of the reference chain.
US09740811B2	Virtual hierarchical layer patterning Identifying the interactions of a selected cell across a hierarchical diagram of an integrated circuit and mapping the ways in which the cell can interact with other structures in the hierarchy reduces the computational load for design rule checking (DRC) and design rules for manufacturing (DRM). To this end, a cell and multiple instances of the cell are identified within hierarchical design levels of the chip. The interactions between the cell and other cells within the hierarchy are subtracted from the cell boundary, and the results of the subtracting are merged in the cell boundary. By subtracting the results of the merging, identical interactions are identified across the multiple instances of the cell. The results of the subtracting are used to generate a virtual hierarchical layer identical (VHLi) which aids in the simulation and verification of the chip.
US09740808B2	Method and apparatus for implementing a system-level design tool for design planning and architecture exploration A method for designing a system on a target device includes mapping a high-level description of the system onto a model of a target device prior to generating a register transfer level description of the system. A visual representation of the mapping is generated.
US09740805B1	Method and system for detecting hotspots for photolithographically-defined devices A method detects hot spots from overlay error data for photolithography defined device(s). The overlay error data corresponds to data for sites on a substrate for the photolithography defined device(s). The overlay error data is converted to residual overlay data, which indicates a residual overlay error for each of the sites. The residual overlay error is based on an expected overlay error for each of the sites. It is determined whether group(s) of overlay error sites are present. Each group includes at least two nearest neighbor sites that have the residual overlay error greater than a threshold. For each group of overlay error sites, it is determined whether the group fits a physical model, such as the derivative of a Gaussian, for a hotspot. Each group fitting the physical model is categorized as a hotspot. Hotspot parameters are determined for each group that fits the physical model.
US09740800B2	Systems and methods for intelligent power tool access Systems and methods are provided for designing a composite tool to manipulate a specific set of known fasteners in a product, the fastener(s) having a constrained access and specific torque requirements. The system comprises a display screen, a database, a means for scanning and a computing device executing at least an operating system configured to operate the display screen, the database and the means for scanning. The computing device is further configured to electronically select a virtual socket that is configured to properly engage the fastener at its driving end, virtually position at the fastener in a pre-secure and a post-secure position within a virtual constrained access, and electronically determine the existence of an interference condition at either or both of the pre-secure or post-secure position. When an interference condition exists, computing device electronically selects another socket with a different dimension and repeating the virtual positioning and electronically determine steps.
US09740799B2	Cut-fold shape technology for engineered molded fiber boards A three-dimensional engineered shaped fiber configuration is formed using determined structural requirements for a three-dimensional engineered shaped fiber configuration and ascertained properties of an engineered molded fiber fiberboard material. A first cut on a top surface and a second cut on a bottom surface of the fiberboard material are calculated. These calculations are based, at least in part, on the structural requirements properties of the fiberboard material. The first cut and the second cut each have a depth, a width, and a position. The first cut and the second cut have a spacing between them such that the flat piece of fiberboard material can be folded at a point located in the spacing between the first cut and second cut to position a first portion of the fiberboard material at a particular angle with respect to a second portion of the fiberboard material.
US09740797B2	Counting bloom filter Technologies are generally described for a scheme for computing a counting number of a keyword. In some examples, a method performed under control of a computing device may include obtaining a result of a j-th set of hash functions with regard to a key; marking a head marker into a bit array of a bloom filter based at least in part on the result of the j-th set of hash functions, if the j is zero; and marking a tail marker into the bit array of the bloom filter based at least in part on the result of the j-th set of hash functions, if the j is the same as or larger than 1.
US09740792B2	Connection paths for application topology A user may create a blueprint that specifies an application's architecture, including virtual machines (VM) nodes, software services and application components within the VM nodes. To do so, the user manipulates a graphical user interface (GUI) rendered by a graph layout manager and a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) layout engine. The SVG layout engine parses declarative layout configurations and translates the declarative layout into SVG elements that visually represent the blueprint. The graph layout manager renders topology connections representing deployment dependencies in the GUI using a street-block-and-roads design pattern.
US09740789B2	Search engine analytics and optimization for media content in social networks Embodiments include method, systems and computer program products for searching a social network for media content. Aspects include receiving a query for media content related to a topic from a user, identifying a plurality of content items associated with the topic and determining a quality score for each of the plurality of content items. Aspects also include providing a subset of the plurality of content items to the user, wherein the subset is selected based on the quality score and updating the quality score of one or more content items in the subset based on a behavior of the user in viewing the subset of the plurality of content items.
US09740788B2	Interactive selection and display of a raw data parsing rule Embodiments are directed towards previewing results generated from indexing data raw data before the corresponding index data is added to an index store. Raw data may be received from a preview data source. After an initial set of configuration information may be established, the preview data may be submitted to an index processing pipeline. A previewing application may generate preview results based on the preview index data and the configuration information. The preview results may enable previewing how the data is being processed by the indexing application. If the preview results are not acceptable, the configuration information may be modified. The preview application enables modification of the configuration information until the generated preview results may be acceptable. If the configuration information is acceptable, the preview data may be processed and indexed in one or more index stores.
US09740787B2	Application search results based on a current search query and a previous search query A search server that receives a search request from a mobile computing device, the search request comprising a first search query that comprises one or more search terms; utilizes stored search queries to determine a second search query received from the mobile computing device, the second search query being received within a threshold time period prior to the first search query; determines search results by identifying applications based on the stored information regarding the applications and the search terms in the first search query; for at least one application in the search results, determines a state of the application that corresponds with the second search query; and transmits a search result object comprising information regarding the applications determined based on the first search query and the states determined based on the second search query.
US09740785B1	Ranking discussion forum threads Discussion threads may be ranked based a factor other than a time since a most recent post of the discussion thread. Discussion threads may be ranked based on a likelihood of each discussion thread being helpful to a broad range of users and/or based on how likely each discussion thread is to draw users to participate in the respective discussion thread.
US09740784B2	System and method for presenting information about an object on a portable electronic device Systems and methods are provided for enabling a portable electronic device to retrieve information about an object when the object's symbology, e.g., a barcode, is detected. According to one embodiment a method is providing in which symbology associated with an object is detected and decoded to obtain a decode string. The decode string is sent to one or more visual detection applications for processing, wherein the one or more visual detection applications reside on the portable electronic device, and receiving a first amount of information about the object from the one or more visual detection applications. The method also includes sending the decode string to a remote server for processing and receiving a second amount of information about the object from the remote server. The first amount of information is combined with the second amount of information to obtain cumulative information which is displayed on the portable electronic device.
US09740781B2	Secure DNS query A secure DNS query may be made by establishing a secure connection with a specific DNS server to determine an address for a hostname. A client device may have a database that may contain a record of a secure DNS server for one or more hostnames. When a DNS request contains one of the specified hostnames, an authenticated session may be created with the designated secure DNS server and a network address for the hostname is returned using the session. The authenticated session may authenticate a client device to the server as well as authenticate the server to the client. In some embodiments, the secure DNS server may accept connections from authenticated clients and may disregard connection requests from non authenticated clients.
US09740778B2	Ranking domains using domain maturity Ranking domains for search engines is provided herein. To rank a domain, contributing domains associated with the domain are identified. Additionally, the maturity of each of the contributing domains is determined. A rank for the domain is then determined based at least in part on the maturity of each of the contributing domains. The domain rankings may then be used to order results for search queries.
US09740777B2	Systems and methods for saving and presenting a state of a communication session A system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for saving and presenting a state of a communication session are presented. The communication session may be established between a client device and an application server of a content publisher, and may include the presentation of content on the client device. In some embodiments, the method may include receiving user input to save a state of the communication session, and in response, temporarily storing session data representative of the state of the communication session for a predetermined duration of the communication session. The method may further include generating and presenting an interface that includes a visual representation of the session data, and allows a user to return to the saved state of the communication session.
US09740776B2	Method for extracting residual videos and deleted videos in a DVR hard disk A method for extracting residual videos in a DVR hard disk and deleted videos, including: 1) connecting and recognizing devices; 2) judging whether a file system can be recognized; 3) if so, parsing disk partitions and matching the file system; 4) scanning sectors one by one; 5) parsing video data, capturing and recording same; 6) enumerating a video list and displaying same; and 7) extracting videos. Parsing and data extraction can be conducted on all DVR hard disks of various types of various manufacturers, and files in the hard disks can be reorganized into valid, single-channel and continuously played video files; and useful video data can be parsed and screened out, thereby reducing human and material resources.
US09740766B2	Methods and systems of playing multi-source media content Methods and systems described herein play multi-source media content. A multi-source media content includes digital assets from multiple media sources. The digital assets may include a video digital asset, an audio digital asset, or a textual digital asset. The digital assets may be provided by different media content providers. The digital assets from multiple media sources may be played such that various components (e.g., a video component, an audio component, or a textual component) of a media content are synchronized. When a digital asset or a digital asset segment for a media content is retrieved from a media content provider into the domain, an index is created to associate the digital asset with the media source from which the digital asset or the digital asset segment may be retrieved. As such, a media content may be played without retrieving, from a media content provider, those digital assets or digital asset segments already existing in the domain.
US09740764B2	Systems and methods for probabilistic data classification A system for performing data classification operations. In one embodiment, the system comprises a file system configured to store a plurality of computer files and a scanning agent configured to traverse the file system and compile data regarding the attributes and content of the plurality of computer files. The system also comprises an index configured to store the data regarding attributes and content of the plurality of computer files and a file classifier configured to analyze the data regarding the attributes and content of the plurality of computer files and to classify the plurality of computer files into one or more categories based on the data regarding the attributes and content of the plurality of computer files. Results of the file classification operations can be used to set appropriate security permissions on files which include sensitive information or to control the way that a file is backed up or the schedule according to which it is archived.
US09740762B2	System and method for optimizing data migration in a partitioned database According to one aspect, provided is a horizontally scaled database architecture. Partition a database enables efficient distribution of data across a number of systems reducing processing costs associated with multiple machines. According to some aspects, the partitioned database can be manages as a single source interface to handle client requests. Further, it is realized that by identifying and testing key properties, horizontal scaling architectures can be implemented and operated with minimal overhead. In one embodiment, databases can be partitioned in an order preserving manner such that the overhead associated with moving the data for a given partition can be minimized during management of the data and/or database. In one embodiment, splits and migrations operations prioritize zero cost partitions, thereby, reducing computational burden associated with managing a partitioned database.
US09740761B2	Management of application state data Disclosed are various embodiments for synchronizing application state information across devices. More specifically, embodiments of the disclosure are related to generating and storing of application state information. Key-value pairs are stored on a client device and synchronized with an application synchronization service.
US09740760B2	Method for tracking differences between production and development databases to perform an automatic synchronization Embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for updating a development database. In some embodiments, the system and method compare a development database and an associated production database to determine a drift score. The development database is then updated when the drift score exceeds a predetermined threshold. In some situations, the system extracts a schema from the development database and the associated production database in order to identify differences between the two databases. The system then calculates a drift score based on the differences and compares the drift score to a predetermined threshold value. If the drift score exceeds the threshold value, the system alerts the user to update the development database or automatically updates the development database.
US09740759B1	Cloud migrator A computer implemented method, system, and program product comprising migrating data from a first cloud to a second cloud via a cloud router and a cloud migrator, wherein read write access to data in the first cloud and the second cloud are enabled during migration.
US09740753B2	Using spheres-of-influence to characterize network relationships Techniques are disclosed for using spheres-of-influence to characterize network relationships, where a graph depicts stronger relationships as being closer to an entity than more tenuous relationships. That is, while an entity may have many first-degree relationships, some relationships are closer than others. Thus, relationships where one entity may have a greater degree of influence over another are characterized as being closer to an entity in a graph. Similarly, a tenuous first-degree relationship may be characterized as being at a greater “depth” from the entity in the graph.
US09740749B2	Contextualization of entity relationships Methods and arrangements for identifying related data in different data sets to assist in searching the data sets. A first data asset and a second data asset are accessed. Common entities are identified between the first and second data assets. A score is determined for the relationship between the first and second data assets, based on the identified common entities. One or more relationship contexts are determined for the relationship between the first and second data assets, and the relationship score and one or more relationship contexts are used to join at least a portion of each of the first and second data assets as a basis for subsequent searching. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.
US09740746B2	Question answer system using physical distance data A question relating to an individual is received and context from the question is extracted. Subject matter criteria can be identified from the context of the question. A database containing history data that includes recorded positional data for physical objects relative to the location of the individual at the time of recording can be accessed and relevant physical objects from the history data can be identified based upon the subject matter criteria. A set of answers can be generated for the question from a corpus of data and ranked based upon the identified physical objects and physical distance between the individual and the relevant physical objects.
US09740741B2	Aggregate query-caching in databases architectures with a differential buffer and a main store The invention relates to a computer system for both online transaction processing and online analytical processing, comprising: a processor coupled to a database, the database comprising the database comprising: a main store (116) for storing records, a differential buffer (114) for receiving and buffering added or deleted or modified records, the differential buffer being coupled to the main store, a schema comprising records stored in the main store and records stored in the differential buffer, and a cache store (112) for caching a result of a query against the schema; and a cache controller (106) executable by the processor and communicatively coupled to the database, the cache controller being configured for: storing the result of the query in the cache store; receiving an analytical request; and determining, in response to the received request, an up-to-date result of the query by (216): accessing the cache store to obtain the cached result; determining the records of the schema that have been added or deleted or modified since the step of storing the cached result in the cache store on the basis of the records stored in the differential buffer; and incrementally deriving the up-to-date result from the cached result and from the records determined in the previous step.
US09740738B1	Data retrieval from datastores with different data storage formats A request that includes a syntax tree is received. A query plan that comprising one or more queries using storage metadata and one or more data attributes obtained from the syntax tree is generated. Individual ones of the one or more queries are used to retrieve at least one of the one or more data attributes from the at least two datastores. The generating of the query plan is generated by modifying individual ones of the one or more queries to access a datastore of the at least two datastores having a lower data retrieval latency. The one or more queries of the query plan are executed to generate the report, the report including data resulting from the executing of the one or more queries.
US09740737B2	Computer-implemented method and system for content creation A computer-implemented method for content creation, the method having the steps of: receiving at least one keyword related to said content; creating a first query associated with said at least one keyword; providing said first query to at least one resource to discover information related to said at least one keyword to automatically provide at least one suggestion based on said discovered information to aid said user create content; and whereby said steps are executed in a recursive manner as said content is created.
US09740735B2	Programming language extensions in structured queries The insertion and processing of programming language code (e.g., C#) in SQL statements, and the dynamic compiling of the code to detect errors prior to statement execution. The SQL statement with arbitrary programming language code can then be executed concurrently as a query on a computer cluster. External libraries can be imported and the associated functionality leveraged from within a SQL statement. The programming language compiler performs checking at build time, rather than retuning an error during the statement execution against the cluster, a potentially costly proposition in both computing time and human resources.
US09740734B2	Group-by processing for data containing singleton groups According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system performs a grouping operation for a database query. The system assigns data elements to groups and aggregates information for a group in response to assigning the group two or more data elements. The system passes the aggregated information for a group of two or more data elements for processing in accordance with the query, and passes information for a data element of a single-member group in a received form for processing in accordance with the query. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for grouping data elements in substantially the same manners described above.
US09740731B2	Event based document sorter and method Events and/or topics are studied and classified according to their temporal qualities to determine their relative state. The content of a document relating to such event/topic is analyzed to identify temporal components. These components can be compared with corresponding counterparts in other documents to identify a relative temporal order. The invention can be used in environments such as automated news aggregators, search engines, and other electronic systems which compile information having temporal qualities.
US09740729B2	Technique for global deduplication across datacenters with minimal coordination A system and method for global data de-duplication in a cloud storage environment utilizing a plurality of data centers is provided. Each cloud storage gateway appliance divides a data stream into a plurality of data objects and generates a content-based hash value as a key for each data object. An IMMUTABLE PUT operation is utilized to store the data object at the associated key within the cloud.
US09740718B2	Aggregating dimensional data using dense containers Methods, computer systems, and stored instructions are described herein for densely grouping dimensional data and/or aggregating data using a data structure, such as one that is constructed based on dimensional data. When smaller tables are joined with a larger table, a server may analyze the smaller tables first to determine actual value combinations that occur in the smaller tables, and these actual value combinations are used to more efficiently process the larger table. A dense data structure may be generated by processing dimensional data before processing data from fact table. The dense data structure may be generated by compressing ranges of values that are possible in dimensions into a range of values that actually occurs in the dimensions. The compressed range of values may be represented by dense set identifiers rather than the actual compressed range of values.
US09740716B2	System and method for dynamically selecting a garbage collection algorithm based on the contents of heap regions A system and method for dynamically selecting a garbage collection algorithm based on the contents of heap regions. In accordance with an embodiment, a software application can be instrumented so that the system can place software objects allocated by the application, or by different parts of the application, into different regions of the heap. When garbage collection is invoked, the system can scan the heap, examine object statistics to determine if particular objects are, e.g., short-lived, long-lived, or some other type of object, and then use this information to determine which garbage collection algorithm to use with particular heap regions. In accordance with an embodiment, the system can identify regions as containing particular object types, for example, movable or non-movable object types, or object liveness, and use different garbage collection algorithms accordingly. Different garbage collection algorithms can be used with different regions, based on their content at a particular time.
US09740715B2	Deleting records in a multi-level storage architecture Deleting a data record from the second level storage or main store is disclosed. A look-up is performed for the data record in the first level storage, where the data record is defined by a row identifier. If the row identifier is found in the first level storage, a look-up is performed for an updated row identifier representing an update of the data record in the second level storage and the main store, the update of the data record being defined by an updated row identifier. If the updated row identifier is found in the second level storage, an undo log is generated from the first level storage to invalidate a row identifier of the row identifier. A flag is generated representing an invalid updated row identifier, and a redo log is generated to restore the data record in the first level storage.
US09740710B2	Systems and methods for segmenting medical images based on anatomical landmark-based features The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for segmenting medical images. Embodiments of the present disclosure may relate to a method for segmenting medical images. The method may be implemented by a processor device executing a plurality of computer executable instructions. The method may comprise receiving an image from a memory, and identifying at least one landmark point within the image. The method may further comprise selecting an image point in the image, and determining at least one feature for the image point relative to the at least one landmark point. The method may also comprise associating the image point with an anatomical structure by using a classification model based on the at least one determined feature.
US09740708B2	Systems and methods for distance and performance based load balancing Systems and methods for a DNS management system utilize a distance-based and/or a performance-based A record. A DNS management system of embodiments receives a request from a client for an IP address associated with a domain name. A database of IP address location records is queried to determine a geographic location of the client in operation according to embodiments. An A record corresponding to the geographically closest available server node may thereafter be delivered to the client. A system operable according to embodiments may additionally or alternatively monitor the performance of available servers and deliver an A record corresponding to the best performing local server.
US09740707B2	Peer-to-peer redundant file server system and methods Peer-to-peer redundant file server system and methods include clients that determine a target storage provider to contact for a particular storage transaction based on a pathname provided by the filesystem and a predetermined scheme such as a hash function applied to a portion of the pathname. Servers use the same scheme to determine where to store relevant file information so that the clients can locate the file information. The target storage provider may store the file itself and/or may store metadata that identifies one or more other storage providers where the file is stored. A file may be replicated in multiple storage providers, and the metadata may include a list of storage providers from which the clients can select (e.g., randomly) in order to access the file.
US09740705B2	Storlet workflow optimization leveraging clustered file system roles A method for adjusting roles of nodes in a distributed clustered file system can include receiving a first computation operation. The method can also include profiling the first computation operation according to one or more metrics, including identifying and categorizing a first process performed by the first computation operation. The method can also include determining a first file system attribute of the first computation operation. The method can also include performing a lookup operation based on a first computation operation template and identifying that the first computation operation serves a first file system role. The method can also include receiving an identification, in response to the performing the lookup, that a first node of a plurality of nodes can utilize additional computation of the first file system role. The method can also include executing the first computation operation on the first node.
US09740701B1	Snapshot cauterization Implementations disclosed herein provide for cauterizing portions of a snapshot. A file and/or directory or a set of files and directories of a snapshot can be identified via a user request or an automated process for cauterization. When cauterized, if a previous snapshot does not contain a ditto entry to the portion of the current snapshot that is requested to be cauterized, the BADDR associated with the cauterized portion of the snapshot can be freed for other storage use. In some implementations, metadata associated with the data that is cauterized can be retained for other uses.
US09740697B2	Subscriber driven media agnostic content delivery across networks A system and method is provided to facilitate subscriber driven media agnostic content delivery across same or different networks. The method includes receiving preferences from a sending client and a receiving client and receiving content of a first media type over a network. The method further includes sending the content or a reference to the content to the receiving client in a preferred media type and to a preferred device in accordance with at least one preference of the receiving client. The method also includes notifying at least the receiving client that the content is to be received by the preferred device.
US09740695B2	Method for enriching a multimedia content, and corresponding device According to the invention, the method comprises the following steps of: clustering said plurality of creators to deliver clusters comprising at least two creators, called relevant creators; assigning, to at least some relevant creators of the cluster comprising the first creator, called first cluster, a score of relevance determined from at least one criterion of similarity between said relevant creators and said first creator; ranking relevant creators of said first cluster according to their scores of relevance; selecting, among a plurality of multimedia contents, at least one second multimedia content related to said first multimedia content and delivered by a ranked relevant creator of said first cluster; enriching said first multimedia content based on said second multimedia content.
US09740691B2	Interspecies language with enabling technology and training protocols The Interspecies Language (ISL) is a method for communicating that includes a visual language, as tonal language, a training protocol that integrates them, and an enabling apparatus. The ISL visual language communicates through a display that creates a “picture” of a sentence on a touchscreen. This visual display embodies the ISL's syntax and structures how the user employs it to build sentences. Sentences are constructed by dragging icons, which are pictures or abstract images representing objects or concepts, into the structured areas of the visual array. The ISL tonal language communicates through a structured series of tones that are grouped so that tones within a grouping are members of a class of objects or concepts. The tones are sounded when an icon is placed into the visual array in the course of building a sentence. The ISL is deployed through an apparatus that includes a touchscreen, computer, chute, and industrial controls. With its clear structure for the animal's response, the ISL provides a method for meaningful, two-way communication between animals and humans or between humans.

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