| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09872419B1 |
Transceiver module having improved metal housing for EMI containment
A transceiver module includes a printed circuit board and a metal housing enclosing the printed circuit board and defining a front opening, the metal housing including a base portion and a cover portion, the base portion including two opposite side portions, the cover portion including two opposite fixing portions each engaged with a corresponding side portion; wherein each of the side portions defines a gap having an outside opening on an outside wall thereof, each of the fixing portions includes a top portion inwardly extending from a top end thereof, and the top portion is inserted in a corresponding gap. |
| US09872415B2 |
Dry power supply assembly for immersion-cooled information handling systems
Systems and methods for a dry power supply for immersion-cooled Information Handling Systems (IHSs) are described. In some embodiments, an IHS may include: a chassis configured to be at least partially disposed under a surface of a dielectric liquid coolant, where the chassis includes one or more components configured to be cooled by the dielectric liquid coolant during operation of the IHS; and a power supply coupled to the chassis and configured to provide power to the one or more components via an adaptor configured to maintain the power supply above the surface of the dielectric liquid coolant during operation of the IHS, where the power supply comprises a fan configured to blow air. |
| US09872411B2 |
Remote terminal unit (RTU) supporting elevated operating temperature and reduced power consumption
An apparatus includes a remote terminal unit (RTU) having a housing, where at least a portion of the housing includes a shell of thermally-conductive material. The RTU also includes at least one circuit board assembly having at least one processing device configured to communicate with one or more industrial control and automation field devices via one or more input/output (I/O) channels. The at least one circuit board assembly is positioned within the shell. The RTU further includes a heat sink configured to remove thermal energy from the at least one processing device. In addition, the RTU includes a thermal pad configured to receive the thermal energy from the heat sink and to provide the thermal energy to the shell. |
| US09872407B2 |
Electronic device
Provided is an electronic device including a cover made of a material which is transparent to at least UV, and black printing which is impervious to UV and is applied on a peripheral edge portion of the cover. A cover-bonding portion has an overflow prevention recess into which a UV-curing adhesive applied between the cover-bonding portion and the cover flows. Emitted UV is reflected by a surface of the overflow prevention recess and caused to reach space which is located inward relative to the black printing and between a backside of the peripheral edge portion of the cover and the cover-bonding portion, thereby curing the UV-curing adhesive. |
| US09872405B2 |
Electronics housing and manufacturing method
An electronics housing for the accommodation of at least one electronic component in an interior space defined by the electronics housing and at least partly enclosed by an exterior wall of the electronics housing is provided. The electronics housing exhibiting at least one pressure-equalizing element which enables an equalization of pressure between the interior space and an exterior space surrounding the electronics housing. The pressure-equalizing element is constituted by a gas-permeable wall portion of the exterior wall, on which the exterior wall exhibits a pore structure as a result of local foaming of the material from which the exterior wall has been produced. |
| US09872404B2 |
Waterproof type control apparatus
A circuit board is sealed and housed in a casing including a base and a cover, a connector housing including a partition wall is mounted on the circuit board, and an electrical connection between the interior and the exterior of the casing is established. A water-repellent filter is fixed to an inner surface of the partition wall, an outer surface portion of the water-repellent filter is opened to atmosphere via the breath ventilation hole, and an atmospheric opening surface thereof is formed such that the atmospheric opening surface being wetted directly with water is avoided by a poured water blocking wall and water barrier walls. A position where the poured water blocking wall is provided is changed by an insert mold in response to the direction of the mounting surface of the base. |
| US09872402B2 |
Security mechanism for electrical components
A telecommunication distribution box includes a housing and an electrical component mounted in the housing. A cover plate is movably connected to the housing and is movable between open and closed positions. A lip extends outwardly from the cover plate. The lip covers the electrical component when the cover plate is in the closed position to prevent accessing and removing the electrical component. |
| US09872400B2 |
Touch panel and method for manufacturing the same
The present disclosure provides a touch panel, including a substrate, at least one sensing electrode layer, a wire layer, a first light-shielding layer and a second light-shielding layer. The substrate has a visible region and a non-visible region. The wire layer corresponds to the non-visible region, wherein the wire layer includes signal lines and at least one gap therebetween, the signal lines electrically connect the sensing electrode layer. The first light-shielding layer is disposed within the non-visible region and between the substrate and the wire layer, wherein the first light-shielding layer includes at least one recess and a position of the recess corresponds to a position of the gap. The second light-shielding layer corresponds to the recess, wherein an area covered by the second light-shielding layer is equal to or greater than an aperture of the recess. The present disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing a touch panel. |
| US09872395B2 |
Component crimping apparatus
A component crimping apparatus includes: a substrate holding part that holds a substrate of a transparent material, a component previously attached to each electrode of electrodes juxtaposed in an edge of the substrate through a photo-curable adhesive member; a supporting part that supports, by a transparent member, a region under the electrodes in the substrate; crimping tools that are juxtaposed over the transparent member and press the components to the substrate; and a light irradiating part that irradiates the adhesive member with light through the transparent member when the crimping tools press the components to the substrate. The crimping tools are configured movably in an arrangement direction of the crimping tools, the transparent member has a dimension capable of covering a whole region of a movable range of the crimping tools, and the light irradiating part irradiates a whole region of the transparent member with the light. |
| US09872392B2 |
Power decoupling attachment
An embodiment of the invention may include a method, and resulting structure, of forming a semiconductor structure. The method may include forming a component hole from a first surface to a second surface of a base layer. The method may include placing an electrical component in the component hole. The electrical component has a conductive structure on both ends of the electrical component. The electrical component is substantially parallel to the first surface. The method may include forming a laminate layer on the first surface of the base layer, the second surface of the base layer, and between the base layer and the electrical component. The method may include creating a pair of via holes, where the pair of holes align with the conductive structures on both ends of the electrical component. The method may include forming a conductive via in the pair of via holes. |
| US09872391B2 |
Capacitor structure and capacitor using the same
Capacitor structures having multiple layers of vertically interdigitated metal plates. |
| US09872387B1 |
Input terminal of power module of double-side cooling
An input terminal of a power module of double-side cooling includes: a plus plate which is divided into a plurality of first terminal areas coupled with any one or more of the plurality of semiconductor chips and is connected with an anode of a battery, wherein a first bridge area connects the plurality of first terminal areas with each other; a minus plate which is divided into a plurality of second terminal areas coupled with any one or more of the plurality of semiconductor chips which are not coupled with the plus plate and is connected with a cathode of the battery, wherein a second bridge area connects the plurality of second terminal areas with each other and is disposed adjacent to the first bridge area; and a separator which is made of an insulation material and disposed between the plus plate and the minus plate. |
| US09872386B2 |
Composition for forming conductive pattern, method for forming conductive pattern using same, and resin structure having conductive pattern
The present invention relates to a composition for forming a conductive pattern which allows micro conductive patterns to be formed on various polymeric resin products or resin layers by a very simplified process, a method for forming a conductive pattern using the composition, and a resin structure having the conductive pattern. The composition for forming a conductive pattern comprises: a polymeric resin; and a nonconductive metallic compound including a first metal, a second metal and a third metal, wherein the nonconductive metallic compound has a three-dimensional structure including a plurality of first layers (edge-shared octahedral layers) having a structure in which octahedrons comprising two metals from among the first metal, the second metal and the third metal which share the edges thereof with one another are two-dimensionally connected to one other, and a second layer which includes a metal of a different type from the first layer and is arranged between adjacent first layers, and wherein a metallic core including the first metal, the second metal or the third metal or an ion thereof is formed from the nonconductive metallic compound by electromagnetic radiation. |
| US09872383B1 |
Methods of sewing components in fabrics using metal wire cloth
An electronics assembly includes one or more electronic components coupled to a fabric. Each electronic component includes one or more electrical connection points, such as a bond pad or solder bump. The electronics assembly also includes one or more electrically conductive wire cloths, one electrically conductive wire cloth coupled to one electrical connection point on an electronic component. The electrically conductive wire cloth is stitched to the fabric by an electrically conductive wire, thereby providing an electrical connection between the electronic component and the electrically conductive wire via the electrically conductive wire cloth. |
| US09872381B2 |
Circuit board comprising at least one fold
A circuit board (10) for carrying at least one light source (16) of a lighting device and a method of manufacturing such a circuit board are provided. The circuit board comprises a substrate (1), wherein the substrate comprises at least one fold (9) forming a projecting portion and extending from a periphery (3) of the substrate up to an inner portion (2) of the substrate, whereby the substrate has a polygonal funnel shape. The present aspects use the concept of folding the substrate in order to obtain a polygonal funnel shape of the circuit board, whereby shaping of the substrate without requiring removal of material of the substrate is allowed. |
| US09872379B2 |
Flexible printed circuit with radio frequency choke
In an electronic device that employs high-speed differential signaling on one or more pairs of conductors in a flexible printed circuit, RF chokes are placed in the differential signal path and mounted directly on the flexible printed circuit which is used to interconnect a peripheral device, such as an image sensor, through a connector to another device component such as a main printed circuit board. The RF chokes are configured to suppress common-mode noise propagating in the differential pairs of conductors. In one illustrative embodiment, the RF chokes are located on the flexible printed circuit adjacent to the peripheral device to suppress common-mode noise near its source. In another illustrative embodiment, the RF chokes are mounted adjacent to the connector to suppress the common-mode noise before it has an opportunity to escape the flexible printed circuit at the major discontinuity presented by the connector. |
| US09872376B2 |
Medical linear accelerator signal analyzer and display device
A method and system is proposed for providing automated, electronic testing of a linear accelerator from a remote position. According to one aspect of the claimed subject matter, a system is described which includes a linear accelerator with a scope circuit board, a multiplexer printed circuit board and a computing device. The multiplexer printed circuit board is coupled to the linear accelerator at a plurality of signal sites or locations corresponding to common areas of interest. Signal data received by the multiplexer circuit board may be continuously streamed from the linear accelerator to the multiplexer through each “channel” of data. The multiplexer circuit board is configured to receive, as input, the data corresponding to the electrical activity. In a further embodiment, the multiplexer outputs a selection of signals corresponding to a user selection of one or more channels from a remote terminal. |
| US09872375B2 |
Method for energy recovery of spent ERL beams
A method for recovering energy from spent energy recovered linac (ERL) beams. The method includes adding a plurality of passive decelerating cavities at the beam dump of the ERL, adding one or more coupling waveguides between the passive decelerating cavities, setting an adequate external Q (Qext) to adjust to the beam loading situation, and extracting the RF energy through the coupling waveguides. |
| US09872366B2 |
Method for controlling an operating device for lighting means
The invention relates to an illumination system (A) having at least one operating device (1) for operating lighting means, having a control device (10) which is connected by means of an analogue or digital light control bus to the operating device and is designed for transmission of analogue or digital control commands via the light control bus, wherein the control device (1) is designed to control the operating devices (1) in terms of brightness and/or color by means of control commands, wherein furthermore the control device is connected to a IPv6 bus system, the control device (10) is designed to receive IPv6 bus commands via the IPv6 bus system and is designed to transmit a colour command or a brightness command as control command, according to the received IPv6 bus commands, to at least one operating device, and the operating device is designed to adapt the control of the lighting means according to the received colour command or brightness command. |
| US09872365B2 |
Method and apparatus for replacing a device in a network
The invention relates to a method for replacing a device in a network comprising a plurality of devices. The method includes a step of storing (132) replicated data of a first device in a storage means, a step of removing (352) the first device from the network, a step of connecting (354) a second device to the network, a step of providing (262) a replacement information comprising the first identifier and a step of providing (272) the replicated data of the first device from the storage means to the second device. |
| US09872362B2 |
Gesture based control of a utility
A controller, method and program for controlling one or more sources of a utility to provide the utility into a space occupied by one or more users, e.g. for controlling light sources illuminating an indoor or outdoor space. An input from one or more sensors is processed to detect motions of a user in the space, to detect that the motions correspond to predetermined gestures performed by the user, and to detect a position from which each gesture was performed. Further, each of a plurality of discrete control policies is associated with a respective combination of predetermined gesture and positional demarcation within the space. Each control policy defines a respective response of the utility to the respective associated gesture. For gestures performed from each of a plurality of different positions, a different control policy is selected based on being associated with the detected gesture and detected position. |
| US09872360B2 |
Photocontrol with surge protecting function
An photocontroller with surge protecting function includes an photocontroller unit, a surge protection unit, and an photocontroller base. On the basis of an existing photocontroller unit and an existing photocontroller base, the surge protection unit is integrated inside the photocontroller unit or the surge protection unit can be connected in a plug-in manner. The surge protection unit is connected in parallel to a power supply phase line terminal and a neutral line terminal of the photocontroller unit. A ground line terminal of the surge protection unit is connected, by means of a ground connector, to the conductive part disposed on the photocontroller base. The conductive piece is grounded. The photocontroller and the surge protection function are combined, which can effectively discharge a surge current, suppress a surge voltage, is easy to mount and replace, and can reduce post-maintenance cost. |
| US09872359B2 |
Multimode color tunable light sources
Described herein are ambient lighting devices, methods, and systems that utilize at least one multimode artificial ambient light source, a control unit, and a remote image sensor. The control unit couples to at least one artificial ambient light source and is configured to output at least one control signal to the at least one artificial ambient light source. The at least one multimode artificial ambient light source is configured to output light of varying color and color temperature in response to said at least one control signal. The remote image sensor couples to the at least one control unit and is configured to detect at least one color and intensity characteristic and output an output signal to the at least one control unit, based on said color and intensity characteristic detected. |
| US09872358B2 |
Light unit for emitting light and method for driving a light unit
A light unit (10) is disclosed including a plurality of lighting devices (22, 24, 26), in particular a plurality of LEDs, for emitting light. The light unit comprises connection terminals (12, 14) for connecting the light unit to an external power supply (16) and for receiving an input voltage (V10) and/or an input current (IT) from the external power supply. A first current path (18) and a second current path (20) are connected to the connection terminals each comprising at least one lighting device, wherein the first current path and the second current path are connected in parallel to each other. The second current path has a controllable resistor (28) for controlling an electrical current I1 in the second current path and a current limiter (30) for limiting the current in the second current path. The light unit comprises a control unit (36) adapted to control the controllable resistor on the basis of the electrical current in the second current path and on the basis of an electrical current (I1) in the first current path or a total current (IT) in both current paths. |
| US09872353B2 |
LED lighting device and LED illuminating device
An LED lighting device 2 according to this embodiment includes a lighting circuit that supplies a current to an LED, and a dimmer 7 that generates a PWM signal for controlling the supply of the current to the LED from the lighting circuit, in which the dimmer 7 feedback-controls the PWM signal that controls the supply of the current to the LED by comparing the output current to be output to the LED with a target current and feedforward-controls the PWM signal according to a fluctuation of an input voltage from a commercial power supply 1. |
| US09872350B2 |
Power supply unit and related lighting system
The Power Supply Unit comprises an output providing electrical power between a positive power supply line and a common ground line and a communication line. An adjustable current generator responsive to an internal measurement signal generates an output current at the output, and a voltage source is coupled to the communication line. A current measurement unit measures a current through the communication line and generates the internal measurement signal depending on the measured current through the communication line. Specifically, the Power Supply Unit is configured to determine the voltage drop on the common ground line by applying via the voltage source two different voltages to the communication line. |
| US09872344B2 |
Methods and devices for applying RF energy according to energy application schedules
An apparatus applies electromagnetic (EM) energy at a plurality of modulation space elements (MSEs) to an object in an energy application zone via at least one radiating element. The apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory that includes instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations. The operations include receiving information sensed by a detector and determining an energy application schedule based on the information sensed by the detector, the energy application schedule comprising timing instructions for applying the EM energy at an irregular order of MSEs, and causing application of the EM energy at the plurality of MSEs to the object in the energy application zone via the at least one radiating element, according to the energy application schedule determined. |
| US09872340B2 |
Method for increasing reliability in monitoring systems
An apparatus and a method for controlling a heating device in a motorized camera directing arrangement including a motor device is disclosed. The method comprising measuring a voltage over the motor device, measuring a current conducted at least to the motor device, measuring a temperature relating to the motorized camera directing arrangement, controlling power distributed to the heating device based on the measured temperature and on the measured current, and feeding power to the heating device independent of the measured temperature and the measured current in the event that the measuring of the voltage over the motor device indicates a voltage level higher than a predetermined threshold value. |
| US09872338B2 |
Radio communication device and method for operating a radio communication device
A radio communication device is provided comprising a first transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with a Cellular Wide Area radio communication technology; a second transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with a Short Range radio communication technology or a Metropolitan Area System radio communication technology; a first processor configured to control the first transceiver, the first processor comprising a first interface and a second interface; a second processor configured to control the second transceiver, the second processor comprising a first interface and a second interface; and a third processor configured to determine real-time transceiver control information signals via the first interface of the first processor and via the first interface of the second processor, and to determine non-real-time transceiver control information signals via the second interface of the first processor and via the second interface of the second processor. |
| US09872336B2 |
Secondary cell and control channel in a wireless device and wireless network
A plurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprise a primary PUCCH group comprising a primary cell and a secondary PUCCH group comprising a PUCCH secondary cell. The wireless device deactivates the PUCCH secondary cell after a deactivation condition for the PUCCH secondary cell is met. The wireless device stops transmission of channel state information for a first secondary cell in the secondary PUCCH group after deactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell. The wireless device stops transmission of positive acknowledgement and negative acknowledgement on the PUCCH secondary cell after deactivation of the PUCCH secondary cell. |
| US09872331B2 |
Communication system, user equipment and base station
A communication system, a user equipment and a base station are disclosed. The communication system includes a user equipment and a base station, wherein the user equipment is configured in a first communication system and having a co-existence working mode in which the user equipment performs a first communication with a base station in the first communication system and performs a second communication with an apparatus of a second communication system, which is different from the first communication system in a time-division multiplexing manner or a frequency-division multiplexing manner. |
| US09872329B2 |
Opportunistic progressive encoding
Methods, systems, and devices are described for communicating data from multiple data terminals to an aggregator terminal over a communication link having changing link conditions. In some embodiments, source data is received at multiple data terminals, each in communication with an aggregator terminal over a communication link. For example, during a live newscast, one mobile camera may receive live video of an event from a first position while another mobile camera receives live video of the event from a second position. For various reasons (e.g., as the cameras move) each communication link may experience independently changing link conditions. Each data terminal encodes the source data (or store source data for later encoding) as a function of its respective link conditions, and transmits encoded source data over its respective communication link to the aggregator terminal. |
| US09872328B2 |
Updating connectivity with a communication network and methods thereof
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a system that detects a request to reattach to a communication network to update a registration between a wireless communication system and the communication network while the wireless communication system is connected to a session border controller of the communication network. The system delays a release of bearer communications with the communication network responsive to the request to reattach to the communication network not being urgent. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09872327B2 |
Wireless communication system and related methods for use in a social network
An antenna system and method for managing identification, location, direction and communication with nearby wireless communication devices is provided. Various embodiments can be implemented to enhance the performance of advertising systems, location services, military systems, and social gaming. |
| US09872322B2 |
Mobile communication system, base station, user terminal and processor
A mobile communication system according to the present invention supports cellular communication in which a data path passes through a core network and D2D communication that is direct device-to-device communication in which a data path does not pass through the core network. The mobile communication system has a user terminal that performs a process of discovering a partner terminal in the D2D communication or performs the D2D communication. A plurality of radio resources that are the time-frequency resources that can be used for the process of discovering or the D2D communication consist of radio resources associated with transmission power used for the process of discovering or the D2D communication. The user terminal performs the process of discovering or the D2D communication on the basis of the transmission power associated with the radio resource used by the user terminal. |
| US09872321B2 |
Method and apparatus for establishing and using PDN connections
Establishing and controlling a tunnel for carrying a PDN connection between a first node and a second node. The first node sends a request to set up a tunnel, the request including a first identifier. The first node then receives a second identifier for use in identifying the tunnel when receiving data sent from the second node to the first node. Data packets are sent from the first node, the data packets including the first and/or second identifiers for identifying the tunnel from the first node to the second node. Data packets are received from the second node, the data packets including the second identifier from the second node to the first node. |
| US09872320B2 |
Method of controlling a medical apparatus and mobile apparatus therefor
A method of controlling a medical apparatus which includes: establishing, by a mobile apparatus, a communication link between the mobile apparatus and the medical apparatus; when the communication link is established, detecting an operation mode of the mobile apparatus; determining a function corresponding to the detected operation mode from functions provided by the medical apparatus; and performing the determined function. |
| US09872314B2 |
Method and device for accessing channel
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a device for accessing a channel. The method includes: receiving a contention request frame transmitted by a first transmitting end device on M sub-carriers, where the M sub-carriers at least have two inconsecutive sub-carriers, and the contention request frame is modulated onto the M sub-carriers; according to the contention request frame, acquiring channel state information about the first transmitting end device respectively on the M sub-carriers, and determining channel state information about the first transmitting end device respectively on N sub-carriers, where the N sub-carriers are obtained by dividing all or a part of a system available frequency band, the N sub-carriers include the M sub-carriers, both N and M are positive integers, N>M and M>1; and performing allocation of a transmission sub-channel according to the channel state information about the first transmitting end device respectively on the N sub-carriers. |
| US09872313B2 |
Contention based uplink transmissions for latency reduction
Contention-based uplink communications within a wireless communications system are provided in which a user equipment (UE) may transmit data to a base station autonomously, and thereby reduce delay with established procedures for allocating uplink resources to a UE. A base station may allocate contention-based uplink resources from a set of available uplink resources. A UE may determine that data is to be transmitted using contention-based uplink resources, identify available contention-based resources allocated by the base station, and may autonomously transmit the data using the allocated contention-based resources. The contention-based uplink resources may include a subset of available physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources. The contention-based PUSCH resources may include allocated bins, and a UE may select CB-PUSCH resources from one of the bins for transmission of the uplink data. |
| US09872308B2 |
Communication system
A wireless telecommunication system is described comprising a shared base station able to divide resources between multiple network operators sharing the base station. The base station resources are divided into sets of resources reserved for each network operator respectively and resources shared by all network operators. The shared base station is configured to monitor the usage of its resources by each operator and to determine, for each scheduling round, an appropriate prioritization of communication bearers associated with the network operators. |
| US09872307B2 |
Apparatus and methods of time domain multiplexing solutions for in-device coexistence
Embodiments of systems and methods for time domain multiplexing solutions for in-device coexistence are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US09872306B2 |
Efficient optimal group id management scheme for MU-MIMO systems
Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to efficient optimal group identification (GID) management for multiple user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications. Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications. The apparatus generally includes a processing system configured to: for each GID of a plurality of GIDs, assign a plurality of devices to positions within one or more groups associated with that GID and generate GID management frames for transmission to active devices of the assigned plurality of devices indicating, for each of the active devices, a position of that active device within each of the plurality of GID; and an interface configured to output the GID management frames for transmission to the active devices. |
| US09872303B2 |
Terminal device, wireless communication method and integrated circuit
In a wireless communication system in which channel state information is used, a mobile station device and a base station device efficiently communicates with each other. A subframe in a certain serving cell that satisfies references which include at least a reference (i) is regarded as being valid as a CSI reference resource. In the reference (i), in a case where information which is signaled on a PDCCH and that indicates a UL-DL configuration is detected, the UL-DL configuration is given by the information. In the reference (i), in a case where the information is not detected, the UL-DL configuration is the same as a UL-DL configuration that is indicated by a higher layer parameter. The reference (i): the subframe is a subframe that is indicated as, a downlink subframe or a special subframe, by the UL-DL configuration. |
| US09872302B2 |
System and method for providing interference characteristics for interference mitigation
According to certain embodiments, methods and systems include providing interference characterization data by a network node to a first wireless device for use in performing interference mitigation. A network node may provide telecommunications services for a first wireless device located associated with the network node. Characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of an interfering signal associated with a second wireless device may be identified. The at least one characteristic may identify at least one transmission mode associated with the interfering signal. The characteristic data associated with the interfering signal associated with the second wireless device may be transmitted to the first wireless device. |
| US09872299B1 |
Optimized transmit-power allocation in multi-carrier transmission
A method includes, in a wireless communication terminal that transmits a data channel over multiple component carriers, dividing a total transmit-power allocation specified for the data channel into carrier-specific power allocations for the respective component carriers. Block sizes, which specify respective numbers of bits for transmitting the data channel, are initially derived for one or more of the component carriers from a quantized set of block sizes, such that the respective carrier-specific power allocations are not exceeded. For at least a selected component carrier, an extended block size is selected from the quantized set. The extended block size exceeds a carrier-specific power allocation assigned to the selected component carrier, but together with the block sizes of the other component carriers does not exceed the total transmit-power allocation. The data channel is transmitted over the component carriers using the selected block sizes, including the extended block size. |
| US09872297B2 |
Power control
There is provided a method, including detecting, by a network node of a first cell, whether or not there is any output power unused in a second cell during a predefined time period, wherein the un-used output power is originally reserved for a transmission on a specific channel in the second cell; upon detecting that there is at least some of the output power unused, determining the amount of the unused output power in the second cell; and applying at least part of the unused output power to boost a predetermined transmission in the first cell. |
| US09872295B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method
A wireless communication apparatus includes a designation unit which generates format designation information for designating a format of transmission and reception for another wireless communication apparatus, a first transmission unit which wirelessly transmits the format designation information to the other wireless communication apparatus, an acquisition unit which acquires a packet, a propagation channel estimation unit which estimates uplink propagation channel information indicating a propagation channel from the other wireless communication apparatus to the wireless communication apparatus based on the packet, a calibration coefficient calculation unit which calculates a calibration coefficient based on downlink propagation channel information indicating a propagation channel from the wireless communication apparatus to the other wireless communication apparatus and the uplink propagation channel information, a transmission weight value calculation unit which calculates a transmission weight value based on the calibration coefficient and the uplink propagation channel information, and a second transmission unit which wirelessly transmits a predetermined signal to the other wireless communication apparatus based on the transmission weight value. |
| US09872289B2 |
Blind decoding for an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH)
Technology for a user equipment (UE) configured for blind decoding downlink control information (DCI) from an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) is disclosed. The UE can receive, from a base station, the EPDCCH that includes the DCI. The UE can attempt one or more times to decode the DCI from enhanced control channel elements (ECCE) of the EPDCCH from physical resource block (PRB) region candidates in a PRB set using a selected set of enhanced resource element group (EREG) index maps for the ECCE until the DCI is successfully decoded. |
| US09872286B2 |
Compressed system information for link budget limited UEs in a radio access network
Techniques are disclosed relating to broadcasting and receiving system information in a radio access network (RAN). In one embodiment, a base station includes at least one antenna, at least one radio, configured to perform cellular communication using a radio access technology (RAT), and one or more processors coupled to the radio. In this embodiment, the base station is configured to broadcast first system information blocks (SIBs) encoded using a first coding rate and a first identifier. In this embodiment, the base station is also configured to broadcast second SIBs encoded using a second coding rate that is lower than the first coding rate and a second identifier. In this embodiment, the second SIBs include only a portion of the information included in the first SIBs and the second SIBs are usable by user equipment devices (UEs) having a limited link budget to determine access parameters for the base station. |
| US09872285B2 |
Wireless communication system
A wireless communication method used by a wireless communication apparatus is disclosed. The wireless communication method transmits and receives control information divided into a second control information containing information related to the demodulation and decoding of traffic channel and a first control information containing information related to the MIMO separation of the second control information. |
| US09872284B2 |
Facilitation of bandwidth-based femto cell management
A femto cell access point device (FAPD) selects channel bandwidth and frequency for transmission based on bandwidth of a broadband channel between the femto cell and a core network. A method can include determining a data throughput associated with a broadband channel communicatively coupling the access point device and a network device of a network, and evaluating channel information associated with a plurality of frequency sub-bands. The access point device can be configurable to communicate over the plurality of frequency sub-bands. The method can also include selecting a transmission parameter for a mobile device, wherein the selecting is based on the data throughput, and wherein the transmission parameter comprises information representing a selected set of the plurality of frequency sub-bands. The broadband channel can be a digital subscriber line (DSL) channel in some embodiments. |
| US09872283B2 |
Repeater for receiving signals from a base station in a wireless communication system, and signal receiving method
Disclosed are a repeater for receiving signals from a base station in a wireless communication system, and a signal receiving method. The base station reports, to each repeater, information on the aggregation level of a relay-control channel element (R-CCE) of a relay-physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH) via an explicit signaling method or implicit signaling method. In the event the base station reports via an explicit signaling method, the repeater receives, from the base station, information on the aggregation level of R-CCE which is a transmission unit of R-PDCCH, wherein the information contains control information for the repeater. Then, the repeater decodes an R-PDCCH region on an R-CCE aggregation level basis in accordance with the received R-CCE aggregation level information. |
| US09872277B2 |
Beam selection apparatus and method for selecting beam in a fixed beam terminal
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a beam selecting apparatus of a fixed beam terminal, including: a delay time measuring unit which measures delay times of a plurality of signals received through a plurality of beams; a beam selecting unit which compares a threshold value selected based on the measured delay time and a signal strength of each of the plurality of signals to select a beam; and a switching type beam former which operates the plurality of beams in accordance with the selected beam. |
| US09872273B2 |
Communication system, base station, host node, and communication method
An object of the present invention is to provide a communication system, a base station, a host node, and a communication method in order to address one or more of the above-described problems. A communication system according to the present invention is a communication system including: a base station (10) and a host node (40) that communicates with the base station (10). The base station (10) included in the communication system transmits to the host node (40) setting information indicating whether or not a paging message transmitted from the host node (40) can be transmitted to other base stations, and the host node (40) receives the setting information from the base station (10). |
| US09872267B2 |
Method for signal transmission in device-to-device communication and apparatus therefor
Disclosed is a method for receiving a signal of a terminal configured to perform device-to-device (D2D) communication in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method may comprises the steps of: receiving a message containing information about a specific signal from a serving base station; checking whether the specific signal is an inter-cell broadcast signal to be transmitted by a peer terminal which is served by a neighboring base station, on the basis of the information contained in the message; and receiving the inter-cell broadcast signal from the peer terminal using the information contained in the message and information about a synchronization difference between the serving base station and the neighboring base station, if the specific signal is the inter-cell broadcast signal. |
| US09872264B2 |
Wireless communication device, electronic timepiece, wireless communication method, and recording medium
Peripherals and send timing information presenting a timing of acquiring time information to a central. The central changes the timing in the received timing information so that the timing presented by the timing information received from the peripheral does not overlap with the timing presented by the already received timing information of the other peripheral. The central makes the peripheral change a setting of the timing information based on the changed timing information. |
| US09872263B1 |
Generating reference signals from selected signals
The invention is directed to methods and systems for generating reference signals from radio signals received from a large-coverage access component, such as a base station. The radio signals are received, analyzed, and selected based on the analysis. The selected signals are processed by an oscillator to filter out abnormalities. Consequently, a reference signal is generated that is encapsulated into packets and delivered to one or more small-coverage access components using the Precision Timing Protocol or some other protocol that is useable by the small-coverage access components. The small-coverage access components comprise one or more of a femtocell or a picocell. |
| US09872262B2 |
Network connection method and apparatus of a mobile station
A network connection method and apparatus for improving network connection performance of a mobile station in a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) system are provided. The method includes determining whether a cell change from a first cell to a second cell is detected while waiting for a network connection request message, after an acquisition of a synchronization with a first base station associated with the first cell, determining, if the cell change is detected, whether a synchronization is acquired with a second base station associated with the second cell and whether the network connection request message is detected, initiating, if the network connection request message is detected after the synchronization is acquired with the second base station, a network entry procedure, and saving, if the network connection request message is detected before the synchronization is acquired with the second base station, the network connection request message in a buffer. |
| US09872252B1 |
Discontinuous reception mode with multiple-stage wake-up
Systems and method of embodiments herein operate to conserve battery power of user equipment (UE). Embodiments determine whether waking up a UE receiver would be beneficial and based on the determination, the UE either wakes up the receiver or returns to sleep. Embodiments determine whether to wake up the receiver by performing pre-wake up (PWU) operation which either wakes up the receiver in a low power mode or wakes up the UE's wake up receiver. It may be determined whether a wake up (WU) signal is received during a PWU stage. If a WU signal is received during the PWU stage the UE may perform a full wake up of the receiver. If a WU signal is not received the UE may return to idle mode. In embodiments, WU (Wake Up) DRX cycles are supplemented with a Full DRX (Discontinuous Reception) cycle. |
| US09872251B2 |
Awake window protection
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to awake window (AW) protection. A device may identify a beacon frame received from a first device. The device may identify an information element associated with a first awake window (AW) within the beacon frame. The device may suspend one or more first backoff timers for a duration of the first AW. The device may associate a second backoff timer with a management frame. |
| US09872250B2 |
Data acquisition node and method of operating same
A data acquisition node for coupling to a system of a vehicle includes a processor coupled to a communication interface. The processor is configured to transition from a sleep mode to a start-up detect mode after an imminent-event message is received at the communication interface. The communication interface is substantially deactivated while in the start-up detect mode. The processor also is configured to monitor sensor data from at least one sensor while in the start-up detect mode. The at least one sensor is operable to generate a signal that is representative of a physical characteristic of the system. |
| US09872249B2 |
Relaying communications in a wireless sensor system
Various embodiments of wireless ambient sensor unit are presented. The sensor unit may include a wireless transceiver configured to transmit sensor data and to receive instructions. The sensor unit may include a sensor configured to measure an ambient condition. The sensor unit may include a controller in communication with the wireless transceiver and the sensor. The controller may be configured to compare data measured about the ambient condition to a stored threshold while the wireless ambient sensor unit is functioning in a low-power mode. The controller may be configured to exit the low-power mode in response to the comparison of the data with the stored threshold. The controller may be configured to cause the data measured about the ambient condition to be transmitted by the wireless transceiver as one or more messages in response to the comparison to the stored threshold. |
| US09872247B2 |
Power preference indicator timer
In accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the invention there is at least a method and an apparatus to perform operations including starting, by a device of a communications network, a timer in response to a radio resource control message, where a power preference indication message is not sent by the device for at least a duration of the timer. |
| US09872246B2 |
Power conservation in channel hopping wireless network by independent definition of sleep intervals at each node
Power conservation is provided in a network of globally unsynchronized wireless communication devices that use asynchronous channel hopping. Each wireless communication device defines its own channel hopping schedule. The channel hopping schedules include channel hop intervals when the device's receiver is active for receiving transmissions, and sleep intervals when the receiver is in a low power sleep state. Parameters associated with the sleep intervals are defined by each wireless communication device independently of external constraint. |
| US09872237B1 |
Response mechanism for detection of a faked base station
A device for communicating with a plurality of user equipment in a cellular network comprises a non-transitory memory having instructions and one or more processors in communication with the memory. The one or more processors execute the instructions to receive information regarding a faked base station including an operating frequency, location area code and cell identification of the faked base station, prepare a first message to alert of the faked base station, select the plurality of user equipment that may receive a signal from the faked base station, transmit the first message to alert of the faked base station to the plurality of user equipment and transmit a second message to bar the plurality of user equipment from connecting to the faked base station. |
| US09872231B2 |
Communication device
Provided is a communication device that determines whether Long Term Evolution (LTE) is to be included in scanning on a per area basis, enabling LTE to be effectively used, while minimizing unnecessary processing. The communication device is provided with a first communication control unit (31) and a second communication control unit (32). The second communication unit (32) enables a setting so as to include a prescribed communication system in scanning, or disables the setting so as to exclude the prescribed system from scanning. The first communication unit (31) controls the second communication unit in such a manner that the setting is disabled so as to exclude the prescribed communication system from scanning if an overseas public network is being used by the second communication unit (32) to wait for communication. |
| US09872230B2 |
System and method for efficient communications system scanning
A method for wireless communications includes generating a composed query for obtaining information about a subset of neighboring stations of a responding station which satisfy the composed query, the composed query including a logical combination of attributes and values, and transmitting the composed query to the responding station. The method also includes receiving the information. |
| US09872228B2 |
Efficient signaling for machine type communication
Disclosed herein are embodiments for Machine Type Communication (MTC). The techniques disclosed may reduce signaling by transmitting MTC data over control planes and avoiding a full cycle of connection procedures typically required for transmission. MTC data may be directly appended to a control plane message. In addition, in order to reduce the signaling load, a WTRU may autonomously release the connection without being told by the network. Techniques may be used to indicate a network provider's machine type communication (MTC) capability. The MTC services or capabilities that may be provided by a respective network operator may be communicated to a WTRU. |
| US09872225B2 |
Driver identification and data collection systems for use with mobile communication devices in vehicles
Systems, methods, and monitoring devices for collecting and transmitting operational data about a vehicle to a separate receiving device located within the vehicle, wherein the monitoring device includes a housing mounted to the vehicle and a power supply that powers electronic components contained within the housing, the electronic components include a microprocessor, memory in electronic communication with the microprocessor and configured to store the operational data, one or more sensors for detecting and determining the operational data about the vehicle, wherein the microprocessor causes the operational data to be stored in the memory, and a data transmission module, controlled by the microprocessor and configured to retrieve the operational data from the memory and to transmit the retrieved operational data to the separate receiving device. The operational data is stored in the separate receiving device for further processing, later upload, or further transmission to a remote receiver outside of the vehicle. |
| US09872223B1 |
Autonomously identifying an alternate contact device
An apparatus for contacting a user via an alternate device includes a tracker module, an accessibility module, a contact identification module, and a contact router module. The tracker module obtains tracking information from one or more electronic devices of a user. At least one of the one or more electronic devices includes a communication device. The accessibility module determines, based on the tracking information, that the user is inaccessible via the communication device. The contact identification module autonomously identifies an alternate device for contacting the user. The alternate device is projected, based on the tracking information, to be in proximity to the user. The contact router module reroutes an incoming communication based on the alternate device. |
| US09872219B2 |
Handover mechanism for sensor networks
Methods and access devices for collecting data from sensors of a wireless sensor network include transmitting a broadcast signal by a master device which currently collects the data and detected by other access devices. Handover of data collection control from the current master access device to an alternate access device is initiated based on a result of the detection. A handover request signal is received at the master device and a handover reply is signaled to a source device of the handover request signal. The handover reply indicates the time at which data collection is handed over from the current master access device to the source device. Thereby, the master device can be changed in a flexible manner based on current environmental conditions. |
| US09872217B2 |
Radio communication system, radio communication terminal, radio communication apparatus, and communication method
Provided are a radio communication system, a radio communication apparatus, a radio communication terminal, and a communication method those being capable of facilitating handover of a dual terminal to a base station corresponding to the other communication scheme, thereby improving frequency utilization efficiency of the entire radio communication system that employs a plurality of communication schemes. Specifically, a first radio communication apparatus (1) is provided with a transmission unit (100) for transmitting information (106) about a backbone line shared with a second radio communication apparatus (2). A first radio communication terminal (3) and a second radio communication terminal (4) are provided with a selection unit (32) and a selection unit (41), respectively, for selecting a radio communication apparatus to connect based on the information (106) received. |
| US09872215B2 |
Communication control device, communication control method, terminal device, data receiving method, access point and program
[Object] To provide a mechanism that enables a terminal device to receive streaming data stably and that can be more easily implemented.[Solution] Provided is a communication control device including: a control unit configured to cause each of segments included in streaming data to be delivered to one or more terminal devices in an area including a plurality of overlapping cells to be delivered from a first access point of a first cell in a first time slot and to be delivered from a second access point of a second cell overlapping the first cell in a second time slot different from the first time slot. |
| US09872204B2 |
Idle mode load balancing
A base station may establish a wireless connection with a mobile device. The base station may determine an index value for each of a plurality of carriers that may be used for the wireless connection. The index value for a respective carrier may be determined based on a quantity of idle mode devices using the respective carrier in an idle mode. The base station may generate a carrier order that indicates a priority for each of the plurality of frequencies. The carrier order may be generated based on sorting the plurality of carriers based on the index values for the plurality of carriers. The base station may send order information indicating the carrier order to the mobile device via the wireless connection. |
| US09872203B2 |
Communication apparatus, communication method, and communication system
A physical frame is constructed, the physical frame including a medium access control super-frame payload which in turn includes a plurality of medium access control frames. With respect to the constructed physical frame, virtual carrier sense information is set in the plurality of medium access control frame so that a result of carrier sense is identical to another by virtual carrier sense based on the plurality of medium access control frames in the medium access control super-frame payload. The physical frame in which the virtual carrier sense information has been set is transmitted to a destined communication apparatus. |
| US09872202B2 |
Ad hoc wireless networking
A software architecture providing ad hoc wireless networking capabilities. The software architecture may be compatible with wireless devices, such as Ultra wideband (UWB) devices operating according to the WiMedia Logical Link Control Protocol (WLP). The software architecture may include user mode and kernel mode modules, and may include a multiplexing driver framework to enable system connection to multiple ad hoc networks. |
| US09872197B2 |
Network selection in a heterogeneous network
Technology for a user equipment (UE) to communicate in a multiple radio access technology (multi-RAT) heterogeneous network (HetNet) is described. A radio-link-selection hysteresis threshold can be determined at the UE for a radio link between the UE and a node in the multi-RAT HetNet. A reliability value of a throughput estimate can be measured for the radio link in the multi-RAT HetNet. The radio-link-selection hysteresis threshold can be adjusted at the UE based on the reliability value to increase network stability in the multi-RAT HetNet. |
| US09872195B2 |
Method and system for providing data communication through a cluster head for machine type communication (MTC) based group communication
A method and system for providing data communication for machine type communication (MTC) devices based wireless communication. The method comprises selecting at least one cluster head for a plurality of clusters, receiving by the cluster head a data traffic transfer request from the one or more MTC devices determining availability of a network resources for transferring the data traffic, establishing a dedicated connection with a base station for transferring the data traffic from the MTC devices to the base station through the connection established between the cluster head and the base station. The data traffic transfer request comprises one of an activation status, a buffer occupancy status and a delay tolerance of the one or more MTC devices. |
| US09872193B2 |
CSI reporting for LTE-TDD eIMTA
Methods, systems, and devices are described for providing periodic CSI reports and/or aperiodic CSI reports to provide CSI for both anchor and non-anchor TDD subframes in eIMTA. Periodic CSI reports may be provided based on a reference configuration, and aperiodic CSI reports may be provided based on a time of reception of a CSI request and a reference configuration. A UE may determine to report anchor or non-anchor CSI through explicit or implicit signaling. Aperiodic CSI may be used for transmission of anchor subframe CSI reports and periodic CSI may be used for transmission of non-anchor subframe CSI reports, or aperiodic CSI may be used for transmission of non-anchor subframe CSI reports and periodic CSI may be used for transmission of anchor subframe CSI reports. A determination of the reference subframe for aperiodic CSI estimation may be based on a time of receipt of an aperiodic CSI request. |
| US09872188B2 |
Adaptive filtering based network anomaly detection
A method includes performing, via a controller, adaptive filtering on a network quality indicator to predict future values of the network quality indicator, calculating, via the controller, residues between the predicted future values and measured values of the network quality indicator, analyzing, via the controller, the residues over at least one selected frequency band to determine if a threshold has been exceeded for the at least one selected frequency band, and detecting, via the controller, an anomaly event of the network in a frequency band in which a threshold has been exceeded using the residues and measured values of the network quality indicator. |
| US09872185B1 |
Policy enforcer in a network that has a network address translator
A method, a computer program product and a device, the method may include: receiving a first signature and first control metadata; the first control metadata is indicative of at least one control plane message that was exchanged between a RAN and a core network and was intercepted by a probe; the at least one control plane message relates to a first entity that belongs to or is coupled to the RAN; processing information packets received by a policy enforcer to provide information packet signatures, the information packets undergone an address translation process before being received by the policy enforcer; and enforcing a policy associated with the first entity, the enforcing affects an information packet that is associated with an information packet signature that equals the first signature; wherein the address translation process does no corrupt the first signature. |
| US09872184B2 |
Devices and method for guaranteeing quality of service per service data flow through the bearer layer
In scenarios where the quality of service is negotiated through a signalling layer whereas the services are actually carried through a bearer layer, application functions at the signalling layer are not always aware of how quality of service is individually accomplished at the bearer layer on a service basis. The invention provides a method and devices whereby events are detected on a service data flow basis at a detection device in the bearer layer and notified towards an application device in the signalling layer via a control device between the signalling and the bearer layer. The list of events to be notified is obtainable at the control device from the application device and is included in Quality of Service related rules, along with service data flow filters. This Quality of Service related rules are provided to the detection device for inspecting individual service data flows in order to detect and notify the indicated events. |
| US09872180B2 |
Method for managing network access and electronic device therefor
A method for managing network access is provided. The method includes determining whether there is a network connection request from at least one application, checking at least one attribute information item of the application, determining an access point name (APN) corresponding to the application based on the at least one attribute information item, and transmitting and receiving data of the application to/from a network using the determined APN. |
| US09872176B2 |
Method for processing authentication, electronic device and server for supporting the same
Disclosed is an electronic device including a processor that receives an input signal for requesting an authentication, determines whether a mobile oriented (MO) server is available based on at least one of an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) or network Internet Protocol (IP) information of the electronic device, and if it is determined that the MO server is available, creates an authentication code, and a communication module that transmits the created authentication code to the MO server. |
| US09872171B2 |
Service provision method using wireless fingerprint map, device performing the same, and recording medium recording computer program executing the same
The present invention relates to a service provision method for storing each wireless fingerprint characteristic of a case in which a service device provides a general service and a case in which the service device provides an event for each affiliated store in a wireless fingerprint map, and providing an event by changing a wireless signal transmission pattern through an affiliated store terminal, and a device performing the same and a recording medium recording a computer program executing the same. |
| US09872162B2 |
Pre-configuration of devices supporting national security and public safety communications
Techniques for distributing and using application codes and discovery filters in device-to-device (D2D) wireless devices. An example method for an announcing device includes receiving, from a coordinating node, first and second application codes and associated timing information. The associated timing information defines respective first and second validity intervals for the first and second application codes, such that the first and second validity intervals are at least partly non-overlapping. The method further comprises subsequently transmitting, during the first validity interval, one or more discovery messages that include or are based on the first application code, and transmitting, during the second validity interval, one or more discovery messages that include or are based on the second application code. Corresponding techniques for monitoring devices are also disclosed. |
| US09872154B2 |
System and method for receiving broadcast content on a mobile platform during travel
A vehicle information system for passenger vehicles, such as automobiles and aircraft, and methods for manufacturing and using same. The vehicle information system includes a broadband communication system with a broadband antenna system and a broadband control system. Exploiting the advent of high-speed connectivity solutions, the vehicle information system supports a low-cost, high-capacity bidirectional data connection with a terrestrial content system and thereby can be established as another node on the “Worldwide Net.” The vehicle information system likewise provides wireless access points for communicating with passengers' personal media devices. As desired, the vehicle information system can support mobile telephone connectivity and/or presentation of live integrated digital television (IDTV) programming. The vehicle information system thereby provides enhanced information, entertainment, and communication services during travel. |
| US09872153B2 |
Systems, methods and apparatus for light enabled indoor positioning and reporting
The present disclosure is directed systems, methods, and apparatus for light enabled indoor positioning and reporting. In some embodiments, a device of the present disclosure includes a housing that includes a processor and a wireless radio. The device includes a clip that secures the housing adjacent to and a predetermined distance from a portion of a light tube that produces light. The device includes a solar cell that is configured to be exposed to the light from the light tube upon the housing being securely attached via the one or more clips adjacent to the portion of the light tube. The device includes a circuit by which power is converted from the solar cell to the processor and the wireless radio via at least one switch. The wireless radio can broadcast a beacon provided by the processor. |
| US09872150B2 |
Inferring logical user locations
A logical location of a user may be inferred using semantics of the user's computing device(s). The logical locations may correspond to venues visited by the user, such as frequently visited venues, referred to as hubs. Logical hubs, representing logical locations, may be tagged to the computing device by classifying the device as being associated with a logical hub. Classification may be based on signals or features of the device, such as device usage or device characteristics. The device may be monitored to detect user activity. Based on analysis of the user activity and associated logical hub, the user's logical location may be inferred. A computer user-experience may be personalized to the user based on the user's inferred logical location or logical hub(s) associated with the device. In some cases, geographical location information is not used to determine the logical hubs or infer a user's logical location. |
| US09872148B2 |
Adaptive mobile wireless call rescue
Systems and methods can support establishing a voice call over a wireless computer network between a mobile computing device and a second device, where the second device may be either another mobile device or a gateway for communicating to a traditional landline or mobile telephone. The connectivity status of the mobile computing device may be monitored. Call disruption indicators may be provided to the users in response to connectivity loss between the mobile computing device and the wireless computer network. Geographical location information associated with the mobile computing device may be collected in response to connectivity loss and a connectivity loss model may be generated. A connectivity-loss warning indicator may be provided to the users based upon a proximity metric of the geographical location associated with the mobile computing device and the connectivity loss model. |
| US09872147B2 |
Providing points of interest to user devices in variable zones
Receiving point of interest zones and alerts on user devices comprises communicating, by a user computing device to a remote computing device, a request for point of interest data corresponding to points of interest within a proximity of the user device; presenting the received point of interest data; identifying a particular point of interest; and outputting an alert regarding the particular point of interest. Receiving point of interest zones on user devices comprises communicating a request for point of interest data; receiving the point of interest data from the remote network device wherein a size of the point of interest zone is determined based on a density of points of interest in the proximity of the user, and wherein the shape of the point of interest zone is expanded in a direction of travel and contracted in the opposite direction; and presenting the received point of interest data. |
| US09872146B2 |
System and method for multi-beacon interaction and management
A system and method for multi-beacon management including: determining occurrence of a trigger event; determining a beacon to be acted upon; determining the settings to be assigned; assigning the settings to the beacon; and operating the beacon according to the settings. |
| US09872145B2 |
Providing streaming geolocation information
A device may obtain event information regarding a set of user equipment. The device may determine a first location for a particular user equipment, of the set of user equipment, based on the event information and a stored set of parameters. The device may provide information associated with identifying the first location. The device may determine a second location for the particular user equipment based on the information associated with identifying the first location and after determining the first location. The device may provide information associated with identifying the second location. The device may update the stored set of parameters as a set of updated parameters. The device may use the set of updated parameters to determine another location. |
| US09872144B2 |
Assigning location information to wireless local area network access points
An apparatus receives a message including results of measurements on signals of a WLAN access point. The apparatus determines as a first condition whether the message comprises no indication of a position obtained in a non-cell based positioning and/or no information enabling a non-cell based positioning. The apparatus determines as a second condition whether the message comprises in addition results of measurements on signals of at least one cell of a cellular communications network. If the conditions are met, the apparatus determines a position based on the results of measurements on signals of the at least one cell of a cellular communications network and causes storage of location information that is based on the determined position in a memory for the WLAN access point, in case no location information has previously been stored in the memory for the WLAN access point. |
| US09872143B2 |
System and method for requesting an updated user location
A system and method is disclosed for requesting an updated location, including a point of interest, from a user for display on an interactive map. On receiving from an interested user a request for a point of interest associated with a subscribed user's current location, a request is transmitted to the subscribed user to check-in to the point of interest. In response to the request, the subscribed user selects a selected point of interest from a selection list. A representation of the subscribed user and the selected point of interest is then provided for display on an interactive map associated with the interested user. |
| US09872142B2 |
Context-aware collaborative user tracking
Technologies are presented that provide collaborative context-based user tracking and communications. A method of tracking communication options may include receiving, from one or more user devices of a user, user proximity information that indicates whether the user is in proximity of the one or more user devices; receiving, from the user devices, tracking loss warnings that indicate that loss of capabilities to track the user by respective user devices may be imminent; receiving, from the user devices, secondary device proximity information that indicates whether the user device is in proximity of one or more secondary devices; and receiving, from the secondary devices, additional user proximity information that indicates whether the user is in proximity of the one or more secondary devices. The method may further include dynamically determining from the received information which of the user devices and secondary devices are able to provide communications to the user. |
| US09872141B2 |
System and method for accurate location of wireless terminals using mobile interrogation device
A method includes moving an interrogation device through multiple geographical positions. At each geographical position of the interrogation device, a wireless communication terminal is solicited to establish temporary communication with the interrogation device, and a value indicative of a distance between the wireless communication terminal and the interrogation device is estimated using the temporary communication. A geographical location of the wireless communication terminal is calculated based on multiple estimated values corresponding to the respective multiple geographical positions of the interrogation device. |
| US09872139B2 |
Geofence profile management
Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for geofence profile management. A processor can execute a geofence profile management service. The processor can receive geofence profile data from an administrator device. The processor can create, based upon the geofence profile data, a geofence profile. The geofence profile can include a geofence profile title, a geofence profile description, and a geofence profile option. The processor can provide the geofence profile to a user device. The processor can determine that the user device accepts the geofence profile, and the processor can activate the geofence profile in response to the user device accepting the geofence profile. |
| US09872134B2 |
System and method for coordinating meetings between users of a mobile communication network
Systems and methods are provided to coordinate meetings between users of mobile devices on a mobile communications network. Users of the mobile communication network send one another meeting invitations over the network. The system receives the current geospatial position of one or more such users, as well as category selections that relate to attributes of potential meeting locations meetings. The system selects meeting locations for users using the current geospatial positions of the users and the category selections such that meeting locations are located at a geospatial positions between the users. The system can additionally select meeting locations that factor in user preferences and historical activities. |
| US09872132B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method of deciding correction amount in the information processing apparatus
The present invention provides an information processing apparatus and a method of deciding a correction amount for correcting the radio field intensity of received radio waves in the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus receives a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) packet transmitted by an external apparatus, and displays a screen for deciding a correction amount for correcting the radio field intensity of the BLE packet. If a user inputs an instruction for deciding the correction amount via this screen, the correction amount is decided based on the radio field intensity of the received BLE packet and a reference value. |
| US09872127B2 |
Mobile terminal device, method for controlling mobile terminal device, and recording medium
A mobile phone includes a display module, an obtaining module configured to obtain an image, a storage module configured to associate and store person information and address information of a communicated device, a first extraction module configured to extract first address information corresponding to person information of at least one person included in the image from address information, a second extraction module configured to extract second address information corresponding to person information having a predetermined relationship with the person information of at least one person included in the image from address information, and a selection display executing module configured to display on the display module a selection screen for selection of at least one address information from the first address information and the second address information. |
| US09872122B2 |
Network information collection and analysis of a plurality of mobile networks
To provide an information collection system capable of collecting a variety of network information, the information collection system according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a service platform (10) that is connected to networks (31) to (33) and collects network information held by the networks (31) to (33), and an application server (20) that notifies the service platform (10) of a collection policy of the network information. The service platform (10) collects the network information from at least one network satisfying the collection policy among the networks (31) to (33), and sends the collected network information or service information generated based on the collected network information to the application server (20). |
| US09872117B2 |
Device and method for adjusting an output to an audio port based on a determined sensitivity
A device and method for adjusting an output to an audio port based on a determined sensitivity is provided. The device comprises a processor, an audio port, and an electrical measurement device configured to measure electrical properties of an external device plugged into the audio port over a range of frequencies. Using the electrical measurement device, one or more electrical properties of the external device plugged into the audio port are measured at a plurality of frequencies. A sensitivity of the external device is determined using the one or more electrical properties of the external device measured using the electrical measurement device. An output to the audio port is adjusted based on the sensitivity. |
| US09872112B2 |
Noise mitigating microphone system
A microphone system has a package with a top, a bottom, and four sides that at least in part form an interior chamber. One of the sides forms an inlet aperture for communicating the inlet chamber with the exterior environment. The system also has first and second microphone dies, in a stacked relationship, respectively having a first and second diaphragms. A circuit die, positioned in electrical communication with the first and second microphone dies, is configured to mitigate vibrational noise from the first microphone die using a signal produced by the second microphone die or vice versa. The first and second microphone dies are positioned so that the first and second diaphragms are substantially the same distance from the inlet aperture in the side. |
| US09872110B2 |
Sound generator and sound generation system
A sound generator includes a piezoelectric vibrator (60) including a piezoelectric element (61), an anchor applying a load to the piezoelectric vibrator (60), and a control unit (130) configured to control an input voltage based on a frequency characteristic, the input voltage being applied to the piezoelectric element (61) as a sound signal. While the load from the anchor is being applied to the piezoelectric vibrator (60), the piezoelectric vibrator (60) deforms in accordance with the input voltage applied to the piezoelectric element (61) from the control unit (130), and deformation of the piezoelectric vibrator (60) vibrates a contact surface (150) contacted by the sound generator, causing sound to be emitted from the contact surface (150). |
| US09872109B2 |
Shared coil receiver
An apparatus includes a coil; a stationary core, wherein the coil is wound about a portion the stationary core; a first magnetic structure and a second magnetic structure, wherein the first magnetic structure and the second magnetic structure are coupled to the stationary core; a first armature having a first end of the first armature and a second end of the first armature, wherein the first end of the first armature is coupled to the stationary core and the second end of the first armature is disposed within the first magnetic structure; and a second magnetic armature having a first end of the second armature and second end of the second armature, wherein the first end of the second armature is coupled to the stationary core and the second end of the second armature is disposed within the second magnetic structure. |
| US09872105B2 |
Helmet equipped with sound signal processing unit and sound signal processing apparatus
A speaker and a microphone are provided to a helmet main body. A phase of a sound signal passing through a high pass filter is controlled by a first phase control section, and is amplified by a first amplification section. A phase of a sound signal passing through the low pass filter is controlled by a second phase control section, and is amplified by a second amplification section. These sound signals are synthesized by a synthesis section. A drive section drives the speaker according to a synthesized sound signal. A control section switches phase inversion processing/non-inversion processing of the phase control sections and controls an amplification factor of the amplification sections based on sound power of the sound signal. |
| US09872103B2 |
Microphone biasing circuitry and method thereof
A host device for use with a removable peripheral apparatus having a microphone, and to the biasing circuitry for said microphone. The host device may have a device connector for forming a mating connection with a respective peripheral connector. A source of bias is arranged to supply an electrical bias to a device microphone contact of the device connector via a biasing path. A capacitor is connected between a reference voltage node and a capacitor node of the biasing path. A first switch is located between the capacitor node and the device microphone contact. Detection circuitry detects disconnection of the peripheral connector and device connector; and control circuitry controls the switch to disable the biasing path. |
| US09872102B2 |
Microphone device and control method thereof
A microphone device includes a case having a sound hole and a phase delay membrane. A plurality of non-directional microphones disposed in the case. A semiconductor chip is connected to the non-directional micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) microphones and operating in response to input signals, in which any one of the non-directional microphones forms a directional microphone by being connected with the sound hole and the phase delay membrane of the case. |
| US09872098B2 |
Wiring structure for electroacoustic transducer for digital signal and headphone for digital signal
A wiring structure is provided for an electroacoustic transducer directly converting digital signals from a single sound source to sound waves without conversion to analog signals. The structure includes a diaphragm, and a plurality of voice coils fixed to the diaphragm. The voice coils are connected to respective cables each consisting of a stranded pair of positive and negative input lines. |
| US09872095B2 |
Sound box and audio playing device
The present disclosure discloses a sound box and an audio playing device comprising the sound box. The sound box comprises a housing and a transparent cover fixedly connected with the housing. The sound box further comprises a transparent base fixedly connected with the transparent cover, a water spraying plate provided with a spray nozzle, and a fan blade for draining off water. A first water tank, a second water tank and a receiving tank for receiving the fan blade are provided on the transparent base. The receiving tank communicates with the first water tank and the second water tank respectively and a liquid in the first water tank is drained off by the fan blade to the second water tank. The water spraying plate is adapted to the second water tank and the fan blade is provided with first magnets. The housing has a motor and a fixing plate disposed therein. A rotary shaft of the motor are fixedly connected with the fixing plate and the fixing plate is provided with second magnets to cooperate with the first magnets. The present disclosure can extend the lifetime of the motor. |
| US09872092B2 |
Speaker device and electronic device including the same
A speaker device and an electronic device including the speaker device. The speaker device includes a speaker body, which includes a front surface, a rear surface, and a side surface provided between the front surface and the rear surface, and a sealing member provided to enclose at least the side surface of the speaker body, in which the sealing member isolates sound output through the front surface of the speaker body and sound output through the rear surface of the speaker body from each other. The speaker device and the electronic device including the same may be implemented variously according to an embodiment. |
| US09872089B2 |
Wireless data and power transfer over an inductive telemetry link
A telemetry device includes a resonant inductive link with a primary LC tank and secondary LC tank configured to resonate at a carrier frequency. A modulator assembly in communication with the secondary LC tank implements data-synchronized cyclic on-off keying modulation (COOK) to periodically create a short across the secondary LC tank in response to a pulse from a phase selector and phase-locked loop. During the full cycle-length of the short, data can be transmitted across the inductive link while the charge across the secondary LC tank is preserved. Power may be transferred across the link during non-shorted cycles. |
| US09872083B2 |
Computer-based optimized insertion of non-program media items in media programs
In one embodiment, a data processing method comprises generating impression estimate data that specifies an estimated total number of impressions of a plurality of non-program media items that are possible during future transmission of a plurality of media programs via a plurality of media channels; based on the impression estimate data, generating campaign data specifying a target number of impressions of a particular non-program media item and specifying one or more particular media channels to receive the particular non-program media item; based on the campaign data, and based upon transmission schedule data that specifies future times of transmission of the plurality of media programs via the plurality of media channels, automatically determining digitally stored promotional schedule data that specifies a plurality of times to transmit the particular non-program media item to achieve the target number of impressions; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. |
| US09872079B2 |
Systems and methods for distributing audio/video feed of a live event via satellite
In some implementations, a method for distributing content feed of a live event via satellite includes: obtaining media signals for the live event from signal sources, where the media signals comprise audio and visual feed of the live event; converting the media signals into a mixed digital media signal; wirelessly transmitting, using a network protocol, the mixed digital media signal to a satellite uplink device; wirelessly transmitting, using the satellite uplink device, the mixed digital media signal to a satellite; identifying content delivery networks in electronic communication with client devices configured to receive the mixed digital media signal; obtaining the mixed digital media signal from the satellite, using a satellite downlink device; and delivering the mixed digital media signal to the one or more identified content delivery networks, through the satellite downlink device, where the identified content delivery networks further deliver the mixed digital media signal to the client devices. |
| US09872075B2 |
Asset scoring and ranking for content on demand insertion
Systems and methods presented herein provide for ranking of assets for insertion into selected COD content. In one embodiment, a system includes an interface operable to receive information of a COD content selection by a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). The system also includes an asset ranking module operable to identify assets that are available for insertion to the selected COD content from the plurality of assets, to determine values of the available assets to a provider of the selected COD content, to rank the available assets based on the determined values, and to direct the insertion of the one or more assets into the selected COD content based on the rank of the available assets. |
| US09872069B1 |
Goal-based video analytics
A system and method for generating goal-based video analytics is disclosed. The system includes a processor, a configurable goal module, a communication module and an analytics module. The configurable goal module receives a video goal definition configurable by a user. The communication module receives first media player state data including data describing viewer interest in video data playable by a media player included on a viewing device. The analytics module associates the video goal definition with the first media player state data and generates video analytics based at least in part on the video goal definition and the first media player state data associated with the video goal definition. |
| US09872066B2 |
Method for streaming through a data service over a radio link subsystem
An apparatus for controlling a data rate in a data client for a digital audio broadcasting system includes a buffer for storing data, a codec for coding data, and a control module for controlling a bit rate of the codec in response to a level of the data in the buffer. A method performed by the apparatus is also included. |
| US09872064B2 |
System and method of interacting with home automation systems via a set-top box device
The subject disclosure describes among other things, receiving user input that includes a device configuration for a device in a home automation system, where the device configuration specifies a triggering event and a response to the triggering event. The subject disclosure also describes transmitting the device configuration to the device, receiving data from the device, where the data indicates that the triggering event has been detected by the device, presenting an alert indicating that the triggering event has been detected by device, where the alert includes selectable options for responding to the alert, identifying the device detecting the triggering event, and altering an operation of the device. A user setting is accessed before presenting the alert and user input is received to control processing of the particular triggering event. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09872062B1 |
Enforcing synchronization by embedding audio within video frame data
Synchronization of audio and video data can be enforced by embedding audio within video frame data. In a network environment in which audio and video data are generated on a source computing device and then transferred over the network to a destination computing device for output, the source computing device can be configured to encode the video data into an encoded video stream. As part of this encoding, the source computing device can also embed audio in the encoded video stream in a manner that associates the audio with corresponding video frames. The encoded video stream with the embedded audio can then be transferred over the network. The destination computing device can be configured to parse the encoded video stream to remove the audio and route it to an audio buffer and then route the encoded video stream to a GPU. |
| US09872059B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing set top boxes
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to eliminate a scheduled recording of a targeted media program, where the scheduled recording is a redundant recording of the targeted media program that is determined based upon monitoring of recordings of media programs by a group of set top boxes in communication with each other over a network, where another set top box of the group of set top boxes is designated as a host set top box to record the targeted media program, and where the controller is provided access to the targeted media program by the host set top box. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09872057B1 |
Method and system for accessing content in another format in a communications system
A method and system for accessing content includes a user device and a subscription manager that generates a first identifier associated with a first content in a first format and a second identifier associated with the first content in a second format. The system also includes a conditional access system that communicates a first identifier, the second identifier and rules to the user device. The user device accesses the first content with the first format in response purchasing the first content in the first format. The user device selects the first content in the second format and accesses the first content in the second format in response to purchasing the first content in the first format and the rules. |
| US09872055B1 |
Method and system for preventing congestion of communication signals in a gateway device
A system includes a first communication system, a second communication system and a network processor in communication with the first communication system and the second communication system. The first communication system and the network processor communicate first network signals therebetween. The first network signals include first higher priority network signals and first lower priority network signals. The second communication system and the network processor communicate second network signals therebetween. The second network signals include second higher priority network signals and second lower priority network signals. The network processor communicates a first congestion notification request signal to the first communication system. The first communication system throttles or shapes the first lower priority network signals at the first communication system in response to the first congestion notification signal to form first modified network signals and communicates the first modified network signals to a first user device. |
| US09872052B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting broadcast signals, apparatus for receiving broadcast signals, method for transmitting broadcast signals and method for receiving broadcast signals
The present invention provides a method of transmitting broadcast signals. The method includes, encoding Data Pipe, DP, data according to a code rate, wherein the encoding further includes Low-Density Parity-Check, LDPC, encoding the DP data, Bit interleaving the LDPC encoded DP data, and mapping the bit interleaved DP data onto constellations; building at least one signal frame by mapping the encoded DP data; and modulating data in the built signal frame by an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, method and transmitting the broadcast signals having the modulated data. |
| US09872051B2 |
Method and apparatus for transceiving data for multimedia transmission system
A method and an apparatus for transmitting data in a multimedia transmission system are provided. The method includes receiving, from an encapsulation function layer, a second data unit having one or more first data units, configuring payload header information, the payload header information including a payload type and configuration information, by analyzing header information of the second data unit, configuring one or more payloads from the second data unit based on sizes of the one or more first data units, configuring a multimedia data packet by combining payload header information corresponding to each of the one or more payloads, and transmitting the multimedia data packet to a counterpart entity. Each of the one or more payload includes at least one payload element, the type of which is selected from among a first type, a second type, a third type, a fourth type, and a fifth type. |
| US09872050B2 |
Method for generating, providing and reproducing digital contents in conjunction with digital currency, and terminal and computer readable recording medium using same
A method for a content providing terminal providing at least one technically protected digital content is disclosed. The method includes steps of: (a) the content providing terminal providing the digital content in which information on a public key or pointing information indicating the information on the public key is embedded, wherein the information on the public key or the pointing information indicating the information on the public key is required to make a digital content provider receive digital money; and (b) the content providing terminal supporting a course of removing a state of restriction on the use of the digital content to allow a user terminal which receives the digital content to play the digital content, if the user terminal creates payment information by using the public key and its private key and the created payment information is determined to be true. |
| US09872047B2 |
Identification of captured videos
An identification system receives a request from a user device to identify a video captured in a video stream. The identification system identifies a display area captured in the video stream in which the video is displayed. The identification system identifies content include in the display area throughout the stream. Based on the identified content, the identification system creates a fingerprint for the video. The identification system identifies from a plurality of stored fingerprints at least one fingerprint similar to the created fingerprint. The identification system identifies video information associated with the similar fingerprint. The video information is transmitted to the user device and displayed as being video information about the video captured in the stream. |
| US09872046B2 |
Apparatus and method for recovering spatial motion vector
Discussed is an apparatus for recovering a motion vector to perform error concealment on received video stream, including: a first selecting unit selecting a first motion vector from a first slice that is above a lost slice, and selecting a second motion vector from a second slice that is below the lost slice; a second selecting unit determining at least one first orthogonal motion vector that is orthogonal to the first motion vector, and determining at least one second orthogonal motion vector that is orthogonal to the second motion vector; and a recovering unit computing a lost motion vector, comprised in the lost slice, using a weighted average of valid motion vectors, wherein the valid motion vectors include at least one of the first motion vector, the second motion vector, the first orthogonal motion vector, and the second orthogonal motion vector. |
| US09872044B2 |
Optimized edge order for de-blocking filter
A de-blocking filter includes a reconstructed memory that is configured to store reconstructed pixels corresponding to a current macroblock of a video image to be filtered. The current macroblock includes a set of sub-blocks, each sub-block having horizontal edges and vertical edges. An internal pixel buffer in the de-blocking filter is configured to store pixels corresponding to the set of sub-blocks from the reconstructed memory, and to store partially filtered pixels corresponding to a set of partially filtered macroblocks. An edge order controller in the de-blocking filter is configured to load the pixels corresponding to the set of sub-blocks into a filter engine from the internal pixel buffer, to filter the set of sub-blocks, such that, at least one horizontal edge is filtered before filtering all vertical edges of the set of sub-blocks. |
| US09872041B2 |
Method and apparatus for transceiving image component for 3D image
The method for transmitting an image component for a 3D image according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a step of generating one or more texture image components and one or more depth map image components; a step of generating an SEI (supplemental enhancement information) message including a 3D layer information element for signaling layer information relating to coding between said one or more texture image components and one or more depth map image components; a step of generating an NAL unit including the SEI message including said 3D layer information element; and a step of generating a broadcast signal including said one or more texture image components, said one or more depth map image components and the NAL unit. |
| US09872039B2 |
Method of determining motion vectors for bi-predictive image block
In one embodiment, the method includes determining a motion vector of a current image block equal to a motion vector of an image block based on a reference picture index indicating a reference picture for the image block. For example, the motion vector of the current image block may be equal to the motion vector of the image block if the reference picture index indicates a long-term reference picture for the image block. |
| US09872038B2 |
Moving picture coding device, moving picture coding method, and moving picture coding program
A prediction information deriving unit derives the inter-prediction information candidates from inter-prediction information of a prediction block neighboring to a coding target prediction block or a prediction block present at the same position as or near the coding target prediction block in a coded picture at a temporally different position from the coding target prediction block. A candidate supplementing unit supplements inter-prediction information candidates having the same prediction mode, reference index, and motion vector until the number of inter-prediction information candidates reaches the designated number of candidates when the number of inter-prediction information candidates is smaller than the designated number of candidates. |
| US09872034B2 |
Devices and methods for signaling sample adaptive offset (SAO) parameters
Systems and methods that improve video quality by signaling of parameters in a sample adaptive offset (SAO) process are disclosed. The methods and systems described herein generally pertain to video processing such as video encoders and decoders. |
| US09872029B2 |
Picture coding device, picture coding method, and picture coding program, and picture decoding device, picture decoding method, and picture decoding program
In a picture coding device that partitions differential information between a picture that is a coding target and a picture that is a prediction target into a plurality of sub blocks and codes the partitioned sub blocks in a predetermined sequence, a significant sub block information coding controller and a calculation encoder code significant sub block information that represents whether or not all the values of differential coefficients belonging to the sub block are zero. A significant coefficient information coding controller and the calculation encoder code significant differential coefficient information that represents whether or not the value of the differential coefficient is zero. A differential coefficient value coding controller and the calculation encoder code the value of the differential coefficient. |
| US09872024B2 |
Adaptive filtering based upon boundary strength
An image decoding apparatus that includes a motion compensation prediction circuit configured to conduct motion compensation prediction for each of blocks to be decoded by using the reconstructed image, an inverse transformation circuit configured to conduct inverse orthogonal transformation for the data of the blocks to be decoded, and a determination circuit configured to determine a filtering strength and whether or not to conduct filtering, with respect to each of the boundaries. In addition, the determining circuit is configured to determine filtering is conducted when at least one of the two adjacent blocks is intra-coded, and filtering is not conducted when both of the two adjacent blocks are not intra-coded, a non-zero transformation coefficient is not coded in both of the two adjacent blocks, the two adjacent blocks are predicted by the same reference frame, and an absolute value of a difference between motion vectors of the two adjacent blocks is smaller than a specified threshold value. |
| US09872022B2 |
Method and apparatus for sample adaptive offset processing
Implementations of sample adaptive offset (SAO) processing a reconstructed picture in an image or video coding system are described. In one example implementation, a method may receive input data associated with the reconstructed picture. The method may also perform multiple stages of SAO filtering operations on a SAO processing unit of at least a portion of the reconstructed picture. Information related to a SAO parameter set that signals one or more SAO types, one or more SAO subtypes, one or more SAO offset values, or a combination thereof, used by the multiple stages of SAO filtering operations are encoded or decoded. |
| US09872017B2 |
Method for coding a sequence of digitized images
In a method for coding a sequence of digitized images, a motion compensation process is performed, the motion compensation process using motion vectors between image blocks referring to a number of pixels in a current image and reference blocks referring to a number of pixels in a reference image. The reference image is based on one or more images out of the sequence. For each image block of at least a part of the current image a temporal prediction based on a corresponding reference block indicated by a motion vector is performed, resulting in a prediction error between the image block and the corresponding reference block, where the prediction error is coded. In the method of the invention, the current image in the sequence is divided into several image areas, with a reference area in the reference image being associated with each image area. The temporal prediction of an image block in an image area is based on a reference block at least partially located in the reference area associated with the image area and including pixel information from this reference area. |
| US09872013B2 |
Stereoscopic display device
Obtained is a configuration of a stereoscopic display device that allows a viewer to easily correct settings for stereoscopic display. A stereoscopic display device (1) includes: a display panel (10) for displaying an image; a switch liquid crystal panel (20) that is arranged so as to be stacked on the display panel (10); a position sensor for acquiring position information of a viewer; and a control unit for causing the switch liquid crystal panel (20) to display a parallax barrier in which transmitting regions and non-transmitting regions are formed in periodic fashion in a predetermined alignment direction. The control unit has, as operation modes, at least a tracking mode in which, according to the position information, the parallax barrier is moved in the alignment direction and is displayed on the switch liquid crystal panel (20), and a calibration mode for calibration of a reference position of the position information. The control unit sets a width of the transmitting region of the parallax barrier in the tracking mode, and a width of the transmitting region of the parallax barrier in the calibration mode, so that the widths are different from each other. |
| US09872011B2 |
High-speed depth sensing with a hybrid camera setup
In a method, a first video stream is received from a video camera, and a second video stream is received from a depth camera. A pixel mapping between the video camera and the depth camera is known. The video camera has an update rate greater than that of the depth camera. Optical flow in successive frames of the first video stream is measured, and a portion of the optical flow attributable to depth change is extracted. A scaling factor is calculated for each pixel in successive frames of the first video stream to determine whether a depth change has occurred. A perspective depth correction is applied to each pixel having a depth change. The perspective depth correction is based upon the depth of the corresponding pixel in the most recent frame from the second video stream. A combined video stream having an update rate of the video camera and depth information from the depth camera is obtained. |
| US09872005B2 |
Moving image reproducing apparatus
A moving image reproducing apparatus and a moving image controller are provided. The moving image reproducing apparatus includes a moving image data storer which stores moving image data including a target object having a transparency, at least one of a shade and a gloss on the target object, and a background image. The moving image controller fetches the moving image data from the moving image data storer, disposes an area having a color whose setting is changeable behind the moving image data, synthesizes the moving image data and the area, and sets the color of the area corresponding to the transparency as a color of the target object. |
| US09871999B2 |
Modular camera monitoring systems and methods
Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide monitoring systems including one or more modular cameras and at least one application-specific base. The application-specific base may include features and/or components corresponding to a particular type of monitoring. A monitoring system includes at least one modular camera that first establishes a communication link with an application-specific base and then downloads a monitoring system application corresponding to the application-specific base. After a modular camera receives the monitoring system application, the modular camera performs the application in order to capture monitoring information corresponding to the particular type of monitoring supported by the application-specific base. |
| US09871997B2 |
System and method for processing streaming media of an event captured by nearby mobile phones
Systems, processes and computer-readable media that incorporate the subject disclosure may include, for example, the establishment of wireless communications with a wireless communications device positioned for monitoring an event. A media stream including event media is received from the wireless communications device. The event media is generated by the wireless communications device obtained from the observation position. The media stream is forwarded to a media production processor. Upon selection, the media production processor uses the media stream to prepare media program coverage of the event. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09871994B1 |
Apparatus and methods for providing content context using session metadata
Content proxy may be obtained. Content may include video captured by an action camera. Content proxy may include metadata information obtained contemporaneous with the content and stored in a session container. Content proxy may include lower data rate version of the content (thumbnails). Content proxy information may be viewed and/or analyzed in order to obtain one or more highlights. Content portion corresponding to the highlight may be obtained. Multiple versions of content proxy obtained by multiple cameras may be used to identify, display, and/or share content portions in a multi-camera/multiuser applications. |
| US09871990B2 |
Systems and methods for dual use remote-control devices
Various embodiments provide a dual use remote-control device. In one embodiment, a dual use remote-control device may include a first set of input controls such as buttons positioned on a top side of the housing, a second set of input controls positioned on a bottom side of the housing including a QWERTY keyboard and an optical sensor to remotely control movement of a cursor on a display by the optical sensor detecting movement of a user's finger across the optical sensor or movement of the optical sensor across an object such as a table, arm of a chair or user's lap. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US09871989B2 |
Communication apparatus and method of controlling communication apparatus
A communication apparatus is connected to an external apparatus in a connection mode selected from a plurality of connection modes including a first connection mode in which an external apparatus is connected in accordance with a predetermined operation on the communication apparatus and a second connection mode in which an external apparatus is connected in accordance with an operation whose operation amount is smaller than the predetermined operation. The communication apparatus has a plurality of operation modes to select at least one of contents saved in a recording medium. When connecting the external apparatus in the second connection mode, an operation mode in which the contents are selected based on the operation on the external apparatus is selected out of the plurality of operation modes. |
| US09871984B2 |
Imaging device, control method of imaging device, and pixel structure
An imaging device having phototransistors in photodetectors of pixels is disclosed. The imaging device includes an implanted electrode configured to separate the pixels, a first emitter disposed at a position adjacent to the implanted electrode, and a second emitter disposed such that a distance from the implanted electrode to the second emitter is longer than a distance from the implanted electrode to the first emitter. |
| US09871983B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus
A solid-state imaging apparatus includes a pixel including: a photoelectric converter that generates a signal charge corresponding to incident light; a charge storage section that is connected to the photoelectric converter and accumulates signal charge; a reset transistor; an amplifying transistor; and a cutoff transistor, wherein the amplifying transistor and the cutoff transistor form a negative feedback amplifying circuit. |
| US09871978B1 |
Personal control apparatus and method for sharing information in a collaborative workspace
A content sharing device for use in controlling content replicated from a video source device on a large common display screen, the content sharing device comprising a housing, a processor supported by the housing, at least first and second control buttons supported by the housing and linked to the processor, a cable linked to the processor and having a distal end opposite the processor, the cable including a connector at the distal end for linking to the video source device, wherein, the processor is programmed to enable content from the video source device linked to the connector to be replicated in a first field on the common display screen upon selection of the first control button and to enable content from the video source device linked to the connector to be replicated in a second field adjacent to and separate from the first field upon selection of the second control button. |
| US09871977B2 |
Mobile photography studio for improved vehicle photography suitable for memorabilia
The embodied invention is a multi-step process that creates a memorabilia item of a vehicle that is at a local gathering or event. The invention includes a mobile photographic studio that is adapted for use in an environment such as a ‘parking lot’, or ‘grass field’, or indoor facility environment. The mobile photographic studio utilizes tents with special controlled lighting and photographic enhancing features that which control the lighting and reflectivity of unwanted images of the vehicle. The overall process includes transmitting a raw vehicle photograph to a post processing methods system that removes any minor issues. Finally, the photograph is incorporated in a memorabilia item that is sold to a customer. |
| US09871976B2 |
Imaging apparatus, control system and control method
An imaging apparatus comprises a plurality of imaging elements, an exposure time and a sensitivity value, a memory that stores correction information used to correct the exposure time and the sensitivity value, a correction circuit that corrects, when the exposure time corresponds to the predetermined exposure time, the exposure time and the sensitivity value according to the correction information to generate a corrected exposure time and a corrected sensitivity value, a setting circuit that sets setting values to control each imaging element, a control circuit that controls, when the exposure time calculated by the calculation circuit does not correspond to the predetermined exposure time, simultaneous exposure of each imaging element by using the setting value, and an image generating circuit that generates separate images acquired by each of the imaging elements. |
| US09871975B2 |
Imaging apparatus and control method
In one or more embodiments, exposure control of an image sensor is performed based on a movement characteristic of a shutter configured to be movable to a position at which the image sensor is shielded from light and to a position at which the image sensor is not shielded from light. A moving speed of the shutter may change during movement, and a light amount change characteristic of light from an object may be calculated by a calculation unit. In one or more embodiments, the calculation unit calculates a timing when a light from an object satisfies a predetermined condition. |
| US09871974B2 |
Computing device camera view controller and shutter
A camera control device may include a housing to store the camera and various control modules. The housing may also have a movable camera shutter operating on a shutter track that is close to the camera inside the camera housing. The shutter may include an open portion and a closed portion and a knob which extends beyond a surface area of the camera housing to control movement of the shutter along the shutter track. The movement of the shutter may also be automated and may be subject to sensors triggering sensed conditions. |
| US09871973B2 |
Imaging apparatus and control method to capture image based on compensated exposure value
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to image a subject, a photometry unit, an exposure compensation unit, an exposure control unit configured to control exposure for a captured image and a display control unit configured to control display of the captured image on a display unit. The photometry unit is configured to perform photometry, based the imaging unit's output, to obtain an exposure value. The exposure compensation unit is configured to compensate the obtained exposure value to an exposure value that would be used for exposure control, if photometry of the photometry unit is not fixed. The exposure control unit is configured to allow exposure control at an exposure value within wider range than a range of available exposure values of the cases where photometry of the photometry unit was not fixed, if photometry of the photometry unit is fixed. |
| US09871972B2 |
Auto exposure control system and method
An auto exposure control system includes a mean statistics unit that generates a weighted mean brightness value for an image array; a target control unit that determines a target brightness value according to an ambient status that is determined in accordance with an ambient light value, wherein, in one embodiment, the weighted mean brightness value is used as the ambient light value; a stabilization unit that generates stabilization control signals for the target control unit according to the ambient light value and ambient status information provided by the target control unit; and an exposure value control unit that computes a desired exposure value by comparing the target brightness value with the weighted mean brightness value and determines an exposure command according to the desired exposure value. |
| US09871963B2 |
Image capture using display device as light source
A digital image capture system and method uses a display device to illuminate a target with light for improved image capture under poor lighting conditions. Various characteristics of the flash (e.g., brightness, color, duration, etc.) can be adjusted to improve image capture. Users are provided with feedback (e.g., live video feed, audio and/or visual countdowns, etc.) to assist them in preparing for image capture. The captured images are seamlessly integrated with existing applications (e.g., video conferencing, instant text messaging, etc.). |
| US09871961B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method generating a time-lapse moving image
An image processing method including specifying a first focusing position for a first frame of a plurality of frames forming a time-lapse moving image; acquiring a first parallax image and a second parallax image, which are contained in a first image file corresponding to the first frame, from a recording medium; calculating a first shift amount for a first focusing position shift to be performed on the first parallax image and the second parallax image for focusing on the first focusing position; performing the first focusing position shift with the first shift amount on the first parallax image and the second parallax image, and combining the first parallax image and the second parallax image after the first focusing position shift to generate a first refocused image; and replacing the first frame by the first refocused image to regenerate the time-lapse moving image. |
| US09871960B2 |
Network-based pathology system with desktop slide scanner
A method for processing, saving and viewing a digital image of a microscope slide includes inserting a microscope slide into a digital slide scanner connected to an acquisition computer. A pre-scan formed from a plurality of image tiles uploaded to a network server while the pre-scan is being generated. The network server analyzes the image tiles in realtime to identify an area of interest. The acquisition computer generates a high magnification local scan of the area of interest. The local scan is formed from a plurality of local image tiles that are uploaded to the network server while the local scan is being generated. Each local image tile is viewable by a client computer in communication with the computer network while the plurality of local image tiles is being uploaded. A raw final image is then saved on the network server independent of the acquisition computer. |
| US09871954B2 |
Two part device with camera and mechanical flap
A device comprising at least two body sections is disclosed. The first body section comprises a first camera element having an optical axis, and the second body section comprises a second camera element and a mechanical flap adapted to expose and conceal the second camera element. The first body section is in a movable connection with the second body section, and the device is operable in at least two modes. In the first mode, the first and the second body sections are brought together, and the mechanical flap is adapted to expose the second camera element. In the second mode, the first and the second body sections are positioned such that the first and the second camera elements are positioned away from each other, and the mechanical flap is adapted to conceal the second camera element. |
| US09871950B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
Provided is an image forming apparatus that forms a layer of at least one type of scattering material. The image forming apparatus is configured to obtain subsurface scattering characteristic data indicating the subsurface scattering characteristic of a reproducing target, and determine the laminated structure of the layer of the scattering material based on the subsurface scattering characteristic data. The image forming apparatus is configured to then form an image corresponding to the layer of the scattering material based on the determined laminated structure of the layer of the scattering material. |
| US09871948B2 |
Methods and apparatus for imaging with multimode optical fibers
A multimode waveguide illuminator and imager relies on a wave front shaping system that acts to compensate for modal scrambling and light dispersion by the multimode waveguide. A first step consists of calibrating the multimode waveguide and a second step consists in projecting a specific pattern on the wave guide proximal end in order to produce the desire light pattern at its distal end. The illumination pattern can be scanned or changed dynamically only by changing the phase pattern projected at the proximal end of the waveguide. The third and last step consists in collecting the optical information, generated by the sample, through the same waveguide in order to form an image. Known free space microscopy technique can be adapted to endoscopy with multimode waveguide, such as, but not limited to, fluorescence imaging or Raman spectros copy or imaging, 3D linear scattering imaging or two-photon imaging. Super-resolution, i.e., resolution below the diffraction limit, is achieved for example but not limited to, using the STimulated Emission Depletion microscopy (STED) technique or the Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) technique or a stochastic illumination based method (PALM, STORM) in combination with the multimode waveguide imaging method. |
| US09871945B2 |
Electronic equipment, data sharing system, and data sharing method
Electronic equipment is provided where a user can use easily data stored in plurality of electronic equipments while simplifying a system configuration and processing. Electronic equipment is provided having a document box as a document data storage area and connected to a network, the electronic equipment including a capacity inquiring part inquiring about an empty capacity of a document box of the other image forming devices connected via the network based on a document data storage request from a user, an external storage processing part transmitting document data corresponding to the storage request to the other image forming devices for storage when an empty capacity exists, and a data management part managing data stored in the document box of the other image forming devices as data stored in the document box of the own image forming device accessible from the user. |
| US09871944B2 |
Image forming apparatus, data transmission method, and data transmission system
An image forming apparatus transmits a database to an external server. The image forming apparatus includes a storage section, a replication section, an encipherment section, a transmission section, a generation section, and an acquisition section. The storage section stores a database therein. The replication section generates a replica of the database stored in the storage section as a replicated database. The encipherment section enciphers the replicated database. The transmission section transmits the enciphered database to the external server each time a predetermined time period elapses. The generation section generates a deciphering key for deciphering the enciphered database. The acquisition section acquires disaster information. Upon the acquisition section acquiring the disaster information, the transmission section transmits the deciphering key to the external server. |
| US09871941B2 |
Operation system, search device and search method
An operation system includes: an operation apparatus that includes a display displaying information and an operation unit receiving an operation, is connected to a communication network, and, using the display and the operation unit, enables other apparatus to operate through the communication network; an operation target apparatus that is connected to the operation apparatus in parallel using the communication network and a direct connection line and receives an operation through the communication network; a connection storing unit that is built in the operation apparatus, is connected to the operation target apparatus through the communication network and stores connection information used for operating the operation target apparatus; and a search device as defined herein, and the search device includes: a first information acquiring unit; a second information acquiring unit; an apparatus specifying unit; and a storage instructing unit as defined herein. |
| US09871936B2 |
Image forming apparatus using decolorable and non-decolorable toner for printing acquired images
An image forming apparatus includes a reading unit, an image forming unit, and a controller. The reading unit is configured to acquire image data by reading an image on a first sheet. The image forming unit is configure to form an image from the image data on a second sheet using a first color material and a second color material. The controller is configured to perform text recognition on the image data, cause the image forming unit to form text from the image data on the second sheet using the second color material, and cause the image forming unit to form portions of the image data other than the text on the second sheet using the first color material. |
| US09871935B2 |
Image forming apparatus with inclination according to facial orientation
An image forming apparatus includes an operation portion, an image capturing portion, a driving portion, a facial orientation detection portion, and an inclination control portion. The operation portion includes an operation surface to be operated by a user. The image capturing portion is configured to capture an image including a face of the user operating the operation portion. The driving portion is configured to change the inclination of the operation portion. The facial orientation detection portion is configured to detect a facial orientation of the user on the basis of an image captured by the image capturing portion. The inclination control portion is configured to control the driving portion on the basis of the facial orientation detected by the facial orientation detection portion. |
| US09871933B2 |
Information processing apparatus and image processing system for generating image data for a preview image by using print data described in page description language
An information processing apparatus is for generating image data by using drawing information for drawing an image. The information processing apparatus includes a print data acquirer configured to acquire print data including the drawing information from outside; a request acceptor configured to accept a request to display the image data of any page in the print data; a reader configured to read specific drawing information of pages in the print data up to a page before the any page accepted by the request acceptor, from a drawing information storage storing the specific drawing information, which is the drawing information that may be applied to the image data of pages after a page in which the drawing information is described, among the drawing information included in the print data; and a generator configured to generate the image data of the any page by applying the read specific drawing information. |
| US09871932B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes an operation unit, a communication interface, an image processing engine, a memory storing a plurality of software including first software and second software, and a controller. The controller in response to receiving a first start instruction for executing image processing based on a user's operation, executes association processing associated with the image processing by executing the first software, controls the image processing engine to execute the image processing, loads predetermined data included in the first software by executing the second software, in response to receiving a second start instruction of the image processing from an external apparatus via the communication interface, executes the association processing using the loaded predetermined data by executing the second software and controls the image processing engine to execute the image processing. |
| US09871931B1 |
Scanner capable of executing static calibration and compensation value adjustment method therefor
A scanner capable of executing a static calibration and a compensation value adjustment method therefor are disclosed. The scanner includes a calibration piece, a memory, an image capturing unit and a processing unit. The image capturing unit acquires an initial scanned pixel data. A compensation offset-ratio data having a first offset-ratio average is generated according to the initial scanned pixel data and a standard compensation data by the processing unit. Plural selected pixels are determined according to the compensation offset-ratio data, the first offset-ratio average and the predetermined compensation threshold value. A second offset-ratio average is obtained by removing the compensation offset-ratio values of the compensation offset-ratio data of the selected pixels. The initial scanned pixel data is transformed into a static compensation pixel data according to the second offset-ratio average and the standard compensation data. |
| US09871929B2 |
Communication method and user equipment
Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication method and a user equipment. The method includes: establishing, by a first user equipment, Internet-based Web Real-Time Communication WebRTC multimedia communication with a second user equipment, where the Internet-based WebRTC multimedia communication includes Internet-based WebRTC audio communication and Internet-based WebRTC non-audio communication; and performing, by the first user equipment, a first audio communication change operation, where the performing, by the first user equipment, a first audio communication change operation includes: establishing, by the first user equipment, telecommunications domain-based audio communication with the second user equipment, and disconnecting, by the first user equipment in a case in which the Internet-based WebRTC non-audio communication with the second user equipment remains, the Internet-based WebRTC audio communication with the second user equipment. According to the embodiments of the present invention, quality of communication between user equipments can be improved. |
| US09871927B2 |
Complexity aware call-steering strategy in heterogeneous human/machine call-center environments
A method for routing calls suited to use in a call center includes receiving a call from a customer, extracting features from an utterance of the call, and, based on the extracted features, predicting a class and a complexity of a dialog to be conducted between the customer and an agent. With a routing model, a routing strategy is generated for steering the call to one of a plurality of types of agent (such as to a human or a virtual agent), based on the predicted class and complexity of the dialog and a cost assigned to the type of agent. A first of the plurality of types of agent is assigned a higher cost than a second of the types of agent. The routing strategy is output. |
| US09871924B1 |
Techniques for behavioral pairing in a contact center system
Techniques for behavioral pairing in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for pairing in a contact center including ordering one or more contacts, ordering one or more agents, comparing a first difference in ordering between a first contact and a first agent in a first pair with a second difference in ordering between a second contact and a second agent in a second pair, and selecting the first pair or the second pair for connection based on the comparing, wherein the first contact and the second contact are different or the first agent and the second agent are different. |
| US09871923B2 |
System and method for managing resources
A computing system for managing a plurality of resources for one or more communication sessions in an enterprise is disclosed. The computing system includes a monitoring module for monitoring one or more parameters of at least one communication session. The system further includes a database for storing one or more monitored parameters. The system further includes a calculation module for calculating a multiplicity value for each of the plurality of resources based on the stored parameters. The system further includes an allocation module for allocating the at least one communication session to at least one resource of the plurality of resources based on the calculated multiplicity value. |
| US09871922B1 |
Customer care database creation system and method
A live service agent is associated to a first service session, where the first service session facilitates a communication exchange associated with a user inquiry between user equipment and a first service resource. The first service session remains uninterrupted by the associating of the live service agent. A verbal exchange of the communication exchange between the user equipment and the live service agent is recorded in response to the associating of the live service agent, and a number of keywords are identified. To the extent that the verbal exchange yields a satisfactory response to the user inquiry and that the recording is dissimilar to other recordings of a solution database, the recording is stored in the solution database. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US09871921B2 |
Method and apparatus for diverting callers to web sessions
A customer support system diverts a customer to an integrated support service to serve the customer better in situations where the use of a single mode of interaction is insufficient. Embodiments of the invention find use where an email or SMS is sent to a customer's smart devices with a link to visual content which helps customer better understand the information. |
| US09871916B2 |
System and methods for providing voice transcription
A system and methods is provided for providing SIP based voice transcription services. A computer implemented method includes: transcribing a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based conversation between one or more users from voice to text transcription; identifying each of the one or more users that are speaking using a device SIP_ID of the one or more users; marking the identity of the one or more users that are speaking in the text transcription; and providing the text transcription of the speaking user to non-speaking users. |
| US09871915B2 |
Voice message exchange
Disclosed is a voice message exchange system and method for improving communication between an inmate and a third party by enabling the inmate to leave a message when a call is not answered and further allowing the third party who receives the message to reply with a message to the inmate. Additionally, outside parties that meet the institution's requirements can leave messages for inmates at any time. The present invention can be used as an add-on to legacy inmate call management systems or incorporated internally into an inmate call management system. The system also provides monitoring, controlling, recording, and billing means. |
| US09871910B2 |
Usage of software programs on mobile computing devices
A solution is provided for controlling usage of one or more software programs on one or more mobile computing devices. A corresponding method comprises monitoring an indication of a position of each mobile computing device to determine a location area of the mobile computing device. The method comprises assigning each one of the software programs to a usage group. For each location area, the software programs of each software program type are assigned to the corresponding usage groups providing one or more usage characteristics that fulfill one or more usage requirements of each software program; this is performed according to one or more optimization criteria depending on one or more usage weights of each usage group. The method comprises enabling the usage of each software program according to the usage characteristics of the corresponding usage group. |
| US09871904B2 |
Information transmission device and information transmission method
An information transmission device includes an information transmission unit configured to tactilely transmit text information, and at least one processor configured to control the information transmission unit. The information transmission unit includes a plurality of stimulation applying units configured to apply tactile stimulation to a touched part of a human body. The at least one processor is configured to control the information transmission unit such that stimulation applying units selected for forming a letter from among the plurality of stimulation applying units produce the tactile stimulation and the tactile stimulation produced by each of the selected stimulation applying units varies in a predetermined order. |
| US09871900B2 |
Cellphone with contoured surfaces
Disclosed is a housing for a portable handheld electronic device such as a cellphone. The device has a housing, having a left side and right side. At least one of the left side and right side is provided with integral surface features or surface structures to enhance gripping the cellphone, preferably along the entire length of the phone or within about the top half or one third of the phone. |
| US09871897B1 |
Sensor stack having a graphical element formed by physical vapor deposition
Apparatuses and methods for creating a sensor stack or element for use in an electronic device. In one example, a method may include providing a substrate made of sapphire; affixing, by physical vapor deposition, a decorative feature on the substrate; providing a silicon layer including a capacitive sensor; and bonding the sensor to the substrate. In one example, the affixing operation may include an icon, logo, symbol or other graphic as the decorative feature. The method may also include reducing the substrate or silicon layer from an initial thickness to a second thickness, the second thickness being thinner that the initiation thickness. The sensor stack may be used or configured as an input button for the electronic device such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, or other computing device. |
| US09871895B2 |
Apparatus and methods for optimizing dirty memory pages in embedded devices
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for providing images of memory objects. A computing device can receive a plurality of memory objects for one or more executable software components. The computing device can classify the plurality of memory objects in accord with a plurality of object classifications. A particular object classification can represent a probability that a memory object classified with the particular object classification is to be written to during execution of the one or more executable software components. The computing device can order the plurality of memory objects based on the plurality of object classifications. The computing device can provide an image for the one or more executable software components using the computing device, where the image includes the ordered plurality of memory objects. |
| US09871890B2 |
Network authentication method using a card device
A network authentication method includes: by a user terminal, through execution of an application, connecting to a network server and sending a server verification request to a card device coupled to the user terminal; by the card device, generating a server dynamic link program based on a server verification code, encrypting the server dynamic link program, and transmitting the encrypted server dynamic linking program to the network server through the user terminal; by the user terminal, sending a server code data received from the network server to the card device as generated by the network server based on the server dynamic link program; and by the card device, verifying the network server based on the server code data and the server verification code. |
| US09871876B2 |
Sequential behavior-based content delivery
Providing sequential behavior-based content may include detecting, using a processor, an event sequence involving at least one device of a user, wherein the event sequence includes a current event and a prior event, correlating, using the processor, the event sequence with a frequent sequential pattern selected from a plurality of frequent sequential patterns associated with the user, and predicting, using the processor, a next event for the user according to a plurality of ordered events specified by the selected frequent sequential pattern. Responsive to predicting the next event, content relating to the next event may be provided to the device using the processor. |
| US09871875B2 |
Identifying browsing sessions based on temporal transaction pattern
A method includes intercepting multiple request-response transactions communicated between a server and a client operated by a user. An identification of which of the transactions were generated in a browsing session conducted by the user, and which of the transactions do not belong to any browsing session, is made by evaluating a criterion that depends on a temporal pattern of the transactions. |
| US09871871B2 |
Pulling information from information sources via refer requests
Methods, computer program products, information servers, information sources and a system are shown in the context of pulling information from information sources. At an information server, a refer request, which comprises an identifier of a refer-to entity to be referred to by a recipient of the refer request, is configured to trigger an information source to provide information upon reception of the refer request without referring to further information sources. The refer request is issued. At an information source, the refer request is received, and the refer request is checked to determine if information shall be provided by the information source in response to the refer request without referring to further information sources. The information is only provided if it is determined that the information shall be provided. |
| US09871860B2 |
Method and system for providing remote access to a state of an application program
A method and system for providing remote access to a state of an application executing on a remote server. A client computer includes a client remote access program that is used to connect to a server remote access program. At the client computer, a client difference program having encoded data indicative of a change of a state of the application last received from the server computer is generated and transmitted to the server remote access program. At the server computer, the client difference program is executed to update the state of the application and a server difference program is generated having encoded a difference between the updated state of the application and the state of the application last sent to the client computer. The server difference program is transmitted to the client computer to update the state of the application since it was last received from the server computer. |
| US09871859B2 |
Control apparatus, control method and medium
A first control apparatus according to the present invention includes: a first receiving unit which receives a second message from any one of switch apparatuses of an OpenFlow network which is a connection path connecting a terminal apparatus with a communication destination apparatus; a first receiving packet processing unit which processes the second message; a first application executing unit which executes a first application corresponding to the second message; a first message generating unit which receives messages from the first receiving packet processing unit and the first application executing unit, and generates a first message; a first message receiving unit which receives a first message from another first control apparatus; a first determination unit which selects the first message received from the first message generating unit or the first message received from the first message receiving unit; and a first sending unit which sends the selected first message. |
| US09871858B2 |
System and method for peer to peer utility sharing
A method, computer program product, and computer system for receiving, at a second computing device by a first computing device, an invitation to establish a peer to peer communication channel. The second computing device may accept the invitation. An application may be utilized on the second computing device. Content created by the application on the second computing device may be automatically shared with the first computing device, via the peer to peer communication channel, based upon utilization of the application on the second computing device. Access to the content may be prevented on the second computing device. |
| US09871855B2 |
Balancing load across cache servers in a distributed data store
A technology for balancing computing resource load across cache servers in a distributed data store is disclosed. The technology can monitor computing resource load on each cache server to increase or decrease an assigned weight of the cache server. The technology can use two hash functions to reallocate, based on the change in the assigned weight, a portion of the key space from one cache server to another. The first hash function can be a consistent hash function that identifies a cache server mapped to an entity identifier. The second hash function can be employed to determine a hash weight of the cache server. The hash weight of the cache server can then be evaluated against the assigned weight to determine whether the entity identifier should remain mapped to the same cache server or should be reevaluated for allocation to a different cache server. |
| US09871849B2 |
Systems and methods for just-in-time state sharing
Methods and systems for sharing variable states from an appliance to one or more servers is disclosed. The appliance may identify a script, and identify the variables associated with the script. The variables are shared with the servers so that the servers can execute the script. The script may also be shared with the servers. The script and the variables may be transmitted in-band with other traffic. |
| US09871846B2 |
Download booths
A download booth comprising a local file server operatively connected to a removable disk drive containing, in use, multimedia content, the local file server further comprising a network interface operatively connected to a plurality of wireless access points and a wireless connection manager, wherein the wireless connection manager is configured to authenticate incoming connection requests from a plurality of wireless devices and upon authentication, to temporarily connect each authenticated wireless device to its own access point for the duration of a connection session. The end of the connection session may be determined by an estimated download time for a particular multimedia file, or upon detection of completion of a download from the download booth to the wireless device. Suitably, the connection manager is configured to dynamically queue connection requests when the number of concurrent connection requests exceeds the number of available access points and to prioritize the connection requests according to an estimated aggregated end time for completing the download requests. |
| US09871845B2 |
Portlet scheduling with improved loading time and loading efficiency
A data processing, and more specifically, to a method and system for portlet scheduling. The method for scheduling a plurality of portlets according to the present invention comprising: obtaining invocation time of the plurality of portlets; obtaining weights of the plurality of portlets; assembling the plurality of portlets into a plurality of threads according to the invocation time and the weights, wherein the assembled plurality of threads has similar thread invocation time. With the method and system for scheduling a plurality of portlets according to illustrative embodiments, the plurality of portlets are assembled into a plurality of threads having similar thread invocation time according to invocation time and importance of each portlet, and the above problems are better solved, thus loading time of the portlets can be significantly reduced, loading efficiency of the portlets can be improved, thereby better improving user experience. |
| US09871844B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving adaptive streaming mechanism-based content
An apparatus is provided for receiving a content in a system. The apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive a media presentation description including information of a subset of the content, wherein the subset includes at least one group; and a controller configured to identify the subset, wherein the at least one group includes at least one representation for the content, and wherein each of the at least one representation has a different property for the content. |
| US09871843B2 |
Method and system for downloading and playing media file, client, server, and storage medium
The present disclosure relates to method and system for downloading and playing a media file, a client, a server, and a storage medium. The client is configured to initiate a request for acquiring a media file to the server, the request including current network connection information of the client, receive download list information from the server, the download list information identifying an ordered list of fragments extracted from the media file by the server in accordance with the current network connection information of the client, initiate a request for acquiring fragments of the media file to the server, acquire the fragments of the media file returned by the server, and play the fragments of the media file according to the order of the fragments when receiving an instruction of playing the media file. The present disclosure can simply and quickly play a media file that is not downloaded completely. |
| US09871842B2 |
Methods and systems for network based video clip processing and management
Methods and system for managing media clips over a data network. Media streams may be received over a data network and stored by a storage server. Metadata regarding the media streams may be generated and stored at a metadata server. A control station can retrieve media frames originating in the stored media streams from the storage server, based on metadata. Media frames from multiple media streams can be retrieved and displayed in synchronization, based on respective timecodes. |
| US09871840B2 |
Electronic apparatus and method for transferring contents on cloud system to device connected to DLNA
An electronic apparatus is capable of transferring contents on a cloud system to a device connected to a DLNA. In a method for operating a client on the cloud service system, a stream meta data table including information of one or more contents is received from a server. Meta data of contents selected from the contents are converted such that the meta data coincide with a format used by a device selected from one or more devices connected to a network. The selected contents are streamed from the server and transferred to the selected device. |
| US09871839B2 |
Seamless multicast and unicast switching for content playback
Content streams, such as video streams, may be seamlessly provided as both multicast and unicast transmissions. For example, in one implementation, a mobile device may receive a request, from a user of the mobile device, to play streaming content at the mobile device. The mobile device may receive, from a wireless network, and using multicast techniques, a sequence of content segments that correspond to the requested streaming content, and determine when a content segment is missing from the sequence of content segments. The mobile device may request, in response to the determination of the missing content segment, the missing content segment, from the wireless network, using unicast techniques; and insert the received missing content segment into the sequence of content segments to obtain the sequence of content segments as a sequence that includes content segments received using both multicast and unicast techniques. |
| US09871836B1 |
Featured items of distributed discussion collaboration
In an embodiment, a method for distributed discussion collaboration is provided. The computer-implemented method includes selecting a featured discussion item for each of one or more collaborators based on information associated with each respective collaborator. The method also includes providing selected featured discussion items for display to respective one or more collaborators. The method further includes receiving voting information for the featured discussion items displayed to the respective one or more collaborators. In another embodiment, a system for distributed discussion collaboration includes a selection module configured to select a featured discussion item for each of one or more collaborators based on information associated with each respective collaborator. The system also includes a view controller and a voting module. |
| US09871830B2 |
Internet of things context-enabled device-driven tracking
A determination is made at a server that a network connected device is to control monitoring performed by a first network connected sensor. A first connection is established between the network connected device and the first network connected sensor, the first connection providing control of the first network connected sensor by the network connected device. A context change for the network connected device is determined. A second connection between the network connected device and a second network connected sensor is established, the second connection providing control of the second network connected sensor by the network connected device. |
| US09871823B2 |
Techniques to deliver security and network policies to a virtual network function
Examples may include techniques to securely provision, configure, and de-provision virtual network functions for a software defined network or a cloud infrastructure elements. A policy for a virtual network function may be received, at a secure execution partition of circuitry, and the virtual network function configured to implement the policy by the secure execution partition of the circuitry. The secure execution partition may connect to the virtual network function through a virtual switch and may cause the virtual network function to implement a network function based on the policy. |
| US09871822B2 |
Deployment using a context-based cloud security assurance system
A cloud infrastructure is enhanced to provide a context-based security assurance service to enable secure application deployment. The service inspects network and cloud topologies to identify potential security capabilities and needs. Preferably, these options are then surfaced to the user with easy-to-understand, pre-configured templates representing security assurance levels. When a template (e.g., representing a pre-configured assurance level) is selected by the user, the system then applies specific capabilities and controls to translate the user-selected generalized specification (e.g., “high security”) into granular requirements for a specific set of security resources. Preferably, the identification of these security resources is based on system configuration, administration, and information associated with the pre-configured template. |
| US09871819B2 |
Zone-based security architecture for intra-vehicular wireless communication
Systems and methods provide secure and wireless intra-vehicular communication. An intra-vehicular communication system has a secured network segment including a plurality of secure zones on a vehicle, the secure zones each having a plurality of node devices. The system also has a single point of security proximate each secure zone on the vehicle providing communication security for a corresponding secure zone, and a public network segment on the vehicle configured to wirelessly transport data traffic between the secure zones. |
| US09871817B2 |
Social engineering simulation workflow appliance
A system for evaluating the susceptibility of an organization to social engineering, the organization having a plurality of sources and a plurality of members using electronic devices, is provided. The system includes an appliance in communication with the plurality of sources configured to retrieve contact information of members and to detect triggering events from the plurality of sources. The system includes a platform remote from the appliance configured to receive signals from the appliance indicative of the triggering events and to prepare and send communications, including templates based on each of the triggering events to the appliance. Upon receipt of the communications, the appliance is configured to retrieve the contact information of intended recipient members, to create messages based on the templates, and to send the messages to the intended recipient members. The platform does not receive the contact information of the plurality of members from the appliance. |
| US09871814B2 |
System and method for improving security intelligence through inventory discovery
A system for monitoring devices in a network comprising a coordinator operating on a first processor and configured to detect a plurality of active devices and to install an audit agent on each of the plurality of active devices. The audit agents configured to obtain configuration data for the active device that they are installed on using a processor of the active device, and to obtain configuration for each of a plurality of passive devices that the active device can access, where the passive devices are unable to support installation of an audit agent, and to transmit the configuration data to the coordinator. The coordinator configured to receive the configuration data for the active device and for the passive devices and to store the configuration data in a format that allows the configuration data to be selectively retrieved for the active device and the passive devices. |
| US09871810B1 |
Using tunable metrics for iterative discovery of groups of alert types identifying complex multipart attacks with different properties
Tunable metrics are used for iterative discovery of groups of security alerts that identify complex, multipart attacks with different properties. Alerts generated by triggering signatures on originating computing devices are iteratively traversed, and different metrics corresponding to alerts and alert groups are calculated. The calculated metrics quantify the feasibility of the evaluation components (alerts and/or alert groups) for inclusion in tuples identifying multipart attacks with specific properties. Alerts and successively larger alert groups are iteratively joined into tuples, responsive to evaluation components meeting thresholds based on corresponding calculated metrics. Only those evaluation components that meet specific thresholds based on the calculated metrics are added to alert groups. Metrics are only calculated for those components that have met corresponding metric-based thresholds during prior iterations. Discovered tuples can be transmitted to multiple endpoint computing devices, where the tuples can be utilized as signatures to detect and defend against multipart attacks. |
| US09871808B2 |
System and method for handling rogue data packets
The present disclosure is directed towards a system and method for handling rogue data packets. The method may include receiving, using one or more processors, a first data packet having header information associated therewith. The method may further include obtaining, from the header information, sequence number, timestamp and synchronization source identifier information. The method may also include detecting one or more rogue data packets, based upon, at least in part, at least one of the sequence number, timestamp and synchronization source identifier information. |
| US09871807B2 |
Generic protocol decoder for generic application-level protocol signatures
Described is a generic protocol decoder that analyzes network traffic or file data to look for a signature, and signals an intrusion prevention mechanism/system if the signature is matched. In one aspect, the generic decoder is built using generic application-level protocol analysis language (GAPAL) primitives. These primitives provide various capabilities, including pattern matching, skipping, reading data, copying variable data and comparing data. The generic decoder may be coupled to a pre-developed protocol parser that provides the decoder with the data to analyze. |
| US09871804B2 |
User authentication
Providing a user apparatus access to a computer system including services and authentication levels. A service request is determined for at least one of the services from a user apparatus. A distributed authentication provider is negotiated with to provide an authentication level based access control for the plurality of authentication levels associated with the plurality of services. The user apparatus to is redirected to access the distributed authentication provider such that the user apparatus authenticates itself at the distributed authentication provider for the authentication level associated with the at least one of the services within the service request. The user apparatus is provided access to the at least one of the services within the service request based on a successful authentication at the distributed authentication provider for the authentication level associated with the at least one of the services within the service request. |
| US09871803B2 |
Access control for event data stored in cloud-based data stores based on inherited roles
Embodiments are directed towards a system and method for a cloud-based front end that may abstract and enable access to the underlying cloud-hosted elements and objects that may be part of a multi-tenant application, such as a search application. Search objects may be employed to access indexed objects. An amount of indexed data accessible to a user may be based on an index storage limit selected by the user, such that data that exceeds the index storage limit may continue to be indexed. Also, one or more projects can be elastically scaled for a user to provide resources that may meet the specific needs of each project. |
| US09871801B2 |
Secure computing system record access control
A computing system record security architecture comprises, in one example, a record generation component configured to generate a record in a computing system, the record identifying a set of users associated with the record, and having an owner property that identifies a first user as an owner of the record, a co-owner assignment component configured to receive a co-owner assignment request, from the first user, to assign a second user to the record as a co-owner, and a record security component configured to receive a record modification request, from the second user, that requests a modification to the record, and to propagate the record modification request to the set of users with a unique identifier that identifies the first user. |
| US09871799B2 |
Enabling trusted conferencing services
Architecture for providing a superuser privilege in a conferencing environment. A pre-configured entity such as a bot program receives special conferencing privileges. A request can be identified as originating from a trusted service and an associated predetermined set of privileges passed to the service. The trusted service can impersonate a user, and join a conference using its own identity or using the identity of a user. Conference control rules can be enforced on the trusted user (e.g., no other users can eject or mute this entity). Moreover, the trusted service can (optionally) hide itself from the conference roster to remain invisible to all participants. |
| US09871797B2 |
Information security apparatus and methods for credential dump authenticity verification
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a memory, storing processor-executable instructions, blacklist terms, and credential dump records, and a processor. The processor receives repository data from targeted remote repositories and stores the repository data as a potential credential dump in the memory when the repository data includes a credential dump attribute. The processor stores the potential credential dump as a probable credential dump when the potential credential dump does not include a blacklist term, in which case the processor also detects a format and delimiter of the probable credential dump. Based on the format and delimiter, pairs of usernames and associated passwords are identified and hashed. If a percentage of the hashes not associated with the credential dump records exceeds a predetermined threshold, the probable credential dump is deemed authentic. |
| US09871796B1 |
Multi level decomposition for multi user CAx databases
A system for collaborating on a component a first multi-user CAx environment including a data module. The first multi-user CAx environment corresponds to a first profile. The data module is configured to access data relating to a component design in a database. The database relates to a group of function-based commands. A synchronization module is configured to cause the data module to access at least one work area relating to the component design according to one of at least three access levels when at least one predetermined criterion is met, and another one of the at least three access levels when the at least one predetermined criterion is not met. A method for designing a component is also disclosed. |
| US09871794B2 |
Domain name system and method of operating using restricted channels
A server system for a domain name system (DNS) which operates to concurrently provide both public-facing and restricted channels for receiving and handling Internet Protocol (IP) address requests from a population of computers. The server system implements an alternative DNS request handling process to provide a trusted computer entity with exclusive access to the restricted channels. |
| US09871793B2 |
Diameter signaling for mobile IPv4
The invention consists of a new registration and authentication protocol for between a Mobile Node and a Home Agent. The new protocol uses a novel messaging sequence to request registration, authentication and authorization of the Mobile Node when it is located on a foreign network, and the novel protocol will avoid some of the standard registration and authentication protocol messages in order to eliminate the problems associated with re-transmission errors. |
| US09871791B2 |
Multi factor user authentication on multiple devices
Systems and methods of the present invention provide for a first and second client computer configured to receive and transmit an authentication credential and at least one additional authentication credential respectively. The authentication credentials may be selected from authentication credentials known only to a user, identifying a client computer and/or identifying a characteristic unique to the user. A server computer communicatively coupled to the network may be configured to receive the authentication credentials and verify the identity of the user via a match, in a database, of a first authentication credential, a second authentication credential and a third authentication credential. |
| US09871790B2 |
Identification method of an entity
The present invention relates to identification method of an entity executed by an identification system from indexed distance data (d1, . . . , dn) corresponding to reference entities and comprising: a determination phase of a set (I) of indices of minima (index1, . . . , indexk) from said indexed distance binary data of length q′ comprising an execution step comprising, for each set of jth bits of indexed distance data contained in a list of data to be processed, j being an integer varying from q′−1 to 0, starting by the set of most significant bits of the data to be processed and finishing by the set of least significant bits of the data to be processed, the search of indices of minima comprising, if a number of indices of a first group of indices of indexed distance data (p) is greater than a remaining number of indexed data to be set aside (r), addition of said indices of a second group to the set of indices of minima; an identification phase of the entity to be identified from the reference entities corresponding to the stored reference biometric data determined associated with the indices of minimal distance data (index1, . . . , indexk), the operations on binary integers for conducting at least said execution step, being translated in the form of at least one Boolean circuit used to execute at least said execution step securely between the control server and the management server by means of a secure multi party computation protocol enabling secure evaluation of said Boolean circuit. |
| US09871786B2 |
Authenticating communications
The method of authenticating the source of a communication is disclosed. The method includes executing a clock for an operation period. The method also includes receiving a communication from a remote device at a communication time corresponding to a time interval of a plurality of time intervals sequentially covering the operation period. Each time interval has an associated authentication value. The communication includes a commitment value. The method also includes determining whether the commitment value matches the authentication value associated with the time interval corresponding to the communication time. The method also includes processing the communication when the commitment value matches the authentication value associated with the time interval corresponding to the communication time. The authentication value associated with the time interval corresponding to the communication time includes a hash digest of a hash function applied to the authentication value associated with a sequentially subsequent time interval. |
| US09871784B2 |
System and method for image based location specific password construction and authentication
A computer implemented system and method for image based location specific password construction and authentication is provided. The system helps users to recognize the password in terms of objects in an image rather than recalling the alphanumeric passwords. A graph walk generator present in the system guides a user to take unique pictures/images/photographs from user's geographical location which helps the user to recognize password easily in future. The system helps in creating and maintaining a strong password by using pseudorandom image presenter. It also allows a user to aid his photographic memory to get authenticated to the system. Every user generates certain number of images by capturing images in vicinity and select objects from an image to create a password. A user authentication module present in the system then authenticates the user based on sequence of the objects within the captured image to provide one-time image based authentication. |
| US09871780B2 |
System and method for preventing unauthorized access to restricted computer systems through the use of a wireless transmitter and receiver
A method and system for automatically terminating a logout session for a restricted access system by determining that an authorized user has left the vicinity of the restricted access system. The authorized user preferably carries a wireless transmitter which transmits an authorization signal. When the authorized user leaves the vicinity of the restricted access system after logging in, the signal is no longer received by a wireless receiver or too weak of a signal, such that an access control system in communication with the wireless receiver automatically causes the restricted access system to initiate a logout action in order to prevent or reduce the chance of an unauthorized user gaining access to the restricted access system. |
| US09871773B2 |
Method and system for digital rights management of documents
A method and system for transmission of digital content via e-mail with point of use digital rights management is disclosed. The secured access rights to the digital content may be customized for individual recipients by the sender, and may evolve over time. The access rights are enforced according to a time-dependent scheme. A key server is used to arbitrate session keys for the encrypted content, eliminating the requirement to exchange public keys prior to transmission of the digital content. During the entire process of transmitting and receiving e-mail messages and documents, the exchange of cryptographic keys remains totally transparent to the users of the system. Additionally, electronic documents may be digitally signed with authentication of the signature. |
| US09871772B1 |
Cryptographic system for secure command and control of remotely controlled devices
A system and method operate on a first electronic device and a second electronic device. The first device has a control system and a cryptographic communications module. The second device has a key generator, a user interface, and a cryptographic communications module. The second device generates a single-mission cryptographic key that is securely programmed into the first device, and the first device is deployed to a remote location. The user interface receives a command for controlling the first device. The second device encrypts the command according to the cryptographic key, and transmits the encrypted command to the first device. The first device authenticates the command, decrypts it, and passes the decrypted command to the control system. The first device may be actively guided ordnance, and the second device may be a control element for controlling the actively guided ordnance. The key may be automatically obfuscated upon mission completion or termination. |
| US09871765B2 |
DIAMETER firewall using reception IP address or peer identity
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a DIAMETER network node, the method including: receiving a first DIAMETER message; determining that the first DIAMETER message is not trusted; and rejecting the first DIAMETER message. |
| US09871763B2 |
Method and system for dynamic application layer gateways
A method and system are disclosed for providing functionality on a network. A mobile agent moves from a first node to a target node and, at the target node, performs as an application layer gateway. |
| US09871760B2 |
Message transmission scheme in a controlled facility
A method for message transmission in a controlled facility includes receiving a request to transmit a message from a superfriend in a controlled facility. The superfriend includes an administrative privilege and a removal protection. The method further includes receiving, for the message from a superfriend network list of the superfriend, a selection contacts confined in the controlled facility, sending, via an electronic network, the message to each of the contacts in the controlled facility, and presenting the message to each of the contacts in the controlled facility. For each contact, the method further includes calculating audit information capturing the presenting of the message, and transmitting an acknowledgement of receipt of the message to the superfriend. |
| US09871757B1 |
Sharing user-generated content to external social networks
A system and method for sharing user-generated content to external social networks from a primary social network by treating them as contacts is disclosed. The system includes an authenticator, a contact generator, a link establisher, and a content copier. The authenticator receives an address and user credentials for external social network websites. The contact generator generates virtual contacts for each of the external social networks. The link establisher identifies external social networks targeted for sharing on the primary social network and creates a link to the accounts. The content copier modifies user-generated content on the primary social network to match native settings on the external social network accounts before posting to them. |
| US09871756B1 |
Methods for displaying notifications
Delivering notifications to a user can include obtaining, by one or more server computers, notification information indicating that a notification is to be delivered to a device associated with the user at a future time that is subsequent to a current time and behavior information associated with the user; ranking, by the one or more server computers, a plurality of notification delivery strategies that the user will be available to receive the notification from the device associated with the user at the future time based in part on behavior information associated with the user; and sending the notification for display to the device associated with the user based on a highest ranked delivery strategy from the plurality of delivery strategies. |
| US09871754B2 |
Communicating messages between publishers and subscribers in a mesh routing network
A system that communicates across a network is described. During operation, the system receives a subscription request from a subscriber requesting to subscribe to receive information published to a service name. The system applies a function to the service name to generate a value that maps to a root-node associated with the service name. The system forwards the subscription request through the network to the root-node and logs information associated with the subscription request in a subscription table at the root-node, so that the root-node can forward messages that are subsequently published to the service name to the subscriber. Upon receiving a publication request from a publisher requesting to publish a message to the service name, the system first determines the root-node from the service name. The system forwards the publication request to the root-node to be forwarded to one or more subscribers for the service name. |
| US09871750B2 |
Maintaining persistence of a messaging system
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs for receiving, from a first client device, a request for messages of a first channel of a plurality of channels starting at a position in the first channel, wherein each channel comprises a respective ordered plurality of messages stored in one or more respective buffers according to the order, each buffer having a respective time-to-live; receiving, from one of the second client devices, a response message comprising one or more messages of the first channel that are at or after the position in the order; and sending the messages to the first client device. |
| US09871745B2 |
Automatic scaling of at least one user application to external clouds
Embodiments of the invention provide a method, a system and a computer program product configured to automatically auto-scale a user compute instance to multiple cloud providers while considering a multiplicity of user requirements. The method, executed on a digital data processor, includes obtaining information, via a user interface, that is descriptive of user cloud computing related preferences, including a user cloud computing budgetary preference. The method further includes sensing properties of a plurality of clouds and making decisions, based at least on the obtained information and on the sensed properties, of when to scale up or scale down the user cloud instance, of selecting one of the plurality of clouds as where to scale the user cloud instance, and determining which resource or resources of the selected cloud to add or remove from the selected cloud. The method further includes automatically executing the decisions on the selected cloud. |
| US09871743B2 |
Managing provisioning for cloud resource allocations
Resource provisioning to a process in a distributed computing system, such as a cloud computing system. An instruction to provision a resource is received. Portions of the resource are provisioned to the process as they become available, and prior to all portions becoming available, based on determining that the provisioning speed is greater than or equal to the use speed for the resource. If the use speed is faster, it may be actively slowed down. |
| US09871742B2 |
Cloud compute scheduling using a heuristic contention model
Technologies for contention-aware cloud compute scheduling include a number of compute nodes in a cloud computing cluster and a cloud controller. Each compute node collects performance data indicative of cache contention on the compute node, for example, cache misses per thousand instructions. Each compute node determines a contention score as a function of the performance data and stores the contention score in a cloud state database. In response to a request for a new virtual machine, the cloud controller receives contention scores for the compute nodes and selects a compute node based on the contention score. The cloud controller schedules the new virtual machine on the selected compute node. The contention score may include a contention metric and a contention score level indicative of the contention metric. The contention score level may be determined by comparing the contention metric to a number of thresholds. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09871741B2 |
Resource management based on device-specific or user-specific resource usage profiles
Resources used by a foreground process associated with an application as well as one or more background tasks associated with the application that are running as separate processes on the computing device are tracked. Historical data relating to resource usage by the application is utilized to predict a resource usage amount for the application which is then stored. A subsequent launch of the application can be conditioned upon whether the predicted resource usage amount is available. If the predicted resource usage amount is available, it can be allocated to the application and the application can be launched. If the application then exceeds the predicted resource usage amount, other processes executing concurrently therewith may be terminated to free up the resource. Regardless of how the application performs, new resource usage data is obtained for the application, which is then used to adjust the predicted resource usage amount. |
| US09871736B2 |
System and method for information delivery with multiple point transmission
A system and method for information delivery with multiple point transmission are provided. A method for detecting lost packets is provided. The method includes initiating a timer for a received packet at a receiving transmission point, where the timer is set according to a time value associated with the received packet. The method also includes determining that a delivery of the received packet has failed according to the timer elapsing, and transmitting a lost packet report to a primary transmission point that distributed the received packet to the receiving transmission point. |
| US09871733B2 |
Policer architecture
A policer system on one or more place and/or route blocks. The policer system including a plurality of local physical policers each stored in a plurality of physical memory banks and coupled with a plurality of global policers stored in one or more global banks separate from the physical banks. Thus, each bank of the global policers are able to represent a logical combination of a plurality of the physical banks of physical policers. |
| US09871732B2 |
Dynamic flow control in multicast systems
Enhancing performance in a multicasting system. Flow rates in a multicasting system are monitored as system characteristics change. The multicasting system is operated based on a first mapping between data flows and multicasting groups. Data is disseminated by way of the mapping to subscribers to one or more of the data flows. The flow rate thresholds of satisfied flows are decreased to minimize the difference between the flow rate thresholds and respective target transmission rates of the satisfied flows, as the system's feasible data transmission workload is maintained with respect to subscriber reception rate capacities. The flow rate thresholds of unsatisfied flows are increased to minimize the difference between the flow rate threshold and respective target transmission rates for the unsatisfied flows and to limit occurrences of data transmission delays or losses, as the system's feasible data transmission workload is maintained with respect to subscriber reception rate capacities. |
| US09871731B2 |
Data plane manipulation in a load balancer
A load balancer capable of adjusting how network data is distributed to a tenant or group of tenants by manipulating the data plane. The load balancer is placed directly in the flow path of network data that is destined for a tenant or group of tenants having a tenant address. The load balancer includes a control plane and one or more data planes. Each data plane may contain one or more network traffic multiplexors. Further, each data plane may be dedicated to a tenant or group of tenants. Data planes may be added or deleted from the load balancer; additionally, multiplexors may be added or deleted from a data plane. Accordingly, network data directed towards one tenant is less likely to affect the performance of load balancing performed for another tenant. |
| US09871725B2 |
Wireless data transfer as an alternative method to overcome errors or noise in a storage environment
Various embodiments for managing data transmission errors in a computing storage environment, by a processor device, are provided. In one embodiment, a method comprises, in response to reaching a predetermined error threshold while routing data traffic through the computing storage environment, wirelessly transmitting at least certain data traffic from a source to a switch nearest a destination of the certain data traffic. |
| US09871723B2 |
Method and device for handling multi path connections
There is provided method and devices for handling multi path routing of data packets. The method comprises the step S1 of establishing a multi path connection with a target network node, the multi path connection comprising a plurality of paths over which data packets can be transmitted to the target network node. The method also comprises the step S2 of obtaining information relating to the quality of the plurality of paths and the step S3 of determining, based on the obtained information, whether a path in the plurality of paths has been disconnected or is about to be disconnected. The method also comprises the step S4 of activating at least one substitution path if it is determined that a path in the plurality of paths have been disconnected or is about to be disconnected, to enable transmission of data packets intended to be transmitted on the disconnected path, or the path about to be disconnected, over the activated substitution path. Corresponding devices and computer programs enabling handling of multi path connections are also provided. |
| US09871711B2 |
Identifying problems in a network by detecting movement of devices between coordinates based on performances metrics
This document relates to a distributed network coordinate system. One implementation provides computer-readable storage media including instructions that may cause a processor to perform certain acts. For example, the acts may include storing an initial network location of a first device in a network. The network may include the first device and a second device. The acts may also include monitoring one or more network performance metrics related to existing application communications with the second device, and determining an updated network location of the first device, based on the initial network location and the network performance metrics. Aspects of network health can be derived from monitoring changes in the network locations of various devices within the coordinate system. |
| US09871709B2 |
Systems and methods for improved quality of a visualized call over network through scenario based buffer modulation
Systems and methods for improving quality of a call over network (CON) are provided. Call quality may be improved via buffer length modulation based upon the call scenario type. Scenario detection may be based upon who speaks, and the duration of the speaking, as well as contextual analysis. Further, the call over network quality may further be improved by deploying modules over the network. The modules are intermediary vehicles between each communicator and backend servers. The modules intercept audio packets from the communicator to detect packet loss, and perform recovery of lost packets, thereby accelerating real-time audio conversations. |
| US09871708B2 |
Method and system for ring protection switching
The present invention provides a protection switching method of a node having communication failure in a ring, in a communication network. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by checking for loss of signal (LOS) at the non-ERPS device or at least one of the node in a communication channel, checking periodically for Continuity Check Message (CCM) at both the node, wherein the CCMs are periodically transmitted from both the node through at least one non-ERPS device, appropriately setting a Remote Destination Indication (RDI) bit in the Continuity Check Message (CCM) generated from at least one node and transmits the same via the non-ERPS device or through the non-ERPS device or through a disjoint communication channel, and blocking port of the node towards the non-ERPS device upon receipt of the fault notification and transmitting signal fail notification message on both the ports in the ring. |
| US09871705B2 |
Intelligently managing pattern contents across multiple racks based on workload and human interaction usage patterns
A method, system and computer program product for managing pattern contents across multiple racks. The workload usage characteristics of the pattern contents on a primary rack in a domain of racks are collected based on monitoring the workload usage of the pattern contents in the pattern definition and in the deployed pattern. Furthermore, information regarding use of the pattern definition, the deployed pattern and the pattern contents by users (“human interaction usage patterns”) is collected based on monitoring the human interaction usage patterns. The pattern contents are then ranked based on analyzing the collected workload usage characteristics and analyzing the collected information regarding human interaction usage patterns. Once the pattern contents are ranked, those contents that are highly ranked are deemed to be more likely to be utilized in the pattern and therefore are the contents that are copied from the primary rack to the other racks of the domain. |
| US09871703B2 |
Data plane distribution of control messages
Techniques of executing commands in forwarding nodes are discussed. Control messages are recursively included within each other and distributed in a data plane formed by a network of the forwarding nodes. A given control message can include a command which is executed by a respective forwarding node. The given control message further includes a further control message to be sent to a further forwarding node by the respective forwarding node. The control messages are created by a control node which is configured for controlling operation of the network of forwarding nodes. |
| US09871699B2 |
Telecommunications node configuration management
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for managing configurations of telecommunications nodes. In one aspect, a system includes a file server; a subtending device coupled to the file server, and a telecommunications node coupled to the subtending device. The subtending device can include one or more line cards that connect one or more telecommunications nodes to a network. The telecommunications device receives, from the file server and based on provisioning information provided by the subtending device, a first configuration file and replaces a wildcard value in the first filename with a unit-specific identifier. A unit-specific configuration file is requested from the file server, and used to configure the node. A change is detected to the configuration, and an updated unit-specific configuration file is posted to the file server using the first filename. |
| US09871692B1 |
Cooperative monitoring networks
An electronic monitoring system is described that receives data from a particular monitoring system, receives data from multiple other monitoring systems, analyzes data received from the particular monitoring system irrespective of data received from the multiple other monitoring systems, based on the analysis, determines whether one or more events occur at the particular environment, and in response to determining that a particular event occurs at the particular environment, evaluates the particular event against a set of rules, selects, based on the evaluation results, a particular subset of the multiple other monitoring systems to serve as a cooperative monitoring network, assesses data received from the particular monitoring system with data received from the particular subset of the multiple other monitoring systems, based on the assessment, tracks, in connection with the particular event, events detected by the particular subset of the multiple other monitoring systems, and handles the particular event based on the tracked events detected by the particular subset of the multiple other monitoring systems. |
| US09871691B2 |
Methods and systems for hub high availability and network load and scaling
A method includes receiving at a branch device an assigned first hub device and an assigned second hub device associated with a data center, establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices, designating the first hub device as a primary device, designating the second hub device as a secondary device and switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device based, at least in part, on a cost of a link. |
| US09871689B2 |
Terminal control system with optimized startup timing of each terminal device based on communication times of other terminal devices
Each of terminal devices 3 belongs to one of groups, starts up at a startup time, and performs terminal processing within a communication time after an offset time is lapsed. A control device 2 uses a sum of the communication times of the terminal devices 3 belonging to the same group as the communication time of the group. The offset time is calculated for terminal devices 3 belonging to another group which performs the terminal processing subsequently to the terminal devices 3 belonging to the previous group, based on the communication time of the previous group. A next startup time for each terminal device 3 is determined based on the communication time and the offset time, and it is set to the terminal device 3. |
| US09871688B2 |
Frequency-selective quadrature baseband coupling cancellation
Described herein are architectures, platforms and methods for implementing cancellation of asymmetric quadrature gain imbalance due to frequency selective quadrature baseband coupling in a transceiver of device. Radio frequency (RF) are converted to quadrature baseband signals, estimation is made as to coupling between in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) channels of the quadrature baseband signals. The quadrature baseband signals are converted into digital baseband signals, and digital compensation is applied on the digital baseband signal based on the estimated amount of coupling. |
| US09871684B2 |
Devices and methods for hermetic transform filters
In one or more exemplary embodiments, a method comprises applying one or more first hermetic filters to an interval of data to produce one or more first filtered subintervals of data, wherein the one or more first hermetic filters are constructed from a hermetic function for the interval; and applying one or more second hermetic filters to the one or more first filtered subintervals of data to produce one or more second filtered subintervals of data, wherein the one or more second hermetic filters are constructed from a hermetic function for the one or more first filtered subintervals. |
| US09871680B2 |
Preamble sequence sending and receiving method and apparatus, and system
The present invention provides a preamble sequence sending and receiving method and apparatus, and a system. The preamble sequence sending method includes: generating, by a transmit end, a frequency offset estimation sequence, where the frequency offset estimation sequence includes N subsequences each with a length of M, N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and M is a positive integer; generating, by the transmit end, a prefix and a suffix based on the frequency offset estimation sequence; adding, by the transmit end, the prefix and the suffix before and after the frequency offset estimation sequence respectively to form a preamble sequence, where the prefix and the suffix are used for canceling multipath interference; and adding, by the transmit end, the preamble sequence to a data packet and sending the data packet to a receive end. |
| US09871678B2 |
Method and system for setting up a bearer
Method and system for setting up a bearer are disclosed. The bearer setup method includes these steps: a packet data network gateway (PGW) obtains first quality of service (QoS) information and a first bearer identifier (ID), and sets up a bearer between the PGW and a radio access network (RAN) according to the first QoS information, where the bearer is associated with the first bearer ID; the RAN sets up a radio bearer (RB) with a user equipment (UE) according to second QoS information associated with the first QoS information, where the RB is associated with a second bearer ID associated with the first bearer ID. |
| US09871673B2 |
Multiple device telemetry network
A telemetry network may be a communication network that comprises a plurality of telemetry devices. The plurality of telemetry devices may comprise a parent device and at least one child device. The parent device may be capable of sending data to and receiving data from an external network outside the communication network; and the child device may connect to the parent device and may be capable of sending data to and receiving data from the parent device and communicating with the external network via the parent device. Each telemetry device of the plurality of telemetry devices may provide an individual local network to end users. |
| US09871672B2 |
Computerized apparatus with a high speed data bus
A computerized apparatus configured for high-speed data transactions between components thereof. In one embodiment, the computerized apparatus includes a high-speed data bus apparatus; a user interface apparatus in data communication with the high-speed data bus apparatus configured to enable a user to interact with the computerized apparatus; an input/output apparatus in data communication with the high-speed data bus apparatus and configured to interchange data with one or more devices external to the computerized apparatus; a mass storage apparatus in data communication with the high-speed data bus apparatus and configured to store data; a computer program for use by the high-speed data bus apparatus; and a substantially unified data interface in data communication with each of the user interface apparatus, the input/output apparatus, the mass storage apparatus, and the high-speed data bus apparatus. |
| US09871671B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for retrofitting a vehicle
A system, apparatus, and method for retrofitting a vehicle are presented. The method relates to a vehicle with a factory-installed first apparatus which communicates with a factory-installed second apparatus through a vehicle data bus using a first message. The method includes electrically disconnecting the vehicle data bus between the first apparatus and the second apparatus and electrically connecting a retrofit apparatus to the vehicle data bus. The method further includes transmitting a second message from the retrofit apparatus to the first apparatus which is indistinguishable from the first message. |
| US09871670B1 |
Mobile wide area network IP translation configuration
A method, system and non-transitory computer storage readable medium comprise operating a Wide Area Network (WAN) device according to a first Internet protocol (IP) translation mode of operation, changing an initial connectivity status between the WAN device and a WAN and transitioning from the first IP translation mode of operation to a second IP translation mode of operation that is different from the first IP translation mode of operation based on the change in the initial connectivity status. |
| US09871669B2 |
Powerline communications automotive network
An embodiment is a powerline communications (PLC) apparatus including a communications interface that implements a first communication protocol including of a transceiver that communicates over an electrical power distribution wiring of a vehicle. The first communication protocol includes a powerline communications automotive network (PLCAN) delimiter type (DT) (PLCAN-DT), and a PLCAN variant length field in a frame control comprising payload length, a number of symbols used, a PHY block size, and a number of repetitions used, wherein broadcast addressing is used in the network to transmit messages. |
| US09871666B2 |
Intermediate unicast network and method for multicast data networks
An intermediate unicast network is provided for use in a multicast data network where the multicast network is a local server and a plurality of network hosts, which may be, for example, point-of-sale registers. The intermediate network includes a network device for receiving multicast data from the local server, encapsulating such data in a unicast data transfer frame, and transferring the unicast data to a plurality of dongles, each of which being associated with a corresponding network host. Each dongle is configured to decapsulate the unicast data received from the network appliance and to re-assemble the data into multicast data for transfer to the associated network host. |
| US09871664B2 |
Display securing method and apparatus
A security apparatus includes an encryptor configured to visually encrypt a target object, and a decryptor configured to decrypt an area corresponding to a decryption gesture in the encrypted target object, during a predetermined period of time. |
| US09871663B2 |
Challenge response authentication for self encrypting drives
Various embodiments are directed to a system for accessing a self-encrypting drive (SED) based on a blind challenge authentication response mechanism (BCRAM). An SED may be authenticated within a system, for example, upon resuming from a sleep state, based on a challenge generated within the SED, signed using a private key by a trusted execution environment (TEE) and authenticated using a corresponding public key within the SED. |
| US09871659B2 |
Data transmission unit for a vehicle
A method for transmitting data between a vehicle and a terminal, in which data to be transmitted are transmitted on the basis of at least one digital signature generated by a security module in a vehicle key for the vehicle, the vehicle key also comprising at least one interface for communicating with the terminal and/or the vehicle and at least one microprocessor, and the microprocessor being used to check a trustworthiness of the data to be transmitted via the interface. Also, a corresponding vehicle key and vehicle having a system for transmitting data. |
| US09871656B2 |
Encrypted communication method and apparatus
Provided are a method and apparatus for achieving encrypted communications, which are used for achieving a secure session between a calling UE and a called UE in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) architecture, so as to prevent a session message from being eavesdropped in a session process. The method of the present invention comprises: receiving, by a network-side device, first authentication information sent by a UE, and according to the first authentication information, conducting authentication on an encrypted module of the UE; generating a transmission key corresponding to the UE and second authentication information, encrypting the transmission key using an initial key corresponding to the UE, and sending the second authentication information and the encrypted transmission key to the UE; and generating a session key for encrypting a session message transmitted between a calling UE and a called UE, encrypting the session key using the transmission key corresponding to a calling UE and sending the encrypted session key to the calling UE, and encrypting the session key using the transmission key corresponding to the called UE and sending the encrypted session key to the called UE. |
| US09871654B2 |
System for scrambling and methods for use therewith
A system includes a key path generator that generates a key path based on a plurality of encryption keys. A block coding unit generates a plurality of codewords based on a plurality of data blocks. A block scrambling unit scrambles the plurality of codewords to generate a plurality of encrypted blocks by entropy processing, chaos processing and permutation processing each of the plurality of codewords, based on the plurality of encryption keys. |
| US09871653B2 |
System for cryptographic key sharing among networked key servers
A technique for key sharing among multiple key servers connected to one another over a communication network is provided herein. Each key sever of the multiple key servers stores respective cryptographic keys, and provides the keys to a local device group connected with the key server, to enable the device group to encrypt messages with the keys. Each key server acts as a proxy for the other key servers in order to receive other keys from the other key servers over the network, and provide the other keys to the device group for use to decrypt messages received from other local device groups respectively connected with the other key servers that were encrypted with the other keys and to check message integrity. The multiple key servers may share keys with each other directly, or alternatively, indirectly through a central key server, as needed to support secure communications between their respective device groups. |
| US09871652B2 |
Cryptographic processing method and cryptographic processing device
A computer generates a third encrypted polynomial that corresponds to a result of encrypting a third polynomial by use of a result of multiplying a first encrypted polynomial by a second encrypted polynomial, and outputs cryptographic information that represents the third encrypted polynomial. The first encrypted polynomial is a polynomial obtained by encrypting a first polynomial that corresponds to a first vector, and the second encrypted polynomial is a polynomial obtained by encrypting a second polynomial that corresponds to a second vector. The third polynomial includes a first term that has a coefficient based on an inner product of the first vector and the second vector and a second term other than the first term, in which a coefficient of the second term is masked. |
| US09871649B2 |
Real time subsample time resolution signal alignment in time domain
System and method for subsample time resolution signal alignment. First and second signals may be aligned by iteratively performing the following until a termination condition is met: current samples of the first and second signals may be acquired, a delayed copy of the current samples of the first signal may be generated and subtracted from the current samples of the first signal to generate a third signal, a delayed copy of the current samples of the second signal may be generated with a current subsample delay and subtracted from the current samples of the first signal to generate a fourth signal, and an alignment error may be generated based on the third and fourth signals and the current subsample may be delay adjusted accordingly. The iteratively adjusting may generate a subsample resolution delay aligning the second signal to the first signal. Subsequent samples the first signal and the second signal may be aligned and output per the subsample resolution delay. |
| US09871648B2 |
Distributing clock synchronization information within an optical communications network
A method distributes clock synchronization information within an optical communications network that includes a plurality of network elements. The method receives an ingress clock synchronization message at a first network element. The ingress clock synchronization message includes a clock synchronization message identifier and a correction field. The clock synchronization message identifier is inserted into an optical channel frame overhead and the ingress clock synchronization message is inserted into an optical channel frame payload. The optical channel frame overhead and the optical channel frame payload are transmitted across the first network element, across the network to a second network element, and across the second network element. A transit time of the clock synchronization message identifier is determined across each of the network elements. At the second network element, the correction field of the ingress clock synchronization message is updated with the transit times to form an egress clock synchronization message. |
| US09871647B2 |
Apparatus and method for cancelling self-interference signal in RF front end
The apparatus includes a transmission signal divider for dividing and transmitting a received signal to a transmission antenna and an attenuator, an attenuator for applying a predetermined attenuation factor to the transmitted signal divided to the attenuator, a phase shifter for phase-shifting the signal to which the attenuation factor is applied by a predetermined phase, and a time delayer for time-delaying the phase-shifted signal by a predetermined time. |
| US09871646B2 |
Front-end circuitry for multiband frequency management
The described technology provides front-end antenna architecture for wireless communication that manages multiple frequency sub-bands in a manner that results in a low insertion loss rate. Further, the components of the architecture are smaller than typical wireless communication antenna architectures, and therefore the described architecture can be accommodated in a smaller area than typical architectures without a decrease in efficiency. A matching circuit is communicatively connected to each frequency sub-band's respective signal path. When two or more sub-bands are requested for high-speed wireless communication, the matching circuits match the impedance of each sub-band with one another. Matching the impedance allows two or more sub-bands to be used to wirelessly communicate while maintaining high efficiency. The matching circuits are disabled when only one sub-band is needed for wireless communication. |
| US09871644B2 |
Wireless device, method, and computer-readable media for transmitting and receiving high-efficiency signal fields
Wireless devices, methods, and computer-readable media for transmitting and receiving high-efficiency signal fields. An access point (AP) may include circuitry configured to determine a high-efficiency signal (HE-SIG) field for each of a plurality of sub-channels, wherein each HE-SIG field includes a common part and a sub-channel specific part. The circuitry may be further configured to transmit, in accordance with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), on each of the plurality of sub-channels, a corresponding HE-SIG field as a preamble to a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), wherein the sub-channel specific part of the corresponding HE-SIG field includes a resource map field that enables a HEW device to determine which portion of the PPDU to demodulate, and wherein the common portion includes information of a format of the PPDU. A HEW device may include circuitry configured to demodulate a PPDU based on a HE-SIG field. |
| US09871643B2 |
Mobile communication system
A mobile communication system capable of preventing interference in a communication system as well as reducing the load of a user equipment in a search operation. In the mobile communication system, radio communication is performed using a carrier having the same frequency in a direct link between a donor cell and a user equipment being served thereby and an access link between a relay node and a user equipment being served thereby. In a backhaul link between the donor cell and the relay node, radio communication is performed using a carrier having a different frequency from that of the carrier used in the direct link and the access link. |
| US09871642B2 |
Enabling higher-order modulation in a cellular network
A method for using a high order modulation (HoM) mode for communications with a wireless device in a wireless communication network is provided. The method includes receiving downlink channel quality indicator (CQI) information from an uplink transmission of the wireless device and determining a downlink channel quality estimate from the CQI information. When a measurement of the downlink channel quality estimate satisfies the predetermined criteria for a first predetermined number of consecutive uplink transmissions from the wireless device, a downlink transmission mode of the wireless device is switched from a first modulation mode to the HoM mode. |
| US09871633B2 |
Method for transmitting reference signal for terminal demodulation in radio mobile communication system, and apparatus for implementing the same
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting a data demodulation reference signal in a radio mobile communication system. The method comprises: a step for generating a sub-frame including the data demodulation reference signal, and a step for transmitting the generated sub-frame. The 1st and 2nd demodulation reference signal pattern groups include plural demodulation signal patterns orthogonal to each other, and are differentiated from each other with regard to time-frequency resources. In the data demodulation reference signal, demodulation reference signal patterns which are respectively orthogonal to each other M (M≦N) and N−M times are respectively included in the 1st and 2nd demodulation reference signal pattern groups if the rank is N. |
| US09871630B2 |
Hybrid communication networks
Systems and methods for designing, using, and/or implementing hybrid communication networks are described. In various embodiments, these systems and methods may be applicable to power line communications (PLC). For example, one or more of the techniques disclosed herein may include methods to coordinate medium-to-low voltage (MV-LV) and low-to-low voltage (LV-LV) PLC networks when the MV-LV network operates in a frequency subband mode and the LV-LV network operates in wideband mode (i.e., hybrid communications). In some cases, MV routers and LV routers may have different profiles. For instance, MV-LV communications may be performed using MAC superframe structures, and first-level LV to lower-level LV communications may take place using a beacon mode. Lower layer LV nodes may communicate using non-beacon modes. Also, initial scanning procedures may encourage first-to-second-level LV device communications rather than MV-to-first-level LV connections. |
| US09871628B2 |
NIB CoMP transmission method and device in wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and device for performing or supporting NIB coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission in a wireless communication system. The method for performing NIB CoMP transmission in the wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: receiving signaling comprising at least one CoMP hypothesis set and at least one benefit metric information bit from a first network node, at a second network node; performing CoMP transmission based on the at least one CoMP hypothesis set, at the second network node. The at least one CoMP hypothesis set and the at least one benefit metric information bit are defined in information element format included in the signaling, and information indicated by the at least one benefit metric information comprises specific information, for which the at least one benefit metric information configured as special value. |
| US09871623B2 |
Viterbi decoding apparatus and viterbi decoding method
A Viterbi decoding apparatus includes a main decoder, a re-encoder, an adjusting module, a secondary decoder and a secondary result generating module. The main decoder performs a Viterbi decoding process on input data to generate a set of main decoded results. The re-encoder performs a convolutional encoding process on the set of main decoded results to generate a set of re-encoded results. The adjusting module adjusts the input data according to the set of re-encoded results to generate adjusted input data corresponding to a predetermined path in a Viterbi trellis diagram. The secondary decoder generates a plurality of symbols according to the adjusted input data. The secondary result generating module generates a set of secondary decoded results according to the plurality of symbols and the set of main decoded results. |
| US09871620B2 |
Parameter feedback in a wireless communication system
For using best M method in a mixed subband/miniband environment a Mobile Station Apparatus calculates a metric for sending information corresponding to the metric to a base station. |
| US09871619B2 |
Method and arrangement in a wireless communication system
In one aspect of the teachings herein, a probability distribution is determined for the prediction errors determined from the differences between predicted and measured values of a quality parameter for a radio link between first and second radio nodes in a wireless communication system. In turn, the probability distribution is used to identify a prediction error value on which a link adaptation margin estimate is based, and the link adaptation margin estimate is provided for use in performing link adaptation, e.g., for use as a “back off” value for the predicted values of radio link quality which are used to make link adaptation decisions. |
| US09871616B2 |
Error detection and recovery in a DMX512 network
A DMX512 network may include two gateway devices or two ports of a single gateway device, which are connected to a number of DMX512 devices. Under normal operating conditions, one gateway device or one port transmits and the other gateway device or the other port receives DMX512 frames. If there is a connection failure, then both gateway devices or both ports may transmit DMX512 frames. Once the connection is restored, the system may detect the restoration and one of the gateway devices or one of the ports ceases to transmit DMX512 frames. |
| US09871611B2 |
Method of introducing an outstation into an optical network and outstation therefor
The present invention relates to the introduction of an outstation into an optical network. The optical network has a central station, and a plurality of previously introduced outstations which are optically connected to the central station. The network is operable in: a normal operating state in which data traffic is received from previously introduced outstations at a normal data rate; and, a set-up state in which the transmission of data traffic from the previously introduced outstations is restricted relative to the normal state, the method including the step of: when the network is in the set-up state, performing a set-up operation for introducing the outstation into the optical network, the set-up operation involving the transmission of set-up data from the outstation being introduced, wherein the set-up data is transmitted at a reduced rate relative to the normal operating rate. |
| US09871610B2 |
Method for packet scheduling using multiple packet schedulers
A method comprising: receiving, by a first network packet scheduler, from each other network packet scheduler of a plurality of network packet schedulers, a virtual packet for each traffic class of a plurality of traffic classes defining relative transmission priority of network packets; receiving, by the first network packet scheduler, a network packet of a first traffic class of the plurality of traffic classes; transmitting, by the first network packet scheduler, each virtual packet into a virtual connection of a plurality of virtual connections created for each traffic class; scheduling, by the first network packet scheduler, a network packet or a virtual packet as a next packet in a buffer for transmission; determining, by the first network packet scheduler, that the next packet in the buffer is a virtual packet; and discarding, by the first network packet scheduler, the virtual packet, responsive to the determination that the next packet in the buffer is a virtual packet. |
| US09871608B1 |
Methods and apparatus for aggregation of multiple pulse code modulation channels into a signal time division multiplexing stream
Methods and apparatus are provided for telemetry processing using a telemetry processor. The telemetry processor can include a plurality of communications interfaces, a computer processor, and data storage. The telemetry processor can buffer sensor data by: receiving a frame of sensor data using a first communications interface and clock data using a second communications interface, receiving an end of frame signal using a third communications interface, and storing the received frame of sensor data in the data storage. After buffering the sensor data, the telemetry processor can generate an encapsulated data packet including a single encapsulated data packet header, the buffered sensor data, and identifiers identifying telemetry devices that provided the sensor data. A format of the encapsulated data packet can comply with a Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standard. The telemetry processor can send the encapsulated data packet using a fourth and a fifth communications interfaces. |
| US09871607B1 |
Phase continuity in narrow-band transmission within a frequency-domain multiple-access communication system
A method for communication includes, in a transmitter, generating a signal for transmission to a receiver over a frequency sub-band assigned within a predefined system bandwidth, using a selected transmitter carrier frequency. The signal is converted into a phase-compensated signal by applying to the signal, using a phase compensator in the transmitter, a phase compensation that compensates for phase discontinuities caused to the signal due to a frequency difference between the transmitter carrier frequency and a center frequency, which is used by the receiver for down-converting the predefined system bandwidth. The phase compensation depends on the frequency difference. The phase-compensated signal is transmitted to the receiver over the frequency sub-band, using a transmitter front-end module. |
| US09871599B2 |
Via density in radio frequency shielding applications
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to determining the location and/or density of vias that form part of an RF isolation structure of a packaged module and the resulting RF isolation structures. From electromagnetic interference (EMI) data, locations of where via density can be increased and/or decreased without significantly degrading the EMI performance of the RF isolation structure can be identified. In certain embodiments, one or more vias can be added and/or removed from a selected area of the packaged module based on the EMI data. |
| US09871595B2 |
Decoding device and method for absolute positioning code
A decoding device for an absolute positioning code is provided. The decoding device includes a linear feedback shift register (LFSR), a lookup table (LUT) circuit, a counter circuit, and a computation circuit. The LFSR includes n registers, for loading the absolute positioning code with a first frequency. The LFSR performs shifting operation according to a clock signal having a second frequency greater than or equal to the first frequency. The LUT circuit outputs a lookup result and a valid flag according to values stored in the n registers. The lookup result has k different data, k≦(2n−1). The counter circuit resets according to the valid flag, and performs counting operation according to the clock signal to generate a counting result. The computation circuit performs calculation according to the lookup result and the counting result to generate a decoding result when the valid flag indicates valid. |
| US09871594B2 |
Mechanical translation of a variable radiation transmission device
Various embodiments include a variable transmission device including a first smart window panel, a second smart window panel, and a mechanical device configured to linearly translate at least a portion of the first panel relative to the second panel. Further embodiments include a method of varying radiation transmission including the steps of providing a variable transmission device, comprising a first smart window panel, a second smart window panel, and a mechanical device and actuating the mechanical device to linearly translate at least a portion of the first panel relative to the second panel. |
| US09871591B2 |
Distribution network for a distributed antenna system
A Distributed Antenna System (DAS) including a distribution network is disclosed. The DAS is arranged for providing signaling between a Remote Unit Controller (RUC) and at least one active Remote Unit (RU) of said DAS, wherein said RUC is connected to a core network and is arranged for providing RF signals to said DAS. A first part of a spectrum of said signaling is allocated for transmission of at least one RF link to and from said at least one active RU. The present invention is characterized in that at least one second part of said spectrum, being separate from said first part, is allocated for transmission of at least one digital link for supplying digital communication signals for one or more of: at least one Remote Radio Head (RRH) unit, at least one Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) unit, at least one pico base station, at least one femto base station, and at least one Ethernet unit. |
| US09871590B2 |
Optical transceiver implementing erbium doped fiber amplifier
An optical transceiver that installs an optical modulator with the Mach-Zehnder type and made of primarily semiconductor materials, and an Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) is disclosed. The EDFA and the MZ modulator, in addition to a wavelength tunable laser diode, an intelligent coherent receiver, and a polarization maintaining splitter, are installed within a compact case following the standard of CFP2. |
| US09871588B2 |
Systems and methods for tiling optically narrowcast signals
Systems and methods for optical narrowcasting are provided for transmitting various types of content. Optical narrowcasting content indicative of the presence of additional information along with identifying information may be transmitted. The additional information (which may include meaningful amounts of advertising information, media, or any other content) may also be transmitted as optical narrowcasting content. Elements of an optical narrowcasting system may include optical transmitters and optical receivers which can be configured to be operative at distances ranging from, e.g., 400 meters to 1200 meters. Moreover, the elements can be implemented on a miniaturized scale in conjunction with small, user devices such as smartphones, thereby also realizing optical ad-hoc networking, as well as interoperability with other types of data networks. Optically narrowcast content can be used to augment a real-world experience, enhance and/or spawn new forms of social-media and media content. |
| US09871587B2 |
Information processing method for generating encoded signal for visible light communication
An information processing program causes a computer to execute: encoding information to be transmitted, to determine a luminance change frequency; and outputting a signal of the determined luminance change frequency to cause a light emitter to change in luminance according to the determined luminance change frequency to transmit the information. In the encoding, each of a first frequency and a second frequency different from the first frequency is determined as the luminance change frequency. In the outputting, each of a signal of the first frequency and a signal of the second frequency is output as the signal of the determined luminance change frequency, to cause the light emitter to change in luminance according to the first frequency during a first time and change in luminance according to the second frequency during a second time different from the first time after the first time elapses. |
| US09871585B2 |
Protocols for visible light communications
The invention relates to the field of IEEE 802.15.4 based networks, and in particular to methods and devices for transmitting and receiving messages in IEEE 802.15.4 based networks. The existing IEEE 802.15.4 standard is further improved and adapted to better fit the properties of a network of lighting devices. The improvements and adaptations of the existing IEEE 802.15.4 standard allow for more flexible addressing. Bits which are indicative of use of address fields and/or whether one or two frame control fields is/are present in the ordered data portions of the message to be transmitted are defined by the device transmitting the message in the IEEE 802.15.4 based network. Existing features of the existing IEEE 802.15.4 standard protocol are retained. |
| US09871579B2 |
Apparatus and method for uplink power control of satellite and terrestrial integrated communication system
In a satellite and terrestrial integrated communication system in which a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system share and use an identical frequency band, an interference to a mobile earth station (MES) of the satellite communication system using an identical frequency by an uplink signal transmitted to a base station of the terrestrial communication system by a user equipment (UE) may be mitigated. When a communication of the MES is requested, a satellite communication apparatus to perform resource block (RB) allocation for a satellite communication in the satellite and terrestrial integrated system may include a controller configured to allocate a first RB to the MES, and a communicator configured to transmit a use notification of the first RB to at least one terrestrial base station located in an interference range of an uplink signal of the MES. |
| US09871572B2 |
Uplink control channel in a wireless network
A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) secondary cell is in a first timing advance group. A wireless device receives, in subframe n, an activation command activating the PUCCH secondary cell. The wireless device receives a random access response comprising a timing advance command (TAC). The wireless device starts transmission of valid channel state information (CSI) on the PUCCH secondary cell in subframe n+k. k is greater than eight and is based on a delay from receiving the activation command until the wireless device applies the received TAC. |
| US09871570B1 |
Beam determining unit and beam-searching method for a wireless heterogeneous network
Embodiments include a beam determining unit intended to be connected to a wireless heterogeneous network and a beam-searching method for a wireless heterogeneous network. In the context of a millimeter wave heterogeneous network, it is proposed to do away with the conventional exhaustive beam-searching procedure which is both time and power consuming. Instead, it is proposed a two-step procedure where a line of sight path is determined between a user equipment and a small cell of the millimeter wave heterogeneous network based on positioning information of the user equipment and the small cell. Then, it is determined an optimal antenna beam pair comprising antenna beams at the user equipment and the small cell based on the determined line of sight path and the antenna beam directions available at the user equipment and the small cell level. |
| US09871568B2 |
System detection in a high frequency band radio access technology architecture
Techniques are described herein for fast and efficient discovery of small cells by user equipment (“UE”) in a wireless telecommunications network. The small cells may operate at a high frequency band (“HFB”), which may correspond to higher frequencies than other cells (e.g., base stations, such as evolved Node Bs (“eNBs”)) of the network. The UE may receive assistance information, which may include polling channel configurations, beamforming weights, carrier frequencies, cell identifiers of small cells, and/or other information. The UE may use the assistance information when outputting (either omnidirectionally, pseudo-omnidirectionally, or directionally) a polling sequence, in order to detect the small cells. |
| US09871566B2 |
Grouping based reference signal transmission for massive MIMO scheme
Grouping based reference signal transmission scheme for massive MIMO is disclosed. UEs are grouped and each UE group receives information on a sequence used for the uplink reference signal from a base station. The information is determined to assign orthogonal sequences to UEs within a UE group considering at least one or more of a number of orthogonal sequences, a number of the UEs within the UE group, amount of information to be transmitted, channel condition between the base station and each UE, and a number of sequences assigned to each UE of the UEs. |
| US09871562B2 |
RFID/NFC-system and an RFID/NFC-element
An RFID/NFC-system comprising a stationary RFID/NFC-interface (4) and a movable RFID/NFC-element (6, 6′, 6″), wherein the stationary RFID/NFC-interface (4) comprises a stationary carrier (16) with a first coil (17) arranged for example on its upper surface (15) or on its lower surface and connected to a first RFID/NFC-chip (18), wherein the stationary carrier (16) is fixed with one of its side faces (5) to a mounting device (2), wherein the movable RFID/NFC-element (6, 6′, 6″) comprises a movable carrier (7, 7′, 7″) with a second coil (8, 8′, 8″) arranged for example on its upper surface (14) or on its lower surface, wherein the second coil (8, 8′, 8″) is connected or connectable to a second RFID/NFC-chip and wherein the movable RFID/NFC-element (6, 6′, 6″) can be moved with respect to the stationary RFID/NFC-interface (4) such that the upper surface (14) or the lower surface of the movable carrier (7, 7′, 7″) and the upper surface (15) or the lower surface of the stationary carrier (16) at least partly face each other such that signals can be transferred between the first coil (17) and the second coil (8, 8′, 8″). Further an according RFID/NFC-element (6, 6′, 6″) is described. |
| US09871560B2 |
Electronic device and communication method for NFC
An electronic device, for example for near field communication (NFC), includes a device host including an operating system (OS), a trusted execution environment (TEE), and a near field communication (NFC) controller configured to enable communication of the electronic device with other devices. The NFC controller is coupled to the device host by a data channel for data exchange and a control channel for control information exchange, and the control channel is provided between the TEE and the NFC controller. |
| US09871554B2 |
Method and vector computing unit for implementing de-scrambling and de-spreading, and computer storage medium
Provided are a method and vector computing unit for implementing de-scrambling and de-spreading, and a computer storage medium. The method includes that: an operation of complex multiplication on baseband data and corresponding de-scrambling and de-spreading codes is performed by adopting data transformation and addition, and data obtained by the complex multiplication is stored into a vector register file; a row of data obtained by the complex multiplication is read from the vector register file, every two adjacent pieces of data in the row of data are accumulated to obtain a half row of data, a ¼ row of data, and finally one piece of accumulated data; and the accumulation processing is continued on other rows of data to implement accumulation of each row of data obtained by the complex multiplication in the vector register file. |
| US09871549B2 |
Electronic device, and device and method for protecting the electronic device
An electronic device, a protection device, and a method for protecting the electronic device with the protection device is provided. The electronic device includes a sensor module configured to detect a motion state of the electronic device when a cover is connected to the electronic device, and a processor configured to control an actuator of the cover based on the detected motion state of the electronic device. |
| US09871548B2 |
Secure electronic communication devices
Secure electronic communication devices can, for example, include a baseplate, a base coupled to the baseplate, a housing disposed at least partially within a volume defined by the base, where the housing includes at least a portion of a cavity to house an electronic communication device, and a housing coupling member that rotatably couples the housing to the base. |
| US09871546B2 |
Wearable terminal mountable on part of body of user
A wearable terminal includes a display input unit which displays an image, which corresponds to a program identical to at least one program stored in another wearable terminal among a plurality of programs stored in a storage unit and is used for starting the program in response to an operation performed thereto, on a display screen based on another terminal program information, which is received in a case where another wearable terminal is authenticated, and receives an operation with respect to the image displayed on the display screen, and a control unit which performs control such that in a case where the display input unit receives an operation with respect to the image, the program corresponding to the image which receives the operation is started and a communication unit is allowed to transmit specific information associated with the program to another wearable terminal. |
| US09871545B2 |
Selective specific absorption rate adjustment
An electronic device provides a capability of distinguishing between human tissue and a non-human object in proximity of a transmission source. In this manner, transmission power adjustments to the transmission source can be made selectively, depending on whether human tissue or a non-human object is detected in the proximity of the RF transmitter. Distinguishing between human tissue and other non-human-tissue objects in proximity of the transmission source provides for selective control of SAR adjustments. Accordingly, an electronic device can avoid certain communication performance reductions introduced by decreases in transmission power effected to comply with SAR standards by reducing transmission power when human tissue is detected in the proximity but not reducing transmission power when a non-human object (but no human tissue) is detected in the proximity. |
| US09871541B2 |
Power amplification module
A power amplification module includes a first input terminal arranged to receive a first transmission signal in a first frequency band, a second input terminal arranged to receive a second transmission signal in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band, a first amplification circuit that amplifies the first transmission signal, a second amplification circuit that amplifies the second transmission signal, a first filter circuit located between the first input terminal and the first amplification circuit, and a second filter circuit located between the second input terminal and the second amplification circuit. The first filter circuit is a low-pass filter that allows the first frequency band to pass therethrough and that attenuates a harmonic of the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal. The second filter circuit is a high-pass filter that allows the second frequency band to pass therethrough and that attenuates the first transmission signal. |
| US09871537B2 |
Mapping states in binary arithmetic coder for video coding
This disclosure describes techniques for binary arithmetic coding in video coding, and video encoders and decoders for performing such techniques. In some examples, the techniques may support binary arithmetic coding that supports slower adaptation rates and accounts more extreme probabilities (i.e., probabilities closer to 0 and 1) while maintaining relatively small tables. |
| US09871535B2 |
Heterogeneous compression architecture for optimized compression ratio
A processing device includes an accelerator circuit to identify a byte in a byte stream, determine whether a first byte string starting from a first byte position of the byte matches a second byte string starting from a second byte position, responsive to determining that the first byte string matches the second byte string, generate a token comprising a first symbol encoding a length of the first byte string and a second symbol encoding a byte distance between the first byte position and the second byte position, and responsive to determining that the first byte string does not match another byte string, generate the token comprising the first symbol comprising the byte and a second symbol encoding a determined value. |
| US09871534B2 |
Analog-to-digital converter with embedded noise-shaped truncation, embedded noise-shaped segmentation and/or embedded excess loop delay compensation
An exemplary quantizer includes a multi-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a first digital-to-analog converter (DAC) feedback circuit. The multi-bit ADC has an internal DAC associated with comparison of each sampled analog input of the multi-bit ADC. The multi-bit ADC converts a currently-sampled analog input into a first digital output. A first noise-shaped truncation output is derived from the first digital output. The first DAC feedback circuit transfers a first truncation residue associated with the first noise-shaped truncation output to the internal DAC. The transferred first truncation residue is reflected in comparison of a later-sampled analog input of the multi-bit ADC via the internal DAC. |
| US09871533B2 |
Hybrid digital/analog noise shaping in the sigma-delta conversion
An analog/digital converter (ADC) includes an analog stage with at least one first sigma-delta modulator and includes a digital stage with at least one second sigma-delta modulator. The analog stage is configured for outputting a digital signal to the digital stage that is indicative of a noise contribution of the at least one first sigma-delta modulator. The analog stage and the digital stage may be arranged in a multi-stage noise shaping architecture (MASH) architecture. |
| US09871530B1 |
Multi-path analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion of PDM signals
An analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion system using pulse-density-modulation (PDM) digital signals which minimize noise and optimize dynamic range by dividing a signal into multiple parallel pathways by apportioning a least significant range portion of an incoming signal to a low-path circuit and a most-significant portion of the incoming signal to a high-path circuit. The high-path circuit and low-path circuit can be separately level-modified to optimize dynamic range. Embodiments of the system can include an analog-to-digital conversion, a digital-to-analog conversion, or a complete analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion system. |
| US09871528B1 |
Digital to analog conversion with correlated electron switch devices
Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to correlated electron switch devices, and may relate more particularly to digital to analog conversion using correlated electron switch devices ces. |
| US09871525B2 |
Semiconductor device
According to one embodiment, in a semiconductor device, a connection block includes multiple unit configurations, in each of which a first line extends along a first direction. A second line is placed above the first line and extends along a second direction which intersects with the first direction. A first variable resistance element has one end electrically connected to the first line and another end electrically connected to the second line. The third line is placed above the second line and extends along the first direction. A second variable resistance element has One end electrically connected to the second line and another end electrically connected to the third line. A fourth line is placed above the third line. The fourth line extends along the second direction. A third variable resistance element has one end electrically connected to the third line and another end electrically connected to the fourth line. |
| US09871522B2 |
Voltage level shifting circuits for signal levels and/or power supply voltage levels using constant voltage circuit elements, lighting apparatuses and methods of operating the same
A level shifting circuit can include a level shifting circuit input node that can be coupled to an input signal, where the input signal can be configured to switch between discrete voltage levels in an input voltage domain. A level shifting circuit output node of the level shifting circuit can be configured to provide shifted voltage levels that are shifted relative to the input signal responsive to switching of the input signal. A constant voltage element can have a first terminal that can be coupled to the level shifting circuit input node and can have a second terminal that can be coupled to the level shifting circuit output node. The constant voltage element can be configured to provide a constant voltage level shift to the input signal to provide the shifted voltage levels responsive to switching of the input signal between the discrete voltage levels in the first voltage domain. |
| US09871517B1 |
Method for determining resistance calibration direction in ZQ calibration of memory device
A method for determining a resistance calibration direction in ZQ calibration of a memory device includes: repeatedly comparing a reference voltage with an target voltage by a comparator to obtain an odd plurality of comparison outputs, each of the comparison outputs being one of a high-level state and a low-level state; determining a majority of the comparison outputs for their states by a ZQ calibration controller; and determining a resistance calibration direction according to the majority by the ZQ calibration controller so that the ZQ calibration controller generates a calibration code based on the resistance calibration direction and applies the calibration code to a resistance calibration unit to adjust the target voltage via the resistance calibration unit. |
| US09871515B2 |
Backlighting appliance deadfronted user interfaces
A capacitive touch switch is disclosed which includes a transparent insulating panel, a filtering layer having an opaque color, a transparent icon being defined in the filtering layer, a transparent substrate including a capacitive electrode, the transparent substrate being tinted to substantially match the opaque color of the filtering layer, and a light source configured to transmit light through the transparent substrate, the transparent icon, and the transparent insulating panel when energized. A user interface and a method of manufacturing a capacitive touch switch are also disclosed. |
| US09871511B2 |
Protection switching for matrix of ferrite modules with redundant control
A protection switching circuit includes a plurality of ferrite modules arranged in a matrix, wherein the matrix includes a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows. The protection switching circuit further includes a primary control module configured to select a specific ferrite module to be polarized and a redundant control module configured to select a specific ferrite module to be polarized, wherein the redundant control module is used when the primary control module is not used. The protection switching circuit further includes a plurality of first switches, wherein the plurality of first switches couples the plurality of columns of the matrix to a first and second charging circuit. The protection switching circuit further includes a plurality of second switches, wherein the plurality of second switches are organized into pairs, wherein each pair in the plurality of second switches couples a respective row of the matrix to a reference potential. |
| US09871509B2 |
Power-on reset circuit
A power-on reset circuit includes a first resistor having one end connected to a power source node; a first capacitor connected to another end of the first resistor; a second resistor having one end connected to the power source node; a second capacitor connected to another end of the second resistor; a first inverter having a power source terminal connected to the other end of the first resistor and an input terminal connected to the other end of the second resistor; and a second inverter having a power source terminal connected to the other end of the first resistor, an input terminal connected to an output terminal of the first inverter, and an output terminal electrically connected to a reset signal output terminal. |
| US09871508B2 |
Smart switch for connecting an input power supply to a load
A monolithic integrated circuit (IC) switch device includes an input pin that receives an input power supply and an output pin that is connected to a load. The monolithic IC switch device includes driving circuitry that controls a switching operation of a power switch to connect and disconnect the input power supply to and from the load. A microcontroller can enable or disable the monolithic IC switch device based on indicator signals received by the microcontroller from the monolithic IC switch device. |
| US09871505B2 |
Voltage-resistant switch
A voltage-resistant switch is described. The switch comprises a signal input, a first FET transistor with a first channel with an extended drain and a first gate connector and a second FET transistor with a first channel with an extended drain and a second gate connector. A control signal connector is connected with the first gate connector and with the second gate connector via a second node and with the first channel and the second channel via a second resistor, and a signal connector is connected with the second channel. The voltage-resistant switch can be switched on and off. |
| US09871504B2 |
Differential phase adjustment of clock input signals
Differential clock phase imbalance can produce undesirable spurious content at a digital to analog converter output, or interleaving spurs on an analog-to-digital converter output spectrum, or more generally, in interleaving circuit architectures that depend on rising and falling edges of a differential input clock for triggering digital-to-analog conversion or analog-to-digital conversion. A differential phase adjustment approach measures for the phase imbalance and corrects the differential clock input signals used for generating clock signals which drive the digital-to-analog converter or the analog-to-digital converter. The approach can reduce or eliminate this phase imbalance, thereby reducing detrimental effects due to phase imbalance or differential clock skew. |
| US09871502B2 |
Mixed-technology combination of programmable elements
The present subject matter relates to systems and methods for arranging and controlling programmable combinations of tuning elements in which more than one form of switching technology is combined in a single array. Specifically, such an array can include one or more first switchable elements including a first switching technology (e.g., one or more solid-state-controlled devices) and one or more second switchable elements including a second switching technology that is different than the first switching technology (e.g., one or more micro-electro-mechanical capacitors). The one or more first switchable elements and the one or more second switchable elements can be configured, however, to deliver a combined variable reactance. |
| US09871501B2 |
RF circuit with multiple-definition RF substrate and conductive material void under a bias line
An RF circuit includes a first dielectric material, a signal line and a bias line over a first surface of the first dielectric material, a conductive layer over a second surface of the first dielectric material, and a second dielectric material over the conductive layer. The first and second dielectric materials have different dielectric constants. The conductive layer includes a ground plane over which the signal line is formed. A conductive material void, with which a section of the bias line is aligned, is present in the second conductive layer. The RF circuit further includes a mounting area for an RF device. First ends of the signal line and the section of the bias line are located proximate to the mounting area to enable the signal line and the bias line to be electrically coupled with one or more leads of the RF device. |
| US09871500B2 |
Multilayer electronic component
A multilayer electronic component includes a stack and a balun. The stack includes a plurality of stacked dielectric layers and conductor layers. The balun is formed using the stack. The balun includes an unbalanced transmission line and first to fourth balanced transmission lines. The unbalanced transmission line includes a first line portion and a second line portion connected in series. The first and second balanced transmission lines are configured to be electromagnetically coupled to the first line portion. The third and fourth balanced transmission lines are configured to be electromagnetically coupled to the second line portion. |
| US09871499B2 |
Multi-band impedance tuners using weakly-coupled LC resonators
Radio frequency (RF) filter structures and related methods and RF front-end circuitry are disclosed. In one embodiment, an RF filter structure includes a first terminal and a first tunable RF filter path defined between the first terminal and a second terminal. The first tunable RF filter path is tunable to provide impedance matching between the first terminal and the second terminal at a first frequency. The first frequency may be provided within a first frequency band. Additionally, the RF filter structure includes a second tunable RF filter path defined between the first terminal and the second terminal. The second tunable RF filter path is tunable to provide impedance matching between the first terminal and the second terminal at a second frequency. The second frequency may be within a second frequency band. In this manner, the RF filter structure is configured to provide impedance tuning for multiple impedance bands simultaneously. |
| US09871496B2 |
Personalized adjustment of an audio device
Described herein are apparatuses, systems and methods that facilitate user adjustment of an audio effect of an audio device to match the hearing sensitivity of the user. The user can tune the audio device with a minimum perceptible level unique to the user. The audio device can adjust the audio effect in accordance with the minimum perceptible level. For example, a loudness level can adjust automatically to ensure that the user maintains a perceptible loudness, adjusting according to environmental noise and according to the minimum perceptible level. Also described herein are apparatuses, systems and methods related to an audio device equipped with embedded audio sensors that can maximize a voice quality while minimizing the effects of noise. |
| US09871495B2 |
Thermal compensation for amplifiers
Systems and methods for providing thermal compensation for amplifiers are described. In some embodiments, an electronic circuit may include a main amplifier and a thermal compensation circuit coupled to the main amplifier, the thermal compensation circuit configured to adjust a gain of the main amplifier at a first range of frequencies relative to the gain of the main amplifier at a second range of frequencies. For example, the thermal compensation circuit may be configured to reduce a self-heating effect within the main amplifier when the main amplifier is in operation, such that the first range of frequencies is lower than the second range of frequencies. |
| US09871491B2 |
Method and system for linearizing an amplifier using transistor-level dynamic feedback
The present disclosure describes a method and system for linearizing an amplifier using transistor-level dynamic feedback. The method and system enables nonlinear amplifiers to exhibit linear performance using one or more of gain control elements and phase shifters in the feedback path. The disclosed method and system may also allow an amplifier to act as a pre-distorter or a frequency/gain programmable amplifier. |
| US09871489B2 |
Arrangement and method for radio-frequency (RF) high power generation for compensating a failed power amplifier module
An arrangement and method for radio-frequency (RF) high power generation which compensate for a failed power amplifier module includes at least one power combiner having RF inputs and at least one RF output, and at least two power amplifier modules electrically connected to a respective input by at least one transmission line, and at least one RF switch formed by the at least one transmission line with a complex load electrically connected to the at least one RF switch. |
| US09871488B2 |
Dual-mode power amplifier
A method and apparatus for transmitting a communication signal through a dual-mode power amplifier may include amplifying a communication signal by a first amplifier and/or a second amplifier of the dual-mode power amplifier based on a desired transmit output power. The output of the first amplifier may be selectively coupled through a configurable inductive coupler to an antenna. |
| US09871485B2 |
Stepper motor driver circuit
The stepper motor driver circuit controls driving of a stepper motor. The stepper motor driver circuit generates a driving current having a pseudo-sinusoidal waveform that varies stepwise every one period of a reference clock signal and makes the waveform of the driving current vary in response to a measurement value of an exciting voltage on a coil of the stepper motor at a time when the driving current is zero. |
| US09871484B2 |
Cordless power tool system
A power tool system includes a first power tool having a first power tool rated voltage, a second power tool having a second power tool rated voltage that is different from the first power tool rated voltage, and a first battery pack coupleable to the first power tool and to the second power tool. The first battery pack is switchable between a first configuration having a first battery pack rated voltage that corresponds to the first power tool rated voltage such that the first battery pack enables operation of the first power tool, and a second configuration having a convertible battery pack rated voltage that corresponds to the second power tool rated voltage such that the battery pack enables operation of the second power tool. |
| US09871481B2 |
AC rotating machine control device and electric power steering device equipped with same
This AC rotating machine control device includes: power limiting means 6 for limiting drive power supplied for driving the AC rotating machine; and power feed means 10 for, when sensor abnormality determination means 3 determines that the rotational position sensor is abnormal, on the basis of the estimated rotational position, supplying the AC rotating machine with power obtained by adding rotational position estimation power supplied for the rotational position estimation means 9 to estimate the rotational position, to the drive power limited by the power limiting means, wherein the power limiting means 6 limits drive current at least during a predetermined period since the sensor abnormality determination means 3 determines that the abnormality occurs until estimated error of the estimated rotational position falls within a predetermined range. |
| US09871480B2 |
Power supply control apparatus, vehicle and method of controlling power supply
If a total power consumption of the high- and low-voltage auxiliary machinery is greater than a first reference value when the high-voltage secondary battery is disconnected from the high-voltage wiring by the relay, the power supply control apparatus sets a lower value to a target control value of the generator output voltage, compared with the total power consumption is less than or equal to the first reference value. If the total power consumption of the high- and low-voltage auxiliary machinery is less than a second reference value that is less than or equal to the first reference value when the high-voltage secondary battery is disconnected from the high-voltage wiring by the relay, the power supply control apparatus sets a higher value to the target control value of the generator output voltage, compared with the total power consumption is more than or equal to the second reference value. |
| US09871479B2 |
Fault detection system for isolated two-switch exciter drive gate driver
A generator control unit (GCU) includes a fault detection system configured to generate a direct current (DC) voltage signal based on a difference of a DC-equivalent voltage between the positive and negative exciter gate drive signals. The fault detection system further outputs a fault detection signal indicating the fault status of the gate drive integrated circuits based on a comparison between the DC average voltage signal and a threshold value. |
| US09871478B2 |
Moving body system and method for driving moving body
In order to prevent the length of the movement path from being limited to the pitch of a magnet, a moving body (vehicle) includes two motors disposed in different positions in the moving direction. When one of the two motors is located in an irregular section in which the poles of magnets are not disposed regularly, a motor other than the one motor is located in a section which is not the irregular section. |
| US09871476B2 |
Braking torque closed-loop control system and method for switch reluctance motor
A braking torque closed-loop control system and method for a switch reluctance motor. The closed-loop control system comprises a torque regulator, a mode selector, a current regulator, an angle optimization controller and a torque estimator. On the basis of the rotating speed of the motor, the mode selector implements a phase current soft chopper control in a low rotating speed region and an angle position control in a high rotating speed region. The current regulator performs soft chopper hysteretic current regulation. The angle optimization controller optimizes a turn-on angle and a turn-off angle of a power converter master switch to reduce torque pulsation and improve braking energy feedback efficiency. The torque estimator conducts an on-line estimation of an actual braking torque estimated value of the motor based on an actual phase voltage and current of the motor to achieve braking torque signal feedback. |
| US09871474B2 |
Method for synchronizing a synchronous reluctance electric machine
A method of synchronizing a synchronous reluctance electric machine wherein the machine has no speed and/or residual magnetization voltage sensor and includes power terminals and rotating masses whose mechanical rotation frequency is subjected to speed transients caused by power cut-off conditions. The method includes at least one step of applying a control voltage with predetermined amplitude and duration to the terminals after the transients, and one step of detecting the electric current induced by the control voltage, the current induced by the voltage having a harmonic spectrum variable according to the frequency differential between the frequency of the control voltage and the mechanical rotation frequency of the rotating masses, to restore power and synchronous rotation control of the machine. |
| US09871470B2 |
Piezoelectric vibrator element, and piezoelectric vibrator
The piezoelectric vibrator element is miniaturized, and at the same time, the vibration leakage is suppressed. The piezoelectric vibrator element is formed so that the total length L1 of the piezoelectric vibrator element, the length L2 of the base, the width L3 of the connection part, the length L4 of the support arm part fulfill all of the following conditions A through C, Condition A: 0.1≦L2/L1≦0.2, Condition B: 0.4≦L3/L2≦0.6, Condition C: L4/L1≧0.7. While the miniaturization is realized by shortening the base due to the condition A, the distance via the base can be elongated due to the condition B. Further, by increasing the length of the support arm parts due to the condition C, it is possible to increase the total mass of the path transmitting the vibration to absorb the vibration to thereby further suppress the vibration leakage. |
| US09871469B2 |
Piezoelectric vibrator element, and piezoelectric vibrator
A piezoelectric vibrator element includes a pair of vibrating arms extending from a base, and having a groove on each of opposing principal surfaces in the longitudinal direction of the vibrating arms. Two systems of excitation electrodes are included on the side surfaces and the opposing principal surfaces, and in the grooves of the vibrating arms. A width of a bank part formed by a side surface of the vibrating arms and a side surface of the groves is W0, and the separation distance between the excitation electrodes on the opposing principal surfaces is W1, such that 1 μm |
| US09871464B2 |
Ground structure for control unit
A control unit includes a power supply board on which a control power-supply circuit that generates a control voltage is mounted, a control board on which a control circuit that is operated based on the control voltage is mounted, and a connection medium that connects the power supply board and the control board to each other and is used to supply the control voltage from the control power-supply circuit to the control circuit. A signal ground of the control power-supply circuit and a signal ground of the control circuit are connected to each other via a frame ground without via the connection medium. |
| US09871457B2 |
Switching power supply device
A switching power supply device of the present disclosure includes a device connection state detection circuit that detects a connection state in a load device connection terminal, in a power supply system having the load device connection terminal. The device connection state detection circuit includes a transformer, a switching element, a pulse generator, and a waveform detection circuit. The waveform detection circuit detects a voltage or a current generated at a connecting point between a primary winding wire of the transformer and the switching element in response to operation of a pulse signal. The waveform detection circuit compares the voltage or the current with a predetermined reference value, and outputs an output signal in response to a comparison result to an OFF terminal. |
| US09871454B1 |
Method of controlling synchronous rectifier metal-oxide-semiconductor with pulse transformer
The present disclosure provides an isolated power supply and a method of controlling the isolated power supply. The isolated power supply includes a primary side circuit and a secondary side circuit. The primary side circuit includes a first switch with a first voltage thereon, an auxiliary winding with a second voltage thereon, and a controller. The secondary side circuit includes a second switch and a pulse transformer. The method includes: retrieving the first voltage or the second voltage as a specific voltage; sensing an oscillation waveform of the specific voltage after the second switch is turned off at a first timing point in a first cycle; retrieving a second timing point based on the oscillation waveform; and controlling the pulse transformer to adaptively adjust a third timing point for turning off the second switch in a second cycle based on the second timing point retrieved in the first cycle. |
| US09871440B2 |
Internal power supply circuit and semiconductor device
A control switch is connected to a power supply voltage and turns on based on a control signal to output a current. A clamp circuit is connected to a load and performs clamp control of the output voltage of the control switch. A current control element conducts or shuts off a current based on the output voltage to be clamp-controlled. A selector switch group includes switches, and performs switching based on a voltage varying with the current control by the current control element, thereby switching between paths for generating an internal power supply. The switch circuit connects or disconnects the coupling between the clamp circuit and the selector switch group. |
| US09871438B2 |
Control device for a PFC converter and corresponding control method
A control device for a converter of the switched-mode type provided with an inductor element and a switch element generates a driving signal for controlling switching of the switch element and determining alternately a phase of storage of energy in the inductor element as a function of an input quantity and a phase of transfer of the energy stored in the inductor element to an output element on which an output quantity is present; the control device generates the driving signal by means of a control based on the value of the output quantity in order to regulate the same output quantity. In particular, an estimation block determines an estimated value of the output quantity, and a driving block generates the driving signal as a function of said estimated value. |
| US09871436B1 |
Three-phase three-level inverter with reduced common mode leakage current
A system and methods for reducing common mode leakage current for a three-phase three-level inverter using a single modulation waveform, implemented by a controller using a space vector diagram is disclosed. |
| US09871432B2 |
Micro vibration motor
A micro vibration motor, includes: a housing having an accumulating space, an elastic support, a vibrator suspended in the accommodation space by the elastic support, and including an upper vibrator in which a magnet is accommodated and a lower vibrator which is parallel to the upper vibrator, the lower vibrator being provided with coils for driving the magnet to vibrate; and a FPC for providing electric signals. The upper vibrator and the lower vibrator are supported by the elastic support including a fixation part connecting with the housing and an annular elastic arm extending from two ends of the fixation part; and the vibrator is surrounded by at least one part of the annular elastic arm and one end of the annular elastic arm is connected to the vibrator. |
| US09871430B2 |
Insertion method of U-shaped conductors
Provided are an insertion method and an insertion apparatus for efficiently and reliably inserting a plurality of coil elements aligned in a ring shape into respective slots of a stator core. In an insertion method of inserting, the insertion method includes a coil element alignment process S3 of forming an assembly body 50 by assembling the plurality of coil elements 40 in a ring shape in the state where the turn portions 42 alternately overlap each other, a supporting process S42 of supporting the assembly body 50 by using the turn portions 42, and an insertion process S45 of allowing the assembly body 50 and the stator core 60 to be close to each other and inserting the leg portions 41 of the coil elements 40 of the assembly body 50 into the slots 61. |
| US09871429B2 |
Stator yoke for bicycle generator hub
A stator yoke is provided for a bicycle generator hub. The stator yoke includes a first tubular section and a plurality of first pole sections. The first tubular section has a first axial end and a second axial end. The first pole sections are integrally formed with the first tubular section as a one-piece, unitary member. Each of the first pole sections includes a first radially protruding section that extends from the first axial end of the first tubular section in a radial direction of the first tubular section, and a first axially protruding section that extends from the first protruding section in an axial direction of the first tubular section toward the second axial end of the first tubular section. |
| US09871428B2 |
Method for removing bars or coils from slots of an electric machine
The method for removing a bar or coil from a slot of an electric machine includes weakening the bonding between the slot and the bar or coil, and then removing the bar or coil. |
| US09871424B2 |
Electric tool
In the present invention, a housing having a trunk part accommodating therein a brushless motor and an output part to which a tip tool is to be connected, a handle part having one end connected to the trunk part, and an accommodation part provided at an other end of the handle part is used, and a FET serving as a switching element that supplies power to the motor is accommodated in the accommodation part from which a power supply cord is pulled out. It is possible to reduce the length of the trunk part in the front-rear direction compared to a case where the FET is disposed in the front-rear direction of the motor. |
| US09871422B2 |
Terminal unit of vehicle traction motor and method of manufacturing the same
A terminal unit of a vehicle traction motor includes a terminal mold, bus bars which are assembled and fixed in within the terminal mold, and insulation spacers which are alternately and sequentially inserted and assembled between the bus bars and have different diameters from each other. |
| US09871414B2 |
Secure wireless power access protocol suited for implementing levels of service in public and private environments
Embodiments are directed to a system for transferring power wirelessly from a transmitter to a receiver, the transmitter having a transmitter processor and a transmitter antenna. The system includes the transmitter processor configured to convert electric power signals to an electromagnetic field (EMF); associate each of a plurality of keys with one of a plurality of operating frequencies, and store the plurality of keys associated with the plurality of operating frequencies in a table; select one of the plurality of operating frequencies stored in the table as an active operating frequency, wherein the active operating frequency is assigned as the current operating frequency of the transmitter antenna, and wherein the key associated with the active operating frequency is assigned as an active key; wirelessly transmit to the receiver the EMF at the active operating frequency; and wirelessly transmit to the receiver the table and an identification of the active key. |
| US09871411B2 |
HVAC home generator
A natural gas or liquified propane powered generator incorporated into a HVAC unit, for supplying emergency power to a residence or commercial business. The generator is contained within an exterior cabinet that houses HVAC components for both packaged and split systems. The packaged unit is arranged so that the generator is included within the exterior cabinet and the split unit is arranged so that the generator is positioned beneath the split unit. The generator operates from natural gas or liquified propane supplied to the home or from a portable liquified propane tank, if the supply of natural gas or liquified propane is terminated. In the event of a power failure, the user manually operates the generator or an automatic transfer switch can be utilized. On-site electronics are included to allow a user to monitor the system from a smart phone or other electronic device. |
| US09871410B2 |
Switching selector for selecting a power source
A switching selector for selecting a power source from two power sources. It includes a controller, a detection circuit, a transistor and two groups of four transfer switches or relays, wherein the controller is a micro-processor and the detection circuit includes two transformers. Primary winding of each of two transformers is connected to two different power sources, and secondary winding of each of two transformers is connected to input of the controller. Output of the controller is connected to a base of a transistor for controlling the transfer switches. Each group of four transfer switches form a redundant switch for selecting one of the two power sources, where the four transfer switches are connected such that the selection function is not affected when any one of the transfer switches malfunctions. |
| US09871402B2 |
Electric power conversion apparatus and method of controlling the same
Assuming that a transformer has a primary to secondary winding turn ratio 1:N, VR denotes a voltage of regenerated power, VCd denotes a discharge final voltage of a first battery connected with a transformer-primary-side center tap, VCc denotes a charge final voltage of the first battery, VBd denotes a discharge final voltage of a second battery connected with a transformer-secondary-side full bridge circuit, VBc denotes a charge final voltage of the second battery and Drain denotes a lower limit of a duty ratio D of a transformer-primary-side full bridge circuit, an apparatus determines upon (VBd/N)≦VR≦(VBc/N) that the first and second batteries may be able to be charged with regenerated power and determines upon VCd≦VR≦(VCc/Dmin) that the first battery may be able to be charged with the regenerated power. |
| US09871399B2 |
Door lock
A door lock apparatus, comprising a male component; a connection to a power source; a lock actuator, powered by the power source and configured to move the male component at least partially through a strike and into a box beyond the strike in the path of the male component to lock a door, wherein the male component comprises a plurality of parallel subcomponents oriented lengthwise in the direction of a path of the male component; a bed of sensors positioned in the box and configured to sense a number of parallel subcomponents that contact the bed after the male component has been moved into the box; and an alarm in communication with the bed, wherein the alarm is triggered when an attempt is made to lock the door and an insufficient number of parallel subcomponents contacting the bed has been sensed by the bed of sensors. |
| US09871395B2 |
Charging control device
A charging control device that executes charge control appropriately without reducing effects of charge control, and is configured to include a charged state calculation unit configured to calculate remaining capacity of battery that can be charged and discharged, based on signal from a sensor to detect state of the battery; an accumulated charge and discharge calculation unit configured to calculate an accumulated amount of charge and discharge of the battery after activation of the battery, based on the signal from the sensor; an execution determination unit configured, in a case where remaining capacity calculated by charged state calculation unit is less than first threshold, to determine whether to execute charge control to recover remaining capacity of the battery, based on accumulated amount calculated by accumulated charge and discharge calculation unit; and charge control unit configured to execute charge control following determination result by execution determination unit. |
| US09871388B2 |
Voltage equalization apparatus and electricity storage apparatus
A voltage equalization apparatus includes a switch controller controlling a first switch that is configured to provide a first voltage to a first rectifier element group corresponding to a first electricity storage member and controlling a second switch that is configured to provide a second voltage to a second rectifier element group corresponding to a second electricity storage member, and the switch controller is configured to individually control the first switch and the second switch based on voltage measurement signals of the first electricity storage member and the second electricity storage member. |
| US09871387B1 |
Systems and methods of object detection using one or more video cameras in wireless power charging systems
Embodiments disclosed herein disclose a wireless charging system configured to generate and transmit power waves that, due to physical waveform characteristics converge at a predetermined location in a transmission field to generate a pocket of energy. Receivers, associated with an electronic device being powered by the wireless charging system, can extract energy from these pocket of energy and then convert the extracted energy into usable electric power for the electronic device associated with a receiver. The pocket of energy may manifest as a three-dimensional field (e.g., transmission field) where energy can be harvested by a receiver positioned within or nearby the pocket of energy. Video sensors capture actual video images of fields of view within the transmission field, and a processor identifies selected objects, selected events, and/or selected locations within the captured actual video images. |
| US09871384B2 |
Wireless charging of metal backed electronic devices
A method and system for providing wireless power transfer through a metal object by forming a loop conductor from the metal object through a feature or component embedded within the metal object and by replacing portions of the metal object with insulating components. The method and system utilize a recessed channel to install and isolate conductors that are connected to transmitter or receiver circuits and enable wireless power transfer and other communications. The recessed channel creates a loop around at least a portion of the metal object such that the conductor installed therein may form a loop conductor, which may be connected to a source or sink. In some implementations, a logo embedded within the metal object may create a loop formed by the metal object with a current path around the logo, wherein the metal object itself may be configured to operate as the conductor. |
| US09871381B2 |
Regenerative power supply system and method
A regenerative power supply system and method comprises a dynamo-electric generator, an electric drive motor coupled to the generator, a transmission device coupling the generator to the electric drive motor, and an energy storage device configured to provide a backup power supply to the regenerative power supply system. An electronic control device is configured to control a flow of electricity to the electric drive motor. An energy storage management device is configured to control a flow of electricity between the electronic control device and the energy storage device. |
| US09871375B2 |
Secure body of memory card reader
A body of a memory card reader, which has an overall rectangular parallelepiped shape including a slot for inserting a memory card. The reader body includes, on a rear surface thereof, a recess for receiving a memory card connector, the receiving recess being of a predetermined volume shape and including at least one conductive track. |
| US09871374B2 |
Protecting circuit and integrated circuit
A protecting circuit includes: a discharge switch configured to connect to a first terminal and a second terminal; a trigger circuit comprising load devices configured to be connected in series between the first terminal and the second terminal, each of the load devices being configured to consume power; and a shunt circuit comprising, between the trigger circuit and the first terminal or the second terminal, at least one shunt pathway configured to be capable of bypassing at least one of the load devices. The trigger circuit is configured to turn on the discharge switch when a voltage between the first terminal and the second terminal is higher than a first voltage value, and the shunt circuit is configured to electrically connect the shunt pathway when the voltage is higher than a second voltage value that is greater than the first voltage value. |
| US09871372B2 |
Voltage bus protection and isolation device
A voltage bus protection/isolation device includes voltage input and output terminals, a disconnect circuit connected between the voltage input and output terminals, a voltage monitoring circuit connected to the voltage input terminal, a resistive circuit connected between a first and second return terminals, a current squared time monitoring circuit connected to the resistive circuit, a control circuit connected, and a fault latch circuit connected to the monitoring circuits, the disconnect circuit and the control circuit. The fault latch circuit: turns the disconnect circuit “OFF” thereby isolating the voltage input terminal from the voltage output terminal whenever the monitoring circuits detect an over voltage condition, an under voltage condition or an overload condition, or an “OFF” signal is received from the control circuit; and turns the disconnect circuit “ON” thereby connecting the voltage input terminal to the voltage output terminal whenever an “ON” signal is received from the control circuit. |
| US09871369B2 |
Load driver circuit and load short-circuit detection circuit
A load driver circuit includes a detection circuit periodically detecting an inrush current that flows to the detection capacitor from the first terminal through the first switch element and outputting a detection signal responsive to a result of the detection at the first node; a peak hold circuit holding a peak voltage of the detection signal and outputting the held peak voltage as a detection voltage; a comparison circuit comparing the detection voltage with a threshold voltage and outputting a comparison result signal responsive to a result of the comparison; a control circuit controlling the first switch element to switch on and off, controlling a current detection operation of the detection circuit, and outputting a load control signal that controls the operation of the load; and a logic circuit controlling the load switch element based on the comparison result signal and the load control signal. |
| US09871365B2 |
Protective relay system and protective relay device
A protective relay system includes plural protective relay devices protecting a power system based on electrical quantity data from the power system, and a communication between the protective power devices is performed via a network. The protective relay device includes a clock unit periodically clocking a timing at which sampling is performed on an electrical quantity of the power system, a relay computing unit performing a relay computation based on the electrical quantity data having undergone the sampling and electrical quantity data received via the network, a random-number creating unit creating a random number, and a synchronization-frame processing unit setting a timing of sending a synchronization frame to another protective relay device via the network based on the random number created by the random-number creating unit. |
| US09871359B1 |
Split backshell for wire bundles
A backshell, the backshell including a first shell member having a first end, a second end and a first channel, a second shell member having a first end, a second end and a second channel, the second shell member being configured to interface with the first shell member so that, when interfaced, the first ends of the first and second shell members are adjacent each other and defines a backshell first end, the second ends of the first and second shell members are adjacent each other and defines a backshell second end, and the channels of the first and the second shell members form a wire bundle passage extending between the backshell first end and the backshell second end, and a coupling ring configured to engage both the first shell member and the second shell member at the backshell first end to couple the first shell member to the second shell member. |
| US09871357B2 |
Systems and methods for cooling power transmission systems
A cooling system for cooling a power transmission system that includes a cable configured to carry a current corresponding to a transported electric power may include: a cooling device configured to remove heat from the power transmission system; a power supply system configured to extract a power fraction from the cable and configured to supply the cooling device with the power fraction; and a control unit configured to control an amount of the extracted power fraction in response to a parameter of the electric power. When the parameter is higher than a threshold, the extracted power fraction is equal to a first value that depends on the electric power carried in the cable through a first function. When the parameter is lower than the threshold, the extracted power fraction is equal to a second value that depends on the electric power carried in the cable through a second function. |
| US09871356B2 |
Method and apparatus for translating coupling features of a plug-in unit
Embodiments of a plug-in unit for an electrical enclosure are disclosed. The plug-in unit includes at least one stab configured to engage a bus, a stab shaft coupled with a base of the at least one stab, and a stab translation mechanism configured to translate the stab shaft such that the at least one stab translates from a retracted position to an extended position. |
| US09871354B2 |
Enclosure with lid counterweight assembly
An enclosure includes a body portion, a top portion having a lid component configured to rotate with respect to the body portion to provide access to an interior compartment of the enclosure, and a counterweight assembly coupled between the lid component and the body portion. The counterweight assembly is configured such that the force required to rotate the lid component from the enclosure's closed position to its full-open position is substantially constant. |
| US09871353B2 |
Bottom assembly for the frame of a switch cabinet
A base assembly for the rack of a switchgear cabinet, comprising horizontal frame profiles which have the height h and which surround a base section of the rack, wherein at the height h, the frame profiles have a first horizontal mounting plane, is characterized in that, spaced from the first horizontal mounting plane, at least one additional mounting plane is provided, on or adjoining a fixed support which is formed at least sectionally on one or more of the frame profiles and projects into the base section. |
| US09871351B2 |
Wire ground electrode spark plug for super flow
The present teachings provide for a spark plug for an internal combustion engine and a method of constructing the spark plug. The spark plug can include a housing, insulator, first electrode, and ground electrode. The housing can be configured to be coupled to the engine. The insulator can be received in the housing. The first electrode can be received in the housing and can be spaced apart from the housing by the insulator. The ground electrode can have a first end, second end, and base portion. The first and second ends can be coupled to the housing for thermal conduction with the housing. At least one of the first and second ends can be coupled to the housing for electrical conduction with the housing. The base portion can be spaced apart from the first electrode to define a spark plug gap between the first electrode and the base portion. |
| US09871344B2 |
Tunable laser and method for tuning a lasing mode
A tunable laser for tuning a lasing mode based on light beams travelling through at least one block of channel waveguides with at least two tunable combs, includes: a frequency selective optical multiplexer comprising a first terminal for receiving/transmitting light, at least one block of channel waveguides, each channel waveguide having a reflectively coated first tail and a second tail, and an optical coupling element optically coupling the first terminal with the second tails of the channel waveguides of the at least one block of channel waveguides, each of the channel waveguides having a different length; a gain element generating a broad spectrum of light, the gain element coupling the first terminal of the frequency selective optical multiplexer with a reflective element. |
| US09871339B1 |
Laser transmitter for generating a coherent laser output signal with reduced self-phase modulation and method
A laser transmitter is provided that includes a seed signal generator, an amplitude modulator and a power amplifier. The seed signal generator is configured to generate a seed signal that has a continuous waveform. The amplitude modulator is configured to generate a flat-top pulse signal based on the seed signal. The power amplifier is configured to generate a laser output signal based on the flat-top pulse signal. |
| US09871337B2 |
FEL system with homogeneous average output
A method of varying the output of a free electron laser (FEL) on very short time scales to produce a slightly broader, but smooth, time-averaged wavelength spectrum. The method includes injecting into an accelerator a sequence of bunch trains at phase offsets from crest. Accelerating the particles to full energy to result in distinct and independently controlled, by the choice of phase offset, phase-energy correlations or chirps on each bunch train. The earlier trains will be more strongly chirped, the later trains less chirped. For an energy recovered linac (ERL), the beam may be recirculated using a transport system with linear and nonlinear momentum compactions M56, which are selected to compress all three bunch trains at the FEL with higher order terms managed. |
| US09871335B2 |
Termination system with communication device
A termination system includes an applicator and a communication device mounted to the applicator. The application has a ram that is movable towards and away from a stationary anvil along a crimp stroke. The anvil receives a terminal thereon. The ram is coupled to crimp tooling that is configured to apply the terminal to a wire along the crimp stroke. The communication device includes a storage system, a wireless communication system, and a microcontroller. The storage system stores data relating to the applicator. The wireless communication system wirelessly communicates the data relating to the applicator with an external device accessed by an operator. The microcontroller controls at least one of storage of or access to the data relating to the applicator in the storage system. The microcontroller also controls wireless communication of the data relating to the applicator with the external device via the wireless communication system. |
| US09871334B2 |
Slip ring having a liquid metal contact between a stationary element and a rotatable element
A slip ring assembly includes a stationary element, a rotatable element rotatable relative to the stationary element, and a liquid metal contact electrically coupling the rotatable element to the stationary element. The liquid metal contact includes a metallic material having a melting temperature that is less than zero degrees Celsius and a boiling temperature that is greater than four-hundred degrees Celsius to electrically couple an electrical device fixed relative to the rotatable element to an electrical device fixed relative to the stationary element through the liquid metal contact. |
| US09871333B2 |
AC generator slip ring device
An AC generator slip ring device including a shaft supported by a front and rear bracket, and a rotor on the inner circumferential side of a stator; a sleeve fixed to an end portion on the rear bracket side of the shaft; and a conductive ring retained on the outer circumferential side of the sleeve. The device also includes a partition ring on the outer circumferential side of the sleeve having one end portion fixed to the rear bracket and the other end portion has a first flange projected in the outer diameter direction; a second flange provided on the side opposite to the rear bracket of the sleeve, having an annular wall with a concave portion, the end surface of the annular wall opposing the first flange of the partition ring; and a flat portion formed on an outer circumferential portion of the annular wall of the second flange. |
| US09871331B2 |
Modular switchgear connection and method of electrically connecting a modular compartment to a switchgear assembly
A modular switchgear electrical connection for use with a modular compartment includes a branch busbar having a busbar aperture defined by the branch busbar. Also included is a connection arrangement for establishing an electrical connection with the branch busbar. The connection arrangement includes a fastener extending through the busbar aperture toward the modular compartment. The connection arrangement also includes a spout including a base wall and a cavity defined by at least one wall extending from the base wall, wherein the base wall includes a spout aperture for receiving the fastener. The connection arrangement further includes a contact component including a base portion a cylindrical portion extending from the base portion, the contact component defining an aperture for receiving the fastener, the contact component secured to the spout and the fastener with a nut for engaging the fastener. |
| US09871325B2 |
Circuit board having selective vias filled with lossy plugs
An interconnect system includes a circuit board including a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors including respective contact pads in a mating area of the substrate for engaging corresponding contacts of an electrical connector, and a plurality of ground vias extending at least partially through the substrate between the first and second surfaces. The ground vias are coupled to corresponding ground conductors. The ground vias include lossy plugs at least partially filling the ground vias. The lossy plugs are manufactured from lossy material capable of absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the substrate. |
| US09871324B2 |
Active cover plates
Various embodiments of active cover plates are disclosed. Active cover plates may include a face plate, an electrical load, at least one clip extending rearward from the faceplate. The clip may include a contact, a resilient strip supporting the contact, wherein the contact is joined to the resilient strip and passes through the resilient strip, and a rear insulator covering a rear side of the contact. An electrical connection may be formed between the clip and the electrical load. |
| US09871320B2 |
Connector and corresponding connector assembly
The application relates to a connector that is connectable to a complementary connector on a plugging-in axis to produce an electrical connection. In particular, the connector includes an actuation device mounted to move on said connector between a connection position and a disconnection position, the actuation device comprising a first part configured to cooperate with the complementary connector to fix the connector to the complementary connector in the connection position, and an ejection device translationally mobile along the plugging-in axis into a position protruding toward the complementary connector, the actuation device comprising a second part configured to cooperate in the disconnection position with the ejection device to drive the translational displacement of the ejection device into the protruding position. Further, the actuation device and the ejection device are formed by at least two distinct elements of the connector. |
| US09871318B2 |
Waterproof electrical connector having a sealer between conatct module and outer shell
An electrical connector includes: a contact module having an insulative housing, two rows of terminals affixed to the insulative housing, and a metal shielding plate, the insulative housing comprising an annular receiving groove, a base portion located behind the annular receiving groove, and a tongue portion extending forwardly from the annular receiving groove, each terminal having a contacting portion exposed to a surface of the tongue portion, a soldering portion, and a connecting portion; an inner metal shell attached to the contact module; and an outer shell enclosing the inner metal shell; the connecting portion has an exposed portion located at a rear end of the connecting portion and suspended in the annular receiving groove, the annular receiving groove receives glue to form a sealer sealing between the contact module and the outer shell, and the exposed portion is embedded in the glue. |
| US09871313B2 |
Receptacle connector
A receptacle connector includes: a shielding case; an insulator accommodated in the shielding case; and a first contact arranged on a terminal supporting part of the insulator. A clearance is provided between a tip of the terminal supporting part of the insulator and a tip of the first contact. The tip of the terminal supporting part has an inclined surface to provide the clearance. |
| US09871312B2 |
Foldable plug and electronic device thereof
A foldable plug and electronic device utilizing same are disclosed. The foldable plug includes a pair of socket sets, a connecting portion connecting the pair of socket sets, a pair of pins fitting into the pair of socket sets, and a pair of protrusions. Each pin is partly received in a socket set and partly exposed. The socket set has a surface facing away from the connecting portion, and the protrusion extends from the surface facing away from the connecting portion. Each protrusion includes a first surface, a second surface, and a third surface, all adjacent. The first surface, the second surface, and the third surface are connected with each other. The foldable plug and electronic device can utilize space within electronic device effectively. |
| US09871310B2 |
Low resistance, low-inductance power connectors
An electrical connector includes an anode assembly for conducting an electrical supply current from a source to a destination, the anode assembly includes an anode formed into a first shape from sheet metal or other sheet-like conducting material. A cathode assembly conducts an electrical return current from the destination to the source, the cathode assembly includes a cathode formed into a second shape from sheet metal or other sheet-like conducting material. An insulator prevents electrical conduction between the anode and the cathode. The first and second shapes are such as to provide a conformity of one to the other, with the insulator therebetween having a predetermined relatively thin thickness. A predetermined low-resistance path for the supply current is provided by the anode, a predetermined low-resistance path for the return current is provided by the cathode, and the proximity of the anode to the cathode along these paths provides a predetermined low self-inductance of the connector, where the proximity is afforded by the conformity of the first and second shapes. |
| US09871308B2 |
Thread to compress connector
A cable connector connects a coaxial cable to an interface port by an outer conductor engager, a body and a coupler. The coupler draws the body over a plurality of resilient fingers of the outer conductor engager to urge the fingers into electrical contact with a peripheral outer surface of a stripped/prepared end of a coaxial cable. |
| US09871305B2 |
Mantle terminal for establishing electric contact
Aspects of the disclosure relate to a mantle terminal for establishing conducting contact, including a threaded stud for inserting a cable; a cap nut to be screwed onto the threaded stud; an insulating element inside which the cap nut is rotatably mounted and which includes a lateral plug portion; and a base plate on which the threaded stud is mounted and which includes a lateral receptacle for securely accommodating the lateral plug portion of the insulating element. |
| US09871304B2 |
Antenna device and electronic device including the same
An antenna device and an electronic device including the same are provided. The antenna device includes a first radiator in which a slot is formed, a second radiator, at least a portion of which is disposed in the slot, and a feeder configured to feed the same electricity to the first radiator and the second radiator. The antenna device may have many resonance frequencies in the same installation space, allowing efficient use of the internal space of the electronic device. Moreover, the antenna device and the electronic device including the same may be implemented variously according to various embodiments. |
| US09871303B2 |
Multi-frequency, multi-radiation angle, multi-polarization and multi-pattern communication antenna
An antenna is provided and includes a base antenna component, a loop antenna component, a first coupling by which the loop antenna component is pivotally attached to and selectively electrically communicative with the base antenna component, a whip antenna component, a second coupling by which the whip antenna component is pivotally attached to and selectively electrically communicative with the loop antenna component; and a transmission/reception (T/R) module. The T/R module is disposable in signal communication with at least one or more of the base, loop and whip antenna components. |
| US09871301B2 |
Integrated miniature PIFA with artificial magnetic conductor metamaterials
Integrated antenna structures described herein may include planar inverted-F antennas (PIFAs) integrated with artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) metamaterials. The integrated metamaterial operatively coupled with the PIFA may function as an artificial magnetic reflector, sending all the energy radiated upwards, and thereby changing the original omnidirectional radiation pattern of the PIFA to a directional radiation pattern. The integrated antenna structures that include PIFAs and metamaterials may maintain a smaller form factor as compared to similar directional antennas, while exhibiting a suitable performance in terms of radiation efficiency, radiation pattern and impedance bandwidth. |
| US09871287B2 |
Integrated radio and solar panels
A solar panel array structure is used in network communications that comprises at least one support structure configured to support a solar panel array, wherein the at least one support structure comprises a metal portion. The metal portion comprises antenna connections that are configured to allow the metal portion to be used as a radio antenna. In some cases, a radio transceiver is connected to the antenna connections. A separate radio antenna may also be connected to the support structure or to the solar panel array. The radio transceiver may be used to transmit data through a wireless communication network. |
| US09871286B2 |
Mobile terminal
A mobile terminal comprises: a terminal body; and a first antenna device and a second antenna device disposed at one side of the terminal body in an adjacent manner, and formed to operate at different frequency bands, wherein the first antenna device and the second antenna device are provided with conductive members each having a slit at one side thereof, and wherein the conductive members form part of an appearance of the terminal body. |
| US09871285B2 |
Antenna configurations for wireless speakers
Antenna configurations for wireless speakers are disclosed. An example playback device includes a housing having a first base on which the playback device rests when oriented in a first direction, a second base on which the playback device rests when oriented in a second direction, and a side of the playback device. A first antenna may be affixed to the side of the playback device, oriented perpendicular to the second base, and arranged to produce a first electric field in a first direction extending through the first base of the playback device. A second antenna of a second type may be positioned above the second base and below a speaker of the playback device when the playback device is oriented in the second direction. The second antenna may produce a second electric field in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction. |
| US09871284B2 |
Systems and methods for selecting reconfigurable antennas in MIMO systems
A method allows reconfigurable multi-element antennas to select the antenna configuration in MIMO, SIMO and MISO communication system. This selection scheme uses spatial correlation, channel reciprocal condition number, delay spread and average Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) information to select the antenna radiation pattern at the receiver. Using this approach, it is possible to achieve capacity gains in a multi-element reconfigurable antenna system without modifying the data frame of a conventional wireless communication system. The capacity gain achievable with this configuration selection approach is calculated through numerical simulations using reconfigurable circular patch antennas at the receiver of a MIMO system that employs minimum mean square error receivers for channel estimation. Channel capacity and Bit Error Rate (BER) results show the improvement offered relative to a conventional antenna selection technique for reconfigurable MIMO systems. |
| US09871280B2 |
Dielectric resonator, dielectric filter, and communication apparatus
A dielectric resonator which has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, and a dielectric filter and a communication apparatus using the same are provided. In a dielectric resonator, a dielectric body includes a first portion having surfaces and a second portion having surfaces. A conductor surrounding the dielectric body includes inner surfaces facing the surfaces. A conductor is disposed between the surface and the inner surface. A conductor is disposed between the surface and the inner surface. The dielectric body includes a third portion which is not interposed between the conductors and a fourth portion which is not interposed between conductors. |
| US09871276B2 |
Battery cell cooling plate
A cooling plate design for cooling a battery cell is provided that employs a plastic plate having cutouts for coolant flow paths. The plastic plate has a layer of adhesive film on each side to maintain coolant in the channels. Compression within an alternating battery cell and coolant plate stack provides pressure that minimizes coolant load on the film. Methods to manufacture the cooling plate are also provided. |
| US09871273B2 |
Surface mount battery and portable electronic device with integrated battery cell
Systems and methods are provided for battery cells including solid electrolytes. Solid electrolyte cells may be integrated with electronic devices. For example, a solid electrolyte cell may be integrated with a metal surface of a circuit board or an electrically conductive surface of a chassis. Surface-mountable solid electrolyte cells may be electrically coupled to circuit traces using, for example, a reflow soldering process. |
| US09871272B2 |
Secondary battery
The present invention relates to an electrolyte solution for a lithium secondary battery, which contains a sulfonate compound represented by a specific formula and carboxylic anhydride having one or more C═C double bonds, and a lithium secondary battery using the same. |
| US09871271B2 |
Non-aqueous electrolyte and lithium secondary battery using the same
The present invention provides non-aqueous electrolyte solution for a lithium secondary battery, comprising a pyrimidine-based compound, a non-fluorinated solvent and a fluorinated solvent; and a lithium secondary battery using the same. |
| US09871270B2 |
Functionalized ionic liquids and their applications
Disclosure of functionalized ionic liquids. Use of disclosed ionic liquids as solvent for carbon dioxide. Use of disclosed ionic liquids as flame retardant. Use of disclosed ionic liquids for coating fabric to obtain flame retardant fabric. |
| US09871269B2 |
Electrolyte and rechargeable lithium battery including same
Disclosed are an electrolyte for a rechargeable lithium battery including a lithium salt, a non-aqueous organic solvent, and an additive represented by the following Chemical Formula 1, and a rechargeable lithium battery including the same. Definition of Chemical Formula 1 is the same as described in the detailed description. |
| US09871268B2 |
Secondary battery manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus
A secondary battery manufacturing method enables smooth pulling of a separator by guide members by inhibiting a phenomenon in which, when the separator is being pulled by the guide members, the separator moves in the width direction and rattles. The method includes pulling in a separator by guide bars to zigzag-fold the separator; and suspending the separator between the guide bars via a suspension roller while locating buffer rollers at a predetermined descending position, the buffer rollers being disposed between support rollers for supporting the separator at midpoints upstream, in the transport direction of the separator, of the suspension roller, the buffer rollers being ascendable and descendable in contact with an upper surface of the separator to be adjustable vertically, and allowing the buffer rollers to ascend in accordance with movement of the guide bars, thereby supplying the separator of a length pulled in by the guide bars. |
| US09871266B2 |
Device for winding electrode plate
A device for winding an electrode plate includes a feed roller configured to guide a first electrode plate or a second electrode plate, each of the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate including a plurality of electrode tabs protruding from one side, a deformation reducing member spaced apart from an outer circumferential surface of one end of the feed roller and configured to guide the electrode tabs fed to the feed roller to be brought into close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the one end of the feed roller to reduce deformation of the electrode tabs, and a winding unit configured to wind together the first electrode plate or the second electrode plate transferred by the feed roller and a separator interposed between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate. |
| US09871265B2 |
Method for manufacturing a solid oxide fuel cell device
To provide a method for manufacturing SOFC, capable of preventing breakage of fuel cell electrodes, and of securing an electrical connection between fuel cells and a current collector. Step for forming electrode protective layers 152 on electrodes formed on fuel cells 16, modularization step for forming a cell array, and attaching step for attaching a current collector 82 to the cell array, wherein current collector 82 is a metal plate on which attaching holes 84 are formed for the insertion of fuel cells 16, elastic pieces 84a are formed at each attaching hole 84, fuel cells 16 are inserted into attaching holes 84, and current collector 82 is attached to the cell array by the elastic force; and protective layer 152 is constituted to prevent damage to electrodes caused by contact with elastic pieces. |
| US09871257B2 |
Porous electrode substrate, method for manufacturing same, membrane electrode assembly, polymer electrolyte fuel cell, precursor sheet, and fibrillar fibers
Provided is a porous electrode substrate having excellent thickness precision, gas permeability and conductivity, handling efficiency, low production costs and a high carbonization rate during carbonization. Also provided are a method for manufacturing such a substrate, a precursor sheet and fibrillar fiber used for forming such a substrate, along with a membrane electrode assembly and a polymer electrolyte fuel cell that contain such a substrate. The method for manufacturing a porous electrode substrate includes step (1) for manufacturing a precursor sheet in which short carbon fibers (A) and carbon fiber precursor (b) are dispersed, and step (2) for carbonizing the precursor sheet, and the volume contraction rate of carbon fiber precursor (b) in step (2) is 83% or lower. The present invention also relates to a porous electrode substrate obtained by such a manufacturing method, a precursor sheet and fibrillar fiber used for forming the substrate, along with a membrane electrode assembly and a polymer electrolyte fuel cell containing the substrate. |
| US09871256B2 |
Fuel cell electrode having non-ionomer proton-conducting material
An active material layers for a fuel cell membrane electrode assembly includes metal oxide particles, a non-ionomer proton conductor and active catalyst particles supported on the metal oxide particles. |
| US09871255B2 |
Modular electrochemical cells
A gas diffusion electrode for an electro-synthetic or electro-energy cell, for example a fuel cell, including one or more gas permeable layers, a first conductive layer provided on a first side of the gas diffusion electrode, and a second layer, which may be a second conductive layer, provided on a second side of the gas diffusion electrode. The one or more gas permeable layers are positioned between the first conductive layer and the second layer, which may be a second conductive layer, and the one or more gas permeable layers provide a gas channel. The one or more gas permeable layers are gas permeable and substantially impermeable to the liquid electrolyte. The porous conductive material is gas permeable and liquid electrolyte permeable. The gas diffusion electrode can be one of a plurality of alternating anode/cathode sets. |
| US09871253B2 |
Ion-conductive fused-ring quinone polymer, electrode active material and secondary battery
A ion-conductive fused-ring quinone polymer includes recurring units of formula (1) and/or (2) below wherein each X is independently a single bond or a divalent group, and A1 and A2 are each independently an aromatic hydrocarbon ring or an oxygen atom or sulfur atom-containing aromatic heterocycle that forms together with two carbon atoms on a benzoquinone skeleton. This polymer is a material having charge-storing properties which, when used as an electrode active material, is capable of providing a high-performance battery possessing high capacity, high rate characteristics and high cycle characteristics. |
| US09871252B2 |
Method for producing lithium metal phosphate
Method for the production of lithium metal phosphate, wherein a dry mixture containing a lithium compound, a metal compound, wherein the metal is selected from Fe, Mn and mixtures thereof, and a phosphate is provided, the dry mixture is converted to LiMPO4 and the LiMPO4 is wet ground by adding water and lithium polyacrylate and dried. |
| US09871246B2 |
Cathode active material including lithium transition metal phosphate particles, preparation method thereof, and lithium secondary battery including the same
Provided are a cathode active material including lithium transition metal phosphate particles, wherein the lithium transition metal phosphate particles include a first secondary particle formed by agglomeration of two or more first primary particles, and a second secondary particle formed by agglomeration of two or more second primary particles in the first secondary particle, and a method of preparing the same. Since the cathode active material according to an embodiment of the present invention may include first primary particles and second primary particles having different average particle diameters, the exfoliation of the cathode active material from a cathode collector may be minimized and performance characteristics, such as high output characteristics and an increase in available capacity, of a secondary battery may be further improved. In addition, since the first secondary particles are porous, the secondary particles are collapsed and fractured due to rolling when used in a cathode. |
| US09871239B2 |
Separators for electrochemical cells
Provided are separators for use in an electrochemical cell comprising (a) an inorganic oxide and (b) an organic polymer, wherein the inorganic oxide comprises organic substituents. Also provided are electrochemical cells comprising such separators. |
| US09871227B2 |
Light scattering layer having particles for an organic EL light emitting device
An organic EL light-emitting device including: a light-emitting layer capable of generating light; a light-scattering structure capable of scattering the light; a first light-scattering layer containing first light-scattering particles having an average particle diameter of 0.1 μm to 2 μm and a first binder; and a concavo-convex structure in a streak array pattern, the light emitting layer, the light-scattering structure, the first light-scattering layer, and the concavo-convex structure being disposed in this order, wherein a mean free path L1 of light scattering in the first light-scattering layer and a thickness D1 of the first light-scattering layer satisfy D1/L1<15. |
| US09871224B2 |
Encapsulation film
Provided are an encapsulation film, an organic electronic device including the same, and a method of manufacturing the organic electronic device. Particularly, the encapsulation film, which effectively blocks moisture or oxygen entering the organic electronic device from the outside, and has excellent mechanical properties such as handleability and processability, and the organic electronic device including the same are provided. |
| US09871223B2 |
Organic light emitting display device having multiple films
An organic light emitting display device and a method of manufacturing the same are proposed. The organic light emitting display device includes: a first film formed of an organic material, and having first and second surfaces facing each other and a third surface perpendicular to the first and second surfaces; a second film formed on the first film to cover the second and third surfaces of the first film; an organic light emitting unit disposed on the second film; a third film disposed on the second film to cover the organic light emitting unit; and a fourth film disposed on the third film, formed of an organic material, and having fourth and fifth surfaces facing each other, wherein the fifth surface faces the third film. |
| US09871220B2 |
Transparent electrode, and electronic device
A transparent electrode is configured which is provided with: a nitrogen-containing layer; a conductive layer which is provided abutting the nitrogen-containing layer, and which has silver as a main component thereof; a high refractive index layer having a refractive index higher than that of the nitrogen-containing layer; and a low refractive index layer having a refractive index lower than that of the high refractive index layer. In the nitrogen-containing layer, a compound is used which includes nitrogen atoms, and which has, in cases when n represents the number of unshared electron pairs which are not involved in aromaticity and which are not coordinated to metal, from among the unshared electron pairs of the nitrogen atoms, and M represents molecular weight, an effective unshared-electron-pair content [n/M] that satisfies 2.0×10−3≦[n/M]. |
| US09871218B2 |
Organic light emitting display including color-adjusting layer and manufacturing method thereof
Provided are organic light emitting display and manufacturing method of the organic light emitting display. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a organic light emitting display comprising a substrate, a first electrode and a second electrode disposed on the substrate and opposed to each other, at least one organic light emitting layer positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode, and at least one color adjusting layer positioned between the organic light emitting layer and the second electrode. |
| US09871217B1 |
Transparent conductive film and electro-optical device having the same
Compared to traditional ITO transparent substrate showing drawbacks of high sheet resistance, poor flexibility and high manufacturing cost, the present invention mainly discloses a transparent conductive film fabricated by sequentially forming a wetting layer and an ultra-thin metal layer onto a transparent substrate, wherein the transparent conductive film includes advantages of low sheet resistance, high transmittance, great flexibility, and low manufacturing cost. Moreover, a variety of experiment data have proved that, this novel transparent conductive film can not only be applied in the fabrication of some electro-optical devices such as organic solar cell and OLED, but also helpful to the enhancement of the fundamental and essential characteristics of the electro-optical devices. |
| US09871213B2 |
Organic electroluminescent device
The present invention relates to the use of aromatic boronic acid or borinic acid derivatives in organic electronic devices, in particular electroluminescent devices. |
| US09871209B2 |
Transparent electrode, electronic device, and organic electroluminescent device
Provided is a transparent electrode including a nitrogen-containing layer and an electrode layer provided adjacent thereto. The nitrogen-containing layer includes a compound that contains a nitrogen atom or atoms and has an effective lone pair content n/M of 2.0×10−3 or more, wherein n represents the number of unshared electron pairs that neither contribute to aromaticity nor are coordinated to metal among the unshared electron pairs of the nitrogen atom or atoms, and M represents the molecular weight of the compound. The electrode layer includes silver as a main component and at least one additive element selected from aluminum, gold, indium, copper, palladium, and platinum. |
| US09871207B2 |
Compound for organic electric element, organic electric element comprising the same and electronic device thereof
The present invention provides a novel compound capable of improving light emitting efficiency, stability, and lifespan of the element, an organic element using the same, and an electric device for the same. |
| US09871204B2 |
Material for organic electroluminescence device and organic electroluminescence device using the same
A material for an organic electroluminescence device is represented by the following Formula 1, where X1 to X7, E, L, Ar1 and Ar2 are as defined in the specification. |
| US09871202B2 |
Organic electroluminescent device
The present invention discloses an “organic light-emitting device (OLED)”, comprising an anode, a cathode, and one or more organic layers, wherein the said organic layer contains at least one compound having the formula (I), and the said OLED has the advantages of excellent light-emitting efficiency, excellent color purity and long lifetime. |
| US09871201B2 |
Electronic devices
The application relates to an electronic device comprising anode, cathode, at least one emitting layer between anode and cathode, at least one p-doped layer A which comprises a monotriarylamine as host, and at least one layer B comprising a monotriarylamine. The invention furthermore relates to a p-doped mixture comprising a monotriarylamine of the formula (II), (III) or (IV) as host and an electron-acceptor compound as dopant and to the use of the mixture in an electronic device. |
| US09871200B2 |
Salts of cyclopentadiene as n-dopants for organic electronics
An organic electron transport layer has at least one dopant for increasing the n-conductivity of the organic layer. The dopant is selected from the group of salts of cyclopentadiene compounds according to formula 1, wherein the substituents R1 to R2 are independently selected from the group containing —H, -D, halogen, —CN, —NO2, —OH, amine, ether, thioether, alkyl, cycloalkyl, acrylic, vinyl, allyl, aromatics, fused aromatics and heteroaromatics. |
| US09871190B2 |
Magnetic random access memory with ultrathin reference layer
The present invention is directed to an MRAM device comprising a plurality of MTJ memory elements. Each of the memory elements includes a magnetic free layer and a first magnetic reference layer with an insulating tunnel junction layer interposed therebetween; a second magnetic reference layer formed adjacent to the first magnetic reference layer opposite the insulating tunnel junction layer; an anti-ferromagnetic coupling layer formed adjacent to the second magnetic reference layer opposite the first magnetic reference layer; and a magnetic fixed layer formed adjacent to the anti-ferromagnetic coupling layer. The magnetic free layer has a variable magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the layer plane thereof. The first and second magnetic reference layers have a first fixed magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the layer planes thereof. The magnetic fixed layer has a second fixed magnetization direction that is substantially perpendicular to the layer plane thereof and is substantially opposite to the first fixed magnetization direction. |
| US09871188B2 |
Piezoelectric ceramic, method for manufacturing the same, piezoelectric element, and electronic apparatus
A piezoelectric ceramic includes a perovskite-type metal oxide containing barium titanate, and Mn. When a surface thereof along the remanent polarization direction is subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis at room temperature, the ratio of the diffraction intensity of the (002) plane to the diffraction intensity of the (200) plane is 1.0 or more, the diffraction peak of the (002) plane has a half width of 1.2° or less, and the lattice constant of the c-axis thereof and the lattice constant of the a-axis thereof satisfy the relationship 1.004≦c/a≦1.010. |
| US09871186B1 |
Magnetostrictive alternator
A magnetostrictive alternator configured to convert pressure waves into electrical energy is provided. It should be appreciated that the magnetostrictive alternator may be combined in some embodiments with a Stirling engine to produce electrical power. The Stirling engine creates the oscillating pressure wave and the magnetostrictive alternator converts the pressure wave into electricity. In some embodiments, the magnetostrictive alternator may include aerogel material and magnetostrictive material. The aerogel material may be configured to convert a higher amplitude pressure wave into a lower amplitude pressure wave. The magnetostrictive material may be configured to generate an oscillating magnetic field when the magnetostrictive material is compressed by the lower amplitude pressure wave. |
| US09871183B2 |
Electrostrictive element
The present invention provides an electrostrictive element capable of preventing breakdown of a dielectric film. An electrostrictive element 1 includes a dielectric film 2 composed of an elastomer, a film electrode 3 formed inside a peripheral edge on at least one surface of the dielectric film 2 and capable of expanding and contracting so as to follow expansion and contraction of the dielectric film 2, and a frame 4 to keep the dielectric film 2 in an expansion state. The film electrode 3 includes portions 6, 7, 8 having a lower conductivity or a portion 9 having a higher rigidity than the other portion on a portion to be subjected to a greater total stress of a mechanical stress and an electrical stress than the other portion of the dielectric film 2. |
| US09871182B2 |
Frequency tracking piezoelectric transformer power converter with simultaneous two-parameter control
The present invention is directed to a piezoelectric transformer based power converter that exhibits efficient operating point tracking ability while providing output regulation by means of simultaneous two-parameter control of the converter power stage. A regulation control stage provides the power stage a regulation control signal indicative of the difference between the measured output parameter and a set-point reference, therefore continuously controlling the gain of the converter to result in a stabilized, regulated output. Additionally, a frequency control stage simultaneously provides the power stage with a frequency control signal correlative to the difference between the current and desired operating points of the piezoelectric transformer. The power stage then translates the frequency control signal into an adjustment to the operational frequency of the input signal to the piezoelectric transformer, as to continuously drive the operating point to the desired position. |
| US09871180B2 |
Thermoelectric material and thermoelectric device including the same
A thermoelectric material includes a stack structure including alternately stacked first and second material layers. The first material layer may include a carbon nano-material. The second material layer may include a thermoelectric inorganic material. The first material layer may include a thermoelectric inorganic material in addition to the carbon nano-material. The carbon nano-material may include, for example, graphene. At least one of the first and second material layers may include a plurality of nanoparticles. The thermoelectric material may further include at least one conductor extending in an out-of-plane direction of the stack structure. |
| US09871176B2 |
Glass compositions and glass frit composites for use in optical applications
The glass composites include glass frit, that when sintered produce a phosphor-containing layer, suitable for use in optical applications. The glass composites can include a crystallizing glass frit, such that phosphor crystals precipitate from the frit composite during sintering, or can include a non-crystallizing glass composition, such that phosphor is added to the frit composite before sintering. The sintering temperatures of the glass are relatively low so that fluorescence of the phosphors will not substantially degrade during sintering. The resulting phosphor-containing layer can be used in various optical applications including those for converting blue light into various color temperatures of white light. |
| US09871169B2 |
Light emitting diode structure
A light emitting diode structure including a substrate, a semiconductor epitaxial layer and a reflective conductive structure layer is provided. The semiconductor epitaxial layer is disposed on the substrate and exposes a portion of the substrate. The reflective conductive structure layer covers a part of the semiconductor epitaxial layer and the portion of the substrate exposed by the semiconductor epitaxial layer. |
| US09871168B2 |
Light emitting diode device having connected light emitting diode elements and method of fabricating the same
Disclosed is a light emitting diode including a plurality of light emitting diode elements and a method of fabricating the same. The light emitting diode includes: a substrate; a plurality of light emitting diode elements disposed on the substrate; interconnection lines connecting the light emitting diode elements to each other, wherein the plurality of light emitting diode elements comprise outer light emitting diode elements aligned along an edge of the substrate, each of the outer light emitting diode elements comprises an inner face directed towards an adjacent light emitting diode element and an outer face disposed adjacent the edge of the substrate and directed towards an outside of the substrate, and the inner face of at least one of the outer light emitting diode elements comprises a more gently slanted side surface than the outer face thereof. |
| US09871161B2 |
Method for making crystalline silicon-based solar cell, and method for making solar cell module
A manufacturing method includes steps of forming a texture on a surface of a single-crystalline silicon substrate, cleaning the surface of the single-crystalline silicon substrate using ozone, depositing an intrinsic silicon-based layer on the texture on the single-crystalline silicon substrate, and depositing a conductive silicon-based layer on the intrinsic silicon-based layer, in this order. The single-crystalline silicon substrate before deposition of the intrinsic silicon-based layer has a texture size of less than 5 μm. A recess portion of the texture has a curvature radius of less than 5 nm. After deposition of at least a part of the intrinsic silicon-based layer and before deposition of the conductive silicon-based layer, the intrinsic silicon-based layer is subjected to a plasma treatment in an atmosphere of a gas mainly composed of hydrogen. |
| US09871153B2 |
Photodetector with integrated temperature control element formed at least in part in a semiconductor layer
A temperature-controlled photodetector sub-system is described. The temperature control element allows the operation of the photodetector at a desired temperature. The temperature control element can be a heater or a cooler. In some cases, the photodetector is a germanium photodetector. In some cases a temperature measuring device is provided. In some cases, a control circuit is used to control the temperature of the germanium photodetector within a temperature range, or at a temperature of interest. An advantage provided by the apparatus described is the operation of the photodetector so that the responsivity of the germanium detector can be held at essentially a constant value. |
| US09871146B2 |
Solar cell and method for manufacturing the same
A solar cell includes a substrate formed of n-type single crystal silicon, an emitter region of a p-type which is positioned at a first surface of the substrate and includes a first emitter region having a first sheet resistance and a second emitter region having a second sheet resistance less than the first sheet resistance, a plurality of surface field regions of the n-type locally positioned at a second surface opposite the first surface of the substrate, a plurality of first electrodes which are positioned only on the second emitter region to be separated from one another and are connected to the second emitter region, and a plurality of second electrodes which are positioned on the plurality of surface field regions to be separated from one another and are connected to the plurality of surface field regions. |
| US09871141B2 |
Thermally tuning strain in semiconductor devices
A method includes performing a first epitaxy to grow a silicon germanium layer over a semiconductor substrate, performing a second epitaxy to grow a silicon layer over the silicon germanium layer, and performing a first oxidation to oxidize the silicon germanium layer, wherein first silicon germanium oxide regions are generated. A strain releasing operation is performed to release a strain caused by the first silicon germanium oxide regions. A gate dielectric is formed on a top surface and a sidewall of the silicon layer. A gate electrode is formed over the gate dielectric. |
| US09871137B2 |
Method for forming semiconductor device structure
The semiconductor device structures are provided. The semiconductor device structure includes a gate stack structure formed on a substrate and an isolation structure formed in the substrate. The semiconductor device structure further includes a source/drain stressor structure formed between the gate stack structure and the isolation structure and a metal silicide layer formed on the source/drain stressor structure. A portion of the metal silicide layer is below a top surface of the isolation structure. |
| US09871135B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of making
A semiconductor device is disclosed that includes a first region of a first conductivity type that includes a drain, a region of a second conductivity type abutting the first region in a lateral direction and a vertical direction to form an interface between the first conductivity type and the second conductivity type, wherein the drain region is spaced apart from the interface. A source region of the first conductivity type abuts the second region in the lateral direction and vertical directions. A control gate structure includes a conductive layer that is spaced apart from the drain region by a first dimension in the lateral direction. A shallow trench isolation (STI) region having a second dimension in the lateral direction is disposed at a location of the first region between the source and drain regions, wherein the second dimension is less than one-half of the first dimension. |
| US09871132B1 |
Extended drain metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor
Devices and methods for forming a device are disclosed. A transistor is formed on the substrate. The transistor includes a gate, a source and a drain. An insulation layer is formed on the substrate. The insulation layer is partially disposed on the gate and a sidewall of the gate. The drain is offset from the gate by the insulation layer. An overlayer is formed on the substrate covering the transistor and insulation layer. A field plate in the form of a field plate contact is formed in the overlayer. The field plate contact is disposed on and coupled to the insulation layer for mitigating the formation of electric field adjacent to drain side of the gate. |
| US09871130B2 |
Nitride semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A nitride semiconductor device includes: a first nitride semiconductor layer serving as an electron transit layer; a second nitride semiconductor layer formed on the first nitride semiconductor layer, the second nitride semiconductor layer having a band gap greater than that of the first nitride semiconductor layer and serving as an electron supply layer; a third nitride semiconductor layer formed on the second nitride semiconductor layer, the third nitride semiconductor layer having a band gap greater than that of the first nitride semiconductor layer and smaller than that of the second nitride semiconductor layer; and a gate part formed on the third nitride semiconductor layer, wherein the gate part has a fourth nitride semiconductor layer formed on the third nitride semiconductor layer and includes an acceptor type impurity, and a gate electrode formed on the fourth nitride semiconductor layer. |
| US09871124B2 |
Method of IGZO and ZnO TFT fabrication with PECVD SiO2 passivation
The present invention generally relates to a method of manufacturing a TFT. The TFT has an active channel that comprises IGZO or zinc oxide. After the source and drain electrodes are formed, but before the passivation layers or etch stop layers are deposited thereover, the active channel is exposed to an N2O or O2 plasma. The interface between the active channel and the passivation layers or etch stop layers are either altered or damaged during formation of the source and drain electrodes. The N2O or O2 plasma alters and repairs the interface between the active channel and the passivation or etch stop layers. |
| US09871120B2 |
Fin field-effect transistor and fabrication method thereof
A method is provided for fabricating fin field-effect transistors. The method includes providing a substrate. The method also includes forming a plurality of fins on a surface of the substrate. Further the method includes forming a transitional layer having atoms identical to atoms of the fins on side and top surfaces of the plurality of fins by a deposition process. Further, the method also includes performing an oxidation process to convert the transitional layer and a surface portion of the fins into a dielectric material to form a gate dielectric layer on the plurality of fins. |
| US09871115B1 |
Doped poly-silicon for polyCMP planarity improvement
A method includes forming a polysilicon layer with an uneven upper surface over a first region and a second region of a substrate, doping a top portion of the polysilicon layer to change its removal rate, thereby forming a doped layer, and removing the doped layer in the first region to expose the polysilicon layer in the first region and leaving at least a portion of the doped layer in the second region. The method also includes removing the exposed polysilicon layer in the first region at a first removal rate and the doped layer in the second region at a second removal rate, the polysilicon layer in the second region being exposed after the doped layer in the second region is removed, and removing the polysilicon layer in the first region and the second region at a third removal rate and a fourth removal rate, respectively. |
| US09871114B2 |
Metal gate scheme for device and methods of forming
Gate structures and methods of forming the gate structures are described. In some embodiments, a method includes forming source/drain regions in a substrate, and forming a gate structure between the source/drain regions. The gate structure includes a gate dielectric layer over the substrate, a work function tuning layer over the gate dielectric layer, a metal-containing compound over the work function tuning layer, and a metal over the metal-containing compound, wherein the metal-containing compound comprises the metal as an element of the compound. |
| US09871112B1 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a channel layer, a barrier layer, a source and a drain, a p-type nitride layer and a strain gate. The channel layer is disposed on the substrate. The barrier layer is disposed on the channel layer. The source and the drain are respectively disposed at two sides of the barrier layer. The p-type nitride layer is disposed on the barrier layer. The strain gate is disposed over the p-type nitride layer for tuning a first strain of the channel layer and a second strain of the barrier layer. |
| US09871111B2 |
Semiconductor device and method
A vertical gate all around (VGAA) is provided. In embodiments, the VGAA has a nanowire with a first contact pad and a second contact pad. A gate electrode is utilized to help define a channel region within the nanowire. In additional embodiments multiple nanowires, multiple bottom contacts, multiple top contacts, and multiple gate contacts are utilized. |
| US09871105B2 |
Method of forming an isolation structure in a well of a substrate
A method includes forming an isolation structure in a well of a substrate. A portion of the isolation structure protrudes from a top surface of the well. The isolation structure is partially removed, thereby forming a modified isolation structure. An upper surface of the modified isolation structure is lower than the upper surface of the substrate. |
| US09871104B2 |
Nanowire semiconductor device structure and method of manufacturing
A nanowire comprises a source region, a drain region and a channel region. The source region is modified to reduce the lifetime of minority carriers within the source region. In an embodiment the modification may be performed by implanting either amorphizing dopants or lifetime reducing dopants. Alternatively, the source may be epitaxially grown with a different materials or process conditions to reduce the lifetime of minority carriers within the source region. |
| US09871100B2 |
Trench structure of semiconductor device having uneven nitrogen distribution liner
A trench structure of a semiconductor device includes a substrate, an isolation structure, and a liner layer. The substrate has a trench therein. The isolation structure is disposed in the trench. The liner layer is disposed between the substrate and the isolation structure. The liner layer includes nitrogen, and the liner layer has spatially various nitrogen concentration. |
| US09871097B2 |
Thin film transistor, method for manufacturing thin film transistor, and organic EL display device
A thin film transistor includes: a gate electrode; a gate insulating layer above the gate electrode; an oxide semiconductor layer disposed above the gate insulating layer; and a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed above the oxide semiconductor layer and electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor layer, wherein metallic elements included in the oxide semiconductor layer include at least indium (In), fluorine is included in a region which is an internal region in the oxide semiconductor layer and is close to the gate insulating layer, and a fluorine concentration of the region close to the gate insulating layer in the oxide semiconductor layer is higher than a fluorine of a contact region for the source electrode or the drain electrode in the oxide semiconductor layer. |
| US09871094B2 |
Organic light emitting diode display and method for manufacturing organic light emitting diode display
An organic light emitting device includes: a substrate; a first thin film transistor including a first active pattern positioned on the substrate and a first gate electrode positioned on the first active pattern; an organic light emitting element connected to the first active pattern; and a capacitor electrode overlapping the first gate electrode on the first gate electrode and having the same edge as the first gate electrode. |
| US09871091B2 |
Electro-optical device and electronic apparatus
Subpixels of R, G, and B corresponding to a scanning line extended in a row direction and a data transfer line extended in a column direction are provided. A plurality of transistors in the subpixel of each of the colors is disposed along the column direction, and a reflective layer in the subpixel of at least one color is disposed along the row direction so as to overlap any transistor of subpixels of each display color. A power source wiring is disposed between the reflective layer and the transistor along the row direction, so as to overlap the transistor. Relay electrodes which connects the reflective layer and any transistor of subpixels of each display color are formed on a layer between a layer on which the power source wiring is formed, and the reflective layer. |
| US09871090B2 |
Organic light emitting display
An organic light emitting display includes a driving transistor, an organic light emitting diode, an interlayer insulating layer, and a connection electrode. The interlayer insulating layer covers the driving transistor, and first and second via holes are formed in the interlayer insulating layer. The organic light emitting diode is on the interlayer insulating layer and connected to the driving transistor. The connection electrode is on the interlayer insulating layer and connected to an auxiliary line through the second via hole. The connection electrode surrounds a portion of the interlayer insulating layer together with the auxiliary line. The organic light emitting diode includes an anode connected to the driving transistor through the first via hole, an organic light emitting layer on the anode, and a cathode on the organic light emitting layer and connected to the auxiliary line through the connection electrode. |
| US09871089B2 |
Display device
A display device is disclosed. In one aspect, the display device includes a first power wire is disposed in a non-display area of a substrate and includes a first wiring extending in a first direction and a second wiring spaced apart from the first wiring. A second power wire is disposed in the non-display area and includes an extension portion extending in a second direction crossing the first direction, the extension portion located between the first and second wirings. A protective layer covers the first and second power wires, and a bridge wire is disposed on the protective layer and configured to electrically connect the first wiring to the second wiring. A vertical gap between the bridge wire and the extension portion is greater than a vertical gap between the bridge wire and the first wiring or a vertical gap between the bridge wire and the second wiring. |
| US09871082B2 |
Organic light emitting display integrated with touch screen panel
An organic light emitting display integrated with a touch screen panel includes a first substrate, the first substrate having pixels and having signal lines coupled to the pixels, and a second substrate, the second substrate being on the first substrate to seal the first substrate, the second substrate having sensing electrodes of the touch screen panel on a surface thereof. The signal lines include first and second signal lines, the first and second signal lines being arranged in a direction that intersects the sensing electrodes, the first and second signal lines receiving different signals, respectively, and functioning as first and second driving electrodes of the touch screen panel. |
| US09871076B2 |
Domain wall magnetic memory
Devices and methods of forming a device are disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate with a cell region. Selector units and storage units are formed within the substrate. The selector unit includes first and second bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). The selector unit includes first and second bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). A BJT includes first, second and third BJT terminals. The second BJT terminals of the first and second BJTs are coupled to or serve as a common wordline terminal. The third BJT terminal of the first BJT serves as a first bitline terminal, and the third BJT terminal of the second BJT serves as a second bitline terminal. A storage unit is disposed over the selector unit. The storage unit includes a first pinning layer which is coupled to the first BJT terminal of the first BJT, a second pinning layer which is coupled to the first BJT terminal of the second BJT, a free layer which includes an elongated member with first and second major surfaces and first and second end regions separated by a free region. The first pinning layer is coupled to the second major surface of the free layer in the first end region and the second pinning layer is coupled to the second major surface of the free layer in the second end region. A reference stack is disposed on the first major surface of the free layer in the free region. The reference stack serves as a read bitline terminal. |
| US09871075B2 |
Optoelectronic semiconductor component
An optoelectronic semiconductor component includes a first functional region having an active zone provided for generating radiation or for receiving radiation, and a second functional region, which is suitable for contributing to the driving of the first functional region. The first functional region and the second functional region are integrated on the same carrier substrate. |
| US09871073B1 |
Scintillator sealing for solid state X-ray detector
An x-ray detector may comprise: a moisture-impermeable substrate including a non-monolithic conductive portion integrated with a monolithic dielectric portion; a scintillator and an array of CMOS tiles positioned between the scintillator and the substrate; a cover positioned on the substrate and forming a seal therebetween that semi-hermetically encloses the scintillator and the array of CMOS tiles in a covered sealed region; and analog-to-digital electronics conductively coupled to the array of CMOS tiles and to the conductive portion, wherein the conductive portion transmits signals from the covered sealed region to beyond the seal without disrupting a semi-hermeticity of the seal. In this way, sealing of multiply-tiled CMOS image array detectors within a single x-ray detector can be more simply and reliably achieved. |
| US09871067B2 |
Infrared image sensor component
An infrared image sensor component includes at least one III-V compound layer on the semiconductor substrate, in which the portion of the III-V compound layer(s) uncovered by the patterns is utilized as active pixel region for detecting the incident infrared ray. The infrared image sensor component includes at least one transistor coupled to the active pixel region, and charge generated by the active pixel region is transmitted to the transistor. |
| US09871057B2 |
Field-effect transistors with a non-relaxed strained channel
Device structures for a field-effect transistor and methods of forming such device structures using a device layer of a silicon-on-insulator substrate. A channel and an isolation region are formed in the device layer. The channel is located beneath a gate structure is formed on the device layer and is comprised of a semiconductor material under strain. A portion of the device layer is located between the first isolation region and the channel. The portion of the device layer is under a strain that is less than the strain in the semiconductor material of the channel. |
| US09871046B2 |
SRAM circuits with aligned gate electrodes
A device includes a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) array, and an SRAM cell edge region abutting the SRAM array. The SRAM array and the SRAM cell edge region in combination include first gate electrodes having a uniform pitch. A word line driver abuts the SRAM cell edge region. The word line driver includes second gate electrodes, and the first gate electrodes have lengthwise directions aligned to lengthwise directions of respective ones of the second gate electrodes. |
| US09871043B2 |
4F2 SCR memory device
A memory-array is disclosed in which an array of threshold switching devices is constructed having an area per transistor of 2F2. This array of threshold switching devices is suitable for a variety of memory or other applications including PRAM, MRAM, RRAM, FRAM, OPT-RAM and 3-D memory. |
| US09871042B2 |
Semiconductor device having fin-type patterns
A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a substrate comprising first and second regions, in the first region, first and second gate electrodes formed parallel to each other on the substrate, and being spaced apart from each other by a first distance, in the second region, third and fourth gate electrodes formed parallel to each other on the substrate, and being spaced apart from each other by a second distance which is greater than the first distance, in the first region, a first recess formed on the substrate between the first and second gate electrodes, in the second region, a second recess formed on the substrate between the third and fourth gate electrodes, a first epitaxial source/drain filling the first recess and a second epitaxial source/drain filling the second recess, wherein an uppermost portion of an upper surface of the first epitaxial source/drain is higher than an uppermost portion of an upper surface of the second epitaxial source/drain. |
| US09871035B2 |
Semiconductor device with metal silicide blocking region and method of manufacturing the same
Embodiments of mechanisms for forming a semiconductor device are provided. The semiconductor device includes a gate stack on a semiconductor substrate. In some embodiments, the semiconductor device further includes a semiconductor element, such as for example, a resistor, on the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor device includes a metal silicide layer on at least one of the gate stack, the source region, and the drain region. The semiconductor device also includes a blocking region in a portion of the semiconductor element. In some embodiments, the blocking region includes first dopants and second dopants with an atomic radius smaller than that of the first dopants. |
| US09871029B2 |
Bus driver / line driver
A bus driver is provided that can withstand over voltages being applied to its output terminal without the protection circuit detracting from the voltage swing that can be provided by the driver. The circuit arrangement also allows transistors having good on state resistance and large tolerance of drain-to-source voltages to be used. |
| US09871023B2 |
Method for transfer of semiconductor devices
A method of transferring semiconductor devices to a product substrate includes positioning a surface of the product substrate to face a first surface of a semiconductor wafer having the semiconductor devices thereon, and actuating a transfer mechanism to cause the transfer mechanism to engage a second surface of the semiconductor wafer. The second surface of the semiconductor wafer is opposite the first surface of the semiconductor wafer. Actuating the transfer mechanism includes causing a pin to thrust against a position on the second surface of the semiconductor wafer corresponding to a position of a particular semiconductor device located on the first surface of the semiconductor wafer, and retracting the pin to a rest position. The method further includes detaching the particular semiconductor device from the second surface of the semiconductor wafer, and attaching a particular semiconductor device to the product substrate. |
| US09871022B2 |
Light emitting lamp
Disclosed is a light emitting lamp including a light source module including at least one light source and a light guide layer disposed on a substrate burying the at least one light source, and a housing accommodating the light source module, and the at least one light source includes a body having a cavity, a first lead frame including one end exposed to the cavity and the other end passing through the body and exposed to one surface of the body, a second lead frame including one end exposed to one portion of the surface of the body, the other end exposed to the another portion of the surface of the body, and an intermediate part exposed to the cavity, and at least one light emitting chip including a first semiconductor layer, an active layer and a second semiconductor layer, and disposed on the first lead frame. |
| US09871013B2 |
Contact area design for solder bonding
A package component includes a dielectric layer and a metal pad over the dielectric layer. A plurality of openings is disposed in the metal pad. The first plurality of openings is separated from each other by portions of the metal pad, with the portions of the metal pad interconnected to form a continuous metal region. |
| US09871011B2 |
Semiconductor package using a contact in a pleated sidewall encapsulant opening
A semiconductor package, and a method of manufacturing thereof, comprising a contact in a plated sidewall encapsulant opening, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims. |
| US09871007B2 |
Packaged integrated circuit device with cantilever structure
Techniques and mechanisms to facilitate connection with one or more integrated circuit (IC) dies of a packaged device. In an embodiment, the packaged device includes a first substrate coupled to a first side of a package, and a second substrate coupled to a second side of the package opposite the first side. Circuitry, coupled via the first substrate to one or more IC dies disposed in the package, includes a circuit structure disposed at a cantilever portion of the first substrate. The cantilever portion extends past one or both of an edge of the first side and an edge of the second side. In another embodiment, a hardware interface disposed on the second substrate enables coupling of the packaged device to another device. |
| US09871004B2 |
Laminates of integrated electromagnetically shieldable thin inductors, capacitors, and semiconductor chips
Semiconductor chip laminates and inductive, capacitive, and electromagnetic shielding laminate structures that can be integrated together to form electronic circuits for use in systems and devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, notebook computers, wearable electronic devices, portable medical devices, servers, networking equipment, industrial equipment, etc. Fabrications of such integrated laminate structures can be modularized into four (4) types of laminates, namely, inductive laminates, capacitive laminates, electromagnetic shielding laminates, and semiconductor chip laminates, which can be vertically laminated together and/or integrated side-by-side with high density to produce the desired electronic circuits, systems, and devices. |
| US09870999B2 |
Device and method for alignment of vertically stacked wafers and die
A device is provided that includes a first die having a first alignment structure that includes a plurality of first transmission columns arranged in a pattern and a second die positioned on the first die, the second die having a second alignment structure that includes a plurality of second transmission columns arranged in the same pattern as the first transmission columns. The first and second transmission columns are each coplanar with a first surface and a second surface of the first and second die, respectively. |
| US09870997B2 |
Integrated fan-out package and method of fabricating the same
A method for fabricating an integrated fan-out package is provided. The method includes the following steps. A plurality of conductive posts are placed in apertures of a substrate. A carrier having an adhesive thereon is provided. The conductive posts are transferred to the carrier in a standing orientation by adhering the conductive posts in the apertures to the adhesive. An integrated circuit component is mounted onto the adhesive having the conductive posts adhered thereon. An insulating encapsulation is formed to encapsulate the integrated circuit component and the conductive posts. A redistribution circuit structure is formed on the insulating encapsulation, the integrated circuit component, and the conductive posts, wherein the redistribution circuit structure is electrically connected to the integrated circuit component and the conductive posts. The carrier is removed. At least parts of the adhesive are removed (e.g. patterned or entirely removed) to expose surfaces of the conductive posts. A plurality of conductive terminals are formed on the surfaces of the conductive posts exposed by the openings. |
| US09870993B1 |
Simultaneous formation of liner and metal conductor
An advanced metal conductor structure and a method for constructing the structure are described. A method for fabricating an advanced metal conductor structure provides a conductive line pattern including a set of conductive line trenches in a dielectric layer. Each conductive line trench of the conductive line pattern has parallel vertical sidewalls and a horizontal bottom. A surface treatment of the dielectric layer is performed. The surface treatment produces an element enriched surface layer in which a concentration of a selected element in a surface portion of the parallel sidewalls and horizontal bottoms of the conductive line trenches is increased. A metal layer is deposited on the element enriched surface layer. A thermal anneal process is then performed which simultaneously reflows the metal layer to fill the conductive line trenches and causes a chemical change at interfaces of the metal layer and the element enriched surface layer creating a liner which is an alloy of the metal and selected element. Another aspect of the invention is a device which is created by the method. |
| US09870988B2 |
Method of producing a semiconductor device with through-substrate via covered by a solder ball
A semiconductor substrate is provided with an annular cavity extending from a front side of the substrate to an opposite rear side. A metallization is applied in the annular cavity, thereby forming a through-substrate via and leaving an opening of the annular cavity at the front side. A solder ball is placed above the opening and a reflow of the solder ball is effected, thereby forming a void of the through-substrate via, the void being covered by the solder ball. |
| US09870982B2 |
Distributed on-chip decoupling apparatus and method using package interconnect
An integrated circuit device is disclosed. The integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor die fabricated by a front-end semiconductor process and having oppositely disposed planar surfaces. The semiconductor die is formed with semiconductor devices, power supply circuitry coupled to the semiconductor devices, decoupling capacitance circuitry, and through-vias. The through-vias include a first group of vias coupled to the power supply circuitry and a second group of vias coupled to the decoupling capacitance circuitry. Conductors are formed in a first metal layer disposed on the semiconductor die in accordance with a back-end semiconductor process. The conductors are configured to couple to the first and second groups of through-vias to establish conductive paths from the power supply circuitry to the decoupling capacitance circuitry. |
| US09870980B2 |
Semiconductor package with through silicon via interconnect
The invention provides a semiconductor package with a through silicon via (TSV) interconnect. An exemplary embodiment of the semiconductor package with a TSV interconnect includes a semiconductor substrate, having a front side and a back side. A contact array is disposed on the front side of the semiconductor substrate. An isolation structure is disposed in the semiconductor substrate, underlying the contact array. The TSV interconnect is formed through the semiconductor substrate, overlapping with the contact array and the isolation structure. |
| US09870975B1 |
Chip package with thermal dissipation structure and method for forming the same
Structures and formation methods of a chip package are provided. The chip package includes a first package structure including a first semiconductor die that has a first side and a second side opposite thereto. The chip package also includes a package layer partially or completely encapsulating the first semiconductor die, and a conductive feature in the package layer. The chip package further includes a first heat-spreading layer over the first side of the first semiconductor die and a first cap layer on the first heat-spreading layer. |
| US09870974B2 |
Power conversion apparatus including wedge inserts
A power conversion apparatus includes: a circuit body including a switching device; a base member forming a first concave portion and a cooling surface; and a wedge inserted in the first concave portion of the base member. The first concave portion of the base member is formed by a substrate portion forming the cooling surface, a first wall disposed on the opposite side of the substrate portion from the cooling surface, and an intermediate portion interconnecting the first wall and the substrate portion. The first wall forms an insertion space for insertion of the wedge, and a heat transfer plane forming a heat dissipating surface and a heat transfer path of the circuit body. The intermediate portion is plastically deformed by inserting the wedge into the insertion space, thus causing the first wall to be displaced toward the location of the circuit body. |
| US09870971B2 |
Epoxy resin composition for encapsulating a semiconductor device and semiconductor device prepared using the same
An epoxy resin composition and a semiconductor device, the composition including an epoxy resin; a curing agent; an inorganic filler; a curing catalyst; and a silicon compound, wherein the curing catalyst includes a phosphonium compound represented by the following Formula 4 and the silicon compound comprises a silicon compound represented by the following Formula 7: |
| US09870966B1 |
Process for making semiconductor dies, chips and wafers using non-contact measurements obtained from DOEs of NCEM-enabled fill cells on test wafers that include multiple means/steps for enabling NC detection of AACNT-TS via opens
Improved processes for manufacturing semiconductor wafers, chips, or dies utilize in-line data obtained from non-contact electrical measurements (“NCEM”) of fill cells that contain structures configured to target/expose a variety of open-circuit, short-circuit, leakage, and/or excessive resistance failure modes. Such processes include evaluating one or more Designs of Experiments (“DOEs”), each comprised of multiple NCEM-enabled fill cells, in at least two variants, targeted to the same failure mode. Such DOEs include multiple means/steps for enabling non-contact (NC) detection of AACNT-TS via opens. |
| US09870961B2 |
Wafer processing method
Disclosed herein is a wafer processing method including a processed position measuring step of imaging an area including a beam plasma generated by applying a pulsed laser beam to a wafer, by using an imaging unit during the formation of a laser processed groove on the wafer, and next measuring the positional relation between the position of the beam plasma and a preset processing position. Accordingly, it is possible to check whether or not the laser processed groove is formed at a desired position, in real time during laser processing. If the position of the laser processed groove is deviated, the processed position can be immediately corrected. |
| US09870954B2 |
Simultaneous formation of source/drain openings with different profiles
A method includes forming a first gate stack and a second gate stack over a first portion and a second portion, respectively, of a semiconductor substrate, masking the first portion of the semiconductor substrate, and with the first portion of the semiconductor substrate being masked, implanting the second portion of the semiconductor substrate with an etch-tuning element. The first portion and the second portion of the semiconductor substrate are etched simultaneously to form a first opening and a second opening, respectively, in the semiconductor substrate. The method further includes epitaxially growing a first semiconductor region in the first opening, and epitaxially growing a second semiconductor region in the second opening. |
| US09870953B2 |
System on chip material co-integration
A method, and the resulting structure, of a semiconductor device where a first and second gate structure is formed above a Semiconductor-on-Insulator (SOI) material. Following any detrimental processes used to form the first gate structure, the base semiconductor material is exposed and the semiconductor material beneath the second gate structure is removed. A new semiconductor material is grown from the exposed base semiconductor material, and through the second gate structure, creating a device having FET and FinFET devices containing 2 different semiconductor materials. |
| US09870952B1 |
Formation of VFET and finFET
An embodiment may include a method of forming a semiconductor device. The method may include forming a first fin in a VFET region, and a second fin in a finFET region, having a first and second hard cap respectively. The method may include removing the second hard cap. The method may include depositing a gate electrode and a gate dielectric. The method may include removing the gate metal and gate dielectric above the first hard cap in the VFET region, exposing a vertical surface of the first hard cap. The method may include forming a protective spacer adjacent to the vertical surface of the first hard cap that is thicker than the gate dielectric. The method may include forming gates in the VFET and finFET regions. The method may include removing the protective spacer and the first hard cap. The method may include forming a source/drain on the first fin. |
| US09870948B2 |
Forming insulator fin structure in isolation region to support gate structures
A method for forming the semiconductor device that includes forming a plurality of composite fin structures across a semiconductor substrate including an active device region and an isolation region. The composite fin structures may include a semiconductor portion over the active device region and a dielectric portion over the isolation region. A gate structure can be formed on the channel region of the fin structures that are present on the active regions of the substrate, and the gate structure is also formed on the dielectric fin structures on the isolation regions of the substrate. Epitaxial source and drain regions are formed on source and drain portions of the fin structures present on the active region, wherein the dielectric fin structures support the gate structure over the isolation regions. |
| US09870947B1 |
Method for collective (wafer-scale) fabrication of electronic devices and electronic device
Electronic devices are manufactured using a collective (wafer-scale) fabrication process. Electronic chips are mounted onto one face of a collective substrate wafer. A collective flexible sheet made of a heat-conductive material comprising a layer containing pyrolytic graphite is fixed to extend over a collective region extending over the electronic chips and over the collective substrate wafer between the electronic chips. The collective flexible sheet is then compressed. A dicing operation is then carried out in order to obtain electronic devices each including an electronic chip, a portion of the collective plate and a portion of the collective flexible sheet. |
| US09870945B2 |
Crystalline layer stack for forming conductive layers in a three-dimensional memory structure
A stack of alternating layers comprising first epitaxial semiconductor layers and second epitaxial semiconductor layers is formed over a single crystalline substrate. The first and second epitaxial semiconductor layers are in epitaxial alignment with a crystal structure of the single crystalline substrate. The first epitaxial semiconductor layers include a first single crystalline semiconductor material, and the second epitaxial semiconductor layers include a second single crystalline semiconductor material that is different from the first single crystalline semiconductor material. A backside contact opening is formed through the stack, and backside cavities are formed by removing the first epitaxial semiconductor layers selective to the second epitaxial semiconductor layers. A stack of alternating layers including insulating layers and electrically conductive layers is formed. Each insulating layer contains a dielectric material portion deposited within a respective backside cavity. Each electrically conductive layer contains a material from a portion of a respective second epitaxial semiconductor layer. |
| US09870944B2 |
Back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect structure
A method of fabricating an interconnect structure on a wafer and an interconnect structure are provided. A dielectric layer is provided on the wafer, with the dielectric layer having a recess therein. A silicon (Si) layer is deposited in the recess. An interconnect is formed by providing a barrier layer and a conductive layer in the recess over the Si layer. The Si layer has a density that prevents or substantially prevents the barrier layer from moving away from the conductive layer and towards the dielectric layer during subsequent processing of the interconnect structure. |
| US09870943B2 |
Contact process and contact structure for semiconductor device
A contact process for a semiconductor device is described. A substrate having a doped region and a dielectric layer over the doped region is provided. A contact hole is formed through the dielectric layer and exposing the doped region. An insulating liner layer is formed a in the contact hole. A portion of the insulating liner layer at a bottom of the contact hole is etch-removed and over-etching is performed. A conductive epitaxial layer is formed from the doped region in the contact hole, and then the contact hole is filled with a conductive material. |
| US09870941B2 |
Stair step formation using at least two masks
Apparatuses and methods for stair step formation using at least two masks, such as in a memory device, are provided. One example method can include forming a first mask over a conductive material to define a first exposed area, and forming a second mask over a portion of the first exposed area to define a second exposed area, the second exposed area is less than the first exposed area. Conductive material is removed from the second exposed area. An initial first dimension of the second mask is less than a first dimension of the first exposed area and an initial second dimension of the second mask is at least a second dimension of the first exposed area plus a distance equal to a difference between the initial first dimension of the second mask and a final first dimension of the second mask after a stair step structure is formed. |
| US09870933B2 |
Process and apparatus for treating surfaces of wafer-shaped articles
An apparatus and method for processing wafer-shaped articles utilizes at least first and second liquid-dispensing nozzles, wherein a first liquid-dispensing nozzle is positioned closer to an axis of rotation than the second liquid-dispensing nozzle. A liquid supply system supplies heated process liquid to the nozzles such that process liquid dispensed from the first nozzle has a temperature that differs by an amount within a predetermined range from a temperature of process liquid dispensed from the second liquid-dispensing nozzle. |
| US09870928B2 |
System and method for updating an arm scan profile through a graphical user interface
A system and method for performing a wet etching process is disclosed. The system includes multiple processing stations accessible by a transfer device, including a measuring station to optically measure the thickness of a wafer before and after each etching steps in the process. The system also includes a controller to analyze the thickness measurements in view of a target wafer profile and generate an etch recipe, dynamically and in real time, for each etching step. In addition, the process controller can cause a single wafer wet etching station to etch the wafer according to the generated etching recipes. In addition, the system can, based on the pre and post-etch thickness measurements and target etch profile, generate and/or refine the etch recipes. |
| US09870927B2 |
Free-edge semiconductor chip bending
Techniques for fabricating a semiconductor chip having a curved surface may include placing a substantially flat semiconductor chip in a recess surface of a concave mold such that corners or edges of the semiconductor chip are unconstrained or are the only portions of the semiconductor chip in physical contact with the concave mold; and bending the substantially flat semiconductor chip to form a concave shaped semiconductor chip by applying a force on the semiconductor chip toward the bottom of the recessed surface. The corners or edges of the semiconductor chip move or slide relative to the recess surface during the bending. |
| US09870924B2 |
Diffusion agent composition, method of forming impurity diffusion layer, and solar cell
A diffusion agent composition used in forming an impurity diffusion agent layer on a semiconductor substrate, and containing an impurity diffusion component, a silicon compound, and a solvent containing a solvent having a boiling point of 100° C. or less, a solvent having a boiling point of 120-180° C., and a solvent having a boiling point of 300° C. |
| US09870917B2 |
Variable temperature hardware and methods for reduction of wafer backside deposition
A process tuning kit for use in a chemical deposition apparatus wherein the process tuning kit includes a carrier ring, horseshoes and shims. The horseshoes have the same dimensions and the shims are provided in sets with different thicknesses to control the height of the horseshoes with respect to an upper surface of a pedestal assembly on which the horseshoes and shims are mounted. A semiconductor substrate is transported into a vacuum chamber of the chemical deposition apparatus by the carrier ring which is placed on the horseshoes such that minimum contact area supports lift the substrate from the carrier ring and support the substrate at a predetermined offset with respect to an upper surface of the pedestal assembly. During processing of the substrate, backside deposition can be reduced by using shims of desired thickness to control the predetermined offset. |
| US09870915B1 |
Chemical modification of hardmask films for enhanced etching and selective removal
Embodiments include a method of processing a hardmask that includes forming an alloyed carbon hardmask over an underlying layer. In an embodiment, the alloyed carbon hardmask is alloyed with metallic-carbon fillers. The embodiment further includes patterning the alloyed carbon hardmask and transferring the pattern of the alloyed carbon hardmask into the underlying layer. According to an embodiment, the method may further include removing the metallic component of the metallic-carbon fillers from the alloyed carbon hardmask to form a porous carbon hardmask. Thereafter, the porous hardmask may be removed. In an embodiment, the metallic component of the metallic-carbon fillers may include flowing a processing gas into a chamber that volatizes the metallic component of the metallic-carbon fillers. |
| US09870914B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method
In order to remove from a substrate having a concavo-convex pattern formed on a surface of the substrate, a solid material with which a concave portion of the concavo-convex pattern is filled and which is formed by evaporating a solvent in a sublimable substance solution containing a sublimable substance that sublimates at a temperature equal to or higher than a first temperature, and an impurity that evaporates at a temperature equal to or higher than a second temperature that is higher than the first temperature, the prevent invention provides a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method which heat the substrate to a temperature equal to or higher than the second temperature. |
| US09870913B2 |
Flash discharge tube and light-emitting device equipped with the flash discharge tube
A flash discharge tube includes tungsten pins configuring a pair of discharge electrodes, and an envelope. The envelope includes a central region, serving as an alkali-free region, which is configured with an alkali-free glass except for quartz glass. The central region becomes in a high temperature state during a firing operation of the flash discharge tube. The central region is smaller than a maximum region enclosing a gas-tight space formed by hermetically sealing the pair of the discharge electrodes and is not smaller than a minimum region enclosing an arc-discharge space formed between the tungsten pins of the pair of the discharge electrodes. The alkali-free region contains either no alkali metal component or not larger than a predetermined amount of an alkali metal component. Then, a trigger electrode is disposed in the alkali-free region. This provides the flash discharge tube featuring a stable short-interval continuous-firing operation. |