| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US10250892B2 |
Techniques for nonlinear chrominance upsampling
A subsystem configured to upsample a video data stream encoded in YCrCb format 4:2:0 (also termed YUV 4:2:0) performs an algorithm upon a two-by-two group of subsampled pixels. The subsystem computes an inside probability that the chrominance of a target pixel is a close match to the chrominance inside the group of four pixels. The subsystem further computes three weighting factors relating the chrominance of the target pixel to each of three adjacent pixels in an upsampled four-by-four pixel group. The subsystem then computes an outside estimate of the chrominance based on the weighting factors. Finally, the subsystem computes the chrominance of the target pixel based on the inside probability, the outside estimate, and the subsampled chrominance. The subsystem performs the algorithm upon all two-by-two groups of four pixels within a subsampled YUV 4:2:0 video data stream and generates an upsampled YUV 4:4:4 video data stream. |
| US10250891B2 |
Video coding device, video coding method, video decoding device and video decoding method
A storage circuit stores a decoded image of a coded image that is coded before a coding target image included in a video to which the still-image coding and the video coding are applied. A video coding circuit codes the coding target image by inter prediction coding that uses the decoded image as a reference image when the still-image coding is applied to the mage that is one image previous to the coding target image and the video coding is applied to the coding target image. |
| US10250885B2 |
System and method for intracoding video data
A video system for coding a stream of video data that includes a stream of video frames divides each video frame into a matrix of a plurality of subblocks, wherein each subblock includes a plurality of pixels. The video system operates in accordance with nine prediction modes. Each prediction mode determines a prediction mode according to which a present subblock is to be coded. One of the nine prediction modes is selected to encode the present subblock, wherein the selected prediction mode provides for a minimum error value in the present subblock. |
| US10250884B2 |
Systems and methods for signaling information for layer sets in a parameter set
Techniques and systems are provided for encoding and decoding video data. For example, a method of decoding video data includes obtaining an encoded video bitstream comprising one or more layer sets and one or more additional layer sets. The encoded video bitstream includes a video parameter set defining parameters of the encoded video bitstream. The one or more layer sets are defined in a base part of the video parameter set, and the one or more additional layer sets are defined in an extension part of the video parameter set. The method further includes decoding one or more syntax elements from the video parameter set. The one or more syntax elements include rate information for the one or more layer sets defined in the base part of the video parameter set and for the one or more additional layer sets defined in the extension part of the video parameter set. |
| US10250879B2 |
Video encoding method using in-loop filter parameter prediction and apparatus therefor, and video decoding method and apparatus therefor
A video encoding apparatus comprises an encoder encoding input video; a decoder decoding video data, and a filter to compensate for a pixel value of the encoded video data. An adaptive loop filter (ALF) parameter predictor generates an ALF filter parameter using the decoded video data. The ALF filter parameter is applied to an ALF filter to compensate a current pixel by using a pixel adjacent to the current pixel and a filter coefficient with respect to the neighboring pixel; a sample adaptive offset (SAO) filter unit applied to the decoded video data compensates for a current pixel by using at least one of an edge offset and a band offset; an ALF filter unit applies the ALF filter parameter, the ALF filter to video data to which the SAO filter has been applied; and an entropy encoder performs entropy encoding on the ALF filter parameter. |
| US10250876B2 |
Codeword assignment for intra chroma mode signalling for HEVC
Intra prediction is used in state-of-the-art video coding standards such as AVC. The intra prediction modes are coded into the bitstream. Luma and chroma components could potentially have different prediction modes. For chroma components, there are 5 different modes defined in AVC: vertical, horizontal, DC, diagonal down right, and “same as luma”. Statistics show that the “same as luma” mode is frequent used, but in AVC, this mode is encoded using more bits than other modes during entropy coding, therefore the coding efficiency is decreased. Accordingly, a modified binarization/codeword assignment for chroma intra mode signaling is able to be utilized for high efficiency video coding (HEVC), the next generation video coding standard. |
| US10250875B2 |
Device for decoding a video bitstream
A system for decoding a video bitstream includes receiving a reference picture set associated with a frame including a set of reference picture identifiers. The reference picture set identifies one or more reference pictures to be used for inter-prediction of the frame based upon its associated least significant bits of a picture order count based upon the reference picture identifiers. The one or more reference pictures is a second or greater previous frame to the frame having the matching reference picture identifier. |
| US10250874B2 |
Method for coding sequence of digital images
In a method for coding a sequence of digital images, a prediction error between predicted values and the original values of pixels is processed for generating the coded sequence of digital images. A preset prediction mode is an intra-prediction mode based on pixels of a single image and includes, for a region of pixels with reconstructed values in the single image and for a template of an image area, comparing a first patch of pixels in the region that surround a first pixel to be predicted based on the template with several second patches. A predicted value of the first pixel is determined based on the values of one or more second pixels that have the highest similarity described by the similarity measure among all second pixels of the plurality of second pixels in the region. |
| US10250870B2 |
Adjustable virtual reality device capable of adjusting display modules
An adjustable virtual reality device includes a first display module, a first image capturing unit, a second display module, a second image capturing unit, a lateral driving module, and a control unit. The first display module and the second display module display a first image and a second image, respectively. The first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit detect two positions of two pupils of two eyeballs, respectively. The control unit calculates a pupil distance between the two pupils according to the two positions of the two pupils and controls the lateral driving module to drive the first display module and the second display module to move in a lateral direction, so that a lateral distance between the first display module and the second display module is corresponding to the pupil distance, which enhances comfort in use. |
| US10250866B1 |
Systems and methods for capturing light field of objects
A set of light field sensors may generate light field output signals conveying light field information within fields of view of the set of light field sensors. The generation of the light field outputs signals may be characterized by a subpixel accuracy. The subpixel accuracy may be enabled by a physical link between the set of light field sensors. The fields of view of the set of light field sensors may overlap over an overlap volume. An object may be located within the overlap volume. The light field information characterizing light field emanating from the object may be combined. |
| US10250862B2 |
Video processing device
To prevent gradation collapse. A BD player 1 includes a CPU 2 that obtains dynamic range of a monitor, a reproduction section 4 that obtains content information, and a video processor 5 that converts a digital video signal based on dynamic range of the monitor that is obtained by the CPU 2 and the content information that is obtained by the reproduction section 4. The video processor 5 converts each code value of the digital video signal of a content so that code value of the digital video signal that corresponds to “minimum luminance of the content” becomes code value that corresponds to “minimum luminance of the monitor” and code value of the digital video signal that corresponds to “maximum luminance of the content” becomes code value that corresponds to “maximum luminance of the monitor”. |
| US10250856B2 |
Systems, devices, and methods for laser projectors
Laser safety systems, devices, and methods for use in laser projectors are described. A laser projector includes any number of laser diodes that each emit laser light, a shared laser diode power source, a photodetector to detect a power/intensity of a portion of the laser light, a beam splitter to direct a first portion of the light towards the photodetector and a second portion of the light towards an output on the projector, and a laser safety circuit responsive to signals from the photodetector. The laser safety circuit selectively electrically couples/uncouples the laser diodes from the power source depending on the power/intensity of the laser light detected by the photodetector. Particular applications of the laser safety systems, devices, and methods in a wearable heads-up display are described. |
| US10250854B2 |
Image projection apparatus, and method of controlling image processing
An image projection apparatus includes an image generation element to generate an image using light emitted from a light source, a shift unit to shift a position of the image generation element with a given cycle, a projection control unit to control projection of the image under a plurality of modes, the modes including a first mode in which the image is projected without shifting the position of the image generation element by the shift unit, and a second mode in which the image is projected while shifting the position of the image generation element by the shift unit, and a detector to detect whether the image generation element operates normally. When the detector detects that the image generation element does not operate normally under the second mode, the projection control unit stops image processing being performed, and switches the second mode to the first mode. |
| US10250851B1 |
Video feeds in collaboration environments
Methods, computer program products, and systems are presented. The method computer program products, and systems can include, for instance: obtaining respective video feeds of respective participants of a group of video conference participants, wherein the group of video conference participants includes one or more presenter participant and one or more viewer participant; examining data of the respective video feeds to determine a current group aggregate sentiment output for the video conference, wherein the examining includes subjecting data of feeds of the respective video feeds to sentiment analysis that includes processing of facial feature representing video data of the feeds; and presenting a video conference view to one or more participant of the group of video conference participants based on the group aggregate sentiment output. |
| US10250848B2 |
Positional controlled muting
Systems and methods for controlling the privileges of participants in a multiparty interaction are described, wherein participants in the multiparty interaction are distributed among a plurality of areas, each area having different privileges, and further wherein a participant may obtain the privileges of another area by moving to the other area. |
| US10250846B2 |
Systems and methods for improved video call handling
Systems and methods for providing video subtitling and text communications (e.g., real time text (RTT) and conventional text messaging) during video calls. The system can include video calling with voice recognition based subtitles. The system can also include a call log to provide a textual record of the audio portion of the video call. The system can utilize embedded or online (e.g., cloud-based) voice recognition systems to provide the subtitles and call log. The system can enable users to send RTT, standard text, or other messages to multiple users participating in a video call via a public text interface. The system can also enable users to send private RTT, standard text, or other messages to specified participants during video calls using parallel interfaces. |
| US10250842B2 |
Electronic device and method of controlling the same
An electronic device is provided, the electronic device is capable of optimizing and/or improving temporary memory capacity and efficiently configuring hardware by adjusting reading timings of data read from a plurality of imaging sensors. |
| US10250838B1 |
System and method for converting live action alpha-numeric text to re-rendered and embedded pixel information for video overlay
Systems and methods for converting live action alpha-numeric text to re-rendered and embedded pixel information for video overlay. For example, a computer-implemented method may include converting a captured image of alphanumeric characters into ASCII code, transmitting the ASCII code to a hub, capturing a video stream, generating a first output video stream, wherein the first output video stream includes the captured video stream and an overlay including the ASCII code, converting a captured image of a second set of alphanumeric characters into an ASCII code, transmitting the ASCII code to the hub, generating an updated output video stream, wherein the updated output video stream includes the captured video stream and an updated overlay including the ASCII code, and transmitting the updated output video stream for display. |
| US10250836B2 |
Solid-state image sensing apparatus, control method, and electronic device
The present disclosure relates to a solid-state image sensing apparatus, a control method, and an electronic device capable of reducing a settling time of a vertical signal line at the time of a read operation of pixels. A column processing unit A/D converts pixel signals of a plurality of pixels. A vertical signal line feeds the pixel signals output from the pixels to the A/D converter. A pull-up circuit increases a potential of the vertical signal line at the time of starting a read operation of the pixels. For example, the present disclosure can be applied to a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor that performs an interleaving operation or the like. |
| US10250834B2 |
Methods and apparatus for a voltage-shifting readout circuit
Methods and device for a readout circuit according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with a storage device selectively coupled to an input signal having a voltage value within a first voltage range. A comparator may compare the voltage value of the input signal to a predetermined threshold voltage. A level-shifting circuit may shift the first voltage value of the input signal to a second voltage value within a second voltage range if the first voltage value of the input signal is greater than the predetermined threshold voltage. |
| US10250832B1 |
Stacked rolling shutter and global shutter image sensor with knee self point calibration
An image sensor has a stacked pixel arrangement including both rolling and global shutter readout circuits wherein each pixel includes an adjustable transfer transistor gate voltage level for modifying electric charge within a photodiode during exposure depending on incident light intensity. The sensor also has a row decoder circuit providing readout signals to each row of the imaging cells during both a readout interval and during a calibration interval for each row. The row decoder may employ one of several of its features to provide a self-knee point calibration following an image signal readout in order to minimize photo conversion variations that lead to fixed pattern noise and to enhance dynamic range. |
| US10250831B2 |
Method and apparatus for on-chip per-pixel pseudo-random time coded exposure
Conventional methods for imaging transient targets are constrained by a trade-off between resolution and frame rate, and transient targets moving faster than the detector frame typically result in image blurring. Imagers using digital-pixel focal plane arrays (“DFPAs”) have on-chip global pixel operation capability for extracting a single transient-feature (i.e., single-frequency discrimination) in a snapshot that depends on the number of counters implemented per pixel. However, these DFPA systems are not capable of multi-target and multi-frequency discrimination. Imagers described herein achieve multi-target transient signature discrimination orders of magnitude faster than the readout frame rate using in-pixel electronic shuttering with a known time-encoded modulation. Three-dimensional (x,y,t) data cube reconstruction is performed using compressive sensing algorithms. |
| US10250828B1 |
Global shutter image sensor with anti-blooming pixel and knee point self-calibration
An image sensor has global shutter imaging pixel cells, each including an anti-blooming transistor gate for modifying electric charge within a photodiode and for setting the photodiode to a selected potential. The sensor also has a row decoder circuit providing readout signals to each row of the imaging cells during both a readout interval and during a calibration interval for each row and providing to the anti-blooming transistor drain a selectable potential supply voltage. A mode select switch within the row decoder circuit applies either a standard drain supply voltage or an adjustable low voltage to the anti-blooming transistor drain. A programmable function logic circuit determines the timing of operation of the mode select switch to provide knee-point calibration to minimize photo conversion variations that lead to fixed pattern noise. |
| US10250827B2 |
Imaging apparatus and control method thereof
An imaging apparatus has a focus adjustment mechanism based on auto focus adjustment of an imaging plane phase difference scheme. An imaging element has a plurality of micro-lenses and a plurality of photoelectric conversion units corresponding to the micro-lenses and acquires a pupil-divided image signal. An auto focus (AF) signal processing unit and a camera control unit perform shading correction on a image for each pupil division acquired from the imaging element. The recording medium control unit controls an operation of recording a correction value to be used in shading correction in a recording medium when the image signal before correction for each pupil division is recorded in the recording medium. |
| US10250823B2 |
Liquid crystal fourier transform imaging spectrometer
A method of operating a hyperspectral imaging device includes receiving a light beam at a liquid crystal retarding device, and driving the liquid crystal retarding device with a pre-computed voltage waveform, wherein the voltage waveform is selected to reach a target optical retardance over time for the liquid crystal retarding device. |
| US10250819B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus, comprising a memory that stores first image data, and a processor that includes an image associated information processing section, wherein the image associated information processing section, for the image data of a single frame that has been taken at a plurality of shooting conditions, within the first image data that has been stored in the memory, acquires image region information, relating to an image region in which shooting is carried out at different shooting conditions, and image associated information of the image region, associates the image region information and the image associated information and subjects the first image data to image processing, and generates second image data. |
| US10250815B2 |
Component mounter including a nozzle, camera, and a transfer device
Component mounter includes a transfer inspection device that inspects the transfer state of solder by imaging the bottom surface of a component, and a transfer inspection data creation device that creates transfer inspection data. The transfer inspection data creation device performs imaging of the bottom surface of a pre-transfer component with a camera at multiple shutter speeds, acquires the multiple pre-transfer images of different shutter speeds, obtains pre-transfer bump portion pixel values, performs imaging of the bottom surface of a post-transfer component with the camera at the same multiple shutter speeds, acquires the multiple post-transfer images of different shutter speeds, obtains post-transfer bump portion pixel values, and determines the shutter speed to be used when performing transfer inspection based on the post-transfer bump portion pixel values. Transfer inspection data is created based on the pre- and post-transfer bump portion pixel values of images captured at the determined shutter speed. |
| US10250811B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for capturing images
In an example embodiment, a method, apparatus and computer program product are provided. The method comprises generating a preview of a scene by a first camera of an apparatus in a first mode, and generating one or more image frames of the scene by at least one second camera of the apparatus in the first mode. The method comprises selecting at least one image frame from the one or more image frames as at least one capture image in a second mode. The apparatus includes at least one processor and at least one memory comprising computer program code, to perform generating the preview of the scene by the first camera in the first mode, generating image frames of the scene by the at least one second camera in the first mode; and selecting the at least one capture image from the image frames in the second mode. |
| US10250809B2 |
Video stabilization system and method
A system and method for stabilizing video using a census kernel having test points. A subset form a connected circle centered on the kernel's center point. For each candidate pixel, a signature is calculated based on the relative brightness of the candidate pixel and of the pixels corresponding to test points when the kernel overlays the image with the center point over the candidate pixel. A candidate pixel is designated to be a corner pixel by processing the signature to determine that the candidate pixel is significantly brighter or darker than the test point pixels. For each corner pixel, a corresponding pixel in the previous frame is identified by comparing the signature of the corner pixel with signatures of pixels in the previous frame, and a corresponding motion vector is established. A motion model is calculated based on the motion vectors and applied to the digital frame. |
| US10250802B2 |
Apparatus and method for processing wide viewing angle image
An apparatus for processing a wide viewing angle image may include: a correction parameter generating unit for analyzing an image input from a camera to generate a correction parameter, a projection geometry generating unit for generating a projection geometry to output a wide viewing angle image by using the correction parameter, and a wide viewing angle image packaging unit for encoding the input image, the correction parameter and the projection geometry to generate a wide viewing angle image package. A method for processing a wide viewing angle image may be performed using the apparatus. |
| US10250800B2 |
Computing device having an interactive method for sharing events
Image data and position and orientation data collected by a computing device can be aggregated to create enhanced videos. One example of an enhanced video is a panoramic video generated from a single video camera having a standard field of view. Enhanced videos can also be created to have a display resolution that is greater than is capable of being recorded by at least one video camera of the computing device providing input to the computing device. Enhanced videos can also be streamed live to a viewer, and the viewer can change the perspective of the streamed video or auto-center and auto-focus on a specified location or object in the streamed video. |
| US10250794B2 |
Capturing an image using multi-camera automatic focus
A method, system, and computer program product for an image capturing device having at least two cameras to obtain a focus point of a current scene. The method includes in response to performing a focus procedure via at least one camera of the image capturing device, determining whether a focus point has been found. The method further includes, in response to determining the focus point has not been found: (1) adjusting a number of focus scan steps of an auxiliary focus procedure utilized by only the at least one auxiliary camera and (2) performing the auxiliary focus procedure using the adjusted number of focus scan steps. The method further includes determining whether the focus point has been found, and in response to determining the focus point has been found, automatically synchronizing, to a main lens of the main camera, a current position of the lens of the at least one auxiliary camera. |
| US10250786B2 |
Image capturing module which has an image processing board disposed at a side edge of the body of the image capturing module
An image capturing module comprises a lens and a body. The body is provided with a circuit board component comprising a main control board, an image sensing board and an image processing board that are electrically connected. The image sensing board is substantially perpendicular to an optical axis of the lens. The main control board is disposed at the back of the image sensing board and located at a side thereof away from the lens. The image processing board is disposed at a side edge of the body. |
| US10250784B2 |
Camera assembly with shielded imager circuit
An imager assembly for a vehicle is disclosed. The assembly comprises an optic lens comprising a proximal end portion, a distal end portion, and a longitudinal axis extending there between. An imager circuit is in conductive connection with an imager connector. The imager connector is configured to communicatively connect the imager circuit to the vehicle. A lens holder of a conductive material forms a shielded cavity configured to receive the proximal end portion of the optic lens and the imager circuit. The lens holder is configured to align the imager with the longitudinal axis of the optic lens. |
| US10250782B2 |
Camera module, electronic device, and method of operating the same using pre-estimated lens-customized point spread function (PSF)
A camera module, an electronic device and a method of operating the same are provided. The camera module includes a lens module including lenses, and a sensor module including an image sensor configured to sense an image input through the lens module and a logic unit configured to process the image from the image sensor and the logic unit stores a lens-customized point spread function pre-estimated to correct blur characteristics of the lenses within the lens module. |
| US10250777B2 |
Image processing apparatus and non-transitory computer readable medium for image difference confirmation
An image processing apparatus includes an image display unit, an area specifying unit, an area display unit, a reference specifying unit, and a reference display unit. The image display unit displays a first image and a second image. The area specifying unit specifies a first area which is at least a portion of the first image. The area display unit displays a second area on the second image. The second area corresponds to the first area. The reference specifying unit specifies a first reference in the first area. The reference display unit displays a second reference in the second area in such a manner that a relative position of the first reference with respect to the first area matches a relative position of the second reference with respect to the second area. |
| US10250776B2 |
Enhancing graph visualization with supplemental data
A method and system for communicating supplemental data for nodes of a graph representing a system. A visual representation of the graph is divided into a portions, each portion of the visual representation of the graph being a rectangle corresponding to a respective node of the graph, wherein the visual representation is an area of a computer screen displaying the graph. Supplemental data for each respective node, together with an offset distance between a reference point of each respective node and a reference point of the supplemental data for each respective node, is encoded steganographically into the portion of the graphical representation corresponding to each respective node. |
| US10250773B2 |
Image reading device, method of adjusting distance between document and light receiving sensor in the device, and distance adjustment program
An image reading device includes: light receiving sensors configured to read an image of a document conveyed in a sub-scanning direction and be arranged with an interval in a main scanning direction; one pair of document conveying rollers configured to be provided in front and back of the light receiving sensors in a document conveying direction; a detection unit configured to detect an image overlap amount in an image overlap area and/or an image missing amount in an image missing area; an adjustment amount determination unit configured to determine an adjustment amount for adjusting a distance between the document and the light receiving sensors based on the image overlap amount and/or image missing amount detected; and a drive unit configured to adjust a distance between the document and the light receiving sensors by displacing one of the document conveying rollers and light receiving sensors according to the adjustment amount. |
| US10250771B2 |
Information processing system, information processing apparatus, and information processing method
An information processing system includes at least one information processing apparatus. The system includes a memory and circuitry. The memory stores, for each of a plurality of flows, each flow containing a series of processes executable to electronic data, flow information that defines program identification information identifying one or more programs executing the flow of series of processes and an execution order of the one or more programs, in association with flow identification information. The memory further stores event identification information in association with the flow identification information. Based on an occurrence of an event, the circuitry reads the flow identification information associated with the event identification information identifying the occurred event, and controls the at least one information processing apparatus to execute each of the one or more programs in the execution order, as defined in the flow information identified by the read flow identification information. |
| US10250768B2 |
Print media size/color detection using scanner
A user interface of a printer displays instructions to use the printer's document scanner for scanning a sheet of print media (of a stack of print media being added to the paper drawer) in response to a drawer sensor detecting the opening of the paper drawer. The document scanner generates an electronic image of the sheet of print media from the scanning of the sheet of print media. The processor evaluates the electronic image of the sheet of print media to identify the media type and color of the stack of print media being added to the paper drawer. For example, this is done by evaluating the size, color characteristic, transparency, and reflection characteristic of the electronic image of the sheet of print media. Then, the electronic memory records that the paper drawer contains the stack of print media having a specific media type and color. |
| US10250764B2 |
Display system, control device, and non-transitory computer readable medium
A display system includes a display apparatus, at least one recording medium container, and a display controller. The display apparatus includes a display that displays an image. The display apparatus enables a user to see an object by using the display apparatus. The object is actually located on a line extending from a line of sight of the user. The at least one recording medium container accommodates a recording medium on which an image is to be formed. The display controller displays, on the display, information regarding an intended image that is an image to be formed on the recording medium to be placed in the recording medium container. The display controller displays the information when the user looks at the recording medium container by using the display apparatus. |
| US10250760B2 |
Imaging device, imaging system, and imaging method
An imaging device comprising: an imaging sensor; a processor including a magnification processing section which magnifies a part of an image captured by the imaging sensor to generate a magnified image, a display device to display an image, and a transmission circuit to transmit an image to an external device, wherein the display device displays the magnified image generated by the magnification processing section of the processor, and wherein the transmission circuit transmits a non-magnified image not subjected to magnification processing by the magnification processing section of the processor. |
| US10250758B2 |
Apparatus and methods for audio and/or video communication
An improved apparatus for audio and/or video communication includes first input means for calling another apparatus for audio and/or video communication, and second input means for terminating a call. The apparatus is configured to assign a first functionality to the second input means and a second functionality different from the first functionality to the second input means. Activation of the first and second functionality is dependent upon a status of the audio and/or video communication. |
| US10250757B2 |
Method, computer program, and algorithm for computing network service value pricing based on communication service experiences delivered to consumers and merchants over a smart multi-services (SMS) communication network
A system and method for providing multi-services within a communication network according to various exemplary embodiments can include storing, in a database of a computer, user-defined sets of rules and instructions for providing multi-services to end user devices connected to a communication network comprising a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW) network having policy management capabilities. The system and method can receive, at one or more processors, the user-defined sets of rules and instructions from a plurality of end users via a plurality of end user devices. The system and method can configure a virtual network for each end user within the communication network using the policy management capabilities based on the user-defined sets of rules and instructions provided by each end user. The user-defined sets of rules and instructions define provisioning and delivery of resources and services provided by the communication network to the end user. |
| US10250755B2 |
System and method for real-time analysis of network traffic
A system for monitoring a live-data flow through a network includes at least one server communicating with the network. A processor within each of the at least one server implements a first processing node for monitoring a mirrored live-data flow of the live-data flow passing through at least one selected point within the network in a non-intrusive manner that does not affect the live-data flow passing through the at least one selected point. The first processing node decodes data within the mirrored live-data flow according to each protocol associated with the data. The first processing node detects at least one predetermined or deduced condition defined by at least one of a plurality of applications implemented on a second processing node and executes at least one predetermined or deduced response responsive to an indication of occurrence of the at least one predetermined or deduced condition within the decoded data. The first processing node also forwards data from the first processing node to a second processing node data from at least one of the plurality of simultaneous live-data flows based upon occurrence of the at least one predetermined or deduced condition. The processor within the at least one server the processor further implements the second processing node for accessing from the second processing node, external data from an external data source. The second processing node also processes at least a portion of the data forwarded from the first processing node using at least one of the plurality of applications implemented on the second processing node and the external data. The processing of the data by the at least one of the plurality of applications and the external data causes execution of the at least one predetermined or deduced response to determine a manner for controlling an operation of the network at a same time the live-data flow is in active transmission between the endpoints in the network. The operation of the network is controlled in response to the executed at least one predetermined or deduced response while events associated with the live-data flow are occurring within the network. |
| US10250753B2 |
Customer-centric network-based conferencing
A communication system has a network-connected server comprising a processor and a coupled data repository and software executing on the processor from a non-transitory medium. The software provides a first function establishing a communication session between an initiator and an agent of an enterprise hosting the system, a second function gathering information about persons other than the initiator and the agent as potential conference participants, a third function generating and sending invitations to a conference to include the initiator and the agent to individual ones of the potential conference participants, and a fourth function connecting those accepting invitations to the conference. |
| US10250751B2 |
Mobile conference system
A mobile conference system including a first mobile master hands-free unit and a second mobile slave hands-free unit, each having a microphone, a loudspeaker, a battery unit, an operating unit, a lighting unit, and a first transmitting/receiving unit for bidirectional wireless communication between the first and second mobile hands-free units. The first mobile hands-free unit includes a second transmitting/receiving unit for wireless bidirectional audio communication with an external unit. The first mobile hands-free unit is configured to wirelessly transmit audio signals received from the external unit via the second transmitting/receiving unit to the second mobile hands-free unit via the first transmitting/receiving unit, to mix audio signals received from the second mobile hands-free unit via the first transmitting/receiving unit with audio signals recorded via the at least one microphone of the first hands-free unit, and to wirelessly transmit said audio signals to the external unit via the second transmitting/receiving unit. |
| US10250750B2 |
Method and system for integrating an interaction management system with a business rules management system
In a contact center, a system for processing communication events has an interaction server for managing events waiting to be routed, a routing server for routing the events, a rules engine, and a gateway server executing rules invocation logic and interacting with the rules engine. The interaction server tracks incoming events, initiates and sends a routing request to the routing server, including a special routing object, for each event that requires conformance to business rules, the routing server, executing the routing object, sends an execution request to the gateway server, which upon receipt of the request prepares a business object model (BOM), being a set of facts upon which the rules engine executes rules appropriate to the facts, resulting in routing direction for the routing server to route the event. |
| US10250749B1 |
Automated telephone host system interaction
Systems and methods for automated telephone host system interaction. A system can include one or more client applications executable by respective communication devices and a server in communication with the respective communication devices. The system can store user information for a user and receive, from the user, requests associated with a service provider. Responsive to the requests, the system can cause initiation of a call center call to a call center associated with the service provider, automatically navigate a call handling system of the call center, monitor a held call center call, and detect when a live agent answers the call. Responsive to detecting the live agent, the system can initiate a call to the user device and bridge the calls such that the user can speak to the live agent. |
| US10250747B2 |
System, method and computer program product for service call identification
A method, system, and computer program product, include receiving a request for registration from a service provider, upon the service receiver having authorized the request for registration, registering characteristic information of the service call in a user device of a service receiver, and upon a lapse of time, deregistering the characteristic information from the user device. |
| US10250744B2 |
Call center system and voice recognition control method of the same
A call and recorded information management server transmits a requested call identification ID for recognition and an incoming call number corresponding to the ID, to a voice recognition server, which searches for the recognition engine corresponding to the number of the received call, and adds the received ID to a recognition queue. The voice recognition server requests the call and recorded information management server to obtain recorded data by the received ID. The call and recorded information management server transfers the recorded data corresponding to the ID to the voice recognition server to perform voice recognition by the corresponding recognition engine on the recorded data corresponding to the call identification ID stored in the recognition queue, and stores the result as text data. Thus, the most appropriate voice recognition engine can be used and the recognition rate of voice recognition can be increased. |
| US10250743B2 |
Sender identification system and method
A database is queried based upon data contained in a message to obtain sender identification information, at least part of which is not contained in the message as it was sent. The sender identification information is presented to a recipient, which can send a signal accepting or rejecting the message based upon the sender identification information. If an accept signal is entered, the message can be forwarded to the recipient and/or rendered to the recipient. |
| US10250742B2 |
Systems and methods for generating application data from call data
Systems and methods are provided for generating application data from call data. In one implementation, a method includes acquiring call data from a call-data source with a call-data aggregator; modifying a portion of the call data with a call-data modifier; and generating application data from the portion of the call data. Application data may be configured for diagram generation. The diagram may graphically indicate call volume in branches of an interactive voice response (IVR) system map. The diagram may be a flow diagram including a connector associated with a branch of the IVR system map and the connector may have a width proportional to a call volume in the branch of the IVR system map. The diagram may indicate call-portion durations, which may be associated with a phase of a call and which may have a color associated with a phase of a call. |
| US10250741B2 |
Systems and methods for managing, analyzing and providing visualizations of multi-party dialogs
Systems and methods are provided for managing and analyzing multi-party dialogs (e.g., calls) between communication devices. A digital connection is established with each of a plurality of communication devices. The connection is switched between the communication devices from a POTS connection to digital connections, enabling the communication devices to communicate with each other via the computing device over the digital connections. Audio signals are part of a multi-party dialog between users of the plurality of communication devices. The received audio signals are split into corresponding first signals and second signals. The first signals are transmitted to the plurality of communication devices and are analyzed to produce measurements of features of the second signals. Feedback data is transmitted to at least one of the plurality of communication devices. |
| US10250738B2 |
Schedule management device and method therefor
Provided is a method of managing a schedule in a mobile device, the method including: receiving information of the event and a first user input of location information related to the event; storing the received information of the event and the location information related to the event; searching for location information matching a second user input of location information from the stored location information related to the event on the basis of the second user input; and if the searched for location information is found, outputting the information of the event about the found location information. |
| US10250732B2 |
Message processing method and system, and related device
Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a message processing method and system, and a related device, where the method may include: when a wearable device and user equipment are in a connected state, if the user equipment receives a new message, determining, by the user equipment, information about a distance between the user equipment and the wearable device, or determining power information of a transmit signal of the user equipment; and determining, according to the determined distance information or power information, that a processing manner for the new message is any one or more of the following processing manners: a first message processing manner, a second message processing manner, or a third message processing manner. |
| US10250731B2 |
Control of user equipment functionality
A method and apparatus provide for controlling the user equipment in a telecommunication network having a network control node. A method may be performed at the network control node and a method may also be performed at a user equipment within a telecommunication network. The method performed at the user equipment comprises: receiving an incoming call signal, the incoming call signal comprising a combined automatic answer and loudspeaker activation indication; in response to the incoming call signal, automatically answering the incoming call and activating a loudspeaker on the user equipment. |
| US10250730B2 |
Adapter apparatus for earphone accessory
An adapter apparatus for an earphone accessory is provided. The adapter apparatus includes an earphone jack, a connection interface, a pre-amplifier and a device adapter circuit. The earphone jack is suitable for a plug of the earphone accessory to plug in. The connection interface is suitable for being electrically connected with a portable device. The pre-amplifier is electrically connected to the earphone jack to receive an earphone control signal of the earphone accessory and to provide an amplified earphone control signal. The device adapter circuit is electrically connected to the pre-amplifier and the connection interface to receive the amplified earphone control signal of the earphone accessory and provide a device control signal to the portable device via the connection interface. |
| US10250729B1 |
Mobile terminal
A mobile terminal includes: a case unit including a plurality of case parts; a waterproof member that waterproofs the plurality of case parts; an inner space formed by the plurality of case parts and the waterproof member; a sound output unit in the inner space; an electronic component in the inner space; at least one processor controlling the sound output unit; a resonance space in the inner space that resonates sound from the sound output unit; and a sound hole at one side of the case unit that outputs a first sound. A sound pressure level of a second sound output by vibration of the case unit due to the first sound is higher than that of the first sound in a low-frequency range, and when the case unit is on a mounting surface, a third sound is generated by the mounting surface due to vibration of the second sound. |
| US10250728B2 |
Color-variable terminal
A color-variable terminal includes a touchscreen, a display screen, a circuit board, and a liquid crystal light adjustment film. The touchscreen is located above the display screen. The circuit board is located below the display screen, and the circuit board includes a drive circuit. The liquid crystal light adjustment film is disposed on the touchscreen. The drive circuit is configured to apply a control voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film. The liquid crystal light adjustment film is in a transparent state when an amplitude of the control voltage is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, or the liquid crystal light adjustment film is in a non-transparent state when an amplitude of the control voltage is less than the preset threshold, and a color of the liquid crystal light adjustment film in the non-transparent state is different from a color of the display screen. |
| US10250727B2 |
Magnification and lighting attachment for mobile telephones
An assembly for use on a piece of equipment comprising a mobile phone with a camera function, the phone having a light which is integral to the body of the equipment, the phone further including a camera lens capable of taking a photograph of an object, and a phone cover removably attached to the mobile phone. The assembly has a carrier assembly, the carrier assembly has a support and a base, and a carrier member attached to the support, the carrier member being movably and releasably mounted to the support, and the carrier member is movable relative to the base and the phone cover. The carrier member includes at least one lens station mounted on it, the lens station includes at least one lens separate from but aligned with the lens in the body of the mobile phone. The lens at the lens station is located between the camera lens of the mobile phone and the object to be photographed and the lens of the lens station is adapted to magnify the image of the object. The carrier member further includes a light source mounted thereto. The light source is adapted to illuminate at least a portion of the object to be photographed. The light source being mounted to the carrier member such that the light source is movable relative to the base and the phone cover, and the light source is separate from but operatively associated with the light in the body of the phone so that light from the light in the body of the phone is coupled to the light source on the carrier member and the light exits the light source and is projected toward the object to be photographed. |
| US10250722B2 |
TCP traffic priority bandwidth management control based on TCP window adjustment
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus, a method, and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing bandwidth in a computer network. The method may identify that a first received packet belongs to a first traffic class and a second received packet belongs to a second traffic class where the first traffic class is associated with a higher priority than the second traffic class. The method may also identify that the first and the second traffic classes compete for shared bandwidth at the computer network. The method may monitor a number of bytes received that are associated with the first traffic class and second traffic class and perform a series of calculations used to adjust a window size according to the relative priorities of the first and the second traffic class. |
| US10250712B2 |
Method and server of configuring scenario mode for smart devices
The present disclosure relates to a method and a server for configuring a scenario mode. The method includes: acquiring device information of a plurality of smart device bound to a user account; pushing, according to the device information of the smart devices, at least one predefined scenario mode template to a controlling device bound to the user account; receiving, from the controlling device, scenario mode template selection information indicating a selected scenario mode template; and defining, according to the scenario mode template selection information, a scenario mode corresponding to the selected scenario mode template for the smart devices, wherein the smart devices comprise at least one first smart device and at least one second smart device, and the scenario mode represents an operation mode for controlling actions of the at least one second smart device according to a status parameter collected by the at least one first smart device. |
| US10250711B2 |
Fractional pre-delivery of content to user devices for uninterrupted playback
Systems and methods for delivering fractions of content to user devices before the content is selected or requested (e.g., a pre-delivery of content) are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods receive an indication that content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network, determine a fraction (e.g., size) of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions, and causes the determined fraction of the content available for pre-delivery to be delivered to the user device. |
| US10250707B2 |
Method and apparatus for selecting information pushed-to terminal
A method for selecting an information pushed-to terminal, including determining, by a first terminal, a service type of received service information according to a preset terminal service type table, acquiring, by the first terminal from a terminal status table configured in the first terminal, characteristic information of second terminals connected to the first terminal, and determining working statuses of the second terminals according to the characteristic information, selecting, by the first terminal from the second terminals according to a preset information push rule, the service type of the service information and the working statuses of the second terminals, a target terminal of information push, and sending a prompt message of having received the service information to the target terminal. |
| US10250706B2 |
Hierarchical Clustering
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving first network usage data for user devices indicating activity by the user devices on webpages, determining first-level cluster centroids based on the first network usage data, and assigning each user device to at least one first-level cluster centroid. The method also includes determining second-level cluster centroids based on the first network usage data for user devices assigned to a particular first-level cluster centroid, and assigning each user device previously assigned to the particular first-level cluster centroid to at least one second-level cluster centroid. The method further includes determining clusters based on the first-level cluster centroids and the second-level cluster centroids, assigning each user device to at least one cluster, and sending one or more first notifications to user devices associated with a particular cluster. |
| US10250705B2 |
Interaction trajectory retrieval
Embodiments of the present invention may track a user's interaction trajectory associated with a problem occurred on a website. According to one embodiment of the present invention, an interaction history of interactions between a user and a website may be obtained. An action description associated with actions performed by a user on a website is received. Then, at least one interaction matching the action description is retrieved from an interaction history of interactions between the user and the website. Further, an interaction trajectory may be generated based on the retrieved at least one interaction. |
| US10250704B2 |
Registration during downtime
A downtime registration service is discussed herein that enables client systems that rely on electronic record management systems to continue generating records during a downtime event for the electronic record management system without relying on a workaround that requires temporary identifiers or reentry of data. The downtime registration system improves the efficiency and accuracy of electronic systems because workarounds that involve using temporary identifiers, or reentering data collected during the downtime, increase the amount of work done and the chance for errors to be introduced into the records. The client systems are in communication with an outside facility providing advanced services, which track the records generated during normal operation (i.e., not downtime) so that new records created during downtime properly reuse existing record identifiers or assign new identifiers that correspond to the clients' record keeping policies. |
| US10250703B2 |
Geo-location based content publishing platform
The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a method for location-based content publishing. The method includes a step for receiving indication of a user subscription to one or more publisher feeds, wherein each of the one or more publisher feeds provides multiple content items, each content item being associated with a location. The method also includes a step for receiving a request for content items, wherein the request includes information about the user's location based on a mobile device of the user. The method also includes a step for selecting content items provided by the one or more publisher feeds based on the user's location and based on the location associated with the content items. The method also includes a step for providing at least a portion of the selected content items for display on the user's mobile device. |
| US10250702B2 |
Method and apparatus for pushing information
A method and an apparatus for pushing information are provided in an intelligent control technology field. In the method, the apparatus obtains a geographic position of at least one target user. The apparatus determines whether a positional relationship between a target user and a monitoring device satisfies a predetermined condition. If the predetermined condition is satisfied, the predetermined condition generates notification information according to monitoring information of the monitoring device; pushing the notification information to devices carried by all or some of the at least one target user. The present disclosure solves the problem of poor monitoring instantaneity and availability in the related art and informs the user of the monitoring information in a form of push notification timely, thus improving the monitoring instantaneity and availability. |
| US10250700B2 |
Methods and devices for notifying authorization update
Methods and devices for notifying an authorization update are provided. In a method for notifying an authorization update, a home network Proximity-based Services (ProSe) functional entity of an announcing terminal receives a notification message from a ProSe application server, where the notification message is used for notifying the home network ProSe functional entity of the announcing terminal that authorization information changes (S302); and the home network ProSe functional entity of the announcing terminal notifies a home network ProSe functional entity of a monitoring terminal that a ProSe code and/or filter corresponding to the announcing terminal become/becomes invalid or are/is updated (S304). |
| US10250699B2 |
Centralized network control for a cloud-based services exchange
In some examples, a method includes: providing, by a centralized network control (CNC) system, a software interface to receive service requests for configuration of services within an edge network of one or more network data centers that are controlled by the CNC system; receiving a service request to configure a service within the edge network; generating a service definition that specifies service requirements to implement the service; determining at least one network field unit that is capable of servicing the service request; and sending, to the at least one network field unit, the service definition to configure the service at the portion of the edge network. |
| US10250692B2 |
Voice user interface for pairing between devices
A code is generated by a primary cloud server and sent to a device to be controlled (controlee). The code is displayed and a user speaks the code to a controller device, such as a voice assistant (VA). The controller sends the spoken code via a third party server to the primary server and if the primary server identifies the code as being correct, a first step is complete. The controlee then generates a second code, sends it to the primary server and also displays it for a user to speak it to the controller, which sends the spoken second code to the primary server via the third party server. If the primary server identifies the second code as being correct, pairing is authorized between the controller and controlee. The first and second steps should be completed within a timeout period to be valid. |
| US10250691B2 |
Method and device for controlling home device
A method by which a server controls a home device is provided. The method includes receiving a trigger signal generated by a sensor in a home in response to a mobile device being present at a specific location in the home, determining a home device corresponding to the specific location by using the trigger signal, selecting context information related to an operation of the determined home device from among context information received from the mobile device, and providing the selected context information to the home device. |
| US10250690B2 |
Multiple sensor data processor interface and relay
The present invention relates generally to a system and method of networking and interconnecting a large number of various types of sensors to a remote location in an efficient manner. Specifically, the invention utilizes a flexible, configurable, scalable and power-efficient sensor interface relay architecture to gather sensor data from various locations and then relay it to a remote location via the internet. |
| US10250685B2 |
Creating layer 2 extension networks in a hybrid cloud computing system
Techniques for creating layer 2 (L2) extension networks are disclosed. One embodiment permits an L2 extension network to be created by deploying, configuring, and connecting a pair of virtual appliances in the data center and the cloud so that the appliances communicate via secure tunnels and bridge networks in the data center and the cloud. A pair of virtual appliances are first deployed in the data center and the cloud, and secure tunnels are then created between the virtual appliances. Thereafter, a stretched network is created by connecting a network interface in each of the virtual appliances to a respective local network, configuring virtual switch ports to which the virtual appliances are connected as sink ports that receive traffic with non-local destinations, and configuring each of the virtual appliances to bridge the network interface therein that is connected to the local network and tunnels between the pair of virtual appliances. |
| US10250678B2 |
Hybrid modes for peer discovery
Techniques for performing peer discovery in a wireless network are described. A device may perform peer discovery to detect and identify other devices of interest. In an aspect, the device may perform peer discovery based on a hybrid mode that includes autonomous peer discovery and network-assisted peer discovery. In another aspect, the device may perform peer discovery based on a push mode and a pull mode. For the push mode, the device may occasionally transmit and/or receive a peer detection signal. For the pull mode, the device may transmit and/or receive a peer discovery request when triggered. In yet another aspect, the device may perform event-triggered peer discovery (e.g., for the pull mode). In yet another aspect, the device may perform peer discovery using both a downlink spectrum and an uplink spectrum. In yet another aspect, the device may transmit a peer detection signal in a manner to improve detection and/or increase payload. |
| US10250675B2 |
Posting the same response for duplicated content
A first instance of a response, generated by a user, posted in a first social networking service can be detected. The first instance of the response can respond to a first instance of content shared with the user in the first social networking service. A second instance of the first content being shared with the user in the first social networking service or a second social networking service can be detected. Responsive to detecting the second instance of the first content being shared with the user, a second instance of the response can be automatically posted, the second instance of the response responding to the second instance of the first content on behalf of the user. |
| US10250674B2 |
Radio access method, apparatus, and system for implementing mutual transmission and processing of collaborative data between sites
Embodiments of the disclosure provide a radio access method, apparatus, and system, which can implement mutual transmission and processing of collaborative data between sites on a basis of low-cost deployment and high availability, and improve network performance. In the method, a basic DU is deployed in a site, and the method may include: receiving, by a switching device, a first data packet sent by a first basic DU; determining to send the first data packet to a second basic DU for collaborative processing; and sending the first data packet to the second basic DU, so that the second basic DU performs collaborative processing on the first data packet and a second data packet, where the second data packet and the first data packet are of a same data type. Embodiments of the disclosure are applicable to the communications field. |
| US10250669B2 |
File transferring method an device through Wi-Fi direct
A method for transferring files and apparatus through Wi-Fi Direct are provided. The method includes: an obtaining step, for obtaining a multimedia attribute of a file to be transferred; a sending step, for sending the multimedia attribute obtained in the obtaining step; a receiving step, for receiving information of the multimedia attribute of the file to be transferred; and a judgment step, for judging, according to the information of the multimedia attribute received in the receiving step, whether a receiving end supports the type of the file to be transferred. The embodiment of the patent document solves the problem that the receiving end may know whether to support the type of the file only after completely receiving the file or performing an opening operation, thus leading to inconvenient use, which improves the user experience. |
| US10250664B2 |
Placeshifting live encoded video faster than real time
Systems, methods and devices are described to encode, deliver and playback a placeshifted media stream via the Internet or another network. The media stream is appropriately encoded at a quality level (e.g., at a bit rate, frame rate, resolution, etc.) that allows content to be delivered faster than it is played back. This sort of “faster than real time” encoding allows the placeshifted media stream to be buffered at the remote device for more effective performance. |
| US10250661B2 |
Method of controlling a real-time conference session
In a method of controlling a real-time conference session there is a first user and a second user connected to a media processing unit. The first user has a passive mode wherein data is received at and transmitted by the first users communication terminal as passive data but not received by the communication terminal of the second user and an active mode wherein the data received and transmitted by the first user's terminal and received by the second user's terminal as active data. When the first user switches from the passive mode to the active mode there is a duration of the conference call that is left to be transmitted to the second user. That portion has been recorded and is played at a faster rate to the second user. |
| US10250656B2 |
Systems and methods for generating, providing, and rendering quick load articles
Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can transmit a quick load article request identifying a quick load article. One or more media content elements associated with the quick load article are received, the one or more media content elements comprising a first quick load embedded web content element. The first quick load embedded web content element comprises embedded web content element information identifying a first embedded web content element and snapshot information identifying a first snapshot associated with the first embedded web content element. The quick load article is rendered, wherein the rendering the quick load article comprises rendering the first snapshot in place of the first embedded web content element. |
| US10250654B2 |
Method and apparatus for transceiving data packet for transmitting and receiving multimedia data
A method for transmitting complex multimedia data is provided. The method includes selecting one of a data headers composed of basic transmission units determined according to an amount of multimedia included in the complex multimedia data, generating a basic transmission unit of the complex multimedia data according to the selected data header, packetizing the complex multimedia data in the basic transmission unit; and transmitting the packetized complex multimedia data to a receiver. |
| US10250652B2 |
Data transmission system, terminal device, program, and method
A data transmission system including a plurality of terminal devices that are connected to a communication network and that transmit or receive content data among the terminal devices. At least one of the terminal devices that receives the content data includes a code amount change requesting unit that, based on an output time interval of an output signal corresponding to predetermined content data, transmits a code amount reduction request to request reduction of a code amount of the predetermined content data while designating a transmission source of the content data as a destination; and a code amount changing unit that, in response to a code amount reduction request transmitted from another terminal device, reduces a code amount of corresponding content data. |
| US10250651B2 |
Method and mobile terminal for publishing information automatically
A method and a mobile terminal for publishing information automatically are provided. The mobile terminal can publish information automatically, thereby reducing user operations and facilitating use for users. The method includes receiving operation information of a user; and sending an information publishing indication message to a predetermined server when a type of the operation information of the user matches a preset operation information type, where the information publishing indication message includes at least an address of the predetermined server, account information of the user, and the operation information, so that the predetermined server publishes the operation information according to the account information. The present invention is applicable to the field of mobile terminal technologies. |
| US10250649B2 |
Communications system with sequenced chat, interactive and digital engagement functions
A networked communications system that facilitates real-time interaction with persons-of-interest. The communications system includes an event scheduling workflow that, during a registration phase, allows users to register for a given event associated with a social influencer or other person-of-interest and, during the event, allows for a series of sequenced real-time direct and private interactions and engagements between or among the social influencer or other person-of-interest and respective users. This series of sequenced real-time, direct, and private interactions and engagements occurs automatically without requiring the participants to exchange contact or personally identifiable information (such as email addresses, phone numbers, chat identifiers, etc.) in order to initiate the real-time communications sessions. |
| US10250648B2 |
Ambient communication session
In general, this disclosure describes techniques for initiating a communication session when a user indicates she or he is available to participate in the communication session. In one example, a method includes receiving, by a first communication device, an indication that a user is available to participate in a communication session that enables communication between different communication devices. Responsive to receiving the at least one signal, the communication session may be initiated in an inactive mode at the first communication device. The first communication device may receive a request from a second communication device to participate in the communication session. Responsive to receiving the request, the communication session may be switched from the inactive mode to an active mode. |
| US10250647B2 |
Device triggering
Service layer and application triggering may be used in a machine-to-machine environment. In an embodiment, an existing service layer procedure, such as registration, may allow a device or gateway service layer or application to indicate to a machine-to-machine server what port is listened to for triggers. In another embodiment, triggering may be used to provide bootstrapping instructions, including temporary bootstrapping identifiers, in trigger requests. In another embodiment, triggering may be used to assist with event notification. Service layer or application instructions may be embedded inside of trigger payloads. A trigger payload format is defined. |
| US10250644B2 |
Detection and removal of unwanted applications
A protection application detects and removes unwanted applications. The protection application scans a client device for suspected unwanted applications. A security server provides an application rating for detected applications to the client device. The application rating is generated based on application retention data received from client devices indicating whether users of the clients choose to remove or retain the application when given the option. The application retention data may be weighed based on a categorization of the clients providing the application retention data into to clients expected to have different reliability levels. The security server can also provide a definition specifying all known components associated with a suspected unwanted application. Responsive to a selection to remove a suspected unwanted application, the protection application uninstalls all components of the application. |
| US10250642B2 |
System, method and apparatus for fine-grained privacy specification and verification
A method includes receiving from a user via a user interface an activation of at least one element to set a privacy policy specifying the maximum amount of confidential data that is authorized to be leaked to a sink, tracking movement of confidential data through an application, determining based on the tracked movement of the confidential data that the confidential data is leaked to the sink by the application, comparing the confidential data that is leaked to the sink to the specified maximum amount of confidential data that is authorized to be leaked to the sink, and presenting to the user via the user interface an indication of whether the application complies with the privacy policy set by the user based on the comparison. |
| US10250638B2 |
Control of transmission to a target device with a cloud-based architecture
Systems, methods, computer-readable storage mediums including computer-readable instructions and/or circuitry for control of transmission to a target device with a cloud-based architecture may implement operations including, but not limited to: detecting, at least in part via a cloud-based architecture, an elapsed time since a prior authorization of a transmission to a target device; comparing, at least in part via a cloud-based architecture, the elapsed time since a prior authorization of a transmission to a target device against a threshold transmission interval associated with a target device; and authorizing, at least in part via a cloud-based architecture, at least one transmission to a target device in response to the comparison. |
| US10250635B2 |
Defending against DoS attacks over RDMA connections
A processor is configured to receive, from a client, a first message indicating a request to establish a connection between the client and a server, to ascertain that the first message does not include any cookie satisfying one or more criteria, to send, to the client, a second message that includes a first cookie, without allocating an endpoint on the server for the connection, in response to ascertaining that the first message does not include any cookie satisfying the criteria, to receive subsequently, from the client, a third message, to ascertain that the third message includes a second cookie, and that the second cookie satisfies the criteria, to allocate the endpoint for the connection in response to ascertaining that the second cookie satisfies the criteria, and to send, to the client, a fourth message indicating that the server is ready to receive data communication at the allocated endpoint. |
| US10250629B2 |
Captcha risk or score techniques
Captcha risk or score technique systems and methods are presented. A method can begin with extracting client information from the service request. The extracted client information may be used to determine if the client device has been identified as a computer bot. A captcha is also selected in response to the service request. Captcha instructions and expected captcha response are generated for the selected captcha. The captcha instructions are sent to the client device for processing and a captcha response from the client device may be received, which is compared to the expected response to determine based on the service policy if the client device is operating under control of a human user or operating autonomously. Risk levels may be associated with likelihood of the client device being a bot computer and operating autonomously or operating under control of a human user. |
| US10250628B2 |
Storyboard displays of information technology investigative events along a timeline
Techniques and mechanisms are disclosed that enable network security analysts and other users to efficiently conduct network security investigations and to produce useful representations of investigation results. As used herein, a network security investigation generally refers to an analysis by an analyst (or team of analysts) of one or more detected network events that may pose internal and/or external threats to a computer network under management. A network security application provides various interfaces that enable users to create investigation timelines, where the investigation timelines display a collection of events related to a particular network security investigation. A network security application further provides functionality to monitor and log user interactions with the network security application, where particular logged user interactions may also be added to one or more investigation timelines. |
| US10250624B2 |
Method and device for robust detection, analytics, and filtering of data/information exchange with connected user devices in a gateway-connected user-space
A security appliance includes: a network port enabling direct connection to a gateway; a storage module having stored thereon firmware for operating the security appliance; and a processor that executes the program code of the firmware. The firmware configures the appliance to: establish a seamless communication interface with a connected gateway; monitor traffic coming into and going out from the connected gateway; and identify traffic anomalies within the monitored traffic. The firmware further configures the appliance to: in response to identifying one or more of the traffic anomalies: forward information about the identified traffic anomalies to a centralized database for evaluation and reporting; and initiate steps to prevent further occurrence of the traffic anomalies, without user approval. |
| US10250617B1 |
Systems and methods for detecting malware using machine learning
A computer-implemented method for detecting malware using machine learning may include (1) identifying data to be analyzed for malware, (2) classifying, using a classifier created by a combination of at least one deep learning neural network and at least one supervised data mining method, the data to be analyzed for malware, (3) determining, based on a predefined threshold, that the classification of the data indicates potential malware on the computing device, and (4) performing a security action based on the determination of potential malware on the computing device. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US10250616B2 |
Server and user terminal
A server includes communication circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of external terminals, a storage which stores reference data for hardware integrity verification of the plurality of external terminals, and a processor configured to verify the hardware integrity of a second external terminal using the reference data, when a request for the hardware integrity verification of the second external terminal is received through the communication circuitry from a first external terminal. |
| US10250614B2 |
Account sharing prevention and detection in online education
An application delivers educational, entertainment or work-related content including videos and documents to any computing device of a user via an account, each account being uniquely identified. Upon each login, the application checks whether the user is already logged in on another computing device and issues a warning or logs out the new device. The application also checks all user accounts periodically to determine whether one account is logged into more than one computing device. Each video or document is associated with a course and has a corresponding course code. An institution database lists courses that a student is currently enrolled in. Another database records videos watched or documents viewed via a student account. Each student account is allowed a maximum number of courses or is limited by the courses in which they are actually enrolled. The application checks whether the videos watched correspond to more than the courses allowed and if so, then access by the student account is blocked. |
| US10250611B2 |
Authenticating drivers
One or more devices in a data analysis computing system may be configured to receive and analyze movement data and determine driving trips based on the received data. The driving trips may be used along with the movement data to authenticate drivers based on a determined driver profile. |
| US10250608B2 |
Methods and systems for managing a network node through a server
The present invention discloses methods and systems for managing a node through a management server. The management server verifies whether a management confirmation has been received and allows a second user group to manage the node if the management confirmation is received. If the management confirmation is not received by the management server, the second user group is not allowed to manage the node through the management server. |
| US10250605B2 |
Combining a set of risk factors to produce a total risk score within a risk engine
A risk engine can be configured to produce a total risk score by combining a set of risk factors. A risk policy can define a percentage that is to be assigned to each risk factor that is present in a request to access a web-accessible application. The percentage can represent the amount of risk that can be attributed to the access request when the risk factor is present in the request. The risk policy can also define which mitigating factors apply to each risk factor. Each mitigating factor can also be assigned a percentage by which the mitigating factor will reduce the risk factor when the mitigating factor and risk factor are present in the access request. The risk factors can then be combined to produce the total risk score. The total risk score can be generated as a percentage between 0% and 100%. |
| US10250603B1 |
Connection control for virtualized environments
The launching of new software code, virtual machines, and other such instances can undergo one or more scans before being fully available in an electronic environment. One or more policies may apply to such a launch, which can cause the launch to first be performed under a first network configuration, wherein the instance may not be granted access to resources other than scanning infrastructure. After one or more scans are performed, the results can be compared against the policies and, if the results pass, the instance can be caused to operate in a second network configuration, whether launching a new instance in a production environment, altering the configuration of the network, or other such tasks. The policies can be set by a provider of the relevant resources, an administrator of one or more affected resources, an administrator of the instance, or another appropriate party. |
| US10250601B2 |
Updating database drivers for client applications through a database server push
A method for updating drivers. The method may include transmitting a connection request from a first computer to a second computer. The method may include creating a connection handshake in the first computer in response to the transmitted connection request, whereby the connection handshake includes client credentials and driver information. The method may include transmitting the created connection handshake from the first computer to a second computer. The method may include determining the first computer is authorized to connect to the second computer based on the client credentials. The method may include determining a first version level of a first plurality of drivers associated with the first computer is a lower version level than a second version level of a second plurality of drivers associated with the second computer based on the driver information. The method may include transmitting a driver update. The method may include installing the driver update. |
| US10250599B1 |
Queue management based on biometric authentication
A method performed by a user device may include obtaining biometric information relating to a user of the user device using a biometric sensor of the user device; determining that the biometric information is valid; generating a biometric indicator indicating that the biometric information is valid; providing a request for a callback from an entity, wherein the request includes the biometric information indicating that the biometric information is valid; and receiving the callback from the entity, wherein the callback is received based on the biometric information indicating that the biometric information is valid, and wherein the callback is associated with an entity identifier that is not provided to the user. |
| US10250598B2 |
Liveness detection method and device, and identity authentication method and device
Liveness detection and an identity authentication is included in the disclosure. A user's biological characteristic information is collected and displayed at an initial position on a screen of a computing device. A target position is determined using the initial position, and the target position is displayed on the screen. The user is prompted to move the user's biological characteristic information to cause the displayed biological characteristic to move from the initial position on the screen to the target position on the screen. The user's movement is detected and the display position of the displayed biological characteristic information is determined using the detected user's movement; a judgment is made whether the user is a living being using a relationship between the determined display position and the target position. The biological characteristic information of a living being can be verified, e.g., when the user logs in, thereby improving security. |
| US10250597B2 |
Systems and methods for performing user recognition based on biometric information captured with wearable electronic devices
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for performing biometrics based user recognition and monitoring based on biometric information captured using wearable monitoring devices. More specifically, the present application provides systems including monitoring devices built into one or more articles of clothing that capture data relating to the wearer of the device and other subjects, such as biometric information, health vitals, environmental information, location data and the like. The systems also include a mobile computing device configured to receive the captured data from the monitoring device and, in conjunction with a distributed biometric authentication and identity assertion platform, perform user recognition based on biometric information captured by the mobile device and/or the monitoring device. The present application also provides an infrastructure for collecting and managing the data collected by the monitoring device in an authenticated/verified manner. |
| US10250595B2 |
Embedded trusted network security perimeter in computing systems based on ARM processors
The invention relates to a method for computer systems based on the ARM processor, for example mobile devices, wherein the ARM processor provides fully hardware isolated runtime environments for an operating system (OS) and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) including an embedded trusted network security perimeter. The isolation is performed by hardware ARM Security Extensions added to ARMv6 processors and greater and controlled by TrustWall software. The invention therefore comprises an embedded network security perimeter running in TEE on one or more processor cores with dedicated memory and storage and used to secure all external network communications of the host device. The invention addresses network communications control and protection for Rich OS Execution Environments and describes minimal necessary and sufficient actions to prevent unauthorized access to or from external networks. The present invention uses hardware platform security capabilities which significantly increase protection of the embedded network security perimeter itself from targeted attacks, in contrast to existing, and representing an improvement of, end-point software firewalls. In addition, embodiments of the invention do not require any modification to the OS system code or network application software. |
| US10250594B2 |
Declarative techniques for transaction-specific authentication
Techniques are disclosed for providing and/or implementing utilizing declarative techniques for transaction-specific authentication. Certain techniques are disclosed herein that enable transaction signing using modular authentication via declarative requests from applications. An application can declaratively specify one or more transaction factor values to be used in an authentication, and the authentication, using a transaction-signed one-time password, can be directed by an access manager module without further involvement of the application. Upon a successful or non-successful authentication, the access manager module can provide the result back to the application. Accordingly, an authentication process specific to (and valid only for) a particular transaction can be performed without direct involvement of the application and without application-centric knowledge required by the access manager module. |
| US10250593B2 |
Image based key deprivation function
Embodiments of the invention relate to methods of generating and using an image-based derived key. In various embodiments, the image-based derived key may be used to facilitate user authentication and data encryption. For some embodiments, a method is disclosed comprising determining an image-based derived key, wherein the image-based derived key is generated from a selection of authentication images chosen by a user, encrypting data using the image-based derived key, and transmitting the encrypted data. |
| US10250592B2 |
Approach for accessing third-party content collaboration services on interactive whiteboard appliances using cross-license authentication
An approach for managing collaboration on IWBs allows users of different third-party collaboration services to participate in collaboration meetings on IWBs. The approach allows the users to use collaboration functionality provided by IWBs, such as annotation, and to communicate with each other, even though the users are using different third party collaboration services. The approach uses a collaboration manager that provides a “single wrapper” application program interface (API) and centralized management of collaboration meetings, including license key and token management, cross-license collaboration, user management and meeting management. The collaboration manager acts as a mediation layer that handles the APIs of different third-party collaboration services and allows users using heterogeneous collaboration clients to participate in collaboration meetings. |
| US10250590B2 |
Multi-factor device registration for establishing secure communication
A method of secure device registration is presented. The method comprises: receiving a registration request from a device; validating the device on the basis of the registration request; in response to successfully validating the device, sending a passcode to the device via a first connection; prompting a user for the passcode via a second connection different from the first connection; receiving the passcode via the second connection; and sending an authorization token to the device via the first connection. |
| US10250584B2 |
System and method for single sign-on technical support access to tenant accounts and data in a multi-tenant platform
Shown is single sign-on support access to tenant accounts in a multi-tenant service platform involving a proxy user account in an identity provider for a tenant account on the service platform having security metadata associated therewith, mapping in the identity provider maps a support user to a proxy user identifier, a corresponding security endpoint in the service platform and mapping of the proxy user account identifier to the tenant account and security metadata. The identity provider authenticates a request to access the tenant account on the service platform, obtains the security credentials for the proxy user identifier, and sends a security assertion with the proxy user identifier and the security metadata to the security endpoint. The endpoint receives and validates the security assertion against the mapping for the proxy user identifier to the tenant account and the security metadata in the service platform, and permits access by the support user to the tenant account in the service platform. |
| US10250582B2 |
Secure private location based services
Representative embodiments disclose unique mechanisms to use beacons to provide access to cloud services. In order to access the cloud services a user presents a beacon identifier obtained from a beacon in geographic proximity to a user device used by the user. An authentication service receives the beacon identifier and issues an authentication challenge to the user. Upon successfully completing the authentication challenge, the user is granted access to the cloud service. Authentication challenges can include single factor, two factor, or nominal security challenges. Some embodiments require the device to submit GPS data verifying the location of the device. Some embodiments check user identifying information against a set of approved users. Some embodiments allow a user's device to act as a beacon to access the cloud service. Cloud services can include a wide variety of collaboration, productivity, help, mapping and other services. |
| US10250580B2 |
Out-of band remote authentication
In an embodiment a single user authentication event, performed between a trusted path hardware module and a service provider via an out of band communication, can enable a user to transparently access multiple service providers using strong credentials that are specific to each service provider. The authentication event may be based on multifactor authentication that is indicative of a user's actual physical presence. Thus, for example, a user would not need to enter a different retinal scan to gain access to each of the service providers. Other embodiments are described herein. |
| US10250577B2 |
System and method for authenticating and enabling an electronic device in an electronic system
A system and method for authenticating and enabling an electronic device in an electronic system are disclosed. A particular embodiment includes: an electronic system comprising: a protected device; a requesting device node, executing on a computing system, the requesting device node including: a device query data packet generator to generate a device query packet including data representing one or more identifiers of the protected device and a particular paired system; and an authentication key retriever to obtain an authentication key based on the device query data packet from an authentication provisioning node using an external data communication; and an obfuscation state machine of the particular paired system configured with a pre-defined quantity of state elements, a pre-defined quantity of the state elements being functional state elements, the obfuscation state machine being programmed with the authentication key to cause the obfuscation state machine to transition the protected device from an initial obfuscation state to a functional state. |
| US10250572B2 |
Logic repository service using encrypted configuration data
The following description is directed to a logic repository service. In one example, a method of a logic repository service can include receiving a first request to generate configuration data for configurable hardware using a specification for application logic of the configurable hardware. The method can include generating the configuration data for the configurable hardware. The configuration data can include data for implementing the application logic. The method can include encrypting the configuration data to generate encrypted configuration data. The method can include signing the encrypted configuration data using a private key. The method can include transmitting the signed encrypted configuration data in response to the request. |
| US10250571B2 |
Systems and methods for offloading IPSEC processing to an embedded networking device
A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support a mechanism to offload IPSec/IKE processing of virtual machines (VMs) running on a host to an embedded networking device, which serves as a hardware accelerator for the VMs that need to have secured communication with a remote device/server over a network. By utilizing a plurality of its software and hardware features, the embedded networking device is configured to perform all offloaded IPSec operations on data packets transferred between the host and the remote device over the network as required for the secured communication before the data packets can be transmitted over the network. The embedded networking device, in effect, acts as a proxy on behalf of the VMs running on the host to perform the offloaded IPSec operations as well as serving as the network interface for the secured communication between the VMs and the remote device. |
| US10250568B2 |
Methods and systems for concealing information
A retrieving system for retrieving information concealed within a sequence of symbols. The system includes a decoder configurable using rule information and operable when so configured to retrieve the information concealed within the sequence of symbols by applying to the sequence of symbols at least one decoder rule determined by the configuration of the encoder. |
| US10250567B2 |
Communication system, wireless communication apparatus, and communication method
A wireless communication circuit includes a receiver to receive at least one of a beacon frame and a probe response frame from a first wireless communication apparatus belonging to a first communication group, at least one of the beacon frame and the probe response frame including first security information indicating a first encryption method. The circuit includes a transmitter to transmit an association request frame to the first wireless communication apparatus, the association request frame including second security information indicating a second encryption method which is supported by the wireless communication circuit, after a determination that the second encryption method overlaps with the first encryption method. The transmitter declines to associate with the first wireless communication apparatus if the first encryption method fails to overlap with the second encryption method. The transmitter transmits a data frame including a frame body after a reception of an association response frame. |
| US10250566B2 |
Communication system, wireless communication apparatus, and communication method
A wireless communication circuit includes a receiver to receive at least one of a beacon frame and a probe response frame from a first wireless communication apparatus belonging to a first communication group, at least one of the beacon frame and the probe response frame including first security information indicating a first encryption method. The circuit includes a transmitter to transmit an association request frame to the first wireless communication apparatus, the association request frame including second security information indicating a second encryption method which is supported by the wireless communication circuit, after a determination that the second encryption method overlaps with the first encryption method. The transmitter declines to associate with the first wireless communication apparatus if the first encryption method fails to overlap with the second encryption method. The transmitter transmits a data frame including a frame body after a reception of an association response frame. |
| US10250564B2 |
Dynamically allowing traffic flow through a firewall to allow an application server device to perform mobile-terminated communications
A network device may receive, a flow control request for a first device that is registered for an internet protocol (IP) pinhole service. The flow control request may include a device identifier associated with the first device and a private IP address. The network device may identify at least one of IP address information, port information, and pinhole rules. The network device may provide, to another network device, a flow control response that includes at least one of the IP address information, the port information, and the pinhole rules. The flow control response may cause the other network device to allow traffic flow through the firewall using at least one of the IP address information and the port information. The network device may provide a public IP address and a port identifier to a second device, allowing the second device to provide traffic to the first device. |
| US10250562B1 |
Route signaling driven service management
A system and method for handling critical events in service gateways. Configuration information is received in a service gateway, the configuration information defining a redundancy set having a master redundancy state and a standby redundancy state, the configuration information including one or more redundancy policies associated with the redundancy set, a service redundancy policy defining changes to be made in a service when a transition occurs in the state of the redundancy set. The service gateway receives further configuration information defining events that cause a transition between the master and standby redundancy states in the redundancy set. In response to detecting a redundancy event in the service gateway, the service gateway transitions the redundancy set, within the service gateway, from the master redundancy state to the standby redundancy state, modifies a first signal-route state associated with the redundancy set and modifies the service based on the service redundancy policy. |
| US10250560B2 |
Network security method and device using IP address
The present invention provides a network security method, which comprises the steps of: maintaining information on blocked countries, to be blocked from data communication, in a blocked country database; identifying an external IP address by extracting at least one of a source IP address and a destination IP address of a communication packet transmitted on a network; identifying a country to which the identified external IP address belongs; and blocking the communication packet when the country to which the identified external IP address belongs is included in the blocked countries. |
| US10250559B2 |
Reversible mapping of network addresses in multiple network environments
A method for translating network addresses includes receiving a first network packet, the first network packet comprising an internal source address. The method also includes generating, by performing a mapping operation, a mapping value. The generating of the mapping value uses, at least in part, at least a portion of the internal source address, and at least a portion of an external source address. The external source address is associated with the internal source address. The method also includes forwarding, using a second network packet, at least a portion of the first network packet. The second network packet comprises the external source address and at least a portion of the mapping value. |
| US10250558B2 |
Method and apparatus for triggering devices and delivering small data
Method and apparatus are described for delivering triggers and small data. In an embodiment, a receiver may be configured to receive a trigger or small data packet, and a transmitter may be configured to transmit a subscriber information request to see whether a subscriber is present. The receiver may be further configured to receive an identity of a second node on a condition that the subscriber is present. The transmitter may be further configured to transmit the trigger or small data packet to the second node over an interface, the second node configured to create an Internet Protocol (IP) packet with an IP address containing the trigger or small data packet and deliver the IP packet to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) using the IP address and a default or dedicated bearer of the WTRU. |
| US10250555B2 |
Methods and systems for implementing very large DNS zones
Systems, methods and devices are provided for registering DNS hostnames of Internet host devices for very large domain zones (VLZ) stored on a DNS server on a network, including setting a pseudo-zone as the VLZ, intercepting DNS updates to the pseudo-zone, mapping the entries in the pseudo-zone into a hierarchy of real parent zones and sub-zones using a mapping formula, and translating DNS updates to the pseudo-zone from an original fully qualified domain name (FQDN) into a at least one new FQDNs and adding the at least one new FQDNs to an authoritative DNS Server. |
| US10250542B2 |
Proximity discovery system and method
A proximity discovery system enabling a person to quickly and efficiently discover colleagues within their proximity without visual contact. The system comprises a mobile computing device including an antenna and transceiver for exchanging messages with a plurality of other mobile devices nearby the user device, a user detection module for detecting the messages from the other mobile devices, a proximity detector for estimating a distance between the user device and each of the mobile devices, a connection module for sharing biographic and professional information with the plurality of mobile devices based on one of a plurality of connection levels. |
| US10250541B2 |
Predictive responses to incoming communications
A computing system includes a communication unit configured to receive a plurality of message histories, at least one processor, and at least one module. The at least one module is operable by the at least one processor to: determine, based on the plurality of message histories, a plurality of message and response pairs, determine a number of instances of each response for each message from the plurality of message and response pairs, classify each response from the plurality of message and response pairs as having an information type, and store an indication of each unique message from the plurality of message and response pairs, an indication of the information type associated with the respective response associated with the unique message, and a number of responses from the plurality of message and response pairs having the information type. |
| US10250535B2 |
Email based e-commerce using embedded forms
A method implemented in an e-commerce system to facilitate transactions between a customer and a vendor using embedded forms includes requesting by a vendor system to an e-commerce system to generate an embedded form for use in an SMTP email campaign. The method further includes transmitting emails with embedded forms including at least one token by the vendor system to a customer device. The method further includes rendering the embedded form in email to the customer device and receiving a response email, wherein the response email includes input details requested in the specified input fields and a token; authenticating the response email; decoding the token and processing a transaction based on the customer input details requested in the specified input fields of the embedded form. |
| US10250534B2 |
Cloud-based universal collaborative messaging system and method
Methods, devices, and systems are provided for converting messages received from different sources into a universal file management system format managed by a central server. Each message may be sent from a sender to at least one recipient in a communication system. Upon receiving the messages, the central server converts each message into at least one folder and file. The files or folders can be stored in a secure central repository or memory. The secure central repository may include directory-sync servicing to virtually a user communication device other than the server. Files or folders may be marked as sensitive and restricted from access, copying, or other distribution. Sensitive files and folders, representing messages received can be restricted to viewing via a real-time communication application running on a user's communication device and portal connection to the secure central repository. |
| US10250532B2 |
Systems and methods for a personality consistent chat bot
Systems and methods for personality consistent automated chatting are provided. The systems and methods track the emotional state of the chat bot, track entity related dispositions of the chat bot and/or track the closeness of the relationship between the chat bot and a user. Accordingly, the systems and methods are able to provide consistent personality and/or points of view by generating replies based on the tracked chat bot emotional state, chat bot entity dispositions, and/or the relationship closeness between the chat bot and the user. |
| US10250531B2 |
Bot monitoring
Monitoring a computer system or framework via a bot integrated into a messaging application is provided herein. A bot is made available as a contact within a messaging application to receive queries on a computer system/framework via messages from users. The bot is communicated with one or more systems or machines in a monitored computing system/framework to execute those queries and return a response to the user via the messaging application or another selected application. |
| US10250529B2 |
Systems and methods for performing logical network forwarding using a controller
A controller implemented on computing equipment may be used to control switches in a network. End hosts may be coupled to the switches. The controller may generate a virtual network topology of virtual switches, virtual routers, and virtual system routers that are distributed over underlying switches in the network. The controller may form virtual switches from respective groups of end hosts, virtual routers from groups of virtual switches that include virtual interfaces that are coupled to virtual switches, and a virtual system router from groups of virtual routers that includes virtual system router interfaces that are coupled to the virtual routers. The controller may control the virtual network topology by generating respective flow table entries based on identified network policies for each of the virtual routers, virtual system routers, and virtual switches. The controller may control the virtual system routers to route packets between the virtual routers. |
| US10250526B2 |
Method and apparatus for increasing subresource loading speed
Provided are methods and apparatus for increasing subresource loading speed. A method may include receiving a page request initiated by a user, extracting the host domain name corresponding to the page URL, and querying if the hash table has a domain name tree corresponding to the host domain name; if the hash table has a domain name tree corresponding to the host domain name, traversing the domain name tree to extract a plurality of subresource domain names with the highest priority, and at the same time, establishing TCP connections for the host domain name and the plurality of subresource domain names; when the main document data of the host domain name is received, initiating a subresource loading request according to the subresource URL in the main document data; if the subresource domain name in the subresource loading request is a domain name in the above plurality of subresource domain names, directly initiating a HTTP request by using the previously established TCP connection, and completing the loading of the subresource. By establishing TCP connections for subresource domain names with high priority in advance, such methods and apparatus solve the problem that TCP connection needs to be established on site when a subresource loading is requested. |
| US10250525B2 |
Intent-based services orchestration
Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing intent-based network services orchestration. In some embodiments, a computing system might receive, over a network, a request for network services from a customer. The request for network services might include desired performance parameters for the requested network services, without information regarding any of specific hardware, specific hardware type, specific location, or specific network for providing the requested network services. The computing system might allocate network resources from one or more networks, based at least in part on the desired performance parameters. Based on a determination that at least one network can no longer provide at least one network resource having the desired performance parameters, the computing system might allocate at least one other network resource from at least one second network, based at least in part on network performance metrics, and based at least in part on the desired performance parameters. |
| US10250524B2 |
Technologies for increasing bandwidth in partitioned hierarchical networks
Technologies for increasing the bandwidth of partitioned hierarchical networks is disclosed. If each partition of network groups of a computer network are isolated, then the connections between the network groups of different partitions may go unused. However, careful selection of the network connections between partitions of different network groups may allow for a pseudo-direct connection between two network groups of the same partition using a single non-blocking switch in a network group of a different partition. Such a configuration can increase the effective bandwidth available within a partition without affecting the bandwidth available in another partition. |
| US10250523B2 |
Unified bandwidth management on distributed network environment
The present invention provides systems and methods for unified bandwidth management for network traffic. In particular, two or more network devices may be grouped into a single set, and bandwidth management is performed on the single set. The grouping of network devices into a single set facilitates dynamic adjustment of bandwidth management based on real-time variations in network traffic that may arise during standard operations of the network. |
| US10250510B2 |
Intelligent network resource manager
A method and apparatus for intelligent network resource manager for distributed computing systems is provided. A first priority is assigned to a first virtual channel set that includes at least two virtual channels of a plurality of virtual channels associated with a physical communication channel. A second priority is assigned to a second virtual channel set that includes at least one virtual channel of the plurality of virtual channels. The first virtual channel set has more virtual channels than the second virtual channel set. Outbound messages of the first priority are directed to virtual channels of the first virtual channel set. Outbound messages of the second priority are directed to virtual channels of the second virtual channel set. The virtual channels are processed in a round-robin order, where processing includes sending the outbound messages over the physical communication channel. |
| US10250508B2 |
Load balancing method and system
A load balancing method and system are provided in the embodiments of the present document. The method includes: collecting load information of a load balancing object, and generating a load balancing group table according to the load information; generating a load balancing group routing table according to information of the load balancing group table; and forwarding a data packet according to the load balancing group routing table. |
| US10250506B2 |
Link control method and apparatus
Disclosed are a link control method and apparatus. The method includes that: link information and/or machine frame information in a system is acquired; and link control is performed according to the acquired link information and/or machine frame information. According to the technical solutions described in the disclosure, the problems of local congestion and packet loss in a three-level asymmetrical switching system can be effectively solved, the traffic level of the system is ensured, and the performance of the system is improved. |
| US10250502B2 |
Software defined network-based data processing method, node, and system
The present disclosure discloses a software defined network SDN-based data processing system, and the system includes: a source data node, configured to receive a first data packet, and send to a corresponding source control node; the source control node, configured to receive the first data packet, where the first data packet carries a destination address of the first data packet; and determine a destination control node; and the destination control node, configured to receive the first data packet, and generate a second data packet and a matching policy rule. According to a software defined network-based data processing system in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the collaboration capability between nodes is improved so as to reduce the redundancy of multi-node processing in a network device, thereby improving the service processing efficiency of the network. The present disclosure further discloses a software defined network-based data processing method and device. |
| US10250501B2 |
Service packet forwarding method and apparatus
A service packet forwarding method and an apparatus, where the method includes receiving, by a classifier, a first service packet, generating, by the classifier, a second service packet according to a packet characteristic, and sending, by the classifier, the second service packet to a forwarder. Each piece of service chain information indicates a route of one service chain, a service packet carries multiple pieces of service chain information, and routes of multiple service chains constitute an entire path for forwarding the service packet. |
| US10250496B2 |
Router based maximum transmission unit and data frame optimization for virtualized environments
Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising receiving a first data frame and a second data frame by a device driver of a first virtual network interface controller (vNIC) of a plurality of vNICs sharing a physical network interface controller (NIC) of a computing system, storing, by the device driver of the first vNIC, the first and second data frames in a first queue for the first vNIC, generating, by the device driver of the first vNIC, an optimized data frame comprising the first and second data frames, wherein the optimized data frame specifies a modified Ethernet preamble, and sending the optimized data frame to a hypervisor of the computing system. |
| US10250494B2 |
Segment routing label switch paths in network functions virtualization communications networks
A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a request to create a path through a network, wherein the path originates on a first network device and terminates on the second network device; identifying a first controller associated with the first network device, wherein the first controller proxies control plane functions for the first network device; identifying a second controller associated with the second network device, wherein the second controller proxies control plane functions for the second network device; and computing the path using the first controller as a source and the second controller as a destination. The first controller installs the computed path on the first network device and the second controller installs the computed path on the second network device. |
| US10250493B2 |
Asymmetric network elements sharing an anycast address
For a managed network implementing at least one logical router having centralized and distributed components, some embodiments provide a method that better supports the provision of certain network applications and/or services. The method receives at a host implementing (1) a distributed logical router and (2) a plurality of logical switches of a logical network along with other hosts, a message from a first data compute node (DCN) executing on the host. The host logically forwards the message to the distributed logical router that uses a particular anycast internet protocol (IP) address using a first media access control (MAC) address. The distributed router determines that the message requires processing by a centralized logical router (e.g., a service router, edge node, etc.) executing on an edge node host and forwards the message to the centralized logical router using the same anycast IP address and a second, unique MAC address. |
| US10250491B2 |
In-flow packet prioritization and data-dependent flexible QoS policy
A method, operational at a device, includes receiving at least one packet belonging to a first set of packets of a packet flow marked with an identification value, determining that the at least one packet is marked with the identification value, determining to change a quality of service (QoS) treatment of packets belonging to the first set of packets marked with the identification value that are yet to be received, and sending a request to change the QoS treatment of packets belonging to the first set of packets marked with the identification value that are yet to be received to trigger a different QoS treatment of packets within the packet flow, responsive to determining to change the QoS treatment. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described. |
| US10250485B2 |
Broadcast message translation in a network device
Disclosed are various embodiments for translating broadcast messages in a network device. The network device obtains a configuration for translating a destination address of a specified type of broadcast message to a different destination address. A broadcast message is received that matches the specified type. A multicast message is generated based upon the broadcast message and the configuration. A multicast address used as a destination for the multicast message corresponds to the multicast address for a group of network nodes specified by the configuration. The multicast message is transmitted from one or more network interfaces associated with the multicast address for the group of network nodes. The multicast message includes the instruction for the group of network nodes. |
| US10250482B2 |
Distributed task execution in different locations with dynamic formation of testing groups
Particular embodiments execute tasks to measure performance in a computing system. The method uses a master computing device and helper client computing devices. The helper client computing devices may be situated in a pool where the helper client computing devices are available to help a master computing device to perform a task. When the master computing device wants to perform a task, the master computing device may send a message to the pool requesting help with a task. Helper client computing devices can respond to the message when the helper clients are available to join in groups to process tasks. Once the master computing device configures a group with helper client computing devices that responded to the message, the master computing device and the helper client computing devices perform the task together. |
| US10250480B2 |
Polling parameter adjustment
An approach, executed by a computer, includes receiving at least an initial polling quantity and an initial polling frequency and polling an endpoint application using the initial polling quantity and the initial polling frequency. The approach includes determining a first number of events not consumed in a queue of a listening application and a second number of events generated at the endpoint application and remaining in a queue at the endpoint application and comparing the number of events in each queue. The approach includes adjusting at least one of the initial polling quantity and the initial polling frequency based, at least in part, on the comparison of the first number of events not consumed in the queue of the listening application and the second number of events generated at the endpoint application and remaining in the queue at the endpoint application. |
| US10250467B2 |
Allocating operators of a streaming application to virtual machines based on monitored performance
Performance thresholds are defined for operators in a flow graph for a streaming application. A streams manager deploys the flow graph to one or more virtual machines (VMs). The performance of each portion of the flow graph on each VM is monitored. A VM is selected. When the performance of the portion of the flow graph in the selected VM does not satisfy the defined performance threshold(s), a determination is made regarding whether the portion of the flow graph is underperforming or overperforming. When the portion of the flow graph is underperforming, the portion of the flow graph is split into multiple portions that are implemented on multiple VMs. When the portion of the flow graph is overperforming, a determination is made of whether a neighbor VM is also overperforming. When a neighbor VM is also overperforming, the two VMs may be coalesced into a single VM. |
| US10250462B2 |
Managing change in an information technology environment
In a method for managing change in an information technology (IT) environment, in response to an open change ticket, identifying one or more components of the IT environment that are associated with at least one change operation included in the change ticket. The method further includes identifying information associated with the identified one or more components of the IT environment. The method further includes determining a listing of allowable change operations for the identified one or more components of the IT environment in the change ticket based on the identified information associated with the identified one or more components of the IT environment. The method further includes receiving a user requested change operation. The method further includes determining whether the received user requested change operation is included in the determined listing of allowable change operations. |
| US10250459B2 |
Bandwidth on-demand services in multiple layer networks
Bandwidth usage for an existing communication tunnel between a first device and second device is monitored. A determination is made that additional bandwidth is required for communication between the first network device and the second network device. A determination is made that for the addition of the additional bandwidth would exceed available bandwidth for the existing tunnel. Additional bandwidth is established between the first network device and the second network device. |
| US10250458B2 |
Determining server utilization
Ways are disclosed for determining a utilization of a server or group of servers. In one embodiment, a method includes determining a disk utilization factor (DUF) that indicates a utilization of one or more mass-storage disks of some server; determining a processor utilization factor (PUF) that indicates a utilization of one or more processors running on the first server; and based on the DUF and PUF deriving a server-utilization factor (SUF) that indicates a level of utilization of the first server, which includes incorporating one or more of (1) power-usage data or (2) financial-cost data that are associated with each of the disks and processors. |
| US10250454B2 |
Compressing topological information pertaining to managed resources to enhance visualization
A method is provided in association with a managed system having a substantial number of resources. The method includes the step of selecting an attribute that is common to all of the resources, wherein each resource has a status in regard to the selected attribute that is one of a plurality of prespecified statuses that are available for the attribute. The method further includes compressing the group of resources into a set of subgroups, wherein each subgroup corresponds to a different prespecified status of the plurality, and each resource having a given status is placed into the subgroup that corresponds to the given status. Each of the subgroups is represented by a display element on a single computer display screen, and specified information is displayed with each display element, wherein the specified information for a display element pertains to all of the resources placed into the subgroup that are represented by the display element. |
| US10250451B1 |
Intelligent analytic cloud provisioning
A services platform acts as an intermediary between an existing enterprise analytic environment, and one or more underlying cloud service providers. The platform provides enterprise “big data-as-a-service,” by which an enterprise can seamlessly and easily provision new capacity for processing its analytic workload, and migrate data sources (e.g., data warehouse marts, enterprise data warehouses, analytic sandboxes, and the like) to the cloud for processing. The platform provides end-to-end enterprise class manageability of enterprise data assets, from data collection, aggregation, movement, staging and processing, all while providing service levels, security, access and governance. The platform integrates directly but seamlessly into the enterprise analytic stack, and existing analytics applications work as normal. The platform provides a way for the enterprise to translate its workloads into clusters of compute resources that meet its service level requirements. |
| US10250449B2 |
Method and mechanism for efficiently managing flows
Some embodiments provide a novel method for installing flows of a desired network state in an actualized network state of a managed forwarding element. In some embodiments, the method maintains a flow output table based on flow events received from a computation engine for computing desired state, and from a set of managed forwarding elements on which the computed desired state is installed. The method of some embodiments then installs flows on the set of managed forwarding elements based on the flow output table. |
| US10250448B2 |
Method of communicating information between nodes
There is provided a method of communicating information from a first node to a second node, the method comprising the first node transmitting a device name for the first node; the second node detecting the device name for the first node; and the second node determining the occurrence of an event at the first node and/or information from the first node from the detected device name for the first node. |
| US10250447B2 |
System and method for providing a U-space aligned KVM/Ethernet management switch/serial aggregator controller
A server rack includes a rack space including a plurality of rack units for receiving equipment, an aggregator module, and a plurality of management ports. Each management port is coupled to the aggregator, uniquely associated with one of the plurality of rack units, and collocated with the associated rack unit. The aggregator module is operable to determine which rack unit of the plurality of rack units that a first piece of equipment is installed into, based upon a first management port of the first piece of equipment being coupled to a second management port of the plurality of management ports. |
| US10250443B2 |
Using physical location to modify behavior of a distributed virtual network element
A system for network virtualization in which physical network resources in different physical contexts are configured to implement one or more distributed logical network elements, at least some of the physical network resources implementing the distributed logical network elements configured according the physical context of those network resources. The local configuration of a physical locale is a version of the logical configuration that is modified specifically for the physical locale. Such modification is based on locale identifiers that are assigned to the physical locales. Some systems use locale-specific information to modify next-hop preference. Some system use locally modified configurations to determine the placement of VMs. |
| US10250442B2 |
Software defined networking portal
Implementations described and claimed herein provide systems and methods for custom-defined network routing. In one implementation, a set of custom defined network flow rules is received at an edge router of a primary network, which is in communication with a customer network. The set of custom defined network flow rules correspond to network traffic associated with the customer network. The set of custom defined network flow rules is stored in a forwarding table on the edge router. A packet of data is received at the edge router. The packet of data is attributed to the customer network. The set of custom defined network flow rules is applied to the pack of data using the forwarding table. |
| US10250439B2 |
Configuring network devices
Systems and methods for configuring network devices are provided. Aspects of the disclosure relate to configuration parameters and methods for using configuration parameters to provide enhanced services to users in a network. Updated configuration parameters may be provided in response to a request for temporary alteration of a communication parameter associated with a communication protocol of a network device. The updated communication parameter may cause alteration of a communication parameter associated with the communication protocol while leaving unchanged a second communication protocol of the network device. |
| US10250436B2 |
Applying framing rules for a high speed data link
Aspects of the embodiments are directed to systems, methods, and devices for error handling of data received across a multi-Lane Link compliant with a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) protocol. The system can include an upstream device to transmit a data packet across a multi-Lane Link compliant with the PCIe protocol and a downstream device connected to the upstream device across a multi-Lane Link, the downstream device comprising a receiver that comprises a deframer logic. The deframer logic can identify a Framing error in a received data packet received on one Link of the multi-Lane Link; determine that one or more other data packets received on one or more other Links of the multi-Lane Link do not present a Framing error; and process the received data packet based on the one or more other data packets received on the one or more other Links. |
| US10250434B2 |
Electronic control apparatus
An electronic control apparatus is communicable with an external device through a communication line and receives a communication request. The electronic control apparatus includes: control portions; resources that individually correspond to each of the control portions; linking information that links the resources individually corresponding to each of the control portions with respect to the control portions without individually overlapping; a communication propriety determination portion that determines a communication propriety with the external device; and a communication portion that responds to the communication request and communicates with the external device. The communication propriety determination portion determines that the communication is permitted when the resource information indicates the resource linked with the corresponding control portion; and determines that the communication is not permitted when the resource information does not indicate the resource linked with the corresponding control portion. |
| US10250433B1 |
Method and system for peer-to-peer operation of multiple recording devices
In an embodiment, a method includes receiving a first status message from a first recording device. The first status message includes a first recording identifier. The method further includes determining to initiate a second recording on a particular recording device based, at least in part, on the first status message and configuration settings. In addition, the method includes initiating a second recording on the particular recording device. Furthermore, the method includes creating a second recording identifier. The method also includes storing information related to the first recording identifier and the second recording identifier in a metadata file. Additionally, the method includes transmitting a second status message for receipt by other recording devices. The second status message includes the second recording identifier. |
| US10250431B2 |
System and methods thereof for optimizing communication between a civilian and different dispatchers
A system for optimizing communication between civilians and authorities. The system enables optimal routing of message delivery from civilians to different dispatchers. The system enables adaptive optimization of the delivery of such messages by continuously identifying data collected by an agent installed on a user device. The messages typically comprise one or more portions, such as data, call, multimedia, etc. The system further identifies the communication target to which the message is sent. The system then determines an optimal route for sending each of the portions of the message. According to an embodiment, the determination may further be made based on metadata associated with the location of the user device. Then, each portion of the message is sent to the communication target via the optimal route. |
| US10250429B2 |
Spectrally-efficient spiral-based waveforms for communication
Methods for communicating are disclosed. A method includes obtaining at least one input communication symbol selected from a set of communication symbols, converting the at least one input communication symbol into at least one transmittable waveform using at least one defined spiral waveform function, and transmitting the at least one transmittable waveform over a communication channel. Example spiral waveform functions include spline-based piecewise functions and Archimedes spiral functions. |
| US10250427B2 |
Receiver, frame synchronization method, transmitter, transmission method, and program
The present technology relates to a receiver, a frame synchronization method, a transmitter, a transmission method, and a program that allows for enhancing frame synchronization performance without reducing throughput. A receiver of an aspect of the present technology receives signals of a frame having a preamble including a frame detection signal sequence formed by a repetition of a known signal sequence, followed by a frame synchronization signal sequence formed by the known signal sequence or an inverse sequence thereof, performs convolution arithmetic operation of a known correlation sequence and cross-correlation between a received signal sequence and the frame synchronization signal sequence, and ensures synchronization of the frame while regarding predetermined time when a value more than or equal to a threshold value or a maximum value is obtained. The present technology can be applied to a device that transmits and receives data. |
| US10250426B2 |
Method for transmitting broadcast signals and apparatus for transmitting broadcast signals
A method for transmitting broadcast signals, the method includes encoding service data based on a code rate; mapping the encoded service data into constellations based on a modulation order; MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) processing a pair of symbols of the mapped service data using MIMO precoding, wherein the MIMO precoding is based on at least one of phase-hopping matrix with a phase rotation angle and a rotation matrix with a rotation angle, wherein a value of the rotation angle depends on the modulation order and the code rate, and wherein when the modulation order is NUC 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and the code rate is one of 2/15, 3/15, 4/15, 5/15, the value of the rotation angle is zero (0) degrees; time-interleaving the MIMO processed service data; building signal frames including the time-interleaved service data; modulating data in the signal frames by an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) scheme. |
| US10250420B2 |
Method and apparatus for reception of control signaling
A method and apparatus provide reception of control signaling in a wireless communication network. A first set of a first number (k1) of control channel Blind Decoding (BD) candidates can be monitored in a first subframe at an aggregation level for a control channel transmission in the first subframe starting from a first OFDM symbol position in the first subframe. A second set of a second number (k2) of control channel BD candidates can be monitored in the first subframe at the aggregation level in the first subframe starting from a second OFDM symbol position in the first subframe. A third set of a third number (k3) of control channel BD candidates can be monitored in a second subframe at the aggregation level in the second subframe starting only from a first OFDM symbol position in the second subframe when a Downlink Control Information (DCI) intended for the device is successfully decoded from a candidate in the second set of the second number (k2) of control channel BD candidates, where k3>k1 and k3>k2. The first OFDM symbol position in the first subframe can be the same position as the first OFDM symbol position in the second subframe. |
| US10250418B2 |
EHF receiver architecture with dynamically adjustable discrimination threshold
An EHF receiver that determines an initial slicing voltage level and dynamically adjusts the slicing voltage level and/or amplifier gain levels to account for characteristics of the received EHF electromagnetic data signal. The architecture includes an amplifier, detector, adaptive signal slicer, and controller. The detector includes a main detector and replica detector that convert the received EHF electromagnetic data signal into a baseband signal and a reference signal. The controller uses the baseband signal and reference signal to determine an initial slicing voltage level, and dynamically adjust the slicing voltage level and the gain settings of the amplifier to compensate for changing signal conditions. |
| US10250417B1 |
Serial link adaptive equalization using track and hold circuits
One feature pertains to an apparatus that includes a first stage track and hold circuit that subsamples a receive equalizer output of a receive equalizer, and a second stage track and hold circuit that generates a first signal representative of an average voltage value of a logical value at the receive equalizer output when a high frequency bit pattern is detected, and a second signal representative of an average voltage value of the logical value at the receive equalizer output when a steady state bit pattern is detected. The apparatus further includes a comparator circuit that generates a comparator output signal that indicates which of the first signal and the second signal has a greater magnitude, and a processing circuit that generates equalizer tuning signals based on the comparator output signal to adjust parameters of an equalizer that affects the receive equalizer output. |
| US10250413B2 |
Facility system
In a facility system, a first gateway PLC connected to first processing machines and second gateway PLCs connected to second processing machines are connected to an upper-level network. Further, the first gateway PLC and the second gateway PLCs control operation mutually associated between the first processing machines and the second processing machines on the basis of mutually associated information which is acquired from the first processing machines and the second processing machines. |
| US10250411B2 |
Message processing method and apparatus
An optical network termination (ONT) receives an uplink message, the ONT includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) tagging operation configuration data managed entity (ME) with a VLAN tagging operation table, and each entry of the VLAN tagging operation table includes a group of operation value fields and a group of filter value fields including an outer layer VLAN priority filter value, an outer layer VID filter value, an inner layer VLAN priority filter value and an inner layer VID filter value. The ONT filters the received uplink message according to a characteristic value of the received uplink message by using at least one of the above values in a corresponding entry of the VLAN tagging operation table. The ONT performs a VLAN tagging operation for the filtered o uplink message. |
| US10250406B2 |
Communication system for allowing one of multiple nodes connected via a network to control hardware of another node by transmitting interrupt data
In a communication system having multiple nodes communicably connected via a network, at least two of the nodes each includes: a software-operated data generator that executes arithmetic processing using software to generate transmission data to be transmitted to another node; a data transmission unit that sends out the transmission data; a data accepting unit that accepts data transmitted from another node; a software-operated controller that executes arithmetic processing using software based on at least the data accepted by the data accepting unit to control hardware serving as a control target; and an interrupt accepting unit that accepts interrupt data generated by another node and, based on the accepted interrupt data, outputs a hardware control signal to the hardware serving as the control target or other hardware associated with the node such that the hardware is directly controlled based on the hardware control signal without via the software-operated controller. |
| US10250393B2 |
Automatic E-signatures in response to conditions and/or events
Techniques allow for automatic signing of a digital document in response to some event and/or when the document satisfies some predefined condition. The document may be, for example, an agreement, a technical paper for publication, a press release or marketing materials, or any other digital document that might need to be assented to, approved by, and/or attributed to one or more persons or representatives. The techniques may further provide support for automatic signature tracking and notification in order to assist with auditability. In one example embodiment, the techniques are implemented in the context of an e-signature application or service, which may be installed locally on the user's computer or provided to the user via a network from a server. In one example embodiment, the e-signature service is configured to automatically impress a signer's signature into a given document, if the signer's pre-established auto-sign criteria is met. |
| US10250390B1 |
Data health assurance using private proof of authority
A method of securing a network including parsing a first data packet into at least one portion using a first device, such that the at least one portion includes a portion designated as an index identifier. The method includes hashing the at least one portion of the first data packet using the first device and the index identifier, and hashing, using the first device and the index identifier, at least one portion of a second data packet. The method includes combining, using the first device and the index identifier, the hashed portions of the first data packet and the second data packet, and hashing, using the first device and the index identifier, at least one portion of the combined hashed portions of the first data packet and the second data packet into a first combined data packet hash. The method can provide an indication of network security. |
| US10250389B2 |
Script verification using a hash
Systems and methods of the present invention provide for one or more server computers communicatively coupled to a network and configured to: identify, within a data store: a web page including a script tag; a URL in the script tag referencing a location for a second server hosting a script file; and a first hash data in the script tag generated from the script file using a hash function algorithm. The server computer(s) execute a request that accesses the script file and a second hash generated from the script file and stored on the second server computer. If the second hash data does not match the first hash data, execution of the script tag is disabled, and a notification is generated. |
| US10250388B2 |
Methods, networks and nodes for dynamically establishing encrypted communications
Methods, networks and nodes for dynamically establishing encrypted communications between a first node having a first identification and a first private key and a second node having a second identification and a second private key. A first signal comprising information indicative of the first identification of the first node is transmitted, then, upon receipt of the first signal by the second node, a second signal comprising information indicative of the second identification of the second node and a first portion of a symmetric key is transmitted, then, upon receipt of the second signal by the first node, a third signal comprising a second portion of the symmetric key is transmitted. |
| US10250379B2 |
Clock recovery device with switchable transient non-linear phase adjuster
A clock recovery device recovers a master clock over a packet network from incoming synchronization packets. A frequency locked loop generates a control input to a controlled oscillator, which generates an output clock. The frequency locked loop is responsive to pure offset information obtained from the incoming synchronization packets. A transient phase adjuster extracts information from the incoming synchronization packets taking into account transit delays to effect fast frequency adjustment of the control input and to provide a phase adjustment input to the frequency locked loop. A secondary phase path is selectable in response to de-activation of the transient phase adjuster to provide a phase correction to the control input derived from said pure offset information when the transient phase adjuster is inactive. |
| US10250378B2 |
Base station apparatus and method for controlling base station apparatus
According to one embodiment, a base station apparatus includes: a radio equipment control that generates a baseband signal including data; a microwave apparatus that modulates the baseband signal to a microwave to transmit by radio; a microwave apparatus that demodulates the received first microwave to the baseband signal, then extracts a clock from a cycle of the data included in the baseband signal, imports the baseband signal in synchronization with the clock, and plays back the data; and a radio equipment that modulates the data played back by the microwave apparatus to a high-frequency signal, and the microwave apparatus outputs dummy data instead of the played back data when a frequency fluctuation amount of the clock exceeds a predetermined range. |
| US10250375B2 |
Clock synchronization
An apparatus and a method are disclosed for synchronizing clock signals distributed within a wireless device. In some embodiments, a local oscillator (LO) clock signal is buffered and distributed to two or more transceivers within the wireless device. Each transceiver may include a configurable clock divider to divide the distributed LO clock signal and generate an output clock signal. A phase detector compares output clock signals from each of the configurable clock dividers and generates an output signal in accordance with a determined phase difference. The phase detector output signal may cause at least one of the configurable clock dividers to modify its respective output clock signal, and thereby synchronize output clock signals between different configurable clock dividers. In some embodiments, a clock signal from a configurable clock divider may be modified (shifted) by approximately 90 or 180 degrees. |
| US10250374B2 |
HARQ operation when TDD cell and FDD cell are included in carrier aggregation
One disclosure of the present specification provides a method for operating a HARQ from user equipment (UE). The method comprises the steps of: the UE receiving downlink data from each cell, when at least one TDD-based cell and at least one FDD based cell are established according to carrier aggregation (CA), a specific TDD-based cell is established as a primary cell of the carrier aggregation (CA), and the at least one FDD-based cell is established as a secondary cell of the carrier aggregation (CA); the UE confirming a PUCCH format to be used for transmitting a HARQ ACK/NACK for the downlink data; and the UE determining the number of bits for transmitting the HARQ ACK/NACK when use of the specific PUCCH format for transmitting the HARQ ACK/NACK is confirmed. |
| US10250373B2 |
Sequence generation and transmission method based on time and frequency domain transmission unit
A method and a user equipment for transmitting control information in a communication system are discussed. The method according to an embodiment includes multiplying a transmission information symbol s for the control information by a frequency direction sequence c(k) to generate a first output sequence s(k), where s(k)=s*c(k), k=0, . . . , Nk−1, and Nk corresponds to a number of subcarriers included in a resource block allocated for an uplink control channel; multiplying the first output sequence s(k) by a time direction sequence x(n) to generate a second output sequence s(k, n), where s(k, n)=s(k)*x(n), n=0, . . . , Nn−1, and Nn corresponds to a number of symbols used for transmission of the control information in a transmission time interval; and transmitting the second output sequence s(k, n) through the uplink control channel in the transmission time interval. |
| US10250372B2 |
Component carrier (de)activation in communication systems using carrier aggregation
This invention relates to the proposal of component carrier (de)activation message that is allowing a activation or deactivation of one or more component carriers in the uplink or downlink. Furthermore, the invention relates to the use of the new component carrier (de)activation message in methods for (de)activation of downlink component carrier(s) configured for a mobile terminal, a base station and a mobile terminal. To enable efficient and robust (de)activation of component carriers, the invention proposes to use component carrier-specific or cell-RNTI(s) for the scrambling of the CRC of the component carrier (de)activation message, and to explicitly indicate the intended recipient of the component carrier (de)activation message in a corresponding field in the message. Furthermore, the invention further proposes different designs of the component carrier (de)activation message and further uses thereof, so as to trigger CQI reporting and/or SRS transmission by a mobile terminal. |
| US10250366B2 |
Method for transmitting and receiving reference signal in wireless communication system and apparatus therefor
A method for transmitting, by a base station, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) in a wireless communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of generating a DMRS sequence; mapping the DMRS sequence to resource elements of respective layers; and transmitting, through respective antenna ports corresponding to the respective layers, the DMRS sequence mapped to the resource elements, wherein if the number of layers exceeds a predetermined number, the DMRS sequence is mapped to the resource elements according to a pattern on at least two bundled consecutive resource blocks. |
| US10250360B2 |
Methods and devices for sub-block decoding data signals
Embodiments of the invention provide a decoder for decoding a signal received through a transmission channel in a communication system, said signal comprising a vector of information symbols, wherein the decoder comprises: a processing unit (307) configured to determine at least one candidate set of division parameters and to perform a division of said vector of information symbols into a set of sub-vectors in association with each candidate set of division parameters, each pair of sub-vectors being associated with a division metric; a selection unit (309) configured to select one of said candidate sets of division parameters according to a selection criterion depending on said division metric; and a decoding unit (311) configured to determine at least one estimate of each sub-vector associated with said selected set of division parameters by applying a symbol estimation algorithm, wherein the decoder is configured to determine at least one estimate of the vector of information symbols from said at least one estimate of each sub-vector of information symbols. |
| US10250357B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal and method for transmitting and receiving a signal
A method for transmitting and receiving a signal and an apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal are disclosed. The method includes receiving the signal from a first frequency band in a single frame including at least one frequency band, demodulating the received signal by an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) method and parsing the signal frame, acquiring a symbol stream of a service stream from the at least one frequency band included in the parsed signal frame, demapping symbols included in the symbol stream and outputting the demapped symbols to sub streams, multiplexing the output sub streams and outputting one bit stream, and deinterleaving and error-correction-decoding the output bit stream. |
| US10250354B2 |
Systems and methods for waveform selection and adaptation
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for providing waveform adaptation are provided. In an example, a method is provided for identifying a plurality of candidate waveforms, and selecting one of the candidate waveforms for data transmission. The candidate waveforms may be identified in accordance with one or more criteria, such as a transmission capability of the transmitting device, a reception capability of the receiving device, a desired Peak-to-Average-Power-Ratio (PAPR) characteristic, adjacent channel interference (ACI) rejection requirements, spectrum localization requirements, and other criteria. The waveform selected for data transmission may be selected in accordance with one or more waveform selection criteria, such as traffic characteristic, application types, etc. |
| US10250349B2 |
Coordinated interference cancellation in wireless network
An example technique includes receiving, by a user device, a first signal including a first user device-specific signal from a base station and one or more interfering signals, the first user device-specific signal being received based on a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS), determining, by the user device, whether the user device can perform interference cancellation for the one or more interfering signals, sending, by the user device to the base station, an interference cancellation feedback message including at least, for each of the one or more interfering signals, an interference cancellation capability indication that indicates whether or not the user device can perform interference cancellation for the interfering signal, receiving an updated MCS, wherein the updated MCS is based, at least in part, on the interference from the interference cancellation feedback message, and receiving, by the user device based on the updated MCS, a second signal. |
| US10250348B2 |
Optical transport system and resource optimization method
In the optical transport system a transport frame generator divides a transport frame accommodating plural client signals into plural transmission signals. Subcarrier transmission units convert the signals into optical signals using different optical carriers and transmit the converted optical signals. Subcarrier reception units receive the transmitted optical signals and convert the optical signals into reception signals. A transport frame termination unit combines the reception signals to restore the transport frame. A time-demultiplexing processor time-demultiplexes the restored transport frame to be separated into the client signals. A time slot control unit determines a new time slot allocation when time-multiplexing the client signals in the transport frame and stops supply of electric power to a subcarrier transmission unit and a subcarrier reception unit that transmit and receive an optical signal to which the client signals are not allocated. |
| US10250347B1 |
Routing-efficient time division multiplexing (TDM) data path circuitry
TDM circuitry that includes a rotary multiplexer and a memory circuit is provided. A first rotary multiplexer circuit may receive N-bit wide data in accordance to a time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme. The N-bit wide data includes multiple sets of M-bit wide data. The first rotary multiplexer may rotate these sets of the M-bit wide data. The memory circuit is coupled to the first rotary multiplexer circuit. The memory circuit stores each of rotated set of M-bit wide data. A second rotary multiplexer circuit may read k-th bits of the each of the stored M-bit wide data from the memory circuit and may rotate these k-th bits before outputting these k-th bits serially, where k is an integer having a value greater than 0. |
| US10250344B2 |
Broadcast of audio data based on input broadcast signals stored during a detected anomaly period by lightning energy
According to an embodiment, a broadcast continuation assistance device, includes a memory that stores broadcast audio data corresponding to input broadcast audio signals in a chronological order; and an output unit that reads, from the memory, based on an anomaly detection signal received from outside, the broadcast audio data corresponding to the broadcast audio signals that would have been broadcast during an anomaly detected period, and outputs the broadcast audio signals corresponding to the read broadcast audio data after an anomaly is resolved. |
| US10250342B2 |
System for measuring reception performance of wireless terminal and method of measurement
In a measuring system in which a wireless terminal that is a measurement target is rotated centering around the standard point O at each rotation angle of the wireless terminal, and thus a reception performance is acquired, when the reception performance is obtained, a power of a measurement signal that is supplied to the measurement antenna is corrected for a propagation loss error and a gain error that occur in association with rotation of the wireless terminal, angle correction for an angle error that occurs in association with the rotation of the wireless terminal is performed on the reception performance at each rotation angle, which is acquired with the measure signal having the corrected power, and thus the reception performance in a case where it is assumed that a terminal antenna of the wireless terminal is rotated at a position of a standard points is obtained. |
| US10250341B2 |
Monitoring apparatus, wireless communication system, failure factor deciding method, and non-transitory computer readable medium having program stored thereon
There are provided a monitoring apparatus, a wireless communication system, a failure factor deciding method and a program which enable a user to take an appropriate countermeasure for a failure factor which has occurred in a wireless communication apparatus which employs space diversity. The monitoring apparatus (1) includes an obtaining unit (12) and a deciding unit (14). The obtaining unit (12) obtains a history related to a received signal level of a first receiver (22) and a received signal level of a second receiver (24) in a predetermined period from a wireless communication apparatus (20) including the first receiver (22) and the second receiver (24). The deciding unit (14) decides a factor of a failure that has occurred in the wireless communication apparatus (20) based on the history. |
| US10250340B1 |
Wireless relay directional testing
A wireless relay performs Radio Frequency (RF) testing at geographic azimuths. In the wireless relay, a wireless access point wirelessly exchanges user data with wireless user devices and exchanges the user data with Relay Equipment (RE). In the wireless relay, the RE exchanges the user data with the wireless access point and wirelessly exchanges the user data with a wireless communication network. The RE wirelessly receives a directional RF test instruction indicating geographic azimuths. The RE performs a directional RF test at the geographic azimuths based on the directional RF test instruction. The RE transfers RF test results for the geographic azimuths to the wireless communication network. |
| US10250339B2 |
Integrated circuit calibration architecture
A calibration architecture that enables accurate calibration of radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits (ICs) chips used in transceiver RF systems in a relatively simple testing environment. Embodiments of the invention include one or more on-chip switchable internal calibration paths that enable direct coupling of a portion of the on-chip circuit to an RF test system while isolating other circuitry on the chip. Some embodiments allow interconnection of switchable internal calibration paths between separate IC chips. Still other embodiments utilize internal switches and antenna mutual coupling to provide over-the-air calibration, alone or in combination with direct signal coupling via internal calibration paths. Periodic self-calibration of an RF IC can be performed after initial factory calibration, so that adjustments in desired performance parameters can be made while such an IC is embedded within a final system, and/or to take into account component degradation due to age or other factors. |
| US10250338B1 |
Transmitter drive with improved transmitter performance and reliability
An apparatus includes a transmitter circuit coupled to a termination resistor. The transmitter circuit generates a number of link pulses. A driver circuit is coupled to the transmitter circuit to control a dynamic range of the link pulses. A transformer couples the termination resistor via a transmission medium to a far-end transceiver. The driver circuit controls the dynamic range of the link pulses by providing complementary digital input signals to the transmitter circuit, and the complementary digital input signals include ramp sections. |
| US10250337B1 |
System and method for providing underwater media capture
Disclosed herein is a method including receiving, via a bridge system including a first adapter and a second adapter, a service set identifier and a password of a capture device and discovering the capture device via the first adapter and the second adapter of the bridge system. Based on a comparison of a first signal-to-noise ratio between the first adapter and the capture device with a second signal-to-noise ratio between the second adapter and the capture device, the method includes assigning one of the first adapter and the second adapter as a host adapter in the bridge system to communicate with the capture device, transmitting, from the host adapter, a signal to the capture device to prioritize a frequency band to use for communication with the bridge system, receiving, via the frequency band, IP packets from the capture device at the host adapter and forwarding the IP packets from the bridge system to a client device. |
| US10250335B2 |
Photonic integrated chip device having a common optical edge interface
A photonic integrated chip device having a common optical edge interface is provided and specifically a device comprising: a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip comprising: an optical circuit; and an electrical interface configured to receive electrical signals for controlling the optical circuit; and, a common optical interface side of the PIC chip comprising: at least one input configured to receive light into the PIC chip to the optical circuit; and at least one output configured to convey at least one optical signal from the optical circuit out of the PIC chip, the electrical interface located on one or more electrical interface sides of the PIC chip different from the common optical interface side. |
| US10250333B2 |
Optical communication system and optical transmitter
Provided is an optical communication system capable of suppressing the deterioration of an intensity waveform of an optical intensity modulated signal subjected to transformation using SSB modulation and improving a bit error ratio and a receiver sensitivity of the optical intensity modulated signal. The optical communication system includes: an optical transmitter section including: a single-side band modulation circuit configured to subject a double-side band modulated signal to generate a single-side band modulated signal; a correction circuit configured to correct an intensity of the single-side band modulated signal so that the intensity of the single-side band modulated signal becomes closer to an intensity of the double-side band modulated signal; and an optical IQ modulator configured to output an optical modulated signal; and an optical receiver section configured to receive the optical modulated signal to directly detect an intensity component of the optical modulated signal. |
| US10250331B2 |
Subscriber device and light receiving method
A subscriber device includes a demultiplexer configured to demultiplex input wavelength-multiplexed light into a plurality of light signals for each wavelength, a plurality of light receivers configured to receive each of the plurality of light signals obtained through demultiplexing by the demultiplexer and to convert the light signals into electrical signals, a plurality of limiting amplifiers configured to amplify each of the plurality of electrical signals output from the plurality of light receivers, and a plurality of signal selection units configured to select a plurality of signals to be received from among a plurality of amplified signals output from the plurality of limiting amplifiers. |
| US10250330B1 |
Flexible signal distribution assisted by tunable optical carrier modulating a desired signal
A photonic switch device accepts a data modulated RF signal and outputs the data modulated RF signal or a frequency converted version thereof at one or more outputs of the switch device. Tunable laser(s) is/are controlled to cause peak wavelength(s) of the optical signal(s) emitted therefrom. An EOM receives the accepted data modulated RF signal and optical signal(s) produced using the tunable laser(s), and the EOM outputs an optical data signal modulated to include the data modulated RF signal. A WDM receives the optical data signal output by the EOM and the optical data signal received by the WDM demultiplexer is output at one or more outputs thereof based on peak wavelength(s) of the optical data signal. Photodetectors optically coupled to respective outputs of the WDM demultiplexer convert optical signals back to electrical signals. Related methods and system are also described herein. |
| US10250329B1 |
LED light fixture
An LED light fixture includes one or more optical transceivers that have a light support having a plurality of light emitting diodes and one or more photodetectors attached thereto, and a processor in communication with the light emitting diodes and the one or more photodetectors. The processor is constructed and arranged to generate a communication or data transfer signal. |
| US10250326B2 |
Embedded apparatus to monitor simulated brillouin scattering from Raman amplifier in fiber optics transmission system
The embedded apparatus disclosed herein may measure reflection coefficient values associated with back reflections in a fiber optics transmission system during a variable detection window to detect normal conditions, simulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), or excessive back reflections triggering remedial action. For example, the back reflections may indicate normal conditions if the reflection coefficients measured during an entire detection window remained below a threshold or a maximum reflection coefficient observed therein was below the threshold. Alternatively, the back reflections may trigger remedial action if the reflection coefficients measured in the entire detection window exceeded the threshold or a minimum reflection coefficient observed therein was above the threshold. Otherwise, the back reflections may indicate the SBS effect if the reflection coefficients measured during the detection window included points above and below the threshold or the minimum and maximum reflection coefficients observed therein were below and above the threshold. |
| US10250325B2 |
Network switching system
A network switching system is used for monitoring an operation status of an in-line device, including an operating voltage of a hardware unit of the in-line device, an operating system running in the in-line device and at least one application running in the operating system. Once an abnormal status is detected in any of the operating voltage of the hardware unit, the operating system and the application, the network switching system switches a working mode of the in-line device from a normal mode to a bypass mode, to ensure normal communication between first and second network devices connected to the in-line device. |
| US10250324B1 |
Optical time-domain reflectometer interoperable trunk switch
An optical trunk switch supporting an Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) includes a transmit switch configured to provide an input signal to one or more of a primary fiber path and a standby fiber path; a receive switch configured to provide an output signal from one of the primary fiber path and the standby fiber path; and an OTDR connection configured to provide one or more OTDR signals to monitor an inactive path of the primary fiber path and the standby fiber. |
| US10250321B2 |
Satellite communications networking
A method of operating a satellite communication network is disclosed. The network includes a plurality of satellites interconnected by a plurality of satellite-to-satellite communication links. Each of the plurality of satellites is configured to communicate with at least one ground station using respective ground-satellite communication links. The method includes transmitting a routing table to each of the satellites. Each routing table has a list of destination satellites, and defines at least two possible routes leading to it. An alert message identifying a problem communication link is transmitted to a subset of the plurality of satellites. In response to receiving the alert message, subsequent data packets are routed through the communication network by the satellites using their respective routing table to avoid the problem communication link. |
| US10250318B2 |
Process and machine for aircraft altitude control
Embodiments are described for a machine and process that include a computer code specially programmed on a non-transitory medium to change an altitude, of an aircraft that remains certified for flight by a pilot, such that the aircraft contains an altimeter having a fixed altimeter setting. The computer code may be configured to: receive an assigned altitude and a barometric pressure for a location of the aircraft; determine a differential between a height above mean sea level indicated on an altimeter using the new barometric pressure for the location of the aircraft and a height above mean sea level indicated on an altimeter based upon the fixed altimeter setting; modify, based upon the differential, a flight planned altitude for the aircraft, to create a pilotless altitude; send the pilotless altitude to the aircraft; and fly the aircraft at the assigned altitude via commanding flight at the pilotless altitude. |
| US10250316B2 |
Full-duplex relay communication method using energy harvesting, full-duplex relay communication system based on energy-harvesting, relay node device, and source node device
A method using energy harvesting including receiving, by a relay node, first information signals transmitted from a source node and second information signals transmitted from a destination node, harvesting, by the relay node, energy using energy signals transmitted from the source node while bi-directionally relaying the first information signals and the second information signals; receiving, by the source node, information signals transmitted by the relay node; and receiving, by the destination node, the information signals relayed by the relay node. The source node, the relay node, and the destination node are devices for performing communication in a full-duplex mode. |
| US10250310B2 |
Codebook construction
A method implemented in a base station used in a wireless communications system is disclosed. The method comprises having 1-layer, 2-layer, 3-layer, and 4-layer codebooks for 4 transmit antenna (4TX) transmission, each codebook including a plurality of precoding matrices, precoding data with one of the plurality of precoding matrices, and transmitting, to a user equipment, the precoded data, wherein each of the 1-layer and 2-layer codebooks comprises a first codebook and a second codebook, and wherein each precoding matrix in the first codebook comprises a first index and a second index. Other apparatuses, systems, and methods also are disclosed. |
| US10250307B2 |
Method for setting cooperation parameters of communication system, computer program thereof, information storage means thereof, and communication system including plurality of node devices
For setting cooperation parameters of a communication system including a plurality of node devices interconnected by links and adapted to be respectively configured according to said cooperation parameters, a cooperation phase comprises: gathering measurements data representative of measurements of the random variables; optimizing the figure of merit for determining said cooperation parameters, on the basis of the obtained measurements. At least one link implying quantization operations relying on a codebook for gathering said measurements data and/or for providing said cooperation parameters, a pre-processing phase comprises beforehand: obtaining statistics data relative to a probability distribution of said random variables; and determining every codebook on the basis of the figure of merit, such that the figure of merit is statistically optimized according to the obtained statistics. |
| US10250305B2 |
Method and system for indicating transmission parameter
A method and system for indicating a transmission parameter are provided in the present invention. The method includes: when multi-user multi-input multi-output (MIMO) data are transmitted, using a newly-added indication signaling in a downlink control information format to indicate different joint encoded parameters when numbers of enabled transport blocks are different. Through adding new indication signaling in the present invention, different joint encoded parameters are indicated during the multi-user MIMO data transmission and the MIMO multi-user transmission based on the demodulation reference signal is supported. |
| US10250301B2 |
Network of electronic devices assembled on a flexible support and communication method
Disclosed herein is an article including a garment, with a network formed on the garment. The network includes a main node with a main wired antenna, and at least one intermediate node with an intermediate wired antenna to be magnetically coupled to a respective device for that intermediate node. An electrical line electrically couples the main node to the at least one intermediate node. At least one electronic device is magnetically coupled to the intermediate wired antenna. A power supply unit is magnetically coupled to the main node via the main wired antenna thereof. |
| US10250300B1 |
Wireless condition monitoring sensor with near field communication insection hardware
A system including a condition monitoring sensor is provided. The condition monitoring sensor including a first near field communication transponder and a memory. The condition monitoring sensor being affixed to and monitoring conditions of a mechanical system. The condition monitoring sensor storing a unique sensor identifier within the first near field communication transponder or the memory. The system including an inspection device comprising a second near field communication transponder. An electronic coupling of the first and second near field communications is implemented based on a tapping operation between the condition monitoring sensor and the inspection device. The inspection device executes a query to the condition monitoring sensor via the electronic coupling to procure the unique sensor identifier. The inspection device executes an inspection operation in response to procuring the unique sensor identifier from the condition monitoring sensor. |
| US10250299B2 |
Mobile phone wallet
A case includes a base for receiving a portable phone and a flap hinged to the base and including a housing configured to receive a microcircuit card. A first contactless communication antenna is provided in the flap for coupling to an antenna of the microcircuit card. A second contactless communication antenna is provided in the base for coupling to an antenna of the portable phone. The first and second first contactless communication antennae are electrically connected to each other. |
| US10250298B2 |
Method and system of communicating personal health data in a near field communication environment
A method and a system for communicating personal health data in a Near Field Communication (NFC) environment are provided. An NFC manager sets control information in an NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) for providing synchronized communication of personal health data between the NFC manager and an NFC agent. The control information may include a direction flag, a state flag, sequence identifier field, and request/response flag. The NFC manager writes the NDEF format including the control information and payload data into an NFC tag associated with the NFC agent. Subsequently, the NFC manager reads the NDEF record stored in the NFC tag and determines whether the NDEF record is written into the NFC tag by the NFC agent based on the control information in the read NDEF format. Accordingly, the NFC manager repeats the above mentioned steps if the NDEF record includes payload data of the NFC agent. |
| US10250296B2 |
Communication device
An MFP establishes a first communication link L1 by receiving an activation command and sending an OK command. The MFP receives first target data from a portable device by using the first communication link. The MFP generates second target data by processing the first target data. After receiving the first target data, the MFP disconnects the first communication link. The MFP establishes a second communication link by receiving the activation command and sending the OK command. The MFP sends the second target data to the portable device by using the second communication link. |
| US10250291B2 |
Noise distribution shaping for signals, particularly CDMA signals
A method is provided for noise distribution shaping of signals, particularly for the application in receivers for CDMA signals. The method includes the acts of generating a blanking control signal by comparing a received signal with at least one blanking threshold, adapting the at least one blanking threshold or the received signal according to an offset value depending on the amplitude of the received signal, and modifying the noise distribution of the received signal by applying blanking of the received signal under control of the blanking control signal. |
| US10250290B2 |
Front end switching circuitry for carrier aggregation
This disclosure relates generally to radio frequency (RF) front-end circuitry for different types of carrier aggregation, along with methods of operating the same. In one embodiment, the RF front-end circuitry includes a first diplexer, a second diplexer, first antenna selection circuitry, and second antenna selection circuitry. In order to maintain adequate isolation between high bands and low bands but provide carrier aggregation, the first antenna selection circuitry is configured to selectively couple each of a first plurality of RF ports to any one of a first low band port in the first diplexer and a second low band port in the second diplexer, while the second antenna selection circuitry is configured to selectively couple each of the second plurality of RF ports to any one of a first high band port in the first diplexer and a second high band port in the second diplexer. |
| US10250289B2 |
Electronic device antennas with ground isolation
An electronic device may have a display cover layer mounted to a metal housing. Electrical component layers such as a display layer, touch sensor layer, and near-field communications antenna layer may be mounted under the display cover layer. An antenna feed may have a positive feed terminal coupled to the electrical component layers and a ground feed terminal coupled to the metal housing. The electrical component layers may serve as an antenna resonating element for an antenna. The antenna may cover cellular telephone bands and may receive satellite navigation system signals. A system-in-package device may be mounted to the metal housing. A flexible printed circuit may extend between the electrical component layers and the system-in-package device. A mounting bracket for the system-in-package device may be provided with electrical isolation to enhance antenna performance in bands such as a satellite navigation system band. |
| US10250287B2 |
Device for reflecting, deflecting, and/or absorbing electromatnetic radiation emitted from an electronic device and method therefor
A device for reflecting radio frequency (RF) radiation away from a user of a mobile phone has a metallic plate configured to be positioned between the mobile phone and a decorative and/or protective cover. The metallic plate is positioned over a rear surface of the mobile phone. The metallic plate is removable and non-permanently attached to the mobile phone and the decorative and/or protective cover. |
| US10250285B2 |
Apparatus and method for a communication network
Embodiments of the invention relate to an apparatus, and method for a communication network. Certain embodiments provide an apparatus comprising: a first reader configured to read a user insertable integrated circuit configured to identify a user in a communications network; a second reader configured to read a user insertable integrated circuit configured to identify a user in a communications network; at least one memory storing computer program instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the computer program instructions to cause the apparatus at least to perform: generating a control signal responsive to removal of an integrated circuit from the second reader. |
| US10250283B1 |
Digital frequency locked loop for wideband communications channels requiring extreme Doppler compensation and low signal to noise ratio
An apparatus for carrier recovery includes a frequency detector. The frequency detector includes a Fast Fourier Transform processor receiving a complex baseband RF input signal and outputting at least one positive frequency bin output and at least one negative frequency bin output. The frequency detector includes a first accumulator receiving directly or indirectly the at least one positive frequency bin output and outputting a positive frequency band energy estimate. The frequency detector includes a second accumulator receiving directly or indirectly the at least one negative frequency bin output and outputting a negative frequency band energy estimate. The frequency detector includes a subtractor receiving the positive frequency band energy estimate and the negative frequency band energy estimate and outputting an instantaneous frequency error estimate representing a difference between the positive frequency band energy estimate and the negative frequency band energy estimate. |
| US10250279B2 |
Circuits and methods for writing and reading data
A writing circuit for writing write data into a memory comprises an evaluator configured for providing an error handling code on the basis of the write data. A modifier reversibly modifies extended write data comprising both the write data and the error handling code in dependence on address information related to a writing address in order to provide modified extended write data. A writer writes the modified extended write data in a position of the memory defined by a writing address. A reading circuit for reading extended read data from a memory comprises a reader configured for reading the extended read data from a position of the memory defined by a reading address. A de-modifier modifies the extended read data in dependence on address information related to a reading address in order to provide extracted read data and an extracted error handling code. An error-detector detects based on the extracted error handling code whether the extracted read data comprises an error. |
| US10250274B2 |
Sample and hold device
A sample and hold system, for capturing and reading at least one input signal. The system comprises a readout device, a controller, an array of segments comprising a plurality of unit cells and a dummy unit cell, and segment switches between the segments and the readout device. The controller is adapted for controlling the system such that: during an acquisition phase a trace of samples is taken from the input signal and held in the unit cells; during a readout phase the samples in the unit cells or in the dummy unit cells of a segment are read out by readout device; after opening or closing the segment switches the dummy unit cell, is the first cell which is read out by the readout device. |
| US10250273B2 |
Band specific interleaving mismatch compensation in RF ADCs
An integrated circuit chip includes an interleaved analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and an interleaving calibration circuit. The interleaved ADC includes a plurality of ADCs that are each configured to sample an analog signal. The interleaved ADC is configured to convert the analog signal into an interleaved analog-to-digital signal (IADC signal) that includes a plurality of spurious signals formed from mismatches between the plurality of ADCs. The interleaving calibration circuit is configured to receive the IADC signal from the interleaved ADC, generate a mismatch profile estimate corresponding to the plurality of spurious signals to generate one or more mismatch profile estimates, determine whether a first mismatch profile estimate is in a frequency band of interest, and, in response to a determination that the first mismatch profile estimate is in the frequency band of interest, generate a set of model parameters based on the first mismatch profile estimate. |
| US10250271B2 |
Quantum computation apparatus and quantum computation method
According to one embodiment, a quantum computation apparatus includes a plurality of quantum nonlinear oscillators, a controller, and a measuring device. Each of the quantum nonlinear oscillators implements superposition of distinguishable quantum states by bifurcating one quantum state via a quantum adiabatic change controlled by a bifurcation parameter. The quantum nonlinear oscillators couple with each other by nondissipative coupling accompanying no loss. The controller individually controls the bifurcation parameters of the quantum nonlinear oscillators. A measuring device measures outputs from the quantum nonlinear oscillators. |
| US10250268B2 |
PLL circuit
A PLL circuit includes a voltage control oscillator, a frequency difference detector, a phase difference detector, and an outputter. The frequency difference detector detects a frequency difference between a reference signal and the oscillation signal and outputs a first control value based on the detected frequency difference. The phase difference detector detects a phase difference between the reference signal and the oscillation signal, and outputs a second control value based on the detected phase difference. The outputter outputs the control voltage based on the first control value and the second control value to the voltage control oscillator while the second control value does not exceed a predetermined range, and outputs the control voltage based on a corrected value obtained by correcting the first control value and the second control value to the voltage control oscillator while the second control value exceeds a predetermined range. |
| US10250267B2 |
Differential phase-frequency detector
A phase-frequency detector (PFD) is electrically coupled to a charge pump of a phase-locked-loop (PLL). The PFD includes a first differential latch electrically coupled to the charge pump. The first differential latch drives a differential pair of increment signals to the charge pump in response to differential pairs of both reference clock signals and reset signals. The PFD also includes a second differential latch electrically coupled to the charge pump. The second differential latch drives a differential pair of decrement signals to the charge pump in response to differential pairs of both feedback clock signals and reset signals. The PFD also includes a differential AND gate electrically coupled to both the first differential latch and the second differential latch. The differential AND gate drives the differential pair of reset signals to both of the differential latches in response to the differential pairs of both increment signals and decrement signals. |
| US10250266B2 |
Oscillator calibration system
An oscillator system for an integrated circuit includes a first oscillator circuit, a second oscillator circuit, and calibration system. During a sampling routine, the calibration system is used to determine a sampled value based on a comparison of the output of the second oscillator and an external clock signal. The sampled value is stored in a memory. During a calibration routine, the calibration system determines a comparison value based on a comparison of the output of the second oscillator circuit and the output of the first oscillator circuit. The calibration circuit compares the comparison value with the sampled value to generate a tuning value to tune the frequency of the first oscillator circuit. |
| US10250262B2 |
Integrated circuit including an array of logic tiles, each logic tile including a configurable switch interconnect network
An integrated circuit comprising a plurality of logic tiles, wherein each logic tile (i) is physically adjacent to at least one other logic tile of the plurality and (ii) includes a configurable switch interconnect network including a plurality of switches electrically interconnected and arranged into a plurality of switch matrices, wherein the plurality of switch matrices are arranged into a plurality of stages including: (a) at least two of the stages which is configured in a hierarchical network, and (b) a mesh stage, wherein each switch matrix of the mesh stage includes an output that is directly connected to an input of a plurality of different switch matrices of the mesh stage and wherein the mesh stage of switch matrices of each logic tile is directly connected to the mesh stage of switch matrices of at least one other logic tile of the plurality of the logic tiles. |
| US10250260B2 |
Data communication system and semiconductor device
A data communication system has a first data communication circuit for outputting a clock signal to a clock signal line, receiving data input from a data signal line, and outputting data as open drain output to the data signal line, a second data communication circuit for receiving input of a clock signal from the clock signal line, receiving input of data from the data signal line, and outputting data as open drain output to the data signal line, a first pull-up resistor connected between the data signal line and the wiring of a power supply potential, a second pull-up resistor for selectively pulling up the data signal line, and a pull-up control circuit that is connected to the second pull-up resistor, and strengthens pull-up of the data signal line at least in response to a clock signal. |
| US10250255B2 |
Semiconductor device and circuit arrangement using the same
A semiconductor device and a circuit arrangement are provided so as to reduce an on resistance. A first power MOS transistor and a second power MOS transistor are formed on the same semiconductor substrate. A first power MOS transistor formed in a first element formation region has a columnless structure including no columns. The second power MOS transistor formed in a second element formation region has an SJ structure including columns. |
| US10250253B2 |
Method and apparatus for a brown out detector
The disclosure provides a detector that includes a pre-charge circuit. The pre-charge circuit receives a supply voltage. A pre-charged comparator is coupled to the pre-charge circuit and receives the supply voltage. The pre-charged comparator generates a transition signal at a transition node. A slope of the transition signal is greater than a slope of the supply voltage. A first diode connected transistor receives the supply voltage. A first capacitor is coupled to the first diode connected transistor. An inverter is coupled to the first diode connected transistor and generates an enable signal when the supply voltage is below a threshold voltage. |
| US10250252B2 |
Control circuit and method therefor
In one embodiment, a control circuit may be configured to form a switching signal to switch a power transistor at a frequency to regulate an output voltage of the power supply to a target value wherein the control circuit is configured to operate in a normal operating mode and a start-up mode and wherein the control circuit is configured to switch the switching signal at a target frequency in response to operating in the normal operating mode. A first circuit may be configured to control the frequency of the switching signal to increase from a first frequency to a second frequency that is less than the target frequency in response to operating in the start-up mode. |
| US10250248B2 |
Synchronous clock generation using an interpolator
In some embodiments, an apparatus comprises a device clock configured to generate a device clock signal a synchronization (SYSREF) clock generation circuit configured to receive the device clock signal from the device clock. The SYSREF clock generating circuit comprises a SYSREF divider configured to generate a SYSREF clock at least partially according to the device clock signal, an interpolator configured to generate a shifted clock at least partially according to the device clock signal, and a latch coupled to the SYSREF divider and the interpolator and configured to sample the SYSREF clock at a rising edge of the shifted clock. |
| US10250245B2 |
Input device which outputs a signal having a level corresponding to a state in which a voltage value of an input signal is higher or lower than a threshold value
The embodiment relates to an input device comprises first and second MOS transistors, first to fourth resistors, and a comparator circuit. The first MOS transistor has a drain connected to a first terminal having a first voltage, a gate connected to a signal input terminal, and a source connected to a second terminal having a second voltage via the first and third resistors. The second MOS transistor has a drain and a gate connected to the first terminal, and a source connected to the second terminal via the second and fourth resistors. The comparator circuit outputs a signal having a level corresponding to a state in which a voltage of a node between the first and third resistors is higher or lower than a voltage of a node between the second and fourth resistors. |
| US10250241B2 |
Asynchronous output protocol
An apparatus and corresponding method for outputting a protocol pulse based on a speed signal representing speed of an object. The apparatus includes a zero-crossing circuit, and a delay circuit. The zero-crossing circuit is configured to output the protocol pulse at a zero-crossing of the speed signal. The delay circuit is coupled to the output of the zero-crossing circuit and configured to delay the protocol pulse. A first edge of the protocol pulse is asynchronous with a clock, and a second edge of the protocol pulse is synchronous with the clock. |
| US10250235B2 |
Full-wave charge pump with low-voltage startup
A charge pump with low-voltage startup is presented. The charge pump circuit is comprised of transistor pairs arranged in stages, where the charge pump circuit is configured to receive an input voltage and generate an output voltage whose magnitude is larger than magnitude of the input voltage. An energy storage device is configured to receive and store voltage from the charge pump circuit. A switching circuit is interfaced with the control terminals of the transistors in the charge pump circuit. In response to leakage current through the transistors in the charge pump circuit, the switching circuit switches on select transistors in the charge pump circuit while voltage stored by the energy storage device is below threshold voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit. |
| US10250225B2 |
AT-cut crystal element, crystal resonator and crystal unit
An AT-cut crystal element includes a crystal element having two side surfaces (namely, a Z′-surface) intersecting with a Z-axis of a crystallographic axis thereof. At least one of the two side surfaces is constituted of three of first to third surfaces. The first to the third surfaces meeting following conditions: the first to the third surfaces intersect with one another in this order and formed by rotating a principal surface of the crystal element by predetermined angles; and expressing the angle of the first surface as θ1, a length of the first surface as D, a thickness of a part of the crystal element having the principal surface as t, and M=D/t, and a conversion percentage as fn (M, (θ1)), the θ1 and the M are set such that the conversion percentage fn (M, (θ1)) becomes a predetermined value Th or less. |
| US10250224B2 |
Piezoelectric vibrating piece and piezoelectric device
A piezoelectric vibrating piece includes a vibrating piece body and at least a pair of excitation electrodes. The vibrating piece body includes a vibrator. The pair of excitation electrodes are formed on respective front surface and back surface of the vibrator. The vibrating piece body is a twice rotated quartz-crystal vibrating piece cut out parallel to an X″-Z″ surface. The X″-Z″ surface is rotated around a Z-axis of a crystallographic axis of a crystal and further rotated around an X′-axis. The pair of excitation electrodes are collocated in a Z′″-axis direction determined by an X′″-axis. The X′″-axis is defined by counterclockwise rotation from a +X″-axis direction around a Y″-axis by 260° to 300°. The pair of excitation electrodes are disposed inclined with respect to the Y″-axis direction. |
| US10250222B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device includes: a first substrate including a first functional element located on an upper surface of the first substrate; a second substrate that is flip-chip mounted on the upper surface of the first substrate through a bump, and includes a second functional element located on a lower surface of the second substrate; and a sealing member that is located on the upper surface of the first substrate, surrounds the second substrate in plan view, is not located between the first substrate and the second substrate, seals the first functional element and the second functional element so that the first functional element and the second functional element are located across an air gap. |
| US10250221B2 |
Elastic wave device
An elastic wave device includes a piezoelectric substrate, first and second IDT electrodes on a first main surface, and electrode lands each connected to one of the first and second IDT electrodes. First and second side portions extend in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a polarization axis direction and to a direction normal to the piezoelectric substrate. The length of the piezoelectric substrate along the polarization axis direction at the first side portion is shorter than that at the second side portion. The first IDT electrode is closer to the first side portion than the second IDT electrode. The electrode lands include a first electrode land connected to the first busbar of the first IDT electrode without having the second IDT electrode interposed therebetween, and a second electrode land being at the same potential as the first busbar of the first IDT electrode. |
| US10250216B2 |
Multistage matching network and related techniques
Multistage matching networks and analytical frameworks for improving and/or optimizing the networks is provided. In one example, a framework relaxes the resistive constraint on the input and load impedances of the stages of a multistage matching network and allows them to be complex. Based on this framework, the design of multistage matching networks can be improved or optimized, such as using a method of Lagrange multipliers. A design optimization approach, for example, can be used to predict an optimum distribution of gains and impedance characteristics among the stages of a multistage matching network. The efficiency of matching networks designed using this example approach is compared with a conventional design approach, and it is shown that significant efficiency improvements are possible. |
| US10250214B2 |
Filter device, multiplexer, radio-frequency front end circuit, and communication device
A filter includes two series arm resonators electrically connected in series between two input/output terminals, a parallel arm resonator electrically connected between a ground and a series arm between the two series arm resonators, an inductor electrically connected in parallel to the two series arm resonators, and a matching circuit electrically connected between one of the two series arm resonators and one of the input/output terminals, wherein the two series arm resonators and the parallel arm resonator define a pass band of a bandpass filter, the two series arm resonators and the inductor define an LC resonant circuit, respective anti-resonant frequencies of each of the two series arm resonators and a resonant frequency of the parallel arm resonator are located in a pass band of the LC resonant circuit, and a resonant frequency of the LC resonant circuit is lower than the resonant frequency of the parallel arm resonator. |
| US10250211B1 |
Beta equalization to reduce non-linear distortions of bipolar transistor amplifiers
Reducing non-linear distortions of an electronic device by performing at least the following: receiving, at an output stage circuit of an amplifier, an input signal from a previous stage circuit of the amplifier, driving a first subset of output transistors within the output stage circuit with an auxiliary buffer circuit to generate a first half cycle of an output signal Vout, driving a second subset of output transistors within the output stage circuit with the input signal to generate the first half cycle of the output signal Vout, and driving a set of output transistors with the input signal to generate a second half cycle of the output signal Vout, wherein the auxiliary buffer circuit equalizes the overall current gain associated with the first and second subset of output transistors with the overall current gain associated with the set of output transistors. |
| US10250209B2 |
Power amplification module
Provided is a power amplification module that supports a plurality of communication systems. The power amplification module includes: two power amplifiers that can be selectively connected in parallel with each other; a switch that, in accordance with one communication system selected from among the plurality of communication systems, selects one power amplifier that is to operate by itself from among the two power amplifiers or selects the two power amplifiers and connects the two power amplifiers in parallel with each other; and a phase correction circuit that, when the two power amplifiers are both selected, corrects a phase difference by being selectively connected between the outputs of the two selected power amplifiers such that a phase difference is not generated between the output signals of the two selected power amplifiers. |
| US10250204B2 |
Power amplification device and television signal transmission system
A power amplification device capable of detaching an element relating to the power amplification of an RF signal from an element relating to the combining of RF signals. The amplifying unit 1 is provided with a plurality of groups of amplifier circuits 2 that amplifies the power of a RF signal and the plurality of groups of amplifier circuits each includes a predetermined number of the amplifier circuits 2. A combining unit 5 includes a first combiner 7 and a second combiner 8. The first combiner 7 is provided in association with the group of the amplifier circuits 2, combines RF signals output from the amplifier circuits 2 belonging to the corresponding group, and outputs the RF signal after combining. The second combiner 8 combines the RF signals output from each first combiner 7 and outputs the RF signal after combining. Each first combiner 7 is a combiner usable for an RF signal in a specific frequency band. The amplifying unit 1 is attachable to and detachable from the combining unit 5. |
| US10250200B2 |
Low power spectrally pure offset local oscillator system
The present disclosure is directed to a dual output path LNA that can be used to break the tradeoff between the output impedance and linearity of an LNA without the problems of a programmable output impedance LNA. In an embodiment, the dual output path architecture includes an LNA driving a low level of impedance in a low voltage gain path, thus achieving high linearity in the presence of large blockers, and driving a high level of impedance in a high voltage gain path to increase the LNA's voltage gain and minimize performance degradation due to a noisier, low power receiver front-end chain following the LNA. The present disclosure is further directed to a local oscillator (LO) offset circuit with low power and reduced spur generation. |
| US10250198B2 |
Methods of adjusting gain error in instrumentation amplifiers
A current feed-back instrumentation amplifier (CFIA) comprises a differential pair with degeneration for amplifying small differential voltages in the presence of large common-mode voltages. The CFIA includes input and feedback transconductors and a trimming circuit that trims the back-bias voltages of the transistors in each transconductor. The trimming circuit includes a plurality of selectable resistors disposed in the signal path of the tail current in each transconductor. Each of the plurality of selectable resistors has a switch coupled to it. When a switch is closed, only the resistors up to the respective switch are in the signal path of the bulk-to-source voltage of the differentially paired transistors. The resistor trimming circuit reduces the mismatch between transconductances of the respective differential pair transistors, in turn reducing mismatch of the overall transconductances of the transconductors, and thereby reducing the CFIA's gain error. |
| US10250190B2 |
Multi-level digital adaptive PA bias for microwave radios
A method for biasing a power amplifier using a transmission signal having a time-varying envelope is provided. The method comprises producing a time-varying signal indicative of an amplitude of the envelope of the transmission signal and comparing the time-varying signal to a plurality of distinct threshold voltages. The method further comprises, for each of the plurality of distinct threshold voltages exceeded by the time-varying signal, providing a respective bias voltage to a respective input of a summing device and producing, using the summing device, an output bias voltage that is at least a sum of the respective bias voltages provided to the respective inputs of the summing device. The method further comprises biasing the power amplifier with the output bias voltage and amplifying the transmission signal using the power amplifier biased at the output bias voltage. |
| US10250186B1 |
Detachable split solar power optimization junction box module
A detachable split solar power optimization junction box module has split junction boxes (1A, 1B, 1C) each having a base part and an upper cover part. String ports (11) are provided in a base (10) of the base part for electrically connecting a string of a photovoltaic module (40). The upper cover part has an upper cover (20) with a circuit board (21) provided therein. The circuit board (21) has a power optimization module connected with electrical connection pieces (22). The electrical connection pieces (22) are detachably inserted into the string ports (11) so that the power optimization module performs power optimization on the string of the photovoltaic module. The split junction boxes (1A, 1B, 1C) are used for power optimization at the string level. The power optimization module is integrated in the upper cover part that detachably connects with the base part for convenience of installation and maintenance. |
| US10250184B2 |
Enhanced solar panels, liquid delivery systems and associated processes for solar energy systems
Fluid delivery systems and related structures and processes are provided, such as for use with water, treated water, and/or a cleaning solution, for any of cleaning, cooling or any combination thereof, for one or more solar panels in a power generation environment. Enhanced coatings are provided for the incident surface of solar panels, such as to avoid build up of dirt, scale, or other contaminants, and/or to improve cleaning performance. Reclamation, filtration, and reuse structures are preferably provided for the delivered fluid, and seal structures may preferably be implemented between adjoining panels, to minimize loss of the delivered water or cleaning solution. |
| US10250183B2 |
Modular solar power generator
A portable, modular solar array. The array includes a support structure configured to support a plurality of solar panel modules in a side-by-side co-planar arrangement. The support structure can be configured to support the modules in an elevated position to provide an overhead structure that shades an underlying area. The solar panel modules include solar panels mounted on a frame in a planar configuration. The frame includes a pair of hooked mounting flanges at a first end and a pair of slotted mounting flanges at a second end that enable mounting of the module between opposing support bars of the support structure. The modules are in electrical communication with a battery for storage of electrical energy generated by the solar panels. The frames and the mounting flanges are further configured to enable stacking of a plurality of the modules for storage or transport. |
| US10250179B2 |
Power converter and electric power steering apparatus using same
A power converter for converting an electric power for a motor that has three-phase winding wires includes an inverter and a controller. The controller controls the electric power supplied for the three-phase winding wires. The controller either (i) sets a two-phase modulation period for performing a two-phase modulation control when a third-order harmonic frequency that is calculated as triple the frequency of a fundamental frequency of the phase currents is smaller than an audible lower limit frequency of a human audible frequency range, or (ii) performs a three-phase modulation control, when the third-order harmonic frequency is equal to or greater than the audible lower limit frequency. In such manner, a heat generation from the maximum heat generating portion of the power converter is mitigated, and acoustical noise that is generated in the audible frequency range is reduced. |
| US10250177B2 |
Floating ground assembly for electric motor control assembly
A ground assembly includes a first layer, a second layer, and a bypass capacitor. The first layer includes a power ground, a communication ground spaced from the power ground, a conductive path defining a parasitic inductance and electrically coupled between the power ground and the communication ground, and an electrically insulating layer. At least a portion of the insulating layer is positioned between the power and communication grounds. The second layer includes a first substrate that is spaced from the power ground to define a first parasitic capacitance therebetween and is spaced from the communication ground to define a second parasitic capacitance therebetween. The bypass capacitor is electrically coupled between the power ground and the first substrate. |
| US10250172B2 |
Apparatus for detecting the rotor position of an electric motor and related method
An apparatus for detecting a position of a rotor of a DC motor with N phases having a plurality of windings. The apparatus includes circuitry to couple at least two of the windings between a supply voltage and a reference voltage according to a first current path and allow the current stored in the two windings to be discharged through a second current path. The circuitry is configured to force the at least two windings at a short circuit condition in the second current path. The apparatus also includes a measurement circuit configured to measure the time period of discharging the current stored in the two windings and a rotor position detector for detecting the rotor position based on the measured time period. |
| US10250169B2 |
Robot system
A robot system includes a motor, an inverter, a first control portion, and a second control portion. The motor includes stator windings for three phases. The inverter includes series-connection bodies of a high-side switch and a low-side switch for three phases. A connection point of the high-side switch and the low-side switch for each of the phases is connected with the corresponding stator winding. One of the high-side switch and the low-side switch for each of the phases works as a brake switch. The first control portion and the second control portion performs a driving control of the brake switches. Each of the first control portion and the second control portion has a function of monitoring the robot system, and turns on the brake switches for at least two phases when detecting that an abnormality occurs in the robot system. |
| US10250167B2 |
Device and method for starting a motor for alternating current
A device (1) for starting a motor (4) for alternating current, in particular for a compressor (5), wherein the motor (4) has at least one feed line (3) for the electrical power supply. The device comprises an actuator element (10) for limiting the current in the feed line (3), a switching element (16) for bypassing the actuator element (10), a current-monitoring element (15) for monitoring the current in the feed line (3), and a controller (18) for controlling the switching element (16). The actuator element (10) comprises at least a first start-up element (11) and a second start-up element (12) as well as a switch-over element (14) for switching over between the at least first and second start-up elements (11, 12). |
| US10250165B2 |
High speed actuator including active stiffness controller and method of driving the same
Disclosed is a high speed actuator. The high speed actuator includes an actuation part configured to cause deformation such as bending or twisting and an active stiffness controller on a surface of the actuation part or in the actuation part configured to control in real time a stiffness (e.g., of the actuator) according to an external signal. The active stiffness controller may control a stiffness of the high speed actuator in order for the actuator to be actuated at a high speed. Moreover, since the stiffness of the actuator is controlled in real time, a speed of the actuator may be controlled in real time. |
| US10250164B2 |
Inertial drive
An inertial drive is disclosed, comprising a length-changeable actuator element (I), a frame element (4) with a support section and with a deformation section, against the contact surfaces of which the actuator element bears, wherein the deformation section has an articulation section (13), a flat spring element (5) which is arranged on the deformation section and has a friction section (3) at the free end thereof, and a friction body (2), which can be driven, in mechanical contact with the friction section. A change in length (S) of the actuating element causes a rotatory movement (D) of the deformation section about the articulation section, which movement is transmitted via the spring element to the friction section for driving the friction body which can be driven. |
| US10250163B2 |
Inverse electrowetting energy harvesting and scavenging methods, circuits and systems
An inverse electrowetting harvesting and scavenging circuit includes a first substrate having first and second surfaces. An electrode is formed proximate the first surface and includes an insulating layer covering a surface of the electrode. An electromechanical systems device includes a moveable mass extending over the first surface of the first substrate that may be displaced relative to the first substrate in three dimensions responsive to external forces applied to the moveable mass. The movable mass includes a moveable electrode and a conductive fluid is positioned between the insulating layer of the electrode and the movable electrode. Energy harvesting and scavenging circuitry is electrically coupled to the moveable electrode and the other electrode and is configured to provide electrical energy responsive to electrical energy generated by the moveable electrode, conductive fluid and the electrode through the reverse electrowetting phenomena due to movement of the moveable electrode relative to the electrode and to the conductive fluid on top of the electrode. |
| US10250161B1 |
Adaptive harmonic elimination compensation for voltage distortion elements
Power conversion systems, methods and control apparatus to operate a power converter, including a processor computes an angle of an AC output current signal, compute a first voltage error that represents an inverter switch dead time voltage error in a synchronous reference frame according to the angle, computes a compensated voltage command according to the first voltage error and according to a voltage control reference, and controls an inverter according to the compensated voltage command. |
| US10250160B2 |
Method for controlling a photovoltaic inverter for network fault ride-through and a photovoltaic inverter system
An inverter and method of controlling an inverter, which is connected between a photovoltaic generator and a power supply network for ride-through of a network fault, is disclosed. A voltage dip is detected in the network voltage and the voltage of a DC voltage link of the inverter is monitored. When the DC link voltage exceeds an upper limit value, an operating mode for ride-through of the network fault is started. The upper limit value corresponds to a saturation voltage in the specific Iac/Udc characteristic curve of the inverter, above which the maximum AC output current of the inverter decreases. In the FRT operating mode, an energy dissipation device dissipates power from the DC voltage link and is controlled to keep the DC link voltage within a range below the saturation voltage. |
| US10250156B2 |
Cryogenic fuel power system
A cryogenic fuel power system includes an engine. The cryogenic fuel power system includes a cryogenic fuel supply that supplies cryogenic fuel to be used as fuel by the engine. The cryogenic fuel power system includes a cryogenic bus configured to provide the cryogenic fuel from the cryogenic fuel supply to the engine. The cryogenic fuel power system includes power electronics circuitry that converts power from the engine into a form to be applied to one or more loads. The power electronics circuitry is positioned in thermal communication with the cryogenic bus to transfer heat from the power electronics circuitry to the cryogenic fuel. |
| US10250154B2 |
Data processing device and method for high voltage direct current transmission system
A data processing device is provided. The data processing device in a high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system includes a measurement module measuring a voltage or current for one or more points in the HVDC system; and a data processing and control unit generating measurement data units using measurement values measured at the measurement module and performing serial transmission on the generated measurement data units through time division multiplexing (TDM), wherein the data processing and control unit includes a plurality of data unit generation parts, and each of the plurality of data unit generation parts outputs a transmission completion signal representing that the transmission of a measurement data unit is completed. |
| US10250151B1 |
Flyback converter controlled from secondary side
A flyback converter with a secondary side control includes a transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, a rectifier switching device in the secondary side configured to provide a rectifier path and a switching path, a secondary side control circuit configured to detect the output voltage or current value and to control the states of the rectifier switching device according to the variations between the pre-set voltage or current value and the output voltage or current value, a primary side switching device in the primary side configured to switch between on and off states, an auxiliary winding coupled to the secondary winding for providing power and detecting the states of the secondary side rectifier switching device, and a primary control circuit configured to control the primary side switching device based on the detected output state of the secondary winding from the auxiliary winding. |
| US10250148B2 |
Printing apparatus, control method thereof, and power supply circuit therefor
A printer includes a switching power supply circuit including a primary side circuit configured to perform a power switching operation, a secondary side circuit having a shunt regulator, a feedback configured to feed a comparison result between the output voltage output from the secondary side circuit and a reference voltage of the shunt regulator back to the primary side circuit to control the output voltage of the secondary side circuit, a control signal circuit configured to input a PSC signal input from an SOC to the photocoupler to control the output voltage of the secondary side circuit, and a switch circuit configured to cut off a current to be supplied to the shunt regulator in a case where the output voltage of the secondary side circuit is a low voltage in accordance with the input of the PSC signal. |
| US10250146B2 |
Soft-start power supply circuit, method for controlling the same, and display device
The present disclosure provides a soft-start power supply circuit, a method for controlling the same, and a display device. The soft-start power supply circuit includes: a soft-start circuitry configured to pull up a potential of a feedback voltage terminal to a potential of an input voltage terminal during a first phase of an operating cycle and to pull down the potential of the feedback voltage terminal to a potential of a ground terminal during a second phase of the operating cycle; a feedback operation circuitry configured to control a driving circuitry to be turned off during the first phase and control the driving circuitry to be turned on and off alternately during the second phase; a driving circuitry configured to, in an on state, output a signal of the input voltage terminal after rectifying and filtering by a rectifying and filtering circuitry to an output voltage terminal. |
| US10250144B2 |
Input voltage detection for a power converter including a transformer having a primary side and a secondary side
An example relates to a method for operating a converter comprising a primary side of a transformer and a secondary side of the transformer, wherein a switching element is used for conveying energy from the primary side to the secondary side, the method comprising (i) determining a voltage drop across the primary side of the transformer; (ii) determining at least one additional voltage drop across at least one component of the converter's primary side; and (iii) determining an input voltage at the converter via the voltage drops. |
| US10250142B1 |
Advanced constant off-time control for four-switch buckboost converter
The present disclosure provides a system and method for managing a four-switch BUCKBOOST converter with a combination of a Constant Off-time (COT) control and a Peak Current Mode (PCM) control. With the COT control, the four-switch BUCKBOOST converter can automatically and smoothly transition between a BUCK mode, a BUCKBOOST mode, and a BOOST mode when input voltage varies. In some implementations, the four-switch BUCKBOOST converter only requires a simple, low-power-consumption and robust system control loop compensation with the PCM control for inductor current, and, thus, eliminates the need for oscillator and slope compensation circuit. The PCM control is used to determine turn-off-timing of switches of the four-switch BUCKBOOST converter. The system control loop compensation can provide cycle-by-cycle current limit function to protect the converter and load from over-current damages. |
| US10250140B2 |
Switching controller
In order to reduce the cost of a switch-mode converter delivering a continuous voltage to the terminals of a load (Z), the present invention proposes a circuit having two windings (Lp, Ls) and a single magnetic core. |
| US10250139B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for a load current control circuit for a source follower voltage regulator
According to one embodiment of this disclosure, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a voltage regulator configured to produce a regulated voltage, a plurality of current circuits coupled in parallel between an output node and a power node, each of the plurality of current circuits including first and second transistors coupled in series, the first transistor of each of the plurality of current circuits being biased with the regulated voltage, and a control circuit configured to activate the second transistor of selected one or ones of the plurality of current circuits responsive, at least in part, to a voltage at the output node. |
| US10250135B2 |
Fast response control circuit and control method thereof
In one embodiment, a control circuit configured to control a switch mode power supply, can include: (i) a compensation signal generating circuit configured to generate a compensation signal according to an error between an output voltage feedback signal and a first reference voltage of the switch mode power supply; (ii) a switching signal generating circuit configured to control a switching operation of a power switching device of the switch mode power supply according to the compensation signal; (iii) a judge circuit configured to determine an operation state of the switch mode power supply according to the output voltage feedback signal; and (iv) a loop gain regulating circuit configured to regulate a loop gain of the control circuit according to the operation state. |
| US10250127B2 |
AC to DC power converter and associated electrical grid
A power converter comprises a power structure receiving, as input, an AC voltage comprising at least one phase and delivering, as output, a DC voltage, the output power of the power structure being regulated by a multiplier receiving, as input, a current control signal and a signal proportional to the output voltage of the power structure, the current control signal being generated by a current correction module receiving, as input, a signal proportional to the difference between the output current of the power structure and a current setpoint signal. Electrical network comprising such a power conversion circuit is also provided. |
| US10250122B2 |
Multi-phase control for pulse width modulation power converters
A controller controls Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals of one or more phases. The controller includes a phase sequencer to select a phase, a common ramp generator generating a common ramp signal, a phase activation circuit to turn on the PWM signal of the selected phase based on the common ramp signal, and for each phase a Current Sense plus Ramp (CSR) signal generator to generate a phase CSR signal according to a current of the phase and a phase deactivation circuit to turn off the PWM signal of the phase based on the phase CSR signal. A method of controlling PWM phases comprises selecting a phase, generating a common ramp signal, turning on the PWM signal of the selected phase based on the common ramp signal, generating CSR signals according to currents of the phases, and turning off the PWM signals based on the respective CSR signals. |
| US10250117B2 |
Apparatus for controlling converter
The present disclosure provides a converter controlling apparatus including a plurality of switching devices capable of controlling a pulse width modulation (PWM), the converter controlling apparatus including: an efficiency determiner configured to variably change resistance of a gate terminal, wherein a PWM signal for controlling the PWM of the switching device is applied to a gate terminal based on an amount of current flowing through the converter. |
| US10250115B2 |
Inverter switching devices with common source inductance layout to avoid shoot-through
A phase leg in an inverter bridge has an upper transistor with upper gate, collector, and emitter terminals, wherein the upper gate and emitter terminals are arranged to create an upper common source inductance. A lower transistor has lower gate, collector, and emitter terminals, wherein the lower gate and emitter terminals are arranged to create a lower common source inductance. An upper diode is coupled across the upper collector and emitter terminals and substantially in parallel with the upper common source inductance. A lower diode is coupled across the lower collector and emitter terminals and substantially in parallel with the lower common source inductance. Thus, the diodes substantially bypass the common source inductances when carrying commutation current when one of the transistors is switching off. This allows the phase leg to possess significant common source inductance at the gate terminals while avoiding “shoot-through” issues. |
| US10250112B2 |
Transverse flux machine
The invention implements a variation of the electrical transverse flux machine (motor or generator) that employs ferromagnetic excitation elements mostly located on the stator rather on the rotor. The excitation elements are employed in nearly-complete magnetic circuits that are periodically completed by the movement of the rotor. The varying flux that is thus generated is used to cause an EMF in windings, for the case of generators, or for the case of motors, appropriate EMF is used to cause varying flux that in turn causes rotation of the motor. |
| US10250108B2 |
Motor driving device
A motor driving device is equipped with a printed board, a plurality of secondary voltage elements mounted on the printed board and which are used only with a secondary voltage, a plurality of primary voltage elements disposed on a surface on a side opposite to a surface on which the plurality of secondary voltage elements are mounted on the printed board, and which are used only with a primary voltage that is higher than the secondary voltage, and first conductive materials, which extend from an upper portion of the printed board to control terminals (command signal input portion) of the primary voltage elements, for the purpose of transmitting command signals from the secondary voltage elements to the primary voltage elements. |
| US10250107B2 |
Magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller
Disclosed is a magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller that has integrated design of power generator with magnetic resistance and control circuit unit. The built-in control circuit unit is electrically connected to an armature core, an external digital operator, and a magnetic coil, in order to convert AC power produced by the armature core into DC power to supply for the magnetic coil and meanwhile control the resistance of a flywheel by inserting a number of torque value to the external digital operator. In addition, a software is built inside the generator for instant torque calibration without connecting to extra devices. In application to training machines, the device is easy to be installed and operated without restrictions in extra spaces for a controller and configuration of wires. |
| US10250105B2 |
Electric machine
An electric machine having a stator and a rotor, the rotor having a rotor body and magnets distributed around the outer radial circumference and the stator having a stator body and windings distributed around the inner radial circumference. The stator body has ribs protruding radially outward and heat pipes running from the radially inner windings. The heat pipes extend radially outward into the ribs. |
| US10250095B2 |
Rotating electrical machine coil
According to the present invention, a wire insulation layer (112) and an interlayer insulation layer (113) are formed on a wire (111). A main insulation layer (114) is formed by winding highly thermally conductive mica tape. A first outer insulation layer (115) formed from heat-shrinking material and a second outer insulation layer (116) formed from a highly thermally conductive resin are formed at a coil end section. Due to this configuration, the thermal conductivity of the coil, particularly of the coil end section, is improved, thereby enabling improved cooling performance. |
| US10250092B2 |
Rotary electric machine
Winding bodies are configured such that radially inner terminals of a conductor wire extend outward at a first axial end of an armature core from a radially innermost position inside slots, and radially outer terminals of the conductor wire extend outward at the first axial end of the armature core from a radially outermost position inside the slots, and respective phase windings of an armature winding are configured by directly joining together the radially inner terminals and by directly joining together the radially outer terminals of the winding bodies that constitute identical phases. |
| US10250091B2 |
Electric machine
The invention relates to an electric machine, which comprises a stator (1) and a rotor (2) that can be moved in relation to the stator. The stator (1) has a first multi-strand winding (I) and at least a second multi-strand winding (II), which each comprise two sub-windings (A1, A2) mechanically shifted in relation to each other. In a slot (3) of the stator, a number of windings (Nw1) of the first sub-winding (A1) of a multi-strand winding is different from a number (Nw2) of windings of the second sub-winding (A2) of said multi-strand winding. The stator (1) has a number of slots (3) that is twice the number of slots minimally required for a given pole pair number p of the rotor (2) for one of the multi-strand windings. |
| US10250089B2 |
Rotor member, rotor and electric motor
In a rotor member fixed by press-fitting to a rotary shaft part of an electric motor, the inner circumferential face of a sleeve part has an inner circumferential tapered face in which the inside diameter of the sleeve part continuously increases at a fixed ratio in a direction from a first end towards a second end. In addition, an outer circumferential face of the sleeve part has an outer circumferential tapered face in which the outside diameter of the sleeve part continuously decreases at a fixed ratio in a direction from the first end towards the second end in an axial-direction segment of the sleeve part in which at least the inner circumferential tapered face is present. |
| US10250086B2 |
Electromagnetic generator transformer
An electromagnetic generating transformer comprises one or more flux assembly having one or more magnetic field source having a positive pole and a negative pole and a magnetic field passing in a path between the positive pole and the negative pole and a conductor magnetically coupled with the one or more magnetic field source, the magnetic field source and the conductor being fixed relative to one another; a shunt is coupled with a motive source and configured to move the shunt into a primary position and a secondary position, wherein the magnitude of the magnetic field passing between the positive pole and the negative pole varies when the shunt is moved between the primary position and the secondary position. |
| US10250085B2 |
Magnet material, permanent magnet, rotary electrical machine, and vehicle
An magnetic material is a magnetic material expressed by a composition formula 1: (R1-xYx)aMbTc, which includes a main phase consisting of a ThMn12 type crystal phase. 30 atomic percent or more of the element M in the composition formula 1 is Fe. |
| US10250083B2 |
System and method for communication in wireless power supply systems
The present invention relates to wireless power supplies adapted to supply power and communicate with one or more remote devices. The systems and methods of the present invention generally relate to a communication timing system that may ensure information being communicated does not overlap with that of another device, preventing data collisions and information from going undetected. With information being communicated in a way that addresses or avoids potential communication issues in multiple device systems, the wireless power supply may control operation to effectively supply wireless power. |
| US10250080B2 |
Detector, power transmitter, power receiver, power feed system, and detection method
There are provided a detector and the like that are capable of conveniently detecting conductor or a circuit including a coil. The detector includes a detecting section that determines a Q value or a degree of variation thereof in a circuit including a coil capable of electromagnetic coupling with an external object and that performs detection concerning a state of the electromagnetic coupling with the external object based on a determined result. |
| US10250079B2 |
Method and apparatus for wirelessly transmitting power and power transmission information
A method of operating a wireless power transmission apparatus includes receiving, from a wireless power reception apparatus, information on an operating power of a micro control unit (MCU) of the wireless power reception apparatus and information on an output of a direct current-to-direct current (DC/DC) converter of the wireless power reception apparatus; determining whether a charging power is to be transmitted to the wireless power reception apparatus based on the received information on the output of DC/DC converter; and transmitting, to the wireless power reception apparatus, an MCU operating power calculated based on the received information on the operating power of the MCU in response to a determination that the charging power is not to be transmitted to the wireless power reception apparatus. |
| US10250076B2 |
Wireless power transmitter
A wireless power transmitter that supplies power to a load. The wireless power transmitter includes an inverter, a voltage phase detector, a current phase detector, a phase difference counter, a controller and an impedance tuning circuit. The phase difference counter counts a phase difference between the voltage phase and the current phase at the output port of the inverter. The controller receives the phase difference from the phase difference counter and generates a control signal that changes an output impedance of the inverter in response to changes of a varying impedance of the load that is coupled with the output port of the inverter wirelessly. The impedance tuning circuit receives the control signal from the controller and tunes an imaginary part of the output impedance of the inverter to zero in order to maximize a power transfer efficiency from the wireless power transmitter to the load. |
| US10250074B2 |
Power supply system
To prevent an overvoltage from being applied to a load in a power reception circuit of a power supply system. A power supply system is provided which includes a power supply device equipped with a power supply coil, and a power reception device equipped with a power reception coil. When a resonance circuit is in a resonance state, a peak voltage value of a voltage generated in the power reception coil is set higher than a prescribed voltage value. When the resonance circuit is in a non-resonance state, the peak voltage value of the voltage generated in the power reception coil is set lower than the prescribed voltage value. |
| US10250070B2 |
Line power control method and system for unified power flow controller
A line power control method and system for a unified power flow controller includes outer loop line power control, inner loop valve side current control, and converter valve control. Series-side converter valve side current reference values Isedref and Iseqref are calculated by means of the outer loop line power control according to line power instructions Pref and Qref that are input, a measured line power UL, and measured line power Pline and Qline; a converter output voltage reference value Ucref is calculated by means of the inner valve side current control according to the valve side current reference values that are output by means of the outer loop power control, a measured valve side current, and a measured valve side voltage; and finally, a converter outputs, according to the voltage reference value, a corresponding voltage to control line power to achieve a reference value. |
| US10250068B2 |
Solar powered rechargeable device for use with an electronic device and method of use thereof
A solar powered device comprising a solar radiation collection portion, wherein the solar radiation collection portion includes: a solar panel to collect solar radiation, a concentrator surrounding the solar panel to concentrate the solar radiation, and a charge controller coupled to the solar panel, a base portion, a plurality of legs, and a connection portion operably connecting the solar radiation collection portion to the base portion, the connection portion including a connection member having a first end and a second end is provided. Furthermore, an associated method is also provided. |
| US10250061B1 |
System for charging electrically drive vehicles with a single line for transmitting electric current from a source to a charging station
A system for charging electrically driven vehicles includes a source of three phase electrical current, a first converter converting the three-phase or one-phase electric current received from the source into a converted electric current, a single electric current transmission line transmitting the converted electric current, a second converter converting the converted signal received through the single line into three phase electric current, or one phase electric current, or direct current, and a plurality of charging stations receiving from the second converter corresponding currents and provided with charging components for charging electrically driven vehicles with a corresponding one of the received currents. |
| US10250060B2 |
Adaptive charge control circuit and control method for switching charger
An adaptive charge control circuit configured for a switching charger can include: an input voltage control circuit configured to receive an input voltage signal of the switching charger and an input voltage reference signal, and to generate a first error signal; an input current control circuit configured to receive an input current signal of the switching charger and an input current reference signal, and to generate a second error signal; a charging current control circuit configured to receive a charging current signal of the switching charger and a charging current reference signal, and to generate a third error signal; and a charging voltage control circuit configured to receive a charging voltage signal of the switching charger and a charging voltage reference signal, and to generate a fourth error signal. |
| US10250058B2 |
Charge management system
A charge management system including a power distribution bus circuit for distributing energy from a power source to a load, and an intermediate energy storage circuit operably connected to a power distribution bus circuit for aiding in distribution of energy to the load. A charge management system controller may be configured to control the discharge of energy between the intermediate storage circuit and the power distribution bus circuit during one or more modes. Such a charge management system may enable the power distribution bus circuit to receive energy from the intermediate energy storage circuit before the power bus voltage drops in response to load demand, which may enable the power source to respond to perturbations in the power bus voltage and minimize inrush current from the power source. The system also may be used to soft-start high-power equipment, or absorb energy spikes associated with shut-down of such high-power equipment. |
| US10250057B2 |
Power supply including bi-directional DC converter and control method thereof
A power supply including a bi-directional DC converter and a control method thereof are disclosed herein. The power supply includes first to third terminals, first and second semiconductor switches and a mode switching means. The first terminal is electrically coupled to an external power source. The second terminal is electrically coupled to a load. The third terminal is electrically coupled to a battery. The first and second semiconductor switches are electrically coupled in series between the first and second terminals. The mode switching means is electrically coupled to the first semiconductor switch, the second semiconductor switch and a bi-directional DC converter, respectively. The bi-directional DC converter is further electrically coupled to an intermediate node between the first semiconductor switch and the second semiconductor switch, and to the third terminal. The bi-directional power supply is operative to switch between a first operating mode in which the battery is charged and a second operating mode in which the battery supplies power to the load. In the power supply, the mode switching means operates the first and second semiconductor switches so that a single chip has both the function of charging and the function of supplying power. |
| US10250055B2 |
Method and apparatus for estimating state of battery
A battery control apparatus includes a switching unit configured to charge a second battery module from a first battery module; a sensor configured to sense state information of at least one battery module among the first battery module and the second battery module; and a controller configured to control the switching unit and the sensor. |
| US10250051B2 |
Electronic device docking station
An electronic device docking station may include a connector and a base. The connector may include a connector head, a connector plug, and a flexible cable. The connector head may have a neck, a face, a first recess configured to interface with a releasable pivot mechanism, and a pivot surface. The connector plug may extend from the face of the connector head, the plug being configured to connect to an electronic device. The flexible cable may extend from the neck the connector head. The base may include a second recess and a fulcrum surface. The second recess may be configured to interface with the releasable pivot mechanism and thereby releasably secure the connector head to the base. The fulcrum surface may be configured to contact the pivot surface. |
| US10250047B2 |
Battery disconnect unit
Disclosed embodiments relate to a battery disconnect unit capable of being stably driven, and minimizing damage of a circuit, by including a means to protect the circuit at high temperatures without an additional power source. In some embodiments, the battery disconnect unit includes a first main relay electrically connected between a first pole of a battery and an inverter; a second main relay electrically connected between a second pole of the battery and the inverter; a pre-charge relay connected to the second main relay in parallel; and a self-operating switch connected between the first pole of the battery and the second main relay, and configured to autonomously open a circuit providing an electric power from the battery when a ambient temperature is drastically increased, or when an over-current occurs. |
| US10250043B2 |
Initializer-based control of a module bypass switch for balancing of battery pack system modules
A battery pack system module may include a module bypass switch for allowing charge current to bypass the battery pack system module. A charge switch and a discharge switch may be coupled with the module bypass switch. When other battery pack system modules are coupled in series with the module, balancing between modules may be achieved by allowing charge current to bypass the unbalanced modules and charge other modules. For example, when an unbalanced module is at a higher level of charge than other modules, a charge switch and a discharge switch in the unbalanced module de-activate and a module bypass switch activates to allow charge current to rapidly bring other modules into balance. The discharge switch and the charge switch allow the charging current to bypass the unbalanced module creating little or no additional heat dissipation. |
| US10250039B2 |
Energy storage controller with battery life model
An electrical energy storage system includes a battery configured to store and discharge electric power to an energy grid, a power inverter configured to use battery power setpoints to control an amount of the electric power stored or discharged from the battery, the battery power setpoints comprising at least one of frequency regulation power setpoints and ramp rate control power setpoints, and a controller. The controller is configured to use a battery life model to generate the battery power setpoints for the power inverter. The battery life model includes one or more variables that depend on the battery power setpoints. |
| US10250034B2 |
Distributed utility resource planning and forecast
Systems, apparatus, and methods are disclosed for managing and forecasting energy usage. A distributed forecast device is located remote from a central server. The distributed forecast device receives from the central server information related to one or more accounts associated with the distributed forecast device. The distributed forecast device receives energy usage data from one or more energy meters for each of the accounts. The distributed forecast device predicts an energy usage forecast for each of the accounts based on the energy usage data and the information from the central server. |
| US10250029B2 |
Device overvoltage detector
A semiconductor device, overvoltage detection structure is described that includes a current path including a Zener diode connected in series with a fuse. The Zener diode is configured to conduct a current in response to an overvoltage condition at a semiconductor device and the fuse is configured to permanently break the current path of the overvoltage detection structure in response to the Zener diode conducting the current. |
| US10250028B2 |
Electrical switch
An electrical switch is disclosed for switching an electric current between a feed and an outgoer. The electrical switch can be mounted in a switchgear assembly and as a result electrical contact can be made with the electrical switch by a feed and an outgoer of the switchgear assembly. In one embodiment, the electrical switch includes an internal voltage tap for supplying power to a switch-internal electronics system and a changeover switch. The changeover switch adjusts the electrical connection between the feed or the outgoer and the internal voltage tap. |
| US10250025B2 |
Non-penetrating anchor system and method
An anchor for lightning protection systems include a base and pad that extend over a sufficient area and a sufficient bearing length to hold in shear and in tension against the weight, shear force, and moment of cables, points, and other components of a lightning protection systems. The mounting anchor is non-penetrating, and adheres to a vertical surface almost immediately without requiring damage to structures, long term support over days waiting for cure, and works in overhang situations as well. An integrated clip may be constructed with the base from sheet material. Adhesion of the base to a cover material on a wall or parapet may be promptly followed by snapping cable into clips formed monolithically with the base. |
| US10250024B2 |
Cable breakout support
There is provided a cable breakout support, comprising a clamp for clamping to a trunking, and a clip for clipping to a cable breakout of a cable bundle supported in the trunking. Each clamp comprises at least two trunk fittings for fitting to at least two respective bulbous longitudinal edges of the trunking; and a clip fitting for connecting to a respective clip. |
| US10250023B2 |
Two-part snap-together feedthroughs
A feedthrough for feeding signals through a panel having opposite sides includes first and second parts. The first part can include a first body configured to be disposed in a first portion of an opening in a panel, a first lumen disposed within the first body, and a first engagement area comprising a first contact area. The second part can include a second body configured to be disposed in a second portion of the opening in the panel, a second lumen disposed within the second body, and a second engagement area configured to engage the first contact area, wherein engaging the first contact area with the second engagement area causes deformation of the first part, the second part, or both to hold the first part and the second part within the opening such that the first lumen and the second lumen are disposed generally concentrically with each other. Corresponding methods are also disclosed. |
| US10250021B2 |
Method of manufacturing a high-voltage DC cable joint, and a high-voltage DC cable joint
A high-voltage DC cable joint including a multi-wall layered construction having individual concentrically arranged layers. The joint includes, from inside to outside, an inner conductive rubber layer, a field grading rubber layer made from a predetermined tailored formulation, an insulating rubber layer and an outer conductive rubber layer. The field grading rubber layer separates and interconnects the conductive rubber layers, and wherein the rubber layers are cross-linked by a by-product-free manufacturing method. The cable joint is preferably made from platinum cured rubbers by moulding process steps. In a preferred embodiment the cable joint is made by injection moulding. |
| US10250013B2 |
Laser system including optical amplification subsystem providing an amplified laser output
A laser system including a seed laser and an optical amplification subsystem, receiving an output of the seed laser and providing an amplified laser output, the optical amplification subsystem including a first plurality of amplifier assemblies, each of the first plurality of amplifier assemblies including a second plurality of optical amplifiers, and phase control circuitry including phase modulating functionality associated with each of the first plurality of amplifier assemblies. |
| US10250012B2 |
Variable emission area design for a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser array
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array may include a plurality of VCSELs. A size of an emission area of a first VCSEL, of the plurality of VCSELs, may be different from a size of an emission area of a second VCSEL of the plurality of VCSELs. The first VCSEL may be located closer to a center of the VCSEL array than the second VCSEL. A difference between the size of the emission area of the first VCSEL and the size of the emission area of the second VCSEL may be associated with reducing a difference in operating temperature between the first VCSEL and the second VCSEL, or reducing a difference in optical power output between the first VCSEL and the second VCSEL. |
| US10250010B1 |
Control of VCSEL-based optical communications system
Methods according to the disclosure include methods for controlling an optical communications system. The method may include adjusting a VCSEL transmitter of the optical communications system to operate at a second data bandwidth distinct from its first data bandwidth; reducing a data flow rate of a receiver during operation of the optical communications system at the second data bandwidth; determining whether a system quality metric for the receiver meets a specification requirement; in response to determining the system quality metric does not meet the specification requirement, adjusting an operational setting of the VCSEL transmitter or the receiver; in response to determining the system quality metric meets the specification requirement, continuing operation of the optical communications system at the second data bandwidth; and in response to receiving an override signal, resuming operation of the optical communications system at the first data bandwidth. |
| US10250009B2 |
Fiber laser system and method of outputting laser beam
In a fiber laser system (1) for outputting a laser beam obtained by combining a plurality of laser beams outputted by driving the respective fiber laser unit (2a, 2b, 2c), a control section (7) controls a plurality of current sources (6a, 6b, 6c) so that there are time intervals of a certain time between peaks which appear in a case where respective powers of the laser beams rise. |
| US10250008B2 |
Discharge excitation gas laser apparatus
A discharge excitation gas laser device may include a laser chamber in which a laser gas containing a halogen gas is encapsulated, a pair of discharge electrodes disposed to face each other inside the laser chamber, a fan disposed inside the laser chamber to make the laser gas flow between the pair of discharge electrodes, a motor for rotating the fan, a motor power supply for supplying power to the motor, a magnetic bearing configured to levitate the rotary shaft of the fan magnetically, a displacement sensor for detecting the position of the rotary shaft through a can, and a controller configured to measure the rotational speed of the fan on the basis of a detection signal from the displacement sensor and control the motor power supply in such a manner that the measured rotational speed becomes a target rotational speed. |
| US10250004B2 |
Method of forming a connector for an electrical cable for electrically connecting to a camera of a vehicle
A method of forming an electrical cable connector for electrically connecting to a camera of a vehicle includes providing a cable, a plurality of terminals and a retaining element. The terminals are pressed into respective receiving portions and passageways of the retaining element, such that pin ends of the terminals protrude from the retaining element. Ends of the electrically conductive wires of the cable are electrically connected at wire receiving ends of the terminals. When the terminals are pressed into the retaining element and the wire ends are electrically connected at the wire receiving ends of the terminals, a wire-terminal-retainer construction is formed at the end of the cable. The wire-terminal-retainer construction is placed in a molding device and a unitary connector end is molded at and over the wire-terminal-retainer construction. The molded unitary connector end includes a connector portion and a sleeve portion. |
| US10249999B2 |
Brush holder assembly monitoring apparatus, assembly, system and method
Methods and systems for monitoring a brush holder assembly and/or detecting wear of a brush in a brush holder assembly are disclosed. One method includes sending data from a plurality of remote monitoring locations to a central control unit, where the data may be evaluated in order to monitor states of brushes at a plurality of remote electrical facilities. For example, multiple images of a marker tracking longitudinal movement of the brush may be acquired. A comparison of the images, for example, a comparative imaging technique, such as pixel-by-pixel comparison, may then be performed in order to evaluate a condition of the brush, such as the wear rate, wear state, or life expectancy of the brush. |
| US10249997B1 |
Jumper with safety fuse
A jumper with safety fuse. The jumper includes first and second conducting wires and a fuse assembly interposed therebetween and connected thereto. A connector assembly is connected to each of the first and second conducting wires, which includes a plug section and a receptacle section. The plug section includes a body, a lead connector extending from a top of the body, and a plug extending from a base of the body. The receptacle section includes a socket configured to receive the plug and conduct electricity to its corresponding conducting wire, thereby forming an electrical connection therebetween. The jumper may be provided in a jumper kit with jumpers of different gauges and a set of interchangeable lead connectors. |
| US10249995B2 |
Self-closing contact sleeve
The present invention relates to a contact sleeve for an external conductor of a first connector of an HF plug connection which has a front-side region having at least one slot, wherein the slot has dimensions such that the front-side region closes itself when the contact sleeve is connected to a second connector. |
| US10249994B2 |
Connector having plural contacts forming differential pairs and connector device using the same
A plurality of contacts form a plurality of differential pairs between adjacent contacts of the plurality of contacts. Contact portions of contacts of the plurality of contacts forming each of at least three differential pairs of the plurality of differential pairs are located in a vertical direction at positions at one side in the vertical direction in a plane orthogonal to the axial direction. Also, the at least three differential pairs are arranged in parallel to one another in a state separated from one another by equal distances in a horizontal direction in the orthogonal plane. Contact portions of contacts of the plurality of contacts forming another differential pair other than the at least three differential pairs are located in the horizontal direction at positions at the other side in the vertical direction in the orthogonal plane. |
| US10249987B2 |
Electronic module for an I/O modular system
An electronic module for an I/O modular system comprises a housing, a plug-in connection for the coupling to a connection of the I/O modular system, and at least one locking lever which has an actuating end arranged on the side turned away from the plug-in connection, and a locking portion. The locking lever has at least one light-conducting portion. A light source is associated with the locking lever. A light exit face is provided in the region of the actuating end of the locking lever. |
| US10249986B2 |
Connector
It is aimed to prevent connectors in a connected state from being easily separated. A connector (A) includes a male housing (10) including a receptacle (12), a female housing (30) to be connected to the male housing (10) by being inserted into the receptacle (12), and a retainer (36) (movable locking member, locking means) and a lock receiving portion (19) (locking means) provided on the male housing (10) and the female housing (30) and configured to lock the male housing (10) and the female housing (30) in a connected state by being locked inside the receptacle (12). The locking of the retainer (36) and the lock receiving portion (19) is released by an unlocking tool (40) inserted into the receptacle (12). |
| US10249983B2 |
Connector with integrated heat sink
A receptacle connector defines a port. The port is provided with spring fingers that are configured to engage a mating module. The spring fingers are thermally coupled to a heat transfer plate that can be configured to provide part of a cage that defines the port. Fins can be mounted on or integrated into the heat transfer plate. In operation, thermal energy from an inserted module is transferred from the module to spring fingers and then to the heat transfer plate and then to a thermal dissipation system. |
| US10249977B2 |
Connector, connector cover, and wire harness
A connector of a wire harness includes a connector housing provided with a terminal and capable of being fitted in an attachment hole formed in an attachment panel in an axial direction, and a connector cover attached to the connector housing, the connector cover causing a wiring material connected with the terminal to be inserted into the connector cover and causing the wiring material to offset along an intersecting direction. The connector cover includes a grip portion formed in such a shape that the grip portion is capable of being gripped at a position where the grip portion is exposed in an insertion hole formed in an opposite panel arranged to face the attachment panel in an opposed manner in the axial direction so as to cause the connector housing to pass through the insertion hole, the insertion hole being located at a position deviated from the attachment hole in the intersecting direction. |
| US10249976B1 |
Connector housing assembly with a dress cover having finger feature and ribs
A connector housing assembly is configured to withstand a cantilevered force applied by wires onto the dress cover and prevent contact between the dress cover sidewalls and the wire or a terminal to reduce disengagement of the connector housing and dress cover. The connector housing includes ridges integrated on the outer surface of the sidewalls of the connector housing. The dress cover includes a finger feature integrated on the sidewalls of the dress cover that engages the ridges of the connector housing to produce a cantilever force that counter acts the force exerted on the dress cover from the of wires. The dress cover further includes stabilizing ribs connected to the interior surfaces of the sidewalls and top surfaces. The stabilizing ribs prevent movement of the assembly causing the terminal or wire from rattling resulting in wear or damage to the wire or terminal. |
| US10249974B2 |
Electrical power connector
An electrical power connector can include an electrically insulative connector housing, a first plurality of electrical contacts supported by the connector housing, and a second plurality of electrical contacts supported by the connector housing. The first plurality of electrical contacts can be of a first type, and the second plurality of electrical contacts are of a second type and positioned adjacent to the first plurality of electrical contacts. The arrangement of the electrical contact can provide creepage protection for the electrical connector. Further, the electrical contacts can include mating portions that are touch proof. |
| US10249970B1 |
Memory device with plurality of interface connectors
A memory device is provided. The memory device includes a substrate, a first interface connector, a second interface connector and a plurality of memory chips. The substrate includes a first edge, a second edge, a third edge and a fourth edge. The first interface connector is disposed on the first edge, wherein the first interface connector includes a plurality of first edge-board contacts, and the first edge-board contacts extend toward a first direction. The second interface connector is disposed on the second edge, the second interface connector includes a plurality of second edge-board contacts, and the second edge-board contacts extend toward a second direction. The memory chips are disposed on the substrate, wherein the second interface connector is located between the memory chips and the first interface connector in the first direction. |
| US10249964B1 |
Terminal block
A terminal block for coupling with at least one conductive wire includes an insulation base (100) and a circuit board (200). A docking chamber (101) is defined in the insulation base (100), multiple connecting holes (102) for inserting the respective conductive wires and multiple through holes (103) corresponding to the respective connecting holes (102) are defined on a lateral surface of the insulation base (100). The respective through holes (103) are communicated with the docking chamber (101) and adjacent to the respective corresponding connecting holes (102). The circuit board (200) is arranged in the docking chamber (101), and multiple LEDs (210) are arranged on the circuit board (200) corresponding to the respective through holes (103). The LEDs (210) are accommodated in the docking chamber (101), and the respective LEDs (210) are able to illuminate through the respective corresponding through holes (103). |
| US10249962B2 |
Wireless access point in pedestal or hand hole
Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing antenna structures to optimize transmission and reception of wireless signals from ground-based signal distribution devices, which include, but are not limited to, pedestals, hand holes, and/or network access point platforms. Wireless applications with such devices and systems might include, without limitation, wireless signal transmission and reception in accordance with IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af standards, UMTS, CDMA, LTE, PCS, AWS, EAS, BRS, and/or the like. In some embodiments, an antenna might be provided within a signal distribution device, which might include a container disposed in a ground surface. A top portion of the container might be substantially level with a top portion of the ground surface. The antenna might be communicatively coupled to one or more of at least one conduit, at least one optical fiber, at least one conductive signal line, or at least one power line via the container. |
| US10249959B2 |
Patterned conductive ink film absorber for a foldable transportable shelter
Disclosed is a thin-film radio frequency absorber material that is mass-produced by a high-speed manufacturing method of printing a highly controlled pattern of conductive ink squares onto a thin roll film, resulting in a lightweight low-cost radio frequency absorber component that is flexible for use in multiple novel configurations. The roll film material and printed squares are each easily adjustable to a specific size and thickness within the manufacturing process to coincide with control and protections related to variable specific radio and radar wave frequencies. Further integration into the three-layered thin-profile radio frequency energy absorber and reflector assembly provides control and protection properties related to radio and radar frequency, infrared, electromagnetic pulse, electromagnetic interference, and thermal insulation values in structural building panels utilized in lightweight structures such as the foldable transportable structure or other types of building and protection assemblies. |
| US10249957B2 |
Wireless communication device
A wireless communication device includes a metal cover and an antenna. The metal cover is formed with a slot. The antenna is disposed in the metal cover for resonating a radio-frequency signal via the slot, and includes a feed terminal, a radiator and a ground. The feed terminal is used for feeding the radio-frequency signal. The radiator includes a first arm electrically connected to the feed terminal and extended from the feed terminal along a first direction, and a second arm electrically connected to the first arm and extended from the first arm along a second direction, wherein the second arm is partially overlapped with a first edge of the slot. |
| US10249956B2 |
Method and apparatus for folded antenna components
Method and apparatus for making antennas and antenna components suitable for wideband transmission and reception are disclosed. Material accretion devices or apparatus such as a 3D printer can be used to form the antennas and antenna components. The antenna and antenna components can include pleated and/or self-similar features. |
| US10249955B2 |
Antenna structure for distributed antenna system
One embodiment discloses an antenna structure. An antenna structure comprises: a ground plane; a transmit balanced to unbalanced (BALUN) circuit comprising a first transmit connector coupled to a combined transmit port, and a second transmit connector coupled to the combined transit port; a receive BALUN circuit comprising a first receive connector coupled to a combined receive port, and a second receive connector coupled to the combined receive port; a transmit antenna element comprising a first transmit antenna sub-element coupled to the first transmit connector and a second transmit antenna sub-element coupled to the second transmit connector; a receive antenna element independent from the transmit antenna element and comprising a first receive antenna sub-element coupled to the first receive connector and a second receive antenna sub-element coupled to the second receive connector, wherein the transmit antenna element and the receive antenna element are orthogonally-polarized with respect to each other. |
| US10249951B2 |
Multi-beam bi-focal shaped reflector antenna for concurrent communication with multiple non-collocated geostationary satellites and associated method
In one embodiment, a multi-beam antenna is described. The multi-beam antenna includes a reflector having a single reflector surface defining a first focal region and a second focal region. A first feed group is located within the first focal region. The first feed group includes a first feed oriented relative to the reflector define a first beam pointed in a first direction. The multi-beam antenna further includes a fixed attachment mechanism attaching the first feed group to the reflector such that a position of the first feed group is fixed relative to the reflector. The multi-beam antenna further includes a second feed group located within the second focal region. The second feed group includes a second feed oriented relative to the reflector to define a second beam pointed in a second direction. The multi-beam antenna further includes an adjustable attachment mechanism attaching the second feed group to the reflector in an adjustable relation to the reflector, whereby a difference between the first direction and the second direction is adjustable. |
| US10249950B1 |
Systems and methods for reduced control inputs in tunable meta-devices
In some embodiments, an antenna system includes antenna elements for transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic radiation. The antenna elements may be connected to a feed via a plurality of tunable impedance elements. At least some of the tunable impedance elements may have nonlinear responses to impedance tuning that can be numerically approximated by nonlinear impedance-tuning parameter curves with a cumulative number of selectable nonlinear coefficients. Control inputs to nonlinearly vary impedance values of the tunable impedance elements allow for the selection of distinct impedance patterns that correspond to distinct field patterns attainable by the antenna system. The number of field patterns attainable is a function of the number of control inputs and a cumulative number of selectable nonlinear coefficients. Thus, a selection of tunable impedance elements and control inputs may be made to attain a target number of field patterns to serve a desired coverage area. |
| US10249944B1 |
Systems, apparatus, and methods to improve antenna performance in electronic devices
Disclosed are a system, apparatus, and method for improving performance of antennas in electronic devices. The disclosed system, apparatus, and method uses a transparent dielectric substrate as an antenna. The transparent dielectric substrate may receive energy from a wave launcher and printed circuit board. To work as an antenna, the whole structure may include at least one wave launcher located between the dielectric transparent substrate and a printed circuit board. Also, the structure may include a ground at the bottom of solid dielectric transparent substrate with a separation space. The space should not be less than wavelength 1/10 of fundamental resonant frequency. |
| US10249940B2 |
Signal distributing/combining apparatus in antenna apparatus of mobile communication base station
A signal distributing/combining apparatus in an antenna device of a mobile communication base station includes a circuit board configured to have an upper surface formed with a signal distributing/combining conductor pattern for a high frequency signal distributing/combining operation, and a support plate configured to have an upper mounting surface of a size corresponding to the circuit board, to mate with the circuit board so that an underside of the circuit board is in close contact with the upper mounting surface for supporting the circuit board, and to fixedly mate with the antenna device at a reflection plate on a bottom side of the support plate. The support plate is provided with a plurality of cable holders for supporting and fixating coaxial cables for signal transmission which are connected from outside of the apparatus. |
| US10249939B2 |
Antenna devices
An antenna device for a signal having a frequency within an operation band comprises a ground element, a radiating element short-circuited to the ground element, a positive feed connected to the radiating element, and a ground feed coupled to the ground element by a capacitive element. The capacitive element is a substantially open circuit for signals having a frequency lower than the operation band. The capacitive element is a substantially short circuit for signals having a frequency within or higher than the operation band. |
| US10249935B2 |
Handrail Wi-Fi enclosure
An enclosure for an access point for attachment to a handrail includes a first half-shell including a first peripheral flange portion and a second half-shell including a second peripheral flange portion, the first half-shell and the second half-shell being attached together along the first peripheral flange portion and the second peripheral flange portion to form the enclosure; a mounting plate disposed within the enclosure, the mounting plate including a peripheral edge portion coextensive with the first and second peripheral flange portions, the peripheral edge portion including first and second sides opposed to the respective first and second peripheral flange portions; and a seal disposed along the first and second sides of the peripheral edge portion, the seal on the first side being sandwiched between the first peripheral flange portion and the first side, the seal on the second side being sandwiched between the second peripheral flange portion and the second side. |
| US10249930B2 |
Tunable electromagnetic coupler and modules and devices using same
An electromagnetic coupler includes a first transmission line connecting an input port to an output port. A second transmission line adjacent the first transmission line connects a coupled port and an isolation port. The electromagnetic coupler provides a coupled signal at the coupled port, which is representative of an input signal at the input port. The amplitude of the coupled signal is related to the amplitude of the input signal by a coupling factor. A tuning element is provided adjacent to the first or second transmission line and is coupled to an impedance. Varying impedance values cause an adjustment to the coupling factor and reactive impedance values provide frequency filtering effects. |
| US10249927B2 |
Cochlea-based microwave channelizer
A system includes an RF input coupled to a plurality of channel filters through an inductive manifold. Each of the channel filters is configured as a series resonator and has a frequency of greater than about 1 GHz. The frequency of the channel filters decreases as their distance from the RF input increases. Components of each of the channel filters, which may include a series inductor, series capacitor, and shunt capacitor, are configured using high-Q transmission lines. A tunable notch filter, such as an absorptive tunable band-stop filter, may be included within the channel filters. The system may be used for protection of wideband receivers. |
| US10249922B2 |
Partial dielectric loaded septum polarizer
In an example embodiment, a waveguide device comprises: a first common waveguide; a polarizer section, the polarizer section including a conductive septum dividing the first common waveguide into a first divided waveguide portion and a second waveguide divided portion; a second waveguide coupled to the first divided waveguide portion of the polarizer section; a third waveguide coupled to the second divided waveguide portion of the polarizer section; and a dielectric insert. The dielectric insert includes a first dielectric portion partially filling the polarizer section. The conductive septum and the dielectric portion convert a signal between a polarized state in the first common waveguide and a first polarization component in the second waveguide and a second polarization component in the third waveguide. |
| US10249921B2 |
Fast thermal dumping for batteries
A cooling system includes a fluid delivery system configured to bring a working liquid (such as water) into thermal contact with a battery where it vaporizes into an exhaust gas, and an exhaust system configured to vent the exhaust gas. |
| US10249918B2 |
Battery packs for electric tools
A battery pack includes a case, a battery device, an intervening member and a temperature detection device. The battery device may be disposed within the case and include a cell holder configured to accommodate a plurality of battery cells. The intervening member may be provided between the cell holder and at least one of the plurality of cell holder. The temperature detection device may be disposed between the intervening member and at least one of the plurality of cell holder, so that the temperature detection device directly contacts at least one of the battery cells for detecting a temperature thereof. At least one of the cell holder and the intervening member may have an elasticity, so that the temperature detection device may be directly pressed against at least one of the battery cells due to an elastic deformation of the least one of the cell holder and the intervening member. |
| US10249916B2 |
Connector barrel for a battery module
The present disclosure relates to a battery module. The battery module includes a housing defined by one or more walls. A wall of the housing includes an opening configured to create a passageway between an interior of the housing and an exterior of the housing. The battery module includes a connector barrel disposed within the opening. The connector barrel is a hollow conduit with a first open end opposite a second open end, and the connector barrel is configured to receive a low voltage signal connector through the first open end and a vehicle control module connector through the second open end. An external surface of the connector barrel includes a pair of protrusions configured to enable intimate contact between the wall of the housing and the connector barrel. |
| US10249913B2 |
Battery pack cooling system
A battery pack cooling system includes a plurality of cells disposed in an internal space of a battery pack case so as to form a cooling passage configured to cool the cell modules by cooling air flowing in the cooling passage. A first temperature sensor is a minimum temperature sensor disposed in the upstream position which becomes a lowest temperature. A second temperature sensor is a maximum temperature sensor disposed in the downstream position which becomes a highest temperature. A third temperature sensor is configured to measure the temperature of either the highest temperature or the lowest temperature disposed in a second cell module. A cooling passage includes a cooling air inlet passage, a cooling air exhaust passage, and a plurality of cooling branch passages disposed to connect the cooling air inlet passage and the cooling air exhaust passage in parallel. |
| US10249911B2 |
Solid-state lithium battery
A solid-state lithium battery in which a thermal stability is improved. The solid-state lithium battery comprises a cathode active material layer containing a cathode active material, an anode active material layer containing an anode active material, and a solid electrolyte layer formed between the cathode active material layer and the anode active material layer. The cathode active material is an oxide active material, at least one of the cathode active material layer and the solid electrolyte layer contains a sulfide solid electrolyte material, the sulfide solid electrolyte material comprises a Li element, a P element, a S element, and an I element, and the cathode active material layer contains a specific phosphate ester. |
| US10249909B2 |
Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery and method for manufacturing the same
A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery including an electrode assembly the electrode assembly being fastened with a rectangular or square fixing tape applied to cover the end of the coil, the side of the fixing tape in contact with the electrode assembly including self-adhesive portions having a pressure-sensitive adhesive and a non-adhesive portion having no pressure-sensitive adhesive, the self-adhesive portions being disposed at both ends of the non-adhesive portion in the direction of the width of the fixing tape so that the non-adhesive portion is interposed between the self-adhesive portions, the battery satisfying 0.9≤Wb/Wa≤1 and 0.35≤Wc/Wa≤0.8 wherein Wa is the height of the electrode assembly, Wb is the width of the fixing tape and Wc is the width of the non-adhesive portion. |
| US10249908B2 |
Systems, methods and devices for creating a Li-metal edge-wise cell
A new battery cell structure uses a battery cell structure comprising a plurality of strips so that only a fraction of the power in the cell can be fed to a dendrite which has shorted an anode and cathode. The dendrite still occurs, but can be rendered benign. In addition, a fuse can be added to the cell structure so that shorted cells can be removed from the circuit. |
| US10249906B2 |
Use of fluoroisopropyl derivatives as additives in electrolytes
An electrolyte composition (A) containing (i) at least one aprotic organic solvent; (ii) at least one conducting salt; (iii) at least one compound of formula (I) wherein A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6 are independently from each other selected from H and F, wherein at least one of the group A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6 is F; R is selected from R1, and C(O)OR1, and R1 is selected from C1-C6 alkyl, C3-C6 cycloalkyl, C2-C6 alkenyl, C3-C6 cycloalkenyl, C5-C7 (hetero)aryl, and C2-C6 alkinyl, wherein alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkenyl, (hetero)aryl, and alkinyl may be substituted by one or more F; and (iv) optionally at least one further additive. |
| US10249890B2 |
Method for cold-start of fuel cell stack
Methods and systems are provided for cold-start of fuel cell stack in fuel cell vehicles. In one example, a method may include in response to cold-start of fuel cell vehicle, limiting the load drawn from the fuel cell stack. In addition, a coolant pump may be operated at a higher rate through a bypass loop to get heat quickly to the fuel cell stack to increase the solubility of water in the fuel cell stack to prevent ice formation. The net effect is that the fuel cell stack is then operated within the ice capacity of the membrane, and start-up at lower temperatures is possible without experiencing an intermittent performance drop due to active area freezing. Once the fuel cell stack is sufficiently warmed up, the coolant pump rate and fuel cell stack may be adjusted according to the demand. |
| US10249887B2 |
Fuel cell
In this fuel cell, a cell holder (40) is provided with an inflow passage (44) for allowing flow into a frame of the cell holder (40), and a convex support (34) for supporting an insulating portion (50) and a first seal member (60) is provided in the inflow passage (44). |
| US10249882B2 |
Positive electrode for lithium air battery, method of preparing same and lithium air battery including same
A positive electrode for a lithium air battery includes a current collector and a catalyst layer positioned on the current collector. The catalyst layer includes a binder, a conductive particle surrounding the binder, and a catalyst particle spaced apart from the binder, the catalyst particle being on the surface of the conductive particle. |
| US10249881B2 |
Electrode material for metal-air battery
The present invention provides an electrode material for metal-air batteries which has a homogeneous co-continuous structure due to a carbon skeleton and voids and is excellent in terms of permeability to and diffusibility of ions, oxygen, electrolytes, and electrolytic solutions and which, due to the formation of the carbon network, can rapidly diffuse the heat generated by battery reactions and has satisfactory electrical conductivity. The electrode material for metal-air batteries includes a porous carbon material having a co-continuous structure portion in which a skeleton constituted of carbon and voids form a co-continuous structure and which has a structural period, as calculated by X-ray scattering method or X-ray CT method, of 0.002-10 μm. |
| US10249878B2 |
Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery
A positive electrode and a negative electrode are stacked so as to face each other with a separator and a low spring constant film interposed therebetween. The positive electrode or the negative electrode has a first spring constant that is the lowest spring constant of the positive electrode, the negative electrode and the separator. The low spring constant film has a second spring constant. The second spring constant is lower than the first spring constant. |
| US10249873B2 |
Composite positive active material, positive electrode including the same, and lithium battery including the positive electrode
A composite positive active material including a composite represented by Formula 1: δLi2MO3.(1−δ)[xLi2MnO3.(1−x)LidNiaCObM′cO2] Formula 1 wherein, in Formula 1, M is titanium (Ti) or zirconium (Zr); M′ is manganese (Mn), vanadium (V), magnesium (Mg), gallium (Ga), silicon (Si), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), boron (B), or a combination thereof; and 0<δ<0.5; 0≤x<0.3; a+b+c≤1; 0 |
| US10249872B2 |
Silicon-carbon composite, negative electrode comprising same, secondary battery using silicon-carbon composite, and method for preparing silicon-carbon composite
The present specification relates to a silicon-carbon composite, a negative electrode including the same, a secondary battery using the silicon-carbon composite, and a method for preparing the silicon-carbon composite. |
| US10249871B2 |
Composite, electrochemical active material composite using the composite, electrode including the composite or electrochemical active material composite, lithium battery including the electrode, field emission device including the composite, biosensor including the composite, semiconductor device including the composite, and thermoelectric device including the composite
A composite including: at least one selected from a silicon oxide of the formula SiO2 and a silicon oxide of the formula SiOx wherein 0 |
| US10249870B2 |
Electrode sheet for Li-ion battery and Li-ion battery including the same
The present application relates to an electrode sheet for Li-ion battery and a Li-ion battery including the same. The Li-ion battery includes a current collector and a diaphragm layer coated on the current collector, the current collector includes a coating region and at least one electrode tab region, the coating region is a region of the current collector coated with the diaphragm layer; the coating region is adjoined with the electrode tab region, a stress releasing region is provided at adjoining position of the coating region and at least one electrode tab region. The stress releasing region provided by the present application can reduce stress received by the diaphragm during rolling and stretching processes, which can avoid cracking of electrode tab and electrode sheet, and can improve battery cycling performance and, at the same time, can also be fused in short circuit, thereby improving safety performance of the battery. |
| US10249864B2 |
Battery pack
A spacer includes: a first projection being in contact with the battery cell; a second projection being in contact with the battery cell; a third projection adjacent to the first projection, and being in contact with the battery cell; a first inclined portion connecting the first projection and the third projection; a fourth projection adjacent to the second projection, and being in contact with the battery cell; a second inclined portion connecting the second projection and the fourth projection; and a fifth projection and a sixth projection being out of contact with the battery cells between the third projection and the fourth projection. When the battery cells expand, the fifth and the sixth projections come into contact with the battery cells. |
| US10249860B2 |
Cartridge frame having double sidewall structure and battery module having the same
Provided is a cartridge frame which is inserted between a plurality of unit battery cells stacked in the fabrication of a modularized battery and a battery module having the same. The cartridge frame according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes an inter-cell separation plate with a planar shape inserted between adjacent unit battery cells to separate the adjacent unit battery cells, and a sidewall part extending in a direction perpendicular to the planar surface of the inter-cell separation plate at an edge other than an edge of a direction in which an electrode terminal of the battery cell is drawn, among edges of the inter-cell separation plate, wherein for at least a portion of the sidewall part, an inner sidewall coming into contact with a side surface of the unit battery cell is made from metal, and an outer sidewall facing the inner sidewall is made from plastic. |
| US10249855B2 |
Flexible battery cover with integral lid, method of construction thereof, and method of enclosing a battery therewith
A flexible one piece, insulative battery cover; battery cover assembly therewith; method of construction thereof, and method of enclosing a battery therewith are provided. The battery cover includes a flexible, tubular textile wall having a cavity extending between a bottom end and an open top end of the wall. The cover further includes a flexible textile lid having a free end and an opposite end attached to the wall via a hinge, with the lid being pivotal via the hinge between an open position, exposing the open top end of the wall, and a closed position, substantially closing off the top end. Further yet, the cover includes a fastener fixed to the lid adjacent the free end, with the fastener being configured to for releasable attachment to an elongate fastener member of the vehicle battery assembly. |
| US10249852B2 |
Secondary battery including connector coupled to electrode assembly and current collector
There is provided a secondary battery including a case having an internal space, an electrode assembly inserted into the case and including a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate, and a separator between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, an electrode tab electrically connected to the electrode assembly, a cap plate sealing the case, a current collector electrically connected to the electrode tab, an electrode terminal electrically connected to the current collector and configured to pass through the cap plate to protrude toward the outside, and a connector having an end coupled to the electrode assembly and an other end coupled to the current collector. |
| US10249848B2 |
Organic light-emitting panel and method for producing same
An organic light-emitting panel includes a reflective electrode, a functional layer, having a single or multi-layer structure, located on the reflective electrode, an organic light-emitting layer located on the functional layer, a transparent electrode located above the organic light-emitting layer, a low refractive index layer located on the transparent electrode, and a first thin-film sealing layer located on the low refractive index layer. The low refractive index layer has a lower refractive index than both the transparent electrode and the first thin-film sealing layer. Difference between respective refractive indices of the low refractive index layer and the transparent electrode is 0.4-1.1. Difference between respective refractive indices of the low refractive index layer and the first thin-film sealing layer is 0.1-0.8. The low refractive index layer has thickness of 20-130 nm. |
| US10249847B2 |
Organic light-emitting diode, organic light module, and method for producing an organic light-emitting diode
An organic light-emitting diode provides a substrate having a top side and one or a plurality of substrate side surfaces running transversely to the top side and connected thereto via a substrate edge; and an organic layer sequence applied to the top side with an emitter layer, which generates electromagnetic radiation coupled out from the diode via a luminous surface during intended operation of the diode. In a plan view of the luminous surface, the sequence adjoins at least a partial region of substrate edge(s), and in the region the luminous surface extends at least as far as the corresponding edge. An encapsulation formed in an uninterrupted and continuous fashion is applied to the sequence. The encapsulation, at least in the region of the edge adjoining the sequence, is led onto the associated substrate side surface, at least partly covers the latter and is in direct contact with the surface. |
| US10249846B2 |
OLED packaging method and OLED package structure
The present invention provides an OLED packaging method and an OLED package structure. The OLED packaging method of the present invention is such that a silicon-doped diamond-like carbon layer and a diamond-like carbon scattering layer are both provided in an OLED package structure so that the silicon-doped diamond-like carbon layer may provide an effect of blocking external moisture and oxygen and the diamond-like carbon scattering layer is used to provide an effect of increasing light transmission rate, whereby it is possible to greatly extend the service life of the OLED device and also to ensure a relatively high light output efficiency of the OLED device. The OLED package structure of the present invention is such that a silicon-doped diamond-like carbon layer and a diamond-like carbon scattering layer are both provided, so that the silicon-doped diamond-like carbon layer may provide an effect of blocking external moisture and oxygen and the diamond-like carbon scattering layer is used to provide an effect of increasing light transmission rate, whereby it is possible to greatly extend the service life of the OLED device and also to ensure a relatively high light output efficiency of the OLED device. |
| US10249843B2 |
Display device with light transmission area
A display device includes a substrate including a first area displaying an image and a second area adjacent to the first area, the second area transmitting external light, a first electrode and a second electrode disposed in the first area and overlapping each other, an emission layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode in the first area, a first semiconductor layer disposed in the first area, and a second semiconductor layer disposed in the second area. |
| US10249835B2 |
Display device and portable terminal
A display device includes a display panel having a first portion, a second portion extending from the first portion, and a third portion extending from the second portion and facing the first portion; a body configured to be located between the first and third portions and being configured to be coupled to the display panel in a first state or in a second state or to be separated from the display panel, the body including four peripheral surfaces; a driver configured to drive the display panel; and a printed circuit board configured to apply a signal to the driver to drive the display panel, wherein the display panel covers the different surfaces of the body in the first state and in the second state. |
| US10249829B2 |
Compound and organic light-emitting device including the same
An organic light-emitting device including a first electrode; a second electrode facing the first electrode; and an organic layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, the organic layer including an emission layer, wherein the organic layer includes a compound represented by Formula 1: When the compound represented by Formula 1 is used as electron-transporting material, an organic light-emitting device including this compound may show significantly improved efficiency, driving voltage, high luminance, and long lifespan characteristics. |
| US10249823B2 |
Fullerene derivatives and photoelectric devices and image sensors
A fullerene derivative may be included in photoelectric devices and image sensor. Optical absorption characteristics of a thin film including the fullerene derivative may be shifted toward a short wavelength compared with those of the thin film including the unsubstituted C60 fullerene, for example, a thin film including the fullerene derivative may be associated with a peak absorption wavelength (λmax) that is be shorter than that of a thin film including the unsubstituted C60 fullerene. |
| US10249818B1 |
Memory element
According to one embodiment, a memory element includes a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer. The first layer is conductive. The second layer is conductive. The third layer includes hafnium oxide and is provided between the first layer and the second layer. The first layer includes a first region, a second region, and a third region. The first region includes a first element and a first metallic element. The first element is selected from a group consisting of carbon and nitrogen. The second region includes a second metallic element and is provided between the first region and the third layer. The third region includes titanium oxide and is provided between the second region and the third layer. |
| US10249817B2 |
Magnetic device
A magnetic device includes a free layer; a pinned layer; a tunnel barrier disposed between the free layer and the pinned layer; a polarization enhancement layer disposed between the tunnel barrier and the pinned layer; and a blocking layer disposed between the polarization enhancement layer and the pinned layer, wherein the blocking layer includes a first diffusion trap layer and a second diffusion trap layer disposed on the first diffusion trap layer. |
| US10249814B1 |
Dynamic memory protection
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to protecting the contents of memory in an electronic device, and in particular to systems and methods for transferring data between memories of an electronic device in the presence of strong magnetic fields. In one embodiment, a method of protecting data in a memory in an electronic device includes storing data in a first memory in the electronic device; determining, via a magnetic sensor, a strength of an ambient magnetic field; comparing the strength of the ambient magnetic field to a threshold; transferring the data in the first memory to a second memory in the electronic device upon determining that the strength of the ambient magnetic field exceeds the threshold; and transferring the data from the second memory to the first memory upon determining that the strength of the ambient magnetic field no longer exceeds the threshold. |
| US10249812B2 |
Filter and multiplexer
A filter includes: an input terminal; an output terminal; and a ladder circuit that includes one or more series acoustic wave resonators connected in series between the input terminal and the output terminal and one or more parallel acoustic wave resonators connected in parallel between the input terminal and the output terminal, and in which characteristic impedance of at least one point in a pathway between the input terminal and the output terminal in a passband is greater than at least one of input impedance of the input terminal and output impedance of the output terminal in the passband. |
| US10249809B2 |
Electric power generation
Apparatus for electric power generation. A system includes a boiler for heating a fluid, the boiler directing a first portion of the heated fluid to a turbine for the generation of electric power and a second portion of the heated fluid to a thermoelectric (TE) generator, and a condenser connected to the turbine that condenses hot fluid emitted from the turbine and feeds the condensed fluid to the TE generator, the TE generator generating electric power from a difference in temperature of the second portion of the heated fluid and the condensed fluid from the turbine. |
| US10249808B2 |
Surface doping of nanostructures
This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus related to surface doping of nanostructures. In one aspect a plurality of nanostructures is fabricated with a solution-based process using a solvent. The plurality of nanostructures comprises a semiconductor. Each of the plurality of nanostructures has a surface with capping species attached to the surface. The plurality of nanostructures is mixed in the solvent with a dopant compound that includes doping species. During the mixing the capping species on the surfaces of the plurality of nanostructures are replaced by the doping species. Charge carriers are transferred between the doping species and the plurality of nanostructures. |
| US10249807B2 |
Pre-rotated overmoulded bidirectional spreading lens for stretched leadframe architecture
A solid state light-emitting device (LED) lighting apparatus comprising a leadframe assembly comprising leadframes spaced apart at a pitch, each leadframe comprising at least one pad, interconnects each linking two adjacent leadframes, LEDs mounted on the leadframes, and bidirectional spreading lenses disposed about the LEDs, each bidirectional spreading lens having a spreading axis and a null axis perpendicular to the spreading axis, each bidirectional spreading lens directing more light in opposite directions along the spreading axis than the null axis, the spreading axis being aligned along the length of the stretched leadframe assembly. |
| US10249806B2 |
Solid state optoelectronic device with preformed metal support substrate
A wafer-level process for manufacturing solid state lighting (“SSL”) devices using large-diameter preformed metal substrates is disclosed. A light emitting structure is formed on a growth substrate, and a preformed metal substrate is bonded to the light emitting structure opposite the growth substrate. The preformed metal substrate can be bonded to the light emitting structure via a metal-metal bond, such as a copper-copper bond, or with an inter-metallic compound bond. |
| US10249796B2 |
Light emitting diode and method of manufacturing thereof
The present application discloses a light emitting diode comprising a substrate; and a light emitting layer on the substrate. The light emitting layer comprises, an N-type doped layer; a quantum well active layer; and a P-type doped layer. At least one of the N-type doped layer and the P-type doped layer comprises an uneven layer adapted to concentrate light emitting from the light emitting layer. |
| US10249793B2 |
Transparent electron blocking hole transporting layer
A light emitting diode includes an active region configured to emit light, a composite electrical contact layer, and a transparent electron blocking hole transport layer (TEBHTL). The composite electrical contact layer includes tow materials. At least one of the two materials is a metal configured to reflect a portion of the emitted light. The TEBHTL is arranged between the composite electrical contact layer and the active region. The TEBHTL has a thickness that extends at least a majority of a distance between the active region and the composite electrical contact layer. The TEBHTL has a band-gap greater than a band-gap of light emitting portions of the active region. The band-gap of the TEBHTL decreases as a function of distance from the active region to the composite electrical contact layer over a majority of the thickness of the TEBHTL. |
| US10249784B2 |
Optical sensor capable of being applied to a tilt sensor
An optical sensor includes: a light emitting element 40; a lower substrate 20 on which the light emitting element 40 is provided; an upper substrate 10 provided so that the light emitting element 40 is positioned between the upper substrate 10 and the lower substrate 20; and an optical block 30 provided on the upper substrate 10. The upper substrate 10 includes a division-type photodiode SD. The optical block 30 is configured to reflect light emitted from the light emitting element 40 toward a measurement target R, and light reflected by the measurement target R is incident onto the division-type photodiode SD. |
| US10249782B2 |
High voltage photovoltaics integrated with light emitting diode containing zinc oxide containing layer
An electrical device that includes a material stack present on a supporting substrate. An LED is present in a first end of the material stack having a first set of bandgap materials. A photovoltaic device is present in a second end of the material stack having a second set of bandgap materials. The first end of the material stack being a light receiving end, wherein a widest bandgap material for the first set of bandgap material is greater than a highest bandgap material for the second set of bandgap materials. A zinc oxide interface layer is present between the LED and the photovoltaic device. The zinc oxide layers or can also form a LED. |
| US10249781B2 |
Apparatus for counting single photons and method thereof
Disclosed is an apparatus for counting single photons including an edge combiner configured to detect an edge of each of applied clocks using a plurality of Phase-Locked Loops (PLL) to generate a combined signal; a sampling unit configured to sample all events occurring in each SPAD of a single photon detection diode (SPAD) array using an OR tree and an XOR tree; and a calculation unit configured to count the sampled events based on the combined signal to count single photons. |
| US10249780B1 |
High quality AlSb for radiation detection
Provided is a method of making a radiation detector, including: growing a thin film on a substrate. The substrate is a silicon substrate. The thin film includes aluminum antimony alloy (AlSb). The growing is epitaxial growth via ultra-high vacuum molecular beam epitaxy (UHV-MBE). |
| US10249776B2 |
Heterojunction solar cell and manufacturing method thereof
Discussed is a method of manufacturing a heterojunction solar cell, including: forming a metal compound on a semiconductor substrate; forming a transparent conductive oxide on the metal compound; forming an electrode forming material on the transparent conductive oxide; and sintering the electrode forming material using light sintering to form an electrode part. The transparent conductive oxide may be sintered by light sintering to form a transparent conductive oxide layer formed of the transparent conductive oxide. |
| US10249775B2 |
Solar cell and method for producing solar cell
A solar cell includes: first and second conductivity type diffusion layers which are formed on a backside of a light-receiving surface of a substrate, first and second electrode portions, first and second electrode line portions, and first and a second electrode bus bar portions; a first insulator film which is formed to cover a side portion and a top of the second electrode portion in an intersection region of the second electrode portion and the first electrode bus bar portion, a second insulator film which is formed to cover a side portion and a top of the first electrode portion in an intersection region of the first electrode portion and the second electrode bus bar portion, wherein the second electrode portion is formed continuously in a line shape under the first insulator film, and the first electrode portion is formed continuously in a line shape under the second insulator film. |
| US10249774B2 |
Conductive paste for forming solar cell electrode
A conductive paste for forming solar cell electrodes that obtains favorable electrical characteristics and sufficient adhesion strength to a substrate. The conductive paste for forming a solar cell electrode includes the following: a tellurium-based glass frit containing 30-70 mol % of tellurium, 15-40 mol % of tungsten, 5-30 mol % of zinc, 0-20 mol % of boron, and 0-10 mol % of zirconium (where a total content of boron and zirconium is greater than 0 mol %) in terms of oxides; a conductive powder having silver as a main component and specific surface area of 0.4 m2/g or more; and an organic vehicle. |
| US10249769B1 |
On-chip tuneable diffusion resistor
An object of the disclosure is to take a CMOS varactor structure (NMOS in N-well or PMOS in P-well) and turn it in to a three terminal on-chip tuneable diffusion resistor. The diffusion resistor can be made with an n+ diffusion inside the p-substrate, or with a p+ diffusion inside an N-well that lies within the p-substrate. The resistor can be implemented in any existing CMOS or BICMOS silicon technology, without using additional masks. The resistor can be also implemented in a technology with FINFETs. |
| US10249767B2 |
Ga2O3-based semiconductor element
A Ga2O3-based semiconductor element includes an undoped β-Ga2O3 single crystal film disposed on a surface of a β-Ga2O3 substrate, a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed on a same side of the undoped β-Ga2O3 single crystal film, a gate electrode disposed on the undoped β-Ga2O3 single crystal film between the source electrode and the drain electrode, and a region formed in the undoped β-Ga2O3 single crystal film under the source electrode and the drain electrode and including a controlled dopant concentration. |
| US10249765B2 |
Semiconductor device and electronic device
To provide a highly reliable semiconductor device that is suitable for miniaturization and higher density. A semiconductor device includes a first electrode including a protruding portion, a first insulator over the protruding portion, a second insulator covering the first electrode and the first insulator, and a second electrode over the second insulator. The second electrode includes a first region which overlaps with the first electrode with the first insulator and the second insulator provided therebetween and a second region which overlaps with the first electrode with the second insulator provided therebetween. The peripheral portion of the second electrode is provided in the first region. |
| US10249763B2 |
Array substrate, and display device, and fabrication methods
A semiconductor device, an array substrate, and a display device, and their fabrication methods are provided. An exemplary semiconductor device includes a first electrode, an insulating layer, and a second electrode, over a substrate. A conductive layer is on the insulating layer. A semiconductor layer is on the first electrode, on a first sidewall of the insulating layer, on the conductive layer, on the second sidewall of the insulating layer, and on the second electrode. A first gate electrode is over a portion of the semiconductor layer that is on the first sidewall of the insulating layer. A second gate electrode is over a portion of the semiconductor layer that is on the second sidewall of the insulating layer. |
| US10249762B2 |
Vertically aligned nanowire channels with source/drain interconnects for nanosheet transistors
A nano-sheet semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the same. The nano-sheet structure includes a substrate and at least one alternating stack of semiconductor material layers and metal gate material layers. The nano-sheet semiconductor structure further comprises a source region and a drain region. A first plurality of epitaxially grown interconnects contacts the source region and the semiconductor layers in the alternating stack. A second plurality of epitaxially grown interconnects contacts the drain region and the semiconductor layers in the alternating stack. The method includes removing a portion of alternating semiconductor layers and metal gate material layers. A first plurality of interconnects is epitaxially grown between and in contact with the semiconductor layers and the source region. A second plurality of interconnects is epitaxially grown between and in contact with the semiconductor layers and the drain region. |
| US10249758B2 |
FinFET with sigma recessed source/drain and un-doped buffer layer epitaxy for uniform junction formation
After forming a gate structure over a semiconductor fin that extends upwards from a semiconductor substrate portion, a sigma cavity is formed within the semiconductor fin on each side of the gate structure. A semiconductor buffer region composed of an un-doped stress-generating semiconductor material is epitaxially growing from faceted surfaces of the sigma cavity. Finally, a doped semiconductor region composed of a doped stress-generating semiconductor material is formed on the semiconductor buffer region to completely fill the sigma cavity. The doped semiconductor region is formed to have substantially vertical sidewalls for formation of a uniform source/drain junction profile. |
| US10249757B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
A substrate includes a pattern forming region and a peripheral region. A first strain relaxed buffer layer is disposed on the pattern forming region of the substrate. A second strain relaxed buffer layer is disposed on the peripheral region of the substrate. A first insulating film pattern is disposed on the substrate. At least a portion of the first insulating film pattern is disposed within the first strain relaxed buffer layer. An upper surface of the first insulating film pattern is covered with the first strain relaxed buffer layer. A second insulating film pattern is disposed on the substrate. At least a portion of the second insulating film pattern is disposed within the second strain relaxed buffer layer. An upper surface of the second insulating film pattern is covered with the second strain relaxed buffer layer. A gate electrode is disposed on the first strain relaxed buffer layer. |
| US10249754B2 |
Precise junction placement in vertical semiconductor devices using etch stop layers
A semiconductor device is provided that includes a first of a source region and a drain region comprised of a first semiconductor material, wherein an etch stop layer of a second semiconductor material present within the first of the source region and the drain region. A channel semiconductor material is present atop the first of the source region and the drain region. A second of the source and the drain region is present atop the channel semiconductor material. The semiconductor device may be a vertically orientated fin field effect transistor or a vertically orientated tunnel field effect transistor. |
| US10249753B2 |
Gate cut on a vertical field effect transistor with a defined-width inorganic mask
A method of cutting a gate on a VFET includes depositing a memorization layer around a spacer on a sidewall of the field effect transistor. A planarizing layer is patterned onto the memorization layer. An anti-reflective coating layer is patterned onto the planarizing layer. A photoresist layer is patterned onto the anti-reflective coating layer on ends of fins extending from a substrate. The planarizing layer, the anti-reflective coating layer, and the photoresist form a mask. The anti-reflective coating layer portion is etched from the VFET. The planarizing layer and the photoresist layer are arc etched from the VFET. The spacer is pulled down forming a void between gates on the VFET and exposing a hard mask on the fins. The hard mask is reactive ion etched vertically around the gates to form gates with a defined width mask. The memorization layer is removed from the VFET. |
| US10249752B2 |
Semiconductor devices having segmented ring structures
In one embodiment, the semiconductor devices relate to using one or more super-junction trenches for termination. |
| US10249748B2 |
Nitride semiconductor device
A nitride semiconductor device includes: a substrate of a first conductivity type having a first surface and a second surface on a side of the substrate opposite the first surface; a first nitride semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type which is disposed on the first surface of the substrate and includes an acceptor impurity; a second nitride semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type disposed on the first nitride semiconductor layer, the second conductivity type being opposite to the first conductivity type; a first electrode disposed on the second surface of the substrate; a second electrode disposed on the first nitride semiconductor layer; and a gate electrode disposed on the second nitride semiconductor layer. |
| US10249747B2 |
Turn-off power semiconductor device with improved centering and fixing of a gate ring, and method for manufacturing the same
The present application relates to a turn-off power semiconductor device having a wafer with an active region and a termination region surrounding the active region, a rubber ring as an edge passivation for the wafer and a gate ring placed on a ring-shaped gate contact on the termination region for contacting the gate electrodes of a thyristor cell formed in the active region of the wafer. In the turn-off power semiconductor device, the outer circumferential surface of the gate ring is in contact with the rubber ring to define the inner border of the rubber ring. The area consumed by the ring-shaped gate contact on the termination or edge region can be minimized. The upper surface of the gate ring and the upper surface of the rubber ring form a continuous surface extending in a plane parallel to the first main side of the wafer. |
| US10249744B2 |
Tunnel field-effect transistor and method for manufacturing tunnel field-effect transistor
A tunnel field-effect transistor and a method for manufacturing a tunnel field-effect transistor is disclosed. Source regions are located on two sides of an oxide structure, an epitaxial layer is located on a surface on a side that is of the source region and that is away from the oxide structure, and a gate structure is located on a surface on a side that is of the epitaxial layer and that is away from the source region, so that a gate electric field direction of the tunnel field-effect transistor is the same as an electron tunneling direction, and carriers on a valence band of the source region tunnel to a conduction band of the epitaxial layer at relatively high tunneling efficiency, thereby generating a steep subthreshold swing and enabling a subthreshold swing value of the tunnel field-effect transistor to be lower than 60 mV/dec to consume relatively low power. |
| US10249737B2 |
Silicon germanium-on-insulator formation by thermal mixing
A layer of amorphous silicon is formed on a germanium-on-insulator substrate, or a layer of germanium is formed on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. An anneal is then performed which causes thermal mixing of silicon and germanium atoms within one of the aforementioned structures and subsequent formation of a silicon germanium-on-insulator material. |
| US10249734B2 |
Poly-silicon thin film transistor and manufacturing method thereof, array substrate and manufacturing method thereof, and display device
A poly-silicon thin film transistor and its manufacturing method, an array substrate and its manufacturing method, and a display device are provided. The method for manufacturing a poly-silicon thin film transistor includes forming a poly-silicon layer on a base substrate so that the poly-silicon layer includes a first poly-silicon area, second poly-silicon areas located at the both sides of the first poly-silicon area and third poly-silicon areas located at a side of the second poly-silicon areas away from the first poly-silicon area; forming a barrier layer between a gate electrode and a gate insulation layer by a dry etching method so that the barrier layer corresponds to the first poly-silicon area; and with the barrier layer as a mask doping the second poly-silicon areas to form lightly doped areas. By this method, the lightly doped areas may have the same length, and thus the problem of excessive leakage current is avoided. |
| US10249725B2 |
Transistor with a gate metal layer having varying width
A semiconductor device includes an active layer, a source electrode, a drain electrode, a gate electrode, a first insulating layer, a gate metal layer, a via, a first source metal layer, a drain metal layer, and a second source metal layer. The source electrode, the drain electrode, and the gate electrode are present on the active layer. The first insulating layer is present on the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the gate electrode. The gate metal layer, the first source metal layer, the second source metal layer, and the drain metal layer are present on the first insulating layer. The gate metal layer includes a narrow portion and a wider portion. The via is present between the metal gate layer and the gate electrode. The second source metal layer is present between the gate metal layer and the drain metal layer. |
| US10249724B2 |
Low resistance contact structures for trench structures
An electrical device including at least one contact surface and an interlevel dielectric layer present atop the electrical device, wherein the interlevel dielectric layer includes at least one trench to the at least one contact surface of the electrical device. A conformal titanium liner is present on the sidewalls of the trench and is in direct contact with the at least one contact surface. The conformal titanium liner may be composed of 100 wt. % titanium, and may have a thickness ranging from 10Å to 100Å. |
| US10249722B2 |
Reduced parasitic capacitance with slotted contact
A FET device fabricated by providing a first conductor on a substrate, the first conductor having a first top surface with a first height above the substrate. A second conductor is provided adjacent the first conductor, the second conductor having a second top surface with a second height above the substrate. A portion of the second conductor is removed to provide a slot, wherein the slot is defined by opposing interior sidewalls and a bottom portion, such that the bottom portion of the slot is below the first height of the first conductor. An insulating material is deposited in the slot, the insulating material having a third top surface with a third height above the substrate, the third height being below the second height of the second conductor to provide space within the slot for a third conductor. The space within the slot is then filled with the third conductor. |
| US10249707B2 |
Laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor and manufacturing method therefor
A laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor, comprising a substrate (110), a source electrode (150), a drain electrode (140), a body region (160), and a well region on the substrate, the well region comprising: an insertion-type well (122) having P-type doping, being arranged below the drain electrode and being connected to the drain electrode; N wells (124), arranged on two sides of the insertion-type well; and P wells (126), arranged next to the N wells and being connected to the N wells; the source electrode and the body region are arranged in the P well. |
| US10249706B1 |
Semiconductor structure
The present invention provides a semiconductor structure comprising a substrate, a cell region defined on the substrate, a plurality of lower electrodes of the capacitor structures located in the cell region, an top support structure, contacting a top region of the lower electrode structure, and at least one middle support structure located between the substrate and the top support structure, contacting a middle region of the lower electrode structure, wherein when viewed in a top view, the top support structure and the middle support structure do not completely overlapped with each other. |
| US10249705B2 |
Capacitor array structure
A capacitor array structure which includes N capacitor units is provided. Each capacitor unit includes a first metal layer, a second metal layer, and a third metal layer to form an upper electrode and a lower electrode. The second metal layer is disposed between the first metal layer and the third metal layer, and includes a second patterned metal portion of the lower electrode and a first patterned metal portion of the upper electrode. disposed above. The second patterned metal portion of the lower electrode has an opening, and a side of the first patterned metal portion of the upper electrode is exposed in the opening, such that the side of the first patterned metal portion of the upper electrode is adjacent to the lower electrode of another capacitor unit. |
| US10249703B2 |
Metal resistors having nitridized metal surface layers with different nitrogen content
A semiconductor structure containing at least two metal resistor structures having different amounts of nitrogen on the resistor surface is provided. The resulted resistances (and hence resistivity) of the two metal resistors can be either the same or different. The semiconductor structure may include a first metal resistor structure located on a portion of a dielectric-containing substrate. The first metal resistor structure includes, from bottom to top, a first metal layer portion and a first nitridized metal surface layer having a first nitrogen content. The semiconductor structure further includes a second metal resistor structure located on a second portion of the dielectric-containing substrate and spaced apart from the first metal resistor structure. The second metal resistor structure includes, from bottom to top, a second metal layer portion and a second nitridized metal surface layer having a second nitrogen content that differs from the first nitrogen content. |
| US10249695B2 |
Displays with silicon and semiconducting-oxide top-gate thin-film transistors
An electronic device may include a display having an array of display pixels on a substrate. The display pixels may be organic light-emitting diode display pixels, that include hybrid thin-film transistor structures formed using semiconducting-oxide thin-film transistors, silicon thin-film transistors, and capacitor structures. A drive transistor in the display pixel may be a top-gate semiconducting-oxide thin-film transistor and a switching transistor in the display pixel may be a top-gate silicon thin-film transistor. A storage capacitor in the display may include a conductive semiconducting-oxide electrode. |
| US10249693B2 |
Organic light-emitting display apparatus
An organic light-emitting display apparatus for selectively realizing circular polarization according to external light conditions, including a substrate; an organic light-emitting device on the substrate; a sealing member on the organic light-emitting device; a phase retardation layer on a surface of the substrate, the organic light-emitting device, or the sealing member; and a linear polarization layer on another surface of the substrate, the organic light-emitting device, or the sealing member, wherein the linear polarization layer is located to be closer to a source of external light than the phase retardation layer, and wherein the linear polarization layer comprises a photochromic material. |
| US10249690B2 |
Display device having a suppression
An organic EL display device provided with a display portion includes a flexible base material (substrate) in which the display portion is provided, an inorganic film provided on the base material, a display element portion that is provided on the inorganic film and is provided to form the display portion, and a suppression portion that is provided outside the display portion and suppresses progression of cracking that has occurred in a peripheral portion of the base material. |
| US10249686B2 |
Organic light-emitting device and method of manufacturing the same
An organic light-emitting device proposes a primary pixel including one or more first subpixel, second subpixel, and third subpixel. The first subpixel is a white subpixel. The second subpixel includes the first light-emitting material for synthesizing the white light. The third subpixel includes the second light-emitting material. The organic light-emitting device further includes a third light-emitting material. The material for the second subpixel includes an original color zone and a synthesized color zone. The first light-emitting material for synthesizing the white light corresponding to the synthesized color zone. The transmission distance of the excitons produced by the second light-emitting material is smaller than the thickness of the function layer with the second light-emitting material. By using the organic light-emitting device, the brightness and color saturation of an image is well improved, power consumes less, and the lifespan of the organic light-emitting device is prolonged. |
| US10249683B1 |
Three-dimensional phase change memory arrays and methods of manufacturing the same
A phase change memory device containing a phase change memory material layer includes a vertically repeating sequence of unit layer stacks located over a substrate, a plurality of openings vertically extending through the vertically repeating sequence, a plurality of vertical bit lines located within a respective one of the plurality of openings, and vertical stacks of insulating spacers. Each of the unit layer stacks includes an insulating layer, at least one of the phase change memory material layer or a threshold switch material layer, and an electrically conductive word line layer. Each of the insulating spacers laterally surrounds a respective one of the plurality of vertical bit lines, and contacts a sidewall of a respective one of the electrically conductive word line layers. |
| US10249679B2 |
Method of wireless communication using thermoelectric generators
Method of wireless communication between a first device and a second device, in which, the first device and the second device comprising respectively a first thermoelectric generator and a second thermoelectric generator, the two thermoelectric generators being in thermal coupling, a first signal is generated within the first device, the first thermoelectric generator is electrically powered as a function of the first signal so as to create a first thermal gradient in the said first generator and a second thermal gradient in the second generator, and a second signal is generated within the second device on the basis of the electrical energy produced by the second thermoelectric generator in response to the said second thermal gradient. |
| US10249673B2 |
Rear-face illuminated solid state image sensors
A microelectronic unit includes a semiconductor element having a front surface to which a packaging layer is attached, and a rear surface remote from the front surface. The element includes a light detector including a plurality of light detector element arranged in an array disposed adjacent to the front surface and arranged to receive light through the rear surface. The semiconductor element also includes an electrically conductive contact at the front surface connected to the light detector. The conductive contact includes a thin region and a thicker region which is thicker than the thin region. A conductive interconnect extends through the packaging layer to the thin region of the conductive contact, and a portion of the conductive interconnect is exposed at a surface of the microelectronic unit. |
| US10249672B2 |
Image pickup apparatus, semiconductor apparatus, and image pickup unit
An image pickup apparatus includes: an image pickup chip including a light receiving section and electrode pads, on a first main face, and a plurality of connection electrodes, each of which is connected to each of the electrode pads via each of a plurality of through-hole interconnections, on a second main face; a transparent cover glass having a larger plan-view dimension than the image pickup chip; a transparent adhesive layer that bonds the first main face of the image pickup chip and the cover glass; and a sealing member that covers a side face of the image pickup chip and a side face of the adhesive layer, and is made of an insulating material having a same plan-view dimension as the cover glass. |
| US10249671B2 |
Low-noise CMOS image sensor
A CMOS pixel including a photodiode having a terminal connected to a potential GND and another terminal connected to a sense node by a first MOS transistor; a second MOS transistor connecting the sense node to a potential VDDH; and a third MOS transistor having its gate connected to the sense node, the transistors having a same gate insulator thickness, wherein the third transistor has a gate length and/or width smaller than those of the first and second transistors, wherein difference VDDH-GND is greater than the nominal voltage of the third MOS transistor, and wherein the body or drain region of the third transistor is connected to a potential VL between potentials VDDH and GND. |
| US10249670B2 |
Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus with multiple layers of signal lines and interconnect lines
The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging device that can reduce crosstalk interference, and to an electronic apparatus. In the upper chip, VSLs, VSLs, and control lines are stacked in this order from the bottom. That is, in the stacked solid-state imaging device, the control lines are laid out in the uppermost layer of the upper chip. In this structure, the influence of a lower chip on the two sets of VSLs can be shielded by the control lines. The present disclosure can be applied to CMOS solid-state imaging devices to be used in electronic apparatuses, such as a camera apparatus. |
| US10249669B1 |
Image sensors having two or more light sensitive subareas for receiving two or more images of a sample from a component
Among other things, an integral image sensor includes a sensor surface having a surface area at which light-sensitive pixels are arranged in rows and columns. The surface area includes two or more light-sensitive subareas each of the subareas having been configured to have been diced from a wafer along two orthogonal dimensions to form a discrete image sensor. The two or more light-sensitive subareas are arranged along one of the two orthogonal dimensions. The sensor surface of the integral image sensor is flat and continuous across the two or more subareas. |
| US10249666B2 |
Image sensors including shifted isolation structures
Image sensors are provided. An image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate including a pixel region. The image sensor includes first and second photoelectric conversion elements in the pixel region. The image sensor includes an isolation region between the first and second photoelectric conversion elements. The isolation region is off-center with respect to the pixel region. |
| US10249665B2 |
Solid-state imaging device and method of manufacturing solid-state imaging device
A solid state imaging device having a back-illuminated type structure in which a lens is formed on the back side of a silicon layer with a light-receiving sensor portion being formed thereon. Insulating layers are buried into the silicon layer around an image pickup region, with the insulating layer being buried around a contact layer that connects an electrode layer of a pad portion and an interconnection layer of the surface side. A method of manufacturing such a solid-state imaging device is also provided. |
| US10249663B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, manufacturing method thereof, and camera with arranged pixel combinations alternatively
A solid-state imaging device includes a semiconductor substrate; and a pixel unit having a plurality of pixels on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the pixel unit includes first pixel groups having two or more pixels and second pixel groups being different from the first pixel groups, wherein a portion of the pixels in the first pixel groups and a portion of the pixels in the second pixel groups share a floating diffusion element. |
| US10249659B2 |
Solid-state image pickup device
A solid-state image pickup device 1 according to the present invention includes a semiconductor substrate 2 on which a pixel 20 composed of a photodiode 3 and a transistor is formed. The transistor comprising the pixel 20 is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, a pn junction portion formed between high concentration regions of the photodiode 3 is provided within the semiconductor substrate 2 and a part of the pn junction portion of the photodiode 3 is extended to a lower portion of the transistor formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 2. According to the present invention, there is provided a solid-state image pickup device in which a pixel size can be microminiaturized without lowering a saturated electric charge amount (Qs) and sensitivity. |
| US10249658B2 |
Imaging device comprising a circuit having dual regions each with a transistor electrically connected to a photoelectric conversion element
An imaging device which offers an image with high quality and is suitable for high-speed operation is provided. The imaging device includes a first region to an n-th region (n is a natural number of 2 or more and 16 or less) each including a first circuit, a second circuit, a third circuit, and a fourth circuit. The first to third circuits each include a transistor in which silicon is used in an active layer or an active region. The fourth circuit includes a photoelectric conversion element and a transistor in which an oxide semiconductor is used in an active layer. The first circuit includes a region overlapping with the fourth circuit. The third circuit includes a region overlapping with the fourth circuit. |
| US10249657B2 |
Solid-state image sensing device, drive method, and electronic apparatus
The present disclosure relates to a solid-state image sensing device, a drive method, and an electronic apparatus that are configured to suppress the color mixture of a phase difference detection signal to an image sensing signal. The solid-state image sensing device has a pixel area configured to be arranged with a plurality of pixels in which a first photoelectrical conversion section for photoelectrically converting a visible light of a first wavelength range and a second photoelectrical conversion section for photoelectrically converting a visible light of a second wavelength range are formed in different depths as viewed from a cross-sectional direction, and a drive section configured to execute a drive operation of reading each pixel signal having a level corresponding to charges generated in each of the first photoelectrical conversion section and the second photoelectrical conversion section from each of the above-mentioned plurality of pixels. Further, in each of the above-mentioned plurality of pixels, at least one of the first photoelectrical conversion section and the second photoelectrical conversion section is configured as divided when viewed from a planar direction. The present technology is applicable to a solid-state image sensing device capable of detecting an image plane phase difference, for example. |
| US10249656B2 |
Charge packet signal processing using pinned photodiode devices
An image sensor may include an array of image pixels coupled to analog-to-digital conversion circuitry formed from pinned photodiode charge transfer circuits. Majority charge carriers for the pinned photodiodes in the charge transfer circuits may be electrons for photodiode wells formed from n-type doped regions and may be holes for photodiode formed from p-type doped regions. Pinned photodiodes may be used for charge integration onto a capacitive circuit node. Pinned photodiodes may also be used for charge subtraction from a capacitive circuit node. Comparator circuitry may be used to determine digital values for the pixel output levels in accordance with single-slope conversion, successive-approximation-register conversion, cyclic conversion, and first or second order delta-sigma conversion techniques. The array of image pixels used for imaging may have a conversion mode wherein at least a portion of the pixel circuitry in the array are operated similar to the charge transfer circuits. |
| US10249654B1 |
Manufacturing method of top-gate TFT and top-gate TFT
The invention provides a manufacturing method of top-gate TFT and top-gate TFT. The manufacturing method forms first and second insulating layers sequentially on a base substrate, and uses a first mask to form first and second vias separated with interval on the second insulating layer, forms a through groove on the first insulation layer below the first and second vias, the through groove connects the first and second vias, and forms a vertical U-shaped trench with the first and second vias, then fills the vertical U-shaped trench to form an active layer, and finally uses a second mask to form a source, a drain, and a gate on the second insulating layer. As such, the top-gate TFT structure is simplified and the number of mask processes is reduced. With two mask processes to manufacture a top-gate TFT with vertical U-shaped trench, the invention saves the manufacturing cost. |
| US10249652B2 |
Manufacturing method of flexible TFT substrate
The invention provides a manufacturing method of flexible TFT substrate, forming first contact hole above two sides of the active layer and buffer hole on flexible base substrate after depositing a silicon oxide layer of interlayer dielectric layer (ILD), coating organic photo-resist material on the silicon oxide layer and filling the organic photo-resist material into the buffer hole during coating to form organic photo-resist layer to obtain ILD including silicon oxide layer and organic photo-resist layer, and patternizing organic photo-resist layer to form a connection hole corresponding to above of first contact hole so that the subsequent source/drain connected to active layer through the first contact holes and connection holes. By replacing the silicon nitride layer in conventional ILD with flexible organic photo-resist layer and providing buffer hole filled with organic photo-resist material on flexible base substrate, the flexibility of TFT substrate is enhanced and product performance improved. |
| US10249650B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a pixel including a thin film transistor, and an under layer below the thin film transistor. The thin film transistor includes a first gate electrode, a semiconductor layer and a second gate electrode. The semiconductor layer includes a channel region that overlaps at least one of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode in a plan view. The channel region curves in a thickness direction of the semiconductor layer. The first gate electrode includes a first edge located on the side of an edge of the channel region in a direction of a channel length. The second gate electrode includes a second edge located on the side of the edge of the channel region. The position of the first edge is different from the position of the second edge in the direction of the channel length. |
| US10249647B2 |
Semiconductor device and display device comprising oxide semiconductor layer
An object of an embodiment of the present invention is to manufacture a semiconductor device with high display quality and high reliability, which includes a pixel portion and a driver circuit portion capable of high-speed operation over one substrate, using transistors having favorable electric characteristics and high reliability as switching elements. Two kinds of transistors, in each of which an oxide semiconductor layer including a crystalline region on one surface side is used as an active layer, are formed in a driver circuit portion and a pixel portion. Electric characteristics of the transistors can be selected by choosing the position of the gate electrode layer which determines the position of the channel. Thus, a semiconductor device including a driver circuit portion capable of high-speed operation and a pixel portion over one substrate can be manufactured. |
| US10249646B2 |
Display device fabricated with fewer masks and method of manufacturing the same
A display device includes: a substrate including first and second light-blocking areas, and a pixel area; a light-blocking pattern at least partially at the first light-blocking area; a data line at the second light-blocking area; a first insulating layer on the light-blocking pattern and the data line; a semiconductor layer on the first insulating layer and overlapping the light-blocking pattern on a plane; a second insulating layer on the semiconductor layer; a color filter on the second insulating layer at least partially at the pixel area; a third insulating layer on the second insulating layer and the color filter; a gate line on the third insulating layer at the first light-blocking area; a pixel electrode at least partially at the pixel area; and a bridge electrode at least partially at the first light-blocking area. The second and third insulating layers directly contact one another over the semiconductor layer. |
| US10249643B2 |
Hard copied semiconductor device having a resistance-variable non-volatile element
Provided are a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device which enable a hard copy of a reconfigurable circuit, which employs a resistance variable element, to be formed at low cost. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is for manufacturing a hard copy from a reconfigurable circuit chip that employs a resistance-variable non-volatile element formed inside a multi-layered wiring layer on a semiconductor substrate, wherein the hard copy is manufactured by using a semiconductor substrate base that is the same as that of the semiconductor substrate for forming the reconfigurable circuit chip. |
| US10249642B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a substrate, a stacked body, a plurality of pillar portions, and an interconnection portion. The stacked body is provided on the substrate. The stacked body includes a plurality of electrode layers stacked separately from each other. The plurality of pillar portions are provided in the stacked body. The plurality of pillar portions extend in a stacking direction of the stacked body. The interconnection portion is provided in the stacked body. The interconnection portion extends in a first direction. The neighboring pillar portions are not arranged along the first direction. |
| US10249641B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing same
A semiconductor memory device according to one embodiment includes a substrate, a stacked body provided on a first-direction side of the substrate, a semiconductor member extending in the first direction, and a charge storage film provided between the stacked body and the semiconductor member. The stacked body includes first insulating films and electrode films stacked alternately along the first direction. A recess is made in a surface of the stacked body facing the semiconductor member every one of the electrode films. |
| US10249640B2 |
Within-array through-memory-level via structures and method of making thereof
A semiconductor structure includes a memory-level assembly located over a substrate and including at least one alternating stack and memory stack structures vertically extending through the at least one alternating stack. Each of the at least one an alternating stack includes alternating layers of respective insulating layers and respective electrically conductive layers, and each of the electrically conductive layers in the at least one alternating stack includes a respective opening such that a periphery of a respective spacer dielectric portion located in the opening contacts a sidewall of the respective electrically conductive layers. At least one through-memory-level via structure vertically extends through each of the spacer dielectric portions and the insulating layers. |
| US10249639B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment includes: first and second memory columnar bodies aligned in a second direction intersecting a first direction, the first and second memory columnar bodies respectively including a semiconductor layer and extending in the first direction; a bit line disposed above the first and second memory columnar bodies; and a first connecting line disposed between the first and second memory columnar bodies and the bit line in the first direction and electrically coupled to the semiconductor layers of the first and second memory columnar bodies and the bit line, the first connecting line extending linearly in the second direction, and a center line widthwise of the first connecting line being in a position displaced in a third direction, the third direction intersecting the first and second directions, from positions of centers of the first and second memory columnar bodies. |
| US10249637B2 |
Manufacturing method of semiconductor device
A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes: forming a tunnel oxide layer and a charge-storage layer in a region of a flash memory transistor; forming a first oxide film; removing the first oxide film in regions of a first transistor and a second transistor; forming a third oxide film by adding a first oxide layer between a first oxide film and a semiconductor substrate in a region of a third transistor while forming a second oxide film in the regions of the first transistor and the second transistor by oxidation; removing the second oxide film in the region of the first transistor; and forming a fifth oxide film by adding a second oxide layer between the second oxide film and the semiconductor substrate in the region of the second transistor while forming a fourth oxide film in the region of the first transistor by oxidation, and forming a sixth oxide film by adding a third oxide layer between the first oxide layer and the semiconductor substrate in the region of the third transistor. |
| US10249635B2 |
Three-dimensional semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing the same
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a substrate, semiconductor pillars, first electrode films, a second electrode film, a first insulating film, a second insulating film, and a contact. The semiconductor pillars are provided on the substrate, extend in a first direction crossing an upper surface of the substrate, and are arranged along second and third directions being parallel to the upper surface and crossing each other. The first electrode films extend in the third direction. The second electrode film is provided between the semiconductor pillars and the first electrode films. The first insulating film is provided between the semiconductor pillars and the second electrode film. The second insulating film is provided between the second electrode film and the first electrode films. The contact is provided at a position on the third direction of the semiconductor pillars and is connected to the first electrode films. |
| US10249634B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
Provided herein may be a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device may include a stack. The semiconductor device may include channel layers including channel patterns passing through the stack, dummy channel patterns passing through the stack, and a coupling pattern which may be disposed below the stack and couples the channel patterns with the dummy channel patterns. The semiconductor device may include a bit line which is disposed on the stack and coupled with the channel patterns. The semiconductor device may include a well pick-up line which is disposed on the stack and coupled with the dummy channel patterns. |
| US10249632B2 |
Simple integration of non-volatile memory and complementary metal oxide semiconductor
A method that allows integrating complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors and a non-volatile memory (NVM) transistor on a single substrate is provided. The NVM transistor includes a gate stack containing a high-k tunneling gate dielectric, a floating gate electrode, a high-k control gate dielectric and a control gate electrode. The high-k tunneling gate dielectric is formed form a first high-k dielectric layer employed in formation of a gate dielectric for a p-type field effect transistor (FET), the floating gate electrode is formed from a capping material layer employed in annealing the first high-k dielectric layer, and the high-k control gate dielectric is formed from a second high-k dielectric layer employed in formation of a gate dielectric for an n-type FET. |
| US10249631B2 |
Split gate non-volatile flash memory cell having metal gates
A memory device including a silicon substrate having a planar upper surface in a memory cell area and an upwardly extending silicon fin in a logic device area. The silicon fin includes side surfaces extending up and terminating at a top surface. The logic device includes spaced apart source and drain regions with a channel region extending there between (along the top surface and the side surfaces), and a conductive logic gate disposed over the top surface and laterally adjacent to the side surfaces. The memory cell includes spaced apart source and drain regions with a second channel region extending there between, a conductive floating gate disposed over one portion of the second channel region, a conductive word line gate disposed over another portion of the second channel region, a conductive control gate disposed over the floating gate, and a conductive erase gate disposed over the source region. |
| US10249630B2 |
Structure featuring ferroelectric capacitance in interconnect level for steep sub-threshold complementary metal oxide semiconductor transistors
After forming a first functional gate stack located on a first body region of a first semiconductor material portion located in a first region of a substrate and a second functional gate stack located on a second body region of a second semiconductor material portion located in a second region of the substrate, a ferroelectric gate interconnect structure is formed connecting the first functional gate stack and the second functional gate stack. The ferroelectric gate interconnect structure includes a U-shaped bottom electrode structure, a U-shaped ferroelectric material liner and a top electrode structure. |
| US10249626B2 |
Semiconductor memory device including multilayer wiring layer
The memory capacity of a DRAM is enhanced. A semiconductor memory device includes a driver circuit including part of a single crystal semiconductor substrate, a multilayer wiring layer provided over the driver circuit, and a memory cell array layer provided over the multilayer wiring layer. That is, the memory cell array overlaps with the driver circuit. Accordingly, the integration degree of the semiconductor memory device can be increased as compared to the case where a driver circuit and a memory cell array are provided in the same plane of a substrate containing a singe crystal semiconductor material. |
| US10249621B2 |
Dummy contacts to mitigate plasma charging damage to gate dielectrics
A method of limiting plasma charging damage on ICs. A die includes gate stacks on active areas defined by a field dielectric. A pre-metal dielectric (PMD) layer is over the gate electrode. A contact masking material pattern is defined on the PMD layer including first contact defining features for forming active contacts and second contact defining features for forming dummy contacts (DC's) including over active areas and gate electrodes. Contacts are etched through the PMD layer using the contact masking material pattern to form active contacts and DC's. A patterned metal 1 (M1) layer is formed including first M1 portions over the active contacts and dummy M1 portions over the DC's. Metallization processing follows including forming interconnects so that the active contacts are connected to MOS transistors on the IC, and the DC's are not electrically connected to the MOS transistors. |
| US10249619B2 |
Power semiconductor device having trench gate type IGBT and diode regions
Switching loss is reduced. A first surface of a semiconductor substrate has a portion included in an IGBT region and a portion included in a diode region. Trenches formed in the first surface include a gate trench and a boundary trench disposed between the gate trench and the diode region. A fourth layer of the semiconductor substrate is provided on the first surface and has a portion included in the diode region. The fourth layer includes a trench-covering well region that covers the deepest part of the boundary trench, a plurality of isolated well regions, and a diffusion region that connects the trench-covering well region and the isolated well regions. The diffusion region has a lower impurity concentration than that of the isolated well regions. A first electrode is in contact with the isolated well regions and away from the diffusion region. |
| US10249617B2 |
Tunable device having a FET integrated with a BJT
A device includes a field effect transistor (FET) integrated with at least a portion of a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), in which a back gate of the FET shares an electrical connection with a base of the BJT, and in which a reverse voltage can be applied to the back gate of the FET. |
| US10249613B2 |
Electrostatic discharge device and manufacturing method thereof, array substrate, display panel and device
An electrostatic discharge device comprises a transistor with one of its source and drain serving as an input terminal of said device and the other serving as an output terminal. Said transistor comprises: a first conductive layer used as a first floating gate; a first insulating layer covering said first conductive layer; an active layer on said first insulating layer; a second insulating layer covering said active layer; a second conductive layer used as a second floating gate and on said second insulating layer; a third insulating layer covering said second conductive layer; a third conductive layer and a fourth conductive layer on said third insulating layer and on both sides of the active layer, said third conductive layer being isolated from the fourth conductive layer, wherein said third conductive layer serves as one of the source and the drain and said fourth conductive layer serves as the other. |
| US10249611B1 |
Diode string configured with guard ring silicon-controlled rectifier for negative electrostatic discharge protection
A diode string for a semiconductor circuit configured with a guard ring silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. The diode string includes multiple NPN transistor diode structures formed in an N-well structure and electrically coupled in series between a reference voltage node and an I/O pad. Each diode structure may include a P-type retro-well structure including at least one N+ doped region and at least one P+ doped region. The P+ guard ring includes at least one P+ doped structure formed in the N-well structure disposed on either side of the first diode structure and electrically coupled to the reference voltage node. The P+ guard ring forms the SCR with the first diode structure. The diode string is triggered in response to an ESD event, which activates the SCR, and the SCR clamps the I/O pad to the reference voltage node and handles the ESD current. |
| US10249610B1 |
IGBT coupled to a reverse bias device in series
In some examples, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) device comprises an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) comprising a source terminal, an anode terminal, a gate terminal, and a body terminal; and at least one reverse bias device comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal couples to the source terminal and the second terminal couples to the body terminal. |
| US10249608B1 |
ESD protection circuit
An electrostatic protection circuit is disclosed. The electrostatic protection circuit includes delay circuitry coupled between a supply voltage node and a fixed voltage node. The electrostatic protection circuit also includes latch circuitry made up of current-limiting circuitry that includes a gallium arsenide transistor and a latch. The current-limiting circuitry and the latch are coupled between the supply voltage node and the fixed voltage node, and the current-limiting circuitry is also coupled to the delay circuitry. The electrostatic protection circuit further includes discharge circuitry coupled between the supply voltage node and the fixed voltage node and to the latch, wherein the latch is configured to drive the discharge circuitry to short the supply voltage node to the fixed voltage node during an electrostatic discharge event, and the current-limiting circuitry is configured to limit latch current from the supply voltage node to the latch during normal operation. |
| US10249602B2 |
Light emitting diode display and manufacture method thereof
The present invention provides a light emitting diode display and a manufacture method thereof. The manufacture method of the light emitting diode display according to the present invention arranges an anode contact layer to increase the contact area of the second anode of the light emitting diode and the first anode of the TFT backplate to ensure the fine contact between the second anode and the first anode for avoiding the problem that the second anode and the first anode are in bad contact due to the poor welding for stabilizing the luminous performance of the light emitting diode to promote the display quality of the light emitting diode display; furthermore, the present application uses ink jet printing to form the anode contact layer and the cathode insulation layer, and the manufacture process is simple and the production cost is low. |
| US10249591B2 |
Resin composition, bonded body and semiconductor device
A resin composition is provided, including a binder resin, and silver-coated particles in which a functional group is introduced to a surface. A ratio (a/b) of Young's modulus (a) of the silver-coated particles to Young's modulus (b) of the binder resin after being cured is 0.1 to 2.0, and the Young's modulus (a) of the silver-coated particles is 0.05 to 2.0 GPa. |
| US10249590B2 |
Stacked dies using one or more interposers
The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor structures and, more particularly, to stacked dies using one or more interposers and methods of manufacture. The structure includes: at least one die comprising a plurality of via interconnects, the plurality of via interconnects comprising at least one functional via interconnect, one defective via interconnect and one redundant functional via interconnect to compensate for the one defective via interconnect; and an interposer which includes interconnects that aligns to and electrically connects the at least one functional via interconnect and the redundant functional via interconnect of different dies when the interposer is oriented in a predetermined orientation. |
| US10249589B2 |
Semiconductor device including conductive layer and conductive pillar disposed on conductive layer and method of manufacturing the same
The semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a conductor layer formed over the semiconductor substrate and having an upper surface and a lower surface; a conductive pillar formed on the upper surface of the conductor layer and having an upper surface, a lower surface, and a sidewall; a protection film covering the upper surface of the conductor layer and having an opening which exposes the upper surface and the sidewall of the conductive pillar; and a protection film covering the sidewall of the conductive pillar. Then, in plan view, the opening of the protection film is wider than the upper surface of the conductive pillar and exposes an entire region of an upper surface of the conductive pillar. |
| US10249583B1 |
Semiconductor die bond pad with insulating separator
A semiconductor die includes a last metallization layer above a semiconductor substrate, a bond pad above the last metallization layer, a passivation layer covering part of the bond pad and having an opening that defines a contact area of the bond pad, an insulating region separating the bond pad from the last metallization layer at least in an area corresponding to the contact area of the bond pad, and an electrically conductive interconnection structure that extends from the bond pad to the upper metallization layer outside the contact area of the bond pad. Corresponding methods of manufacture are also provided. |
| US10249575B2 |
Radio-frequency isolation using cavity formed in interface layer
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device involves providing a transistor device, forming one or more electrical connections to the transistor device, forming one or more dielectric layers over at least a portion of the electrical connections, applying an interface material over at least a portion of the one or more dielectric layers, removing at least a portion of the interface material to form a trench, and covering at least a portion of the interface material and the trench with a substrate layer to form a cavity. |
| US10249571B2 |
Thin film transistor and manufacturing method thereof, array substrate, and display panel
A thin film transistor comprises an active layer; a light-protection layer disposed above the active layer and/or disposed beneath the active layer, the light-protection layer being configured to absorb light having a predetermined wavelength. By providing a light-protection layer above the active layer, light incident onto the channel region from top of the thin film transistor can be absorbed, while by providing a light-protection layer under the active layer, light incident onto the channel region from bottom of the thin film transistor can be absorbed, thereby effectively avoiding influence of light on the active layer of the channel region and ensuring a relatively strong light stability of the driving transistor in the thin film transistor. A method for manufacturing a thin film transistor and an array substrate comprising the thin film transistor as well as an array substrate and a display device comprising the thin film transistor are further provided. |
| US10249569B2 |
Semiconductor device having structure for improving voltage drop and device including the same
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of metal layers above the semiconductor substrate. A first of the metal layers includes a plurality of first power rails which extend in a first direction and provide a first voltage, a plurality of second power rails which extend in the first direction and provide a second voltage, and a first conductor which is integral with one end of each of the first power rails and extends in a second direction. The first direction is perpendicular to the second direction. The first voltage is one of a ground voltage and a power source voltage and the second voltage is the other voltage. |
| US10249567B2 |
Redistribution layer structure of semiconductor package
A redistribution layer structure of the semiconductor package includes a dielectric layer having a thickness, at least one upper conductive wire disposed on a first surface of the dielectric layer, at least one lower conductive wire disposed on a second surface of the dielectric layer, and vias penetrating the dielectric layer and connecting the at least one upper conductive wire and the at least one lower conductive wire. Each via has a cross-section at one upper conductive wire. The cross-section has a third width. The ratio of the third width to the thickness of the dielectric layer is less than or equal to 1. The ratio of the pitch between every two adjacent vias to the third width is greater than or equal to 0.5. |
| US10249566B2 |
Semiconductor device including fuse structure
An eFuse structure of a semiconductor device may include a first metal formed at a first level on a substrate, a second metal formed at a second level between the first level and the substrate, a third metal formed at a third level between the second level and the substrate, a first via connecting the first metal to the second metal, and a second via connecting the second metal to the third metal. The first metal may include a first portion extending in a first direction, a second portion extending in the first direction and being adjacent to the first portion, and a third portion connecting the first portion to the second portion. A first distance between the first portion and the second portion may be greater than a width of the second portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. |
| US10249565B2 |
Semiconductor device that transfers an electric signal with a set of inductors
A semiconductor chip is mounted on a first surface of an interconnect substrate, and has a multilayer interconnect layer. A first inductor is formed over the multilayer interconnect layer, and a wiring axis direction thereof is directed in a horizontal direction to the interconnect substrate. A second inductor is formed on the multilayer interconnect layer, and a wiring axis direction thereof is directed in the horizontal direction to the interconnect substrate. The second inductor is opposite to the first inductor. A sealing resin seals at least the first surface of the interconnect substrate and the semiconductor chip. A groove is formed over the whole area of a portion that is positioned between the at least first inductor and the second inductor of a boundary surface of the multilayer interconnect layer and the sealing resin. |
| US10249555B2 |
Composite heat sink structures
Composite heat sink structures and methods of fabrication are provided, with the composite heat sink structures including: a thermally conductive base having a main heat transfer surface to couple to, for instance, at least one electronic component to be cooled; a compressible, continuous sealing member; and a sealing member retainer compressing the compressible, continuous sealing member against the thermally conductive base; and an in situ molded member. The in situ molded member is molded over and affixed to the thermally conductive base, and is molded over and secures in place the sealing member retainer. A coolant-carrying compartment resides between the thermally conductive base and the in situ molded member, and a coolant inlet and outlet are provided in fluid communication with the coolant-carrying compartment to facilitate liquid coolant flow through the compartment. |
| US10249554B2 |
Heat transfer assembly for a heat emitting device
A heat transfer assembly useful for dissipating heat from the heat emitting device is disclosed. The assembly includes a module inlet for receiving a coolant, at least one module having a first part with a recess to receive a portion of the heat emitting device, and a second part having a shaped cutout portion and a solid portion, where the second part allows a uniform compression of a seal component disposed on the first part. The first part and the second part are mechanically connected to each other; and a module outlet is used for discharging a heat absorbed coolant after absorbing heat from the heat emitting device, where the at least one module is connected to the module inlet and the module outlet. In another embodiment, multiple modules are configured in a symmetrical layout to provide a balanced flow of the coolant in the heat transfer assembly. |
| US10249549B2 |
Ceramic circuit board, electronic circuit module, and method for manufacturing electronic circuit module
A ceramic circuit board that includes a ceramic insulator layer, grounding pattern conductors, connection lands disposed on a first surface of the ceramic circuit board, and grounding electrodes disposed on a second surface of the ceramic circuit board and connected to the grounding pattern conductors. Each of the grounding pattern conductors contains a metal and an oxide and includes a pattern main portion disposed inside the ceramic circuit board and an extended portion in which a first end thereof is connected to the pattern main portion and a second end thereof is exposed at a side surface of the ceramic circuit board. The metal content of the extended portion is lower than the metal content of the pattern main portion. |
| US10249544B2 |
Method of inspecting surface and method of manufacturing semiconductor device
Provided are a method of inspecting a surface and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The methods include preparing a substrate, selecting a spatial resolution of a first optical device by setting a magnification of an imaging optical system, emitting multi-wavelength light toward a first measurement area of the substrate and obtaining first wavelength-specific images, generating first spectrum data based on the first wavelength-specific images, generating first spectrum data of respective pixels based on the first wavelength-specific images, and extracting a spectrum of at least one first inspection area having a range of the first measurement area or less from the first spectrum data, and analyzing the spectrum. The first optical device includes a light source, an objective lens, a detector, and an imaging optical system. The obtaining first wavelength-specific images includes using the imaging optical system and the detector. |
| US10249539B2 |
Nanosheet transistors having different gate dielectric thicknesses on the same chip
Embodiments are directed to a method and resulting structures for forming thin and thick gate dielectric nanosheet transistors on the same chip. A first nanosheet stack having a first sacrificial layer between a first nanosheet and a second nanosheet is formed on a substrate. A second nanosheet stack having a first sacrificial layer between a first nanosheet and a second nanosheet is formed on the substrate. The first nanosheet of the first nanosheet stack is doped and concurrently removed with the first sacrificial layer of the first nanosheet stack and the first sacrificial layer of the second nanosheet stack. |
| US10249538B1 |
Method of forming vertical field effect transistors with different gate lengths and a resulting structure
Disclosed is a method of forming a structure with multiple vertical field effect transistors (VFETs). In the method, lower source/drain regions are formed on a substrate such that semiconductor fins extend vertically above the lower source/drain regions. Lower spacers are formed on the lower source/drain regions and positioned laterally adjacent to the semiconductor fins. Gates, having co-planar top surfaces, are formed on the lower spacers and positioned laterally adjacent to the semiconductor fins. However, process steps are performed prior to gate formation to ensure that the top surfaces of the lower source/drain region and lower spacer of a first VFET are below the levels of the top surfaces of the lower source/drain region and lower spacer, respectively, of a second VFET. As a result, the first VFET will have a longer gate, higher threshold voltage and lower switching speed. Also disclosed is the structure formed according to the method. |
| US10249537B2 |
Method and structure for forming FinFET CMOS with dual doped STI regions
A method of making a semiconductor device includes forming a first fin of a first transistor in a substrate; forming a second fin of a second transistor in the substrate; disposing a first doped oxide layer including a first dopant onto the first fin and the second fin, the first dopant being an n-type dopant or a p-type dopant; disposing a mask over the first fin and removing the first doped oxide layer from the second fin; removing the mask and disposing a second doped oxide layer onto the first doped oxide layer over the first doped oxide layer covering the first fin and directly onto the second fin, the second doped oxide layer including an n-type dopant or a p-type dopant that is different than the first dopant; and annealing to drive in the first dopant into a portion of the first fin and the second dopant into a portion of the second fin. |
| US10249529B2 |
Channel silicon germanium formation method
A method of making a channel region in a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate having a first transistor area arranged adjacent to a second transistor area; growing an epitaxial layer on the second transistor area of the substrate; forming a trench in the substrate between the first transistor area and the second transistor area; performing a condensation technique to thermally mix materials of the epitaxial layer and the substrate; and filling the trench with a dielectric material to form a shallow trench isolation region between a first channel region of the first transistor and a second channel region of the second transistor; wherein performing the condensation technique is performed after forming the trench. |
| US10249517B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus
A substrate processing apparatus has a labyrinth around a processing liquid nozzle above a nozzle gap, and a seal gas is supplied to the labyrinth to seal the nozzle gap from an external space. Consequently, the entry of the atmosphere of the external space into a processing space through the nozzle gap can be suppressed. An opposing-member flange part of a top plate has a first uneven part on the upper surface, and a holder body of an opposing-member moving mechanism has a second uneven part on the lower surface. The labyrinth is formed by raised portions of one of the first and second uneven parts being disposed within recessed portions of the other of the first and second uneven parts with a gap therebetween only when the top plate is located at a second position (i.e., the processing space is created). This achieves flattening of the substrate processing apparatus. |
| US10249516B2 |
Underfill dispensing using funnels
Arrays of objects on a substrate having void-free underfill as well as methods and systems of forming the same include forming a void-free layer of underfill material between a substrate and an array of multiple objects positioned on the substrate. The void-free layer of underfill material is cured to form a protective cured underfill layer that provides structural support to connections between the objects and the substrate. |
| US10249514B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element, a substrate formed with a recess in a main surface, a conductive layer formed on the substrate and electrically connected to the semiconductor element, and a sealing resin covering the semiconductor element. The substrate is made of an electrically insulative synthetic resin. The recess has a bottom surface on which the semiconductor element is mounted, and an intermediate surface connected to the main surface and the bottom surface. The bottom surface is orthogonal to the thickness direction of the substrate. The intermediate surface is inclined with respect to the bottom surface. |
| US10249510B1 |
Etching method
An etching method including the following steps is provided. A substrate is provided first. A first region and a second region adjacent to the first region are defined on the substrate. A material layer is formed on the substrate. A pattern mask is formed on the material layer. The patterned mask includes a first part covering the material layer on the first region and a second part including a lattice structure. The lattice structure includes a plurality of openings and a plurality of shielding parts. Each opening exposes a part of the material layer on the second region. Each shielding part is located between the openings adjacent to one another. Each shielding part covers a part of the material layer on the second region. An isotropic etching process is then performed to remove the material layer exposed by the openings and the material layer covered by the shielding parts. |
| US10249508B2 |
Method for preventing excessive etching of edges of an insulator layer
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first semiconductor layer on a semiconductor substrate, forming a first insulator layer on the first semiconductor layer, forming a patterned second semiconductor layer on the first insulator layer, the patterned second semiconductor layer having an actual thickness greater than a target thickness and exposing a portion of the first insulator layer; forming a second insulator layer as a spacer on the exposed portion of the first insulator layer, and performing an etching process on the patterned second semiconductor layer until the second semiconductor layer has the target thickness and concurrently removing the second insulator layer. The method can eliminate capillary etching of the spacer in a subsequent removal of the first insulator layer. |
| US10249506B2 |
GaN-on-si semiconductor device structures for high current/ high voltage lateral GaN transistors and methods of fabrication thereof
A GaN-on-Si device structure and a method of fabrication are disclosed for improved die yield and device reliability of high current/high voltage lateral GaN transistors. A plurality of conventional GaN device structures comprising GaN epi-layers are fabricated on a silicon substrate (GaN-on-Si die). After processing of on-chip interconnect layers, a trench structure is defined around each die, through the GaN epi-layers and into the silicon substrate. A trench cladding is provided on proximal sidewalls, comprising at least one of a passivation layer and a conductive metal layer. The trench cladding extends over exposed surfaces of the GaN epi-layers, over the interface region with the substrate, and over the exposed surfaces of the interconnect layers. This structure reduces risk of propagation of dicing damage and defects or cracks in the GaN epi-layers into active device regions. A metal trench cladding acts as a barrier for electro-migration of mobile ions. |
| US10249501B2 |
Single process for liner and metal fill
After forming a contact opening in a dielectric material layer located over a substrate, a metal liner layer comprising a nitride of an alloy and a metal contact layer comprising the alloy that provides the metal liner layer are deposited in-situ in the contact opening by sputter deposition in a single process and without an air break. Compositions of the metal liner layer and the metal contact layer can be changed by varying gas compositions employed in the sputtering process. |
| US10249500B2 |
Method for manufacturing substrate for semiconductor device
A substrate for semiconductor device includes a substrate, a reaction layer provided on a back surface of the substrate, a transmission preventing metal having a transmittance with respect to red light or infrared light lower than that of the substrate and a material of the substrate being mixed in the reaction layer, and a metal thin film layer formed on a back surface of the reaction layer and formed of the same material as the transmission preventing metal. |
| US10249498B2 |
Method for using heated substrates for process chemistry control
A method of controlling doping of a substrate, the method comprising: providing the substrate in a process chamber of a doping system; performing a doping process to impart a target dose on a surface of the substrate using a abruptness depth control technique; and controlling selected operating variables of plasma doping in order to meet doping objectives. |
| US10249497B2 |
Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method of manufacturing silicon carbide semiconductor device
A silicon carbide semiconductor device includes a silicon carbide semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, a gate insulating film provided on a front surface of the silicon carbide semiconductor substrate and including any one or a plurality of an oxide film, a nitride film, and an oxynitride film, and a gate electrode containing poly-silicon and provided on the gate insulating film. A concentration of fluorine in the gate insulating film at an interface with the silicon carbide semiconductor substrate is equal to or higher than 1×1019 atoms/cm3. |
| US10249496B2 |
Narrowed feature formation during a double patterning process
Interconnect structures and methods of fabricating an interconnect structure. A first mandrel line, a second mandrel line, and a non-mandrel line between the first mandrel line and the second mandrel line are provided. A first sidewall spacer is formed adjacent to a section of the first mandrel line and is arranged between the section of the first mandrel line and the non-mandrel line. A first cut is formed that extends partially across the non-mandrel line adjacent to the first spacer to narrow a section of the non-mandrel line. The section of the first mandrel line is removed selective to the first sidewall spacer to form a second cut. An interconnect is formed using the non-mandrel line. The interconnect includes a narrowed section coinciding with a location of the narrowed section of the non-mandrel line. |
| US10249493B2 |
Method for depositing a layer on a semiconductor wafer by vapor deposition in a process chamber
A method for depositing a layer on a semiconductor wafer by vapor deposition in a process chamber, involves removing native oxide from a surface of the wafer; and then depositing an epitaxial layer with a thickness of at least 40 μm on the surface of the wafer by introducing a silicon containing gas and a carrier gas into the process chamber, wherein the flow rate of the silicon containing gas is lower than 10 standard liters per minute and the flow rate of the carrier gas is at least 40 standard liters per minute. |
| US10249491B2 |
Method and apparatus for forming device quality gallium nitride layers on silicon substrates
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is used for heteroepitaxial film growth at reaction temperatures ranging from 80-400° C. The substrate and film materials are preferably matched to take advantage of Domain Matched Epitaxy (DME). A laser annealing system is used to thermally anneal deposition layer after deposition by ALD. In preferred embodiments, a silicon substrate is overlaid with an AlN nucleation layer and laser annealed. Thereafter a GaN device layer is applied over the AlN layer by an ALD process and then laser annealed. In a further example embodiment, a transition layer is applied between the GaN device layer and the AlN nucleation layer. The transition layer comprises one or more different transition material layers each comprising a AlxGa1-xN compound wherein the composition of the transition layer is continuously varied from AlN to GaN. |
| US10249490B2 |
Non-silicon device heterolayers on patterned silicon substrate for CMOS by combination of selective and conformal epitaxy
A single fin or a pair of co-integrated n- and p-type single crystal electronic device fins are epitaxially grown from a substrate surface at a bottom of one or a pair of trenches formed between shallow trench isolation (STI) regions. The fin or fins are patterned and the STI regions are etched to form a height of the fin or fins extending above etched top surfaces of the STI regions. The fin heights may be at least 1.5 times their width. The exposed sidewall surfaces and a top surface of each fin is epitaxially clad with one or more conformal epitaxial materials to form device layers on the fin. Prior to growing the fins, a blanket buffer epitaxial material may be grown from the substrate surface; and the fins grown in STI trenches formed above the blanket layer. Such formation of fins reduces defects from material interface lattice mismatches. |
| US10249488B1 |
Semiconductor devices with same conductive type but different threshold voltages and method of fabricating the same
A semiconductor device with three transistors of same conductive type but different threshold voltage is provided in the present invention, wherein the first transistor includes a high-k dielectric layer, a first bottom barrier metal layer, a second bottom barrier metal layer, a work function metal layer and a low resistance metal. The second transistor includes the high-k dielectric layer, the first bottom barrier metal layer, the second bottom barrier metal layer and the low resistance metal, and a third transistor on the substrate. The third transistor includes the high-k dielectric layer, the first bottom barrier metal layer and the low resistance metal. |
| US10249484B2 |
Electrospray ionization interface to high pressure mass spectrometry and related methods
An electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectrometer analysis systems include an ESI device with at least one emitter configured to electrospray ions and a mass spectrometer in fluid communication with the at least one emitter of the ESI device. The mass spectrometer includes a mass analyzer held in a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is configured to have a high (background/gas) pressure of about 50 mTorr or greater during operation. During operation, the ESI device is configured to either; (a) electrospray ions into a spatial region external to the vacuum chamber and at atmospheric pressure, the spatial extent being adjacent to an inlet device attached to the vacuum chamber, the inlet device intakes the electrosprayed ions external to the vacuum chamber with the mass analyzer and discharges the ions into the vacuum chamber with the mass analyzer; or (b) electrospray ions directly into the vacuum chamber with the mass analyzer. |
| US10249483B2 |
Ultra-compact mass analysis device and ultra-compact particle acceleration device
A mass analyzer includes a main substrate, an upper substrate adhered to the main substrate, and a lower substrate. A mass analysis room (cavity) is formed in the main substrate and penetrates from an upper surface of the first main substrate to a lower surface of the first main substrate. A vertical direction (Z direction) to the main substrate by the upper substrate, both sides of the lower substrate, a travelling direction (X direction) of charged particles and a right angle to the Z direction by the main substrate, and both sides of a right-angled direction (Y to Z direction) and the X direction by a side surface of the main substrate are surrounded. A central hole is open in the side plate of the main substrate that the charged particles enter. The charged particles enter the mass analysis room through the central hole formed in the first main substrate. |
| US10249480B2 |
Tandem mass spectrometry data processing system
Peak information is collected from an MS/MS spectrum in which the product ions generated from ions originating from a plurality of compounds are mixed. Using one of the m/z values of a plurality of ion species as precursor-ion information and the peak information of the MS/MS spectrum as product-ion information, a database search is performed to find candidate compounds for each compound, and a standard MS/MS spectrum of each candidate compound is obtained. For each combination of the candidate compounds, a virtual MS/MS spectrum is created by integrating the standard MS/MS spectra of those candidate compounds, and the degree of similarity between the virtual MS/MS spectrum and the measured MS/MS spectrum is calculated. If the candidate compounds are correct compounds, the degree of similarity will be high. Accordingly, the compound names and other results are visually presented to users in descending order of the degree of similarity. |
| US10249478B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus
A substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber including a process chamber for performing a process on a substrate by a gas introduced thereto and an exhaust chamber for evacuating the gas in the process chamber, a shield member for separating the process chamber from the exhaust chamber provided in at least a part of a neighborhood of a side wall of the chamber, and a hollow relay member penetrating through the shield member for communicating the chamber with a pipe connected to a pressure gauge outside the chamber. The relay member is configured to receive a first gas flowing from the chamber into the relay member. The first gas has a first conductance. The first conductance is greater than a second conductance of a second gas flowing from the exhaust chamber into a gap between the relay member and the side wall of the chamber. |
| US10249477B2 |
Ion implanter and ion implantation method
An ion implanter includes a plasma shower device configured to supply electrons to an ion beam with which a wafer is irradiated. The plasma shower device includes a plasma generating chamber provided with an extraction opening, a first electrode which is provided with an opening communicating with the extraction opening and to which a first voltage is applied with respect to an electric potential of the plasma generating chamber, a second electrode which is disposed at a position facing the first electrode such that the ion beam is interposed between the first and second electrodes and to which a second voltage is applied with respect to the electric potential of the plasma generating chamber, and a controller configured to independently control the first voltage and the second voltage to switch operation modes of the plasma shower device. |
| US10249473B2 |
Transporting apparatus and method of transporting using the same
A transporting apparatus configured to transport an object to a storage container includes: a transporting rod having one end configured to connect to the object, the transporting rod extending in a transporting direction of the object; a transporting portion that moves the transporting rod in the transporting direction of the object; and a contact sensor portion provided on an outer wall of the transporting rod and configured to sense contact between the transporting rod and the storage container. |
| US10249472B2 |
Charged particle beam device, charged particle beam influencing device, and method of operating a charged particle beam device
A charged particle beam device is described, which includes: a beam source configured to generate a charged particle beam propagating along an optical axis (A); an aperture device with a first number of apertures configured to create a first number of beamlets from the charged particle beam, wherein the first number is five or more, wherein the apertures are arranged on a ring line around the optical axis (A) such that perpendiculars of the apertures onto a tangent of the ring line are evenly spaced. The charged particle beam device further includes an electrostatic multipole device configured to individually influence the beamlets. Further, a charged particle beam influencing device and a method of operating a charged particle beam device are described. |
| US10249468B2 |
High-powered magnetron
A high-powered magnetron according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a diode including a cathode and an anode; and a tuner unit for varying the electric field in the diode, wherein the tuner unit comprises a plurality of tuners. |
| US10249459B2 |
Advanced cooling system for electrical equipment
A cooling system for a circuit breaker is provided. The cooling system includes a temperature management unit, a power assembly, and a heat dissipating assembly. The temperature management unit is structured to detect the temperature at one of the circuit breaker or the conductor assembly. The power assembly is structured to harvest energy from the circuit breaker. The heat dissipating assembly includes a number of convection units, each heat convection unit is disposed immediately adjacent a number of the heat exchanging element. |
| US10249454B2 |
Key stem for a key module of a key for a keyboard, key module of a key for a keyboard, and method for manufacturing a key module for a key for a keyboard
A key stem for a key module of a key for a keyboard is proposed. The key stem has a coupling section for coupling a key button thereto, and a guidance section for guiding a key stem into a receiving section of the key module when the key stem is actuated between a standby position and an actuation position. The key stem is includes at least one elastically deformable end stop element, which is disposed on the guidance section and is designed to bear against at least one end stop section of the key module when the key stem is actuated into the actuation position. The key stem also includes at least one elastically deformable return stop element, which is disposed on the guidance section and is designed to bear against at least one return stop section of the key module when the key stem has been actuated back into the standby position. |
| US10249451B2 |
Permanent magnet drive on-load tap-changing switch
A permanent magnet drive on-load tap-changing switch including a changing switch circuit and a high-speed mechanism. The circuit includes structurally identical odd and even-numbered tap-changing switch circuits. The mechanism includes a traveling mechanism used for bearing a moving contactor, a moving magnet group connected with the traveling mechanism, and a fixed magnet group producing an attracting/repelling force with respect to the moving magnet group. The moving magnet group includes a first and second permanent magnet connected at homonymic magnetic poles. An exposed homonymic magnetic pole of the first and the second permanent magnet face directly the fixed magnet group. The fixed magnet group includes a rotating permanent magnet that rotates to change a force applied to the moving magnet group, allowing the moving contactors to either come into contact with or be separated from working contactors and dual-contact synchronous transition contactors. |
| US10249444B2 |
Method of fabricating an electrochemical double-layer capacitor
The disclosure provides for electrochemical supercapacitors with high energy densities, based on paired groups of carbon nanotube mounted to conductive substrates. In one variation, the electrochemical supercapacitors are double layer capacitors, or electrochemical double layer capacitors, containing opposing groups of carbon nanotubes on opposing substrates. In another variation, the capacitor is an interdigitated capacitor of alternating electrode containing carbon nanotubes, mounted on a common substrate. Processes and devices are also described. |
| US10249441B2 |
Process of forming a photoactive layer of a perovskite photoactive device
A process of forming a photoactive layer of a planar perovskite photoactive device comprising: applying at least one layer of a first precursor solution to a substrate to form a first precursor coating on at least one surface of the substrate, the first precursor solution comprising MX2 and AX dissolved in a first coating solvent, wherein the molar ratio of MX2:AX=1:n with 0 |