US08001616B2
A system for presentation integrity may include an encrypter to encrypt formatting data associated with information content data. A formatter may be included to decrypt the encrypted formatting data and to format the information content data in a predetermined format based on the decrypted formatting data. A method for presentation integrity may include decrypting encrypted formatting data associated with information content data and formatting the associated information content data in the predetermined format based on the decrypted formatting data.
US08001615B2
A method for managing the security of applications with a security module associated to an equipment connected to a network managed by a control server of an operator. The applications use resources as data or functions stored in the security module locally connected to the equipment. The method may include steps of receiving, analyzing and verifying, by the control server, identification data from the equipment and the security module, generating a cryptogram from the result of the verification of the identification data, transmitting the cryptogram to the security module of the equipment, and selectively activating or selectively deactivating by the security module at least one resource as data or functions of the security module by executing instructions included in the cryptogram and conditioning the functioning of an application according to criteria established by a supplier of the application or the operator or a user of the equipment.
US08001610B1
An endpoint defense system uses endpoint health indicators and user identity information to provide fine-grain access control over network resources. For example, the endpoint defense system may include a controller, a set of protection devices, and a set of agents. The agents are software applications installed on a set of endpoints to gather the health information that represents security states of the endpoint devices. The agents send updated health information to the controller. In response to a login attempt, the controller processes the health indicators and identity information through a set of administrator-defined policies to generate a set of access rights. The controller transfers the set of access rights to the protection devices. The protection devices then control user access to network resources according to the set of access rights. The controller sends updated sets of access rights to the protection devices whenever the access rights change.
US08001593B2
A user authentication method for an electronic apparatus makes a user authentication based on received first user identification information and registered user identification information and sets the electronic apparatus in an authenticated state if the received first user identification information matches the registered user identification information, and controls the authenticated state after the user authentication based on received second user identification, by continuing the authenticated state if the received second user identification information matches the registered user identification information.
US08001586B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems, methods and devices for eliminating multiple submission of user credential data in a system with multiple distinct restricted sub-systems wherein a unique credential is required for each sub-system.
US08001581B2
Methods and systems for providing embedded user authentication and/or providing computing services using an information handling system configured as flexible computing node, and which may be implemented to perform preboot authentication of users. The flexible computing node may also be configured to provision the appropriate work environment for a given user based on one or more user parameters (e.g. entitlements, location, network connection, and/or other parameters).
US08001578B2
A system and method for associating and controlling multimedia supporting events with a primary event. The events are translated into tasks and sent to media servers for execution at a predetermined time by being further translated into media specific tasks to control a bit-pump.
US08001563B2
An interactive television program guide system and method is provided. Time separators are displayed within lists of program listings to allow users to more easily view the program listings. On-screen arrows have their display characteristics changed according to user actions. Similar program listings are displayed only once when using search program listings. Users are provided with an opportunity to view channel information before setting channels as favorites. Information from local information services is provided in program guide display screens that are configurable by a main facility. Users are provided with an opportunity to centrally lock and unlock programs, and to bypass locks when desired.
US08001556B2
A media device includes a disc tray moved by two motors. The media device includes a disc tray movable along an axis of movement and including a first coupling structure; a first motor operatively connected to a second coupling structure configured for coupling with the first coupling structure to move the disc tray along the axis of movement; and a second motor operatively connected to a third coupling structure configured for coupling with the first coupling structure to move the disc tray along the axis of movement.
US08001553B2
Described is an aggregate computer system that operates by sharing devices of networked computing machines. A consumer machine uses a real device of a producer machine as a virtual device, by coupling the real driver of the real device over the network to a virtual driver of the consumer machine. Each machine may include an aggregate device manager that manages the virtual devices, and/or an aggregate connection manager that processes communications received over at least two different types of networks. Each machine may include a virtual bus and virtual bus driver that simulates a physical connection of a remote device to that machine via a bus. Upon receiving a request to plug-in a virtual device, the consumer machines queries for information of the device, and loads a virtual driver based on the device information when received. The consumer machine may query by sending plug-and-play events to the virtual bus.
US08001547B2
Logic (also called “synchronizing logic”) in a co-processor (that provides an interface to memory) receives a signal (called a “declaration”) from each of a number of tasks, based on an initial determination of one or more paths (also called “code paths”) in an instruction stream (e.g. originating from a high-level software program or from low-level microcode) that a task is likely to follow. Once a task (also called “disabled” task) declares its lack of a future need to access a shared data, the synchronizing logic allows that shared data to be accessed by other tasks (also called “needy” tasks) that have indicated their need to access the same. Moreover, the synchronizing logic also allows the shared data to be accessed by the other needy tasks on completion of access of the shared data by a current task (assuming the current task was also a needy task).
US08001540B2
Generally, piping applications defined by combining stages of programming with a sequence control program and specifying to the sequence control program piping commands. The stages may be functions to send data to a shared queue. The piping commands identify current stages, and parameters for the current stages identify the queue and a key for the data to be sent to the queue. The piping commands do not identify preceding and/or subsequent piping applications.
US08001539B2
An apparatus and method for managing historical data includes receiving a compiled application program and a declarative specification. An enhancer generates one or more representations of at least one data class defined in the application program based on at least one historical metatag and historical metadata associated therewith from the declarative specification. The enhancer also generates configuring instructions for configuring a database in accordance with the storage representation(s), an enhanced compiled application program including instructions for accessing data in the configured database, and a historical updater program for updating the data in the database based on the historical metadata. Once the database is configured in accordance with the configuring instructions and data is stored in accordance with the storage representation(s), the enhanced compiled application program is executed to access the database so as to retrieve historical data therefrom and the historical updater program is executed to update the data in the database based on the historical metadata.
US08001530B2
A method and framework for automatic non-intrusive testing of object code. The invention comprising a component for defining a test for object code, the test comprising property assignment, validity checking and operation invocation for objects. The object properties after each operation or assignment are compared against a reference object, and the results are reported to the testing person.
US08001527B1
Computer systems and methods are disclosed for managing a deployment of a software application. One system includes an application model describing the deployment, the application model comprising a representation of physical and logical objects in a domain of the deployment, configuration data about the objects, and information about relationships between the objects. The system also includes a root cause analysis module configured to identify one or more problematic objects of the application model, and to use pattern-recognition on the application model to find root cause candidates that may be a root cause of one or more problems associated with the problematic objects. The root cause analysis module can be further configured to apply diagnostic unit tests on one or more objects associated with the root cause candidates, the diagnostic unit tests configured to narrow down a list of possible root causes of the problems. Various pattern-recognition techniques are disclosed, including looking for recent property or configurational changes in the application model, clustering of problematic objects, examining links between objects in the application model, comparisons between pairs of non-problematic objects as well as between problematic objects and non-problematic objects, temporal comparisons of the state of the application model, and examining objects that are near the problematic objects in the application model.
US08001518B2
A method, system, architecture and apparatus for generating a shared library for a pervasive device target platform which can accommodate relocatable data. A tool chain in furtherance of this purpose can be arranged in accordance with the present invention to include a compiler programmed to compile source code into a compiled object and a linker programmed to link the compiled object into a linked object using a relocatable data segment. In this regard, in a preferred aspect of the invention a linker configuration file can be included for use in the linker which specifies the use of the relocatable data segment in lieu of a position independent data segment. The tool chain further can be arranged to include a relocation data extraction tool programmed to extract relocation data from the linked object and to dispose the relocation data in a relocation data file configured for disposition in a pervasive device.
US08001513B2
High density circuit modules are formed by stacking integrated circuit (IC) chips one above another. Unused input/output (I/O) locations on some of the chips can be used to connect other I/O locations, resulting in decreased impedance between the chips. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08001511B1
A method of modeling two IC dies using the same software model, although the two dies include physical differences. A first programmable logic device (PLD) die includes first and second portions, and is encoded to render the first portion operational and the second portion non-operational. At a boundary between the two portions, interconnect lines traversing the boundary include a first section in the first portion and a second section in the second portion. The second PLD die includes the first portion of the first PLD die, while omitting the second portion. The interconnect lines extending to the edge of the second die are coupled together in pairs. A software model for both die includes a termination model that omits the pair coupling, adds an RC load compensating for the omitted connection, and (for bidirectional interconnect lines) flags one interconnect line in each pair as being invalid for use by routing software.
US08001510B1
Disclosure is made of approaches for mapping an electronic design specification to an implementation. In one approach, quality metrics are associated with functional units of the design, and the functional units are mapped to respective initial implementations. For each functional unit a respective quality indicator is determined based on the mapping. The quality indicator specifies a degree to which the functional unit achieves the associated quality metric. At least one of the functional units is selected for remapping based on the quality indicator of that functional unit or the quality indicator of another functional unit. An alternative implementation to the initial implementation is selected for each selected functional unit to improve the quality indicator. The selected functional unit is remapped to the selected alternative implementation.
US08001508B1
A method for optimizing pin selection for an integrated circuit is provided. Pin locations are mapped to a vector. The mutual inductive relationships between pins of the integrated circuit are captured into a matrix. The matrix contains the data of how a signal state of each pin is affected by the toggling of other pins within the I/O bank. The pin locations and the crosstalk matrix are combined to characterize the impact of the crosstalk on the pins for the pin placement. Thereafter, a user may decide to alter the pin placement or alter the sampling interval for the pin to avoid sampling the pin when the crosstalk may affect the signal integrity. The method may be applied for multiple simultaneous switching noise cause mechanisms impacting the signal integrity. In this embodiment, a worst case cause mechanism from the individually quantified cause mechanisms is determined by comparing an impact of each of the cause mechanisms.
US08001503B2
A method is disclosed that employs a hierarchical path database generator for accessing internal signal or port names in a design hierarchy of an integrated circuit design. The method comprises the steps of inputting design files into the hierarchical path database generator; and said hierarchical path database generator determining ports and signals in said design files, and storing the names of said ports and signals in a hierarchical database in a logical hierarchical order. The method comprises the further steps of providing a testcase to verify a defined aspect of the integrated circuit design; parsing the testcase to identify all signal and port names therein; and for each of the signal and port names identified in the testcase, inputting said each name into the hierarchical path database generator, and obtaining from that generator a hierarchical path associated with said each signal and port name.
US08001502B2
A single verification tool provides both static timing analysis and timing simulation capabilities targeted at both full-custom and ASIC designs in a unified environment. In various embodiments the verification tool includes the following features: (a) Integrating both static timing analysis and dynamic simulation tools into a single tool, (b) Efficient path search for multi-phase, multi-frequency and multi-cycle circuit in the presence of level sensitive latch, (c) Automatically identifying circuit structure, e.g. complex gate, for timing characterization, (d) Circuit structures at transistor level solved by incorporating function check, (e) Carrying out functional check to filter out false path and identifying gate with simultaneously changing inputs, (f) Finding maximum operating frequency in the presence of level sensitive latches after filtering out false paths, (g) Crosstalk solver by utilizing the admittance matrix and voltage transfer of RLC part in frequency domain coupled with the non-linear driver in time domain implemented in spice-like simulator, (h) Making use of the correlation between inputs of aggressors and victim to determine switching time at victim's output iteratively.
US08001500B2
An equivalency testing system, for formally comparing an RTLM and HLM, is presented. RTLM and HLM are first converted into DFGs RTLMDFG and HLMDFG. RTLMDFG and HLMDFG are then put into timestep form and are called RTLMts and HLMts. A test bench CSts is selected that couples RTLMts and HLMts. The combination of RTLMts[t], HLMts[t] and CSts[t] can have parts designated as datapath. Parts designated as datapath can be subject to a form of equivalence checking that seeks to prove equivalence by a form of inductive theorem proving that propagates symbolic values indicative of whether a node carries the same data content as another node. The theorem proving starts from initial conditions for HLMts[t] determined by partial execution of the HLM. Propagation to a combinational function output can be determined from equivalence relationships between it and another combinational function. Propagation through a multiplexer can produce a conditional symbolic value.
US08001496B2
A system is implemented for controlling long running electronic design automation tools. A user may modify the running of the tool in real time using an interface at the user computer. The user computer accepts user input and communicates with a computer running the design application. The design application runs normally unless a user enters input requiring modification of the process being run by the design application.
US08001495B2
A system and method is provided which predicts problematic areas for lithography in a circuit design, and more specifically, which uses modeling data from a modeling tool to accurately predict problematic lithographic areas. The method includes identifying surface heights of plurality of tiles of a modeled wafer, and mathematically mimicking a lithographic tool to determine best planes of focus for exposure for the plurality of tiles.
US08001491B2
A method of fabricating an organic thin film transistor is provided. The method includes forming a source, a drain and a gate on a substrate and forming a dielectric layer to isolate the gate from the source and isolate the gate from the drain. An organic active material layer is formed on the substrate to fill a channel region between the source and the drain and cover the source and the drain. A barrier material layer is formed on the organic active material layer. Thereafter, the barrier material layer and the organic active material layer are patterned to form a barrier layer and an organic active layer and expose the source and the drain.
US08001488B1
An interface dial with display. In one embodiment, a user interface is comprised of a display device for displaying images which is situated as part of a mechanical dial device. The display device is located in an inner portion of the mechanical interface dial. A rotatable outer ring can be coupled with and encompasses the inner portion. The rotatable outer ring is for triggering retrieval of images to be displayed in the display device. The icons displayed in the display device portion can change as the outer dial is rotated to allow selection of a displayed function by depressing the display device. The dial also provides four-way navigation having a rocker switch integrated therewith. Resembling a combination lock in one embodiment, the dial can also act as a security device.
US08001487B2
A method and system are provided for a user interface. The system can include a plurality of information categories and option nodes organized into a hierarchy. A plurality of menu columns can be contained within a window. The menu columns can each be configured to display a portion of the plurality of categories and option nodes. A first scrolling control can be located adjacent to the plurality of menu columns and be configured to scroll the plurality of menu columns in a defined direction across the screen. A second scrolling control can be located adjacent on an opposite site of the plurality of menu columns. The second scrolling control can be linked to the first scrolling control to enable either scrolling control to be moved in the defined direction in order to scroll the menu columns and unused scrolling control simultaneously.
US08001485B2
A communications device provides a user with a sensory cue that informs the user of certain characteristics of a subsequent action that includes data communications. By informing the user of the data communication characteristics before the user initiates the data communication action, the invention appropriately sets user expectations regarding the data communication characteristics. For example, one embodiment of the invention is implemented in a portable communications device with a screen. For subsequent actions that include wireless communications, the portable communications device simultaneously displays a wireless link icon sensory cue next to a user interface graphic element. The user interface element is used to initiate the subsequent action. The user interface element can be an operating system object having an embedded link type icon. The wireless link icon informs the user that the subsequent action corresponding to the user interface element requires wireless communication and the expense and time associated therewith. A method, a system and an apparatus for indicating characteristics of a subsequent action to a user before the user begins the subsequent action are provided.
US08001483B2
An application may be provided with an interface for hiding a cursor from or showing a cursor to a video driver and for causing cursor information to be saved in data storage and retrieved from data storage. The interface may include an application program interface (API), which may be callable from the application program. The interface may also include one or more bits included in a video driver, such that the modification of any of the one or more bits may change operation of the video driver. Modification of at least some of the bits may cause a cursor to be hidden from the video driver, may cause a previously hidden cursor to be shown to the video driver, may cause cursor information to be saved in a data storage, or may cause the cursor information to be retrieved from the data storage.
US08001482B2
A method of displaying tab titles in a computer user interface receives a request to display a new tab in a tab area having a length. The new tab has a width and the new tab has a title having a length. The method determines a number of tabs to be displayed in the area and determines if the number of tabs to be displayed multiplied by the tab width is greater than the length of the tab area. If so, the method sets the tab width equal to the length of the tab area divided by the number of tabs. The method determines if the length of the title is greater than the tab width. If so, the method determines if the title has any words in common with any other titles of tabs. If so, the method deletes the common words from the titles, and displays the titles with the deleted common words in the tabs. The method may set a maximum number of tabs to be displayed in the tab area. The maximum number of tabs may be determined by the length of the tab area and a minimum tab width. If the number of tabs is greater than the maximum number of tabs is to be displayed, the method collapses some of the tabs in to a tab of tabs.
US08001481B2
A computer-implementable method, system and computer-readable medium for implementing an interactive progress bar that is associated with an executing test program are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the computer-implementable method includes linking each of multiple sectors in a progress bar to a corresponding section of a test program. The progress bar is displayed while the test program is being executed, such that test program code is not displayed with the progress bar on the same User Interface (UI). In response to the system detecting a signal that a specific sector of the progress bar has been selected, the computer displays, on the UI, an underlying log of activities for the corresponding section of the test program, such that the test program continues to be executed while the underlying log is displayed.
US08001474B2
A system for creating and distributing asynchronous bi-directional channel based multimedia content including means for creating a selectable list of channels, each channel to contain multimedia content related to each of the list channel; means for recording the multimedia content by a content author relating to the channels; means for uploading and storing the recorded multimedia content to its particular channel on a multimedia server; means for displaying the selectable list of channels to users; and responsive to selecting one of the channel by at least one of the users, means for displaying the multimedia content on a computing device to at least one of the users.
US08001473B1
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for generating a plurality of adjusted compositions by modifying selected properties of a first composition at random. In one embodiment, a first composition having a plurality of properties is received. A selection of one or more properties is received. A randomness value is received. A set of adjusted compositions is generated based in part on the first composition, selected one or more properties, and the randomness value. At least a subset of the set of adjusted compositions is outputted, such as displayed to a user.
US08001472B2
Methods and systems for providing a lifestyle companion system are provided. The lifestyle companion system can provide a platform to conduct a user interview. Based on the user interview responses, the system can suggest activities, references, and/or plug-in modules. During performance of activities, the system can provide audio and/or visual cues related to the activities and collect data indicative of the user's performance. Based on the collected data, the system can dynamically adapt the user's goals and/or activities the user is performing or will perform. In some embodiments of the present invention, the lifestyle companion system of the present invention can be applied to fitness, nutrition, and/or medical modules. The system also can be used to facilitate synchronous group activities.
US08001470B1
A computer system executes a host application that generates a graphical user interface for display on a respective user's display screen. In addition to executing the host application, the computer system (or other computer) provides an environment for executing a so-called help agent (e.g., a plug-in module) associated with the host application. The help agent can initiate display of a help window along with a graphical user interface displayed by the host application. Depending on the embodiment, the help agent can provide one or more functions such as retrieval and display of help information links in the help window to different types of help information, application of commands to the graphical user interface application via input with respect to the help window, and viewing of application hint information in the help window.
US08001466B2
A document processing apparatus includes a layout analysis unit which extracts document elements by analyzing data of a document, determines relationship between the document elements, extract a group of mutually related document elements as an object And an independent document element as an object, and generates structure information defining one or more of the objects in the document; and a structure converting unit which converts the structure information generated by the layout analysis unit into display information for display in a display mode.
US08001455B2
The present invention relates to image displays and signage, and more particularly, to displays of custom or arbitrary shape. Such shaped displays include channel letter displays, logo or design displays, multiple displays in an assembly, multiple display modules, curved or round displays, or other arbitrary shaped or unusual aspect ratio displays. The present invention further relates to software, apparatus, and methods for a translation table which maps graphical data from an initial shape to an arbitrary shape for use on such displays.
US08001454B2
Differential dynamic content delivery embodiments include providing a session document for a presentation, wherein the session document includes a session grammar and a session structured document; receiving a prerecorded presentation control instruction; selecting from the session structured document a classified structural element in dependence upon the prerecorded presentation control instruction and in dependence upon user classifications of a user participant in the presentation; and presenting the selected structural element to the user. In typical embodiments, the prerecorded presentation control instruction has an associated time stamp.
US08001449B2
A decoding method is presented for error-correcting codes based on the syndrome decoding scheme, which means the set of all syndromes is one-to-one corresponding to the set of all correctable error patterns. The improvement in the high-speed error-correcting capability is achieved by searching a syndrome-error table, which is built upon the mathematical basis: there is a one-to-one correspondence between the set of all syndromes and the set of all correctable error patterns. Two embodiments of the present invention are described. The first embodiment uses a full syndrome-error table, whereas the second uses a partial syndrome-error table. The method includes the following steps: calculating a syndrome corresponding to the received bit string; determining whether the syndrome is a zero bit string; when the syndrome is not a zero bit string, determining an error pattern from the syndrome-error table; and correcting the corrupted codeword using the error pattern.
US08001448B2
A semiconductor memory device including an error detecting and correcting system, wherein the error detecting and correcting system includes a 3EC system configured to be able to detect and correct 3-bit errors, and wherein the 3EC system is configured to search errors in such a manner that 3-degree error searching equation is divided into a first part containing only unknown numbers and a second part calculative with syndromes via variable transformation by use of two or more parameters, and previously nominated solution indexes collected in a table and syndrome indexes are compared to each other.
US08001442B2
The present invention provides a data-processing system for measurement devices, which performs a step-by-step sequence of data-processing tasks. In a conventional data-processing system, a failure in one data-processing task also causes the subsequent tasks to be unsuccessful. In such a case, the conventional data-processing system indicates the result of each unsuccessful task or the final result of the analysis by displaying only a blank or a specific character (e.g. the digit “0”). From such simple information, users cannot immediately identify the cause of the error. In contrast, in the data-processing system according to the present invention, if a data-processing task has been incorrectly performed for some reason, an error detector detects the error, and an error investigator identifies the cause of the error. Then, an error message displayer prepares an error message indicating the reason why the data-processing task concerned was unsuccessful and then displays the error message as the result of each of the aforementioned task and the subsequent tasks. The user can immediately learn the cause of the error by checking the error message of any of the unsuccessful tasks. Thus, the problem can be identified and solved in a shorter period of time.
US08001438B1
A computer-implemented method of measuring bridge fault coverage for a test pattern for a circuit design to be implemented within a programmable logic device can include identifying simulation results and stuck at coverage of the circuit design for the test pattern (610, 620). Pairs of nets in the circuit design that are adjacent can be identified (625). Each type of bridge fault for which each pair is tested can be determined according to the simulation results (640, 645, 655, 660). A measure of bridge fault coverage for the test pattern can be calculated according to which types of bridge faults each pair is tested and which net of each pair acts as an aggressor for each type of bridge fault tested (675). The measure of bridge fault coverage can be output (680).
US08001435B2
A TAP linking module (21, 51) permits plural TAPs (TAPs 1-4) to be controlled and accessed from a test bus (13) via a single TAP interface (20).
US08001430B2
A method for controlling an execution of a first DMA task, the method includes comprises monitoring an execution of the first DMA task, the method characterized by including defining a first DMA task execution interval and a first DMA task execution sub-interval; and performing a first possible timing violation responsive operation if the first DMA task was not completed during the first DMA task execution sub-interval. A device having a first DMA task controlling capabilities, the device includes a memory unit; characterized by including a DMA controller that is adapted to monitor an execution of the first DMA task that involves an access to the memory unit, and to perform a first possible timing violation responsive operation if the first DMA task was not completed during a first DMA task execution sub-interval.
US08001428B2
A data processing apparatus is provided with packing circuitry 130 arranged to receive said source data elements from said trace data receiver and applies a packing protocol to said source data elements to pack data of source data elements of a source trace stream into a packed trace data stream for supply to trace accepting circuitry in a format comprising acceptance data elements. The acceptance data elements have a bit-length that is not a factor of the source data element bit-length. In some arrangements the source data elements are non byte-sized data elements. In alternative arrangements, the packing circuitry packs a first positive integer number of source data elements into a data chunk comprising a second, different positive integer number of acceptance data elements. In further alternative arrangements the source trace protocol has a variable packet size and the data chunk is formed from a first portion comprising data of the source data elements and a further portion comprising a size-indicating code.
US08001425B2
A storage subsystem has a plurality of storage devices. An indication of failure of at least one of the plurality of storage devices is detected. In response to detecting the indication of failure, monitoring is performed for a further condition. According to the monitored further condition, it is determined whether the at least one storage device has failed or whether communication has been lost to the storage subsystem. In response to determining that communication has been lost, state information of the storage subsystem is preserved to enable restoration of the storage subsystem after communication to the storage subsystem is recovered.
US08001417B2
In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for repairing a defective storage device in a physical storage-device array having a plurality of storage devices. The method comprises the steps of identifying a disk error associated with the defective storage device; effecting an error recovery pause based on the disk error; processing one or more outstanding data storage or retrieval requests; and generating a new data storage request instructing the physical disk device array having the defective storage device to store valid data associated with the data storage or retrieval request corresponding to the disk device error, whereby the defective storage device is repaired.
US08001415B2
The program control of network devices, each of which provides services according to the present invention, monitors a function of a program module operating in each of the network devices. If the function of the program module has a problem, the program control performs proxy response processing of the network device by a virtual device program until the problem is corrected. In addition, if the function of the program module has a problem, the program module operating in the network device is updated to the latest program module to correct the problem. Then, the operation of the virtual device program is stopped.Thus, among devices which operate in cooperation with one another by use of a communications protocol such as UPnP, even if there is a device having a device program that includes a bug, or even if there is a device that has a performance problem, the devices can operate in cooperation with one another.
US08001408B2
A dual voltage switching circuit includes a first resistor and two transistors. Each transistor has a first terminal, a second terminal, and a third terminal. The first terminals are connected to a control terminal of a computer. The second terminals are connected to a standby power supply of the computer. The third terminals are connected to a power-on terminal of the computer via the first resistor. When the first terminals receive a low level signal from the control terminal, the first and second transistors are on, and the power-on terminal receives a voltage form the standby power supply via the first resistor.
US08001400B2
Methods and apparatus for managing power consumption in a multi-function electronic device powered by one or more batteries are provided. In one embodiment, when the power available from the one or more batteries is diminished (e.g., below a certain threshold), management of power consumption in a battery-powered electronic device (e.g., a portable electronic device) can operate or be operated to preserve one or more functions supported by the electronic device. For example, the one or more functions can be preserved by: (i) alerting a user that they should act to avoid usage of other functions that are not being preserved, and/or (ii) disabling (e.g., automatically) one or more of the other functions that are not being preserved.
US08001391B2
A method of encrypting data is provided that uses a medium key retrieved from a storage medium. The medium key is combined with another key to generate a combination key. Content is encrypted according to the combination key and written to the storage medium.
US08001389B2
The present invention generally is directed to systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for securing sensitive information involved in database transactions. Embodiments of the present invention selectively encrypt only portions of transactions involving sensitive data, thereby reducing or eliminating the processing overhead resulting from wastefully encrypting non-sensitive data. The sensitive data may be identified by a document. The document may be accessed by a requesting entity to determine which portions of a query should be encrypted prior to sending the query to a database server over a network. The document may also be accessed by a database server to determine which portions of query results should be encrypted prior to sending the query results to the requesting entity over the network.
US08001383B2
A serial number for a software product is secured with an authenticator value. The authenticator value and the serial number are evaluated entirely by a remote authentication server such that no cryptographic authentication occurs on a local computer on which the software product is being installed. An abbreviated portion of the authenticator value is used for offline authentication.
US08001375B2
A mobile device (10) has a noncontact IC (11). Three storage areas are preliminarily formed in the noncontact IC (11). When the mobile device (10) receives an application from a content server (20), a storage area (1) is assigned as a data area dedicated to this application. After that, the mobile device (10) rejects access from any application other than the foregoing application to the storage area (1).
US08001371B2
A method and system for authorizing client devices to receive secured data streams through the use of digital certificates embedded in the client devices. A freely distributed cryptographically signed group file with an embedded expiration date is associated with each individual digital certificate. A single group file can be associated with more than one digital certificate but each digital certificate is associated with a single group file. The group file contains cryptographic keys that can be used to decrypt a section of the digital certificate revealing a set of client keys. The client keys are then used to encrypt a program key which are then sent back to the client device. When the client device requests a specific data stream or digital content, an issuance timestamp associated with the content is compared to the expiration date in the group file. If the issuance timestamp is after the expiration date, the client device is declined. If the issuance timestamp is before the expiration date, the requested content, encrypted utilizing the program key, is sent to the client device.
US08001365B2
Method and nodes are provided for propagating between the nodes information about processing capacity of peer nodes. Two types of signals are sent from propagating nodes towards their peer nodes. A propagating node sends first signal type at a constant rate and a second signal type at a variable rate. A ratio of the rates calculated at a peer node represents the processing capacity available a propagating node. Sequence numbers may be added to signals of the first and second type in order to assist peer nodes in detecting capacity issues.
US08001364B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method of determining a relative priority between a first agent and a second agent, and assigning the first agent to a first channel and the second agent to a second channel according to the relative priority. Depending on the currently programmed status of the channels, information stored in at least one of the channels may be dynamically migrated to another channel based on the assignments. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08001359B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system that maps an N-bit application to virtual memory. The N-bit application may be obtained by porting an M-bit application to an N-bit architecture where N is greater than M. During operation, the system receives a request to map an N-bit application to a computer's virtual memory. The system then maps the N-bit application to a section of virtual memory which begins at a memory address that is greater than or equal to 2M. If the N-bit application accesses a memory address which is less than 2M, the system can generate a trap, thereby facilitating the discovery of M-bit memory references in the N-bit application.
US08001358B2
A data storing part outputs n-bit data according to a reading address generated by an address generator. A peak value candidate selecting part selects a maximum value of a plurality of elements forming the n-bit data as a peak value candidate when data of one data unit is expressed as one element and outputs the peak value candidate together with a positional information indicating an element position of the peak value candidate. When the peak value candidate is larger than a peak value held in a peak value holding part, a peak value calculating part calculates an address of the peak value candidate using the positional information of the peak value candidate and a reading address, outputs the address and the peak value candidate to the peak value holding part, and updates content held in the peak value holding part.
US08001357B2
A method and a storage device may be provided. The storage device may include physical storage subdivided into a number of regions. The regions may start and end based on logical block addresses specified in a region table. At least one of the regions may be mapped to a logical drive letter. One or more others of the regions may be mapped to a subfolder with respect to the logical drive letter. The storage device may include an access control table. Each entry of the access control table may correspond to a respective region of the physical storage. Each of the entries of the access control table may indicate whether the respective region is protected and whether at least one entity is permitted protected access to the respective region after being successfully authenticated.
US08001348B2
A method to qualify access to a block storage device via augmentation of the device's controller and firmware flow. The method employs one or more block exclusion vectors (BEVs) that include attributes specifying allowed access operations for corresponding block address ranges. Logic in accordance with the BEVs is programmed into the controller for the block storage device, such as a disk drive controller for a disk drive. In response to an access request, a block address range corresponding to the storage block(s) requested to be accessed is determined. Based on the BEV entries, a determination is made to whether the determined logical block address range is covered by a corresponding BEV entry. If so, the attributes of the BEV are used to determine whether the access operation is allowed. The method may be used to secure access to firmware stored on a disk drive, thus enabling a system configuration that does not require a conventional firmware storage device.
US08001347B1
A computer system that implements a method for creating a virtual snapshot of a first storage object. A first storage object such as a data volume is created, wherein creating the first storage object includes creating a first storage object description. This first storage object description relates the first storage object to underlying first storage objects or first physical memory regions. After creating the first storage object, a virtual copy of the first storage object is created as a second storage object. Creating the second storage object includes creating a second storage object description, wherein the second storage object description relates the second storage object to the first storage object. The first storage object is transmitted to a first computer system, and the second storage object description is transmitted to a second computer system.
US08001345B2
A method, device, and system are provided for determining when to re-initialize a backing store in a data storage system. More specifically, when all snapshots associated with a specified backing store are either being deleted or are marked for deletion the backing store is re-initialized rather than deleting each snapshot independently. The re-initialization of the backing store provides for a quicker way to delete all snapshots than can be achieved by deleting each snapshot independently.
US08001341B2
Managing dynamically allocated memory in a computer system in which garbage collection process is scheduled separately from data processing comprises initiating a system program and providing system memory for use by the system program, the system program being arranged to provide a processing environment, initiating an application program within the processing environment for performing one or more units of processing, allocating a portion of the memory for use by the application program for performing the processing, providing a first unit of processing to the application program, determining the proportion of the provided system memory in use on completion of processing of the first unit; and if the proportion exceeds a predetermined threshold, providing a memory recovery instruction to the system program to identify elements in the system memory occupied by objects or data inaccessible to the application program and to free the elements of the provided system memory.
US08001333B2
Methods, systems and computer program products to maintain cache coherency, in a System On Chip (SOC) which is part of a distributed shared memory system are described. A local SOC unit that includes a local controller and an on-chip memory is provided. In response to receiving a request from a remote controller of a remote SOC to access a memory location, the local controller determines whether the local SOC has exclusive ownership of the requested memory location, sends data from the memory location if the local SOC has exclusive ownership of the memory location and stores an entry in the on-chip memory that identifies the remote SOC as having requested data from the memory location. The entry specifies whether the request from the remote SOC is for exclusive ownership of the memory location. The entry also includes a field that identifies the remote SOC as the requester. The requested memory location may be external or internal to the local SOC unit.
US08001327B2
When a client access a file in a tiered storage system, the storage controller determines which tier is appropriate to store the file based on which client is accessing it and what operation is being performed. In one exemplary implementation, the tiered storage system receives a data access request corresponding to a file from the at least one client; determines the identity of the requesting client; determines an original tier of the file; determines a target tier to which the file should be migrated to; and if the original tier and the target tier are different, migrates the file from the original tier to the target tier.
US08001324B2
An information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of assigning, to an application, a volume having a performance required by the application while simplifying administration are proposed. A performance and a capacity of each first storage area respectively provided by each storage device as well as a performance and a capacity required for a volume respectively assigned to each application running on a host system are managed, and based on the performance and the capacity of each first storage area and the performance and the capacity required for the volume to be respectively assigned to each application, the volume having the performance and the capacity required by the application is assigned to the application, and when a plurality of the volumes are assigned to one of the applications, the volumes provided in the same storage device are preferentially assigned.
US08001320B2
A method for operating a memory device that includes a plurality of analog memory cells includes accepting at an input of the memory device a self-contained command to perform a memory access operation on at least one of the memory cells. The command includes an instruction specifying the memory access operation and one or more parameters that are indicative of analog settings to be applied to the at least one of the memory cells when performing the memory access operation. The self-contained command is executed in the memory device by extracting the parameters, applying the analog settings to the at least one of the memory cells responsively to the extracted parameters, and performing the specified memory access operation in accordance with the instruction on the at least one of the memory cells using the settings.
US08001313B2
A switch is provided that detects when a computer expansion card has been added, removed or changed. During operation, the switch is held in a depressed position by contact with a card. If the card is removed, the switch is raised and, when a second card is installed in the same slot, the switch is again depressed. The depression of the switch triggers a change signal that initiates the introduction of power to the slot for a period of time long enough for the hypervisor to detect the new device. A delay between a release and subsequent depression of the switch is measured such that when the switch is released enough time is provided to firmly seat a different card in the planar device. Following the delay, power is supplied to the slot so that the hypervisor detects the card and updates the current configuration parameters.
US08001311B2
A filter driver may be instantiated in a smartcardreader class, and used to modify the smartcard status in an operating system.
US08001310B2
A scalable computer node includes a first central processing unit (CPU), a memory subsystem, and a socket that is configured to receive a second CPU. An expansion module is mounted in the socket instead of the second CPU, where the expansion module is socket-compatible with the second CPU. The expansion module has a CPU interface to communicate with the first CPU, a memory interface to communicate with the memory subsystem, and a fabric interface to communicate over a communications fabric with an expansion electronic subsystem to expand a capacity of the computer node.
US08001308B2
A method and system for handling a management interrupt, such as a system management interrupt (SMI) and/or a platform management interrupt (PMI), includes sequestering two or more processor cores from a plurality of processor cores to form a group of sequestered processor cores for handling the management interrupt. Generated management interrupts are directed to the group of sequestered processor cores and not to non-sequestered processor cores. At least one of the sequestered processor cores handles the management interrupt without disrupting the current operation of the non-sequestered processor cores.
US08001305B2
A dynamic random access memory device (DRAM) receiver circuit includes an input to receive a data signal, and also includes decision circuitry to make a decision about the received data signal based on a present sampled data signal and a coefficient value corresponding to at least one of a previously sampled data signals.
US08001300B2
A method and apparatus enables users to specify analog connections for devices on a data bus network such as an IEEE 1394 network in a convenient, time-efficient manner. According to an exemplary embodiment, the method includes steps of enabling an on-screen display comprising a list of devices connected to the digital data bus network requiring analog connections to the apparatus, and enabling a user to specify the analog connections responsive to the on-screen display.
US08001298B2
An article of manufacture, an apparatus, and a method for providing extended measurement word data from a control unit to a channel subsystem of an I/O processing system are disclosed. The article of manufacture includes at least one computer usable medium having computer readable program code logic. The computer readable program code logic performs a method including receiving a command message from the channel subsystem at the control unit, and initiating a timing calculation sequence of a plurality of time values in response to receiving the command message at the control unit. The computer readable program code logic also populates extended measurement word data at the control unit including the plurality of time values, and outputs the extended measurement word data from the control unit to the channel subsystem.
US08001296B2
A USB controller according to one aspect of the present invention is a USB controller incorporated in a USB device, the USB controller including a RAM that stores data transferred through a USB port or a CPU bus, and a register that holds a setting for determining to which one of a region for host used for a host function and a region for peripheral used for a peripheral function a part of the RAM is allocated.
US08001295B2
A port optimization component and method for selecting a pair of ports, each port having predetermined operating parameters, for connecting to a storage device in a storage area network, the port optimization component comprising: a determination component for requesting configuration data and policy data pertaining to a storage device in response to a request to configure access to the storage device; and the determination component for comparing the configuration data to the policy data to determine a difference in operating parameters for each storage device port located on the storage device and in dependence on the detected difference, selecting a pair of ports having a preferred operating parameter.
US08001294B2
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for transferring and storing data among processors and memory in a multiprocessor system. The data is compressed locally before it is sent to a shared memory. The memory stores the data in its compressed state, but the data is aligned in the memory in the same manner as uncompressed data would be. A tag table keeps track of the compression type and compressed data size for a set of data at a given address block. A data compressor and a data expander may be implemented in a direct memory access controller accessible to multiple coprocessors, or the compressor and the expander may be implemented within the coprocessors.
US08001284B2
Techniques for managing a storage environment. According to an embodiment of the present invention, high-level application programming interfaces (APIs) are provided that can be used by applications such as storage management applications (e.g., ERM applications, SRM applications) to manage a storage environment. Using these APIs, an application can issue simple high-level commands to perform storage management operations without having to worry about the low level storage array-specific commands. Embodiments of the present invention handle the necessary translations between the high-level commands and the low-level storage array-specific commands or protocols.
US08001280B2
A system and method for enabling high-speed, low-latency global collective communications among interconnected processing nodes. The global collective network optimally enables collective reduction operations to be performed during parallel algorithm operations executing in a computer structure having a plurality of the interconnected processing nodes. Router devices ate included that interconnect the nodes of the network via links to facilitate performance of low-latency global processing operations at nodes of the virtual network and class structures. The global collective network may be configured to provide global barrier and interrupt functionality in asynchronous or synchronized manner. When implemented in a massively-parallel supercomputing structure, the global collective network is physically and logically partitionable according to needs of a processing algorithm.
US08001276B2
Methods, apparatus, and network oriented systems are discussed for estimating system, e.g. web site, usage removed from the web site, as well as scheduling and directing a data broadcast source to provide content based on web site usage estimates and predictions in a broadcast data stream.
US08001272B2
A valid destination address is determined. An availability request is sent to each destination address from a set of destination addresses. The destination addresses are correlated with a destination party. At least one response to the sent availability requests is received. Each received response is uniquely associated with its own destination address from the destination addresses. Each received response indicates either a valid destination address or an invalid destination address. For each received response, a value associated with the destination address that is associated with that received response is recorded. The value indicates either a valid destination address or an invalid destination address based on the received response associated with that destination address.
US08001264B2
According to an embodiment, a method for suspending content transmission/reception, includes: transmitting, if content reception within a certain channel needs to be suspended, an error notification message to a server, wherein the error notification message includes a first element indicating that the content reception is suspended, and a second element indicating a name, an attribute, or a value of a message found to be an error; transmitting a channel suspend request message to the server, wherein the channel suspend request message includes a third element for specifying an ID for the certain channel; and receiving a channel suspend response message from the server, wherein the channel suspend response message includes a fourth element containing IDs and status values for the channels requested for the transmission suspension.
US08001255B2
System, method and program for transferring same files from a first computer to a plurality of second computers. Respective measures of file transfer rates from the first computer to the second computers are determined. Based on the respective measures of file transfer rates from the first computer to the second computers, determinations are made as to respective numbers of sockets within the first computer to transfer the files to the second computers to tend to equalize the time required to transfer the files from the first computer to each of the second computers. The files are transferred to each of the second computers using the determined number of sockets, wherein for each of the second computers where the number of sockets is greater than one, the files are divided between the number of sockets for transfer to the respective second computer. A greater number of sockets are used for those of the second computers for which the first computer has slower file transfer rates than for those of the second computers for which the first computer has greater file transfer rates.
US08001245B2
A system and method for autonomically configuring a router are presented. An agent is installed on a client that tracks resource authorizations for particular applications. The agent sends a configuration request to a router that requests the router to change one or more router parameters, such as assigning a port to the client. The router compares the configuration request against its router policies, and changes router parameters (assigns resources) based upon the configuration request. Once the agent and the router authorize the resources, the application uses the resources to communicate with a computer network through the client resource and the router resource. When the application is terminated, the router and the client disable their respective resources.
US08001243B2
A method for denial of service attack deterrence involves receiving requests from clients, where the requests include a server protocol component, designating a client as a malicious client based on the requests, intercepting and inspecting, prior to the clients receiving a response, the server protocol component of each response to the clients, and rewriting at least a portion of the server protocol component of each response destined for the malicious client.
US08001242B2
The present invention discloses a system and method for automatic redirection of record-based data access to host files to multiple non-host file systems having non-record-based access comprising a redirector engine, a redirector server and at least one handler. The redirector engine, located on the host side, gets automatic control for each request of a host application (e.g., a read/write request), interprets a property list containing information on whether and how redirection for that request should be processed, makes a redirect decision based on information received from the property list, and establishes a communication with its assigned redirector server. The redirector server, located on a non-host system, handles communication with the redirector engine and the handler, performs data conversions if required and passes control to the handler assigned in the property list. The handler component converts the initial request into a request specific to the non-host file system, controls the execution of the request, and returns the result to the redirector engine. A main advantage of the present invention is that heterogeneous systems using different file systems can work on the same data store without any modification of the host applications themselves. A synchronization of data between the host system and non-host systems can be selected very easily by setting the appropriate parameter in the property list. The data can be stored in different file systems or data stores simultaneously. Finally, the host program is able to access data in different file system, in different encoding formats at the same time in real time.
US08001240B2
A generic mechanism and model are provided to capture and store configuration profiles for resource monitors such that monitors can be flexibly deployed, configured, modified, and removed using appropriate sets of parameters and values. As an integral part of resource provisioning, this generic mechanism will require only a generic set of workflows and a generic data model to provision monitors. The provisioning system of the present invention captures and stores response parameters and values from monitors created during initial deployment such that these parameters can be used for later modification and removal of these monitors.
US08001232B1
Embodiments of event message endpoints in a distributed computing environment are described. A set of event messages that may be generated by a service in the distributed computing environment may be described in a data representation language event message schema for the service. For each event message in the schema, the endpoint may subscribe as a consumer of the event. A service may send a message including a data representation language representation of the event to each event message endpoint subscribed to the event. The event message endpoint may extract the representation of the event from the message and distribute it to clients with registered interest in the event type. The event message endpoint may type check the event message and/or the representation of the event against the message schema. Event messages endpoints may also authenticate the sender of the message and verify the integrity of message.
US08001228B2
A system and method for sharing security information across multiple SNMP Agents running within a domain, including features such as dynamically extending SNMP MIB to expose customer MBeans with SNMP. The system includes a managed server instance of an application that hosts an SNMP agent. An agent or sub-agent is registered to the SNMP Agent on each managed server and there is a management information base which describes different management attributes that the application server exposes. A network-manager hosts a SNMP manager that communicates with the SNMP Agents. A non-application server specific MBean exposes a set of attributes about the application to the sub-agent and hosts the non-application server specific MBean in a dynamic MIB. The set of attributes are communicated through SNMP by the SNMP Agent to SNMP manager, to extend the SNMP MIB dynamically, and allow the non-application server specific MBean to be exposed through SNMP.
US08001227B2
An apparatus and method for a universal plug and play (UPnP) service in a public network environment, the apparatus including: a UPnP multicast monitoring module to monitor a header of a frame inputted to a repeater and to request a discard of the frame; a discard control module to select and to discard the frame for which the discard has been requested; and a switching management module to register and to manage information on discarded frames.
US08001226B2
A surplus determination system for determining a presence/absence of a surplus in an IT resource managed by an IT resource management system includes a recording part for recording working data representing a working situation of the IT resource, a recording part for recording a surplus determination rule representing a requirement of the working situation for the IT resource to be determined to have a surplus, and a surplus determining part for determining that there is a surplus in the case where the working situation represented by the working data satisfies the requirement of the working situation represented by the surplus determination rule, based on the working data and the surplus determination rule.
US08001217B1
A system, a method and computer-readable media for distributing content to client devices over a network. Various items of content are stored in the network or available through the network such that a client device may request to receive an item of content over the network. The method selects items of content by anticipating which of the items users will request. The selected items of content are transmitted over the network in a group delivery to multiple client devices.
US08001216B2
A portlet registry enables organization and implementation of portlets for a producer system. A producer system makes one or more portlets accessible for utilization by remote consumers. A portlet registry is generated that enables searching and accessing portlets across a wide variety of producer systems. Each producer generates a registry of portlets that are accessible and can publish the registry as a web service. The registry is made accessible via protocols that allow it to be accessed by remote consumers. A remote consumer can then search across multiple producers by utilizing the registry. This enables the consumers find producers and portlets based on search criteria.
US08001212B2
A method and systems for providing XML data is disclosed. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a second data processing system, which is connected to a first data processing system via a network, receives a first request over the network from the first data processing system. The first request comprises specifications for subsequent transfers of XML data from the second data processing system to the first data processing system. The specifications specify for which type of XML documents to be transferred in subsequent transfers to the first data processing system which excerpts of XML data shall be sent. An acknowledge message, sent to the first data processing system from the second data processing system, indicates the latter's ability to provide the excerpts of XML data for the types of XML documents in the subsequent data transfers.
US08001197B2
A method of routing an email message comprises receiving a message to be routed, receiving details of a first recipient of the message, receiving an indication of a second recipient of the message, the indication defining a relationship to the first recipient, obtaining an address for the first recipient, obtaining an address for the second recipient, and transmitting the email message to the first and second recipients.
US08001194B1
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for identifying objects as being at least potentially unwanted based on strings of symbols identified therein. In use, strings of symbols are identified in a plurality of sequential lines of an object. Further, the object is conditionally identified as being at least potentially unwanted, based on the strings of symbols.
US08001184B2
The invention is a computer implemented system and process for managing a threaded instant messaging conversation. The process comprises establishing an interactive messaging session for exchanging a conversation element; assigning a thread identifier to the conversation element; appending the thread identifier to the conversation element; and displaying the conversation element in a user interface based on the thread identifier.
US08001183B2
Aspects of the present invention relate to systems, methods and devices for imaging device event notification administration and subscription. Some aspects relate to selective imaging device event notification based on user credentials and/or the occurrence of a specific event. Some aspects relate to the construction, maintenance and use of an event subscription record that is used to manage imaging device event notification.
US08001178B2
Using a server in a distributed computer network to provide an application to a client in the client's preferred language through the use of software modules that translate the application. A client accesses an application on a server and provides a preferred language for the application. Software modules on the server take the content of the application and convert it into the language desired by the client. The translated application is then sent to the client. This approach eliminates the need to create separate applications for each language and allows the client to change languages instantaneously.
US08001177B2
A method and system for restoring device personality after failure. Specifically, the present invention discloses a method and system for automated personality transfer in a wireless enabled handheld device. In one embodiment, the present invention automatically extracts personality information that is unique and critical to the proper functionality of an electronic device. A personality file containing the personality information is created and stored on the electronic device. The personality file can be then transferred to another electronic device for archival purposes. Thereafter, should the personality information be lost due to device failure, embodiments of the present invention provide for restoring the electronic device back to its original operating state by importing the personality information back into the electronic device.
US08001164B2
The methods and apparatuses of the present invention for efficiently providing file information in a portable device with limited screen size. When a plurality of files contain substantially identical file information, the present invention utilizes the file information that is different to distinguish from other files.
US08001157B2
Aspects of the disclosed technology enable a knowledge worker to easily and efficiently develop and maintain a comprehension state of a document collection. One aspect of the technology includes a methods, apparatus, and program products that alter a relationship data structure representing a comprehension state responsive to manipulation, in a workspace window, of a first instance-representation of a first separately-movable instance object representing a first entity/relationship object in the relationship data structure.
US08001153B2
The present invention provides a system, method and software for linking persistent and unique business identifiers, associated with business entities, for associating corresponding business records without a loss of historical records, regardless of subsequent changes, updates, and mergers. In the various embodiments, a first business record, of the plurality of business records, is associated with a first business identifier; and a second business record, which does not match the first record, is associated with a second business identifier. Subsequently, when the first business identifier and the second business identifier are determined to correspond to a singular business entity, the first business identifier and the second business identifier are linked, and respective associations of the first business record and the second business record with the linked first business identifier and second business identifier are maintained, with corresponding source references, and collectively utilized in subsequent search and match determinations.
US08001149B2
A document managing system includes: a document use controller; and a document storage device, the document use controller including: a managing unit; and an instructing information transmitting unit, and the document storage device including: an index information holding unit; an instructing information receiving unit; and an index information updating unit, wherein the index information updating unit updates an index information so as to change the permission/inhibition of the use of contents of the storage document on the basis of an identifier of a storage document included in instructing information received by the instructing information receiving unit.
US08001140B2
After receiving a search keyword provided by a user, a computer selects an archetype for the search keyword. The computer identifies one or more search results in accordance with the archetype and returns at least one of the search results to the user. After selecting the archetype, the computer identifies at least one query operator for the selected archetype, constructs a search query using the query operator, and executes the search query against one or more data sources. Sometimes, the computer solicits user instructions with respect to the archetype and then generates feedback to the user instructions. This process may repeat multiple loops until the user submits a search query execution request, which suggests that the user is satisfied with the customized search query.
US08001138B2
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for performing searches based upon word relationships. A search term is received from a user in the form of at least one primary word. A data store is searched to determine if the primary word is associated with any content. If so, at least one reference to primary content that has been pre-defined as being related to the primary word is included in the search result. At least one reference to secondary content is included in the search result, if secondary content is found. Secondary contents are those that contain words that have been pre-defined as being related to the primary word. The search results are displayed to the user, with the primary references displayed along with the secondary references, if applicable, in a hierarchical fashion.
US08001135B2
A search support apparatus estimates, based on a document and a specific phrase (keyword) in the document, a theme of the document, a site type of a website that provides the document, and a content type of the document, and selects a search condition corresponding to the theme, the site type, and the content type, to be presented to the user.
US08001132B2
Systems and techniques for estimation of item ratings for a user. A set of item ratings by multiple users is maintained, and similarity measures for all items are precomputed, as well as values used to generate interpolation weights for ratings neighboring a rating of interest to be estimated. A predetermined number of neighbors are selected for an item whose rating is to be estimated, the neighbors being those with the highest similarity measures. Global effects are removed, and interpolation weights for the neighbors are computed simultaneously. The interpolation weights are used to estimate a rating for the item based on the neighboring ratings, Suitably, ratings are estimated for all items in a predetermined dataset that have not yet been rated by the user, and recommendations are made of the user by selecting a predetermined number of items in the dataset having the highest estimated ratings.
US08001129B2
An information-retrieval system includes a server that receives queries for documents from client devices and means for outputting results of queries to the client devices, with the results provided in association with one or more interactive control features that are selectable to invoke display of information regarding entities, such as professionals, referenced in the results.
US08001126B2
Previously conducted conversations in real-time collaboration messages are persistently stored, either by client or a server, and then are associated with conversational items presented to a user (e.g. contact names, topics, etc.). An icon is provided near each listed item, which when selected, displays to the user summaries or titles of all transcripts to which the selected item pertains or relates. The user may select one or more summaries or titles for which the conversation is to be resumed, causing the system to retrieve the stored transcript and resume appending new conversational entries to it, so that the user recovers conversational context effortlessly and accurately. Enhanced versions of the invention include sharing of transcripts so that all participants receive the context of the conversation, and server-side or client-side implementations.
US08001125B1
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates defining relationships between tags. During operation, the system receives a user-specified tag that describes a data item. Next, the system displays this tag to a user via a user interface that gives the user the option to suggest additional relationships for the tag. Based on user input, the system may define a relationships between the two tags, thereby facilitating the definition of a set of related tags for an organization.
US08001122B2
A resource analyzer selects a resource (e.g., document) from a grouping of resources. The grouping of resources can be any type of social tagging system used for information retrieval. The selected resource has an assigned uncontrolled tag and an assigned controlled tag. The controlled tag is a term derived from a controlled vocabulary of terms. Having selected the resource for analyzing, the resource analyzer identifies a first set of resources in the grouping of resources having also been assigned a same value as the uncontrolled tag as the selected resource. Similarly, the resource analyzer identifies a second set of resources in the grouping of resources having also been assigned a same value as the controlled tag. With this information, the resource analyzer then produces a comparison result indicative of a similarity between the first set of resources and the second set of resources.
US08001119B2
Improved information analysis techniques are disclosed. For example, a computer-implemented method of automatically assisting an analyst in a current information analysis task includes the following steps. An analytic context is modeled in a user-system cooperative manner, wherein the analytic context is a structure representative of user analytic actions and relationships associated therewith. At least a portion of the user-system cooperatively-modeled analytic context structure is utilized to adaptively gather information relevant to a current information analysis task.
US08001112B2
Approaches are disclosed for using a multidimensional database as a surrogate for a run-time hash table in the context of processing a relational query. In an embodiment, an analytic workspace is used to store data, wherein the data is to be evaluated using a by a function in the processing of a MODEL clause. The approaches eliminate the need to use a hash table to store the data that is to be evaluated. The data may initially reside in the analytic workspace, or it may be loaded into the analytic workspace.
US08001098B2
A method and system for managing a transaction for updating tables of a database. An access order specifying a temporal order for updating tables of the database is stored. A received data request specifies records to be updated in the database for the transaction. The records identified in the data request are copied from the database to a virtual data area. It is determined from a list of updated records that the records identified in the data request have been updated in the virtual data area. It is ascertained that each record identified in the data request has not been updated in the database since the records were copied to the virtual data area. The list of updated records is sorted according to the temporal order in the access list. The database is updated by replacing in the database the records identified in the sorted list.
US08001094B2
A system is provided to log a transaction process performed based on a service level agreement concerning the response time of the transaction process. The system includes a logging policy table, a transaction process monitoring unit, and a storage device. The logging policy table records one or more logging policies defined to log a transaction process with a varying amount of log data based on a required response time specified in the service level agreement. The transaction process monitoring unit automatically monitors the response time of the transaction process. The storage device records a transaction process log. The system further includes a logging control unit. The logging control unit uses response time of a transaction process monitored by the transaction process monitoring unit to select one of the logging policies stored in the logging policy table. According to the selected logging policy, the logging control unit allows the storage device to record a log of the transaction process.
US08001092B2
An apparatus for analyzing and displaying usage condition of information. The apparatus analyzes and displays the usage condition outside of an information distributing system by which the information is transmitted; and includes: a usage condition collecting unit that acquires a usage condition information as to the usage condition of the information outside of the information distributing system to be evaluated; and a usage condition displaying unit that displays the usage conditions based on the usage condition information.
US08001088B2
A scalable infrastructure indexes and tracks media data and metadata in a distributed, multi-user system. An indexer is associated with particular storage locations, such as a disk, or a directory on a disk, to maintain an index of media files or metadata stored in those storage locations. The indexer monitors activity on any storage location with which it is associated. Any additions, deletions or modifications to files in that storage location cause the indexer to update its index. This index then can be accessed by any of a number of applications in the same manner as conventional indexes. There may be different indexers for different storage locations. Separate indexers may be provided for media files and compositions that use those media files.
US08001072B2
A function can be represented as a canonical decision diagram structure. Each vertex of the diagram is associated with a respective function variable. The vertices include at least one vertex that represents a domain of more than two values for the variable associated with the vertex. The decision diagram is used to evaluate the function to determine whether the function is satisfiable or unsatisfiable for given values of the variables.
US08001060B2
A method and system for classifying small collections of hi-value entities with missing data. The invention includes: collecting measurement variables for a set of entity cases for which classifications are known; calibrating standard weights for each measurement variable based on historical data; computing compensating weights for each entity case that has missing data, computing case scores for each of one or more dimensions as a sum-product of compensating weights and variables associated with each dimension; executing an iterative process that finds a specific combination of compensation weights that best classify the entity cases in terms of distinct scores; and applying a resulting model, which is determined by the specific combination of compensation weights, to classify other entity cases for which the classifications are unknown.
US08001059B2
Inputting data necessary for designing an IT system leads a throughput evaluation part to draft a system idea meeting a design standard value for throughput and leads a reliability evaluation part to draft the system idea meeting a design standard value for failure probability. A cost evaluation part evaluates a cost of the system idea, while a cost judgment part judges whether there exists a system idea whose cost evaluated by the cost evaluation part is within an allowable range or not. When the cost judgment part judges that there is no system idea, a reconfiguration part reconfigures the design standard value for throughput, the design standard value for failure probability, and the allowable range of cost in the input data part, and the reconfiguration part carries out calculations repeatedly until there can be drafted a system idea whose cost is within the allowable range.
US08001046B2
In connection with a sales transaction, product information is directly collected from the product provided with a label or tag that can be electronically scanned by, for example, optical scanning technology or radio-frequency scanning technology. The product information is electronically provided to the buyer in the form of an electronic receipt.
US08001045B1
Aspects of this disclosure relate to a method of electronically receiving data from a first external source regarding the creation a first financial account or an update to the first financial account and storing the data from the first external source in a database. Further, the method includes determining whether the data from the first external source represents the creation of the first financial account or an update to the first financial account and if the data from the first external source represents the creation of the first financial account, then electronically transferring to a second external source the data from the first external source. Additionally, the method includes retrieving the stored data from the database and causing an indication to be displayed on a computer display through which a user can select the first financial account as an account from which a payment will be made directly to a payee and retrieving the stored data from the database and causing an indication to be displayed on the computer display through which a user can select the first financial account as an account from which funds will be transferred to or from a second financial account.
US08001039B2
A method of providing an account is provided. The method includes receiving identification information associated with a user during a communication session. The method further includes communicating a request for credit information, wherein the request includes at least a portion of the identification information. The requested credit information is received and an account is approved based at least in part on the received credit information. The account is opened and access is provided to the opened account during the communication session.
US08001037B2
A method for providing a bid price and/or an offer price of an option relating to an underlying asset, the method including the steps of receiving first input data corresponding to a plurality of parameters defining the option, receiving second input data corresponding to a plurality of current market conditions relating to the underlying value, computing a corrected theoretical value of the option based on the first and second input data (110), computing a bid/offer spread of the option based on the first and input data (116), computing a bid price and/or an offer price of the option based on the corrected theoretical value and the bid/offer spread (118), and providing an output corresponding to the bid price and/or the offer price of the option.
US08001024B2
A method and apparatus for real time testing of automated valuation models using various indicators of accuracy. These indicators are then weighted according to their value as indicators of accuracy using individualized weighting factors or an equation. A ranking is then computed based upon the factors and their weights. This method is preformed continuously, so as to achieve real-time or periodically updated automated valuation model accuracy rankings.
US08001013B2
A computer implemented method including steps of: storing, at a central server, an initialize business rule associated with a vendor and a DNS associated with the vendor, receiving, from a user a first user query for a product or service of the vendor; dynamically forming a universal code sequence forming a DNA field, having at least fields for a user identity, a transaction scope and a product definition; receiving, from the vendor a first vendor response based upon execution by the vendor of the initialize business rule; receiving, from the user a second user query; dynamically adding to the universal code sequence to form a request DNA; receiving from the vendor a second vendor response; dynamically forming an offer DNA; determining if the offer DNA matches the request DNA; and sending to the user and to the vendor a notification that the offer DNA matches the request DNA.
US08001012B2
A comprehensive platform for developing digital products. A standardized process is applied to a product development effort and an online portal provides tools to aid the product development, assessment, funding and commercializing products. Project management, workflow and data security functionality enable consistent, efficient and secure interactions between users. Business rules, workflows, valuation models and rating methods may be user defined or based upon marketplace, industry or technology standards.
US08001002B2
Methods, media, and components are provided for presenting advertising content in an offline setting. In one embodiment, the method includes presenting on a user interface (UI) an advertisement in an electronic form that is associated with selectable options that are also presented on the UI. The selectable options lead to a presentation of supplemental advertising information that is related to the advertisement. The method also includes receiving user input via one the selectable options, and while not communicatively coupled to a source-delivery network, presenting supplemental advertising information that is related to the advertisement.
US08000997B2
This invention relates to a method of establishing, by means of images, a standard working speed of working steps including a plurality of different motion elements, and a method whose object is that working same as said working steps is carried out by different workers to obtain an image of the working step of evaluation object, and it is expressed with numerical value as an evaluation value to what extent the image of the working step of said evaluation object is speedy (or slow) relative to the image of said established standard working speed.
US08000994B2
A computer-implemented system and method for evaluating customer activity. Data about the customer activity is received and is used to generate actual data values associated with preselected business metrics. One or more business metric score cards may be generated to assess how the business metrics are performing as well as what business metrics can be changed to better meet business goals.
US08000992B1
A computer implemented method for a plan workbook is provided that comprises recording charter-scope data, management structure data, planning and control data, and supporting plans in the plan workbook for project management. The management structure data is based on the charter-scope data and comprises project management role data that identities individuals associated with the project management. The planning and control data is based on the management structure data and comprises a work breakdown structure (WBS). The supporting plans data is based on the planning and control data and comprises risk register data and variance report data. The method also comprises promoting project management by displaying the plan workbook.
US08000989B1
The present invention is directed to a contact center 100 comprising (a) an input operable to receive a contact from a customer, the customer having an associated value to the contact center 100 and (b) a contact selector 216 operable to select a resource of the contact center 100 to service the contact based, at least in part, on the associated value. The associated value reflects one or more of a historic, predicted, and current monetary expense of the contact center to service the customer.
US08000981B2
The present disclosure relates to methods and systems related to receiving nutraceutical associated information.
US08000978B2
Care provider assignments to a patient may be automatically generated based on clinical evidence, documentation, workload, infectious status and other factors. The patient's chart may be accessed by a rules-based engine configured with rules to relate a patient's clinical status and needs to qualifications, certifications, capabilities and skills of care providers to select the care provider best qualified to assign to the patient. For instance, care providers having specialized training may be identified for assignment to patients presenting with specialized needs. Graphical displays of available providers may be displayed to and overridden by a manager. Because patient needs are automatically aligned with provider capabilities, availability and other factors, the errors, oversights and inefficiencies of manual or informal assignment systems are avoided and better health care delivery can be realized.
US08000976B2
A speech band extension device (100), which generates an audio signal capable of realizing natural audibility after speech band extension, includes a band-extended audio generator which generates a band-extended audio signal from an original audio signal, the band-extended audio signal including components lying within a frequency band that is not included in a frequency band of the original audio signal, and an adjustment adder (20) which detects a timing shift between the original audio signal and the band-extended audio signal, adjusts timing of the original audio signal and timing of the band-extended audio signal in accordance with the detected timing shift, and combines the both signals after the adjusting of the timing, wherein the detection of the timing shift is performed, for example, using zero-crossing and cross-correlation.
US08000975B2
A method and apparatus for decoding a parametric-encoded audio signal are provided. According to the present invention, parameters extracted from a bitstream of a parametric encoded audio signal are adjusted by a user and component signals are synthesized based on the adjusted parameters to be displayed to a user so that a user can adjust the amplitudes of the component signals to apply various sound effects according to the user's desire. In addition, since an equalizer function is embodied in a codec of an audio reproduction apparatus, additional equalizer modules are not required and thus complexity of the audio reproduction apparatus can be reduced.
US08000971B2
Disclosed are systems and methods for training a barge-in-model for speech processing in a spoken dialogue system comprising the steps of (1) receiving an input having at least one speech segment and at least one non-speech segment, (2) establishing a restriction of recognizing only speech states during speech segments of the input and non-speech states during non-speech segments of the input, (2) generating a hypothesis lattice by allowing any sequence of speech Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and non-speech HMMs, (4) generating a reference lattice by only allowing speech HMMs for at least one speech segment and non-speech HMMs for at least one non-speech segment, wherein different iterations of training generates at least one different reference lattice and at least one reference transcription, and (5) employing the generated reference lattice as the barge-in-model for speech processing.
US08000959B2
In a formants extracting method capable of precisely obtaining formants as resonance frequencies of voice with less computational complexity, the method includes searching a maximum value by a spectral peak-picking method, judging whether the number of formants corresponding to a zero at the obtained maximum point are two, and analyzing a pertinent root by roots polishing when the number of the formants are judged as two. The number of the formants are judged by applying Cauchy's integral formula, wherein Cauchy's integral formula is not applied repeatedly but only once at a surrounding portion of the maximum value in a z-domain.
US08000956B2
A computer implemented system and method for processing text are disclosed. Partially processed text, in which named entities have been extracted by a standard named entity system, is processed to identify attributive relations between a named entity or proper noun and a corresponding attribute. A concept for the attribute is identified and, in the case of a named entity, compared with the named entity's context, enabling a confirmation or conflict between the two to be determined. In the case of a proper name, the attribute's context can be associated with the proper name, allowing the proper name to be recognized as a new named entity.
US08000940B2
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for describing characteristics of a data sample. This description is used to represent the shape of a histogram of the data sample.
US08000933B1
A method and an apparatus for showing data representative of the accuracy of switching operations executed by a high-voltage switchgear which is operatively coupled to a power line and to a synchronous switching device. Data related to switching operations executed by the high-voltage switchgear is recorded and then, based on the recorded data, values indicative of the accuracy of the switching operations executed with respect to predefined target switching operations are calculated. A histogram is formed using the calculated values and shown to a user.
US08000925B2
A moving body with a tilt angle estimating mechanism capable of estimating a tilt angle of a vehicle body with high accuracy. The moving body includes: an acceleration sensor for detecting an acceleration in two axial directions; a gyro sensor for detecting an angular velocity of a vehicle body; and a tilt angle estimating mechanism for estimating a tilt angle of the vehicle body. The tilt angle estimating mechanism includes: a device for estimating a tilt angle in response to the acceleration sensor based on the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor; a device for estimating a second tilt angle based on the angular velocity detected by the gyro sensor; and a device for estimating a tilt angle with a linear model equation of the moving body being regarded as an observer, in accordance with the tilt angle based on the acceleration sensor and the tilt angle based on the gyro sensor.
US08000922B2
Methods and systems for generating information to be used for selecting values for parameter(s) of a detection algorithm are provided. One method includes without user intervention performing a scan of an area of a wafer using an inspection system and default values for parameter(s) of a detection algorithm to detect defects on the wafer. The method also includes selecting a portion of the defects from results of the scan based on a predetermined maximum number of total defects to be used for selecting values for the parameter(s) of the detection algorithm. The method further includes storing information, which includes values for the parameter(s) of the detection algorithm determined for the defects in the portion. The information can be used to select the values for the parameter(s) of the detection algorithm to be used for the inspection recipe without performing an additional scan of the wafer subsequent to the scan.
US08000913B2
A system, method and computer program product for processing utility data of a power grid is provided. In one embodiment, the system includes a datamart comprised of a plurality of physical databases storing utility data, a plurality of applications comprising an automated meter application configured to process power usage data from a plurality of automated meters, a power outage application configured to identify a location of a power outage, and a power restoration application configured to identify a location of a power restoration. The system may include an analysis engine comprising a plurality of analysis objects with each analysis object configured to process data to provide a specific analysis, wherein said analysis engine is accessible via one or more of the plurality of applications, and the system may include a report module configured to receive an output from the analysis engine and to output a report. The plurality of applications may also include a fault analysis application, a transformer analysis application, a theft detection application, a power flow application, a substation automation application, a load shed application and others.
US08000911B2
A method for automatically determining how monitoring devices in an electrical system having a main source of energy and at least one alternative source of energy (e.g., another utility source, a generator, or UPS system) are connected together to form a hierarchy. The end-user inputs identification information about the monitoring device(s) monitoring the alternative source of energy. The method receives time-series data from the monitoring devices and determines a model type of the electrical system by analyzing the monitoring device's time-series data. Once the model type is known, the method builds the complete monitoring system hierarchy in which the monitoring devices that are monitoring the main and alternative sources are placed properly. The method can also validate polarity nomenclature of the time-series data to account for end-user's varying polarity configurations.
US08000900B2
A system comprising a machine learning classifier trained on a plurality of associations between a host and a pathogen to predict a pathogen characteristic is described herein. The pathogen characteristic can relate to a disease state of the host. Computer-executable instructions for performing a method of forecasting a portion of a target molecule anticipated to influence an organism's condition also are described herein. The method comprises employing population data to automatically analyze one or more areas of the target molecule to determine the portion of the target molecule anticipated to influence the organism's condition. The population data can pertain to at least one relationship between at least one diverse organism trait and the target molecule. One or more epitopes forecast by employing the method also are contemplated.
US08000893B1
A method of obtaining navigation information includes creating a first itinerary for a navigation route corresponding to a travel event for a first individual. Navigation information is searched for related to at least one location along the first itinerary via a situational network established with a plurality of devices corresponding to other individuals searching for navigation information. The navigation information found in the searching is received. The first itinerary is altered based on the received navigation information.
US08000871B2
A communication system for a vehicle includes a vehicle speed sensor configured to emit a periodic function with a parameter correlated to the speed of the vehicle, an acceleration monitoring system, a braking system engagement detector to detect a braking status of the vehicle, an alerting device capable of signaling other drivers of a deceleration condition of the vehicle, and a control device. The acceleration monitoring system is configured to compute the acceleration of the vehicle from variations in the parameter of the periodic function of the vehicle speed sensor and to output a deceleration status of the vehicle. The control device is coupled to the acceleration monitoring system, the braking system engagement detector, and the alerting device, wherein the acceleration monitoring system sends signals to the control device and the control device operates the alerting device in a manner dependent on the deceleration status of the vehicle.
US08000870B2
A brake system is provided for minimizing brake pulsation feedback caused by surface variations of a brake system corner component. The brake system includes at least one sensing device configured to measure a pressure pulse caused by the surface variation of a brake system corner component. A controller module is in communication with the at least one sensing device and a hydraulic brake circuit. The controller module is configured to receive an output from the at least one sensing device and to adjust line pressure in the hydraulic brake circuit to substantially minimize brake pulsation feedback.
US08000869B2
A method for determining a torque characteristic of a friction clutch located in a drive train of a motor vehicle in the force flow between a drive engine and a transmission and which is closed in its rest position. At least two marker points of a regulating-path-dependent torque characteristic are determined, one of which is determined at a slipping limit of the clutch. To enhance determination of the torque characteristic, a first marker point is determined with the clutch engaged, the transmission in neutral and the engine running, by slowly disengaging the clutch until a reduction in the speed of the transmission input shaft relative to the engine speed is detected. A corresponding pair of values of this marker point with the known braking torque of the input shaft and the set position are used for adapting an existing characteristic.
US08000866B2
An engine is coupled to an input member of a hybrid transmission, the hybrid transmission operative to transfer power between the engine and a second torque machine and an output member. A method for controlling the engine includes monitoring an operator torque request, commanding operation of the hybrid transmission in a continuously variable operating range state, determining engine commands comprising a first engine torque request and a second engine torque request based upon the operator torque request and the operation of the hybrid transmission, determining an engine torque constraint comprising a maximum engine torque based upon a capacity of the hybrid transmission to react the engine torque, and controlling engine operation based upon the first engine torque request only when the second engine torque request exceeds the engine torque constraint.
US08000852B2
A vehicle preferential treatment system includes a controller mounted in a hybrid vehicle, and a server performing wireless communications with the controller. The controller estimates an SOC of an electric storage (not shown) and transmits the SOC to the server. When the SOC of the electric storage exceeds a reference level, the server gives a preferential treatment to the hybrid vehicle. Then, information on the preferential treatment is transmitted from the server to the controller, and is displayed on a display unit of the controller.
US08000845B2
A device detects an air disturbance and controls the deflection of aircraft control surfaces when the disturbance is detected.
US08000838B2
The subject invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate motion between different coordinate systems in an industrial control environment. The systems and methods accept data in one coordinate system and transform the data to a different coordinate system. Suitable transformations include instructions that transform between Cartesian, pre-defined non-Cartesian, and user-defined non-Cartesian coordinate systems, including transformations between a non-Cartesian coordinate system to another non-Cartesian coordinate system. Such transformations can be programmed in essentially any industrial control language and can be seamlessly integrated with the control environment. The systems and methods can be utilized to generate a motion instruction that includes, among other information, source and target coordinate systems and the transformation between them. The subject invention provides for connecting various systems together through respective motion instructions, wherein a motion of a source system is mapped to a coordinate system of a target system and the target system is moved accordingly.
US08000837B2
In one aspect, a programmable load forming system is programmed to perform the method of downloading a calculated path from the computer to the robot controller, moving one or more bundles along the calculated path to position the one or more bundles in a predetermined stacking position of a stacking pattern using the robot, and determining if the robot has completed moving along the calculated path. The calculated path is defined, in part, by the stacking pattern and other parameters such as, for example, bundle geometry, bundle levelness, bundle compressibility, among other parameters. In another aspect, the system is programmed to perform a method of sensing the top of a bundle and controllably placing a bundle. Additional aspects are directed to systems and methods of safely operating the robot and an inventive hopper design for holding bottom/tie sheets.
US08000831B2
A multi model registration (MMR) process performed using a computer, for registering a plurality of workpiece vision models representing features on a workpiece that define a marking location thereon, to corresponding part vision models stored on the computer representing features that define a desired part marking location. The MMR process includes capturing a new image of the workpiece that includes one of the plurality of features on the workpiece that define its marking location; generating a workpiece vision model of that one workpiece feature included in the new workpiece image captured; registering the new workpiece vision model generated to the stored part vision model representing the corresponding one of the features defining the part marking location; and repeating these process steps for the remaining workpiece features defining the marking location thereon, for which there is respective corresponding stored part vision model representing a feature defining the part marking location.
US08000822B2
An easy-to-use and user-friendly apparatus is provided that displays motivation for exercise to a user to allow the user to continue comfortably exercising. An audio signal output processor reproduces audio data and a music sound is thus emitted from a loudspeaker. The user practices exercise, such as walking or jogging, in synchronization with the tempo of the music sound. At the start of exercise, an exercise information analyzer calculates an amount of exercise of the user based on personal profile information relating to the body of the user, including the body weight, the body height, age and sex of the user received via a keyboard, and characteristic information, such as play time and tempo of reproduced music data acquired via a communication I/F and a controller. The controller outputs the amount of exercise to a display to notify the user of the amount of exercise.
US08000818B1
The invention provides systems and methods that integrate and/or control motion of a plurality of axes in a motion control environment. Grouped axes can be linked (e.g., via a tag) to provide desired multi-axis coordinated motion as well as provide control for corresponding aspects of motion such as acceleration, velocity, etc. Such axes can be integrated with other control functionality such as process and/or machine control to provide the user with a comprehensive control. The foregoing can provide simple mechanisms for moving devices in multiple axes of a coordinate system in a coordinated fashion. Such coordinated move functionality can provide a user-friendly interface for linear and circular moves in multi-dimensional space. The algorithm employed for path planning can provide fast execution and dynamic parameter changes (e.g., maximum velocity, acceleration and deceleration) along a desired path of motion. In this manner, such instructions can provide smooth transitions from one coordinated move to the next.
US08000816B2
The invention relates to a process control system having measuring devices and actuators. All of the measuring devices and actuators process information and exchange data amongst themselves. All measuring devices and actuators are interconnected to enable a bi-directional data exchange. Several, or all of the measuring devices and actuators can exchange data with a service unit that can be connected to the devices and actuators. The invention also relates to a method for operating a process control system of this type.
US08000808B2
A medical lead having a conductor assembly and a segmented electrode assembly. The segmented electrode assembly includes a conductive segment electrically coupled to a conductor of the conductor assembly. A passageway is positioned between an inner surface and outer surface of the conductive segment. An electrically insulating material extends through the first passageway and into a gap adjacent the conductive segment. A segmented electrode assembly is also provided. The segmented electrode assembly includes a conductive segment having a passageway between an inner surface and outer surface of the conductive segment. An electrically insulating material extends through the passageway and into a gap adjacent the conductive segment.
US08000800B2
According to a charging system of this invention, an alternating current required for charging of an electric double layer capacitor of a storage device in the body may be transmitted from a feeding device outside the body through power receiving and power transmitting coils. The electric double layer capacitor may be charged in a contactless mode, without incising the body of the artificial organ user, while the storage device remains embedded in the body. The electric double layer capacitor may be charged reliably by avoiding a shortage of charging since the charge status of the electric double layer capacitor of the storage device is known during a charging operation.
US08000799B2
A remote patient monitoring system is provided including an implantable medical device (IMD) capable of collecting and storing medical data and multiple, networked external monitoring devices adapted for wireless communication with the IMD. The networked monitoring devices may be configured such that one device is the master and remaining devices are repeater units wherein the master monitoring device coordinates communication between the networked devices and the IMD based on maximizing the received transmission signal strength between the IMD and the monitoring device network. The system may further include a data communications network coupled to at least one of the multiple external monitoring devices to allow data to be transferred to a database or other communication medium. Likewise, data may be received by the monitoring device network from a database or other communication medium to be transferred to the IMD.
US08000795B2
Methods and apparatus for improving cognitive function within a human. The invention utilizes an implanted device, such as an implantable signal generator or an implantable pump, to affect tissue elements within a Papez circuit of the human brain as well as tissue upstream or downstream from the Papez circuit. The implanted device delivers treatment therapy to thereby improve cognitive function by the human. A sensor may be used to detect various symptoms of the cognitive disorder. A microprocessor algorithm may then analyze the output from the sensor to regulate delivery of the stimulation and/or drug therapy.
US08000793B2
An aspect relates to a system for providing baroreflex stimulation. An embodiment of the system comprises a cardiac activity monitor to sense cardiac activity and provide a signal indicative of the cardiac activity, and a baroreflex stimulator. The stimulator includes a pulse generator and a modulator. The pulse generator provides a baroreflex stimulation signal adapted to provide a baroreflex therapy. The modulator receives the signal indicative of the cardiac activity and modulates the baroreflex stimulation signal based on the signal indicative of the cardiac activity to change the baroreflex therapy from a first baroreflex therapy to a second baroreflex therapy.
US08000788B2
An implantable medical device such as an implantable pulse generator that includes EEG sensing for monitoring and treating neurological conditions, and leadless ECG sensing for monitoring cardiac signals. The device includes a connector block with provisions for cardiac leads which may be used/enabled when needed. If significant co-morbid cardiac events are observed in patients via the leadless ECG monitoring, then cardiac leads may be subsequently connected for therapeutic use.
US08000787B2
Defibrillators are provided that include a graphical user interface to assist a caregiver in administering resuscitation.
US08000781B2
A method for evaluating electrocardiogram QT interval-prolonging action of a test substance, which comprises preparing a hamster anesthetized under such a condition that end of T wave is definitely observed on an electrocardiogram, and comparing electrocardiogram QT intervals of the hamster observed before and after administration of the test substance to evaluate electrocardiogram QT interval-prolonging action of the test substance.
US08000773B2
A method of imaging, including receiving radioactive radiation from a body; reconstructing a 3D SPECT image of a distribution of radiation in at least one voxel of said body; and reconstructing a dynamic change in radiation in said voxel, as an updated image, at a rate of faster than one change per 5 minutes, wherein said reconstructed image is a clinically useful image including a resolution of 10 mm or better for a voxel volume of at least 5 cm in diameter and a contrast to background ratio of radiation of at least 2:1.
US08000768B2
A method and system are disclosed for presenting anatomical and blood flow information contained in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset. A three-dimensional (3D) representation of blood flow is generated which varies with time, referred to herein as a four-dimensional (4D) presentation or display. The system allows the visualization of the dynamics of blood flow and the visualization of anatomical information via the fusion of different types of MRI data sets.
US08000766B2
Methods of diagnosing and preventing bone loss and/or enhancing bone formation are disclosed. The invention additionally provides methods of diagnosing a predisposition to bone loss. The methods mathematically combine the information provided by imaging tests with the information provided by biomarkers to provide an index value. The index value is used for diagnosis of bone diseases, and to assess the progress of treatment of bone diseases.
US08000762B2
Body fluid sampling device comprising a sampling element having a fluid pathway (11) for receiving body fluid, at least a portion of the fluid pathway is open to the environment and further comprising a fluid receiving means (40) being spaced from the fluid pathway so that fluid in the pathway will not contact the fluid receiving means initially. The fluid receiving means has two or more test zones (45) for performing analytical reactions. Fluid from the channel is contacted with the fluid receiving means either by bringing the fluid receiving means and the fluid into mechanical contact or by electrically transporting fluid from the channel onto the fluid receiving means.
US08000761B2
A pulse oximeter sensor has both a reusable and a disposable portion. The reusable portion of the sensor preserves the relatively long-lived and costly emitter, detector and connector components. The disposable portion of the sensor is the relatively inexpensive adhesive tape component that is used to secure the sensor to a measurement site, typically a patient's finger or toe. The disposable portion of the sensor is removably attached to the reusable portion in a manner that allows the disposable portion to be readily replaced when the adhesive is expended or the tape becomes soiled or excessively worn. The disposable portion may also contain an information element useful for sensor identification or for security purposes to insure patient safety.
US08000751B2
A method of providing a Calling Party Selectable Ring Tone to a Called Party Mobile Terminal in a wireless communications network is provided. The Called Party Mobile Terminal is connected to a Music Platform on the network for receiving music that can be selected by the Calling Party to be played by the Called Party Mobile Terminal as a Ring Tone for alerting the Called Party to an incoming call from the Called Party. The Called Party can select the music for the Ring Tone prior to making the call or while making the call.
US08000747B2
A method for selecting a communication option for communications from a mobile device which operates in a wireless communication network, the mobile device having access to stored address book information that includes contact names, the method including: storing for at least some of the contact names an indication of a last communication option used for communicating therewith; displaying a list of user selectable contact names on a display of the mobile device; after receiving user input selecting of one of the contact names from the list, causing a list of user selectable communication options for communicating with the selected contact name to be generated on the display; and automatically positioning a selection symbol on the display to highlight the selectable communication option that corresponds to a last communication option that was used for communicating with the selected contact name.
US08000746B2
Systems and methods that provide channel-adaptive antenna selection in multi-antenna-element communication systems are provided. In one embodiment, a method that selects a subset of receive antennas of a receiver to receive a transmitted RF signal may include, for example, one or more of the following: establishing possible subsets of the receive antennas; determining sets of channel parameter statistics corresponding to the possible subsets of the receive antennas; computing output bit error rates of the receiver, each output bit error rate being computed based on at least one set of channel parameter statistics; selecting a particular possible subset of the receive antennas based upon a criterion predicated on the computed output bit error rates; and connecting one or more RF chains of the receiver to the receive antennas of the selected particular possible subset.
US08000745B2
An antenna pattern assigning method capable of avoiding interference between a plurality of base transmission stations constituting a radio system in a cellular type broad band communication. In the radio system, when assigning a fixed beam pattern different for each frequency, each of the radio base transmission station devices transmits a radio wave having a directivity pattern having a peak in the same direction in two or more different frequencies, and between adjacent radio base transmission station devices, radio transmission is performed by using different directivity patterns in the two or more frequencies.
US08000744B2
An apparatus and method for beamforming in a communication system are provided, in which a base station receives a channel vector from each of a plurality of mobile stations, generates an uplink channel matrix using the received channel vectors, generates a beamforming weight vector using the uplink channel matrix and a fixed constant that minimizes a channel error rate, and forms beams using the beamforming weight vector.
US08000740B1
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for an image translation device for use with a mobile device are described herein. The image translation device may include an image capture module to capture surface images of a medium and a positioning module to determine positioning information based at least in part on navigational measurements and the captured surface images. A print module of the image translation device may cause print forming substances to be deposited based at least in part on the positioning information. A mobile device may include one or more features of the image translation device including the image capture module, the positioning module, and the print module. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08000729B1
A text messaging system conveys text messages between a sender and a recipient in a wireless carrier network. A sender mobile handset includes manual input for identifying text characters in a message to be sent to the recipient and an audio-band encoder coupled to the manual input for representing the text characters with a keyed modulation stream. The keyed modulation stream is transmitted over a non-signaling channel of the wireless carrier network to a base station. At least one mobile switching center in the wireless carrier network transports the message between the sender mobile handset and the recipient mobile handset. A demodulator operating on behalf of the recipient converts the keyed modulation stream to decoded text. A recipient mobile handset including a display interface and a display receives the decoded text and displays the text characters of the message to the recipient.
US08000720B2
Bandwidth is reduced when transmitting content to a cellular device. Requests for a content item are received from a first cellular device and a second cellular device. The content is divided into a first portion and a second portion. A first portion plan corresponding to the first cellular device and second portion plan corresponding to the second cellular device are determined. The first portion plan may include instructions for transmitting the first portion from the first cellular device to the second cellular device and reconstructing the content item. The second portion plan may include instructions for transmitting the second portion from the second cellular device to the first cellular device and reconstructing the content item. The first portion and the first portion plan are transmitted to the first cellular device. The second portion and the second portion plan are transmitted to the second cellular device.
US08000716B2
Disclosed is a load balancing apparatus and method in wireless network hotspots, which comprises a resource allocation module and a load balancer. The resources reallocation module establishes the resources module and the relationship between access points (APs) and STAs in the wireless network hotspots, and seeks possible load balance shift paths (LBSPs). From these possible LBSPs, an LBSP is selected. Based on the selected LBSP, the load balancer reallocates network resources and dynamically arranges the load among the APs in the wireless network hotspots. This invention can be applicable to a centralized or a decentralized wireless communication system.
US08000715B2
A communication network such as a cellular network or a WLAN includes a set of user terminals. Within the communication network, a system dynamically controls spectrum usage. The system includes a functionality sensor for sensing spectrum usage within the area covered by the communication network, and a policy server for producing, as a function of the sensed spectrum usage, spectrum usage policies for the communication network. A broadcasting arrangement broadcasts the spectrum usage policies to the user terminals. The system is applicable to cognitive radio systems.
US08000714B2
An interference prediction apparatus capable of predicting a wireless channel in which channel interference occurs, measures a received signal strength for each wireless channel and predicts an interference area of the wireless channel in which channel interference occurs for each wireless channel on the basis of the received signal strength for each wireless channel.
US08000710B2
A method for facilitating communications between wireless networks is provided that includes communicating with a mobile station and transferring a communication session from a first wireless link to a second wireless link. The mobile station is operable to negotiate a first wireless link with a first wireless network, to establish a communication session with a device using the first wireless link, and to facilitate a session handoff with a second wireless link with the second wireless network using the second wireless interface. The handoff is enabled by associating the first wireless link to the second wireless link.
US08000708B1
A method, system, and medium are provided for increasing the robustness of communications sessions between mobile devices and communications networks through handoff diversity. Separating the handoff times through handoff diversity provides for continuous transmission of data and decreases the likelihood of dropped calls and lost data. In a communications session capable of communicating data through multiple channels, handoff diversity is implemented by ensuring that at least one communication channel's handoff is complete and transferring data prior to initiating a handoff within another channel. In one illustrative embodiment, the present invention configures the physical propagation environment of the channels to create diversity in channel-handoff occurrences. In another illustrative embodiment, the communications network or mobile device is configured to force channel-handoff diversity by delaying a handoff for one or more communication channels.
US08000705B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for preventing successive failures in a call connection in a mobile communication terminal. When a call connection is attempted, a cell with the highest RX power is selected among cells and an RRC Connection Request message is transmitted from the mobile terminal to a BS of the selected cell. It is determined whether the mobile terminal receives an RRC Connection Accept/Reject message from the BS. If the mobile terminal receives an RRC Connection Reject message from the BS of the selected cell, it is determined whether the selected cell is able to perform the RRC connection by detecting a Connection Reject message frequency that is the number of times of rejection of an RRC connection request for a predetermined period. If the selected cell is not able to perform the RRC connection, a neighboring cell is reselected and an RRC Connection Request message is transmitted to the reselected neighboring cell.
US08000704B2
A method of facilitating Internet Protocol access by a mobile node to an access Network, the method comprising: sending an attachment request from the mobile node to an access router of the access network, the request containing a mobile node identifier and an Interface Identifier or means for deriving an Interface Identifier, and being signed by the mobile node to allow the message to be authenticated as originating at that mobile node; receiving the request at the access router and authenticating the message there using the signature, and in response to the receipt and authentication of the message, performing a predefined set of tasks delegated to the access node and which are required to facilitate said access; and returning an acknowledgment from the access router to the mobile node confirming the access permission, the acknowledgement containing a network routing prefix and means for authenticating the access router to the mobile node.
US08000697B1
A mobile telephony switch may comprise several distinct software components, such as a wireless network control component, a data network access component, and a PSTN interface component. Software updates may be prepared and applied to each component individually. In accordance with the present invention software updates may be prepared and/or applied to the software components in parallel.
US08000694B2
Apparatuses and methods to operate a commute time function of a communications device are described herein. In one embodiment, the commute time function is automatically activated based on an event and is then performed by (i) determining an up-to-date commute time based on commute information and (ii) displaying or speaking the up-to-date commute time on the device. In one embodiment, triggered by and before the occurrence of a calendar event, a device obtains a current commute time (based on the commute information and based on current traffic conditions). In this embodiment, the device reschedules the calendar event based on the current commute time, by sending an update to the contacts with whom the user is to meet that indicates a change to the calendar event. Other embodiments are also described.
US08000690B2
In an embodiment, a method is provided. The method includes playing a content file with a media player on a cellular telephone. Also, the method includes receiving an interrupt event. Moreover, the method includes saving state of the media player on the cellular telephone in the media player.
US08000685B2
An apparatus in one example has: a mobile switching center having a voice mail system, a subscriber database with voicemail information, and a greetings database; the greetings database having a plurality of lists, and at least one phone number in each of the lists; and the greetings database also having a plurality of recorded greetings, respective greetings in the plurality of recorded greetings being associated with respective lists in the plurality of lists.
US08000669B2
A system for detecting and removing undesirable noise, such as beats and tones, from radio signals. The system includes a manual oscillator that is a manually tuned by a user to a selected manual frequency from one of a plurality of frequencies. An electronic oscillator is electronically tuned to a selected electronic frequency from one of the plurality of frequencies. A processor isolates and stores at least one interference frequency associated the selected electronic frequency and determines a correction signal to correct any interference frequencies within a particular selected electronic frequency. The selected manual frequency is corrected using the determined correction signal for the particular selected electronic frequency when the selected manual frequency is the same as the particular selected electronic frequency.
US08000656B1
Various embodiments for performing calibration of a mobile computing device are described. In one or more embodiments, a device under test and a calibration test bench may be coupled by at least one of a wireless connection and a wired connection. The device under test may be arranged to receive one or more test command instructions from the calibration test bench and, in response, send an acknowledgment to the calibration test bench. In some embodiments, the device under test and the calibration test bench may be arranged to communicate according to a wireless device calibration protocol. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08000653B2
Aspects of a method and system for selective equalization enablement based on modulation type may be found in a method for processing a radio frequency (RF) signal that comprises receiving a Bluetooth signal via an RF channel, detecting a modulation type of the received Bluetooth signal, and selecting an equalization circuit for processing the received Bluetooth signal based on the detected modulation type. The method may also comprise determining a data rate based on the detected modulation type.
US08000641B2
The present invention provides an image forming apparatus comprising at least an image holding member, an charging unit, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, an intermediate transfer belt, a primary transfer unit, a secondary transfer unit, a fixing unit, and a cleaning unit, wherein a surface hardness of a side, of the intermediate transfer belt, contacting with the image holding member being 10 to 30, a carrier in the developer having at least two resin-coated layers on a surface of a core material containing ferrite, and the core material having a surface roughness Sm of 2.0 μm or less, a surface roughness Ra of 0.1 μm or more, and an average a circularity degree of 0.975 to 1.000.
US08000627B2
The present invention provides a charging device which comprises a charging roller (14a) and a cleaning component (14b). The charging roller charges a surface of an image-recording medium (11) with a voltage which is applied from an external source. The cleaning component cleans a surface of the charging roller. The charging roller includes a resistance adjustment layer which is made of a resin composite and formed on an outer periphery of a core metal. The hardness of the charging roller is 45 degrees or more in JIS D hardness. The cleaning component has a portion which is in contact with the charging roller. This portion is made of resin foam which has a continuous foam structure. The density of the resin foam is 5 to 15 kg/m3 and its tensile strength is 1.7±0.5 kg/cm2.
US08000625B2
An image forming apparatus includes a body frame defining an opening configured to receive a cartridge installed in an installation direction, and a power supply terminal disposed on the body frame. The power supply terminal can be configured to supply power to an installed cartridge by making contact with a power supplied portion disposed in the cartridge The power supply terminal may include a main body protruding from the body frame toward the opening and extending from an upstream side, with respect to the installation direction, toward a downstream side, and an engaging portion disposed upstream from the main body in the installation direction and protruding in a direction orthogonal to the installation direction. The engaging portion may be configured to engage the body frame.
US08000623B2
A fixing apparatus of the present invention includes a heating roller 2 that is a cylindrical member having a center axis, a pressurizing roller 3 that exerts pressure on the heating roller 2, and a temperature detecting element 6 that detects the temperature of the heating roller 2. The outer peripheral surface of the heating roller 2 is induction heated on the basis of the temperature information detected by the temperature detecting element 6. The fixing apparatus thus utilizes induction heating. The present invention is characterized in that the temperature detecting element 6 is placed in an area located vertically below the center axis of the heating member 2 and vertically below the outer peripheral surface of the heating member. The temperature detecting element 6 is thus provided at a position where it is unlikely to suffer thermal convection from the heating roller 2.
US08000622B2
A disclosed moving body controlling device includes a first moving body driven by a first motor that is controlled by a first control unit, a second moving body driven by a second motor that is controlled by a second control unit and affecting movement of the first moving body, a memory unit storing a relationship between the second motor rotational speed and an indicating value for driving the first and second motors when the second control unit changes the second motor rotational speed while the first control unit controls a first motor rotational speed to cause a first rotational body surface speed to be a predetermined speed in a mode of setting a second motor target rotational speed, whereby a reference point at which the surface speed starts to exceed the predetermined speed is detected, and based on the reference point the second motor target rotational speed is set.
US08000612B2
An optical transmission device is provided with an external optical modulator including three or more Mach-Zehnder interferometers and outputs a single-sideband optical intensity-modulated signal with suppressed optical carrier component, wherein an optical carrier component and an unnecessary one sideband component contained in the outputted optical signal are suppressed. A light branching section (51) branches an optical signal outputted by an external optical modulator (4) into two signals. A photodetector section (52) converts one of the optical signals to an electric signal. An optical carrier component extracting section (54) extracts an optical carrier component signal that is in the vicinity of a frequency f1 from the electric signal. An optical carrier component suppressing section (56) applies a bias voltage for suppressing the optical carrier component to the external optical modulator (4) based on the signal level of the optical carrier component. A vestigial sideband component extracting section (57) extracts a vestigial sideband component signal in the vicinity of a frequency 2×f1 from the electric signal. A vestigial sideband component suppressing section (59) applies a bias voltage for suppressing an unnecessary one sideband component to the external optical modulator (4) based on the signal level of the vestigial sideband component.
US08000607B2
Systems and methods for performing closed-loop diagnostics in optical transceiver. The TOSA of an optical receiver includes a primary transmit module and a secondary receiver module. The transmit module transmits a data signal to a ROSA of another optical transceiver. The ROSA has a secondary transmit module that can transmit a diagnostic data signal back to the secondary receiver module of the TOSA. The TOSA can use the diagnostic data received from the ROSA to automatically adjust itself and perform closed-loop feedback functions. The closed loop diagnostics can be implemented in a network where one transceiver may be connected with more than one other transceiver in a multi-node configuration.
US08000587B2
Pulsed processing methods and systems for heating objects such as semiconductor substrates feature process control for multi-pulse processing of a single substrate, or single or multi-pulse processing of different substrates having different physical properties. Heat is applied a controllable way to the object during a background heating mode, thereby selectively heating the object to at least generally produce a temperature rise throughout the object during background heating. A first surface of the object is heated in a pulsed heating mode by subjecting it to at least a first pulse of energy. Background heating is controlled in timed relation to the first pulse. A first temperature response of the object to the first energy pulse may be sensed and used to establish at least a second set of pulse parameters for at least a second energy pulse to at least partially produce a target condition.
US08000583B2
Methods, software, apparatus, and systems for reading a recordable optical disc. The method generally comprises the steps of (a) determining whether a lead-in area on the disc contains valid lead-in data and, when the lead-in area does not contain valid lead-in data, and (b) searching an area on the disc (e.g., searching for directory data, such as RSAT or VAT data). The present invention advantageously allows a disc playback device (e.g., a DVD player) to locate disc type information even on discs that are unfinalized (e.g., where no lead-in data has been recorded in the lead-in area of the disc).
US08000581B2
A method for use in advertising includes initiating playing of interactive content, suspending playing of the interactive content, displaying an advertisement, and resuming playing of the interactive content. A computer program product includes a medium embodying a computer program for causing a computer to perform these operations, and a system for use in advertising includes a display and a processing system configured to perform these operations.
US08000578B2
A method, system, and medium of providing various types of broadcast services such as a record, a summary, a navigation and a real-time event service with respect to a broadcast content, utilizing a home server, according to a user's request. A broadcast service providing method includes: storing broadcast summary data, navigation data and real-time event data which is generated by analyzing received broadcast data according to a broadcast record request from a user's portable device, in a database; and providing the user's portable device with a streaming service with respect to the stored broadcast summary data, the navigation data and the real-time event data, according to a summary selection request from the user's portable device.
US08000576B2
A double-clad optical fiber includes a core, an inner cladding and an outer cladding of silica-based glass. The core may have a radius of less than about 5 μm, a first index of refraction n1 and does not contain any active rare-earth dopants. The inner cladding may surround the core and includes a radial thickness of at least about 25 μm, a numerical aperture of at least about 0.25, and a second index of refraction n2 such that n2
US08000571B2
Light emitting and waveguide devices with single-sided photonic bandgaps are provided. The light emitting device is formed from a heavily doped silicon (Si) bottom electrode, and a Si-containing dielectric layer embedded Si nanoparticles overlying the bottom electrode. A transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) top electrode overlies the Si-containing dielectric layer, and a photonic bandgap (PBG) Bragg reflector underlies the Si bottom electrode. The PBG Bragg reflector includes at least one periodic bi-layer of films with different refractive indexes. The single-sided photonic bandgap planar waveguide interface is formed from a planar waveguide and a PBG Bragg reflector underlying the planar waveguide.
US08000568B2
An optical comprising two or more mixed optical switches co-packaged together comprising discrete sets of fiber ports, each configured as N×1 optical switch or 1×N optical switch, wherein λn from said input fiber ports is focused on λn mirror via the use of shared free space optics elements, wherein beam steering elements steers λn from any point in the optical path to any other point; and discrete arrays of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) mirrors in a shared array, wherein first array of mirrors is utilized to select and switch selected wavelengths from input fiber ports to output fiber port of the same set, wherein second array of mirrors using and sharing the same shared optics is utilized to select and switch selected wavelengths between input and output ports belonging to another set; and wherein output fiber ports from one set can be coupled to input ports of other sets.
US08000565B2
A buried dual taper waveguide has a flat surface after taper processing thus facilitating further processing with more complex photonic integrated circuits. This allows for light coupling between a large core size fiber and a small waveguide photonic integrated circuit. The taper structure disclosed enables monolithic integration of silicon photonic components and passive alignment for low-cost packaging.
US08000561B2
Provided are an apparatus, method, and medium for processing an image. In the apparatus, at least one image selected from images to be stitched so as to make colors of overlapped sections of the images as identical with each other as possible and operating again in response to a re-alignment signal, and an image correction unit generating the re-alignment signal after correcting a color of at least a part of the overlapped sections as a result of the shifting of the at least one image in consideration of colors of the overlapped sections Then the shifting of the image is repeated. Therefore, even when the overlapped sections of the images are not identical in color, the overlapped sections of the images can be precisely aligned when the images are stitched for forming a panoramic image, thereby making the panoramic image more accurate.
US08000558B2
Based on, for example, the image at the start of a movie, a thumbnail image is tentatively generated and is stored in a header file. If a predetermined triggering condition is fulfilled during movie shooting, a thumbnail image is generated from the frame image at the timing that the triggering condition is fulfilled, and the thumbnail image existing in the header file is replaced with the newly generated thumbnail image. The triggering condition is fulfilled, for example, if, after zooming-in, the angle of view has been kept fixed for a predetermined period or longer, or if the focus has been kept locked for a predetermined period.
US08000553B2
An apparatus and method provide for generation of a gradient or other image pattern based on a captured image. In one example, a portion of a displayed image may be selected. The selected portion of the displayed image may include an image pattern such as a gradient. The selected image pattern may be applied to a gradient tool such that the image pattern may be stored as a series of gradient stops. Any of the gradient stops may have an associated characteristic of the image pattern such as, for example, a color or position within the selection of a corresponding pixel of the image. The generated gradient or image pattern may be applied to any object or displayed component.
US08000545B2
A method for accessing image data and a method for accessing YUV420 image data are disclosed. The method for accessing image data uses two different approaches to a buffer for accessing the JPEG image data, so that the method can achieve instant JPEG image data compression with only one buffer.
US08000544B2
When generating output image data represented by a reduced number of gray levels from gray level image data, an image processing apparatus subtracts a pixel value of a selected pixel from a pixel value of adjacent pixel, amplifies the reduced value obtained by the subtraction, adds the amplified value to a numerical value in a numerical matrix, and finds a pixel value in the output image data represented by a reduced number of gray levels of pixel values, based on a value obtained by further adding a value obtained by adding the amplified value to the numerical value in the numerical matrix to a predetermined value.
US08000542B2
An apparatus for processing a non-interlaced image includes a wavelet transform part and a determination part. The wavelet transform part performs two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform of a level higher than or equal to level one on the data of the non-interlaced image. The determination part determines the movement speed of an object within the non-interlaced image based on at least the values of the wavelet coefficients of a 1LH sub-band of the wavelet coefficients obtained by the wavelet transform unit.
US08000534B2
An image processing apparatus in which output pixel values are generated with respect to pixels of an input image selected in accordance with an image feature direction in the input image. The apparatus includes a mechanism comparing blocks of pixels of the input image, the blocks being disposed with respect to a pixel position under test so that a correlation between the blocks would indicate an image feature direction applicable to that pixel position; and a mechanism detecting the image feature direction applicable to the pixel position under test as a direction corresponding to a block comparison for blocks having the highest correlation amongst blocks having block contents meeting one or more predetermined criteria.
US08000532B2
A medical device system and method for monitoring a patient include a monitoring device for storing data relating to the patient and a digital pen for digitizing and storing data handwritten by the patient. A control module is configured to aggregate data stored by the monitoring device and handwritten data stored by the digital pen.
US08000527B2
A method for interactive image segmentation includes receiving an image to be segmented, performing an offline computation of eigenvectors of a Laplacian of the image without using seed points, receiving seed points, and performing an online segmentation taking the seed points and the eigenvectors of the Laplacian as input and outputting a partition of the image.
US08000526B2
A method for detecting a redeye defect in a digital image containing an eye comprises converting the digital image into an intensity image, and segmenting the intensity image into segments each having a local intensity maximum. Separately, the original digital image is thresholded to identify regions of relatively high intensity and a size falling within a predetermined range. Of these, a region is selected having substantially the highest average intensity, and those segments from the segmentation of the intensity image whose maxima are located in the selected region are identified.
US08000523B2
An image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises an object area extracting unit for extracting an object area including an object pixel and pixels adjacent to the object pixel from a bayer pattern image; a fault pixel judging unit for determining if the object pixel is a fault pixel based on levels of the adjacent pixels and a fault pixel judgment standard range that varies according to a level of the object pixel; and a fault pixel correcting unit for correcting the level of the object pixel determined to be a fault pixel based on a level average value of the adjacent pixels and a fault pixel correction standard range that varies according to the level average value of the adjacent pixels.Therefore, the present invention can remove a hot pixel and noise effectively.
US08000520B2
An image sensor testing apparatus is disclosed. The image sensor testing apparatus includes an electronic test system having a light source for illuminating an image sensor wafer to generate pixel data and a host processor for receiving the pixel data. An interface card coupled to the electronic test system has a programmable processor for processing the pixel data to generate processed data, the processed data transmitted to and analyzed by the host processor together with the pixel data to detect pixel defects in the image sensor wafer.
US08000517B2
The test procedure for determining groove conformance employs a replicating compound to obtain a self-supporting mass with a negative image of the grooves of a club face. A thin test specimen strip is sliced from the mass and then scanned to form an electronic trace of the profile of the ribs. A negative image of the profile of the ribs is then obtained as a replica of the profile of the grooves and the grooves measured to determine conformance to USGA Rules. A protective covering may be placed on the self-supporting mass to insure the integrity of the ribs during slicing.
US08000513B2
Methods and systems for reconstructing a nuclear medical image from time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging data are disclosed. Measured three-dimensional (3D) TOF-PET data, including direct two-dimensional (2D) projections and oblique 3D projection data, are acquired from a PET scanner. A model 3D image is preset, a modeled 2D TOF sinogram is generated from the model 3D image, and a modeled 3D TOF sinogram is generated from the 2D TOF sinogram based on an exact inverse rebinning relation in Fourier space. The model 3D image is corrected based on the 3D TOF sinogram and is provided as the reconstructed nuclear medical image. Techniques disclosed herein are useful for facilitating efficient medical imaging, e.g., for diagnosis of various bodily conditions.
US08000503B2
A biometrics authentication system utilizes information of the palm of the hand of a body to perform individual authentication. A processing unit obtains an image of the palm of the hand of the same body a plurality of times from an image capture unit, judges the degrees of similarity among the characteristic data sets of the plurality of images of the palm of the hand, and registers a plurality of characteristic data sets with a high degree of similarity in a storage unit. And the shape of the hand in the image is checked from the outlines in the image of the palm of the hand, so it is possible to rapidly judge whether image capture has been successful and extract characteristic data, and registration processing can be executed in a short length of time.
US08000498B2
Disclosed is directed to a moving object detection apparatus and method. The apparatus comprises an image capture module, an image alignment module, a temporal differencing module, a distance transform module, and a background subtraction module. The image capture module derives a plurality of images in a time series. The image alignment module aligns the images if the image capture module is situated on a movable platform. The temporal differencing module performs temporal differencing on the captured images or the aligned images, and generates a difference image. The distance transform module transforms the difference image into a distance map. The background subtraction module applies the distance map to background subtraction technology and compares the results with the current captured image, so as to obtain the information for moving objects.
US08000493B2
Methods and systems for watermark embedding in a multimedia system-on-chip are disclosed and may comprise decrypting an encrypted and signed watermarking signal using a security processor integrated within the system-on-chip and embedding a watermark into a multimedia signal utilizing the decrypted watermarking signal, which may comprise an embedding key, a message to be embedded, and embedding parameters. The encrypted and signed watermarking signal may be received from an external memory via a host CPU within the system-on-chip or a secure server. The decrypted watermarking signal may be verified utilizing a signature, a public key and a random number generated locally. The verified watermarking signal may be stored on a non-volatile memory within the system-on-chip, or re-encrypted and re-signed before storing on a non-volatile memory that is external to the system-on-chip. The watermarking signal may be retrieved from the external non-volatile memory and re-decrypted and re-verified within the system-on-chip.
US08000492B2
An earphone set includes an earphone and a hanger. The earphone includes a shell and a shaft extending from the shaft. The hanger includes a bushing, a connector and a hook. The bushing is mounted on the shaft. The connector includes an annular portion mounted on the bushing. The bushing cannot be rotated in the annular portion just because of a torque derived from the weight of the earphone. However, when additionally subjected to a proper torque, the bushing can be rotated in the annular portion. The hook is rotationally connected to the connector.
US08000484B2
A system includes a chair having an electrical connection to electrically connect the chair to a gaming device and a speaker package incorporated into the chair and coupled to the electrical connection. The speaker package includes a speaker mounted to a central member between a first shell defining a front cavity and a second shell defining a back cavity.
US08000475B1
A system and method for providing an encrypted media stream to clients includes a plurality of remote multiple media stream manager and provider (RMP) units to receive a plurality of source media streams. The RMP units modulate the source media streams to provide a plurality of modulated media streams; encrypt the modulated media streams to provide a plurality of encrypted and modulated media streams; de-modulate the encrypted and modulated media streams to provide a plurality of encrypted and demodulated media streams; and transmit the encrypted and demodulated media streams over a high speed network.
US08000469B2
Provided is an architecture (hardware implementation) for an authentication engine to increase the speed at which multi-loop and/or multi-round authentication algorithms may be performed on data packets transmitted over a computer network. Authentication engines in accordance with the present invention apply a variety of techniques that may include, in various applications, collapsing two multi-round authentication algorithm (e.g., SHA1 or MD5 or variants) processing rounds into one; reducing operational overhead by scheduling the additions required by a multi-round authentication algorithm in such a matter as to reduce the overall critical timing path (“hiding the ads”); and, for a multi-loop (e.g., HMAC) variant of a multi-round authentication algorithm, pipelining the inner and outer loops. In one particular example of applying the invention in an authentication engine using the HMAC-SHA1 algorithm of the IPSec protocol, collapsing of the conventional 80 SHA1 rounds into 40 rounds, hiding the ads, and pipelining the inner and outer loops allows HMAC-SHA1 to be conducted in approximately the same time as conventional SHA1.
US08000466B2
A telecommunications system includes a network; a plurality of user devices operably coupled to said network and including a microphone and a speaker; a collaboration server configured to cause a playing of one or more test tones at said plurality of user devices and compensate for feedback if said test tones are detected by microphones associated with said plurality of user devices.
US08000461B2
A telecommunications device. The device includes a receiver for receiving an incoming call and a processor in communication with the receiver. The processor has a callback/callback reminder module for automatically calling back a calling party of an incoming call or for sending a user a reminder to callback the calling party.
US08000459B1
A system and method for creating a custom-developed service by a customer in a service directory of a network service provider are provided. The data defining the custom-developed service received by the network service provider may be tested, corrected, and verified. The service directory may be established in the provider's network to store the data associated with the custom-developed service. Once the custom-developed service is established and operational, the customer or its subscribers may be billed based on their use of the service.
US08000454B1
Embodiments of the invention provide a system for generating an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) database. The system comprises a memory having a list of telephone numbers associated with destinations implementing IVR. The destinations are grouped based on multiple categories of IVR. Moreover, the memory comprises instructions for automatically communicating with multiple IVR and instructions for downloading customization record from said multiple IVR. The system further comprises a processor that executes instructions stored in the memory.
US08000453B2
A computer-based virtual assistant includes a virtual assistant application running on a computer capable of receiving human voice communications from a user of a remote user interface and transmitting a vocalization to the remote user interface, the virtual assistant application enabling the user to access email and voicemail messages of the user, the virtual assistant application selecting a responsive action to a verbal query or instruction received from the remote user interface and transmitting a vocalization characterizing the selected responsive action to the remote user interface, and the virtual assistant waiting a predetermined period of time, and if no canceling indication is received from the remote user interface, proceeding to perform the selected responsive action, and if a canceling indication is received from the remote user interface halting the selected responsive action and transmitting a new vocalization to the remote user interface. Also a method of using the virtual assistant.
US08000452B2
A method for a predictive interactive voice recognition system includes receiving a voice call, associating said voice call with a behavioral pattern, and invoking a service context responsive to said behavioral pattern. The system provides advantages of improved voice recognition and more efficient use of the voice user interface to obtain services.
US08000451B1
A system for populating a telecommunications switch with data for call processing is provided. The system includes a map of a transaction and a component operable to process the map. The map of the transaction has commands to be sent to provision at least one telecommunications switch. The transaction commands include at least some parent and child commands. The child commands have processing that is dependent on one or more related parent commands. The map identifies dependencies between the child commands and related parent commands. The component is operable to process the map such that the parent commands that have dependent child commands are communicated to the appropriate telecommunications switches before the dependent child commands.
US08000447B2
A gamma ray generator includes an ion source in a first chamber. A second chamber is configured co-axially around the first chamber at a lower second pressure. Co-axially arranged plasma apertures separate the two chambers and provide for restricted passage of ions and gas from the first to the second chamber. The second chamber is formed by a puller electrode having at least one long channel aperture to draw ions from the first chamber when the puller electrode is subject to an appropriate applied potential. A plurality of electrodes rings in the third chamber in third pressure co-axially surround the puller electrode and have at least one channel corresponding to the at least one puller electrode aperture and plasma aperture. The electrode rings increase the energy of the ions to a selected energy in stages in passing between successive pairs of the electrodes by application of an accelerating voltage to the successive pairs of accelerator electrodes. A target disposed co-axially around the plurality of electrodes receives the beam of accelerated ions, producing gamma rays.
US08000442B2
Methods and apparatus for calibrating images and imaging devices to common coordinate systems utilize, in some embodiments, rods that detectably reflect an acoustic signal regardless of the incidence angle of the signal with respect to the rods. Typically, the rods are disposed within a “phantom” at known positions with respect to a room coordinate system. Images of the cylindrical rods may be obtained from different directions, allowing the imaging device to be calibrated to the room coordinate system.
US08000440B2
A target composition determination apparatus includes, an x-ray emission element for concurrently transmitting x-ray photons with a plurality of different energy levels at a target, and an x-ray detection element for receiving x-rays interacting with the target and for determining the energy levels of the received x-rays, the x-ray detection element generating at least one output signal indicative of the number of x-rays interacting with the target and the energy levels determined for each of the x-rays, and a processing element receiving the output signal and indicating the presence of at least one component material within the target using the received detection element signal and a multivariate calibration prepared for the target, the apparatus including that the output signal of the x-ray detection element is batched over a pre-selected time period to define the physical resolution of the target composition apparatus when a target is moved relative to the apparatus.
US08000436B2
A scanning unit for inspecting objects comprises in one example a radiation source, a movable platform to support an object, and a detector positioned to receive radiation after interaction of radiation with the object. The platform is movable at least partially within a cavity defined, at least partially, below at least one of the source or the detector. In another scanning unit, a first conveyor conveys an object to a movable platform, and second and third conveyors convey the object from the platform. The second and third conveyors are at different vertical heights. In another scanning unit, images from an energy sensitive detector and a spatial detector are fused. In a method, scanning parameters during CT scanning are changed and images reconstructed before and after the change. In another method, an object is scanned with X-ray beams having first and second energy distributions, generated by the same X-ray source.
US08000433B2
A method is for image reconstruction for computed tomography with a non-one-dimensional, extended detector. The rays of the detector are weighted during the backprojection as a function of their position in the beam.
US08000432B2
A shift register includes a first flip-flop group composed of a plurality of cascaded first flip-flops, each first flip-flop having a first master latch and a first slave latch and having first and second transmission paths for transmitting a master clock and a slave clock, a second flip-flop group composed of a plurality of cascaded second flip-flops, each second flip-flop having a second master latch and a second slave latch which are each composed of a transistor with a relatively small transistor size and having a third transmission path connected to the first transmission path and a fourth transmission path connected to the second transmission path, and a transfer portion configured to transfer pieces of data held in the second flip-flops to one of the first master latches and the first slave latches of the first flip-flops.
US08000430B2
A delay locked loop operates over a wide range of frequencies and has high accuracy, small silicon area usage, low power consumption and a short lock time. The DLL combines an analog domain and a digital domain. The digital domain is responsible for initial lock and operational point stability and is frozen after the lock is reached. The analog domain is responsible for normal operation after lock is reached and provides high accuracy using smaller silicon area and low power.
US08000428B2
An all-digital frequency synthesizer architecture is built around a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) that is tuned in response to a digital tuning word (OTW). In exemplary embodiments: (1) a gain characteristic (KDCO) of the digitally controlled oscillator can be determined by observing a digital control word before and after a known change (Δfmax) in the oscillating frequency; and (2) a portion (TUNE_TF) of the tuning word can be dithered (1202), and the resultant dithered portion (dkTF) can then be applied to a control input of switchable devices within the digitally controlled oscillator.
US08000420B2
A system and method in a radio receiver for joint synchronization and noise covariance estimation of a received signal. A spatially and temporally stacked signal model, whereby successive samples of temporally adjacent received signal vectors and corresponding training vectors are stacked, is used in the derivation of the estimation problem. The Toeplitz structure of the channel response matrix is neglected in the formulation of the estimation problem. The resulting estimator jointly estimates a synchronization position, a channel response matrix, and a noise covariance matrix. An estimate of a whitened channel is then computed based on the noise covariance matrix and the estimate of the channel response matrix.
US08000418B2
A method and system are provided for improving the robustness of interference nulling for antenna arrays in a wireless communication network. The method is comprised of generating a first interference spatial signature from an interference signal matrix received by the antenna array, deriving a second interference spatial signature from the first interference spatial signature, calculating a covariance matrix from the second interference spatial signature, and generating a beamforming weighting vector from the covariance matrix.
US08000416B2
A hybrid soft output MIMO detector uses a QR decomposition detector followed by a Markov chain Monte Carlo detector. The QRD-M generates initial candidate decision vectors, which are used as input for the Markov chain Monte Carlo detection to generate the soft output.
US08000415B2
A method and a device for detecting a synchronization signal with a high identification rate are provided, which are suitable for a wide-area Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. The method and device can precisely detect information of a synchronization signal, without being interfered by transmission channels and noises in an external environment. Three sliding windows are used to obtaining a balance value as an offset value for the output signal of the method and the device. A peak position of the output signal is identified and then compensated for a delay caused by the length of one of the sliding windows. Such a position is an edge of the synchronization signal.
US08000414B2
This disclosure concerns an amplitude detector comprising: a maximum-minimum detector detecting a maximum and a minimum values of a digital signals; a first and a second lowpass filters respectively having a cutoff frequency lower than a frequency of the waveform signal; a cycle detector detecting a cycle of the waveform signal; a correction coefficient generator generating a numeric value of a correction coefficient expressed by a calculation with respect to the cycle of the waveform signal and a cycle of the sampling; a first multiplier generating a corrected maximum value by multiplying the maximum value of the digital signals by the correction coefficient; a second multiplier generating a corrected minimum value by multiplying the minimum value of the digital signals by the correction coefficient; and an output portion outputting the corrected maximum value or an absolute value of the corrected minimum value as the amplitude of the waveform signal.
US08000402B2
A system and method for accelerated performance of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is provided. The system includes multiple general purpose registers and multiple execution units configured to decode a set of QAM tones in parallel or an individual QAM tone in response to a single instruction executable by the processor. Each of the plurality of execution units is configured to decode one of the set of QAM tones according to a constellation size associated with the one of the set of QAM tones. The QAM decoding method includes reading a constellation size value for each of a set of received input tones. For each tone in the set of input tones, an ideal point in a QAM constellation of the associated constellation size closest to the X and Y coordinates of the tone is determined. The data values of the ideal points are then stored in a destination register.
US08000401B2
A phase-shift based pre-coding scheme used in a transmitting side and a receiving side that has less complexity than those of a space-time coding scheme, that can support various spatial multiplexing rates while maintaining the advantages of the phase-shift diversity scheme, that has less channel sensitivity than that of the pre-coding scheme, and that only requires a low capacity codebook is provided.
US08000397B2
Provided is a method and apparatus for acquiring OFDM synchronization even when it fails to detect a plurality of symbols at an initial stage. In the method, a frequency is adjusted to a first frequency band and a cross correlation value between a received preamble symbol and a preset preamble symbol is calculated. When the calculated cross correlation value is larger than a predetermined reference value and is first detected, frequency hopping is performed to receive subsequent symbols and cross correlation values to the subsequent symbols are reexamined. When the reexamined cross correlation value larger than the predetermined reference value is detected, timing synchronization, frequency offset estimation, and frame detection are performed.
US08000391B2
A motion vector estimator includes an object data input and sorting unit and a reference data input and sorting unit for sorting packed input picture data to separate first picture data used for estimating the motion vector from second picture data that is not used for estimating the motion vector and pack the picture data again respectively, an object data storing unit and a reference data storing unit for storing the repacked first picture data and the second picture data, and a motion vector calculating unit for reading the first picture data from the object data storing unit and the reference data storing unit to perform a calculation for estimating the motion vector.
US08000390B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for efficient prediction-mode selection.
US08000389B2
The method is characterized in that the step for selecting a coding mode from the inter modes and from the intra modes is broken down into two sequential steps, a step for preselecting the intra coding mode for preselecting an intra mode for the current macroblock from the intra coding modes, and a coding decision step, part of the effective coding of the current macroblock for selecting the mode of coding the current macroblock from the inter modes and the preselected intra mode and in that the preselection step for the current macroblock is carried out during the coding decision step for a preceding macroblock.
US08000386B2
A motion estimation method and device are provided for processing images to be inserted, between a preceding original image and a following original image, into a sequence of images. Each image is divided into pixel blocks associated with motion vectors. For a current block of an image being processed, motion vectors associated with blocks of the image being processed and/or associated with blocks of a processed image are selected. Candidate vectors are generated from selected motion vectors. An error is calculated for each candidate vector. A penalty is determined for a subset of candidate vectors on the basis of the values of the pixels of the pixel block in the preceding original image from which the candidate motion vector points to the current block and/or on the basis of the values of the pixels of the pixel block in the following original image to which the candidate motion vector points from the current block.
US08000383B2
A data reproduction apparatus and method to accurately determine an initial level value of a viterbi decoder regardless of whether an operating frequency is in a stable state, and a recording medium having recorded thereon a program for implementing the data reproduction method, the data reproduction apparatus including: a storage unit to store a first input signal; a frequency detection unit to generate a frequency detection signal indicating that a frequency of the first input signal is detected and frequency information of the first input signal based on a second input signal; and a level value determination unit to detect at least one level value for the first input signal by converting a sampling rate for the first input signal based on a ratio between the frequency information and preset frequency information, and to determine the detected level value as an initial level value of the viterbi decoder.
US08000379B2
An object of the invention is to stabilize the convergence operation at the automatic impedance matching time and ensure the reception quality in the convergence process in a fading environment in a radio communication apparatus which performs automatic impedance matching between an antenna and a Radio frequency section to decrease the impedance matching loss, for example, when the apparatus is brought close to a human body. A radio communication apparatus of the invention includes a Radio frequency section 3 which converts a received signal into a baseband signal, a variable impedance unit 2 which adjusts impedance between an antenna 1 and the Radio frequency section 3, a pilot signal extraction unit 4 which extracts a pilot signal from the baseband signal, a first channel compensation unit 5 which performs channel compensation using an output of the pilot signal extraction unit, an impedance control adequacy detection unit 7 which detects impedance control adequacy using an output of the first channel compensation unit, an impedance control unit 8 which controls the variable impedance unit 2 using an output of the impedance control adequacy detection unit, a second channel compensation unit 6 which performs channel compensation using the pilot signal, and a demodulation section 9 which performs the demodulation operation using an output of the second channel compensation unit.
US08000370B2
A laser-induced optical wiring apparatus includes a substrate, first and second light-reflecting members provided on the substrate separately from each other, an optical waveguide provided on the substrate for optically coupling the first and second light-reflecting members to form an optical resonator, a first optical gain member provided across the optical waveguide and forming a laser oscillator along with the first and second light-reflecting members, and a second optical gain member provided across the optical waveguide separately from the first optical gain member, and forming another laser oscillator along with the first and second light-reflecting members.
US08000361B2
The higher efficiency and lower power consumption are realized in a laser system for generating a high-power short-pulse laser beam. The laser system includes a laser oscillator for generating a pulse laser beam by laser oscillation, plural amplifiers for sequentially inputting the pulse laser beam generated by the laser oscillator and amplifying the pulse laser beam, and a control unit for controlling the laser oscillator to perform burst oscillation and halting an amplification operation of at least one of the plural amplifiers in a burst halt period between burst oscillation periods.
US08000358B2
A power monitoring system uses a low loss reflective element to partially split the output laser beams from an array of laser sources, in a parallel configuration, to produce a monitor beams for each laser source. Each of these monitor beams may propagate within the reflective element in a lossless manner under total internal reflection and into one of a plurality of photodiodes that sense an optical characteristic such as output beam intensity, where this sensed signal is then used as part of a feedback control to control operation of the laser sources in the array.
US08000356B2
Throughput between personal computers and the Internet is increased by using inverse multiplexing over local loop telephone lines of different users. The different personal computers share the multiple intersubnetwork connections with each other, so that the efficiency of the use of the intersubnetwork connections is increased. Each of the computers is capable of receiving and/or transmitting inverse-multiplexed data signals over the same plurality of intersubnetwork connections. Preferably, at each computer, use is made of a separate connecting device locally coupled to the computer and an intersubnetwork connection and remotely coupled to one or more other such connecting devices. The connecting devices are placed in different housings, each having a regular connection with a local computer and a wireless transmission connection to corresponding connecting devices in neighboring housings. The interchanged data are inverse-multiplexed and transmitted via the intersubnetwork connections as inverse multiplex data.
US08000347B2
In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining a first message that includes at least a first bandwidth request that specifies a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth request that specifies a second bandwidth. The first bandwidth is a preferential bandwidth. The method also includes determining whether the first bandwidth may be allocated, and storing the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth in a stored reservation state if the first bandwidth may be allocated. If the first bandwidth may not be allocated, the method includes determining whether the second bandwidth may be allocated. The second bandwidth in the stored reservation state if it is determined that the second bandwidth may be allocated. In one embodiment, if the second bandwidth may be allocated, the first bandwidth is removed during process prior to sending the message to a subsequent node upstream.
US08000329B2
A platform for seamlessly hosts a plurality of disparate types of packet processing applications. One or more applications are loaded onto a service card on the platform. A programmable path structure is included that maps a logical path for processing of the packets through one or more of the plurality of service cards according to characteristics of the packets. Multiple path structures may be programmed into the platform to offer different service paths for different types of packets.
US08000321B2
The invention includes an apparatus and associated method for monitoring signals. The apparatus includes a port unit including a plurality of monitoring functions associated with a respective plurality of data communication channels, and a switch unit adapted for switching signals conveyed by the data communication channels, where the switch unit includes a monitoring function controller and a plurality of monitoring function images associated with the respective monitoring functions. The monitoring function images are adapted for conveying configuration information from the monitoring function controller to the respective monitoring functions and conveying status information from the respective monitoring functions to the monitoring function controller.
US08000317B2
A system for automatically routing calls in a voice-over-packet (VOP) environment at a customer's premises without using a private branch exchange (PBX) is provided. One embodiment of the system includes a VOP-signal monitoring component that can monitor an incoming packet-based data stream to identify VOP data that is associated with one or more voice communications, a packet-identification component that can identify packets that make up a communications stream, a destination-determination component that can identify a first target device that should receive the packets identified to make up the communications stream; and a routing component that can direct the packets to the first target device.
US08000315B2
A frame such as a beacon in wireless communication, with a maximum MAC address, hop count, and maximum hop count, described therein is exchanged between nodes. All the nodes measure the number of hops from a node with the maximum MAC address, and exchange the maximum hop count (hmax) out of the numbers with each other. Hop count H(a,b) between arbitrary nodes a and b is expressed by H(a,b)≦H(a,max)+H(max,b)≦2*hmax, where hmax is a hop count from node (max) with the maximum MAC address to the farthest node. That is, the number of hops between two arbitrary nodes in the group is always 2*hmax or less. Herewith, a numeric value assuredly exceeding the maximum value out of the numbers of hops between nodes in an ad-hoc network can be propagated in the entire ad-hoc network.
US08000310B2
A device for communicating with a mobile device is provided. The devices includes a transmitter. The transmitter transmit a first modulation scheme, a first transport block size, and a first redundancy version to a mobile device. The first transport block size is represented by a first number of bits and the first redundancy version is represented by a second number of bits. The transmitter transmits a packet based on the first modulation scheme to a mobile device. transmitter transmits a second modulation scheme, a second transport block size, and a second redundancy version to the mobile device. The second transport block size is represented by a third number of bits and the second redundancy version is represented by a fourth number of bits, wherein the third number of bits is greater than the first number of bits, and the fourth number of bits is less than the second number of bits. The transmitter transmits the packet based on the second modulation scheme to the mobile device.
US08000304B2
A system, method, and wireless device for determining a forward channel rate for wirelessly communicating information to a wireless communication device is disclosed. The method includes receiving data rate control information from each wireless communication device (104, 106) in a plurality of wireless communication devices (104, 106). The method also comprises requesting a set of information. The data rate control information includes signal strength information associated with each of the wireless communication devices (104, 106). The data rate control information received from each of the wireless communication devices is compared to each other. A modulation and coding scheme is determined for wirelessly communicating the set of information to the plurality of wireless communication devices. The modulation and coding scheme is based on the data rate control information associated with a wireless communication device (104) having a weakest signal strength.
US08000302B2
An adaptive multi-channel (AMC) modem that can receive one or multiple spread spectrum signals simultaneously includes an adjustable filter, a ΔΣ ADC, and a digital processor. The adjustable filter filters an input signal with an adjustable bandwidth and provides an output signal comprised of a selected number of spread spectrum signals. The ΔΣ ADC digitizes the output signal and provides data samples. The sampling rate and/or the reference voltage of the ΔΣ ADC may be varied to obtain the desired performance. The digital processor processes the data samples for each spread spectrum signal to recover data sent in that signal. A controller ascertains the operating conditions (e.g., the desired signal level, the undesired signal level, and so on) and selects the number of spread spectrum signals to receive based on the operating conditions, user requirements, and possibly other factors.
US08000299B2
A method and apparatus for providing and obtaining information includes detecting information regarding a local agent, representative of a mobile node in a predetermined area, from a message from an access router; requesting the information from a node other than the access router, dependent upon whether the information is detected or not; and obtaining the information by receiving a response to the request.
US08000291B2
The present invention is related to a method of selecting an enhanced uplink (EU) transport format combination (E-TFC). A scheduling grant payload (SGP) is set to the highest payload that may be transmitted. The SGP is calculated as follows: SGP = K e , ref · SG L e , ref · A ed , ref 2 · 10 Δ harq / 10 , where SG is a serving grant, Le,ref is the number of EU dedicated physical data channels (E-DPDCHs) used for a selected reference E-TFC, Ke,ref is the number of data bits of the reference E-TFC, Δharq is a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) offset for a specific data flow to be transmitted as signaled by higher layers, and Aed,ref is a ratio derived from a parameter ΔE-DPDCH signaled by higher layers for the selected reference E-TFC.
US08000289B2
A mobile communication system is provided which is capable of improving efficiency of use of allocated codes and allocated power of an HS-PDSCH to improve a throughput of the HS-PDSCH. A resource allocation update unit is connected to an RNC functional unit and a base station functional unit, performs allocation control of resources such as the number of codes and power, which are allocated or notified from the RNC functional unit to the base station functional unit, and stores allocation information of the resources in a resource allocation information storage unit. A resource use information detection unit detects a state of use of resources on the basis of a state of use of resources from the base station functional unit and a timing information from a timer, and informs a resource allocation judgment unit of the information on a state of use of resources. The resource allocation judgment unit judges whether or not allocation of resources has been updated on the basis of the information on a state of use of resources.
US08000288B2
A method for monitoring a wireless network includes, at a device including a communication interface coupling the device to a wireless network, monitoring messages transmitted between the communication interface and the wireless network, and outputting monitoring data associated with the monitored messages from the device.
US08000285B2
In one embodiment, a reverse link overhead channel power gain for an access terminal is determined based on the service activity of the access terminal. In association therewith, or independent thereof, the reverse link overhead channel power gain may be dynamically adjusted based on the services activated and/or deactivated. The dynamic adjustment may also take into account the load on the system.
US08000273B2
A method for transmitting an uplink sounding reference signal includes indexing Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbols within a single radio frame for transmitting a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) as a number k, and calculating a value of nSRS according to number k and an index number of the radio frames for transmitting the SRS, determining an index number of a frequency-domain start sub-carrier mapped from time-domain SRS symbol with nSRS, and transmitting the SRS through the sub-carrier with the determined index number determined. Before transmitting the SRS, the start frequency position for SRS should be changed according to the specific frequency-hop pattern to guarantee that the UE may uniformly sound the entire SRS frequency-hop bandwidth after multiple soundings.
US08000270B2
A telecommunications device and method for downloading content using Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) includes receiving a request for content to be downloaded using TDM. The content may be communicated in response to receiving the content request. In response to receiving a call request for use of a telephone line, a download status of the telephone line may be determined. If the download status of the telephone line is indicative of content being downloaded, the content may be suspended from being communicated to enable a call associated with the call request to be connected with the telephone line. Otherwise, if the download status of the telephone line is not indicative of content being downloaded, a call associated with the call request may be connected with the telephone line.
US08000265B2
Presented is a method and system of determining network topology of a virtual private network in Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based Virtual Private Networks (MPLS/VPNs). The method includes obtaining VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) details of at least one virtual private network, determining any variations in network configuration and determining, from said network configuration variations, network topology of the at least one virtual private network.
US08000264B2
The invention is directed to managing changes to a configuration of routers connected in a ring network architecture. Embodiments of the invention alleviate risks to services carried over a ring of IP/MPLS routers when configuration changes are made to the ring, such as inserting a router into, or removing a router from, the ring. To that end, embodiments of the invention automate some steps of such a configuration change operation that were previously performed manually, and coordinate those steps with other steps of the operation using a procedure stored as instructions on a computer readable media and executed by a computer system in order to effect and validate a correct sequencing of the steps.
US08000262B2
A method of computing a measure of similarity between nodes of first and second networks is described. In particular, sets of pairwise scores are computed to find nodes in the individual networks that are good matches to one another. Thus, a pairwise score, referred to as Rij, is computed for a node i in the first network and a node j in the second network. Similar pairwise scores are computed for each of the nodes in each network. The goal of this process is to identify node pairs that exhibit high Rij values. According to the technique described herein, the intuition is that nodes i and j are a good match if their neighbors are a good match. This technique produces a measure of “network similarity.” If node feature data also is available, the intuition may be expanded such that nodes i and j are considered a good match if their neighbors are a good match (network similarity) and their node features are a good match (node similarity). Node feature data typically is domain-specific. Using the similarity scores, a common subgraph between the first and second networks then can be computed.
US08000257B2
A method of providing a point-to-multipoint service in a mobile communication system and transmission controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which a better quality of a point-to-multipoint service can be provided in a manner of coping with time-variable channel situation variable adaptively. In a mobile communication system providing a point-to-multipoint service, the present invention includes the steps of receiving data for the point-to-multipoint service from a base station, measuring a reception quality for the received point-to-multipoint service data, and transmitting reception quality information for the point-to-multipoint service data to the base station.
US08000255B2
A device may receive selection of a channel provided by a video network, determine equipment, of the video network, associated with the selected channel, determine status information of the associated equipment, determine port level details of the associated equipment, combine the associated equipment, the status information, and the port level details into a path for the selected channel, and provide the selected channel path to a user.
US08000249B2
The invention discloses a method for detecting and controlling traffic congestion in a wireless telecommunications system (100, 300, 400) comprising at least a first node (130, 330, 430) such as a Radio Base Station, and at least one second node (110, 310, 410) such as a Radio Network Controller, the system also comprising a Transport Network, TN (120, 320, 420), for conveying traffic between said first and second nodes, in which system (100, 300, 400) the traffic can comprise one or more flow. The method comprises the use of one flow control function (315, 415) per each of said flows, said one flow control function (315, 415) comprising a congestion detection and control function. In addition, the congestion detection function acts to reduce the traffic on said flow before the system becomes congested.
US08000247B2
In a bandwidth management apparatus that outputs packets by observing the bandwidth set value predetermined for each destination, provisions are made to prevent a situation where the contracted bandwidth cannot be provided due to influences from packets destined for other destinations. When performing bandwidth management using token buckets provided one for each destination, each token bucket is updated by setting the upper limit token value higher when any packet is stored in the corresponding queue than when no packets are stored; this serves to prevent a situation where even when a packet has already arrived at the queue, the packet cannot be output because a packet is being output from some other queue and, as a result, unconsumed tokens are discarded at the next update time.
US08000238B2
An apparatus for communicating data is provided that includes a cell site element associated with a base transceiver station and operable to receive a plurality of packets associated with a communications flow, the packets including a plurality of subrates. The cell site element is further operable to detect a congestion condition via a measurement of a level in a receive jitter buffer. When the congestion condition exists, individual subrates can be dropped from subsequent backhaul packets until congestion subsides. In more particular embodiments, the cell site element can be informed that congestion exists, whereby a congestion level is assigned to a collection of the subrates. In addition, the cell site element prioritizes the subrates and removes individual samples from one or more of the packets; high priority calls and critical radio control information are not affected during the congestion condition.
US08000237B1
A throttle device is coupled with a central processing unit in a node for reducing traffic overload in a Next Generation Network (NGN). The device is coupled with a basic throttle with different levels of traffic priority and both are situated between a source node and a target node for processing traffic. When a traffic offer is received by the throttle, the throttle device by provisionally updating the basic throttle priority levels, determines whether to send the traffic offer on to the source node. If the provisional, traffic priority level is greater than a new traffic priority level the traffic is admitted and rejected if the updated priority level is less than the new traffic priority level.
US08000235B2
System for bandwidth assignment to manage congestion over a network bottleneck, comprises a regulation point being set up downstream of the bottleneck in the network to manage congestion in data packets arriving from various sources via the bottleneck. For each of the sources, a priority level assigner assigns priority levels to respective data packets. A token bucket assigns tokens at a limiting rate to the prioritized data packets, the tokens allowing passage of packets to which they are assigned. The token bucket is a multi-priority token bucket, meaning it has at least two thresholds corresponding to the priority levels assigned to the packets. The token bucket only assigns a token to an arriving packet having a respective priority level if there are sufficient tokens currently in the bucket to reach the threshold corresponding to the packet's priority level.
US08000234B2
A method for dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) in a passive optical network (PON) comprises the steps of: in a configuration stage, dividing a predetermined grant cycle into N parts, dividing by an optical line terminal (OLT) a plurality of optical network units (ONUs) into N ONU groups and in each cycle part, concurrently allocating grants to ONUs of one ONU group while having the ONUs of at least one other ONU group send reports and data to the OLT. In a preferred embodiment, the cycle is divided into two fixed half cycles.
US08000232B2
A redundancy control method is disclosed that controls a first redundancy function that switches between a working line and a protection line in response to a detection of a line error and a second redundancy function that performs a path switching in response to a detection of a path error in a ring network operating at a path rate lower than a line rate thereof. The method comprises a step of masking the path error detection within a period from a time of the detection of the line error to an expected time of the detection of the path error.
US08000226B2
A pilot reception power measuring section measures reception power of a pilot symbol and a data section reception power prediction section predicts reception power of data symbols based on the reception power of the pilot symbol. A power comparison section calculates a difference between this predicted value and the actual reception power of the data symbol, and when the difference is large, a collision position detection section regards the data symbol at the hopping position as colliding with data symbols in other cells. Then, an error correcting decoding section carries out error correcting processing by reducing likelihood of the data symbols detected to be involved in the collision and can thereby improve the error rate characteristic of decoded data.
US08000225B1
A method of building transmission systems using for two-way communications code division multiplexing is disclosed. For “point-to-point” transmission systems, which structure is shown on FIG. 1 and which resources are represented as plurality of orthogonal polynomials, the method provides flexible and effective distribution transmission resources.
US08000220B2
To provide a digital data transmitting apparatus and a digital data receiving apparatus that can realize, even when a transmission channel characteristic changes because of aged deterioration or the like of a relay, improvement of a reception performance following the change.A transmitting apparatus 1 generates a multiplexing frame formed by N slots including control information, data, outer parities, stuff bits, and inner parities and added with synchronization, pilot, and a transmission control signal and a parity and transmits data of the respective slots in a transmission system designated by the transmission control signal. In this case, pilot signals are symbols allocated to all signal points in order determined in advance for each of modulation schemes. A receiving apparatus 2 rewrites a phase error table 214 to calculate a phase error and performs synchronous detection according to the pilot signals. The receiving apparatus 2 also rewrites a likelihood table 235 to perform inner code decoding. Consequently, since reception processing adapted to distortion of a transmission channel characteristic can be performed, improvement of a reception performance can be realized.
US08000211B2
An optical disc apparatus capable of obtaining an effect to reduce the laser noise without shortening the laser diode service life or increasing the power consumption. The optical disc apparatus includes a laser diode for emitting a laser beam, a laser driver for driving the laser diode, a detector for monitoring a first power emitted from the laser diode, a detector for monitoring a second power applied to an optical disc, and an attenuator for attenuating the first power. The light attenuation factor of the attenuator is changed by the ratio between the first power and the second power.
US08000209B2
An optical pickup includes: a laser light source which outputs an divergent beam having an elliptical far-field pattern; a beam shaping element having at least one cylindrical plane and which shapes the divergent beam outputted from the laser light source into an divergent beam having a prescribed shape in which at least the length in the major axis direction of the elliptical shape is shortened; a light collecting portion having a beam splitter which perpendicularly collects the divergent beam that is outputted from the beam shaping element and which has a prescribed shape on the recording surface of an optical disk , and a mirror or the like; and a light detecting portion The optical axis of the divergent beam is rotated so that the direction in which the major axis of the divergent beam having a prescribed shape is shortened conforms to the radial direction of an optical information recording medium.
US08000204B2
A data processing method for a holographic data storage system includes in a writing operation, receiving a plurality of digital data groups; modulating the digital data groups to a plurality of corresponding digital matrixes, wherein each of the digital matrix comprises a digital data group and a plurality of digital redundancies; arraying the digital matrixes on a data plane to form an image information, wherein the image information has more opaque pixels than transparent pixels; and storing the image information in a storage medium; and in a reading operation, receiving the image information; transforming the image information into a plurality of analog matrixes, wherein each of the analog matrixes comprises an analog data portion and an analog redundancy portion; demodulating the analog matrixes to a plurality of corresponding analog data groups; and transforming the analog data groups into a plurality of digital data groups by using a soft decision apparatus.
US08000195B2
A signal processing system applicable to an electronic system having a storage unit, an indicator light, and a driving circuit includes a first signal processing unit, a second signal processing unit, and a signal computing unit. The indicator light will light up, if the electronic system does not access the storage unit for data. The first signal processing unit is electrically connected to the driving circuit and configured to receive a first pulse signal while the electronic system is accessing the storage unit for data, charge/discharge and transform the first pulse signal, to output a second pulse signal. The second signal processing unit receives the second pulse signal, charges/discharges and transforms the second pulse signal, to output a third pulse signal. The signal computing unit receives and computes the second and third pulse signals to generate a fourth pulse signal for driving the indicator light to perceivably glitter.
US08000194B2
In an optical disc apparatus, whether an unrecorded recording layer without information recorded thereon is included in the multiple recording layers of the optical disc mounted inside the apparatus is judged. then when the unrecorded recording layer is judged to be present, a signal for focus offset adjustment is recorded in a non-user data recording area of the unrecorded recording layer, and reproduction of the recorded focus offset adjusting signal is followed by its quality evaluation, which is further followed by calculation and setup of an appropriate focus offset value based on evaluation results.
US08000185B2
A drive signal generation circuit comprising: a tracking signal output circuit to output a tracking signal based on an error signal indicating a track deviation of laser light output from the optical pickup relative to a track, the tracking signal being a signal for driving a motor to move an optical pickup in a radial direction of an optical disc to reduce the track deviation of the laser light; a stop signal output circuit to output a stop signal for driving the motor to stop moving the optical pickup in the radial direction; and a switch circuit to output the tracking signal as a drive signal for driving the motor when a level of an output signal from the optical pickup is higher than a predetermined level, and to output the stop signal as the drive signal when the level of the output signal is lower than the predetermined level.
US08000179B2
An optical disc including: sectors each having a sector ID; a first area having a first set of sectors sequentially arranged on the disc according to their respective IDs; a second area having a second set of sectors sequentially arranged on the disc according to their respective IDs, the second area being located after the first area in respect of a disc scan direction, the second area including all information needed for playback of the entire disc and having at least one sector ID which duplicates that of a sector in the first set of sectors.
US08000176B2
A method for estimating maximum available write power of an optical storage drive includes generating a beam of laser light having a power level, measuring a first parameter of the laser light source and a second parameter of the beam of laser light, and using the measured parameters to estimate the maximum available write power.
US08000173B2
In a time correcting apparatus, a signal including time codes is sampled to generate a bit sequence of input TCO data. A prognostic TCO data generating unit 33 generates a bit sequence of prognostic TCO data based on a current time calculated by a time calculating circuit 17. An error number calculating unit 34 compares bits of the input TCO data with bits of the prognostic TCO data to count the number of discrepancy, thereby calculating the number of errors, and shifts bits of the prognostic TCO data to generate new TCO data and compares bits of the new TCO data with bits of the input TCO data to calculate the number of errors. A judging unit 35 judges if the number of errors is valid. When the number of errors is valid, a time correcting unit 36 calculates a time difference of the calculated current time based on the number of shifting bits, as much as which number of shifting bits the prognostic TCO data has been shifted to calculate such valid number of errors.
US08000169B2
An object detecting apparatus detecting an object position based on a reflected wave generated by reflection of a transmitted ultrasonic wave from the object includes a transmitting portion transmitting the ultrasonic wave, a receiving portion receiving the ultrasonic waves as received signals, a detecting position detecting an envelope and an operation portion detecting a peak of each envelope and obtaining an approximate line with a maximum change amount of the envelope in a change amount increasing period set to a gradient of the approximate line, provided that the change amount increasing period is defined as a period that an amount of change per a predetermined unit time of the envelope, heading to the peak, continues to increase, the operation portion obtaining a time that a voltage value of the approximate line equals a reference value as a receipt time and detecting the object position based on the receipt time.
US08000167B2
The present invention relates to streamer cables. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for preparing a streamer cable. The method may comprise retrofitting the streamer cable with a solid void-filler material, where the streamer cable was configured as a liquid-filled streamer cable. The retrofitting may comprise introducing a void-filler material into the streamer cable when the void-filler material is in a liquid state and curing or otherwise solidifying the void-filler material to a solid state. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a streamer cable comprising an outer skin and-at least one sensor positioned within the outer skin. The streamer cable may also comprise a solid void-filler material positioned between the outer skin and the at least one sensor, wherein the solid void-filler material is coupled to the at least one sensor.
US08000163B2
A method for driving a semiconductor memory device, includes initializing first data corresponding to a refresh time of each corresponding row included in a cell array; storing second data corresponding to column data included in the first row after entering a self refresh mode; setting the first data corresponding to the first row by detecting the refresh time of the first row while performing refresh operations on the other rows in the cell array according to a refresh period selected based on the corresponding first data for predetermined refresh cycles, wherein the refresh operation is not performed on the first row during the predetermined refresh cycles; restoring the second data to the first row; and repeating the above steps for the other rows to thereby set the corresponding first data until the setting step is completed for all rows or the self refresh mode expires.
US08000152B2
A charge pump in a memory device is activated to produce a programming voltage prior to data loading during a programming operation. During an initial programming cycle, first and second load voltages are charged from the charge pump. The first load is removed from the charge pump during a verify operation. The first load voltage is subsequently recharged by charge sharing from the second load voltage so that the charge pump is not initially necessary for recharging the first load voltage.
US08000151B2
Semiconductor memory devices and methods include a flash memory cell array fabricated in a well, with memory cells in the same column connected to each other in series and connected to a respective bit line. The memory devices also include a column decoder, a data register buffer unit, a row decoder, an erase control unit, and an input/output buffer unit. In one or more embodiments, the erase control unit applies voltages to the well to erase the memory cells in a manner that avoids breaking down p-n junctions formed by transistors fabricated in the well. In another embodiment, high voltage transistors are used to selectively isolate the bit lines from and couple the bit lines to a peripheral circuit in pairs so that each high voltage transistor is shared by two bit lines.
US08000147B2
A NAND cell unit includes memory cells which are connected in series. An erase operation is effected on all memory cells. Then, a soft-program voltage, which is opposite in polarity to the erase voltage applied in an erase operation, is applied to all memory cells, thereby setting all memory cells out of an over-erased state. Thereafter, a program voltage of 20V is applied to the control gate of a selected memory cell, 0V is applied to the control gates of the two memory cells provided adjacent to the selected memory cell, and 11V is applied to the control gates of the remaining memory cells. Data is thereby programmed into the selected memory cell. The time for which the program voltage is applied to the selected memory cell is adjusted in accordance with the data to be programmed into the selected memory cell. Hence, data “0” can be correctly programmed into the selected memory cell, multi-value data can be read from any selected memory cell at high speed.
US08000143B2
A transistor is arranged for electrically isolating a sense amplifier formed of a thin film transistor from a data line electrically coupled to the sense amplifier. When a write driver drives the data line, a control signal is applied to isolate the data line from the sense amplifier.
US08000141B1
A method for data storage includes storing data in a group of analog memory cells by writing respective first storage values into the memory cells. After storing the data, respective second storage values are read from the memory cells. A subset of the memory cells, in which the respective second storage values have drifted below a minimum readable value, is identified. The memory cells in the subset are operated on, so as to cause the second storage values of at least one of the memory cells in the subset to exceed the minimum readable value. At least the modified second storage values are re-read so as to reconstruct the stored data.
US08000136B2
Memory arrays and methods of operating such memory arrays are described as having a memory cell operated as a single level cell interposed between and coupled to a select gate and a memory cell operated as a multiple level memory cell. In some embodiments, a memory array is described as including a number of select gates coupled in series to a number of memory cells operated as single level memory cells and a number of memory cells operated as multiple level memory cells, where a first select gate is directly coupled to a first memory cell operated as a single level memory cell interposed between and coupled to the first select gate and a continuous number of memory cells operated as multiple level memory cells.
US08000129B2
Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for three-terminal field-emitter triode devices, and memory arrays utilizing the same. In other embodiments, the field-emitter devices include a volume-change material, capable of changing a measurable electrical property of the devices, and/or three-dimensional memory arrays of the same.
US08000127B2
A method of resetting a resistive change memory element is disclosed. The method comprises performing a series of programming operations—for example, a programming pulse of a predetermined voltage level and pulse width—on a resistive change memory element in order to incrementally increase the resistance of the memory element above some predefined threshold. Prior to each programming operation, the resistive state of the memory element is measured and used to determine the parameters used in that programming operation. If this measured resistance value is above a first threshold value, the memory element is determined to already be in a reset state and no further programming operation is performed. If this measured resistance value is below a second threshold value, this second threshold value being less than the first threshold value, a first set of programming parameters are used within the programming operation. If this initial value is above the second threshold value but below the first threshold value, a second set of programming parameters are used within the programming operation.
US08000120B2
A read, write, and match circuit for a low-voltage content addressable memory. A write circuit inputs signals for storing data in the memory cells, a read circuit retrieves the stored data from the memory cells, and a match circuit compares the data stored in the memory cell with the data searched by the match circuit. The circuits for writing, reading and matching are separated from each other and exempt from mutual interference.
US08000106B1
A semiconductor system in a package separates those circuits in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) into two substrates. In particular, the logic elements are formed in a first semiconductor substrate and certain non-logic elements are formed in a second semiconductor substrate that is in mechanical and electrical connection with the first substrate. The two substrates are enclosed in a suitable protective package and electrical connections are provided between one or both substrates and the exterior. The non-logic elements formed in the second substrate are located in circuits that would have a signal propagation delay in a conventional FPGA that is more than approximately twice the interconnect delay between the two substrates.
US08000093B2
A display device includes a display panel, and a chassis supporting the display panel, and including a conductive material. The display device includes a circuit board including a signal wiring connected to the display panel to apply a driving signal to the display panel, and a grounding wiring for grounding. The display device includes a connector connected with a signal cable that applies an external signal and is connected to the signal wiring and the grounding wiring of the circuit board. The display device includes an exposed grounding unit exposing part of the grounding wiring on the circuit board, wherein the exposed grounding unit is disposed adjacent to the connector. The display device includes a conductive member which connects the exposed grounding unit with the chassis.
US08000078B2
A magnet controller supplied by an AC source controls a lifting magnet. Two bridges allow DC current to flow in both directions in the lifting magnet. During “Lift”, relatively high voltage is applied to the lifting magnet until it reaches its cold current. Then voltage is lowered. After a desired interval, once the magnet has had time to build its electromagnetic field, voltage is further reduced to prevent the magnet from overheating. The magnet lifting forced is maintained due to the magnetic circuit hysteresis. During “Drop”, reverse voltage is applied briefly to demagnetize the lifting magnet. At the end of the “Lift” and the “Drop”, most of the lifting magnet energy is returned to the line source. A logic controller controls current and voltage of the magnet and calculates the magnet's temperature. In one embodiment, a “Sweep” switch is provided to allow reduction of the magnet power to prevent attraction to the bottom or walls of magnetic rail cars or containers.
US08000075B2
A safety device for disabling a positive pressure radiant tube heater upon failure of the heat exchanger and a corresponding method are described. This invention relates to the ability to detect a condition where a failure of the heat exchanger triggers the safety device and disables the heater. The safety device includes a low melt wire; an insulating sleeve positioned about the low melt wire, the wire and sleeve positioned on top of the reflector, a tension device to maintain the wire under tension; and a control device to disable the heater if the wire is discontinuous.
US08000072B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus for short circuit protection. The apparatus comprises two supply inputs for connecting the apparatus to a terminal of a power supply and two supply paths being connected together and to the supply inputs, wherein each supply path comprises a disconnection means for disconnecting the supply path. Further the apparatus comprises a determination means for determining a current flowing from one of the supply paths through the other one of the supply paths and a control means for controlling the disconnection means of the supply paths dependent on the current determined by the determination means, wherein the control means is connected with the disconnection means and the determination means.
US08000052B2
A method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes receiving an instruction to perform a verification operation on a media cartridge having a tape wrapped around a spool; unwrapping at least some of the tape from the spool of the media cartridge; after the unwrapping, wrapping at least some of the tape back onto the spool; during at least one of the unwrapping and wrapping (and preferably both, and possibly over several cycles of unwrapping and wrapping), performing a verification operation; generating a quality metric based on the verification operation; and outputting the quality metric or derivative thereof, such as a pass or fail indication; an instruction to set a pass/fail flag; a number, score or graphic illustrating to a user a general quality of the tape, etc. Additional methods and systems are also presented.
US08000050B2
A magnetic storage control apparatus for controlling a magnetic storage apparatus that uses a recording medium having a plurality of reference signals on its track and having a data area between the reference signals. The apparatus includes: a measurement section that reproduces the reference signal in a predetermined track of the recording medium and measures, for each data area, the time for a head to scan the data area to obtain a measurement value; a calculation section that calculates a setting value concerning the frequency of a recording clock used in data recording based on the measurement values of a plurality of data areas obtained by the measurement section; and a generation section that generates the recording clock based on the measurement values obtained by the measurement section and setting value calculated by the calculation section.
US08000048B2
A magnetic recording disk drive has a disk with a head positioning servo pattern of multiple circumferentially-spaced chevron patterns of discrete patterned servo islands. The disk drive has servo electronics that decodes the chevron patterns to determine the absolute radial position of the head without the need for separate track identification fields. The chevron pattern with the smallest radial period has a radial period P1 and each of the other chevron patterns has a period which is a unique multiple of P1. In one embodiment the first chevron pattern read by the head has period P1 and each successive chevron pattern read by the head has a period that is greater than the period of the chevron pattern immediately preceding it such that the period of each chevron pattern progressively increases.
US08000042B2
A lens barrel including a telescopic cylinder configured to be accommodated within a fixed frame; a plurality of lens groups configured to be retained in the telescopic cylinder; a lens driving device configured to drive the plurality of lens groups along a longitudinal axis of the telescopic cylinder between a collapsed position in which at least one portion of the plurality of lens groups is stored in the fixed frame and an extended position in which the at least one portion of the plurality of lens groups is extended out of the fixed frame; and a retractable lens group configured to be retracted into the fixed frame through an opening in a wall of the fixed frame when the telescopic cylinder is in the extended position.
US08000040B2
In an imaging lens, one compound lens and two single lenses are arranged in a lens barrel. On the light output side of the lens barrel, a filter is arranged with a distance from lens barrel. With a further distance from the filter, an imaging element is arranged. In the compound lens, a resin lens is bonded to a base member lens, having an output surface center of the resin lens displaced by a prescribed amount relative to an output surface center of the base member lens, so that a transmission decentration amount attributed to the base member lens, not including the resin lens, and the single lenses is cancelled by a transmission decentration amount by the resin lens when taken as a whole lens system. Thus, the imaging lens capable of suppressing reduction in resolving power due to transmission decentration of the lenses is obtained.
US08000037B2
Provided is an imaging lens, including, in order from an object side: a positive first lens; a second lens having a concave shape toward the object side; and (i−2) number of lens, wherein the i-th lens, which is the most image-side lens, includes: an i-th lens flat plate; and a positive or negative lens element on at least one of the opposite surfaces of the i-th lens flat plate, wherein the following conditional relationship is satisfied: 0.9>Ymax/Y>0.61, where: Ymax is a height of the most off-axial ray on an image-side surface of the (i−1)th lens; and Y is a maximum image height.
US08000030B2
The present invention provides an imaging lens assembly including, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface; a second lens element with negative refractive power; a third lens element with negative refractive power; a fourth lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface; a fifth lens element having a concave image-side surface, at least one inflection point being provided on the fifth lens element; and an aperture stop disposed between an imaged object and the third lens element. Such an arrangement of optical elements can effectively improve the image quality of the system and enable the imaging lens assembly to maintain a compact form. When the aperture stop is disposed near the object side, the telecentric feature is emphasized, resulting in a shorter total track length. When the aperture stop is disposed near the third lens element, the emphasis is on the wide field of view, and such an aperture stop placement helps to effectively reduce the sensitivity of the imaging lens assembly.
US08000016B2
A deflecting mirror which deflects a laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator, a transfer lens, a cylindrical lens array which divides the laser beam having passed through the transfer lens into a plurality of laser beams, and a condensing lens which superposes the laser beams formed in the cylindrical lens array are included. The following formula is satisfied: 1/f=1/(a+b)+1/c, when: “a” is a distance between an emission opening of the laser oscillator and the deflecting mirror; “b” is a distance between the deflecting mirror and the transfer lens; “c” is a distance between the transfer lens and an incidence plane of the cylindrical lens array; and “f” is a focal length of the transfer lens.
US08000015B2
Lens pairs include: a first lens to form an intermediate image, which is an inverted image of an object, on an intermediate image plane; and a second lens to form an image of the object, which is an inverted image of the intermediate image, on the image plane. A ratio of SO1 (the distance between the first principal plane of the first lens and the object plane) to SI1 (the distance between the second principal plane of the first lens and the intermediate image plane) is substantially the same as the ratio of SI2 (the distance between the second principal plane of the second lens and the imaging plane) to SO2 (the distance between the first principal plane of the second lens and the intermediate image plane). The distance between the first lens and the object plane is different from a distance between the second lens and the imaging plane.
US08000011B2
One embodiment of sighting optics according to the teachings provided herein may include a front sight and a rear sight positioned in spaced-apart relation. The rear sight includes an optical element having a first focal length and a second focal length. The first focal length is selected so that it is about equal to a distance separating the optical element and the front sight and the second focal length is selected so that it is about equal to a target distance. The optical element thus brings into simultaneous focus, for a user, images of the front sight and the target.
US08000005B2
Fluorescent screens and display systems and devices based on such screens using at least one excitation optical beam to excite one or more fluorescent materials on a screen which emit light to form images. The fluorescent materials may include phosphor materials and non-phosphor materials such as quantum dots.
US08000004B2
A microscope comprising a main objective having a variable focal length and comprising an illuminating unit including a light source and an illuminating optical system for generating an illuminating beam path directed onto the object plane and extending outside the main objective. A unit is provided for centering the illumination dependent on a variation of the focal length of the main objective, and the illuminating optical system is mounted at least in part in a laterally shiftable manner for centering the illumination. In particular, the illuminating optical system has a diaphragm that is mounted in a laterally shiftable manner.
US07999993B2
An interferometric light modulating device having two viewing surfaces is provided. In some embodiments, the device can generate two distinct images, one on each side of the device, simultaneously.
US07999989B2
The present invention relates to a photochromic film comprising a photochromic dye and a resin component. The photochromic film has a nanoindentation hardness of equal to or greater than 800 nm on at least one of surfaces, surface A, thereof. The present invention further relates to a method of manufacturing a photochromic lens. The method of manufacturing a photochromic lens of the present invention comprises forming a photochromic film having a nanoindentation hardness ranging from 500 to 5000 nm on an outermost surface thereof as well as having a smaller nanoindentation hardness on a surface facing a first mold than that on the outermost surface by coating a photochromic liquid comprising a photochromic dye and a curable component on one surface of the first mold for formation of one of surfaces of a lens and subjecting the photochromic liquid to curing treatment, and a photochromic lens comprising a photochromic film on a lens substrate is obtained by means of the above first mold.
US07999980B2
An image processing apparatus for converting a multiple gradation image into a binary or multivalue image by use of an area gradation method according to a screen cell is provided. The apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives an input pixel value of each pixel of the multiple gradation image and position information on the screen cell, an output unit that has a lookup table storing an output pixel value corresponding to the input pixel value in such a manner that an image is formed in which the output pixel value is increased or decreased with an increase in the input pixel value, and a screen line number is kept at a prescribed level with the increase in the input pixel value but a dot position is different, and that outputs the output pixel value at a pixel position on the screen cell corresponding to the position information by referring to the lookup table, according to the input pixel value and the position information received by the receiving unit.
US07999976B2
The present invention relates to an automatic sheet-feeding scanning apparatus having a movable guide rib device. The automatic sheet-feeding scanning apparatus includes a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder. The movable guide rib device is mounted in a housing of the flatbed scanner and includes a guide rib structure, at least one hollow portion, a plurality of elastic members and a fixing plate. The guide rib structure is movable upwardly or downwardly so as to avoid document damage even if the document is relatively large-sized.
US07999975B2
An analog front-end circuit includes an analog processing circuit, an A/D converter, a calculation circuit, and a target register in which a black level target value is set. The analog processing circuit includes a clamp circuit that performs a line clamp operation, and an offset adjustment circuit. The calculation circuit monitors an A/D-converted value of a black reference pixel after the line clamp operation in a black level monitor period after a line clamp period but before an effective pixel output period, and performs a black level error correction process by writing an offset adjustment value that causes the A/D-converted value to be set at the black level target value into the offset adjustment register.
US07999970B2
A light-source holding member that holds semiconductor lasers along the sub-scanning direction is fixed to an attachment member at two points with first and second screws. An elastic member is interposed between the light-source holding member and the attachment member to urge the second screw upwards. The light-source holding member can be tilted with respect to the sub-scanning direction depending on the fastening force of the second screw. By adjusting the fastening force of the second screw, angles of light beams emitted from the semiconductor lasers are adjustable.
US07999965B2
An information management apparatus 50 according to the present invention comprises: a database 30d for storing information relevant to a printer 40 therein; output request reception means 20a for receiving an output request transmitted from a portable terminal 14; inquiry signal transmission means 20a for transmitting an inquiry signal on the printer 40 being an output destination to the portable terminal 14; communication means for receiving image data transmitted from the portable terminal 14; recognition means 30b for recognizing the identification information of the printer 40 by analyzing the image data transmitted in response to the inquiry signal; retrieval means 30c for retrieving the information relevant to the printer 40 from the data base 30d on the basis of the acquired recognition information; and printing means 20c for outputting the information to the printer 40 on the basis of the information relevant to the printer 40 retrieved by the retrieval means 30c.
US07999956B2
There is provided a system for a print production facility, with print job processing departments, in which a wait time interval is determined for each recorded instance in which an output, from a set of multiple outputs, is delivered from a first one of the print job processing departments to a second one of the print job processing departments. A statistical metric value, representative of a wait time interval for the set of multiple outputs, is computed, and a workflow relationship between the print job processing departments may be altered when a total number of recorded instances and/or the statistical metric value exceed given references.
US07999955B2
A printing system capable of reducing workload of an operator by automatically separating finishing specifics of a printed product into tasks to be performed by an on-line printer and tasks to be performed by an off-line finishing device. The printing system comprises an on-line client, print server and printer as well as an off-line finishing device, and the print server receives the job ticket from the client, separates the finishing specifics included in the received job ticket into those to be performed by the printer and those to be performed by the finishing device based on information regarding specifications and installed options of the printer and finishing device, sets in the printer parameters for the finishing specifics separated and assigned to the printer, and creates data for a finishing device job ticket that includes the finishing specifics separated and assigned to the finishing device.
US07999954B2
A printer comprising a reception unit for receiving a command or data sent from a host computer, a timer for counting elapsed time after the command or data is received, and an error detection unit for reporting that the host computer is in an error state when the command or data from the host computer is not received within a predetermined time after the timer starts counting the elapsed time.
US07999949B2
The present invention discloses an optical measurement and/or inspection device that, in one application, may be used for inspection of semiconductor devices. A method is disclosed for extracting information of a device-under-test for an ellipsometer, comprising the steps: providing a plurality of incoming polarized beams using a plurality of polarizers, where each of the beams being polarized at a designated polarizing angle; using a parabolic reflector to focus said plurality of incoming polarized beams on a spot on a DUT; using a parabolic reflector to collect a plurality of beams reflected from said DUT; and analyzing said collected beams using a plurality of analyzers, wherein each of the analyzers having a designated polarizing angle with respect to its respective polarizer.
US07999943B2
To inspect all portions of the substrate, the substrate table can be moved rotationally and linearly. Furthermore, the detector can be moved rotationally. This allows all portions of a surface of the substrate to be inspected from all angles in a plane parallel to the substrate. In one example, as less linear motion is needed, the apparatus occupies a smaller volume and generates smaller vibrations.
US07999942B2
An SPR sensor comprising a thin conducting layer comprising at least one conductive element formed on a surface of a transparent substrate, a light source that illuminates an interface between the conducting layer and the substrate, a photosensitive surface that generates signals from light reflected from the interface, a flow cell formed with at least one flow channel having a lumen defined by a wall formed from an elastic material and from a region of the conducting layer, and at least one hollow fluid-providing flow control apparatus having a lumen and an orifice communicating with its lumen. Fluid flow is enabled between the flow channel and the lumen of the flow control apparatus by forcing an end of the flow control apparatus through the elastic material so that the orifice communicates with the flow channel lumen.
US07999936B1
The refractive index, extinction coefficient, size and density of fluid suspended particles are simultaneously determined by combined transmittance and scattering measurements. The scattering measurements are preferably angle selective to obtain additional information about the scattered light. A charge-coupled device is employed for its high sensitivity to low light intensity in measurement of scattered light in combination with a photodiode array employed for its high signal to noise ratio, which is beneficial in transmittance measurement. The scattered light may be measured in an angle selective fashion by use of a motorized aperture that is concentrically positioned with respect to the impinging beam axis and moveable along the impinging beam axis. An ellipsoidal mirror collects the scattered light that passes through the motorized aperture and focuses the scattered light towards the charge-coupled device.
US07999934B2
A Raman spectroscopic device includes an optical resonator, in which a first reflecting body that exhibits semi transmissivity/semi reflectivity and has a surface which is a light scattering surface that generates Raman scattering, a transparent body, and a second reflecting body that exhibits reflectivity, are laminated in sequence one on another. The Raman spectroscopic device utilizes light absorption due to resonance to obtain a surface amplified Raman effect.
US07999931B2
An optical indicator (130) for identification of a changed state of a fluid with respect to a reference state of the same fluid, or for monitoring or checking or authenticating a fluid. The fluid has an optical parameter that changes with the change of the state of the fluid. The optical indicator (130) may be attached to or integral with a container or packaging (132) for the fluid. The indicator (130) includes a cavity configured to be filed with the fluid such that the fluid filled cavity forms a variable optical element having an optical performance that varies depending on the changeable fluid's optical parameter. The fluid filled cavity coupled to other optical components of the indicator provides an image that may be compared to a reference image to detect a change of at least one optical property of the fluid as compared to the reference fluid. The comparison may be performed visually or by a suitable detector. The comparison may include automated processing of the detector's output signal(s).
US07999929B2
A specimen optical information recognizing device includes a specimen containing section containing a specimen to be measured, a specimen measuring section having a light source for outputting light for observing the specimen, a photodetecting section for collecting optical information from the specimen, and an optical waveguide for propagating light between the specimen containing and the specimen measuring sections. The optical information on the specimen may be recognized by measuring values under at least two measurement conditions. The specimen optical information recognizing device includes a measurement auxiliary liquid interposed between the end of the optical waveguide and the specimen. A longitudinal cross section of the specimen containing section may be of a recessed shape, and the aperture depth of the recessed portion may be greater than the aperture diameter. A through hole may be provided at least in a part near the bottom of the specimen containing section.
US07999926B2
A method and device for determining anemometric parameters of an aircraft. The device (1) comprises four laser anemometers (A1, A2, A3, A4) that are mounted in pairs (CA, CB) symmetrically on the aircraft and means (4, 5) for determining the angle of sideslip and the angle of incidence of the aircraft, using measurements taken by these laser anemometers (A1, A2, A3, A4).
US07999924B2
Range binoculars capable of measuring a distance between the observation place and an object, the binoculars being made small-sized with keeping the functions as binoculars. The range binoculars includes first and second optical systems, each with an eyepiece optical member, an objective lens optical member, and an erecting prism consisting of a first prism and a second prism, wherein the first optical system has a first optical axis parallel with a second optical axis of the second optical system; first and second beam splitters, each with a beam-splitting face, wherein the first beam splitter is disposed between the first prism and the second prism of the first optical system, and the second beam splitter is disposed between the first prism and the second prism of the second optical system; an emitter for emitting a laser beam toward an object via the first beam splitter; a photodetector for receiving the laser beam which was emitted by the emitter, reflected by the object, and comes to the photodetector via the second beam splitter; a calculator for determining a distance from an observation place to the object using a flight time of the laser beam taken from the emitter to the photodetector; a measurement result display for displaying the distance determined by the calculator; and a casing accommodating the first and second optical systems, the first and second beam splitters, the emitter, the photodetector, the calculator, and the measurement result display.
US07999922B1
A coherent imaging system for producing high resolution images is provided. A coherent radiation source module produces two radiation beams, each at a different instance. An optical component directs the first radiation beam towards a target at a first angle to produce a first return beam, and also produces a first reference beam. Another optical component directs the second radiation beam towards the target at a second angle to produce a second return beam, and also produces a second reference beam. An aperture collects the first return beam and the second return beam. A detector module produces two coherent images based on interference between the return beams and the reference beams. The detector module also combines the first coherent image and the second coherent image to produce a high resolution coherent image, which has a resolution higher than a resolution of the first coherent image or the second coherent image.
US07999916B2
A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus can have an illumination system for generating projection light, an absorption filter which has a varying absorption coefficient distribution, and a mask which is illuminated by the projection light. The mask can contain regions that differ from one another by the orientation of structures contained in them and whose transmissivity depends on the polarization state of the incident projection light. The absorption coefficient distribution of the absorption filter is determined so as to compensate at least partially for the dependence of the transmissivity of the region on the polarization state of the incident projection light.
US07999899B1
A fringe field switching liquid crystal display apparatus is provided. This apparatus includes a first electrode disposed in a stacked relationship with a second electrode. The first electrode includes a first side edge, a second side edge, and plural spaces that define plural strips between the first and the second side edges, wherein the plural strips and the plural spacings form a first area. The second electrode is disposed on one of places above and below the first electrode, and has at least a penetrating vacancy or other capacitance-reduction device, which has a projection onto the first electrode located outside the first area.
US07999898B2
An active matrix liquid crystal display device is provided in which decrease in the aperture ratio is prevented, and deterioration in display quality is reduced by preventing liquid crystal molecules in a region of a pixel electrode which region faces a bus line from aligning in two or more directions. A liquid crystal panel in the active matrix liquid crystal display device includes a plurality of pixel electrodes (2) in array; and bus lines (42) arranged in a grid so as to surround each of the pixel electrodes (2), the pixel electrodes (2) each including a prominence (50) overlapping an adjacent one of the bus lines (42) in a top view, wherein the respective prominences (50) of each adjacent two of the pixel electrodes (2) facing each other across an adjacent one of the bus lines (42) overlap the bus line (42) at positions different from each other with respect to a direction in which the bus line (42) extends.
US07999886B2
By controlling light emission, non-emission, and light intensity of each of the light emitting elements arranged on a backlight unit, a point-shaped light emitting point is created and the light emitting point is moved along the arrangement of pixels formed on a liquid crystal display panel unit. By moving the light emitting point as if an electron beam were scanning in the CRT display, it is possible to enhance the dynamic image blur removal effect.
US07999885B2
A computer display is disclosed. The computer display includes a LCD housing, a light source coupled to the LCD housing, and a LCD coupled to the LCD housing. The LCD housing conducts light from the light source to the LCD. A method for conducting light is also disclosed. The method includes generating light and conducting the generated light through a LCD housing.
US07999884B2
A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel, a light source, a wire, a light guide plate, a bottom chassis, and a light source container. The liquid crystal display panel displays an image, and the light source generates a light. The wire connected to the light source, and the light guide plate guides the light from the light source to the liquid crystal display panel. The bottom chassis receives the light guide plate and the light source, and the bottom chassis is divided into two parts separable with each other. The light source container is integrally formed with the bottom chassis and surrounding at least a portion of the light source. The light source container includes a fixing section fixing the wire.
US07999879B2
A liquid crystal display device is provided which has a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the pair of substrates, in which liquid crystal molecules are vertically aligned with respect to the substrates when no voltage is applied between the substrates and the liquid crystal molecules tilt in a plurality of directions to be almost parallel to the substrates by applying a voltage between the substrates. In the liquid crystal layer, when the voltage is applied, a proportion of a region where the liquid crystal molecules tilt in a direction of 0 degrees to 180 degrees is different from a proportion of a region where the liquid crystal molecules tilt in a direction of 180 degrees to 360 degrees with the angle being defined counterclockwise with the right direction on a screen being 0 degrees.
US07999876B2
A pull-down detection apparatus includes a pixel comparator at least performing pixel comparison between a subsequent field and a present field and horizontal pixel comparison in the subsequent field and the present field to determine a presence of a pixel change between the subsequent field and the present field, a field comparator determining a presence of an image change between the subsequent field and the present field based on a determination result in the pixel comparator, and a pull-down determinater determining that the input video signal is generated by pull-down processing based on a history of a determination result in the field comparator.
US07999872B2
An image display device includes a display unit configured to display at least an image and an icon relating to a predetermined setting, a touch panel which allows input of operations, and on which a predetermined inhibited area is set, and a control unit configured to perform control so that, after the control unit sets the predetermined inhibited area, when an operation has been input by the touch panel, the control unit determines whether or not the operation has been input within the predetermined inhibited area, and, in a case where the operation has been input within the predetermined inhibited area, by erasing the icon displayed by the display unit, a user is allowed to recognize that an unintended operation has been input within the predetermined inhibited area.
US07999861B2
When an area desired to be displayed with high accuracy and an area desired to be inspected and measured with high accuracy in a measuring object are smaller than a photographing range, the entire area of a composite image is displayed and designation of an area is received, to thereby generate an image of the entire area in which composition processing of optimizing luminance of pixels included in this area is performed. Therefore, an input part is provided for receiving the setting of a designated area in image data, a composite luminance distribution is calculated based on the size of a standardized luminance distribution value in the designated area, and composite image data is generated.
US07999854B2
The object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera system capable of transmitting image information suitable for the purpose of image usage in a peripheral. Special information in connection with an application program used in the peripheral is output to a digital camera, an image data processed in the digital camera on the basis of the special information is output to the peripheral, and the peripheral executes the application program by inputting the processed image data into the application program. The special information is the size of a character, the number of colors, resolution, and the like used in the application program.
US07999841B1
The disclosure is directed to an electro-optical imaging system that includes an image selection assembly that receives images along a movable optical axis and provides the images to a sensor disposed on a fixed optical axis. The movable axis is movable with respect to the fixed axis. The disclosure is also directed to a method for use with the imaging system. The method includes: positioning the movable optical axis at a selected first position to obtain a first image; sampling the first image with the sensor; repeatedly positioning the movable optical axis at another selected position to obtain another image, and sampling the another image until a number of at least two or more images are sampled; and assembling the sampled images into a final image.
US07999836B2
A system and method is disclosed for print media back-feed control for a printer. The invention incorporates use of a downstream sensor to detect at least one of a leading edge of a print media or an indicia correlated to parameters of the print media. The print media can then be back-fed by a controller to accurately position a print line of the print media proximate to a print head of the printer without losing sufficient nip pressure.
US07999835B2
A laser irradiation apparatus and method of fabricating an organic light emitting display using the same are provided. The laser irradiation apparatus includes: a laser generator; a mask having means for changing a propagation path of a laser beam; and a projection lens. The method of fabricating an organic light emitting display includes: irradiating a laser beam on an edge of an irradiated region of a donor substrate using the laser irradiation apparatus with high intensity to form an organic layer pattern on a substrate. The laser beam having low intensity can perform a transfer process to improve laser beam efficiency. In addition, it is possible to reduce damage on the organic layer, and improve quality of the transferred organic layer pattern.
US07999834B2
A display device includes a body including a stationary portion and an extendible portion movable relative to the stationary portion, an expandable display portion having a display area, an adjustable resistor, and a controlling unit. The first end of the expandable display is engaged in the stationary portion, and an opposite second end of the expandable display is engaged in the extendible portion. The adjustable resistor has a resistance varying with a distance between the stationary portion and the extendible portion. The controlling unit is configured for adjusting a size of the display area according to the resistance of the adjustable resistor.
US07999827B2
Tools and techniques for creating and editing a master block definition for a block, and manipulating a block instantiation of the block are described. User input can be received defining a block and a master block definition can be generated for the block. The block can include one or more graphical entities and receiving a user input defining a block can include receiving one or more user inputs manipulating a graphical representation of the block. The master block definition can include at least one allowable manipulation to a geometry of the block when instantiated. One or more block instantiations of the block can be manipulated differently according to the allowable manipulation.
US07999825B2
A distributed color selection and coordination system including a remote computer communicatively coupled to a server. The remote computer configured to select a starting color and access a database in the server to find one or more complementary colors. The colors in the database are arranged in a predetermined relationship with other colors in the database, the relationship between colors based on color theory. The remote computer is capable of storing personal information and color selections on the server. An in-store kiosk is communicatively coupled to the server and configured to execute color selection and coordination software. The in-store kiosk is further capable of retrieving stored personal information and color selections from the server which were previously stored from the remote computer.
US07999819B2
Provided are methods for managing texture data. The methods include preloading a first plurality of texture descriptor values from a memory location in a first buffer located in a first logic block, wherein the first buffer is further configured to receive data corresponding to non-texture functions performed in the first logic block and preloading the first plurality of texture descriptor values from a memory location into a second buffer in a second logic block if the first buffer is full. The methods further include utilizing the first plurality of texture descriptor values, within the second logic block, to perform a shader calculation, and loading, dynamically, a second plurality of texture descriptor values from memory into the first buffer, wherein the first logic block requires additional data. Additionally, the methods can include writing, if the first buffer is full, the second plurality of texture descriptor values over a portion of the first plurality of texture descriptor values.
US07999816B2
A video display apparatus that supports a display data channel (DDC) standard includes: one DDC-supported non-volatile memory and a control unit for writing, based on information indicating the kind of input video signal, extended display identification (EDID) data for this input video signal out of EDID data for plural kinds of video signals into the DDG-supported non-volatile memory. Accordingly, in the video display apparatus that supports DDC, it becomes possible to make the host side perform settings for plural kinds of video signals in accordance with properties of the video display apparatus, and also a reduction in cost and down-sizing are facilitated.
US07999813B2
A computer architecture and programming model for high speed processing over broadband networks are provided. The architecture employs a consistent modular structure, a common computing module and uniform software cells. The common computing module includes a control processor, a plurality of processing units, a plurality of local memories from which the processing units process programs, a direct memory access controller and a shared main memory. A processing system for performing graphics processing is also provided. A first processor is of a first processor type and a number of second processors are of a second processor type. One of the second processors can perform graphics processing on a first set of graphics data to generate a second set of graphics data, and another of the second processors can perform graphics processing on the second set to generate a third set of graphics data.
US07999812B2
Locality based morphing in a computer graphics system provides efficient techniques for simulating or animating position-based changes including but not limited to deformations. Two models are provided: a model unaffected by a destructive or other process, and a further model that has been totally affected by the process. Position information is used to specify particular parts of the model to morph. Morphing is selectively applied on a spatially localized basis so that only parts of the object are morphed whereas other parts of the object remain unmorphed. Such techniques can be used for example to simulate or animate progressive damage to a target such as an enemy robot.
US07999805B2
A method and graphics converter for converting edge record based graphics to polygon based graphics is provided. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method for converting graphic object data that defines a graphic object for delivery to wireless devices connected to a wireless communications network, the method comprising: converting the graphic object data from a path format to a second format, the path format including path elements that are each associated with a fill style and define one or more polygon shapes at least partially filled with the associated fill style, the path elements collectively defining the graphic object; converting the graphic object data from the path format to a second format, the converting including: redefining the polygon shapes defined by the path elements as groups of triangles; and combining at least some triangles in the groups of triangles into further polygon shapes that fall within complexity thresholds based on predetermined capabilities of a wireless device to which the converted graphic object data will be delivered.
US07999804B2
A monitor includes a display device, a signal interface, a power interface, and a power controller. The display device is configured for displaying information to users. The signal interface is configured for receiving display signals, and providing the display signals for the display device. The power interface is configured for receiving power from an external power source, and providing the source for the display device. The power controller monitors the existence of the display signal at the signal interface, and accordingly controls the power interface to selectively provide the power for the display device.
US07999802B2
An interface system capable of minimizing an electro magnetic interference. The interface system may be constructed with a serializer for receiving a first data and second data having a plurality of bits from an external device and sequentially outputting bits of the received first data and second data; a transmission circuit including a decoder for converting two bits supplied from the serializer into three bits, a driver for controlling a flow of electric currents to correspond to the three bits and a transmission resistor to which a voltage is applied to correspond to the flow of the electric currents; a reception circuit including a reception resistor for receiving a voltage supplied the transmission resistor, amplifiers for amplifying a voltage applied to both ends of the reception resistor, comparators for recovering the three bits and an encoder for recovering the two bits using the three bit by comparing the voltage supplied to the amplifiers; a deserializer for recovering the first data and the second data while sequentially storing the two bits supplied from the reception circuit; and stabilization circuits for controlling the transmission circuit.
US07999785B2
A light-source module for a display device and a display device having the same, in which the light-source module includes a plurality of light-emitting units, a current difference controller, and a converter. The light-emitting units are connected in parallel between a driving power input terminal and a ground terminal to emit light by the diving power and to output respective feedback control signals. The current difference controller is configured to output a plurality of power control signals according to the respective feedback control signals. The converter is configured to change a current of the driving power provided to the light-emitting units according to the power control signals. The amounts of currents flowing through the light emitting units each having a plurality of light emitting diodes are measured and the levels of voltages applied to the light-emitting units are changed according to the measurement results. Accordingly, a current difference between the light emitting units can be reduced and the brightness uniformity of the light source can be improved.
US07999774B2
A circuit for amplifying a display signal transmitted to a repair line by using a non-inverting amplifier is disclosed, which comprises a voltage follower, a non-inverting amplifier, a repair line, a thin film transistor (TFT) and a liquid crystal (LC) capacitor. The voltage follower is electrically connected to a data driver chip to thereby provide a display signal to the non-inverting amplifier. The non-inverting amplifier amplifies the display signal to thus obtain an amplified display signal, and transmits the amplified display signal to the TFT and the LC capacitor through the repair line. The amplified display signal is kept at a desired voltage level when the LC capacitor receives the amplified display signal.
US07999769B2
A conventional setting voltage was a value with an estimated margin of a characteristic change of a light emitting element. Therefore, a voltage between the source and drain of a driver transistor Vds had to be set high (Vds≧Vgs−VTh+a). This caused high heat generation and power consumption because a voltage applied to the light emitting element. The invention is characterized by feedbacking a change in a current value in accordance with the deterioration of a light emitting element and a power source voltage controller which modifies a setting voltage. Namely, according to the invention, the setting voltage is to be set in the vicinity of the boundary (critical part) between a saturation region and a linear region, and a voltage margin for the deterioration is not required particularly for an initial setting voltage.
US07999761B2
A plasma display apparatus and a driving method of thereof are provided. The plasma display apparatus comprises a plasma display panel comprising a plurality of first address electrodes and a plurality of second address electrodes, and a data driver for supplying a voltage of a substantially equal magnitude to a last first address electrode of at least one side of the plurality of first address electrodes and at least one second address electrode.
US07999757B2
A multi-band antenna is provided that operates in at least two non-harmonically related frequency bands. The antenna includes a low frequency antenna for a relatively low frequency band of the at least two non-harmonically related frequency bands extending on a proximal end from a ground plane along a predominant axis and electrically isolated from the ground plane and a cone-shaped relatively high frequency antenna for a relatively high frequency band of the at least two non-harmonically related frequency bands disposed on and electrically connected to the proximal end of the low frequency antenna with an apex of the high frequency antenna disposed adjacent the ground plane coincident with the proximal end of the low frequency antenna and a base extending away from the ground plane coaxial with the predominant axis. The multi-band antenna further includes a first tubular sleeve extending from the ground plane coaxial with the predominant axis, said tubular sleeve electrically isolated from the ground plane, the low frequency antenna and high frequency antenna and a second tubular sleeve lying coaxial with the predominant axis extending from a marginal edge of the base of the high frequency antenna away from the ground plane, said second tubular sleeve electrically isolated from the high frequency antenna and low frequency antenna.
US07999752B2
An improved dipole-shaped radiator arrangement is characterized by the following features: a base is disconnected from ground or a ground surface with respect to direct current, or is capacitively coupled to a ground surface; a first dipole or radiator half is electro-galvanically or capacitively fed by a conductor; a second dipole or radiator half is fed via a further feed line in the form of an inner conductor feed; the one end of the first inner conductor section is electrically connected to a matching network; the other end of the third inner conductor section is connected to ground or to the ground surface with respect to direct current.
US07999749B2
An antenna assembly may include a carrying structure having a number of faces, each face having at least partly a ground plane and each face being provided with at least one dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) element. The antenna assembly may include a controller arrangement, a switching arrangement connected to each of said DRA elements, the controller arrangement being configured to switch the antenna elements and alter frequency, polarization and/or radiation pattern of each DRA element.
US07999740B2
A method for efficiently performing ranging in a wireless communication network may be implemented by a mobile station. The method may include sending a ranging code to a base station. The method may also include receiving a ranging response message from the base station. The method may also include determining whether a ranging failure condition is satisfied. The ranging failure condition may relate to something other than a duration of time. The method may further include re-sending the ranging code to the base station if the ranging failure condition is satisfied.
US07999737B2
The present invention relates to a device for adjusting the beam direction of an antenna. The device has a source connection terminal to be connected to a signal source and at least two feed connection terminals to be connected to antenna element feed points. A feed line structure is elongated in a main direction at a distance from and in parallel to a fixed ground plane on at least one side of said feed line structure, wherein a movable dielectric element is located between said feed line structure and said ground plane so as to change the signal phase of signal components being transferred between said source connection terminal and the respective feed connection terminals. The device includes means for allowing said ground plane to be positioned relatively close to said feed line structure without risking accidental contact between said feed line structure and said ground plane.
US07999734B2
An apparatus includes a radio receiver, a GPS receiver and a semiconductor package. The semiconductor package contains both the radio receiver and the GPS receiver.
US07999732B2
A receiver terminal receives a frequency from an external reference oscillator portion, which is more accurate than that of a frequency generated within the receiver in a local oscillator portion. The frequency from the local oscillator portion is measured using the external frequency as the reference, which determines the error in the local oscillator frequency relative to the external reference and permits the local oscillator frequency to be corrected to within the error of the external oscillator frequency. A plurality of candidate values for the remaining local frequency error are selected within a predetermined frequency range to include any remaining error of the local oscillator frequency. The received signal from a satellite is correlated with a matching pseudorandom code to detect the signal and measure the signal delay and Doppler shift of the signal relative to the corrected local oscillator frequency. The delay value is used to obtain a pseudorange measurement and the measured Doppler shift permits further correction to the local oscillator frequency, thus reducing the frequency search range for the remaining satellites.
US07999731B2
A GPS data recording apparatus includes a storage device and a processing circuit coupled to the storage device. The processing circuit comprises: a sampling module, for sampling a GPS data; and a packet processor, for packetizing the sampled GPS data to generate a data packet to be stored in the storage device, and for unpacketizing the stored data packet from the storage device if necessary. According to present invention, GPS data can be recorded and be replayed as necessary.
US07999725B2
A fill level measuring device for ascertaining and monitoring fill level of a medium in the process space of a container by means of a microwave travel time measuring method. The device includes: measurement transmitter; and an antenna unit, which is constructed at least of a hollow conductor and a radiating element, wherein a process isolation element is inserted into the hollow conductor for process isolation between measurement transmitter and the process contacting, radiating element. The process isolation element is made of a ceramic material and includes at least one glass layer, via which the process isolation element is directly glass bonded in the hollow conductor in a glass bonding region.
US07999719B2
A multi-stage Successive Approximation Register Analog-to-Digital Converter (SAR ADC) and an analog-to-digital converting method using the same are provided. The multi-stage SAR ADC connects small-size and low-power SAR ADCs in multiple stages, thereby reducing a whole chip size and power consumption. The analog-to-digital converting method simultaneously performs analog-to-digital conversions in the SAR ADCs connected in the multiple stages, thereby reducing an analog-to-digital conversion time and maintaining an operating rate of several tens of MHz to several hundreds of MHz similar to that of a pipeline ADC.
US07999715B2
An interference reduction device includes an analog to digital converter, a serial to parallel converter, a first FIR filter, a second FIR filters, a flip-flop, a decision unit, and a selector. The analog to digital converter performs A/D conversion. The serial to parallel converter performs a session of distribution processing in which a digital signal obtained by the A/D conversion. The first FIR outputs the signal after a filter operation at the desired output frequency. The second FIR filters each perform a filter operation, also each output the generated signals at the desired output frequency. The flip-flop samples the inputted digital signal. The decision unit decides which one of the FIR filters has the smallest influence of interference of the input digital signal. The selector outputs one of the signals outputted by the FIR filters.
US07999713B2
The invention relates to fast, high resolution, analog digital converters, and more particularly those which possess at least one conversion stage of “flash” type. The converter according to the invention uses N differential amplifiers with four inputs. The amplifier of rank j receives the input voltage to be converted Vep−Ven on two first inputs, and a reference potential difference on two other inputs. The reference potential difference is obtained between two taps of networks of resistors that are identical operating in parallel and supplied between a high voltage source and a low current source; the taps for an amplifier are respectively a tap Pj of rank j of a first network and a tap P′N−j+1 of rank N−j+1 of a second network. This reduces the first and second order non-linearity effects due to the fact that the differential amplifiers consume an input current tapped off from the networks of resistors.
US07999711B1
A noise-shaping module including a first addition module configured to receive a digital input signal and a filtered output signal. A truncation module is configured to remove selected bits from the digital input signal and output a truncated output signal. The truncated output signal corresponds to the digital input signal with the selected bits removed. A second addition module is configured to output a difference signal. The difference signal is based on a difference between the digital input signal and the truncated output signal. A filter module is configured to generate the filtered output signal based on the difference signal and provide the filtered output signal to the first addition module.
US07999706B2
It is possible to reduce errors generated between multiple D/A conversion paths. A characteristic acquisition device includes [1] an arbitrary signal generator that converts a first (second) input digital pattern into a first (second) output analog pattern, [2] a digitizer that converts a first input analog pattern into a first output digital pattern, and [3] a characteristic acquisition device that includes a first transmission characteristic deriving unit that derives a first transmission characteristic which converts the first input digital pattern into the output digital pattern where the input analog pattern is the first output analog pattern, a second transmission characteristic deriving unit that derives a second transmission characteristic which converts the second input digital pattern into the output digital pattern where the input analog pattern is the second output analog pattern, and a transmission characteristic ratio deriving unit that derives a transmission characteristic ratio which is a ratio relating to the first transmission characteristic and the second transmission characteristic.
US07999695B2
A method and apparatus for controlling oil well drilling equipment is disclosed. One or more sensors are distributed in the oil well drilling equipment. Each sensor produces a signal. A surface processor coupled to the one or more sensors via a high speed communications medium receives the signals from the one or more sensors via the high speed communications medium. The surface processor is situated on or near the earth's surface. The surface processor includes a program to process the received signals and to produce one or more control signals. The system includes one or more controllable elements distributed in the oil well drilling equipment. The one or more controllable elements respond to the one or more control signals.
US07999691B2
Revealed herein is a system and method for monitoring continuity between adjacent barrier members. Each barrier member has a first edge defining a first connector and an opposed second edge defining a second connector. The second connector is adapted to cooperatingly engage a corresponding first connector of an adjacent barrier member. The system comprises detectable bodies along the first connector of the barrier member and a detector locatable along the second connector of the adjacent barrier member. The detector detects the proximity of the detectable bodies. The method comprises inserting a first barrier member into a soil formation, engaging the second connector of a second barrier member with the first connector and inserting the second barrier member into the soil formation adjacent to the first barrier member while utilizing the detector to verify engagement of the first and second connectors.
US07999687B1
Alarm system for a cement truck providing an audible, or visible, other sensory alarm when water is flowing between the water tank and the mixing barrel. A method is also provided for generating an alarm signal when water is flowing between the water tank and the mixing barrel. The alarm system may be provided as a kit for retrofitting an existing cement truck.
US07999674B2
A medical device is disclosed. The medical device includes an RFID reader for receiving information from at least one RFID transponder. The medical device also includes a memory for storing a database and at least one processor for processing information. Also, a remote controller for a medical device is disclosed. The remote controller includes an information receiver for receiving information related to food. The infusion device also includes a memory for storing a database and at least one processor for processing information. A method for use in a medical device is also disclosed. The method includes receiving information from an RFID transponder related to food. Also, the processing the information by comparing the information to a database is included in the method. The method also includes determining the acceptability of the food and providing information related to acceptability to the user.
US07999668B2
A system is provided for implementing a series interlock loop. An example of the interlock system includes a series interlock loop, a data table, and a control module. The series interlock loop has an overall electrical characteristic. The series interlock loop includes first and second safety interlocks electrically coupled in series. Each interlock includes a switch coupled in parallel with an impedance value. The data table is configured to store values corresponding to the impedance values. The control module is communicatively coupled to the data table and configured to receive an indication of the overall electrical characteristic and to compare the overall electrical characteristic to the values in the data table to thereby identify an open one of the first and second safety interlocks.
US07999662B2
A vehicle security system for securing a vehicle against theft, the system comprising, a driving function disablement component configured to bias against a moveable vehicle component, thereby to disable a driving function when biased, a remotely operable transducer configured to maintain or release biasing in the driving function disablement component, and a wireless handheld transceiver configured to transmit a wireless drive-activating signal to operate the transducer.
US07999661B2
A signal relay device, a communication network system and an operation system include: a standardized logic interface conversion unit for judging a control system type or a device type and converting a signal to a signal appropriate for a communication network; or a device side logic interface conversion unit for converting a signal from the communication network to a signal appropriate for the control system type or the device type. An operation monitoring station includes a an advanced control block for the control system or the device and transmits a control signal to the communication network.
US07999659B2
A method for access control to at least one memory area of a passive and/or backscatter-based transponder is provided. In the method for access control, depending on an identification selection criterion, a first or at least one second identification within the transponder is activated, the activated identification upon an appropriate request by reader unit is transmitted to said unit, the at least one memory area of the transponder is divided into memory blocks with a settable size, access control information is assigned to a respective memory block, and read and/or write access to a specific memory block is released or blocked depending on the associated access control information and the identification selection criterion.
US07999655B2
A communication system that controls the disabling and enabling of a communication function in a communication portion of a portable device in accordance with whether the communication function of the portable device is disabled or enabled. The communication system includes a selection device for selecting a disablement mode, which disables automatic communication of the portable device with respect to a communication controller, and a communication mode, which enables automatic communication of the portable device. A determination unit recognizes which one of the disablement mode and the communication mode the portable device is in to determine whether to enable or disable automatic communication with respect to the portable device in accordance with the recognition. A recognition information providing device provides the determination unit with recognition information used to recognize which one of the disablement mode and the communication mode the portable device is in.
US07999653B2
A plant monitor-control apparatus includes a control device which controls a to-be-controlled device of a plant, an operation/monitor device which delivers an operation instruction to the plant, operates the plant via the control device and monitors the plant, and a user skill level management device which manages respective user skill levels and determines an operation authority corresponding to each user skill level.
US07999651B2
In a plane perpendicular to an axial direction of a winding drum, side legs face each other along an X-direction. A Y-direction is perpendicular to the X-direction. A planar coil component is configured so that a point along the Y-direction, where width of a central leg is maximum along the X-direction is at a plus side of the Y-direction, in relation to a center of the Y-direction, of the central leg; width of the central leg along the X-direction monotonically decreases from the point; width of the central leg along the X-direction is longer than along the X-direction; distance between facing surfaces of the side legs is constant; the terminal board is on the minus side, along the Y-direction, of a flange; and an end of the winding extends through the flange at the minus side of the Y-direction.
US07999629B2
The present disclosure relates to I/Q modulation circuits, devices, and methods.
US07999627B2
A resonant circuit arrangement is for generating an amplitude-shift-keyed and/or phase-shift-keyed signal. The resonant circuit arrangement includes a capacitive storage element having a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminal is electrically connectable to a control voltage and the second terminal is electrically connected to a reference potential. The resonant circuit arrangement also includes an inductive storage element having a third terminal and a fourth terminal, where the third terminal is electrically connectable to the reference potential, a first switch for electrically connecting the fourth terminal to the reference potential, a second switch for electrically connecting the fourth terminal and the first terminal, and a control unit for driving the first and second switches based on transmission data.
US07999624B2
A source of radiation comprises a first low frequency oscillator 200 for providing a reference signal and a plurality of phase shifters 210a, 210b, 210c coupled to the first oscillator. In addition there are a plurality of phase locked loops 230a, 230b, 230c, each phase locked loop having a respective Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) 240a, 240b, 240c for outputting a signal. Each phased locked loop is coupled to a respective one of the phase shifters, so that in use each VCO is phase locked to a reference signal which has been phase shifted by a respective one of the phase shifters. In this way the phase of the radiation output by each VCO may be controlled indirectly by controlling the phase shift of the reference signal. In a preferred embodiment the phase shifters are adjustable to shift the phase by an adjustable amount.
US07999623B2
A method for reducing a phase noise in a digital fractional-N phase lock loop (PLL) is disclosed. The method comprises: quantifying a time difference between a reference clock and a feedback clock into a time difference signal; generating a residual error signal according to the time difference signal and an instantaneous error signal; filtering the residual error signal to generate a control code; controlling an oscillator using the control code to generate an output clock; receiving a fractional number between 0 and 1 to generate the instantaneous error signal; and dividing down the output clock by a divisor value according to the fractional number.
US07999620B2
An analog amplifier includes at least one signal path. Each of the at least one signal path extends between an input and an output and includes a load device coupled to the output and a transistor coupled to the input. The analog amplifier further includes a dither current source selectively coupled to one of the at least one signal path. The dither current source is capable of supplying dither current to the load device of the selected signal path directly by bypassing the transistor of the selected signal path.
US07999619B2
The present disclosure relates to a class AB amplifier output stage.
US07999615B2
A current canceling CMOS variable gain amplifier includes a first leg and a second leg. The first leg has a first input line, a first output line, a first ON transistor, a first control transistor and a first subtracting transistor. The second leg has a second input line, a second output line, a second ON transistor, a second control transistor and a second subtracting transistor. The second input line can provide a second input current. The second output line can provide a second output current. The first input line is arranged to provide a first input current to each of the first ON transistor, the first control transistor and the first subtracting transistor. The second input line is arranged to provide a second input current to each of the second ON transistor, the second control transistor and the second subtracting transistor. The first output line is in electrical connection with each of the first ON transistor, the first control transistor and the second subtracting transistor. The second output line is in electrical connection with each of the second ON transistor, the second control transistor and the first subtracting transistor.
US07999614B1
A power amplifying device with linear corrector utilizing the polynomial format to realize pre-distortion is disclosed. Its effective order estimation technique for polynomial based pre-distorter includes the following steps. Firstly, it receives the polynomial of the described pre-distorter and then, the polynomial is transformed into the matrix expression, obtaining the pre-distorter consisted of K pre-distortion functions, where K denotes the maximum order of the described polynomials. Secondly, singular value decomposition is performed for the pre-distortion matrix, obtaining singular value matrix. Thirdly, on the basis of the singular value matrix, effective rank of the pre-distortion matrix is obtained. Such effective rank of the pre-distortion matrix is determined as the effective order of the polynomial. This invention improves not only the pre-distortion performance but also lower the computational complexity of the power amplifier pre-distorter based on polynomials, which further guarantees the convergence speed and the stability of power amplifier pre-distorter based on polynomials.
US07999606B2
A temperature independent reference circuit includes first and second bipolar transistors with commonly coupled bases. First and second resistors are coupled in series between the emitter of the second bipolar transistor and ground. The first and second resistors have first and second resistance values, R1 and R2, and third and second temperature coefficients, TC3 and TC2, respectively. The resistance values being such that a temperature coefficient of a difference between the base-emitter voltages of the first and second bipolar transistors, TC1, is substantially equal to TC2×(R2/(R1+R2))+TC3×(R1/(R1+R2)), resulting in a reference current flowing through each of the first and second bipolar transistors that is substantially constant over temperature. A third resistor coupled between a node and the collector of the second bipolar transistor has a value such that a reference voltage generated at the node is substantially constant over temperature.
US07999603B2
Provided is a semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus capable of controlling the substrate voltage of a MOSFET so that the drain current for an arbitrary gate voltage value in a subthreshold region or a saturated region will be free from temperature dependence and process variation dependence, thereby enhancing the stable operation thereof. The semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus includes: an integrated circuit main body having a plurality of MOSFETs on a semiconductor substrate; a monitor unit for monitoring at least one of the drain currents of the plurality of MOSFETs; and a substrate voltage regulating unit for controlling the substrate voltage of the semiconductor substrate so as to keep constant the drain current. The monitor unit includes a constant current source and a monitoring MOSFET formed on the same substrate as the plurality of MOSFETs, the substrate voltage regulating unit includes a comparison unit for comparing the source potential of the monitoring MOSFET with a predetermined reference potential with the drain terminal of the monitoring MOSFET and the drain terminals of the plurality of MOSFETs connected to ground, and the substrate voltage regulating unit feeds back the output voltage output based on the comparison result by the comparison unit to the substrate voltage of the monitoring MOSFET.
US07999598B1
A voltage scale down circuit includes an input node configured to receive a voltage input within an input voltage range. At least two voltage followers are coupled to the input node. The voltage scale down circuit also includes at least two scalers. Each scaler is coupled to a respective voltage follower. An output node is coupled to the at least two scalers. Each voltage follower is configured to receive the voltage input. Each voltage follower is configured to supply a respective voltage for the voltage input within a narrower portion of the input voltage range. The output node is configured to supply a voltage output linearly related to the voltage input. An output voltage range of the voltage output is narrower than the input voltage range.
US07999591B2
Deskew system for eliminating skew between data signals and clock and circuits for the deskew system
A deskew system includes a first voltage control delay receiving a data signal and generating N-numbered delayed data signals obtained by delaying a phase of the data signal in units of 90/N, where N is a natural number that is not less than 1. In response to a phase control signal, a second voltage control delay receives a clock and generates N-numbered delayed clocks by delaying a phase of the clock in units of 90/N. A skew compensation control unit generates a plurality of skew control signals to compensate for skew between the data signal and the clock based on the data signal, the N-numbered delayed data signals, the clock, and the N-numbered delayed clocks.
US07999589B2
Duty-cycle correction circuits, clock distribution networks, and methods for correcting duty-cycle distortion are disclosed, including methods and apparatus for correcting duty-cycle distortion of differential output clock signals provided from a clock distribution network. In one such method, a single-ended clock signal is generated from differential input clock signals for distribution over a clock distribution network and from which the differential output clock signals are generated. A delay of a model delay path is matched to a propagation delay of the clock distribution network, and the single ended clock signal is adjusted to compensate for duty-cycle distortion.
US07999582B2
A voltage supply apparatus includes a power noise sensing unit, a voltage selecting unit, a first power voltage supply unit and a second power voltage supply unit. The power noise sensing unit senses noise from first and second powers and outputs a power noise sensing signal. The voltage selecting unit outputs first and second driving signals in response to a voltage-supply-enable-signal and the power noise sensing signal. The first power voltage supply unit applies a voltage of the first power in response to the first and second driving signals. The second power voltage supply unit applies a voltage of the second power in response to the first and second driving signals.
US07999574B2
According to one embodiment, a level conversion circuit includes an intermediate voltage generating portion to generate an intermediate voltage between a first voltage and a second voltage upon receiving the first voltage and the second voltage higher than the first voltage. A buffer portion operates on the intermediate voltage upon receiving a first signal and an inverted first signal of a first amplitude corresponding to the first voltage. The buffer portion outputs a second signal and an inverted second signal having a second amplitude corresponding to the intermediate voltage. A level shift portion operates on the second voltage upon receiving the second signal and the inverted second signal, and outputs a third signal and an inverted third signal having a third amplitude corresponding to the second voltage.
US07999573B2
An embodiment of a low-to-high-level voltage translator is proposed. This translator translates the low voltage swing signals for the core into high voltage swing signals of the I/O blocks. This translator may be particularly useful for high-speed application where the difference between the core and the I/O supply voltage is very large, e.g., the core is working at 0.8V and the I/O is working at 3.6V or higher without little or no static power dissipation. The proposed translator may give improved transition times and propagation delays as compared to conventional translators. The proposed translator may also use less hardware in comparison to other such translators.
US07999567B2
Single Event Upset (SEU, also referred to as soft error) tolerant arbiters, bare arbiters, and filters are disclosed. An arbiter provides a filter section, and a bare arbiter, coupled to the filter section. The bare arbiter includes a redundant first input and a redundant second input, and a redundant first output and a redundant second output. A pull-down transistor in the bare arbiter conditionally overpowers a corresponding pull-up transistor in the bare arbiter when a contention condition is present in the bare arbiter.
US07999562B2
An operator detection and presence device includes a conductive sensor and a guard electrode. The sensor and electrode are physically located and electrically connected in a manner which helps the detection circuit measure if an operator's hand is on the handle or if the change in capacitance is due to water. The sensor and electrode are preferably physically located in the handle spaced apart from one another, where the sensor is located in an area that the operator will touch. The electrode is located in an area that the operator will not generally touch. A detection circuit is connected to the sensor and electrode for measuring whether the capacitance of the sensor has changed. The electrode is used to avoid false detections and/or the ability to detect of operator presence.
US07999556B2
A system includes a first electrical component, a second electrical component, and at least two cables connecting the first and second electrical components. Time varying signals are transmitted through the cables with at least one of the cables carrying an injected DC signal. The system associates the cable carrying the DC signal with a predetermined time varying signal and is capable of electronically switching the routes of the time varying signals if the cables are incorrectly physically attached to the first and second electrical components.
US07999548B1
Magnetic resonance imaging of the lower extremities using a coil array having sections of decoupled coil elements that enclose, bilaterally and separately, both legs at the same longitudinal region along the cranial-caudal direction.
US07999545B2
A method for determining amplitude and phase dependencies of radio frequency pulses that are irradiated during traversal of a defined k-space trajectory to produce a spatial pattern of the transverse magnetization in an MR experiment using at least one RF transmission antenna, is characterized in that, in a calibration step, a set of basic pulses is defined, each basic pulse is irradiated individually, the specified k-space trajectory is traversed and at least one set of basic patterns is produced by detection of the MR signals thus excited, which in a range to be examined of the object, are proportional to the complex transverse magnetization produced, wherein the k-space trajectory is traversed fully identically every time at least from the beginning of the irradiation of each basic pulse, and, in a calculation step, a defined target pattern is approximated with a linear combination of the basic patterns of a set or with a mathematical association of linear combinations, with which, within each set, the basic patterns are identically combined, and the amplitude and phase dependencies to be determined are obtained as the corresponding linear combination of the basic pulses. Experimental imperfections can be intrinsically compensated for in this way.
US07999541B2
A method for analysing a chemical substance containing quadrupolar nuclei to determine a measurable characteristic of the substance. The method includes irradiating the substance with RF energy in a prescribed manner to stimulate NQR of certain quadrupolar nuclei within the substance. Then receiving and processing a signal emitted from the substance to isolate an NQR signal therefrom. Thereafter analysing the NQR signal to obtain a measure of the characteristic of the substance; and providing an output indicative of the measure for analytical purposes. Specific methods for analysing a chemical substance during production thereof to determine a characteristic of the substance indicative of the quality thereof, and for searching for chemicals together with specific systems are also described.
US07999535B2
The invention relates to a measuring apparatus comprising a sensing head (15) for determining the position of a primary part (27) on a secondary part. The sensing head (15) is fixedly connected to a primary part (27) or is integrated therein while the primary part (27) and the secondary part form a linear motor (30). Furthermore, the secondary part is embodied as a rack (16) which is provided at least with ferromagnetic material and preferably equidistant teeth (18) in a preferred direction (13), said teeth (18) containing at least ferromagnetic material. The sensing head (15) can be moved in the preferred direction (13) and opposite thereto. An air gap is located between the sensing head (15) and the rack (16) while the sensing head (15) is equipped with at least one sensor (1-12, 19, 31), by means of which magnetic fields can be measured in order to determine a position.
US07999533B2
A sensing assembly. The sensing assembly is spaced apart from a magnet that has a magnet length, and includes a compensation module and a string of magnetic sensors that has a string length. The magnetic sensors are grouped into a plurality of magnetic sensor groups. Each of the magnetic sensors generates a respective intermediate signal based on the magnet. The compensation module assigns a plurality of respective gains to the respective magnetic sensor groups based on a difference between the magnet length and the string length, and applies the respective gains to the respective intermediate signals of the respective magnetic sensor groups to generate respective adjusted signals.
US07999531B2
Provided is a phase detecting apparatus that detects a phase difference between signals, comprising a phase comparing section that sequentially delays a second input signal relative to a first input signal, according to a set value, and that compares a phase of the second input signal to a phase of the first input signal each time a relative phase between the input signals changes; and a delay adjusting section that adjusts in advance a delay amount of a signal in the phase comparing section. The delay adjusting section includes a signal generating section that generates a first adjustment signal and a second adjustment signal, which has a period that is shorter than a period of the first adjustment signal by an amount corresponding to the set value, and inputs the first adjustment signal and the second adjustment signal to the phase comparing section as the first input signal and the second input signal, respectively; and an adjusting section that adjusts a delay amount of the phase in the phase comparing section based on the phase comparison result by the phase comparing section between the first adjustment signal and the second adjustment signal.
US07999530B2
A power supply with and input and output includes an amplifier configured to set an output voltage of the power supply output equal to a fixed input voltage for the power supply. The power supply has a first output stage coupled to the amplifier and configured to source and sink current at the output of the power supply between a first voltage rail and a third voltage rail. The power supply has a second output stage coupled to the amplifier and configured to source and sink current to the output of the power supply between a second voltage rail and the third voltage rail. A selection device is configured to enable the first and second output stages based on a selection input signal. The selection device is situated outside of the first and the second output stages.
US07999524B2
Methods for power factor correction (PFC) and for reducing conduction losses and switching losses in a power converter as well as the power converter and phase management circuitry for the power converter. The power converter includes a first PFC pre-regulator interleaved with at least one additional PFC pre-regulator, and a step down converter. The average input power is measured downstream of the front end at the step down converter and the average current sense signal is compared to a reference voltage. Each additional PFC pre-regulator is disable when output power generated by the front end is less than a first pre-designated rated power level and each additional PFC pre-regulator is enabled when the output power is greater than a second pre-designated rated power level.
US07999523B1
A technique reduces effects of power supply noise on a signal output by an integrated circuit output driver circuit powered at least partially by an external power supply. An integrated circuit includes a first circuit that provides a first version of a signal to be output referenced between a first regulated voltage and a first power supply voltage of an external power supply. A second circuit provides a second version of the signal to be output referenced between a second regulated voltage and a second power supply voltage of the external power supply. A third circuit provides a third version of the signal to be output referenced between the first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage and based on the first and second versions of the signal to be output and power received from the external power supply.
US07999512B2
A charge/discharge protection circuit protects a battery from inadvertent shorting on a charger node that can connect to a charger or to a power supply of a portable electronic device. A single n-channel power transistor has a gate that controls a channel between the battery and the charger node. The gate is connected to the charger node by a gate-coupling transistor to turn off the power transistor, providing battery isolation. The gate is driven by a voltage-boosted clock through a switch activated by an enable signal. The enable signal also activates a grounding transistor to ground a gate of the gate-coupling transistor. A comparator compares voltages of the charger and battery nodes, and the compare output is latched to generate the enable signal. An inverse enable signal activates a second switch that drives the voltage-boosted clock to the gate of the gate-coupling transistor to turn off the power transistor.
US07999511B2
A battery charger for charging a plurality of secondary batteries is provided. The charger is configured to be connected to a power supply circuit and configured so that an output of the circuit is connected to the batteries. The battery charger includes a first switch for connecting the batteries in series, a second switch to selectively connect a first polarity terminal of a first secondary battery having a highest electric potential, a DC-DC converter having a first and second polarity input terminals, the first polarity input terminal being to be connected to the first polarity terminal via the second switch, the second polarity input terminal being to be connected to a second polarity terminal of a second secondary battery having a lowest electric potential, an external power supply output terminal connected to an output terminal of the DC-DC converter, and a controller for controlling the first and second switches.
US07999510B2
A method for conducting an operation including a power tool battery pack. The battery pack can include a housing, a first cell supported by the housing and having a voltage, and a second cell supported by the housing and having a voltage. The battery pack also can be connectable to a power tool and be operable to supply power to operate the power tool. The method can include discharging one of the first cell and the second cell until the voltage of the one of the first cell and the second cell is substantially equal to the voltage of the other of the first cell and the second cell.
US07999498B2
Procedure for estimating the electrical drive speed and position of a permanent magnet rotor of a brushless electrical linear or rotating motor, especially for a drive control circuit, using multi-phase current measurements on the motor, whose measurement values, depending on the estimated position, are transformed into a rotor-related d,q reference frame i.e. into a direct current vector component and a quadrature current vector component, and the direct and quadrature vector components of current and a voltage, together with the estimated speed, are fed as input variables to a mathematical motor model, and the motor model generates a first output variable and a second output variable, whereby the first output variable in the d,q reference frame corresponds to the d or direct vector component as well as to a position estimation error, and the second output variable in the d,q reference frame corresponds to the q or quadrature component as well as to a speed estimation error, and the two output variables are fed to a tracking controller for estimating and outputting the position and/or speed, whereby from the motor model a third output variable is computed, by a) the direct and quadrature vector components of current each being weighted with a direct and quadrature inductance of the motor, b) the third output variable being formed from the difference between the two weighting results, whereby the third output variable is fed to the tracking controller for processing to estimate the position and speed.
US07999492B2
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a system is provided for driving at least one light-emitting diode (LED). The system includes an output terminal connectable to an anode of the LED and at which an output voltage can be provided for the LED. A driver loop, connectable to a cathode of the LED, is operable to maintain a LED current flowing through the LED at a desired level, thereby attenuating modulation error attributable to voltage variations at the cathode of the LED.
US07999482B2
A discharge lamp controlling apparatus includes a detector for detecting a discharge condition of a discharge lamp; a frequency changing unit for gradually changing a frequency of a voltage to be applied to the discharge lamp until the discharge condition reaches a predetermined lighting condition; and a voltage controller for controlling the voltage to be applied to the discharge lamp on the basis of the frequency changed by the frequency changing unit.
US07999473B2
A plasma display panel is disclosed. The plasma display panel has discharge cells which each have a range of widths between the first substrate and the second substrate. In addition, the discharge spaces are separated by non-discharge spaces having heights substantially the same as the heights of the discharge spaces.
US07999464B2
A display device which can be driven by a thin-film transistor and has a high brightness is provided. A low-voltage-driven inorganic luminescent layer and a control transistor are formed on a substrate. The voltage which is applied to the inorganic luminescent layer is controlled by the control transistor. The inorganic luminescent layer has such strength against heat and any damage such that the inorganic luminescent layer can be formed by sputtering method. A top-emission type display device and a bottom-emission type display device can be formed on the same substrate and the luminescent light can be emitted from the same position.
US07999463B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a light emitting device which is less affected by a malfunction caused in a light emitting element. It is another object of the invention to provide a light emitting device in which light emitting elements are connected in series. As to a light emitting device of the invention, groups of circuits each having a light emitting element and a limiter are connected in parallel. Here, a light emitting element and a limiter are connected in series. The number of the circuits may be at least two or more. Further, each circuit group includes at least one light emitting element.
US07999460B2
An EL element having a novel structure is provided, which is suitable for AC drive. A light-emitting element of the invention is provided with material layers (material layers each having approximately symmetric I-V characteristics with respect to the zero point in a graph having the abscissa axis showing current values and the ordinate axis showing voltage values) between a first electrode and a layer including an organic compound and between the layer including the organic compound and a second electrode respectively. Specifically, each of the material layers is a composite layer including a metal oxide and an organic compound.
US07999450B2
An electroluminescent module includes a module substrate, a thermal-conducting carrier substrate and a light-emitting element. The module substrate has an opening, a first surface and a first patterned electrode disposed on the first surface. The thermal-conducting carrier substrate has a carrying element and a second patterned electrode disposed on the carrying element. The carrying element is disposed opposite to the first surface of the module substrate, and the second patterned electrode is disposed facing to the first patterned electrode and electrically connected to the first patterned electrode. The light-emitting element is located at the opening and disposed on the thermal-conducting carrier substrate. The light-emitting element has a first electrode and a second electrode, both of which are respectively electrically connected to the corresponding portions of the second patterned electrode of the thermal-conducting carrier substrate.
US07999445B2
A ferroelectric energy generator system comprises an explosive unit, a ferroelectric element, a first and a second output terminal, and a voltage-controlled switch. The explosive unit may include an explosive charge and a detonator which in combination may supply a shock wave. The ferroelectric element may include a third output terminal coupled to the voltage-controlled switch and a fourth output terminal coupled to the second output terminal. Upon receiving the shock wave, the ferroelectric element may be compressed and depolarized and, as a result, may generate a pulse of voltage between the third and the fourth output terminals. When the voltage reaches a breakdown level, the voltage-controlled switch may close and quickly deliver electric current to a load coupled to the ferroelectric energy generator system.
US07999442B2
To provide a piezoelectric actuator that is small in size, large in displacement, high in rigidity, excellent in controllability, and excellent in stability, the present invention provides a piezoelectric actuator, including: a first piezoelectric member that is bent and displaced in a thickness direction; and a second piezoelectric member that is bent and displaced in a direction opposite to the first piezoelectric member. In the piezoelectric actuator, the first piezoelectric member and the second piezoelectric member are stacked on each other in the thickness direction of the first piezoelectric member and the second piezoelectric member, and the center portion in the longitudinal direction of the first piezoelectric member and the center portion in the longitudinal direction of the second piezoelectric member, or both ends of the first piezoelectric member and both ends of the second piezoelectric member are fixed to each other.
US07999441B2
The piezoelectric actuator includes a piezoelectric film between two electrode layers and a diaphragm. Assuming that: each elastic coefficient of all materials is isotropic and a distortion amount of the piezoelectric film by an electric field is isotropic in all in-plane directions; a point located on a diaphragm surface and having a maximum displacement when a predetermined electric field is applied to distort the piezoelectric film, is expressed by PδMAX; and a point located on a circumference of a reference-circle having PδMAX as a center and having a minimum difference in displacement from PδMAX is expressed by PδA, the diaphragm has a shape capable of determining an axis A1 set in a straight-line joining PδMAX and PδA, the diaphragm comprises a single-crystalline-material in which a plane orthogonal to A1 and perpendicular to an axis A2 on the diaphragm surface, is a {110}-plane, and the piezoelectric film is a {100}-single-orientation film.
US07999436B2
An electroacoustic component that includes a substrate made of monocrystalline LiNbO3 is disclosed. In the component, a first Euler angle λ of the monocrystalline LiNbO3 is: λ≈0°, a second Euler angle μ of the monocrystalline LiNbO3 is: −74°≦μ≦−52° or 23°≦μ≦36°, and a third Euler angle θ of the monocrystalline LiNbO3 is: θ≈0°.
US07999434B2
This electrostatic actuator includes an electret film and a conductor layer formed on the electret film, and the conductor layer is so formed as to have a sectional shape reduced in width upward from the side closer to the electret film.
US07999431B2
The invention includes an electric alternator/motor having a rotor, stator and at least one winding in the stator adapted to conduct a current, the machine also having and first and second magnetic circuits, one of which includes a saturable portion in which saturation may be controlled to permit control of the machine.
US07999430B2
A complementary permanent magnet structure capable of minimizing the cogging torque for a rotating electric machine, the complementary permanent magnet structure comprising: a magnetic pole core being cylinder shaped with even numbered arc-shaped magnetic sets positioned with equal distances on the circumference thereof, each magnetic set being composed of a first permanent magnet unit and a second permanent magnet unit; and an armature core being ring shaped with a plurality of slots; wherein the ratio of the number of the slots to the number of magnetic poles of the magnetic pole core is 3/2; wherein the first permanent magnet unit and the second permanent magnet unit are positioned correspondingly to generate two complementary cogging torques with 180 degrees of electrical angle difference.
US07999426B2
The present disclosure provides a motor overload protection device that includes a driving gear, a loading wheel, and at least one protecting gear unit rotatably fixed to the loading wheel. The loading wheel defines a central through hole for rotatably receiving a rotor of a motor. The driving gear is fixed on the rotor. The at least one protecting gear unit is rotated by the rotor. A resistance between the at least one protecting gear unit and the loading wheel is predetermined. When the load on the loading wheel is less than or equal to the maximum load of the motor, the resistance keeps the loading wheel and the at least one protecting gear unit together rotating around the rotor of the motor. When the load is greater than the maximum load of the motor, the at least one protecting gear unit rotates relative to the loading wheel.
US07999424B2
An arrangement including an electric motor driving a pump is provided. The arrangement is delivering a process fluid along a flow path, which flow path extends along a gap between a stator and a motor rotor of the electric motor. To avoid rotor dynamic instability caused by hydrodynamics in the gap flow, guiding elements are provided in the flow path.
US07999414B2
The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for wireless energy and/or data transmission between a source device and at least one target device, in which apparatus and method a voltage is induced by at least one primary coil (18), on the source-device side, of at least one primary circuit in at least one secondary coil (20), on the target-device side, of at least one secondary circuit and in at least one coil of at least one resonant circuit, the resonant circuit being arranged so as to be electrically isolated from the primary circuit and from the secondary circuit.
US07999406B2
A method for operating a wind turbine plant including providing a plurality of wind turbines each having a turbine rotor including at least one blade mounted to a rotatable turbine shaft and an induction generator having a stator and a rotor coupled to the turbine shaft for rotation therewith. The wind turbine is configurable to provide a variable amount of power. A control is provided capable of communicating with the plurality of wind turbines. A wind speed is measured and a power derating factor is determined in response to the measured wind speed. The determined derating factor is communicated to the plurality of wind turbines. The amount of power generated by each of the plurality of wind turbines is adjusted in response to the power derating factor. A system for operating a wind turbine plant is also disclosed.
US07999393B2
A semiconductor device includes a plurality of first interconnection layers which are provided in an insulating layer and formed in a pattern having a width and space smaller than a resolution limit of an exposure technique, and a second interconnection layer which is provided between the first interconnection layers in the insulating layer and has a width larger than that of a first interconnection layer. A space between the second interconnection layer and each of first interconnection layers adjacent to both sides of the second interconnection layer equals the space between the first interconnection layers.
US07999387B2
A transition layer 38 is provided on a die pad 22 of an IC chip 20 and integrated into a multilayer printed circuit board 10. Due to this, it is possible to electrically connect the IC chip 20 to the multilayer printed circuit board 10 without using lead members and a sealing resin. Also, by providing the transition layer 38 made of copper on an aluminum pad 24, it is possible to prevent a resin residue on the pad 24 and to improve connection characteristics between the die pad 24 and a via hole 60 and reliability.
US07999379B2
A microelectronic assembly includes a microelectronic element, such as a semiconductor wafer or semiconductor chip, having a first surface and contacts accessible at the first surface, and a compliant layer overlying the first surface of the microelectronic element, the compliant layer having openings in substantial alignment with the contacts of the microelectronic element. The assembly desirably includes conductive posts overlying the compliant layer and projecting away from the first surface of the microelectronic element, the conductive posts being electrically interconnected with the contacts of the microelectronic element by elongated, electrically conductive elements extending between the contacts and the conductive posts.
US07999374B2
A semiconductor component includes a semiconductor element that has a plurality of signals, a wiring board that is disposed below the semiconductor element and that draws the plurality of signals of the semiconductor element, a heat conduction member that dissipates heat generated by the semiconductor element, a joining member that is disposed between the semiconductor element and the heat conduction member and that joins the heat conduction member to the semiconductor element, a support member formed with an opening so as to surround the semiconductor element that supports the heat conduction member, a first adhesive member that is disposed between the support member and the wiring board to bond the support member with the wiring board and a second adhesive member that is disposed between the support member and the heat conduction member to bond the support member with the heat conduction member.
US07999365B2
A multichip module defining a dc to dc converter employs a monolithic chip containing at least two III-nitride switches (a monolithic CSC chip) mounted on a conductive lead frame. The CSC chip is copacked with an IC driver for the switches and with the necessary passives. The module defines a buck converter; a boost converter, a buck boost converter, a forward converter and a flyback converter. The drain, source and gate pads of the monolithic CSC chip are connected to a lead frame by solder or epoxy or by bumping attach and a conductive connector or wire bonds connect the switch terminal to lead frame.
US07999357B1
The present invention advantageously provides a circular-arc shaped structure for forward biased steering diodes used in an ESD circuit, which circular arc shaped structure forward biases steering diodes effectively prevent concentration of an ESD pulse to one section of the p-n junction within the forward biased steering diode (or, alternatively viewed, evenly distributing stress along the entire p-n junction), thus increasing reliability of the ESD circuit, and also minimizing input capacitance as well as occupying a smaller area. The circular-arc shaped structure thus provides a mechanism to evenly distribute the current flow through the ESD steering diodes, and therefore avoids the disadvantage of a voltage gradient along the steering diode structure.
US07999356B2
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composition for film formation, comprising a compound represented by general formula (I) or a hydrolyzed-dehydrocondensation product thereof: X13-mR1mSiR2SiR3nX23-n (I) wherein R1 and R3 represent a hydrogen atom or a monovalent substituent; R2 represents a divalent group having an alicyclic structure with four carbon atoms or a derivative of the divalent group; X1 and X2 represent a hydrolysable group; and m and n are an integer of from 0 to 2.
US07999351B2
Embodiments of a phase-stable amorphous high-κ dielectric layer in a device and methods for forming the phase-stable amorphous high-κ dielectric layer in a device are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US07999347B2
A semiconductor layer of a vertical diode is divided into a center region and a surrounding region. An anode electrode contacts a surface of the center region in the semiconductor layer. An insulation layer contacts a surface of the surrounding region in the semiconductor layer. Ring-shaped FLR regions are formed in the surface of the surrounding region in the semiconductor layer. The innermost FLR region extends from an inside to an outside of a boundary between the anode electrode and the insulation layer, and extends along the boundary. A shoulder portion is formed in the surface of the semiconductor layer in a manner such that a portion that contacts the insulation layer is higher than a portion that contacts the anode electrode. Flows of holes directed toward the anode electrode pass through a plurality of positions in the shoulder portion.
US07999337B2
Apparatus and associated method for writing data to a non-volatile memory cell, such as spin-torque transfer random access memory (STRAM). In accordance with some embodiments, a resistive sense element (RSE) has a heat assist region, magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ), and pinned region. When a first logical state is written to the MTJ with a spin polarized current, the pinned and heat assist regions each have a substantially zero net magnetic moment. When a second logical state is written to the MTJ with a static magnetic field, the pinned region has a substantially zero net magnetic moment and the heat assist region has a non-zero net magnetic moment.
US07999328B2
A method of forming and resulting isolation region, which allows for densification of an oxide layer in the isolation region. One exemplary embodiment of the method includes the steps of forming a first trench, forming an oxide layer on the bottom and sidewalls of the trench, forming nitride spacers on the lined trench, and thereafter etching the silicon beneath the first trench to form a second trench area. An oxide layer is then deposited to fill the second trench. Densification of the isolation region is possible because the silicon is covered with nitride, and therefore will not be oxidized. Light etches are then performed to etch the oxide and nitride spacer area in the first trench region. A conventional oxide fill process can then be implemented to complete the isolation region.
US07999325B2
An example process to remove spacers from the gate of a NMOS transistor. A stress creating layer is formed over the NMOS and PMOS transistors and the substrate. In an embodiment, the spacers on gate are removed so that stress layer is closer to the channel of the device. The stress creating layer is preferably a tensile nitride layer. The stress creating layer is preferably a contact etch stop liner layer. In an embodiment, the gates, source and drain region have a silicide layer thereover before the stress creating layer is formed. The embodiment improves the performance of the NMOS transistors.
US07999315B2
A semiconductor device can include a drift region, at least a portion of the drift region located laterally between a drain region and a source region. The drift region can include a first layer having a first doping concentration and a second layer having a second higher doping concentration than the first layer. The second layer of the drift region be configured to allow drift current between the source region and the drain region when a depletion region is formed in at least a portion of the first layer between the source region and the drain region.
US07999314B2
A semiconductor device includes an n-conductive type semiconductor substrate having a main side and a rear side, a p-conductive type layer arranged over the main side of the substrate, a main side n-conductive type region arranged in the p-conductive type layer, a rear side n-conductive type layer arranged over the rear side of the substrate, a first trench which reaches the substrate and penetrates the main side n-conductive type region and the p-conductive type layer, a second trench which reaches an inside of the p-conductive type layer, a second electrode layer, which is embedded in the second trench and connected to the p-conductive type layer. Hereby, the semiconductor device, in which the recovery property of a diode cell can be improved without damaging the property of a MOS transistor cell or an IGBT cell and the surge withstand property does not deteriorate, can be obtained.
US07999310B2
An accumulation mode FET (ACCUFET) having a source contact that makes Schottky contact with the base region thereof.
US07999308B2
To improve a charge retention characteristic of a nonvolatile memory transistor. A first insulating film, a charge trapping film, and a second insulating film are formed between a semiconductor substrate and a conductive film. The charge trapping film is formed of a silicon nitride film including an upper region having a low concentration of hydrogen and a lower region having a high concentration of hydrogen. Such a silicon nitride film is formed in such a manner that a silicon nitride film including 15 atomic % or more hydrogen is formed by a chemical vapor deposition method and an upper portion of the silicon nitride film is nitrided. The nitridation treatment is performed by nitriding the silicon nitride film by nitrogen radicals produced in plasma of a nitrogen gas.
US07999307B2
A nonvolatile memory device and method of making the same are provided. Memory cells may be provided in a cell area wherein each memory cell has an insulative structure including a tunnel insulating layer, a floating trap layer and a blocking layer, and a conductive structure including an energy barrier layer, a barrier metal layer and a low resistance gate electrode. A material having a lower resistivity may be used as the gate electrode so as to avoid problems associated with increased resistance and to allow the gate electrode to be made relatively thin. The memory device may further include transistors in the peripheral area, which may have a gate dielectric layer, a lower gate electrode of poly-silicon and an upper gate electrode made of metal silicide, allowing an improved interface with the lower gate electrode without diffusion or reaction while providing a lower resistance.
US07999306B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor storage device includes a semiconductor substrate, a charge storage layer formed above the semiconductor substrate, a control gate formed above the charge storage layer, a silicide layer formed above the control gate, a word gate formed above a side of the control gate. A top surface of the silicide layer is flat.
US07999297B2
A semiconductor device having transistors formed on different layers of a stack structure includes a stacked capacitor cluster, wherein a stacked capacitor of the stacked capacitor cluster includes an insulation layer of a transistor of the semiconductor device, and at least a first conduction layer and a second conduction layer disposed above and below the insulation layer, wherein the stacked capacitor is a decoupling capacitor of the stacked capacitor cluster connected in parallel between a first line and a second line.
US07999295B2
A manufacturing method for stacked, non-volatile memory devices provides a plurality of bitline layers and wordline layers with charge trapping structures. The bitline layers have a plurality of bitlines formed on an insulating layer, such as silicon on insulator technologies. The wordline layers are patterned with respective pluralities of wordlines and charge trapping structures orthogonal to the bitlines.
US07999293B2
The invention provides a semiconductor device manufactured with a plurality of photodiodes so that it does not short circuit, and includes an opening without leakage. A second semiconductor layer (12, 16) of second conductivity type is formed on a main surface of a first semiconductor layer (10, 11) of the first conductivity type. Element-separating regions (13, 14, 15, 17) are formed at least on the second semiconductor layer to separate the device into the regions of photodiodes (PD1-PD4). A conductive layer (18) is formed on the second semiconductor layer 16 in a divided pattern that provides a segment for each photodiode and is connected to the second semiconductor layer (16) along the an outer periphery with respect to all photodiodes. An insulation layer (19, 21) is formed on the entire surface to cover conductive layer (18). An opening, which reaches the second semiconductor layer (16), is formed in the insulation layer (19, 21) in the region inside the pattern of conductive layer (18).
US07999258B2
A display substrate includes a base substrate, a first metal pattern, a second metal pattern, a first transparent conductive layer and a second transparent conductive layer. The first metal pattern is formed on the base substrate, and includes a gate line and a gate electrode connected to the gate line. The second metal pattern includes a data line crossing the gate line, a source electrode connected to the data line and a drain electrode being spaced apart from the source electrode. The first transparent conductive layer includes a capping layer capping the second metal pattern and a common electrode formed in a pixel area. The second transparent conductive layer includes a pixel electrode having a plurality of openings, contacting the capping layer capping the drain electrode, and facing the common electrode.
US07999253B2
An organic transistor is disclosed that has an organic semiconductor layer patterned with high resolution. The organic transistor includes a gate electrode, a gate insulting film, a source electrode, a drain electrode, and an organic semiconductor layer formed of an organic semiconductor material. The gate electrode, the gate insulting film, the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the organic semiconductor layer are formed on a substrate. At least one of the source electrode and the drain electrode has an opening.
US07999250B2
In accordance with one or more embodiments, a semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate, a first semiconductor material over the semiconductor substrate, and a second semiconductor material over a portion the first semiconductor material, wherein the second semiconductor material comprises silicon-germanium-carbon (SiGeC) and wherein the first semiconductor material is a silicon epitaxial layer. The semiconductor structure further includes an active device, wherein a portion of the active device is formed in the second semiconductor material and a dielectric structure extending from the first surface of the first semiconductor material into the semiconductor substrate through the first semiconductor material.
US07999241B2
An extreme ultraviolet light source apparatus has a magnetic field generator which generates a magnetic field region around a direction of the magnetic field passing through a plasma region in which a plasma is to be generated and converges charged particles including ion emitted from the plasma region toward the direction of the magnetic field, a first charged particle collector (receiver) mounted at both sides of an axis of the magnetic field in the magnetic field region in order to collect (receive) the charged particles converged by the magnetic field, a target supply unit supplying a target from a nozzle located outside a converging region in which the charged particles are to be converged inside the magnetic field region in an extreme ultraviolet light generating chamber, and a target collector located at a position opposite to the nozzle, the target retrieval portion retrieving a residual target which does not contribute to generation of the plasma.
US07999239B2
Techniques for reducing an electrical stress in a acceleration/deceleration system are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as an acceleration/deceleration system. The acceleration/deceleration system may comprise an acceleration column including a plurality of electrodes having apertures through which a charged particle beam may pass. The acceleration/deceleration system may also comprise a plurality of voltage grading components respectively electrically coupled to the plurality of electrodes. The acceleration/deceleration system may further comprise a plurality of insulated conductors disposed proximate the plurality of voltage grading components to modify an electrical field about the plurality of voltage grading components.
US07999231B2
A moisture detector includes a light-receiving element including an absorption layer having a pn-junction, or an array of the light-receiving elements, wherein the absorption layer has a multiquantum well structure composed of a Group III-V semiconductor, the pn-junction is formed by selectively diffusing an impurity element into the absorption layer, and the concentration of the impurity in the absorption layer is 5×1016/cm3 or less. The moisture detector receives light having at least one wavelength included in an absorption band of water lying in a wavelength range of 3 μm or less, thereby detecting moisture.
US07999229B2
The invention relates to a device for detecting an electromagnetic radiation comprising a resistive imaging bolometer sensitive to the electromagnetic radiation to be detected, intended to be connected electrically to a signal shaping circuit, and a resistive common mode rejection bolometer that is associated electrically with the imaging bolometer, so that the current flowing through the common mode rejection bolometer is subtracted from the current flowing through the imaging bolometer, wherein it comprises means for controlling the resistance of the common mode rejection bolometer by injecting current therein.
US07999227B2
This electromagnetic radiation detector comprises a reflecting substrate and at least one detection element comprising a membrane sensitive to said radiation and suspended above the substrate. The distance between the membrane and at least one detection element and the substrate is variable, said distance having a predefined spatial distribution suitable for minimizing the rapid variations of a response of the radiation detector in at least one predefined wavelength range.
US07999215B2
When reading the first document sheet, light intensity reference data is acquired by sampling a white reference plate while acquiring light intensity reference auxiliary data indicative of the light intensity of a light source lamp by sampling an auxiliary white reference plate. Then, just before reading the second or subsequent sheet, the auxiliary white reference plate is sampled to acquire the latest light intensity auxiliary data, followed by calculating the change amount from the light intensity reference auxiliary data. The change amount is used to correct the light intensity reference data separately for each picture element by referring to the profile data in which is stored the change amount of the sample value of each picture element corresponding to the change amount of the light intensity, followed by performing the shading compensation. By this configuration, it is possible to perform shading compensation in correspondence with the actual light intensity reduction.
US07999209B2
A modular welding wire feed drive for use in a welding system. The welding wire feed drive is designed to be detachably connected to the welding wire feed system of the welding system. The welding wire feed drive includes a drive housing designed to be detachably connectable to the welding wire feed system, a wire contact arrangement designed to controllably feed welding wire through the welding wire feed drive, and a drive motor that is connected to or interconnected to the wire contact arrangement to at least partially drive the wire contact arrangement.
US07999206B2
A method for sorting flat mail pieces includes the steps of; sorting automation letters on the first pass of a two pass operation, then sorting extended capability letters after all automation mail has been sorted on pass one of a two pass operation. A control system identifies which pieces are automation and which pieces are extended capability (EC) mail during the first pass and re-feeding the mixed letters in a second pass.
US07999203B2
An electroluminescent keyboard includes a plurality of membrane switch structures, a plurality of keycaps, a plurality of electroluminescent elastic members, and an electrode layer. The electroluminescent elastic members are arranged between the keycaps and respective membrane switch structures for emitting light in response to an electric current or an electric field. The electrode layer is arranged between the electroluminescent elastic members and respective membrane switch structures and electrically connected to respective electroluminescent elastic members. The electroluminescent elastic members emit light when the electric current passes through the electrode layer or the strong electric field is applied to the electrode layer. The light-emitting element and the backlight module that are used in the conventional keyboard are not included in the electroluminescent keyboard. In addition, the light could be effectively controlled to be guided to a desired luminous region of the keycap. As a consequence, the illuminated keyboard is very cost-effective.
US07999196B2
A shielding assembly (10) for electronic device is provided. The shielding assembly (10) comprises a plastic layer (12), a metal foil (16) mounted to the plastic layer (12), and a coolant (14) is formed between the plastic layer (12) and the metal foil (16). An electronic device using the shielding assembly is also provided.
US07999190B2
Provided are: a light emitting module which has an improved heat-dissipating property and whose reflectance reduction is prevented. The light emitting module mainly includes: a metal substrate; a conductive pattern formed on the upper surface of the metal substrate; and a light emitting element disposed on the upper surface of the metal substrate and electrically connected to the conductive pattern. Furthermore, in the light emitting module, an insulating layer is removed in a region where the conductive pattern is not formed, but is left unremoved in a region right below (or covered with) the conductive pattern. In other words, in the region where the conductive pattern is not formed, the upper surface of the metal substrate is not covered with the conductive pattern, and a metal material constituting the metal substrate is exposed.
US07999185B2
Embodiments of the invention are directed to transmission cables, and particularly to twinax cables, for transmitting digital data and other information between components in a data processing environment. One embodiment of the invention is directed to an information transmission cable that comprises first and second signal carrying conductors of specified length, each of the signal carrying conductors being disposed to carry information signals and having a longitudinal axis. The embodiment further includes an insulating structure comprising an amount of specified dielectric insulation material, the insulating structure being positioned to surround the first and second signal carrying conductors along their respective lengths, and acting to maintain the first and second signal conductors in spaced apart parallel relationship with each other. A first drain conductor is positioned proximate to the first signal carrying conductor in spaced apart parallel relationship, and is further positioned in a first prespecified relationship with a reference line that intersects the respective longitudinal axes of the first and second signal carrying conductors, and that lies in a plane orthogonal thereto. In similar manner, a second drain conductor is positioned proximate to the second signal carrying conductor in spaced apart parallel relationship, and is further positioned in a second prespecified relationship with the reference line. Shielding material is spirally wrapped around the first and second signaling conductors, the first and second drain conductors and the insulating structure.
US07999177B2
Disclosed is an optical thin film for a thin-film solar cell, which is formed directly on a top surface of the thin-film solar cell having a transparent conductive film layer to provide a high infrared emissivity and a lower solar absorptivity to the thin-film solar cell. The optical thin film is formed through a vacuum vapor deposition process. The thin film makes it possible to provide enhanced infrared emissivity based on its reduced thickness, while suppressing unnecessary incoming solar radiation in a simplified structure to achieve a reduced solar absorptivity so as to maintain desired cell efficiency. The optical thin film of the present invention is capable of achieving reduction in weight of a solar cell, and suitable for use, particularly, in space environments.
US07999176B2
Improved photovoltaic devices and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, an exemplary photovoltaic device includes a semiconductor layer and a light-responsive layer (which can be made, for example, of a semiconductor material) which form a junction, such as a p-n junction. The light-responsive layer can include a plurality of carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, located therein. In many cases, the carbon nanostructures can provide a conductive pathway within the light-responsive layer. In other embodiments, exemplary photovoltaic devices include semiconductor nanostructures, which can take a variety of forms, in addition to the carbon nanostructures. Further embodiments include a wide variety of other configurations and features. Methods of fabricating photovoltaic devices are also disclosed.
US07999175B2
Interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells are produced by depositing spaced-apart parallel pads of a first dopant bearing material (e.g., boron) on a substrate, heating the substrate to both diffuse the first dopant into corresponding first (e.g., p+) diffusion regions and to form diffusion barriers (e.g., borosilicate glass) over the first diffusion regions, and then disposing the substrate in an atmosphere containing a second dopant (e.g., phosphorus) such that the second dopant diffuses through exposed surface areas of the substrate to form second (e.g., n+) diffusion regions between the first (p+) diffusion regions (the diffusion barriers prevent the second dopant from diffusion into the first (p+) diffusion regions). The substrate material along each interface between adjacent first (p+) and second (n+) diffusion regions is then removed (e.g., using laser ablation) such that elongated grooves, which extend deeper into the substrate than the diffused dopant, are formed between adjacent diffusion regions.
US07999173B1
A solar panel cleaning device includes a solar panel having a plurality of photovoltaic cells arranged in rows and embedded in the solar panel with space between the rows. A transparent dielectric overlay is affixed to the solar panel. A plurality of electrode pairs each of which includes an upper and a lower electrode are arranged on opposite sides of the transparent dielectric and are affixed thereto. The electrodes may be transparent electrodes which may be arranged without concern for blocking sunlight to the solar panel. The solar panel may be a dielectric and its dielectric properties may be continuously and spatially variable. Alternatively the dielectric used may have dielectric segments which produce different electrical field and which affects the wind “generated.”
US07999168B2
A robot includes: a sound collecting unit collecting and converting a musical sound into a musical acoustic signal; a voice signal generating unit generating a self-vocalized voice signal; a sound outputting unit converting the self-vocalized voice signal into a sound and outputting the sound; a self-vocalized voice regulating unit receiving the musical acoustic signal and the self-vocalized voice signal; a filtering unit performing a filtering process; a beat interval reliability calculating unit performing a time-frequency pattern matching process and calculating a beat interval reliability; a beat interval estimating unit estimating a beat interval; a beat time reliability calculating unit calculating a beat time reliability; a beat time estimating unit estimating a beat time on the basis of the calculated beat time reliability; a beat time predicting unit predicting a beat time before the current time; and a synchronization unit synchronizing the self-vocalized voice signal.
US07999166B2
The present invention relates to a vibration authoring tool, a vibration authoring method, and a storage medium recorded with the same. To this end, the present invention provides a vibration authoring tool, including: a scale defining unit that defines a scale by controlling the frequencies, amplitudes, and waveforms of the vibration; a clef defining unit that defines a clef by corresponding each staff line of a vibration score to a portion of the frequencies and corresponding head numbers of each note to a portion of the amplitudes; a score authoring unit that authors a score by inputting symbols including notes, rests, and dynamics in the vibration score; and a reproducing unit that reproduces the score authored through the score authoring unit.
US07999155B2
The invention relates to the soybean variety designated D5032147. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety D5032147. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety D5032147 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety D5032147 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
