US08082592B2
A new media device including a decryption device that is operable to create a decryption key to read media. The decryption device is itself a read/write device that allows reducing or decrementing each time the decryption key is used.
US08082586B2
A mechanism is provided for identifying a snooping device in a network environment. A snoop echo response extractor generates an echo request packet with a bogus MAC address that will only be received by a snooping device. The snoop echo response extractor also uses an IP address that will cause the snooping device to respond to the echo request. Non-snooping devices discard the echo request packet. Upon receiving the response packet, the snooping device is identified.
US08082576B2
System(s) and method(s) are provided for content management, e.g., exchange and manipulation, across devices provisioned through disparate network platforms. Devices can be mobile or stationary, and connect to provisioning network platforms through various network bearers. Through various secure protocols, a client component within a device secures access to content and provides secure delivery thereof. Directives for content manipulation are also delivered securely. Delivery of contents and directives are performed from device to device, routed via gateway nodes within a network platform that provisions the device. In addition, or alternatively, content management can be implemented through an intermediary component, which can also validate devices and secure delivery of content or directives. Alarm signaling among devices provisioned through disparate network platforms also can be securely conveyed. Intermediary component also can be exploited for content management among subscribers of disparate network providers.
US08082572B1
Information such as audio/visual signals, books, video games, etc. are broadcast via satellite and received in a set top box. When requested by a hand held computing device (HHCD), the information is transmitted by the set top box to the HHCD and stored in the HHCD. The HHCD may be configured to display the information on the HHCD's display screen, play back the audio, read a book on the display screen, play a video game on the hand held device, etc. The HHCD may also be configured to transmit the information to a set top box that is connected to an output device (e.g., a television, stereo, etc.). The information is played back or utilized by the output device.
US08082561B2
A motor includes a rotating body including a magnet, and a fixed body including a stator. The stator includes a stator core having an annular core back portion with an upper and a lower surface, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart tooth portions extending from the core back portion in a direction away from the rotational axis, and a plurality of coils provided by winding a conductive wire around the tooth portions of the stator core with multiple turns. The rotor holder is arranged axially above the stator to cover the stator. Further, an annular or arc-shaped attracting magnet arranged to attract the rotor holder toward the stator is arranged radially inwardly of the core back portion, the attracting magnet having an upper surface axially facing toward the rotor holder, and a lower surface arranged axially below the upper surface of the core back portion of the stator core.
US08082560B2
A disc drive has a loader, a traverse, a circuit board and a supporting frame. The loader has a first side wall, a second side wall and a third side wall that is perpendicular to the first side wall and the second side wall. The circuit board has a first side, a second side and a third side that is perpendicular to the first side and the second side. The supporting frame extends from the second side wall of the loader and has a supporting surface. The third side of the circuit board is shorter than the third side wall of the loader, and the second side of the circuit board is disposed on the supporting surface of the supporting frame.
US08082557B2
To eject an optical disk forcibly from a disk device by a manual operation, an operation pin is inserted into an emergency hole of a front bezel. Then, the operation pin causes first and second ejection levers to move rearward to push a first transmission gear down to a disengaged position. When the first transmission gear is pushed down to the disengaged position, a loading slider begins to move forward according to a biasing force of a coil spring, feeding the disk outward. After moving a distance forward, the loading slider is stopped against a receiving portion of a first ejection lever, thereby to stop the disk at a half-eject position where the disk slightly protrudes from the bezel. Thereafter, when the operation pin is pulled out, the loading slider moves forward along with the pull-out movement of the operation pin, and the disk is fed out to a full-eject position.
US08082551B2
A system for sharing a trusted platform module (TPM) comprises a TPM operable to execute an operating system (OS)-level process, the TPM operable to pause the execution of the OS-level process and execute a non-OS-level process.
US08082549B2
The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for allocating resources with a linear programming model comprising an objective function and a set of constraints describing feasible allocations of the resources. The method ranks constraints based on a numerical measure derived from criteria selected from at least a first and second group and selects one or more of the top-ranked constraints. A new problem is determined from the model's objective function, the previously selected constraints, and the newly selected constraints, and a tentative resource allocation is determined based on the new problem. Whenever the tentative resource allocation violates a model constraint not in the current problem, one or more of the top-ranked such violated constraints are selected, and the new problem determination and tentative resource allocation steps are repeated. The resources are allocated according to the tentative resource allocation when it does not violate any model constraints.
US08082546B2
Jobs are scheduled such that resource reuse is maximized and deallocation of reusable resources is minimized. A multi-phase scheduling capability is provided in which during a first phase, weights are assigned to the reusable resources, and during a second phase, the jobs are scheduled. If reusable resources are available for the job, the job is assigned to those resources. Otherwise, a search is performed for a solution which minimizes the weight and number of reusable resources that are to be deallocated.
US08082544B2
A number of tasks are defined according to a dependency graph. Multiple parameter contexts are maintained, each associated with a different scope of the tasks. A parameter used in a first of the tasks is bound to a value. This binding includes identifying a first of the contexts according to the dependency graph and retrieving the value for the parameter from the identified context.
US08082543B2
A computer system is provided that comprises a processor and firmware in communication with the processor, the firmware having updatable components and an arbitrator. The arbitrator manages conflicts between error handling and firmware updates performed within the firmware.
US08082540B2
A method for visually displaying an indicator for preceding and succeeding source code lines being executed within a graphical debugging environment. The method includes displaying within a GUI source code lines for a segment of currently examined source code, displaying a visual indicator that is associated with a presently examined source code line, and determining a previously examined source code line, wherein the location of the previously examined line of source code is determined by the use of information that is associated with the previously examined line of source code. The method further includes displaying a visual indicator that is associated with the previously examined line of source code, determining a next source code line that is to be examined, and displaying a visual indicator that is associated with the next source code line that is to be examined.
US08082532B1
A computer-implemented method of implementing a circuit design within an integrated circuit (IC) can include, within an undirected graph representing the circuit design comprising nodes and edges, wherein each node represents a complex function block (CFB) or a pre-placed component of the circuit design and each edge represents at least one connection linking a pair of CFBs of the circuit design, determining an edge weight for each edge. The CFBs can be initially placed and a distance between each pair of CFBs joined by an edge of the undirected graph can be calculated. The CFB placement can be annealed by minimizing a cost function that calculates, for each edge, a product of the edge weight and the distance between the pair of CFBs joined by the edge. The cost function also can sum the products for each edge. The CFB placement can be stored.
US08082528B2
Methods are provided for utilizing a process-independent schema library that contains all the devices and all the device parameters in each of various process-specific schema libraries that a user or a group of users is working with. A process-specific schematic based on a first process technology can be converted to a process-specific schematic based on a second process technology by being first converted to a process-independent schematic that is based on the process-independent schema library, which is then converted to the process-specific schematic based on the second process technology. Circuits can be also be stored as a process-independent schematic that is based on the process-independent schema library but designed using a user interface that displays process-specific devices and device parameters.
US08082526B2
A dedicated hardware block is provided for implementing crossbars and/or barrel shifters in programmable logic resources. Crossbar and/or barrel shifter circuitry may replace one or more rows, one or more columns, one or more rectangles, or any combination thereof of programmable logic regions on a programmable logic resource. The functionality of the crossbar and/or barrel shifter circuitry can further be improved by implementing time-multiplexing.
US08082513B2
An exemplary method of saving images, the method comprising: selecting a set of characters displayed on the web page to be use as the name of the image to be saved; dragging and releasing the character set above the image. Saving the image with the character set being the name of the image file.
US08082508B2
A method and a system for obtaining and modifying a plurality of Web components, such as portlets, via an application programming interface (API) are described. The method includes permitting a portal application to invoke a portlet, wherein the portlet runs inside a portlet container and the portal application runs independently from the portlet container; providing information to the portlet container about the invoked portlet related to a runtime environment of the portal application; and modifying the provided information from the portal application to customize the portlet. The system includes a portal application, a portlet container to permit the portal application to invoke a portlet, the portlet to run inside the portlet container and the portal application to run independently from the portlet container, an interface to provide and modify information about the invoked portlet that is related to a runtime environment of the portal application, and an interface to provide a portlet mode, a window state, and a set of Uniform Resource Locator (URL) parameters to the portal application to create a valid portlet URL.
US08082507B2
The scaling of a user interface according to network or device limitations is disclosed. One embodiment provides a method of scaling a user interface, comprising sending a user interface over a network to a networked device, detecting a performance limitation of the user interface in at least one of the network or the networked device, and scaling a parameter of the user interface in response to the detected limitation to improve the performance of the user interface. In this manner, a user interface may be scaled in response to limitations on performance and end-user experience can be improved.
US08082499B2
A system and method for creating conversation in a computer program such as a videogame. A plurality of classes of dialog is provided and a conversation segment is assigned to each class. A graphical interface is displayed during operation of the program that provides a choice indicator, wherein the choice indicator has a plurality of selectable slots, each associated with a dialog class. The graphical interface is consistent as to the position of dialog classes throughout at least a segment of the program.
US08082492B2
A structured-document management apparatus includes data storage which stores a plurality of structured document data items each including a plurality of elements, common-structure storage which stores a common structure including a plurality of structures included in the structured document data items, a first acquisition unit configured to acquire a new structured document data item, an update unit configured to update the common structure into a new common structure including the structures and a plurality of structures included in the new structured document data item, a second acquisition unit configured to acquire a differential structure between the new common structure and a structure of the new structured document data item, differential structure storage which stores the differential structure, and a storing unit configured to store an array of elements of the new structured document data item into the data storage, the array being arranged based on the differential structure.
US08082490B2
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for user input in enterprise software application. A method includes displaying a view on a display device, the view including an input field, and enabling a framework that describes properties and services for each business attribute that is bound to the input field, the framework comprising a list of metadata descriptors for the input field.
US08082481B2
A computer program product includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes receiving a message to transmit from the channel subsystem to the control unit. The method also includes determining a first CRC insertion position, and receiving a first CRC calculated over a first block of data in the message. The method additionally includes inserting the first calculated CRC at the first CRC insertion position, and determining a second CRC insertion position. The method further includes receiving a second CRC calculated over a second block of data in the message, and inserting the second calculated CRC at the second CRC insertion position.
US08082479B2
Methods and apparatus for determining at least one permutation of a set of a K number of values are disclosed. The methods and apparatus utilize a first permutation functionality that maps an index value to another value within the set of K values according to the first outputting the mapped value as a next value in the at least one permutation; setting the index value to a next index value according to a second predefined permutation function; and repeating mapping, outputting and setting until each operation is performed at least K number of times and a permuted sequence of the K number of values has been output.
US08082475B2
Shadow selection logic is used to select a driver bit position as a shadowed driver value, and line drivers to transmit data for the selected driver bit position and the shadowed driver value on separate link segments of a bus. In addition shadow compare logic is used to compare a selected received value with a shadowed received value from the bus and identify a miscompare in response to a mismatch of the compare, and shadow counters to count a rate of the miscompare relative to a bus error rate over a period of time. A defective link segment is identified in response to the rate of the miscompare within a predefined threshold of the bus error rate.
US08082471B2
The systems and methods describe a self healing framework (SHF) that can monitor errors in a computing system and can resolve the errors and/or suggest methods for resolving the errors to a user based on a heuristic approach. In addition, the SHF can analyze errors that occurred in the past and can predict such occurrences in the future to help users take proactive actions against possible errors.
US08082470B2
Methods and systems for a low-cost high density compute environment with increased fail-over support through resource sharing and resources chaining. In one embodiment, one of a number of servers qualified to share resources is elected as a resource server. The shared resource can be firmware memory, hard-drive, co-processor, etc. The elected server responds to requests from individual requesters and provides the responses, such as firmware images. In one embodiment, all the blade servers on a rack use an image server for their firmware image so that these blade servers can automatically adopt a common personality across the entire rack. If the elected image server fails, a dynamic process elects an alternate image server. In one embodiment, among a set of qualified servers, only one is actively elected at a given time.
US08082453B2
Methods and systems for higher power PoE are provided. Embodiments overcome system limitations to PSE power scaling by using an endspan-midspan configuration which allocates power to the PD from both an endspan PSE and a midspan PSE. Embodiments are particularly suitable for deployed PoE systems having limited power supplies and/or ports designed for lower power. Further, embodiments include power management schemes to enable the proposed endspan-midspan configuration to intelligently allocate power between the endspan PSE and the midspan PSE according to required PD power.
US08082447B2
A network device constructs an outgoing resource reservation message and determines an authentication value, using, for example, a cryptographic algorithm and at least a portion of the outgoing message. The network device identifies a destination node for the message and inserts the authentication value in the message. The network device sends the message across a network to the destination node for authentication at the destination node using the authentication value.
US08082445B2
Disclosed herein are a secure Near Field Communication (NFC) apparatus and method for supporting various security modules. The NFC apparatus includes an NFC unit, a protocol conversion unit and a security module. The NFC unit transmits information corresponding to a first signal based on a first protocol via non-contact NFC and generates a second signal based on the first protocol from information received via non-contact NFC. The protocol conversion unit converts a signal based on a second protocol into a first signal based on the first protocol and converts the second signal based on the first protocol into a signal based on the second protocol. The security module receives and outputs signals based on the second protocol.
US08082442B2
In one embodiment of this invention, a computer system performs a method for securely sharing applications installed by unprivileged users. The method involves the computer system receiving a user associated command from a user of the computer system. A previous application installation included installing an application manifest and application data objects in a shared repository and installing a user manifest and user configuration data objects in a private repository for an initial installing user. The computer system verifies that a digital signature of the application manifest corresponds to a public key of a user manifest for the associated user. The computer system verifies that an application identifier of the application manifest matches an application identifier of the user manifest. The computer system verifies that the data objects belong to the software application by comparing the application data objects to one or more data object identifiers in the application manifest.
US08082435B2
Memory devices and methods facilitate initiation and termination of boot data output from a memory device through the use of received commands. For example, boot data output is initiated in response to a command indicative of a desire to enter a boot mode of operation. The initiate boot command may include a base command and a unique argument indicative of a desire to enter the boot mode of operation. Boot data output may be terminated by a received command indicative of a desire to terminate the boot mode of operation. The terminate boot command may include the same base command as the initiate boot command with any argument other than the argument indicative of a desire to enter the boot mode of operation.
US08082426B2
Included are systems and methods for supporting a plurality of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). At least one embodiment of a system includes a context status register configured to send data related to a status of at least one context and a context switch configuration register configured to send instructions related to at least one event for the at least one context. At least one embodiment of a system includes a context status management component coupled to the context status register and the context switch configuration register.
US08082424B2
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for determining when a set of compute nodes participating in a barrier operation on a parallel computer are ready to exit the barrier operation that includes, for each compute node in the set: initializing a barrier counter with no counter underflow interrupt; configuring, upon entering the barrier operation, the barrier counter with a value in dependence upon a number of compute nodes in the set; broadcasting, by a DMA engine on the compute node to each of the other compute nodes upon entering the barrier operation, a barrier control packet; receiving, by the DMA engine from each of the other compute nodes, a barrier control packet; modifying, by the DMA engine, the value for the barrier counter in dependence upon each of the received barrier control packets; exiting the barrier operation if the value for the barrier counter matches the exit value.
US08082420B2
A method and apparatus for executing instructions in a processor are provided. In one embodiment of the invention, the method includes receiving a plurality of instructions. The plurality of instructions includes first instructions in a first thread and second instructions in a second thread. The method further includes forming a common issue group including an instruction of a first instruction type and an instruction of a second instruction type. The method also includes issuing the common issue group to a first execution unit and a second execution unit. The instruction of the first instruction type is issued to the first execution unit and the instruction of the second instruction type is issued to the second execution unit.
US08082419B2
According to some embodiments, a technique provides for the execution of an instruction that includes receiving residual data of a first image and decoded pixels of a second image, zero-extending a plurality of unsigned data operands of the decoded pixels producing a plurality of unpacked data operands, adding a plurality of signed data operands of the residual data to the plurality of unpacked data operands producing a plurality of signed results; and saturating the plurality of signed results producing a plurality of unsigned results.
US08082417B2
The present invention relates to a microprocessor with reduced pin counts. The microprocessor transmits a higher bit address, a lower bit address and data via a common port so that a pin for transmitting the higher bit address is omitted. In an embodiment of the present invention, a new higher bit address latching signal is added in order to latch the higher bit address so that an original lower bit address latching signal and the higher bit address latching signal can respectively latch the lower bit address and the higher bit address.
US08082406B1
Techniques for reducing data storage needs using continuous data protection and replication are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for reducing data storage needs using a continuous data protection and replication device comprising creating a master image of material identified by a user, generating a virtual replica of the master image on a storage area network using the continuous data protection and replication device to virtualize physical storage containing the master image, generating a copy of the virtual replica on the storage area network, and providing a virtual logical unit number to access the copy, wherein the access enables a process which requires exclusive access to content of the master image to obtain such access without requiring physical storage for an entire copy of the master image.
US08082397B1
Described are techniques and criteria used in connection with cache management. The cache may be organized as a plurality of memory banks in which each memory bank includes a plurality of slots. Each memory bank has an associated control slot that includes groups of extents of tags. Each cache slot has a corresponding tag that includes a bit value indicating the availability of the associated cache slot, and a time stamp indicating the last time the data in the slot was used. The cache may be shared by multiple processors. Exclusive access of the cache slots is implemented using an atomic compare and swap instruction. The time stamp of slots in the cache may be adjusted to indicate ages of slots affecting the amount of time a particular portion of data remains in the cache. Each director may obtain a cache slot from a private stack of nondata cache slots in addition to accessing a shared cache used by all directors.
US08082387B2
Methods, devices, and systems for a memory management system within an electronic device are disclosed, such as those wherein the memory management system is external to and compatible with the architecture of currently existing operating systems. One such memory management system may include a power savings manager configured to be invoked by a memory allocation manager. The power savings manager may also be configured to determine whether physical memory blocks should be active or inactive. Furthermore, the memory management system may include a driver configured to activate or deactivate a memory block in response to a system call from the power savings manager.
US08082386B2
A wear leveling limit and/or an overall erase count threshold used for activating wear leveling in a non-volatile memory may be adjusted by determining a stage according to a highest erase count, and determining the wear leveling limit and/or the overall erase count threshold corresponding to the stage. Wear leveling may then be performed according to the wear leveling limit and/or the overall erase count threshold.
US08082383B2
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a power source circuit, a sense amplifier, a control circuit, and a processor. The memory cell array includes a nonvolatile memory cell. The power source circuit includes a first register and generates a voltage. The sense amplifier includes a second register, reads from the memory cell and amplifies the read data. The control circuit includes a third register and controls operations of the power source circuit and the sense amplifier. The processor controls the operations of the power source circuit, the sense amplifier and the control circuit by giving an instruction to the first to third registers. The control circuit decodes the instruction received at the third register so as to control the power source circuit and the sense amplifier directly based on a result of decoding.
US08082382B2
The memory device is comprised of a memory array having a plurality of memory cells that are organized into memory blocks. Each memory cell is capable of storing a selectable quantity of data bits (e.g., multiple level cells or a single bit per cell). Control circuitry controls the density configuration of read or write operations to the memory blocks in response to a configuration command. In one embodiment, the configuration command is part of the read or write command. In another embodiment, the configuration command is read from a configuration register.
US08082381B2
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a corresponding list of muxes is maintained for each combination of a peripheral and a mux option. The list is then retrieved to program the required muxes to connect the communication paths from a peripheral on the corresponding mux option, based on which the list is retrieved. In an embodiment, the information is maintained in the form of a table, with each entry storing the data corresponding to a mux and mux option. The entries are linked by appropriate pointers to form the linked list.
US08082378B1
Methods and apparatus are provided for providing a first master component with access to a first slave component while a second master component is accessing a second slave component in a system. The system may include a processor core and peripherals implemented on an integrated circuit. A slave side arbitrator corresponding to a single slave component and coupled to multiple master components can be used to provide a master component access to a slave component.
US08082377B2
A master device for performing data transmission and reception with a slave device includes: a data transmission and reception circuit for performing transmission of data to the slave device and reception of data from the slave device via a first transmission path in a time division manner; and a control circuit wherein when data is transmitted or received, the control circuit provides a clock signal synchronous with the data to the slave device via a second transmission path, the control circuit provides a signal for setting a state of the slave device, to the slave device via a third transmission path while setting the clock signal at a first level, and the control circuit provides a signal for serving as a trigger for the slave device performing a predetermined operation, to the slave device via the third transmission path while setting the clock signal at a second level different from the first level.
US08082372B2
Techniques for providing improved data distribution to and collection from multiple memories are described. Such memories are often associated with and local to processing elements (PEs) within an array processor. Improved data transfer control within a data processing system provides support for radix 2, 4 and 8 fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms through data reordering or bit-reversed addressing across multiple PEs, carried out concurrently with FFT computation on a digital signal processor (DSP) array by a DMA unit. Parallel data distribution and collection through forms of multicast and packet-gather operations are also supported.
US08082369B2
A system and method configures an electronic device. The method comprises detecting a coupling of a peripheral device to a host device. The peripheral device appears as a compound device including an interface device and a communications device. The method comprises identifying a protocol utilized by the communications device. The method comprises generating a communications link between the communications device and the host device when the protocol is compatible with a driver of the host device.
US08082368B2
A display device for indicating connection statuses of a communication channel between two systems is disclosed, the communication channel having a plurality of communication links. The display device comprises a detecting circuit coupled to the communication channel for detecting a plurality of link statuses of the communication links; an indicator controller coupled to the detecting circuit for determining the connection statuses of the communication channel according to the link statuses; and an LED indicator coupled to the indicator controller for displaying in a plurality of statuses according to the connection statuses from the indicator controller; wherein the connection statuses comprise a first connection status indicating that all the link statuses are “ON”, a second connection status indicating that all the link statuses are “OFF”, and a third connection status indicating that at least one of the link statuses is “ON” and at least one of the link statuses is “OFF”.
US08082357B2
Method for reducing the latency time for interactive data communication between a client computer (12) and a server computer (8), connected via a satellite network (1) containing a geostationary satellite (6), whereby a data processing program (10) is running on the server computer (8) producing data, which are transferred to the client computer (12) in the form of data packets (20, 20m, 20mUDP) and displayed by said client computer via a display medium (14) connected to the client computer (12) in the form of an interactive user program (26), and whereby the operator of the client computer (12) is given an input prompt (22) by the user program (26) to enter further data, which are transmitted to the server computer (8) in the form of further data packets (24, 24m, 24mUDP) via the satellite network (1), wherein the transmission of further data packets (24, 24m, 24mUDP) from the client computer (12) to the server computer (8) occurs essentially without an acknowledgement of the receipt of the transmitted further data packets (24, 24m, 24mUDP) by the server computer (8).
US08082354B2
In one aspect of the disclosure, a method of notifying a communications device in a network includes sending an http push request from a communications device through a network to a computing device, wherein the http push request having a first lifespan. The method also includes receiving a timeout error from the network and sending a second http push request from the communications device through the network to the computing device. The second http push request is of a second lifespan, which is less than the first lifespan.
US08082347B2
Providing probe signals from a node includes receiving at the node an instruction to send the probe signals over channels, where the instruction comprises probe parameter values describing deployment of the probe signals. The node sends the probe signals to a controller through access points. Each access point is associated with one or more channels. The controller is operable to assign an access point to the node in accordance with an analysis of the probe signals.
US08082346B2
A communication system achieving the cooperation of communications between a SIP and a Web system through a cooperative manager. A call attempt manager of the SIP system is booted, responsive to a request from another call attempt manager, and a call attempt is registered in a SIP database. A result of the registration is sent to the Web system for display on a Web client. A task is entered and registered in a Web database. A connection or monitoring service is provided between SIP clients interconnected to the SIP system.
US08082342B1
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for identifying currently dominant events in a computer system. Events in the computer system are monitored. A subset of the monitored events is selected. Priorities are assigned to the events in the subset of monitored events. The priorities are generated through applying a mathematical formula to each event in the subset of events, which mathematical formula discounts old events relative to recent events. A first set of priorities is stored in a first priority queue. The first set of priorities identifies the currently dominant events in the subset of monitored events.
US08082321B2
A system for synchronizing digital content stored on a user's mobile handset with digital content stored on the user's personal computer is disclosed.
US08082315B2
A remote update programming idiom accelerator identifies a remote update programming idiom in an instruction sequence of a thread running on a processing unit of a data processing system. The remote update programming idiom includes a read operation for reading data from a storage location at a remote node, at least one update operation for performing an update operation on the data to form result data, and a write operation for writing the result data to the storage location at the remote node. The remote update programming idiom accelerator transmits the remote update programming idiom to a remote node to perform an operation on data at the remote node. A remote update programming idiom accelerator at the remote node receives the remote update programming idiom and performs the update as a local operation.
US08082299B2
The present invention relates to Internet based and web applications and the need to reduce page latency and bandwidth usage. The invention can achieve these goals by making use of the cache built in to standard web browsers. In one embodiment, the invention provides that a web application user will use their browser to request a page from the application web server, which responds with a small page that includes a script. The script appends a previously established cookie value to the URL originally requested and the browser then re-requests the URL with the appended cookie value. (The server computes the cookie value based on the last modified time of the data used to generate the page.) If the most recent version of the page is in the browser cache, the browser gets a cache hit, which means the page is retrieved from browser cache rather than from the server, rapidly displaying the page to the user. If, on the other hand, there is only an older version of the page in the browser cache, there is a cache miss (because the rewritten URL will not match any URL in the cache) and the browser will send the request to the server to retrieve the most recent version of the page.
US08082298B1
A facility for selecting an advertising message to present to a user via a selected device in connection with a selected instance of electronic content presented via the device is described. For the selected instance of electronic content, as well as any other instances of electronic content that were previously presented via the selected device during an immediately preceding period of time of preselected length, the facility distinguishes any subjects identified as corresponding to the instance of electronic content. Among a number of advertising messages, the facility distinguishes advertising messages identified as corresponding to any of the distinguished subjects. The facility weights each of the distinguished advertising messages based upon its expected level of performance, and randomly selects one of the distinguished advertising messages in accordance with their weights for presentation in connection with the selected instance of electronic content via the selected device.
US08082293B1
A system allowing a user of a browser program on a computer connected to an open distributed hypermedia system to access and execute an embedded program object. The program object is embedded into a hypermedia document much like data objects. The user may select the program object from the screen. Once selected the program object executes on the user's (client) computer or may execute on a remote server or additional remote computers in a distributed processing arrangement. After launching the program object, the user is able to interact with the object as the invention provides for ongoing interprocess communication between the application object (program) and the browser program. One application of the embedded program object allows a user to view large and complex multi-dimensional objects from within the browser's window. The user can manipulate a control panel to change the viewpoint used to view the image. The invention allows a program to execute on a remote server or other computers to calculate the viewing transformations and send frame data to the client computer thus providing the user of the client computer with interactive features and allowing the user to have access to greater computing power than may be available at the user's client computer.
US08082287B2
A pre-saturating multiplier inspects the operands to a multiply operation prior to performing any multiplication. If the operands will cause an overflow requiring saturation, the multiplier outputs the saturated value without multiplying the original operands. In one embodiment, parameters derived from the operands are altered such that when the multiply operation is performed on the altered parameters, the multiplier produces the saturated result. This may comprise altering a Booth recoded bit group to select a negative zero instead of a zero as a partial product, and suppressing the addition of the value one to the partial products (thus effectively subtracting the value one). In another embodiment, when the operands that will cause an overflow are detected, the output of the multiplier is forced to a predetermined saturation value.
US08082280B2
Computerized methods and systems for professional evaluation and management coding of a patient visit based upon documentation are provided. Such methods and systems increase efficiency and enhance the quality of clinician documentation by permitting automatic coding as a byproduct of documentation and eliminating the necessity for an after-the-fact check of the patient's chart to ensure appropriate documentation. Computerized methods and systems for navigating to a portion of an electronic record, e.g., an electronic medical record, based upon professional evaluation and management coding are also provided, as is the automatic insertion of document content where necessary.
US08082266B2
Generating an index for a retrieval of data provided by at least one document. Data is selected within the at least one document, a category is assianed to the selected data, a timestamp is assianed to the selected data, and a location indication to the selected data is determined. The selected data, the category, the timestamp, and the location indication of the selected data are stored as an entry of the index. The present invention therefore provides an effective and universally adaptive tool for contextual structuring and retrieval of data distributed over a plurality of electronic documents.
US08082263B2
A method, apparatus and system for multimedia model retrieval are provided. The method includes: obtaining parameters of a multimedia model to be retrieved; performing a projection on the multimedia model according to the parameters of the multimedia model so as to obtain a projection image; performing a feature extraction on the projection image; matching a feature extraction result with stored model multimedia file information to obtain a retrieval result; training a support vector machine (SVM) with the multimedia model labeled by a user upon the retrieval result as a training sample set, performing a probability-based classification on the multimedia model by the SVM, and updating the retrieval result with a classification result. The system of the present invention illustrated by embodiments achieves favorable applicability and robustness, so that users may perform a rapid and precise retrieval on massive model data in these fields.
US08082260B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to manipulating the original content of at least one original read-only computer file in a file-system of a computer system, where the computer system includes an operating system including a framework for in-line monitoring of accesses to the file-system. An exemplary embodiment, includes transforming the original content via a non-length-preserving data transformation algorithm, thereby resulting in transformed content, storing the transformed content in a transformed computer file, splitting the transformed computer tile into a first file and a second file, and associating the first file with the second file in the file-system. The non-length-preserving data transformation algorithm includes a length-increasing data transformation algorithm.
US08082252B2
A system, method, and computer program product for accessing web pages on a network are provided. In use, different users are provided access to a plurality of sections of a created file based on a value for at least one dimension assigned to each section of the created file. In particular, a user is conditionally provided access to a section of a created file, based on a comparison of a user value indicating a community with which the user is associated to the value for the at least one dimension assigned to the section of the created file.
US08082249B2
A system, method, and computer program product for accessing web pages on a network are provided. In use, different users are provided access to a plurality of sections of a document selected by the different users based on a community value for at least one community dimension assigned to each section of document selected by the different users. In particular, a user is conditionally provided access to a section of a document selected by the user, based on a comparison of a user value indicating a community with which the user is associated to the community value for the at least one community dimension assigned to the section of the document selected by the user.
US08082246B2
Search results of a search query on a network are ranked according to an additional click distance property associated with each of the documents on the network. The click distance is measurement of the number clicks or user navigations from a page or pages on the network designated as highest authority or root pages on the network. The precision of the results is increased by the addition of the click distance term when the site or intranet where the search query takes place is hierarchically structured.
US08082245B2
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for providing information describing locations to users of an immersive virtual environment. In one embodiment, patterns of locations visited by various users of the virtual environment may be stored in a searchable data structure(s). Further, characteristics of the location visits may be used to determine whether a given location visit was favorable for each user. Subsequently, locations visited by a current user may be matched to one of the stored patterns of locations. The matching pattern may then be used to provide favorability information describing other locations available to the current user. The favorability information may be presented to the user as graphical indications visible within the user's view of the virtual environment.
US08082241B1
The present invention comprises a system and method for automatically processing one or more citations contained within a document while the document is presented by a document rendering application. The method of the present invention comprises scanning the document to identify an unformatted citation and parsing the unformatted citation to determine one or more citation terms. One or more citation libraries are queried to find citations comprising the one or more citation terms. A citation falling within the scope of the query is selected and inserted into the document.
US08082234B2
A computer-implemented apparatus, method, and article of manufacture provide the ability to manage a plurality of database systems. A domain contains a plurality of database systems. A system event monitor, on each of the database systems, monitors the database systems' system conditions and operating environment events within the domain. A multi-system regulator manages the domain, communicates with the system event monitor, and creates a dynamic event on one of the database systems based on the system conditions and operating environment events. The dynamic event causes an adjustment to a state of the database system.
US08082233B2
A computer-implemented method includes receiving a source data set and a target data set. Differences between the target data set and the source data set are identified by dividing the target data set into a set of target data blocks. At least one duplicate block that is identical to a first portion of the source data set is identified among the target data blocks. At least one modified block for which contents of the modified block are not duplicated within the source data set is identified among the target data blocks. Different portions and identical portions between the modified block and the source data set are also identified.
US08082222B2
This disclosure relates generally to the field of Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs). One embodiment of a user interface embodying the present invention is an extension of the process for creating CMDB classes and is therefore readily available for use by someone with knowledge of CMDB administration. The CMDB administrator is thus relieved from having to understand in detail the technologies and interfaces used by the Management Data Repository (MDR) sources. The result of setting up a relation from a CMDB data structure to an MDR data structure by a CMDB administrator may be represented by one or more new CMDB class(es) for the MDR data. The related MDR may then be accessed by an existing CMDB application using already existing CMDB interfaces. The instances of the new relationships and classes thus appear as if they were native instances stored in the CMDB.
US08082218B2
Conflicts among programs are detected, and advice is given based on the detected conflicts. A set of conflict rules defines what constitutes a conflict, and a set of advice rules defines what advice is to be given in response to a conflict that has been detected. The conflict rules may be provided by a different party from the action rules, so the decision as to what constitutes a conflict can be made separately from the decision as to what advice should be given when a conflict is detected.
US08082217B2
A multiphase flow meter used in conjunction with an electrical submersible pump system in a well bore includes sensors to determine and transmit well bore pressure measurements, including tubing and down hole pressure measurements. The multiphase flow meter also includes at least one artificial neural network device to be used for outputting flow characteristics of the well bore. The artificial neural network device is trained to output tubing and downhole flow characteristics responsive to multiphase-flow pressure gradient calculations and pump and reservoir models, combined with standard down-hole pressure, tubing surface pressure readings, and the frequency applied to the electrical submersible pump motor.
US08082216B2
An information processing apparatus includes: strength estimation means for calculating an operation frequency for each predetermined time period from an operation history, and estimating a time period of the operation frequency which exceeds a predetermined value as a time period over which the user has a strong desire to adjust; detecting means for calculating, from the operation history, an operation frequency for each function of the electronic apparatus of the operation history in a time period corresponding to the time period of the strong desire to adjust estimated by the strength estimation means, and detecting a feature of the adjustment operation made by the user for the function of the electronic apparatus, the feature corresponding to the operation frequency for each function of the electronic apparatus; and determination means for determining a function, desired by the user to adjust, of the electronic apparatus, the function corresponding to the feature detected by the detecting means.
US08082214B2
A system and method for rating of each of plural products comprising identifying plurality of attributes associated with a category of product, applying a scalar structure for each attribute to provide scalar value of each attribute for each of the plural products, determining an incremental competitive index for each attribute of each product based on the scalar value of each attribute and a number of products having the scalar value, and rating each product based on the determined competitive index.
US08082210B2
According to the invention, a method for processing a transaction where the transaction is initiated by a payor online, but paid to a payee in-person, is disclosed. In one step, payor information is accepted at a location that located across a wide area network from the payor. Transaction information and payment source information is also accepted at the location. The transaction information includes an amount and a payee identifier and the payment source information includes account details associated with an account of the payor at a money handler. A risk related to a likelihood that the transaction will complete successfully is evaluated. Validating that the payment source information is associated with the payor is manually performed if the risk is excessive. The risk can generally be reduced by the manual validation. The money handler is billed for at least the amount. It is determined if the money handler settles the amount. Historical information on the transaction is stored.
US08082206B2
Methods and systems are providing for minimizing the effects of transmission delays when providing orders for financial instruments. A plurality of order books and match engines may be maintained at geographically dispersed locations. The orders may be synchronized to provide the appearance of a single order book to traders and other users. The plurality of order books and match engines allow traders and other users to transmit orders to the match engine associated with the shortest transmission delay and to access orders pending at other match engines.
US08082200B2
A system and method of collecting and trading statistical information between users is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the information is traded via a network, such as the Internet. The method for trading information includes the step of collecting information from a user at a first location, having a confidential data portion and an exchange data portion. Only the exchange data portion is transmitted to a central location. An exchanged data set is defined at the central location. The exchange data set is updated using the exchange data portion. An output data set is determined from the exchange data set, wherein the output data set is accessible by one or more users.
US08082196B2
The invention provides a financial management system wherein a real bank account is notionally sub-divided into virtual sub-accounts and transactions are effected between the virtual sub-accounts without affecting the operation of the real bank account, such a system allowing a customer to maintain an automatically updated model of the customer's finances within the single account, thus assisting visualization of his or her financial position, while retaining the benefit of the single account.
US08082195B2
Systems, methods, and devices are described for a refundable prepaid transaction cards. The methods and systems include a prepaid transaction card funded with funds by a purchaser. Also included is an issuer. The issuer receives the funds a distributes a prepaid transaction card associated with the funds. The methods and systems also include a prepaid transaction card identifier, wherein the prepaid transaction card identifier identifies the prepaid transaction card. The issuer maintains a central computer system that stores at least one parameter entitling the purchaser to a refund of at least a portion of the funds. The methods and systems also include a cash pool, the cash pool holding at least a portion of the funds funded by the purchaser.
US08082191B2
An egg search code, that can be used for accurately searching history information of an egg using a number of digits printable on the egg, is assigned to the egg, and the history information of the egg can be accurately identified based on the egg search code assigned to the egg. An unused egg search code out of the totality of egg search codes is determined and will be used as the egg search code to be assigned to the egg. The determined egg search code is assigned to all eggs having identical history information. The egg search code assigned to the egg is related to the egg history code and an egg collection date code, and is stored. The egg history code related to the egg collection date code and the egg search code is searched for, in compliance with a provision request, submitted from a consumer terminal, for history information, the provision request containing the egg collection date code and/or the egg search code. The history information identified by the searched egg history code is transmitted to the consumer terminal through a communication network.
US08082189B2
The information providing system accurately predicts a behavior pattern of a user, selects and provides the optimal information at individual points in time. Provision information files (F1, F2, . . . ) for a number of stores are stored in the file storage section (100). When a user accesses the retrieval condition enter section (130) from a cellular phone (10) and transmits a retrieval condition including the position information and a keyword, the retrieval executing section (120) retrieves a file whose degree of accordance to the retrieval condition is a certain reference level or more. The list presentation section (140) comprises tables showing statistical degrees of interest of users in association with respective geographical areas, respective time periods, and respective store genres. The list presentation section (140) corrects the degree of accordance of the retrieved file based on the corresponding degrees of interest in the tables, and presents a list, in which stores are sorted in the large order of the corrected degree of accordance, to the cellular phone (10). The store information selected by the user from the list is distributed to the cellular phone (10) by the information distribution section (110).
US08082180B2
A conditional purchase offer (CPO) management system is disclosed for receiving CPOs from one or more customers, such as airline passengers, and for evaluating the received CPOs against a number of CPO rules defined by a plurality of sellers, such as airlines, to determine whether any seller is willing to accept a given CPO. A CPO is a binding offer containing one or more conditions submitted by a customer for purchase of an item, such as airline travel, at a customer-defined price. A CPO rule is a set of restrictions defined by a given seller, such as an airline, to define a combination of restrictions for which the seller is willing to accept a predefined price. The CPO rules may be securely stored by one or more servers. The CPO management system permits a seller to correct for forecasting errors, if necessary, or other competitive forces which have produced excess capacity, by providing inventory for sale to CPO customers.
US08082165B2
The present disclosure describes a method for managing theme park ride lines by providing an identifying device to a guest, the device configured to uniquely identify the guest, using the identifying device to ascertain an amount of time a guest spends at a predetermined location and reducing the amount of time a guest spends in a line queue for a predetermined ride by the amount of time the guest spends at the predetermined location. A system for managing theme park ride lines is also provided.
US08082160B2
A system and method for collecting, communicating, displaying, and/or analyzing data from multiple medical devices is disclosed. The system includes a local data collection module and a number of medical device adapters. The medical device adapters are coupled to respective medical devices via hardwired connections to receive data from the respective medical devices. The medical device adapters wirelessly transmit the data to the local data collection module. The local data collection module communicates the data received from the medical device adapters to an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system for automatic entry of at least some of the data in the electronic medical record of a patient associated with the medical devices.
US08082156B2
By using a high-range sub-band signal, a correction coefficient corresponding to importance of auditory sense is calculated to correct a noise level and generate additional signal information, thereby accurately reflecting the noise level of the sub-band important in the auditory sense. Thus, it is possible to calculate additional signal information reflecting the noise level of the sub-band important in the auditory sense according to importance with a small calculation amount. The calculation amount can further be reduced by using a correction coefficient based on the characteristic of an ordinary audio signal.
US08082149B2
A method for myoelectric-based processing of speech. The method includes capturing a myoelectric signal from a user using at least one electrode, wherein the electrode converts an ionic current generated by muscle contraction into an electric current. The method also includes amplifying the electric current, filtering the amplified electric current, and converting the filtered electric current into a digital signal. The method further includes transmitting the myoelectric signal to a digital device, transforming the digital signal into a written representation using an automatic speech recognition method, and generating an audible output from the written representation using a speech synthesis method.
US08082140B2
A system and method for providing control timing for a vehicle system at the design level. The method includes defining component timing specifications in a parametric form at a system level and at a sub-system level; mathematically representing the timing specifications in a system model; providing a constraint extraction algorithm that extracts timing constraints from the mathematical representations; using the constraint extraction algorithm to generate a plurality of linear equations that define the constraints; solving for real time constraint ranges from parameters in the linear equations; and selecting values from the real time constraint ranges to be used in the mathematical representations. In non-limiting embodiments, the constraint extraction algorithm can be a boundary discovery algorithm or a proof-tree.
US08082135B2
The present invention relates to scanning confocal microscopy used to systematically quantify characteristic collagen fibril orientations by position within the lamellar thickness of secondary osteons along the osteon radial direction. Fully calcified lamellar specimens appear either extinct or bright in cross-section under circularly polarized light, and can be isolated from embedded osteon, flattened, and examined along the radial thickness direction of the original embedded osteon. Collagen orientation is measured from confocal image stacks. Extinct and bright lamellae display distinct patterns of collagen orientation distribution. Relative counts of collagen fibrils that are longitudinal to the osteon axis in extinct lamellae, transverse to the osteon axis in bright lamellae, and oblique to the osteon axis in both lamellar types, show parabolic distribution through the osteon radial direction.
US08082127B2
A method for determining the spatial distribution of magnetic resonance signals from an imaging area, wherein nuclear spins are excited in a spatially encoded fashion through multi-dimensional RF pulses, is characterized in that in a definition step, a resolution grid with resolution grid cells is predetermined, and in accordance with a predetermined phase encoding scheme, an excitation pattern is defined for each phase encoding step, in which the amplitudes within the imaging area are set in accordance with a predetermined distribution identically for each phase encoding step. In a preparatory step, the amplitude and phase behavior of the RF pulses to be irradiated is calculated in accordance with a predetermined k-space trajectory for each defined complex excitation pattern.
US08082126B2
A remote maintenance system has a monitoring computer for monitoring a facility and a monitoring center computer for maintenance management. The monitoring computer has a database for storing image data of the monitored facility. The monitoring center computer a database for storing CAD data for the monitored facility. The monitoring center computer provides coordinates to the image data sent from the monitoring computer, and superposes the image coordinate data and CAD coordinate data for the CAD. The center computer locates a needed maintenance location on the basis of the result of the superposition processing.
US08082103B2
Hourly CO2 concentration, amount of solar radiation, and plant distribution information are calculated through observation from predetermined satellites. A concentration of CO2 absorbed by plant-chlorophyll per each time unit is calculated. By adding up the CO2 concentration on the earth and the concentration of CO2 absorbed by the plant-chlorophyll, a CO2 concentration obtained provided that no plant-chlorophyll exist is calculated for a certain period. Thereafter, a mean concentration of CO2 that is absorbed according to changes in the distribution of plant-chlorophyll is calculated on the basis of a monthly mean solar radiation amount and plant-chlorophyll distribution information. By subtracting the CO2 concentration, which is a mean, from the total CO2 concentration, a CO2 concentration, which is a normal, is calculated.
US08082093B2
A fuel injection control apparatus of an internal combustion engine is provided with a fuel injection valve that injects fuel directly into a combustion chamber and a controller. When the engine is cold started, a first fuel injection is performed and the injected fuel is spark ignited during the compression stroke, and a second fuel injection is performed during the expansion stroke. The controller selects, according to exhaust emissions, one of a first fuel injection rate and a second fuel injection rate that is lower than the first fuel injection rate as a fuel injection rate during at least the expansion stroke and injects fuel at the selected fuel injection rate. The second fuel injection rate is selected as the fuel injection rate of the second fuel injection and the start timing of the injection is advanced compared with the conventional injection start timing.
US08082092B2
A process for controlling an internal combustion engine, in which an actual position of a reciprocating gas valve is detected by a position sensor, a positional deviation is calculated from the actual position and a zero position, a total length change of the reciprocating gas valve is calculated as a function of the temperature of the reciprocating gas valve, a valve clearance of the reciprocating gas valve is determined from the positional deviation and the total length change, and the further operation of the internal combustion engine is determined on the basis of the valve clearance.
US08082088B2
A method for controlling the rotational speed of at least one rotating element in a vehicle's drive line is provided. A first control model and a second control model are defined. The first control model calculates a permitted slippage of at least one of the vehicle's ground-engaging elements at its point of contact with the ground, which ground-engaging element is driven via the rotating element. The second control model calculates a torque delivered to the said ground-engaging element. The result of one of the said control models is utilized for controlling the rotational speed of the rotating element.
US08082079B2
In a case where an engine ECU determines that the engine is started (restarted), the engine ECU notifies an EPSECU that cranking is to be performed to start the engine before performing the cranking. When such a notification is received, the EPSECU gradually reduces a current command limit value I*_lim and a boost voltage limit value Vbp_lim before the cranking is started.
US08082076B2
A visual diagnostic system is disclosed. The visual diagnostic system has a sensor located onboard a machine to generate a signal indicative of a status of a machine component, and a user interface associated with the machine to receive input from and provide information to a user. The visual diagnostic system also has a controller in communication with the sensor and the user interface. The controller is configured display on the user interface a model containing the machine component in response to the signal.
US08082074B2
An unmanned aerial vehicle variable autonomy control system is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the system includes a control mode interface that provides a plurality of selectable control modes for an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein one of the plurality of selectable control modes comprises a target tracking mode. Also included is a target editor interface provided in response to a selection of the target tracking mode, wherein the target editor interface facilitates receipt of an input indicative of a ground based moving target. The system also includes a communications component that transmits a command to the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the command is based at least in part on the input indicative of a target.
US08082069B2
An information processing apparatus includes a device detecting section that detects a heating device provided in a housing; a device determining section that determines the type of the heating device detected by the device detecting section; a sensor selecting section that selects a predetermined one of a plurality of temperature sensors provided in the housing in accordance with existence/absence of the heating device and the type of the heating device; and a fan controlling section that controls the number of rotations of a cooling fan provided in the housing in accordance with a measured temperature of the temperature sensor selected by the sensor selecting section.
US08082063B2
Mobile apparatuses capable of moving or acting autonomously, without contacting each other, in an environment where movements of the mobile apparatuses are not managed by a server, are provided. In a robot functioning as a first mobile apparatus, it is recognized that an object corresponds to a second mobile apparatus, and based on this recognition, a target trajectory is searched for and determined. Further, the first mobile apparatus causes another robot functioning as the second mobile apparatus to recognize a part or a whole of the target trajectory. In the second mobile apparatus, the part or the whole of the target trajectory of the first mobile apparatus is recognized, and based on this recognition, a target trajectory that the second mobile apparatus should follow is searched for and determined. This allows the mobile apparatuses to move along their respective target trajectories to avoid contact with each other.
US08082061B2
Vending machines, automated retail stores, and retail displays with computer controlled, item-based lighting that produces variable visual effects in conjunction with actual or potential vends to provide an enhanced vending experience. Offered products are stored within display tubes that are arranged in orderly geometric arrays. RGB lighting through a plurality of LED banks within polygonal circuit boards associate with each display tube are controlled by a computer activation system that senses the presence of a customer, and the selection of a vend. Combinations of differently colored LED's are computer controlled on a per product basis to artistically illuminate available products and assist customers. Pre-programmed lighting sequences can switch LED off and on, vary their intensity, and alter resultant colors. A touch screen computer responds to user inputs for selections and transactions. Sensors detect the presence of potential customers, even without a customer input, to vary a display and attract mode.
US08082056B2
A band is introduced into the pit entrance of a looping pit. This band is released from the looping pit at a pit exit. A segment of the band can thereby be buffered. The entrance-sided drag that exists in the band at the pit entrance is measured by an entrance-sided drag measuring device; the exit-sided drag that exists in the band at the pit exit is measured by an exit-sided drag measuring device. The values of the entrance-sided and exit-sided drags are passed to a control device. Depending on the entrance-sided and exit-sided drags, a control signal for at least one driven roller arranged between the pit entrance and exit is identified by the control device and is passed to the at least one driven roller. The band buffered in the looping pit is acted upon by the at least one driven roller according to the control signal.
US08082039B2
Some embodiments of the present invention provide stimulation systems and components for selective stimulation and/or neuromodulation of one or more dorsal root ganglia through implantation of an electrode on, in or around a dorsal root ganglia. Some other embodiments of the present invention provide methods for selective neurostimulation of one or more dorsal root ganglia as well as techniques for applying neurostimulation to the spinal cord. Still other embodiments of the present invention provide stimulation systems and components for selective stimulation and/or neuromodulation of one or more dorsal root ganglia through implantation of an electrode on, in or around a dorsal root ganglia in combination with a pharmacological agent.
US08082031B2
An apparatus and process for low energy neurofeedback includes computer and display means on a general purpose computer to calculate and display dominant brain wave frequencies as measured by an electroencephalogram. The general purpose computer is also operative to compute and display a new frequency that is offset from the dominant frequency by 5 to 20 Hz. A therapeutically beneficial low power RF field is generated in the EEG leads merely by the computation and display of the new frequency without the need to deliberately power the EEG leads.
US08082017B2
A device for measuring the capillary refill time and blood oxygenation includes light sources and a light detector. The device also includes an actuator for applying pressure to a selected portion of the body of the patient, such as the nail bed of a finger or toe of the patient, to cause the removal of blood from the nail bed when actuated. A timer commences a time interval with a deactuation of the actuator. The deactuation relieves the pressure applied by the actuator to the body portion of the patient and allows blood to return to the portion. The timing interval is terminated by a reduction in the amount of light received by the light detector as a result of the restoration of blood to the body portion. The time interval so determined comprises an indication of the capillary refill time of the patient.
US08082016B2
A system for evaluating the cardiovascular system parameters using indicator dilution and non-invasive or minimally invasive detection and calibration methods are disclosed. Intravascular indicators are stimulated, and emissions patterns detected for computation of cardiac output, cardiac index, blood volume and other indicators of cardiovascular health.
US08082015B2
An embodiment of the invention includes a device, system and method for determining the characteristics of deep tissue. The novel method includes measuring blood flow rate and oxygenation characteristics of the tissue, and determining oxygen metabolism of the tissue as a function of the measure blood flow rate and measure oxygenation. The blood flow rate characteristics are measured as a function of light fluctuations caused by the tissue, while the oxygenation characteristics are measured as a function of transmission of light through the tissue with respect to the wavelength of light. The tissue may be layered tissue, for example, a portion of a brain. The tissue characteristics may be measured during times of varying levels of exercise intensity.
US08082011B2
An information processing apparatus or a mobile communication apparatus are connectable to an external device via a short-range wireless communication link. When there is an incoming call, it is determined whether a ringing sound is sounded on both the apparatus and the external device, or whether the ringing is on one of the apparatus and the external device, based on a selected mode. Subsequently, appropriate sound is played based on the selected mode.
US08081993B2
A method of operating a mobile communication device, the method involving: over a wireless messaging channel receiving a text message that contains a non-text representation of an utterance; extracting the non-text representation from the text message; synthesizing an audio representation of the spoken utterance from the non-text representation; and playing the synthesized audio representation through an audio output device on the mobile communication device.
US08081991B2
A system and method is described herein to determine the physical location of a user within an edifice. At least three wireless access points, for example, 802.11 nodes, receives and transmits information to a handheld device in order to determine the location information.
US08081988B2
Embodiments of the present invention recite a method and system for provisioning a Java equipped cellular telephone. In one embodiment, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data collector application is uploaded onto a Java equipped cellular telephone for enabling the Java equipped cellular telephone to perform GIS data collection functions. The method further comprises uploading a data dictionary onto the Java equipped cellular telephone comprising at least one GIS feature type.
US08081973B2
A communication device locates a preferable wireless service provider in a multi-service provider environment using a frequency or frequency band search schedule. Initially, the communication device registers with a less preferred service provider in a first frequency. While remaining registered with the less preferred service provider, the device examines several frequencies in the order specified by the frequency search schedule. The device determines whether the last frequency used by the communication device has a more preferred service provider. If the last frequency used does not have a more preferred service provider, the device examines each of the plurality of frequencies in the predetermined order in the search schedule. The examination continues until another frequency band having a more preferred service provider is located. The communication device then registers with the more preferred service provider.
US08081972B2
A method for sensing channel availability in a wireless network includes receiving a measurement request message which includes a channel interval list. A first channel interval in the list includes information associated with a first starting channel number, a first number of channels, and first linkage information of the channel interval list. The method includes processing information associated with the message, generating a first list of contiguous channels, and performing at least first channel measurement to determine a first channel availability for each of the first list of contiguous channels. The method also includes determining whether the channel interval list further includes a second channel interval that needs to be processed based on at least first linkage information, and if needed, generating a second list of contiguous channels and performing at least second channel measurement to determine a second channel availability for each of the second list of contiguous channels.
US08081969B2
The Aircraft IP Subnet System provides wireless communication services to passengers located onboard an aircraft by storing data indicative of individually identified wireless devices that are located onboard the aircraft. The Aircraft IP Subnet System assigns a single IP address to each Point-to-Point Protocol link connecting the aircraft network to the ground-based communication network and creates an IP subnet onboard the aircraft. The IP subnet utilizes a plurality of IP addresses for each Point-to-Point link, thereby to enable each passenger wireless device to be uniquely identified with their own IP address. This is enabled since both Point-to-Point Protocol IPCP endpoints have pre-defined IP address pools and/or topology configured, so each Point-to-Point Protocol endpoint can utilize a greater number of IP addresses than one per link. Such an approach does not change IPCP or other EVDO protocols/messaging but allows this address to be directly visible to the ground-based communication network.
US08081963B2
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for utilizing mobile device information and functionality from separate computing devices. A synchronization operation is performed to update a data store with communication information from a mobile device. The synchronization operation is performed wirelessly with the mobile device. A user of a separate computing device can access the communication information stored in the data store separately from the mobile device. The user of the separate computing device can remotely initiate operations on the mobile device from the separate computing device. For example, the user can initiate the sending of text messages through the mobile device from the separate computing device. As another example, the user can initiate the placing of a telephone call through the mobile device from the separate computing device.
US08081948B2
An analog multi-gigabit receiver and/or transceiver can be implemented for the reception and demodulation of multi-gigabits quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulated using a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process. Further, an analog multi-gigabit receiver and/or transceiver can be implemented for the reception and demodulation of multi-gigabits binary phase shift keying (BPSK), minimum shift keying (MSK), and/or amplitude shift keying (ASK) signal modulated in CMOS processes.
US08081932B2
A transceiver front-end provides an interface between a transmission medium and transmitter, and between a transmission medium and receiver. The transceiver front-end includes a hybrid circuit, a high-pass filter, and a gain stage, that permits the reduction or the complete elimination of buffer amplifiers. Buffer amplifiers can be eliminated because the hybrid circuit and/or the high-pass filter are adapted so that they can be directly connected to each other, without a loss in circuit performance. Furthermore, the high-pass filter and/or the gain stage are also adapted so they can be directly connected. As such, the transceiver front-end can be constructed using all passive components, reducing or eliminating excess heat generation.
US08081919B2
An image processing apparatus has an original mount, a recording material mount for mounting recording materials, a supply roller, a separating unit, a reading unit for reading an image of the original, an original detection sensor for detecting the original on the original mount, and an original widthwise direction reference surface for being abutted by the original mounted on the original mount to position that original. The recording material widthwise direction reference surface is used to position the recording material so that a portion of the original does not superpose on the recording material having a maximum width and the original detection sensor detects that a portion of the original mounted on the original mount is not superposed on the recording material having maximum width.
US08081907B2
Cones whose rotation axes are substantially parallel to each other and whose sides maintain a constant interval therebetween are provided in a driving force transmission unit to transmit a driving force to a developer feeding member, a roller to transmit the driving force is provided between the cones, a position of the roller is moved in accordance with rotation of one cone or the other, and a rotational speed of the developer feeding member to which the driving force is transmitted from one cone changes with an increase in a number of revolutions of s driving force transmission unit.
US08081904B2
A belt drive control unit controls a rotation of belt supported by first and second rollers. Each of rotations of the first and second rollers are detected as first and second results. A rotation of the first roller is controlled in connection with thickness fluctuation in the belt using the first and second results. The belt drive control unit includes a sampling data acquisition unit, a correction value generator, a correction value storage, and a correction value reading controller. The sampling data acquisition unit obtains sampling data by sampling a difference value between the first and second results. The correction value generator generates correction value data for the belt based on the sampling data. The correction value storage stores the correction value data. The correction value reading controller reads the correction value data based on a rotation number of the belt to control a rotation of the first roller.
US08081897B2
A seal member covers a space between a developing roller and a casing of a developing device. The seal member includes a flexible sheet and a reinforcing member fixed to the sheet. The reinforcing member is fixed to the casing. Notches are provided in the reinforcing member in a direction perpendicular to the length of the reinforcing member.
US08081895B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a plurality of image carrying members; a plurality of rotation cleaning members disposed for the respective image carrying members and cleaning surfaces of the respective image carrying members through rotation; and a controller that rotates the plurality of rotation cleaning members at different rotation speeds in accordance with wear amounts of the respective image carrying members.
US08081892B2
Bias correction control of an intermediate transfer belt 21 on which an image of each color formed on a surface of a photoconductive body 31 is transferred, and a second transfer belt 24 in pressure contact with the intermediate transfer belt 21 to transfer a toner image onto a recording sheet by passing the recording sheet between the intermediate transfer belt 21. Contents of the bias correction control (an amount of correction control and a cycle of correction control) can be changed in accordance with states of the belts i.e. whether the intermediate transfer belt 21 and the second transfer belt 24 are in a pressure contact state or a separate state.
US08081890B2
An image forming apparatus includes a controller which sets fixing conditions in a fixing unit in accordance with the type of printing medium sensed by a sensor. An intermediate transfer member and sensor are configured as an intermediate transfer member unit. The intermediate transfer member unit is removably installed in the main body of the image forming apparatus. The intermediate transfer member unit has a storage unit which stores information used to determine the type printing medium by the sensor.
US08081882B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a communications system for communication between two remote terminals, where even at very long distances between these two terminals and/or at very small signal-to-noise ratios a robust communication is possible. The invention achieves the goal set before by suggesting an inventive pulse position modulation scheme and a corresponding optical communications system. The system and method according to the invention are very well suited for communication with a satellite in deep space, for instance.
US08081878B1
A system and method for wirelessly transmitting both real-time data streams and remote control signals is described. A first transceiver can be used for detecting remote control signals associated with an end device (e.g. a television), transforming these remote control signals into wireless signals, and transmitting the wireless signals. A second transceiver can be used for receiving the wireless signals and transforming the wireless signals into the recreated remote control signals. The recreated remote control signals can then be sent to a source device (e.g. a DVD player). Because wireless signals are used (instead of infrared (IR) signals, for example), the source device can be outside the line of sight of the end device and still respond to the remote control signals.
US08081876B2
Methods are described for an optical fan-out and broadcast interconnect. A method includes operating an optical fan-out and broadcast interconnect including: fanning-out an optical signal from an optical signal emitter, of one of a plurality of nodes, with a diverging element of one of a plurality of optics; and broadcasting the optical signal to one of a plurality of receivers of all of the plurality of nodes with a light collecting and focusing element of all of the plurality of optics, wherein the plurality of optics are positioned to define an optics array, the plurality of receivers are positioned to define a receiver array that corresponds to the optics array and the plurality of nodes are positioned to define a node array that substantially corresponds to the receiver array and the optics array.
US08081872B2
A flame imitation manufacturing device of a fireplace relates to a flame imitation manufacturing device for simulating the burning state in a fireplace in the field of household appliances. Said device comprises a housing, a cross flow fan and a light source mounted on a base plate of the housing, a simulated fire chamber mounted on a back plate of the housing, ribbons mounted on the back plate of the housing by means of upper and lower strip bars and above the cross flow fan, and a light-transmitting glass plate mounted on the housing and in front of said ribbons. This invention, characterized in that said cross flow fan is a swinging one, is advantageous in that supplying wind non-directively by utilizing the swinging of said fan improves the flying state of ribbons so as to make the image state of burning flames more vivid, greatly enhances the authenticity of flames and lowers the cost thereof, and thus is adaptable to various flame imitation electrical-heated fireplaces and electrical appliances.
US08081871B2
An information recording medium on which a plurality of stream groups are multiplexed and recorded by a unit of packet, which is a physically accessible unit, each of the stream groups including one video stream, the information recording medium provided with: an object data file for storing object data which comprises a plurality of packets; and an object information file for storing correspondence definition information for controlling the reproduction of the object data. The object data is divided by a divisional unit in at least one portion of a reproduction section, which is provided with the plurality of packets and corresponds to one of the plurality of stream groups. The object information file stores unit address information indicating an address of each of divisional units, as the reproduction control information.
US08081859B2
When a recording device is connected to a power source and a main power is supplied, position information of the recording device is obtained by using GPS satellites. A region where the recording device is installed is decided based on the obtained position information. Channel information appropriate for the decided region is read out from a storage medium such as a memory, and a tuner of the recording device is set automatically using the read channel information thus read. Additionally, when the position information is obtained, it is decided whether or not the position where the recording device is installed is within a predetermined distance from a boundary between regions. If it is adjacent to other region, a plurality of region codes are read out, and a request for selecting one to perform the channel setting is displayed using a display panel or an OSD function so that the selection can be received.
US08081858B2
A fiber distribution system having a rack mounted chassis and a fiber distribution rack to mount in the chassis. The system includes one or more splitter modules which are designed to be mounted in the fiber distribution rack. The splitter modules have a compact design and contain a plurality of fiber splitters. The fiber distribution system also contains a cable guide tray for supporting the fiber cables and the system includes a plurality of radius limiters to minimize cable bends.
US08081855B2
Provided is an optical fiber that has a small bending loss, can be securely prevented from being fractured due to accidental bending during installation or other operations, and is compliant with the G. 652 standard. An optical fiber 1 includes a core 11, a first cladding 12, a second cladding 13, and a third cladding 14. The relative refractive index difference Δ1 of the core 11 is in the range of 0.3% to 0.38%, the relative refractive index difference Δ2 of the first cladding 12 is equal to or smaller than 0%, and the relative refractive index difference Δ3 of the second cladding 13 is in the range of −1.8% to −0.5%. The inner radius r2 and the outer radius r3 of the second cladding 13 satisfy the expression “0.4r2+10.5
US08081842B2
Image resizing for web-based searching is described. In one implementation, a system resizes a user-selected thumbnail image into a larger version of the image that emulates the quality of a large, original image, but without downloading the original image. First, the system extracts resizing parameters when each thumbnail image is created. Then, the system creates a codebook of primitive visual elements extracted from a collection of training images. The primitive visual elements in the codebook provide universal visual parts for reconstructing images. The codebook and a resizing plug-in can be sent once to the user over a background channel. When the user selects a thumbnail image for enlargement, the system resizes the thumbnail image via interpolation and then refines the enlarged image with primitive visual elements from the codebook. The refinement creates an enlarged image that emulates the quality of the large, original image, without downloading the original image.
US08081830B2
Processing of at least one digital image includes performing first and second separable block transforms in first and second directions; modifying results of the second block transforms; and performing first and second separable inverse block transforms in the first and second directions on the modified results. Transform coefficients are re-used while performing at least one the transforms. The processing can be performed on 2-D signals such as still images and 3-D signals such as video.
US08081828B2
The invention discloses a method for transmitting image bit stream and an image encoder utilizing the method. The image format comprises a start of image (SOI) marker, a start of scan (SOS) marker and a primary compressed data. First, the invention generates redundant data according to a first start address of the SOI marker, a data size between the SOI marker and the SOS marker, and a second start address of the primary compressed data. Afterward, the redundant data is selectively padded into the image bit stream between the SOI marker and the SOS marker. Accordingly, the required time for transmitting image data to a storage medium will be reduced, and the transmission performance will be improved apparently by utilizing the method.
US08081822B1
Embodiments of the present invention include a method for processing captured image information in an interactive video display system. The method includes accessing a region of a vision image. The method further includes comparing the region of the vision image to a first orientation of a value image. The value image comprises a plurality of weighted values representing a feature to be detected. The method further includes comparing the region of the vision image to a second orientation of the value image. The method further includes determining which orientation of the value image best matches the feature to be detected to an object of the region of the vision image.
US08081819B2
In order to implement color matching with higher precision, a device that handles object colors and a device that handles light-source colors must be separately processed. Hence, when the device type is a device that handles light-source colors, control is made so as not to perform processing (forward color appearance model conversion and inverse color appearance model conversion) for converting colorimetric conditions of a colorimetric value file into viewing conditions. When the device type is a device that handles object colors, the processing for converting the colorimetric conditions of the colorimetric value file into the viewing conditions is performed, and a profile is created from the colorimetric values.
US08081817B2
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for facilitating the usage of an online workforce to remotely monitor security-sensitive sites and report potential security breaches.In some embodiments, cameras are configured to monitor critical civilian infrastructure, such as water supplies and nuclear reactors. The cameras are operatively connected to a central computer or series of computers, and images captured by the cameras are transmitted to the central computer. After initially registering with the central computer, Guardians “log on” to a central website hosted by the central computer and monitor the images, thereby earning compensation. In one embodiment, images of “no-man” zones—areas where no humans or vehicles should be present or monitored—are sent to Guardians for a simple determination of whether or not a human exists in the picture. Site owners compensate the operator of the computer system for this monitoring service, and the operator in turn compensates Guardians based on, for example, (i) the amount of time spent monitoring, and/or (ii) the degree of a given Guardian's responsiveness to real or fabricated security breaches.Among other things, systems and methods are disclosed herein for facilitating (a) the registration of monitored sites, (b) the registration of Guardians, and (c) the management of monitoring sessions, including the routing of real and fabricated images to Guardians, the rating of Guardians, and the compensation of Guardians. Many additional and alternative embodiments are contemplated, including the following example of one embodiment.
US08081808B2
Disclosed are method and apparatus for mapping retinal thickness values to a movable measurement grid. A three-dimensional volume dataset acquired from three-dimensional optical coherence tomography is registered to a fundus image by rendering a two-dimensional composite image from the three-dimensional volume dataset and superimposing characteristic features in the two-dimensional composite image upon corresponding characteristic features in the fundus image. A measurement grid is displayed on the two-dimensional composite image. The measurement grid is moved to a region of interest, and retinal thickness values in the region of interest are mapped to sectors within the measurement grid.
US08081804B2
An electronic camera is provided with: an imager, having an imaging surface for capturing an object scene, for generating an object scene image; a designator for designating a specific position within the object scene image generated by the imager; a recorder for recording, together with position information of the specific position designated by the designator, the object scene image generated by the imager; and a reproducer for reproducing the object scene image recorded by the recorder, using the position information recorded by the recorder.
US08081800B2
A detection system of vehicle interior condition includes an illumination unit for illuminating a plurality of mutually different illumination regions including at least one seat of a vehicle and a surrounding region thereof so as to have different illumination time durations shifted by a predetermined time. An imaging unit photographs an occupant and/or an object on the seat upon each illumination of the illumination unit. A control processor compares a plurality of images photographed by the imaging unit, and generates information indicative of a condition of the occupant or object, based on the result of the comparison.
US08081798B2
A stochastic method and system for detecting polygon structures in images, by detecting a set of best matching corners of predetermined acuteness α of a polygon model from a set of similarity scores based on GDM features of corners, and tracking polygon boundaries as particle tracks using a sequential Monte Carlo approach. The tracking involves initializing polygon boundary tracking by selecting pairs of corners from the set of best matching corners to define a first side of a corresponding polygon boundary; tracking all intermediate sides of the polygon boundaries using a particle filter, and terminating polygon boundary tracking by determining the last side of the tracked polygon boundaries to close the polygon boundaries. The particle tracks are then blended to determine polygon matches, which may be made available, such as to a user, for ranking and inspection.
US08081790B2
A loudspeaker structure for an electronic device, comprising: a housing defining a frame portion, the frame portion comprises a front sound chamber and aback sound chamber; a loudspeaker secured within the frame portion; a speaker cover made of rubber materials and secured within the frame portion to seal the front sound chamber; a speaker seat made of rubber materials and secured within the frame portion to seal the back sound chamber; and a circuit board secured above the frame portion. The front sound chamber and the back sound chamber have comfortable tightness and ensure the sounds transmitting. Thereby, high quality sound is available.
US08081778B2
A VOX interface is provided that interfaces with at least two communication paths to two separate devices. One communication path may be to a first electronic device, such as a central monitoring station remote from the VOX interface, and another communication path may be to one or more remote devices, such as to one or more patient devices remote from the VOX interface. The VOX interface may determine which of the communication paths is sending a signal (such as an audio signal), and configure the VOX interface (via one or more switches) to pass the signal through. Specifically, the VOX interface may sense signals indicating the presence of audio from a central station audio bus and the patient station bus, may do some background noise filtering on the signals, and may pass these filtered values through a differentiator circuit to determine which bus presented the audio. Depending on which bus presented the audio, one or more switches (such as a relay) may be configured so that the audio may be passed through.
US08081777B2
An audio amplifier such as for driving headphones. The amplifier includes multiple amplifier devices coupled in parallel. Both a bias generator and a volume control are responsive to a user setting. Under low output signal conditions, one or more of the amplifier devices are disabled in response to the user setting. Disabled amplifier devices do not consume output bias current. Thus the audio amplifier has reduced power consumption, and the system has longer battery life.
US08081764B2
Provided is an audio decoder which can reduce an amount of arithmetic operations while suppressing occurrence of aliasing noise. The audio decoder includes: a decoder (102) and an analysis filter bank (110) which generate, from a coded down-mixed signal, the first frequency band signal (x) corresponding to a down-mixed signal (M); a channel expansion unit (130) which converts the first frequency band signal (x) generated by the analysis filter bank (110) into output signals (y) corresponding to respective audio signals of N channels, using BC information; an synthesis filter bank (140) which performs band synthesis for the output signals (y) generate by the channel expansion unit (130) and thereby converts the output signals (y) into the respective audio signals of the N channels on a time axis; and an aliasing noise detection unit (120) which detects occurrence of aliasing noise in the first frequency band signal (x). The channel expansion unit (130) further prevents the aliasing noise from being included in the output signals (y), based on information detected by the aliasing noise detection unit (120).
US08081760B2
A method, system and apparatus for the offline securing of messages through selective security data replication. A method for selectively replicating security data for offline processing of electronic messages can include identifying a messaging partner associated with the electronic message responsive to processing an electronic message. Subsequently, it can be determined whether electronic messages previously had been received from or transmitted to the identified messaging partner. If it is determined that electronic messages previously had been received from or transmitted to the identified messaging partner, identifying information for the identified messaging partner can be added to a batch listing. Consequently, during a replication process, security data can be selectively replicated from an external repository to a local repository only for security data associated with messaging partners corresponding to identifying information in the batch listing.
US08081758B2
When a cryptographic communicating part 208 of the communication support server 20 exchanges information with the information processing units 14, if the term of validity of a first key stored in a cryptographic key storing part 200 and corresponding to the identification information of the information processing unit 14 does not expire, the cryptographic communicating part 208 performs the cryptographic communication with the information processing unit 14 using the first key, without performing a process of authenticating the information processing units 14. When the term of validity of the first key expires or the first key corresponding to the identification information of the information processing units 14 is not stored, the key sharing part 202 shares the first key with the information processing units 14, and the cryptographic communicating part 208 performs the cryptographic communication with the information processing units 14 using a newly shared first key.
US08081753B2
Hybrid echo canceller controllers are described herein. By way of example, a system for controlling an echo canceller can include a signal indicator and an echo canceller controller. The signal indicator can be configured to indicate periods of near-end signal and to indicate periods of echo only with echo-path change in the corrupted signal based at least in part on cross-correlation between two signals associated with the echo canceller. The echo canceller controller can be configured to control the echo canceller according to indications from the signal indicator.
US08081751B1
A method for causing a calling client station to obtain content from a network server in response to a trigger signal received by the client during the ringback period for a call. The trigger signal is transmitted from a ringback server to a calling client station during the ringback period of call setup, whereby the trigger signal, once received and recognized by the calling client station, causes the station to request and obtain content from a network server. In another aspect, a method for providing content to a calling client station by transmitting a trigger signal to the calling client station during call setup, thereafter receiving at a network-based content server a request from the calling client station, generated in response to the trigger, for a content-download, and providing the content-download in response to the request.
US08081749B1
A system and method for integrated queue management are provided. The method may include receiving, from a user, a request for a connection to one of a plurality of agents. The request for a connection may be queued if the plurality of agents are unavailable. A request to delay the connection with the one of the plurality of agents may be received, from the user. In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, the connection with the one of the plurality of agents is delayed. A request to continue in the queue may be received from the user. Finally, the user may be connected with one of the plurality of agents.
US08081748B2
A method, phone, and system for answering phone calls in such a manner as to limit or otherwise ameliorate interruptions to a called party and others in an environment of the called party. The answering optionally including silently answering the phone call with a message instead of requiring the called party to verbally communicate with a calling party.
US08081745B2
The method and system guides a user to easily and effectively communicate with a potential recipient via an integrated communication server. The integrated communication server will track and aggregate user presence information about the potential recipient. The aggregated user presence information includes the current state, activity, and/or availability of the potential recipient. The integrated communication server dynamically analyzes and compares the aggregated user presence information with user preference information of the potential recipient in order to identify an appropriate communication method. The identified appropriate communication method is published to the user indicating that it has a great likelihood of reaching the potential recipient successfully in the right way at the right time.
US08081744B2
In a click-to-call (C2C) communication environment, a web client of a computing terminal is configured to initiate a C2C call when a user selects a call tag provided in a web page being presented to the user. The call is intended to be established between a remote endpoint associated with the call tag and one of either the computing terminal or another terminal associated with the user. If the C2C call is directed to an automated system and placed in a queue or on hold, the present invention allows supplemental content intended for the user to be delivered to the web client from which the C2C call was initiated. The web client may present the supplemental content to the user.
US08081743B2
According to one embodiment, a server apparatus includes a memory which stores a control table respectively showing correspondence relations between user ID of the first data terminal and listener information indicating that the first data terminal is in operation in a pseudo manner, when the first data terminal contained in the call information event is out of operation, and a controller which refers the control table based on the user ID of the first data terminal, when the first data terminal which is out of operation is started, and establishes a communication connection between the first data terminal and the second data terminal based on a reference result.
US08081738B2
According to one embodiment, an apparatus accommodates a telephone terminal and an emergency call terminal, wherein the telephone terminal is associated with the first video camera and a first display, the emergency call terminal is associated with a second video camera and a second display, and the apparatus further includes a determination processor determines whether or not a call generated from the telephone terminal is an emergency call, a visual link former forms an image communication link between the first video camera and the second display to display an image captured by the first video camera on the second display if the determination processor determines the call is the emergency call, and a voice link former forms a voice communication link between the telephone terminal and the emergency call terminal when the emergency call terminal performs a response to the call after the image communication link is formed.
US08081735B1
A method for determining if a which node through which a signal is propagated i (e.g., PSTN or VOIP) when the distances from the source to VOIP modem and PSTN connections are both known, the steps making a measurement that indicates a distance that a signal travels from a source to a point of reflection (e.g., a PSTN or VOIP connection) and comparing the measurement to known values corresponding to the distances from the source to closest VOIP and PSTN nodes.
US08081730B2
An exemplary monitoring device includes: a time chip connected to a connector to generate a time signal and a count signal when the connector is working, the time signal indicating how long the connector is in use, the count signal indicating that the total number of times the connector has been used should be incremented by one; a processor connected to the time chip to receive the time signal and count signal, and generate a data signal including a total service time and a total number of times the connector has been used; a clock generator connected to the processor to provide a clock signal; and an output port connected to the processor to output the data signal. The monitoring device keeps a watch on a connector for showing the service information about the connector to make an operator know if the connector needs to be replaced.
US08081725B2
Signal processing circuit including a demodulator that receives a receive signal with signal edges, and outputs a demodulated receive signal with transitions from a first level to a second level or vice versa at signal edges of the receive signal, wherein points of time of the transitions depend on the steepnesses of the signal edges. The circuit also includes an edge evaluator that receives the receive signal, and outputs an evaluation signal which includes information about the steepnesses of the signal edges. The circuit also includes a signal generator that receives the output of the demodulator, receives the output of the edge evaluator, and outputs a corrected demodulated receive signal with transitions whose points of time are set with regard to the points of time of the transitions of the demodulated receive signal based on the evaluation signal in order to reduce influences of different steepnesses of the signal edges.
US08081713B2
A DTV receiving system for processing digital broadcast data includes a tuner for receiving a broadcast signal from a DTV transmitter, an equalizer for compensating channel distortion of the broadcast signal using the known data sequences, and a decoder for decoding the equalized broadcast signal, wherein the broadcast signal results from generating a first data group including first, second and third regions; interleaving the first data group to generate a second data group including fourth, fifth and sixth regions; and trellis encoding the second data group.
US08081711B2
Methods and apparatus for predistorting signals in a polar modulation transmitter. An exemplary method includes predistorting an envelope component signal in an amplitude path of a polar modulation transmitter according to a set of AM/AM predistortion coefficients, and predistorting a phase component signal in a phase path of the polar modulation transmitter according to a set of AM/PM predistortion coefficients. The AM/AM and AM/PM predistortion coefficients are stored in a memory in the form of a look up table (LUT). The envelope component signal is scaled and/or offset, before predistortion is applied, by an amount dependent upon which average power level of a plurality of average power levels the power amplifier of the polar modulation transmitter is configured to operate. Scaling and/or offsetting the envelope component signal prior to applying predistortion affords the ability to share the AM/AM and AM/PM predistortion coefficients of the predistortion LUT over the plurality of average power levels.
US08081704B2
Methods, apparatus and systems for dynamically controlling a digital communication system, such as a DSL system, collect information about digital communication lines in the system and adaptively and/or dynamically determine line and signal characteristics of the digital communication lines, including interference effects. Based on the determined characteristics and the desired performance parameters, operation of the digital communication lines is adjusted to improve or otherwise control the performance of the system. The collection and processing of information may be performed by a party that is not a user in the system. This independent party also may control operational characteristics and parameters of the system. The invention can be used to eliminated or reduce signal interference such as crosstalk that can be induced on communication lines in systems such as DSL systems. Specific iterative power allocation and vectored transmission techniques and apparatus are disclosed.
US08081703B2
Modulated signal A is transmitted from a first antenna, and modulated signal B is transmitted from a second antenna. As modulated signal B, modulated symbols S2(i) and S2(i+1) obtained from different data are transmitted at time i and time i+1 respectively. In contrast, as modulated signal A, modulated symbols S1(i) and S1(i)′ obtained by changing the signal point arrangement of the same data are transmitted at time i and time i+1 respectively. As a result the reception quality can be changed intentionally at time i and time i+1, and therefore using the demodulation result of modulated signal A of a time when the reception quality is good enables both modulated signals A and B to be demodulated with good error rate performances.
US08081695B2
A system and method are provided for supplying a frequency-smoothed communications training signal. The method generates a frequency-smoothed unbiased training signal in a quadrature modulation transmitter. The frequency-smoothed unbiased training signal includes a plurality of pilot signal products, where each pilot signal product includes complex plane information represented by a reference frequency subcarrier, multiplying complex plane information represented by mirror frequency subcarrier. The sum of the plurality of pilot signal products is equal to zero. The method supplies the frequency-smoothed unbiased training signal so that it may be transmitted within a single symbol period. System and methods are also provided for using a frequency-smoothed training signal in the calculation of a receiver channel estimate.
US08081692B1
A sub-matrix is selected from an estimated multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) channel matrix, wherein the estimated MIMO channel matrix is constructed based on a codebook. A singular value decomposition (SVD) is calculated based on the sub-matrix. A steering matrix is calculated based on the SVD and the codebook.
US08081687B2
A receiver includes digital logic for defining a plurality of signal paths for an ingoing digital signal to determine a frame classification. Frames are classified according to a combination of readings of a plurality of correlation block and relative signal (power) strengths. Power detection is specified for frequency bands of interest. The combination of readings and their corresponding pattern may be used to determine whether a frame is being transmitted in a lower bandwidth channel, an upper bandwidth channel or a large bandwidth channel that overlaps the lower and upper bandwidth channels. A transmission type (legacy, mixed mode, Greenfield) may subsequently be determined based upon the identity of the frame channel.
US08081684B2
The disclosure is directed to techniques for picture-in-picture (PIP) processing for video telephony (VT). According to the disclosed techniques, a local video communication device transmits PIP information to a remote video communication device. Using the PIP information, the remote video communication device applies preferential encoding to non-PIP regions of video transmitted to the local video communication device.
US08081673B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for processing at least two spread spectrum signals that at least partially overlap in time and in frequency. A main correlator bank with a trip detection component can determine a PN code phase for each of the spread spectrum signals that are associated with a PN code signal. The signals may at least partially overlap in time and in frequency. The PN code phases can be determined by comparing the signals to internally generated PN code phases. Based on the comparison, trips associated with the code phases are detected. The PN code phase for each signal can be used to extract a data signal from the signal. The data signals can be outputted.
US08081664B2
The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for regenerating a timing signal in digital data communication where two network elements operate in a master/slave loop timing mode. In a solution according to the invention two different frequency difference indicators are formed. Values or changes of the values of both of them in relation to time indicate a frequency difference between a reference timing signal present in a master device and a regenerated timing signal present in a slave device. One frequency difference indicator is formed on the basis of reception taking place in the master device, and the other one on the basis of reception taking place in the slave device. The frequency of the regenerated timing signal is adjusted utilizing information contained by both frequency difference indicators. The probability of incorrect frequency adjustment measures can be thereby reduced.
US08081663B2
A time synchronization method for synchronizing times of a first apparatus and a second apparatus includes transmitting, by the first apparatus, a packet to the second apparatus, the packet including the time of the first apparatus, providing, by a relay apparatus that relays the packet, a value to the packet, the value indicating a reception time upon the reception of the packet, providing, by the relay apparatus, a difference between the value provided to the packet in the providing of reception time and a current time to the packet upon the transmission of the packet, the difference serving as a delay value, and executing, by the second apparatus, a control for time synchronization based on the time of the first apparatus included in the packet and the delay value provided to the packet.
US08081662B2
Disclosed is a method for generating a data block to be transmitted from a specific layer in a transmitting side to a receiving side in a wireless communication system. The method includes receiving an upper layer datei block from an upper layer and generating a lower layer data block including at least part of the upper layer data block and state indication information indicating a state of the upper layer data block, the state indication information being selected variably according to a logical channel through which the upper layer data block is received. This method optimizes overhead of a header of each upper layer data block according to contents of the upper layer data block and event situations associated with the upper layer data block, thereby increasing system efficiency.
US08081650B2
A method for assigning virtual lanes (VL) in a fiber channel switch is provided. The fiber channel switch element includes a virtual lane cache that can compare incoming frame parameters based on which virtual lanes may be assigned; and a register to store parameters used for virtual lane assignment. The method includes, determining if VL assignment is to be based on an incoming frame parameter or a programmed value; determining if an incoming frame is a preferred frame; and assigning a preferred routing priority if the incoming frame is designated as a preferred frame. The method also includes, determining if a fabric topology is known; and assigning virtual lanes based on a known fabric topology.
US08081646B1
A packet switch includes virtual output queues for mapping data units of data packets from input ports to output ports of the packet switch. The packet switch selects virtual output queues based on old age indicators of the virtual output queues and routes data units mapped at heads of the selected virtual output queues to output ports of the packet switch. Further, the packet switch may identify a data unit of a multicast data packet mapped at the head of more than one virtual output queue and contemporaneously route the data unit to more than one output port. Additionally, the packet switch may update an old age indicator to indicate a virtual output queue is old if the virtual output queue maps an unserviceable data unit of a multicast data packet and the same data unit is mapped at the head of a selected virtual output queue.
US08081634B2
A packet processing apparatus of a cable modem in hybrid fiber coaxial networks for processing a packet received from a cable modem termination system through a plurality of downstream channels is provided. A specific channel number is assigned to each channel and the cable modem termination system transmits downstream service identifier encoding information to the cable modem during an initializing process therebetween. The apparatus includes a plurality of channel receivers, each for generating an interface packet by inserting the channel number of a corresponding channel into the packet received through the corresponding channel; and an input controller that classifies the interface packet into a resequencing packet, which needs to be resequenced, and an ordinary packet, for which resequencing is not necessary, using the downstream service identifier encoding information and stores the resequencing packet and the ordinary packet.
US08081631B1
An Ethernet Metropolitan Area Network provides connectivity to one or more customer premises to packet-based services, such as ATM, Frame Relay, or IP, while advantageously providing a mechanism for assuring security and regulation of customer traffic. Upon receipt of each customer-generated information frame, an ingress Multi-Service Platform (MSP) “tags” the frame with a customer descriptor that specifically identifies the recipient customer. In practice, the MSP tags each frame by overwriting the Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifier with the customer descriptor. Using the customer descriptor in each frame, a recipient Provider Edge Router (PER) or ATM switch can map the information as appropriate to direct the information to the specific customer at its receiving site. In addition, the customer descriptor may also include Quality of Service (QoS) information, allowing the recipient Provider Edge Router (PER) or ATM switch to afford the appropriate QoS level accordingly.
US08081628B2
A method and apparatus for multicast communications in a multi-hop relay network are described including sending an extended request message, wherein the request message includes a multicast connection identification, multicast distribution tree information and a path identification and receiving an extended response message. Correspondingly, a method and apparatus for multicast communications in a multi-hop relay network are described including receiving an extended request message, wherein the request message includes a multicast connection identification, multicast distribution tree information and a path identification and sending an extended response message.
US08081627B2
A wireless connection system and method are provided to connect diverse Ad-hoc network groups. A first Ad-hoc network group has a first network node and a first edge node wirelessly connecting with each other. The second Ad-hoc network group has a second network node and a second edge node wirelessly connecting with each other without connecting the first Ad-hoc network group. The first and second edge nodes have multiple wireless modules respectively. One of the wireless modules is used to connect wireless with other network nodes in the same Ad-hoc network group. The rest extra wireless module(s) is used to connect wirelessly with another extra wireless module(s) of the edge node(s) in different Ad-hoc network group(s). Therefore, the independent first and second Ad-hoc network groups are now capable of wirelessly connecting with each other.
US08081626B2
Expedited communication traffic handling apparatus and methods are disclosed. A traffic block that includes an amount of communication traffic that has been received on a receive communication link at a receive rate is to be transmitted on an output communication link at an output rate. A determination is made as to whether transmission of the traffic block at the output rate would be completed before a remaining amount of communication traffic to be included in the traffic block is received at the receive rate. Transmission of the traffic block is started, before all of the traffic that is to be included in the block is received, if transmission of the traffic block at the output rate would not be completed before the remaining amount of communication traffic is received. Early transmission may also or instead be enabled only for certain types of traffic. A pre-emptive scheduling scheme is also disclosed.
US08081613B2
A display apparatus selects one of multiple wireless communication apparatuses and activates the selected wireless communication apparatus as a second access point of a second group. The activated wireless communication apparatus establishes the second group including multiple wireless communication apparatuses. After the second group is thus established, the transmission power of the wireless communication apparatus activated as the access point and the multiple wireless communication apparatuses included in the second group is controlled.
US08081611B2
A device may receive a discovery signal from a mobile node, register the mobile node in response to receiving the discovery signal from the mobile node, assign a mobility label to the mobile node after the registration, distribute messages describing the mobility label and the mobile node to edge routers in the network to create a label switched path, and route communication messages from a remote node to the mobile node along the label switched path in the network.
US08081609B2
The present invention provides a method involving a media server, a wireless access network, at least one media client, and a proxy server. The method includes accessing, at the proxy server, at least one message including information indicating impending establishment of a media session between the media server and said at least one media client. The method also includes providing, from the proxy server, information indicating the impending establishment of the media session and a request to receive feedback associated with the media session. The method further includes receiving, at the proxy server, feedback associated with the media session in response to providing the request to receive feedback associated with the media session.
US08081607B2
A method of operating a mobile communication network includes defining at least one criterion of inclusion of network objects in at least one group of network objects also referred to as an object zone, constructing at least one object zone from network objects satisfying said at least one criterion and performing at least one radio network optimization operation using said at least one object zone constructed in this way.
US08081606B2
A component in a telecommunications network including a processor configured, responsive to receiving a scheduling request from a user equipment (UE), to grant a minimum level of resource capacity to the UE for an uplink transmission from the UE to the component. The processor further configured to determine the minimum level of resource capacity based on an expected data packet payload and on a condition of a communications channel between the component and the UE.
US08081602B2
The present invention provides methods for selecting a handover algorithm. The methods may include selecting the handover algorithm for a mobile unit based on at least one measurement indicative of a network state. The methods may also include receiving information indicative of the handover algorithm selected based on the measurement(s) indicative of the network state.
US08081601B2
A method, apparatus and computer program operate so as to formulate a request at a terminal for a network access node to transmit a broadcast message; to transmit the request on an out-of-band radio channel for reception by the network access node; and to receive the broadcast message prior to a next scheduled time for the broadcast message to be transmitted. The network may be a WiMAX network, and the broadcast message may be at least one of a downlink channel descriptor/uplink channel descriptor and system identity information advertisement message. Also disclosed is a corresponding network access node that operates so as to receive a request from at least one terminal, where the request is a request to transmit a broadcast message and is received on an out-of-band radio channel. The network access node responds by transmitting the broadcast message prior to a next scheduled time for the broadcast message to be transmitted.
US08081599B2
A resource allocation with dynamic bit control to achieve the greatest fairness for all users and minimize transmission power over orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is presented. This technique can be also applied in WiMAX system.
US08081596B1
Network architecture and a method for configuring a reconfigurable radio terminal, including a communication network and at least one radio terminal belonging to said communication network. The architecture further includes a node connected to the communication network and includes operating software modules suitable to reconfigure the radio terminal through an over-the-air connection and transparently to the communication network.
US08081595B2
A method and apparatus for scheduling transmissions via an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) are disclosed. A scheduled power is calculated for scheduled data flows. A remaining transmit power is calculated for the E-DCH transmission. A rate request message is generated, wherein the scheduled power, remaining transmit power and rate request message are used to select transport format combinations (TFCs) and multiplex data scheduled for the E-DCH transmission. The remaining transmit power is calculated by subtracting from a maximum allowed power the power of a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH), a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH), a high speed dedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH), an enhanced uplink dedicated physical control channel (E-DPCCH) and a power margin.
US08081594B2
An extension subordinate machine system enabling high-accuracy correction of the cable loss by adjusting the gain by using the pilot signal and further enabling high-accuracy correction of the loss caused by distribution by a distributor even when a relay device adaptor is connected to the extension subordinate machine through the distributor. With this system, a main machine control section (201) outputs a pilot signal generated by a pilot signal generating section (203) when a switching section (205) sets a measurement mode. A pilot detecting section (215) detects the reception level. A control section (216) detects the pilot signal and sets the attenuation factor according to the reception level of the detected pilot signal. A variable attenuator (206) attenuates the up-link signal and the down-link signal at the set attenuation factor to adjust the gain.
US08081585B2
A two-way wireless repeater and booster system and method are disclosed. The system and method improve signal quality and strength for the middle hop of a three-hop repeater, between User and Network Units operating in the unlicensed bands (ISM and/or UNII), and supporting the cellular (or wireless) network communications channels. The system and method enables the support of a wider repeat spectrum or bandwidth for a given communications bandwidth in the unlicensed band.
US08081571B2
A flow admission control module for IP traffic types monitors network topology and usage. A new flow is not admitted if it is determined that the flow would push the utilization of available bandwidth reserved for the traffic type on a link in the associated path beyond a predetermined threshold. The admission control module may, as a result of dynamic changes to network topology capacity, re-compute the link utilization for effected active flows The admission control module may also account for protection regimes in flow admission calculations.
US08081569B2
The number of connection setup request packets that are accepted for processing by a network element are dynamically adjusted based on the run time capacity of the network element. The number of accepted connection setup request packets that can be initiated for processing are dynamically modified based on the processor utilization and average latency of completion of processing the connection setup requests. The network element can apply a scheduling policy to those connection setup request packets to differentiate the processing treatment of different types of connection setup requests.
US08081551B2
An object of the invention is to provide an optical recording medium and an optical information device that enable to improve the quality of a servo signal and a reproduction signal. In the case where shape-wise thicknesses tr1, tr2, tr3, and tr4 of a cover layer, a first intermediate layer, a second intermediate layer, and a third intermediate layer are respectively converted into thicknesses t1, t2, t3, and t4 of the respective corresponding layers each having a predetermined refractive index “no”, a defocus amount with respect to a layer having a refractive index nrα and a thickness trα (satisfying: 1≦α≦n (where α is a positive integer and n is an integer of 4 or more)), and a defocus amount with respect to a layer having the refractive index “no” and a thickness tα (satisfying: 1≦α≦n (where α is a positive integer and n is an integer of 4 or more)) are equal to each other; and the thicknesses t1, t2, t3, and t4 satisfy |t1−(t2+t3+t4)|≧1 μm, a difference between any two values of the thicknesses t1, t2, t3, and t4 is set to 1 μm or more in any case, and |(t1+t2)−(t3+t4)|≧1 μm.
US08081547B2
A method of and apparatus for managing disc defects in a disc using a temporary defect management area in the disc, and the disc, where the method includes recording in a data area user data; and recording in a temporary defect management area, which is present in at least one of a lead-in area and a lead-out area, which temporary defect information and temporary defect management information regarding the user data recorded in the data area are recorded. Accordingly, the method and apparatus are applicable to recordable discs and capable of effectively using the defect management area.
US08081542B1
A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) patterned-media magnetic recording disk drive has a perpendicular patterned-media disk with multilevel data islands and a laser capable of supplying multiple levels of output power to a near-field transducer (NFT). If there are only two cells in each island, each island is formed of an upper cell of magnetic material with a coercivity HC1 and a Curie temperature TC1, a lower cell of magnetic material with a coercivity HC2 and a Curie temperature TC2 greater than TC1, and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between the two cells. Each cell is formed of high-anisotropy material so as to have an anisotropy field greater than the magnetic write field. The TAR laser is capable of supplying at least two levels of output power to the NFT to allow the islands to be heated to two distinct temperatures so that the two cells in an island can be written so as to have either the same or opposite magnetizations.
US08081541B2
An optical disc includes an electromagnetic coupling module mounted therein. The electromagnetic coupling module includes a wireless IC chip and a feeder circuit substrate in which a feeder circuit including a resonant circuit having a predetermined resonant frequency is disposed. The electromagnetic coupling module is electromagnetically coupled to a reflective film defining a metal thin film of the optical disc, and the reflective film defines an antenna or radiation pattern of the electromagnetic coupling module.
US08081539B2
For an ultrasonic sensor at least one sensitivity parameter or sensitivity characteristics curve may be adjusted as a function of the air humidity and/or temperature in such a way that a predefined range or a range section may be reliably reached. Such a sensor makes it possible to reliably detect curbs, and to locate parking spaces, including curb detection under varying weather conditions.
US08081538B2
A semiconductor memory device includes output enable signal generation means configured to be reset in response to an output enable reset signal, count a DLL clock signal and an external clock signal, and generate an output enable signal in correspondence to a read command and an operating frequency; and activation signal generation means configured to generate an activation signal for inactivating the output enable signal generation means during a write operation interval.
US08081537B1
A circuit is configured to be mounted on a memory module connectable to a computer system so as to be electrically coupled to a plurality of memory devices on the memory module. The memory module has a first number of ranks of double-data-rate (DDR) memory devices activated at least in part to a first number of chip-select signals. The circuit is configurable to receive address signals and a second number of chip-select signals from the computer system. The circuit is further configurable to generate and transmit phase-locked clock signals to the first number of ranks, and to generate the first number of chip-select signals in response at least in part to the phase-locked clock signals, the address signals, and the second number of chip-select signals.
US08081534B2
A semiconductor memory device is capable of scrambling input/output data according to row addresses. The semiconductor memory device includes a local line driving block configured to differentially drive a positive local line and a negative local line by selectively inverting data on a global line according to row addresses, a global line driving block configured to drive the global line by selectively inverting data on the positive local line and data on the negative local line according to the row addresses, a first cell region configured to allow a first internal data to be equalized with the data on the positive local line in response to the row addresses and column addresses, and a second cell region configured to allow a second internal data to be equalized with the data on the negative local line in response to the row addresses and the column addresses.
US08081529B2
A method and system for high speed testing of memories in a multi-device system, where individual devices of the multi-device system are arranged in a serial interconnected configuration. High speed testing is achieved by first writing test pattern data to the memory banks of each device of the multi-device system, followed by local test read-out and comparison of the data in each device. Each device generates local result data representing the absence or presence of a failed bit position in the device. Serial test circuitry in each device compares the local result data with global result data from a previous device. The test circuitry compresses this result of this comparison and provides it to the next device as an updated global result data. Hence, the updated global result data will represent the local result data of all the previous devices.
US08081517B2
A solid state storage system includes a memory area having a plurality of pages and is capable of storing program information about each page. The memory area stores the number of pulse counts applied to each page. A main memory controller receives the program information from the memory area and determines whether to program pages according to the program information. The main memory controller determines whether the program information for a page is at a predetermined amount and if the corresponding page should be programmed again or not.
US08081511B2
Apparatus and methods are disclosed, such as those involving a flash memory device. One such apparatus includes a memory block including a plurality of columns. Each of the columns includes a bit line and a plurality of memory cells on the bit line. The plurality of columns include a plurality of groups of regular columns and a plurality of groups of redundant columns. The apparatus also includes a plurality of data latches. Each of the data latches is configured to store data read from a respective one group of regular columns. The apparatus further includes a plurality of redundant data latches. Each of the redundant data latches is configured to store data read from a respective one group of redundant columns. The apparatus also includes a multiplexer configured to selectively output data from the plurality of data latches and the plurality of redundant data latches.
US08081510B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit including a nonvolatile memory cell is provided with a detection/word line voltage control circuit for sequentially supplying two or more mutually different unstable bit detecting voltages to a control gate of the nonvolatile memory cell to cause the nonvolatile memory cell to output a plurality of pieces of readout data, and an OK/NG determination circuit for comparing the plurality of pieces of readout data to determine whether the nonvolatile memory cell is stable or not.
US08081501B2
A multi-level nonvolatile memory device using variable resistive element with improved reliability of read operations is provided. A multi-level nonvolatile memory device comprises a multi-level memory which includes a resistance element, wherein the resistance level of the resistance element is variable depending on data stored in the multi-level memory cell, and a read circuit which provides the multi level memory cell with a read bias and performs a sensing operation in response to the read bias, wherein the read bias has at least two levels during a read cycle.
US08081496B2
An example power converter includes an energy transfer element, a switch, a controller, and a current offset circuit. The controller is coupled to switch the switch between an ON state and an OFF state to regulate the output of the power converter. The controller is also adapted to terminate the ON state of the switch in response to a switch current flowing through the switch reaching a switch current threshold. An auxiliary winding of the energy transfer element is adapted to generate an auxiliary winding voltage that is representative of an input voltage of the power converter only during the ON state of the switch. The current offset circuit is coupled to the auxiliary winding to generate an offset current to flow through the switch in response to the auxiliary winding voltage, where an input current of the power converter is adjusted in response to the offset current.
US08081495B2
An over-power compensation circuit for use in a switched mode power supply having a current sense circuit for sensing a current flowing through a power transistor of the switched mode power supply. The over-power compensation circuit includes a peak detector, a sample-and-hold circuit, a current offset generator, and an offset resistor. The peak detector has an input for receiving an input voltage derived from the input line, and an output. The sample-and-hold circuit has an input connected to the output of the peak detector, and an output. The current offset generator has an input connected to the output of the sample-and-hold circuit, and an output for providing an offset current. The offset resistor has a first terminal connected to the output of the current offset generator, and a second terminal adapted to be connected to a current conducting electrode of the power transistor.
US08081484B2
A printed circuit board assembly and method of assembly in which underfill is placed between a chip and substrate to support the chip. A trench is formed in the upper layer of the printed circuit board to limit the flow of the underfill and in particular to limit the underfill from contact with adjacent components so that the underfill does not interfere with adjacent components on the printed circuit board assembly.
US08081468B2
According to various aspects of the present disclosure, exemplary embodiments are disclosed of thermally-conductive interface assemblies suitable for use in dissipating heat from one or more components of a memory module. The thermally-conductive interface assembly may generally include a flexible heat-spreading material having first and second sides and one or more perforations extending through the flexible heat-spreading material from the first side to the second side. The flexible heat-spreading material may be sandwiched between first and second layers of soft thermal interface material. A portion of the soft thermal interface material may be disposed within the one or more perforations. The thermally-conductive interface assembly may be positioned relative to one or more components of a memory module to provide a thermally-conductive heat path from the one or more components to the first layer of soft thermal interface material.
US08081465B2
A cooling apparatus for semiconductor chips includes radiation fins formed on the opposite surface of metal base opposite to the surface of metal base, to which an insulator base board mounting semiconductor chips thereon, is disposed. The radiation fins, such as sheet-shaped fins having different lengths are arranged such that the surface area density of the fins becomes higher in the coolant flow direction, whereby the surface area density is the total surface area of radiation fins on a unit surface area of the metal base. As a result, the temperatures of semiconductor chips arranged along the coolant flow direction are closer to each other.
US08081464B2
An exemplary encapsulated high-voltage switch is disclosed which contains a heat-generating current conductor, a metal encapsulation surrounding the current conductor, and a cooling element. A cooler of the cooling element is fixed on a part of the encapsulation that is embodied as a mounting plate, and has cooling ribs arranged outside the encapsulation. In a section of the cooler that is embodied as a cooling block, at least a portion of the cooling ribs is arranged parallel to the mounting plate and is held on a heat distributor fixed to the mounting plate in such a way that on both sides of the heat distributor in each case one of two groups of cooling channels arises, in which the cooling channels are in each case arranged in the manner of a sandwich. The cooling channels can, for example, be oriented in a manner inclined relative to a horizontal axis of the switch.
US08081460B2
A liquid-cooled heat radiator 1 includes a heat radiation base 2 having a cooling-liquid channel 5, and an expansion tank 7 provided on the heat radiation base 2. The expansion tank 7 has a tank body 26 having an expanded portion 27, which expands upward and opens downward, and a bottom plate 28 joined to the lower end of the tank body 26 to thereby close a bottom opening of the expanded portion 27. A through-hole 29 is formed in the top wall of the expanded portion 27 of the tank body 26 and serves as a communication section for establishing communication between the interior and the exterior of the cooling-liquid channel 5. A hydrogen-permeable member 31 is fixedly fitted into the through-hole 29 so as to stop the through-hole 29. The hydrogen-permeable member 31 satisfies the relation B≧50 A, where A and B are water-vapor permeability and hydrogen permeability, respectively, of the hydrogen-permeable member 31. The hydrogen-permeable member 31 is formed from a single material selected from the group consisting of ethylene-propylene rubber, butyl rubber, fluorine-containing rubber, nitrile-butadiene rubber, and silicone rubber. The liquid-cooled heat radiator 1 can be free from an increase in pressure in the cooling-liquid channel 5.
US08081454B2
A gas ejector capable of effectively dissipating heat generated from a heater while inhibiting noise generation as little as possible, an electronic device equipped with the gas ejector, and a gas-ejecting method are offered. A gas ejector (1) according to the present invention includes a vibrator (25) and ejects gas in a form of a pulsating flow such that vibration of the vibrator allows sound waves respectively generated upon ejection of the gas ejected from nozzles (23) and (24) to deaden out each other. Also, a control section (20) optimizes the frequency of the vibrator (25), hence, by increasing the gas ejection quantity as much as possible while inhibiting noise generation, heat of a heater is effectively dissipated.
US08081453B2
A motherboard including an electronic component is provided. Airflow flows through the motherboard along a direction. An adhesive air guiding device including at least one air guiding surface facing the direction of the airflow is stuck to the electronic component, for guiding the airflow to flow over the electronic component.
US08081442B2
A removable data-storage device. The removable data-storage device includes a main data-storage unit, an exterior housing for containing the main data-storage unit, an elastic shock-reduction part between an inner wall of the exterior housing and the main data-storage unit for reducing a mechanical shock to the main data-storage unit by elasticity and an external connector exposed from an opening of the exterior housing. The main data-storage unit is placed at the rear of the external connector as viewed from the opening. The external connector is joined and secured to the main data-storage unit and the exterior housing. In addition, the elastic shock-reduction part is configured to deform with a movement of the main data-storage unit in the exterior housing produced by a mechanical shock and a movable range of the external connector is smaller than a movable range of the main data-storage unit.
US08081441B2
A storage device suitable to be installed on a rack includes a case, a plurality of storage units, a power module, a management module and an adapting board, wherein the case includes a bottom board, a first side wall, a second side wall and a partition board. The partition board is located over the bottom board to divide the case into an upper and a lower accommodation spaces. The storage units are disposed in the upper accommodation space and the power module is disposed in the lower accommodation space. The power module includes a power backboard and power suppliers plugged at the power backboard. The management module disposed in the lower accommodation space has an expanding interface. The adapting board is disposed in the lower accommodation space and electrically connected to the power backboard, the management module and the storage units.
US08081440B2
A portable computer and a hinge mechanism thereof are provided. The portable computer includes a display monitor, a host and a hinge mechanism. The hinge mechanism for rotating the display monitor and the host relatively includes a bottom board, a pivot, a power adapter, a locking bracket, a slanting board and a parallel board. The pivot is disposed on the bottom board. Two ends of the pivot are connected with the host and the display monitor respectively. The power adapter is disposed on the bottom board. The locking bracket having a locking hole is disposed on the bottom board. The slanting board disposed on the bottom board slants to the pivot. The slanting board has a first opening which exposes the power adapter. The parallel board disposed on the bottom board is parallel to the pivot. The parallel board has a second opening which exposes the locking hole.
US08081439B2
A power switch and connector that are conventionally included in a body are formed in spaces created at the outer ends of the shafts of hinges other than the body and a display, whereby the body is thinned. Electronic device comprises a body, a display, and a hinge that joins the body and display so that they can be freely opened or closed. A power switch is formed at an end of the shaft of the hinge. Furthermore, the electronic device comprises the body, the display, and another hinge that joins the body and display so that they can be freely opened or closed. A port of a connector opens at an end of the shaft of the hinge.
US08081435B2
An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a display, a sliding member, and a main body. The display includes two connecting members. The sliding member is rotatably connected to the connecting member. The main body includes a housing, a first casing, and a second casing. The housing defines two slots. Each slot extends through the housing. The first casing is secured to the housing. The first casing and the housing cooperatively define a first receiving space communicating with the slots. The sliding member is slidably received in the first receiving space. The second casing is secured to the housing. The second casing and the housing cooperatively define a second receiving space to receive the display. The second receiving space communicates with the first receiving space and defines an opening. The display is pushed into and out of the second receiving space from the opening.
US08081434B2
A display device is disclosed that can prevent pressing of a substrate and exposure of D-IC to the outside. The display includes a display panel, a driving circuit on one side of a rear surface of the display panel, the driving circuit driving the display panel, and a case receiving the display panel and the driving circuit. The case includes a slit having a predetermined space to expose the driving circuit, and both ends of the slit include a spacer supporting a lower portion of the display panel.
US08081430B2
A visual display having microperforations, backlighting and contrasting surface finishes is disclosed. The visual display includes an opaque base object having a front surface and a plurality of microperforations therethrough from the front surface to a back surface. Each microperforation has a diameter of about 100 microns or less, and numerous microperforations are arranged into an overall pattern, such as a logo, text or advertisement. A light source placed proximate to the back surface passes light through the microperforations to be visible at the front surface, such that the overall pattern can be visibly perceived when the light source is turned on. A contrasting surface finish formed on the front surface includes at least two visibly distinguishable shades, with one shade covering at least a portion of the front surface defined by the overall pattern, such that the overall pattern can be seen when the light source is turned off.
US08081429B2
An electronic device workable on electric power and able to avoid troublesome connection and handling of a power cable, and a frame that supports the electronic device. A power terminal of an image display module, a power terminal of a main unit module, and a power terminal of a connector module are supplied with electric power from power terminals of frames provided in the frames and a joint part, in a state where a frame receiving section of the image display module, a frame receiving section of the main unit module, and a frame receiving section of the connector module are supported on the frames.
US08081398B2
Provided is a thin-film magnetic head, in which the magnetic spacing can be controlled appropriately, regardless of the presence of the variation in height of the medium-opposed surface of the closure. The thin-film magnetic head includes: at least one head element formed on or above an element-formation surface of a substrate, for reading data from a magnetic recording medium and/or writing data to a magnetic recording medium; an overcoat layer formed on the element-formation surface so as to cover the at least one head element; and at least one closure adhered to at least a portion of an upper surface of the overcoat layer. Here, at least one of the at least one closure includes at least one element for adjusting the height of a medium-opposed surface of the closure. The element is preferably a heating element provided within the closure.
US08081383B1
A generator of duality modulated radiation, of which the irradiance, the wave intensity, or both, are varied from ordinarily equivalent levels, either for purposes of providing energy depleted or energy enriched radiation or for purpose of encoding an information signal. Various techniques are disclosed for restoring irradiance levels to “ordinary” levels, or for amplifying irradiance without affecting wave intensity. A communication system also employs duality modulated radiation.
US08081372B2
Systems and methods for driving a display of MEMS devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a display includes an array comprising a plurality of interferometric modulators, and a driving circuit coupled to said array, said driving circuit configured to provide actuation signals to drive said array based on a temperature of the display. In another embodiment, a method of driving an array having a plurality of interferometric modulators configured into a display is disclosed, where the method includes sensing the temperature at a predetermined location in display, communicating a signal based on the sensed temperature to a display driver, generating an actuation signal to drive said display based on the received signal, and providing the actuation signal to the array.
US08081367B2
A dimmer wheel which is formed to absorb large amounts of light and to disperse the light that is absorbed. The dimmer wheel has a bottom surface that is irregular, and a reflective material in that bottom surface to scatter the light. A light absorbing material also receives some of the light.
US08081366B2
An oscillating device includes a supporting portion, a movable portion, a torsion spring that supports the movable portion with respect to the supporting portion so that the movable portion is capable of torsionally vibrating around a torsion axis, and a driving unit that vibrates the movable portion. The torsion spring is formed of single-crystal silicon, and a crystal orientation parallel to the torsion axis of the torsion spring is a [111] orientation.
US08081354B2
An embodiment of the present invention involves a document reading apparatus that includes an optical scanning unit that moves back and forth in a document reading direction so as to read information of a document placed on a document placement table arranged in a top face of a frame by irradiating the document with light emitted from a light source lamp, and a distribution cable connected to the light source lamp. The optical scanning unit includes a support member that leads out and supports the distribution cable connected to the light source lamp in the document reading direction, and the support member includes a regulating member that regulates inclination of the lead-out distribution cable with respect to the document reading direction to support the distribution cable so as to be substantially parallel to the document reading direction.
US08081351B2
Provided is a mobile phone handset which includes a front cover moulding with user interface buttons and a display. A chassis moulding houses telecommunication components in connection with the buttons and display. The chassis moulding has a cradle and a drive mechanism, as well as a print cartridge operatively received in the cradle. The cartridge has a printhead and an ink storage and distribution assembly. The handset also includes a rear cover molding defining an inlet and an outlet slot. The drive mechanism is configured to feed print media from the inlet slot to the outlet slot past the print cartridge for printing on the media.
US08081343B2
An image forming system includes: a resource information storage unit that previously stores resource information to be combined with input print information; a first setting unit that sets an image characteristic of the resource information stored in the resource information storage unit; a second setting unit that sets an image characteristic of the input print information; and a color conversion unit that, when the image characteristic set by the first setting unit and the image characteristic set by the second setting unit are different, performs color conversion on the resource information based on the image characteristic set by the first setting unit, and performs color conversion on the print information based on the image characteristic set by the second setting unit.
US08081340B2
A mobile phone device configured for overlaying part of a substrate. The substrate contains a printed hyperlink and coded data identifying a plurality of positions on the substrate. The device includes: a mobile telephone transceiver; an optical sensor for reading the coded data; a processor for generating interaction data using the read coded data; a wireless transceiver or memory for retrieval of display data corresponding to the part of the substrate overlain by the device; and a touch-sensitive display screen for displaying information based on the display data. The displayed information includes a displayed hyperlink corresponding to the printed hyperlink. User interaction with the displayed hyperlink via the touch-sensitive display screen causes display of hyperlinked information on the screen.
US08081337B2
A fax processing system handles faxes that are originally destined for a recipient's phone number. The fax processing system communicates with the fax recipient via a data communications network (for example, the Internet) and can provide more sophisticated fax handling capabilities than conventional fax machines.
US08081331B2
An image forming apparatus includes an input part for inputting information, a processing part for processing the information; a storing part for storing the information, an output part for outputting the information, a writing part for writing desired information to a portable recording medium, and a scanner for scanning an original as image information. In image forming apparatus, the image information scanned by the scanner is stored in the storing part, and wherein the input part, the processing part, the storing part, and the output part are centralized at one place, and send and receive the information to and from each other.
US08081313B2
A monitor for monitoring gas concentration in an aerospace application is described, one such application being measuring the concentration of oxygen in or next to aviation fuel. The monitor comprises: a substance, the spectroscopic properties of which change when the substance is exposed to the gas; a light source, arranged to irradiate the substance with light; and a photosensor, arranged to detect light from the substance. The substance may be mounted on a solid substrate.
US08081306B2
The invention provides a method and a system for localizing an attenuation change location in an optical waveguide, wherein the attenuation change location can be determined depending on a time difference (ΔT) between signal power change instants of optical signals having different wavelengths (λ1, λ2) that are transmitted via the optical waveguide.
US08081305B2
We disclose an apparatus comprising: a hand-portable optical analysis unit including an optical interface; and a device configured to receive and releasably engage the hand-portable optical analysis unit. The device comprises: a housing; a sample unit in the housing; and a resilient member configured to bias the sample unit and the hand-portable analysis unit towards each other when the hand-portable optical analysis unit is received in the device to compress a sample disposed between the sample unit and the optical interface of the optical analysis unit. Methods of analyzing samples are also disclosed.
US08081302B2
A Multimode Optical Sensor (MMOS) is a laser radar (ladar) that employs both coherent, or heterodyne, and noncoherent detection at long range, i.e. ranges for which the target is no more than a pixel in dimension. Coherent detection provides much higher velocity resolution while the noncoherent detection can provide better detectability.
US08081285B2
A mounting structure includes a first substrate that has a first surface and a second surface, a plurality of first connection terminals that are disposed on the first surface in a first direction, a plurality of second connection terminals that are disposed on the first surface in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and that are disposed at predetermined gaps from the first connection terminals, a plurality of connection wiring lines that are disposed on the second surface, each having first portions that overlap the first and second connection terminals in plan view and a second portion that is formed to have a width narrower than those of the first and second connection terminals in the first direction, a plurality of through holes that pass through the first substrate so as to correspondingly connect the second connection terminals to the connection wiring lines, and a second substrate that has a plurality of third connection terminals correspondingly connected to the first and second connection terminals and correspondingly overlap the first and second connection terminals in plan view.
US08081282B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate having a gate line and two data lines crossing with the gate line to define a pixel, a first pixel electrode connected to the gate line and the first data line, and a second pixel electrode connected to the gate line and the second data line. A second substrate opposes the first substrate and includes a common electrode having a common electrode cutting pattern. The pixel electrode includes a pixel electrode cutting pattern to form domains and sub domains in the pixel with the common electrode cutting pattern. A liquid crystal layer is arranged between the first and second substrates. The pixel electrodes include bent portions. The pixel electrode and the common electrode include sub cutting patterns extending towards the sub domains at the bent portions.
US08081265B2
A liquid crystal display structure is provided. The liquid crystal display structure includes a pixel region and a thin film transistor on the substrate. The thin film transistor is adjacent to the pixel region and includes a gate electrode; a gate insulating layer having a top surface; a source electrode and a drain electrode at the top surface of the gate insulating layer; a semiconductor layer disposed at the top surface of the gate insulating layer, the semiconductor layer between the source electrode and the drain electrode defining a channel region, the semiconductor layer including a small molecule organic semiconductor material; and a first passivation layer covering the channel region, a top surface of the first passivation layer coinciding with or being below a top surface of each of the source electrode and the drain electrode.
US08081264B2
A liquid crystal device is provided that includes a pair of substrates having a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween, the liquid crystal layer containing therein liquid crystal molecules of which the alignment state during no-voltage application corresponds to a splay alignment state; and a conductive alignment regulating member which is at least partially disposed in a frame region defining the perimeter of a pixel region on one substrate of the pair of substrates.
US08081257B2
A system for integrating de-interlace and overdrive operations includes a de-interlace device, a first frame scaling controller, a second frame scaling controller and an overdrive device. The de-interlace device performs a de-interlace operation on plural fields to thereby obtain plural frames. The first frame scaling controller receives a first frame among the plural frames and performs a vertical and horizontal scaling operation on the first frame to thereby produce a first display frame. The second frame scaling controller receives a second frame among the plural frames and performs a vertical and horizontal scaling operation on the second frame to thereby produce a second display frame. The overdrive device produces a driving voltage based on a difference between a pixel of the second display frame and a pixel of the first display frame corresponding to the pixel of the second display frame.
US08081248B2
A solid-state image pickup device includes a pixel array including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, and a pixel signal read-out circuit for reading out a pixel signal from the pixel array in units of a plurality of pixels. The pixel signal read-out circuit includes a plurality of comparators and a plurality of counters. The comparators are disposed to correspond to a column of the pixels, and compare a read-out signal potential and a reference voltage to generate a determination signal and output the determination signal. The counters are controlled by outputs of the comparators. Each of the counters is configured to count a comparison time of a corresponding comparator of the comparators. The counters have a different operation period for each one or a plurality of columns.
US08081242B2
An imaging apparatus, includes: an image sensor having a light receiving surface with a plurality of pixels and a plurality-of-color separation filter, which receives light from a photographic subject which is incident via an optical system on the surface via the filter, outputs a pixel output of each pixel, and images an image of the subject; a pixel output judging section which judges if each pixel output reaches each predetermined saturation level or not; a pixel output compensation processor which compensates a pixel output of a specific color filter based on a pixel output of another color separation filter in the vicinity which is less than its predetermined saturation level; and a bit compression convertor.
US08081238B2
An image capturing apparatus includes a shutter-operation accepting unit that accepts a shutter operation; an image capturing unit that captures an image of an object and generates a captured image; a brightness-information extracting unit that extracts, from the captured image, brightness information indicating brightness of the whole captured image; a luminance-value-distribution-information extracting unit that extracts, from the captured image, luminance-value-distribution information indicating a distribution of luminance values in the captured image; a scene determining unit that determines a scene of the object included in the captured image based on the extracted brightness information and luminance-value-distribution information; and a control unit that performs control to record captured images using at least two different image capturing/recording parameters if, when the shutter operation has been accepted, the scene of the object included in the captured image is determined to be a predetermined scene.
US08081236B2
A camera system is provided, which performs exposure amount control operation in combination with gradation conversion processing for an image signal acquired from a CCD. With such a camera system, a control unit performs control operation so as to perform pre-shooting multiple times with different exposure amounts prior to real shooting. A conversion property calculation unit calculates conversion properties with respect to the image signals acquired in the pre-shooting, which are to be used in the gradation conversion processing. An exposure control unit determines an exposure amount used in the real shooting based upon the image signals acquired in the pre-shooting, the exposure amounts used in the pre-shooting, and the conversion properties. The control unit performs control operation so as to perform the real shooting based upon the determined exposure amount. A gradation conversion unit performs gradation conversion processing on the image signals obtained in the real shooting.
US08081232B2
An image pickup apparatus includes: an image pickup element having a plurality of pixels; a drive unit moving the image pickup element; a defective position storage unit storing position data on the image pickup element about a defective pixel contained in the plurality of pixels; an image extraction unit extracting a moving picture regeneration area depending on the position of the image pickup element during capturing an image from a captured image obtained by the image pickup element; and a defect correction unit complementing a defective pixel of a captured image obtained by the image pickup element using image data of captured image obtained by the image pickup element in another position. Moving pictures are formed by continuously outputting captured images in the moving picture regeneration area for which the defect correction unit has complemented the defective pixel.
US08081229B2
An imaging apparatus includes: an image sensor having a plurality of pixels arranged in an array that captures an image of a subject and outputs pixel signals; a calculation unit that calculates a correction value for correcting an error of the pixel signals read out from the image sensor for each column of the array of the pixels; and a correction unit that corrects the image signals using the correction value calculated by the calculation unit. In a live view mode, the calculation unit calculates a new correction value by averaging the calculated correction value and a correction value for a previous frame.
US08081227B1
An image for which a quality indicator is to be displayed is obtained. The image is processed to obtain a quality value associated with the quality of the image. The quality indicator based at least in part on the quality value is displayed, wherein the quality indicator is displayed with a displayed version of the image.
US08081225B2
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method enabling to correct for camera shake given in image capturing, a recording medium, and a program. Discrete data pieces indicating shifts are obtained. The discrete data pieces are interpolated to obtain data indicating a shift every line. By the interpolation, a correction is calculated every line on the basis of the corresponding shift. On the basis of the corrections, pixel data read positions are determined. Pixel data is read based on the determined read positions. When a pixel to be read overlaps two pixels, pixel data of the pixel to be read is produced (interpolated) from pixel data pieces. In this manner, the effects of camera shake are corrected. The present invention is applicable to video cameras.
US08081220B2
A solid-state electronic image sensing device senses the image of a subject repeatedly for an exposure time over which camera shake is thought not to occur, and repeatedly outputs image data representing the image of the subject. A combining device generates one frame of a combined image obtained by combining the image of the subject represented by image data that has been output from the solid-state electronic image sensing device with the image of the subject represented by image data that was output from the solid-state electronic image sensing device by an immediately preceding image sensing operation, in such a manner that the images of the subject coincide. A combining control device controls the combining device so as to repeatedly execute processing for generating one frame of a combined image updated by combining the combined image, which is the result of combination by the combining device, with the image of the subject represented by image data that has been output from the solid-state electronic image sensing device, in such a manner that the images coincide.
US08081211B2
A reverse sensing system displaying an overhead vehicle image includes a plurality of fisheye lenses, a trip computer, and a screen. The fisheye lenses are disposed on all sides of the vehicle to shoot the surrounding scene images of the vehicle. The trip computer reads the scene images, and executes a plurality of built-in image processing procedures to combine the scene images into an overhead vehicle image. The radially distorted scene images are corrected into the normal scene images through a distorted image correction procedure. The corrected scene images are rotated into projection scene images through a planar transition procedure. The images are retrieved according to the positions of the shooting lenses of the projection scene images so as to generate the overhead vehicle image through an image combining procedure.
US08081208B2
A high tone image is saved in a versatile image file format to enhance usability. There are provided an imaging unit that images an original image having a predetermined dynamic range, which is a ratio between minimum luminance and maximum luminance; a synthesized image generating part that generates a synthesized image data that is higher in tone than a tone width of the original image by synthesizing a plurality of original images imaged under different imaging conditions at the same observation position; a display unit that displays the images imaged by the imaging unit; a tone conversion part that converts the synthesized image data generated by the synthesized image generating part to low tone image data having a tone width capable of being displayed on the display unit; and a tone data saving part that generates a high tone data-attached display file including a high tone image region for saving the synthesized image data serving as a basis as an image file for saving the low tone image data.
US08081190B2
A system and method for optimizing the performance of a graphics intensive software program for graphics acceleration hardware. This system and method encompasses a procedure that validates the different functions of a 3D acceleration capable video card, decides whether to use the acceleration hardware and optimizes the software application to selectively use the functions that work on the specific video acceleration card. Functions checked include sub-pixel positioning, opacity, color replacement and fog. If these tests are successful, then the graphics acceleration is used by the software application. However, if the tests are not successful the decision is made not to use graphics accelerator. Those with ordinary skill in the art will realize that it is not necessary to perform all of the tests in a specific order. Additionally, other types of tests could be performed to ensure software application and video card compatibility before the software application is uses graphics acceleration to render 3D graphics.
US08081183B2
A method for reconstructing a three dimensional (3D) model, suitable for reconstructing the 3D model of an object by using a voxel, is provided. After the voxel is cut to a plurality of sub-voxels, the sub-voxels of which a projection image is inside a silhouette image are reserved. It is determined whether to recut the sub-voxel corresponding to the projection image, which is on the edge of the silhouette. When it is determined to recut the sub-voxel, the above-mentioned steps are repeated until recut is not required, thereby reconstructing the 3D model according to the reserved sub-voxels.
US08081171B2
A digital pen of the kind having means to sense and create a digital record of the use made of the pen and a memory in which the digitised record is stored also includes a reader for communication with memory tags by inductive coupling. The means to sense and create a digital record of the use made of the pen may include a camera. Preferably the reader for communication with memory tags is located at the opposite end of the pen from a nib for convention writing, and the pen includes a battery power supply.
US08081167B2
A display device having a contact sensing function, and a driving method thereof are disclosed in one embodiment. The driving method of a display device includes reading sense data signals of a current sensing unit row, determining whether the sense data signals are included in a contactable range and converting the sense data signals into preliminary signals that each have a predetermined value based on the determination result, determining whether a sensed area (an X axis sensed area) in an X axis direction exists using the preliminary signals, determining whether the X axis sensed area is effective when the X axis sensed area exists, determining whether a sensed area (a Y axis sensed area) in a Y axis direction exists when the X axis sensed area is effective, determining whether the Y axis sensed area is effective when the Y axis sensed area exists, determining a contact position when the Y axis sensed area is effective, and reading sense data signals of a next sensing unit row when the X axis sensed area or the Y axis sensed area is not effective.
US08081162B2
An optical navigation device for operation in a surface navigation mode and a free space navigation mode is described. One embodiment of the optical navigation device includes a microcontroller, a surface navigation sensor, and a free space navigation sensor. The surface and free space navigation sensors are coupled to the microcontroller. The microcontroller is configured to process a movement of the optical navigation device. The surface navigation sensor is configured to generate a surface navigation signal in response to a surface navigation image. The free space navigation sensor is configured to generate a free space navigation signal in response to a free space navigation image. Embodiments of the optical navigation device facilitate an integrated optical solution to provide desktop navigation and scene navigation in a single optical navigation device.
US08081132B2
A wideband antenna for receiving digital television signals includes a substrate, a radiating plate, a first radiating element, and a second radiating element. The radiating plate is formed on the substrate and the radiating plate has a first radiating area, a second radiating area and a slit formed between the first and the second radiating areas. The first and the second radiating elements are pivotedly connected to the radiating plate. The first radiating element and the second radiating element are constructed as a dipole antenna structure of the antenna so as to excite a first resonant mode. The radiating plate also acts as a matching circuit thereon so as to excite a second resonant mode. The center frequency of the second resonant mode is shifted toward the center frequency of the first resonant mode with the incorporation of the radiating plate so that the antenna has a wideband characteristic.
US08081129B1
An energy responsive device. The device includes a memristor and at least one antenna. The memristor is coupled to the at least one antenna.
US08081123B2
A phased array antenna system includes a first radiation element that is made of a material and has a length selected to resonate at a desired frequency. A phase-shift element is coupled to one end of the first radiation element. A second radiation element is coupled to the end of the phase-shift element opposite the first radiation element, so that a radio signal passes through the first radiation element through the phase-shift element and through the second radiation element, the second radiation element is made of a material and has a length selected to resonate such that the first and second radiation elements cooperate to form a desired beam pattern from the antenna system.
US08081109B2
A method and apparatus for determining the location of a device from signals provided by a plurality of satellites. A device receives a first plurality of signals comprising one signal from each of a first plurality of satellites and determines a first location of the device as a function of the first plurality of signals. The device then determines a second location thereof as a function of a second plurality of signals if the first location is not within a predetermined threshold. The second plurality of signals is a first subset of the first plurality of signals.
US08081105B2
An embodiment of the invention includes a step of transmitting an OFDM waveform including several frequency carrier signals transmitted simultaneously, the frequency carrier signals being coded in order to improve the Doppler response. An embodiment of the invention includes a step of receiving the echoed waveform from the target. The initial phase of each frequency carrier signal is recovered from the echoed waveform. The recovered initial phase of each frequency carrier signal is cyclically shifted in order to compensate for the Doppler effect and subsequently decoded. A compressed pulse is synthesized from the decoded initial phases.
US08081100B2
A read signal processor includes an output unit that serializes a plurality of bits of digital data for each of the colors to obtain a plurality of serial signals, converts the serial signals to a plurality of low-amplitude differential signals, and outputs the serial low-amplitude differential signals.
US08081095B2
A data output circuit includes: a data generating circuit configured to generate output data; and a serial output circuit configured to receive an address corresponding to the data generating circuit, hold a parallel data input during a time period over which the address is being received, and serially output the output data generated by the data generating circuit and the held parallel data in accordance with an output direction signal for directing output of the data.
US08081087B2
A flashing beacon may include a signal unit, a control unit associated with the signal unit, a solar panel or collector, and an activation device that may all be mounted or otherwise positioned on a post of a roadway sign. Light units associated with the signal unit may be programmed to flash on and off in a unique wig-wag pattern. Further, a light bar may also be used with the beacon to generate an intense flash of light soon after activation of the beacon as an additional means of grabbing the attention of the operator of a vehicle.
US08081085B2
A water-conducting domestic appliance including a door having a handle, and display means for displaying an operating state of the domestic appliance by projecting a light projection, wherein the display means are disposed in the handle of the door.
US08081078B2
A universal tracking assembly that is capable of supporting more than one protocol used in electronic article surveillance (EAS) labels. The universal tracking assembly includes an acousto-magnetic (AM) EAS portion with a Radio Frequency (RF) EAS portion. The intrinsic characteristics and properties of the components of these individual labels are utilized to enhance the overall performance and utility of the combined EAS universal tracking assembly.
US08081076B2
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for visually locating short distance emission RFID tags to locate items in a container. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: initiating a reading sequence of a plurality of first RFID tags, wherein each first RFID tag is associated with a respective item located in the container, and wherein each first RFID tag emits an identification (ID); capturing the ID emitted by each first RFID tag using a plurality of second RFID tags located in the container, wherein each second RFID tag is coupled to a respective illumination source; addressing one of the first RFID tags; and activating the illumination source coupled to each second RFID tag that captured the ID of the addressed first RFID tag.
US08081073B2
Security systems and methods are implemented using a variety of devices and methods. According to one such implementation, a security system uses a controller to communicate with security-monitoring devices and has an integrated image-capture device with a circuit board structure with an angle-setting support article, a circuit board with a nonadjustable surface, and data-communicating conductors. A camera is secured to the nonadjustable surface and is directed at a first angle relative to the nonadjustable surface. A motion detector is secured to the nonadjustable surface and is directed at a second angle relative to the nonadjustable surface of the circuit board. The support article sets the first angle relative to the second angle for capturing both images and motion in a target area. A data-communication circuit communicates data from the camera and the motion detector and wirelessly communicates the data to the controller. A solar circuit provides power to the device.
US08081067B2
A retainer arrangement that includes a retainer for retaining a hinged arm on a vehicle in a stored position positively so that the hinged arm does not move away from the vehicle unintentionally. The arrangements may be used in connection with a hinged stop arm that is attached to the side of a school bus that is deployed when the school bus stops to pick-up or drop off passengers.
US08081064B1
A device and method for facilitating compliance with a medication regimen may incorporate an icon set that illustrates concepts relating to the medication regimen in a pictographic form that is easily recognized and comprehended. The device is programmed with medication instructions, and generates medication reminders for the medication instructions by displaying icons from the icon set. The device may additionally display text, play audio, vibrate, send text messages to other devices, etc. The device may accept input from the individual and/or caregiver regarding the medication instructions or the medication events. The device may also contain the medication, control access and dosing of the medication, and administer the medication to the individual. The device may also communicate information regarding the medication regimen to the caregiver, such as prescription renewal requests. This device and method may improve the accuracy and thoroughness of compliance and communication regarding the medication regimen.
US08081063B2
Systems and methods for determining a Q value for a subsequent inventory round can include a radio frequency identification (RFID) interrogator determining at least one of: a number of empty slots, a number of collided slots, and a number of singly occupied slots, in response to the completion of an inventory round, and applying a function to at least one of: the number of empty slots, the number collided slots, and the number of singly occupied slots, to determine the Q value.
US08081062B2
Provided is an antenna system with high isolation. The high-isolation antenna has transmission ports of a transmission antenna and reception ports of a reception antenna highly isolated from each other by using quadrature hybrid couplers. The antenna system includes: a transmission antenna having two feed points for transmitting signals; a reception antenna having two feed points for receiving signals; a transmission hybrid coupler which is connected to the two feed points of the transmission antenna and transmits transmission signals which have a phase difference of 90° with each other; and a reception hybrid coupler which is connected to the two feed points of the reception antenna and receives reception signals which have a phase difference of 90° with each other. The signals leaking from the two feed points of the transmission antenna to the two feed points of the reception antenna are offset.
US08081059B2
A chip resistor (A1) includes a chip-like resistor element (1), two electrodes (31) spaced from each other on the bottom surface (1a) of the resistor element, and an insulation film (21) between the two electrodes. Each electrode (31) has an overlapping portion (31c) which overlaps the insulation film (21) as viewed in the vertical direction.
US08081055B2
An inductive element having a gap and a fabrication method thereof are disclosed. The fabrication method is for fabricating an inductive element having a first core body, a second core body and a gap, and includes: coating an adhesive on a gap-facing side of the first core body and/or the second core body; providing a linear spacer and installing the linear spacer between the first core body and the second core body; and combining the side of the first core body where the adhesive is coated with the side of the second core body where the adhesive is coated, allowing the linear spacer to form the gap when the first core body is combined with the second core body. Thereby, the linear spacer establishes the size of the gap of the inductive element and improves the adhesion of the first core body to the second core body.
US08081051B2
An electromagnetic interference (EMI) suppressor having a bandpass filtering function is provided. The EMI suppressor is disposed on a substrate, and includes a signal line, a ground line, an open-circuit line, a first line group, and a second line group. The signal line has an input terminal and an output terminal for feeding in and feeding out electromagnetic wave signals respectively. One terminal of the ground line is connected to the signal line and the other terminal is a ground terminal. One terminal of the open-circuit line is connected to the signal line and the other terminal is an open-circuit terminal. The first line group is formed by a first open-circuit line and a second open-circuit line, and is connected to the signal line. The second line group is formed by a third open-circuit line and a fourth open-circuit line, and is connected to the signal line.
US08081047B2
A multiband circuit includes a signal path comprising a first signal branch that includes a first circuit that is transmissive in a first frequency band and a second signal branch that includes a second circuit that is transmissive in a second frequency band. The first and second signal branches are combined on an antenna side into a common path.
US08081046B2
There is disclosed an ortho-mode transducer fabricated as a single piece. The ortho-mode transducer may include a first surface having an aperture defining a common port, a second surface having an aperture defining a vertical port, and a third surface having an aperture defining a horizontal port. The second and third surfaces may be essentially parallel and normal to the first surface. A common waveguide may coupled to the common port, the common waveguide supporting orthogonal vertical and horizontal modes. A vertical branching waveguide may couple the vertical mode between the vertical port and the common waveguide while rejecting the horizontal mode. A horizontal branching waveguide may couple the horizontal mode between the horizontal port and the common waveguide while rejecting the vertical mode.
US08081039B1
In one embodiment, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is provided. The VCO includes a tank circuit. Also, the VCO includes a first pair of transistors. The drains of the first pair of transistors are coupled to the tank circuit and the gates of the first pair of transistors are cross-coupled with the drains of the first pair of transistors. The first pair of transistors each have a first threshold voltage. The VCO further includes a second pair of transistors. The drains of the second pair of transistors are respectively coupled to the sources of the first pair of transistors and the gates of the second pair of transistors are respectively coupled to the gates of the first pair of transistors, The second pair of transistors each have a second threshold voltage higher than the first threshold voltage.
US08081035B2
A multiphase oscillator with a control path for urging the rotational direction of the oscillator is disclosed. The multiphase oscillator has an electrically or magnetically or both continuous signal path over which a signal propagates subject to a phase reversal on each traversal of the signal path and active switching means that create and sustain the propagating signal. A control path has a control signal whose propagation activates each switching means in the order of the direction of propagation of the control signal on the control path so as to determine direction of the signal propagating on the signal path.
US08081034B2
An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor includes capacitive loop filter with selectable capacitive elements that are operable to adjust a signal level provided to a voltage controlled oscillator to control a frequency of an output signal of the oscillator. A plurality of switches are controlled by logic to define a discharge mode, a charge mode and charge sharing mode in which a plurality of capacitive elements share charge while generating the input voltage to the oscillator.
US08081017B2
To provide a rational frequency dividing circuit wherein the variations in cycle times of frequency divided clock signals are small, there are many occasions in which the minimum cycle time of frequency divided clock signals and test costs are small. A clock signal frequency dividing circuit, the frequency division ratio of which is specified as N/M where are both N and M are integers, includes an output clock selecting circuit (200) that selects one of three situations: an input clock signal is outputted as it is, the input clock signal is inverted and outputted and the input clock signal is not outputted; and a clock selection control circuit (100) that generates a control signal for controlling the foregoing selection of the output clock selecting circuit. The clock selection control circuit controls the foregoing selection of the output clock selecting circuit at every cycle of the input clock signal.
US08081013B1
A method for digital phase detection, comprises the steps of: providing a reference clock; receiving a feedback clock; determining a timing difference between the reference clock and the feedback clock; determining a polarity that indicates the leading or lagging relationship between the reference clock and the feedback clock; adaptively selecting one of at least two operating modes for generating a quantized level indicative of the timing difference, wherein in a first operating mode the quantized level is a constant maximum value and wherein in a second operating mode the quantized level is proportional to the timing difference; and generating a digital phase detection output as a combination of the polarity and the quantized level.
US08081011B2
Disclosed is a circuit for adjusting a voltage supplied to an IC by a power supply circuit that produces a regulated-output voltage based on an output-control signal generated by a resistive voltage divider. The circuit includes a PVT detector configured to generate an interface control signal and an interface circuit (i) connected to PVT detector and to the resistive voltage divider and (ii) configured to adjust its resistance in response to the interface control signal. Adjusting the resistance of the interface circuit causes the voltage of the output-control signal to be adjusted, thus causing the power supply circuit to adjust the regulated output voltage.
US08081008B2
A method for testing a characteristic impedance of an electronic component includes sending a positioning command to a control computer through a switch, so as to drive a probe holder of a mechanical arm to position probes of a time domain reflectometer (TDR) on a position of the electronic component. The method further receives measured data collected by the TDR, and compares the measured data with preset standard values to determine if the measured data is acceptable.
US08080999B2
A sensor cable for surveying. The sensor cable has a housing, which includes one of more electrodes and a conductive gel surrounding the one or more electrodes. The conductive gel is configured to conduct electrical current to the one or more electrodes and keep the one or more electrodes moist. The housing may also have a membrane surrounding the conductive gel, wherein the membrane is configured to hold the conductive gel in contact with the one or more electrodes and permit electric current to flow between a surrounding medium and the conductive gel.
US08080987B1
A modulator circuit for a switching regulator including first and second ramp generators, a comparator circuit and a reset circuit. The switching regulator provides a compensation voltage indicative of output voltage error. The ramp generators generate leading- and trailing-edge ramp voltages which are compared to the compensation voltage for determining pulses on a pulse modulation signal. The reset circuit prevents the leading-edge ramp voltage from resetting if the leading-edge ramp voltage has not reached the compensation voltage while ramping. The reset circuit further clamps the leading-edge ramp voltage until the pulse modulation signal is asserted again. In a multiphase configuration, each leading-edge ramp voltage is suspended if any leading-edge ramp voltage is clamped. An offset voltage may be added to the compensation, leading-edge, or trailing-edge voltages when a mode select signal indicates a reduced load condition. The offset voltage may be adjusted based on various operating conditions.
US08080980B2
An alternator configured for use in a vehicle comprises a stator having a plurality of stator windings. A rotatable field coil is positioned adjacent to the stator within the alternator. A field driver circuit is configured to deliver an electric current to the field coil. A voltage sensor is configured to detect a battery voltage. A controller in the alternator is configured to execute either a first field current control program or a second field current control program depending at least in part upon the detected battery voltage. The first field current control program is configured to control the electric current delivered to the field coil in a 12 volt vehicle power system. The second field current control program is configured to control the electric current delivered to the field coil in a 24 volt vehicle power system.
US08080979B2
A charger that charges a battery unit including a secondary battery, includes a receiving unit, a detection unit, a determination unit, and a control unit. The receiving unit receives, from the battery unit, battery state information indicating a state of the battery unit, if the secondary battery is being charged. The detection unit detects charge state information indicating the state of the battery unit, if the secondary battery is being charged. The determination unit determines, using the battery state information and the charge state information, whether the battery unit is in a normal state. The control unit controls charging of the secondary battery in the battery unit depending on whether the battery unit is in the normal state.
US08080962B2
A fire or smoke barrier 1 has a curtain 2 deployed from a motorized roller 3 mounted in a head box 4. Remote from the head box and connected to the motor via a cable 5 is a motor controller circuit 6. A short circuit protection circuit 9 is connected to the motor within the roller at the motor end of the cable 5. On the motor side of the circuit 9 is a retarder circuit 10 connected across the motor terminals.The short circuit circuit comprises a pair of relays 11, 12, arranged with their normally open contacts 111,121 arranged in parallel. A drive voltage one 11 of the relays has its winding 112 across the input lines 14 of the circuit and the emf one 12 of the relays has its winding 122 across the output lines 15 of the circuit. The input lines 14 are connected to the cable lines 51,52 and the output lines 15 are connected to the motor terminals 16, via the retarder 10.
US08080958B2
A power conversion device includes a main circuit that has switches connecting each phase of a three-phase AC power supply to each output phase, an LC filter having a reactor and a capacitor connected between the three-phase AC power supply and each bidirectional switch, and a current detector detecting an input current or a load current, and a four-step commutation device generating four steps on the basis of the polarity of the load current. The four-step commutation device sets times between the steps to a value more than zero so as to inhibit open circuit between output phases and short circuit between power supply phases, and sets the times between the steps in accordance with the polarity of the load current so as to cancel a distortion of an output voltage due to four-step commutation during a PWM cycle.
US08080955B2
A driving method for a motor includes sensing variation of magnetic pole of a rotator of the motor, to generate a magnetic pole sensing signal, determining dead zone of the motor according to the magnetic pole sensing signal, to generate a determination result, and adjusting voltage outputted to a coil of the rotator according to the determination result.
US08080951B2
A drive apparatus with at least one synchronous motor, a converter and a mechanical energy buffer able to be fed from an energy supply network, which, for converting mechanical energy into electrical current, includes a first asynchronous machine, and a method of operation for such a drive apparatus are specified, with which or in which the energy buffer, especially its first asynchronous machine is directly electrically connected via a switchover device to the at least one synchronous motor, so that the converter included in the drive apparatus is bypassed for such a switch position of the switchover device and the converter accordingly does not have to be designed for currents which flow in such a switch position of the switchover device.
US08080949B2
The present invention relates to temperature compensation of HID lamps in automobiles. The invention concerns the manner in which the temperature of the HID lamp is accounted for in order to drive the lamp is at appropriate power from hot to cold conditions. In the present invention, the voltage across a capacitor in the temperature compensation circuit is sensed and used as a command signal to anticipate lamp temperature, and accordingly the reference power to the HID lamp is modulated depending on the temperature of the lamp. In the present invention, the lamp is driven with a higher power setting when the lamp is cold and with lower power setting when hot. This adaptive generation of reference power setting depending on the temperature of the lamp is implemented using the voltage across a capacitor in the temperature compensation circuit.
US08080944B2
An ignition circuit arrangement and method for a discharge lamp, with which there is associated a supply circuit for providing an ac supply voltage to the lamp, includes an ignition transformer which is connected to a trigger circuit on the primary side and to the lamp on the secondary side for transmitting an ignition pulse; an input energy source for the ignition trigger circuit; a first switch means in the trigger circuit and a control means which actuates the first switch means. To assist with the ignition process, an energy storage means controllable by the control means, in particular a voltage source controllable by the control means, is arranged in the supply circuit in series with the gas-discharge lamp. The controllable energy storage means serves to provide an additional energy supply during the ignition process beyond the actual ac supply for the lamp.
US08080943B2
An image display apparatus of a present invention has a rear plate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices, a face plate having a light-emitting member, a high-voltage power source which applies a high voltage to the light-emitting member, a current detecting unit which detects an emission current from the electron-emitting devices, and a bypass capacitor. One end of the bypass capacitor is connected between the high-voltage power source and the current detecting unit, and the other end of the bypass capacitor is connected to a potential regulating electrode, and an electrostatic capacitance Cp of the bypass capacitor satisfies a following formula: Cp>∈A/d where ∈: permittivity of vacuum, A: an area of the light-emitting member, and d: a distance between the rear plate and the face plate.
US08080937B2
Charge transport enhancement layers and structures are provided that may improve the performance of organic devices, specifically organic light emitting devices. A charge transport enhancement layer may include a layer or an inorganic material, metal oxide, halide, and/or alkali disposed between two organic layers, and separated from the cathode by an intervening organic layer. One or more CTELs may be used, such as in an alternating stack of organic and CTEL layers. Surprisingly, it has been found that the use of one or more CTELs arranged in a stack with intervening organic layers may improve the performance of the device even where the layer is not directly adjacent to the cathode.
US08080925B2
Inertial sensor having a body with first and second cavities on opposite sides thereof, a sensing element in the first cavity, electronic circuitry in the second cavity, electrical conductors interconnecting the sensing element and the circuitry, and leads connected electrically to the circuitry and extending from the body for mounting the sensor and making connections with the circuitry.
US08080924B2
A liquid ejecting head including a pressure-generating chamber which communicates with a nozzle opening, and a piezoelectric element including a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer formed above the first electrode and having a perovskite structure represented by the general formula ABO3, and a second electrode formed above the piezoelectric layer, wherein the piezoelectric layer, lead, zirconium, and titanium are present at A sites of the perovskite structure, and lead, zirconium, and titanium are present at B sites of the perovskite structure.
US08080917B2
A driving apparatus, which drives an object, includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements configured to drive a plurality of portions of the object, a plurality of voltage apply units configured to apply voltages to the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and a control unit configured to control the plurality of voltage apply units so that differences among the voltages applied to the plurality of piezoelectric elements do not exceed a predetermined value.
US08080902B2
Distributed generation systems incorporate a distribution network and typically a number of distributed generators. It is possible that power islands may be created in substations incorporating a generator when that substation and generator is isolated from the distribution network by a circuit breaker. A problem arises when the power island is re-connected to the distribution network when the phase of electrical power supply in the previous power island is not synchronized with the power supply on the distribution network. Identifying such an out of phase nature is achieved utilizing application of test reactances, both capacitative and inductive, across the whole distribution network such that such test reactances are substantially unbalanced within a particular substation and in particular a distribution path for a generator so that there is a test reactance load imbalance which will identify out of phase operation and therefore control activation of the circuit breaker.
US08080900B2
Apparatus and associated method and computer program products involve a highly efficient uninterruptible power distribution architecture to support modular processing units. As an illustrative example, a modular processing unit includes an integrated uninterruptible power system in which a PFC-boost AC-to-DC conversion occurs between the utility AC grid and the processing circuit (e.g., microprocessor) loads. In an illustrative data center facility, a power distribution architecture includes a modular array of rack-mountable processing units, each of which has processing circuitry to handle network-related processing tasks. Associated with each modular processing unit is an integrated uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to supply operating power to the network processing circuitry. Each UPS includes a battery selectively connectable across a DC bus, and a AC-to-DC rectifier that converts an AC input voltage to a single output voltage on the DC bus. The regulated DC bus voltage may be close to the battery's fully charged voltage.
US08080890B2
A method for the operation of a wind turbine comprising a rotor with at least one rotor blade, a generator and a speed regulator for regulating the rotational speed of a drive train element by adjusting a generator torque and/or a blade pitch angle, comprising the steps of: determining the angular speed of the drive train element through the time derivative of an angular position signal, determining the angular acceleration of the drive train element, presetting desired values for the generator torque and/or the blade pitch angle taking into account the angular speed of the drive train element and the angular acceleration of the drive train element, wherein the angular acceleration of the drive train element is determined from the angular position signal, wherein a filtering with an upper cut off frequency is performed after the first time derivative of the angular position signal and before a second time derivative of the angular position signal, said upper cut off frequency being tuned to a maximum adjustment speed of the generator torque and/or of the blade pitch angle.
US08080888B1
A hydraulic generator drive system. The drive system has a control system that utilizes a first loop control that receives a signal associated with hydraulic pump or motor output and sends a command signal to a pump controller in order to control the hydraulic pump. Simultaneously, the control system has a second loop control that receives an input signal from the generator and sends a command signal to an armature to actuate the generator. As a result, a single control system is provided to control the speed and voltage output of the generator.
US08080879B2
An electrode structure is disclosed for enhancing the brightness and/or efficiency of an LED. The electrode structure can have a metal electrode and an optically transmissive thick dielectric material formed intermediate the electrode and a light emitting semiconductor material. The electrode and the thick dielectric cooperate to reflect light from the semiconductor material back into the semiconductor so as to enhance the likelihood of the light ultimately being transmitted from the semiconductor material. Such LED can have enhanced utility and can be suitable for uses such as general illumination. The semiconductor material can have a cutout formed therein and a portion of the electrode can be formed outside of the cutout and a portion of the electrode can be formed inside of the cutout. The portion of the electrode outside the cutout can be electrically isolated from the semiconductor material by the dielectric material.
US08080874B1
A system, method, and apparatus are included for providing additional space between an integrated circuit package and a circuit board. An integrated circuit package is provided including a plurality of integrated circuit package contacts. Also provided is a circuit board in electrical communication with the integrated circuit package. Further, the integrated circuit package, the integrated circuit contacts, and/or the circuit board is configured for providing additional space between the integrated circuit package and the circuit board to position at least a portion of at least one component between the integrated circuit package and the circuit board.
US08080872B2
A package for use in encapsulating an electronic device is disclosed. In some embodiments, the package includes the following: a dielectric frame having first and second sides, an aperture, a raised shelf portion defined along an internal perimeter of the dielectric frame and extending outwardly from the second side, the raised shelf portion defining a first thickness of the dielectric frame, and a raised sidewall extending outwardly from the second side along an external perimeter of the dielectric frame, the raised sidewall defining a second thickness of the frame, the second thickness being greater than the first thickness; a metallic component bonded to the dielectric frame and extending across the aperture; and a seam weldable, low-profile metallic seal ring bonded to the raised sidewall of the dielectric frame. In some embodiments, the package includes the following: a dielectric frame having first and second sides and an aperture, the dielectric frame having an aperture thickness bordering the aperture; a metallic insert positioned within the aperture, the metallic insert having first and second sides, the metallic insert being sized so as to be movable within the aperture and the metallic insert having an insert thickness that is greater than the aperture thickness of the dielectric frame; a first metallic component bonded to the first side of the metallic insert and extending across the aperture; and a second metallic component bonded to the second side of the metallic insert and extending across the aperture.
US08080870B2
A back-side lamination (BSL) is applied after thinning a microelectronic die. The BSL is configured to be a thermal-expansion complementary structure to a metal wiring interconnect layout that is disposed on the active side of the microelectronic die.
US08080858B2
A Semiconductor component having a space saving edge structure is disclosed. One embodiment provides a first side, a second side, an inner region, an edge region adjoining the inner region in a lateral direction of the semiconductor body, and a first semiconductor layer extending across the inner region and the edge region and having a basic doping of a first conductivity type. At least one active component zone of a second conductivity type, which is complementary to the first conductivity type, is disposed in the inner region in the first semiconductor layer. An edge structure is disposed in the edge region and includes at least one trench extending from the first side into the semiconductor body. An edge electrode is disposed in the trench, a dielectric layer is disposed in the trench between the edge electrode and the semiconductor body, a first edge zone of the second conductivity type adjoin the trench and are at least partially disposed below the trench.
US08080839B2
An electro-mechanical transistor includes a source electrode and a drain electrode spaced apart from each other. A source pillar is between the substrate and the source electrode. A drain pillar is between the substrate and the drain electrode. A moveable channel is spaced apart from the source electrode and the drain electrode. A gate nano-pillar is between the moveable channel and the substrate. A first dielectric layer is between the moveable channel and the gate nano-pillar. A second dielectric layer is between the source pillar and the source electrode. A third dielectric layer is between the drain pillar and the drain electrode.
US08080827B2
An LED having enhanced heat dissipation is disclosed. For example, an LED die can have extended bond pads that are configured to enhance heat flow from an active region of the LED to a lead frame. A heat transmissive substrate can further enhance heat flow away from the LED die. By enhancing heat dissipation, more current can be used to drive the LED. The use of more current facilitates the production of brighter LEDs.
US08080826B1
The present invention discloses and claims the Silicon Carbide based Silicon structure comprising: (1) a Silicon Carbide substrate, (2) a Silicon semiconductor material having a top surface, and either bonded to the Silicon Carbide substrate via the bonding layer, or epitaxially grown on the Silicon Carbide substrate; and (3) at least one separation plug formed in the Silicon semiconductor material. The single bonding layer, or either layer of the double bonding layer, is selected from the group consisting of: {a Silicon dioxide layer; a Silicon layer; a carbon layer; a Silicon germanium (SiGe) layer; a tungsten silicide layer; a titanium suicide layer; and a cobalt silicide layer}. The separation plug extends from the top surface of the Silicon semiconductor material into the Silicon Carbide substrate at a separation plug depth level, and is configured to block the coupling between at least two adjacent active/passive structures formed in the Silicon semiconductor material.
US08080823B2
A liquid crystal driver mounting package in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention contains a film base material and a liquid crystal driver connected to each other via an interposer. The liquid crystal driver includes first alignment marks on its face opposite the interposer. The interposer includes second alignment marks on its face opposite the liquid crystal driver. The first alignment marks and the second alignment marks are separated by about a distance which is in a tolerable range as a combining position where the liquid crystal driver and the interposer are attached when viewed from the normal of the face of the interposer opposite the liquid crystal driver. Thus, an IC chip (liquid crystal driver) package is provided which enables efficient positing of the IC chip and the interposer.
US08080822B2
A method for fabricating a sol-gel film composition for use in a thin film transistor is disclosed. The method includes fabricating the sol-gel dielectric composition by solution processing at a temperature in the range 60° C. to 225° C. The sol-gel film made by the method, and an organic thin-film transistor incorporating the sol-gel film are also disclosed.
US08080818B2
A light emitting device includes: a first layer made of a semiconductor of a first conductivity type; a second layer made of a semiconductor of a second conductivity type; an active layer including a multiple quantum well provided between the first layer and the second layer, impurity concentration of the first conductivity type in each barrier layer of the multiple quantum well having a generally flat distribution or increasing toward the second layer, average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer on the second layer side as viewed from each well layer of the multiple quantum well being equal to or greater than average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer on the first layer side, and average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer nearest to the second layer being higher than average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer nearest to the first layer.
US08080807B2
An apparatus for detecting at least one of neutron and gamma ray reception and outputting a signal indicative of the reception. A detector is responsive to the at least one of neutron and gamma ray reception. The detector has a cathode, an anode separated by a space from the cathode, and a gas within the separating space. Charge is generated within the gas upon the at least one of neutron and gamma ray reception at the cathode and the charge passes to the anode as a detection. A processing arrangement is operatively connected to the anode for outputting the signal indicative of the detection. A light irradiation arrangement for introducing a light irradiation causes charge within the gas that replicates the charge generated upon detection and that causes output of a signal that replicates the signal indicative of the detection.
US08080805B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; a buried insulator layer disposed on the semiconductor substrate, the buried insulator layer configured to retain an amount of charge in a plurality of charge traps in response to a radiation exposure by the semiconductor device; a semiconductor layer disposed on the buried insulating layer; a second insulator layer disposed on the semiconductor layer; a gate conducting layer disposed on the second insulator layer; and one or more side contacts electrically connected to the semiconductor layer. A method for radiation monitoring, the method includes applying a backgate voltage to a radiation monitor, the radiation monitor comprising a field effect transistor (FET); exposing the radiation monitor to radiation; determining a change in a threshold voltage of the radiation monitor; and determining an amount of radiation exposure based on the change in threshold voltage.
US08080801B2
An inorganic scintillating mixture includes at least a first and a second component, each having a characteristic behavior in response to the irradiation with charged particles, such as protons and heavy ions, showing a typical Bragg peak with respect to a relative depth dose. The first component has a quenching characteristic in the Bragg peak region and the second component shows an increased efficiency in the Bragg peak region both related to a reference curve for the relative dose.
US08080792B2
The present invention relates to a thermal vision countermeasure system to enable concealment of objects from identification by thermal imaging night vision systems, including a screen made of thermoelectric modules, disposed between the target object and an IR detector. The screen, formed of at least one thermoelectric unit, is coupled to the target object, and the thermoelectric unit includes a Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) module coupled to a plate formed of a material selected from aluminum, copper, or aluminum with copper, the plate being substantially larger than the TEC module.
US08080791B2
Multiple detectors arranged in a ring within a specimen chamber provide a large solid angle of collection. The detectors preferably include a shutter and a cold shield that reduce ice formation on the detector. By providing detectors surrounding the sample, a large solid angle is provided for improved detection and x-rays are detected regardless of the direction of sample tilt.
US08080788B2
In a linear ion trap ions of both positive and negative polarities are stored simultaneously for fragmentation reactions caused by electron transfer dissociation (ETD). The ion trap comprises a plurality of parallel pole rods or stacked rings and the ions are stored by applying two phases of a first RF voltage to the pole rods or stacked rings in alternation, thereby radially confining both positive and negative ions. A second, single-phase RF voltage is applied to all the pole rods or stacked rings in common and creates a pseudopotential barrier at the ends of the linear ion trap that acts axially on ions of both polarities in order to maintain the ions in the trap.
US08080783B2
A multiple function atmospheric pressure ion source interfaced to a mass spectrometer comprises multiple liquid inlet probes configured such that the sprays from two or more probes intersect in a mixing region. Gas phase sample ions or neutral species generated in the spray of one probe can react with reagent gas ions generated from one or more other probes by such ionization methods as Electrospray, photoionization, corona discharge and glow discharge ionization. Reagent ions may be optimally selected to promote such processes as Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization of neutral sample molecules, or charge reduction or electron transfer dissociation of multiply charged sample ions. Selected neutral reagent species can also be introduced into the mixing region to promote charge reduction of multiply charged sample ions through ion-neutral reactions. Different operating modes can be performed alternately or simultaneously, and can be rapidly turned on and off under manual or software control.
US08080782B2
A detection signal generated in response to incident ions accelerated at temporally-irregular intervals having an average repetition rate greater than a reference repetition rate represents detection events each having an event time and an intensity. For each detection event, respective allowed TOFs between the event time and the transient times are calculated. Using respective initial probabilities, initial apportionments of the intensity of each detection event among the allowed TOFs linked thereto are determined. For each allowed TOF, the intensity apportionments thereto are accumulated to generate an intensity accumulation linked thereto. For each detection event, respective revised probabilities are iteratively determined using the intensity accumulations linked to the allowed TOFs linked thereto, and the respective intensity is iteratively reapportioned among the allowed TOFs linked thereto using the revised probabilities to transform the detection signal to a time-of-flight spectrum.
US08080778B2
The present invention provides an improved cold-atom system having multiple chambers such that a first of the chambers includes an atom source. The system also includes an atom trap disposed inside a second of the chambers. A fluidic connection is provided between the first of the vacuum chamber and the second of the vacuum chamber.
US08080776B2
A close contact type imaging device is an imaging device for acquiring an image of an object in a state that the object is in close contact to an image sensor. This imaging device has an angle limiting filter. The angle limiting filter is constructed from: a glass substrate of a parallel plate; and a dielectric multilayer film provided on the glass substrate. This angle limiting filter transmits light within a particular wavelength range approximately perpendicularly incident onto the surface, and shields light outside the particular wavelength range and light within the particular wavelength obliquely incident onto the surface.
US08080767B2
A thermal processing apparatus comprising a processing vessel containing, in addition to a plurality of objects subject to heat treatment, an acoustic wave device for temperature measurement. A holding unit holds the plurality of objects to be processed and an object for temperature measurement utilizing an acoustic wave device. A heating unit heats the objects to be processed and the object for temperature measurement. A first conductive member functions as an antenna for transmitting an electromagnetic wave toward the acoustic wave device in the processing vessel; a second conductive member functions as a receiver antenna for receiving an electromagnetic wave dependent on a temperature of the acoustic wave device which is emitted from the acoustic wave device. A temperature analysis part obtains a temperature of the object based on the electromagnetic wave received by the receiver antenna, and a temperature control part controls the heating unit. The first and second conductive members are each part of the thermal processing parts in the processing vessel.
US08080762B2
An electric arc welding machine includes a manual welding tool, an electric power unit, and a cable electrically connecting the welding tool and the electric power unit. The electric power unit includes an electric power converter, an electronic central control unit, and a control panel that allows the user to manually set a desired operating mode and operating specifications based upon equipment selected from a memory module. The electronic central control unit provides real-time control over electric power supplied to the welding tool in accordance with the manually set operating mode and selected equipment.
US08080757B2
A sliding button mechanism includes a housing defining an aperture, a button slidably mounted on the housing and closing the aperture; a conductive and elastic connector member secured on the button; and a circuit board secured in the housing and including a plurality of contact areas. The connector member is positioned between the button and the circuit board. When the button is slid in the aperture, the connector member is driven to selectively contacts with the contact areas to generate different electronic connections.
US08080735B2
The insulation shield layer of a power cable having a blend of ethylene copolymer, e.g., vinyl acetate, and a Styrenic polymer, e.g., polystyrene. The insulation shield layer is adjacent to a polyolefin insulation layer of the power cable.
US08080734B2
A shielded cable includes an inner conductor, a first insulator, a first outer conductor, a second insulator, and a second outer conductor, which are coaxially disposed in this order from an inner side, and has an outer circumference coated by an insulation sheath.
US08080730B2
A photovoltaic device including an active layer of an amorphous material in which the active layer is in the shape of an array of defined and repeating geometrical structures, wherein the geometrical structures include a base and a single apex that are connected by at least three n-polygonal surfaces where n is equal to 4 or higher.
US08080718B1
A novel maize variety designated PH11VR and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PH11VR with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PH11VR through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PH11VR or a locus conversion of PH11VR with another maize variety.
US08080715B1
A novel maize variety designated X6N734 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof, produced by crossing Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprises crossing maize variety X6N734 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X6N734 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X6N734, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X6N734. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X6N734 and to the maize varieties derived by the use of those methods.
US08080704B2
A wetness indicator composition contains (a) 0.1% to 5% by weight of a pH indicator that is substantially colorless at pH 7 and develops a color in an acidic environment, (b) 20% to 90% by weight of a surfactant, (c) 5% to 55% by weight of a polyalkylene glycol, (d) 0% to 70% by weight of a polymer having a carboxyl group, and (e) 0.1% to 5% by weight of an acidic substance other than components (b) and (d). In an absorbent article including a topsheet 2, a backsheet 3, and an absorbent member 4 interposed between the topsheet 2 and the backsheet 3 and having applied thereon a hot-melt composition that changes color on contact with a body fluid, the wetness indicator composition is used as the hot melt composition.
US08080701B2
A method of treating a hydrocarbon stream such as natural gas comprising at least the steps of: (a) providing a hydrocarbon feed stream (10); (b) passing the feed stream (10) through a first separation vessel (12) to provide a first gaseous stream (20) and a first liquid stream (30); (c) passing the first gaseous stream (20) from step (b) through a high pressure separation vessel (14) to provide a second gaseous stream (40) and a second liquid stream (80); (d) maintaining the pressure of the first gaseous stream (20) between step (b) and step (c) within +10 bar; (e) passing the first liquid stream (30) of step (b) through a stabilizer column (16) to provide a third gaseous stream (60) and a stabilized condensate (70); and (f) feeding the second liquid stream (80) from step (c) into the stabilizer column (16).
US08080694B2
A process for selective formation of ethanol from acetic acid includes contacting a feed stream containing acetic acid and hydrogen at an elevated temperature with catalyst comprising platinum and tin on a high surface area silica promoted with calcium metasilicate. Selectivities to ethanol of over 85% are achieved at 280° C. with catalyst life in the hundreds of hours.
US08080687B2
The invention relates to a process for the granulation of a concentrated urea solution whereas the granulation produces a urea granulate and a dust laden air, which is then fed into a dust scrubber which removes the coarser dust with a less concentrated urea solution and which releases a residual air comprising air with ammonia, carbon dioxide water and an aerosol comprising mainly ammonium isocyanate and a part of very fine urea sublimate, whereas the aerosol is then separated off and fed into a isomerisation unit which comprises a stripping where the ammonium isocyanate reacts with steam to form urea which is then redirected into the dust scrubber as a less concentrated urea solution, and the residual air is directed into an acidic scrubber which releases clean air into the atmosphere which finally leads to a recycling of the aerosol of ammonium isocyanate into urea. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the related process.
US08080684B2
Methods and systems for the production of ethyl acetate are described herein. The methods and systems incorporate the novel use of a high shear device to promote dispersion and mixing of a carbonyl co-reactant (e.g. acetic acid, acetaldehyde) with ethanol. The high shear device may allow for lower reaction temperatures and pressures and may also reduce reaction time with existing catalysts.
US08080679B2
Disclosed is the direct conversion process for producing biodiesel from a biomass. The direct conversion process for producing biodiesel from a biomass comprises reacting a feed stock comprising a biomass and an alkylation reagent in a substantially oxygen free environment at a temperature sufficient to hydrolyze one or more lipid glycerides in the biomass and alkylated one or more fatty acids in the reaction. The process may comprise reacting a feed stock comprising an algal biomass and tetramethylammonium hydroxide in a substantially oxygen free environment at a temperature between 250° C. and 500° C. The direct conversion process for producing biodiesel may further comprise reacting oil containing lipid glycerides with an alkylation reagent at a sufficient temperature to esterify the oil. The fatty acid alkyl esters produced from the reacted feed stock are recovered. The recovered fatty acid alkyl esters, as an essential component of biodiesel, may be formulated into biodiesel.
US08080673B2
This invention is directed to stereoselective synthesis of compounds of formula (I) or formula (II): or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, ester, amide, complex, chelate, clathrate, solvate, polymorph, stereoisomer, metabolite or prodrug thereof; wherein R3, R4 and R5 are defined herein. Compounds of formula (I) and formula (II) are known to be useful in treating arrhythmias.
US08080671B2
The production of low color polyetherimides, including its intermediates, such as bisimides and diaryl diether dianhydrides, may be affected by producing an improved purity intermediate of 4-nitro-N-alkylphthalimide. A salt, such as alkali metal carbonate or alkali metal hydrogen carbonate, is added to an aqueous mixture of 4-nitro-N-alkylphthalimide and 3-nitro-N-alkylphthalimide to selectively hydrolyze the imide linkage of 3-nitro-N-alkylphthalimide forming a water-soluble acid-amide salt. An organic solvent is added to this salt mixture to phase separate 4-nitro-N-alkylphthalimide having dissolved in the organic solvent from acid-amide salt of 3-nitro-N-alkylphthalimide having dissolved in water.
US08080660B2
The present inventive subject matter relates to novel metal complex glycogen synthase kinase 3 inhibitors, methods for making such compounds, and methods for using such compounds for treating diseases and disorders mediated by glycogen synthase kinase 3 activity. Compound II, below, represents an exemplary metal complex glycogen synthase kinase 3 inhibitor according to the present disclosure, wherein variable groups are defined as provided herein:
US08080659B2
The invention provides compounds, pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use of certain compounds that are antagonists of the chemokine CXCR4 receptor for the treatment of proliferative conditions mediated by CXCR4 receptors or for the treatment of viral infections. The compounds provided interfere with the binding of SDF1 to the receptor. These compounds are particularly useful for treating or reducing the severity of hyperproliferative diseases by inhibiting metastasis, or for reducing entry of HIV in to a cell while not reducing the capacity of the stem cells to proliferate. The compounds may be useful for long term treatment regimes.
US08080658B2
A material for organic electroluminescence devices for use as a host material in combination with at least one phosphorescent metal complex contains a compound represented by formula 1: wherein R1 to R10 are each independently hydrogen atom, halogen atom, alkyl group having 1 to 40 carbon atoms, cycloalkyl group having 3 to 15 carbon atoms, heterocyclic group having 3 to 20 carbon atoms which is optionally substituted, alkoxy group having 1 to 40 carbon atoms, non-condensed aryl group having 6 to 40 carbon atoms, condensed aryl group having 10 to 18 carbon atoms, aryloxy group having 6 to 20 carbon atoms, aralkyl group having 7 to 20 carbon atoms, arylamino group having 6 to 40 carbon atoms, alkylamino group having 1 to 40 carbon atoms, aralkylamino group having 7 to 60 carbon atoms, arylcarbonyl group having 7 to 40 carbon atoms, alkyl halide group having 1 to 40 carbon atoms, or cyano group, R8 and R9 being optionally bonded to each other to form a ring structure and each of R1 to R10 being optionally substituted and having no polymerizable functional group at its terminal end; and X is sulfur atom or oxygen atom.
US08080650B2
The invention provides isolated anti-ovarian, pancreatic, lung or breast cancer antigen (Pro104) antibodies that bind to Pro104 on a mammalian cell in vivo. The invention also encompasses compositions comprising an anti-Pro104 antibody and a carrier. These compositions can be provided in an article of manufacture or a kit. Another aspect of the invention is an isolated nucleic acid encoding an anti-Pro104 antibody, as well as an expression vector comprising the isolated nucleic acid. Also provided are cells that produce the anti-Pro104 antibodies. The invention encompasses a method of producing the anti-Pro104 antibodies. Other aspects of the invention are a method of killing a Pro104-expressing cancer cell, comprising contacting the cancer cell with an anti-Pro104 antibody and a method of alleviating or treating a Pro104-expressing cancer in a mammal, comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of the anti-Pro104 antibody to the mammal.
US08080642B2
The present invention is directed to raising a detectable immune response in a vertebrate by administering in vivo, into a tissue of the vertebrate, at least one polynucleotide comprising one or more regions of nucleic acid encoding a SARS-CoV protein or a fragment, a variant, or a derivative thereof. The present invention is further directed to raising a detectable immune response in a vertebrate by administering, in vivo, into a tissue of the vertebrate, at least one SARS-CoV protein or a fragment, a variant, or derivative thereof. The SARS-CoV protein can be, for example, in purified form. The polynucleotide is incorporated into the cells of the vertebrate in vivo, and an immunologically effective amount of an immunogenic epitope of a SARS-CoV polypeptide, fragment, variant, or derivative thereof is produced in vivo. The SARS-CoV protein is also administered in an immunologically effective amount.
US08080641B2
The present invention relates to a process for the production of cross-linked hyaluronic acid (HA) derivatives, in particular multiple, e.g. double cross-linked hyaluronic acid derivatives. The invention also provides novel cross-linked HA derivatives, products containing them and their uses in medical and pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications.
US08080633B2
Peptides representing sequences from region 45-74 of the human CD38 leukocyte surface antigen (SEQ ID NO:1) are provided which may be used to inhibit or prevent transmission or replication of the HIV virus. The peptides have from 13 to 30 amino acids and include the amino acid sequence GPGTTK (SEQ ID NO:18) for topical application to inhibit or prevent transmission of the HIV virus.
US08080625B2
Polysiloxanes containing both epoxy groups and quaternary ammonium groups bonded to the polysiloxane through ring-opened epoxy groups provide a soft hand and wash fastness to fibrous substrates.
US08080623B2
A polymerizable composition suitable as an electric material and the like used in an electric circuit board, which comprises a norbornene monomer, a metathesis polymerization catalyst, and a chain transfer agent composed of a compound represented by formula (A): CH2═CH—Y—OCO—CR1═CH2 wherein Y represents a divalent hydrocarbon group having 3 to 20 carbon atoms, and R1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group. By further comprising a crosslinking agent in the polymerizable composition, obtaining a crosslinkable resin by carrying out bulk polymerization, and crosslinking the crosslinkable resin to obtain a molded article and a crosslinked resin composite having excellent characteristics such as electric insulation, adhesion, mechanical strength, heat resistance, dielectric properties and the like.
US08080617B2
The invention is a method for increasing the molecular weight of and optionally providing branching in a polymer which has a first repeat unit, which comprises the residual of a condensation reaction of an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid and either a bisamide diol or a bis diamide diester, and a second repeat unit, which comprises the residual of a condensation reaction of a diol and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid. The invention is also the branched polymer that can be made by such a method.
US08080614B2
A curable organopolysiloxane composition comprises at least the following components: an organopolysiloxane (A) represented by the following general formula: R13SiO(R12SiO)mSiR13 (where R1 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group, and “m” is an integer from 0 to 100); an organopolysiloxane (B) represented by the following average unit formula: (R2SiO3/2)a(R22SiO2/2)b(R23SiO1/2)c (where R2 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group, and “a”, “b”, and “c” are specific numbers); an organopolysiloxane (C) having in one molecule on average at least two silicon-bonded aryl groups and on average at least two silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms; and a hydrosilylation-reaction catalyst (D); is characterized by good fillability and curability and that, when cured, forms a cured body that possesses a high refractive index, high light transmissivity, and strong adhesion to various substrates.
US08080609B2
The invention is a composition comprisinga) one or more prepolymers having on average three or more aliphatic isocyanate groups and further containing alkoxysilane groups; b) one or more aromatic polyisocyanates; c) one or more compounds having at least one heterocyclic ring which hydrolyzes when exposed to moisture to form at least one isocyanate reactive group; d) one or more solvents; and e) one or more amine and/or organometallic polyurethane catalysts; wherein the ratio of aromatic isocyanate groups to aliphatic isocyanate groups in the composition is from about 0.5:1.0 to about 1.5:1.0, preferably about 0.9:1.0 to about 1.5:1.0, and the equivalent ratio of isocyanate groups to isocyanate reactive groups derivable from the one or more compounds having at least one hydrolyzable heterocylic ring is from about 0.8:1.0 to about 5.3:1.0, and most preferably about 1.5:1.0 to about 1.7:1.0.
US08080607B2
The present invention is directed to a polymeric material, particularly a thermoplastic material, the includes thermoplastic polyolefin and an elastomer.
US08080599B2
A thermoplastic polyester composition comprises, based on the total weight of the composition, from 20 to 95 wt. % of a polyester comprising a poly(alkylene terephthalate); from 1 to 35 wt. % of a phosphorous flame retardant consisting of a phosphinate of the formula (I) [(R1)(R2(PO)—O]−mMm+ (I), a diphosphinate of the formula (II) [(O—POR1)(R3)(POR2—O)]2−nMm+x (II), and/or a polymer derived from the phosphinate of formula (I) or the diphosphinate of the formula (II); from 0.1 to less than 20 wt. % of a copolyetherester; from 0.1 to 5 wt. % of an anti-dripping agent; from 0 to 4.5 wt. % of a reinforcing fiber; and from 0 to 5 wt. % of an additive selected from the group consisting of a mold release agent, an antioxidant, a thermal stabilizer, and a UV stabilizer.
US08080595B2
The invention consists of a process for preparation of self-binding pigmentary particles, dry or in aqueous suspension or dispersion, using in a particular stage of the process a reverse emulsion formed from a dispersion in an oily phase of water particles and of at least one polymer of acrylamide with an acrylic monomer.
US08080591B1
Method and devices for rapidly fabricating monolithic aerogels, including aerogels containing chemical sensing agents, are disclosed. The method involves providing a gel precursor solution or a pre-formed gel in a sealed vessel with the gel or gel precursor at least partially filling the internal volume of the vessel and the sealed vessel being positioned between opposed plates of a hot press; heating and applying a restraining force to the sealed vessel via the hot press plates (where the restraining force is sufficient to minimize substantial venting of the vessel); and then controllably releasing the applied restraining force under conditions effective to form the aerogel. A preferred device for practicing the method is in the form of a hot press having upper and lower press plates, and a mold positioned between the upper and lower plates. Doped aerogel monoliths and their use as chemical sensors are also described.
US08080587B2
An oil-in-water type emulsion coating composition having an aqueous phase and an oil phase, the oil-in-water type emulsion coating composition containing: an active energy ray-curable polyfunctional (meth)acrylate having three or more (meth)acryloyl groups within a molecule; and an organic solvent, in the oil phase, the organic solvent having a solubility of 30 g or less in 100 g of water and having a property capable of swelling or dissolving a substrate.
US08080585B2
The invention concerns a crystalline isomaltulose product having improved flow properties as bulk product and no tendency toward long-time compaction, method for production of this product as well as a new use of isomaltulose.
US08080571B2
There is provided compounds of formula I, wherein A, X1, X2, X3, X4, Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Z1, Z2, R4 and R5 have meanings given in the description, and pharmaceutically-acceptable salts thereof, which compounds are useful as selective agonists of the AT2 receptor, and thus, in particular, in the treatment of inter alia gastrointestinal conditions, such as dyspepsia, IBS and MOF, and cardiovascular disorders.
US08080568B1
This invention relates to 2-pyridyl substituted imidazoles which are inhibitors of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) type I receptor (ALK5) and/or the activin type I receptor (ALK4), methods for their preparation, and their use in medicine, specifically in the treatment and prevention of a disease state mediated by these receptors.
US08080560B2
Pharmaceutical formulations and methods including an immune response modifier (IRM) compound and an oleic acid component are provided where stability is improved by using oleic acid have low polar impurities such as peroxides.
US08080559B2
A 5(S)-(2′-hydroxyethoxy)-20(S)-camptothecin diasterisomer is described which is a better inhibitor of topoisomerase I than either the diastereoisomeric mixture 5(RS)-(2′-hydroxyethoxy)-20(S)-camptothecin, or the 5(R)-(2′-hydroxyethoxy)-20(S)-camptothecin diastereoisomer. Pharmaceutical compositions of the 5(S)-(2′-hydroxyethoxy)-20(S)-camptothecin diastereoisomer are also described as are methods of using the compound for the inhibition of topoisomerase I and for the treatment of cancer.
US08080555B2
Compounds useful in the treatment of autoimmune disease are described by the following general formula: n=0-2 m=0-2 m is not necessarily equal to n; where R1, R3═NH2, F, Cl, C1-C4 alkoxy or phenoxy group, but R1 is not necessarily equal to R3; and R2═H, F, Cl, NH2, or NH—R—XH;
US08080552B2
Objects of the present invention are the compounds of formula (I), their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, enantiomeric forms, diastereoisomers and racemates, the preparation of the above compounds, medicaments containing them and their manufacture, as well as the use of the above compounds in the control or prevention of illnesses such as cancer.
US08080545B2
One aspect of the invention relates to inhibitors that preferentially inhibit immunoproteasome activity over constitutive proteasome activity. In certain embodiments, the invention relates to the treatment of immune related diseases, comprising administering a compound of the invention. In certain embodiments, the invention relates to the treatment of cancer, comprising administering a compound of the invention.
US08080544B2
Disclosed are prodrug compounds of formula (I) (wherein variables R1 and R2 are as described herein) which are analogues of an antagonist of CGRP receptors and which are useful in the treatment or prevention of diseases in which CGRP is involved, such as migraine. The invention is also directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and the use of these compounds and compositions in the prevention or treatment of such diseases in which CGRP is involved.
US08080540B2
Estratrien-triazoles corresponding to formula (I) (shown below) which are useful in therapy, especially for the treatment and/or prevention or inhibition of a steroid hormone dependent disorder, preferably a steroid hormone dependent disease or disorder requiring the inhibition of a 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17β-HSD) such as 17β-HSD type 1, type 2 or type 3 enzyme.
US08080532B2
The invention relates to a double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting the expression of the Huntingtin gene (HD gene), comprising an antisense strand having a nucleotide sequence which is less than 25 nucleotides in length and which is substantially complementary to at least a part of the HD gene. The invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the dsRNA together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier; methods for treating diseases caused by the expression of the HD gene, or a mutant form thereof, using the pharmaceutical composition; and methods for inhibiting the expression of the huntingtin gene in a cell.
US08080531B2
ATR kinase is a key regulator of checkpoint responses to incompletely replicated and damaged DNA. Without this checkpoint, cells will enter mitosis prematurely, likely resulting in cell death. The invention provides methods and reagents to either block or activate the activation of the ATR kinase checkpoint, through, for example, either blocking or activating the expression of an ATR activator TopBP1. The invention also provides screening methods to identify additional ToBP1 inhibitors or activators that may be used to modulate the activity of the ATR checkpoint.
US08080530B2
Dermatological conditions/afflictions such as rosacea, common acne, seborrheic dermatitis, perioral dermatitis, acneform rashes, transient acantholytic dermatosis, and acne necrotica miliaris, most notably rosacea, are treated by topically applying onto the affected skin area of an individual in need of such treatment, a topical pharmaceutical composition which comprises a thus effective amount of ivermectin.
US08080522B2
Polyethylene glycol modifications of thymosin alpha 1 (T&agr; 1-PEGs), their preparation process, the medicine composition containing them, and their application in the medicine for preventing and treating diseases related with immune deficiency and hypoimmunity, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatoma, malignant melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, SARS, and AIDS etc.
US08080519B2
Pharmaceutical agents, compositions containing the same and methods for their use for enhancing the bioavailability and pharmacological efficacy of therapeutic peptides. The pharmaceutical agents have the formula Carrier-Linker-Peptide Wherein Peptide is a therapeutically active peptide species having the formula aan wherein n is the number of amino acid residues in the peptide and n is 2 to 40, Carrier is benzoyl, phenylacetyl, cinnamoyl, 3-OH-cinnamoyl, 3,4-OH-cinnamoyl, 3,4-dimethoxycinnamoyl, 3,4-methylenedioxycinnamoyl, 3-methoxycinnamoyl, 3,4-diethoxy-cinnamoyl, 3,4,5-trimethoxy-cinnamoyl, t-butoxycarbonyl, benzyloxycarbonyl, pivaloyl, N-9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl, fumaroyl and derivatives thereof and Linker is a C6 to C16 lipidic chain or a derivative thereof, an 8-amino-3,6-dioxaoctanoic acid or polymeric derivative thereof, pseudo peptide, or peptide mimic. Methods of use of compositions having the formula Carrier-Peptide wherein Carrier and Peptide are as just defined are also disclosed.
US08080515B2
The invention concerns a cell support comprising an RGD-enriched gelatine that has a more even distribution of RGD sequences than occurring in a natural gelatine and with a minimum level of RGD sequences. More precise the percentage of RGD sequences related to the total number of amino acids is at least 0.4 and if the RGD-enriched gelatine comprises 350 amino acids or more, each stretch of 350 amino acids contains at least one RGD motif. Preferably the RGD-enriched gelatines are prepared by recombinant technology, and have a sequence that is derived from a human gelatine or collagen amino acid sequence. The invention also relates to RGD-enriched gelatines that are used for attachment to integrins. In particular The RGD-enriched gelatines of the invention are suitable for coating a cell culture support for growing anchor-dependant cell types. Further, the RGD-enriched gelatines of the invention may find use in medical applications, in particular as a coating on implant or transplant material or as a component of drug delivery systems.
US08080514B2
Compounds of formula (A) are described wherein, independently of one another, the following applies to groups R and R1: R is methyl or ethyl, and R1 is hydrogen or methyl, wherein the meandering line shows that for R1=methyl, the associated double bind is (E)- or (Z)-configured. Furthermore, methods for producing compounds of formula (A) and the use of corresponding compounds as fragrance and/or flavouring substances are described.
US08080513B2
A mixture, apparatus, and method is provided for formulating, solidifying, packaging, shipping, and reprocessing laundry active for purposes of providing laundry active product to developing markets.
US08080511B2
The present invention relates to formulations comprising water-soluble granulates of phthalocyanine compounds, to a process for the preparation thereof, and to the use thereof in washing agent and washing agent additive formulations.
US08080508B2
A chelating composition suitable for low-temperature use or storage is disclosed. The chelating compositions include 20 to 70 wt. percent of a polar solvent and 30 to 80 wt. percent of a first component of the formula: wherein R is a hydroxyalkyl group and each R′ is individually selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, unsubstituted or inertly substituted alkyl groups, carbonyl-containing alkyl groups, carboxylate-containing alkyl groups, hydroxyalkyl groups and alkoxy groups; R″ is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, unsubstituted or inertly substituted alkyl groups; carbonyl-substituted alkyl groups, carboxylate-containing alkyl groups, hydroxyalkyl groups and alkoxy groups; M1 and M2 are alkali metal ions, wherein the M1 has a higher atomic weight than M2; wherein x+y=n and the mole fraction of M1 is greater than 0.70 to 1. Methods of suppressing crystallization and methods of cleaning surfaces employing the compositions described herein are also disclosed.
US08080506B2
The present invention relates to reactive purge compound for cleaning polymer processing equipment wherein the reactive purge compound that includes i) at least about 50 wt.% of a polymeric carrier component based on the total weight of the reactive purge compound; and ii) a chain scission catalyst component dispersed in the polymeric carrier component; wherein a) the chain scission catalyst component includes a chain scission catalyst selected from the group consisting of at least one alkali metal hydroxide, at least one alkaline earth metal hydroxide, and any combination thereof; b) the reactive purge compound further comprises a water generating component; or c) both (a) and (b); wherein the reactive purge compound is a feedstock material in the form of a plurality of pellets, granules, rods, powder or other particles.
US08080504B2
A pretreatment liquid for applying to the upper surface of a recording media, prior to printing of printing applications using water-based ink, is provided. The liquid comprises a polyvalent metallic salt and at least one of a polymer swelling and a coalescence reagent.
US08080503B2
Cleansing bar compositions having high water content comprise: (a) at least about 15%, by weight of the composition, of water; (b) from about 40% to about 84%, by weight of the composition, of soap; and (c) from about 1% to about 15%, by weight of the composition, of inorganic salt. The bar compositions further comprise a component selected from the group consisting of carbohydrate structurant, humectant, free fatty acid, synthetic surfactants, and mixtures thereof. The bar compositions preferably have a Water Activity (“Aw”) of less than about 0.95, preferably less than about 0.90, and more preferably less than about 0.85. The bar compositions are preferably manufactured by a milling process.
US08080499B2
The present invention discloses a nanodiamond thermal grease, which comprises a nanodiamond powder, a thermal powder and a substrate. The nanodiamond powder has volume percentage of 5% to 30%, the thermal powder has volume percentage of 40% to 90%, and the substrate has volume percentage of 5% to 30%. The nanodiamond powder and the thermal powder are distributed uniformly in the substrate to form the nanodiamond thermal grease having high thermal conductivity.
US08080498B2
The concept involves placing within the annulus, hollow particles that possess material and geometric properties such that the hollow particles buckle at or near a defined pressure. Buckling of the particles increases the available volume within the annulus, thereby decreasing the annular pressure. The elastic hollow particles are designed such that they buckle in a sufficiently elastic manner to allow them to rebound towards their original shape as the pressure decreases. The rebounded particles then remain available to mitigate subsequent instances of APB.
US08080491B2
An optical glass having high refractive index and low dispersion properties. There is provided an optical glass having an Abbe number (νd) and a refractive index (nd) in a region indicated by a shape bound by connecting three points, A(53, 1.70), B(53, 1.87), and C(40, 1.87) with straight lines on an orthogonal xy-coordinate system with the x-axis designating the Abbe number and the y-axis designating the refractive index; and comprising no less than 25% and no more than 65% of a combination of a SiO2 component and a B2O3 component, no less than 20% and no more than 55% of a Ln2O3 component (Ln represents at least one species selected from the group consisting of La, Gd, Dy, Yb, and Lu), and a ratio of a La2O3 component to a Ln2O3 component being no more than 0.6, by mol % on the basis of oxides.
US08080489B2
The disclosure relates to pre-moistened webs and wipes having visible compressed sites that provide the perception of a cloth-like texture. The disclosure also relates to a nonwoven web made of non-thermoplastic fibers with at least one compressed site on the surface of the web that remains visible when the web is pre-moistened.
US08080487B2
The present invention provides fabrics that have unique mechanical, chemical, electrical, and thermal properties. The fabrics comprise layers of woven, knit or felted fibers, yarns or tow. Interstitially synthesized nanotubes, such as single-walled or multi-walled carbon nanotubes, enhance the fabric's antiballistic properties. These nanotubes may also insulate, semi-conduct or super-conduct electrical charges, or provide enhanced thermal properties of these fabrics which can be layered to form unique garments or structures.
US08080480B2
Method of forming fine patterns and manufacturing semiconductor light emitting device using the same
A method of forming a fine pattern begins with providing a c-plane hexagonal semiconductor crystal. A mask having a predetermined pattern is formed on the semiconductor crystal. The semiconductor crystal is dry-etched by using the mask to form a first fine pattern on the semiconductor crystal. The semiconductor crystal including the first fine pattern is wet-etched to expand the first fine pattern in a horizontal direction to form a second fine pattern. The second fine pattern obtained in the wet-etching the semiconductor crystal has a bottom surface and a sidewall that have unique crystal planes, respectively. The present fine-pattern forming process can be advantageously applied to a semiconductor light emitting device, particularly, to a phonic crystal structure required to have fine patterns or a structure using a surface plasmon resonance principle.
US08080468B2
Methods for fabricating passivated silicon nanowires and an electronic arrangement thus obtained are described. Such arrangements may comprise a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure such that the arrangements may be utilized for MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) or opto-electronic switches.
US08080464B2
Methods are provided for etching and/or depositing an epitaxial layer on a silicon-on-insulator structure comprising a handle wafer, a silicon layer, and a dielectric layer between the handle wafer and the silicon layer. The silicon layer has a cleaved surface defining an outer surface of the structure. The cleaved surface of wafer is then etched while controlling a temperature of the reactor such that the etching reaction is kinetically limited. An epitaxial layer is then deposited on the wafer while controlling the temperature of the reactor such that a rate of deposition on the cleaved surface is kinetically limited.
US08080462B2
A method for forming a mark structure on a substrate comprising a plurality of lines. The lines extend parallel to each other in a first direction and are arranged with a pitch between each pair of lines that is directed in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The pitch between each pair of selected lines differs from the pitch between each other pair of selected lines.
US08080446B2
A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: providing an integrated circuit; mounting a routing structure having a functional side above the integrated circuit; mounting a vertical interconnect to the functional side of the routing structure and the vertical interconnect extending vertically away from the routing structure; and forming an encapsulation that encapsulates the integrated circuit, the routing structure.
US08080442B2
The Vertical System Integration (VSI) invention herein is a method for integration of disparate electronic, optical and MEMS technologies into a single integrated circuit die or component and wherein the individual device layers used in the VSI fabrication processes are preferably previously fabricated components intended for generic multiple application use and not necessarily limited in its use to a specific application. The VSI method of integration lowers the cost difference between lower volume custom electronic products and high volume generic use electronic products by eliminating or reducing circuit design, layout, tooling and fabrication costs.
US08080438B2
A method for forming an organic semiconductor film having a high carrier mobility is provided by having an average volatilization rate of a solvent within a prescribed range during a step of drying, at the time of applying a coating solution, which includes an organic semiconductor material and a non-halogen solvent, on a substrate. In such forming method, characteristic fluctuation in repeated use of the organic semiconductor film is suppressed, and an organic thin film transistor having an excellent film forming characteristic even on an insulator with reduced gate voltage threshold can be obtained.
US08080435B2
A main object of the present invention is to provide an organic EL element which can absolutely segment cathodes when forming an organic layer by a coating method, and a producing method thereof. The present invention attains the object by providing a producing method of an organic EL element comprising steps of: an organic layer forming step, in which at least one organic layer out of organic layers, including a light emitting layer, constituting an organic EL layer is formed by either of a printing method, a discharge method, or a transfer method on a substrate for an organic EL element, wherein the substrate for an organic electroluminescence element comprises a substrate, a first electrode layer formed on the substrate, plural insulating banks formed on the substrate on which the first electrode layer is formed and setting a segmentalized region which segments a second electrode layer into plural pieces, and wherein each of the banks has plural small banks provided in parallel with a predetermined gap; and a step of controlling a gap between the small banks such that, a height t1 of an end part of the organic layer at a side of a light emitting region of the small bank provided on the light emitting region side is higher than a height t2 of an end part of the organic layer at a side opposite to the side of the light emitting region of the small bank provided on the light emitting region side is.
US08080432B2
A method of forming a STT-MTJ MRAM cell that utilizes transfer of spin angular momentum as a mechanism for changing the magnetic moment direction of a free layer. The device includes an IrMn pinning layer, a SyAP pinned layer, a naturally oxidized, crystalline MgO tunneling barrier layer that is formed on an Ar-ion plasma smoothed surface of the pinned layer and, in one embodiment, a free layer that comprises an amorphous layer of Co60Fe20B20. of approximately 20 angstroms thickness formed between two crystalline layers of Fe of 3 and 6 angstroms thickness respectively. The free layer is characterized by a low Gilbert damping factor and by very strong polarizing action on conduction electrons. The resulting cell has a low critical current, a high dR/R and a plurality of such cells will exhibit a low variation of both resistance and pinned layer magnetization angular dispersion.
US08080421B2
The present disclosure provides a method to allow a user to pre-screen numerous crystallization conditions in the crystallization space to identify those conditions with the highest probability of yielding crystals and high quality diffracting crystals. In one embodiment, the dilute solution thermodynamic virial coefficient, termed B, is used to aid in the determination crystallization conditions that increase the probability of producing crystals for the crystallant of interest. The present disclosure also provide methods for predicting solution conditions that generate beneficial solubility and/or stability conditions for a polypeptide of interest using the B parameter. Devices for use in the described methods are also described.
US08080419B2
This invention relates to methods for use in industrial production of proteins. Specifically, the present invention provides a method of recycling solid supports for cultivation of anchorage-dependent cells such as, e.g., microcarriers and Fibra-Cel® disks. Solid supports recycled by a method of the present invention allow obtaining a protein productivity level comparable to the productivity level obtained with non-recycled solid support. The method comprises the steps of rinsing with water, rinsing with a sodium hydroxide solution and second rinsing step with water.
US08080411B2
Disposable units in current use for performing PCR are limited by their heat block ramping rates and by the thermal diffusion delay time through the plastic wall as well as by the sample itself. This limitation has been overcome by forming a disposable plastic chip using a simple deformation process wherein one or more plastic sheets are caused, through hydrostatic pressure, to conform to the surface of a suitable mold. After a given disposable chip has been filled with liquid samples, it is brought into close contact with an array of heating blocks that seals each sample within its own chamber, allowing each sample to then be heat treated as desired.
US08080410B2
The invention relates to a device for performing binding assays. In particular, the invention relates to a centrifugal device for performing such assays. The invention also relates to a method of performing binding assays involving antigen-antibody binding, nucleic acid hybridization, or receptor-ligand interaction.
US08080407B2
Use of calibrant in extraction phase is described for quantification of components of interest in samples in laboratory application as well as in on-site monitoring. This approach is particularly useful for in-vivo investigation of living systems.
US08080399B2
An opening is formed in a cell using laser radiation. A Bessel beam is formed using the laser radiation and the Bessel beam is directed onto the cell to form an opening. The guiding of material towards the opening may be involved using optical trapping/manipulation. The material may change cellular function or analyse cell behaviour. Both pulsed laser radiation and continuous wave radiation may be formed using the same laser.
US08080395B2
An isolated mutant of coryneform bacteria comprising a gene encodes a polypeptide having 2-methylcitrate dehydratase activity, where the polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence in which one of the proteinogenic amino acids except L-proline is present at position 272 or a corresponding or comparable position. In addition, an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having 2-methylcitrate dehydratase enzymic activity, which comprises at position 272 of the amino acid sequence or a corresponding or comparable position a proteinogenic amino acid except L-proline is described. A method for producing a recombinant coryneform bacterium and L-amino acids. A recombinant microorganism, L-Lysine-containing feed additive, and L-Tryptophan-containing feed additive is also described.
US08080393B2
The present invention relates to production of oligonucleotides using rolling circle replication, wherein synthesised multimeric oligonucleotides are reduced to mononucleotides using a nicking cassette. Thus, the invention provides a method for the production of oligonucleotides, enabling efficient amplification of oligonucleotides at lengths up to at least 1000 nucleotides and in high amounts contained within a nicking cassette.
US08080388B2
Pharmaceutical compositions comprising a stress protein complex and related molecules encoding or cells presenting such a complex are provided. The stress protein complex comprises an hsp110 or grp170 polypeptide complexed with an immunogenic polypeptide. The immunogenic polypeptide of the stress protein complex can be associated with a cancer or an infectious disease. Preferred immunogenic polypeptides include gp100, her2/neu ECD-PD, ICD and M. tuberculosis antigens. The pharmaceutical compositions of the invention can be used for the treatment or prevention of cancer or infectious disease.
US08080386B2
The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having endoglucanase activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods for producing and using the polypeptides.
US08080385B2
A polymer matrix that may coated on an electrode is created by co-crosslinking (1) an adduct of a polyaniline formed by templated oxidative polymerization on a polymer acid; (2) a water-soluble crosslinker; and (3) a redox enzyme. The polymer matrix may be hydrated, and the absorbed water may make it permeable to, for example, glucose. The polyaniline may be polyaniline itself or a substituted polyaniline; the water-soluble crosslinker may be poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether, and the redox enzyme may be glucose oxidase. The polymer matrix may be produced by co-crosslinking (1) an adduct of an electrically conductive polymer and a polymer acid; (2) a water-soluble crosslinker; and (3) a redox enzyme in a single step at an about neutral pH, curing by drying. After hydration, the crosslinked polymer matrix may form a 3-dimensional glucose-permeable bioelectrocatalyst, catalyzing the electrooxidation of glucose.
US08080377B2
The present invention relates to a method for confirming the exposure on chrysene using a DNA fragment whose expression is increased or decreased specifically when it is exposed to chrysene. The method of the present invention is effective in determination of risk by chrysene and monitoring the chrysene exposure, so that it can be effectively used as a tool for examining the mechanism of chrysene induced toxicity.
US08080355B2
A liquid developer includes an insulation liquid containing a fatty acid monoester, and toner particles comprised of a polyester resin. By using the liquid developer, it is possible to provide superior fixing characteristic of toner particles to a recording medium. An image forming apparatus that can suitably use such a liquid developer is also provided.
US08080340B2
An activated electrode for a non-aqueous electrochemical cell is disclosed with a precursor thereof a lithium metal oxide with the formula x{zLi2MnO3•(1-z)LiM′O2}.(1-x)LiMn2−yMyO4 for 0
US08080339B2
A gelled negative electrode contains zinc powder, alkaline electrolyte, and a gelling agent. The specific surface area of the zinc powder is in the range between 0.025 and 0.045 m2/g. The gelling agent contains, as a main component, a cross-linked polymer formed by radical polymerization in a non-benzene solvent, specifically, a cross-linked poly(meth)acrylic acid (or salt) formed by radical polymerization of a (meth)acrylic acid (or slat) in a non-benzene solvent.
US08080337B2
The present invention has an object of providing a lithium secondary battery and an electrode for a lithium secondary battery having a superb cycle characteristic.The present invention relates to an electrode for a lithium secondary battery, and a lithium secondary battery including the electrode, the electrode including a current collector and an active substance structure provided on the current collector, wherein the active substance structure includes at least one first layer containing a first material for occluding and releasing lithium ions and at least one second layer containing a conductive second material which does not chemically react with lithium; the first layer and the second layer are alternately laminated; and the second layer has a Young's modulus larger than the Young's modulus of the first layer.
US08080336B2
An alkaline dry battery of this invention includes: a positive electrode including at least one of a manganese dioxide powder and a nickel oxyhydroxide powder; a negative electrode including a zinc alloy powder; a separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; an alkaline electrolyte; and a battery case for housing the positive electrode, negative electrode, the separator, and the alkaline electrolyte. The negative electrode further includes a surfactant that adsorbs to a surface of the zinc alloy powder during a non-discharge period and promptly desorbs from the surface of the zinc alloy powder upon start of discharge without impeding ion transfer in the alkaline electrolyte.
US08080331B2
A battery pack includes a roughly rectangular casing, a main circuit board disposed at a bottom surface, and cylindrical battery cells disposed over the main circuit board in two rows and four layers and a battery cells in each set of paired battery cells being connected in parallel, and the four sets of the parallel-connected paired battery cells being connected in series.
US08080324B2
Disclosed is a hard coating excellent in wear resistance, insusceptible to seizure, and excellent sliding property even after use over the long term, and a method capable of forming the hard coating excellent in sliding property in a short time. The hard coating is a hard coating expressed by chemical formula MxBaCbNc, wherein M is at least one kind of metallic element selected from the group consisting of elements in the groups 4A, 5A, and 6A of the periodic table, and Si, Al, the hard coating having chemical composition satisfying respective formulas expressed by 0≦a≦0.2, 0≦c≦0.2, 0
US08080321B2
The present invention relates to a rust-preventive metallic component part in which a steel wire to which wire-drawing processing is performed is adapted into a substrate and which comprises a rust-preventive coating film being free from chromium on a surface of the substrate, and to a manufacturing method for the same; and its object is to provide a rust-preventive metallic component part whose rust-preventive coating film exhibits such good adhesiveness to substrate that it is not come off by elastic deformations in service, by sliding contacts at the time of transportation, and the like, and to provide a manufacturing method for the same.A rust-preventive metallic component part according to the present invention is characterized in that: it comprises a first coating film, which is formed on a surface of a substrate and which comprises an inorganic-compound-containing coating film being free from chromium; and a residual proportion of zinc phosphate coating film or manganese phosphate coating film, which has been formed on the surface of the substrate at the time of wire-drawing processing, is less than 25% of a surface area of the substrate. Consequently, the first coating film is coated after removing the zinc phosphate coating film or manganese phosphate coating film, which covers the surface of the substrate, with a strongly-alkaline degreasing liquid.
US08080320B2
A metallized laminated structure suitable for making a rigid container having a metallic appearance is provided. The laminated structure includes a metallized film and a thermoplastic sheet. At least a portion of the thermoplastic sheet is bonded to the metallized film through a lamination process. The metallized film includes a metallic layer, a sealable layer, and a polypropylene core between the metallic layer and the sealable layer. The thermoplastic sheet includes at least one layer of a polypropylene or a thermoplastic olefin. Or the thermoplastic sheet includes at least one layer of a polypropylene and at least one layer of a thermoplastic olefin.
US08080319B2
Disclosed is related to a thermosetting resin composition which comprises a polyimide resin (A) having a phenolic hydroxyl group, preferably a polyimide resin (A) produced from an aminophenol (a), a diamino compound (b) and a tetrabasic acid dianhydride (c), and an epoxy resin (B); and a cured product thereof. The resin composition is excellent in storage stability, and gives a cured product excellent in flame retardancy and heat resistance. Furthermore, when the cured product is in a film form, the product has sufficient flexibility and excellent folding endurance.
US08080318B2
An image fixing member includes a substrate; an optional intermediate layer over the substrate; and an outermost layer over the intermediate layer; wherein at least one of the intermediate layer and the outermost layer comprises a healing material encapsulated within nano- or micro-capsules, wherein the healing material is capable of retaining the function of the imaging fixing member.
US08080315B2
An ion-selective electrode has a responsive glass membrane with an exterior thin film containing titanium dioxide of an anatase type that is continuously formed as an integrated body. The thin film, of several hundred nm in numbers, is electrically connected by an amount of titanium dioxide that will form a continuity in the thin film structure. The thin film can be porous and contain at least one metal selected from cobalt, nickel, tungsten, copper, platinum, gold, silver and iron. Additionally, significantly larger titanium dioxide particles of 0.02 μm in diameter can be further mixed into the thin film.
US08080314B2
Methods and articles providing for precise aligning, positioning, shaping, and linking of nanotubes and carbon nanotubes. An article comprising: a solid surface comprising at least two different surface regions including: a first surface region which comprises an outer boundary and which is adapted for carbon nanotube adsorption, and a second surface region which is adapted for preventing carbon nanotube adsorption, the second region forming an interface with the outer boundary of the first region, at least one carbon nanotube which is at least partially selectively adsorbed at the interface. The shape and size of the patterns on the surface and the length of the carbon nanotube can be controlled to provide for selective interfacial adsorption.
US08080309B2
A coating composition forms a coating film having an eliminated or reduced photocatalytic action-derived deterioration, and forms a coating film having a lowered haze value, excellent dispersibility and dispersion stability in a coating liquid form, excellent storage stability, and also excellent coatability. The coating composition includes at least the following four components: titanium dioxide fine particles with eliminated or reduced photocatalytic activity which is obtained by surface treating titanium dioxide fine particles doped with cobalt capable of capturing free electrons and/or holes, with a zinc chelate compound capable of capturing free electrons and/or holes; a binder component; a dispersant; and an organic solvent.
US08080307B2
Pasty ink for the engraved steel die printing process, having a viscosity value above 3 Pa·s, preferably above 5 Pa·s at 40° C., and comprising an infrared absorbing material, wherein said infrared absorbing material is a transition element compound whose IR-absorption is a consequence of electronic transitions within the d-shell of transition element atoms or ions.
US08080294B2
Disclosed in one aspect is a film comprising at least one core layer comprising a blend of at least 20 wt %, by weight of the core layer, of a first linear LLDPE having a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) within the range of from 1.0 to 4.0; and at least 20 wt %, by weight of the core layer, of a second LLDPE—in a certain embodiment a short-chain branched LLDP—having a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) within the range of from 1.0 to 7.0; characterized in that the density of the second LLDPE is greater than the density of the first LLDPE by at least 0.002 g/cm3; and/or the I2 of the second LLDPE is greater than the I2 of the first LLDPE by at least 0.5 dg/min. In certain embodiments, the first and second LLDPEs are produced by a metallocene-catalyzed reaction. In yet another embodiment, the combined molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of the first and second LLDPEs is greater than 4.0.
US08080289B2
A method for making an aligned carbon nanotube includes the steps of a) applying a layer of a ferrosilicon alloy film onto a substrate, b) etching the layer of the ferrosilicon film to form a plurality of fine ferrosilicon alloy particles that are distributed properly on the substrate, and c) placing the substrate of step (b) into a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, and supplying a mixture of a carbon-containing reaction gas and a balance gas at a predetermined flow ratio so as to grow carbon nanotubes on the fine ferrosilicon alloy particles, wherein said ferrosilicon alloy of step (a) comprises silicon ranging from 15 wt % to 25 wt %; and step (c) is conducted at a temperature ranging from 300 to 380° C.
US08080287B2
Disclosed are low temperature curable coating compositions that include a polymer comprising functional groups reactive with anhydride groups and a crosslinking agent that includes the ungelled hydrosilylation reaction product of a silicon hydride and an unsaturated polycarboxylic acid anhydride. Also disclosed are related coated substrates and methods for coating a substrate.
US08080284B2
A method for manufacturing a housing (100) out of a transparent housing including an inner surface (10) and an outer surface (20), is described. Ink is printed on the inner surface (10) to form a ink area (50) defining a window area (40). The window area (40) and the ink area (50) are shielded and a painting process carried out on non-shielded portions of the inner surface (10). Finally, non-conductive vacuum metallization is carried out on the outer surface (20) to form the manufactured housing (100).
US08080282B2
A method for forming a silicon carbide film containing Si, C, O, H, and optionally N on a substrate placed in a reaction space, includes the steps of: introducing into the reaction space a precursor containing Si, C, O, and H and having at least one Si—O bond in its molecule; introducing into the reaction space an inert gas; applying RF power in the reaction space, wherein a ratio of a flow rate (sccm) of the inert gas to the RF power (W/cm2) is controlled at 30-850; and thereby depositing on the substrate a silicon carbide film containing Si, C, O, H, and optionally N.
US08080278B2
The invention relates to a cold gas spraying method with the aid of which a substrate to be coated can be coated with particles. According to the invention, it is provided that microencapsulated agglomerates of nanoparticles are used as particles. This advantageously allows the advantages that accompany the use of nanoparticles to be used for the coating. The nanoparticles are held together by microencapsulations, wherein the microencapsulated particles formed in this way that are used in the cold gas spraying method have dimensions in the micrometer range, thereby allowing them to be used in the first place in cold gas spraying The microencapsulated nanoparticles may be used for example to produce a UV protective coating on lamp bases for gas discharge lamps.
US08080274B2
Novel grain products are disclosed. Modified de-oiled distillers dried grains that include stillage obtained from anaerobic digestion of the oil cake are provided. In various embodiments, the modified de-oiled distillers dried grains may be the stillage from anaerobic digestion of the oil cake only, may also include the ordinary DDGs obtained from fermentation of the endosperm portion of the grain, or may include stillage obtained from further anaerobic digestion of the ordinary DDGs.
US08080265B2
The invention relates to methods and compositions for treating skin aging, said compositions comprising at least one tropoelastin promoter and at least one tropoelastin crosslinker.
US08080264B2
Disclosed herein is a natural antiviral composition comprising extracts of plant Cyperus rotundus and/or plant Cyperus scariosus and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Also disclosed are methods of making the plant extract, methods for preparing the composition and methods of treating diseases related to acute and chronic hepatitis B and other viral diseases of the liver.
US08080250B1
The present invention relates to therapeutic conjugates with improved ability to target various diseased cells containing a targeting moiety (such as an antibody or antibody fragment), a linker and a therapeutic moiety, and further relates to processes for making and using the conjugates.
US08080249B2
The present invention provides methods of treating a mammal having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), independent of both smoking status and asthma status/with a therapeutically effective amount of an anti-IgE Ênoiety. In accordance with the invention, COFD patients with sn elevated serum IgE level may benefit from the treatment methods disclosed. In certain instances, the methods of the disclosure have been found, to be useful ioÊ the treatment of COPD patients regardless of their skin test results arid/or in vitro reactivity to a perennial aeroallergen. Anti-ÊgE moieties, in accordance With the invention, include but are not limited to any IgG antibody that selectively binds to a given mammal iirunuitoglobulln E (e.g., human imntnnoglQbulin E) such as humanized arrti-IgEy humanized murine monoclonal antibody, and/or Qmalizumab.
US08080244B2
Humanized recombinant and monoclonal antibodies specific for the ectodomain of the influenza virus M2 ion channel protein are disclosed. The antibodies of the invention have anti-viral activity and may be useful as anti-viral therapeutics and/or prophylactic/vaccine agents for inhibiting influenza virus replication and for treating individuals infected with influenza.
US08080241B2
Methods for treating cell proliferative disorders by administering virus to proliferating cells having an activated Ras-pathway are disclosed. The virus is administered so that it ultimately directly contacts proliferating cells having an activated Ras-pathway. Proliferative disorders include but are not limited to neoplasms. The virus is selected from modified adenovirus, modified HSV, modified vaccinia virus and modified parapoxvirus orf virus. Also disclosed are methods for treating cell proliferative disorders by further administering an immunosuppressive agent.
US08080240B2
According to the invention, parvoviruses such as the adeno-associated virus Type 2 (AAV2) are found to be oncolytic, selectively mediating apoptosis in cancer cells and their precursers, while leaving healthy cells intact. The invention thus comprises a method of killing cancer and other neoplastic and preneoplastic cells by administration of AAV2 virus, viral particles, products or replication incompetent vectors derived there from to said cells, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same.
US08080221B2
Fluidic conduits, which can be used in microarraying systems, dip pen nanolithography systems, fluidic circuits, and microfluidic systems, are disclosed that use channel spring probes that include at least one capillary channel. Formed from spring beams (e.g., stressy metal beams) that curve away from the substrate when released, channels can either be integrated into the spring beams or formed on the spring beams. Capillary forces produced by the narrow channels allow liquid to be gathered, held, and dispensed by the channel spring probes. Because the channel spring beams can be produced using conventional semiconductor processes, significant design flexibility and cost efficiencies can be achieved.
US08080219B2
The present invention is directed to a card member for receiving a tissue specimen to be processed for histological examination including an absorbent portion for maintaining the tissue specimen in engageable contact with the card member, and a generally non-adhesive portion for allowing separation of the tissue specimen from the card member, where the card member provides the specimen with a known, consistent orientation throughout processing.
US08080211B2
A honeycomb filter includes a honeycomb structure and a zeolite. The honeycomb structure has cell walls to define cells between the cell walls. The zeolite is supported on the cell walls. An amount of the zeolite is from about 80 g/L to about 150 g/L. A porosity of the cell walls is from about 55% to about 65%. A cell density in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is from about 46.5 pcs/cm2 to about 62.0 pcs/cm2. A thickness of the cell walls is from about 0.2 mm to about 0.3 mm. The cells include a large volume cell and a small volume cell. An area ratio of a cross sectional area of the large volume cell relative to a cross sectional area of the small volume cell is from about 1.4 to about 2.4.
US08080205B2
Analyte meter protectors, meters that include the same, and methods. In one example, a ketone monitoring system is provided wherein a port protector is used in combination with a meter.
US08080201B2
There is provided a method for producing sputtering target materials which are used for a Ni—W based interlayer in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium. In this producing method, a Ni—W based alloy powder is prepared as a raw material powder. The alloy powder comprises 5 to 20 at % of W and the balance Ni and unavoidable impurities and is produced by gas atomization. The raw material powder is consolidated at a temperature ranging from 900 to 1150° C. This producing method makes it possible to significantly restrain expansion of the powder-filled billet in the consolidation step, thus efficiently producing Ni—W based sputtering target materials with stable qualities.
US08080191B2
A polymer blend has a base and blend components. The base and blend components could be a branched slow crystallizing PET and a faster crystallizing PET, respectively. The ratio of base and blend components result in a block copolymer, the melt processing time and branching or chain extender levels can be can be tailored to impart the polymer blend with sufficient melt strength and crystallization rates, such that it is slow enough during the blow molding process to produce a clear article and yet fast enough during the subsequent PET recycling process making it suitable for extrusion processes as well as for recycling. The combination of materials can be used to form monolayer or multilayer articles.
US08080185B2
A dielectric gaseous compound which exhibits the following properties: a boiling point in the range between about −20° C. to about −273° C.; non-ozone depleting; a GWP less than about 22,200; chemical stability, as measured by a negative standard enthalpy of formation (dHf<0); a toxicity level such that when the dielectric gas leaks, the effective diluted concentration does not exceed its PEL; and a dielectric strength greater than air.
US08080173B2
The present invention provides a fluorescent substance excellent in emission intensity and in emission efficiency. The substance can be excited by light at a longer wavelength than ever. The present invention also provides a luminous composition comprising the fluorescent substance and a light-emitting element using the substance. The fluorescent substance comprises a rare earth metal and a phosphine oxide ligand which coordinates to said rare earth metal and said ligand containing at least one siloxane bond in its structure. The fluorescent substance can be produced from a reaction between a compound having a siloxane bond and a rare earth complex coordinated by a phosphine oxide ligand. The luminous composition comprises the fluorescent substance.
US08080165B2
Methods and systems for establishing Taylor-Couette flow in a fluid are provided. Aspects of the disclosed methods and systems incorporate laminar Taylor-Couette flow in combination with a source of radiation to provide more uniform radiation exposure to the fluid and its components. Common problems of non-uniform radiation levels and concentration boundary layer effects in UV reactors are largely eliminated using the methods and devices provided herein. In an exemplary embodiment, the reactor of the present disclosure has a hollow outer cylinder or stator and a rotor positioned therein and smooth walls for both the outer wall of its rotor and the inner wall of the outer cylinder or stator in which the rotor is positioned, the space between which forming the annular fluid gap.
US08080155B2
A process to upgrade heavy oil and convert the heavy oil into lower boiling hydrocarbon products is provided. The process employs a catalyst slurry comprising catalyst particles with an average particle size ranging from 1 to 20 microns. In the upgrade process, spent slurry catalyst in heavy oil is generated as an effluent stream, which is subsequently recovered/separated from the heavy oil via a filtration assembly. The filtration assembly has a least a filtration unit employing at least a membrane for separating heavy oil from the catalyst particles. Valuable metals can be recovered from catalyst particles for subsequent re-use in a catalyst synthesis unit, generating a fresh slurry catalyst.
US08080151B2
Process for the electrochemical treatment of a construction comprising a porous medium, a corrodible substance disposed in the porous medium, the construction having electrically conductive properties, comprising the application of an external electrode (3) to a surface (2) of the construction, the external electrode (3) being connected to a terminal of a generator (6), the porous medium being connected to another terminal of the generator (6), and the application of the following four phases at least once: during a first phase lasting between 12 and 360 hours, passing a negative electric current which causes anions to migrate from the porous medium to the external electrode (3) and cations to migrate from the external electrode (3) towards the porous medium, then during a second phase lasting between 2 minutes and 100 hours, interrupting the circulation of the electric current, then during a third phase lasting between 2 minutes and 24 hours, passing a positive electric current, then during a fourth phase lasting between 1 and 120 minutes, interrupting the circulation of the electric current.
US08080150B2
The present invention relates to a process of treating contaminated water containing microorganisms comprising feeding a contaminated water stream at a volumetric flow of about 1 to about 1000 m3/h through an electrolyser zone, said water stream having a conductivity from about 0.0001 to about 100 S/m, electrolysing said water stream in said electrolyser zone defined by at least one electrode pair enabling treatment of microorganisms, said at least one electrode pair comprising an anode and a cathode without separator means, said water stream being guided substantially perpendicularly through said at least one anode and cathode while imposing a voltage across said anode and cathode and supplying a direct current to said anode and cathode, withdrawing from the electrolyser zone a treated water stream. The invention also relates to an electrolytic cell in which said process can be performed, and to the use of the electrolytic cell.
US08080140B2
A process for debottlenecking a system for the separation of a conjugated diolefin the system including a first extraction section having an extractive distillation column and a stripping column and a second extraction section. The process includes the steps of withdrawing a first portion of an extract from the extractive distillation column, the extract having at least the first portion and a second portion, and transferring the first portion of the extract to a flash/separation vessel; separating the first portion of the extract into a vapor phase and a liquid phase by flashing in a flash/separation vessel; and combining the liquid phase of the separated first portion of the extract with the second portion of the extract to produce an extract feed for further processing. A system and process for the separation of a conjugated diolefin from a C4- or C5-hydrocarbon mixture containing the conjugated diolefin and higher acetylenes are also provided.
US08080139B2
The present invention relates to a method of anhydrous ethanol production using circulation by multiple towers' alternation, the procedure includes the steps of heating, adsorption, internal circulation, vacuum suction, washing and resolving etc. The method can prolong the life of adsorbent, reduce the heat exchanger's surface, cooling water, the equipment investment and energy consumption, provide high ethanol recovery rate and high dehydration, and protect environment.
US08080136B2
A drying wire provided with an independent top fabric and bottom fabric. The bottom fabric is woven from longitudinal and cross direction monofilament yarns. The top fabric is woven from longitudinal yarns and shapeable cross direction yarns. The shapeable yarns make the structure of the top fabric denser and increase the contact surface area and the number of contact points. On the other hand, the bottom fabric is also smooth, wherefore it has good aerodynamic properties.
US08080132B2
The invention relates to a device (11) for stabilising the transport of a material web (12) on the upper face of an air-permeable machine clothing (10), in particular a fibrous web. The device is located on the underside of the machine clothing directly upstream of an intake nip in the direction of travel (17) of the web, said nip being formed by a roll (5) and the machine clothing, and comprises a first negative-pressure zone (19) and at least one vacuum opening (20) that faces essentially in the opposite direction to the direction of travel of the web, communicating with the first negative-pressure zone of the device. This permits the boundary layer (23) of air that is carried along by the underside of the machine clothing to be at least partially sucked from said clothing into the first negative-pressure zone.
US08080126B2
In the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention, a first electrode for connecting a high frequency electric power source in a chamber is arranged to be opposed to a second electrode. A substrate (W) to be processed is placed between the electrodes. There is provided a harmonic absorbing member for being able to absorb harmonics of the high frequency electric power source so as to come in contact with a peripheral portion or circumference of a face of the first electrode 21, which is opposite the second electrode. The harmonic absorbing member absorbs the reflected harmonic before the harmonic returns to the high frequency electric power source. By absorbing the harmonic in this manner, the standing wave due to the harmonic will be effectively prevented from being generated, and the density of plasma is made even.
US08080116B2
The invention relates to a cooling element, particularly for use in walls of furnaces that are subjected to high levels of thermal stress, and to a method for producing a cooling element. The cooling element is comprised of cast copper or of a low-alloyed copper alloy and is provided with coolant channels, which consist of tubes cast inside the copper or the copper alloy and which are placed inside the cooling element. In order to create a cooling element with an improved material bond on the contact surfaces between the cooling tube and the metal cast around it and thus with an increased heat transfer, the invention provides that the tubes of the coolant channels are provided with an electrolytic coating on the exterior thereof. The use of copper tubes has been shown to be particularly advantageous, and the coating of the tube exteriors thereof ensues in an electroplating bath.
US08080111B1
A method of washing a piece of construction equipment includes washing a portion of the piece of construction equipment with water, collecting waste materials washed from the construction equipment in a bin, allowing liquid collected in the bin to drain into a receptacle having a sloped bottom for conveying the liquid to a sump, pumping the liquid from the sump, filtering the particulate matter pumped from the pump to recover clean water, and storing the recovered clean water for recycling in a tank. Filtering includes pumping the liquid from the sump to a first settlement tank and on to a second settlement tank though a fluid path having an upwardly extending baffle providing partial wall between the first and second settlement tanks and a downwardly extending baffle spaced from the upwardly extending baffle and extending into the second settlement tank wherein liquid cascades over the upwardly extending baffle and downwardly through a space between the upwardly extending baffle and the downwardly extending baffle such that the particulate matter is left behind in the first and second settlement tanks.
US08080104B2
A filler for reinforcement joint that ensures excellent fluidity and retention thereof, exhibiting appropriate length change ratio and high strength performance; and a method of reinforcement joint filling operation using the same. There are provided a filler for reinforcement joint containing a cement, an expanding material, a pozzolana micropowder, a water reducing agent and a sand, and a method of reinforcement joint filling operation using the same, characterized in that the expanding material is a calcium aluminoferrite expanding material, and that the pozzolana micropowder is a silicious micropowder having a silicon dioxide (SiO2) content of 90% or higher and having a hydrogen ion concentration falling in an acid region, and that the water reducing agent is a polycarboxylic acid water reducing agent. The calcium aluminoferrite expanding material preferably has a value of Brain specific surface area of 2000 to 6000 cm2/g. The sand is preferably a weighty sand of 3.0 g/cm3 or higher density.
US08080103B2
A demolding composition, to be used for the production of parts of hydraulic-setting material, includes at least one oil and at least one calcium salt, calcium borates and calcium salts of fatty acids being excluded from the at least one calcium salt. A process for the preparation of a part molded in hydraulic-setting material, includes coating sides of an appropriate mold with the demolding composition; introducing a freshly-prepared hydraulic-setting composition; and removing the part from the mold after hardening and optional curing of the composition.
US08080096B2
To provide an image bearing member protecting agent that includes at least a hydrophobic organic compound and an amphiphile organic compound. Preferred embodiments are that the hydrophobic organic compound is a hydrocarbon wax, and the hydrocarbon wax is at least a wax selected from normal paraffins, isoparaffins, and cycloparaffins; and that the amphiphile organic compound is an polyalcohol esterified compound including a nonionic surface active surfactant, and the nonionic surface active surfactant is an alkyl carboxylic acid represented by a structural formula, CnH2n+1COOH.
US08080092B2
A reflux condenser and a method for conducting away liquid from the lower region of reflux passages, is disclosed. The reflux condenser has at least one heat exchanger block which has reflux passages and refrigerant passages, and a pressure container which encloses the heat exchanger block at the top and laterally. The reflux passages communicate at their lower end with a header which is arranged below the heat exchanger block and has a phase-separating device.
US08080091B2
A dialysis fluid system includes an instrument including a pump actuator and a fluid heater, and a dialysis fluid cassette. The dialysis fluid cassette includes a rigid portion defining a pumping section for operation with the pump actuator and a heating section for operation with the fluid heater. The heating section includes a dialysis fluid inlet, a dialysis fluid outlet, and a dialysis fluid heating area located between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet, the heating section further includes an air separation chamber for collecting air separated from the dialysis fluid.
US08080088B1
An adsorbent composition for removing mercury from a flue gas stream, and a method of its use. The composition is a powdered activated carbon having at least one of a halogen-containing component and an alkaline component dispersed thereon. A flow agent can be composited with the material to maintain flowability in situ.
US08080081B2
A honeycomb body, in particular for use in the exhaust system of a motor vehicle, includes an at least partially ceramic honeycomb structure through which a fluid can flow. The honeycomb structure is disposed in a tubular casing and has cavities. The honeycomb body has at least two axial subregions in a longitudinal direction. The honeycomb structure is connected to the tubular casing in an axial securing region and an axial measurement sensor region has a recess for accommodating a measurement sensor in the honeycomb structure. The honeycomb body has a permanent connection between the tubular casing and the ceramic honeycomb structure due to its preferably force-locking and/or form-locking connection between the tubular casing and the honeycomb structure in the securing region. Despite the recess, further damage to the honeycomb structure in the measurement sensor region is avoided. A process for producing such a honeycomb body is also provided.
US08080080B2
Disclosed is a device for separating liquids from gases comprising a preseparator that separates an untreated gas region from a preseparator gas region, a main separator comprising a coalescing element for increasing the size of liquid droplets and a post-separator.
US08080075B2
In order to provide an intake system for sucking in combustion air of an internal combustion engine of a piece of equipment, in particular a portable, manually guided piece of equipment, having more than one centrifugal separator comprising a centrifugal separator housing, and having an air filter device comprising an air filter housing, which bounds an air filter receiving space for an air filter, in which the combustion air can be separated by means of the centrifugal separator into a core volume stream and an outer volume stream, wherein the core volume stream is fed to the internal combustion engine through the air filter receiving space, which intake system is as compact as possible and correspondingly designed to be not very component-intensive, it is proposed for the centrifugal separator housing to be arranged on the air filter housing such that it ends directly at the air filter receiving space or projects directly into the air filter receiving space.
US08080070B2
A method of hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons for syngas production is presented. A hydrogenation feed reactor stream is introduced into a hydrogenation reactor, thereby producing a reformer feed stream. The reformer feed stream is introduced into a reformer, thereby producing a crude syngas stream. The crude syngas stream is introduced into a water gas shift converter, thereby producing a hydrogen-rich stream. The hydrogen-rich stream is separated in a separation means, thereby producing a carbon dioxide-rich stream and a hydrogen product stream. At least a portion of the hydrogen product stream is combined with a refinery fuel gas stream, and a natural gas stream, to form the hydrogenation reactor feed stream.
US08080066B2
An azo pigment represented by the general formula (1), a tautomer, salt, or hydrate thereof: wherein R1, R2, R3, Y, Z, and G each independently represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, n represents an integer of from 2 to 4 and, when n=2, the general formula (1) represents a dimer formed through R1, R2, R3, Y, Z, or G and, when n=3, the general formula (1) represents a trimer formed through R1, R2, R3, Y, Z, or G and, when n=4, the general formula (1) represents a tetramer formed through R1, R2, R3, Y, Z, or G.
US08080064B2
A tibial tray assembly includes a platform having a stem extending downwardly from a bottom surface and a stem extension couple to the an end of the stem. The stem extension is electrically insulated from the stem. The tibial tray assembly also includes a wireless communication device configured to transmit data using the stem extension as an antenna.
US08080062B2
The present application is directed to implants for positioned between vertebral members. The implant may include a superior surface to contact against a first vertebral member, and an inferior surface to contact against a second vertebral member. The implant includes a fixation mechanism that is operable to extend a portion of the fixation mechanism into the vertebral members immediately above and below the implanted implant to affix the implant within the vertebral space between such vertebral members. The implant is substantially open in the superior and inferior directions to allow for the introduction of bone growth material within the interior of the implant to help promote fusion between the vertebral members.
US08080061B2
Implants and methods for bone treatment, preferably minimally invasive treatment, including repositioning of vertebrae may comprise insertion of a bobbin having a wire, string, thread or band, coiled around the bobbin. During coiling, the diameter of the bobbing/band complex may increase. Such increase in diameter can push against the inner side of the endplates of the vertebral body, and augment the vertebral body to its original height. The implant may also take the form of a coiled sleeve which when inserted into the vertebral body is uncoiled. The force of the uncoiling sleeve pushes against the inner side of the endplates of the vertebral body, restoring the vertebral body to its original height. The implant may also take the form of fibrous masses comprised of a thread or other relatively thin structure, for example a fiber or strand, of any biocompatible material having desired characteristics, for example a shape memory alloy, titanium, stainless steel, another metal or metal alloy, a ceramic, a composite or any combination thereof. The, strand, thread or other fiber may be coiled, woven, matted, tangled or otherwise formed into a wool-like mass or body having a desired configuration. Expansion of the expandable member within the vertebral body or other bone may reposition the fractured bone to a desired height and augment the bone to maintain the desired height. A bone cement or other filler can be added to further treat and stabilize the vertebral body or other bone.
US08080056B2
An intraocular lens assembly for increased depth of focus has a frame configurated to vault posteriorly in an eye and an optic attached thereto. Pressure from ciliary muscle contraction moves the optic anteriorly to focus the eye for near vision.
US08080050B2
Apparatus and method deliver a prosthesis into a hollow body organ or blood vessel. The systems and methods make use of a catheter. A carrier on the distal end of the catheter is sized and configured to carry the prosthesis. A release mechanism and an enclosure mechanism on the distal end are operable to retain and enclose the prosthesis on the carrier. The release mechanism and the enclosure mechanism are also operable to selectively expose and release the prosthesis from the carrier for deployment in the hollow body organ or blood vessel.
US08080046B2
A device for fixing the positions of proximate bone elements including an inter-bone implant adapted to be implanted between suitably prepared proximate bone elements, the inter-bone implant having an internally threaded aperture, a bone fixation apparatus including a base having an eyelet and a means connected to the base for mechanically fixing the positions of the proximate bone elements relative to each other, the eyelet being substantially aligned with the internally threaded aperture, and a screw having a head and a threaded shaft extending therefrom, wherein the shaft is operatively arranged to extend through the eyelet and threadingly engage the internally threaded aperture, and the screw is operatively arranged to secure the bone fixation apparatus to the inter-bone implant.
US08080039B2
A dynamic stabilization, motion preservation spinal implant system includes an anchor system, a horizontal rod system and a vertical rod system. The systems are modular so that various constructs and configurations can be created and customized to a patient.
US08080032B2
A device and method for obliterating or occluding a body cavity or passageway, in particular, the left atrial appendage of a patient's heart. The procedure can be carried out intraoperatively, but is preferably carried out percutaneously by use of a delivery catheter to position an occluding device adjacent a patient's left atrial appendage. The occluding device may prevent the passage of embolic or other material to or from the left atrial appendage by volumetrically filling the appendage, closing the opening of the appendage with an occluding member, or pulling the tissue around the opening of the appendage together and fixing it in a closed state.
US08080031B2
A rectal balloon apparatus has a shaft with a fluid passageway extending therethrough. A balloon is affixed over an end of the shaft such that the fluid passageway communicates with an interior of the balloon. The balloon has a laterally flat surface thereon when inflated. The laterally flat surface of the balloon has a longitudinal groove formed thereon. The balloon having a pair of bulges formed thereon when the balloon is inflated. A ring is affixed to the shaft adjacent the balloon. The shaft has a plurality of holes formed thereon opening to an interior of the balloon.
US08080029B2
Embodiments of systems and methods disclosed herein regard simplifying and improving the performance and reliability of pneumatic actuators operable to actuate surgical cutters or shears. Various embodiments include systems and methods for vitreous cutting apparatuses utilizing self-valving vitreous cutters that actuate at a frequency based on the properties of the vitreous cutter.
US08080020B2
A surgical instrument includes an end effector having a clevis and first and second jaws mutually rotatable between open and closed positions. The jaws are proximally directed and laterally displaced relative to a longitudinal axis of a control shaft of the instrument. The jaws hold first and second parts of a fastener, respectively. The first part includes a base having upstanding tissue piercing posts, and the second part includes another base defining apertures for receiving the posts, as well as a portion movable relative to the second base. When the upstanding posts are inserted into the apertures, the movable portion can be moved into a second configuration to lock the parts of the fastener together. The instrument is adapted to move the second part into the second configuration. A method for using the apparatus and fastener are also provided.
US08080019B2
Occluding structures may be created within a body lumen by advancing a length of material distally through the body lumen. By drawing a distal location on the advanced length of material in a proximal direction, the material may be compacted into a structure which at least partially occludes the lumen. The occluding structure may be used for a variety of purposes, including removing obstructions from the body lumen, such as kidney stones from the ureter; providing hemostasis in a blood vessel; providing occlusion of a fallopian tube; temporary constraint of stone fragments in the urinary tract; capture or restraint of clot in blood vessels; and the like. Apparatus for performing the method may comprise a length of material attached at its distal end to tubular guide or other advancement member. Tensioning members may also be provided for collapsing and compacting the length of material within the body lumen.
US08080015B2
An impacting device for inserting, positioning and/or removing an implant and/or performing other impacting applications. The impacting device may have a head having at least one recess. The recess may have a insertion channel and a locking chamber. In one embodiment, the insertion channel and the locking chamber may be connected by an axial channel. The recess may pass through a lateral surface of the head so that the base surface may remain cohesive or unobstructed. A guide means, such as a guide rod, may be positioned though the recess so that the head may be moveable on the guide means and not disengage the guide means. A shaft having a handle may be attached to the head to assist a surgeon in moving the head on the guide means.
US08080011B2
The invention relates to shielded reciprocating cutting tool such as a surgical file system for precisely removing bone and/or other tissue material. The system allows a user to maneuver the system and navigate into hard to access sites under a direct vision mechanism included in the system. A transmission mechanism converts rotary motion from a motor into reciprocating motion and provides it to a cutting tool such as the surgical file for precision bone and/or tissue removal. A pulsatile pump mechanism can be operatively coupled with the transmission mechanism and provides irrigating fluid to the surgical site.
US08080000B2
Methods and apparatus for treating disorders of the ear, nose, throat or paranasal sinuses, including methods and apparatus for dilating ostia, passageways and other anatomical structures, endoscopic methods and apparatus for endoscopic visualization of structures within the ear, nose, throat or paranasal sinuses, navigation devices for use in conjunction with image guidance or navigation system and hand held devices having pistol type grips and other handpieces.
US08079999B2
Fluid injector systems used for a variety of imaging and injection procedures are disclosed. The systems may include separate modules or assemblies that may be located in different rooms of a hospital or imaging facility. Various single use and multiple use components may also be used with the modules or assemblies of the system. In addition, the injector system may include hydraulic and/or pneumatic fluid sources to power the system modules of the present invention.
US08079998B2
Gas packages for the delivery of therapeutic gases, and in particular gaseous nitric oxide (gNO) are provided herein. The gas packages comprise one or more of a gas reservoir, interface layer, sealing layer, and holding container. The interface layer regulates discharge of the therapeutic gas from the gas reservoir to the external environment. The sealing layer and/or holding container prevent evolution of the gas until the sealing layer is compromised or the holding container is opened. The gas packages and methods for using them are useful for the treatment, alleviation, and prevention of various disease and non-disease, medical and non-medical, conditions in humans and animals.
US08079985B2
A guide device (1) for introducing at least a surgical instrument internally of an organic cavity (2), in particular a vascular cavity comprises a guide body or guide catheter (3) which is substantially hollow and flexible and exhibits an open directing end (8) which is transversal. The device comprises an elongate and flexible guide element (9), which is slidable internally of the guide body (3) to define an advancing guide for the guide body (3). The device (1) also includes means for stabilising (10) for easily piloting the directing end (8) with respect to the transversal cavity (2b) and for advancing the guide catheter. The means for stabilising are defined by a stabilising opening (11) and by an elongate and flexible stabilising element (12) which internally engages the guide body (3) and exits therefrom through the stabilising opening (11) along the cavity occupied by the guide body (3). The stabilising element (12) behaves as a rotation pivot by means of which the operator doing the operation can easily align the directing end (8) of the guide body (3) with the transversal cavity (2b), and guide the directing end (8) into the transversal cavity (2b).
US08079981B2
A device (100) for heating a flow of liquid from an initial temperature to a desired temperature for intravenous delivery includes an elongated conduit (120) formed from metallic material having an inlet (102) for receiving the flow of liquid at the initial temperature and an outlet (104) for delivering the flow of liquid at the desired temperature. A temperature sensing arrangement (160. 162, 224) is deployed to generate an output indicating the temperature of the liquid at a number of locations along the conduit (120). A controller (140) generates electrical current flowing within at least one length of the wall of the conduit, thereby generating heat within the wall so as to heat the flow of liquid to reach the desired temperature at the outlet.
US08079979B2
Apparatus and methodology are disclosed for entrapping a used intravenous needle in a needle trap and removing the needle and the trap from a catheter tube so as to avoid risk of injury to both the patient and the medical attendant.
US08079978B2
The present invention provides a balloon catheter system comprising one or more conduits to which are attached a compliant balloon having a non-helical shape in its deflated state, wherein said balloon is constructed such that is capable of adopting a spiral or helical conformation upon inflation. In addition, the present invention also provides methods for using said balloon catheter system.
US08079973B2
A connector system includes an engagement mechanism is provided that includes an engagement feature and a braided reinforcement coupled with a proximal portion of a catheter. The engagement feature can include one, two, or two or more barbs.
US08079972B2
An implant for use in surgery for glaucoma of an eye having an oval plastic piece to which a tube is attached. The oval is wrapped as a taco enclosing the tube. The oval is placed via an incision in the conjunctiva to allow the device to be placed under the lateral or the medial rectus muscle. The tube is disposed in a sceral flap in the eye. A surgical method using the device is disclosed.
US08079964B2
An apparatus for inserting a marking element into a marker body includes a body portion, an insertion member, and a pushing member. The body portion has a compartment configured to receive a marker body. The insertion member is configured to engage the marker body within the compartment. The pushing member is configured to engage with the insertion member. The pushing member is operable to force a marking element along the insertion member into the marker body. The insertion member may include a hollow needle configured to penetrate the marker body. The pushing member may include a pin configured to fit within the hollow needle. The marker body may include an opening such as a slit, a slot, or a passage that is configured to receive a marking element. The marker body may include a collagen dowel, and the marking element may be formed of titanium.
US08079962B2
An apparatus for reproducing a content, includes a reproduction processing unit for reproducing the content, a detecting unit for detecting a motion of a person, a predicting unit for predicting a timing of the motion of the person, based on an output from the detecting unit, and a control unit for controlling the reproduction processing unit in the reproduction of the content by synthesizing a timing indicated by timing information corresponding to the content to be reproduced with the timing of the motion of the person, predicted by the predicting unit.
US08079950B2
Robotic, telerobotic, and/or telesurgical devices, systems, and methods take advantage of robotic structures and data to calculate changes in the focus of an image capture device in response to movement of the image capture device, a robotic end effector, or the like. As the size of an image of an object shown in the display device varies with changes in a separation distance between that object and the image capture device used to capture the image, a scale factor between a movement command input may be changed in response to moving an input device or a corresponding master/slave robotic movement command of the system. This may enhance the perceived correlation between the input commands and the robotic movements as they appear in the image presented to the system operator.
US08079935B2
A shift control device comprises: a thermal load prediction unit which predicts a thermal load state of a friction element upon completion of a shift from a current thermal load state of the friction element; and a shift control unit which, when the thermal load state upon shift completion predicted by the thermal load prediction unit corresponds to a predetermined state, either performs the shift in a modified shift mode in which a heat generation amount of the friction element is smaller than the heat generation amount of the friction element when the predetermined state is not established, or prohibits the shift. The predetermined state is set at a different state in a case where the shift is an upshift and in a case where the shift is a downshift, and is set on the basis of a gradient of a traveling road.
US08079933B2
A method to control a powertrain including a transmission, an engine, and an electric machine includes monitoring a rotational speed of the engine, monitoring a temperature of a transmission fluid, determining a maximum hydraulic pressure within a hydraulic control system based upon the rotational speed of the engine and the temperature of the transmission fluid, determining a predicted clutch torque capacity based upon the maximum hydraulic pressure, generating a preferred input torque from the engine based upon the predicted clutch torque capacity, and utilizing the preferred input torque to control the engine.
US08079929B2
A differential for a model car includes a housing having a chamber, four notches recessed in a periphery of the chamber and each having a trapezoid section, four blocks received in the notches respectively, a spider having four ends connected with the blocks respectively, four first bevel gears respectively sleeved on the ends of the spider, two second bevel gears received in the chamber and engaged with the first bevel gears respectively, a main gear sleeved on the housing, and two output shafts respectively passing through the main gear and the housing to be connected with the second bevel gears. Thus, the first bevel gears and the second bevel gears can be tightly engaged with each other by means of the arrangement of the spider and the blocks to eliminate the power loss of the model car.
US08079923B2
A soccer training system is used to condition soccer players to make shots at the goal with an improved likelihood of scoring by conditioning the soccer players to aim towards the areas of the goal where shots are more likely to score. Similarly disclosed is a novel method of conditioning soccer players to improve their ability to score goals.
US08079914B2
Unpleasant vibration and muffled sound are restrained. A constant velocity universal joint includes an outer joint part having a plurality of track grooves formed on its cylindrical inner circumferential surface and extending in an axial direction, an inner joint part having a plurality of track grooves formed on its spherical outer circumferential surface and extending in the axial direction, six torque transmitting balls, each being put in a ball track formed by a pair of the track groove of the outer joint part and the track groove of the inner joint part, and a cage having pockets for retaining the torque transmitting balls. The center of curvatures of the spherical outer circumferential surface and the center of the spherical inner circumferential surface of the cage are offset by the same distance in the opposite directions along the axis about the center of the joint. A circumferential arrangement of the ball tracks is made with a uniform pitch, and the circumferential length of the pockets of the cage is made uneven at least at one location.
US08079910B2
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for reviewing and evaluating performance. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for reviewing and evaluating performances of an official or group of officials at an event or events. Even more specifically, according to embodiments of the present invention, the system and method can involve reviewing and evaluating a referee's performance during a football game or games.
