US08181258B2
Techniques are disclosed for generating a representation of an access control list, the representation being utilizable in a network processor or other type of processor to perform packet filtering or other type of access control list based function. A plurality of rules of the access control list are determined, each of at least a subset of the rules having a plurality of fields and a corresponding action, and the rules are processed to generate a multi-level tree representation of the access control list, in which each of one or more of the levels of the tree representation is associated with a corresponding one of the fields. At least one level of the tree representation other than a root level of the tree representation comprises a plurality of nodes, with at least two of the nodes at that level each having a separate matching table associated therewith.
US08181252B2
Disclosed is a system for correlating intrusion events using attack graph distances. The system includes an attack graph generator, an exploit distance calculator, an intrusion detector, an event report/exploit associator, an event graph creator, an event graph distance calculator, a correlation value calculator, and a coordinated attack analyzer. An attack graph is constructed for exploits and conditions in a network. The exploit distance calculator determines exploit distances for exploit pair(s). The intrusion detector generates event. Events are associated with exploits. Event graph distances are calculated. Correlation values are calculated for event pair(s) using event graph distances. The correlation values are analyzed using a correlation threshold to detect coordinated attacks.
US08181243B2
A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor for resolving permissions using role activation operators to evaluate permissions assigned to a user in a role context inheritance hierarchy. The stored instructions comprise several steps: a step of retrieving a plurality of activated roles within a role context that match roles assigned to a user, wherein one or more permissions in the role context inherit from one or more permissions in a parent role context in a role context permission inheritance hierarchy; a step of determining an aggregate permission for each of the plurality of activated roles, wherein a role activation operator determines how an activated role is evaluated; a step of processing the aggregate permissions for the plurality of activated roles; and a step of resolving a final permission for the user.
US08181238B2
In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided systems and/or methods for a streaming reverse HTTP gateway, and/or networks including the same. In such a network, a reverse HTTP gateway is located within a demilitarized zone (DMZ) disposed between public (or external) and private (or internal) networks for providing security therebetween. Requests from external clients may be streamed from the external network to the internal network over various connections and ports, including a substantially persistent reverse connection between an internal server and a reverse HTTP gateway. The reverse HTTP gateway architecture of certain example embodiments removes the need for proprietary protocols implemented between the reverse HTTP gateway located in the DMZ and the internal server located in the internal network. In certain example embodiments, the reverse HTTP gateway architecture is configured to leverage the capabilities of HTTP 1.1.
US08181237B2
A method of preventing unauthorized user access to a computer network has been developed. The method includes receiving a domain name server resolution request at the computer network from a requesting user. Next a reply to the requesting user is generated with a domain name server resolution and internet protocol address of a target device within the computer network. The reply is inspected with a network security device, where the network security device does not have an assigned internet protocol address so that it remains undetected by the requesting user. The network security device then monitors data traffic to the computer network to detect a reply from the requesting user. Once detected, the reply to the internet protocol address is intercepted with the network security device. Finally, the network security device verifies that the requesting user is authorized to access the computer network with the network security device.
US08181232B2
A computer-implemented method and system for secure user authentication in electronic commerce involves maintaining electronic information having a first aspect that is accessible over a first electronic communication channel in response to entry of a first credential known to the user and a second aspect that is accessible by the user over the first electronic communication channel in response to entry of a second credential provided to the user at a pre-registered delivery address on a second electronic communication channel. The second credential is provided to the user via the second electronic communication channel in response to entry of a pre-determined user selection during a current session of user access to the first aspect if no change has occurred in the pre-registered delivery address within a pre-determined period of time, and the user is allowed a session of access to the second aspect in response to entry of the second credential either during the current session of user access to the first aspect or during a succeeding session of user access to the first aspect.
US08181231B2
A system of the present invention uses an identity provider to provide the authentication services for multiple service providers. An identity provider communicates with one or more service providers. A user that wishes to gain access to a service provider is authenticated through the use of the identity provider. A user desiring to access a service provider is first authenticated by the identity provider. The identity provider determines if the user meets the desired class level and provides various information related to the authentication. When the user attempts to access a second service provider that is associated with the same identity provider, the second service provider accesses the identity provider and determines that the user was recently authenticated. The identity provider then transmits the relevant information regarding the authentication process to the second service provider, which can then allow or deny the user access to the second service provider.
US08181230B2
A system and method are provided for adaptive approximating of a user for role authorization in a hierarchical inter-organization model. The system includes an authorization redirector for receiving a request for an access control decision for a user. The system further includes an adaptive authorizer for dynamically determining, at run-time, a user role approximation for the user responsive to the request. The user role approximation is based on at least one of a system state and a system goal corresponding to a hierarchical inter-organizational model.
US08181227B2
A system and method for client-side authentication for secure Internet communications is disclosed. In one embodiment, an intermediate device receives a web browser secure socket layer certificate from a web browser, authenticates the web browser using the secure socket layer certificate, and then re-signs the secure socket layer certificate with an intermediate device public key and an intermediate device certificate authority signature. The intermediate device sends the re-signed secure socket layer certificate to a web server and the web server authenticates the intermediate device using the re-signed secure socket layer certificate. In another embodiment, an intermediate device receives a web browser secure socket layer certificate from a web browser, inserts the web browser secure socket layer certificate into a HTTP header of a packet, and sends the packet to a web server.
US08181226B2
The invention consists of a first communications device on which an active session is taking place and a second communications device that is not involved in the active session. When a transfer of the session from the first communications device to the second communications device is desired, the handoff is triggered either automatically or manually. The first communications device sends a transfer initiation message to the second communications device. An acknowledgement message is sent from the second communications device to the first communications device. The second communications device, upon receipt of the address information, sends a server transfer message to the session server. The session server, in response to the server transfer message, routes new content to the identified second communications device.
US08181224B2
A method for analyzing user's behaviors is provided. API function call patterns occurring when operations on various objects are performed on a computer system are configured with contexts. User's behaviors are recognized as associations between the contexts and systematically expressed. Information flow occurring in the user's behaviors (i.e., associations between the contexts) is tracked. The information flow chain is divided into a source and a destination. When the information flow a confidential object to a leakage point occurs, the information leakage is rapidly detected and blocked. By exactly recognizing behaviors belonging to the corresponding information flow chain, user's behaviors related to the information leakage can be detected. Furthermore, the behavior expression based on the contexts configured with the API function call patterns with respect to the system object can be achieved by naturally connecting the API function call occurring on the system as an abstract behavior.
US08181218B2
A set top terminal equipped with a camera and microphone includes the capability to send and receive video calls through a cable television delivery system or other communications networks. In response to detection of the occurrence of a video call event or triggering event, a video program is automatically paused. In response to an incoming video phone call, message, web page, or other video communications information, the system pauses the video program and displays an indication of the occurrence of the communications event. The system also buffers the video program while paused, permitting a user to replay missed portions of it. Alternatively, the system waits for a triggering event, which includes the user's access to the communications event, in order to pause the video program. The set top terminal also includes features for caller identification of video calls and dual display of video programs and video calls, such as picture in picture. A hardware upgrade for adding video call functionality to a set top terminal is also disclosed.
US08181210B2
The present invention relates to a system and method that delivers content from one or more content sources to a plurality of subscriber units via a flow transport subsystem that transports content flows originated from the one or more content sources over a wide area network in response to one or more requests for deadline-driven content flows. E.g., live or interactive flows. One or more gateways interface with the flow transport subsystem for receiving the deadline-driven content flows. Each of the one or more gateways is associated with one or more subscriber units and is selected based on one or more requests for deadline-driven content flows. A content processor converts the deadline-driven content flows to modulated content flows, and a flow delivery subsystem delivers the modulated content flows to one or more subscriber units associated with a selected gateway over an allocated frequency bandwidth of one or more transmission mediums. The flow delivery subsystem delivers the modulated content flows only to those one or more subscriber units that generate one or more content requests which initiate the one or more requests for deadline-driven content flows.
US08181206B2
Personal content server apparatus and associated methods that allow a user (e.g., cable or satellite network subscriber) to access content, such as a video program, from a location outside the subscriber's network. In one embodiment, a personal content server streams the content to the subscriber over a network connection from the local e.g., (subscription) network to a remote network upon authorization by a content manager process. Various access, business or operational rules are applied depending on the content and delivery mode; e.g., to live video broadcast, video-on-demand (VOD), or archived content from the subscriber's digital video recorder (DVR) or networked PVR. In another variant, reservation information (for example program or asset ID information) is cached at a headend or hub server, thereby obviating the subscriber (or the network) having to access the subscriber's premises device. In yet another variant, a “virtual” CPE experience is provided for the remote user.
US08181203B2
In an interactive network-based personal video recording system, a user interface is provided that allows viewers to search a database of program guide information according to program title, indexed program attributes such as actor and director, and key word. Viewer interaction is by way of a remote control unit.
US08181198B2
A method for providing a widget service using a media service providing apparatus is provided. A method for providing the widget service includes operations of scanning channels providing media services therethrough; determining whether or not there is an available channel among the scanned channels for allocating a widget service; if it is determined that there is the available channel, allocating the widget service to the available channel; and providing the widget service allocated to the available channel. Accordingly, a widget service is provided without disturbing a user viewing a television (TV), increasing user convenience.
US08181195B2
An anonymous aggregated data collection system aggregates media access information in an anonymous data collection component without associating the media access information with any one particular client device. The anonymous data collection component further prevents a network operator, content provider, or third party from correlating the media access information obtained from a client device with any one particular subscriber by comparing a unique identifier of the client device with corresponding subscription account and subscriber personal identification information.
US08181185B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a signal in a filter register of a performance monitor from an execution unit to enable a field of the filter register associated with a first thread when a filter enable instruction is executed during execution of code of the first thread, receiving a thread identifier and event information in the performance monitor from the execution unit, and determining if the thread that corresponds to the received thread identifier is enabled in the filter register and if so, storing the event information in a first counter of the performance monitor. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08181176B2
In a computing system having a processor package, an operating system, and a physical I/O device, a partial virtual machine is provided to instantiate a virtual I/O device corresponding to the physical I/O device, the virtual I/O device having a virtual I/O controller. The partial virtual machine includes an I/O port trap to capture an I/O request to the virtual I/O device by the operating system; an I/O controller emulator coupled to the I/O port trap to handle an I/O control request to the virtual I/O controller, when the I/O request comprises an I/O control request; an I/O device emulator coupled to the I/O port trap component to handle an I/O access request to communicate with the virtual I/O device, when the I/O request comprises an I/O access request; and a device driver coupled to the I/O controller emulator and the I/O device emulator to communicate with the physical I/O device based at least in part on the I/O control request and the I/O access request. The partial virtual machine executes within a secure enclave session within the processor package, improving security of I/O transactions by preventing access to the partial virtual machine by the operating system.
US08181173B2
A method, computer program product, and system are disclosed for installing a patch on at least some of the servers of a network having multiple servers. A plurality of servers of the network are identified that requires installation of the patch. Two or more priority values are assigned to each of the identified servers. The priority values for a given identified server are each associated with a different criterion in a set of criteria. The assigned priority values are selectively processed for respective identified servers, in order to determine an initial priority, comprising a first sort order, for installing the patch on each identified server. The first sort order is revised in accordance with information pertaining to prior use of respective identified servers, to provide a second sort order. The patch is installed on each of the identified servers, in an order determined by the second sort order.
US08181159B2
Techniques are described that perform software testing using virtual machines on dedicated or underutilized available computing devices. One or more virtual machines are identified as being sufficient to perform a test and availability of the one or more virtual machines is determined. The test is then executed on the one or more virtual machines when resources are available, thereby reducing the time and risks involved in using non-dedicated devices for testing.
US08181142B2
A semiconductor device, includes a first wiring pattern in a first region, a second wiring pattern in a second region, and at least one first dummy pattern formed in the first region and at least one second dummy pattern formed in the second region. A total area of the at least one first dummy pattern is the same as a total area of the at least one second dummy pattern and a total length of pattern periphery of the at least one second dummy pattern is longer than a total length of pattern periphery of the at least one first dummy pattern.
US08181140B2
A method of generating a circuit design comprising a T-coil network includes determining inductance for inductors and a parasitic bridge capacitance of the T-coil network. The parasitic bridge capacitance is compared with a load capacitance metric that depends upon parasitic capacitance of a load coupled to an output of the T-coil network. An amount of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of the circuit design that is coupled to the output of the T-coil network and/or a parameter of the inductors of the T-coil network is selectively adjusted according to the comparison. The circuit design, which can specify inductance of the inductors, the amount of ESD protection, and/or the width of windings of the inductors, is outputted.
US08181137B2
According to various embodiments of the invention, systems and methods for presenting Layout Versus Schematic (LVS) errors within a layout using a visual circuit representation of the design and highlighting is provided. One embodiment includes overlaying the layout circuit representation on the schematic circuit representation with highlighting that indicates the LVS errors. The method of such an embodiment compares a layout netlist against a schematic netlist in order to identify the layout-versus-schematic errors, generates a graphical representation of the layout netlist and a graphical representation of the schematic netlist, displays an overlay of the graphical representation of the layout netlist with the graphical representation of the schematic netlist and then, highlights the identified layout-versus-schematic errors that are present.
US08181133B2
Aspects of a method and system for combinational equivalence checking for threshold logic circuits are provided. In this regard, one or more inputs may be received at a threshold logic gate. The threshold function of the threshold logic gate may be recursively decomposed into a first function and a second function using cofactors of the threshold function. A Boolean function representation of the threshold logic gate may be generated based on the recursive decomposition of the threshold function. The generated Boolean function representation of the threshold logic gate may be a maximally factored form representation of a minimal sum of products (SOP) for the threshold logic gate. A logical equivalence of the threshold logic gate may be verified with one or more other logic circuits based on the generated Boolean function representation of the threshold logic gate.
US08181120B2
An example television Widget movement method involves receiving a dedicated command from a remote controller that activates the plurality of Widget programs, wherein the Widget programs, when in Display mode, display Widget representations on a display; receiving a command from the remote controller that establishes one of the plurality of displayed Widget programs as being in focus; and receiving a command from the remote controller that places the Widget program that is currently in focus in a Move Mode, where the Widget representation can be moved about the display while in Move Mode, wherein when the Widget is in Move Mode, the Widget representation is responsive to navigation commands from the remote controller to move about the display, and wherein such movement is animated using a 3 dimensional graphics engine. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
US08181112B2
The rendering of portal pages on can be sped up by allowing individual portlets to be displayed while other portlets of the page are still waiting to finish rendering. Temporary messages can be displayed for the portlets that are still rendering. This temporary content can be replaced by the finished portal rendering for the slow rendering portlets. Additionally, a timeout feature for the portlets can be used. The timeout feature allows the rendering of the portlet to be stopped after a certain period of time.
US08181106B2
A method is presented for editing and saving a web page at a client based web-page editor. A rendered web page is received from a server computer and displayed at a web-page editor on the client computer. The client computer identifies one or more customizable web parts on the web page and also identifies one or more shared templates that are associated with the customizable web parts. Each identified shared template is copied as an overriding template. A data view of one or more web parts is edited, causing one or more of the overriding templates associated with the web part to be modified. When the edited changes are saved, the client computer sends a message to the server computer. The message includes the portions of the overriding templates that are modified as a result of the edited changes to the web page.
US08181097B2
A method and apparatus for decoding a signal in a communication system. The method and apparatus includes receiving a punctured codeword including information bit nodes and unpunctured parity bit nodes; analyzing the unpunctured parity bit nodes, and detecting at least one first block including the unpunctured parity bit nodes among a plurality of blocks each including parity bit nodes having the same importance among all parity bit nodes; and recovering said all parity bit nodes by serial-decoding parity bit nodes included in the first block according to decoding priorities of parity bit nodes, determined by reflecting the first block in a predetermined decoding priority determining algorithm.
US08181091B2
An optical probability-domain LDPC decoder suitable for implementation at 100 Gb/s and above provides large coding gains when based on large-girth LDPC codes. A basic building block, the probabilities multiplier circuit, used to implement both check node and probability node update circuits can be implemented using Mach-Zehnder delay interferometer.
US08181079B2
Techniques for transmitting data with hybrid automatic retransmission (HARQ) and interference mitigation are described. In one design, a transmitter processes a packet of data in accordance with a rate and sends at least one transmission of the packet to a receiver with HARQ. In one design, the transmitter sends a trigger message to the receiver to trigger the receiver to send a request to reduce interference to interfering station(s). The transmitter may send a first transmission of the packet (i) after the trigger message, e.g., in consecutive frames of a single HARQ interlace, or (ii) along with the trigger message in the same frame. The number of transmissions to send for the packet may be dependent on whether the interfering station(s) reduce interference to the receiver. The packet transmission may terminate early if interference mitigation is successful or may terminate late if interference mitigation is unsuccessful.
US08181071B2
Embodiments are provided to automatically managing system downtime in a computer network. In one embodiment, an event is created in an application server to schedule a system downtime period for a web server. When the scheduled downtime occurs, the web server is automatically removed from the network and a downtime notification message is automatically communicated indicating that the web server is offline. In another embodiment, events may be created to schedule downtime for web-based applications, including websites. Prior to the scheduled downtime, requests to a web-based application may be automatically stopped and redirected to a specified location. In another embodiment, the operation of web servers is automatically monitored to detect the presence of a fault condition and, if a fault condition is present, then a determination may be made that the affected web servers are down and requests to the down web servers are automatically redirected to an alternate server.
US08181063B2
A computer device that includes a plurality of processor boards each provided with a processor, a memory, and a chipset, includes a first processor board that makes data in a cache, which have become unfixed as a result of an uncorrectable failure, invalid when the uncorrectable failure occurs on the first processor board in operation, and switches from the first processor board to a second processor board for replacement, and the second processor board that re-executes an instruction that was being executed in the first processor board when the failure occurred.
US08181058B2
A receiver circuit is described. In the receiver circuit, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) generates first samples of a data signal based on a first clock signal, and a clock-data-recovery (CDR) error-detection circuit generates second samples of the data signal based on a second clock signal. In addition, the CDR error-detection circuit estimates intersymbol interference (ISI) at a current sample in the second samples from an adjacent, subsequent sample in the second samples. Based on the second samples and the estimated ISI, a CDR circuit generates the first clock signal and the second clock signal, which involves modifying the skews of either or both of these clock signals so that the current sample is associated with a zero crossing of a pulse response of a communication channel from which the data signal was received, thereby reducing or eliminating the ISI from the adjacent, subsequent sample.
US08181055B2
A host device capable of communicating with an external network. The host device may comprise a power-application unit and a network interface. The power-application unit may receive from a power-supply unit a first power-supply output having a first voltage level and a second power-supply output having a second voltage level. The power-application unit may be controllable for producing selectively a first power-application output having a third voltage level from the first power-supply output and a second power-application output having a fourth voltage level from the second power-supply output. The network interface may transmit data to and receive data from an external network, and may be powered at least in part by the first and second power-application outputs.
US08181049B2
A method for controlling power consumption of a processor, the method includes: receiving an indicator that indicates that the processor is expected to change its activity; determining, in response to the indicator and to a current power consumption of the processor, whether to change a frequency of a clock signal that is provided to the processor; and changing, if determining to change the frequency of the clock signal, the frequency of the clock signal by a reduction of the frequency of the clock signal that is followed by an increment of the frequency of the clock signal; wherein the changing of the frequency of the clock signal is responsive to an expected change of a supply voltage that is supplied to the processor as a result of a possible change in a power consumption of the processor due to an expected change of activity of the processor.
US08181047B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for controlling power management based on information on ticks for performing program tasks and information on each of power management states, which is applicable to every apparatus and component able to enter a power saving state.By means of entering a corresponding power management based on a result of comparing idle time of a processor during the tick with resume time of each power management state, power consumption can be reduced.
US08181039B2
Counterfeiting of optical disc drives used with game systems is prevented by storing an obfuscated authentication key in firmware of the disc drive. Each disc drive can implement a different obfuscation scheme. The authentication key is parsed into components and the components are stored in various locations in firmware of the disc drive. Drive specific software also is stored in the firmware. Remaining locations of the firmware are randomly populated with binary values.
US08181037B2
Application protection systems and methods. The system comprises a security platform device comprising a storage unit and a processing unit. The storage unit comprises a root security key and an application security key. The security platform device receives a unique key from an application. The processing unit encrypts the unique key using the root security key, and determines whether the encrypted unique key conforms to the application security key. If so, the application is allowed to execute.
US08181035B1
According to some implementations methods, apparatus and systems are provided involving the use of processors having at least one core with a security component, the security component adapted to read and verify data within data blocks stored in a L1 instruction cache memory and to allow the execution of data block instructions in the core only upon the instructions being verified by the use of a cryptographic algorithm.
US08181020B2
A mechanism for creating and accessing a secure storage area for firmware that stores a “Virtual ROM” module reference or pointer in the actual ROM that includes a unique identifier for the virtual ROM module to be retrieved is discussed. The actual ROM image also contains a generated unique identifier for the whole machine. In retrieving a Virtual ROM module, both the module identifier and the machine identifier are used. Once retrieved, the module is validated using a message digest stored in the Virtual ROM module reference. If required, the Virtual ROM module is then decrypted using a secret key that is stored elsewhere in the actual ROM. Updates to the Virtual ROM module are made in memory by pre-boot code. At a point in time when these updates are complete, the Virtual ROM module is written back out to the location from which it was retrieved. The Virtual ROM module reference that is in the actual ROM is updated to reflect the new message digest value and the module reference and the machine identifier used for the PC are write-disabled. Additionally, if the storage has been encrypted, and a secret key is being used, the region of the actual ROM that contains the secret key is read-disabled.
US08181012B2
An information processing apparatus transmits an encrypted document to a destination that is received as the destination of the encrypted document, stores the received destination, and determines whether the stored destination is a correct destination or not. If it is determined to be the correct destination, it transmits a decryption key of the encrypted document to the relevant destination.
US08181010B1
A system for authenticating a request to access a protected network resource behind two security layers is disclosed. The system includes a client which contains a web browser, a first server tier, and second server tier. The first server tier is protected behind a first security layer and hosts a first software object and second software object. The first server tier is operatively coupled to the client system via a first connection wherein the first software object and second software object are configured to be in communications with the web browser. The second server tier is protected behind the first security layer and second security layer and hosts an authentication service. The second server tier is operatively coupled to the first server tier via a second connection wherein the authentication service is configured to be in communications with the second software object.
US08181001B2
Described is a method for performing parallel operations in a computer system when one or more conditional dependencies may be present, where a given conditional dependency includes a dependency associated with at least two data elements based on a pair of conditions. During operation, a processor receives instructions for generating a vector of tracked positions of actual dependencies, where a given tracked position indicates the position of a given actual dependency, and where the given actual dependency occurs when the pair of condition matches one or more criteria. Then, the processor executes the instructions for generating the vector of tracked positions.
US08181000B2
A method and apparatus within a processing system is provided for associating shadow register sets with interrupt routines. The invention includes a vector generator that receives interrupts, and generates exception vectors to call interrupt routines that correspond to the interrupts. The exception vector considers the type of interrupt and the priority level of the interrupt when selecting the exception vector. Shadow set mapping logic is coupled to the vector generator. The mapping logic contains a number of fields that correspond to the different exception vectors that may be generated. The fields are programmable by kernel mode instructions, and contain data mapping each field to one of a number of shadow register sets. When an interrupt occurs, the vector generator generates a corresponding exception vector. In addition, the shadow set mapping logic looks at the field corresponding to the exception vector, and retrieves the data stored therein. The data is used to switch to one of the shadow register sets for use by an interrupt routine. Upon return from the interrupt routine, the previously used register set is selected.
US08180998B1
A system for performing data-parallel operations and task-parallel operations. A first switch fabric node (SFN) includes first and second lane processing engines (LPEs). The first LPE includes a first set of lane processing units (LPUs) configured to perform data-parallel operations, where each LPU performs a set of operations, and each LPU uses a different set of data for the set of operations, and each LPU within the first set of LPUs uses a different set of data for the set of operations. The second LPE includes a second set of LPUs configured to perform task-parallel operations, where each LPU performs a different set of operations. A processing control engine (PCE) is configured to distribute instructions and data to the first LPE and the second LPE. Advantageously, data parallel operations and task parallel operations are able to be performed on the same processor simultaneously.
US08180996B2
A distributed computing system that incorporates enhanced distributed storage and a universal address system and method are provided.
US08180995B2
The present disclosure includes methods, devices, and systems for a logical address offset. One method embodiment includes detecting a memory unit formatting operation. Subsequently, in response to detecting the formatting operation, the method includes inspecting format information on the memory unit, calculating a logical address offset, and applying the offset to a host logical address.
US08180994B2
During a programming data transfer process in a non-volatile storage system, recording units of data are transferred from a host to a memory device, such as a memory card. For each recording unit, pages of data are arranged in an order such that a page which takes longer to write to a memory array of the memory device is provided before a page which takes less time to write. Overall programming time for the recording unit is reduced since a greater degree of parallel processing occurs. While the page which takes longer to program is being programmed to the memory array, the page which takes less time to program is being transferred to the memory device. After programming is completed, the memory device signals the host to transfer a next recording unit. The pages of data may include lower, middle and upper pages.
US08180993B2
An information processing apparatus includes a CPU-A which starts a first OS stored in a DRAM-A, a CPU-B which starts a second OS stored in a non-volatile memory, and an HDD which stores a first program executed on the first OS and a second program executed on the second OS, in which CPU-A loads the second program from the HDD into DRAM-A when starting the first OS, and CPU-B makes the second OS execute the second program loaded in DRAM-A, once the first OS is started.
US08180991B2
In one embodiment, a memory manager may identify allocators as either transient in nature or static in nature based on a length of time each one of the allocators held, holds, or both, onto requested memory blocks. The memory manager may also allocate memory blocks requested by allocators identified as transient in nature from one memory pool and allocate memory blocks requested by allocators identified as static in nature from another memory pool. In one example, the memory manager may also use a deferred splitting strategy to optimize allocation of free memory next to memory blocks reserved by the most transient allocators by not splitting such free memory if the free bytes are less than a maximum block size threshold.
US08180990B2
A main LSI includes a plurality of master circuits transmitting access requests to a SDRAM, and includes an input interface receiving an access request from a master circuit in a sub LSI. Further, the main LSI includes an arbitration circuit receiving the access requests from the internal master circuits and from the input interface, sequentially selecting, in accordance with a predetermined arbitration rule, a master circuit to be allowed to access the SDRAM, and determining output timings for addresses pertaining to the data transfers from the sequentially selected master circuits. The main LSI also includes an access signal generation circuit causing the sequentially selected master circuits to access the SDRAM in accordance with the corresponding output timings.
US08180988B2
A system provided for authenticating a storage device includes a computer system, an intermediate converter and a storage device. The computer system stores an application program to execute functions of a storage device. The intermediate converter connects the computer system and the storage device. The storage device store multiple predetermined sector addresses and an order of the predetermined sector addresses. The computer system authenticates the storage device using the application program and sector data stored at the predetermined sector addresses. The predetermined sector addresses may be predetermined by both the storage device and the application program.
US08180987B2
Control of the encryption of data for storage with respect to removable data storage cartridges having a recording media and having cartridge memory with at least a portion lockable to read-only, employs the steps of inspecting the read-only portion of the cartridge memory of the removable data storage cartridge for an “Encrypt-Only” flag. If the “Encrypt-Only” flag is present, writes to the recording media of the removable data storage cartridge are limited to data in an encrypted format, if any; and, else, writes to the recording media of the removable data storage cartridge are allowed for data in any of encrypted and unencrypted formats.
US08180979B2
The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
US08180978B1
An address locked loop (ALL) apparatus for address recycling is provided. The apparatus comprises a block of memory further comprising a plurality of buffers configured to store a plurality of incoming packets, an address stack configured for storing of a plurality of free addresses, an address locked loop (ALL) control block configured to provide an arbitrated interface with the address stack for filling address requests by a local process and for returning free addresses from the local process to the address stack, and a stack address counter configured to maintain count of the available free addresses remaining on the address stack.
US08180975B2
A “request scheduler” provides techniques for batching and scheduling buffered thread requests for access to shared memory in a general-purpose computer system. Thread-fairness is provided while preventing short- and long-term thread starvation by using “request batching.” Batching periodically groups outstanding requests from a memory request buffer into larger units termed “batches” that have higher priority than all other buffered requests. Each “batch” may include some maximum number of requests for each bank of the shared memory and for some or all concurrent threads. Further, average thread stall times are reduced by using computed thread rankings in scheduling request servicing from the shared memory. In various embodiments, requests from higher ranked threads are prioritized over requests from lower ranked threads. In various embodiments, a parallelism-aware memory access scheduling policy improves intra-thread bank-level parallelism. Further, rank-based request scheduling may be performed with or without batching.
US08180974B2
Systems and methods for controlling memory access operations are disclosed. The system may include one or more requestors performing requests to memory devices. Within a memory controller, a request queue receives requests from a requestor, a bank decoder determines a destination bank, and the request is placed in an appropriate bank queue. An ordering unit determines if the current request can be reordered relative to the received order and generates a new memory cycle order based on the reordering determination. The reordering may be based on whether there are multiple requests to the same memory page, multiple reads, or multiple writes. A memory interface executes each memory request in the memory cycle order. A data buffer holds write data until it is written to the memory and read data until it is returned to the requestor. The data buffer also may hold memory words used in read-modify-write operations.
US08180970B2
A two pipe pass method for least recently used (LRU) compartment capture in a multiprocessor system. The method includes receiving a fetch request via a requesting processor and accessing a cache directory based on the received fetch request, performing a first pipe pass by determining whether a fetch hit or a fetch miss has occurred in the cache directory, and determining an LRU compartment associated with a specified congruence class of the cache directory based on the fetch request received, when it is determined that a fetch miss has occurred, and performing a second pipe pass by using the LRU compartment determined and the specified congruence class to access the cache directory and to select an LRU address to be cast out of the cache directory.
US08180967B2
Methods and apparatus to provide transactional memory execution in a virtualized mode are described. In one embodiment, data corresponding to a transactional memory access request may be stored in a portion of a memory after an operation corresponding to the transactional memory access request causes an overflow and a stored value may be updated for an occurrence of the overflow.
US08180962B2
Since the threshold excess is judged by a value of high-workload IO of backup that is designed on the assumption that the workload of storage is high, whether the performance limit has been reached remains uncertain. Furthermore, although an optimistic prediction trend with low workload trend and a pessimistic prediction trend with high pessimistic workload trend are presented, LUs that require improvement remain uncertain. Moreover, the time to improve the configuration and the effect of the improvement remain uncertain. To improve the configuration, configuration information, performance information, and operation information are acquired from storage, a performance limit excess time is predicted based on the performance information excluding LUs exceeding the performance trend, and an optimal improved configuration is determined from the performance limit after improvement and the time required for the improvement.
US08180951B2
A memory system for transmitting data to and receiving data from a host apparatus includes a semiconductor memory and an access-controlling part. The semiconductor memory has storage areas identified by physical addresses, stores data in each of the storage areas, performs data write in accordance with a request made by the host apparatus. The access-controlling part selects a recommended address, which is recommended to be used in a next data write, on the basis of operation information about a factor that influences time consumed for data write in the semiconductor memory, and outputs the recommended address to the host apparatus.
US08180944B2
In an embodiment, a system comprises a memory system and a guest interrupt manager. The guest interrupt manager is configured to receive an interrupt message corresponding to an interrupt that is targeted at a guest executable on the system. The guest interrupt manager is configured to record the interrupt in a data structure in the memory system to ensure that the interrupt is delivered to the guest even if the guest is not active in the system at a time that the interrupt message is received.
US08180929B2
An address management method and a device thereof are provided. The address management method includes checking by a device whether logical addresses are currently being used by external devices; and setting by the device a non-use logical address as a logical address of the device regardless of the type of the device, if the device determines that the non-use logical address exists. Therefore, a device may use all logical addresses regardless of its device type, and may also have a logical address even though all logical addresses corresponding to its device type are currently being used.
US08180922B2
Resource availability profiles are received, wherein each resource availability profile describes a resource associated with a server. Each resource is assigned a plurality of weights corresponding to a plurality of policies. The weights are determined by, for each of the plurality of the policies, determining a weight for each resource based a given policy and selected information in the resource availability profiles corresponding to the resources. The method further comprises determining a policy from the plurality of the policies corresponding to a given a context associated with a connection request. A first of the load-balanced servers is selected for the connection request based on the weights assigned to the plurality of resources for the policy for the given context.
US08180920B2
A system for routing media content files having different format characteristics to a plurality of clients over a communication network includes a content translation router. The content translation router is capable of retrieving the content files. In addition, the content translation router includes processing modules for concurrently modifying content files having differing format characteristics to be compatible for transmission over the communication network for viewing at different ones of the clients.
US08180916B1
Embodiments of the invention provide a framework for traffic classification that bridges the gap between the packet content inspection and the flow-based behavioral analysis techniques. In particular, IP packets and/or IP flows are used as an input, network nodes are associated to specific network applications by leveraging information gathered from the web, and packet content signatures are extracted in an off-line fashion using clustering and signature extraction algorithms. The signatures learned are systematically exported to a traffic classifier that uses the newly available signatures to classify applications on-the-fly.
US08180911B2
The invention relates to a method of distributing real time data streams across a multimedia network to receiving terminals, wherein a selected real time data streams is transmitted from a media server to a specific receiving terminals, wherein a mediation device is located between said media server and the receiving terminals, that a bi-directional communication with said media server is terminated at said media server for receiving data streams destined for the selected terminal and that said data streams are further forwarded to said selected terminal by means of a uni-directional communication protocol, and also a mediation device and a multimedia network therefore.
US08180909B2
A managed services platform. An applications management server is provided for managing relationships with application service providers and others over a wide area network such as the Internet. The applications management server interfaces with a master database server and the servers of one or more application service providers, or other entities, to facilitate selection and deselection of applications, services, and capabilities that may be available for use by the information technology network of a company.
US08180906B2
Communication device capabilities may change during an established multimedia session due to connection of a peripheral device. For example, a user listens to an Internet radio service on a mobile phone through a set of headphones. Later, the user connects the mobile phone to stereo system in a car. The mobile phone can leverage the car's stereo system to present higher quality audio than it could present with the headphones. Functionality can be implemented in a communication device to detect connection of a peripheral device and determine multimedia capabilities of the peripheral device. The communication device updates its presence information to indicate the multimedia capabilities of the peripheral device. In response, a multimedia server determines multimedia capabilities indicated in the presence information have changed and optimizes delivery of multimedia content based on the updated multimedia capabilities.
US08180900B2
A system and method for distributing information from a host service in communication with a computer network to a mobile station in communication with a wireless network is provided. A data item associated with the mobile station is received at the host service. The host service then determines whether a network resource of the wireless network is currently associated with the mobile station. If the network resource of the wireless network is not currently associated with the mobile station, then the host service transmits a resource request message to the mobile station to instruct the mobile station to acquire the network resource. Subsequently to acquiring the network resource, the host service is then able to transmit the data item to the mobile station using the network resource.
US08180899B2
A method for configuring an IP address to receive broadcast or multicast data flow which modifies the bind( ) Application Programming Interface (API) to survey available local interfaces to determine their ability to be configured to receive data from a particular IP address, configure a interface to receive the IP address if it is so configurable, bind the IP address to that interface. The modified bind*( ) API may interact with one or more interfaces to see if each interface is capable of being configured to the IP address. Alternatively, the modified bind*( ) API determines the configurability of interfaces by consulting the access control list. Policy based routing rules may be implemented so that the modified bind*( ) operation configures the highest priority interface based upon policy parameters.
US08180892B2
A method and apparatus are provided for identifying and tracking multiple computer user sessions associated with a network address translation (NAT) device coupled to a computer network. Data packets originating from the NAT device containing a request to a destination server coupled to the computer network are received. A client source address associated with the data packets is determined where the source address associated with the NAT device. One or more session entries associated with the client source address can then be determined, wherein the session entries are stored in system state information. A session signature can then be determined based one or more characteristics defined by the data packet header information and/or request header information in the one or more data packets, the session signature uniquely identifying one of the multiple computer user sessions coupled to the NAT device.
US08180874B2
A method for defending against MAC table overflow attacks comprises a plurality of operations. An operation is performed for determining whether each one of a plurality of MAC addresses within a MAC table has one-way traffic or two-way traffic corresponding thereto. Thereafter, operations are performed for designating each MAC address having two-way traffic corresponding thereto as a first category of MAC address and for designating each MAC address having one-way traffic corresponding thereto as a second category of MAC address. In response to the number of the MAC addresses designated as the second category of MAC address exceeding a prescribed threshold value, an operation is performed for causing a timeout value of at least a portion of the MAC addresses designated as the second category of MAC address to be less than a timeout value of the MAC addresses designated as the first category of MAC address.
US08180872B1
System and method for providing a common data model for SAN discovery and/or SAN monitoring information collected from heterogeneous SAN components. In one embodiment, a SAN management server may execute on a host computer and may translate data in one or more vendor-specific languages obtained from a heterogeneous vendor population into canonical data in a uniform language. In one embodiment, the SAN management server may execute a set of rules to convert heterogeneous SAN data obtained from heterogeneous interfaces into canonical data conforming to the common data model. In one embodiment, the canonical data may be stored in a persistent store, which may be queried for information that may be provided to the requestor in the canonical form of the common data model.
US08180869B2
A technique for organizing a plurality of computers such that message broadcast, content searching, and computer identification of the entire collection or a subset of the entire collection may be performed quickly without the use of a controlling computer. The technique describes the creation, operation, and maintenance of a connection scheme by which each computer in the collection appears to be the top level of a hierarchical array. The maintenance of this hierarchical connection scheme allows one to many communications throughout the collection of computers to scale geometrically rather than linearly.
US08180868B2
A resource management method and a corresponding system implementing an adaptive model are proposed. The method allows an authority to define a desired target state of several kinds of resources, which are directly controlled by different subjects. The authority publishes a series of rules in a shared repository; each rule indicates the target state of a resource for a corresponding category of the subjects. Each subject retrieves the rules corresponding to its category from the shared repository. The rules are then applied by the subject directly. In this way, the subjects self-adapt to the rules, without requiring any direct interaction with the authority.
US08180859B2
A system and methods are provided for remotely recovering and purging data from a wireless device in a communications network. The system includes a wireless device capable of executing a data recovery/purge application program for receiving a message from a communications device in the network. The application program retrieves the data in the wireless device, purges the data from the wireless device, and sends a return message, including the data retrieved from the wireless device, to the communications device.
US08180842B2
A communication device management program that enables efficient use of memory space in receiving data using remote direct memory access (RDMA) techniques. The receiving node transmits a virtual ID corresponding to a receiving process to a remote sending node. A sending process in the sending node specifies this virtual ID when starting data transmission. If the receiving node has not reserved a memory area corresponding to that virtual ID, the sending node transmits a reservation request to the receiving node, which causes a data receiving memory area to be reserved for use by a communication device in the receiving node. In the sending node, the sending communication device begins sending transmission data in RDMA mode, from a memory area managed by the sending process to the reserved data receiving memory area. The receiving communication device directs incoming transmission data to a memory area managed by the receiving process.
US08180841B2
To perform thread-based message prioritization, metadata may be extracted from a received electronic message. Based on the extracted message metadata and accumulated metadata extracted from previously received messages, a message thread to which the received electronic message belongs may be identified. Based on a set of thread priority assessment criteria, a priority level for the message thread may be determined. At least part of the message thread may be processed according to the priority level. The processing may be altering a notification behavior of an electronic messaging client for electronic messages of the message thread. Thread priority assessment may be based on user-configurable criteria that may be set via a graphical user interface. Message thread identification may also be based on user-configurable criteria that may be set via a graphical user interface.
US08180840B2
The present disclosure provides for automatically replying to instant messaging (IM) messages. In some embodiments, an IM message is received by a recipient and displayed to the recipient. If, during a predefined time interval, the recipient does not provide any response to the IM message, then the IM message is automatically replied to.
US08180839B2
A computer-implemented method for receiving information at a first device is provided. The method includes storing a first data object on the first device in a first device-specific representation, receiving a batch of information in response to the first device transitioning from an off-line state to an online state, processing the modification event to recover the modification, updating the first data object based on the recovered modification, and transmitting an acknowledgement indicating that the modification event was successfully processed by the first device. The batch of information includes a modification event. The content of the batch was determined based at least on a state of data stored on the first device. The modification event was generated based on at least a modification made to a second data object stored at a second device in a second device-specific representation.
US08180838B2
The management of a data storage system. The system may store data objects that are subject to change in container sets. The data storage system uses location maps to map the data objects to a corresponding container. When there has been, or will be, a change in the availability of containers, a new location map is created which maps the data objects to a new potentially overlapping set of containers. New data objects are added to the new set of containers, and a data object is found by searching all location maps. As an alternative or as an addition to this system, data objects may be stored in a manner that they may be efficiently removed when a condition is met. A container is created which stores all data objects to be removed when the condition occurs. When the condition occurs, the container is removed.
US08180837B2
Systems and methods for an anti-spam detection module that can detect image spam are provided. According to one embodiment, an image spam detection process involves determining and measuring various characteristics of images that may be embedded within or otherwise associated with an electronic mail (email) message. An approximate display location of the embedded images is determined. The existence of one or more abnormal factors associated with the embedded images is identified. A quantity of text included in the one or more embedded images is determined and measured by analyzing one or more blocks of binarized representations of the one or more embedded images. Finally, the likelihood that the email message is spam is determined based on one or more of the approximate display location, the existence of one or more abnormal factors and the quantity and location of text measured.
US08180821B2
The subject invention pertains to a method and apparatus for performing computations using residue arithmetic. The subject method and apparatus can utilize logic gates for performing calculations such as multiplication by a constant, computing a number theoretic logarithm of a residue for a given base αi and modulus pi and computing the product of two residues, modulo Pi- The use of logic gates can offer advantages when compared with the use of ROMs for table look-up functions in integrated RNS digital signal processor implementations.
US08180818B2
An apparatus for processing a plurality of real-valued subband signals using a first real-valued subband signal and a second real-valued subband signal to provide at least a complex-valued subband signal comprises a multiband filter for providing an intermediate real-valued subband signal and a calculator for providing the complex-valued subband signal by combining a real-valued subband signal from the plurality of real-valued subband signals and the intermediate subband signal.
US08180815B2
A more efficient method of counting the number of zeros in a 4-bit value generates three output bits (q0, q1 and q2) from four input bits (a0, a1, a2 and a3) according to the logic equations q0=not(a1+a2+a3+a4), q1=not(a0+a1), q2=a1(not a0)+not(a0+a2). These output bits yield the number of non-significant (leading or trailing) zeros in the 4-bit value. The invention may be implemented in a 16-bit zero counter having four 4-bit decoders, but is applicable to any number of zero counters. The output bits from the four 4-bit decoders can be combined to yield a 5-bit count whose most significant bit is a one when all input bits from all four of the 4-bit blocks are zero. A multiplexer stage derives two outputs based on a portion of the decode bits. For wider counters, the output stage uses four AOI21 gates to merge additional decode bits from a next lower 16-bit zero counter.
US08180811B2
A list of data structures (e.g., inodes) can be accessed, and the data structures in the list can be examined. If a data structure is examined, a counter value associated with the data structure is changed to a generation number that is associated with the examination. Subsequently, the counter values can be used to identify unreferenced data structures. More specifically, the counter value for an unreferenced data structure will be different from the generation number for the most recently performed examination.
US08180802B2
An extensible identification system for nodes in a hierarchy is described wherein each node is assigned a concatenation of decimal based values. The values assigned uniquely identify the node, provides an order for the node, and identifies its parent, child, and sibling relationships with other nodes Furthermore, the IDs assigned can be encoded to be byte comparable. Furthermore, the ID's assigned to nodes need not be modified when changes (adding/deleting a child node or a subtree of nodes) are made in the hierarchy. Additionally, in the event of such a change, the order and relationships between the parent, child, and sibling nodes are retained.
US08180797B2
An image forming apparatus includes a first storage medium to store a storage target file, without storing storage management information of the storage target filed. The image forming apparatus may also have a controller to control storing the storage management information of the storage target file separately from the storage target file. Therefore, without the storage management information that is indispensable for accessing the storage target file the file is secure regardless of detaching the first storage medium from the image forming apparatus.
US08180795B2
A computer readable medium includes executable instructions to integrate a write-back module in a report document, to publish to a recipient the report document and metadata identifying the recipient, and to update a data source based on received write-back information, including the metadata identifying the recipient.
US08180794B2
An identification system that may be used in heterogeneous computing environments provides a fail-free path to providing identifiers from a single canonical namespace. Objects or gateways requiring an identifier for access are accessed using an identifier for the canonical namespace. If an entity requests access using an identifier from another namespace, an external database is consulted to determine if a mapping exists for the identifier to another identifier the canonical namespace. If no mapping exists, or the external database is unavailable, then an identifier is automatically generated in the canonical namespace and is used for the access. An internal database is updated with the automatically generated identifier, providing a mechanism to add mappings without administrative intervention. To access resources requiring an identifier from another particular namespace, a canonical namespace identifier may be mapped to another identifier in the particular namespace, or a generic identifier may be used.
US08180787B2
The present invention generally is directed to a system, method and article of manufacture for accessing data independent of the particular manner in which the data is physically represented. In one embodiment, a data repository abstraction layer provides a logical view of the underlying data repository that is independent of the particular manner of data representation. A query abstraction layer is also provided and is based on the data repository abstraction layer. A runtime component performs translation of an abstract query into a form that can be used against a particular physical data representation.
US08180778B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating action trails from web history are described. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a web content access history of a user, the content access history including one or more user actions, each user action being associated with a content item upon which the user action is performed and identifying one or more action trails from the content access history, each action trail including a sequence of user actions performed one content items relating to a topic. Identifying a particular action trail includes clustering the user actions into a series of segments using temporal criteria; calculating semantic similarities between the content items, and adding a segment of the series of segments to the action trail when the semantic similarities between the segment and another segment satisfy a similarity threshold.
US08180774B2
A system and method for obtaining and processing web-scale data are provided herein. More particularly, a web-scale data processing system and method for crawling, storing, processing, encoding, and/or serving web-scale data are disclosed.
US08180770B2
A method, system, and user interface for creating a personalized and customizable playlist. In one embodiment, the method and system for generating a playlist includes the user selecting and/or entering media file identifiers associated with media files and then initiating automatic playlist generation.
US08180769B2
A system including a plurality of web servers configured to serve base content and relevant content to a user system; a set of additional-content servers configured to serve the relevant content to the web servers if units in the user profile match units associated with the relevant content; a parsing server configured to extract the units in the user profile from the base content requested by the user and generate a ranked list of the units in the user profile; and a unit-matching module configured to determine whether the units in the user profile match units associated with the relevant content if the user requests the base content, wherein the web servers are configured to serve the base content and the relevant content if the units in the user profile match units associated with the relevant content.
US08180766B2
A general framework for video search reranking is disclosed which explicitly formulates reranking into a global optimization problem from the Bayesian perspective. Under this framework, with two novel pair-wise ranking distances, two effective video search reranking methods, hinge reranking and preference strength reranking, are disclosed. Experiments conducted on the TRECVID dataset have demonstrated that the disclosed methods outperform several existing reranking approaches.
US08180755B2
A method is provided to associate reviews that have unknown correspondences to tangible entities to structured objects that have known correspondences to tangible entities comprising: transforming a respective review and text from a respective structured object to a collection of words that intersect the respective review and text from the respective structured object; determining a measure of a likelihood of a match as a function of respective probabilities of occurrences of respective words of such intersecting collection within generic review text and respective probabilities of occurrences of respective words of such intersecting collection within structured object text.
US08180747B2
Load sharing clusters in which each node is responsible for one or more non-overlapping subset(s) of the cluster namespace and will process only those requests that access file or directory objects in the partitioned namespace that the node controls while redirecting requests designated for other nodes. A non-overlapping subset may be migrated from a source node to a destination node, for example, for load sharing or hotspot mitigation. Migration typically includes maintaining a file virtualization link from the destination node to the source node to permit forwarding of requests by the destination node to the source node during migration of metadata and then migration of data from the source node. After migration is complete, the file virtualization link is broken and the destination node services requests for the non-overlapping subset from the migrated metadata and data.
US08180746B2
The Java transaction API for use with global transaction can use a system using alias for the branch ID. The alias can allow multiple branch IDs for single resource.
US08180738B2
A memory controller, a nonvolatile storage device and a nonvolatile storage device system are provided, in which the matching check between content data and meta data can be simplified, a starting time can be shortened, and further, a host device side can provide users with a common GUI without being conscious of the Usage Rule including an encryption method for copyright protection and a copyright protection method and a content management. A write status holding unit that holds write status information to identify the content data being written, and a content management unit that manages the content data and the meta data are included. The content management unit eliminates mismatch between the content data and the meta data based on the write status information. Further, a GUI script generating unit is included which generates a script describing the screen display contents in accordance with a request from the host device for the content data.
US08180731B2
An information-processing apparatus, reproduction apparatus, communication method and computer program are disclosed wherein an evaluation value can be added automatically to contents stored in a storage apparatus or medium. The information-processing apparatus comprising an acquisition section which acquires, from a portable reproduction apparatus which is capable of reproducing contents data, reproduction history information of the contents data in the portable reproduction apparatus. An evaluation value arithmetic operation section arithmetically operates a computed evaluation value corresponding to the content data based on the reproduction history information acquired by the acquisition section. A transfer section transfers the computed evaluation value arithmetically operated by the evaluation value arithmetic operation section to the portable reproduction apparatus.
US08180730B2
Illustrative embodiments present a computer-implemented method for controlling update of stored data in a set of data replicas. The computer-implemented method responsive to receiving a data request from a requester, identifies a data replica to resolve the data request to form an identified data replica. The computer-implemented method transmits an update data request to a replica administration agent if the data request is an update data request, determines whether an arbitration token is present, and responsive to a determination that the arbitration token is present; a replica administration agent updates the data in the identified data replica.
US08180717B2
A method of computerized content analysis that gives “approximately unbiased and statistically consistent estimates” of a distribution of elements of structured, unstructured, and partially structured source data among a set of categories. In one embodiment, this is done by analyzing a distribution of small set of individually-classified elements in a plurality of categories and then using the information determined from the analysis to extrapolate a distribution in a larger population set. This extrapolation is performed without constraining the distribution of the unlabeled elements to be equal to the distribution of labeled elements, nor constraining a content distribution of content of elements in the labeled set (e.g., a distribution of words used by elements in the labeled set) to be equal to a content distribution of elements in the unlabeled set. Not being constrained in these ways allows the estimation techniques described herein to provide distinct advantages over conventional aggregation techniques.
US08180712B2
Methods and apparatus for determining whether a media presentation device is in an on state or an off state are disclosed. A disclosed example method comprises determining first and second characteristics of a signature associated with a signal representative of media content presented via a media presentation device, evaluating the first and second characteristics to determine first and second fuzzy contribution values representing, respectively, degrees with which the first and second characteristics correspond to the media presentation device being in at least one of an on state or an off state, determining a third fuzzy contribution value based on a number of the first and second contribution values indicating the media presentation device is in one of the on or off states, and combining the first, second and third fuzzy contribution values for use in determining whether the media presentation device is in the on state or the off state.
US08180708B2
A method of managing keys is provided. According to one exemplary method, digital content data encrypted with a first encrypting key is decrypted using a first decrypting key, and re-encrypted using a second encrypting key. A second decrypting key is encrypted using a third encrypting key to produce an encrypted second decrypting key. In some embodiments, an encrypted first decrypting key that was encrypted using a fourth encrypting key is received, and the encrypted first decrypting key is decrypted using a fourth decrypting key to reproduce the first decrypting key. An application for use on a computer system is also provided.
US08180706B2
Facilitating commercial transactions using a payment system directory are disclosed. A payment directory and/or wireless point of sale (POS) device may be configured to use predetermined rules, a multitude of data items and/or conditions to locate a payment system, and transmit a payment authorization request from a remote location to at least one payment system, either directly, or via a payment system directory and/or a SSL Gateway.
US08180701B1
Secure image bidding system process for financial transactions, including structured investment products, escrows and interest rate swaps. Some embodiments provide a secure image bidding system and process for image-based bid transmissions where each of a plurality of bids received by the system is encrypted and held in a digital “Vault” until the specified end of the bid period, at which time a package containing the encrypted bids, a log of server activity, and a digital checksum of the original bid file is sent via electronic mail to the bid broker and other participants. A second electronic mail message is sent to the bid broker and other participants containing the decryption key. During the bid process, no party has access to the bid information and there is no human interaction in the receipt, conversion to image, encryption, storage or conveyance of compiled information.
US08180687B2
A method for partially verifying the legitimacy of a remote purchase request based on a card number from a card issuing financial institution. The method includes receiving and storing a first purchase request information set including an origin and a card number. Further, the origin and the card number are sent to the card issuing financial institution to determine if the origin matches an origin on file for the card number at the card issuing financial institution.
US08180683B2
A method and system for providing account status information using an update status flag to receive status information pertaining to a customer account. It is determined whether the received status information is new relative to further status information stored within a status record pertaining to the account. The status record is updated to include the received status information if the received status information is new. The updated message indicating the received status information is then composed and sent to the customer.
US08180682B2
A system for generating a view of a purchase history, includes an electronic receipt generator for generating an electronic receipt including information regarding a purchase by a customer, a storage device for storing the electronic receipt, and a display screen generator which accesses the electronic receipt in the storage device to generate a display screen which displays a map corresponding to the information included in the electronic receipt.
US08180678B2
Computer network system for providing, and managing delivery of, products and services to persons on a transport vehicle. An exemplary network (10) includes: Computers (11a through 11c), such as laptop computers, used by persons on the vehicle (15) to request and receive services; A member computer (12) used by the operator crew to request and receive services; Member handheld computers (13a through 13b) used by cabin attendants to manage delivery of products and services; A computer server onboard the vehicle for storing data, performing calculations, and acting as a communications gateway to other members in the network; A communications link (16) to a ground fixed router (17); A ground router (17) for access to the Internet and other members of the network; A computer server for managing product inventory and product delivery (18); A computer for recording inventory (19), and Computer kiosks (20a and 20b) at departure and arrival ports for passenger ordering. The network of computers provides more precise control over product and service ordering, inventory management, and the delivery of the product and services. The network supports a preferred transaction method using credit cards and debit “phone cards” allowing cash-less delivery of products and services.
US08180675B2
A system, computer code, and method are provided for automatically managing avail inventory data of media programming streams for a communications network, such as a cable TV network. The computer-implemented method includes the steps of correlating available addressable units of the communications network with the avail inventory data, and generating a proposed price for purchase of at least one avail based on the results of the correlating step.
US08180670B2
The present invention is directed to a system for processing coupons by a self checkout system, where the self checkout system includes at least one self checkout station coupled to a server. In a first aspect, a self checkout system includes a server for managing the self checkout system and at least one self checkout station coupled to the server, where the self checkout station includes a scanner for scanning at least one item for purchase by a customer, a coupon reader for receiving a coupon from the customer, and a coupon manager. The coupon manager attempts to validate the coupon against the at least one item scanned by the customer, and if the coupon fails to validate, the coupon manager stores the coupon in a coupon pool at the server such that the stored coupon can be utilized at a subsequent sales transaction.
US08180665B2
A managed print system for analyzing performance of a print device may include a computing device and a computer-readable storage medium in communication with the computing device. The computer-readable storage medium may include one or more programming instructions for receiving a black and white print volume variable associated with a print device, receiving a color print volume variable associated with the print device, determining a black and white cost variable associated with the black and white print volume variable and determining a color cost variable associated with the color print volume variable, determining a standard relationship, determining an empirical relationship, determining, based on the empirical relationship, whether the print device has a poor fit to the standard relationship, and in response to the print device having a poor fit to the standard relationship, determining which of the variables influenced the poor fit.
US08180657B2
A method and computer program product for receiving a slot request, from a second respondent having a second seniority level, for an original event slot that was previously reserved by a first respondent having a first seniority level. The second seniority level is compared to the first seniority level. If the second seniority level exceeds the first seniority level: the reservation of the original event slot by the first respondent is cancelled, and the event slot request for the original event slot by the second respondent is accepted.
US08180653B2
The invention provides a network computer system and novel pharmacy printers and their methods of use wherein the local CS includes a pharmacy printer for printing pharmacy orders including prescriptions, and the pharmacy printer includes a pharmacy printer database storing drug information and association of a drug identifier with information about a corresponding drug, and additional information, and obtains and uses instructions for printing the additional information in association with printing of a prescription label from characters contained in a prescription label print file for the prescription label.
US08180649B2
Machine for controlling a system changing electrical signals to separately value components temporally decomposed from residential property, the computer apparatus including: a computer system, arranged for receiving information into a memory, the data representing the residential property, the computer system further comprising: logic means controlling the computer system to change the data to produce modified signals representing a separate valuation of each of a plurality of components temporally decomposed from the residential property, the components including a residential estate for years interest and a residential remainder interest; and an output device connected to convert the modified signals into documentation including the respective valuation of each of the components.
US08180648B2
Certain aspects of a method and system for a dual mode subband acoustic echo canceller with integrated noise suppression may include splitting an input signal into a lowband component and a highband component. The subbands of each of the lowband component and the highband component may be processed in order to reduce an echo associated with the input signal and to suppress the noise associated with the input signal.
US08180644B2
A method and communication device disclosed includes displaying a video on a display, converting voice audio data to textual data by applying voice-to-text conversion, and displaying the textual data as scrolling text displayed along with the video on the display and either above, below or across the video. The method may further include receiving a voice call indication from a network, providing the voice call indication to a user interface where the voice call indication corresponds to an incoming voice call; and receiving a user input for receiving the voice call and displaying the voice call as scrolling text. In another embodiment, a method includes displaying application related data on a display; converting voice audio data to textual data by applying voice-to-text conversion; converting the textual data to a video format; and displaying the textual data as scrolling text over the application related data on said display.
US08180639B2
A method for variable resolution and error control in spoken language understanding (SLU) allows arranging the categories of the SLU into a hierarchy of different levels of specificity. The pre-determined hierarchy is used to identify different types of errors such as high-cost errors and low-cost errors and trade, if necessary, high cost errors for low cost errors.
US08180635B2
A method for adapting acoustic models used for automatic speech recognition is provided. The method includes estimating noise in a portion of a speech signal, determining a first estimated variance scaling vector using an estimated 2-order polynomial and the noise estimation. The estimated 2-order polynomial represents a prior knowledge of a dependency of a variance scaling vector on noise, determining a second estimated variance scaling vector using statistics from prior portions of the speech signal, determining a variance scaling factor using the first estimated variance scaling vector and the second estimated variance scaling vector, and using the variance scaling factor to adapt an acoustic model.
US08180632B2
Decoder for an audio signal coded by a coder including a long-term prediction filter wherein the decoder comprises: a block (211) for detecting transmission frame losses; a module (222) for calculating values of an error indication function representative of the cumulative adaptive excitation error during decoding following said transmission frame loss, an arbitrary value being assigned to said adaptive excitation gain for the lost frame; a module (213) for calculating an error indication parameter from said values of the error indication function; a comparator (214) for comparing said error indication parameter to at least one given threshold; and a discriminator (215) adapted to determine as a function of the results supplied by the comparator (214) a value of at least one adaptive excitation gain to be used by the decoder.
US08180627B2
The invention relates to an apparatus for clustering process models each consisting of model elements comprising a text phrase which describes in a natural language a process activity according to a process modeling language grammar and a natural language grammar, wherein said apparatus comprises a process object ontology memory for storing a process object ontology, a distance calculation unit for calculating a distance matrix employing said processing modeling language grammar and said natural language grammar, wherein said distance matrix consists of distances each indicating a dissimilarity of a pair of said process models, and a clustering unit which partitions said process models into a set of clusters based on said calculated distance matrix.
US08180624B2
Improved systems, methods and apparatuses are provided for fast beam-search decoding for phrasal statistical machine translation. The provided techniques incorporate a front-loaded distortion penalty estimate for future estimated distortion penalty and/or early pruning to reduce the search space. The improvements result in up to an order of magnitude increase in translation speed for statistical machine translation systems. The disclosed details enable various refinements and modifications according to decoder and system design considerations.
US08180621B2
A method of simulating parametric variations in an integrated circuit (IC) includes: specifying an IC model, wherein the IC model includes one or more parameters for variation about a nominal condition; calculating parametric perturbations about the nominal condition; and saving one or more values for the parametric perturbations in a computer-readable medium. Calculating the parametric perturbations includes: simulating the nominal condition for the IC; determining perturbation values for the IC model about the nominal conditions, wherein the perturbation values include linear time-varying matrices and parametric right-hand sides, determining a performance metric for the IC and a performance sampling vector for sampling the performance metric about the nominal condition from the perturbation values; and determining voltage-sensitivity values and performance-sensitivity values from the perturbation values and the performance-sampling vector.
US08180616B1
Approaches for gathering packet processing information. A directed graph is used to represent the packet processing system. In response to each network packet input to the system, an associated, unique packet identifier is established for the network packet. Each input network packet is processed by one or more components of the system. For each input network packet, respective log data is stored by each of one or more components of the system that processed the input network packet. The log data includes data from the input network packet, and the associated identifier. Components of the device that processed a packet having a selected, associated packet identifier are determined by traversing the graph and searching for graph-connected nodes for which the represented components stored log data with the selected packet identifier. Data is output indicating the components that processed the packet having the selected packet identifier.
US08180612B2
An electromagnetic field simulator for repeatedly calculating a space distribution of an electromagnetic field at a next point in time using a distribution of an electromagnetic field in a 3-dimensional space includes: a unit for calculating a distribution of an electric field and a distribution of an magnetic field on the entire 3-dimensional space; a unit for calculating a distribution of an electric field and a distribution of an magnetic field on a 2-dimensional space on a cut plane obtained by cutting the 3-dimensional space by a plane; a unit for setting an excitation condition of generating an electromagnetic wave by using a calculation result of the 2-dimensional electromagnetic field calculating unit; and a unit for generating an electromagnetic wave by forcibly vibrating a part of the electric field and the magnetic field in the 3-dimensional space on a basis of the excitation condition set.
US08180610B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for a model-based diagnostic interface. An apparatus is provided for a diagnostic interface for a system having system data, system information, and a system model having a model nomenclature, the diagnostic interface comprising at least one computational object producing an output responsive to said system data, wherein said at least one object includes a binding of said system data to said system information, wherein said system data is mapped to said model nomenclature before being bound. A method is provided for making a model-based diagnostic interface for a system having system information and system data representing the status of said system, the method comprising the steps of modeling said system to create a system model having a system model nomenclature, mapping said system data into said system model nomenclature, and binding said system data mapped to said system model nomenclature to said system information.
US08180605B1
Improved systems and methods of creating a smooth contact-impact interface (i.e., a curve fitted surface) in finite element analysis are disclosed. According to one aspect, a smooth contact interface is created for a master segment used for simulating contacts. First, for every nodal point in the master segment, a list of elements that share at least the node is determined. Then a nodal normal vector is calculated using a weighted average of respective element normal vectors of all elements in the list. The calculated nodal normal vector is adjusted for special edge effect, which is an intersection between flat and curved geometries. A set of edge control points are created using a pair of adjacent corner nodes. A mid-element control point is further created for quadrilateral shell elements. The smooth contact interface is configured to encompass all corner nodes and all of the control points.
US08180600B2
In one embodiment, the invention is a method for modeling electrical behavior of a packaged module having multiple integrated circuits (ICs), such as a multi-chip module (MCM). The method includes: (a) identifying one or more pin groups in the module, wherein a pin group comprises two or more buffers connected together and to a package-external pin, and (b) generating one or more corresponding unified behavioral models for the one or more pin groups based on the characteristics of the buffers of the one or more pin groups. The behavioral models are part of an integrated behavioral model file in accordance with the I/O buffer information specification (IBIS) standard.
US08180595B2
According to typical inventive embodiments, a compact data acquisition unit is modularly assembled of COT components, based on a PC-104 or other form factor of relatively small size. Inside a durable casing, a dc-dc converter increases battery-generated dc voltage for a computer processor that communicates with storage/memory and collects sensory information via an a-to-d converter. The inventive data acquisition unit can be implemented in either handheld (e.g., so as to include touchscreen interactivity) or situate (e.g., so as to be combined with sensory instrumentation) fashion. Especially propitious inventive practice involves wireless communication with an inventive “podded” device, remotely placed, that includes an inventive data acquisition unit, one or more sensors, and a pod containing the unit and the sensor(s). For underwater applications, a preferred embodiment of an inventive podded device is planoconvex, having a flat side for mounting on vehicular structure and an outwardly curved/rounded side for mitigating hydrodynamic penalties.
US08180589B2
A semiconductor wafer inspection device which identifies an operator when an operation is performed and checks if the requested operation is permitted is provided. In a device that has already performed an operator authentication, the operator identification is further carried out when a particular operation is requested. If the operation requested is a permitted one, it is executed even if requested by an operator different from the one previously authenticated. The history of operations and the change history of in-device data are recorded and displayed. The operator authentication is performed only when necessary.
US08180588B2
The present invention relates to a compensation method for structural deformation occurring during construction of a super tall building, which includes the steps of: selecting horizontal and vertical members predicted to require compensation for horizontal and vertical deformation amounts; calculating deformation amounts based on the casting time of structural concrete for the selected horizontal or vertical members; determining compensation amounts based on the casting time of structural concrete for the selected horizontal or vertical members; calculating deformation amounts of the selected horizontal or vertical members up to and subsequent to the non-structural construction processes; determining compensation amounts by process of the selected horizontal or vertical members; and constructing the selected horizontal or vertical members by floors.
US08180586B2
A frequency mask trigger having frequency selective amplitude discrimination capability is provided for triggering when selected frequency components of an input signal fail to reach a desired power level. A frame of digital data representing an input signal is transformed into a frequency spectrum having at least one frequency bin, each frequency bin having a power amplitude value. Each power amplitude value is compared to an upper lower reference power levels and a lower reference power level. A trigger signal is generated when the power amplitude value in any frequency bin is above the lower reference power level and below the upper reference power level for a specified time duration.
US08180585B2
A magnetic field is generated by at least one coil in magnetic communication with at least a portion of a vehicle responsive to a first time-varying signal operatively coupled to the at least one coil in series with a sense resistor. A second signal is generated responsive to a voltage across the sense resistor and is response to a magnetic condition of the at least one coil, which is response to the magnetic communication of the at least one coil with the portion of the vehicle.
US08180579B2
A real time gamma-ray signature/source identification method and system using principal components analysis (PCA) for transforming and substantially reducing one or more comprehensive spectral libraries of nuclear materials types and configurations into a corresponding concise representation/signature(s) representing and indexing each individual predetermined spectrum in principal component (PC) space, wherein an unknown gamma-ray signature may be compared against the representative signature to find a match or at least characterize the unknown signature from among all the entries in the library with a single regression or simple projection into the PC space, so as to substantially reduce processing time and computing resources and enable real-time characterization and/or identification.
US08180565B2
Method and device for exchanging messages in a VLC navigation system is provided, in which a map server generates a provision message in the form of visible light signals through all lamps in an area, using a PLC network, where a navigation service is provided, a terminal that wants to implement the navigation service among terminals that have received the provision message transmits a registration request message to the map server, the map server transmits a registration response message for the registration request message to the terminal, the terminal transmits a map request message including information about a destination to the map server, the map server transmits a map response message including information about a path to the destination to the terminal, and the terminal displays map information and the path.
US08180564B2
With respect to a non-road region route, which is in a region other than roads registered in map data, a navigation apparatus in a vehicle specifies three check items: travel times the vehicle traveled; a shortened distance reduced by traveling the non-road region route compared with a route registered in the map data; and presence or absence of a predetermined facility in the vicinity of the non-road region route. The navigation apparatus determines an accuracy degree as to whether the non-road region route is existent based on the specified check items, thereby determining whether the non-road region route is existent. A route guidance process is executed based on the non-road region route, which is determined to be existent.
US08180553B2
A method for controlling differences in exhaust gas residual amount for a two cylinder bank engine having at least one turbocharger is presented. In one example, the description includes a method for adjusting valve timing to reduce cylinder exhaust gas residual variation.
US08180549B2
A method of controlling a clutch in a motor vehicle and a motor vehicle adapted to perform this method are suggested, in particular resulting in a good starting phase action for supercharged diesel motors. The method comprises the method steps of: setting a clutch torque that is transmitted by a clutch by a plurality of clutch characteristics; determining by a respective clutch characteristic the clutch torque for a particular motor load depending on the rotational speed of the motor; dividing the clutch characteristics into a low speed range and into a full load range; increasing within the low speed range at a constant rotational speed of the motor the transmitted clutch torque with increasing the motor load; and transmitting in the full load range in comparison to the low speed range lower clutch torques at the same rotational speed of the motor.
US08180541B2
In a braking/driving force control apparatus, a vehicle target braking/driving force and a vehicle target yaw moment through the control of braking/driving forces of wheels are calculated, and when the target braking/driving force and the target yaw moment cannot be achieved through the control of the braking/driving forces of the wheels, it is determined which one of the braking/driving force and the yaw moment should take priority on the basis of the target braking/driving force and the target yaw moment. When it is determined that the braking/driving force should take priority, the braking/driving forces of the wheels are controlled so as to attain the target braking/driving force as much as possible, and when it is determined that the yaw moment should take priority, the braking/driving forces of the wheels are controlled so as to attain the target yaw moment as much as possible.
US08180530B2
In a steer-by-wire steering control device for a vehicle using a model following control based on yaw rate or lateral acceleration, the target steering angle(s) of front wheels and/or rear wheels (Sfbs, Srbs) are corrected according a roll rate (Rre) of the vehicle which may be either detected or estimated from a lateral acceleration or yaw rate. Thereby, the roll rate gain can be reduced, and the damping property and response property of the yaw rate can be improved.
US08180515B2
The present invention is directed toward a cellular phone that connects to an existing vehicle data link to perform the functions of an off-board device, such as a scan tool, for displaying diagnostic information relating to vehicles. In addition, the cellular phone connects to a starter/charger system and/or a battery to perform the functions of a starter/charger/battery testing device. Such a device allows a user to connect the cellular phone to a data link connector located in a vehicle, download software to either an adaptor or the cellular phone, retrieve information relating to diagnostic tests on the vehicle and view the results on the cellular phone display, and/or communicate the results to another person or device.
US08180514B2
A guidance system for an agriculture platform that is capable of making decisions concerning the platforms direction and velocity regarding the pathway the platform is moving along as well as obstacles in the path of the platform, is provided. The autonomous agricultural platform guidance system and method will make it possible for small scale farming to take up automated mechanical farming practices which are currently only practical for large scale farming thus improving land utilization efficiency while lowering manpower costs dramatically.
US08180511B2
A hybrid vehicle has an internal combustion engine 2 and a flywheel 9. Storage and release of energy by the flywheel 9 is enabled by a continuously variable transmission 10 and clutch 11 under the control of an electronic module 14. The amount of energy transferred from the vehicle one to the flywheel 9 during a deceleration manoeuvre is maximized by increasing the engine speed. As a result, the engine does more work against the braking force of the accelerating flywheel and causes the flywheel to spin up to a higher rotational speed.
US08180503B2
An assisted flight computer program and method which assist a non-pilot or partially incapacitated pilot to gain control of an aircraft, summon help, and then land the aircraft under the guidance of a tower controller. The assisted flight computer program is integrated into an avionics system and provides a guided, menu-driven user interface that is simple enough for non-pilots and partially incapacitated pilots to understand and follow in distress situations.
US08180502B2
A navigation apparatus defines a detection area for detecting a weather phenomenon as a predetermined range around a travel route that is designated as an area setting object. By referring to weather information acquired from external sources through communication, whether or not a weather warning exists in the detection area is determined. If the determination is affirmative, the weather phenomenon is considered as influential in the detection area, and the detection result is provided for a user. More practically, the travel route, the detection area and an affecting area of the weather warning are displayed on a display unit.
US08180498B2
A system and method for operating a plurality of wind turbines includes a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and a display for depicting a graphical output of information from the SCADA system. The SCADA system analyzes the information and transmits a signal to the display to visually depict the information in a dynamic manner.
US08180494B2
A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium being operable to perform a thermal analysis of a data center and overlay the thermal analysis on a map of the data center to provide an overlaid thermal analysis. Additionally, the computer executable code is operable to dynamically control at least one blower and at least one vent in the data center based on the overlaid thermal analysis to direct cool air to a section of the data center in need of cooling.
US08180488B2
A robot system includes a robot and a robot controller including a drive unit, a memory that stores an arm-occupied region and a movement-forbidden region, a target position calculation unit that outputs a target position of a tool or a workpiece, a movement-forbidden region entry monitoring unit that checks whether the arm-occupied region based on the target position enters the movement-forbidden region and outputs a stop request if it is checked that the arm-occupied region enters the movement-forbidden region, and a predicted-coasting-position calculating unit that calculates a predicted coasting position of each axis and a coasting position of the tool or the workpiece in the case that the robot is urgently stopped. The movement-forbidden region entry monitoring unit checks whether the arm-occupied region at the coasting position enters the movement-forbidden region and outputs another stop request if it is checked that the arm-occupied region enters the movement-forbidden region.
US08180478B2
The invention relates to a method for activating a workpiece manipulator (4) of a machine tool (1), comprising a control device which prescribes machining paths (6) for a workpiece by means of a computing unit, which machining paths are travelled by the workpiece manipulator (4) from a machine starting position (A), wherein the workpiece (5) which can be moved by the workpiece manipulator (4) in a multi-axially translatory and preferably also rotating manner is passed to a plurality of tools (3) one after the other for the step-by-step machining. In order to provide advantageous conditions it is proposed that in the case of termination of machining the workpiece manipulator (4) is made to move with the workpiece (5) back over the path of movement (7) assigned to the respective machining step into a position (8) prior to this machining step, in which the workpiece manipulator is optionally stopped or from which the workpiece manipulator is moved into the machine starting position (A).
US08180474B2
There is provided a method for designing a garment having a particular certification based on the visibility characteristics of the garment. The method takes into account various factors including manufacturing tolerances, occlusion by logos, etc. to calculate a certification level for the garment visibility. This certification level is calculated dynamically as the design features are amended.
US08180467B2
A household appliance functions according to multiple operating cycles, wherein each operating cycle comprises at least one step characterized by a parameter having a factory-set default value. A user can access a controller of the household appliance through a user interface to simultaneously set new default values for a parameter common to at least two of the multiple operating cycles.
US08180463B2
An electrical management control and monitoring device that easily interfaces with an existing motor vehicle electrical system that includes both “dumb” and “smart” circuits to protect the electrical system during events in which the voltage, current or temperature may change and potentially cause damage or render the vehicle electrically “dead”. The device, which is coupled to the motor vehicle's ignition switch, power source and multiplex bus, includes a motherboard, a microcontroller and software program that monitors the vehicle's capacitor, battery or combination voltage, current and temperature and automatically disconnects non-critical circuits when their values become extreme or reach a preprogrammed threshold. The motherboard includes output connectors that are coupled to solid-state relays that act as a supplemental power source to provide electrical power to components that require electrical power after the ignition has been turned off. The software program is used to prioritizes electrical power distribution to the components which are critical to engine starting, power train control and general longitudinal and lateral control systems of the vehicle.
US08180456B2
Methods and systems are provided for configuring a Multi-Electrode Lead (MEL) that includes N groups of electrodes, with each of the N groups of electrodes including at least M electrodes, where N≧2 and M≧2. Sent via the MEL is a first communication sequence of bits that includes N groups of bits, with each of the N groups of bits corresponding to a different one of the N groups of electrodes and specifying which electrode(s), if any, within the group of electrodes is to be configured as an anode. Also sent via the MEL is a second communication sequence of bits that includes N further groups of bits, with each of the N further groups of bits corresponding to a different one of the N groups of electrodes and specifying which electrode(s), if any, within the group of electrodes is to be configured as a cathode.
US08180450B2
An implantable cardiac stimulation device and associated method perform a true or blanking period ventricular undersensing detection algorithm in response to ventricular loss of capture not associated with fusion or a change in capture threshold. The test identifies an originating cause of loss of capture, which may be ventricular undersensing of intrinsic R-waves or premature ventricular contractions occurring during a ventricular blanking period or atrial undersensing of P-waves resulting in blanking period ventricular undersensing. A corrective action is taken to reduce the likelihood of blanking period ventricular undersensing by automatically adjusting device operating parameters. The corrective action may include automatic adjustment of atrial sensitivity, shortening of the ventricular blanking period, or adjustment of the base stimulation rate. Minimizing the blanking period ventricular undersensing improves device performance by avoiding back-up stimulation and minimizing the risk of pacemaker competition-induced arrhythmias.
US08180449B2
An implantable medical device and a method for operating such a device to provide cardiac pacing to the heart of a patient for pacing hearts of patients suffering from periodical or intermittent atrio-ventricular blocks, for example, AV block or HIS block. A control circuit operates the device in a DDI-II mode, the DDI-II mode being an operation mode with an atrial inhibited pacing and a DDI-II mode ventricular pacing rate being lower than a predetermined base rate of a pulse circuit of the device, during periods with atrio-ventricular conduction conditions. If a block in atrio-ventricular conduction is detected and at least one first switching criterion is satisfied, the control circuit causes a switching circuit to switch from the DDI-II mode to the DDI mode and, if a block in atrio-ventricular conduction is detected and at least one second switching criterion is satisfied, the control circuit causes the switching circuit to switch from the DDI mode to the DDD mode. The control circuit is adapted to control the switching circuit to switch back to the DDI-II mode at satisfaction of a reinitiating criterion.
US08180442B2
Electrodes of a subcutaneous monitoring system receive body electrical signals that indicate both cardiac and non-cardiac muscle activity. In general, non-cardiac muscle activity is often correlated with physical activity, and physical activity is typically a strong indicator of patient health. Exemplary systems and methods that detect non-cardiac muscle activity information in sensed body electrical waveforms may provide a diagnostic tool for monitoring physical activity level over time in patients that have subcutaneous monitoring systems. In an illustrative embodiment, systems and methods for presenting patient activity information in a graphical format over intervals of time include processing ECG waveform information to identify and to accumulate non-cardiac muscular activity information during each of the intervals of time. In various implementations, number, intensity, and/or duration of the events that are identified during a time interval may be accumulated and stored for subsequent recall.
US08180439B2
An implanted cardiac rhythm management device is disclosed that is operative to detect myocardial ischemia. This is done by evaluating electrogram features to detect an electrocardiographic change; specifically, changes in electrogram segment during the early part of an ST segment. The early part of the ST segment is chosen to avoid the T-wave.
US08180438B2
An implantable monitoring device includes a flexible lead body that includes at least one sensing element. The device also includes a rigid main body connected to the flexible lead body at an attachment point. The rigid main body is generally centered about a longitudinal axis defined by the flexible lead body when the lead body is unflexed. The device further includes a measurement circuit, which is housed within the rigid main body and electrically coupled to the at least one sensing element of the flexible lead body and at least another sensing element on an outside surface of the rigid main body. The measurement circuit is configured to measure a potential difference between the at least one sensing element of the flexible lead body and the at least another sensing element of the main body.
US08180430B2
A method for position tracking includes using first and second field generators located at respective different first and second locations to generate respective first and second magnetic fields in a vicinity of first and second objects. The first and second fields are measured using first and second position sensors respectively associated with the first and second objects. First and second potential relative coordinates of the first object relative to the second object are calculated responsively to the first and second magnetic field. The potential relative coordinates are processed in order to determine a correct relative coordinate of the first object relative to the second object.
US08180427B2
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for non-invasively sensing pulse rate and blood flow anomalies using a localized, uni-directional, and constant magnetic field. The apparatus comprises a magnetic source for producing the magnetic field, a signal acquisition module with a magnetic sensor for detecting the modulations of the magnetic field caused by the blood flow; and a signal processing module for processing the acquired signals so as to produce data of pulse rate and blood flow anomalies. The method senses pulse rate and blood flow anomalies by providing a localized, uni-directional, and constant magnetic field in proximity to a blood vessel; detecting the variations of the magnetic field caused by the flow of pulsatile blood within the blood vessel; and processing the signals of the detected variations so as to monitor the blood flow.
US08180426B2
Data collected by a transcranial brain function measuring/stimulating method is accurately projected and displayed onto a brain surface. If there is no three-dimensional head image, data is projected and displayed onto the brain surface of a standard brain. The head surface coordinates are transformed to the brain surface coordinates of the brain surface underlying the head surface by, e.g., a minimum distance search method. The coordinates of a projected point on the brain surface of the head surface and the probability distribution are determined for a standard brain normalized with data on subjects.
US08180419B2
A system and method are provided for determining tissue hydration. Specifically, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for determining tissue hydration. The method includes detecting electromagnetic radiation scattered and reflected from the living tissue and using the detected electromagnetic radiation to determine spectral absorption bandwidth. The method also includes correlating the spectral absorption bandwidth to a tissue hydration index.
US08180418B2
A hinge apparatus includes a hinge unit that pivotably links a first housing and a second housing about a pivot axis, and a slide mechanism that enables the hinge unit to slide with respect to the second housing in a direction perpendicular to the pivot axis of the hinge unit on one face of the second housing. A portable electronic device includes the first housing, the second housing, and the hinge apparatus.
US08180416B2
A sliding-type mobile communication terminal having a first housing and a second housing opened or closed by means of a sliding movement in a longitudinal direction of the first housing, The terminal includes a spring module adapted to provide a sliding force, along the longitudinal direction, for closing of the second housing within a predetermined range of distance, and for providing the sliding force in an opposite direction for opening of the second housing beyond the predetermined range of distance. The spring module includes link bars rotatably coupled in one end onto the first housing, coil springs supported by one end of the link bar and coupled to enclose the link bar, and a slider slidably coupled to the link bar to be acted upon by an elastic force from the coil spring. The coil springs implement a semi-automatic sliding opening/closure of the second housing.
US08180413B2
An upper case of the display section includes a first connecting portion having a cylindrical hole, into which an inner cylinder of a dummy hinge composed of two cylindrical portions having the same axis and different diameters is inserted rotatably, wherein the first connecting portion protrudes from an end of the upper case. An upper case of the keybutton section includes a second connecting portion located, along a hinge axis, on the center side of the first connecting portion, and having a cylindrical hole into which an outer cylindrical portion of the dummy hinge is inserted unrotatably, wherein the second connecting portion protrudes from an end of the upper case. The hinge structure comprises a stopper for fixing the dummy hinge, which can be inserted as the dummy hinge is buried in the cylindrical hole, with the inner cylindrical portion inserted into the cylindrical hole of the first connecting portion.
US08180399B1
A wireless interface extension for mobile devices is provided. The wireless interface extension includes a user interface, a wireless communication link, and a processor. The processor communicates with a mobile device over the wireless communication link and enables a user to use the user interface to interact with at least one user application on the mobile device.
US08180398B2
A multimedia processing system is provided for communicating among a baseband module, an image sensor module, and at least one display module in a mobile phone. The system comprises: a serial baseband interface that transmits and receives processing data from the baseband module; an image sensor interface that transmits and receives image data from the image sensor module; a display interface that transmits and receives display data from the display module, wherein the display interface comprises a display write enable output, a display read enable output, and a display transceiver means to transmit and receive the display data; and at least one register that includes a clock phase control bit, a clock polarity control bit for assisting the serial baseband interface to accommodate different interface standards, and a burst read mode control bit for bursting the serial baseband interface to read sequential processing data from a multimedia module or from the baseband module.
US08180390B2
It is an object of the invention to realize effective communication by a mobile communication terminal having a plurality of communication interfaces.When transmitting data, a mobile communication terminal (100) selects a communication interface (102). The mobile communication terminal (100) transmits the data via a communication network (108) corresponding to the selected communication interface (102) to a mobile communication managing apparatus (200). The mobile communication managing apparatus (200) transfers the data to a communication apparatus (500). The mobile communication terminal (100) assigns a terminal identification address for uniquely identifying the mobile communication terminal (100) and a communication interface identification address for identifying the communication interface (102) that is valid in the communication network (108) to the transmission data.
US08180388B1
Methods and systems for reducing the latency of instant communication session establishment are presented. According to various preferred embodiments, a RAN, may receive a setup request message via a packet-switched network. The RAN may determine, from a quality of service (QOS) indication contained in the setup request message, that the setup request message is requesting establishment of a instant communication session. The RAN may further determine an intended destination wireless communication device (WCD) for the setup request message. Based on the QOS indication and/or a profile indicating the destination WCD's capabilities, the RAN may pre-allocate resources for the instant communication session in parallel to paging the destination WCD. In this way, the latencies associated with these procedures are overlapped, thus reducing the overall latency of instant communication session establishment.
US08180385B2
System(s) and method(s) that, periodically or when dynamically triggered, adapt data rates associated with user equipment (UE) in a network are presented. When the UE uses an application or a service, data traffic associated with the UE is inspected to obtain information relating to the application or service, which is used to determine an application/service margin. Current and historical information relating to communication conditions associated with the UE and an associated user is obtained to facilitate determining expected values of Quality-of-Service factors and communication condition metrics associated with the UE and thereby a volatility margin. For each adaptation time interval, the data rate can be adapted by determining a preliminary data rate and adjusting the preliminary data rate using the application/service margin and volatility margin to obtain the adapted data rate to be used for data communications between a node and the UE in the network.
US08180376B1
Mobile analytics data gathered from Internet sites accessed via mobile devices is tracked and reported. A tracking package at the publisher's server collects unique user, device and page data when a web page is accessed. The tracking package communicates the collected data to a tracking server that logs the data along with a unique identifier for the mobile device request. The tracking package includes the unique identifier in a beacon module that is embedded into the publisher's web page that is delivered to the mobile device. The beacon module at the mobile device communicates the unique identifier along with additional identification and/or usage data to the tracking server. The tracking server stores the additional identification and/or usage data associated with the unique identifier so that the additional data can be correlated to the data initially collected by the tracking package. A reporting server processes the stored data and generates reports.
US08180367B2
Methods and apparatus to provide cluster-based fingerprinting algorithms are described. In one embodiment, m closest fingerprints from k fingerprints are determined. The k fingerprints may be determined as closest fingerprints to a scan s in a signal strength domain, where the scan s is of an environment surrounding a wireless device. The center of mass of the m fingerprints may be used to determine a location estimation for the wireless device. Other embodiments are also described.
US08180365B2
A method and apparatus for identifying a geographic area having undesirable wireless service is described. The method includes, collecting Radio frequency (RF) environment information of the wireless service. The method further includes, determining locations of a plurality of subscriber units based on the RF environment information. Further, the method includes, processing the RF environment information and the locations of the plurality of subscriber units to identify the geographic area having the undesirable wireless service.
US08180363B2
A game apparatus according to a preferred embodiment includes a first wireless communication module and a second wireless communication module. The first wireless communication module performs communication utilizing Bluetooth protocols, whereas the second wireless communication module performs communication utilizing IEEE protocols. The first radio communication module and the second radio module have a common reference communication cycle, and each communicates in communication cycles of an integral multiple of the reference communication cycle. A control unit sets offset time between the start time of a communication by the first wireless communication module until the start time of a communication by the second wireless communication module. In so doing, the control unit monitors the communication load of the first wireless communication module and sets the offset time based on a monitored result.
US08180362B1
A method for preventing the occurrence of overload conditions in a multi-carrier communication system such as, but not limited to, enhancements to 1xEV-DV by controlling the amount of voice and data users having access to the communication system in order to provide enhanced QoS and load balancing. The method includes converting one of carriers in the multi-carrier voice/data system to a voice-only carrier when loading exceeds a given threshold related to QoS and outage criteria.
US08180354B2
A method for distributing wireless resource in multicarrier time division duplexing mobile communication system, such as TD-CDMA system, to overcome the shortage of 3GPP single carrier cell channel distribution technology of covering more lager area in composing cellular system, which contains using an area of covering same or almost same as a cell, selecting one carrier as main carrier and other carriers as auxiliary carrier, the frequency of main carrier is as different as possible, setting all public control channel in main carrier, the left resource of main carrier and resource of auxiliary carrier are used in uplink and downlink service channel, the arrangement of public channel in main carrier is same with that in single carrier cell.
US08180350B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to controlling CDMA registration on a multi-technology handset. By controlling CDMA registration on a multi-technology handset, efficient handoffs between different technologies can occur. In one embodiment, the multi-technology handset operates using CDMA and at least one second technology. The second technology can be wireless fidelity (WiFi) or worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), for example. The multi-technology handset includes at least a dual mode controller (DMC), a CDMA controller, a second technology controller, as well as radios for the CDMA and the second technology.
US08180348B2
A system and method for fast network re-entry in a broadband wireless access communication system. A mobile station transmits a first message requiring fast network re-entry to a base station and performs the fast network re-entry together with the base station when receiving a second message approving the fast network re-entry from the base station. The base station receives the first message, authenticates the first message using final session information of the mobile station that is previously stored in the base station, transmits the second message to the mobile station when succeeding in authentication of the first message, and performs the fast network re-entry together with the mobile station.
US08180345B2
A method for optimizing the load distribution between one mobile radio network, for example using the UMTS standard, and another mobile radio network, for example using the GSM standard, by optimizing the signalling sequence when establishing a connection in such a mobile radio system. It enables efficient cooperation when establishing a connection, for example a voice connection, between a UMTS and a GSM network. In addition to the efficient use of resources in a UMTS system, the method also enables direct establishment of a connection, for example of a voice connection that was initiated in a UMTS network, in a GSM network.
US08180343B2
An originating transceiver node sends a search message to an alternate transceiver node in response to receiving a pilot signal report message from a wireless communication device detecting a pilot signal from a detected transceiver node. The wireless communication device detects a strong pilot signal transmitted from the detected transceiver node at the same frequency used for the pilot signal transmitted by the originating transceiver node. The alternate transceiver node transmits a pilot signal at a second frequency. The pilot signal report message allows the originating transceiver node to determine at least an approximate location of the wireless communication device and to identify the alternate transceiver node as a transceiver node at least potentially able to provide wireless service to the wireless communication device. In response to the search message, the alternate transceiver node searches for uplink signals associated with a pilot signal having the first frequency. If uplink signals transmitted from the wireless communication device are detected by the alternate base station, a determination is made whether handoff to the alternate transceiver node should be performed. In some situations, the originating transceiver node may transmit a change uplink format message to the wireless communication device where the new uplink format increases the likelihood of detection of the uplink signals by the alternate transceiver node.
US08180339B2
Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to providing network management information to wireless access points in a wireless network. In one implementation, a wireless client interrogates a wireless access point for its MAC address, for service set identifier (SSID) information, and/or for authentication-related information. If the wireless client determines that the wireless access point is the correct wireless access point, the wireless client polls sensors for physical environment and parameter (PEP) data, which the wireless client then transmits to the wireless access point.
US08180331B2
Systems, methods and programmed instructions are disclosed useful for transmitting signals representing data messages to and from a wireless handheld telephony device along a first call leg of a communication session previously established between the wireless handheld telephony device and at least one second telephony device, the communication session being controlled by a call control server.
US08180329B2
Electronic interaction with an enterprise is tracked and used to determine the popularity of the enterprise. A ranking factor is determined for each enterprise from the popularity and associated with contact information for the enterprise. The ranking factor is transmitted to a communication device containing the contact information wherein the ranking factor is associated with the contact information. The ranking factor may be used to sort the enterprises having contact information stored on the communication device in response to a user-initiated search query.
US08180328B2
The disclosure provides a wireless manager operable to receive a request from a mobile device to wirelessly communicate with a network, wherein the request may include information to dynamically identify a location associated with the mobile device. The wireless manager may be further operable to automatically associate the mobile device with an access zone comprising one or more physical or logical characteristics, compare the location associated with the mobile device to the access zone, and authorize the mobile device to wirelessly communicate with the network if the location associated with the mobile device indicates that the mobile device does not violate the access zone.
US08180322B2
A wireless communication device capable of receiving a content by securing a band as much as possible, if a predetermined band is required to be secured when the content is received by wire. The wireless communication device judges whether or not the predetermined band necessary for receiving the content can be secured with a wireless master device. When it is judged that the predetermined band cannot be secured, the wireless communication device switches a connection destination from the wireless master device to which the wireless communication device has been connected to a different wireless master device that can secure the predetermined band, e.g., a predetermined receiving electric field strength.
US08180320B2
A method for effecting emergency service communications using a preferred mode by a communication station configured for communicating using multiple modes includes: (a) evaluating the multiple modes to identify a plurality of extant operationally viable modes for the communication station; (b) evaluating the plurality of extant operationally viable modes to identify the preferred mode among the plurality of extant operationally viable modes; the preferred mode having a generally best communicating milieu among the plurality of extant operationally viable modes; and (c) initiating the emergency service communications employing the preferred mode.
US08180318B1
A mobile device automatically is configured to the emergency alert system (EAS) channel utilized by the cellular site from which the mobile device registers with a network. In an example configuration, an EAS server provides a mobile switching center (MSC) configuration information regarding the emergency alert channels to be used for the cellular sites supported by the MSC. When the mobile device registers via a cellular site supported by the MSC, the designated channel to be used for EAS messages is sent to the mobile device as part of the registration process. The mobile device assigns an internal channel to the designated channel. In another example configuration, the mobile device is preconfigured with a table listing all possible EAS channels, and the MSC provides, during the registration process, a pointer to the appropriate portion of the table.
US08180316B2
A system and method automatically routes in-vehicle emergency calls to an automatic crash notification (ACN) call center using information provided by the calling mobile device in the call set up message. An operator at the ACN call center is presented with an identification of a public safety answering point (PSAP) that serves the location of the vehicle. The ACN operator may then conference in the PSAP if needed. The provided information is displayed at both the ACN operator's position and at the PSAP. Alternatively, the call is routed to the PSAP first or to both the PSAP and the ACN call center simultaneously.
US08180306B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for compensating the output of a transmitter stage (50) of a communications system. A communications apparatus has a transmitter stage (50) providing a variable control voltage which varies the power of the transmitter stage. The impedance at the output of the transmitter stage. (50) varies as the power varies. A control generation circuit compares a reference voltage to the variable control voltage to produce a control signal (VvswrC). A compensated load (40) coupled to the output of the transmitter stage (50) has active component (s) whose' impedance varies in response to the control signal (VvsweC) so as to compensate for the impedance at the output of the transmitter stage (50).
US08180301B2
A system and method for coding and decoding an information signal sent through a communication system. The system includes: an encoder for encoding the information signal without adding additional information and for sending an encoded information signal; and a soft bit decoder including a-priori information related to the communication system for receiving the encoded information signal and decoding the encoded information signal using the a-priori information.
US08180298B2
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for managing transmit requests among a plurality of co-located transmitting devices each associated with a wireless transmitting protocol. The method comprises the steps of determining the cost associated with each of the transmit requests, wherein the cost is associated with the cost of granting the request and the cost of rejecting the request, granting the request associated with the lowest cost, and rejecting all other requests. In another aspect of the invention, the method comprises the step of determining whether the lowest cost is acceptable and rejecting the request associated with the lowest cost when the lowest cost is unacceptable.
US08180289B1
Systems and methods are disclosed for making content elements available for use at a public computing kiosk operated by a first-party operator. The public computing kiosk can receive a wireless communication from a hand-held device utilized by a second-party end user located in close physical proximity to the public computing kiosk. The wireless communication can include information identifying a third-party provider of the hand-held device with the third-party provider and the first-party operator being different entities. The public computing kiosk can transmit a request to a computing system including information identifying the third-party provider of the hand-held device, receive a transmission including a set of content descriptors, and display the set of content descriptors to the second-party end user. The public computing kiosk can also accept selection of content descriptors and execute at least one content element corresponding to at least one content descriptor.
US08180286B2
The present invention provides a wireless communication apparatus including: a communication processing unit that transmits and receives a radio signal; a wireless power transmitting unit that supplies power wirelessly to an apparatus located within a power supplyable range; a location data obtaining unit that obtains location data of a power receiver apparatus; and a control unit that controls a power supply to the power receiver apparatus based on the location data of the power receiver apparatus obtained by the location data obtaining unit.
US08180275B2
A computer based multi-channel radio system (200) can include a computer (214) coupled to a display (215) and having a graphical user interface (500) and a radio receiver (100) coupled to the computer for receiving a plurality of channels and data associated with the plurality of channels. The graphic user interface can selectively display at least a portion of the data associated with the plurality of channels. The data associated with the plurality of channels can be simultaneously updated. The radio receiver can include an output port (207) that enables the system to stream data or audio or video from a selected channel among the plurality of channels.
US08180274B2
A system for managing critical student information is disclosed generally comprising storing information associated with individual students, such as important medical information or contact information for the student's parent or guardian, and providing different authorized users, such as school administrators, teachers, or coaches, permission to access the information and/or send messages for particular students. The stored information for each student is associated with one or more group identifiers, which identify particular groups of which the student is a member, such as a school or team, and each authorized user is likewise associated with one or more group identifiers, which identify the particular groups for which the user has access and can send messages.
US08180272B2
A print device for registering a printable medium during a duplex printing process. The print device includes a controller, at least one leading edge sensor operably connected to the controller, the at least one leading edge sensor configured to detect a leading edge of a printable medium having a first and a second side when the first side is facing away from the at least one leading edge sensor, a coarse registration sensor operably connected to the controller, the coarse registration sensor configured to detect a leading edge of the printable medium when the second side of the printable medium is facing away from the at least one leading edge sensor, and at least one trail edge sensor operably connected to the controller, the at least one trail edge sensor configured to detect a trailing edge of the printable medium.
US08180267B2
Systems and methods of producing image products using printing are provided. The printed image products can include stereoscopic and/or color shifting images. These images can be formed by a sequential application of a base image, a clear toner layer and a barrier image layer in a single pass through a printer. The barrier image layer can include opaque barriers (for stereoscopic or color shifting images) or can include translucent or transparent barriers (for color shifting images).
US08180260B2
An image forming apparatus includes a vibration applying member for vibrating a developer containing unit in a state where a conveying member for conveying a developer is stopped in a developer cartridge.
US08180259B2
With a structure in which gear trains 5, 6 of a developer supply container 1 are locked by a locking member 7, and the gear trains 5, 6 receive a drive from a gear 12 of a developer receiving apparatus 10, thus accomplishing automatic setting rotation of developer supply container 1, when the developer supply container 1 is once dismounted and then remounted, the locking member 7 is in a non-locking position, and therefore, the setting rotation of the developer supply container 1 cannot be effected automatically.With inserting operation of the developer supply container 1, an inducing portion 7c of the locking member 7 is pushed and raised by a guide portion 10j provided in a groove portion of the developer receiving apparatus 10, so that locking member 7 effects its locking operation. Therefore, upon completion of the insertion of the developer supply container 1, the gear trains 5, 6 are locked by the locking member 7, and therefore, the setting rotation of the developer supply container 1 can be properly effected.
US08180258B2
A replacing mouth 5 for replacing each of toner cartridges 40 is provided at such a position that when any of developer units 32 stops at a developing position 38, the toner cartridge 40 adjacent to the pertinent developer unit 32 and supplementing the toner to another developer unit 32 different from the pertinent developer unit 32 can be replaced. Further, an information reading device 46 for reading the information from the storage medium 42 included in each of the toner cartridges 40 reads the information from the storage medium when any of the developer units 32 is located at the developing position 38.
US08180255B2
A rotation member unit detachable from a casing includes a rotation member for rotating when driven, and plural drive introduction members arranged at both ends of the rotation member in a rotation axial direction of the rotation member, respectively. The drive introduction member engages with a drive transmission member rotated by a motor.
US08180248B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a first unit including at least a development unit that develops an electrostatic latent image and a first developer container containing a developer; an image carrier that holds an electrostatic latent image to be developed by the development unit; a transfer unit that transfers a developer image developed by the development unit onto a recording medium; a fixing device that fixes a developer image transferred to the recording medium by the transfer unit onto a recording medium; and an image forming apparatus main body in which the first unit is installed, the image forming apparatus main body being configured such that a second unit including at least plural second developer containers respectively containing developers of different colors and development units for respective colors is installable instead of the first unit and, when the second unit is installed, a loop transport path is provided to allow the recording medium having the developer image fixed thereon by the fixing device to be transported around the second unit and toward the transfer unit.
US08180240B2
A belt fuser assembly for a color EP printer that quickly warms up the fusing belt before allowing a first sheet of print media to run through the printing stations at the fuser assembly. The warm-up cycle includes: (1) a preheat mode, (2) a first portion of a belt temperature warm-up mode, (3) a second portion of the belt temperature warm-up mode, and (4) a tight belt temperature control mode. The preheat mode operates the fuser's heater at less than full power, and prevents the fuser belt from rotating. The first portion of the belt temperature warm-up mode operates the heater at full power, and the fuser belt begins rotating, but not at its full speed. The second portion of the belt temperature warm-up mode operates the heater at less than full power, and the fuser belt begins rotating at its full speed.
US08180239B2
An image forming apparatus including an image carrier; a transfer member, which is provided in a face-to-face relation to the image carrier and to which a transfer bias is applied; a first sensor that measures a resistance value of a section between the image carrier and the transfer member; and transfer bias controlling means. The transfer bias controlling means controls the transfer bias, which is applied to the transfer member based on a first resistance value measured by the first sensor before a recording sheet enters a nip between the image carrier and the transfer member and also based on a second resistance value measured by the first sensor when the recording sheet has entered the nip between the image carrier and the transfer member.
US08180231B1
A method and apparatus can, while operating a printing device in a test mode, supply a changed transfer field to a marking material transfer device. The changed transfer field is less than or more than the standard transfer field. The method and apparatus disable operations of other marking material transfer devices of the printing device to isolate the marking material transfer device. Further, the method and apparatus compare the actual amount and/or spatial distribution of marking material transferred to a recipient surface (to which the first marking material transfer device transfers the marking material) against a predetermined standard. Then, if the actual amount of marking material transferred to the recipient surface is different than the predetermined standard, the method and apparatus can identify the first marking material transfer device as being a potential source of printing defects.
US08180227B2
Embodiments for optical communication are provided in which subbands of a multi-carrier optical signal are digital coherent detected and then processed to recover data carried by the modulated carriers corresponding to at least one of the subbands. An exemplary optical communication system includes a multi-carrier coherent optical receiver for receiving a multi-carrier optical signal having M modulated carriers that are frequency locked, wherein M is greater than 2. The multi-carrier coherent optical receiver includes a subband digital coherent detector configured to provide output signals in a digital form for N different subbands of the multi-carrier optical signal, where N is an integer greater than 1 and less than M; and a digital signal processor configured to process the digital form of the detected output signals in order to recover the data carried by the modulated carriers corresponding to at least one of the subbands of the multicarrier optical signal.
US08180219B2
In particular embodiments, providing signal reachability information to a network includes establishing signal reachability information at a network node of the network. The signal reachability information describes attributes that affect reachability of an optical signal. The signal reachability information is inserted into an advertisement, and the advertisement is sent to network nodes of the network.
US08180215B2
A vibrating device includes a drive unit configured to drive a vibrating member to produce vibration Z (x, y) at a dust-screening member, the vibration being expressed as follows: Z(x,y)=Wmn(x,y)·cos(γ)+Wnm(x,y)·sin(γ) where Z (x, y) is vibration at a given point P (x, y) on the dust-screening member, m and n are positive integers including 0, indicating the order of natural vibration corresponding to a vibrational mode, W mn ( x , y ) = sin ( n π · x + π 2 ) · sin ( m π · y + π 2 ) , W n m ( x , y ) = sin ( m π · x + π 2 ) · sin ( n π · y + π 2 ) , and γ is +π/4 or ranges from −π/8 to −π/4. A ratio between a first bending rigidity along the X-axis of at least the dust-screening member and vibrating member in the section orthogonal to the X-axis at the intersection of the X- and Y-axes, to a second bending rigidity along the Y-axis of at least the dust-screening member and vibrating member in the section orthogonal to the Y-axis at the intersection is 0.4 or more, but less than 1.0.
US08180210B2
A single oscillator synchronizer system and method that automatically switches from a wireless receive mode of the oscillator to a wireless transmit mode of the oscillator upon the detection of a synchronization (synch) signal of a camera body. In one example, a method of wirelessly communicating a camera synchronization from a camera body to a remote device with a wireless camera flash synchronizer connected to a synchronization connector of the camera body, the wireless camera flash synchronizer including a transceiver having an oscillator element with a wireless receive mode and a wireless transmit mode, the oscillator element configured to be in only one of the wireless receive mode and wireless transmit mode at a time is provided. In another example, a wireless camera flash synchronizer that automatically switches from a wireless receive mode to a wireless transmit mode upon detection of a synch signal of a camera body is provided.
US08180196B2
An optical recording/reproducing apparatus and a data recording method thereof. The optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes: an encoder which encodes a data for recording in a specified format; an optical pickup which records the encoded data onto a data record area of an optical recording medium which is loaded in the optical recording/reproducing apparatus; and a controller which allocates a specified area of the optical recording medium as a management information record area, controls the optical pickup to record the management information regarding the data being recorded in the data record area to be recorded in the management information record area, and controls the optical pickup to periodically record the management information of the management information record area onto a file information record area of the optical recording medium.
US08180181B2
A software architecture based on a concept called “pipes and filters” is applied to an image processing apparatus, thereby simplifying the customization, expansion, etc., of functions. In addition, filters are combined together using a description table in which the combination of the filters is described so as to construct a job, thereby further simplifying the customization, expansion, etc., of functions.
US08180180B2
This invention is a method applicable to an image processing device, which includes the steps of providing a preprocess module for extracting a high-frequency portion of an image inputted into the device, extracting a gradient of the image and decomposing the image into plane and edge regions according to a predetermined fixed threshold, and providing a composite up-scaling module for executing the magnification processes on the image and the high-frequency portion thereof respectively, wherein the magnification process of plane regions of the image and the high-frequency portion is based on a simple interpolation while the edge regions of the image and the high-frequency portion is based on both a smart interpolation and the simple interpolation. The magnification results of the image and the high-frequency portion are then processed by a fusion process, so as to output an image having sharp but not blocky edges, rich details and strong contrast.
US08180177B1
Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for resizing images using seam carving techniques may access a pre-computed retargeting matrix for an input image that associates each pixel of the input image with a cost order of a horizontal and/or vertical seam of which the pixel is a part. The retargeting matrix may be divided into sub-matrices corresponding to horizontal or vertical strips of the image, in the direction of a desired seam carving operation, for parallel processing on multiple processors or threads thereof. The retargeting matrix and/or sub-matrices may be usable in performing one or more reduction or expansion operations on the input image without re-computation of the matrices between retargeting iterations. The methods may include pre-computing the retargeting matrix and/or sub-matrices. The methods may be implemented as stand-alone applications or as program instructions implementing components of a graphics application, executable by a CPU and/or GPU configured for parallel processing.
US08180175B2
Apparatuses, computer media, and methods for altering a camera image, in which the source image may be angularly displaced from a camera image. A plurality of points on the camera image is located and a mesh is generated. Compensation information based on the displacement is determined, and a reshaped image is rendered from the mesh, the compensation information, and the camera image. The camera image is reshaped by relocating a proper subset of the points on the camera image. Deformation vectors are applied to corresponding points on the mesh using the compensation information. A correction factor is obtained from an angular displacement and a translation displacement of the source image from the camera image. The deformation factor is multiplied by the compensation factor to form a deformation vector to compensate for angular and translational displacements of the source image from the camera image.
US08180174B2
A method and apparatus for the visual identification of materials for tracking an object comprises parameter setting, acquisition and identification phases. The parameter setting phase comprises the steps of defining acquisition parameters for the objects. The acquisition phase comprises the steps of digitally acquiring two-dimensional template image of an object, applying a flattening function and generating downsampled template version of the flattened template and storing it in a reference database with the flattened template. The identification phase comprises the steps of digitally acquiring a snapshot image, applying the flattening function and generating one downsampled version, cross-correlating the downsampled version of the flattened snapshot with the corresponding downsampled templates of the reference database, and selecting templates according to the value of the signal to noise ratio, for the selected templates, cross-correlating the flattened snapshot image with the reference flattened template, and identifying the object by finding the best corresponding template.
US08180172B2
An image processing method corrects an original image. The method performs a retinex processing on a luminance signal of each pixel in an original image. The method determines, for each pixel, a retinex-processed pixel value based on the luminance signal that has been subjected to the retinex processing and at least one signal other than the luminance signal. The method generates a histogram by counting a rate of occurrence of the retinex-processed pixel values for each level over a predetermined first range of pixel values to which the retinex-processed pixel value is possibly assigned. The method reassigns each pixel value based on the histogram.
US08180167B2
Disclosed are embodiments of systems and methods to use a model-based technique for image error recovery in data communication. A low-dimensional representation is constructed of an image that contains errors. A manifold comprising image representations and a statistical model of the manifold are used to correct the errors in the image.
US08180158B2
An image processing device capable of high-speed detection of a specific shape in an image. In the image processing device, a candidate position calculation section (106) obtains a first candidate position of the center point of a first circle in contact at three points with three sides contained in the shape of an object to be detected. An angle calculation section (106) obtains an angle formed by a normal line drawn from each of the three sides to the first candidate position and a standard line oriented in a specific direction and passing a point at which the normal line and each of the three sides cross. A relative relationship calculation section (106) obtains a relationship of the angle relative to the first candidate position. A recognition section (108) recognizes the shape contained in the given image based on the relative relationship of the angle and a relative relationship of a shape stored in advance.
US08180155B2
A decoding method for a two dimensional dot code includes the steps of defining coordinates of boundary dots in the two dimensional dot code, performing extrapolation and interpolation according to the coordinates of the boundary dots to create coordinates of a plurality of virtual code dots, and comparing a code dot in the two dimensional dot code with the virtual code dots to extract information intended to be reproduced from the two dimensional dot code.
US08180154B2
Object detection in an image using an image processing approach in which the image is updated based on an energy function. In one aspect, the exemplary image update process attempts to homogenize each region by associating each pixel with a particular region such that the total level of energy for the image based on the pixel located in that region is minimized with respect to the energy function. For example, the method of object detection in an image having a plurality of pixels by image segmentation includes dividing the image into a plurality of regions; assigning each pixel to one of the plurality of regions based on a characteristic; performing an energy reduction on the image based on a region reassignment of at least one pixel; and producing an output image based on the energy reduction.
US08180142B2
Compact graphical representations of common test fail signatures and process related test fails are provided through methods of selecting, calculating and/or presenting information. The input may be a list of failing tests on a sample of devices under test from chip and/or wafer process fails. The failing tests are identified and then other tests that fail at the same time may be identified. Several graphical outputs are provided, including all possible combinations between test fails and between test fails and process fails. The dependencies are printed as sorted two dimensional bitmaps that are compact representations of the results using color codes. Subtraction of two independent bitmaps is provided, which eliminates common properties and emphasizes differences between multiple bitmaps which allows for quick identification of differences of process fails potentially different between the two different bitmaps indicating potential root causes for the selected one of the test fails.
US08180139B2
A method and system for producing images of at least one object of interest in a container. The method includes receiving three-dimensional volumetric scan data from a scan of the container, reconstructing a three-dimensional representation of the container from the three-dimensional volumetric scan data, and inspecting the three-dimensional representation to detect the at least one object of interest within the container. The method also includes re-projecting a two-dimensional image from one of the three-dimensional volumetric scan data and the three-dimensional representation, and identifying a first plurality of image elements in the two-dimensional image corresponding to a location of the at least one object of interest. The method further includes outputting the two-dimensional image with the first plurality of image elements highlighted.
US08180135B2
Modern image processing systems for the postprocessing of X-ray images require a large number of input parameters and take a great deal of time. So that calculations do not need to be made sequentially for different sets of input parameters, parallel processors are used, in which the same image processing program is executed in each case, but with different input parameters in each case. A large number of processed X-ray images is thus obtained, which in particular can also be displayed simultaneously. From the multiple processed x-ray images, a repeated postprocessing of a processed x-ray image can take place by mixing.
US08180126B2
Techniques for automatically detecting meniscus include receiving pixels from a scanning device directed to a knee of a subject. Also received is a region of interest that includes pixels that correspond to at least a portion of a meniscus of the knee. Without human intervention, a meniscus extraction threshold is determined based on pixel intensities in the region of interest. A meniscus object portion of the scan data is further determined without human intervention based on the meniscus extraction threshold and a geometrical constraint. Other techniques for automatically detecting meniscal tears includes receiving a meniscus object portion of scan data from a scanning device and receiving threshold data that indicates a meniscus extraction threshold. Without human intervention, a propensity for meniscal tears is determined based on the threshold data and the meniscus object portion of the scan data.
US08180124B2
A method is disclosed for resolving misregistration errors resulting from dual energy double-shot projection radiographic image acquisition. The method involves an iterative multi-scale, multi-resolution registration process that corrects misregistration errors progressively at scales ranging from bulk anatomical drift down to smaller scale motion such as that of fine pulmonary vasculature. The method may be incorporated as part of a dual energy image processing chain to create dual energy images with improved image quality and diagnostic performance.
US08180118B2
A finger sensing device may include a finger sensing area, at least one processing stage coupled to the finger sensing area and having at least one adaptively determined processing parameter, and a controller for spoof reduction. More particularly, the controller may determine a spoof attempt based upon a change in the at least one adaptively determined processing parameter. For example, the at least one adaptively determined processing parameter may include a feedback determined processing parameter. Accordingly, the finger sensing device has enhanced spoof reduction, since different materials, for example, will cause a change in an adaptive processing parameter and thereby indicate the attempted spoof.
US08180115B2
A digital image acquisition device is for acquiring digital images including one or more preview images. A face detector analyzes the one or more preview images to ascertain information relating to candidate face regions therein. A speed-optimized filter produces a first set of candidate red-eye regions based on the candidate face region information provided by the face detector.
US08180114B2
One embodiment of the invention includes a gesture recognition interface system. The system may comprise a substantially vertical surface configured to define a gesture recognition environment based on physical space in a foreground of the substantially vertical surface. The system may also comprise at least one light source positioned to provide illumination of the gesture recognition environment. The system also comprises at least two cameras configured to generate a plurality of image sets based on the illumination being reflected from an input object in the gesture recognition environment. The system further comprises a controller configured to determine a given input gesture based on changes in relative locations of the input object in each of the plurality of image sets. The controller may further be configured to initiate a device input associated with the given input gesture.
US08180113B2
In a stain determination apparatus or sheet processing apparatus, an input processing unit inputs image information containing an inherent variation that is not related to a stain, a feature extracting unit extracts a plurality of feature information items from the image information input by the input processing unit, a separating unit separates a set of the plurality of feature information items extracted by the feature extracting unit into a inherent variation component and another residual component, a determining unit extracts a main component of stain variation indicating a stain degree in the image information input by the input processing unit from the residual component separated by the separating unit and determines a stain degree in the image information based on the magnitude of the extracted stain variation main component.
US08180111B2
Multiple imaging areas (101a, 101b) are disposed in a one-to-one relationship with multiple optical lenses (100a, 100b) disposed in a substantially coplanar alignment. A baffle wall (110) interposed between the multiple imaging areas is provided with means for diffusively reflecting incident light rays. Low frequency components are removed from the spatial frequencies of multiple images captured in the multiple imaging areas, whereupon the multiple images are compared to determine the amount of parallax and measure the distance to the object. This allows for preventing degradation in the accuracy of distance measurement when light rays emanating from a high-intensity object located outside of the field angle are reflected from the baffle wall and impinge on the imaging area.
US08180108B2
A method for determining the distance of visibility for a driver of a vehicle in the presence of an element disrupting the visibility of the driver, the method comprising the following steps: determining the luminosity of the pixels of a region of an image taken in the field of vision of the driver, resulting in a luminosity curve, determining a first tangent to the curve of luminosity, determining a second tangent to the curve of luminosity, determining a sweep-line according to the first tangent and second tangent, the sweep-line being representative of the distance of visibility.
US08180106B2
In an image capturing apparatus, a video input unit (2) captures the image of an object and sequentially acquires image data associated with the image capturing, a model data memory (6) stores model data associated with the first feature quantity calculated from a feature point of the object in a model image, a principal object detection unit (3) calculates the second feature quantity from a feature point of the object in the acquired image data, a state change estimation unit (4) estimates, on the basis of the second feature quantity and the model data, the timing when the object satisfies a predetermined condition, and an image input processing control unit (7) stores the image data corresponding to the estimated timing in an image recording unit (5). This configuration makes the image capturing apparatus acquire an image in a more proper state without large-capacity memory.
US08180105B2
Techniques are disclosed for a video surveillance system to learn to recognize complex behaviors by analyzing pixel data using alternating layers of clustering and sequencing. A combination of a self organizing map (SOM) and an adaptive resonance theory (ART) network may be used to identify a variety of different anomalous inputs at each cluster layer. As progressively higher layers of the cortex model component represent progressively higher levels of abstraction, anomalies occurring in the higher levels of the cortex model represent observations of behavioral anomalies corresponding to progressively complex patterns of behavior.
US08180100B2
A rotation matrix and a translation vector between a basic camera and a reference camera are read out from a parameter storage section. At a projection conversion matrix calculating section, a projection conversion matrix capable of overlapping the road plane area included in images picked up by the basic camera and the reference camera is calculated by using the rotation matrix and the translation vector.
US08180093B2
A headset device that includes an earbud housing, a primary housing, a threaded neck, an earbud screw, and a primary housing screw is provided. The earbud housing can include an earbud through-hole and a first neck engaging surface. The primary housing can include a housing through-hole and a second neck engaging surface. The threaded neck can include first and second neck surfaces that can mate, respectively to the first and second neck engaging surface. The earbud screw can fit through the earbud through-hole and can interlock with the threaded neck to fix the earbud housing to the threaded neck. The primary housing screw can fit through the housing through-hole and can interlock with the threaded neck to fix the primary housing to the threaded neck. The threaded neck can include a through-hole for enabling circuitry disposed in the earbud housing to electrically couple to circuitry disposed in the primary housing.
US08180091B2
A headphone that is especially useful to test the efficacy of an earplug installed in an ear canal, by using the headphone to produce sound and by sensing sound pressure at the ear drum despite the presence of the earplug. Applicant uses the speaker (42) in the headphone to produce a smooth and reasonably “flat” frequency response by reversing the speaker orientation. In the reversed orientation, the front side of the speaker diaphragm (50) faces into the headphone cup and away from the ear. The rear side of the speaker that has a circle of holes (52), faces toward the ear. The headphone frame has a cylindrical passage (40) for carrying sound to the person's ear, which has an outer end (78) that is tapered to encompass the holes in the speaker back side (44). The axial distance (L) from the speaker rear side to the ear, is at least 0.6 inch to accommodate the protruding end of an earplug.
US08180085B2
A method and appertaining assembly are provided for CIC hearing aid manufacture for the placement of floating components. A hearing aid shell fixture is formed that comprises an interior region identical in shape and size to an interior region of an actual hearing aid shell, and a replica of one or more shell components that is positioned so as to replicate a position and size of one or more real shell components in the actual hearing aid shell. The hearing aid shell fixture is placed onto a faceplate assembly that comprises a floating component, and a position of the floating component is adjusted to avoid contact with the replica of one or more shell components. The hearing aid shell fixture on the faceplate is subsequently replaced with the actual hearing aid shell.
US08180081B2
This invention relates to a system (100) and method for synthesizing an audio input signal of a hearing device. The system (100) comprises a microphone unit (102) for converting the audio input signal to an electric signal, a filter unit (110) for removing a selected frequency band of the electric signal and pass a filtered signal, a synthesizer unit (118) for synthesizing the selected frequency band of the electric signal based on the filtered signal thereby generating a synthesized signal, a combiner unit (120) for combining the filtered signal and the synthesized signal so as to generate a combined signal, and finally an output unit (122, 124, 126) for converting the combined signal to an audio output signal.
US08180076B2
Adjustments to an electro-acoustic transducer may be made to match the performance of a second electro-acoustic transducer such that a net inertial force generated by movement of the electro-acoustic transducers' diaphragms are substantially zero. Adjustments may include adjusting a moving mass of one of the elector-acoustic transducers. Adjustments may include applying an equalization to one of the electro-acoustic transducers.
US08180070B2
A howling suppressing apparatus includes: a detecting unit configured to detect howling of input audio signals; a plurality of filters configured to apply a filter process sequentially to the audio signals to be output; and a setting unit configured to set a filter coefficient for suppressing the howling detected by the detecting unit for a filter among the plurality of filters, in which filter no filter coefficient for suppressing howling is set, and set a filter coefficient for suppressing the howling detected by the detecting unit for any one of the plurality of filters, if filter coefficients for suppressing howling are set in all of the plurality of filters, based on the detection result from the detecting unit.
US08180067B2
An apparatus for selectively extracting components of an input signal comprises a plurality of microphones for detecting an audio signal in a plurality of spaced locations. A plurality of signal samplers sample each spaced version of the audio signal. A microphone pattern processor derives a reference signal, a null signal and a core signal from the sampled signals. An adjustment frequency spectrum generator coupled to the null and reference signals generates an adjustment frequency spectrum signal that is applied to the core signal. An audio signal regenerator provides an output audio signal from the adjusted core signal. The apparatus can be used in a wireless device to pick up a speaker's voice in a noisy environment.
US08180066B2
A system and method of transmitting audio signals. Frequency modulated carrier signals that each have an audio signal are mixed. The mixed signal is converted into a low voltage signal into which a feed voltage is coupled. The coupled signal is transmitted through a single line of a transmission cable to an audio signal infrared transmitter unit.
US08180062B2
Aspects of the invention provide methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for digital processing of acoustic signals to create a reproduction of a natural or an artificial spatial sound environment. An aspect of the invention supports spatial audio processing such as extracting a center channel in up-mixing stereo sound for multi-channel loudspeaker setup or headphone virtualization. An aspect of the invention also supports directional listening in which sound sources in a desired direction may be amplified or attenuated. Direction and diffuseness parameters for regions of input channels are determined and an extracted channel is extracted from the input channels according to the direction and diffuseness parameters. A gain estimate is estimated for each signal component being fed into the extracted channel and an extracted channel may be synthesized from a base signal and the gain estimate. The input channels may be partitioned into a plurality of time-frequency regions.
US08180060B2
In the telemedical system securely sharing encryption keys for enabling secure exchange of the encrypted biological data between the measurement terminal and the server to prevent the data from being stolen by the malicious third party, a service key is transferred to the second adapter attached to a measurement terminal from the server via the first adapter attached to the management apparatus. First, the first adapter attached to the management apparatus receives the service key from the server. Next, the first adapter is temporarily detached from the management apparatus and is attached to the measurement terminal to store the symmetric key. The first adapter is detached from the measurement terminal, and is attached to the management apparatus again. The service key received in the first adapter is encrypted using the symmetric key, and the encrypted key is transmitted to the second adapter attached to the measurement terminal.
US08180056B2
Alice generates a sequence of key bits forming an initial cryptographic key. Alice then uses the sequence of key bits and a sequence of cipher bits to control respective control parameters of a quantum encoding process applied to a sequence of quantum pulses, where the sequence of cipher bits used is known to Bob. Alice then releases the encoded pulses towards Bob over a quantum channel. Bob uses the previously agreed-upon sequence of cipher bits to control a control parameter, such as the quantum basis, of a quantum detection process applied to the pulses received from Alice, thus producing a detection outcome for each received pulse. Bob then derives a final cryptographic key from the detection outcomes. Because the cipher bits used to select the quantum bases used by both Alice and Bob are known by both parties, the method allows the final cryptographic key to be distributed with full basis alignment compared to 50% for BB84, thus allowing efficient quantum key distribution over multiple hops.
US08180039B2
A method of routing calls in a communication system. A call is received from an originating network in the communication system. The identity of the originating network is determined, and the call is routed in the communication system based on the identity of the originating network.
US08180038B2
A rule-based intelligent call forwarding system is provided that typically includes a central office, a service control point, and an internet call routing system. The central office typically triggers a query responsive to receiving a call request. The service control point, which is coupled to the central office, receives the query, and triggers an internet call routing query. The internet call routing system, which is coupled to the service control point, typically receives the internet call routing query, determines presence of the called party with respect to a registered communication device, parses rules associated with the called party, and terminates the call request responsive to the rules parsing and presence determination. Methods and other systems are also provided.
US08180027B1
Systems and methods are provided for score-driven management of such recordings. A score is assigned to a recording based at least in part on a plurality of monitored events that are detected for the call being recorded, and such score is then used for managing the recording, such as managing storage and/or post-processing of the recording. A recording manager is provided, which is operable to perform score-driven management of a recording. According to one embodiment, an initial score is determined for a recording at the initiation of the call being recorded. Such initial score may be determined based on fixed factors that are known at the time of the call's initiation. Various events related to the call are monitored during the call, and the score is then revised based on detected events. Management of storage, post-processing, and/or other handling of the recording is then based on the score assigned thereto.
US08180020B2
A method and apparatus for radiation treatment planning are described. The method includes receiving a plurality of radiation treatment-planning parameters, and sequentially optimizing the plurality of radiation treatment-planning parameters.
US08180019B2
Methods and systems for computer tomography of nuclear isotopes using nuclear resonance fluorescence
The transmission of photons through a target produces “holes” in the transmitted energy spectrum that are characteristic of the NRF energies of the nuclear isotopes in the target. Measuring the absorption via the transmission of these photons through a target allows the production of tomographic images that are associated with specific nuclear isotopes. Thus three-dimensional density patterns are generated for the elements in a container. The process is very much like standard X-ray tomography but it identifies specific nuclear isotopes as well as their densities.
US08180018B2
A tomographic image capturing apparatus includes a radiation source for applying radiation to a subject at a plurality of different angles with respect to the subject, a radiation detector for detecting the radiation which has passed through the subject at each of the different angles and converting the detected radiation into image data, a tomographic image reconstructing unit for processing the image data into a reconstructed tomographic image, and an image capturing sequence setting section for establishing an image capturing sequence of a tomosynthesis image capturing process and a simple image capturing process based on ordering information which represents the tomosynthesis image capturing process for acquiring the reconstructed tomographic image and the simple image capturing process for acquiring a simple captured image.
US08180016B2
In an X-ray CT apparatus 1 and an X-ray CT method, the thickness of an object to be inspected is computed on the basis of the number of transmitted X-rays in a specific energy range set above and below the K-absorption edge of an X-ray contrast medium serving as the object to be inspected, and a CT image is reconstructed on the basis of the computed thickness of the object to be inspected. Such X-ray CT apparatus 1 and X-ray CT method can generate an X-ray CT image stably and independently of the size of the object to be inspected and of X-ray tube voltage (X-ray energy distribution).
US08179999B2
Apparatuses and methods are disclosed for decoding expected block messages transmitted as radio signals over an air interface in interleaved bursts from a shorter received burst. A method for detecting certain expected messages from received bursts is described, comprising: receiving a one to m bursts of n bursts of an interleaved block message; retrieving stored values for the expected m+1 to n bursts of the interleaved block message; forming an expected interleaved block message; deinterleaving and decoding the expected block message; determining from an error checking whether the expected block message is valid; and if valid, indicating the expected block message was received after receiving only the m bursts. Apparatuses are described for a receiver configured to detect an expected message after receiving m transmitted bursts of an interleaved n burst block message. The expected message may be an empty paging channel or broadcast message.
US08179995B2
Orthogonal converters perform orthogonal conversion on the N time-series data extracted from a received radio signal. Multi-user detectors extract transmitted signals from respective transmission devices, from the time-series data which has been subjected to the orthogonal conversion. Inverse orthogonal converters perform inverse orthogonal conversion on the extracted transmitted signal. Rectangular filter circuits remove Mh time-series data at the front end and Mt time-series data at the rear end, from the transmitted signal which has been subjected to the inverse orthogonal conversion, so as to extract Nw time-series data. Deinterleaver circuits deinterleave the aforementioned time-series data. Decoders decode the time-series data for output.
US08179985B2
A method for transmitting signals using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a wireless communication system, includes: selecting a plurality of OFDM symbols as a symbol group in time dimension; and multiplying a scrambling pattern with the symbol group.
US08179984B2
Multifunctional transmitters capable of transmitting signals of different specifications in different modes are provided, in which N output units are provided and each output unit comprises a serializer and an output driver. A control unit, according to a mode selection signal, selects a first set of output units from the N output units to transmit a first video data compatible with a first transmission interface under a first transmission mode and selects a second set of output units from the first set of output units to transmit a second video data compatible with a second transmission interface which is different from the first transmission interface under a second transmission mode.
US08179983B2
A video processing system includes a video encoder that encodes a video stream into a independent video layer stream and a first dependent video layer stream based on a motion vector data or grayscale and color data.
US08179982B2
Apparatus for transmitting digital data in an 8-vestigial sideband (8-VSB) signal format for reception by mobile/handheld (M/H) receivers is described. The apparatus for transmitting digital data includes a generator of MHE packet headers that include additional information about at least part of the digital data and a packet formatter that installs the MHE packet headers in the MHE packets. Apparatus for receiving the digital data and recovering the additional information from the MHE packet headers to be used for modifying operation of the receiving apparatus is also described.
US08179976B2
A video decoder includes a mode of operation for reverse playback that includes dividing a sequence of coded video data into groups of pictures (GOPs) and further subdividing the groups of pictures into a plurality of spans. GOPs extend in coding order from a first key frame to a terminal frame that precedes another key frame in coding order. Each span is processed in reverse coding order by decoding the first key frame and any reference frames that precede the currently processed span in coding order, selecting a plurality of frames from the currently processed span for decode and display and further selecting for decode but not display any reference frames from the currently processed span that were omitted by the first selection. All selected frames are decoded but only those marked for display are rendered at a display device. The method accommodates control parameters that define the number of spans selected from each GOP and the number of frames selected from each span for decoded and display. Via these control parameters, operation of the method may be tuned to local decoding environments for which processing resources and decoded picture buffer sizes may be unknown.
US08179973B2
An image coding apparatus includes: a division unit configured to divide a coding target picture included in an input video signal into a plurality of slices each including one or more data blocks; a coding unit configured to code the video signal in a unit of the slice divided by the division unit; and a setting unit configured to set at least one of a division position of the slice and a number of divisions of the slice, to the division unit. In the image coding apparatus, the setting unit sets at least one of the division position of the slice and the number of divisions of the slice so that slice boundaries differ from each other between adjacent pictures.
US08179967B2
An image sequence sensor senses images. To associate a motion vector with an image of the sequence currently being processed, k candidate vectors are generated by adding, to a reference motion vector, respectively k search vectors. Then, a motion vector is selected from among the k candidate vectors as a function of a selection rule. Thereafter, the previous two steps are repeated m times, the reference motion vector being on the one hand, for a first iteration of the first step, an initial reference vector selected from among a set of vectors comprising at least one motion vector associated with a previous processed image and being on the other hand, for the m repetitions of the first step, the motion vector selected in the second step preceding the first step. Then, the vector obtained in the third step is associated with the image currently being processed.
US08179966B2
A moving picture coding apparatus 1 includes a counter unit 102 which counts the number of pictures following an intra coded picture; and a motion estimation unit 101 which compares respectively only reference pictures which are the intra coded picture or the following pictures, selected from among a reference picture Ref1, a reference picture Ref2 and a reference picture Ref3 stored in memories 408˜410, with a picture signal Vin, and determines the reference picture whose inter picture differential value is smallest.
US08179958B2
When a switching target device receives a media output indication from a sender device, a switch connects with contact B, which causes all image data stored in an extended media buffer to be inputted in a decoder, starting from the first frame (which is an I-frame) of the image data. The decoder decodes the image data, starting from the I-frame, and stores a reconstructed image in a reconstructed-image buffer. A reconstructed image required for decoding video picture data outputted from a media buffer is held in the reconstructed-image buffer. Thus, when device switching occurs, the decoder can immediately start decoding regardless of whether video picture data inputted from the media buffer is an intraframe.
US08179936B2
A gas-cooled laser device includes heat dissipative components, and housing walls made of a heat conducting material, in which one or more of the housing walls are provided with ventilation channels. At least one heat dissipative component is mounted on a plate of a heat conducting material, and the heat conducting plate is connected in a thermally conducting manner with the at least one housing wall that is provided with ventilation channels. The heat dissipative components can include heat dissipative optical components and heat dissipative non-optical components that are respectively arranged on different sides of the plate or are respectively arranged in different compartments on one side of the plate.
US08179932B2
A pulse laser apparatus includes a laser configured to generate a pulse of a laser beam, a fiber amplifier, and a pulse compressor. The fiber amplifier includes a rare-earth doped fiber that exhibits normal dispersion at a wavelength of the laser beam generated from the laser. The pulse laser apparatus further includes a unit configured to give a loss to energy portions in a wavelength region corresponding to a zero-dispersion wavelength of the rare-earth doped fiber and/or a wavelength region longer than the zero-dispersion wavelength within a wavelength spectrum of the laser beam having been chirped in the fiber amplifier.
US08179931B2
A wavelength tunable filter and a wavelength tunable laser module are a codirectional coupler type whose characteristics do not vary significantly with a process error. They are structured so as to include a semiconductor substrate which has a first optical waveguide and a second optical waveguide. The first and the second optical waveguides are extended from a first side of the semiconductor substrate to an opposing second side thereof. The first optical waveguide includes a first core layer, which has a planar layout having periodic convexes and concaves, and a pair of electrodes, which vertically sandwich the first core layer. The second optical waveguide includes a second core layer, which has a lower refractive index than the first core layer. Further, a layer having the same composition and film thickness as the second core layer is placed under the first core layer.
US08179926B2
A phase error detector in a base transceiver station detects a phase error caused by a Doppler shift in a received wave from a mobile station. A phase rotator rotates a phase of a transmission symbol in a base band region so as to cancel the Doppler shift, which occurs in a downlink from a base transceiver station to a mobile station based on the phase error detected by the phase error detector.
US08179924B2
A system and method are provided for synchronizing a programmable timer time base and an external time signal. The method either accepts or supplies an external time signal (e.g., IEEE 1588) at an external interface, links a synchronized time base to the external time signal, and clocks a channel time base with the synchronized time base. Then, a timer channel can be used to perform programmable timer functions in response to the channel time base. Some programmable timer functions include input capture, output compare, quadrature decoding, pulse measurement, frequency measurement, and pulse width modulation (PWM) functions. In one aspect, accepting the external time signal at the external interface includes detecting a packet with a time value. In another aspect, the method uses the channel to detect an event at a channel external interface, and compares the channel time base counter value with an expected value to modify the synchronized time base.
US08179923B2
A system and a method provide a real-time-critical communication and a non-real-time-critical communication in a switched data network consisting of users and switching units, for example a distributed automation system, by a cyclic operation. In a transmission cycle, there exists for all users and switching units of the switched data network in each case at least one section for transmitting real-time-critical data and at least one section for transmitting non-real-time-critical data, as a result of which the real-time-critical communication is separated from the non-real-time-critical communication. Since all users and switching units are always synchronized to a common time base, the respective sections for transmitting data in each case take place at the same time for all users and switching units, i.e. the real-time-critical communication takes place independently in time from the non-real-time-critical communication.
US08179919B2
Disclosed relates to a method and apparatus for data transmission in broadcast networks, in which N×K pieces of inputted application data are segmented into a matrix BN×K formed by N blocks B1-BN. Each of N blocks contains K pieces of application data, and both N and K are greater than 1. A matrix CM×N with full column rank N is selected, where M≧N. After that, an encoded data module consisting of M row matrix E1-EM is generated by performing a matrix multiplication on CM×N and BN×K. Then, for each I, 1≦I≦M, two row matrixes CI and EI are packaged, and all of the M packaged data (CI, EI) are sent out.
US08179914B1
Synchronization within a common communication channel having designated transmission time slots for various devices of a computer network is maintained by allowing transmissions within the channel outside of a network device's designated time slot when a clear channel assessment indicates that a previous time slot is not being utilized by its associated device and/or upon receipt of an indication of the end of a transmission of another device in the network. The clear channel assessment preferably takes into account the device's designated transmission time slot within the communication channel with respect to those of other network devices and may be a time period that is the product of a predetermined clear channel waiting time and a numerical representation of the device's designated transmission time slot within the communication channel with respect to those of other network devices. The clear channel waiting time itself may be specified by a network master device as part of a network connection process. The network device may be configured to construct one or more packets for transmission within the network in advance of its designated time slot to accommodate these early transmissions.
US08179910B2
A network device comprising asymmetric, multi-rate, Ethernet MAC and asymmetric, multi-rate, Ethernet PHY communicates signals via a network utilizing A/V bridging services. Higher bandwidth A/V signals are communicated and lower bandwidth signals are received or vice versa. Signals are communicated based on a plurality of different Ethernet protocols and/or data rates. Signals may be communicated based on 10GBASE-T in a first direction and based on a lower rate Ethernet protocol in a second direction. Extended range mode may be utilized. PDUs comprise time stamps, traffic class designations and/or destination addresses. Data rate requests, resource reservation messages and/or registration for delivery of PDUs may be communicated. Time stamps enable end to end transport within a specified latency target. Video signals may be compressed, uncompressed, encrypted, unencrypted and/or formatted for a video display interface.
US08179906B1
A communication network element comprises an I/O interface, memory, processing circuitry, and bus structure. The I/O interface receives and transfers a user packet. The memory stores the user packet, management software, and communication applications. The processing circuitry executes the management software to provide a manager and executes the communication applications to provide service functions. The service functions retrieve the user packet from the memory based on memory pointers, process the user packet, and store the processed user packet in the memory. The manager transfers the memory pointers between the service functions. The bus structure couples the I/O interface, the memory, and the processing circuitry.
US08179901B2
A system and method for squelching a recovered clock in an Ethernet network. In one embodiment the invention provides a method for squelching a recovered clock in an Ethernet network comprising a local node coupled to a remote node by a link, the method including receiving a descrambler status signal, receiving a remote receiver status signal, receiving a link status signal, and squelching the recovered clock signal based on the descrambler status signal, the remote receiver status signal, and the link status signal.
US08179900B2
In a label switching network, in normal times, packet transfer is performed using a protection-target label switching path set between a primary edge node device and a remote edge node device. Then, when a failure occurs in the primary edge node device, a secondary edge node device takes over the label switching path session from the primary edge node device and operates as the start-point node or the end-point node of the protection-target label switching path, to continue packet transfer using a backup label switching path.
US08179897B2
The CRC for the CPS Header of an ATM AAL2 cell is generated by a CRC generator which uses the 8 bits of the CID field to generate partial 5 bits CRCs which are loaded in a first table. The 6 bits LI field and 5 bits UUI field are added to the partial 5 bits CRC to form 16 bits. The CRC generator uses the 2.sup.16 bits to generate a second CRC table. The CRC for a particular CPS header is generated by correlating bits in the CID field, LI field and UUI field with the two tables.
US08179896B2
A network processor of an embodiment includes a packet classification engine, a processing pipeline, and a controller. The packet classification engine allows for classifying each of a plurality of packets according to packet type. The processing pipeline has a plurality of stages for processing each of the plurality of packets in a pipelined manner, where each stage includes one or more processors. The controller allows for providing the plurality of packets to the processing pipeline in an order that is based at least partially on: (i) packet types of the plurality of packets as classified by the packet classification engine and (ii) estimates of processing times for processing packets of the packet types at each stage of the plurality of stages of the processing pipeline. A method in a network processor allows for prefetching instructions into a cache for processing a packet based on a packet type of the packet.
US08179883B2
An apparatus, method and system for delivering Internet Protocol (IP) content within a system that includes a bypass architecture, using a Session Encapsulation Information Database (SEIDB). Within an existing PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) framework used as a control plane for IP content bypass flow setup, the SEIDB system stores session bypass encapsulation information for IP content bypass flows within the system. Within the SEIDB, each entry of bypass encapsulation information has a flow classifier component that uniquely identifies a bypass flow in a manner that allows both a cable modem termination system (CMTS) and the IP content source to uniquely identify the bypass flow at the SEIDB. Initially, the CMTS gathers bypass encapsulation information and uploads it to the SEIDB. Before the bypass flow begins, the IP content source obtains the necessary bypass encapsulation information from the SEIDB, e.g., using a flow classifier as a search filter item.
US08179876B2
A method for receiving an indication to apply a first modulation scheme to modulate one or more segments of a first portion includes determining a first segment set, having at least one segment of the first portion for applying the first modulation scheme. The method further includes modulating the first segment set of the first portion using the first modulation scheme. In addition, the method includes modulating one or more segments of the second portion using a second scheme, different from first modulation scheme.
US08179871B2
A method and system for channel access control for transmission of uncompressed video information over wireless channels. A contention-free period (CFP) for high-rate and low-rate channels is divided into schedules in which one or multiple periodical channel time blocks are reserved for wireless transmission of isochronous streams.
US08179869B2
In a wireless network in which the base station has full duplex capability (can transmit on the downlink channel and simultaneously receive on the uplink channel), but the mobile stations have only half duplex capability (each can transmit on the uplink channel and receive on the downlink channel, but not simultaneously), the base station may transmit duplicate copies of multicast data in two or more frames. Some of the addressed mobile station may be scheduled to receive the first frame and transmit during the second frame, while the other addressed mobile stations may be scheduled to transmit during the first frame and receive the second frame.
US08179867B2
An apparatus and method of transmission opportunity in a mesh network is disclosed. A beacon timing from a receiver MP is received. The beacon timing includes a beacon reception timing of a received beacon frame that is received by the receiver MP from a neighboring MP of the receiver MP. A transmission opportunity is determined in order not to be extended across the beacon reception timing.
US08179863B2
A wireless communication apparatus comprises a determination unit to determine whether to increase the number of reference signals to be included in a downlink signal based on an uplink signal. The wireless communication apparatus further comprises a mapping unit to map reference signals based on a determination made by the determination unit.
US08179860B2
Example embodiments provide a method for performing handovers and key management while performing handovers. The method includes communicating a random handover seed key protected by a secure protocol from a core component of a network to a user equipment. The secure protocol prevents the random handover seed key from being learned by base stations supported by the core component of the network. The secure protocol may be non-access stratum signaling of an evolved packet system environment for wireless communications.
US08179852B2
A base station (BS), a subordinated station (SS) and the transmission methods thereof for use in a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) network are provided. The BS stores resource allocation information about the MIMO network and an SS list, and generate a super frame according to the resource allocation information and the SS list. The super frame comprises a pilot pattern which comprises a plurality of pilots and data. The BS and SS both considers the pilot pattern as an identifier of the SS. When there are communications occurred between the BS and the SS, the BS/SS will confirm whether the pilot pattern of the super frame matches the identifier of the SS to reduce interference from other stations in the MIMO network.
US08179846B2
Based on application information received from a DPI device, a downstream device, such as a Radio Network Controller (RNC), optimally implements a dormancy timer policy for short-lived applications, such as email and MMS. In particular, the RNC may initially use a large value for the dormancy timer for these applications. When the RNC receives an indication of the end of the application from the DPI device, the RNC may terminate the connection, thereby immediately freeing up resources. Alternatively, should the DPI device fail to recognize the end of the application, the initial dormancy timer serves as a fail-safe, such that the radio network resources are still released for allocation to another device in the radio network.
US08179843B2
A channel allocation system for a beam-forming wireless network selects receivers to enroll in communication from a pool of candidate receivers, by off-loading a determination of the effects of adding each candidate receiver to the candidate receiver itself. In one embodiment, the candidate receivers nominate themselves for enrollment based on their determination of aggregate data rate changes resulting from their enrollment and the comparison of this aggregate data rate change against an estimate of the aggregate data rate changes of other candidate receivers.
US08179841B2
Wireless communication collision coding devices, systems, and methods are provided. According to some embodiments, wireless communication systems can generally comprise a plurality of wireless access points and wireless clients. The wireless access points can be controlled by a network controller. The wireless access points can be configured to enable a plurality of wireless clients to wirelessly connect to the wireless access points. The wireless access points can be configured to encode data packets destined for the wireless clients with a collision coding scheme so that wireless data packets concurrently transmitted from at least two wireless access points colliding in air can be decoded at the wireless clients with the collision coding scheme so that data packets are not affected by collisions with another data packet. Other aspects, embodiments, and features, are also claimed and described.
US08179835B2
Dynamic resource allocation is performed by first generating a plurality of slot sequences. A figure of merit based on weighted interference signal code power (ISCP) and weighted resource units is then generated for each timeslot of each slot sequence. The timeslots within each slot sequence are then arranged in a decreasing figure of merit. The slot sequences are the processed to determine whether they can support the code to be transmitted.
US08179830B2
A transmission control device determines cells, each of which has the number of reception users larger than a predetermined value, as a first group and sends data to the first group cells in the point-to-multipoint transmission mode. The transmission control device also determines cells, each of which has a few MBMS reception users and whose neighboring cell is a first group cell, as a second group and sends data to those cells in the point-to-multipoint transmission mode. The transmission control device sends data to other cells in the point-to-point transmission mode. In this way, the transmission control device selects cells to which data is sent in the point-to-multipoint transmission mode and, at the same time, allows a mobile station near the boundary of those cells to acquire a combining effect. Resource consumption amounts and improve coverage rate can be reduced when same data is sent to multiple mobile stations located in multiple cells.
US08179822B2
Subject: Since today's conventional Web browsing employs Pull-Type Telecommunications, presently, it is necessary to employ keyboard operation in order to request information. Furthermore, the portability of today's devices is still substandard, and offering information based on another's situation is presently unavailable.Method for Solution: When each telephone caller uses a telephone (including a cellular telephone), the computer connects the public Internet network and the Telecommunications with the exclusive software carried at each device, and the server performs Push-Type Telecommunications on the network, with which any information that is selected and transmitted by one side at any time is displayed or played automatically on the other side's monitor during conversation, the method by which audiovisual information is offered during the course of conversation is realized. Thus, as a result, a wide variety of functions, including an operation support function, a presentation function, conversation support using visual information, a performance offering a theme, as well as the advantage of enhanced portability, are all realized, and various services, including personalized, are enabled by automatically displaying the processed result of sound (voice) as input data on each telephone caller's monitor.
US08179821B2
An apparatus for identifying participants of a conference call in a telephony network, each participant using a respective channel to participate in the conference call, the apparatus including: a sampler, deployed in the telephony network, and configured to continuously sample each of the channels during the conference call, a dominant channel identifier, in communication with the sampler, and configured to identify in real time a dominant one of the sampled channels, and a current speaker data disseminator, in communication with the dominant channel identifier, and configured to disseminate, in real time, data pertaining to a participant who uses the dominant channel to at least one remaining participant of the conference call, so as to identify the participant who uses the dominant channel as a current speaker to the remaining participant.
US08179818B2
In a proxy terminal or server a path setting can be performed by a server apparatus and a path setting that includes, as a relay point, a proxy terminal arbitrarily specified by a user or the proxy terminal located in a local network to which the user belongs, without adding any function to a user terminal. The proxy terminal includes a terminal group information generator unit configured to generate terminal group information that includes a user terminal identifier and a proxy terminal network identifier as a pair, and to transmit, to a server apparatus, the generated terminal group information.
US08179812B2
A digital communications system for delivering data blocks includes at least one transmit/receive unit (TRU). The TRU includes a storage element for receiving transmit data packets and retransmit data packets from a sending unit and a processing element communicatively coupled to the storage element. The processing element is configured for recognizing a failure to receive at least one other transmit data packet (missing data packet) from the sending unit, and for configuring a status control packet for transmission to the sending unit, the control packet includes a header including a next packet identifier for a next data packet anticipated to be received and a status payload portion including a missing packet identifier including the transmit packet identifier for the missing data packet. In the system, the retransmit data packet includes at least a segment of the data payload in the missing data packet associated with the missing packet identifier.
US08179810B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a transmitter, a receiver and methods of operating a transmitter and a receiver. In one embodiment, the transmitter is for use with a base station in a in a cellular communication system and includes a scheduling unit configured to provide a primary synchronization signal selected from a group of multiple sequences, wherein at least two of the sequences have complex conjugate symmetry in the time domain. The transmitter also includes a transmit unit configured to transmit the primary synchronization signal. Additionally, the receiver includes a receive unit configured to receive a primary synchronization signal. The receiver also includes a detection unit configured to identify one of a plurality of primary synchronization signals corresponding to a communication cell location of the receiver, wherein at least two of a group of multiple sequences have complex conjugate symmetry in the time domain.
US08179802B2
A method and an apparatus for managing an audio contention are disclosed. For example, the method receives a request by a device, and enters into a first state by the device, wherein the first state allows the device to use an audio channel in an upstream direction, wherein the device in the first state determines at least one of: a failure outcome for the request, a success outcome for the request or a continue outcome for the request.
US08179801B2
A node in an overlay network requests a ranked list of other nodes in multiple areas of the overlay network that can provide a desired piece of content or service to the requesting node. A separate node such as a router generates the ranked list using a routing algorithm, returning the list to the requesting node so that the requesting node may acquire the desired content or service from the nearest node in the overlay network.
US08179798B2
Systems and methods for reputation based connection determinations are provided. Systems used for reputation based connection throttling can include a communications interface, a reputation engine and a connection control engine. The communications interface can receive connection requests associated with an external entity prior to a connection being established to the external entity. The reputation engine can derive a reputation associated with the external entity. The connection control engine can allow or deny connection requests to a protected network based upon the derived reputation of the external entity.
US08179794B2
Exemplary embodiments relate to methods, systems, and computer program products for providing quality of service brokering in a network. Methods include receiving a data packet at a router in an Internet protocol (IP) network. The data packet includes a data packet QoS class and a data packet destination. A storage mechanism that includes possible routes to the data packet destination at the data packet QoS class is accessed. One of the possible routes is selected. The data packet is transmitted along the selected route to the data packet destination.
US08179786B2
At least one substitute path is provided in place of a plurality of existing paths of a network to reallocate traffic carried by the plurality of existing paths. The total bandwidth needed to carry the traffic of the plurality of existing paths is determined. A proposed route is generated from the available links in the network. A portion of the bandwidth of a proposed route may be allocated to the needed bandwidth when the bandwidth of a proposed route is greater than or equal to the needed bandwidth. When the bandwidth of the proposed route is less than the needed bandwidth, at least one further route is generated, and the needed bandwidth is divided among the proposed route and the at least one further route such that a minimum number of further routes are generated.
US08179782B2
An FFT unit (170) separates a received symbol by Fourier conversion into a plurality of subcarriers, and a phase difference detection unit (193) detects a phase difference between 4 pilot carriers and data carriers adjacent to the pilot carriers (adjacent carriers) The decision unit (194) decides whether the phase differences between the pilot carriers and the adjacent carriers detected by the phase difference detection unit (193) fulfill a phase difference condition. Then, the decision unit (194) decides that the received symbol is an HTSIG if the number of phase differences that fulfill the phase difference condition is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, and decides that the received symbol is either a SIG or a DATA if the number of phase differences that fulfill the phase difference condition is less than the predetermined number.
US08179781B2
A method and apparatus for encoding data for transmission in a communication system provides increased efficiency in bandwidth utilization through higher data rates, lower error rates, lower power levels, and/or increased capacity. A set of orthogonal codes is partitioned into subsets. The data to be transmitted is partitioned into packets of bit sequences, each of which is mapped to an orthogonal code in an assigned subset. The number of members in a particular subset is determined by the relative transmission requirements of the data signal the subset will be used to encode.
US08179775B2
An electronic device includes a first circuit (111) operable to generate a precoding matrix index (PMI) vector associated with a plurality of configured subbands, and further operable to form a compressed PMI vector from the PMI vector wherein the compressed PMI vector includes one reference PMI and at least one differential subband PMI defined relative to the reference PMI; and a second circuit (113) operable to initiate transmission of a signal communicating the compressed PMI vector. Other electronic devices, processes and systems are also disclosed.
US08179773B2
An information recording medium is at least composed of a substrate having a microscopic pattern constituted by a continuous substrate of grooves formed with a groove portion and a land portion alternately, a recording layer formed on the microscopic pattern for recording information, and a light transmitting layer formed on the recording layer. The microscopic pattern is formed with satisfying a relation of P≦λ/NA, wherein P is a pitch of the land portion or the groove portion, λ is a wavelength of reproducing light for reproducing the recording layer, and NA is a numerical aperture of an objective lens. The land portion is formed with wobbling so as to be parallel with each other for both sidewalls of the land portion. An auxiliary information based on data used supplementally when recording the information and a reference clock based on a clock used for controlling a recording speed when recording the information is recorded alternately. Information is recorded in the recording layer corresponding to only a land portion by at least either one change of reflectivity difference and refractive index difference in the recording layer so as to be more than 5% for reflectivity and so as to be more than 0.4 for modulated amplitude of signal recording.
US08179772B2
A data storage medium stories data in the form of marks, said marks being written and/or read by an array of probes. The storage medium further includes a plurality of data fields, each field including an area of the storage medium which, in use, is scanned for reading and/or writing by an associated one of the array of probes. The data fields include operational data fields having operational data for operating said scanning stored dierein, wherein the operational data fields are arranged in a plurality of clusters, each cluster including a plurality of adjacent operational data fields. The invention also provides a method of scanning the data storage medium with the probe array, in which a target data field is determined and an operational data cluster closest to the target data field is selected and the operational data stored therein is used to control parameters of the scanning.
US08179770B2
An optical pickup apparatus comprising: a collimating lens configured to convert laser light emitted from a laser diode, from diffused light into parallel light; an objective lens; and a prism configured to guide the laser light emitted from the collimating lens to the objective lens, the prism including: a first face that the laser light emitted from the collimating lens enters; a second face that reflects the laser light entering the first face; and a third face that reflects the laser light reflected from the second face in a direction of the second face, and emits the laser light reflected again from the second face in a direction of the objective lens.
US08179767B2
A data page for use in a holographic data storage system, and to a method and an apparatus for writing to holographic storage media using such a data page are described. The data page has dark zones for each boundary between phase blocks of a phase mask of the holographic data storage system, which consist of switched-off pixels that are not used for encoding data, and which coincide with the boundaries between the phase blocks.
US08179762B2
According to one embodiment, an information processor includes an optical disc drive, an acquiring module, a storage module, and a determination module. The acquiring module acquires identification information that uniquely identifies an optical disc loaded in the optical disc drive based on information read from the optical disc. The storage module obtains information related to failure analysis of the optical disc contained in state information indicating reading state or writing state upon reading from or writing to the optical disc, and stores the information related to failure analysis in association with the identification information. The determination module calculates values each indicating a level of failure of the optical disc based on pieces of information related to failure analysis of the optical disc stored until just recently in association with the identification information and, when the values satisfy a predetermined condition, determines that there is a risk of failure in the optical disc.
US08179757B2
An apparatus for recording and reproducing an information signal on and from an optical disc includes a memory. The information signal is written into the memory. The information signal is read out from the memory. An optical head generates a laser beam in response to the readout information signal, and applies the laser beam to the optical disc to record the readout information signal on the optical disc. A test signal is recorded on a position of the optical disc near a recording position thereof via the optical head during the writing of the information signal into the memory. The test signal is reproduced from the optical disc. The reproduced test signal is evaluated to generate an evaluation result. An intensity of the laser beam is optimized in response to the evaluation result.
US08179754B2
An optical disc apparatus controls a relative position of an optical pickup with respect to a surface of an optical disc medium according to an output signal output from the optical pickup according to information recorded on the optical disc medium to implement servo control for maintaining a state where the information is readable, acquires an evaluation value for information reading accuracy when the servo control is implemented, and calculates a set value of a parameter to be set for the implementation of the servo control based on evaluation values respectively acquired for at least three set values of the parameter while changing the set value of the parameter for the servo control. The optical disc apparatus determines the set value to be set for further acquiring the evaluation value according to the evaluation values acquired for at least two set values of the parameter.
US08179749B2
A medium transporting mechanism for transporting one of stacked media each of which has a hole is provided. A holder is provided on a movable transporting arm and holds the one of the media. A guide is provided in the transporting arm, the guide has a tapered surface that is inclined with respect to an axis of the guide. The tapered surface is configured to be brought into contact with an inner surface of the hole of the one of the media when the guide is inserted into the hole of the one of the media. The tapered surface includes a first surface on a tip end portion of the guide and a second surface on a base end portion of the guide. An inclined angle of the first surface with respect to the axis of the guide is greater than an inclined angle of the second surface with respect to the axis of the guide.
US08179739B2
A technique capable of manufacturing a semiconductor device without posing contamination in a manufacturing apparatus regarding a phase change memory including a memory cell array formed of memory cells using a storage element (RE) by a variable resistor and a select transistor (CT). A buffer cell is arranged between a sense amplifier (SA) and a memory cell array (MCA) and between a word driver (WDB) and the memory cell array. The buffer cell is formed of the resistive storage element (RE) and the select transistor (CT) same as those of the memory cell. The resistive storage element in the memory cell is connected to a bit-line via a contact formed above the resistive storage element. Meanwhile, in the buffer cell, the contact is not formed above the resistive storage element, and a state of being covered with an insulator is kept upon processing the contact in the memory cell. By such a processing method, exposure and sublimation of a chalcogenide film used in the resistive storage element can be avoided.
US08179726B2
A method and apparatus that provides the ability to control programming pulses having different widths and/or voltages in a flash memory device. The widths and/or voltage levels of programming pulses are set to achieve programming of all memory cells of an array using a minimum number of programming pulses.
US08179720B2
A NAND flash memory includes a NAND string and a control circuit, wherein in a write operation, the control circuit applies a writing voltage between a control gate of a selected memory cell to be written and a semiconductor well, and after the write operation and before performing a verification read operation of verifying whether data has been written into the selected memory cell, the control circuit performs a de-trapping operation, in which a first voltage of a same potential as that of the semiconductor well or a same polarity as that of the writing voltage is applied to the control gate of the selected memory cell and in which a second voltage of a same polarity as that of the writing voltage and larger than the first voltage as an absolute value is applied to a control gate of unselected memory cells not to be written.
US08179716B2
Spin torque magnetic logic device having at least one input element and an output element. Current is applied through the input element(s), and the resulting resistance or voltage across the output element is measured. The input element(s) include a free layer and the output element includes a free layer that is electrically connected to the free layer of the input element. The free layers of the input element and the output element may be electrically connected via magnetostatic coupling, or may be physically coupled. In some embodiments, the output element may have more than one free layer.
US08179714B2
Provided is a nonvolatile storage device (200) capable of stably operating without increasing a size of a selection transistor included in each of memory cells. The nonvolatile storage device (200) includes: a semiconductor substrate (301) which has a P-type well (301a) of a first conductivity type; a memory cell array (202) which includes memory cells (M11) or the like each of which includes a variable resistance element (R11) and a transistor (N11) that are formed above the semiconductor substrate (301) and connected in series; and a substrate bias circuit (220) which applies, to the P-type well (301a), a bias voltage in a forward direction with respect to a source and a drain of the transistor (N11), when a voltage pulse for writing is applied to the variable resistance element (R11) included in the selected memory cell (M11) or the like.
US08179708B2
A circuit and method precharge a selected bit-line in a read only memory (ROM) array during a precharge period of a read cycle. At least one bit-line adjacent to the selected bit-line is discharged during the precharge period. After the precharge period, the selected bit-line is read such that parasitic capacitance effects on the selected bit-line are reduced.
US08179705B2
A power subsystem is actively optimized to improve total subsystem efficiency in a way that is responsive to changes in load requirements, power supply variations, and subsystem temperature variations. Detailed, multidimensional power loss models are developed for constituent devices which are then combined into a power subsystem containing a controller and circuity for measuring device operating parameters such as input and output voltage, output current, and temperature. Operating parameters are continually monitored, and set points are correspondingly changed based on the detailed power loss models to achieve maximum overall efficiency for the instantaneous operating state of the system.
US08179704B2
An electronic device includes a circuit protection unit providing over-current protection to a main circuit and including a series connection of first and second current limiting circuits, and a normally-open branch circuit coupled in parallel to the first current limiting circuit and operable to conduct when a voltage across the first current limiting circuit reaches a first predetermined threshold voltage not greater than an endure voltage of the first current limiting circuit. Prior to conduction of the branch circuit, the first current limiting circuit maintains a current flowing therethrough at a first limit value when a current flowing through the main circuit reaches the first limit value. Upon conduction of the branch circuit, the second current limiting circuit maintains a current flowing therethrough at a second limit value greater than the first limit value when the current flowing through the main circuit reaches the second limit value.
US08179689B2
A printed circuit board has capacitors, a grounding wiring pattern having a bonding surface on which a semiconductor device is bonded, and a contact surface located opposite from the bonding surface thereof and coupled to first electrodes of the capacitors, and a power supply wiring pattern having a bonding surface on which the semiconductor device is bonded, and a contact surface located opposite from the bonding surface thereof and coupled to second electrodes of the capacitors. The grounding and power supply wiring patterns are alternately arranged in a predetermined direction, and the capacitors are coupled in parallel with respect to the grounding and power supply wiring patterns.
US08179688B2
An electric device includes: a first electric element; a second electric element capable of flowing large current therethrough so that heat is generated in the second electric element; a heat sink; and a first wiring board and a second wiring board, which are disposed on one side of the heat sink. The large current in the second electric element is larger than that in the first electric element. The first wiring board and the second wiring board are separated each other. The first electric element is disposed on the first wiring board, and the second electric element is disposed on the second wiring board.
US08179674B2
A scalable space-optimized and energy-efficient computing system is provided. The computing system comprises a plurality of modular compartments in at least one level of a frame configured in a hexadron configuration. The computing system also comprises an air inlet, an air mixing plenum, and at least one fan. In the computing system the plurality of modular compartments are affixed above the air inlet, the air mixing plenum is affixed above the plurality of modular compartments, and the at least one fan is affixed above the air mixing plenum. When at least one module is inserted into one of the plurality of modular compartments, the module couples to a backplane within the frame.
US08179665B2
A solid electrolytic capacitor includes a capacitor element surrounded with a cathode layer, an anode wire inserted into the capacitor element, a cathode terminal electrically connected to the capacitor element by being positioned at one side below the capacitor element, an anode terminal defining a space between the capacitor element and a top surface thereof and is electrically connected to the anode wire by being positioned at the other side below the capacitor element, a conductive paste coated being thicker toward an inside of the capacitor element, thereby electrically connecting the capacitor element to the cathode terminal and broadening the space, and a fixing film closely coupled to a bottom surface of the conductive paste. A molding unit wraps the capacitor element and the fixing film in a state of closely adhering the conductive paste and the cathode terminal to top and bottom surfaces of the fixing film, respectively.
US08179661B2
An organic dielectric material comprises a branched and/or hyperbranched macromolecule having delocalized electrons. Such macro-molecular organic material systems have desirable delocalized charge and optionally one or more micro-crystalline regions. Organic dielectric materials include, for example, branched polyanilines and phthalocyanines. Delocalized excitations within the macromolecular framework of the organic dielectric material may be used in various applications, such as light harvesting, nonlinear optical, quantum optical, and electronic applications, e.g., capacitors. Electrical devices may comprise such dielectric materials, including capacitors that have very high energy density, storage, and transfer. Also provided are methods of preparing such materials.
US08179660B2
A highly reliable electronic device that prevents entry of a plating solution via an external electrode and entry of moisture of external environment inside thereof, and generates no soldering defects or solder popping defects which are caused by precipitation of a glass component on a surface of the external electrode. The electrode structure of the electronic device is formed of Cu-baked electrode layers primarily composed of Cu, Cu plating layers formed on the Cu-baked electrode layers and which are processed by a recrystallization treatment, and upper-side plating layers formed on the Cu plating layers. After the Cu plating layers are formed, a heat treatment is performed at a temperature in the range of a temperature at which the Cu plating layers are recrystallized to a temperature at which glass contained in a conductive paste is not softened, so that the Cu plating layers are recrystallized.
US08179655B2
Improved over-voltage protection apparatus and associated methods useful in e.g., telecommunications applications. In one embodiment, the over voltage protection apparatus comprises a gas discharge tube, common mode inductor, coupled inductor, secondary over-voltage protection device, filter circuitry, coupled inductor and common mode inductor. In one embodiment the over voltage protection apparatus comprises a gas discharge tube, common mode inductor, coupled inductor, secondary over-voltage protection device and filter circuitry. The arrangement of said inductive components being optimally connected in such a manner as to provide a high impedance circuit for all surge events to the gas discharge tube, so as to protect the filtering circuitry. Methods for the manufacture of the filter protection apparatus so as to be maximally independent of component tolerances are also disclosed.
US08179654B2
A surge preventing circuit of a local area network (LAN) connector is suitable for being coupled to a plurality of transformers disposed in the local area network connector. The surge preventing circuit includes a conjugate coil module and a surge absorbing element. The conjugate coil module has at least one conjugate coil. The conjugate coil has a first input terminal, a second input terminal, a first output terminal, and a second output terminal. The first input terminal and the second input terminal of the conjugate coil are coupled to the center tapped terminal of the respective transformer, respectively. A first terminal of the surge absorbing element is connected to ground, and a second terminal is coupled to the first output terminals and the second output terminals.
US08179647B2
An ESD clamp includes a first power supply node; an ESD detection circuit coupled to the first power supply node and configured to detect an ESD event; and a bias circuit coupled to the first power supply node and configured to output a second power supply voltage to a second power supply node. The second power supply voltage is lower than a first power supply voltage on the first power supply node. The ESD detection circuit is configured to activate the bias circuit to change working state in response to the ESD event. The ESD clamp further includes an LV ESD clamp coupled to the second power supply node, wherein the LV ESD clamp includes LV devices with maximum endurable voltages lower than the first power supply voltage.
US08179637B2
A magnetic storage apparatus includes a magnetic storage medium including a recording layer, and a backing layer including a portion having a Curie temperature lower than that of the recording layer, a recording head that generates a magnetic field for recording from a side of the recording layer opposite to another side on which the backing layer is provided, and a heater unit heating at least a part of an area in proximity to a target area for recording by the recording head.
US08179636B1
A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer for recording to media is described. The method and system include providing a first pole, a main pole, an auxiliary pole, and at least one coil. The main pole has a first media-facing surface including a recessed portion and a write portion. The auxiliary pole is magnetically coupled with the main pole and has a second media-facing surface. The second media-facing surface includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is in proximity to the write portion of the first media-facing surface of the main pole. The second portion is in proximity to and recessed from the recessed portion of the first media-facing surface of the main pole. The coil(s) are for energizing the main pole.
US08179632B2
A disk drive spoiler for reducing particle accumulation in a hard disk drive is provided. The spoiler includes a body portion for directing airflow generated by a rotating disk, the rotating disk comprising a middle diameter and an outer diameter wherein the body portion directs airflow away from the outer diameter of the disk. The spoiler also includes an end portion for directing airflow away from the middle diameter of the disk towards the outer diameter of the disk wherein the body portion comprises a substantially similar width between the middle diameter and the outer diameter.
US08179623B2
A color filter including a transparent substrate; a light shielding part formed on the transparent substrate and contains at least a light shielding material and a resin; and a colored layer formed in the opening part of the light shielding part on the transparent substrate to cover a part of the light shielding part. The light shielding part has the width of the thick film region, 85% or more of the maximum film thickness of the light shielding part and disposed in the central part of the light shielding part; and the width of each of the thin film regions, 50% or less of the maximum film thickness of the light shielding part and disposed on the both side parts of the light shielding part.
US08179616B1
An optical lens assembly for image taking, sequentially arranged from an object side to an image side, comprises: the first lens element with refractive power, the second lens element with positive refractive power, the third lens element with negative refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, the fourth lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface. The optical lens assembly further comprises a stop and an image sensor on an image plane. Each of the third and the fourth lens elements can have at least one aspherical surface. When the optical lens assembly utilizes the thickness conditions provided in the present invention, along with a favorable entrance pupil diameter ratio, fine aberration corrections, wide-angle of view, and functionalities for common image pickup cameras or those used with infrared settings can be achieved.
US08179614B1
An image pickup optical lens assembly, sequentially arranged from an object side to an image side along an optical axis, comprises the first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface, the second lens element with negative refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, the third lens element with refractive power, the fourth lens element with positive refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, the fifth lens element with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface with at least one inflection point, and a stop. Each of the five lens elements may be made of plastic with bi-aspherical surfaces. Additionally, the image pickup optical lens assembly satisfies conditions of shortening the total length and reducing the sensitivity for usage in compact cameras and mobile phones with camera functionalities.
US08179612B2
A lens barrel unit includes a lens holding cylinder, a cam cylinder, and a straightforward movement cylinder. The lens holding cylinder includes a ring-shaped step that projects outward in a radial direction. In an image pickup state, a surface of the ring-shaped step which is an end of an object side in the ring-shaped step is closer to an object than a surface of the straightforward movement cylinder which is an end of an object side in the straightforward movement cylinder.
US08179608B2
A zoom lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, first and second lens units respectively having positive and negative refractive powers, a reflecting prism for bending an optical path, and a rear lens group including lens units. At least the first and second lens units move for zooming. During retraction into a storage state, the prism moves to a position different from a position in an image taking state, and at least a part of the first and second lens units is retracted into a space formed by movement of the prism. Thicknesses of the first and second lens units, a moving amount of the first lens unit during zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, a focal length of the first lens unit, and a focal length of the entire zoom lens at the telephoto end are set properly.
US08179601B2
A Faraday rotator of an opto-isolator in a laser processing apparatus includes a crystal cylinder that causes the Faraday effect, an enclosing tube, cooling tubes, and a magnet. The enclosing tube encases the crystal cylinder. The cooling tubes are sandwiched between the crystal cylinder and the enclosing tube at both ends of the crystal cylinder. The cooling tubes have passages through which a coolant flows. The coolant circulates through a space between the crystal cylinder and the enclosing tube, and the passages, thereby cooling the crystal cylinder.
US08179597B2
In a biological specimen imaging method, a biological specimen which is stored in a storing section of a substrate having plural storing sections and emitting a feeble light is imaged through an objective lens. The biological specimen imaging method includes moving any one of the substrate and the objective lens or both until the desired storing section falls within the field of view of the objective lens, measuring any one of a focal position at a near point and the focal position at a far point of the objective lens or both, determining the focal position of the objective lens focused on an observed target region in the biological specimen stored in the desired storing section based on the measured focal position, and adjusting the focal position of the objective lens to the determined focal position so as to image the biological specimen through the objective lens.
US08179583B2
An actuator includes a movable plate having a plate shape, a pair of axial parts that is elastically deformable and supporting the movable plate rotatable, and a tension adjuster adjusting tension on an axial direction of the pair of the axial parts and including a torsional axis that is formed jointly or integrally with one of the axial parts and disposed orthogonally to the axial direction of the axial parts, and a drive source that torsionally deforms the torsional axis, wherein the torsional axis is torsionally deformed through the action of the drive source and a spring constant of the pair of the axial parts is adjusted by adjusting the tension on the pair of the axial parts.
US08179573B2
In one implementation, a method scans a media to provide a first image and a second image. The method further subtracts the first image from the second image.
US08179572B2
A communication device receives and stores image data, and searches for information image data in the image data. If found, the information image data is removed, thereby shortening the image so that it can be completely reproduced on one page without compressing or clipping. The information image data may be added to the reproduced image as a watermark, or may be reinserted in a blank space in the image.
US08179570B2
Methods are provided for creating a fluorescent watermark within an image on a substrate, such as paper. The method involves creating a halftone image using two different halftone strategies. The halftone method is combined with a binary watermark mask to form two color patterns (e.g., one in a background region of the image and one in a watermark region of the image) and two successive-filling halftone algorithms, such that the ink droplets deposited by one color pattern cover more of the substrate than the ink droplets deposited by the other color pattern, with the two color patterns having approximately the same reflectance under normal light. However, under UV illumination, a visible difference (e.g., the watermark) is seen in the two patterns.
US08179568B2
What is disclosed is a novel system and method for minimizing dot visibility in color marking devices capable of dot-on-dot printing. The present method achieves minimum dot visibility for a given dispersed-dot screen by performing a CMYK to CMYKRGB conversion which uses less visible dots as much as possible before more visible dots are introduced. The output color dot coverages are calculated sequentially to minimize the coverage of more visible dots in a decreasing order of brightness. Resulting images have noticeably reduced halftone graininess, particularly in the mid to darker tone areas. The present method is also computationally efficient.
US08179566B2
A method is provided for classifying a color printer gamut into a plurality of gamut subclasses including representing the color printer gamut as a composite of gamut classes wherein each gamut class is comprised of a subset of printer color separations; and, assigning selected spot color targets to determined ones of the gamut classes. The method further includes determining if the selected spot color target is located inside, or on-boundary, or outside of the gamut classes.
US08179562B2
An image-capturing device including a body, an optical module and an upper cover is provided. The body has an upper surface and a first inclined plane, wherein the upper surface has an image-capturing area, and the first inclined plane is connected and located adjacent to the upper surface. The optical module is movably disposed in the body and is for capturing an image of a document inside the image-capturing area. The upper cover has a lower surface and a second inclined plane, wherein the second inclined plane is connected and located adjacent to the lower surface. When the upper cover is closed upon the body, the second inclined plane is placed atop the first inclined plane. The included angle between the second inclined plane and the lower surface is at least equal to the included angle between the first inclined plane and the upper surface and less than 180 degrees.
US08179528B2
An assembly including a holder and a fluid-fillable container. The holder is adapted for holding at least the container and includes a system for filling the container with a fluid from a fluid source. The holder further includes a detector for detecting the fluid level inside the container, a light source for at least locally illuminating the interior of the container and an optical detector. The detector is arranged outside the container and for detecting a fluid level inside the container by detecting light scattered inside the container resulting from the light emitted by the light source.
US08179514B2
A liquid crystal display device (50a) includes: an active matrix substrate (20a) having a plurality of gate lines (1a) extending in parallel with each other; a counter substrate (30a) provided so as to face the active matrix substrate (20a); a liquid crystal layer (25) provided between the active matrix substrate (20a) and the counter substrate (30a); and spherical spacers (21) provided between the active matrix substrate (20a) and the counter substrate (30a) so as to overlap each gate line (1a), for defining a thickness of the liquid crystal layer (25). A first protruding wall (9a) for surrounding the spacers (21) is provided over each gate layer (1a) of the active matrix substrate (20a), and a second protruding wall (19b) for surrounding the spacers (21) is provided on the counter substrate (30a).
US08179502B2
A display and methods of driving the display, where the display includes a plurality of pixels, where some colors are present in every pixel, and some colors are only present in less than all of the pixels.
US08179501B2
An elliptical polarizer is provided having excellent viewing angle improving effects. The elliptical polarizer includes a polarizer, a first optical anisotropic layer, and a second optical anisotropic layer, laminated in this order. The first optical anisotropic layer satisfies the requirements of 0.8≦NZ1≦1.6 and 120≦Re1≦250 and is disposed so that the slow axis thereof is orthogonal to the absorption axis of the polarizer. The second optical anisotropic layer is a liquid crystal film having a retardation value in the plane of 30 to 150 nm with respect to a 550 nm wavelength light and fixed in a nematic hybrid alignment wherein the average tilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystalline polymer exhibiting a positive optical uniaxiality, and is disposed so that the aligned direction thereof is parallel to the absorption axis of the first polarizer. The elliptical polarizer is used in a TN type liquid crystal display device so that the second optical anisotropic layer is disposed on the liquid crystal cell side.
US08179499B2
A liquid crystal display device capable of reducing a time delay in lighting of the liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel, at least one fluorescent lamps disposed below the liquid crystal panel, formed as a cylindrical shape having a central axis and supplying light to the liquid crystal panel, and at least one auxiliary optical source disposed to face the liquid crystal panel while having the central axis therebetween and supplying light to the fluorescent lamps.
US08179498B2
In an embodiment of the present invention, in a liquid crystal display device which controls a light luminance of each of lighting regions, each of lighting regions of a backlight has a smaller width in a horizontal direction than in a vertical direction. This makes it possible to cause a reduction in contrast due to spatial distribution of light luminances, which spatial distribution is generated due to cross talk between lighting regions, to be less perceivable to an observer positioned in an oblique viewing direction.
US08179495B2
A repair line framework of liquid crystal display is provided. By disposing part of the repair line inside the integrated circuit chip so that the routing of part of the repair line will penetrate through the integrated circuit chip before returning to the panel, or by routing part of the repair line disposed on the substrate within the display region so that the routing is positioned under the black matrix of the color filter, the routing length of the repair line is shortened and the impedance of the repair line is reduced.
US08179494B2
A liquid crystal display having a repair line structure and an array substrate of the liquid crystal display are provided. The repair line comprises a front repair line portion arranged to at least partially overlap a front portion of a first signal line, an end repair line portion arranged to at least partially overlap an end portion of the first signal line, and an intermediate repair line portion electrically connecting the front and end repair line portions. The front repair line portion comprises at least a first signal connection line and an external line which are electrically isolated when the repair line has not been used to repair a defect in the first signal line.
US08179482B2
A display having a touch panel capability is provided. The display includes a first substrate and a second substrate opposing each other, a thin-film transistor for pixel driving formed on the first substrate, and a thin-film transistor for touch position detection including a source electrode and a drain electrode formed on the first substrate, and a gate electrode formed on the second substrate.
US08179475B2
Synchronizes a secondary audio track to a video. Analyzes the audio track of a video using audio frequency analysis or spectrograms to find distinct audio events from which to ensure synchronization of a secondary audio track. For example, commentary that mocks a character may be played immediately after a particular noise in the audio track of a video occurs such as a door slam. Keeping the secondary audio track in synch with the audio track of a video is performed by periodically searching for distinct audio events in the audio track of a video and adjusting the timing of the secondary audio track. May utilize a sound card on a computer to both analyze a DVD sound track and play and adjust timing of the secondary audio track to maintain synchronization. Secondary audio tracks may be purchased and/or downloaded and utilized to add humorous external commentary to a DVD for example.
US08179474B2
A fast iterative motion estimation method enables motion estimation to take place with fewer computations. The motion estimation and error determination steps are combined, each position in the search area is monitored to determine whether error value reaches the minimum over iterations by keeping track of convergence status, a refinement search is applied (thus, a smaller search area than a conventional process), and the difference of the error value and the minimum error value is used for each position in the search area to decide whether to further calculate the error value for that position. Each of these modifications helps minimize the number of computations used in motion estimation.
US08179470B2
This invention provides an image-capturing lens assembly comprising, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface; a second lens element with negative refractive power; a third lens element with positive refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, the object-side and image-side surfaces thereof being aspheric; a fourth lens element with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface on which at least one inflection point is formed, the object-side and image-side surfaces thereof being aspheric; and a stop disposed between an imaged object and the first lens element; wherein there are four lens elements with refractive power. Such an arrangement of optical elements can effectively reduce the size of the lens assembly, mitigate the sensitivity of the optical system and enable the lens assembly to obtain a higher resolution.
US08179464B2
A circuit for resetting and reading out a pixel cell of a CMOS image sensor is proposed. The circuit allows for reading out the pixel cell at least two times during a main integration interval, thereby generating at least two pixel signals. The circuit further comprises means for combining the at least two pixel signals to an output signal. The means for combining are operable to combine the at least two pixel signals weighted in dependence on a saturation level of the pixel cell. A method for controlling the circuit for reading out the image sensor is also proposed.
US08179463B1
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an image sensor comprises a plurality of pixel sensing circuits. Each pixel sensing circuit includes a photodiode and a storage node. Each pixel sensing circuit further includes a first transistor coupled between the photodiode and the storage node and a second transistor coupled between the photodiode and a shared node. The shared node is coupled to the plurality of pixel sensing circuits. The image sensor may include a reset transistor and/or a read-out circuit coupled to the shared node.
US08179455B2
A Optical Black Pixel (OBP) cancellation circuit corrects offsets in sensors in a CCD/CMOS image sensor when reading dark pixels such at the periphery. A pixel voltage is switched to a sampling capacitor during two phases of the same pixel pulse. Sampling capacitors and feedback capacitors connect to differential inputs of an amplifier. An accumulating capacitor accumulates voltage differences and generates a common-mode voltage that is fed back to another sampling capacitor that stores an amplifier offset. The sampling capacitor and accumulating capacitor and their associated switches form a discrete-time first-order low-pass filter that filters the pixel voltage during the first phase. In the second phase the amplifier acts as a unity-gain amplifier to output an average of the pixel voltage differences generated during an OBP time when blackened or covered pixels are read from the image sensor.
US08179452B2
An aspect of a method and apparatus for generating a compressed image file, and a terminal including the apparatus is receiving frame data comprising encoded image data of at least one frame of a raw image, generating first encoded thumbnail image data of the encoded image data, correcting the encoded image data and generating the compressed image file by using the corrected image data and the first encoded thumbnail image data when the encoded image data has an illuminance value lower than a preset reference value, and generating the compressed image file by using the encoded image data and the first encoded thumbnail image data when the encoded image data has an illuminance value greater than the preset reference value.
US08179449B2
A portable electronic apparatus includes a display, a user position estimating unit and a display movement estimating unit. The user position estimating unit is for estimating the user position with respect to the display. The display movement estimating unit is for estimating the display movement. The apparatus is configured for estimating the user position, here referred to as initial user position, at least at a first moment; and, during at least an interval of time after the first moment, estimating the display movement, and controlling the display content based on the initial user position and the display movement. The invention also relates a method for controlling such an apparatus and to a computer program therefor.
US08179444B2
An image processing apparatus includes a first recording/reproducing unit configured to record data on a first recording medium and reproduce the recorded data from the first recording medium, a second recording/reproducing unit configured to record data on a second recording medium and reproduce the recorded data from the second recording medium, a print information generating unit configured to generate print designation information about print processing of the image data recorded on the first recording medium; and a control unit configured to read the image data designated by the print designation information from the first recording medium, and control the first recording/reproducing unit and the second recording/reproducing unit so as to record the read image data and the print designation information on the second recording medium if it is determined that the print designation information cannot be recorded on the first recording medium.
US08179441B2
A hand-off monitoring method is provided for monitoring a space divided into several monitoring regions. Each of the monitoring regions is monitored by a surveillance camera. The hand-off monitoring method comprises receiving a warning signal from a location and identifying a first surveillance camera related to the location according to the warning signal. Then, an object triggering the warning signal is identified according to a video signal provided by the first surveillance camera. A moving path of the object is predicted according to a non-linear movement prediction model. Then, a control operation is performed, according to the moving path, to control the surveillance cameras in the monitoring regions where the moving path passes so as to hand-off monitor the object.
US08179435B2
A system which provides a driver with an image obtained by photographing an area around a vehicle, the system comprising: a photographing unit which photographs an area around the vehicle which is out of the driver's line of sight because of a structure of the vehicle; an image processing unit which processes an image of the area around the vehicle photographed by the photographing unit; and a display unit which displays the image processed by the image processing unit, wherein the image processing unit performs coordinate transformation for the image photographed by the photographing unit based on information of a point-of-sight position of the driver and information of a setting state of the display unit to display an image the same as a view of the outside of the vehicle as is directly seen from the point-of-sight position of the driver through a setting area of the display unit.
US08179431B2
A compound eye photographing apparatus including: a plurality of photographing units for photographing a subject at a plurality of photographing positions to obtain a plurality of images of the subject; a subject detection unit for detecting a predetermined subject from a base image which is one of the plurality of images; a subject information generation unit for generating subject information which includes information of the position and size of the predetermined subject in the base image; a photographing information generation unit for generating photographing information which includes information of the baseline length, convergence angle, focal length, and zoom magnification of each of the plurality of photographing units at the time of photographing, and a determination unit for determining whether or not the predetermined subject detected from the base image is included in another image other than the base image and outputting the determination result.
US08179428B2
An imaging apparatus for an electronic endoscope includes a bare chip of CCD, a circuit board with approximately the same thickness as the bare chip, and a conducting plate with no less than 1/4 width of the bare chip. The bare chip has terminals on the surface with an imaging surface. The terminals are arranged near the edge facing the rear end of an insertion section of the electronic endoscope. The circuit board has terminals on the surface near the edge facing the front end of the insertion section. These terminals are connected by wire bonding. The conducting plate is attached along one side of the rear surface of the CCD and the circuit board for electrical connection. A forceps channel is provided such that its outer circumference fits partially into a cut portion formed on the rear surfaces of the CCD and the circuit board by the conducting plate.
US08179427B2
Shutter glasses or other viewing mechanisms for selectively passing one separable image in a composite image stream, which includes a first image stream polarized at a first orientation and a second image stream polarized at a second orthogonal orientation. The apparatus includes a first switchable optical rotator that receives the composite image stream and rotates the first and second image streams by 90 degrees or passes them unchanged. A first polarization filter is placed adjacent to the first optical rotator and is aligned to pass the first image stream when the first optical rotator rotates the image streams and to pass the second image stream when the images are passed without rotation. The apparatus includes a second switchable optical rotator that selectively rotates the image stream to choose a time slot for viewing, and a second polarization filter passes image streams at the first or second orientation to a viewer.
US08179422B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes two modules. A first module receives a request from a first endpoint to subscribe to a voice activated multicast group and causes the first endpoint to receive a current speaker's video stream if the first endpoint is not the current speaker and to receive a last speaker's video stream if the first endpoint is the current speaker. A second module receives a request from a second endpoint to subscribe to a continuous presence multicast group and causes the second endpoint to receive a continuous presence, current speaker video stream if the second endpoint is not the current speaker and to receive a continuous presence, last speaker video stream if the second endpoint is the current speaker. The continuous presence, current speaker video stream includes a composition or two or more video streams, one of which includes at least a portion of the current speaker's video stream. The continuous presence, last speaker video stream includes a composition or two or more video streams, one of which includes at least a portion of a last speaker's video stream.
US08179410B2
In a state where a sheet exists, an current I is gradually increased. When an voltage V reaches a light receiving level Vx, the current I at the time is stored as I1. The voltage V immediately before the voltage V reaches the light receiving level Vx is stored as V1. In a state where no sheet exists, the current I is gradually decreased from the above I1. When the voltage V reaches a non-light receiving level Vy, the current I at the time is stored as I2. The voltage V immediately before the voltage V reaches the non-light receiving level Vy is stored as V2. Then, the current I at the time of normal operation is set within a range between I1 and I2. A reference voltage Vs is set within a range between V1 and V2.
US08179404B2
An appliance according to the present invention is operative under instructions from a plurality of control units, which includes a first control unit and a second control unit. The first control unit outputs a first control signal to the appliance to instruct the appliance to perform a predetermined operation. The second control unit outputs a second control signal to the appliance to instruct the appliance to perform the predetermined operation. The appliance includes a receiving section that receives the first and second control signals and an image control section that changes sizes of a particular image to be presented during the predetermined operation depending on whether the receiving section has received the first control signal or the second control signal.
US08179394B1
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique to perform fine-grained rendering predication using an IGPU and a DGPU. A graphics driver divides a 3D object into batches of triangles. The IGPU processes each batch of triangles through a modified rendering pipeline to determine if the batch is culled. The IGPU writes bits into a bitstream corresponding to the visibility of the batches. The DGPU reads bits from the bitstream and performs full-blown rendering, including shading, but only on the batches of triangles whose bit indicates that the batch is visible. Advantageously, this approach to rendering predication provides fine-grained culling without adding unnecessary overhead, thereby optimizing both hardware resources and performance.
US08179389B2
Provided is a decoder for receiving a digital data and outputting an analog voltage. The decoder comprising a main switch array, a first pre-decoding switch array, and a second pre-decoding switch array. The main switch array receives the digital data and outputs a voltage if the digital data is in a first range. The first pre-decoding switch array is for receiving the digital data, pre-decoding a part of the digital data, and outputting a voltage if the digital data is in a second range. The second pre-decoding switch array is for receiving the digital data, pre-decoding the part of the digital data, and outputting a voltage if the digital data is in a third range. Combination of the main switch array, the first pre-decoding switch array, and the second pre-decoding switch array is in a substantially rectangular layout structure.
US08179385B2
A liquid crystal panel includes a gate line, a data line, and a switching element connected to the gate line and the data line; a gate driver applying a gate signal; and a data driver selecting gray voltages and applying the selected gray voltages to the data line. The gate signal includes a gate-on voltage for turning on the switching element and a gate-off voltage for turning off the switching element. The gray voltages include voltages (V+, V−) and V + + V - 2 = Vconst for each gray. The gate-on voltage decreases from a first level to a second level, and the first level (Von1) and the second level (Von2) satisfy, Von 1 + Vconst 2 - Von 1 + Vconst 2 10 % ≤ Von 2 ≤ Von 1 + Vconst 2 + Von 1 + Vconst 2 10 % .
US08179383B2
The present application provides a touch screen including a panel module, an image sensor module, and a bezel surrounding the panel module. The image sensor module includes a circuit board and an image sensor unit electrically connected thereto, and both are disposed on the panel module. The image sensor unit has an image sensing surface substantially perpendicular to the circuit board for object detection on a display surface of the panel module.
US08179378B2
An input apparatus has a touch sensor for receiving an input, a load detection unit for detecting a pressure load on a touch face of the touch sensor, a tactile sensation providing unit for vibrating the touch face, and a control unit, when the pressure load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a standard for providing a tactile sensation, for controlling drive of the tactile sensation providing unit to vibrate the touch face at a frequency such that a click sensation is provided to an object (means) pressing the touch face. Thereby, a realistic click sensation similar to that obtained when a push-button switch is operated is provided when an operator operates the touch sensor.
US08179375B2
The user interface system of the preferred embodiments includes a sheet that defines a surface on one side and at least partially defines a cavity on an opposite side; a volume of a fluid contained within the cavity; a displacement device that modifies the volume of the fluid to expand the cavity, thereby outwardly deforming a particular region of the surface; and a sensor that detects a force applied by a user that inwardly deforms the particular region of the surface. The user interface system has been specifically designed to be used as the user interface for an electronic device, more preferably in an electronic device that benefits from an adaptive user interface, but may alternatively be used in any suitable application.
US08179372B1
A system and method for efficient computation in the course of locating a position on the face of a touch-screen-equipped display device by limiting the amount of computations to weighted vectors within a range substantially less than the entire range of data input from the touch screen sensors.
US08179371B2
A portable electronic device may display one of a plurality of soft keyboards in a first display area and input characters in a second display area. The user may select a key on the soft keyboard, causing a plurality of objects corresponding to the plurality of soft keyboards to be displayed. The user may then select one of the objects, and the soft keyboard corresponding to the selected object is displayed and made operational. The soft keyboards corresponding to the objects not selected are not made operational.
US08179364B2
A display device in accordance with the present invention includes: a gate driver for carrying out display scanning on pixels sequentially in a first direction of a TFT liquid crystal panel so as to set pixels to display states thereof according to information to be displayed by the pixels in the TFT liquid crystal panel, the pixels being arranged in two dimensions and being individually controllable in terms of the display state through illumination; and a backlight unit for illuminating the individual pixels with intensity of light which increases and subsequently decreases in synchronism with the display scanning carried out by the gate driver, but only after the display scanning. The arrangement enables the backlight flashing period to be determined independently from a TFT panel scanning period or response time of liquid crystal, ensures an extended operating time of a TFT panel, effects a display period equal to, or longer than, the black blanking type, and achieves higher contrast than the black blanking type.
US08179350B2
A display device including a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix including rows and columns and a plurality switching elements coupled with the pixel electrodes; a plurality of gate lines coupled with the switching elements and extending in a row direction, at least two gate lines assigned to a row; and a plurality of data lines coupled with the switching elements and extending in a column direction, a data line assigned to at least two columns, wherein each of the pixel electrodes has a first side and a second side that is farther from a data line than the first side, and the switching elements are disposed near the second sides of the pixel electrodes.
US08179334B2
An electrical connector with a frequency-tuned groundplane is disclosed. The connector includes a signal medium to communicate an electrical signal and a frequency-tuned groundplane medium to communicate a reference voltage (i.e., ground). The groundplane medium differentially supplies the reference voltage to the groundplane second end, responsive to the frequency of the electrical signal. In one aspect, the first groundplane layer conductive trace includes a transmission line pattern, and the second groundplane layer conductive trace is connected to the first groundplane layer conductive trace through a plurality of conductive vias. For example, the first groundplane layer may include a plurality of conductive patches, some of which have a via connection to the second groundplane layer conductive trace.
US08179328B2
Systems and methods provide a HESA (“High Efficiency Sensitivity Accuracy”) direction-finding (“DF”) antenna system that operates over a range from 2 MHz to 18 GHz. The system may include components such as a dipole array, a monopole array, and an edge-radiating antenna, each component being responsive to a specific frequency range. The system may further include biconical flares that optimally terminate a freespace wave in a small aperture.
US08179326B2
The outdoor multi-channel antenna mainly contains a case, a reflection box, a reception plate, and a cover. The reflection box is placed inside the case. The reception plate has an antenna waveguide element and is placed inside the reflection box. The waveguide element is fixed and positioned by a support seat. The reception plate contains a curved piece and two wing pieces bended 90 degrees downward from the curved piece. The waveguide element is attached to a back side of the reception plate and is connected via a coaxial cable to a terminal threading through the through openings of the reflection box and the case. The cover tightly seals the case by a ring washer sandwiched therebetween and a waterproof plug sleeves over the terminal.
US08179324B2
An antenna assembly for a mobile wireless communication device has a support with a first surface and a second surface between which a third surface and a fourth surface extend. A conductive ground plane is formed on the second surface. An antenna includes an electrically conductive patch located on the first surface, and first and second electrically conductive legs and an electrically conductive stripe all abutting the patch. In one version the first and second legs and the strip are all on the third surface. In another version the first and second legs are on the third surface and the strip is on the fourth surface that is orthogonal to the third surface. A first signal port is adapted to apply a first signal to the first leg and a second signal port is adapted to apply a second signal to the third leg.
US08179317B2
Using in-phase and quadrature components of a received signal, spatial and temporal information is utilized to generate a maximum likelihood coefficient from the measured data to geolocate an emitter of unknown frequency. In one embodiment an iso-Doppler contour is generated having regions of high correlation to estimate location in which the maximum likelihood calculation uses two factors, one derived from a single aperture and one derived from bearing estimates, with the region of highest correlation corresponding to emitter location. Hypothesized in-phase and quadrature signals corresponding to an emitter location describe what the signals received at the aperture should be if the emitter is of a predetermined frequency and at a predetermined location, with these estimates used in the maximum likelihood algorithm.
US08179314B2
Calibrating signal processing paths for a plurality of transmission devices by obtaining calibration data for at least one of the signal processing paths for each of the transmission devices and determining a plurality of calibration weights from the calibration data for each of the transmission devices. A calibration variance is calculated between the plurality of calibration weights and it is determined if the calibration variance is below a calibration variance threshold. Additionally, a phase variation and a magnitude variation are calculated from the calibration data for each of the transmission devices and it is determined for each of the transmission devices if the phase variation is below a phase variation threshold and if the magnitude variation is below a magnitude variation threshold. Further, if the calibration variance is below the calibration variance threshold, and the phase variation is below the phase variation threshold and the magnitude variation is below the magnitude variation threshold for each of the transmission devices, then the plurality of calibration weights are applied to the at least one of the signal processing paths of each of the transmission devices.
US08179313B1
Estimation of a desired antenna tracking profile is provided for a radio frequency autotracked (RFAT) antenna in the absence of a ground reference. A first RFAT antenna subsystem has a first antenna and a first antenna positioning mechanism (APM), each mounted on a vehicle, and a first ground-based RF beacon; a second RFAT antenna subsystem has a second antenna and a second APM, each mounted on the vehicle, and a second ground-based RF beacon. A controller stores an accumulated record of actuations of the second APM as a function of time under normal operation, calculates a desired antenna tracking profile for the second antenna, from a first ground-based RF beacon and from the accumulated record, excluding any real-time data from the second ground-based RF beacon, and transmits actuation commands to the second APM so as to cause the second antenna to track the desired antenna tracking profile.
US08179311B2
A method of acquisition of a received signal received from a global navigation satellite system, includes: obtaining a snapshot of the received signal; correlating the snapshot with a locally-generated signal, wherein the correlating includes: trying a phase delay value indicative of a hypothesized phase delay of the locally-generated signal with respect to the snapshot; and obtaining a partition of the snapshot and the locally-generated signal into corresponding pluralities of blocks, and calculating partial correlation integrals for each block of the plurality of blocks. The corresponding pluralities of blocks each include a first block having a time duration related to the phase delay value.
US08179292B2
A data modulation apparatus includes: insertion means for inserting information bits into data at a predetermined interval; conversion means for converting the data into which the information bits are inserted into an RLL code based on a modulation table that has a variable-length conversion rule; setting means for setting a control section that is used for calculating a value of the information bit; and determination means for determining the value of the information bit inserted into the control section that is different from a calculation target by calculating the code of the control section.
US08179290B2
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a key operation unit including a first region in which a first key group is arranged and a second region in which a second key group is arranged, a switch, and a key operation control unit which outputs, when a given key of the first key group is pressed together with an operation of the switch, a key code assigned to a key located at a position in the second region which corresponds to a position of the given key in the first region, and outputs, when an arbitrary key of the second key group is pressed, a key code assigned to a key located at a position in the first region which corresponds to a position of the arbitrary key in the second region.
US08179287B2
A route information supply system comprises a reception module which receives information on a current position and a destination from a terminal device by communication, a map data storage module storing at least detailed map data and summary map data, a traffic information storage module which stores traffic information, a route search module which searches for a guidance route based on the current position and the destination, a map information generation module which generates map information on an area containing the searched route by use of the map data storage module, and an output module which outputs the generated map information to the terminal device. When an event satisfying a prescribed condition regarding the traffic information exists in the area, the map information generation module generates map information on an area in the vicinity of a point where the event has occurred by use of the detailed map data.
US08179285B2
A theft deterrent apparatus in a marine vessel having a propulsion device includes a key unit arranged to transmit a user authentication code, a first authentication unit disposed apart from the propulsion device, a second authentication unit, and an operation control unit disposed in the propulsion device. The first authentication unit is arranged to receive the user authentication code transmitted by the key unit, execute an authentication process on the user authentication code, and generate a unit authentication code. The second authentication unit is arranged to receive the unit authentication code generated by the first authentication unit and execute an authentication process on the unit authentication code. The operation control unit is arranged to allow operation of the propulsion device if authentication by the second authentication unit does succeed, and prohibit operation of the propulsion device if the authentication by the second authentication unit does not succeed.
US08179282B1
A method, system and computer program product are provided for automating the task of data collection and reduction for highway vehicle detector testing. To evaluate the performance of each detector under test, a set of detection data is accumulated concurrently from each of the detectors. This data consists, at a minimum, of the time of arrival of each vehicle as reported by each detector and a digitized video image of the vehicle at the position-compensated time of detection. The data reduction process allows for applying weighting coefficients to each detection result in the formation of a consensus. These coefficients may be either fixed or adaptively adjusted based upon the learned accuracy of each detector under test. A ground truth reference data set is then generated using the weighted consensus determined from the data generated by all detectors under test. The accuracy of each detector under test is then ascertained by comparison with the ground truth data set, and these comparison results are automatically reported as indications of the accuracy of each detector under test.
US08179274B2
A vehicle system for communicating with a child seat is provided with a receiver configured for receiving a seat sensor signal from a child seat controller. A controller is configured for communicating with the receiver for analyzing the seat sensor signal and comparing the seat sensor signal to pre-existing guidelines to determine a status message. A user interface is configured for communicating with the controller for displaying the status message. The child seat is provided with a plurality of seat sensors for measuring different adjustable features of the seat including; a harness sensor for measuring a tension within a harness; a buckle switch for measuring a connection of a buckle; and a level sensor for measuring an inclination of a seat sub-assembly. The seat controller is provided for receiving measurement signals from the seat sensors and transmitting the seat sensor signal.
US08179272B2
A device and system for monitoring a fluid level within a tank and for indicating when the fluid level within the tank has dropped below a predetermined minimum level. The device includes a strobe light, which is switched on when a sensor determines that the fluid level within the tank has dropped below a predetermined level. The flashing strobe light can be viewed during the day and at night from any viewing angle, and can thereby alert an observer that the tank needs to be filled before the tank becomes empty.
US08179257B2
To warn of hazardous conditions in a monitored space, the presence of an object bearing an RFID tag is detected using an RFID tag reader. Objects may be, for example, human beings, vehicles, or stationary materiel. A determination is made as to whether the object poses a hazard by, for example, reading data from the RFID tag or by accessing a database using data read from the RFID tag. If the object is determined to pose a hazard, the nature of the hazard is determined from the RFID tag or the database, and warning about the nature of the hazard is provided proximate to the monitored space. In some embodiments, providing the warning may be conditional upon detecting the concurrent presence of two objects in the monitored space.
US08179256B2
A security system including one or more sensors for detecting a predetermined security event. One or more communications modules include a transmitting device for communicating with the sensor and transmitting an alert signal of the security event. A remotely located computer system controls the communications between the transmitting device of the communication module for receiving a signal from and transmitting to the communications module. After receiving the alert signal, the computer system communicates an alarm signal.
US08179255B1
The personal security purse comprises a handbag, suitcase, backpack, purse, or luggage that has a security device integrated into the design. The security device comprises a panic button located on the purse, a video recording means, an audio recording means, a speaker. The security device can be remotely operated via a remote control. The security device may also include a plurality of alarm sensors as well as a GPS unit for location based services.
US08179245B2
A plug-in vehicle includes a vehicle body having an outer panel, a propulsion unit such as an electric motor, a rechargeable battery, a recharging port supported on the outer panel to receive power from an external electric power source, and a display subassembly connected to the battery. The display subassembly has a plurality of lights positioned around the recharging port to illuminate the recharging port and to illuminate in a manner corresponding to a condition of the battery.
US08179242B2
A method for diagnosis of oil quality within an internal combustion engine includes analyzing input data from an oil level sensor and generating a warning if the input data includes an oil level change indicative of a sub-standard oil quality condition.
US08179235B2
A tactile input to a system having a speaker located in an enclosure with an audio port can be detected by generating a sound wave in response to a signal and sensing the phase relationship between the current phase and the voltage phase of the signal. While the audio port is open a baseline current and voltage phase difference is established. When the audio port is obstructed by a finger touch, the current and voltage phase difference is altered in response to the obstruction. While the altered phase difference is detected, a tactile event is indicated.
US08179233B2
A participatory athletic event timing system based on backscattering modulation in the UHF band and including wirelessly encoding writable data tags with participant's bib numbers or a calculated derivative thereof for timing participants in a participative athletic event, and attaching the data tags to the participant's bibs for distribution of the bibs and data tags to participants so as to eliminate the need for matching data tags with bibs and maintaining the sequenced order of the matched data tags and bibs. In a preferred embodiment, when participants register for the event, they are assigned an ID number and a bib printed with that number and having attached to the bib one or more data tag encoded in the tags memory the ID number or a calculated derivative thereof. Before the start of the event, the athlete pulls the data tag from the bib and attaches it to their shoe. Antennas suitably designed and adapted for use with the data tags in participative athletic events are used to communicate with the data tags.
US08179230B2
A vehicle unlocking sequence includes passively authenticating a vehicle user, granting the authenticated vehicle user access to the vehicle and setting the vehicle main switch into an on-state. A vehicle locking sequence includes passively authenticating the vehicle user, configuring the vehicle, upon a first action from the authenticated vehicle user, into a first locking mode whereby access to the vehicle is denied to a non authenticated user, or configuring the vehicle, upon a second action from the authenticated vehicle user, into a second locking mode whereby access to the vehicle is denied to a non authenticated user and the vehicle main switch is set into an off-state.
US08179222B2
A transformer with a conductive plate winding structure includes a hollow core pillar, a partition, a conductive plate winding structure, and an insulating layer. The partition is fixed at the hollow core pillar for partitioning the hollow core pillar into two winding areas. The conductive plate winding structure is sheathed to the hollow core pillar and disposed at one of the two winding areas, and comprised of a plurality of conductive plates, and each conductive plate includes a ring having an opening and two conductive terminals extended out from the opening of the ring. The insulating layer is clamped between any two adjacent conductive plates, such that the conductive plates are stacked to from a winding for increasing the rated normal current and enhancing the assembling convenience.
US08179220B2
A system and method of generating a magnetic field that is uniform in magnitude and direction may generally restrict the field from expanding away from a longitudinal axis. In some instances, such a magnetic field may be controllable in magnitude and direction. In accordance with some embodiments, a generated magnetic field may be selectively confined to a predetermined three-dimensional space.
US08179217B2
A polar electromagnet device has a drive shaft comprising an axis center supported so as to reciprocate in an axis center direction at a center hole of a spool wound with a coil, and a movable iron core attached to a lower end of the drive shaft on the axis center. The drive shaft is reciprocated with the movable iron core which reciprocates based on excitation and demagnetization of the coil. A permanent magnet is integrally arranged at the movable iron core on the same axis center.
US08179213B2
Provided is an electromagnetic wave transmission medium which is suited for mass production and does not affect a transmission mode. The electromagnetic wave transmission medium includes, as a main element, a flexible cylindrical tube (1) molded so that a cross-sectional shape of the cylindrical tube in a direction orthogonal to a tube axis is uniform in a direction of the tube axis. The cylindrical tube (1) includes an inner wall formed of a conductive layer having a thickness equal to or more than a skin depth. The cross-sectional shape is a circular ridge waveguide shape having a ridge (1b) which is oriented to a cylindrical axis and is symmetric with respect to a center, and the ridge (1b) has a structure to be fed with electricity.
US08179192B2
A signal processor comprises a reference voltage circuit (RVC) for imposing a reference voltage (VR) onto a capacitance (Cr). The reference voltage circuit (RVC) comprises a negative slope module (NSM) for providing a negative slope signal (SN), which has a magnitude that decreases when a voltage that is present on the capacitance (Cr) increases. A positive slope module (PSM) provides a positive slope signal (SP), which has a magnitude that increases when the voltage that is present on the capacitance (Cr) increases. A minimum selection module (MSM) controls a maximum current (IMX) that the reference voltage circuit (RVC) can apply to the capacitance (Cr) substantially in dependence on the negative slope signal (SN), if the magnitude of the negative slope signal (SN) is smaller than that of the positive slope signal (SP). The minimum selection module (MSM) controls the maximum current substantially in dependence on the positive slope signal (SP), if the magnitude of the positive slope signal (SP) is smaller than that of the negative slope signal (SN).
US08179191B2
A conventional circuit requires a booster circuit for generating a voltage higher than an external power supply voltage, thus low power consumption is difficult to be achieved. In addition, a display device incorporating the aforementioned conventional switching element for booster circuit has problems in that the current load is increased and the power supply becomes unstable with a higher output current. The invention provides a booster circuit including a first transistor, a second transistor, a first capacitor element, a second capacitor element, a diode, and an inverter, wherein one electrode of the first transistor is maintained at a predetermined potential, the output of the inverter is connected to the gate electrode of the first transistor and one electrode of the second transistor through the second capacitor element, the input of the inverter is connected to the other electrode of the first transistor through the first capacitor element and connected to the gate electrode of the second transistor, and the diode is connected between the other electrode of the first transistor and the other electrode of the second transistor so as to be forwardly biased.
US08179179B2
A semiconductor device includes a reset signal generator configured to change the number of activated signals among a plurality of reset signals according to a frequency of an external clock, a plurality of mixing control signal generators configured to generate a plurality of first and second mixing control signals, and a clock mixer configured to generate a mixing clock by mixing a first driving clock and a second driving clock, wherein the first driving clock is generated by driving a positive clock of the external clock according to the plurality of first mixing control signals, and the second driving clock is generated by driving a negative clock of the external clock according to the plurality of second mixing control signals.
US08179174B2
The current invention provides a second feedback loop around the existing FLL, which forces the signal on the route of N-divider (NDIV), PFD, CP, and LPF to essentially reach their desired lock conditions before the FLL is switched off and the system enters PLL mode. This loop works by comparing the output voltage of the FLL DAC to the LPF output voltage, and then using this value to modulate the divider's dividing value. After the secondary feedback loop settles, output voltage from the LPF will be equal to the value that can drive the VCO to the desired lock frequency, and the phase error at the input side of the PFD produces a zero-average current to the charge pump. When this condition is set, the loop is essentially already in phase lock and the lock transient from the FLL mode to the PLL mode will be minimal.
US08179171B1
Power up circuit. An example power up circuit includes a switch for charging a power node of an electronic device. A level detector is used for monitoring charge level of the power node. Further, the power up circuit includes one or more power switches for providing current to the electronic device based on the charge level.
US08179170B2
A semiconductor device with less power consumption and an electronic appliance using the same. The semiconductor device of the invention is supplied with a first potential from a high potential power source and a second potential from a low potential power source. Upon input of a first signal to an input node, an output node outputs a second signal. With the semiconductor device of the invention, a potential difference of the second signal can be controlled to be smaller than a potential difference between the first potential and the second potential, thereby power consumption required for charging/discharging wires can be reduced.
US08179165B2
A sampling circuit including a number of state elements or flip-flops. The state elements or flip-flops are each clocked by a signal that causes them to sample their inputs at a predetermined time. In sampling a plurality of digital inputs, a captured delay chain value is stored by the sampling circuit. Each flip-flop holds one bit and together the total number of bits represent this captured delay chain value. Each flip-flop is provided with a data and a data complement signal as an input, the data and data complement signal being substantially simultaneous. In operation each flip-flop includes a direct connection of the data and data complement signals to a pair of transistors that further operate to capture the logical value carried by the input.
US08179159B1
A method of configuring a stacked integrated circuit (“IC”) having a first IC die with configurable logic and a second IC die electrically coupled to the first IC die through an array of inter-chip contacts includes: providing a frame having frame data and a frame address in a frame header to the first IC die; storing the frame data in a frame data register of the first IC die; processing the frame header to determine whether a frame destination is in the first IC die or the second IC die; in response to determining that the frame destination is in the second IC die, providing the frame address to the second IC die through an inter-chip frame address bus including a first plurality of the array of inter-chip contacts; and writing the frame data from the frame data register of the first IC die to the frame destination through an inter-chip frame data bus including a second plurality of the array of inter-chip contacts.
US08179156B2
In one embodiment, a closed loop control system is caused to operate in an open loop configuration. At some time while operating in the open loop configuration the system detected the presence or absence of a.c. signals in an output signal of the system in order to detect the presence or absence of a failure of a control loop element, such as an output capacitor.
US08179153B2
A probing apparatus includes a set of conductors configured to contact a surface of a workpiece simultaneously. A processor activates subsets of the conductors to determine a four-point-probe parameter, wherein the subset is less than the set of conductors. Another subset determines another four-point-probe parameter. The set of conductors remain in contact with the surface of the workpiece during and between activating each subset. A process of forming a probe head includes a probe substrate and associated conductive leads. An insulating layer is formed over the probe substrate and patterned to expose the leads. Conductors, connected to the leads, are formed over the insulating layer and define a probing area of a least 250 cm2.A process of forming an electronic device includes contacting a surface of a workpiece using conductors. Subset of the conductors are activated to determine four-point-probe parameters at different areas of the workpiece.
US08179149B1
A system and method can use a transmission line to remotely detect border violations. For example, the transmission line can be configured to use time domain reflectometry to determine when a person and/or object crosses a border. The border can be the border of a country or the perimeter of a facility such as an airport, for example.
US08179139B2
The rechargeable battery abnormality detection apparatus is provided with an internal short circuit detection section (20b) that monitors rechargeable battery (1) voltage change when no charging or discharging takes place, and detects internal short circuit abnormality when battery voltage drop during a predetermined time period exceeds a preset threshold voltage; a degradation appraisal section (20d) that judges the degree of rechargeable battery degradation; and a threshold control section (20c) that incrementally increases the threshold voltage according to the degree of degradation determined by the degradation appraisal section (20d).
US08179138B2
A cathode ray tube (CRT) test system for testing a CRT device is disclosed. The CRT test system comprises a connecting device, a power module, a control module, a first test module, and an illumination module. The connecting device detachably and electrically connects with the CRT device; the power module electrically connects with the connecting device; the control module electrically connects with the connecting device; and the control module comprises test program. After the CRT device receives a control signal transmitted from the test program, the CRT device generates a response signal and transmits the response signal to the first test module. When the first test module detects that the control signal and the response signal fit in with a first test signal status, the illumination module displays a first light sign; when the control signal and the response signal do not fit in with the first test signal status, the illumination module displays a second light sign.
US08179132B2
A method for integrating a measurement device for use in measuring a machine component includes providing a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and combining eddy current (EC) capabilities and CMM capabilities to form an inspection probe. The method further includes installing the inspection probe on the CMM so that the inspection probe measures external boundaries of the machine component with the CMM capabilities and substantially simultaneously measures at least one of internal boundaries, internal defects, surface defects, and material properties of the machine component with the EC capabilities, which are directly linked to actual component dimensional information provided by CMM. The inspection data can be simultaneously linked to and/or displayed with a CAD model to enable a direct comparison between the inspection data and the nominal requirements specified on the CAD model.
US08179128B2
A wheel suspension for a vehicle which includes a wheel (8) and at least one suspension arm (2) that connects the wheel (8) to the body (7) of the vehicle. The arm (2) is pivotally mounted to the body (7) by an inner part (9) of a bearing (3) such that the arm (2) pivots about an axis (6). An angle measuring device senses rotation of the arm (2) about the pivot axis (6) relative to the body (7) and includes a signal generator (25) and a sensor (18). One of the signal generator (25) and the sensor (18) is attached to an outside of the arm (2) while the other is rigidly attached, via a bracket (15), to the body (7) at a distance from the suspension arm (2).
US08179125B2
A magnetic passive position sensor including a base plate and a cover which form a housing, a magnet that can be moved outside the housing, a resistance network that has several individual electric contacts, and a plurality of contact spring elements that are arranged within the range of motion of the magnet, are interconnected by a common base, and consist of a bending zone and a contact zone. The contact spring elements face the contacts of the resistance network in such a way that the contact zones can be moved from the magnets against the contacts of the resistance network, the contact zones of at least two contact spring elements being assigned to each individual contact of the resistance network. Two adjoining contact spring elements are mechanically interconnected.
US08179115B2
A bandgap circuit is provided, which includes a current source, a voltage boost circuit, a voltage input circuit, a voltage equalizer circuit, and a voltage output circuit. The current source provides a first current, a second current, and a third current, which are equal to one another. The voltage boost circuit provides a boost voltage by a single current path. The voltage input circuit receives the first and the second currents, and provides a first input voltage and a second input voltage based on the boost voltage. The voltage equalizer circuit receives the first and the second input voltages and equalize the two input voltages. The voltage output circuit provides a bandgap reference voltage according to the third current.
US08179110B2
A converter system and method of operating a converter system are disclosed. The converter system comprises a converter power stage that can operate in a Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) in a range of output currents and a Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) in another range of output currents. The converter power stage includes at least an inductor with an inductor value and a control switch. The converter power stage provides an average current. A current controller is coupled to the converter power stage. When the converter power stage operates in DCM, the converter power stage provides the average current and the current controller is configured to measure the inductor value of the inductor. Furthermore, the current controller can also be configured to measure an input-to-output conversion ratio from the converter power stage.
US08179096B2
In one embodiment, a circuit is formed to couple a battery to a charging voltage at least a portion of a time when the charging voltage is greater than zero volts and is less than a first voltage value. The circuit is also formed to decouple the battery from the charging voltage approximately when the charging voltage is greater than the first voltage and also approximately when the charging voltage is no greater than zero volts.
US08179095B1
The present disclosure provides methods and systems for estimating the remaining use time of a battery of a mobile device. In some implementations, the method includes providing a use profile programmed in a memory of the mobile device, and monitoring a rate of change of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery. The rate of change of the SOC and the use profile are processed to affect a comparison therebetween, and the remaining use time is estimated based on the comparison.
US08179094B2
Embodiments of the invention include a device and method for improved battery learn cycles for battery backup units within data storage devices. The backup unit includes a first battery pack, a corresponding charge capacity gauge, one or more second battery packs, a corresponding charge capacity gauge, and a controller switch configured to select only one battery pack for a learn cycle at any given time. The charge capacity gauges are such that, at the end of the learn cycle discharge phase, the depth of discharge of the learn cycle battery pack is such that the charge capacity of the learn cycle battery pack combined with the full charge capacity of the remaining battery packs is sufficient for the device cached data to be off-loaded to a physical data storage device, and the data storage device does not have to switch from a write-back cache mode to a write-through cache mode.
US08179093B2
A handheld electronic device that includes a first battery and a holster that includes a second battery and a charging apparatus. When the handheld electronic device and the holster are electrically connected together, the charging apparatus charges the first battery on the handheld electronic device from the second battery on the holster when the first battery charge has been depleted to a given level and the second battery charge is above a second given level. Alternatively, if the first battery charge is above a third given level the first battery charges the second battery if the second battery is not fully charged. The holster further includes a microcontroller that communicates with a microprocessor on the handheld electronic device to identify alerts and activate a notification device powered by the second battery on the holster.
US08179088B2
A noncontact transmission device 100 is provided with a driver 106 for driving a coil 102; a system clock oscillator 110 for outputting a system clock; a monitoring clock oscillator 112 for outputting a monitoring clock LF0 having a frequency lower than that of the system clock CK0; and a control circuit 108. The control circuit 108 outputs a system clock oscillating control signal S60 based on the monitoring clock LF0 while being in a standby state and makes the system clock oscillator 110 intermittently output a system clock CK0 in synchronization with the control signal S60. In a period when the system clock CK0 is being outputted, the coil 102 is driven by a driver control signal SD and whether the device 200 to which data is to be transmitted is arranged or not is detected.
US08179080B2
A reciprocating actuator includes at least one element moving reciprocally relative to a rack, a device for driving the moving element in a driving direction, an element for returning the moving element in an opposite direction, at least one sensor for detecting the position of the moving element, and a servocontrol adapted to deliver, for each displacement cycle of the moving element in the driving direction, at least one correction signal (S5) representative of the difference between the energy imparted on the moving element during at least one preceding cycle, and the nominal energy to be imparted on this moving element to displace it exactly to its extreme set-point position, and to adjust on each cycle the control signal of the driving device according to the correction signal (S5).
US08179075B2
A motor driving integrated circuit comprising: a speed control circuit configured to control a rotation speed of a motor according to a speed control signal; a detecting circuit configured to detect whether the speed control signal indicates stop of rotation of the motor; and a shut-off circuit configured to shut off power supply to a circuit included in the motor driving integrated circuit when the detecting circuit detects that the speed control signal indicates stop of rotation of the motor.
US08179067B2
An electric energy exchange system between at least one motor-generator system and at least one storage member determining a continuous storage voltage between two branches of a bus circuit on which are connected in parallel a DC/DC converter, a filtering capacity, and a DC/AC converter connected on at least one motor-generator system. The system includes at least one thyristor connected as a bypass on the positive bus between the storage member and the output of the converter-voltage raiser to short-cut the converter, and a thyristor priming device to, based on the required voltage at the filtering capacity, determine at least in discharge the shorting of the converter-voltage raiser with direct passage of the current through the thyristor as long as the voltage of the filtering capacity, which is substantially equal to the storage member voltage, is sufficient for the electric machines to provide requested torque. The system can particularly be applied to a power-bypass hybrid vehicle, for continuous variation of transmission ratio.
US08179056B2
Remote lighting control methods, devices and systems are disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention pertains to a light device. The light device includes a light source for emitting light and a control circuit for setting an intensity level of the light source based on receipt of control data via a power line when the light device is electrically coupled to the power line. The control data is generated in response to user input to an input panel of a remote lighting control module for the light device. In addition, the light device comprises a unique address associated with a region on the input panel.
US08179051B2
A power management technique in a light emitting diode (LED) system is disclosed. The LED system includes a plurality of LED driver connected in series, each LED driver configured to regulate the current flowing through a corresponding subset of a plurality of LED strings. Each LED driver determines the minimum tail voltage of the LED strings of the corresponding subset, compares the determined minimum tail voltage with an indicator of a minimum tail voltage of one or more other subsets provided from an upstream LED driver in the series, and then provides an indicator of the lower of the two tail voltages to the downstream LED driver. In this manner an indicator of the minimum tail voltage of the plurality of LED strings is cascaded through the series. A feedback controller monitors the minimum tail voltage represented by the cascaded indicator and accordingly adjusts an output voltage provided to the head ends of the plurality of LED strings.
US08179048B2
Disclosed herein is a class of mm and sub mm wavelength amplifiers and oscillators operating with miniature helical slow wave circuits manufactured using micro fabrication technology. The helices are supported by diamond dielectric support rods. Diamond is the best possible thermal conductor, and it can be bonded to the helix. The electron beam is transmitted, not through the center of the helix, but around the outside. In some configurations the RF power produced may be radiated directly from the slow wave circuit. The method of fabrication, which is applicable above 60 GHz, is compatible with mass production.
US08179041B2
A plasma display panel (PDP) includes a first plate, and a second plate disposed to face the first plate via a discharge space and providing barrier ribs. A plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes extending in a first direction, and a dielectric layer covering the first electrodes and the second electrodes are provided on the first plate. A plurality of address electrodes extending in a second direction, and a protective layer covering the dielectric layer and the address electrodes and exposing at least a part of the protective layer to the discharge space are provided on the dielectric layer. The address electrodes are made up by including a conductive layer formed by either one of aluminum and an alloy containing aluminum and copper and by not including a layer of a simple substance of copper.
US08179038B2
Provided is a display apparatus which can easily bond a drive panel and a sealing panel together. The drive panel includes organic electroluminescence devices on a substrate for drive and extracts light from the side of the organic electroluminescence devices. The sealing panel includes a color filter on a substrate for sealing. The drive panel and the sealing panel are disposed to face each other, and the whole facing surfaces of the drive panel and the sealing panel are bonded together with an adhesive layer. The adhesive layer is cured with at least heat, and is made of only one coating liquid or a combination of two or more coating liquids for curing. A temporary fixing portion is formed in an edge portion of the adhesive layer. The temporary fixing portion is made of, for example, an ultraviolet cure resin, and is formed so as to straddle between the sealing panel and the drive panel to align their relative positions.
US08179037B2
A high power LED module assembly may include at least one high power LED module each of which includes a MCPCB and a high power LED disposed on the MCPCB, a flex tube which includes a base engaging with each of the high power LED modules and a cover enclosing the base; wherein the high power LED module assembly further comprises at least one heat sink each of which is correspondingly connected to the bottom of each high power LED modules; and wherein the cover is engaged with the heat sink and encloses the base, the high power LED module and all other sides of the heat sink than the bottom side thereof which is exposed to ambient environment.
US08179031B2
A surface light source includes a plate type light source body having a sealed discharging space formed therein, a plate type electrode unit having a plurality of regions adjacent to at least one major surface of the light source body, and a multiple voltage applying unit operable to apply voltages independently to each of the plurality of regions. In this way, brightness of the surface light source can be controlled independently in each of the plurality of regions and a local dimming for a surface light source can be realized.
US08179026B2
Disclosed herein is a device comprising a pair of electrodes; and a nanotube, a nanorod and/or a nanowire; the nanotube, nanorod and/or nanowire comprising a piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition; the pair of electrodes being in electrical communication with opposing surfaces of the nanotube, nanorod and/or a nanowire; the pair of electrodes being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the nanotube, nanorod and/or a nanowire.
US08179022B2
A piezoelectric device, having a piezoelectric vibrating piece and a circuit element being electrically connected, is provided with a package for storing inside at least the piezoelectric vibrating piece of the piezoelectric device. The package is made up of a substrate and a cover body, and on the outer surface of the package, an electrode terminal electrically connected to at least the circuit element or the piezoelectric vibrating piece is provided. The electrode terminal includes an external connecting terminal which is electrically connected with an external circuit board and an input-output terminal which is electrically non-connected with the external circuit board, at the time of mounting the package on the external circuit board. The surface of the external connecting terminal and that of the input-output terminal are formed of materials different from each other so that adhesive characteristics to a mounting material such as a solder are varied.
US08179021B2
Provided are: a piezoelectric oscillation piece which has a pair of oscillation arms disposed in parallel with each other with base ends of the oscillation arms fixed to a base of the piezoelectric oscillation piece and with weight metal films formed at the tips of the oscillation arms; a base substrate on the upper surface of which the piezoelectric oscillation piece is mounted; a lid substrate joined with the base substrate such that the mounted piezoelectric oscillation piece can be accommodated in a cavity; and a control film disposed in the vicinity of the pair of the oscillation arms as viewed in the plan view and formed at least on either of the substrates in such a manner as to extend from the base end side to the tip side in the longitudinal direction of the oscillation arms for increasing the degree of vacuum inside the cavity by heating. The control film is locally deposited on the side surfaces of the oscillation arms in the vicinity of the control film by heating.
US08179018B2
An active material actuator adapted for use in a circuit includes an active material member, and a piezoelectric or piezoresistive element or otherwise force sensing device, wherein the element or device is communicatively coupled to the member and operable to vary the current within the circuit when the member is caused to achieve a predetermined stress, such that, in one aspect, the element presents an overload protection mechanism.
US08179016B2
A motor includes a rotating shaft, a rotor fixed to the rotating shaft and first and second stators facing each other on opposite axial sides of the rotor with a gap in between. Each of the first and second stators includes a back yoke, teeth circumferentially arranged on a gap side of a respective one of the back yokes and coils wound around the teeth. The back yoke of the first stator has a portion facing an end face of the rotating shaft, and the back yoke of the second stator has a shaft hole through which the rotating shaft passes. The thickness Ty1 of the back yoke of the first stator is set smaller than the thickness Ty12 of the back yoke of the second stator.
US08179015B2
An interfitting groove is disposed in a bottom portion of a trough portion so as to have a groove direction that is axial and so as to extend axially outward from axially inside, and a rotation arresting portion housing recess portion is recessed into an axially inner opening edge portion of the interfitting groove on a first yoke portion. A magnet holding seat that holds a permanent magnet is disposed in the trough portion by an interfitting portion being fitted into the interfitting groove such that radial movement is restricted. A rotation arresting portion that is disposed so as to project axially outward from a flange portion of the bobbin is housed inside a space that is constituted by the rotation arresting portion housing recess portion and an external shape reduced portion that extends axially inward from the interfitting groove such that rotation of the bobbin around the shaft is restricted.
US08179007B2
A gimbal arrangement comprises a socket (6) having a partially spherical inner surface with a first radius; a ball (2) located within the socket and having a partially spherical outer surface with a second radius smaller than the first radius; a first array of electromagnets (5) mounted at the outer surface of the ball; a second array of electromagnets (7) mounted at the inner surface of the socket (6); and means for supplying power selectively to different ones of the electromagnets of the two arrays to support the ball within the socket in a position where the partially spherical surfaces of the ball and socket are substantially concentric about a common center and to control the orientation of the ball relative to the socket.
US08178995B2
A power supply system that includes: a power supply coil and a power supply-side resonance coil that are provided at a facility; a power receiving coil and a power receiving-side resonance coil that are provided for a mobile unit; a power supply-side detection unit that detects a position of the power supply-side resonance coil; a power receiving-side detection unit that detects a position of the power receiving-side resonance coil; and an adjustment unit that adjusts a relative position of the power supply coil with respect to the power supply-side resonance coil and a relative position of the power receiving coil with respect to the power receiving-side resonance coil on the basis of the position of the power supply-side resonance coil and the position of the power receiving-side resonance coil.
US08178993B1
The wind turbine 20 includes a wind driven turbine wheel 22 rotatable about a central axis 29 that has sail wings 30 that catch the wind and rotate the turbine wheel 22. An anchor 58 has its anchor line 56 attached to the turbine wheel at its axis of rotation 29 to prevent tilting the wind turbine in response to high wind conditions.
US08178990B2
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for the efficiency with which fluid energy is converted into another form of energy, such as electrical energy, where an array of fluid energy conversion modules is contained in a scalable modular networked superstructure. In certain preferred embodiments, a plurality of turbines, such as for instance wind turbines, may be disposed in an array, where the plurality of arrays may be disposed in a suitable arrangement in proximity to each other and provided with geometry suitable for tight packing in an array with other parameters optimized to extract energy from the fluid flow. In addition, the turbines may be a more effective adaptation of a turbine, or an array of turbines, to varying conditions, including fluid conditions that may differ among different turbines in an array, or among different turbines in a set of arrays.
US08178987B2
A wind turbine includes a rotary shaft having an axis of rotation, a plurality of turbine blades supported for rotary motion by the shaft, and a plurality of magnets supported by and spaced outwardly from the rotary shaft. The blades are mounted to the shaft by a mount that is radially inward of the magnets wherein the magnets have an annular velocity of at least the annular velocity of the blades. The turbine also includes a conductive coil, which is located outwardly from the magnets and the blades, wherein the coil surrounds the magnets and the blades and which is sufficiently close to the magnets such that rotary movement of the magnets induces current flow in the coil.
US08178985B2
An engine generator having a high-rigidity rigid skeletal member. A bottom cover supports the engine/generator unit. A wall-shaped vertical frame is disposed transversely of the engine generator in a front section of the bottom cover and rising from the bottom cover front section. A T-shaped center frame extends between a rear section of the bottom cover and the vertical frame. The skeletal member includes the bottom cover, the vertical frame and the center frame.
US08178982B2
A dual molded multi-chip package system is provided including forming an embedded integrated circuit package system having a first encapsulation partially covering a first integrated circuit die and a lead connected thereto, mounting a semiconductor device over the first encapsulation and connected to the lead, and forming a second encapsulation over the semiconductor device and the embedded integrated circuit package system.
US08178975B2
The semiconductor package includes: a semiconductor chip module having multiple adjacently arranged or integrally formed semiconductor chips each with a bonding pad group and a connection member electrically connecting each of the bonding pads included in the first bonding pad group to the corresponding bonding pad in the second bonding pad group. In the present invention pad parts can be formed on the outside of the semiconductor chip module to conform with the standards of JEDEC. These pad parts are then connected to the semiconductor chips bonding pads through re-distribution layers. The pad parts of the semiconductor package can then conform to the JEDEC standards even while having a semiconductor chip with bonding pads smaller than the standards.
US08178955B2
A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor element; a die pad with the semiconductor element mounted thereon; a plurality of electrode terminals each having a connecting portion electrically connected with the semiconductor element; and a sealing resin for sealing the semiconductor element, the die pad and the electrode terminals so that a surface of each electrode terminal on an opposite side from a surface having the connecting portion is exposed as an external terminal surface. A recess having a planar shape of a circle is formed on the surface of each electrode terminal with the connecting portion, and the recess is arranged between an end portion of the electrode terminal exposed from an outer edge side face of the sealing resin and the connecting portion. While a function of the configuration for suppressing the peeling between the electrode terminal and the sealing resin can be maintained by mitigating an external force applied to the electrode terminal, the semiconductor device can be downsized.
US08178952B2
The present invention discloses a method including: providing a Group III-V component semiconductor material; forming a first layer over a surface of the Group III-V component semiconductor material, the first layer to unpin a Fermi level at the surface; forming a second layer over the first layer, the second layer for scaling an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT); and annealing the first layer before or after forming the second layer to remove bulk trap defects in the first layer.
US08178946B1
A heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) having an emitter, a base, and a collector, the base including a first semiconductor layer coupled to the collector, the first semiconductor layer having a first bandgap between a first conduction band and a first valence band and a second semiconductor layer coupled to the first semiconductor layer and having a second bandgap between a second conduction band and a second valence band, wherein the second valence band is higher than the first valence band and wherein the second semiconductor layer comprises a two dimensional hole gas and a third semiconductor layer coupled to the second semiconductor layer and having a third bandgap between a third conduction band and a third valence band, wherein the third valence band is lower than the second valence band and wherein the third semiconductor layer is coupled to the emitter.
US08178944B2
According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for forming a one-time programmable metal fuse structure includes forming a metal fuse structure over a substrate, the metal fuse structure including a gate metal segment situated between a dielectric segment and a polysilicon segment, a gate metal fuse being formed in a portion of the gate metal segment. The method further includes doping the polysilicon segment so as to form first and second doped polysilicon portions separated by an undoped polysilicon portion where, in one embodiment, the gate metal fuse is substantially co-extensive with the undoped polysilicon portion. The method can further include forming a first silicide segment on the first doped polysilicon portion and a second silicide segment on the second doped polysilicon portion, where the first and second silicide segments form respective terminals of the one-time programmable metal fuse structure.
US08178943B2
An electrical fuse including a polysilicon layer; a silicide layer formed over the polysilicon layer; and a first metal contact and a second metal contact arranged over the silicide layer, while being spaced from each other, the electrical fuse being configured so that the silicide layer, after disconnection, is excluded from a region right under the second metal contact, and from a region between the second metal contact and the first metal contact is provided.
US08178939B2
A semiconductor structure may include a semiconductor bulk region with a gate stack on the semiconductor bulk region. The source region and the drain region in the semiconductor bulk region may be located on opposing sides of a channel region below the gate stack. An interfacial layer coupled to the channel region may modify a workfunction of a metal-semiconductor contact. In a MOSFET, the metal-semiconductor contact may be between a metal contact and the source region and the drain region. In a Schottky barrier-MOSFET, the metal-semiconductor contact may be between a silicide region in the source region and/or the drain region and the channel region. The interfacial layer may use a dielectric-dipole mitigated scheme and may include a conducting layer and a dielectric layer. The dielectric layer may include lanthanum oxide or aluminum oxide used to tune the workfunction of the metal-semiconductor contact.
US08178938B2
A vertically-integrated active pixel sensor includes a sensor wafer connected to a support circuit wafer. Inter-wafer connectors or connector wires transfer signals between the sensor wafer and the support circuit wafer. The active pixel sensor can be fabricated by attaching the sensor wafer to a handle wafer using a removable interface layer. Once the sensor wafer is attached to the handle wafer, the sensor wafer is backside thinned to a given thickness. The support circuit wafer is then attached to the sensor wafer and the handle wafer separated from the sensor wafer.
US08178935B2
The present invention proposes a MEMS chip and a package method thereof. The package method comprises: making a capping wafer by: providing a first substrate and forming an etch stop layer on the first substrate; making a device wafer by: providing a second substrate and forming a MEMS device and a material layer surrounding the MEMS device on the second substrate; bonding the capping wafer and the device wafer; after bonding, etching the first substrate to form at least one via; etching the etch stop layer through the via; etch the material layer; and forming a sealing layer on the first substrate.
US08178928B2
Intermediate structures are provided that are formed during the manufacture of a memory device. These structures include first and second spaced apart gate patterns on a semiconductor substrate. A source/drain region is provided in the semiconductor substrate between the first and second gate patterns. An etch stop layer is provided on first and second sidewalls of the first gate pattern. The first and second sidewalls face each other to define a gap region between the etch stop layer on the first sidewall and the etch stop layer on the second sidewall. A dielectric layer is provided in the gap region. Finally, a preliminary contact hole is provided in the dielectric layer.
US08178927B2
In an embodiment, an integrated circuit is provided. The integrated circuit may include an active area extending along a first direction corresponding to a current flow direction through the active area, a contact structure having an elongate structure. The contact structure may be electrically coupled with the active area. Furthermore, the contact structure may be arranged such that the length direction of the contact structure forms a non-zero angle with the first direction of the active area.
US08178926B2
A thin film field effect transistor including, on a substrate, at least a gate electrode, a gate insulating layer, an active layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode, wherein an electric resistance layer is provided in electric connection between the active layer and at least one of the source electrode or the drain electrode.
US08178921B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having an active region which includes a gate forming zone and an isolation region; an isolation layer formed in the isolation region of the semiconductor substrate to expose side surfaces of a portion of the active region including the gate forming zone, such that the portion of the active region including the gate forming zone constitutes a fin pattern; a silicon epitaxial layer formed on the active region including the fin pattern; and a gate formed to cover the fin pattern on which the silicon epitaxial layer is formed.
US08178918B2
There is provided a charge trap type non-volatile memory device and a method for fabricating the same, the charge trap type non-volatile memory device including: a tunnel insulation layer formed over a substrate; a charge trap layer formed over the tunnel insulation layer, the charge trap layer including a charge trap polysilicon thin layer and a charge trap nitride-based layer; a charge barrier layer formed over the charge trap layer; a gate electrode formed over the charge barrier layer; and an oxide-based spacer formed over sidewalls of the charge trap layer and provided to isolate the charge trap layer.
US08178915B1
An analog floating-gate electrode in an integrated circuit, and method of fabricating the same, in which trapped charge can be stored for long durations. The analog floating-gate electrode is formed in a polycrystalline silicon gate level, and includes n-type and p-type doped portions serving as gate electrodes of n-channel and p-channel MOS transistors, respectively; a plate of a metal-to-poly storage capacitor; and a plate of poly-to-active tunneling capacitors. Silicide-block silicon dioxide blocks the formation of silicide cladding on the electrode, while other polysilicon structures in the integrated circuit are silicide-clad. An opening at the surface of the analog floating-gate electrode, at the location at which n-type and p-type doped portions of the floating gate electrode abut, allow formation of silicide at that location, shorting the p-n junction.
US08178910B2
The semiconductor device according to the present invention includes an SJMOSFET having a plurality of base regions formed at an interval from each other and an SBD (Schottky Barrier Diode) having a Schottky junction between the plurality of base regions. The SBD is provided in parallel with a parasitic diode of the SJMOSFET.
US08178897B2
A semiconductor device includes an SCR ESD device region disposed within a semiconductor body, and a plurality of first device regions of the first conductivity type disposed on a second device region of the second conductivity type, where the second conductivity type is opposite the first conductivity type. Also included is a plurality of third device regions having a sub-region of the first conductivity type and a sub-region of the second conductivity type disposed on the second device region. The first regions and second regions are distributed such that the third regions are not directly adjacent to each other. A fourth device region of the first conductivity type adjacent to the second device region and a fifth device region of the second conductivity type disposed within the fourth device region are also included.
US08178895B2
A semiconductor light-emitting device can include a submount on which a semiconductor light-emitting element is mounted. The device can have a high light utilization efficiency with high reliability and can achieve a reduction in manufacturing cost as well as a decrease in size. The submount can have a reverse trapezoidal cross section having an upper surface that is larger than a bottom surface of the semiconductor light-emitting element. An adhesive can be used to fix the submount to the base board such that, when the submount is observed from above the semiconductor light-emitting element, the adhesive is not seen from above. In this state, the semiconductor light-emitting element can be connected to the base board via a bonding wire.
US08178891B2
Certain embodiments provide a semiconductor light emitting device including: a first metal layer; a stack film including a p-type nitride semiconductor layer, an active layer, and an n-type nitride semiconductor layer; an n-electrode; a second metal layer; and a protection film protecting an outer circumferential region of the upper face of the n-type nitride semiconductor layer, side faces of the stack film, a region of an upper face of the second metal layer other than a region in contact with the p-type nitride semiconductor layer, and a region of an upper face of the first metal layer other than a region in contact with the second metal layer. Concavities and convexities are formed in a region of the upper face of the n-type nitride semiconductor layer, the region being outside the region in which the n-electrode is provided and being outside the regions covered with the protection film.
US08178884B2
A thin film transistor, a method of manufacturing the thin film transistor, and a flat panel display device including the thin film transistor. The thin film transistor includes: a gate electrode formed on a substrate; a gate insulating film formed on the gate electrode; an activation layer formed on the gate insulating film; a passivation layer including a compound semiconductor oxide, formed on the activation layer; and source and drain electrodes that contact the activation layer.
US08178880B2
An active matrix display device having a pixel structure in which pixel electrodes, gate wirings and source wirings are suitably arranged in the pixel portions to realize a high numerical aperture without increasing the number of masks or the number of steps. The device comprises a gate electrode and a source wiring on an insulating surface, a first insulating layer on the gate electrode and on the source wiring, a semiconductor layer on the first insulating film, a second insulating layer on the semiconductor film, a gate wiring connected to the gate electrode on the second insulating layer, a connection electrode for connecting the source wiring and the semiconductor layer together, and a pixel electrode connected to the semiconductor layer.
US08178876B2
A test chip comprises at least one level having an array of regions. Each region is capable of including at least one test structure. At least some of the regions include respective test structures. The level has a plurality of driver lines that provide input signals to the test structures. The level has a plurality of receiver lines that receive output signals from the test structures. The level has a plurality of devices for controlling current flow. Each test structure is connected to at least one of the driver lines with a first one of the devices in between. Each test structure is connected to at least one of the receiver lines with a second one of the devices in between, so that each of the test structures can be individually addressed for testing using the driver lines and receiver lines.
US08178852B2
A multilayer structure for authentication that includes an energy conversion layer, at least one stability enhancement layer and at least one optical variable element is disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of creating and using the inventive multilayer structure for authentication.
US08178851B2
An in situ optical specimen holder is disclosed which may be utilized for imaging and analysis during dynamic experimentation. This holder assembly includes a set of focusing and reflection optics along with an environmental cell. Electromagnetic radiation can be used to optically excite the specimen in the presence or absence of fluid. A highly reflective mirror may be used to focus the radiation on to the specimen without the presence of any heating components within the cell. The spot size of the irradiation at the specimen surface can be varied, thus exciting only a specific region on the specimen. The window type cell provides a variable fluid path length ranging from the specimen thickness to 500 μm. The holder has the provision to continuously circulate fluids over the specimen. The pressure within the cell can be regulated by controlling the flow rate of the fluids and the speed of the pumps.
US08178845B2
A collimator and related methods are shown and described. The collimator can be a multi-divergent-beam collimator having a plurality of inverted, ordered sections of a cone-beam collimator reassembled in a substantially reversed order relative to the ordering of the cone-beam collimator.
US08178840B2
An object of the present invention is to obtain a clear absorbed current image without involving the difference in gain of amplifier between inputs, from absorbed currents detected by using a plurality of probes and to improve measurement efficiency.In the present invention, a plurality of probes are brought in contact with a specimen. While irradiating the specimen with an electron beam, currents flowing in the probes are measured. Signals from at least two probes are input to a differential amplifier. An output of the differential amplifier is amplified. On the basis of the amplified output and scanning information of the electron beam, an absorbed current image is generated. According to the invention, a clear absorbed current image can be obtained without involving the difference in gain of amplifier between inputs. Thus, measurement efficiency in a failure analysis of a semiconductor device can be improved.
US08178823B2
A wrap for a microwavable container, such as a cup with a removable lid, the wrap having a separable hinged portion to allow the lid of the container to be removed. The separable portion can then be returned to its original position, and the wrap and enclosed container heated in a microwave oven. During heating, the wrap remains relatively cool to the touch, so that the wrap and container can be removed from the oven by grasping the wrap, without contacting the hot exterior of the container.
US08178819B2
The thermal processing device includes a stage, a continuous wave electromagnetic radiation source, a series of lenses, a translation mechanism, a detection module, a three-dimensional auto-focus, and a computer system. The stage is configured to receive a substrate thereon. The continuous wave electromagnetic radiation source is disposed adjacent the stage, and is configured to emit continuous wave electromagnetic radiation along a path towards the substrate. The series of lenses is disposed between the continuous wave electromagnetic radiation source and the stage, and are configured to condense the continuous wave electromagnetic radiation into a line of continuous wave electromagnetic radiation on a surface of the substrate. The translation mechanism is configured to translate the stage and the line of continuous wave electromagnetic radiation relative to one another. The detection module is positioned within the path, and is configured to detect continuous wave electromagnetic radiation.
US08178817B2
Spot welding tongs for robotic applications in resistance welding of workpieces, in particular sheets, comprise tong arms, mounted such as to pivot on a base body. These tongs which may be adjusted and to which electrode holders for the electrodes are fixed and a winding device with a pay-out roller and a wind-in roller, for the winding in and out of a strip to protect at least one electrode. These spot welding tongs may be produced, in which access is not seriously affected and with a very simple and compact construction, whereby the pay-out roller and the wind-in roller of the winding device are arranged on the base body, or the tongs arm and at least one guide groove, for guiding the strip, is arranged in the tongs arm and/or the electrode holder.
US08178816B2
A device for resistance welding includes a welding clamp housing, a welding transformer, a welding clamp, a welding clamp drive for operating the welding clamp and a power supply using alternating supply voltage. The device may be built as small as possible and may be simple to expand. The power supply is implemented by a main converter and by drive and welding converters. The output of the main converter is connected to the inputs of the drive and welding converters. The inputs of the drive and welding converters are connected to one another. These connections are implemented by an a.c. voltage intermediate circuit.
US08178813B2
A vacuum switch tube is provided, which includes a first conductive rod and a second conductive rod disposed with a first contact and a second contact respectively. The two contacts are sealed in a vacuum tube body and disposed facing each other. A front end of the first contact is a convex hemisphere. A contact body of the second contact is an annular body matching with the front end of the first contact. The first contact includes a first conductive member and a first magnetic member. The first conductive member and the first magnetic member extend in the same direction and match with each other. The first conductive member and the first magnetic member of the first contact are yin-yang-fish matched in shape, the cross section shape of the first magnetic members is divided by a neutrality line into two unequal regions. The second contact includes a second conductive member and a second magnetic member for forming the contact body of the second contact. The first magnetic member of the first contact and the second magnetic member of the second contact are anti-symmetrically disposed. Therefore, the re-ignition possibility during voltage breaking is reduced, an arc voltage is decreased, and effective arc-extinguishing is realized, thereby satisfying the high voltage breaking requirements.
US08178803B2
An electronic device including a main body, a carrying layer disposed at the main body, a waterproof layer stacked on the carrying layer and located between the carrying layer and the main body, a supporting element disposed on the carrying layer, a key disposed on the supporting element, and a guiding element connected to the key is provided. The main body has an inner space and an opening exposing the inner space. The carrying layer covering the opening has a first ventilation hole and an assembly hole. The waterproof layer has a second ventilation hole. The first ventilation hole is exposed by the second ventilation hole and connected with the inner space. The assembly hole is covered by the waterproof layer. The supporting element covers the first ventilation hole and has a third ventilation hole connected with the first ventilation hole. The guiding element is locked at the assembly hole.
US08178801B2
An electrical switching apparatus includes a number of poles each having an elongated conductor with a first end and an opposite second end with a first terminal member. A circuit interrupter is electrically connected in series with the elongated conductor at the first end. A second terminal member electrically engages the first terminal member. A number of insulative skirts are disposed on the elongated conductor between opposite ends thereof. An insulative tube receives the insulative skirts and includes a first open end and an opposite second end carrying the second terminal member. A carrier carries the poles between (a) a first position in which the first terminal member electrically engages the second terminal member and the insulative tube receives the insulative skirts, and (b) a second position in which the first terminal member is electrically disconnected from the second terminal member and the skirts are withdrawn from the insulative tube.
US08178797B2
A hermetically sealed scale for use in a weighing scale. A scale of the present invention may include a load receiving plate and a bottom plate, between which is sandwiched a supporting rib structure that preferably includes a plurality of perimeter members that form sealed upright sides of the scale. The supporting rib structure, load receiving plate and bottom plate cooperate to form a substantially rigid and hermetically sealed sandwich structure. The load receiving plate may be joined to the supporting rib structure by perimeter welding or another bonding technique that permits the joining material to be subsequently shaped to form a smooth transition between the load receiving plate and the perimeter members of the scale.
US08178794B2
To eliminate rubber burr formation at the time of molding and to make sealing members to be surely integrated with the flexible wiring board, a sealing structure consists of housings to which the flexible wiring board is inserted, and sealing members integrally formed on the flexible wiring board to seal gaps between the housings and the flexible wiring board, the flexible wiring board consists of a base board made of an elastic material, a conductive printed wiring layer formed on the surface of the base board, and a cover film covering the surface of the printed wiring layer, and dummy printed wiring layers are arranged in regions where the sealing members are integrated with the flexible wiring board, so as to make a shape as if the printed wiring layer exists substantially over the entire base board in the width direction.
US08178789B2
A wiring board assembly and a method of making a wiring board assembly. The wiring board assembly includes a first wiring board having a first substrate, a non-pliable second substrate having a smaller mounting area than a mounting area of the first substrate and a base substrate laminated between the first substrate and the second substrate such that the first substrate extends beyond an edge of the second substrate. At least one via formed in at least one of the first substrate or the second substrate. A second wiring board includes a pliable member connecting the first wiring board to the second wiring board.
US08178788B2
An electronic component package includes a film board where an electronic component is mounted, and a lid part mounted on the film board so as to cover a surface of the film board. The electronic component is provided in a cavity formed by the film board and the lid part, and the electronic component is connected to a signal wiring conductor formed at the film board.
US08178783B2
A sealant-filled enclosure for environmentally sealing a connection includes a first cover member and a second cover member. The first cover member defines a first cavity having a first bottom. The second cover member is pivotally connected to the first cover member for movement between an open position and a closed position. The second cover member defines a second cavity having a second bottom. A first sealant is positioned in the first cavity and extends up to a first level relative to the first bottom without a connection disposed in the first cavity. A second sealant is positioned in the second cavity and extends up to a second level relative to the second bottom without a connection disposed in the second cavity. The first and second levels together exceed a height from the first bottom to the second bottom in the closed position. The first and second sealants may be gels.
US08178782B2
An electrical cable includes a core having a conductor, insulation surrounding the conductor, and an outer sheath surrounding the core. A portion of the conductor is stripped bare at a free end and a cavity is formed within the insulation at the cable free end. First and second shims are concentrically secured to the exposed portion of the conductor such that end portions of the shims are positioned adjacent to the cavity. The bare conductor is secured within a barrel portion of a terminal lug. A first sealing mastic material is disposed within the cavity and heated to encapsulate end portions of the shims. A second sealing mastic material is applied around the lug barrel portion, first and second shims, and a portion of the outer sheath. A heat shrinkable tube having an inner surface of zinc oxide stress control mastic material is secured around the second sealing mastic material.
US08178775B2
The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer readable media for controlling orientation of a photovoltaic collection system to track apparent movement of the sun. According to one aspect, a method for controlling orientation of a photovoltaic collection system to track apparent movement of the sun using a photovoltaic-collection-system-derived tracking algorithm is provided. The method includes determining an initial orientation of a photovoltaic collection system. The method further includes automatically deriving, using output from the photovoltaic collection system as it tracks apparent movement of the sun across the sky caused by spinning of the earth on its axis and its orbit around the sun, a tracking algorithm for controlling orientation of the photovoltaic collection system to track the apparent movement of the sun. The method further includes controlling orientation of the photovoltaic collection system to track apparent movement of the sun using the photovoltaic-collection-system-derived tracking algorithm.
US08178773B2
A System and method for the creation and performance of enriched musical composition. One aspect of the invention allows a composer to associate content with one or more triggers, and to define behavior characteristics that control the functioning of each trigger. Another aspect of the invention provides a variety of user interfaces through which a performer can cause content to be presented to an audience.
US08178768B1
A drum rim raising device that is attachable to an existing drum structure, comprising an arc section of a drum rim configured to be secured to the existing drum housing. The rim raising device is configured to support a triggering system.
