US08387160B2
A resist medium in which features are lithographically produced by scanning a surface of the medium with an AFM probe positioned in contact therewith. The resist medium comprises a substrate; and a polymer resist layer within which features are produced by mechanical action of the probe. The polymer contains thermally reversible crosslinkages. Also disclosed are methods that generally includes scanning a surface of the polymer resist layer with an AFM probe positioned in contact with the resist layer, wherein heating the probe and a squashing-type mechanical action of the probe produces features in the layer by thermally reversing the crosslinkages.
US08387155B2
A system for controlling access to protected computer resources provided via a network utilizing at least one Internet Protocol. The system includes at least one authentication server and at least one access server. The at least one authentication server is adapted to authenticate identity data associated with at least one client computer device, is adapted to authorize the at least one client computer device to receive at least a portion of protected computer resources, and is adapted to permit access to the at least a portion of the protected computer resources. The at least one access server is adapted to receive the identity data associated with the at least one client computer device and forward the identity data associated with the at least one claim computer device to the at least one authentication server.
US08387152B2
Computer systems and environments implemented herein permit a local machine increased participation in authorizing access to protected content. An operating system attests to a computing environment at a corresponding computer system. If the computing environment is one permitted to access protected content, the operating system is permitted to regulate further (e.g., application) access to protected content in accordance with a procreation policy. As such, authorization decisions are partially distributed, easing the resource burden on a content protection server. Accordingly, this computing environment can facilitate more robust and efficient authorization decisions when access to protected content is requested.
US08387151B2
A content data managing apparatus includes: timing means for measuring time, not allowed to correct measure time by an operator; content-data storing means for storing data of content and recording time of the content measured by the timing means; content recording means for recording the content to cause the content-data storing means to store data of the recorded content; recording-time recording means for causing the content-data storing means to store, in association with the content, the recording time when the recording of the content is executed; storage-period extracting means for extracting data concerning a storage period for the content, from the data of the content; storage-period-end-time calculating means for calculating storage period end time for the content from the storage period and data of the recording time; and content-data deleting means for deleting the content when present time measured by the timing means is past the storage period end time.
US08387139B2
An arrangement for scanning and patching injected malware code that is executing in otherwise legitimate processes running on a computer system is provided in which malware code is located in the memory of processes by extracting the start addresses of processes' threads and then searching near these addresses. Additional blocks of code in memory that are invoked by the code identified by each start address are also identified and the blocks are then matched against scanning signatures associated with known malware threads. If the entire signature can be matched against a subset of the blocks, then the thread is determined to be infected. The infected thread is suspended and in-memory modifications are performed to patch the injected code to render it harmless. The thread can be resumed or terminated to disable the protection mechanisms of the malware without causing any harm to the process in which the thread is injected.
US08387131B2
Methods and apparatus enforce a secure internet connection from a mobiles endpoint computing device. A security policy for the endpoint is defined based on its location. From that location, an internet connection is established and detected. This event triggers the launching of a full VPN tunnel connection including an NDIS firewall forcing packet traffic through a port of the endpoint computing device assigned by the security policy and/or MAC/IP addresses of a VPN concentrator. Thereafter, the packet traffic is monitored for compliance with the security policy. This includes determining whether packet traffic over the assigned port is observed within a given time or packet traffic is attempted over other ports. Monitoring occurs whether or not the protocol of the VPN tunnel connection is known. Other features contemplate quarantining for improper operation of the VPN tunnel, undertaking remediation, and computer program products, to name a few.
US08387124B2
A token has a memory, an interface allow connection to a host, and a processor. The processor, in response to user input for configuring a remote access connection, executes a first set of processing instructions to establish a trusted connection with the server host, exchanges credentials over the trusted connection to establish a secure connection with the server host over an untrusted connection, and defines configuration information for accessing user selected data or services. The processor, in response to user input received in a legacy environment, executes a second set of processing instructions that includes establishing, over an untrusted connection, a secure connection with the server host using the security credentials, configuring the secure connection for access to the data or services, making the data or services available in the legacy environment, and defends against attempted access to data or services available at the token other than the data or services made available in the legacy environment.
US08387122B2
Access to resource(s) intended to be shared with specific groups of individuals is controlled using concise tests of shared knowledge instead of (or in addition) to accounts and access control lists. Users can readily learn the concept and choose questions that will control the access by the desired group with little effort. Such questions can be relatively secure to guesses by those not intended to have access, particularly if the number of allowed guesses is relatively limited. Users can generally predict the security of their questions, but sometimes underestimate the ability of attackers to use Web searching or enumeration to discover answers. In such cases, the system can automatically discover weak questions and then suggest alternatives. By lowering the threshold to access control, shared knowledge tests can enable more types of information to acquire collaborative value on the Internet and on other types of networks.
US08387121B1
A system, method, and computer program are provided for authenticating a customer using a network provided by another service provider. In use, a message associated with a customer of a second network service provider is received from a first network service provider. Further, the message indicates usage by the customer of a network provided by the first network service provider. Additionally, in response to the receipt of the message, a request is sent from the second network service provider to the customer for authentication information. In addition, it is determined whether a valid response to the request is received by the second network service provider. Furthermore, based on the determination, the usage by the customer of the network provided by the first network service provider is conditionally blocked.
US08387120B2
The invention relates to a method and system of transferring internet electronic messages (e-mails). The method comprises the steps of creating a first e-mail by sender's mail user agent (11) and authorizing the sender by sender's mail server (2). To reduce network traffic and limit activities of entities responsible of transferring SPAM the method further comprises the steps of (a) sending an authorization request, in one embodiment in a form a of a second e-mail comprising IP address of sender's local computer system (1), to a sender authorization sever, which in one embodiment is recipient's local mail server (42); (b) authorizing said local computer system (4); (c) accepting the first e-mail by recipient's server, which in one embodiment is recipient's local mail server (42), if said authorization request of intention of sending the first e-mail to this recipient was authorized by the sender authorization server.
US08387117B2
A context-aware role-based access control system and a control method thereof. The context-aware role-based access control system includes: a context-aware user assignment manager (CAUAM) for performing a role assignment function, a role delegation function, or a role revocation function for a user according to a context of the user, based on a preset context request condition; a context-aware permission assignment manager (CAPAM) for performing a permission modification, a permission restoration, and a personalized permission modification for a permission, which the role has, according to changes in the context of the user; an information repository for storing a user profile and context information; and an access control manager (ACM) for controlling the context-aware user assignment manager, the context-aware permission assignment manager, and the information repository, and processing an access control request. Accordingly, more efficient access control can be achieved in ubiquitous environments where the context of the user dynamically changes.
US08387114B2
Generally speaking, systems, methods and computer program products for creating a secure workload partition in a server environment are disclosed. Embodiments of the method may include creating, for a process associated with a client network service, a secure workload partition within a logical partition executing in a server environment having a root partition where the secure workload partition has no network interfaces and no communication with any other workload partitions within the logical partition. Embodiments of the method may also include establishing an alternative network connection for the process within the created secure workload partition without establishing a network interface for the secure workload partition and without establishing communication with any other workload partitions within the logical partition. Embodiments of the method may also include executing the process within the secure workload partition to provide the client network service.
US08387109B2
In accordance with one or more aspects, a current security policy for accessing a device or volume of a computing device is identified. A secondary access control state for the device or volume is also identified. An access state for the device is determined based on both the current security policy and the secondary access control state.
US08387107B2
A media stream processing method, a communication system, and a relevant device are disclosed, so as to improve the user experience. The method includes the following steps: a first media receiving device receives media streams, where the media streams include a first media stream and a second media stream; and the first media receiving device processes the first media stream quickly and plays the second media stream normally so that media play progress of the first media receiving device is synchronous with media play progress of the second media receiving device, where the second media receiving device is configured to receive multicast media streams, and the first media receiving device and the second media receiving device are in the same multicast group. A communication system and a relevant device are also disclosed herein. In this way, the user experience is improved.
US08387106B2
Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method for establishing a communication pathway for subsequent media exchanges between a television display in a first home and storage that contains media in a second home. The method may comprise securely receiving address correlation information associated with the television display in the first home and securely receiving address correlation information associated with the storage in the second home. Affirmative confirmation may be received and/or stored using the received address correlation information associated with at least one of the television display and the storage. The invention may also include verifying that affirmative information has been stored in association with any subsequent media exchanges.
US08387099B2
A method comprising running a web browser on one or more servers of a service center, and hosting files for a web page on a storage unit associated with the one or more servers. Upon receiving user input from a client device to the web browser at the service center, streaming interactive video web page is transmitted to the client device with substantially no detectable latency.
US08387095B2
A broadcast receiving apparatus includes a determination unit that determines whether an external apparatus is capable of transmitting broadcast program information about a plurality of channels via a communication unit. When the determination unit determines that the external apparatus is capable of transmitting the broadcast program information, an acquisition unit does not acquire the broadcast program information from the digital broadcast signal. The external apparatus is requested to transmit the broadcast program information. The broadcast program information is acquired from the external apparatus.
US08387084B1
Systems and methods for detecting unauthorized use of a user equipment device are provided. An instruction is transmitted, using communications circuitry of a handheld device, to the user equipment device directing the user equipment device to display a unique identifier associated with the user equipment simultaneously with media content. An image of the media content and unique identifier simultaneously displayed on a display screen coupled to the user equipment device is captured using camera equipment of the handheld device. The image is automatically processed with the handheld device to extract the unique identifier from the image. The extracted unique identifier is cross-referenced, using the handheld device, with user account information associated with the user equipment device to determine whether use of the user equipment device is unauthorized.
US08387083B1
Monitoring one or more media content channels is disclosed. Monitoring includes receiving one or more search criteria associated with desired media content, receiving channel data associated with media content being broadcast via a channel, detecting a match between at least one of the search criteria and the channel data, and providing a notification of the detected match.
US08387081B2
A method performed by one or more devices within a subscription television network that offers pay-per-view programming to viewers includes receiving criteria for triggering dynamic pricing discounts for a pay-per-view event and establishing, based on the received criteria, dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event. The method also includes offering, to the viewers over the subscription television network, the pay-per-view event at one of the established dynamic prices.
US08387075B1
Described are techniques for executing code performing one or more operations corresponding to scheduling and synchronization primitives. During execution of the code, a call is performed using an application programming interface requesting a first of the operations corresponding to one of said scheduling and synchronization primitives. During runtime in response to said call, it is determined whether to perform the first operation. The determining step uses a set of one or more criteria indicating conditions as to when the scheduling and synchronization primitives are allowed to be performed. The one or more criteria are determined in accordance with a plurality of different platforms. If it is determined that the first operation is allowable and the first operation is to be performed, then the code can be executed on each of the different platforms in a privileged execution mode and a non-privileged execution mode.
US08387064B2
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for balancing a data processing load among a plurality of compute nodes in a parallel computer that include: partitioning application data for processing on the plurality of compute nodes into data chunks; receiving, by each compute node, at least one of the data chunks for processing; estimating, by each compute node, processing time involved in processing the data chunks received by that compute node for processing; and redistributing, by at least one of the compute nodes to at least one of the other compute nodes, a portion of the data chunks received by that compute node in dependence upon the processing time estimated by that compute node.
US08387056B2
A method for scheduling tasks in a computer operating system comprises a background task creating at least one registered service. The background task provides an execution presence and a data present to a registered service and ranks the registered services according to the requirements of each registered service. The background task also allocates an execution presence and a data presence according to each of the registered services such that each of the registered services is given an opportunity to be scheduled in the dedicated pre-assigned time slice.
US08387052B2
An adaptive partition scheduler is a priority-based scheduler that also provides execution time guarantees (fair-share). Execution time guarantees apply to threads or groups of threads when the system is overloaded. When the system is not overloaded, threads are scheduled based strictly on priority, maintaining strict real-time behavior. Even when overloaded, the scheduler provides real-time guarantees to a set of critical threads, as specified by the system architect.
US08387051B2
A smart scheduler is provided to prepare a machine for a job, wherein the job has specific requirements, i.e., dimensions. One or more config jobs are identified to configure the machine to meet the dimensions of the job. Information concerning the machine's original configuration and groupings of config jobs that change the machine's configuration are cached in a central storage. The smart scheduler uses information in the central storage to identify a suitable machine and one or more config jobs to configure the machine to meet the dimensions of a job. The smart scheduler schedules a run for the config jobs on the machine.
US08387050B2
A method and system in accordance with the present invention provides an intelligent prediction approach for populating and depopulating multiple applications at the system level across applications. The detection and management of user behavior patterns to anticipate the user's next request is provided. Further the present invention is to account for a situation to relate dynamically to user behavior and where that user behavior changes to adjust so as to more accurately set forth a desired result for a user of the present invention. The present invention in various implementations provides an intelligent prediction scheme for populating and depopulating multiple applications at the system level across a diversity of applications.
US08387046B1
A system and method for efficient security protocols in a virtualized datacenter environment are contemplated. In one embodiment, a system is provided comprising a hypervisor coupled to one or more protected virtual machines (VMs) and a security VM. Within a private communication channel, a split kernel loader provides an end-to-end communication between a paravirtualized security device driver, or symbiont, and the security VM. The symbiont monitors kernel-level activities of a corresponding guest OS, and conveys kernel-level metadata to the security VM via the private communication channel. Therefore, the well-known semantic gap problem is solved. The security VM is able to read all of the memory of a protected VM, detect locations of memory compromised by a malicious rootkit, and remediate any detected problems.
US08387030B2
A back-end service adaptation system provides access to normalized data in a data repository for a consumer runtime environment sending a query request for denormalized data. The back-end service adaptation system can include a data access service layer, a parser layer, and a back-end service adaptation runtime layer. The consumer runtime can use a service adaptation definition language (SADL), and the parser and data access service can be configured to convert and translate the SADL request for the back-end service adaptation runtime layer.
US08387025B2
A system for dynamically integrating changes in the rules governing business operations into an application program that implements the rules in order to control business operations includes a dynamic business logic rule integrator (“DBLRI”) that essentially provides business logic rules to the application software as executable routines. The DBLRI presents to a user one or more graphical user interfaces (“GUIs”) through which the user writes functional-language expressions for the business logic rules. The respective GUIs correspond to various types of business logic rules, and provide to the user menus of associated functions, operators and parameters that are available for use. The set of parameters associated with a given GUI is dynamically updated, to correspond to changes in the underlying business logic rules. The user writes and/or edits the expressions for the respective business logic rules by selectively combining the available functions, operators and parameters. The DBLRI translates the functional expressions into executable routines by evaluating the corresponding expressions and producing associated executable parse trees or DLLs. The application software then calls the executable routines at appropriate times. The DBLRI operates also with a dynamically configurable database that provides various parameters required for the business logic rules as the rules are updated, added and/or revised.
US08387024B2
A software product testing system may include a knowledge base with a data set that includes multiple possible actions and, for each action, language-specific format rules for inputs and outputs associated with the action. The software product testing system may include a test case generator that selects a test case in a target language for a software product. The test case may include a selected action to be taken by a software product, an input to prompt the action, and an expected output that corresponds to the selected action and the input. The expected output has a format corresponding to a language-specific format rule of the target language. The software product testing system may also include a test verifier that determines whether an output generated by application of the test case to the software product matches the expected output.
US08387021B2
An extension of symbolic execution for programs involving contracts with quantifiers over large and potentially unbounded domains is described. Symbolic execution is used to generate, from a program, concrete test cases that exhibit mismatches between the program code and its contracts with quantifiers. Quantifiers are instantiated using symbolic values encountered during a set of exhibited runs. In this setting, quantifier instantiation is limited to values supplied to or produced by a symbolic execution. Quantifier instantiation is controlled by performing a matching algorithm that uses run-time values of input and program variables in order to guide and limit the set of quantifier instantiations. With a sufficient set of instances, test cases are derived that directly witness limitations of the auxiliary assertions.
US08387020B1
Verifying that a method has been implemented for a program written in a dynamic programming language
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that verifies that a program method has been implemented for a program written in a dynamic programming language. During operation, the system receives a user request to check for an implementation of a program method (or method) that is called in the program. The system uses information in this user request to generate a testing method that determines whether a class associated with the method responds to a specific request. This testing method is executed at run-time to verify that the method is implemented for the program.
US08387019B1
A design tool provides a graphical user assignable register map. The design tool graphically displays a register map that indicates locations of system variables in a memory of a processing device for an embedded application. The design tool further provides a user interface element for a user to arrange an order of the system variables in the register map.
US08387017B2
Testing a computer software application by identifying a sink in the computer software application, identifying a source associated with the sink in the application, identifying an entry point associated with the source in the application, where the source is configured to receive input provided externally to the application via the entry point, determining a sink type represented by the sink, and providing to a testing application information identifying the entry point and in association with the sink type.
US08387016B2
Disclosed is a process to generate and execute relevant, non-redundant test cases starting with an execution trace. An execution trace may be collected. A sequence of actions and the data involved in the actions may then be extracted from the execution trace and persisted separately from one another. Code for a non-deterministic program (“NDP”) may be generated, comprising the sequence of actions but without determining the data. A systematic program analysis of the NDP may be made, exploring possible execution paths and beginning from the path exercised by the persisted data. A new test case may be generated which fixes particular test inputs for the NDP.
US08387006B1
Systems and methods are provided for authoring a web page to be run-time editable. A software code authoring tool is provided that enables authoring of web page source code that defines run-time edit capabilities that are permitted for editing content of the output presentation of the page. An improved content management solution is thus provided that enables a user-friendly way for a designer's customers (or other authorized users) to edit content of the output presentation of a page, while providing the designer the ability to control the amount of edit capability of the page that the customer is afforded. For instance, an authoring tool enables the designer to designate in the web page source code certain portions of the page that are to be run-time editable by an authorized user, wherein the designated portions may be edited by a user by interacting with a run-time output presentation of the page.
US08387005B1
A system and method configures a target processing entity having multiple processing elements to execute a graphical program. A first part of the graphical program is designated for execution by a first processing element, and a second part of the graphical program is designed for execution by a second processing element. A code generation system generates a single build file from the graphical program having an initialization section, suitable executable code sections for each processing element, and a communication section that supports communication between the two processing elements. The build file may be downloaded to, and run by the target processing entity to implement the graphical program at the target processing entity.
US08387001B2
The present invention describes a method and a computer program product for finding an impact of a change on a computer generated code. The method includes the generation of a dependency graph for the computer generated code. The dependency graph includes a plurality of nodes that are connected logically by one or more edges. The method enables an expert to assign nodal weights to the nodes, based on their importance. The method also enables the expert to assign edge weights and distribution ratios, based on the criticality of the relationship between the nodes and their distance from the root node. Thereafter, the impact of the change is found by implementing a spreading activation technique on the dependency graph. The output gathered after the activation represents the impact of the change on the computer generated code.
US08386994B2
The invention disclosed relates to the field of requirement specification in application development. This invention provides a system for business process automation which can generate an executable optimized requirements set by capturing the requirements from the users and processing them to create prototypes. Feedback is obtained from external users on the played prototypes to correct and enhance the requirements to obtain an optimized, complete, correct and consistent requirements set. This helps in the successful development of business application with minimal errors in a very short time.
US08386989B2
Designation of observation points in an observation target circuit for which operations are observed in simulation is accepted, and circuit data of an observation circuit is attached to circuit data of the observation target circuit so that the observation circuit is connected to the observation target circuit according to designation data of the observation points. At this time, a double-buffer configuration is adopted for the observation circuit, and the number of occurrence times of a specific state at a specific observation point during a first period and the number of occurrence times of the specific state at the specific observation point during a second period are alternately outputted and stored into RAM.
US08386987B1
Disclosed is an improved method and system for implementing and analyzing power switch configurations. Described is a novel approach to minimize the number of power switches required for a power domain and to automatically find the locations of those power switches subject to the constraints of saturation current and maximum IR-drop on the power switches. This approach uses a fast static power consumption analysis tool to compute the current and IR drop through the power switches. The approach can apply to both column and ring style power switch insertion methodologies.
US08386984B2
Routing methods for an integrated circuit design layout are disclosed. The layout can include design netlists and library cells. A multiple-level global routing can generate topological wire for each net. An area oriented graph-based detail routing on the design can be performed. A post route optimization after the detail routing can be performed to further improve the routing quality. Some methods can be single threaded all or some of the time, and/or multi-threaded some or all of the time.
US08386975B2
An improved method, system, user interface, and computer program product is described for using a memory and learning component to improve capacitance and resistance estimates based on the types of layouts and devices being evaluated. According to some approaches, a learning component is implemented that uses recommended test sets from the evaluation component to automatically test the extraction estimates against the field solver. Variability models from manufacturing or electrical analysis may also be used to select a series of objects (unique conductor geometries) that make up a conduction path or net or specific conductor geometries for evaluation and additional learning improvement.
US08386969B2
A method for designing an overlay target comprises selecting a plurality of overlay target pairs having different overlay errors or offsets, calculating a deviation of the simulated diffraction spectrum for each overlay target pair, selecting a plurality of sensitive overlay target pairs by taking the deviation of the simulated diffraction spectrum into consideration, selecting an objective overlay target pair from the sensitive overlay target pairs by taking the influence of the structural parameters to the simulated diffraction spectrum into consideration, and designing the overlay target pair based on the structural parameter of the objective overlay target pair.
US08386968B2
A technique for reconstructing a mask pattern corresponding to a photo-mask using a target mask pattern (which excludes defects) and an image of at least a portion of the photo-mask is described. This image may be an optical inspection image of the photo-mask that is determined using inspection optics which includes an optical path, and the reconstructed mask pattern may include additional spatial frequencies than the image. Furthermore, the reconstructed mask pattern may be reconstructed based on a characteristic of the optical path (such as an optical bandwidth of the optical path) using a constrained inverse optical calculation in which there are a finite number of discrete feature widths allowed in the reconstructed mask pattern, and where a given feature has a constant feature width. Consequently, the features in the reconstructed mask pattern may each have the constant feature width, such as an average critical dimension of the reconstructed mask pattern.
US08386967B2
A method for scanning a semiconductor layout, the layout comprising objects with edges and corners, the method comprising identifying locally closest point pairs, identifying a proximity relation between two parallel edges where the parallel edges have at least one locally closest point pair in common and storing the proximity relation in a proximity relations table of a database together with a reference to the corresponding pair of edges. Locally closest point pairs are identified where the first edge and the second edge are not in contact with each other, a distance between the first point and the second point is the shortest distance between the first edge and the second edge, and a convex bounding area with the first point and the second point on its boundary contains no edge.
US08386950B2
Systems and methods of arranging a plurality of icons on a touch sensitive display device of a computing device include receiving contact information from the touch sensitive display device indicating a first and a second one of the plurality of icons have been moved until they touch each other on the touch sensitive display device. A new folder is automatically created responsive to the received contact information indicating the first and second icons have been moved until they touch. The new folder includes stored resources of the computing device associated with the first and the second icons. The first and second icons are replaced on the touch sensitive display device with a new icon associated with the new folder.
US08386948B2
[Problem] To make it possible to switch display of plural windows depending on a situation such as a time and a place.[Solution] A mobile communication terminal stores condition data for applications that display a window. Condition data is data describing for applications, an application (namely, a window), an attribute of a location associated with the application, and a frequency at which the application has been executed. The mobile communication terminal, if plural overlapping windows are displayed, determines a window to be displayed on top, using the condition data. For example, the mobile communication terminal, if an attribute of a location of the terminal is “office”, and an application “groupware” is running, displays a window of the application on top.
US08386941B2
A method for indicating localization conflicts. The method includes receiving information about a first graphical user interface element and receiving information about a second graphical user interface element. Localization data associated with the first graphical user interface element and the second graphical user interface element is accessed. A determination is made as to if there is a conflict between the first graphical user interface element and the second graphical user interface element. An indication of the results of the determining of whether there is a conflict between the first graphical user interface element and the second graphical user interface element is displayed.
US08386938B2
A display control device that may control, in response to user's operation, a list display of a file of contents accumulated in another device connected over a network, and a list display of a folder in a hierarchy for storing the file. The device may include type selection means for selecting a type for the file in accordance with the user's operation; reception control unit for controlling reception of file attribute information coming from the another device about an attribute provided to the folder indicating the type of the file stored in the folder; attribute determination unit for determining, based on the file attribute information, whether the folder is provided with the attribute of the selected type; and display controller for controlling, when the folder is determined as not being provided with the attribute of the selected type, the list display to constrain a display of the folder.
US08386936B2
A processing apparatus configured to perform a process in accordance with a processing instruction, and connected to a network is provided. The processing apparatus may store address information of summarized content information that includes at least titles of content, acquire the summarized content information based on the address information, allow a user to input an instruction, receive a first processing instruction from the network, display the titles of the content included in the summarized content information on a display unit in a case where a second processing instruction is input by the user, display the titles of the content included in the summarized content information on the display unit on a condition that a predetermined instruction is input by the user in a case where the first processing instruction is received, and terminate the display of the titles of content in a case where a predetermined condition is met.
US08386930B2
Contextual data center management utilizing a virtual environment is described. In one embodiment, there is a data center management tool for managing a physical data center from a representation of the physical data center operating in a virtual universe. The data center management tool includes a data center contextual object component configured to obtain a data center contextual object that describes operational information of the physical data center in the virtual universe. An operational change component is configured to implement at least one operational change to the representation of the physical data center in the virtual universe. The at least one operational change is implemented as a function of the data center contextual object. A management component is configured to manage the physical data center pursuant to a result obtained from implementing the at least one operational change.
US08386926B1
Methods and apparatus for implementing network-based text-entry preferences are disclosed. An example method includes receiving, at a server, a valid login request from a user for an account maintained on the server and identifying, on the server, a set of text-entry preferences associated with the account. The example method further includes receiving, at the server, a request from the user to execute a first network-based application on the server and receiving, at the server, user-entered text associated with the first network-based application. The example method still further includes applying, by the server, the set of text-entry preferences to the received user-entered text and providing, after applying the set of text-entry preferences, the received user-entered text to the first network-based application.
US08386925B2
An information processing terminal device includes: a communication unit; a primary content information acquiring unit for acquiring primary content information; a primary content information holding managing unit for holding and managing primary content information, in correlation with a unique primary content identifier; a subsidiary content information holding managing unit for obtaining subsidiary content information configured having at least playback control information and having a subsidiary content identifier corresponding to itself and an editing history identifier; an editing processing unit for executing editing processing with secondary usage of at least one of primary content information and subsidiary content information; a subsidiary content information creating unit for creating subsidiary content information; an editing history identifier managing unit for generating the editing history identifier; and a subsidiary content identifier managing unit for generating a subsidiary content identifier to be correlated with subsidiary content information and providing this to subsidiary content information.
US08386923B2
A document generation apparatus comprises: a first acquisition unit adapted to acquire, based on identification information appended to a first document, layout data and data acquisition information required to acquire data to be laid out in accordance with the layout data; a second acquisition unit adapted to acquire data based on the data acquisition information acquired by the first acquisition unit; and a generation unit adapted to generate a second document on which the data acquired by the second acquisition unit are laid out in accordance with the layout data acquired by the first acquisition unit.
US08386919B2
A system includes a display, a processor executing an application program for displaying an annotation file, and memory storing program instructions of the application program. The processor associates an annotation with a programming module of a baseline file to display, in an unsegmented window of a graphical user interface, the baseline file as a hierarchical structure having nodes. Each node represents a programming module of the baseline file. Displayed is an annotation in the unsegmented window of the GUI proximate to the node that represents the programming module with which the annotation is associated. The displayed annotation includes selectable messages displayed proximate to each other to facilitate visual comparison. Each selectable message describes a modification made to the baseline file by a different contributor. The annotation indicates that the modifications produce a conflict. The conflict is resolvable within the unsegmented window by a selection of one of the selectable messages.
US08386915B2
To enhance the user experience for users of an application, such as a web browser, the application obtains statistics on shortened links that are displayed in an application or that are associated with displayed unshortened links. The statistics may include, for example, a number of times that content available via an unshortened link was viewed via its associated shortened link. The statistics are applied to enhance the ability of users of the application to locate relevant content. For example, the statistics may be shown in visual association with a link, or a set of links may be ordered at least in part based on the statistics associated with the links, or the links may be visually emphasized based on the statistics.
US08386905B2
An error correcting method for a memory chip is provided. The memory chip has a plurality of physical blocks, each of the physical blocks has a plurality of physical pages, and the physical pages belonging to the same physical block are individually written and simultaneously erased. The error correcting method includes sequentially writing a plurality of data into the physical pages of a first physical block and generating a parity information according to the data. The error correcting method further includes writing the parity information into one of the physical pages of the first physical block following the data and correcting the data in the first physical block according to the parity information. Accordingly, the parity information can be used for correcting error bits in the data when an error checking and correcting circuit can not correct the error bits. Thereby, the error correcting ability is enhanced.
US08386901B2
A transmitting apparatus transmits a plurality of data packets to a receiver in a communication system, by transmitting one or more data packets from a list of data packets to be transmitted, and determining whether an acknowledgment is received for each transmitted data packet. When it is determined that an acknowledgement has not been received for at least one data packet, referred to as an unacknowledged data packet, the apparatus selects one or more additional data packets from the list of data packets to be transmitted, generates one or more parity packets by encoding a block of data containing a combination of the selected one or more additional data packets and at least one unacknowledged data packet using a forward error correction scheme, and transmits at least one of the generated parity packets.
US08386899B2
In an operation of two qubit gate having failure information related to success or failure, by using a code to concatenate N-error-correcting code transversally executing a Pauli gate, a Hadamard gate and a CNOT gate, an error-correction is executed by an error-correcting teleportation, and the CNOT gate is executed to an encoded qubit by the error-correcting teleportation. In Bell measurement of the error-correcting teleportation, when a measurement result of non-encoded qubit is processed, by suitably defining failure information of the encoded qubit of level (l+1) from the failure information of encoded qubits of level l, the measurement result of the encoded qubit of each level is determined, and the failure information of the encoded qubit of each level is defined. As a result, a measurement result of a logical qubit as the encoded qubit of the highest level is determined.
US08386891B2
The error tolerance of an array of m storage units is increased by using a technique referred to as “dodging.” A plurality of k stripes are stored across the array of storage units in which each stripe has n+r elements that correspond to a symmetric code having a minimum Hamming distance d=r+1. Each respective element of a stripe is stored on a different storage unit. An element is selected when a difference between a minimum distance of the donor stripe and a minimum distance of a recipient stripe is greater or equal to 2. The selected element is also stored on a storage unit having no elements of the recipient stripe. A lost element of the recipient stripe is then rebuilt on the selected element.
US08386887B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to a Flash-based memory module having high-speed serial communication. The Flash-based memory module comprises, among other things, a plurality of I/O modules, each configured to communicate with an external device over one or more external communication links, a plurality of Flash-based memory cards, each comprising a plurality of Flash memory devices, and a plurality of crossbar switching elements, each being connected to a respective one of the Flash-based memory cards and configured to allow each one of the I/O modules to communicate with the respective one of the Flash-based memory cards. Each I/O module is connected to each crossbar switching element by a high-speed serial communication link, and each crossbar switching element is connected to the respective one of the Flash-based memory cards by a plurality of parallel communication links.
US08386883B2
A phase-change memory (PCM) includes a matrix of storage cells, including at least a first group with at least one cell. Each cell includes a phase change material having at least a first resistance value and a second resistance value, such that the first group can have an identical message encoded therein in at least a first way and a second way. The memory also includes a controller configured to encode the identical message in the at least first group the first or second way, based on which way causes the least amount of writing cost, given current levels of the group. Another embodiment of memory includes a matrix of storage cells, including at least a first group with at least one cell. Each of the storage cells has at least two levels, such that each of the storage cells can have an identical message encoded therein in at least a first way and a second way (the cells can be PCM or another technology). Each one of the storage cells is arbitrarily individually changeable among the at least two levels, and each of the cells is cost-asymmetric. A controller encodes the identical message in the at least first group using the first way or the second way, based on which way incurs a least cost when writing the message into the at least one cell of the at least first group, given current levels of the at least first group.
US08386881B2
A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of detecting code generators configured to generate a plurality of detecting codes to detect errors in a plurality of data items, respectively, a plurality of first correcting code generators configured to generate a plurality of first correcting codes to correct errors in a plurality of first data blocks, respectively, each of the first data blocks containing one of the data items and a corresponding detecting code, a second correcting code generators configured to generate a second correcting code to correct errors in a second data block, the second data block containing the first data blocks, and a semiconductor memory configured to nonvolatilely store the second data block, the first correcting codes, and the second correcting code.
US08386875B2
A method and device for handling hybrid automatic repeat request (‘HARQ’) operations during transmission mode changes, the method detecting a transmission mode change; and manipulating an HARQ process buffer based on the detecting. Further, a method and network element for handling hybrid automatic repeat request (‘HARQ’) operations during transmission mode changes, the method checking when a user equipment is in a transmission mode uncertainty window; and blocking communications to the user equipment or utilizing a downlink control information format 1A for communications to the user equipment.
US08386872B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for efficient hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process utilization for semi-persistent and dynamic data transmissions, wherein a reserved HARQ process identification (ID) can be reused. A subset of a plurality of HARQ process IDs is reserved to use for a semi-persistent allocation, and data is transmitted based on the semi-persistent allocation. A dynamic allocation is received via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). At least one of the reserved HARQ process IDs is selectively used for transmitting data based on the dynamic allocation.
US08386867B2
A method and apparatus for a computer memory test structure. An embodiment of a method for testing of a memory board includes testing a memory of the memory board, where testing the memory including use of a built-in self-test structure to provide a first test pattern for the memory. The method further includes testing an IO (input output) interface of the memory with a host, where testing of the IO interface includes use of the built-in self-test structure to provide a second test pattern for the IO interface.
US08386865B2
An architecture for testing a plurality of circuits on an integrated circuit is described. The architecture includes a TAP Linking Module located between test pins on the integrated circuit and 1149.1 Test Access Ports (TAP) of the plurality of circuits to be tested. The TAP Linking Module operates in response to 1149.1 scan operations from a tester connected to the test pins to selectively switch between 1149.1 TAPs to enable test access between the tester and plurality of circuits. The TAP Linking Module's 1149.1 TAP switching operation is based upon augmenting 1149.1 instruction patterns to affix an additional bit or bits of information which is used by the TAP Linking Module for performing the TAP switching operation.
US08386861B2
Data errors in non-volatile memory inevitably increase with usage and with higher density of bits stored per cell. For acceptable quality assurance, conventional error correction codes (“ECC”) have to correct a maximum number of error bits up to the far tail end of a statistical population. The present memory is configured to have a first portion operating with less error but of lower density storage, and a second portion operating with a higher density but less robust storage. If excessive error bits (at the far tail-end) occur after writing a group of data to the second portion, the data is adaptively rewritten to the first portion which will produce less error bits. Preferably, the data is initially written to a cache also in the first portion to provide source data for any rewrites. Thus, a more efficient ECC not requiring to correcting for the far tail end can be used.
US08386854B2
A set of log entries is automatically inspected to determine a bug. A training set is utilized to determine clustering of log identifications. Log entries are examined in real-time or retroactively and matched to clusters. Timeframe may also be matched to a cluster based on log entries associated with the timeframe. Error indications may be outputted to a user of the system in respect to a log entry or a timeframe.
US08386853B2
A staggered execution environment is provided to safely execute an application program against software failures. In an embodiment, the staggered execution environment includes one or more probe virtual machines that execute various portions of an application program and an execution virtual machine that executes the same application program within a time delay behind the probe virtual machines. A virtualization supervisor coordinates the execution of the application program on one or more probe virtual machines. The probe virtual machines are used to detect and correct software failures prior to the execution virtual machine encountering them. The virtualization supervisor embargos output data in order to ensure that erroneous data is not released which may adversely affect external processes.
US08386847B2
A setup module saves disk signatures identifying cluster disks for at least one source volume to a device distinct from the cluster disks. A copy module copies data with a volume-level restore from at least one snapshot volume to the at least one source volume, overwriting the disk signatures identifying the cluster disks so that the cluster disks cannot be accessed. A reset module rewrites the saved disk signatures to the cluster disks.
US08386841B1
A computer-implemented method for improving redundant storage fault tolerance may include 1) identifying a plurality of storage devices storing an encoded set of data, with the encoded set of data including a redundant form of an underlying set of data, 2) determining that a subset of the plurality of storage devices have failed, 3) reconstructing encoded data lost due to the failure of the subset of the plurality of storage devices, and then 4) redundantly storing the reconstructed encoded data on the plurality of storage devices. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08386830B2
There is disclosed a high speed switching method for a disk image delivery system fail-over. A management server sends a disk image of an active server in advance to a standby server. When receiving a report that the active server has failed, the management server judges whether or not it is possible for the standby server to perform the service of the failed active server based on service provision management server information held by the management server and if possible, instructs the standby server to perform the service of the active server. Even if the disk image delivered in advance is different from the disk image of the failed active server, switching of the service to the standby server can be performed more quickly through resetting the setting values of unique information and installing the additional pieces of software on the standby server by the management server than redelivering an appropriate disk image.
US08386820B2
A system and method for integrated thermal monitoring in Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications. Headroom in a particular cable installation is identified using ambient temperature measurement alone or in combination with determined cable characteristics. In calculating an amount of headroom for a particular cable installation, the current capable of being carried over the cable would not be limited by worst-case cable assumptions.
US08386817B2
An information processing unit having an auto power-off function includes: a mode setting means for setting one mode from a plurality of pre-prepared power-saving modes in conformity with input by a user, wherein the plurality of power-saving modes includes a first mode and a second mode, and the first mode and the second mode differ in electricity consumption reduction effectiveness; a determination means for determining whether a non-operated state in which no input operation has been carried out by the user has continued for a predetermined time or longer; a processing execution means for executing internal processing; and a decision means for deciding whether or not to execute the auto power-off function based on the mode set by the mode setting means and internal processing executed by the processing execution means when the determination means has determined that the non-operated state has continued for a predetermined time or longer. A storage medium stores a computer program for power-saving management. A power-saving management method includes a mode setting step, a determination step, a processing execution step, and a decision step.
US08386812B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a Power Over Ethernet (PoE) device (PD) having a controller to receive signals over a first cable having twisted pair wires from at least one of a network element and a gateway where the network element is associated with a service provider where the gateway is associated with a premises and where the service provider provides network communications to the premises, adjust the signals, transmit the adjusted signals over a second cable having twisted pair wires to at least one of the network element and the gateway, and receive power from at least one of the network element and the gateway, where the power is received over at least one of the first and second cables, where the power is received according to PoE protocol, and where the PD is positioned between the network element and the gateway. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08386806B2
A device and system are disclosed. In one embodiment the device includes a programmable power supply management logic. The programmable power supply management logic is capable of managing a plurality of voltage regulators present in a computer system. Additionally, the power supply management logic is integrated into an input/output complex in the computer system.
US08386803B2
Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable storage media for obfuscating data based on a discrete logarithm. A system practicing the method identifies a clear value in source code, replaces the clear value in the source code with a transformed value based on the clear value and a discrete logarithm, and updates portions of the source code that refer to the clear value such that interactions with the transformed value provide a same result as interactions with the clear value. This discrete logarithm approach can be implemented in three variations. The first variation obfuscates some or all of the clear values in loops. The second variation obfuscates data in a process. The third variation obfuscates data pointers, including tables and arrays. The third variation also preserves the ability to use pointer arithmetic.
US08386801B2
A group of devices are fabricated based on a common design, each device having a corresponding plurality of measurable characteristics that is unique in the group to that device, each device having a measurement module for measuring the measurable characteristics. Authentication of one of the group of devices is enabled by selective measurement of one or more of the plurality of measurable characteristics of the device.
US08386800B2
This patent describes techniques usable by devices to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data to in a manner that provides security from external monitoring attacks. The encrypting device has access to a base secret cryptographic value (key) that is also known to the decrypting device. The sensitive data are decomposed into segments, and each segment is encrypted with a separate encryption key derived from the base key and a message identifier to create a set of encrypted segments. The encrypting device uses the base secret cryptographic value to create validators that prove that the encrypted segments for this message identifier were created by a device with access to the base key. The decrypting device, upon receiving an encrypted segments and validator(s), uses the validator to verify the message identifier and that the encrypted segment are unmodified, then uses a cryptographic key derived from the base key and message identifier to decrypt the segments. Derived keys and validators are produced using methods designed to preserve security even if cipher and hashing operations leak information. Embodiments for systems including SoCs, firmware loading, FPGAs and network communications are described.
US08386795B2
The present invention relates to an information security device of Universal Serial Bus (USB) Human Interface Device (HID) class and the data transmission method for the same. With a master chip that has a built-in HID descriptor and a USB interface chip connected to the master chip, the device of the present invention itself may be designed to be compact and easy to use, and provide powerful functions. With the USB HID interface, the device user does not need to install a driver and the user can use the device anywhere and anytime. And the user does not need to manage the driver whose version updates constantly, consider the compatibility of various product drivers, face the risk caused by the driver when running OS, and worry about the pollution to the system resulted from the installation and uninstallation of the driver. CPU, SCM or smart card chip used as the master chip ensures that the security of identity authentication is reliable. Moreover, the security of identity authentication device can be further improved by adding biometric identification module and/or the like.
US08386791B2
The invention relates to a secure data processing method comprising the steps of generating (E204; E304) a first random value (A1); executing (E206; E306) a first cryptographic algorithm (FK) using the first random value (A1); generating (E208; E308) a second random value (A2); executing (E210; E310) a second cryptographic algorithm (FK; GK) using the second random value (A2); and generating a result (V) to verify that the first algorithm (FK) was properly executed.
US08386783B2
A communication system performs a communication after establishing a channel from an external host device in an external network to an internal host device in an internal network, where a firewall blocks communications from the external host device in the external network to the internal host device in the internal network while selectively allowing communications from the internal network to the external network. The external host device includes a transmitting unit that transmits channel maintenance data to the internal host device when the channel needs to be maintained, with the channel maintenance data being used for maintaining the channel.
US08386782B2
The invention provides a method, system, device and computer program product for setting up a secure session among three or more devices or parties of a communication group, including authenticating a key agreement between the devices or parties of the communication group, wherein the devices of the group start, preferably after a key is computed or agreed, a protocol, preferably a multi-party data integrity protocol, for authenticating the key agreement.
US08386780B2
Cryptographic communication system including a sender terminal for encrypting and transmitting a message, a recipient terminal for receiving and decrypting the encrypted message, an agent terminal for decrypting the message in place of the recipient terminal, and a conversion server for supporting the agent terminal to decrypt the message. The sender terminal encrypts the message using a public key of the recipient terminal. Using a public key of the conversion server, a predetermined restricted condition, and a secret key for decryption of the message, the recipient terminal generates a delegation key allowing decryption of the message under the restricted condition and passes the delegation key to the agent terminal. The conversion server validates a power of the agent terminal to decrypt the message based on the information contained in the delegation key from the agent terminal. The agent terminal then decrypts the message with validation of the conversion server.
US08386769B2
An apparatus, and an associated method, enables presence information of a presentity to be retrieved by a watcher. Elements, or portions, of the presence information may be made selectively opaque (unreadable) to any but authorized watchers or other consumers of the presentity information.
US08386765B2
There is described a method for transmitting synchronization messages, for example PTP messages of the IEEE 1588 standard, the PTP message being inserted into a data packet in line with the Internet Protocol, the data packet having an IP header, and the data packet having a UDP header. In this case, for the encrypted transmission on the PTP message, the data packet is addressed to a UDP port that is reserved for encrypted PTP messages, the data packet is provided with an additional S-PTP header that is provided for encryption, the PTP message is extended with a pseudo random number, and the PTP message is encrypted together with the pseudo random number.
US08386761B2
A method for registering and initiating a pre-boot environment for enabling partitions. The method provides a basic input output system (CIOS) with an application program interface (API) that accesses a Logical Clock Address (LCA) sector number when a boot configuration flag is set, the LCA sector number stores an operating environment manager which then boots the information handling system to an appropriate partition.
US08386740B2
A system, and computer usable program product for modeling memory compression are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A subset of candidate pages is received. The subset of candidate pages is a subset of a set of candidate pages used in executing a workload in a data processing system. A candidate page is compressible uncompressed data in a memory associated with the data processing system. The subset of candidate pages is compressed in a scratch space. A compressibility of the workload is computed based on the compression of the subset of candidate pages. Page reference information of the subset of candidate pages is received. A memory reference rate of the workload is determined A recommendation is presented about a memory compression model for the workload in the data processing system.
US08386738B1
The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to non-volatile memory. Systems and techniques can include sending a sequence of data including an address to a non-volatile memory to request data and receiving data from the non-volatile memory. The data can include a first portion and a second, different portion. The systems and techniques can include determining, based at least on the first portion, whether the second portion includes valid access parameter information associated with the non-volatile memory.
US08386735B1
A system includes a first integrated circuit. The first integrated circuit includes a direct memory access (DMA) circuit, a first random access memory (RAM) that is accessed by the DMA circuit using DMA, a data/command terminal that communicates with the DMA circuit and that receives a selection signal, and an M-bit data terminal that communicates with the DMA circuit and that receives a write command during a first period when the selection signal has a first state, a write address during a second period when the selection signal has a second state that is different than the first state, and write data during T third periods when the selection signal has the second state. M is an integer greater than one and T is an integer greater than zero. The first period, the second period, and the T third periods are non-overlapping.
US08386732B1
A system provides a store process and method of operation that stores network management data collected from a managed resource by obtaining agent data collected by an agent from a managed resource in a network. The store process populates a set of adapters with the agent data, the set of adapters determined from the agent data collected from the managed resource. Based on the set of adapters populated with the agent data, the store process selects and applies at least one of a plurality of read mechanisms to read corresponding managed object data from a management database into managed objects that are to be synchronized with the agent data collected from the managed resource. The store process then synchronizes the agent data populated in the set of adapters with the managed object data in the management database.
US08386728B1
Methods and systems for prioritizing a crawl are described. One aspect of the invention includes a method for identifying a plurality of storage locations each comprising a plurality of articles, ranking the plurality of storage locations based at least in part on events associated with the plurality of articles, and crawling the storage locations based at least in part on the ranking. Another aspect of the invention includes identifying a plurality of storage locations each comprising a plurality of articles, identifying a plurality of types of the plurality of articles, ranking the plurality of storage locations based at least in part on the plurality of types of the plurality of articles; and crawling the storage locations based at least in part on the ranking.
US08386726B2
A computer implemented method for managing an execution mode for a parallel processor is provided. A monitor identifies a first efficiency rate for a first contested resource of the parallel processor operating in a first operating mode. Responsive to identifying the first efficiency rate for the first contested resource, the monitor identifies whether the first efficiency rate for the contested resource of the parallel processor operating in the first operating mode exceeds a threshold. Responsive to identifying that the efficiency rate for the contested resource exceeds the threshold, an operation of the parallel processor is changed to a second operating mode.
US08386722B1
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth an interface circuit configured to combine time staggered data bursts returned by multiple memory devices into a larger contiguous data burst. As a result, an accurate timing reference for data transmission that retains the use of data (DQ) and data strobe (DQS) signals in an infrastructure-compatible system while eliminating the cost of the idle cycles required for data bus turnarounds to switch from reading from one memory device to reading from another memory device, or from writing to one memory device to writing to another memory device may be obtained, thereby increasing memory system bandwidth relative to the prior art approaches.
US08386721B2
A storage includes: host interface units; file control processors which receives a file input/output request and translates the file input/output request into a data input/output request; file control memories which store translation control data; groups of disk drives; disk control processors; disk interface units which connect the groups of disk drives and the disk control processors; cache memories; and inter-processor communication units. The storage logically partitions these devices to cause the partitioned devices to operate as two or more virtual NASs.
US08386709B2
Embodiments of methods of protecting RAID systems from multiple failures and such protected RAID systems are disclosed. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Furthermore, one or more levels of RAID may be implemented within one or more of the data banks comprising the distributed RAID system.
US08386705B2
Systems and methods for replicating data from a first site to a second site remote from said first site are described. An embodiment includes storing compressed data on a hard disk appliance, reading said data without decompressing said data, sending said data over a wide-area-network (WAN) in a compressed state, and storing said data on a second hard disk appliance remote from said first hard disk appliance in its compressed state without performing an additional compression operation.
US08386694B2
A memory device comprises a controller having an interface and an MPU, and configured to enable transferring a device driver for a second access mode via the interface in a first access mode, the second access mode differently defined from the first access mode, and a semiconductor memory with the device driver stored thereon.
US08386688B2
A modular integrated circuit includes a hub module that is coupled to a plurality of spoke modules via a plurality of hub interfaces. The plurality of hub interfaces provide a plurality of signal interfaces between the hub module and each of the plurality of spoke modules, wherein each of the plurality of signal interfaces is isolated from each of the other signal interfaces of the plurality of signals interface, and wherein each of the plurality of signal interfaces operates in accordance with a common signaling format.
US08386681B2
The claimed subject matter can provide an architecture that interfaces a single slave device such as a UICC smartcard with multiple host controllers. For example, a secondary host can be interfaced between a primary host (e.g., a controller in a cellular phone, a PDA, an MP3 player . . . ) to manage all transactions with the slave device. The secondary host can operate transparently to the primary host and thus does not require any modifications to the primary host. This can be accomplished, e.g., by employing the CMD channel (which is relatively sparsely used by the primary host) to communicate both commands and data with the slave.
US08386664B2
Reducing runtime coherency checking using global data flow analysis is provided. A determination is made as to whether a call is for at least one of a DMA get operation or a DMA put operation in response to the call being issued during execution of a compiled and optimized code. A determination is made as to whether a software cache write operation has been issued since a last flush operation in response to the call being the DMA get operation. A DMA get runtime coherency check is then performed in response to the software cache write operation being issued since the fast flush operation.
US08386655B2
A method and an arrangement for configuration of a mobile appliance in a communication arrangement, with a communication address that is linked to its location in each case being assigned to the mobile appliance are provided. For this purpose, the location of the mobile appliance is determined in a first step, a configuration which is linked to the determined location is checked in a second step from a database, and this determined configuration is assigned to the mobile appliance in a third step.
US08386648B1
A hardware support system for implementing accelerated disk I/O for a computer system. The system includes a bus interface for interfacing with a processor and a system memory of the computer system, a disk I/O engine coupled to the bus interface, and a device interface coupled to the disk I/O engine for interfacing the disk I/O engine with a disk drive. The disk I/O engine is configured to cause a start up of the disk drive upon receiving a disk start up command from the processor. The disk I/O engine is further configured to execute a disk transaction by processing the disk transaction information from a bypass register coupled to the disk I/O engine.
US08386645B2
A method and network device to process network data is described. The method may comprise, when the network device is unable to process the network data, communicating a translation request including data for translation to a remote translator. The translation request may identify a format into which the network data is to be translated. Thereafter, the method comprises receiving translated data from the translator and processing the translated data. Further, a method and translation device to provide translated data to a network device is described. The method may comprise receiving at a translator a translation request from at least one network device wherein the translation request includes data to be translated. Thereafter, the method may identify a data schema associated with the received data and translate the received data into translated data corresponding to the identified data schema. The translated data is then communicated to the network device.
US08386642B2
Aspects of a method and system for networking are provided. In this regard, one or more circuits and/or processors in a network adapter of a first network device may determine whether to communicate traffic between virtual machines running on the first network device via a path that resides solely within the first network device, or via a path that comprises a second network device that is external to the first network device. The determination may be based, at least in part, on characteristics of the traffic. The determination may be based, at least in part, on capabilities and/or available resources of the network adapter. The determination may be based, at least in part, on management information exchanged between the one or more circuits and/or processors and one or more of: software running on the first network device, the second network device, and a third network device.
US08386637B2
Two or more network traffic processors connected with the same LAN and WAN are identified as neighbors. Neighboring network traffic processors cooperate to overcome asymmetric routing, thereby ensuring that related sequences of network traffic are processed by the same network proxy. A network proxy can be included in a network traffic processor or as a standalone unit. A network traffic processor that intercepts a new connection initiation by a client assigns a network proxy to handle all messages associated with that connection. The network traffic processor conveys connection information to neighboring network traffic processors. The neighboring network traffic processors use the connection information to redirect network traffic associated with the connection to the assigned network proxy, thereby overcoming the effects of asymmetric routing. The assigned network proxy handles redirected network traffic in much the same way that it would handle network traffic received directly.
US08386636B2
A prediction method for predicting a computer-resource usage amount with the use of a service call relation to be extracted from a business process definition. A resource allocation method includes, before adding a new business process to the system, steps of calculating the computer-resource predicted usage amount by using a computer-resource usage amount prediction step and of allocating a computer, as a new service execution computer, to a service execution computer whose computer-resource predicted usage amount has exceeded a predetermined value, the computer being different from the service execution computer.
US08386629B2
The invention relates to a method of distributing a non-live content stream in a network. The method comprises transmitting an initial meta-file in response to receiving a request for a non-live content stream. The initial meta-file comprises information, and the information identifies a division of the content stream, identifies a multicast source server and a unicast source server. The method also comprises transmitting at least a first portion of the non-live content stream using the multicast source server and at least a second portion of the non-live content stream using the unicast source server. Also, the invention relates to a system comprising a multicast source server adapted to transmit at least a first portion of the non-live content stream in response to transmission of an initial meta-file. The initial meta-file is transmitted in response to receiving a request for a non-live content stream.
US08386626B2
According to some embodiments, it may be determined, at a first processing element of a device with a plurality of processing elements, that first data is to be transmitted in association with a first network connection. A first entry associated with the first data may then be stored into a first of a plurality of transmit queues. It may subsequently be determined, at a second processing element of the device, that second data is to be transmitted in association with the first network connection. A second entry associated with the second data may then be stored into a second of the plurality of transmit queues.
US08386620B2
Methods, program products, and systems for ad hoc networking based on content and location are described. A user of a mobile device can identify another user using another mobile device who is close by, if both users have requested to participate in networking. Common interests and experiences of two or more users located close to each other can be identified from content, including automatically created usage data of the mobile devices. Usage data of a mobile device can be created based on activities performed on the mobile device (e.g., songs downloaded), a trajectory of the mobile device (e.g., places traveled), or other public data available from the mobile device (e.g., pictures shared). Each of the users can be notified that another user having the common interests and experiences is close by. A means of initiating communication can be provided to the users to facilitate communication between the users.
US08386615B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, there are provided a method, system and apparatus for joining a communication session. A method comprises receiving from a first communication device an indication of a desire of the first communication device to establish a communication session; the first communication device having been associated with a device group comprising the first communication device and at least one second communication device. The method further comprises determining if there exists an active communication session with the at least one second communication device. The method further comprises, responsive to existence of the active communication session, causing the first communication device to join the active communication session.
US08386614B2
Described herein is technology for, among other things, facilitating network communications. It involves various techniques for facilitating network communications by creating virtual named channels which allow applications and thereby users to communicate over a wide variety of networks interfaces without requiring specific knowledge or programming corresponding to the underlying network. Thus, the technology may provide a uniform interface to handle network connections on different types of computing devices and over different types of networks.
US08386612B2
Controlling live migration of a running application between a source machine and a target machine is provided. At least one application characteristic and at least one network characteristic are obtained. An objective function that defines a cost to migrate from the source machine to the target machine as a function such as a weighted combination of at least one cost property is obtained. The objective function is optimized using the at least one application characteristic and the at least one network characteristic to determine a policy specifying when to switch execution of the running application from the source machine to the target machine. Live migration of the application from the source machine is controlled to send pages from the source machine to the target machine in accordance with the policy, and to switch the execution of the application from the source machine to the target machine at a state specified by the policy.
US08386608B1
Receiving and executing at a server a script provided by a client, e.g., in a service request sent by a web services or other service client and/or consumer, is disclosed. In various embodiments, the script is configured to cause the server to do one or more of the following: pre-process at least a portion of the services request; post-process a response data associated with the services request; and replace an operation comprising the service at least in part with a replacement operation defined or identified at least in part in the script.
US08386602B2
Methods, systems and products are provided relevant alert delivery including assigning by an event analyzer each received event to an events pool; determining by the event analyzer in dependence upon event analysis rules and the events assigned to the events pool whether to suppress one or more of the events; identifying by the event analyzer in dependence upon event analysis rules and the events assigned to the events pool one or more alerts; sending by the event analyzer to an alert analyzer all the alerts identified by the event analyzer; assigning by the alert analyzer the identified alerts to an alerts pool; determining by the alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules and the alerts in the alert pool whether to suppress any alerts; and transmitting the unsuppressed alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.
US08386594B2
An embodiment may include network controller circuitry to be included in a first host computer that includes a host processor to execute an operating system environment. The circuitry may initiate, at least in part, one or more checkpoints of, at least in part, one or more states associated with, at least in part, the operating system environment and network traffic between the first host computer and a second host computer. The circuitry also may coordinate, at least in part, respective execution, at least in part, of the one or more checkpoints with respective execution of one or more other respective checkpoints of the second host computer. Of course, many alternatives, variations, and modifications are possible without departing from this embodiment.
US08386592B2
Program code enabling the streaming of HD content in real-time to a game console is stored on a storage medium remote from the game console. The game console executes software that facilitates transfer of the program code from the remote storage medium to the game console. The program code ensures that sufficient bandwidth exists on a network between the game console and a HD tuner, and enables the streaming of HD content in real-time to the game console.
US08386580B1
Various techniques are provided for selectively allocating a buffer adapted to be shared for storage media device data communications and downstream device data communications routed through a hub. For example, in one embodiment, a method includes detecting if one or more downstream devices are connected to one or more downstream device ports of the hub. The method also includes, if any downstream devices are detected: allocating a first portion of the buffer for a storage media device controller, allocating one or more second portions of the buffer for the detected downstream devices, wherein each of the second portions is associated with a corresponding one of the detected downstream devices, and passing the storage media device data communications between a host device and the storage media device controller through the first portion of the buffer and not the second portions of the buffer.
US08386575B2
A method of realizing uniqueness assurance includes: selecting a server to which a first message is to be transferred from multiple servers and transferring the first message to the selected server when the first message is received from a terminal apparatus by a load sharing apparatus; storing a second message that should be transferred to the same server as that of the first server when the second message is received from the terminal apparatus by the load sharing apparatus after the first message is transferred; generating uniqueness assurance information corresponding to the communication protocols corresponding to a session generated by the server to which the first message is transferred, the uniqueness assurance information indicating the correspondence between the session and the message corresponding to the session; and transferring the second message in accordance with the generated uniqueness assurance information if the stored second message exits.
US08386573B2
A method, computer program product, and computing system for receiving an indication of a data caching request. A local copy of a piece of remote content that is defined by a link within an email is cached onto an accessible storage device. The remote content is stored on a remote resource.
US08386572B2
A system and method for circumventing a do-not-disturb status of an instant messaging user including defining a trusted user. A do-not-disturb status of an instant messaging user is identified. The trusted user is allowed to circumvent the do-not-disturb status of the instant messaging user.
US08386571B2
Mail manufacturing virtualization is performed at a centralized routing site. This includes receiving, from at least one mailing source, electronic mailing data associated with at least one mailing and determining a mail routing distribution for the received electronic mailing data. Similarly, mail manufacturing virtualization includes routing the electronic mailing data to a plurality of output centers according to the determined mail routing distribution, where the plurality of output centers are configured to generate physical mail from the electronic mailing data and facilitating sending the physical mail to at least one respective recipient.
US08386570B2
An electronic mail communication device is used in connection with a server for communicating an electronic mail. The electronic mail communication device is provided with an input device that inputs an electronic mail communication command, a storage that stores information indicating whether or not an electronic mail communication through the server is enabled, and a communication control device. The communication control device outputs a signal to the server to establish connection with the server in a case where the electronic mail communication command is input to the input device while the information indicating the communication enable state is stored in the storage. The communication control device inhibits from outputting the signal to the server in a case where the electronic mail communication command is input to the input device while the information indicating the communication disable state is stored in the storage.
US08386569B2
A communications platform is disclosed containing a message processing platform along with an XML message format (SmartMessage) which provides for the reception, organization, summarization, filing, storage, synthesis, routing, formatting, and intelligent processing of XML-based electronic messages and SMTP electronic mail from corporations and other senders to fully integrate individuals' existing e-mail boxes, cellular telephones, paging equipment, facsimile machines, wireless and wired telephones, and other devices. The platform utilizes a nickname-based routing to enable device specific sending without knowledge of the specific device address. The platform provides sender-defined information folios, which enable synthesized filing, viewing and storage of all received SmartMessages, and the platform allows semi-private access control for the user, which allows access by others. The platform also utilizes a web-based user interface, which greatly simplifies the user's viewing, control and configuration of the individual user's particular platform.
US08386566B2
Provided is a method for controlling information shared in a virtual world by a server and a plurality of users' client terminals connected to each other through a network. In this information control method, a computer creates a third object between a first object and a second object in the virtual world when the first object and second object transmit communication information therebetween, and filters the information with the third object. In addition, when an object transmits visual information, the third object can be created around the object transmitting the visual information. The third object can be created as a pseudo wall.
US08386561B2
A website server computer hosting a website can identify a visitor to the website by using information provided by a visitor server computer that interacts with the visitor. The information provided by the server computer, in some embodiments, can be a combination of an IP address and characteristics of a computing device from where the visitor visits the website. In some embodiments, the IP address of the visitor server computer is used. In embodiments where the visitor may be sharing the computing device with other users, the characteristics may include at least one characteristic that is uniquely associated with the visitor. The website server computer can use a visitor identifier thus generated to start tracking the pages that the visitor requests during the session and can generate and customize pages for the visitor by using characteristics originated from the visitor.
US08386555B2
Systems and methods are provided for adapting a procedure call from a service manager to a service provider in a computer framework. An inbound procedure call is received, requesting an inbound procedure to operate on an object. Then, the inbound procedure is transformed to an outbound procedure based on a stored mapping of input procedures to output procedures. The outbound procedure is called from the service provider to operate on the object.
US08386549B1
Multistage Wiener filters (MWF) represent a component of the MWF as an un-normalized vector of filter coefficients within a finite impulse response (FIR) filter in a manner that avoids reliance on the 2-norm operation of the un-normalized vector of coefficients. The 2-norm operation can be replaced by less expensive operations performed elsewhere in the MWF. Preferably the filter adds only a few additional addition, subtraction and multiplication operations to compensate for the elimination of the square root and the division operations used for the 2-norm operation. As a result, it is possible to eliminate all or nearly all of the square rod and arithmetic division operations of at least some implementations of the MWF.
US08386548B2
An audio data processing device and method includes selecting one multiple-S-curves, and running an interpolation arithmetic upon original points according to the selected multiple-S-curve. Selecting one multiple-S-curve includes selecting one of a plurality of S-curves corresponding to a current utilization ratio of a processor, obtaining audio data having a fixed length including sampling frequencies and the original points of the obtained audio data, and selecting the one multiple-S-curves corresponding to the selected S-curve and the obtained sampling frequencies.
US08386542B1
A metric-converter watch device comprising a small watch-shaped housing having a display panel and a numeric keypad; and a microprocessor configured to perform mathematical operations and configured to convert a first English numeric value to a first metric numeric value and convert a second metric numeric value to a second English numeric value, wherein the microprocessor is operatively connected to a first conversion button, to a second conversion button, and the display panel, wherein the microprocessor is operatively connected to a battery, the battery being operatively connected to a solar panel disposed on the housing, wherein the solar panel provides power to re-charge the battery.
US08386539B2
A variable length data storage device enables clearly and quickly determining where there are breaks in variable length data even when such data is stored without gaps in a stored data file. A variable length data storage step stores variable length items, each containing variable length data including at the beginning the length of such data, without gaps in a stored data file. A marker management item registration step registers marker management items, each containing a break marker and the storage location of the variable length data corresponding to the break marker, in a marker management file. A marker identifier management item registration step registers marker identifier management items, each including a marker identifier composed of a predetermined number of characters from the beginning of the text string used as the break marker and the storage location of the break marker, in a marker management memory area.
US08386535B2
Techniques for allowing multiple organizations to register form templates at a central repository are provided. The form templates are then available for other organizations that require filled-out forms to be processed. Each organization registers a different form template with a cloud service. Later, other organizations upload, to the cloud service, scanned versions of filled-out forms. For each uploaded scan data, the cloud service determines which form template best matches the format of the uploaded scan data. The cloud service extracts certain values from the scan data based on the matching form template. The cloud service stores the extracted values in association with the organization that sent the scan data. The cloud service allows other devices to retrieve the extracted values.
US08386533B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with records management are described. One example method includes managing a relational database for compliance with record retention rules, where the relational database includes a table organized with rows and columns. The relational database provides options for designating rows for records management.
US08386529B2
This patent application relates to foreign-key detection. One implementation obtains a set of data tables. This implementation automatically determines foreign-key relationships of columns from separate tables of the set.
US08386525B2
An exemplary method and/or exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for bridging an asset over a multi-tiered network. Generally, communications can be maintained between executable assets residing on different network nodes by bridging the execution context of the two nodes. In an embodiment, a mapping layer can be generated for assets that have run-time dependencies; the mapping layer uses a distribution system to bridge the execution context of a first environment with that of a second environment. The asset executing in the first environment can access another resource located in the second environment, even though the asset does not have local access to the resource in the second environment. A fault is detected when at least one asset deployed on a local node attempts to access at least one resource on a remote node through an application programming interface. The fault is then handled appropriately.
US08386522B2
A row property provides a mechanism for implementing advanced functional behavior in a relational database management system (RDBMS) without introducing new data types. A row property is part of a table definition, such that, when a table is defined in the RDBMS, at least one row property is specified for one or more associated columns of rows of the table, wherein the row property has an associated functional behavior that is predefined within the RDBMS. The columns associated with the row property are generally of existing data types supported by an RDBMS. A row property may be invoked when the RDBMS processes a language statement that references the row property. When the row property is invoked, the RDBMS executes programming logic associated with the row property, in order to perform the advanced functional behavior using data stored in the associated columns.
US08386519B2
Computer based systems, methods, software and databases are presented in which correlations between web item preferences and pangenetic (genetic and epigenetic) attributes of individuals are used for pangenetic based web item recommendation in which a user can request and receive personalized online recommendations of web items that are based on the user's pangenetic makeup. Data masking can be used to maintain privacy of sensitive portions of the pangenetic data.
US08386517B2
A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for brokering information between a plurality of clients using identifiers defining a plurality of data constructs is disclosed. An exemplary method comprises accepting a new data construct from an authoring entity, assigning a globally unique identifier to the new data construct, storing the new data construct and the assigned globally unique identifier in a database, and brokering between the authoring entity and a second entity commercially distinct from the authoring entity to provide the second entity access to the new data construct by reference to the assigned globally unique identifier of the new data construct or to provide the authoring entity access to an at least one of a plurality of pre-existing data constructs for use with the new data construct by reference to a globally unique identifier of the existing data construct.
US08386509B1
A method and system for associating search keywords with interest spaces. According to one embodiment, a method may include detecting a request to access a given online content source, where the request includes referral information specifying one or more search keywords associated with the given online content source, where the given online content source is one of a plurality of online content sources included within an interest space, and where the interest space is identified dependent upon indications of user navigation activity among the plurality of online content sources. The method may further include extracting the one or more search keywords from the request and creating an association of the one or more search keywords with the interest space.
US08386507B2
A method and apparatus for intelligent caching is provided. A thin layer of business logic on a web server receives URL requests sent to the web server from clients and resolves the URLs into URLs corresponding to component parts of the requested document according to the rules of a rule set. Thus only the component resources of a composite document are cached in the web server's caching layer. The rule set defines a format for the requests sent to the web server, the manner in which properly formatted requests should be resolved, and the manner in which the component resources should be assembled into the composite document.
US08386502B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for providing a marketing identification system by enabling creating an entry for customer data in a way that allows searching of customer attributes, querying the customer data, retrieving data in response to the query, de-identifying and aggregating the retrieved data, and displaying the de-identified and aggregated data in a way that identifies the available market as defined by the query. The invention can be implemented via a stand-alone computing system or such a system interconnected with other platforms or data stores by a network, such as a corporate intranet, a local area network, or the internet.
US08386490B2
A method of classifying a set of semantic concepts on a second multimedia collection based upon adapting a set of semantic concept classifiers and updating concept affinity relations that were developed to classify the set of semantic concepts for a first multimedia collection. The method comprises providing the second multimedia collection from a different domain and a processor automatically classifying the semantic concepts from the second multimedia collection by adapting the semantic concept classifiers and updating the concept affinity relations to the second multimedia collection based upon the local smoothness over the concept affinity relations and the local smoothness over data affinity relations.
US08386481B1
A computer-implemented candidate assessment system is configured to identify the drive characteristics of a candidate having taken a personality test. The system includes a characteristic identification engine configured to identify at least a candidate achievement score, a candidate competitiveness score, and a candidate optimism score, a candidate assessment engine configured to determine a drive core skill score based on a combination of the candidate achievement score, candidate competitiveness score, and candidate optimism score. The drive score is determined with weighting using the achievement score. The system also includes a reporting engine configured to generate a profile report including the drive core skill score.
US08386478B2
Methods and systems for receiving feedback from a user regarding the relevance of search results to a search query are provided. The method includes presenting at least one search result responsive to a search query by the user, selecting ones of the at least one search result that are determined by the user to be relevant to the search query, and increasing a relevance ranking of the selected search results in future searches based on the determination.
US08386477B1
A system and machine-implemented method for determining a language intent of a user submitted query is provided. A user query comprising text is received and a location of the user based on the received user query is determined. At least one language usage signal from the text of the user query is identified. A strength of the at least one language usage signal is determined based on the received user query and the determined location of the user. When the strength of the at least one language usage signal is greater than a predetermined threshold, an output language for the query is adjusted based on the language usage signal. Results for the query are returned according to the output language.
US08386467B2
A system, method, and computer-readable medium for automatic and dynamic control of optimizer settings in a large complex system environment are provided. The described mechanisms significantly increase the potential of achieving Service Level Goals for classes of queries where optimizer aggression is needed. Confidence threshold parameters are automatically controlled to facilitate generation of query execution plans to conform with associated Service Level Goals.
US08386465B2
A system for decreasing the perceived end user latency while interacting with a database. The system comprises the database storing metadata associated with one or more of media, files, data, devices and services, a user interface operable to receive a user generated query selected from a plurality of user generated query options, the plurality of user generated query options representing at least one of a user selectable object displayed by the user interface, and a processor having a predictive module operable to generate at least one background query of the database prior to the user interface receiving the user generated query, the at least one background query correlating to at least one of the user generated query options. The predictive module compares the user generated query to the at least one background query prior to sending the user generated query to the database such that if the user generated query corresponds to the at least one background query the user interface displays a result to the at least one background query.
US08386464B2
A method and system is presented which provides a TDM framework for managing self-describing measurement data. The TDM framework provides applications with a central platform for accessing measurement data across an entire enterprise system. By means of individual plug-ins, which may be specific to a given data file format, meta-data for each data store in the enterprise may be indexed in a unified manner. The unified indexing, in turn, provides the ability to browse and query the indexed measurement data without requiring the opening or reading from a source data file.
US08386460B1
Crawling pages is disclosed. Pages are crawled up to a target number of pages. Additional pages, that have an importance that is equal to or greater than an importance threshold, are crawled beyond the target number of pages. In some embodiments, pages having an importance less than an importance threshold are deleted.
US08386458B2
A mobile terminal device capable of coupling to the Internet and a home network, includes: accompanying information storing means operable to store an image obtained by photographing and accompanying information pertaining to the image and the photographing; search request means operable to request a search server on the Internet to execute a search with the accompanying information as a keyword; search result storing means operable to temporarily store search result obtained from the search server; image composition means operable to create a composite image by combining the search result with the image obtained by the photographing; and transmission means operable to transmit the composite image to a specified output device on the home network.
US08386442B2
A scalable computer arrangement and method enables the accessing of stored information by utilizing algorithms. The validity of the algorithms and/or retrieved data are determined by a validity management module. The algorithm and/or the retrieved data may be updated, whereby self correction occurs dynamically over time with changing stored information. In another embodiment, the computer arrangement and method enable networked computer systems each including hyper objects employing embedded algorithms or rules for accessing information across the network in a standardized manner, even though the networked computer system databases may employ different schema and formats.
US08386436B2
One embodiment operates a computer system for storing and retrieving data from a data store. The computer system has a data manager device operable to manage patterns in the stored data along with pointers relating to the patterns in a manner which enables reconstruction of the stored data in original form.
US08386434B2
A method for establishing and maintaining a differential snapshot of a set of files stored on a volume is disclosed. The invention achieves processing time and disk space optimizations by avoiding copy-on-write operations for logically insignificant moves of blocks, such as the block rearrangements characteristic of defragmentation utilities. A file system enhancement enabling the passing of a block copy command from the file system to lower-level drivers, is used to inform the snapshotter that a block move operation is not logically meaningful. When the logically insignificant move is of a block whose data forms part of the data captured in the snapshot virtual volume, and when the move is to a block location that is functioning as logical free space, the snapshotter can simply modify its block bitmap and update translation table entries without needing to perform a copy-on-write.
US08386431B2
A system includes a database instance having a data storage system with a data store area storing first and second data partitions, where the respective data partitions each include a plurality of database pages storing respective tenant-independent/-specific data and respective first/second converters associated with the respective partitions. A database management system (DBMS) to receive a request for a database object and determine whether the database object is associated with tenant-independent data or with tenant-specific data. If the database object is associated with tenant-independent data, the DBMS determines a location of first database pages associated with the database object within the first plurality of database pages based on the first converter. Or if associated with tenant-specific data, the DBMS determines a location of second database pages associated with the database object within the second plurality of database pages based on the second converter. A method is also disclosed.
US08386430B1
A method of storing a file in memory so that the file can be recovered in the event of a memory failure is provided. A block of memory having a first predetermined memory size is allocated at a first device. A first header is defined that includes an identifier of a first file and a sequence value. The defined first header is written to the allocated block of memory, and a first cluster of the first file is written to the allocated block of memory. The first cluster has a second memory size that is smaller than the first predetermined memory size. The sequence value is updated, and a next cluster of the first file is identified. The process is repeated with the next cluster as the first cluster and with the updated sequence value as the sequence value until the first file has been written to the allocated block of memory.
US08386423B2
Embodiments are directed to synchronizing scopes between a source database and a target database without the target database specifying each scope that is to be synchronized and to determining scope changes based on service subscriptions. In one scenario, a source database receives from a target database a synchronization scopes policy corresponding to scope criteria provided by the target database. The synchronization scopes policy includes both the scope criteria and a version identifier that together identify a point-in-time snapshot of the set of scopes meeting the scope criteria as of the latest synchronization. The source database resolves the set of scopes last synchronized from the source database to the target database based on the synchronization scopes policy's scope criteria and version identifier. The source database synchronizes to the target database the changes to data in the resolved set of scopes.
US08386421B2
Architecture that addresses the efficient detection of conflicts and the merging of data structures such as trees, when possible. The process of detecting conflicts and merging the trees is a meld operation. Confluent trees offer transactional consistency with some degree of isolation, and scaling out a concurrent system based on confluent trees can be accomplished where the meld operation is more efficient than the transaction computations. Transactions execute optimistically using lazily versioned “intention trees” that efficiently describe dependencies and effects using structure and content version information for each intention subtree. The data structure is modified by melding the intention trees in sequence, which causes each transaction to either commit (producing an incremental new version of the data structure) or abort (identifying a conflict which prevents the intention tree from being melded). The architecture is computationally efficient and completes without needing to access much of each tree.
US08386413B2
A system for generating a media playlist comprising a media management module operable to select a first media item from a plurality of media items stored in a media database for playback; and using raw user input data representing a measure of the popularity of the first media item, generate preference data representing a refined user preference for the first media item; wherein the preference data is used to determine a second media item from the plurality of media items for playback.
US08386405B2
A method for interacting with a person, the method comprising: receiving a user textual input; matching a structured representation of the user textual input against expected user statement fields of knowledge database entries; wherein a knowledge database entry comprises an expected user statement field and at least one action field; wherein multiple entries of the knowledge database form a data structure that comprises multiple expected user statements fields that match an expected sequence of user textual inputs.
US08386402B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for identifying cyclical behaviors are provided. A method includes defining a time-based set of splines in an equation for a dataset, identifying a periodicity of a cycle derived from implementing the time-based set of splines on the dataset, and taking a responsive action as a result of identifying the periodicity of the cycle.
US08386400B2
A method and apparatus for clustering a plurality of data elements. The method comprises receiving a plurality of cluster elements, each cluster element containing at least a data element; generating a clustering score for each cluster element of the plurality of cluster elements versus all other cluster elements of the plurality of cluster elements using a computing device; determining a size of a diagonal matrix having a size corresponding to the number of the plurality of cluster elements; placing the clustering score in a diagonal matrix in storage one clustering score for each pair of cluster elements; creating a new cluster element for each two cluster elements in the diagonal matrix having a clustering score that exceeds a threshold; and storing generated new cluster elements in the storage.
US08386398B1
Advertising pricing based on campaign goal progress and/or achievement. Surveys conducted during campaign initiation can determine baseline statistics for goals. Periodic surveys during and after the campaign can be used to measure progress toward a goal and/or whether the goal has been achieved. Pricing of the campaign can be tied to goal progress and/or achievement. In one implementation, lift in brand awareness among an audience can be a campaign goal that is measured. Survey results are integrated into an ad server for running display ads on a publisher website and the advertiser only pays for percentage point lifts in reader awareness.
US08386397B1
Various embodiments of a system and method for constraint-based reduction of a solution space for vehicle routing are described. Embodiments may include a system configured to identify sets of redundant routes within a solution space. For each given set of redundant routes, the system may utilize one or more constraints associated with conveying shipments on routes of the given set in order to eliminate one or more routes of that set from consideration. For each of multiple routes of the given set that have not been eliminated from consideration, the system may determine a respective cost associated with utilizing that route. The system may also, in response to determining that the cost associated with a particular route that has not been eliminated from consideration is less than the cost associated with other routes that have not been eliminated from consideration, add the particular route to a reduced solution space.
US08386396B2
Described herein are systems and methods for bidirectional matching. In overview, various embodiments provide software, hardware and methodologies underlying a bidirectional matching approach that implements a multi-level importance weighting procedure. Generally speaking, potential relationships between parties are scored on the basis of criterion matches. In some embodiments, a value is assigned to each criterion match based on a function of predefined factor, which is optionally experientially defined, and a further factor, which is defined based on individual preferences.
US08386389B2
Service delivery systems and methods are described. In one aspect, a service delivery system includes a set of tokens, a database, multiple terminals, and a service manager. Each of the tokens includes a respective token identifier. The database stores personal user profiles each of which is associated with a respective token identifier. The terminals are distributed about a selected locale. Each terminal has a reader that is operable to read token identifiers from tokens and a controller that is operable to transmit read token identifiers and context data identifying one or more conditions under which a token identifier is read through a network connection each time a token identifier is read. The service manager is connected to each of the terminals through a respective network connection and to the database. The service manager is operable to invoke one or more services in response to receipt of a token identifier from a transmitting terminal to collect data selected based at least in part upon context data received from the transmitting terminal.
US08386385B2
Apparatus and methods provide an accumulator that processes electronic payments from an employer to a recipient via a network. The payments processed may be, for example, child support payments collected from an employee by the employer. The employer may submit one transaction made up of payments collected from multiple employees bound for multiple recipients and the accumulator may receive, translate, batch, and deliver the payments to the multiple recipients. The accumulator, employers, and recipients may communicate via a network such as the Internet.
US08386379B2
The present disclosure generally relates to financial data processing, and in particular it relates to lender credit scoring, lender profiling, lender behavior analysis and modeling. More specifically, it relates to rating lenders based on data derived from their respective consumers. Also, the present disclosure relates to rating consumer lenders based on the predicted spend capacity of their consumers.
US08386374B2
A method of creating and trading packaged standard option collars on an exchange is provided, as well as a trading facility for trading such packaged standard option collars. Collars are created by identifying an underlying asset, a first leg of a collar is determined by determining the desired strike price for the first leg and selecting a standard option contract traded on the exchange having a strike price closest to the desired strike price. The second leg is determined by selecting another standard option, the opposite of the first leg, having an option price substantially offsetting the option price of the first leg. Once the legs of the collar have been selected the collar package may be listed on the exchange, and orders for the collars may be processed by matching orders for opposite positions in the collar.
US08386369B2
A computer-implemented method for determining an optimal award schedule for satisfaction of energy efficiency and energy supply requirements for a portfolio of one or more buildings. A first auction is conducted so as to receive over a computer network, from one or more prospective efficiency suppliers, a plurality of first bids for the provision of energy efficiency, each such first bid specifying an amount of energy saved and a cost. A computer is used to determine a schedule of remaining portfolio energy supply requirements that would remain after the provision of energy efficiency from at least a plurality of the first bids. A second auction is then run so as to receive over the computer network, from one or more prospective energy suppliers, one or more second bids for a plurality of the remaining portfolio energy supply requirements, each such second bid specifying a cost. A computer is then used to determine the lowest cost combination of a first bid and a second bid that satisfies the portfolio energy requirement.
US08386365B2
An interactive online funding method includes providing an interactive online funding platform, offering an interactive funding activity for a user to participate in the interactive online funding platform, by placing a bid, and comparing the bid price of the user with a threshold price set by the interactive online funding platform. When the bid price is greater than or equal to the threshold price, the method further includes utilizing the interactive online funding platform to perform settlement and liquidation to remit a loan amount to the user according to at least the bid price; when the bid price is lower than the threshold price, the method further includes utilizing the interactive online funding platform to perform settlement and liquidation to receive a deposit amount from the user according to the bid price.
US08386363B2
The vehicular data exchange system of the present invention includes a plurality of computer terminals and a processor. Each of the computer terminals include an input device for inputting the vehicular data and a display device for visually displaying the inputted vehicular data which include vehicular characteristics data units and vehicular financial data units. The processor controls the vehicular data whereby the vehicular characteristics data units inputted into a first one of the computer terminals are transmitted to a plurality of other ones of the computer terminals for display on respective ones of the display devices associated with the other ones of the computer terminals. The processor also controls the vehicular data whereby vehicular financial data units inputted to at least a responding one of the other ones of the computer terminals in response to the vehicular characteristics data units displayed on the display device of the at least responding one of the other ones of the computer terminals are transmitted to the first one of the computer terminals for display on the display device associated with the first one of the computer terminals. A method of implementing the present invention is also described.
US08386359B2
System, method, and program products offer flexibility to the rather rigid way of trading in an electronic trading system. Orders for a tradeable object may typically get matched according to set terms and/or conditions at an electronic exchange. A trader may log onto the electronic exchange to trade the tradeable object, and may choose to display and trade the tradeable object according to a different set of terms and/or conditions. As such, the market data sent to the trader from the exchange is converted to a format according to the trader's selection, so that it may be presented to the trader in this format. Transaction messages sent to the exchange from the trader are converted to the format readable by the matching process, so that it can process the messages. Other features and advantages are described herein.
US08386358B1
The APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A RISK-ADJUSTED RETURN MAXIMIZING INVESTMENT STRUCTURE (“RAR-MAX”) transform market data, client's investment request inputs, and/or the like via RAR-MAX components into transaction record, investment return outputs, and/or the like). A method is disclosed, comprising: formulating a portfolio of a plurality of contract positions; determining hedge roll dates for each contract position in the portfolio; determining a first expiring financial instrument on a first hedge roll date; determining a first plurality of parameters for a first new financial instrument; rolling the first expiring financial instrument to the first new financial instrument associated with the determined first plurality of rollover parameters on the first hedge roll date; determining a second expiring financial instrument on a second hedge roll date; determining a second plurality of parameters for a second new financial instrument; and rolling the second expiring financial instrument to the second new financial instrument associated with the determined second plurality of rollover parameters on the second hedge roll date.
US08386356B2
Method for the calculation of performance data for a private equity fund, including acquiring input data for a first transaction of cash flow patterns during a term of the fund, having a plurality subperiods having a value for contribution and a value for the distribution in each subperiod; acquiring input data for a plurality of rates of interest; calculating a first value for an average duration of contributions and a second value for an average duration of distributions; calculating a third value for a net duration of said first transaction; calculating a bullet transaction equivalent to the first transaction, by calculating a fourth value for a bullet investment paid at the time represented by the first value and a fifth value for a bullet reimbursement received at the time represented by the second value; and calculating a sixth value for a duration adjusted return on capital.
US08386353B2
Systems and methods to authenticate and process requests received via social networking websites. In one aspect, a system includes a data storage facility to store data associating a first phone number of a user with an identification of the user in a social networking website; and an interchange coupled with the data storage facility. The interchange includes a common format processor and a plurality of converters to interface with a plurality of controllers of mobile communications. The converters communicate with the controllers in different formats and with the common format processor in a common format. The common format processor receives a request including the identification of the user, identifies the first phone number of the user based on the data stored on the data storage facility, and uses the converters to communicate with a mobile phone at the first phone number to confirm the request.
US08386349B2
A portable consumer device includes a base, and a computer readable medium on the base. The computer readable medium comprises code for an issuer verification value and a supplemental verification value. The issuer verification value is used by an issuer to verify that the portable consumer device is authentic in an on-line transaction and the supplemental verification value is used to verify that the portable consumer device is authentic in an off-line transaction.
US08386347B2
A system for tracking a number of items borrowed or rented by customers includes a chute reading identification data from each item as the item is returned through the chute by the customer. Data records associated with the returned items are updated to indicate the items are available, even before the items can be restocked. The time at which an item is returned may be compared with a time at which it is due, with an additional fee being added to an account of a customer borrowing or renting an item that is returned late.
US08386345B2
Techniques to generate invoices for “events” (e.g., activities, orders, and so on) and taking into account applicable entitlements. The events are for actions and/or transactions to be performed, and may be related to contracts having entitlements that may specify special pricing for the events. An entitlement may define what event items are covered (e.g., time, expenses, parts), and the amount that is covered and the applicable discounts for each event item. To generate invoices for the events, contracts applicable to the events are initially determined and any entitlements that cover the events are identified. An original invoice amount for each event may be initially determined based on a standard pricing scheme (e.g., based on standard Price and/or Rate Lists) for this type of event. A revised invoice amount and discounts (if any) may then be determined for the event based on the applicable entitlements (if any).
US08386335B1
Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for cross-referencing comments. In one aspect, a method includes, identifying unstructured text in a document associated with a first product or provider, in the unstructured text, identifying, by the one or more computers, a reference to a second product or provider different from the first product or provider, determining a relationship between the first product or provider and the second product or provider based on content of the unstructured text, and providing an indication of the relationship for display on a document associated with the first product or provider or the second product or provider.
US08386320B2
A system and method are provided for qualifying leads originating from an advertisement published online. The system is configured to track certain events relative to an advertisement. Tracked event data may be recorded to a database.
US08386318B2
Peer to peer interactions are a popular way of social networking. Such peer to peer interactions play an important role in (a) obtaining relevant and latest information; (b) obtaining relevant experiential information; (c) obtaining of relevant opinions on, say, products; (d) collaborative problem solving, and so on. Consider a scenario of classified ads: a user visiting a portal through a mobile phone to decide on buying of a product can be well assisted by facilitating peer to peer interactions. In many situations, it is required to make the right selection of peers in order to be able to obtain the right information, and furthermore, voice is a preferred mode of interaction if mobile phones are used in peer to peer interactions. Also, in peer to peer interactions, anonymity is important in order to protect the privacy of the peers. A system and method for supporting peer interactions, especially in a mobile scenario involving classified ads, need to address the issues related to (a) selecting and displaying of the right information; (b) selecting of right peers; and (c) facilitating anonymous peer interactions.
US08386310B2
A system is described for measuring web traffic relating to an offline advertising campaign. The system may include a processor and a memory. The memory may be operatively connected to the processor and may store an offline advertising campaign of an advertiser, a time period, a set of users and web traffic data. The processor may identify the offline advertising campaign, and the period of time the offline advertising campaign was available to a set of users. The processor may measure the web traffic related to the offline advertising campaign of the users during the time period.
US08386302B1
Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between task requesters who have tasks available to be performed and task performer users who are available to perform tasks, such as interactions that enable improvement of unsatisfactory task performance results from human task performer users. In some situations, after a task performer user has generated initial results from performance of a task supplied by a task requester, the task requester indicates that the initial results are only partially satisfactory (e.g., only partially satisfy one or more criteria for the task performance results), and may result in only a partial payment rather than a full payment amount associated with fully satisfactory performance of the task. The task requester may also supply information to provide one or more opportunities to the task performer user to supply additional improved supplemental results (e.g., so as to receive the full payment amount).
US08386300B2
Systems, devices, and methods are provided for workforce planning models. Technologies are described to manage human capital decisions. Decision making models and related tools are described that support the development and implementation of workforce strategies, programs and policies. In one model, resources may be allocated to specific practices (policies, programs, initiatives, organizational culture) used to attract and retain valued employees. Resources may be increased or decreased until the optimal allocation of resources is found that is most likely to enable the achievement of specific goals (e.g., attraction, retention, readiness, and representation).
US08386295B2
A method and apparatus for checking the correctness of GIS data. The method includes the steps of: receiving GIS data; receiving business data of each branch; determining the geographic area to which each branch belongs, wherein the GIS data in the geographic area will be checked; and, checking whether the GIS data of the geographic area to which each branch belongs are correct based on the business data of each branch. The method and apparatus can automatically check geographic and demographic data of a given city or region.
US08386292B2
A system and method for triggering a process in an enterprise system. The present invention includes a computer-implemented method, in which an application triggers the execution of a process in response to an external signal indicating a status change. An alternate method includes executing a process in response to an external signal and providing a user interface to each user associated with the process so the user can manage the user's process data. Examples of implementations of the present invention include a credit card system, an RFID tag system, an electronic tollgate system, an automated callback system, and an inventory transport system.
US08386284B2
A system, method and computer program product provides for accurate demand modeling and forecasting in retail categories using retail sales data sets with missing data values, in order to enable a variety of retail decision-support applications.
US08386283B2
A method and system for integration of real-time field data in chemical delivery vehicle operations is disclosed. Initially, information for a plurality of regions designated for chemical delivery is received at a command center, each of the plurality of regions having a defined boundary. Real-time and forecast environmental conditions are utilized in conjunction with prior and real-time field data to rank each of the plurality of regions. One or more chemical delivery vehicles are automatically selected and dispatched to one or more of the plurality of regions. When the one or more chemical delivery vehicles are within the defined boundary of one of the plurality of regions for chemical delivery, region specific chemical delivery procedures incorporating real-time environmental conditions are automatically calculated and initiated.
US08386279B2
A system for managing an insurance scheme includes a calculation module to, on the occurrence of an insured event for an insured person, calculate a subsidy for expenses for the insured person or a nominated beneficiary. The subsidy is calculated by accessing data defining a plurality of categories of expenses and determining for each category a spend amount. The spend amount is either an average historical spend amount over a period of time prior to the insured event or an actual spend amount for a period of time after the insured event. A percentage is then calculated using the insured person's participation with a wellness program. Finally, the amount of the subsidy is calculated by multiplying the percentage by the spend amount. A payment module effects payment of the subsidy to the insured person, the nominated beneficiary or a third party goods or services provider.
US08386275B2
Devices, systems, and methods for automatic pill dispensing are disclosed herein. An exemplary automatic pill dispensing device includes a temporary storage compartment, a feeding assembly, a dispensing route, a plurality of optical sensors, and a controller. The temporary storage compartment stores pills that are to be counted and eventually dispensed into a pill bottle. The feeding assembly is coupled to the temporary storage compartment and can move or stop the flow of pills into the dispensing route where the plurality of optical sensors count the pills as they pass by the light beams thereof. The controller receives a count from the plurality of optical sensors and stops the feeding assembly when a predetermined count of pills has been reached.Systems and methods utilizing the pill dispensing devices include incorporating a centralized computer and a conveyor belt system to accurately and efficiently dispense a plurality of pill types into pill bottles.
US08386273B2
A shared object is newly created in a unified format with respect to past medical information that is effective in a photographing step or a report creating step. Since the shared object can include a position determination image, unique object information, body coordinates information, a photographing condition, a image creating condition, and key image information, it is possible to automatically set the same photographing condition, photographing range, a tomographic position to be photographed, and image creating condition as those in a past test by using the information described above.
US08386269B2
An audio encoder and decoder use architectures and techniques that improve the efficiency of multi-channel audio coding and decoding. The described strategies include various techniques and tools, which can be used in combination or independently. For example, an audio encoder performs a pre-processing multi-channel transform on multi-channel audio data, varying the transform so as to control quality. The encoder groups multiple windows from different channels into one or more tiles and outputs tile configuration information, which allows the encoder to isolate transients that appear in a particular channel with small windows, but use large windows in other channels. Using a variety of techniques, the encoder performs flexible multi-channel transforms that effectively take advantage of inter-channel correlation. An audio decoder performs corresponding processing and decoding. In addition, the decoder performs a post-processing multi-channel transform for any of multiple different purposes.
US08386267B2
A technique of improving the degree of freedom of controlling the accuracy of encoding a stereo signal. In a stereo signal encoding device, a sum/difference calculation section generates a monophonic signal which is the sum of first and second channel signals constituting a stereo signal and a side signal which is the difference between the first channel signal and the second channel signal. A mode setting section generates mode information that indicates either a monophonic encoding mode or a stereo encoding mode. A core layer encoding section, a first extended layer encoding section, a second extended layer encoding section, and a third extended layer encoding section individually carry out the monophonic encoding using the monophonic signals or the stereo encoding using both the monophonic signal and the side signal depending on the mode information, and output to a multiplexing section the resultant encoded information from the core layer to the third extended layer.
US08386262B2
A system and method are disclosed that improve automatic speech recognition in a spoken dialog system. The method comprises partitioning speech recognizer output into self-contained clauses, identifying a dialog act in each of the self-contained clauses, qualifying dialog acts by identifying a current domain object and/or a current domain action, and determining whether further qualification is possible for the current domain object and/or current domain action. If further qualification is possible, then the method comprises identifying another domain action and/or another domain object associated with the current domain object and/or current domain action, reassigning the another domain action and/or another domain object as the current domain action and/or current domain object and then recursively qualifying the new current domain action and/or current object. This process continues until nothing is left to qualify.
US08386245B2
There is provided a speech encoder for performing an algorithm that comprises obtaining (205) a plurality of open-loop pitch candidates from a current frame of a speech signal, the plurality of open-loop pitch candidates including a first open-loop pitch candidate and a second open-loop pitch candidate; obtaining (205) a voicing information from one or more previous frames; and selecting (280) one of the plurality of open-loop pitch candidates as a final pitch of the current frame using the voicing information from the one or more previous frames. In one aspect, the voicing information from the one or more previous frames includes a previous pitch of the one or more previous frames. In a further aspect, selecting the final pitch of the current frame includes selecting (210) an initial open-loop pitch from that has the maximum long-term correlation value.
US08386244B2
The present invention provides a system and method for representing quasi-periodic (“qp”) waveforms comprising, representing a plurality of limited decompositions of the qp waveform, wherein each decomposition includes a first and second amplitude value and at least one time value. In some embodiments, each of the decompositions is phase adjusted such that the arithmetic sum of the plurality of limited decompositions reconstructs the qp waveform. These decompositions are stored into a data structure having a plurality of attributes. Optionally, these attributes are used to reconstruct the qp waveform, or patterns or features of the qp wave can be determined by using various pattern-recognition techniques. Some embodiments provide a system that uses software, embedded hardware or firmware to carry out the above-described method. Some embodiments use a computer-readable medium to store the data structure and/or instructions to execute the method.
US08386243B2
A method and system for regenerating wideband speech from narrowband speech. The method comprises: receiving samples of a narrowband speech signal in a first range of frequencies; modulating received samples of the narrowband speech signal with a modulation signal having a modulating frequency adapted to upshift each frequency in the first range of frequencies by an amount determined by the modulating frequency wherein the modulating frequency is selected to translate into a target band a selected frequency band within the first range of signals; filtering the modulated samples using a high pass filter to form a regenerated speech signal in the target band, wherein the lower limit of the high pass filter defines the lowermost frequency in the target band; and combining the narrow band speech signal with the regenerated speech signal in the target band to regenerate a wideband speech signal.
US08386238B2
A sequence of characters may be evaluated to determine the presence of a natural language word. The sequence of characters may be analyzed to find a subsequence of alphabetical characters. Based on a statistical model of a natural language, a probability that the subsequence is a natural language word may be calculated. The probability may then be used to determine if the subsequence is indeed a natural language word.
US08386235B2
A system and method for translating source data from a source language to a target language. The source data is uploaded by a user and received by the translation system after proper user authentication. The source data is fragmented into source segments that can be separately translated. Revision control is provided by locking each source segment so that each source segment is not subject to multiple translations at any given time. A segment status is applicable to each one of the segments. Upon completion of translation, each source segment is recombined into a single target data.
US08386232B2
A method for predicting results for input data based on a model that is generated based on clusters of related characters, clusters of related segments, and training data. The method comprises receiving a data set that includes a plurality of words in a particular language. In the particular language, words are formed by characters. Clusters of related characters are formed from the data set. A model is generated based at least on the clusters of related characters and training data. The model may also be based on the clusters of related segments. The training data includes a plurality of entries, wherein each entry includes a character and a designated result for said character. A set of input data that includes characters that have not been associated with designated results is received. The model is applied to the input data to determine predicted results for characters within the input data.
US08386226B2
Systems, methods, and instructions encoded in a computer-readable medium can perform operations related to stochastic simulation of subterranean fracture propagation. A plurality of subterranean formation models, each representing a subterranean formation, are analyzed to obtain information on predicted results of applying an injection treatment to the subterranean formation. Each of the analyzed subterranean formation models is generated by simulating forces acting on rock blocks of the subterranean formation during the injection treatment. Each simulation has an input parameter value determined for that simulation based on sampling a distribution of values for a characteristic of the subterranean formation. The characteristic may include, for example, a natural fracture parameter. The information on the predicted results of applying the injection treatment may include, for example, an output probability distribution. In some implementations, the information may be used to design an injection treatment for the subterranean formation.
US08386218B2
Disclosed are an apparatus and method for visualizing subsurface velocity structure by processing signals through waveform inversion in the Laplace-Fourier domain, and a recording medium storing a program for implementing the method. A receiver receives a seismic signal from a target region, and a signal processor processes the seismic signal to generate image data for visualizing the subsurface structure of the target region. The signal processor performs the waveform inversion in the Laplace-Fourier domain, thereby obtaining a velocity model similar to an true structure of the target region.
US08386213B2
A dynamics simulation device for dynamically simulating physical interactions acting on a plurality of objects under an environment where the objects coexist is disclosed. The device includes: nominal value providing means for providing a nominal value Λn of an operational space inertial matrix; nominal inertial force calculating means for calculating a nominal inertial force acting on the operational space by the use of the nominal value Λn of the operational space inertial matrix and a target acceleration value of the physical quantity x; a disturbance observer estimating forces other than the nominal inertial force acting on the operational space as a disturbance; and means for calculating the force f acting on the physical quantity on the basis of the nominal inertial force and the estimated disturbance fd.
US08386210B2
A method for obtaining an optimized process solution from a set of design of experiments in a cost effective manner is provided. An actual experiment is performed and data from the experiments is obtained. Through statistical analysis of the data, coefficients are obtained. These coefficients are input into an experiment simulator where input parameters and conditions are combined with the coefficients to predict an output for the input parameters and conditions. From simulated results, conclusions can be drawn as to sets of input parameters and conditions providing desired results. Thereafter, physical experiments utilizing the input parameters and conditions may be performed to verify the simulated results.
US08386209B2
A test system (1) comprises a system-on-chip with a memory (7) for storing sample data; and a dynamic test engine (4) to control input of dynamic test waveforms including sinusoidal waveforms to an ADC under test (15) and to determine device under test dynamic parameters by analysing the samples. A linear test engine (5) determines device under test (15) static parameters, and controls input of ramp input waveforms to the ADC. A test controller (2) performs finite sate machine control of testing including applying test waveforms, dumping samples to the memory (7), and retrieving static and dynamic results. A DAC (3) generates controlled waveform generation under instructions from the test engines, and an interface (10) communicates with an external host. The components are linked with a bus (11) and are modular. The test system (1) is adapted to re-use the memory (7) for both test sample acquisition, and operation of the device under test (15) is adapted to enable re-use circuits in order to minimize logic overheads and maximize use other than ADC test and measurement. The linear and dynamic test engines (5, 4) perform parallel linear and dynamic testing in which dynamic testing sample acquisition and processing takes place during application of a ramped input for linear testing.
US08386208B2
A method and apparatus for determining a trigger in a test and measurement apparatus are provided. The method includes the steps of indicating one or more anomalies to be found, loading a first trigger configuration to the test and measurement apparatus and determining for a first predetermined time period whether an input signal generates a trigger related to one or more of the one or more anomalies. A second trigger configuration is loaded to the test and measurement apparatus upon the conclusion of the first predetermined time, and for a second predetermined time it is determined whether the input signal generates a trigger related to one or more of the one or more anomalies.
US08386207B2
An open-service based test execution framework that is based on disconnected architecture, with agent-initiated “REST” connectivity. Further contemplated herein are systems and methods for “unified resource store access” test management, distribution and execution.
US08386202B2
A communication device, for connecting one or more electrical appliances to a remote service centre, comprises a control unit (AMC), means (PLG) for connecting the device (HG) to an alternating voltage electric mains network (Vac) and means (SK) for supplying the alternating mains voltage (Vac) to a power supply line of an electric appliance. The device (HG) further comprises first communication means (CSA), prearranged for receiving information possibly generated by the electric appliance and transmitted through the power supply line thereof, second communication means (ZB), prearranged for establishing a connection with a local area network (HN1) and third communication means (GGM), prearranged for establishing a connection with a further communication network, different from the local network (HN1), to which the remote service center is connected. The control unit (AMC) is prearranged for acquiring by means of the first communication means (CSA), first information possibly generated by the electric appliance and transmitted through the power supply line thereof and/or second information regarding electric energy consumptions associated to the operation of is the electric appliance, acquiring, by means of the second communication means (ZB), third information possibly available on the local network (HN1), and transmitting to the remote center (RMC), by means of the third communication means (GGM), at least one of the first, second and third information.
US08386192B2
There is provided a system for supporting the assessment as to which disease group the subject to be examined falls in or what position in the whole disease group the subject is in. This support system comprises the data storage part which stores feature values of optical bio-measurement data of many subjects including patients in multiple disease groups, the analysis part which extracts plural kinds of feature values from the optical bio-measurement data and the display part which displays the results of analysis in the analysis part associated with the dictionary data, wherein the display part produces a scatter diagram on which features values of the dictionary data are plotted, with one of the two feature values being plotted along the axis of abscissa and the other along the axis of ordinate, and displays the positions of the subject to be assessed on the scatter diagram superimposed on the scatter diagram. With this scatter diagram, the relationship between the features of the subject and the feature of the disease group can be known in one glance.
US08386191B2
Provided is a method for quantifying an initial concentration of a nucleic acid from a real-time nucleic acid amplification data. Nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) extracted from organism or virus is amplified using an enzyme. Then, the initial concentration of the nucleic acid is found by calculating the characteristic amplification cycle number or the characteristic amplification time at which the fluorescence intensity of the nucleic acid subtracted by the background fluorescence intensity of the nucleic acid has half of its maximum value, or the characteristic amplification cycle number or the characteristic amplification time at which the amplification efficiency has the maximum or the minimum value, or the prior-to-amplification fluorescence intensity of the nucleic acid subtracted by the background fluorescence intensity of the nucleic acid. Accordingly, the initial concentration of the nucleic acid can be calculated without differentiation or integration.
US08386189B2
Techniques for analyzing one or more protein structures. In one aspect of the invention, the technique comprises the following steps. A normalized second-order hydrophobic moment is determined for a protein structure. The normalized second-order hydrophobic moment is then used for analysis of the protein structure. A scoring function in accordance with the normalized second-order hydrophobic moment for the protein structure may be determined. A score for the protein structure may then be generated using the scoring function. The scoring function may represent an integral of the normalized second-order hydrophobic moment. The scores may be generated for a plurality of protein structures. The scores generated for the plurality of protein structures may then be compared.
US08386188B2
Embodiments include a system for determining cardiovascular information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system configured to receive patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart, and create a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of the patient's heart based on the patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may be further configured to create a physics-based model relating to a blood flow characteristic of the patient's heart and determine a fractional flow reserve within the patient's heart based on the three-dimensional model and the physics-based model.
US08386187B2
Methods, reports and systems for generating insulin resistance indexes for assessing decreased insulin sensitivity and/or levels of insulin resistance using a plurality of different measured lipoprotein particle parameters.
US08386186B2
Chemical compositions may be selectively or preferentially excited by the application of scores comprising a series of energy inputs. Such a composition may act in the body by breaking a bond, heating or ablating material, or reacting with surrounding material when the energy inputs are applied to the body.
US08386181B2
Techniques for analyzing operation of drill bit in a borehole are disclosed herein. A method for analyzing operation of a drill bit in a borehole includes providing information describing the drill bit and a bent housing coupled to the drill bit. A path of a cutter of the drill bit is determined based on a ratio of a rotational speed of the bent housing to a combined rotational speed of the drill bit and the bent housing. The combined rotational speed is different from the rotation speed of the bent housing.
US08386180B2
We describe a method of processing geophysical data including at least measured potential field data from a potential field survey of a surveyed region of the earth to provide a three-dimensional representation of the underlying geology of said surveyed region, the method comprising: inputting terrain-corrected potential field data for said surveyed region, said potential field data comprising data for a range of spatial wavelengths, geological features at different depths in said surveyed region being associated with different wavelengths in said range of wavelengths; filtering said potential field data by spatial wavelength to generate a first plurality of filtered sets of potential field data, each relating to a respective wavelength or range of wavelengths, each targeting geological features at a different respective said depth; processing each said filtered set of potential field data, to identify a set of spatial features comprising one or both of line spatial features and point spatial features in each said filtered set of potential field data, and to generate a set of plot data for each said filtered set of potential field data, a said set of plot data representing said identified set of spatial features for a said depth targeted by said filtering; and combining said sets of plot data to generate three-dimensional map data providing a three-dimensional representation of said underlying geology of said surveyed region.
US08386173B2
A method of adjusting a level of map detail for content displayed on a personal navigation device includes displaying a map of a current location of the personal navigation device on a display of the personal navigation device, calculating a current speed of the personal navigation device, adjusting a level of map detail according to the current speed of the personal navigation device to create an updated map, and displaying the updated map on the display of the personal navigation device.
US08386166B2
A method and apparatus for determining the manner in which a navigation device should produce sounds from data is described. One embodiment, includes a device for synthesizing sounds from digital sound files, and re-producing pre-recorded sounds from a database of text-based indicators. The invention can be further capable of repeatedly determining physical conditions, e.g. current GPS location, which are compared to reference values such that a positive comparison gives rise to an event requiring a sound to be produced. The method includes a user selection of what events or physical conditions trigger a sound, and the type of sound to be audibly delivered which can be digitally synthesize sounds or pre-recorded sounds stored on the device or a combination of the two.
US08386159B2
According to a vehicle 1 of the present invention, coordinate systems of a past estimated value and an instantaneous provisional value of a two-dimensional floor inclination are conformed, by coordinate converting at least one of the “past estimated value” and the “instantaneous provisional value” of the two-dimensional floor inclination, using an orientation of the vehicle 1 or a rate of change thereof. Thereafter, a new estimated value of the two-dimensional floor inclination is calculated, by calculating a weighed mean value or a low-pass filter value using the past estimated value and the instantaneous provisional value of the two-dimensional floor inclination.
US08386158B2
A method for providing for the optimized regulation of the relative spacing between aircraft is disclosed. This method can be implemented by a system whose physical architecture can rely mainly on existing computers on board most current aircraft. The method includes a main step of determining the changing trend of the relative spacing, in distance or in time, between a target aircraft (C) and a following aircraft (S).
US08386154B2
The execution operation curve is set by switching from the EGR-off time operation curve to the EGR-on time operation curve when the EGR is started with the cooling water temperature being more than or equal to the first temperature, the execution operation curve is set by switching from the EGR-on time operation curve to the EGR-off time operation curve f when the cooling water temperature becomes smaller than the second temperature that is lower than the first temperature, and controls the engine. Accordingly, frequent changes of the execution operation curve are restricted. As a result, the operation state of the engine with the EGR performed as necessary is effectively prevented from becoming unstable further.
US08386142B2
A motor vehicle control system for controlling a motor vehicle with a hybrid drive comprising an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, with a strategy sub-component, a control sub-component and an actuator sub-component. The functional components include at least an internal combustion engine functional component, a transmission functional component, such that the strategy sub-component (8) of the hybrid functional component (4) comprises an operating status prescription module which determines a prescribed value for the operating status of the hybrid drive and transmits the prescribed value to the control sub-component (9) of the hybrid functional component (4) such that the control sub-component (9) of the hybrid functional component (4) comprises a first module (18) and a second module (23).
US08386140B2
A control device controls an input coupled to a drive force source including a rotary electric machine and an internal combustion engine, an output coupled to wheels, and a speed change mechanism that transfers rotation of the input to the output with a speed of the rotation changed in accordance with a speed ratio of a shift speed selected from a plurality of shift speeds. When switching between the shift speeds, a rotation-varying torque value is calculated, the rotary electric machine outputs torque based on the rotation-varying torque value, and when an absolute value of the torque that the rotary electric machine outputs will become more than a predetermined threshold, both the rotary electric machine and the internal combustion engine are caused to output torque corresponding to the rotation-varying torque value such that the output torque of the rotary electric machine becomes equal to or less than the predetermined threshold.
US08386126B2
A system 10 for distributing content includes a content provider 12 that provides content through various devices including a satellite 26 or a terrestrial-based system 38. The content provider 12 provides content to a content distribution system 70 within a vehicle 60. The content is provided by generating a first request for a list of content from a terminal. The list is provided to a first terminal and a second terminal. A first selection and a second selection are generated from a respective first terminal and a second terminal.
US08386122B1
Embodiments of techniques for autonomous testing of head-of-train (HOT) and/or end-of-train (EOT) devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for autonomous testing of HOT and EOT devices may include the steps of: causing a first device to enter a self-test mode, said first device being either an HOT device or an EOT device mounted to a first railway vehicle; transmitting, from said first device, a test signal to elicit one or more response signals from at least one second device within a communication range of said first device, each of said at least one second device being either an HOT device or an EOT device different from said first device; detecting, by said first device, said one or more response signals, if any; and determining a first operating condition concerning said first device based at least in part on the detection of said one or more response signals.
US08386116B2
A method and apparatus are provided that allow an off-the-shelf USB flash memory device to used with a scan tool. The USB flash memory device can have a different operating system then the proprietary operating system of the scan tool. The method and apparatus allows the scan tool to read from and write on the USB flash memory device regardless of the formatted operating system on the device.
US08386112B2
A vessel hull robot navigation subsystem and method for a robot including a drive subsystem onboard the robot for driving the robot about the hull. A sensor subsystem onboard the robot outputs data combining robot and vessel motion. A memory onboard the robot includes data concerning the configuration of the hull and a desired path of travel for the robot. A fix subsystem communicates position fix data to the robot. A navigation processor onboard the robot is responsive to the memory data, the sensor subsystem, the position fix data, and the data concerning vessel motion. The navigation processor is configured to determine the position of the robot on the hull by canceling, form the sensor subsystem output data combining both robot and vessel motion, the determined vessel motion. The navigation processor controls the drive subsystem to maneuver the robot on the hull based on the fix data, the configuration of the hull, the desired path of travel for the robot, and the determined position of the robot on the hull.
US08386110B2
A travel route generating method for an unmanned vehicle, which includes a condition input step of inputting a vehicle constraint condition including a vehicle width and a minimum turning radius of the unmanned vehicle, and a geometrical constraint condition including a travel route generation range in which the unmanned vehicle is to travel, an obstacle to avoid, and a position and a direction of an entrance point and an exit point; and a travel route generating step of generating a travel route such that the vehicle constraint condition and the geometrical constraint condition are satisfied, and such that a function value of a cost function having at least a magnitude of a curve and/or a rate of change in the curve as a cost element is minimized.
US08386100B1
Concepts and technologies described herein provide for the integration of flight event parameters with time and location data to provide a geographic visualization of a flight path and associated parameters. According to various aspects, a geographic area that encompasses a flight path according to location data associated with the aircraft is rendered on a display device. The location data is then transformed into a representation of the flight path on the rendering of the geographic area. One or more parameters associated with an event that occurred while the aircraft was in flight are retrieved and correlated with the location data to determine the location along the flight path in which the event occurred, and a representation is provided on the flight path to illustrate the exact geographic location in which it occurred.
US08386099B2
A method of determining an orbit of an orbital object includes computing predicted tracking measurement values based on the orbit computed from the initial conditions factoring in any modeled environmental forces and realistic maneuvers; computing the differences between the actual and predicted tracking measurements; determining an improved estimate of the initial conditions that reduces the measurement errors using a minimization or root finding algorithm; after the algorithm has converged, reviewing the hypothetical maneuvers in the force model, taking each value and determining which values came up as near-zero in the minimized solutions and which values came up as those of measurable thrust; determining overall burn duration using the first and last burn times; determining the thrust profile of the orbital object over the observation period using the integrated thrust values; and determining the actual maneuver based on the observation data.
US08386096B2
A relative navigation system projecting a grid into space from a first object a grid that is repeatedly detected from a second object having a second relative reference frame and using range and attitude between the objects to adjust the attitude or range of at least one of the first and second objects.
US08386091B2
A computer-implemented method includes determining that a vehicle powertrain feature is engaged. The method further includes relaying, to a remote computing source, a request for a computation to be performed relating to the engaged powertrain feature. The method additionally includes receiving a result of the computation at a vehicle computing system and transferring the result of the computation to a powertrain for use in controlling the powertrain feature.
US08386083B2
A valve system for a mass flow controller that controls a flow rate of a fluid is disclosed. The valve system includes a valve movable between an open position and a closed position to adjust the flow rate of the fluid to a desired set point, and a valve controller. The valve controller sends a valve current through the valve, so as to adjust the flow rate of the fluid until an actual measured flow rate of the fluid substantially equals the desired set point. The valve controller monitors the valve current and the flow rate when the valve is moving to the closed position, determines a value of the valve current when the fluid has near-zero flow rate, and updates the valve cracking current for a next run, by setting the updated valve cracking current to the value of the valve current at the near-zero flow rate.
US08386078B1
Methods and systems for robot cloud computing are described. Within examples, cloud-based computing generally refers to networked computer architectures in which application execution and storage may be divided, to some extent, between client and server devices. A robot may be any device that has a computing ability and interacts with its surroundings with an actuation capability (e.g., electromechanical capabilities). A client device may be configured as a robot including various sensors and devices in the forms of modules, and different modules may be added or removed from robot depending on requirements. A robot may interact with the cloud to perform any number of actions, such as to share information with other cloud computing devices. A robot's performance of a task can be augmented by a cloud service which contains a data library of elements which are delivered to the robot to help the robot execute actions.
US08386072B1
A filler product supply system (5) and method using two or more conduits (120, 130) to deliver filler product under pressure from product reservoirs (200, 210) to in fluid isolation to a supply manifold (58). Filler product is further delivered in fluid isolation from supply manifold (58) through conduits (170, 171) to two or more filling heads (180, 190). Downstream from filling heads (180, 190), the previously isolated fluid lines are combined to introduce two or more distinct filler products into a single container without creating a homogenous mixture.
US08386070B2
In a preferred implementation, an automated pharmacy admixture system (APAS) prepares intermediary IV bags as drug sources for creating highly diluted patient doses in syringes. During the compounding process the APAS may align needles with a vial seal opening so as to ensure repeated entry through the same vial puncture site via precise control of needle position, needle bevel orientation, and needle entry speed. These techniques can in certain implementations substantially improve bung pressure sealing and reduced particulate generation. The APAS optionally creates drug order queues for incoming drug orders wherein the orders can be sorted by priority, drug type or patient location. A phantom queue can be combined with the incoming drug order queues to include frequently used medicaments to minimize operator loading of the APAS.
US08386064B2
A control device includes a storage unit that stores therein first position information indicating relative positions between one reference processing unit selected from a plurality of processing units and the other non-reference processing units; a first calculation unit that drives the transfer device while a jig formed in the shape of a substrate is held on the transfer device, and calculates a first compensation value for compensating a position deviation between a transfer position of the jig on the transfer device with respect to the reference processing unit and a first transfer target position; and a second calculation unit that calculates a second compensation value for compensating a position deviation between a transfer position of the jig on the transfer device with respect to the non-reference processing unit and a second transfer target position based on the first compensation value and the first position information.
US08386062B2
A method of preparing a digital model and an artificial tooth applied to dental implant includes the steps of a) combining a jig into a fixture in a patient's oral cavity and scanning the patient's oral cavity by an oral scanner to acquire a first oral digital data and saving it in a computer; b) operating the computer to select one of digital prostheses from a prosthetic database in the computer, arranging a digital positioning jig to correspond to the jig in the first oral digital data, and then combining the selected digital prosthesis with the first oral digital data to generate a second oral data; c) generating a digital oral model based on the second oral digital data; and d) creating a solid oral model.
US08386055B2
An implantable lead for a medical device with an isolated contact connection for connecting a conductor to a contact reduces the opportunity for conductor material to migrate to a contact or into a patient. The implantable lead comprises a lead body having a proximal end and a distal end, at least one conductor, at least one contact carried on the proximal end, at least one contact carried on the distal end, at least one coupling. The lead has an exterior surface. The conductor is contained in the lead body and extends from the lead proximal end to the distal end. The conductor is electrically insulated. The contact carried on the proximal end is electrically connected to the conductor. The coupling has a conductor coupling and a contact coupling. The conductor coupling is placed over the conductor and attached to the conductor. The contact coupling exits the lead body and has a weld to connect the contact coupling to the contact. There is an isolation space created between the conductor and the contact to prevent the weld from containing conductor material.
US08386052B2
In general, the invention is directed to a technique for percutaneously introducing a stimulation lead into a target stimulation site via the epidural region proximate the spine of a patient. The process of introducing the stimulation lead may include the use of a hollow stimulation lead introducer, which comprises an elongated sheath and an elongated dilator. The dilator fits within the sheath and serves to widen a path through the epidural region for the introduction of a stimulation lead. At least a portion of the stimulation lead introducer has an oblong cross-section, allowing passage of stimulation leads such as paddle leads. The stimulation lead introducer may enter the epidural region proximate a spine of a patient via a guidewire. The stimulation lead introducer provides a path through the epidural region of a patient to a target stimulation site. A stimulation lead may travel through the path to reach the target stimulation site where it may provide therapy to the patient.
US08386043B2
A far-field radio-frequency (RF) telemetry system transmits data between an implantable medical device and an external system using an active channel selected from a plurality of channels each representing a frequency band within a predetermined frequency range. One or more preferred channels are identified from the plurality of channels based on channel quality indicators produced for each of the channels. When channel hopping is needed, a hop channel is selected from the one or more preferred channels and becomes the active channel.
US08386042B2
A portable medical device is provided with an internal accelerometer device. The medical device includes a circuit board, the accelerometer device, and a response module coupled to the accelerometer device. The accelerometer device is mechanically and electrically coupled to the circuit board, and it includes a plurality of mass-supporting arms for a plurality of electrically distinct sensor electrodes, piezoelectric material for the mass-supporting arm, and a proof mass supported by the mass-supporting arms. Each of the mass-supporting arms has one of the sensor electrodes located thereon. Acceleration of the proof mass causes deflection of the piezoelectric material, which generates respective sensor signals at one or more of the sensor electrodes. The response module is configured to initiate an acceleration-dependent operation of the portable medical device in response to generated sensor signals present at the sensor electrodes.
US08386035B2
Battery powered systems with long standby times, such as automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), may be required to indicate their operational status to a user by blinking lights or sounding speakers or buzzers. These active status indication activities consume power thereby reducing the battery life of the system. To conserve power and to be more effective in seeking attention from a human operator, the status alerts for the AED produced by an active status indicator (ASI) system can be more meaningful to humans or more unique relative to status alerts provided by conventional devices. Additionally, the ASI system may automatically adjust power consumed by the indicators in response to sensing environmental conditions of the AED.
US08386034B2
Embodiments of the present concept are directed to external defibrillators that include a utility light for use by one or more rescuers using the defibrillator. In one implementation, an external defibrillator has a housing, an energy storage module for storing an electrical charge, a defibrillation port for guiding the stored electrical charge to a person, and a processor for determining when to guide the electrical charge. The defibrillator also includes a user interface that includes a screen showing indications by light, and a separate utility light coupled to the housing via a light-coupling structure. The utility light is structured to generate and cast a beam of light with a beam divergence angle of no more than 160 degrees in order to illuminate a certain point of the local environment. This illumination capability may help rescuers reach a person in need of medical attention and apply medical assistance to the person.
US08386021B2
Apparatus for driving current in a power circuit of a medical device inserted into a body of a subject includes a power transmitter, which is adapted to generate, in a vicinity of the body, an electromagnetic field having a predetermined frequency capable of inductively driving the current in the power circuit. A passive energy transfer amplifier, having a resonant response at the frequency of the electromagnetic field is placed in proximity to the medical device so as to enhance the current driven in the power circuit by the electromagnetic field.
US08386020B2
A situation where a medical device is outside a region suitable for guidance control thereof can be easily coped with. Included are a medical device provided with a magnet; a guiding unit (5X-1, 5X-2, 5Y-1, 5Y-2, 5Z-1, 5Z-2) that forms a control magnetic field for guidance control of the medical device, inside a prescribed control area; a detection unit (7Y-1, 7Y-2) that detects positional information of the medical device; and a computational unit that judges that the medical device has gone outside the control area on the basis of an output from the detection unit (7Y-1, 7Y-2) and calculates a direction for returning the medical device to the control area, wherein a signal-waveform calculating unit (21) stops forming the control magnetic field when the medical device is outside the control area.
US08386017B2
A method is disclosed for implementing an imaging examination method. In at least one embodiment, the method includes creating an overview data record containing angiography data relating to a patient; simulating flow conditions in vessels of the patient; determining a strain on the vascular walls with the aid of the simulation; identifying vascular regions, in which the strain on the vascular wall exceeds a threshold value and implementing an imaging examination in at least one of the identified vascular regions.
US08386012B2
In a screening test method, and a device for implementing the screening test method, a diagnostic substance is provided that contains at least one biomarker connected with at least one ferromagnetic particle, the biomarker binding specifically to a target molecule that is formed by specific pathological prostrate tissue. The diagnostic substance is administered to the blood stream of a patient. A magnetometer is used to detect enrichment of the ferromagnetic particle in the prostrate, as an indicator of a level of the specific pathological prostrate tissue.
US08386011B2
In a medical system, at least one medically operative member (10, 12, 100) is configured to interact with or acquire data from a subject (74) disposed in an examination region. An array of photosensors (70, 170) is disposed on the at least one medically operative member. The array of photosensors is arranged to view the examination region. A position-determining member (82, 82a, 82b) is configured to determine a position of at least one optically detectable marker (72, 172) disposed with the subject in the examination region based on light from the at least one optically detectable marker sensed by the array of photosensors.
US08386010B2
A tissue monitoring system includes an introducer having an inflatable section and a plurality of electrodes disposed thereon. The electrodes are alternatively connected to an electrode contact system which includes at least one signal line and at least one measurement line for taking readings about a circumferential segment of tissue encompassed by the electrodes.
US08386009B2
A sensor for measuring a physiological signal and a method for manufacturing such a sensor. Such a sensor includes a flexible substrate and at least one electrode, which has a signalling surface, which faces in the same direction as the first surface of the flexible substrate. In addition, the sensor includes a signal transmission conductor, which is connected electrically to the electrode. The signal transmission conductor is attached in a watertight manner to the second surface of the substrate. The sensor is reliable, economical to manufacture, and comfortable to the user.
US08386008B2
The present inventions, in one aspect, is an activity monitoring system comprising a fixture having size/shape adapted to couple to a location on the user's body and a particular signature; and a portable monitoring device adapted to detect the fixture's particular signature. The monitoring device includes a housing that is adapted to engage the fixture; activity sensors, disposed in the housing, to detect activity of the user and to generate data which is representative of the activity of the user; and processing circuitry, disposed in the housing, to calculate an activity-related quantity of the user using the data which is representative of the activity of the user, wherein the processing circuitry: determines the monitoring device is engaging the fixture by detecting the fixture's particular signature, and, in response thereto, calculates the activity-related quantity using data from a set of the activity sensors.
US08386004B2
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for calibrating a continuous analyte sensor, such as a continuous glucose sensor. One such system utilizes one or more electrodes to measure an additional analyte. Such measurements may provide a baseline or sensitivity measurement for use in calibrating the sensor. Furthermore, baseline and/or sensitivity measurements may be used to trigger events such as digital filtering of data or suspending display of data.
US08385997B2
Methods, apparatus, and systems for detecting hemozoin and diagnosing malaria infection are disclosed.
US08385996B2
A physiological sensor is adapted to removably attach an emitter assembly and a detector assembly to a fingertip. The emitter assembly is adapted to transmit optical radiation having multiple wavelengths into fingertip tissue. The detector assembly is adapted to receive the optical radiation after attenuation by the fingertip tissue. The sensor has a first shell and a second shell hinged to the first shell. A spring is disposed between the shells and urges the shells together. An emitter pad is fixedly attached to the first shell and configured to retain the emitter assembly. A detector pad is fixedly attached to the second shell and configured to retain the detector assembly. A detector aperture is defined within the detector pad and adapted to pass optical radiation to the detector assembly. A contour is defined along the detector pad and generally shaped to conform to a fingertip positioned over the detector aperture.
US08385984B2
A method and apparatus to supply a power voltage to a mobile device in a variable manner in order to provide high output power and a high quality sound environment and a mobile device using the same. The apparatus includes a volume control unit to detect installation of an external power supply and to generate a voltage control value corresponding to a current volume level, and a DC-DC converter unit to convert a voltage of an internal power supply in a variable manner on the basis of the voltage control value generated in the volume control unit in order to drive the switching power amplifier.
US08385983B2
A mobile phone apparatus is provided. The mobile phone apparatus includes a charger for supplying power to a rechargeable battery including a connection portion and a main telephone unit. The main telephone unit includes a rechargeable battery detection unit which detects whether the connection portion of the rechargeable battery is connected to the main telephone unit; an overvoltage protection unit which is coupled to the connection portion of the rechargeable battery and switches between an active state of supplying power output from the connection portion and an inactive state of not supplying power output from the connection portion; and a controller which controls the overvoltage protection unit to switch the overvoltage protection unit into the active state if the rechargeable battery detection unit detects that the rechargeable battery is connected.
US08385978B2
Systems and methods which provide a multi-function wireless node are shown. Multi-function wireless nodes of embodiments provide link completion infrastructure suited for a plurality of situations and environments, such as for repeaters, bridges, gateways, and APs. Embodiments provide a multi-function wireless node comprising a plurality of radios. Multi-function wireless nodes of embodiments further comprise a smart antenna system coupled to radios thereof and providing illumination within a service volume. The service volume of embodiments comprises a semi-spherical volume. Embodiments comprise a controller facilitating proper and/or optimal deployment and commissioning of the multi-function wireless node in each of a plurality of different link completion infrastructure forms. Embodiments further comprise a communication interface providing one or more information communication links in addition to those available through wireless links.
US08385966B2
A first power control adjustment state g(i) and a second power control adjustment state f(i) are initialized for i=0 to each reflect an open loop power control error. An initial transmit power for a shared uplink channel is computed using full pathloss compensation. The computed initial transmit power depends on a preamble power of a first message sent on an access channel, and the initial transmit power is initialized with the second power control adjustment state f(0). A third message is sent from a transmitter on an uplink shared channel at the initial transmit power. In various implementations, the power for i=0 on the uplink control channel is also initialized similar to the initial transmit power for the third message and using full pathloss compensation, and after the third message (and retransmissions of it), subsequent messages sent on the uplink shared channel are sent at a power that is computed using fractional pathloss compensation.
US08385954B2
The present invention provides a method for automatically responding to mobile phone short messages, comprising the following steps: step a, set a short message auto responding number and auto responding content; step b, when receiving a new message, judge whether the sender number of the new message needs an auto response; step c, if the number needs an auto response, respond the auto responding message to the sender of the short message. The method for automatically responding to mobile phone short messages provided in the invention can auto respond short messages to one or some phone numbers according to the requirement of a user, and can input auto responding content according to the requirement of the user, thus greatly helping the user respond a short message in time on special occasions.
US08385951B2
Disclosed is a method for providing a GUI for manipulation utilizing a SMS in PDU mode, comprising: receiving a SMS message which comprises encoded SM data; parsing said SM data for decoding to retrieve form display data; generating a UI element corresponding to said form display data; and displaying said UI element.
US08385947B2
A system and method for communicating wirelessly from a mobile device to a remote receiver station is disclosed. The system includes a controller configured to monitor a status of the mobile device and, upon an initiation event, initiate a data transfer process to wirelessly communicate data to the remote receiver station. The system also includes a voice-band modem that, upon initiation of the data transfer process. The voice-band modem is configured to receive data for transfer to the remote receiver station, encode the data to form a series of encoded packets, and transmit the encoded packets to the remote receiver station using a first modulation scheme. Thereafter, unless an indication that the series of packets has been received by at the receiving station is provided, the voice-band modem automatically retransmit the encoded packets to the remote receiver station using a second modulation scheme.
US08385945B2
A communication signal transmission management method of a base station using a computing device configures a distance table for recording remote base stations proximate the base station and a distance between the base station and each of the remote base stations, and stores the distance table in a storage system of the computing device. When the base receives a communication signal from communication device, the method determines a remote base station to receive the communication signal according to the distance between the base station and each of the scanned remote base stations and a current load of each remote base station, and transmits the communication signal to the determined remote base station.
US08385928B2
There is provided a method of operating a communication network comprising at least one macrocellular base station, and a plurality of femtocell base stations that are within the coverage area of the at least one macrocellular base station, the method comprising providing a proxy in a signalling path between the at least one macrocellular base station and the plurality of femtocell base stations, providing unidirectional signalling for the support of mobility and interference control from the at least one macrocellular base station to the proxy; and providing signalling for the support of mobility and interference control between the proxy and the plurality of femtocell base stations.
US08385920B2
“A mobile station that includes a measurement information storage unit configured to store a measurement rule and a measurement object in association with each other; a measurement unit to perform a measurement of a radio quality in an inter-frequency cell using a frequency defined by the measurement object stored in the measurement information storage unit; a measurement report transmitter unit configured to transmit a measurement report to a radio base station, when determining that a determination condition defined by the measurement rule associated with the measurement object is satisfied on the basis of the measurement result of the radio quality; and a handover processor unit configured to perform an inter-frequency handover in response to an instruction from the radio base station. The measurement information storage unit is configured to change the association between the measurement rule and the measurement object, when the inter-frequency handover is performed.”
US08385918B2
A radio communication system, including: a first and second base stations; and a terminal, the first base station includes a first position information acquisition unit which acquires position information of the first base station; a first control unit which generates a new-installation massage including the position information and indicating that the first base station is a newly installed base station and transmits the message to the second base station, transmits a signal link establishment request message to each second base station in the number capable of transmitting to the terminal as adjacent cell information when the first base station receives a new-installation response message responding to the new-installation message from the second base station, generates the adjacent cell information indicating that the second base station transmitted a signal link establishment response message is an adjacent base station.
US08385917B2
Systems and techniques for motion adaptive wireless user equipment (UE) in a wireless network are disclosed. These techniques can leverage kinetic information to select a preferred radio (or radio technology) or adapt a reselection scanning interval. This can serve to improve the performance of a UE by reducing the amount of power expended in maintaining an adequate level of connectedness to the wireless network components in the face of UE movement. In a further aspect, kinetic power generators can be employed as a source of UE transit data. Kinetic fingerprints can be compared to UE transit data, e.g., that acquired from a kinetic generator of the UE, to facilitate selection of preferred radios and reselection intervals. In this aspect, radio selection schema and reselection scanning schema can effectively be selected with little to no drain on a UE power source.
US08385914B2
The present invention discloses a method and a system for implementing communications between multiple subnets covered by one physical Mobile Switching Center and an MSC. The method maps the MSC to multiple virtual MSCs that are logical MSCs within the physical MSC, each virtual MSC corresponds to one subnet that represents one or more location areas within the physical MSC, assigns to each of the multiple virtual MSCs a virtual MSC number, identifies a virtual MSC number of one of the virtual MSCs that is currently visited by the wireless mobile terminal, according to the current location area and the set relationship between each subnet that represents one or more location areas within the physical MSC and each virtual MSC number, and transmits the identified virtual MSC number of one of the virtual MSCs that is currently visited by a terminal when the wireless mobile terminal implements communications.
US08385908B2
Technologies are provided herein for modifying mobile network signal propagation predictions. According to embodiments, signal characteristics are received from a network management system. The signal characteristics correspond to signals propagating in a predetermined portion of a mobile telephone network. An initial signal propagation prediction that corresponds to the predetermined portion of the mobile telephone network is also received. The initial signal propagation prediction is modified based on the received signal characteristics to produce a more accurate signal propagation prediction.
US08385906B2
In one aspect, the teachings herein provide a method and apparatus for identifying the new network affiliation of a churned subscriber that has moved from an old network operator to a new network operator. Knowing the new network affiliation of a former subscriber provides a number of significant advantages to the old network operator. By way of non-limiting example, the old network operator can undertake new or adjusted advertising targeted at retaining remaining subscribers of like demographics. Additionally or alternatively, the old network operator can review pricing and service plans from the new network operator that are comparable to that used by the former subscriber, and make competitive pricing or service adjustments.
US08385900B2
An embodiment of the invention relates to a method of modifying communication parameters of a wireless network, the wireless network having at least two antennas, and each of the antennas providing coverage to at least one sector. The method including obtaining measurement data for at least two sectors of the wireless network, determining, from the obtained measurement data, if a signal strength indicator of one or more sectors of the at least two sectors is at or below a target value, determining, if the one or more sectors is at or below the target value, a communication parameter to be applied to the wireless network such that the signal strength indicator of the one or more sectors is above the target value, and modifying the communication parameters of the wireless network such that the determined communication parameter is applied to the wireless network.
US08385895B2
A method includes communicating with a first wireless network of a first type, and obtaining a location-based operating parameter from the first wireless network. The method further includes checking the validity of the location-based operating parameter obtained from the first wireless network. If the location-based operating parameter obtained from the first wireless network is not valid, then the method further includes searching for a second wireless network of a second type, and updating the location-based operating parameter from the second wireless network.
US08385894B2
An information delivery apparatus is provided, including a receiving portion to receive location information of a mobile communication terminal at a given time and acquired date and time of the location information from the terminal, an event information storage portion to store event information including an event place, date and time, a delivery terminal selecting portion to select the mobile communication terminal to which the event information is to be delivered based on the location information and the acquired date and time of the location information and on the event place, date and time, and an event information delivery portion to deliver the event information to the selected mobile communication terminal. The delivery terminal selecting portion selects the mobile communication terminal whose location indicated by location information is within a predetermined range and whose acquired date and time of the location information are before the event date and time.
US08385889B2
A radio communications system is disclosed. The system includes a subscriber information management apparatus, and a subscriber authentication module mounted in a mobile terminal connectable to a mobile communications network to which the subscriber information management apparatus is connected. The subscriber authentication module includes a connecting information setting determining unit; a connecting information generating unit; and a connecting information setting unit which sets the connecting information included in a response received from the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal includes a connecting information transmitting unit; a connecting information response receiving unit; and a connecting information transmitting unit. The subscriber information management apparatus includes a temporary connecting information determining unit; a connecting information selecting unit; and a connecting information transmitting unit.
US08385870B2
A system of controlling an antenna of a moving object is provided. The system includes: a plurality of communication antennas established in the moving object; an environmental information generation unit generating environmental information which includes strength information of a received signal and moving speed information of the moving object; an antenna use determination unit determining, with respect to the plurality of communication antennas, a number of antennas for each use based on the environmental information; and an antenna assigning unit assigning the plurality of communication antennas for each use according to the determined number of antennas.
US08385869B2
A self-test prediction system predicts the impact that a host device has on an embedded wireless device's receiver performance by recording the wireless device's received power. No carrier or pilot signal is necessary to predict the impact. The wireless device's embedded receiver monitors its own received power (e.g., RSSI) from any type of radiated noise from the host device. For receivers that do not provide RSS referenced to absolute power, an external reference tone can be used in order to scale the measured receiver carrier to noise or signal to noise data to an absolute power. The increase in measured received power on the wireless device's receiver correlates to the impact the host device will have on the embedded wireless device's receiver sensitivity performance, providing a faster approach with less external equipment than current approaches that use external equipment to simulate the wireless device's forward link signal.
US08385857B2
A wireless communication apparatus configured to amplify a transmission signal at an amplifier and transmit the amplified transmission signal, the wireless communication apparatus includes a memory configured to store a distortion compensation coefficient for compensating a distortion characteristic of the amplifier, and an electrical-power measuring unit configured to measure electrical power of the transmission signal. The wireless communication apparatus includes a gain control unit configured to calculate a gain adjustment value for correcting the distortion compensation coefficient stored in the memory based on a power value measured by the electrical-power measuring unit, and a distortion-compensation processing unit configured to perform distortion compensation on the transmission signal based on the distortion compensation coefficient stored in the memory and the gain adjustment value.
US08385856B2
A method and an NE for controlling power amplification are provided. The method for controlling power amplification includes: outputting a voltage signal according to the state of an NE; applying the voltage signal to a grid electrode or a base electrode of at least one power amplifier transistor in a power amplifier. Thus, static power dissipation of the power amplifier can be eliminated when no RF power is output, and the efficiency of the power amplifier can be improved by using the above method and NE.
US08385853B2
A system for detecting power output of a power amplifier includes a first power detector configured to detect a forward power output of a power amplifier, the first power detector configured to provide a first power detector output, and a second power detector configured to receive a collector parameter signal and detect a collector parameter therefrom, the second power detector also configured to provide a second power detector output.
US08385852B2
A phase correction apparatus in a wireless transmitter includes a modulator for modulating a first carrier signal by an in-phase component and a quadrature-phase component of a first signal, a demodulator for demodulating a returned signal by a second carrier signal and generating a second signal including an in-phase component and an quadrature-phase component, a phase detector for detecting a phase error between the first signal and the second signal based on the in-phase components and the quadrature-phase components of the first and second signals, and a phase shifter group for performing a phase shift based on the phase error, the phase shifter group including a first phase shifter for performing a phase shift on any of the first signal, the second signal, the first carrier signal, and the second carrier signal and a second phase shifter for shifting a phase of the first signal.
US08385848B2
A method and server for establishing a push to talk type service such as push to talk over cellular (PoC). The server receives a message from Client A indicating one or more media types that Client A will accept in defined circumstances in a push to talk type session. When the server receives a message from Client B inviting Client A to establish a push to talk type session for one or more proposed media types, the server determines whether the media type(s) proposed by Client B are acceptable to Client A. If at least one proposed media type is acceptable, the server forwards the invitation to Client A with a list of the acceptable media types. Thereafter the session is established.
US08385847B2
A switching element is provided that realizes an stabilize a potential between the gates of the multi-gates without an increase in the insertion loss, and an antenna switch circuit and a radio frequency module each using the switch element. The switching element includes two ohmic electrodes 39, 40 formed on a semiconductor substrate, at least two gate electrodes 41, 42 disposed between the two ohmic electrodes, and a conductive region 45 disposed between the adjacent gate electrodes among the at least two gate electrodes, a field effective transistor being structured by the two ohmic electrodes, the at least two gate electrodes, and the conductive region. The conductive region has a wider portion that is wider in width than the conductive region interposed between the adjacent gate electrodes on one end thereof. The distance between the adjacent gate electrodes is narrower than the width of the wider portion. Resistors 44, 46 are connected in series between the two ohmic electrodes through the wider portion.
US08385845B1
Embodiments include but are not limited to apparatuses and systems including a first active device located on a signal path between an antenna terminal and a transmit and/or receive (T/R) terminal, and a self-biasing shunt device coupled to the first active device and including a second active device having a DC-blocked source terminal and a non-DC-blocked drain terminal. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08385843B2
Disclosed are a sequence report method and a sequence report device for reducing a signaling amount for reporting a Zadoff-Chu sequence or a GCL sequence allocated for a cell. Indexes starting at 1 are correlated to different ZC sequences and are allocated for cells so that the indexes are continuous. When such ZC sequences are reported from BS to UE, a start index indicating the start of the continuous indexes is combined with the number of allocated sequences and they are reported as allocation sequence information by a report channel. The UE and the BS share the correlation between the ZC sequences and the indexes and the UE identifies a usable sequence number according to the correlation and the allocation sequence information reported from the BS.
US08385842B2
Provided are a wireless communication terminal that can select a power-efficient wireless communication system while keeping a data rate at a fixed level, and a communication system selection method. A wireless communication terminal is designed to be able to operate selectively according to a plurality of communication systems, and is configured to include: a required data rate calculation section that calculates a required data rate as a data rate needed to be satisfied in accordance with a remaining level of power and a communication history; and a communication system selection section that selects which communication system to be used through a comparison between a data rate of each of the communication systems to be determined based on a measured quality of communication service, and the calculated required data rate. This accordingly enables to select a power-efficient communication system while keeping a data rate at a standard level determined by a remaining level of power and a communication history. For example, the communication system can be used adaptively depending on the remaining level of battery, i.e., when the remaining level of battery is high, selected will be a communication system with a high data rate, and when the remaining level of battery is low, selected will be a communication system with a low data rate.
US08385840B2
An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor includes primary transceiver operation circuitry. In addition to routine transceiver circuitry, the radio transceiver includes a service processor module operable to support redundant operations to facilitate any one of monitoring, test, device management and boot-up sequence functions of the primary transceiver operation circuitry. The service processor module generally has necessary access to hardware components and is operable to control, initialize and monitor the hardware components to assist in test and error recovery.
US08385839B2
A method for communication includes transmitting data from a transmitter to a receiver using Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM). The data rate is set by selecting, based on feedback, an ACM profile defining a Forward Error Correction code and a modulation scheme. Upon detecting that the feedback is unusable, an operation of the transmitter is changed independently of the feedback.In another method, data is exchanged over two opposite directions of a bidirectional link that uses ACM by communicating using two ACM profiles. A joint constraint is defined on the two directions. The two ACM profiles are set based on first and second measured reception quality metrics of the two link directions, to meet the joint constraint. In yet another method, a subset of the ACM profiles is temporarily disabled, and the data is transmitted using only the ACM profiles that are not disabled.
US08385836B2
There is provided a method of method of estimating a quality of a signal, the method in a first device comprising measuring a signal transmitted from a second device to a third device; determining a value of a metric from an autocorrelation function of the measured signal; and determining an estimate of the quality of the signal from the determined metric.
US08385830B2
A wireless communication terminal comprising a network communication unit, short distance wireless communication unit, an input unit and a control unit. The network communication unit transmits radio signals to communication network via a base station. The short distance wireless communication unit transmits radio signals to and from an external device. The short distance wireless communication unit establishes a voice link between the wireless communication terminal and the external device to transmit sound data. The control unit discards a volume update notification received from the external device via the short distance wireless communication unit if the voice link has not been established.
US08385829B2
A slave device that complies with Bluetooth communication protocol includes a communication module, a memory and a RF output module. The communication module can be operated to generate a driving signal. The memory stores an access code that complies with Bluetooth communication protocol and is electrically connected to the communication module. The memory is configured to determine whether or not to output the access code according to the driving signal output by the communication module. The RF output module is electrically connected to the memory so as to receive and output the access code.
US08385826B2
Methods and apparatus well suited for supporting communications over different ranges in, for example, a peer to peer wireless communications system, are described. In the peer to peer network at least some of the types of signals, e.g., peer discovery signals and/or paging signals, are transmitted with no closed loop power control. An exemplary peer to peer timing structure includes air link resources allocated for a particular type of signaling in which the resources are segmented into multiple blocks which do not overlap in time, different ones of the multiple blocks being associated with different ranges. The characteristics of the basic transmission units of the multiple blocks based on range are different, e.g., tone size and symbol width are different. A wireless communications device implements the peer to peer timing structure and uses resources from different range based blocks at different times. Data traffic transmission units may be the same regardless of the range.
US08385823B2
A method and system for establishing a communication link between a plurality of electronic devices in a Near Field Communication (NFC) network are provided. The method, at a first electronic device, includes identifying at least one service registered at a Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) in at least one of the plurality of electronic devices. The electronic devices are NFC-compatible devices. Thereafter, the method establishes the communication link between the first electronic device and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices based on the identified at least one NFC service and a first set of services. The first set of services is selected from a plurality of services registered at a Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) in the first electronic device.
US08385819B2
A system and method of applying a known modification in the form of a distortion to a signal to enable a determination if a signal received by a first node is received directly from a second node or indirectly through a repeater. The repeater receives a primary signal and creates a secondary signal as a function of the primary signal and a known distortion, wherein the known distortion identifies the repeater. The primary signal is transmitted and injected with the secondary signal as the first signal to the primary receiver.
US08385814B2
Disclosed are systems and methods for wirelessly recording multi-track audio files without the data corruption or loss of data that typically occurs with wireless data transmission. In some aspects of the present invention, each performer is equipped with a local audio device capable of locally recording the respective performer's audio while also transmitting it to a master recorder. The locally recorded audio may then be used to repair or replace any audio lost or corrupted during transmission to the master recorder. Such repair or replacement may be performed electronically or via playback of the locally recorded audio. In other aspects of the present invention, a master recorder is not required since all locally recorded audio may be combined or otherwise processed post-recording. Locally recorded audio may include identifiers to aid in post-recording identification of such audio. A multi-memory unit is also provided to facilitate manipulation and processing of audio files.
US08385812B2
A computer-based assessment driven cognition system includes, in embodiments, a generator configured to present questions, where each question presented is associated with a stacking weight and has at least one correct response, and a question property evaluator configured to, for each question presented, determine a likelihood of randomly selecting the at least one correct response. The system also includes a question response receiver configured to receive at least one response to each question presented. Additionally, the system includes a question response evaluator configured to determine, for each question presented, when the at least one response is the at least one associated correct response, a likelihood that the at least one response is a false positive. The question response evaluator is further configured to adjust the stacking weight of each question presented depending at least upon the likelihood that the at least one response to the question is a false positive.
US08385805B2
A fixing member includes a tubular surface layer having a first band section including a resin composition that contains a heat resistant resin having releasability, and a second band section having a higher mechanical strength than the resin composition, and the first band section and the second band section is respectively disposed along a circumferential direction of the surface layer and is disposed alternately in a width direction of the surface layer.
US08385804B2
A fixing device includes an endless, flexible fixing member, a metal member, a heater, a pressing member, a temperature detector, and a supporting member. The fixing member is rotatably provided in the fixing device to heat a toner image thereon. The metal member is fixedly mounted in the fixing device so as to be opposite an inner circumferential surface of the fixing member, to maintain the fixing member in a substantially circularly loop shape. The heater is disposed near the metal member to heat the metal member. The pressing member is rotatably pressed against an outer circumferential surface of the fixing member to form a nip portion between the pressing member and the fixing member. The temperature detector is disposed in contact with the metal member, to detect a temperature of the metal member. The supporting member is disposed between the heater and the temperature detector to support the temperature detector.
US08385802B2
A fixing device for fixing an unfixed image on a recording sheet passing through a fixing nip formed by pressing a pressing member against an inside surface of a pressure belt via a low friction sheet, so that an outside surface of the pressure belt presses against a fixing member, wherein the pressing member includes a first pressing part having an elastic front face, and (ii) a second pressing part whose front face presses against a rear face of the first pressing part, the low friction sheet extends from a portion thereof pressed by the front face against the pressure belt, to an upstream end thereof, along a lateral side of the first pressing part, the upstream end being upstream from the other end with respect to a rotation direction of the pressure belt and sandwiched between the rear face and the front face by pressure.
US08385799B2
A lubricating device includes an lubricant impregnation member to coat a surface of a target member with lubricant, an lubricant supply member to supply lubricant to the lubricant impregnation member, a subsidiary roller to feed the lubricant impregnation member out, a main roller to reel in the lubricant impregnation member fed by the subsidiary roller, a drive motor to drive the main roller, an encoder disc provided at a rotational shaft of the subsidiary roller, an encoder sensor to detect a rotational state of the encoder disc, and a controller unit to calculate an outer diameter of the main roller and a portion of the lubricant impregnation member reeled by the main roller, based on a number of drive steps of the drive motor during a detection interval of the encoder disc.
US08385796B2
In a fixing device, at least one separator is provided downstream from a fixing nip formed between a fixing rotary member and a pressing rotary member in a recording medium conveyance direction to contact the fixing rotary member to separate a recording medium having passed through the fixing nip from the fixing rotary member. A feeler is provided upstream from the fixing nip in the recording medium conveyance direction and contacted by the recording medium conveyed toward the fixing nip to receive a pushing force from the recording medium. A transmission assembly is connected between the feeler and the separator to receive and transmit the pushing force to the separator to move the separator from a non-contact position at which the separator does not contact the fixing rotary member to a contact position at which the separator contacts the fixing rotary member.
US08385792B2
An image information detecting apparatus comprises a light source comprising a light emitting surface, an image bearing member, a light receiving unit comprising a light receiving surface, an illumination optical system for causing the light emitting surface and the image bearing member to have a conjugate relationship and illuminating a pattern for detecting the overlap positional deviation with a beam; and a light receiving optical system for causing the image bearing member and the light receiving surface to have a conjugate relationship and guiding the beam for detecting the overlap positional deviation to the light receiving unit, wherein a straight line portion of a conjugate image of the light emitting surface on the image bearing member and a straight line portion of a conjugate image of the light receiving surface on the image bearing member are parallel with each other.
US08385784B2
Development stations are provided. A development station has a housing having a recirculation path and an auger being rotatable to move the developer along at least part of the recirculation path. A first actuator drives a first end of the auger and a second actuator drives a second end. A first sensor senses a rotational position of the first end while a second sensor senses a rotational position of the second end of the auger. An auger controller causes the actuators to act so that a first force and a second force rotate the auger against a drag. The first force and the second force are less than a third force to drive an alternative auger from a driven end. The auger has a first end yield strength and a second end yield strength that are less than a driven end yield strength of the alternative auger.
US08385783B2
A development device includes a development portion to develop a latent image formed on a latent image carrying member with developer including toner and carrier particles, a circulation unit to convey the developer collected from the development portion to development portion, the circulation unit including a container to store the developer, disposed upstream from the development portion in a direction in which the developer is circulated, and a first agitator provided inside the container, to agitate and mix the collected developer and fresh toner supplied to the container, the first agitator formed by multiple linear members.
US08385781B2
The present invention provides an image reading device in which light guiding paths can be formed in a simple structure and adjustment of irradiation position of light irradiated onto the original is easy, including: a luminescence portion; a light guiding body including a first light incidence portion disposed on a luminescence portion side and a first light emission portion disposed on an original side; a first reflective surface connecting the first light incidence portion and the first light emission portion in the light guiding body; a light guiding space constitutive member including a second reflective surface facing the first reflective surface; a light guiding space formed between the first reflective surface and the second reflective surface, having a second light incidence portion disposed on an illumination portion side and a second light emission portion disposed on the original side; a mirror; an imaging lens; and a reading portion.
US08385779B2
A charging device includes a corona charger for electrically charging a photosensitive member; a shutter, having first surfaces at which the shutter opposes the corona charger and having second surfaces at which the shutter opposes the photosensitive member, for covering and uncovering an opening of the corona charger with respect to a longitudinal direction of the opening; and a retracting device for retracting the shutter when the opening is uncovered. The retracting device retracts the shutter in a state in which the first surfaces contact each other so that the first surfaces and the second surfaces do not contact each other.
US08385760B2
In an image forming apparatus, a control device recognizes expansion and contraction of a pattern image based on an output of an image detector. The control device calculates a driving motor velocity fluctuation cancellation pattern for driving a common drive source. The driving motor velocity fluctuation cancellation pattern creates a latent image expansion and contraction cancellation pattern capable of canceling the expansion and contraction of the pattern image detected by the image detecting device. A process of obtaining the cancellation patterns is executed except when a print job for forming the toner image is executed in accordance with image information. The control device controls the common drive source in accordance with the cancellation driving motor pattern.
US08385754B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for bearing a latent image; a developing device, including a developer carrying member for carrying and feeding a developer including toner and a carrier to a developing position in which the developer opposes the image bearing member, for developing the latent image formed on the image bearing member; a discharging portion for permitting discharge of an excessive developer present in the developing device by supplying the developer into the developing device; a feeding member for feeding the developer in the developing device; a controller for controlling a forced discharging operation for discharging the excessive developer from the discharging portion by changing a driving condition of at least one of the developer carrying member and the feeding member; and a detecting device for detecting information correlating to flowability of the developer in the developing device. The controller is capable of controlling the forced discharging operation on the basis of a detection result of the detecting device.
US08385751B2
The present invention provides a system, apparatus and method to efficiently switch from one modulation format to another modulation format based upon a current route or path through a network topology of a network communication system. According to various embodiments of the invention, a network topology map is generated identifying one of a plurality of paths upon which a data stream is transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver within a network, the transmitter transmitting the data in a respective one of a plurality of data modulation formats. One or more characteristics related to one of the plurality of optical paths is measured and, based upon such measurement, a desired modulation format is selected. Upon a change in the network topology, the process is repeated such that the modulation format is continuously optimized with respect to the network topology.
US08385749B2
An optical signal transmitter of direct modulation, a method for transmitting optical signals, and an optical network are provided. The optical signal transmitter includes a laser diode operating at a bias current above a lasing threshold of the laser diode; a modulating device applies a modulation signal to the diode to produce a first output optical signal having first and second signal power levels; and a power level discriminator. The power level discriminator, from the received first output optical signal, generates a second output signal of significantly improved extinction ratio by reducing power of one of the first and second signal power levels of the first output optical signal. In one aspect, prior to receipt at the power level discriminator device, the second power level of the first output optical signal ranges from 10% to 60% of the first power level, and the second power level of the second output optical signal is reduced to less than 10% of the first power level of the second output optical signal.
US08385741B2
An optical pulse generating device includes a continuous light input unit to which continuous light is input; a pulse input unit to which control pulse light that includes periodic pulses of light is input; and a generating unit that generates pulse light from the continuous light by clipping the continuous light according to a variation of emission intensity of the control pulse light.
US08385740B2
A method of arbitrating data transmissions to prevent data collisions in an optical data interconnect system including a transmitting node, a plurality of receiving nodes, and one or more remaining nodes connected through an optical data channel. The method involves transmitting a transmission request signal from the transmitting node over an arbitration channel corresponding to the transmitting node, monitoring, at the transmitting node, a plurality of arbitration channels corresponding to each of the plurality of receiving nodes and the one or more remaining nodes at the transmitting node for a predetermined period of time, determining a start time for a data transmission from the transmitting node based on the monitored signals to prevent a data collision, and initiating a data transmission of a data signal from the transmitting node over the optical data channel at the determined start time.
US08385735B2
An illumination device for a camera includes a light source, in which LED chips are supplied with a drive current, for emitting light of a first color at intensity according to the drive current. An encapsulant is disposed in front of each LED chip, for changing an illuminating color of the light. An EEPROM stores a data table for representing a correlation between the illuminating color and the drive current. An illumination control unit obtains first drive current associated with a target color of light for use by referring to the data table, to drive the LED chips with the first drive current. Phosphor in the encapsulant sets color temperature of the light lower upon passage through the encapsulant than upon emission from the LED chips.
US08385733B2
An image pickup apparatus includes an image sensor and a photographing optical system. An imaging surface of the image sensor includes an effective light-receiving area having a rectangular shape that is defined by short sides and long sides. An optical surface of a lens that is provided closest to the image plane within the photographing optical system and which possesses an imaging function has a non-circular shape in a front elevational view. A boundary of the non-circular optical surface of the lens that is provided closest to the image plane includes two pairs of mutually parallel sides so that, when the lens that is provided closest to the image plane is rotated about the optical axis relative to the imaging surface, an image area formed by the non-circular optical surface covers the rectangular effective light-receiving area of the imaging surface before and after rotation.
US08385729B2
A heat pump water heater has a tank portion, an electric heating structure for adding electrical heat to water stored in the tank, and a heat pump for adding refrigerant heat to the tank water. A control system associated with the water heater has three user-selectable heating modes for heating the tank water during a given heating demand cycle—a first mode that initially heats the tank water with refrigerant heat while the electric heat is locked out for a first predetermined period before supplementing the refrigerant heat if necessary, a second mode similar to the first mode but with a longer electric heat lockout period, and a third mode in which only the electric heat is utilized to satisfy a tank water heating demand. Illustratively, the heat pump is disposed in a compact component arrangement on the top end of the water heater tank.
US08385715B2
An image processing apparatus is intended to display an image arbitrarily selected between an original image and an edited image in accordance with a user's preference after image editing. The image processing apparatus is designed so that an image displayed after the image editing can be selected depending on a user's intention. The image processing apparatus specifies and displays an unedited or edited image on the basis of a user operation, whereby the user can easily view a desired image.
US08385713B2
A universal holder for fusion splice connector bodies fits any of several standard styles of connector body to variety of different fusion splicer machines. The holder is formed of a block of solid material with a longitudinal cutout formed of a series of of generally semiicylindrical recesses and generally cylindrical lands with one or more square cutouts. The recess and lands are coaxially arranged so as to accommodate the various styles of connector bodies. The body also has locating features, including locating cutouts extending up from a bottom side, to accommodate locating structure of an associated fusion splicer machine. These locating cutouts may accommodate pin and slot, offset pin or parallel pin arrangements.
US08385710B2
A fiber tray for managing and organizing fiber distribution is disclosed. The fiber tray includes a housing and a drawer received in the housing. The housing is secured to an equipment rack. The housing includes inner sides with a glide mechanism extending the length of each inner side. The glide mechanism includes a first end and a second end. The glide mechanism also includes at least one curved path located at one of the first end and the second end. The drawer includes a bottom, a first side, a second side, a front and a back. The first and second sides of the drawer have a pin. The pins extending from the sides of the drawer slide within the glide mechanism to enable the drawer to be retracted, extended or removed from the housing.
US08385708B2
A collector for propagating incident radiation is disclosed. The collector may comprise a light directing component coupled to a buffer component, a first propagation component coupled to the buffer component and configured to transmit the incident radiation into a collector region through one of a plurality of windows, and an optical transport assembly coupled to an end of the collector region and having a second propagation component. Each light directing component may be configured to redirect the incident radiation from a first direction to a second direction, and the collector region may include a plurality of regions exhibiting a refractive index value that gradually transitions from about 1.5 to about 2.0. The second propagation component may be further configured to retain the incident radiation.
US08385706B2
Described is an optical element for guiding electromagnetic radiation. The optical element includes a base body and at least one film, wherein the film is configured to adhere to the base body and to form an intimate connection with the base body without using an adhesion and is arranged such that the electromagnetic radiation passes through it.
US08385699B2
Methods and systems for generating a supercontinuum light source, including generating electromagnetic radiation from a seed laser; coupling the seed laser electromagnetic radiation to a fiber amplifier comprising: a pump laser, a fiber coupler comprising an input and an output, and a nonlinear gain fiber comprising an input and an output, wherein the nonlinear gain fiber is configured to amplify and broaden the electromagnetic radiation from the seed laser; generating electromagnetic radiation from the pump laser; coupling the pump laser electromagnetic radiation and the seed laser electromagnetic radiation into the input of the fiber coupler; coupling the output of the fiber coupler into the input of the nonlinear gain fiber; and coupling out the amplified and broadened electromagnetic radiation from the nonlinear gain fiber. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08385692B2
An apparatus for determining a property, the apparatus including: an optical fiber having a series of fiber Bragg gratings, each fiber Bragg grating in the series being characterized by a light reflection frequency at which the fiber Bragg grating reflects light; wherein: the light reflection frequency for each fiber Bragg grating is different from the light reflection frequency of each adjacent fiber Bragg grating to minimize resonance of light between at least two of the fiber Bragg gratings in the series; at least two fiber Bragg gratings in the series have light reflection frequencies that overlap; and a change in the light reflection frequency of each fiber Bragg grating in the series is related to the property at the location of the each fiber Bragg grating.
US08385688B2
A system and method for recognizing and labeling anatomical structures in an image includes creating a list of objects such that one or more objects on the list appear before a target object and setting the image as a context for a first object on the list. The first object is detected and labeled by subtracting a background of the image. A local context is set for a next object on the list using the first object. The next object is detected and labeled by registration using the local context. Setting a local context and detecting and labeling the next object are repeated until the target object is detected and labeled. Labeling of the target object is refined using region growing.
US08385678B2
Provided is an image restoration method and apparatus, in which an image is restored by estimating the blur level of the image. The image restoration apparatus includes a block generation module which generates a plurality of overlapping blocks for an input image; a blur estimation module which generates a plurality of unit step responses for a current overlapping block from the overlapping blocks; a feature-map generation module which generates a feature map for the current overlapping block based on the unit step responses of the current overlapping block; and a filter application module which deblurs the current overlapping block by using a deconvolution filter to filter the feature map of the current overlapping block.
US08385671B1
Image noise reduction filtering by low-pass/high-pass filtering to get a hierarchical representation, modifying coefficients in each hierarchy level for noise suppression, and the modified level combination to yield a noise-filtered image. The noise suppression within levels preserves edges which the representation preserves.
US08385665B2
An image processing apparatus includes a filter unit which filters image signals; a sampling unit which generates first digital image signals having a first resolution by sampling the filtered image signals at a predetermined sampling frequency; and a super-resolution unit which reconstructs a second digital image signal having a second resolution which is higher than the first resolution by performing super-resolution on the first digital image signals generated by the sampling unit, wherein the filter unit passes frequency components corresponding to or lower than the Nyquist frequency which is half the sampling frequency, and passes a part of frequency components within a range from the Nyquist frequency to the highest frequency which can be represented by the second resolution.
US08385663B2
A method of segmenting a sequence of video images according to scene activity, the method comprising: defining a first series of nodes in a first multi-dimensional space, each node corresponding to an image of the sequence of video images; defining a transformation function that maps each of the first series of nodes to a corresponding node in a second multi-dimensional space having a lower dimensionality than the first multi-dimensional space; applying said transformation function to each of the first series of nodes to define a second series of respective nodes in the second multi-dimensional space; applying a data clustering algorithm to the second series of nodes to identify clusters of nodes within the second multi-dimensional space, the data clustering algorithm being constrained by a measure of feature distance between a pair of clusters of nodes and a measure of temporal distance between the pair of clusters of nodes; determining a representative image from each cluster of nodes and plotting each representative image with respect to a measure of the elapsed time of the sequence of video images to form an scene density curve indicating the underlying scene change activities; and segmenting the sequence of video images in accordance with local minima and/or maxima of the scene density curve.
US08385661B2
A hand-held mobile apparatus and method of quickly displaying online community friends' images applicable thereto are disclosed. The hand-held mobile apparatus includes a network communication module for linking to an online community server; a comparison module for comparing and determining whether data of a web image in the online community server matches data of a local image in a storage unit of the apparatus; a recognition module for determining an image type of the web image when the web image data is different from the local image data; a processing unit for downloading the web image of a first type in a smallest image size or the web image of a second type in an image size matching a screen resolution of the apparatus, and storing the web image in the storage unit as the local image; and a display unit for displaying the local image.
US08385660B2
A system and method for indexing and retrieval of document images in an MMR system having repeated content is described. The system provides one or more hierarchical shared content indices that produce faster and/or more accurate search results. The system is also advantageous because the number and configuration of the hierarchical shared content indices is automated, scalable and efficient for processing documents with partially repeated content. In particular, the MMR matching unit includes a hierarchical shared content index (HSCI) and associated methods of use for processing images where the MMR system includes repeated content. The present invention also includes a number of novel methods including a method for adding an image to a hierarchical shared content index; a method for deleting an image from the hierarchical shared content index, and a method for using the hierarchical shared content index for image recognition, as well as a method for combining multiple MMR indexes into a hierarchical MMR index.
US08385657B2
Method, apparatus and computer program product that uses a novel algorithm for edge detection suitable for both natural as well as noisy images. A scale adaptive threshold is used along with a recursive decision process to reveal the significant edges of all lengths and orientations and to localize them accurately even in low-contrast and very noisy images. Further the algorithm is use for fiber detection and enhancement by utilizing stochastic completion-like process from both sides of a fiber. The algorithm relies on an efficient multiscale algorithm for computing all “significantly different” oriented means in an image in 0(N log p), where N is the number of pixels in the image, and p is the length of the longest structure of interest. Experimental results on both natural and noisy images present confirmation of the method, apparatus and computer program product.
US08385650B2
Information on at least one object specified by a user is obtained from an external apparatus. In accordance with attribute information included in the object information, at least one object is retrieved from among objects registered in an object storage unit. Then, an order of display of at least one retrieved template is determined. Thereafter, the retrieved template is transmitted to the external apparatus in the determined display order.
US08385649B2
Learning is sequentially executed with respect to weak discriminators based on learning data held in a storage device. Upon learning, an evaluation value for the weak discriminator is calculated. It is discriminated, based on a shift of the evaluation value, whether or not the learning is overlearning. If it is discriminated that the learning is overlearning, new learning data is added. Thus, the overlearning is easily detected and the learning is efficiently executed.
US08385646B2
An image processing method includes partitioning an image under test to form a plurality of contiguous image segments having similar image properties, deriving feature data from a subset including one or more of the image segments, and comparing the feature data from the subset of image segments with feature data derived from respective image segments of one or more other images so as to detect a similarity between the image under test and the one or more other images.
US08385644B2
Video sequence processing with various filtering rules is applied to extract dominant spatial features and generate unique set of signatures describing video content. Accurate active regions are determined for each video sequence frame. Subsequently, a video sequence is structured by tracking statistical changes in the content of a succession of video frames, and suitable frames are selected for further spatial processing. Selected video frames are processed for feature extraction and description, and compact representative signatures are generated, resulting in an efficient video database formation and search.
US08385637B2
In a method of chromagenic illuminant estimation pixels from mutually-corresponding images with different filtering (e.g. a filtered image and an unfiltered image) are compared, a fraction of the brightest pixels being selected for a subsequent chromagenic estimation. The pixels may be at corresponding locations or they may correspond in that their mean brightness is in the same rank order. In one method, in which, in a first preprocessing stage, for a database of m lights Ei (λ) and n surfaces Sj (λ) there is calculated Ti˜QF Q+ where Q1F and QF represent the matrices of unfiltered and filtered sensor responses to the n surfaces under the i th light and + denotes an inverse, and in a second operation stage, given P surfaces in an image and 3×P matrices Q and QF, from these matrices there are chosen the r % brightest pixels giving the matrices Q′ and Q′F, and the scene illuminant Pest is estimated where formula (I) and (II).
US08385634B1
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for generating a mask based on a color model. In one embodiment, a selection of at least one color in an input image is received. A color model may be determined based on the selection of the at least one color, wherein the color model comprises one or more truncated Gaussian functions. A mask may be generated based on the color model. The mask may comprise a respective value indicating a degree of membership in the mask for each of the plurality of pixels in the input image, wherein the degree of membership in the mask is a function of a similarity in color to the selection.
US08385624B2
A method, system, and instrument for automatically measuring transient activity in cells uses image time sequences to identify transients in cells. Preferably, the transient activity is stimulated or provoked in synchronism with acquisition of the image time sequences. A cell mask is applied to each image of an image time sequence in order to localize the transient activity with respect to each cell. Localization enables cell-by-cell analysis of properties of the transient activity.
US08385622B2
An image diagnostic support device is configured to acquire a tomographic image including a lung region of an object to be examined and is provided with image display to display the tomographic image. The device is also configured to set up a measurement range, extract the chest wall from the image in the set measurement range, extract a thickened portion incidental to the chest wall in the measurement range, and measure the thickness of a thickened portion at each position in the measurement range.
US08385612B2
Even if streak-like noise or streaks caused by dragging which can be hardly distinguished from upheaval lines exist, background regions and impressing regions are separated from each other without being affected by existence of streaks. A fingerprint image background detection apparatus which discriminates background regions and impressing regions in an input fingerprint image includes impressing feature extraction means 22 which finds a pixel value variation quantity in a direction parallel to streak-like noise or streaks caused by dragging every small region obtained by dividing the input fingerprint image, tentative impressing region decision means 23 which judges impressing regions by comparing a pixel value variation quantity of every small region found by the impressing feature extraction means with a threshold, and impressing region shaping means 24 which shapes the impressing regions judged by the tentative impressing region decision means to obtain a convex shaped figure and obtains regions other than the impressing regions as background regions.
US08385611B2
A fingerprint authentication device includes a sweep fingerprint sensor that acquires images of a fingerprint on a finger at at least two different sensitivity levels in a single scan, and a counterfeit-finger determining unit that determines whether the finger is counterfeit based on the images acquired by the sweep fingerprint sensor.
US08385600B2
A vehicle driving assistance apparatus has an image capturing system capturing a road on which the vehicle travels, a white line type recognition section recognizing a type of a white line that defines a current traffic lane on which the vehicle is travelling on the basis of an image captured by the image capturing system, a white line type storage section storing the white line type recognized by the white line type recognition section, a white line type estimation section and a vehicle control system. When the white line type cannot be recognized by the white line type recognition section, the white line type estimation section estimates the white line type from white line types stored in the white line type storage section. The vehicle control system executes a vehicle control on the basis of the white line type estimated by the white line type estimation section.
US08385599B2
The present invention is a system and a method of segmenting and detecting objects which can be approximated by planar or nearly planar surfaces in order to detect one or more objects with threats or potential threats. The method includes capturing imagery of the scene proximate a platform, producing a depth map from the imagery and tessellating the depth map into a number of patches. The method also includes classifying the plurality of patches as threat patches and projecting the threat patches into a pre-generated vertical support histogram to facilitate selection of the projected threat patches having a score value within a sufficiency criterion. The method further includes grouping the selected patches having the score value using a plane fit to obtain a region of interest and processing the region of interest to detect said object.
US08385595B2
A motion detection method, apparatus and system are disclosed in the present invention, which relates to the video image processing field. The present invention can effectively overcome the influence of the background on motion detection and the problem of object “conglutination” to avoid false detection, thereby accomplishing object detection in complex scenes with a high precision. The motion detection method disclosed in embodiments of the present invention comprises: acquiring detection information of the background scene and detection information of the current scene, wherein the current scene is a scene comprising an object(s) to be detected and the same background scene; and calculating the object(s) to be detected according to the detection information of the background scene and the detection information of the current scene. The present invention is applicable to any scenes where moving objects need to be detected, e.g., automatic passenger flow statistical systems in railway, metro and bus sectors, and is particularly applicable to detection and calibration of objects in places where brightness varies greatly.
US08385594B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for determining the position of a vehicle moved along a path, markers, particularly code carriers or barcodes being located along the path. The method is characterized in that the markers are detected with a digital camera placed on the vehicle and that by means of image processing from a position of at least one marker image in the detection or coverage range of the digital camera a position of the vehicle relative to the given marker or the given markers in the main vehicle movement direction along the path and in at least one direction at right angles to the main movement direction is determined. The invention also relates to a computer program and a computer program product.
US08385593B2
Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.
US08385592B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a digital watermarking system and method for producing watermarked images from a sequence of original images. The system includes a storage unit and a processor to encode watermark data, create a watermark bitmap template of the encoded watermark data, load and scale the original images, composite the watermark bitmap template and the scaled original images to produce the watermarked images, and store the watermarked images. The system can also produce a single watermarked image from a single original image.
US08385585B2
A speaker includes a speaker body; a cone paper movably supported by the speaker body; and a magnetic driving unit disposed on the speaker body to vibrate the cone paper, wherein the cone paper includes at least two layers made of different materials.
US08385583B2
An example apparatus comprises a drive coil energizable by a drive signal, at least one permanent magnet, and at least one magnetic return path element for flux induced by the drive signal, the magnetic return path element, such as a balanced armature, being configured to provide a variable reluctance, so as to reduce nonlinearities in a displacement versus drive signal relationship. Modifying the reluctance versus flux properties of the magnetic return path of a transducer, e.g. the armature of a balanced armature device, allows compensation for nonlinearity arising in another part of the apparatus.
US08385580B2
An acoustic transducer including a sound producing cone that is activated by a voice coil cylinder having a pair of spaced electrical windings that are retained in spaced relationship from a surround ferromagnetic ring that is carried by a heat sink and wherein a magnetic subassembly is mounted within the voice coil cylinder. The voice coil cylinder is supported by a pair of spaced suspension members or spiders and by the sound producing cone.
US08385578B2
A piezoelectric acoustic device comprises: at least two piezoelectric actuators; a support body that supports the at least two piezoelectric actuators; and a signal input unit that drives the at least two piezoelectric actuators at respective arbitrary times. At least one pair of piezoelectric actuators among the at least two piezoelectric actuators is arranged in such a manner that their sound radiation surfaces face each other with a predetermined gap.
US08385576B2
A communications headset includes bone vibrating transducers supported over the temporal bones of a wearer in front of each ear and an earpiece. The earpieces, when not in use, are selectively securable in a holster formed on each transducer housing. Radio signals received by a wearer or vehicular mounted radio are processed by and distributed through a communications interface to both the transducers and the earpiece speakers. Ambient or external noises picked up by one or more microphones on each earpiece are processed to reduce ambient noises above a certain level.
US08385572B2
The object is to improve the effect of a noise reduction algorithm for hearing apparatuses and in particular hearing aids. This is achieved by a method wherein the input signal is modeled by a wanted signal model and a noise signal model. In addition, a signal statistic of the input signal is recorded in a data logging unit. The wanted signal model and/or the noise signal model can now be changed as a function of said signal statistic. Finally the noise component of the input signal is reduced using the noise signal model and/or the wanted signal model. This means that the models used can be continuously adapted to the hearing apparatus user's current situation.
US08385567B2
There is provided a condenser microphone of a type such that a microphone cable is directly drawn into a microphone casing, in which the electromagnetic shieldability of a microphone cable draw-in portion can be enhanced, and the microphone cable can be fixed easily. In a condenser microphone in which a microphone cable 20 is directly drawn into a microphone casing 10 formed with a cable insertion hole 12 in an end wall 11, a gel-form ferrite sheet 30 having a cable insertion hole 31 having an outside diameter approximately equal to the inside diameter of the microphone casing 10 and formed coaxially with the cable insertion hole 12 is disposed along the inner surface of the end wall 11 in the microphone casing 10, and after the microphone cable 20 has been inserted through the cable insertion holes 12 and 31, the gel-form ferrite sheet 30 is pressed toward the end wall 11 by a predetermined pressing means 40 to reduce the diameter of the second cable insertion hole 31 and to cause the gel-form ferrite sheet 30 to adhere closely to the microphone cable 20, whereby the microphone cable 20 is fixed.
US08385560B2
A noise canceling and communication system includes an in-ear device adapted to fit in the ear canal of a device user. A passive noise reduction element reduces external noise entering the ear canal. An external microphone senses an external acoustic signal outside the ear canal. An internal microphone senses an internal acoustic signal proximal to the tympanic membrane. One or more internal sound generators produce a noise cancellation signal and an acoustic communication signal, both directed towards the tympanic membrane. A probe tube shapes an acoustic response between the internal sound generator and the internal microphone to be relatively constant over a wide audio frequency band. An electronics module is located externally of the ear canal and in communication with the in-ear device for processing the microphone signals using a hybrid feed forward and feedback active noise reduction algorithm to produce the noise cancellation signal.
US08385559B2
Systems and methods for adaptive feed-forward noise cancellation. The system includes a plurality of reference microphones, an error microphone, a secondary path module, an adaptation controller, and a canceller filter. A finite impulse response (“FIR”) based plant model is converted to an infinite impulse response (“IIR”) based plant model using balanced model reduction. Due to the inherent instability of the adaptive IIR filter, the Schur-Cohn stability test is applied to the denominator coefficients of the IIR filter transfer function to determine the stability of the noise cancellation system. A secondary path of the noise cancellation system is identified in an on-line manner in the secondary path module. If the energy level of the communication signal (e.g., a music signal) is strong, secondary path identification is performed. The adaptation controller controls the updating of the IIR transfer function based on the stability determination and the secondary path. An anti-noise signal is then generated and added to the communication signal. The anti-noise signal is generated within approximately 60 or fewer micro-seconds.
US08385558B2
Presence of echo in a conversation is determined through a search performed in the sub-band domain using independent short length adaptive filters across a range of sub-band and maximum expected echo delay values. The adaptive filters attempt to predict and cancel the echo in the microphone signal based on the content in the speaker signal. If substantial cancellation is achieved in any of the sub-band filters, echo presence in the microphone signal is determined.
US08385556B1
A system for generating parametric stereo data from phase modulated stereo data is provided. A phase difference system receives left channel data and right channel data and determines a phase difference between the left channel data and the right channel data. A phase difference weighting system receives the phase difference data and generates weighting data to adjust left channel amplitude data and right channel amplitude data based on the phase difference data. A magnitude modification system adjusts the left channel amplitude data and the right channel amplitude data using the weighting data to eliminate phase data in the left channel data and the right channel data.
US08385552B2
The election of a key server is provided. The key server is a single device that broadcasts an encryption key to other devices in a network segment. Also, automatic reelection of a new key server is provided when a current key server becomes unavailable. Key receivers may separately detect that a new key server is needed and separately determine from state information which key receiver should be elected the new key server. The state information may have been received in previously sent messages. Thus, further messaging is not needed to elect a new key server.
US08385547B2
A system and method for encoding zero and one bits for transmission, including generating a first signal from a non-linear chaotic system to represent the one bit, with the signal's embedded vectors being within the non-linear system's attractor set, and generating a second signal from the non-linear system to represent the zero bit, with the signal's embedded vectors being outside the non-linear system's attractor set. The second signal encoding the zero bit can be generated by adding together two chaotic signals arising from the non-linear system initialized with different initial conditions, and weighting the second signal to have approximately the same energy as the first signal. One suitable chaotic systems is a Lorenz system. Systems and methods for decoding a transmitted stream of signals compare a detection statistic of the received stream of signals to a threshold value that depends on the chaotic system.
US08385541B2
The method of performing elliptic polynomial cryptography with elliptic polynomial hopping allows for the encryption of messages through elliptic polynomial cryptography, i.e., using elliptic polynomials with multi x-coordinates, and particularly with the utilization of elliptic polynomial hopping based upon both the elliptic polynomial and its twist, regardless of whether the elliptic polynomial and its twist are isomorphic with respect to one another. Each plaintext block is encrypted by a different elliptic polynomial, and the elliptic polynomials used are selected by an initial secret key and a random number generator. The method is particularly useful for symmetric encryption systems, and provides a block cipher fundamentally based upon a computationally hard problem.
US08385533B2
A distributed contact center and method of managing tasks within such a contact center is provided. The various sites of the distributed contact center are adapted to bid on contacts by transmitting bids to a work item distribution mechanism via RTP streams, thereby enabling the work item distribution mechanism to analyze the bids in real-time and route the contact accordingly.
US08385530B2
An enhanced directory assistance system includes a telephone switch for receiving calls from at least one caller desiring to receive directions. A direction module is configured to receive a desired destination information provided by the caller and the location of the caller. The direction module is further configured to provide directions to the caller based on the destination and the caller location information, where the system maintains a preferred destination listing configured to store a preferred destination information relating to a destination request frequently requested by the caller, such that when the system recognizes the caller, the desired destination is populated directly from the preferred destination information.
US08385528B2
A method for screening incoming communications includes the steps of receiving an incoming communication intended for a communication device or a recipient and identifying a sender of the communication and a communication type, which can includes an email. The method also includes the steps of identifying screening settings based on the sender and the communication type and determining whether the communication is allowed in accordance with the identified settings. Further, the method includes the steps of notifying a recipient of the communication, if the communication is allowed. In addition, the method includes the step of processing the communication without notifying a recipient, if the communication is not allowed.
US08385524B2
A method and system for selectively establishing a communications connection between an origin and destination in a communications network based on one or mediations rules and one or more lists of prohibited and exempted destination identifiers either in real-time using a control unit or with a pre-check using an analysis unit while also providing notification messages associated with the allowed or designated allowed communications connections.
US08385523B2
Some embodiments provide transmission of a request to access a voice message mailbox to a voice mailbox provider, transmission of caller information to the voice mailbox provider, and reception of a voice message associated with the caller information from the voice mailbox provider. According to various embodiments, the caller information may be associated with a selected contact, with a caller who initiated a missed voice call, and/or with a particular voice message mailbox.
US08385516B2
A smart ringback blocking and replacement system for delivering and/or selectively blocking signal content from a communications network is disclosed. Communications devices interact with the smart ringback blocking and replacement system to allow for modifications of the network service.
US08385515B2
Methods and systems for providing a telephone user with one or more of a plurality of possible voice scripts are disclosed. The voice scripts may be comprised of one or more individual voice modules which are dynamically selected for presentation to the user based on information known about the user. The information known about the user may include the user's identity, information obtained from the user on one or more previous calls, and/or demographic information obtained from third party sources. The user's identity may include the user's ANI, gender, and/or other identity data. The user's gender may be determined by analyzing the tonality of the user's voice.
US08385507B2
Apparatus and method for improved transient response in an electromagnetically controlled X-ray tube
An x-ray tube assembly includes a vacuum enclosure that has a cathode portion, a target portion, and a throat portion. The throat portion includes a metal bellows. An upstream end of the throat portion is coupled to the cathode portion and a downstream end of the throat portion is coupled to the target portion. The x-ray tube assembly also includes a target positioned within the target portion of the vacuum enclosure, and a cathode positioned within the cathode portion of the vacuum enclosure. The cathode is configured to emit a stream of electrons through the throat portion toward the target.
US08385494B2
A method includes synchronizing a received signal with at least two orthogonal frequency division multiplexed OFDM training signals having only in-phase values and being real in the time domain and determining a frequency offset correction from the synchronization of the received signal and training symbols responsive to a cross-correlation between said training symbols to enable estimating all possible frequency offsets for correction for enabling OFDM demodulation of said received signal.
US08385485B2
In some embodiments an adaptive clocking controller determines a clock spread of a system clock that would result in a lowest total interference between a channel received by a radio receiver and the system clock. A clock generator modifies a spread of the system clock in response to the determined clock spread. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08385484B2
A method and system for canceling an interference signal are provided. In the method, a received signal is transformed from a time domain to a frequency domain at relative low precision to obtain an estimated frequency and an estimated amplitude of the interference signal. A reference signal is generated using the estimated frequency and the estimated amplitude. An error signal is generated using the received signal and the reference signal based on minimum correlation criteria. The reference signal is adjusted using the error signal based on an adaptive algorithm. The reference signal is subtracted from the received signal to obtain the useful signal.
US08385478B1
A channel estimation method is provided. The method includes the following steps of: receiving an input symbol of an input signal and obtaining several pilot channel gains through calculation; executing an operation of interpolation on the pilot channel gains by a Wiener filter to obtain several data channel gains through calculation; calculating an adaptive alteration for the first and second multi-path statistical characteristic parameters according to the data channel gains and the pilot channel gains, and accordingly having the first and the second multi-path statistical characteristic parameters adjusted; generating an updated Wiener filter according to the adjusted first and second multi-path statistical characteristic parameters to execute an operation of channel estimation on a next input symbol of the input signal.
US08385477B2
In a wireless receiver, an estimated decision boundary for use in detecting symbol values from one group of combined received symbols is calculated based on a estimated traffic-to-pilot channel scaling ratio or an estimated decision boundary corresponding to another group of combined received symbols. By properly combining the information derived from the latter group of combined received symbols with channel estimation information for the former group, a decision boundary estimate for the former group can be obtained without the use of amplitude or power information for the latter group of symbols.
US08385475B2
A circuit for producing multiple switching control signals for a harmonic rejection mixer from multiple phases of a digital local oscillator signal is presented, wherein a first waveform combiner circuit is arranged to generate from the multiple phases of the digital local oscillator signal at least one switching control signal by logical combining two from the multiple phases of a digital local oscillator signal, and a second waveform combiner circuit is arranged to generate from the multiple phases of the digital local oscillator signal at least one first switching control signal by logical combining one from the multiple phases of a digital local oscillator signal with a predetermined signal having a static logical value. To compensate for phase errors the schematic topology of the first and the second waveform combiner circuit are arranged to be fully symmetrical to each other in that in the first waveform combiner, the circuit part for providing the function of the second waveform combiner is used as a dummy circuit, and in the second waveform combiner, a circuit part for providing the function of the first waveform combiner is used as a dummy circuit. Accordingly, the sources for providing the multiple phases of the digital local oscillator signal see the same load, and hence required phase shift is guaranteed.
US08385456B2
A differential radio frequency signal transmitter is provided. The differential radio frequency signal transmitter includes an oscillator, a modulator and an amplifier module. The oscillator generates a pair of differential oscillation signals. The modulator generates a pair of differential modulated signals according to an input signal and the pair of differential oscillation signals. The input signal is a digital signal. When the input signal is at a first state, the modulator outputs the pair of differential oscillation signals as the pair of differential modulated signals, and when the input signal is at a second state, the modulator outputs a constant voltage signal as the pair of differential modulated signals. The amplifier module receives and amplifies the pair of differential modulated signals and generates a pair of differential radio frequency signals, accordingly.
US08385452B2
Systems and methodologies are described herein that facilitate the generation and use of separable, hierarchical channel state feedback in a wireless communication system. As described herein, in the event that multiple network nodes cooperate to conduct downlink transmissions to a network user, channel state feedback as reported by the network user can be separated into intra-node feedback relating to per-node channel conditions and inter-node feedback relating to relative phase and/or amplitude between channels corresponding to respective nodes. Further, a network user can select to report intra-node feedback and/or inter-node feedback based on network instructions, a cooperation strategy to be utilized by respective network nodes, or the like. As additionally described herein, respective codebooks on which inter-node and intra-node channel feedback is based can be configured to convey information relating to a partial channel description and/or to vary based on resource units (e.g., sub-bands, resource blocks, etc.) utilized for downlink communication.
US08385444B2
A receiver includes a bandpass filter module, a sample and hold module, a discrete time bandpass filter module, a discrete time notch filter module, a combining module, and a conversion module. The bandpass filter module filters an inbound wireless that includes a desired signal component and an undesired signal component. The sample and hold module is operable to sample and hold the filtered inbound wireless signal to produce a frequency domain sample pulse train. The discrete time bandpass filter module bandpass filters the frequency domain sample pulse train to produce a bandpass filtered sample pulse. The discrete time notch filter module notch filters the frequency domain sample pulse train to produce a notched filtered sample pulse. The combining module combines the bandpass filtered sample pulse and the notched filtered sample pulse to produce a filtered inbound signal. The conversion module converts the filtered inbound signal into an inbound baseband signal.
US08385441B2
A method for communication includes, in a transmitter having a first number of transmit antenna ports, setting an upper limit on a second number of spatial layers to be used by the transmitter to be less than the first number. An actual number of the spatial layers, which does not exceed the upper limit, is allocated for transmission to a given receiver. One or more streams of modulated symbols are mapped onto the allocated actual number of the spatial layers. The actual number of the spatial layers are transmitted from the transmitter to the given receiver. A precoding operation maps the spatial layers onto the transmit antenna ports. A first upper limit is set when the precoding operation depends on feedback from the given receiver. A second upper limit, which does not exceed the first upper limit, is set when the precoding operation is not dependent on the feedback.
US08385436B2
A method includes obtaining data to be transmitted wirelessly and detecting if any transmitting devices having a higher priority are currently using at least one of multiple wireless channels. The method also includes transmitting the data wirelessly over the multiple wireless channels in a first specified manner when no transmitting devices having the higher priority are detected. The method further includes transmitting at least a portion of the data wirelessly over the multiple wireless channels in a second specified manner when at least one transmitting device having the higher priority is detected. The data could normally be transmitted using OFDM. When a higher-priority transmitting device is detected, at least a portion of the data could be transmitted using a reduced transmit power and a reduced constellation size and/or larger error correcting code. One or more wireless channels associated with one of two quadrature components could also be suppressed.
US08385433B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate estimating transmit covariance from evaluation of a channel (e.g., forward link channel, reverse link channel, . . . ) to be utilized in linear precoding for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems. Predefined codebooks that include any number of precoding matrices may be modified based upon transmit covariance estimations to yield improved precoding performance. Further, channel related feedback may be generated and analyzed by utilizing the modified codebooks.
US08385427B2
A video signal can be decoded at a reduced resolution by receiving a video signal encoded at a first resolution; determining a second resolution at which the received video signal is to be decoded, wherein the second resolution is lower than the first resolution; and decoding the received video signal at the second resolution. The second resolution can be selected from a plurality of predetermined decoding resolutions. Further, the second resolution can be selected in response to an input received from a user. Decoding of the received video signal can include scaling one or more reference pictures by a first scaling factor and scaling one or more non-reference pictures by a second scaling factor. Additionally, scaling can comprise transforming a first portion of frequency coefficients associated with a block of picture information and discarding a second portion of frequency coefficients associated with the block of picture information.
US08385419B2
Various approaches for motion search refinement in a processing element are discussed. A k/2+L+k/2 register stores an expanded row of an L×L macro block. A k-tap filter horizontally interpolates over the expanded row generating horizontal interpolation, results. A transpose storage unit stores the interpolated results generated by the k-tap filter for k/2+L+k/2 entries, wherein rows or columns of data may be read out of the transpose storage unit in pipelined register stages. A k-tap filter vertically interpolates over the pipelined register stages generating vertical interpolation results.
US08385414B2
Optimizing data in a data store. A request including a number of optimization parameters is received, where the optimization parameters specify characteristics of media content to be optimized. Responsive to the request, the media content (e.g., audio content, video content and images) may be encoded to reduce a storage size of the media content. Such a determination may be made based on one or more attributes of the media content, as well as the optimization parameters included in the request.
US08385412B2
There are provided methods and apparatus for inter-layer residue prediction for scalable video. An apparatus is described for an encoder for encoding a block of a picture, or a decoder for decoding a block of a picture, by applying inverse tone mapping to an inter-layer residue prediction process for the block, wherein the inverse tone mapping is performed in the pixel domain. Methods for encoding or decoding a block of a picture are also described; and performed by applying inverse tone mapping to an inter-layer residue prediction process for the block, wherein the inverse tone mapping is performed in the pixel domain.
US08385407B2
In a decoding apparatus in accordance with H.264, when the POC type is determined as “1” and a recovery point SEI is detected, the maximum frame number MaxFrameNum (or its integral multiple) is set as the initial value of the frame number offset (FrameNumOffset).
US08385403B2
This invention provides a digital broadcasting receiving unit capable of achieving synchronization of time information between a base station and a receiving unit with reference clock without use of a crystal oscillator (VCXO) having a variable frequency. The crystal oscillator oscillates a clock of a predetermined fixed frequency. A variable digital dividing circuit divides a fixed frequency by a division ratio so as to change the division ratio. A system decoder detects reference time information from the base station. A reference counter generates time information of a receiving unit. A phase comparator detects a difference between reference time information and time information. A division ratio control circuit controls the change of the division ratio based on the difference. The reference counter generates time information based on a clock having a frequency obtained by dividing by the variable digital dividing circuit and feeds back time information to the phase comparator.
US08385401B2
An FFE/DFE equalizer is provided that uses unclocked FIR filters. At least one of the unclocked FIR filters has tunable delay cells that can be tuned to adjust their respective time delay time periods. Because the FIR filters of the FFE/DFE equalizer are unclocked, the complexity and die area associated with clocking circuits are avoided, thereby enabling costs to be reduced. Because the delay cells of at least one of the FIR filters are tunable to enable their respective time delay periods to be adjusted, very good equalizer performance is achieved without having to use clocked circuits. In addition, because clocked circuits are not used in the FIR filters, the need for clocking circuits to control the timing of clocked circuits is obviated, which leads to a reduction in the amount of power consumed by the FFE/DFE equalizer.
US08385399B2
A method of noise mitigation in a multi-carrier communication system includes receiving a signal from a decision device, determining whether synchronization symbol update is enabled, updating at least one of frequency-domain equalizer (FEQ) coefficients or digital echo canceller (DEC) coefficients in synchronization symbol periods if the synchronization symbol update is enabled, determining whether data symbol update is performed if the synchronization symbol update is not enabled, determining whether a flag associated with the signal is set if the data symbol update is not performed, and updating at least one of FEQ or DEC coefficients associated with the signal in synchronization symbol periods if the flag is set.
US08385397B2
A method and system for determining a step size of an adaptive equalizer for a digital data receiver. The data received by the receiver includes coded symbols and uncoded symbols. The method includes determining a first error estimate based on decoded symbols corresponding to the coded symbols, determining a second error estimate based on the uncoded symbols, adaptively selecting the first error estimate or the second error estimate based on a convergence criterion, and determining a step size based on the selected error estimate.
US08385395B2
A method for determining a quantized channel vector in a terminal of a Multiple Input Multiple Output communication system includes determining a channel quality of a channel between a base station and the terminal and determining the quantized channel vector from a plurality of quantized channel vectors based on the determined channel quality. The determined quantized channel vector provides a predefined channel property value.
US08385393B2
Transmission power relative to a propagation path having a variation in gain is controlled to increase communication channel capacity, and a data rate is controlled in accordance with the variation of the increased communication channel capacity. In order to increase the communication channel capacity, the transmission power is determined so that the sum of noise power (=received noise power/propagation path gain) converted into one at a transmitter and the transmission power becomes constant. As a result, contrary to the background art, the transmission power is controlled to be reduced when the propagation path gain decreases and to be increased when the propagation path gain increases.
US08385389B2
Implementations and techniques for collaborative data sharing for CDMA interference subtraction are generally disclosed.
US08385378B2
A gain medium and an interband cascade laser, having the gain medium are presented. The gain medium can have one or both of the following features: (1) the thicknesses of the one or more hole quantum wells in the hole injector region are reduced commensurate with the thickness of the active hole quantum well in the active quantum well region, so as to place the valence band maximum in the hole injector region at least about 100 meV lower than the valence band maximum in the active hole quantum well; and (2) the thickness of the last well of the electron injector region is between 85 and 110% of the thickness of the first active electron quantum well in the active gain region of the next stage of the medium. A laser incorporating a gain medium in accordance with the present invention can emit in the mid-IR range from about 2.5 to 8 μm at high temperatures with room-temperature continuous wave operation to wavelengths of at least 4.6 μm, threshold current density of about 400 A/cm2 and threshold power density of about 900 W/cm2.
US08385366B2
In the context of packet-oriented data transmission via a network, an apparatus for transmitting a sequence of data packets checks whether a packet is missing or faulty. In this case, a replacement packet is provided which is a valid packet with regard to a packet syntax which, however, has a predetermined contents characteristic. On the decoder side, a basic decoder recognizes the packet as a valid packet and decodes same, whereas an extension decoder can enable an error concealing measure on the basis of an indication in the replacement packet to the fact that this is a replacement packet, in order to provide a higher-quality audio reproduction.
US08385365B2
There is provided a communication apparatus includes a soft decision data detection section which detects soft decision data from a received digitally modulated signal; an indicator calculation section which calculates an indicator indicating a degree of variation in the soft decision data detected by the soft decision data detection section; and a packet length control section which controls a packet length in accordance with the indicator calculated by the indicator calculation section.
US08385361B2
The present invention relates to a method and system for performing a multicast transmission in a cellular network, wherein an identification information, which indicates terminal devices and/or areas in which authorized terminal devices are assumed to be located, is transmitted from a core network (100) to a radio access network of the cellular network by using a control information transmission protocol. Then, a signalling connection of a control and user data transmission protocol is establishing based on said identification information and used for transmitting multicast related data and corresponding control information between the core network (100) and the radio access network. Thereby, already defined protocol layers can be used for implementing multicast transmission, while modifications are minimized.
US08385356B2
Systems and methods to forward data frames are provided. A particular method may include evaluating address data of a first data frame at a first virtual bridge coupled to a first virtual machine of a first server computer of a plurality of server computers. Based upon the evaluation at the first virtual bridge, the first data frame may be forwarded to a second virtual bridge associated with an adapter that is coupled to the first virtual machine. The address data of the first data frame may be evaluated at the second virtual bridge. Based upon the evaluation, the data frame may be forwarded to a third virtual bridge configured to forward the data frame based upon the address data to a second server computer of the plurality of server computers.
US08385343B2
The present disclosure provides IP address lookup method and apparatus. In one embodiment of the disclosure, an IP address lookup apparatus stores node information generated for a binary search-on-levels architecture in a universal multi-hashing table prior to searching with an advance filtering by a universal Bloom filter minimizing the number of accesses to the universal multi-hashing table before executing the IP address lookup.
US08385339B1
The different advantageous embodiments provide a system and method for transmitting messages. In one advantageous embodiment, a system comprising a number of transceiver units, a first computer system, and a second computer system is provided. The number of transceiver units are configured for use in a cabin of a vehicle, each of the number of transceiver units being configured to receive a number of messages and transmit the number of messages to a subsequent transceiver unit, wherein the subsequent transceiver unit is identified based on a physical position of each of the number of transceiver units to one another. The first computer system is configured for use in the cabin, the first computer system receiving the number of messages on a first number of physical network media and transmitting the number of messages over a first wireless communications link to a first transceiver unit in the number of transceiver units.
US08385330B2
A network architecture uses an Application Server Autonomous Access (ASAA) server which allows paging and call routing across different types of wireless and wireline access networks. The ASAA server provides connectivity between an external voice or data network and a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). The external voice or data network may be a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a public data network (PDN), so that the connectivity between the external network and the WTRU is provided through the access networks using data from the ASAA server.
US08385329B2
A method of assisting communication for a user is provided. The method includes receiving an IM message including a request for a voice carry over from the user, and transmitting to the user an invitation to join a first voice connection. The method further includes initiating the first voice connection with the user, and initiating a second voice connection with a recipient. Additionally, the method includes communicating to the recipient a first voice communication from the user over the first and second voice connections, and communicating to the user a response IM message including a transcribed version of a second voice communication from the recipient. An apparatus for assisting communication for a user is provided. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions is provided. The computer-executable instructions cause a processor to perform a method when executed.
US08385328B2
An apparatus and method for automatically mirroring Real Time Protocol (RTP) packets in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system including an Internet Protocol-Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX). It is possible automatically detects call startup and/or termination from an RTP packet or an RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) packet provided through a mirroring port of the IP-PBX, and based on the detection of call startup and/or termination, automatically mirrors the RTP/RTCP packet, which is transmitted/received due to call establishment.
US08385323B2
An invitation message (112, 116, 120) is sent from a concentrator (102) to nodes in a network. Each node records (124) an identifier (126) of the node or concentrator from which it received the message and forwards (122) the message to its neighbors. A node (108) then sends a trace message (132, 134, 136) to the concentrator (102) via intermediate nodes (106, 104) traversed by the invitation message in reaching the node and appends thereto the identifiers of the intermediate nodes. The concentrator then uses source routing to send a subsequent message (144, 146, 148) to the node (108) using the identifiers included in the trace message. The invitation message and/or the subsequent message includes characteristics) (200) of the concentrator one or more of which are then stored by nodes, including node (108). The characteristic(s) are used in deciding (206, 208) to send further trace messages, thereby regulating use of network bandwidth.
US08385321B2
A method for synchronizing a data base at a plurality of nodes in an ad hoc network including at least one authentication node group; each authentication node group including a leader node and at least one member node; the method includes: (a) in each respective authentication node group, comparing and identifying differences between the data base at the respective leader node and the data base at each respective member node; (b) for each comparing, if the differences are identified, exchanging data bases between the leader node and the member node; and (c) for each comparing, in no particular order: (1) merging the leader node data base with the member data base at the leader node to create a leader node merged data base; and (2) merging the member node data base with the leader data base at the member node to create a member node merged data base.
US08385313B2
A polling arrangement where polling frequency and/or rates may be adjusted according to activities of end stations or other elements being polled. The ability to adjust the polling activities may be used to facilitate reducing or otherwise controlling network resources allocated to the supporting the polling or other messaging depending operations.
US08385309B2
A slave wireless device includes several applications, a wireless communication interface and a processing module. The processing module interprets a presentation request and time-slotted markers received on the communication interface, selects several applications or application groups corresponding to the presentation request, and transmits the wireless slave device identifier distinctive for each application or application group selected in the distinctive time slot in response to the presentation request. The slave device is thus enabled to indicate several application groups in response to a single presentation request.
US08385308B2
Methods and apparatus for expressing two or more extended information elements (IEs) of a MAP message using a single Extended or Extended-2 Downlink Interval Usage Code (DIUC) or Uplink Interval Usage Code (UIUC) in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame are provided. This enhancement, called extensible Extended IE mapping, allows the WiMAX network to include more IEs into the DL-MAP and UL-MAP messages as the IEEE 802.16 family of standards evolves. Without this enhancement, all of the new IEs may most likely have to be included in the data bursts, and a user terminal (e.g., a mobile station) cannot decode these data-burst IEs unless the user terminal receives the Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) message(s).
US08385290B2
A method and apparatus for handling a Local Break Out (LBO) session taking place in a first network between a user equipment and a corresponding node (CN) is provided. For the downlink packets, embodiments include: converting, in a node in the first or the second network, the IP address of the downlink packets from an LHoA to a Global Home Address (GHoA) and routing, from the first node to a second node in the second network, any downlink packets being sent from the corresponding node, so that the downlink packets will arrive at the user equipment having a GHoA. For the uplink packets embodiments include: converting, in a node in the first or the second network, the IP address of the uplink packets from a GHoA to an LHoA and routing, from the second node to the first node, any uplink packets being sent from the user equipment; so that the uplink packets will arrive at the corresponding node with a source address that is an LHoA.
US08385280B2
A method for scheduling use of a downlink packet data traffic channel shared by a plurality of mobile and/or immobile stations, each station having a scheduling downlink transmission rate. The method comprises the steps of: determining a ranking metric for each of said mobile/immobile stations having queued data that varies directly with the mobile/immobile station's scheduling downlink transmission rate, and a delay factor indicative of the staleness of data queued for each of said mobile/immobile stations having queued data. The method also comprises the steps of: determining an uplink metric for each of said mobile/immobile stations having queued data, and scheduling one or more downlink transmissions to the mobile/immobile stations on the downlink packet data traffic channel based on said ranking metric and on said uplink metric.
US08385276B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate computing discriminator signals for frequency tracking in wireless communications. The discriminator signal can be computed based at least in part on representations of a received signal shifted upward by a portion of a frequency tone and downward by the portion of the frequency tone. The shifted signals can be summed, and a dot product of the summed signals and a channel estimation of the original signal can be computed to remove uncertain frequency response due to fading. The discriminator signal can be computed as the imaginary portion of the dot product. A frequency error offset can be determined from the discriminator signal and applied to a receiver to tune alignment of the receiver with frequencies of received signals.
US08385274B2
The link quality reporting method includes measuring link quality for received radio blocks, and if there is a modulation scheme with a largest number of radio blocks, reporting link quality for the modulation scheme, and if there is a plurality of schemes with the same number of radio blocks, reporting link quality for a modulation scheme selected using a predetermined method. Performance deterioration can be minimized in a link adaptation process.
US08385269B2
A wireless communication device includes a plurality of different wireless interfaces to facilitate communications with a remote device over a corresponding plurality of networks. The device can switch between the different interfaces to migrate an on-going communications session from one that requires the infrastructure of a fixed wireless communication network to one that does not require the infrastructure of a fixed wireless communication network. Switching between the various interfaces allows the migration to occur while protecting the device against malicious third-party impersonation attacks.
US08385267B2
A method of client routing in a peer-to-peer (“P2P”) overlay network is provided. In one embodiment, the method of client routing in a P2P overlay network comprises requesting communication with a client by a first peer using the P2P overlay network, wherein said first peer is directed to a second peer to which said client is registered in the P2P overlay network; determining that said client is not attached to said second peer in the P2P overlay network and said client has access to another network; providing said second peer with said client's location in the P2P overlay network using said other network, wherein said client's location is associated with a third peer to which said client is attached and not registered in the P2P overlay network; forwarding said client's location from said second peer to said first peer using the P2P overlay network, and using said client's location to communicate with said client by said first peer using the P2P overlay network.
US08385263B2
A technique disclosed enables a node having a plurality of interfaces to conduct connection of the plurality of interfaces simultaneously in a communication network domain. A mobile node having a plurality of interfaces connects one of the interfaces with a MAG (mobile access gateway) 11a to take part in a NetLMM domain 18 using a NetLMM protocol, and a LMA (local mobility anchor) 13 includes association information with the MAG 11a registered therein. When the mobile node connects another interface with another MAG 11b, the LMA receives a registration request for association information of this mobile node with the MAG 11b, and makes an inquiry to the already registered MAG 11a as to whether link with the mobile node is still valid or not. If the link is valid, the LMA keeps association information of the mobile node with both of the MAGs 11a and 11b.
US08385253B2
A network of nodes and connections is provided, each connection connecting two nodes. Operating a first node in the network includes detecting a change in a node connected to the first node, identifying that the number of nodes connected to the first node with the detected change is above a predetermined threshold, and executing the detected change at the first node and/or propagating the detected change to one or more nodes connected to the first node that do not have the detected change.
US08385248B2
The present invention relates to a system and method for providing Multicast and Broadcast Service (MCBCS). According to the present invention, the MCBCS system and method supports session start and data path registration procedures, join and leave procedure for providing the MCBCS with static or dynamic multicast service schemes, and supports procedures for providing to mobile stations operating in idle mode. Accordingly, the present invention enables effectively implementing the MCBCS in a wireless communication system, particularly in WiMAX system, and provides the MCBCS according to the mobile stations operating in idle mode.
US08385239B2
The invention suggests a method for providing control signalling in a communication system of generating a control channel signal comprising a transport format and a channel quality indicator trigger signal for triggering a transmission of a channel quality indicator by at least one terminal to the base station, and transmitting the generated control channel signal to at least one terminal, wherein said transport format is a predetermined format for user data transmission by the at least one terminal to the base station and said control channel signal indicates a predetermined mode for reporting the channel quality indicator to the base station, wherein the channel quality indicator transmission is to be triggered by the at least one terminal based on the channel quality indicator trigger signal.
US08385230B2
A computing environment containing a mesh network that is adapted to provide a reliable transport mechanism over which services may be delivered. Nodes of the mesh can automatically select routable addresses without conflicts, which allows nodes of the mesh to be accessed, even as the mesh changes through the addition or deletion of nodes. Also, nodes communicate with a protocol that supports service advertisements. These advertisements can identify mesh nodes that supply services, such as file or print servers, for which devices that have not yet connected to the network may be searching. Advertisements can also identify services to be used by nodes in the network, allowing, for example, a node to select a gateway providing a reliable connection to an external network. The mesh network can be used as a transport for communication using protocols, such as TCP/IP, that generally exhibit poor performance when using unreliable transports.
US08385222B2
In one aspect, a method and apparatus derive channel quality estimates for given subcarriers in an OFDM signal, based on reference signal (RS) or other known-signal measurements made for another set of subcarriers. In at least one embodiment, a wireless communication apparatus implements a method whereby it is configured for receiving reference information on the first set of subcarriers; generating the first channel quality estimates in the frequency domain, based on the received reference information; computing a power delay profile for the first set of subcarriers; and determining the second channel quality estimates either by extrapolating from the first channel quality estimates or as an average of the first channel quality estimates, depending on a delay spread of the power delay profile.
US08385210B1
A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes indentifying a delay within one or more queues in a service element by evaluating a type of packet sought for processing in the service element. The method also includes comparing the delay to a threshold value to determine whether to adjust a processing mode of the service element. In more specific embodiments, the method includes providing a flow table that maps specific packets of a flow traversing the service element for receiving a certain amount of processing from a processor engine. The adjustment can include avoiding opening new flows for the service element, or providing continued service to a selected few flows and not others, or avoiding processing for certain types of services having less priority.
US08385209B2
A network communication apparatus transmitting a first acknowledgment from a higher-level layer to a transmission source of a predetermined number of first segments and a second segment from the higher-level layer to a transmission source of a second acknowledgment, includes: a first condition setting section in which a first condition for specifying a connection to delay the first acknowledgment is set; a first judgment section to judge whether the first acknowledgment is to be delayed; a transmission processing section to delay the to-be-delayed first acknowledgment and transmit it to the transmission source of the first segments; a second condition setting section in which a second condition for specifying a connection to delay the second acknowledgment is set; a second judgment section to judge whether the second acknowledgment is to be delayed; and a reception processing section to delay the to-be-delayed second acknowledgment and transfer it to the higher-level layer.
US08385197B2
A communication system is provided that can control which communication sessions with mobile devices are admitted to a wireless access point. The admission decisions are based on actual measurements of radio frequency (RF) utilization. The RF utilization is determined on a per access class basis. Access classes may be defined by protocol but are, generally, voice, video and data. Thus, the system provides the ability to determine admissions that allows for the incorporation of factors including collisions, the distance from the access point to which a mobile device is communicating, and other factors.
US08385192B2
A plurality of workers is configured for parallel processing of deduplicated data entities in a plurality of chunks. The deduplicated data processing rate is regulated using a rate control mechanism. The rate control mechanism incorporates a debt/credit algorithm specifying which of the plurality of workers processing the deduplicated data entities must wait for each of a plurality of calculated required sleep times. The rate control mechanism is adapted to limit a data flow rate based on a penalty acquired during a last processing of one of the plurality of chunks in a retroactive manner, and further adapted to operate on at least one vector representation of at least one limit specification to accommodate a variety of available dimensions corresponding to the at least one limit specification.
US08385190B2
Particular embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide methods and systems to support a multicast source selection system. In an example embodiment, the system includes a network element in data communication with a network, the network element being operable to: receive a request for withdrawal of a server as a source of a multicast data stream; and propagate information to the network indicating withdrawal of the server as a source of the multicast data stream, the propagation of information by the network element being responsive to the request for withdrawal of the server as a source of the multicast data stream.
US08385183B2
A light source and a waveguide are mounted on a recording head slider. Light rays are emitted from the light source into the waveguide. The waveguide may include two core layers for light ray transmission. The first core layer enhances light coupling efficiency from the light source to the second core layer. The second core layer transforms a profile of the light. The waveguide may include a tapered portion with a narrow opening near the light source and a wider opening near the tapered portion exit. The light rays passing through the waveguide may be directed toward a collimating mirror. The collimating mirror makes the light rays parallel or nearly parallel and re-directs the light rays to a focusing mirror. The focusing mirror focuses the collimated light rays to a spot on a magnetic media disc.
US08385179B2
An optical disk discriminating method and an optical disk device which can detect reflected rays for making discrimination among kinds of optical disks with high accuracies. By switching a plurality of lasers and moving a spherical aberration corrector while moving an objective lens to cause it to approach or keep away from an optical disk, rays reflected light from the optical disk can be detected with high accuracies. Discrimination among the kinds of a plurality of optical disks can be made on the basis of signals generated from the detected reflected rays. This ensures that the kind of an optical disk can be determined through one operation of sweeping.
US08385178B2
Techniques are provided for using a multi-stage actuator to actuate one or more optical components of an optical head. The multi-stage actuator includes a cross-layer displacement component which actuates an optical component to change the beam focus in a displacement range corresponding to the thickness of the data layers in a holographic disk, such that a beam is impinged on the target data layer. The multi-stage actuator also includes a intra-layer focusing component which actuates the optical component in a smaller range to focus the beam on the target data position. The cross-layer displacement component and the intra-layer focusing component may each include more than one actuator. In some embodiments, the focusing component also actuates the optical component in a tilting motion to compensate for movement or imperfections of the disk during a reading or recording process.
US08385177B2
A content transmitting apparatus and the like which execute copy control of content more securely than conventional, and can count copy number correctly according to the situation, even in the case where content transfer is interrupted are provided. The content reproducing apparatus 10 for transmitting content that is digital copyrighted work including a plurality of content blocks comprises: the content reproducing unit 11 which reads out content and the like from the DVD 30; the control unit 12 which repeats, for each of the plurality of content blocks, transmitting in parallel with the content blocks, the copy control information indicating copy permission of the content, the content identification information identifying content, and the content status information indicating status of the content blocks in the overall content; the data building unit 15; the transmission unit 16; and the like.
US08385174B2
A method for evaluating a read signal obtained by irradiating a medium with a laser beam through an objective lens and reading data from the reflected laser beam by a PRML detection method is provided. The method includes: a sampling step of sampling the data obtained from the reflected laser beam at clock timings to obtain sampled values; and a step of, when a constraint length of a PR class in the PRML detection method is an even number, computing an intermediate sampled value for evaluation using at least adjacent two of the sampled values arranged in the order sampled at the clock timings. The provided method is an objective evaluation method when the PRML detection method is used, whereby the selection of a recording medium and a reading apparatus is facilitated.
US08385162B2
A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) disk drive that uses “shingled” recording and a rectangular waveguide as a “wide-area” heat source includes a controller that counts the number of writes to each annular band of data tracks. The wide-area heater generates a heat spot that extends across multiple tracks, so that each time an annular band is written, the data in tracks in adjacent bands are also heated. Because the bands are written independently, the number of passes of the heat spot and thereby the number of times the data tracks in a band are exposed to elevated temperatures without being re-written is related to the number of re-writes of the adjacent bands. The number of writes to each band is counted and when that count reaches a predetermined threshold value, one or more tracks in an adjacent band are re-written to avoid reaching an unacceptable level of magnetization decay in the tracks of the adjacent band.
US08385160B2
A magnetic recording element that faces a recording medium and that executes a magnetic recording while the recording medium is heated, the element including a waveguide that is configured with a core and a cladding, the core, through which laser light propagates, including an enlarged part, which is enlarged at an air bearing surface facing the recording medium; and the cladding surrounding a periphery of the core.
US08385159B2
A magnetic recording head consists of a write pole and a near field transducer close to the write pole that focuses light energy to a focal point. A near field transducer is positioned to receive light energy from a waveguide. The near field transducer comprises an energy-receiving end and an energy-radiating end. The energy-receiving end is located near the focal point of the waveguide and the energy-radiating end is shaped such that it is narrower closer to the write pole and wider farther from the write pole.
US08385153B2
A lighting system comprising a lamp arranged to transform electricity into a light beam having properties such as intensity, colour, colour temperature, direction and beam cone angle; a light control means arranged to adjust said light beam properties; at least one ultrasonic transmitter arranged to transmit ultrasonic signals; a plurality of spaced apart ultrasonic receivers arranged to receive reflected ultrasonic signals; and a processing means arranged to determine for each of said receivers time-of-flight signals representing the time differences between said transmitted signals from said at least one transmitter and the associated received reflected ultrasonic signals from said receiver, and to send control signals to said light control means in dependence of the combination of said time-of-flight signals for each of said receivers. Said ultrasonic transmitter and one of said ultrasonic receivers are arranged on a rotating means for moving along the circumference of said lamp.
US08385152B2
A system and method of remote sound speed measurement are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system for estimating a sound speed comprises a plurality of transducers configured to i) transmit a first acoustic signal from a first location, ii) transmit a second acoustic signal at a second location, iii) receive a first reflected signal at a third location, and iv) receive a second reflected signal at a fourth location, the reflected signals comprising at least one echo from at least one of the acoustic signals; and a microprocessor configured to i) estimate a travel time based on at least the first or second reflected signals, ii) estimate a travel time difference based on at least the first and second reflected signals, and iii) estimate a sound speed based on at least the estimated travel time and estimated travel time difference.
US08385148B2
According to one general aspect, a method may include receiving data from a network device. In some embodiments, the method may include writing the data to a memory bank that is part of a plurality of at least single-ported memory banks that have been grouped to act as a single at least dual-ported aggregated memory element. In various embodiments, the method may include monitoring the usage of the plurality of memory banks. In one embodiment, the method may include, based upon a predefined set of criteria, placing a memory bank that meets the predefined criteria in a low-power mode.
US08385142B1
An integrated circuit with a flexible data strobe signal (DQS) bus structure is presented. The integrated circuit has a number of input/output (I/O) modules with a number of data pins to receive and transmit data. In addition, a subset of the I/O modules also have a data strobe pin. The input/output modules are connected to data strobe signal buses having a fixed configuration. The configuration of the fixed DQS bus groups a number of data pins with a corresponding data strobe pin and the grouping of data pin spans multiple I/O modules. The integrated circuit also has a flexible data bus connected to the I/O modules. Data pins of I/O modules of a second integrated circuit are mapped a subset of the data pins of corresponding I/O modules of the integrated circuit. The flexible data strobe signal bus enables selection of the subset of data pins in the integrated circuit.
US08385140B2
Apparatus are provided for memory elements and related computing modules. An exemplary memory element includes a first array of one or more memory cells, a second array of one or more memory cells, write selection circuitry associated with the first array, and read selection circuitry associated with the second array. The write selection circuitry and the read selection circuitry are configured to be activated concurrently.
US08385130B2
A memory cell array is configured to have a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix, each of the memory cells being connected to a word line and a bit line and being capable of storing n values (n is a natural number equal to or larger than 3). A control circuit controls the potentials of the word line and bit line according to input data and writes data into a memory cell. The control circuit writes data into the memory cell to a k-valued threshold voltage (k<=n) in a write operation, precharges the bit line once, and then changes the potential of the word line an i number of times to verify whether the memory cell has reached an i-valued (i<=k) threshold voltage.
US08385124B2
The semiconductor device includes the nonvolatile memory cell in the main surface of a semiconductor substrate. The nonvolatile memory cell has a first insulating film over the semiconductor substrate, a conductive film, a second insulating film, the charge storage film capable of storing therein charges, a third insulating film over the charge storage film, a first gate electrode, a fourth insulating film in contact with the set of stacked films from the first insulating film to the foregoing first gate electrode, a fifth insulating film juxtaposed with the first insulating film over the foregoing semiconductor substrate, a second gate electrode formed over the fifth insulating film to be adjacent to the foregoing first gate electrode over the side surface of the fourth insulating film, and source/drain regions with the first and second gate electrodes interposed therebetween. The conductive film and the charge storage film are formed to two-dimensionally overlap.
US08385121B2
A memory has a memory array with a memory cell. The memory is adapted to program a first number of bits into the memory cell. The memory is adapted to sense a second number of bits, different from the first number of bits, from the memory cell.
US08385117B2
A memory card decodes three bits of data stored in one memory cell and belonging to different pages, each being a unit of reading, by iterative calculation using probability based on eight threshold voltage distributions. The memory card includes a word line controlling section configured to select one required to read 1-bit data belonging to one of the pages to be read from among seven voltage sets which are composed of seven reference voltages for hard bit reading and a plurality of intermediate voltages for soft bit reading and perform control to apply the voltages of the selected voltage set as read voltages to the memory cell, a log likelihood ratio table storing section, and a decoder configured to decode read data using a log likelihood ratio.
US08385115B2
Embodiments are directed to a method of programming a semiconductor memory device, the memory device including: a plurality of memory cell transistors arranged in a plurality of transistor strings; a plurality of word lines, each word line connected to a corresponding memory cell transistor of each of the transistor strings; and a plurality of bit lines, each bit line connected to at least one of the transistor strings, the method comprising: applying a first voltage, and then applying a programming voltage to a selected word line corresponding to the selected memory cell transistor; and in advance of applying the first voltage to the selected word line, applying a second voltage to at least one neighboring word line that neighbors the selected word line, the neighboring word line connected to a neighboring, unselected memory cell transistor of the selected transistor string, to ensure precharging of a channel region of another, unselected transistor string between a first, unselected transistor of the unselected transistor string connected to the neighboring word line and a second, unselected transistor of the unselected transistor string connected to the selected word line, the first, unselected transistor neighboring the second, unselected transistor in the unselected transistor string.
US08385111B2
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a plurality of unit cell arrays having a plurality of word lines which are disposed in a row direction and a plurality of global bit lines which are disposed in a column direction; a row decoder configured to activate at least two word lines among the plurality of word lines in response to a row address which designates one word line; a global column switch block configured to select two different global bit lines among the plurality of global bit lines in response to column control signals; and a column decoder configured to generate the column control signals in response to a column address.
US08385108B1
A method of method of writing to a magnetic memory cell includes selecting a magnetic memory cell of a magnetic memory array to be written to, the magnetic memory cell including a pair of MTJs, and setting a bit line (BL) coupled to the magnetic memory cell to a state that causes current to flow through the pair of MTJs in a manner that causes the direction of current flow through one of the MTJs of the pair of MTJs to be in a direction opposite to that of the other MTJ of the pair of MTJs.
US08385101B2
Methods and means related to memory resistors are provided. A memristor includes at least two different active materials disposed between a pair of electrodes. The active materials are selected to exhibit respective and opposite changes in electrical resistance in response to changes in oxygen ion content. The active materials are subject to oxygen ion reconfiguration under the influence of an applied electric field. An electrical resistance of the memristor is thus adjustable by way of applied programming voltages and is non-volatile between programming events.
US08385100B2
Embodiments of apparatus and methods for an energy efficient set write of phase change memory with switch are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08385095B2
An increase in a ripple voltage of a capacitor in a smoothing circuit is prevented to achieve a compact capacitor and cost reduction for capacitors in an electric power supply circuit which performs PAM control using a switching element. An electric power supply circuit includes a bridge circuit for rectifying alternating current power, a smoothing circuit which has two capacitors serially connected to each other, and a PAM control section for turning a switching element on and off at a predetermined timing. The PAM control section includes a phase difference detection section which detects a phase shift of a PAM waveform based on a change in a voltage difference between the two capacitors, and a phase correction section which corrects the phase of the PAM waveform so that an input current has a sine waveform.
US08385089B2
A multiple-output switching power supply unit includes: a voltage generating circuit Q1, Q2, T1a, 10a configured to generate a pulse voltage by intermittently interrupting a direct current power supply 1; a series resonance circuit including a current resonance capacitor Cri2, a primary winding P2 of a transformer T2, and a switching element Q3, the pulse voltage generated in the voltage generating circuit being applied to the series resonance circuit; a rectifying/smoothing circuit D2, C2 configured to rectify and smooth a voltage which is generated in a secondary winding S2 of the transformer, and thus to output a direct current output voltage; and a control circuit 11 configured to turn on and off the switching element based on the direct current output voltage.
US08385088B2
An implementation of an unregulated dormant mode with an output reset controller in a power converter is disclosed. An example method for controlling an output of a power converter includes generating a drive signal with a drive signal generator to regulate a flow of energy to one or more loads coupled to an output of the power converter in response to an energy requirement of the one or more loads. The drive signal generator is rendered dormant to cease for a first time period the regulation of energy flow to the one or more loads when the energy requirement of the one or more loads falls below a threshold value. The energy requirement of the one or more loads is not responded to during the first time period. The drive signal generator is then powered up to resume after the first time period has elapsed the regulation of energy flow to the one or more loads. After the first time period has elapsed, it is identified whether there is an increase in the energy requirement of the one or more loads. If there is the increase in the energy requirement of the one or more loads, the output of the power converter is reset to allow a voltage at the output of power converter to be discharged during a second time period after the first time period has elapsed to a value substantially below a normal regulation output voltage.
US08385087B2
Novel system and methodology are provided for controlling a DC/DC forward converter having a transformer with primary and secondary windings, a reset switch, and a first switch coupled to the primary winding of the transformer. The control system involves a PWM control circuit responsive to an output signal of the converter for producing a PWM signal to control switching of the reset switch, and the first switch. A period of the PWM signal includes an on-time interval for enabling transfer of power via the transformer when the first switch is on, and a reset time interval for enabling reset of the transformer when the reset switch is on. A maximum value of the on-time interval is pre-set to provide sufficient time for the reset. The reset switch is turned off when the PWM signal goes from a first level to a second level. A first delay period is set between time when the reset switch turns off and time when the first switch turns on. A first delay control circuit is provided for reducing the first delay time when the on-time interval approaches the maximum value. Further, the converter may include a second switch coupled to the secondary winding of the transformer. A second delay period shorter than the first delay period may be set between time when the reset switch turns off and time when the second switch turns on. A second delay control circuit may be provided for reducing the second delay period when the on-time interval approaches the maximum value.
US08385085B2
The PWM signal generator of the present invention generates a first pulse waveform in which a first on-time ΔT1 calculated by a first on-time calculator (401) is used as an on-duration, and a second pulse waveform in which a second on-time ΔT2, calculated by a second on-time calculator (402) when a preset delay time has elapsed from the start of the calculation of the first on-time ΔT1, is used as an on-duration. Also, a PWM signal generator (413) generates a PWM signal on the basis of a composite pulse in which the generated first pulse waveform and second pulse waveform are combined, and the first on-time calculator (401) calculates the first on-time ΔT1 at the end of the composite pulse waveform.
US08385082B2
An electrical connection arrangement includes an IC package, and a PCB having a plurality of receiving holes for receiving a plurality of contacts therein. The contact having a contacting portion engaged with the IC package that seated upon the PCB. A retaining device is provided for securing the IC package onto the PCB. Since there is no socket utilized in the present invention, the total profile of the arrangement and the cost are effectively reduced.
US08385080B2
A semiconductor module, a socket for the same, and a semiconductor module/socket assembly are disclosed. The semiconductor module includes a printed circuit board including a plurality of semiconductor devices, a plurality of insulating layers and a plurality of metal layers, the plurality of insulating layers and the plurality of metal layers are alternately stacked. Exposed portions of the metal layers are exposed to the outside of the semiconductor module at a first and a second ends of the printed circuit board. The first end and the second end are at opposite ends of the printed circuit board.
US08385068B2
The invention concerns a converter as well as a cooling device and a method for cooling at least a first and a second group of electrically interconnected electrical components (SWA1, SWA2, SWA3, SWA4, SWA5, SWA6, SWA7, SWA8, SWB1, SWB2, SWB3, SWB4, SWB5, SWB6, SWB7, SWB8) in the converter, where the first and second groups are placed on opposite sides of a conductor leading to a connection terminal of the converter. The cooling device (22) comprises a first transporting arrangement (HSA1, HSA2, HSA3, HSA4, HSA5, HSA6, HSA7, HSA8, HSA9, COA1, COA2, COA3, COA4, COA5, COA6, COA7, COA8) transporting cooling medium (M) past the first group and a second transporting arrangement (HSB1, HSB2, HSB3, HSB4, HSB5, HSB6, HSB7, HSB8, HSB9, COB1, COB2, COB3, COB4, COB5, COB6, COB7, COB8) transporting the same cooling medium past the second group.
US08385060B2
A handheld computing device is disclosed. The handheld computing device includes a seamless housing formed from an extruded tube. The extruded tube includes open ends and internal rails which serve as a guide for slidably assembling an operational assembly through the open ends of the extruded tube, a reference surface for positioning the operational assembly relative to an access opening in the seamless housing, and a support structure for supporting the operational assembly during use.
US08385052B2
A capacitor containing an electrochemical cell that includes ruthenium oxide electrodes and an aqueous electrolyte containing a polyprotic acid (e.g., sulfuric acid) is provided. More specifically, the electrodes each contain a substrate that is coated with a metal oxide film formed from a combination of ruthenium oxide and inorganic oxide particles (e.g., alumina, silica, etc.). Without intending to be limited by theory, it is believed that the inorganic oxide particles may enhance proton transfer (e.g., proton generation) in the aqueous electrolyte to form hydrated inorganic oxide complexes (e.g., [Al(H2O)63+] to [Al2(H2O)8(OH2)]4+). The inorganic oxide thus acts as a catalyst to both absorb and reversibly cleave water into protons and molecular bonded hydroxyl bridges. Because the anions (e.g., sulfate and bisulfate ions) in the electrolyte are not bound in the coordination sphere of the formed aqua complexes, they do not impede the condensation of these complexes required to achieve the additional capacitance over the potential range. As a result, the ionic charges are kept separate and the chemical process may generate pseudo-capacitance. This, in turn, may result in an increase in the charge density and capacitance of the electrode.
US08385049B2
Provided is a dielectric ceramic which exhibits desired high temperature load resistance characteristics even under a high electric field strength on the order of 15 kV/mm. The dielectric ceramic contains, as its main constituent, a perovskite compound represented by the general formula (Ba1-h-i-mCahSriGdm)k(Ti1-y-j-n-o-pZryHfjMgnZnoMnp)O3, 0≦h≦0.03, 0≦i≦0.03; 0.042≦m≦0.074; 0.94≦k≦1.075; 0≦(y+j)≦0.05; 0.015≦n≦0.07; 0≦o≦0.04; 0≦p≦0.05; and 1.0
US08385046B2
A capacitor device having a first conductive element and a second conductive element. The capacitor includes a porous membrane disposed between the first and second conductive elements. The capacitor has pores included in the porous membrane extending from the first conductive element to the second conductive element, and a conductive material is disposed inside the pores and in contact with the first conductive element.
US08385043B2
Galvanic isolators are disclosed herein. An embodiment of a galvanic isolator comprises a generally planar electrically insulating substrate comprising opposing first and second surfaces, the substrate comprising an electrically insulating, low dielectric loss material and having a transmitter coil disposed on the first surface and a receiving coil disposed on the second surface. A transmitter circuit is operably connected to the transmitter coil. The transmitter circuit comprises a first detector that detects a rising edge of an input signal; a first pulse generator that generates a plurality of first pulses upon detection of the rising edge; a second detector that detects a falling edge of the input signal; and a second pulse generator that generates a plurality of second pulses upon detection of the falling edge. A receiver circuit is operably connected to the second receiving coil. The receiver circuit generates a signal that is substantially similar to the input signal based on the first pulses and the second pulses.
US08385022B2
A load beam part main body portion's side edges include a proximal end region inclined at a first angle and a distal end region inclined at a smaller second angle. Where “L” is a distance in a suspension longitudinal direction between a supporting part's distal end portion and a dimple, a distance “a” in the same direction from the supporting part's distal end portion until an inflection point between the proximal end region and the distal end region satisfies 0.44L≦a≦0.78L. A support plate's side edges fixed to the load beam part main body portion's lower surface is located, in the suspension width direction, inward from a virtual line connecting the proximal end region's proximal end and the distal end region's distal end and outward from the proximal end region and the distal end region, and extends, in the suspension longitudinal direction, across the inflection point.
US08385013B2
An optical module includes a substrate, an optical element directly built in a predetermined area of the substrate, and a piezoelectric element directly formed on the substrate along the circumference of the optical element. The piezoelectric element drives the optical element, by displacing the predetermined area of the substrate, in such a manner to displace the optical element in the direction of the optical axis of the optical element or to incline the optical axis of the optical element.
US08385006B2
An photographing optical lens assembly includes, 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, a third lens element, a fourth lens element having at least one aspheric surface, a fifth lens element having a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface with at least one surface being aspheric and at least one inflection point being formed, and a sixth lens element having a concave image-side surface with at least one surface being aspheric. By adjusting the curvature radii of the fifth lens element, the photographing optical lens assembly can stay compact and correct the aberration while obtaining superior imaging quality.
US08385003B1
A zoom lens includes a first lens group of negative refractive power, a second lens group of positive refractive power and a third lens group of positive refractive power. The zoom lens satisfies the following condition formulas: 0.68<|f2/f1|<0.85, and 0.65
US08384993B2
A semiconductor optical amplifier for amplifying an optical signal. The amplifier comprises an input for receiving the optical signal and an output for outputting an amplified version of the optical signal. A semiconductor active medium is provided for defining an amplification path extending between the input and the output for amplifying the optical signal as the optical signal propagates along the amplification path. A control means selectively controls the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the semiconductor optical amplifier. The control means is co-operable with the active medium for selectively varying carrier density along the amplification path.
US08384990B2
Certain embodiments relate to and involve producing broadband phase-locked frequency combs in the near-infrared and mid-infrared spectral ranges. One such embodiment is directed to a system, with a pump laser and an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) resonator, that is configured to produce broad-bandwidth frequency combs in the near-infrared and mid-infrared frequency ranges. The pump laser is configured to produce femtosecond pulses of light having a pulse repetition rate. The optical parametric oscillator (OPO) resonator that is coupled to the pump laser for facilitating synchronous OPO pumping by matching a roundtrip time of the pulses of light within the OPO resonator with the pulse repetition rate of the pump laser. Among other more specific aspects, the OPO resonator can include a nonlinear optical gain element to provide broad-bandwidth parametric amplification, and optical elements to direct the pulses of light from the femtosecond laser to the nonlinear gain element and to direct subharmonic frequencies of the light out of the optical cavity.
US08384983B2
An electrochromic display device includes a display substrate, a counter substrate facing the display substrate, counter electrodes formed on the counter substrate, at least first and second display electrodes arranged between the display substrate and the counter electrodes, the first display electrode and the second display electrode having a predetermined distance from each other, a first electrochromic layer arranged on the first display electrode and a second electrochromic layer arranged on the second display electrode, an electrolyte layer arranged between the respective first and the second display electrodes and the counter electrodes, and a protective layer made of an insulator material formed on a counter electrode facing side surface of one of the first and the second display electrodes such that the protective layer is sandwiched between the selected one of the first and the second display electrodes and a corresponding one of the first and the second electrochromic layers.
US08384982B2
A display element containing an electrolyte (containing a metal salt compound) disposed between counter electrodes, wherein a compound represented by the following Formula (A) is immobilized on at least one of the counter electrodes: wherein R22 represents an aryl group, R23 and R24 independently represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent; X represents >N—R25, an oxygen atom or sulfur atom; and R25 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, a ratio of a region on which the compound of Formula (A) is immobilized to a region on which the compound is not immobilized is 1:4 to 4:1. A black display, a white display and a color display having a color other than black are achieved by the operation of the counter electrodes.
US08384980B2
A semiconductor optical modulation device includes a substrate; a first semiconductor cladding layer of a first conductivity type disposed on the substrate; an optical waveguide layer disposed on the first semiconductor cladding layer, the optical waveguide layer including a first semiconductor optical confinement layer, a second semiconductor optical confinement layer, and an insulating layer disposed between the first semiconductor optical confinement layer and the second semiconductor optical confinement layer, the insulating layer being made of aluminum oxide; a second semiconductor cladding layer of a second conductivity type disposed on the optical waveguide layer; a first electrode electrically connected to the first semiconductor cladding layer; and a second electrode electrically connected to the second semiconductor cladding layer.
US08384972B2
An image input/output control apparatus includes a control device for controlling input/output of image data with an external apparatus, plural image processing devices for performing predetermined image processes to the image data, and plural data transfer devices for connecting each of the plural image processing devices and the control device like a ring and performing data transfer among them. The plural image processing devices and the control device are composed respectively on different units, whereby the structure of the apparatus can be easily changed, and a decrease in processing speed due to the competition for buses can be reduced without increasing the number of parts necessary for bus control.
US08384969B2
A transmission device for driving an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a scanner individually is provided. The transmission device includes a transmission shaft, an actuator, a first transmission module coupled to the scanner, a second transmission module coupled to the ADF, and a power switching module. The actuator is movably attached around the transmission shaft. The power switching module is assembled to the transmission shaft. When the power switching module is coupled to the first transmission module and the transmission shaft rotates in a first direction such that the scanner moves to a first position, the scanner drives the actuator to drive the power switching module to be coupled to the second transmission module. When the transmission shaft rotates in a second direction, the power transmission module is coupled to the first transmission module to drive the scanner to move away from the transmission device.
US08384968B2
A transmission mechanism for switching output powers includes first to fourth transmission gears, first and second power-connecting members and a driving mechanism. The first power-connecting member coaxially disposed between the first and second transmission gears is moved axially, and connects the first and second transmission gears together to transmit power to the second transmission gear. The second power-connecting member coaxially disposed between the third and fourth transmission gears is moved axially and connects the third and fourth transmission gears together to transmit power to the fourth transmission gear. The driving mechanism synchronously drives the first and second power-connecting members to move axially to selectively connect the first transmission gear to the second transmission gear, or connect the third transmission gear to the fourth transmission gear. A scanning apparatus using the transmission mechanism is also disclosed.
US08384966B2
Another code image may be added so that a code image previously embedded in an original document image can be read. An image forming device may be configured to use, when a second code image is combined with the original document image including a first code image, a result of decoding of the first code image to generate a third code image; and also configured to combine the second code image with the original document image and combine the third code image on the second code image.
US08384963B2
A printing device is provided with an imager to capture an output image of the paper after it is printed on. The output image is compared to an input image representing the image being printed to detect any artifacts in the output image and to determine the type of the artifacts. The types of the artifacts include effects caused by dirty drum, low or missing toner, dirty or wrinkled paper, etc. The printing device performs a responsive action based on the type of artifacts detected, including displaying a diagnostic message, stopping the printing, rejecting the sheet, re-printing, printing subsequent pages with a corrective action, etc. Further, another imager is provided to capture an image of the paper before it is printed on, and the image is analyzed to detect artifacts of the input paper, including dirty or wrinkled paper, wrong paper size, paper skew or misalignment, etc.
US08384953B2
An image forming apparatus includes an operating and display unit that displays information and receives inputs entered by a user; a display control unit that displays, on the operating and display unit, a detailed display, on which setting contents of setting items are specifiable, and a simplified display that contains function-selection information that represents setting contents of a predetermined setting item among the setting items displayed on the detailed display in a manner that setting contents of the predetermined setting item are specifiable; an input control unit that receives selection of a desired setting item made on the detailed display displayed on the operating and display unit; and a registration unit that registers the function-selection information of the setting item, the selection of which has been received, on the simplified display.
US08384945B2
A printing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether objects overlap one another by analyzing print data, and a printing unit configured, if it is determined by the determination unit that the objects overlap one another, to separately print an image obtained before the objects overlap one another and an image obtained after the objects overlap one another based on the print data, and if it is determined by the determination unit that the objects do not overlap one another, to print an image based on the print data.
US08384944B2
Provided is a print position control method whereby displacement of a print position in a wide range can be corrected very accurately, without reducing a printing speed or increasing a manufacturing cost. Thus, a printing apparatus includes: a first correction unit, for correcting a print position at accuracy equal to the resolution of the printing apparatus; and a second correction unit, for correcting the print position at accuracy higher than the resolution and in the range of an area that corresponds to one pixel of the resolution. With this arrangement, the print position displacement in a wide range equal to or greater than one pixel can be corrected by the first correction unit, and a print position displacement smaller than one pixel can be corrected by the second correction unit. Therefore, correction of a print position displacement in a wide range is enabled at a higher accuracy.
US08384941B2
A system and method for facilitating environmentally informed print job selection are provided. The method includes assigning a status to each of a set of networked printers, the status of an operational printer denoting a printer as being one of at least awake, asleep, and waking up soon. The assigned status is provided to a graphical user interface, enabling a user to compare the status and/or environmental costs of printing with user selectable ones of the set of printers.
US08384940B2
This invention provides an image forming apparatus which prevents unauthorized printing without impairing the user's convenience. To accomplish this, upon reception of the print job, the image forming apparatus determines if the print job is a storage target job. If the print job is a storage target job, the image forming apparatus temporarily stores the print job in a memory without starting printing. The image forming apparatus creates and transmits a URL which is required to access a Web server included in the self apparatus and is uniquely assigned to the print job, to the external apparatus which transmitted the print job. After that, when an access to the URL is generated, the image forming apparatus starts printing the temporarily stored print job.
US08384936B2
Even when vector data contains resolution dependent data, the vector data is generated at a resolution of quality without deterioration even if the vector data is output from any device on a network. When spooling the vector data, an MFP 1, receiving PDL data containing resolution information on a data processing resolution from a PC 2, analyzes the resolution information, and determines a processing resolution used at a time when an image forming device executes resolution dependent processing. After that, when the resolution dependent processing is necessary to generate the vector data, the MFP 1 executes the resolution dependent processing in accordance with the determined processing resolution.
US08384935B2
An information processing device includes a plurality of modules for realizing a plurality of functions. The information processing device reproduces contents information and expects information which is to be inputted based on the functions relating to the reproduced contents information. Further, based on the expected information, the information processing device controls operations of at least some of the plurality of modules.
US08384933B2
When a user selects not to insert advertisement data into scan data when transferring the scan data from an MFP to a Web server, the MFP converts the advertisement data into an HTML format to transfer to the Web server in association with the scan data. Accordingly, a PC accessing the Web server displays a Web page showing contents of the advertisement and information including an icon functioning as means for requesting download of the scan data. The scan data inserted with no advertisement data is downloaded to the PC by operating the icon.
US08384924B2
An image processing apparatus includes an input unit, a first storage unit, a selection unit, a second storage unit, an image processing unit, a generation unit, a control unit, and a decision unit. The image processing unit is configured to include a reconfiguration circuit, which enables reconfiguration according to circuit configuration data stored in the second storage unit, and to execute image processing on image data input by the input unit. The control unit, after performing a first setting processing for rewriting a part of the circuit configuration data stored in the second storage unit, according to the rewriting data generated by the generation unit, configured to execute control to perform reconfiguration processing for reconfiguring a circuit configuration of the image processing unit according to the circuit configuration data stored by the second storage unit.
US08384913B2
The invention provides a measuring method for installing a measuring rod 6 in a predetermined relation with respect to a coordinate system set to a mobile object 1, for transcribing a predetermined position of the measuring rod on a ground surface where the mobile object is set, for transcribing a measuring point of an object to be measured as set on the mobile object to the ground surface, for measuring a distance on the ground surface between the transcribed predetermined position and the transcribed measuring point, for obtaining a relation between the measuring point and the measuring rod on the ground based on a result of distance measurement, and for obtaining a position on a horizontal coordinate plane in the coordinate system of the measuring point based on the obtained relation and on the relation with the measuring rod with respect to the coordinate system, and the invention also provides a method for measuring a vertical distance between the predetermined position and the ground surface and a vertical distance between the measuring point and the ground surface, and for measuring three-dimensional position of the measuring point in the coordinate system.
US08384908B2
An image forming method uses an optical coherence tomography as to an optical axis direction of plural pieces of image information of an object. First image information of an object is obtained at a first focus with respect to an optical axis direction to then object. A focusing position is changed by dynamic focusing from the first focus to a second focus along the optical axis. The second image information of the object is obtained at the second focus. A third image information, tomography image information of the object and including a tomography image of the first focus or the second focus, is obtained by Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. A tomography image or a three-dimensional image of the object is formed in positional relation, in the optical axis direction, between the first image information and the second image information using the third image information.
US08384904B2
A method of determining a value of a depth of a semiconductor junction of a substrate using a photomodulated optical reflectance measurement technique is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes obtaining a substrate which has at least a first region including the semiconductor junction. The method further includes obtaining a reference region. the method further includes performing at least one sequence of: a) selecting a set of measurement parameters for the photomodulated optical reflectance measurement, b) measuring on the at least a first region a first optical signal representative of the substrate with the semiconductor junction using the selected set of parameters, c) measuring on the reference region a second optical signal using the selected set of parameters, and d) determining the ratio of the first optical signal to the second optical signal, and thereafter extracting from the ratio the depth of the semiconductor junction.
US08384903B2
A linear position array detector system is provided which imparts light energy to a surface of a specimen, such as a semiconductor wafer, receives light energy from the specimen surface and monitors deviation of the retro or reflected beam from that expected to map the contours on the specimen surface. The retro beam will, with ideal optical alignment, return along the same path as the incident beam if and only if the surface is normal to the beam. The system has a measurement device or sensor within the path of the retro or reflected beam to measure deviation of the retro beam from expected. The sensor is preferably a multiple element array of detector-diodes aligned in a linear fashion. A unique weighting and summing scheme is provided which increases the mechanical dynamic range while preserving sensitivity. The system further includes a bright field Nomarski Differential Interference Contrast sensor used to split the beam into two beams and for scanning in an orientation orthogonal to the orientation of the optical lever created by the system.
US08384898B2
An apparatus for detecting labeled beads is provided. The apparatus can include: one or more irradiation sources disposed for irradiating the one or more detection zones with radiation; at least one detector disposed for collecting charges corresponding to light signals emitted from labeled beads in the one or more detection zones, which have been excited by the radiation; and a system coupled to the at least one detector for effecting time delay integration of the charges by accumulating the charges before reading the charges at the output of the at least one detector.
US08384897B2
A method according to the present invention has: isolating, by extraction, particles contained in a metal material to be analyzed in a solution using a particle isolator; dispersing the particles isolated by extraction into a solvent to prepare a dispersion, and fractionating the dispersion into a plurality of particle dispersions based on particle sizes, using a field flow fractionator; and irradiating laser light on each of the particle dispersions separated based on predetermined particle sizes, to thereby measure absolute values of the particle size based on angular dependence of reflection intensity, and also to thereby measure the number density based on magnitude of reflection intensity.
US08384896B2
An optical slicer for generating an output spot comprising an image compressor which receives a substantially collimated input beam and compresses the beam, wherein the input beam, if passed through a focusing lens, produces an input spot; an image reformatter which receives the compressed beam to reformat the beam into a plurality of sliced portions of the compressed beam and vertically stacks the portions substantially parallel to each other; and an image expander which expands the reformatted beam to produce a collimated output beam which, if passed through the focusing lens, produces the output spot that is expanded in a first dimension and compressed in a second dimension relative to the input spot.
US08384894B2
A Raman analyzer for analyzing light emitted from a Raman cell is provided that has a beam splitter configured to split the light emitted from the Raman cell into a first beam and a second beam. An atomic vapor filter can be used to filter a Raman scattered line from the first beam and a chopper system can periodically interrupt the first and second beams that are directed towards a photo detector, which can convert light from the first and second beams into an electrical signal. The signal output from the photo detector can optionally be amplified, digitized, Fourier filtered, and/or subjected to Fourier analysis.
US08384891B2
This invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for direct detection of one or more markers in pressurized hydrocarbon fluids. The apparatus includes a vessel (130) and one or more valves (150, 160, 170). The hydrocarbon fluid (240) may be a liquid or gas. Markers may include a variety of optical markers, such as fluorescent markers. The apparatus may be coupled to a hydrocarbon fluid source (210), and the vessel (130) may be at least partially filled with hydrocarbon fluid from the hydrocarbon fluid source (210). A> detector (140) coupled to the vessel (130) may be used to detect at least one of the markers in the hydrocarbon fluid (240) while the apparatus is coupled to the hydrocarbon fluid source (210) and without the addition of reagents. Detection of markers may include, for example, fluorescence detection.
US08384887B2
Methods and systems for inspection of a specimen using different parameters are provided. One computer-implemented method includes determining optimal parameters for inspection based on selected defects. This method also includes setting parameters of an inspection system at the optimal parameters prior to inspection. Another method for inspecting a specimen includes illuminating the specimen with light having a wavelength below about 350 nm and with light having a wavelength above about 350 nm. The method also includes processing signals representative of light collected from the specimen to detect defects or process variations on the specimen. One system configured to inspect a specimen includes a first optical subsystem coupled to a broadband light source and a second optical subsystem coupled to a laser. The system also includes a third optical subsystem configured to couple light from the first and second optical subsystems to an objective, which focuses the light onto the specimen.
US08384883B2
An optoelectronic sensor (10) for the measurement of distances or distance changes in accordance with the light transit time principle is provided having a light transmitter (12) for the transmission of a light signal and having a light receiver (16) for the reception of the remitted or reflected light signal, wherein an evaluation unit (18) is provided which is made to trigger the transmission of a light signal at a transmission time in a respective measurement period (100) and to sample the received light signal as well as to accumulate a histogram (110) of such received light signals over a plurality of measurement periods (100) and to determine the reception time from the histogram (110) and the light transient time from this. In this respect, a unit (40) for the fine setting of a transmission time is provided which is made to shift the respective transmission time within the measurement periods (100) by an offset, with the offsets forming a distribution (56, 60) whose center of mass forms a desired transmission time.
US08384882B2
A calibration method for calibrating an optimum take over height of a substrate in a lithographic apparatus between a substrate table and an ejector element moveable to load and unload the substrate from the substrate table, the method including clamping the substrate on one of the substrate table and ejector element; moving the ejector element between an unloaded state wherein the substrate is supported by the substrate table and a loaded state wherein the substrate is at least partly supported by the ejector element; determining a reference height of the ejector element at the moment that the weight of the substrate is at least partly taken over between the substrate table and the ejector element; and determining the optimum take over height for the ejector element from the determined reference height.
US08384880B2
An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by projecting a pattern image onto the substrate through a liquid. The exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system by which the pattern image is projected onto the substrate, and a movable member which is movable relative to the projection optical system. A liquid-repellent member, at least a part of a surface of which is liquid-repellent, is provided detachably on the movable member, the liquid-repellent member being different from the substrate.
US08384879B2
A sensor includes a semiconductor body having a top and bottom surface, a first doped surface oriented region of a first conductivity type at the top surface, and a second doped surface oriented region of a second and opposite conductivity type at the bottom surface, wherein a sensitive area is defined where the first region overlaps with the second region. A resistive layer is partially arranged in the sensitive area. The sensor includes two first electrode contacts and two second electrode contacts, wherein the first electrode contacts are placed on the resistive layer to define a first detection area in the sensitive area between the first electrode contacts, and wherein the second electrode contacts are placed partially in the sensitive area on the bottom surface of the body, the surfaces of the second electrodes in the sensitive area defining a second detection area that overlaps with the first detection area.
US08384874B2
An exposure apparatus which prevents the damage due to the liquid having flowed out from spreading and enables satisfactory performances of the exposure processes and the measurement processes is provided. An exposure apparatus (EX) includes a movable table (PT), a base member (41) having an upper surface (41A) that guides the movement of the table (PT), and a detecting device (60) that detects whether there is a liquid on the upper surface (41A) of the base member (41).
US08384869B2
Disclosed is an LCD device comprising: a substrate; gate and data lines intersecting each other on the substrate; a thin film transistor at the intersection of the gate and data lines; a pixel electrode electrically connected with the thin film transistor; a common electrode forming an electric field with the pixel electrode; and a reflection control layer on at least one of the pixel electrode and common electrode. At this time, at least one electrode of the pixel electrode and common electrode is formed of the opaque metal material, to thereby improve black luminance and contrast ratio. Simultaneously, the reflection control layer is formed on the at least one electrode of the opaque metal material so that it is possible to adjust the reflectivity of external light, and to prevent the problem of rainbow-colored image.
US08384868B2
A liquid crystal display panel includes a first substrate, a second substrate opposite to the first substrate, a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of data lines intersecting with the scan lines, a plurality of pixel areas defined by the scan lines and the data lines, and a plurality of electrodes. Each electrode is positioned in a corresponding pixel area. Each pixel area has an inner surface. The electrode includes a branch portion, a frame connected to the branch portion, and a plurality of first slits defined by the frame and the branch portion, away from the inner surface of the pixel area.
