US08950007B1

Techniques have been developed to allow runtime extensions to a whitelist that locks down a computational system. For example, executable code (including e.g., objects such as a script or active content that may be treated as an executable) is not only subject to whitelist checks that allow (or deny) its execution, but is also subject to checks that determine whether a whitelisted executable is itself trusted to introduce further executable code into the computational system in which it is allowed to run. In general, deletion and/or modification of instances of code that are already covered by the whitelist are also disallowed in accordance with a security policy. Accordingly, an executable that is trusted may be allowed to delete and/or modify code instances covered by the whitelist. In general, trust may be coded for a given code instance that seeks to introduce, remove or modify code (e.g., in the whitelist itself).
US08950004B2

A non-transitory computer readable medium may include executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor provide for a repository of digital content and to create a first license based on the digital content. The instructions further cause the processor to transmit the first license and the digital content to a non-destructive testing (NDT) device, and wherein the digital content is configured to be executed by, used by, or displayed by the NDT device, or a combination thereof, based on the first license.
US08950001B2

A method for orchestrating peer authentication during a call (e.g., a telephone call, a conference call between three or more parties, an instant messaging [IM] chat session, etc.) is disclosed. In particular, a user is first authenticated in order to participate in a call (e.g., via entering a password, etc.), and subsequently during the call the user may be peer authenticated. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, a user who participates in a call might be prompted to authenticate another user on the call based on particular events or user behavior during the call.
US08949990B1

Detection of dynamic URLs that are vulnerable to XSS attacks is described. First, a dynamic URL is crafted by incorporating a piece of test code designed to expose an instance of XSS vulnerabilities. Next, the crafted URL is loaded into a browser, which causes a web page to be generated that may include the piece of test code. If, upon loading the web page into the browser, the piece of test code is executed by the browser and the browser sends a request to a web server as a result, then the URL is reported as XSS vulnerable. Others, the URL is not vulnerable to this instance of XSS attack. The test may be repeated multiple times for different pieces of test code, each piece designed to expose a different instance of XSS vulnerabilities.
US08949989B2

The auditing of a device that includes a physical memory is disclosed. One or more hardware parameters that correspond to a hardware configuration is received. Initialization information is also received. The physical memory is selectively written in accordance with a function. The physical memory is selectively read and at least one result is determined. The result is provided to a verifier.
US08949965B2

Services in a network device are added through providing virtual environments. Virtualization allows services based on other platforms or architectures to be run with minimum modification and in a secure manner. Connecting services to the host through a stateful firewall allows dynamic integration, and passes only traffic of interest to the service. Virtualization allows services written for different instruction architectures to be supported. Multiple virtualized environments each supporting a service may be run.
US08949963B2

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for providing user credentials over a network to a remote computer application. User credentials for the remote computer application are stored in a central repository that is accessible through the network. A request is sent to a service to perform, on behalf of a user, a particular task involving the remote computer application. It is determined whether the service has been granted permission to act on behalf of the user with respect to the remote computer application. When the service has permission to act on behalf of the user, the service is used to retrieve the user's credentials for the remote computer application from the central repository and to supply the retrieved user credentials to the remote computer application.
US08949961B2

A communication system includes a multifunctional apparatus, an authentication information input device, an I/F converter, and a control server. The control server includes an authentication information input device driver for controlling the operation of the authentication information input device via the I/F converter over a network and a multifunctional apparatus control section for controlling operation of the multifunctional apparatus. The authentication information input device driver causes the authentication information input device to acquire authentication information from a user, and receives, via the network, the authentication information acquired by the authentication information input device. Moreover, in cases where an authenticating section of the control server performs an authentication process with use of the authentication information and authentication is completed successfully, the multifunctional apparatus control section permits the use of the multifunctional apparatus. This makes it possible to build a flexible authentication system.
US08949956B1

A system and a computer-implemented methods for email management are disclosed. The method includes storing messages for electronic mail accounts provided by remote electronic mail server systems. The method further includes determining that the remote electronic mail server systems each have a different hostname than the others of the remote electronic mail server systems. The method further includes displaying messages from a first one of the electronic mail accounts and displaying a hostname of a first remote electronic mail server system providing the first one of the electronic mail accounts. The method further includes receiving a request to view messages from a second one of the electronic mail accounts. The method further includes displaying messages from the second one of the electronic mail accounts and displaying a hostname of a second remote electronic mail server system providing the second one of the electronic mail accounts.
US08949948B2

A system and method for determining a trust level for a non-approved user in a social network is described. The method includes monitoring requests for social network interactions between an approved user and the non-approved user and determining if each interaction requested is of a first type or a second type. The method further includes increasing a first trust value when the interaction requested is of the first type and increasing a second trust value when the interaction requested is of the second type. The method further includes determining the trust level based on the first trust value and the second trust value. The method further includes changing the status of the non-approved user to an approved user based on the trust level, the first trust value and/or the second trust value.
US08949947B2

A network system according to the present invention includes a service providing server that provides an application service, a user terminal used by a user when using the application service, and a proxy server intervening between the service providing server and the user terminal. The user terminal includes a whitelist for an application in which at least a URL of the proxy server is described. The user terminal accesses the service providing server over the network and provides an application service to the user by starting the application program. When an access request to a URL of an access target specified by the application program is made during the provision of the application service, the user terminal compares the URL of the access target with a URL described in the whitelist for the application.
US08949940B1

Some implementations provide techniques and arrangements to aggregate data from multiple issuers. An aggregator server may receive data associated with a user from an issuer. The data may include an issuer identifier associated with the issuer, account access data associated with the user, and a storage location identifier. The aggregator server may authenticate an identity of the issuer based on the issuer identifier and determine whether the issuer is authorized to provide the data for the user. In response to determining that the issuer is authorized to provide the data for the user, he aggregator server may identify an account associated with the user based on the account access data and store the data in the account associated with the user based at least partially on the storage location identifier.
US08949935B2

In one embodiment, non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions for establishing a trusted two-way communications session for account creation for an online store, which include instructions for causing a processor to perform operations comprising retrieving and verifying a signed configuration file from a server, requesting a communication session using the configuration file, receiving a payload of account creation forms from a network client, signing the payload according to the server configuration file, and sending the signed payload containing account creation information to the server. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises analyzing timestamps for requests for data forms for supplying account creation information for evidence of automated account creation activity and rejecting the request for the locator of the second account creation form if evidence of automated account creation activity is detected. Methods for secure account authentication and asset purchase are also disclosed.
US08949928B2

A Parental Control Manager “PCM” server of a Policy and Charging Control “PCC” architecture with the Parental Control Manager “PCM” server, a Policy Control Enforcement Function device with Deep Packet Inspection capabilities “PCEF-DPI device”, and a Policy Control Rules Function “PCRF” server. The PCM server includes a user interface unit for receiving a logon from a user, and for receiving from the user monitoring criteria on Internet traffic types to be monitored for the user, and corresponding actions to be carried out when any monitoring criteria fit a given Internet traffic type. The PCM server includes a network interface unit for submitting the monitoring criteria and corresponding actions received from the user to a PCRF server. A PCRF server of a PCC architecture with a PCM server, a PCEF-DPI device, and the PCRF server. A PCEF-DPI device of a PCC architecture with a PCM server, the PCEF-DPI device, and a PCRF server. A method of parental control by a user for access to websites, multimedia contents and Internet services with a PCC architecture having a PCM server, a PCEF-DPI device, and a PCRF server.
US08949919B2

Apparatus and methods for premises gateway functions that integrate or unify functions typically distributed across multiple devices within a content-based network. In one embodiment, the out-of-band (OOB) signaling functionality normally provided in each of a set-top-box (STB) and digital video recorder (DVR) are unified into a common OOB (e.g., DOCSIS) capable premises gateway device, thereby obviating OOB tuners and related components from each device. In another variant, the premises gateway is adapted for all-IP operation, such as for use with IP-based computers and IP set-top boxes, etc. Fully unified variants are also disclosed, wherein the DVR and/or STB functions are physically integrated within the premises gateway.
US08949906B2

A system is provided that allows a user to select a pay program for purchase from a program guide. The program guide determines whether the selected program is part of a package of pay programs. If the selected program is part of a package, information regarding the package is provided to the user so that the user may decide whether to purchase the package. If the selected program is part of several packages, information for all packages is provided. The system automatically sets reminders for packages containing repetitive programming. The system monitors whether the user has watched any of the programs in such packages. When the user watches a program from the package, the remaining reminders are cancelled. If a user does not watch any programs in a package of any type, purchase of the package is cancelled and the user is provided with the opportunity to reschedule.
US08949902B1

Systems and methods for providing audio-based guidance features are provided. A guidance application may provide listings displays having listings for audio-friendly content. The listings may be indicated as listings for audio-friendly content. The guidance application may provide displays dedicated to listings for audio-friendly content. The guidance application provides audio-prompts describing display screens. The guidance application may determine a user's identity from a voice command and provide personalized guidance features.
US08949901B2

Systems and methods for customizing viewing environment preferences using an interactive media guidance application are provided. A media content may be accessed using an interactive media guidance application. A viewing environment preference may be configured and stored that defines attributes of components in the viewing environment. Media content can be associated to a viewing environment preference based on media guidance data. When a media content is accessed, a determination is made whether the accessed media content is associated to a previously stored viewing environment preference. If the accessed media content is associated to a previously stored viewing environment preference, data may be transmitted to a component external to a user equipment device to modify an attribute of the external component based on the previously stored viewing environment preference.
US08949899B2

A collaborative information system in which a first display device provides a recommendation of programming content to a viewer of a second display device, where the recommendation is based on content characteristics of the recommended content, and where the recommendation is based on assigning those content characteristics respectively different weights.
US08949895B2

An interactive mosaic channel video stream with indicators as to the action on a given video stream. An interactive matrixed video channel displayed on a video monitor, with a plurality of individual video feeds being presented at a given time, comprising a plurality of video cells presenting at least video information, each video cell associated with one of the plurality of individual video feeds, each video cell further comprising an area within the video cell reporting data related to the video feed, a cursor, which is moveable between the plurality of video cells, for selecting at least one characteristic associated with a selected video cell, such that a video program associated with the selected video cell is selectable via the cursor, and at least one selection screen, associated with the video information, wherein selections of at least one individual participant are made and statistics related to the selected individuals are displayed on the video monitor based on performance of the at least one individual participant.
US08949893B2

This invention relates to a method and a system for constructing virtual video channels comprising video content. While playing back video content to a user comprising a number of visual aspects, s/he can select at least one of the visual aspects appearing from said played back video content. Based on the selected aspects, a virtual channel is created comprising video content or a theme relating to said selected visual aspect.
US08949891B2

A method and apparatus is described to display a customized video sequence during a channel change interval. The method includes displaying a first channel; receiving a channel change request from a user requesting a second channel for display; displaying a video sequence during the channel change interval; and displaying a second channel; characterized in that the displaying of the video sequence during the channel change interval further comprises displaying a black screen with no audio and no video for a short duration; playing out a first portion of a customized video sequence relevant to the second channel entirely; and playing out a second portion of the customized video sequence relevant to the second channel until the second channel is ready to be displayed.
US08949881B2

A method for identifying of at least an identifier of a conditional access card used in a control word redistribution system by passing information over a side channel, said method comprising a modification step of the response time, of the card, to a control word request, according to a predefined function which depends on the identifier of the said cards.
US08949875B2

Method and apparatus for generation of interactive programming. An interactive programming server embeds interactive components into a video signal. The interactive programming server receives content from a content source and interactive components from an interactive component source and uses the content and interactive components to generate an interactive Video On Demand (iVOD) interactive program. The iVOD interactive program is transmitted to a participant who views the content and interacts with the interactive components of the iVOD interactive program. The participant's responses to the content is transmitted back to the interactive programming server where the participant responses are incorporated into new content which is used to generate new iVOD interactive programming.
US08949874B1

A computer system determines feature metrics for a content channel. The content channel includes one or more media items. The computer system receives a query that corresponds to a query types. The query type is associated with a subset of the feature metrics. The computer system evaluates the content channel based on the subset of feature metrics to produce a channel score for the query type and provides the channel score to position at least one of the media items of the content channel in a query result of the query.
US08949870B2

A method is provided for transferring information from an information node to a broadcast programming receiver, such as, for example, a satellite or cable set-top box receiving broadcast programming. The information node is coupled with the broadcast programming receiver by way of a communication network, and is configured to receive the information. A command issued from the broadcast programming receiver to the information node indicates a condition under which the information is to be transferred to the broadcast programming receiver. In response to the command, the portion of the information indicated by the condition is transferred to the broadcast programming receiver.
US08949869B1

Provided is an optical disk drive including a carrying roller for carrying an optical disk in a first direction. The carrying roller includes a first roller portion and a second roller portion which are aligned in a second direction along the optical disk and orthogonal to the first direction and which are so disposed as to make contact with a surface on one side of the optical disk. An axis of the first roller portion is so inclined that a distance between the axis of the first roller portion and the one-side surface of the optical disk gradually increases toward a central portion of the carrying roller. An axis of the second roller portion is so inclined that a distance between the axis of the second roller portion and the one-side surface of the optical disk gradually increases toward the central portion.
US08949862B2

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for rate of operation progress reporting is disclosed. The method includes: responsive to completion by an application of one or more batch operations, storing an operation count corresponding to each completed batch operation; and, responsive to being polled by a monitoring module: identifying a time reporting window for the batch operations; and reporting a rate of progress meter value for the batch operations to the monitoring module based on the operation counts and the time reporting window.
US08949857B2

A calling routine may identify portions of a data object that may be populated by other executable routines by creating a property requested event. An event may be created for the requested property and one or more subscribing routines may launch. The subscribing routines may process separately from the calling routine and return property values, which in turn may create a property changed event, which may be subscribed to by the calling routine. The calling routine may then process the requested data. In one embodiment, a data object may be populated on a property-by-property basis by various subscribing routines, creating a sparsely populated data object that may be updated dynamically by routines identified at runtime.
US08949856B2

A mechanism is provided for merging in a network processor results from a parser and results from an external coprocessor providing processing support requested by said parser. The mechanism enqueues in a result queue both parser results needing to be merged with a coprocessor result and parser results which have no need to be merged with a coprocessor result. An additional queue is used to enqueue the addresses of the result queue where the parser results are stored. The result from the coprocessor is received in a simple response register. The coprocessor result is read by the result queue management logic from the response register and merged to the corresponding incomplete parser result read in the result queue at the address enqueued in the additional queue.
US08949852B2

Some embodiments provide a system that increases parallelization in a computer program. During operation, the system obtains a binary associative operator and a ordered set of elements associated with a prefix operation in the computer program. Next, the system divides the elements into multiple sets of contiguous iterations based on a number of processors used to execute the computer program. The system then performs, in parallel on the processors, a set of local reductions on the contiguous iterations using the binary associative operator. Afterwards, the system calculates a set of boundary prefixes between the contiguous iterations using the local reductions. Finally, the system applies, in parallel on the processors, the boundary prefixes to the contiguous iterations using the binary associative operator to obtain a set of prefixes for the prefix operation.
US08949847B2

Disclosed herein are a resource manager node and a resource management method. The resource manager node includes a resource management unit, a resource policy management unit, a shared resource capability management unit, a shared resource status monitoring unit, and a shared resource allocation unit. The resource management unit performs an operation necessary for resource allocation when a resource allocation request is received. The resource policy management unit determines a resource allocation policy based on the characteristic of the task, and generates resource allocation information. The shared resource capability management unit manages the topology of nodes, information about the capabilities of resources, and resource association information. The shared resource status monitoring unit monitors and manages information about the status of each node and the use of allocated resources. The shared resource allocation unit sends a resource allocation request to at least one of the plurality of nodes.
US08949843B2

A multicore processor system includes one or more client carrying out parallel processing of tasks by means of processor cores and a server assisting the client to carry out the parallel processing via a communication network. Task information containing the minimum number of required cores indicating the number of processor cores required to carry out processes of the tasks and core information containing operation setup information indicating operation setup content of the processor cores are stored in the server. The server determines whether the task is allocated to the plurality of processor cores or not in accordance with the task information and the core information. The server updates the core information in accordance with a determination result to transmit the updated core information to the client. The client carries out the parallel processing by means of the processor cores in accordance with the received core information.
US08949835B2

A mechanism for yielding input/output scheduler to increase overall system throughput is described. A method of embodiments of the invention includes initiating a first process issuing a first input/output (I/O) operation. The first process is initiated by a first I/O scheduling entity running on a computer system. The method further includes yielding, in response to a yield call made by the first I/O scheduling entity, an I/O scheduler to a second I/O scheduling entity to initiate a second process issuing a second I/O operation to complete a transaction including the first and second processes, and committing the transaction to a storage device coupled to the computer system.
US08949827B2

A method and system provide tracking of a virtual machine by compiling information on the virtual machines in a network and sending the information to an administrative console. The administrative console can then determine the status of the virtual machines in the network. The administrative console can also establish a lineage of a virtual machine and the migration of a virtual machine from one host machine to another host machine. A virtual machine unique identifier assigned to each virtual machine by the system can be modified and used to track each virtual machine and associated host machine. A status can then be determined of the virtual machines, where the status can be a new virtual machine, a previously discovered virtual machine, a duplicated virtual machine, or a cloned virtual machine.
US08949822B2

A system, method and computer program product for controlling execution of a script program programmed to install a computer program is disclosed. An installation computer begins execution of the script program, and before a line or stanza of the script program is executed to initiate installation of the computer program, the installation computer determines that the line or stanza is programmed to initiate installation of the computer program. In response, the installation computer determines if the computer program is already installed. If the computer program is already installed, the installation computer skips the line or stanza of the script program so the script program will not attempt to install the computer program. However, if not, the installation computer continues to execute the script program including the line or stanza programmed to initiate installation of the computer program, such that the script program attempts to install the computer program.
US08949808B2

Systems and methods for the vectorization of software applications are described. In some embodiments, a compiler may automatically generate both scalar and vector versions of a function from a single source code description. A vector interface may be exposed in a persistent dependency database that is associated with the function. This may allow a compiler to make vector function calls from within vectorized loops, rather than making multiple serialized scalar function calls from within a vectorized loop. This may in turn facilitate the vectorization of hierarchical code, which may improve application performance when vector execution resources are available.
US08949801B2

In one embodiment, the invention is a method and apparatus for failure recovery for stream processing applications. One embodiment of a method for providing a failure recovery mechanism for a stream processing application includes receiving source code for the stream processing application, wherein the source code defines a fault tolerance policy for each of the components of the stream processing application, and wherein respective fault tolerance policies defined for at least two of the plurality of components are different, generating a sequence of instructions for converting the state(s) of the component(s) into a checkpoint file comprising a sequence of storable bits on a periodic basis, according to a frequency defined in the fault tolerance policy, initiating execution of the stream processing application, and storing the checkpoint file, during execution of the stream processing application, at a location that is accessible after failure recovery.
US08949797B2

A system, method and computer program product for verifying integrity of a running application program on a computing device. The method comprises: determining entry points into an application programs processing space that impact proper execution impact program integrity; mapping data elements reachable from the determined entry points into a memory space of a host system where the application to verify is running; run-time monitoring, in the memory space, potential modification of the data elements in a manner potentially breaching program integrity; and initiating a response to the potential modification. The run-time monitoring detects when a data transaction, e.g., a write event, reaches a malicious agent's entry point, a corresponding memory hook is triggered and control is passed to a security agent running outside the monitored system. This agent requests the values of the data elements, and determines if invariants that have been previously computed hold true or not under the set of retrieved data values.
US08949788B2

A method and apparatus for building a source code based on a project object model (POM) from a source control and for tracking a build environment of the source code is described. Plugins to complete the build as configured in the POM are downloaded from an external plugin repository. A local plugin repository is scanned to determine which plugins have already been downloaded. The local plugin repository is rescanned to determine whether any additional plugins and associated plugins POM files were downloaded during the build as build dependencies. Information of one or more referenced files is inserted into a database wherein the referenced files are identified as build dependencies. Information about the newly-built plugins and associated plugins POM files in the output directory are extracted and added to the database for use by subsequent builds.
US08949779B2

A service combination proposing unit (12) inquires of a data item relationship inferring unit (13) about a data item connectable to a specific data item. The data item relationship inferring unit 13 infers a data item connectable to the specific data item based on pairs of output data items and input data items that are registered in a data item relationship storage unit (32) and have already been determined to be connectable and based on inference rules registered in an inference rule storage unit (33). The data item relationship inferring unit (13) then returns the inferred data item to the service combination proposing unit (12). The service combination proposing unit (12) presents the returned data item to a developer or the like.
US08949774B2

A generated object model engine abstracts actions, used in test cases, in a manner to produce new object model types that are independent of an underlying code implementation. The generated object model engine analyzes action classes to aggregate a set of actions having similarly-related class types. Action classes having similarly-related class types are then used to form a new object model type. The new object model type may be used in a test case to hide the action's code implementation from the test case.
US08949771B2

The description relates to media files and more particularly to media files that include a program and a human-understandable description of the program. One example can receive executable code. This example can determine a functionality provided by the executable code. The example can also create a media file that stores the executable code and presents the functionality in a human-understandable form.
US08949765B2

Systems and methods for modeling multi-patterning variability with statistical timing analysis during IC fabrication are described. The method may be provided implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions operable to define at least one source of variation in an integrated circuit design. The programming instructions further operable to model the at least one source of variation for at least two patterns in at least one level of the integrated circuit design as at least two sources of variability respectively.
US08949761B2

A technique for routing signal wires in an integrated circuit design includes applying a first rule that attempts to route a signal wire along existing power supply shapes of the integrated circuit design and applying a second rule that provides shield wires along segments of the signal wire that are not routed along one of the existing power supply shapes. The technique also includes routing the signal wire between a first endpoint and a second endpoint while applying the first and second rules to substantially minimize a route cost for the signal wire between the first and second endpoints.
US08949749B2

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus to create a physical layout for electron-beam lithography, comprising defining a layout grid for a physical design, the layout grid further comprising vertical grid lines which coincide with stitching lines resulting from partitioning the physical design into a plurality of subfields. The physical design is assembled in accordance with design restrictions regarding interaction between design shapes and the layout grid. In some embodiments, the design restrictions are realized though layout restrictions. In some embodiments, the design restrictions are realized by shifting standard cells to minimize design shape interaction with the layout grid in a post-layout step. In some embodiments, the design restrictions are realized by exchanging positions between a plurality of standard cells for an exchange permutation which minimizes the number of interactions in a post-layout step. In some embodiments a routing grid is refined to rule out interactions between a subset of design constructs and the layout grid. Remaining design shape placement is then optimized along the routing grid relative to the stitching lines.
US08949744B2

There is provided a control system (1) comprising an earphone (2) and a processing device (3). The control system (1) has a processing device (3) for the evaluation of head movement information and/or head position information. In that case the processing device is adapted to output at least one control signal dependent on the evaluation, wherein the earphone has a sensor device (9a, 9b, 9c) for detecting the movement information and/or position information and a transmitting device (10) for transmitting the movement information and/or the position information to the processing device.
US08949743B2

Methods, systems, devices, and apparatus, including computer program products, for inputting text. A user interface element is presented on a touch-sensitive display of a device. The user interface element is associated with a plurality of characters, at least a subset of which is associated with respective gestures. A user input performing a gesture with respect to the user interface element is received. The character from the subset that is associated with the gesture performed with respect to the user interface element is inputted.
US08949734B2

A mobile device associates a distinct background color with each graphical window of a sequence of graphical windows, and displays, on a touch-sensitive display, a first graphical window from the sequence of graphical windows, where the first graphical window includes a first background color and one or more display elements. The mobile device also receives a user input to the touch-sensitive display, scrolls through the sequence of graphical windows based on the user input, and displays, on the touch-sensitive display, a second graphical window from the sequence of graphical windows based on the scrolling, where the second graphical window includes a second background color different than the first background color.
US08949729B2

Enhanced copying and pasting between applications includes capturing information about open applications including a screenshot of each of the open applications shown in a viewable area of the open applications; in response to receiving a copy command while the user is interacting with a first application, presenting the screenshots of the other open applications to the user for selection; in response to the user selecting one of the screenshots corresponding to a second application, displaying visual content segments from the second application; in response to receiving a user selection of two or more of the visual content segments, copying the selected visual content segments; and inserting the selected visual content segments into the first application such that original spatial relations between the visual content segments from the second application are maintained when the visual content segments are inserted into the first application.
US08949727B2

An apparatus and a method for controlling a lock function in a portable terminal are provided. The apparatus includes one or more processors, a display unit for displaying a positional change of an object and an image set including a plurality of objects including the object, and a memory including one or more modules configured to be executed by the one or more processor, including module for displaying the image set, for changing a position of an object of the plurality of objects selected according to a user input, and for controlling the lock function if the selected object is combined with or separated from another object of the plurality of objects according to the positional change. At least one of the selected object and the other object includes a variable area which indicates an extent of the positional change of the selected object or the other object.
US08949725B1

A method and graphical user interface intended to simplify interaction between a user and a chat information system running on a portable electronic device that includes a touch screen. User interfaces and methods include user input controls (i.e., a virtual keyboard or voice recognition devices). The system also includes output trays, means for viewing chat history, means for displaying the Internet content and means for displaying graphical elements and avatars.
US08949723B2

A method for transferring a content data file stored in a storage unit from a file transfer apparatus to an external device is provided. The method includes displaying a file display window and a file transfer window on a display unit so that the file transfer window is viewable at any time, where the file display window includes at least one file identification image for identifying one of at least one data file and the file transfer window is used for receiving a request for transferring a data file to the external device, and, upon detecting a drag and drop operation of a file identification image displayed in the file display window into the file transfer window, reading the data file corresponding to the file identification image from the storage unit and writing the data file to the external device using a transfer processing unit of the file transfer apparatus.
US08949722B2

A communication device comprising a microprocessor readable computer readable medium is provided that includes microprocessor executable instructions to provide graphical output, in a first mode, simultaneously on multiple screens and, in a second mode, simultaneously as multiple displays on a common screen.
US08949719B2

The present invention relates to systems, apparatus, and methods for utilizing user interface (UI) snooping to optimize network connections. The method includes accessing, by a client proxy running on a client system, a UI events queue. The UI events queue is stored on the client system. The method further includes identifying events within the UI events queue. The identifying includes filtering the events for events to be optimized. The method further includes, based on the identified events, determining at least one command, and optimizing the at least one command, and executing the optimized command.
US08949716B2

A device and method for adjusting the target size of display images based on the detection of an input device is disclosed. The device (10) includes an input device detection circuit (56) operative to provide a detection signal (57) in response to the detection of an input device (36); and a device controller (50) operative to adjust the size of a target (16-26) presented on a display (14) in response to the detection signal (57). The method of the present invention includes detecting the presence of an input device; and adjusting the size of the targets present on a display in response to input device detection.
US08949712B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for assigning user interface widgets to page slots associated with a page pipeline. In response to a request to generate a content page, content placement requests are then received from user interface widgets. The page slots are associated with a placement value indicating a value of the page slot relative to other page slots in the page template and can be weighted based upon their location in a page pipeline. The highest ranked user interface widgets according to an effectiveness metric or placement score are scheduled for placement in the content page.
US08949711B2

Layout processing techniques have been described that allow processing of structured documents to be conducted, and for associated layout to be accomplished in a sequential manner. The layout process is split into multiple, smaller steps that can be executed sequentially. In at least some embodiments, a layout builder is utilized in conjunction with a stack to control layout execution on respective levels of the structural hierarchy of a structured document. Immutable data structures are utilized and allow for parallel execution of sequential layout operations. In at least some embodiments, partial execution of the layout sequence can be performed to produce usable data.
US08949710B2

A grammar for mapping a first grouping of XML data into a second grouping of XML data and a method for accomplishing same to incorporate the first grouping into the second grouping. The grammar includes a first rule for computing a first child element attribute and a second rule for computing a second parent element attribute. The first rule and second rule vary according to a production of an element type of the first grouping. The element types include PCDATA, disjunctive, conjunctive and Kleene star, each having a unique rule set for defining inherited and synthesized attributes of the parent and child elements. The method includes the step of executing a mapping of a first grouping having at least one parent element and a set of corresponding child elements into a second grouping in accordance with the grammar rules based on the production of the element type.
US08949708B2

Techniques for electronic signature process management are described. Some embodiments provide an electronic signature service (“ESS”) configured to manage electronic signature processes represented by way of templates. In some embodiments, the ESS transmits a URL or other identifier of a template that specifies required electronic signature data, such as a singer name and/or signature. Then, the ESS dynamically prepares a form based on a received request for the identified template. Next, the ESS receives the electronic signature data by causing the form to be presented by a Web browser or other client. In some embodiments, the ESS and associated client systems perform these techniques without use of a Portable Document Format processing module.
US08949702B2

Embodiments of the inventions are related to systems and methods for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for mitigating trapping sets in a data processing system.
US08949695B2

A method begins by a DS processing module generating a plurality of encoded slices from a data segment using an error encoding function. The method continues with the DS processing module identifying a plurality of DS storage units for storing the plurality of encoded slices. The method continues with the DS processing module selecting an encoded slice of the plurality of encoded slices for sub-slicing using a sub-slicing encoding function to produce a selected encoded slice. The method continues with the DS processing module outputting the plurality of encoded slices to the plurality of DS storage units. The method continues with the DS processing module outputting a command to a DS storage unit of the plurality of DS storage units corresponding to the selected encoded slice, wherein the command includes an instruction to sub-slice the selected encoded slice.
US08949687B2

A memory device and a memory system, the memory system including a data compressor for generating compressed data by compressing program data in a first unit, and an error correction block generator for dividing the compressed data in a second unit to obtain a plurality of pieces of normal data, and generating error correction blocks for correcting errors of the plurality of pieces of normal data, wherein each of the error correction blocks comprises the normal data, invalid data having a size corresponding to the size of the normal data, and parities for the normal data and the invalid data.
US08949673B2

A system includes a manager module that oversees execution of a business process by a test module. The business process includes a plurality of process steps, and the test module comprises a plurality of test cases, a plurality of software test tools, and a plurality of parameters. The test module is configured to permit a user to select a particular process step of the business process, to select a particular test case for the particular process step, to select a particular software test tool for the particular test case, and to select a particular parameter flow for the particular software test tool. The test module is also configured to execute the selected process step using the selected test case, the selected software test tool, and the selected parameter flow.
US08949672B1

A method is disclosed for diagnosing programming errors for a data storage device, wherein a dump file is received from the data storage device comprising program execution data. The dump file is converted into a plurality of debug stop records, wherein each debug stop record comprises trace information related to a programming error. A first debug stop record is evaluated relative to a history of debug stop records stored in a history database. When the first debug stop record corresponds to a second debug stop record in the history database, the programming error is resolved for the first debug stop record using resolution information associated with the second debug stop record.
US08949671B2

A method is provided for diagnosing failures in an object-oriented software system. The method comprises collecting runtime diagnostic information; maintaining a record of the diagnostic information in a storage buffer; and dynamically updating the record of the diagnostic information to include a group of the diagnostic information collected over a most recent occurrence of a predetermined interval. The diagnostic information includes at least one set of call stack information for at least one currently running application and at least one set of other information. Each of the at least one set of other information is selected from a set of memory access information, a set of data access information, and a set of paging information for each currently executing process.
US08949665B2

An integrated bus controller and power supply device includes a typical or standard bus controller and a bus power supply disposed in a common housing, the size and external configuration of which may match a standard bus controller device associated with a typical I/O communication network. The bus controller may store and implement one or more control routines using one or more field devices connected to the I/O communication network while the bus power supply generates and provides the appropriate power signal to the bus of the I/O communication network, the power signal being used to power the field devices connected to the I/O communication network. The integrated bus controller and power supply device can be easily connected to the bus of the I/O communication network to provide both bus controller functionality and bus power supply functionality on the I/O communication network, without the need of configuring and attaching separate, dedicated bus controller and power supply devices to the bus and having to wire these devices together using multiple different terminal blocks.
US08949660B1

Systems and methods for remotely deobfuscating JavaScript are provided. In some aspects, a method includes sending obfuscated code from a server to a browser, receiving a deobfuscation request at the server over a network, and deobfuscating an error in the deobfuscation request at the server.
US08949657B2

Intelligent client computing devices track and record the changes they make to data, applications, and services. Systems, devices, and computer readable media for detecting service tier failures and maintaining application services provide a resilient client architecture that allows a client application on an intelligent client to automatically detect the unavailability of server tiers or sites and re-route requests and updates to secondary sites to maintain application services at the client tier in a manner that is transparent to a user. The resilient client architecture understands the level of currentness of secondary sites in order to select the best secondary site and to automatically and transparently bring this secondary site up to date to ensure no data updates are missing from the secondary site.
US08949656B1

Determining port failover information is described. First information is determined by a first storage processor executing first code for performing port matching. The first information identifies a first set of port pairs. Each port pair includes a first port of the first or second storage processor and a second port of the first or second storage processor. Each port pair denotes the first port as protecting the second port. Upon failure or unavailability of the second port, the first port virtualizes the second port and requests directed to the second port are redirected to the first port. Similarly, second information is determined by the second storage processor executing second code for performing the port matching. Port failover processing is performed upon failure or unavailability of port(s) of the first storage processor and/or the second storage processor. Port failover processing uses the first information and/or the second information.
US08949654B2

Technologies are generally presented for a migration system and a method for moving data and applications from a cloud or non-cloud network to a cloud network employing a Parameterized Dynamic Model (PDM) having one or more multi-dimensional parameters. In some examples, the PDM parameters may represent the Service level Agreement (SLA) requirements that a target cloud may need to satisfy for a successful cloud migration. The PDM may include a Model Execution Code (MEC) module configured to execute the PDM acting upon the PDM parameter in a cloud environment following the sequencing defined in the PDM as a sequencing parameter. The PDM-MEC based migration system may also include fault-tolerance and error recovery during the migration while the MEC code is executed.
US08949650B2

A computer system encompasses a processor (11) including a control unit (111) and an ALU (112) configured to execute arithmetic and logic operations synchronized with the clock signal, and a marching main memory (31), which embraces an array of memory units, configured to store information in each of memory units and to transfer synchronously with the clock signal, providing the processor (11) with the stored information actively and sequentially so that the ALU (112) can execute the arithmetic and logic operations with the stored information. The results of the processing in the ALU (112) are sent out to the marching main memory (31), but there is only one way of instructions flow from the marching main memory (31) to the processor.
US08949649B2

Disclosed herein is a signal processing apparatus including: an input block receiving the predetermined number of items of data and a first enable signal taking an active state in an interval where data is valid in synchronization with a first clock; a count block counting the number of clocks in an interval where the first enable signal is inactive; an enable signal control block putting a second enable signal in an active state for the number of clocks equal to a predetermined number and putting the second enable signal in an inactive state for the number of clocks counted by the count block; an enable signal output block outputting the second enable signal; and a data output block outputting the predetermined number of items of data in synchronization with the second clock in an interval where the second enable signal is active.
US08949643B2

The disclosure relates to a device and a method for validating documents of value, especially a low power validator for validating documents of value is described comprising: a processing unit for controlling operation of the validator; an inlet for receiving a document of value from a user; and a power management system for transitioning the validator between a power conserving mode and a normal operating mode, wherein the power management system comprises a wake up unit arranged to monitor the inlet for the presence of a document of value and to monitor the voltage provided from a power source.
US08949632B2

A power control apparatus includes a processor that causes thermal fluid analysis of the amount of increase in power consumption for cooling a plurality of servers, where the increase in power consumption is consequent to an increase in the volume of tasks at each server among the servers. Based on analysis results obtained by the thermal fluid analysis, the processor selects from among the servers, a server to execute a task and causes the selected server to execute the task.
US08949629B2

A method for predicting battery power usage includes, collecting information relating to battery power consumption due to tasks performed by the physical computing system powered by a battery, and notifying a user in response to a determination that tasks associated with an upcoming event stored in a calendar application of the physical computing system are projected to exhaust the battery. A computing system includes a processor, a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, and a battery to power the computing system. The processor is configured to collect information relating to battery power consumption due to tasks performed by the computing system, and notify a user in response to a determination that tasks associated with an upcoming event stored in a calendar application of the computing system are projected to exhaust the battery.
US08949622B2

A data storage system comprises a removable drive with memory for storing data, and an identifier for identifying the removable data cartridge. A host computer can be coupled in data communication with the removable data cartridge, with a driver for performing data operations thereon. The driver is configured to perform the data operations with encryption, in the presence of the identifier, and to perform the data operations without the encryption, in the absence of the identifier.
US08949613B1

A computer-implemented method for signing computer applications is disclosed. The method includes generating a compiled version of a first software application, signing the first software application with a digital certificate locally to a developer of the first software application without assistance from a central certification authority, and submitting the signed first software application to an on-line application store.
US08949606B2

A method transmits a message between a transmitter and a receiver on a bus using an identifier associated with the transmitter/receiver path for the purpose of authentication and a message counter. The identifier is dynamically selected from an identification sequence depending on the message counter value and is integrated into the message check sum but not transmitted via the bus. A control device and a vehicle are adapted to carry out the method for transmitting a message.
US08949597B1

A system or method of remotely managing security certificates on a mobile device is provided. Certificates on a mobile device may be added to, deleted from, or updated by a server that manages certificates on one or more mobile devices. The server may retrieve new certificates from a certificate authority and push the certificate to the mobile device where it is stored for subsequent use. The management of security certificates on a mobile device may be governed by one or more certificate-management rules that are enforced by the remote server and/or the mobile device.
US08949589B2

An apparatus and a method for integrating personal computer and electronic device functions. An input device, personal computer host, and encoder in turn integrate hardware, operating system, and application programs to provide personal computer and electronic device functions at the same time.
US08949579B2

A processor of an information handling system (IHS) initiates an L3 cache prefetch operation in response to a demand load during instruction processing. The processor selects an L3 cache prefetch at random for tracking as a target prefetched instruction. The processor initiates an L1 cache target prefetch operation and stores the resultant target prefetched instruction in the L1 cache. If a demand load arrives, the processor analyzes the target prefetched instruction for effectiveness and determines the source of the prefetch data. If a demand does not arrive, the processor tests to determine if the particular prefetched instruction timed out in the cache and identifies the ineffectiveness of the prefetch operation. The processor samples multiple prefetch operations at random and generates a history of prefetch effectiveness and other useful prefetch information. The processor stores the prefetch effectiveness information to enable reduction or removal of ineffective prefetch operations.
US08949575B2

Techniques for reducing issue-to-issue latency by reversing processing order in half-pumped single instruction multiple data (SIMD) execution units are described. In one embodiment a processor functional unit is provided comprising a frontend unit, and execution core unit, a backend unit, an execution order control signal unit, a first interconnect coupled between and output and an input of the execution core unit and a second interconnect coupled between an output of the backend unit and an input of the frontend unit. In operation, the execution order control signal unit generates a forwarding order control signal based on the parity of an applied clock signal on reception of a first vector instruction. This control signal is in turn used to selectively forward first and second portions of an execution result of the first vector instruction via the interconnects for use in the execution of a dependent second vector instruction.
US08949573B2

A processor includes a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) including a data array and a compare unit. The data array includes a number of entries each configured to store a respective translated physical address. In response to a read access to a given entry of the TLB, the data array is configured to output within a particular clock cycle, the respective translated physical address stored in the given entry. In addition the compare unit may be configured to compare the respective translated physical address output by the data array with a number of additional addresses. The compare unit may also be configured to provide a hit indication for each of the additional addresses within the particular clock cycle.
US08949562B2

An exemplary storage system according to the invention includes a first physical storage apparatus providing a first real volume and a second physical storage apparatus providing a second real volume to form a copy pair with the first real volume. The first physical storage apparatus provides a first host with a first storage identifier and a first volume identifier for the first host to access the first real volume. The second physical storage apparatus provides a second host with at least a part of a first virtual storage apparatus including a first virtual volume allocated the second real volume. The second physical storage apparatus assigns the first volume identifier to the first virtual volume and the first storage identifier to the first virtual storage apparatus.
US08949560B1

In one aspect, a method includes obtaining data on components of a virtualization server comprising acquiring a mapping of virtual disks in a virtual store to storage disks, obtaining data on components of a storage array comprising acquiring a mapping of logical units in the storage array to the storage disks, the logical units replicating data from a corresponding storage disk, correlating each virtual disk to a logical unit based on the mapping of the virtual disks to the storage disks and the mapping of the logical units to the storage disks, retrieving replication data of the logical units from the storage arrays and, for a selected virtual store, checking that the selected virtual store has a replica for all the required storage disks mapped to the virtual disks of the selected virtual store.
US08949547B2

A data processing system that manages data hazards at a coherency controller and not at an initiator device is disclosed. Write requests are processed in a two part form, such that a first part is transmitted and when the coherency controller has space to accept data, the data and a state of the data prior to a write are sent as a second part of a write request. When there are copending reads and writes to the same address, writes are stalled by not responding to the first part of a write request and snoop requests received to the address are processed regardless of the fact that the write is pending. When the pending read has completed, the coherency controller will respond to the first part of the write request and the initiator device will complete the write by sending the data and a state indicator following the snoop.
US08949540B2

A victim cache line having a data-invalid coherence state is selected for castout from a first lower level cache of a first processing unit. The first processing unit issues on an interconnect fabric a lateral castout (LCO) command identifying the victim cache line to be castout from the first lower level cache, indicating the data-invalid coherence state, and indicating that a lower level cache is an intended destination of the victim cache line. In response to a coherence response to the LCO command indicating success of the LCO command, the victim cache line is removed from the first lower level cache and held in a second lower level cache of a second processing unit in the data-invalid coherence state.
US08949528B2

Data that is to be written is received, wherein the data is indicated in one or more blocks of a first block size. Each of the one or more blocks of the first block size is written in consecutive blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size, wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size stores only one block of the first block size, and wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size has empty space remaining, subsequent to the writing of each of the one or more blocks of the first block size. Filler data is written in the empty space remaining in each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size.
US08949520B2

A system includes a memory controller and a memory device having a command interface and a plurality of memory banks, each with a plurality of rows of memory cells. The memory controller transmits an auto-refresh command to the memory device. Responsive to the auto-refresh command, during a first time interval, the memory device performs refresh operations to refresh the memory cells and the command interface of the memory device is placed into a calibration mode for the duration of the first time interval. Concurrently, during at least a portion of the first time interval, the memory controller performs a calibration of the command interface of the memory device. The auto-refresh command may specify an order in which memory banks of the memory device are to be refreshed, such that the memory device sequentially refreshes a respective row in the plurality of memory banks in the specified bank order.
US08949518B2

Techniques for tracking memory usages of a data processing system are described herein. According to one embodiment, a memory manager is to perform a first lookup operation in a memory allocation table to identify an allocation entry based on a handle representing a memory address of a memory block allocated to a client and to retrieve a trace entry pointer from the allocation entry. The memory manager is then to perform a second lookup operation in a memory trace table to identify a trace entry based on the trace entry pointer and to increment a memory allocation count of the trace entry. The memory allocation count is utilized to indicate a likelihood of the client causing a memory leak.
US08949517B2

A non-volatile storage system having Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) provides self-journaling and hierarchical consistency, enabling low-latency recovery and force unit access handshake. Mappings between host addresses and addresses in the NVM are maintained via one or more map entries, enabling locating of host data written to the NVM. Objects stored in the NVM include sufficient information to recover the object solely within the object itself. The NVM is managed as one or more data streams, a map stream, and a checkpoint stream. Host data is written to the data streams, map entries are written to the map stream, and checkpoints of map entries and other data structures are written to the checkpoint stream. Time markers embedded in the streams enable determination, during recovery, that selected portions of the streams are inconsistent with each other and are to be discarded.
US08949503B2

A protocol controller disposed between switches in a fiber channel fabric switch circuit and disk drive units for converting a protocol to enable one-to-one connectivity established between controllers and disk drive units.
US08949502B2

A memory system controller includes one or more sockets for accommodating NVDIMM cards produced by different NVDIMM providers; a PCIe interface for coupling the memory system controller to a host; and a controller coupled to the PCIe interface over a PCIe-compliant connection and to the one or more sockets over respective DDR2 connections. The controller is configured to manage data transfers between the host and a specified one of the NVDIMM sockets in which an NVDIMM card is accommodated as DMA reads and writes, format data received from the PCIe interface for transmission to the specified NVDIMM socket over the corresponding one or more DDR2 interfaces, and initiate save and restore operations on the NVDIMM card accommodated within the specified NVDIMM socket in response to power failure and power restoration indications.
US08949491B1

Buffer memory reservation techniques for use with NAND flash memory include dynamically reserving regions of the buffer memory, responsive to a read/write request. Where the read/write request includes a plurality of data transfer requests, following completion of a data transfer request, the reserved buffer space may be recycled for use in a further data transfer request or for other purposes. During fulfillment of a read request, a buffer region is reserved from a larger buffer pool for a time period significantly smaller than the time required to execute a sense operation associated with the read request. The reserved buffer region may be reused for unrelated processes during execution of the sense operation.
US08949476B2

Techniques for providing an interface between a UICC and a processor, included in an access terminal, that supports asynchronous command processing by the UICC, are described. A first complex command, with a first processing time, may be received from the processor. An initial response to the first command, including a token, may be sent to the processor. The first command may be processed for the first processing time. At least one additional command, having a processing time shorter than the first processing time, may be received from the processor. Processing of the first command may be completed. Processing of a current one of the at least one additional command, which was being processed before, during, or after completion of the processing of the first command, may be completed. A response to the current one of the at least one additional command, including the token, may be sent to the processor.
US08949475B2

A method includes pre-configuring a hardware-implemented front-end of a storage device with multiple contexts of respective connections conducted between one or more hosts and the storage device. Storage commands, which are received in the storage device and are associated with the connections having the pre-configured contexts, are executed in a memory of the storage device using the hardware-implemented front-end. Upon identifying a storage command associated with a context that is not pre-configured in the hardware-implemented front-end, software of the storage device is triggered to configure the context in the hardware-implemented front-end, and the storage command is then executed using the hardware-implemented front-end in accordance with the context configured by the software.
US08949469B2

A method, devices, and a computer program for synchronizing one or more software programs from a first device (D100) to a second device (D200) are disclosed. The method comprises the steps of creating (100) an application profile indicating one or more software programs on the first device (ID100) and indicating one or more software program providing nodes (SN 100,SN200) from which said one or more software programs are obtainable, providing (200) the application profile to a synchronization manager (SM 100), identifying (300) by the synchronization manager (SM 100) the one or more software programs and the one or more software program providing nodes (SN100,SN200) according to the application profile, requesting (400) by the synchronization manager (SM 100) the one or more software program providing nodes (SN 100,SN200) to transfer the one or more software programs, and transferring (500) the one or more software programs from the one or more software program providing nodes (SN 100,SN200) to the second device (D200).
US08949467B1

A method of header compression steps, performed by a first processor, of receiving a first packet-header sent from a second processor, the first packet-header having been sent in response to the second processor receiving the first packet-header encapsulated in a frame, and the frame not matching a flow table entry in the second processor. The method also includes sending a first signal to the second processor; sending a first flow table entry to the second processor; sending a second signal to a third processor; and sending a second flow table entry to the third processor. The first signal causes the second processor to generate substitute data in response to subsequently receiving a second packet-header, the substitute data being shorter that the second packet-header, the substitute data corresponding to the first signal. The second signal causes the third processor to generate the second packet-header, responsive to the substitute data subsequently received from the second processor, in accordance with the second signal.
US08949457B1

In order to achieve location transparency and routing slip extensibility, a system and a method for orchestrating a web service using Business Process Execution Language are disclosed. The method includes: receiving a message, wherein the message comprises an address identifying an extension element; determining, from the address, a location of the extension element identified by the address; responsive to determining the location of the extension element, directing the message to an appropriate location; and storing the message in a computer readable storage medium.
US08949434B2

Network connection information is requested by a wireless wide area network device via the internet. Such information may include configuration information, data roaming partner information, and/or cost information regarding roaming partner connection and/or a subscriber plan related to the wireless wide area network. To retrieve the information, the wireless device sends a request to a redirection server, which in turn provides an internet address for a provisioning server, or instructs a provisioning server to provide the network configuration information to the wireless device. A user and/or the wireless device may use the network connection information when deciding whether and/or how to connect to the network. A network provider may use methods disclosed herein to efficiently update wireless devices that subscribe to the network. The network provider may provide selected network connection information based on information regarding the wireless device, such as the user identification.
US08949433B1

Some embodiments provide a system that executes an application. During operation, the system obtains a resource list associated with the application and stores a set of resources including a native code module from the resource list through communications over a network connection, wherein the resources are stored in persistent local storage. The application then loads the application in the web browser and loads the native code module into a secure runtime environment. Next, the application executes the application independently of the network connection using the native code module and the stored resources.
US08949432B2

An identity management method and system is disclosed. The method includes identity context management (ICM) clients monitoring access to Internet resources using dedicated Virtual Machines (VM). An ICM server monitors associations between Internet resource identifiers (IDs) and the Internet resources accessed by the VMs. The VMs register context for the ICM clients with the ICM server. An ICM client enables access to Internet resources and presentation of Webpages and Internet contents associated with the Internet resources within the associated Virtual Machine context.
US08949427B2

Administering medical digital images including receiving a medical image business object representing a transaction carrying out a type of service request made by a health care provider; selecting, in dependence upon workflow selection rules and the attributes of the medical image business object, one or more clinical workflows to process the medical image according to the transaction; and processing the medical image of the request with the clinical workflows, thereby creating a resultant business object and resultant medical image including selecting, by the workflow dispatcher in dependence upon metadata for computational units in the distributed medical digital image computing environment, particular computational units in the distributed medical digital image computing environment to perform particular services of the one or more clinical workflows, deploying the particular services to the particular computational units, and executing the services on the computational units upon which they are deployed.
US08949421B2

Techniques for discovering database connectivity leaks are presented. Each connection made by an application to a database is monitored. When the application is shut down, if information regarding a particular connection remains in memory, then that connection is reported as a potential database connectivity leak.
US08949413B2

In general, techniques are described for selectively applying and reusing filters stored in a router. In one example, a method includes receiving a network access request from a first user. The method also includes selecting a candidate rule group associated with the packet flow, wherein the candidate rule group comprises one or more currently deployed rules of an existing rule group on the computing device that are currently installed within a forwarding plane and are being applied by the forwarding plane to network traffic associated with a second user. The method also includes installing a new rule group comprising the one or more currently deployed rules of the existing rule group and one or more new rules associated with the first user and not currently installed within a forwarding plane. The method also includes applying each rule of the new rule group to network traffic associated with the first user.
US08949412B2

A method for managing data stream exchanges in an autonomic telecommunications network including a first phase consisting in extracting from each stream routing data and data for measuring the transfer function between at least one data producer Pi and at least one data consumer Cj, sharing the extracted routing data between processing and decision-making functional modules distributed across the said network, selecting at least one decision-making or processing module for which the access time to the measuring data of the transfer function is minimal, dynamically defining by at least one of the selected modules the said rules for optimizing the transfer settings of the stream according to the said measuring data and distributed over the said network select processing modules located on the path of the said streams in order to apply the said rules.
US08949409B2

A method for managing distributed computing. The method comprises estimating, for each of a plurality of local computing nodes, a distribution of multidimensional values in a space. Each multidimensional value is calculated according to a plurality of locally monitored parameters. The method further includes calculating safe zones in the space where each safe zone is defined according to a respective estimated distribution under a global geometric constraint in the space and setting local geometric constraints for the local computing nodes according to the respective safe zones. Each local geometric constraint is defined such that a detection of at least one monitored multidimensional value violating it by a respective local computing node induces a communication event between the respective local computing node and one or more central computing nodes.
US08949408B2

Disclosed are techniques for determining the status of virtual machine sessions on a computing device for a user by reading from a memory location written to by a program executing within a virtual machine. The memory location is preferably a registry key that contains the status of a remote user session operating on a guest operating system operational on the virtual machine, the virtual machine executing in a virtual environment comprising a plurality of virtual machines operating on a computing device.
US08949406B2

A method of a server system communicating with a client system. The method includes a passive system monitoring network traffic between the client-server system. The server sending a page response including an agent, e.g., a Javascript that becomes operable on the client system. The agent monitors events on the client side, e.g., DOM events, and communicates these to the server side. A set of rules that define prescribed user events are maintained by the passive system and applied to the monitored network traffic to determine whether a prescribed user event occurred. Responsive to the prescribed user event occurring, an asynchronous message is generated and sent to the agent in response to a received DOM event message, the asynchronous message comprising a command to be executed by the agent to alter the users web application flow at the client in a manner that is substantially transparent to the web application.
US08949405B2

A performance of a publisher server, a first content server, and a second content server is determined. Latency time information is determined based on the publisher server performance, the first content server performance, and the second content server performance, the latency time information representing a length of time to load content associated with each of the publisher server, the first content server, and the second content server.
US08949400B2

A system for managing one or more services during the provision of an application to a user is provided. The system comprises an application component operably connected to a network and configuration data for the user. The configuration data specifies: one or more partner servers configured to supply one or more respective services within one or more respective service categories, each partner server in a service category being chosen from a plurality of available partner servers for the service category and communication parameters for each partner server that allow communication with the partner server over the network. During the provision of the application to the user, the application component uses the configuration data for the user to access a service provided by an appropriate partner server.
US08949398B2

Instead of rejecting an incoming request at a node of a SIP domain, e.g. an IMS domain, when a user database query has failed, it is determined whether the DNS domain name of the request is registered as a shared domain or not. If it is found that the DNS domain name is registered as a shared domain, the DNS domain name is resolved into a globally routable URI, and the request is routed towards the terminating entity. If, however, the DNS domain name is not shared, the request is rejected. Such a mechanism enables operators to allow for a DNS domain name to be utilized by more than one SIP domain.
US08949375B2

A data processing system comprises a client device, a server system and a network connecting the client device to the server system. The client device is arranged to transmit a data request to the server system, the data request including a URL pointer to a repository address. The server system is arranged to receive the data request, to access the repository address defined by the URL pointer, and to receive data from the repository address, the data defining a plurality of media file types supported by the client device.
US08949363B2

A method and a plurality of communication devices configured to control notification of reception of a same message by at least one of the plurality of communication devices. The method includes determining that a plurality of communication devices are in proximity with each other, determining that a same message was received by the plurality of communication devices, and determining at least one communication device of the plurality of communication devices on which to inhibit producing a notification that indicates the message was received. The at least one communication device delays a pre-determined amount of time while monitoring for reception of a signal that indicates the message was read, and based on determination that the delay of the pre-determined amount of time has expired and that the communication device has failed to receive the signal, the communication device produces the notification.
US08949359B2

Systems and methods of hosting electronic conversations are provided in which a plurality of conversations, each having an identified set of participants, is maintained. Responsive to a search query from a first participant of a first conversation in the plurality of conversations, a second conversation in the plurality of conversations is identified as relevant to the search query. All or a portion of the second conversation is formatted for display to the first participant. Each conversation in the plurality of conversations, including the second conversation, is an instant messaging conversation. Participants in each conversation in the plurality of conversations are instant messaging participants.
US08949355B2

An electronic device and a method implemented within the electronic device for disambiguating email recipient fields by extracting sufficient information from the domain portion of an intended recipient's email address to disambiguate between a personal and a business email address. An exemplary method includes parsing at least one of said multiple addresses in a recipient field of the email to extract information capable of distinguishing the at least one of said multiple addresses from at least another of the multiple addresses, and displaying the information in the recipient field of the email.
US08949354B2

A method for propagating a message includes searching a plurality of messages for time-based information; associating located time-based information with the corresponding message as meta-data; extracting the meta-data and propagating the message as the time-based information approaches; and displaying the propagated message in a graphical user interface.
US08949348B2

In response to publication of a topic message on a topic to a messaging system by a publisher application, a determination is made as to whether any subscriber applications are registered for the topic. In response to determining that at least one subscriber application is registered for the topic, the published topic message is delivered to each registered subscriber application. In response to determining that no subscriber applications are registered for the topic, the published topic message is stored and in response to receipt of a first subsequent subscription request from a new subscriber application for the topic, the stored published topic message is delivered to the new subscriber application.
US08949317B2

In some embodiments, the presentation manager is configured to provide an interface requesting information regarding a proposal from a digital device over a network and receive the information from the digital device. The business object manager is configured to instantiate a business object based on the received information and store the instantiated business object within a data structure residing in a computer readable medium. The business rule manager is configured to generate a business rule associated with the business object, the business rule comprising instructions to perform an operation, the instructions being conditional based on the instantiated business object. The metadata manager is configured to generate metadata associated with the instantiated business object, store the generated metadata in the computer readable medium, perform the operation based on the business rule and the generated metadata, and instruct the presentation manager to provide a second interface indicating a status of the proposal.
US08949316B2

System for providing interactive two-way audio in desktop virtualization environment, the desktop virtualization environment comprising desktop virtualization server computer and desktop virtualization client endpoint device with associated microphone element. The system incorporates instance of server software executing on the desktop virtualization server and providing interactive user interface functions to associated desktop virtualization client endpoint device; and instance of endpoint software executing on the desktop virtualization client endpoint device including network port, the instance of endpoint software receiving an incoming real-time audio stream from the network port and providing real-time and audio playback functions on the desktop virtualization client endpoint device. In the system, the desktop virtualization client endpoint is configured to: accept real-time audio input from a microphone element associated with the desktop virtualization client endpoint; and provide an outgoing real-time compressed audio stream to the network port responsive to the real-time audio input from the microphone element.
US08949314B2

A method and apparatus for managing bookmark information of a media server through a network based on the UPnP AV standard is disclosed. If a request for bookmarking a content item is made, a bookmark item is created and the created bookmark item is linked to the content item by adding the ID of the created bookmark item to the property information of the content item and recording the ID of the content item to be bookmarked in the created bookmark item.
US08949312B2

An embodiment generally relates to a method of updating clients from a server. The method includes maintaining a master copy of a software on a server and capturing changes to the master copy of the software on an update disk image, where the changes are contained in at least one chunk. The method also includes merging the update disk image with one of two client disk images of the client copy of the software.
US08949297B2

Embodiments of a system and method manage a configuration of a plurality of content switching devices in a networked system by generating a first configuration data file and translating the first configuration data file into one or more device specific configuration data files, each device specific configuration file corresponding to a device type of the one or more content switching devices. Some embodiments of the system and method then communicate the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device of a corresponding device type to configure each content switching device.
US08949288B1

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for accessing media files. One such method accesses a hierarchically-arranged storage system storing media files. A graphical user interface is processed that has a single control. This single control allows a single input to select any media file within the hierarchical arrangement.
US08949287B2

A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). In one particular embodiment, the MMR system includes a method, system, and computer program product for adding a hotspot to an imaged document. A source document is converted to an imaged document, from which features are extracted. Hotspots are added to the imaged document, and the imaged document, hotspot definitions, and the feature representation are stored.
US08949281B2

A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for managing a computing environment, such as a cloud data repository. In some embodiments, such may include modifying an object or a component of an object at runtime and storing the modified object or modified component of an object in a storage device. In some embodiments, the component of an object being modified may include traits. In some embodiments, traits may be hierarchical data structures, including hierarchical data structures having more than one version. These hierarchical data structures may also contain or be associated with metadata, and may also make up the metadata of a host object. Embodiments provide that policies may be applied to these traits.
US08949277B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing geographically relevant search results. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a geotoken for a resource. The geotoken can be a resource token that references a geographic location. A semantic geotoken can be selected using the received geotoken. The semantic geotoken is a standardized representation of the geographic location that includes one or more location-specific terms. The semantic geotoken is stored with a reference to the resource. Neighboring locations for the geographic location are determined. The neighboring locations are within a predetermined distance of the geographic location. Semantic geotokens for the neighboring locations are selected and stored with the reference to the resource. Data specifying the semantic geotokens and the reference to the resource are provided.
US08949265B2

In various example embodiments, a system and method to provide query linguistic service is provided. An initial query term set is received. Phrase recognition is performed on the initial query term set to determine recognized phrases. Using the determined recognized phrases, one or more synonyms for each of the recognized phrases are determined. Results matching the initial query term set and any selected synonyms from the determined one or more synonyms are determined.
US08949264B2

Disclosed herein is a technique for disambiguating associations between one keyword and multiple attributes of a database model and for disambiguating associations between one attribute of a database model and multiple attribute types.
US08949254B1

Techniques for enhancing content are disclosed. In some embodiments, enhancing content includes automatically identifying a set of modifications to the existing content of a page that would result in the page satisfying a set of search properties and applying at least a subset of the set of modifications to the page. Furthermore, techniques for enhancing link structure are disclosed. In some embodiments, enhancing link structure includes automatically determining a constrained link structure for a set of pages that satisfies a set of one or more constraints and that is at least in part different from an existing link structure of the set of pages and making one or more modifications to the existing link structure to at least in part realize the constrained link structure for the set of pages.
US08949252B2

A weighted combination of attributes including but not limited to color, shape, pattern, brand, style, size, and material may be used to rank items when searching for similar items of a given category on an ecommerce system website. The weights on each attribute may be optimized by using feedback from users, the feedback indicating the importance of each attribute to a purchaser when searching for similar items of various categories. Alternatively, click-through patterns from the ecommerce system website can be mined and used to optimize the importance of each attribute to users by item category. The optimum attribute weights for that items category are used to rank the results in a search for similar items in that category.
US08949236B2

Techniques, including systems are methods, for analyzing data from multiple sources are disclosed and suggested herein. In an embodiment, external information from one or more external information sources and internal information from one or more internal information sources is received. The received external information and internal information are stored in one or more data stores that collectively implement one or more ontologies. One or more conditions are applied to the external information and internal information in the one or more data stores to determine a conclusion and the conclusion is provided to a user.
US08949234B2

A processor engine for affecting a website's position on at least one Internet search engine's page ranking comprises at least one processor. The at least one processor is arranged to: load (425) at least one search term into a program (425) running on the at least one processor; load (445) a target list comprising at least one website that is to be promoted; and create (420) an Internet connection. The at least one processor is further arranged to request a search of the at least one search term on the at least one Internet search engine; identify at least one website search hit that matches at least one website on the target list; and access the identified at least one website a plurality of times, affecting the at least one website's position on the Internet search engine's page ranking.
US08949227B2

There is provided a method for managing at least one synonym group, wherein the method comprises the step of: when a synonym group comprises more than one synonym, calculating a similarity value between each two synonyms of all synonyms of the synonym group indicating how similar these two synonyms are to each other. The invention further provided a synonym group organizer, a matching system using the synonym group organizer and the methods thereof.
US08949219B2

A content management system (CMS) provides a way to include data from an external source as an object in the repository managed by the CMS. The CMS includes an external data mechanism that processes a document with a query to a data source external to the repository. The external data mechanism executes the query, and creates one or more objects in the repository according to the type of data returned. Each object containing data returned from the query is linked to that query via a formal relationship in the CMS. When an object that has a formal relationship with a query is checked out of the repository, the query corresponding to the object may be executed, and the data returned from the query may be stored in the object. Alternatively, the data may be used directly if a corresponding lifecycle policy indicates the corresponding query should not be executed.
US08949209B2

The present invention refers to a computer-implemented method of anonymizing data of a database (2), wherein the method comprises the following steps: a. exporting at least one data record (10) from the database (2), wherein the data record (10) has a structure and comprises content (100); and b. anonymizing at least part of the content (100) to produce at least one anonymized data record (3); c. wherein the anonymized data record (3) has the same structure than the data record (10) read from the database (2).
US08949207B2

A method for decoding encoded structured data from a bit-stream comprising a plurality of encoded data units having the steps of, obtaining unit information comprising positions of the encoded data units within the bit-stream, retrieving the encoded data units from the bit-stream based on the unit information, creating decoding tasks for decoding the retrieved encoded data units, assigning the created decoding tasks to cores of a multi-core decoder, based on estimated decoding costs of the encoded data units, running the tasks on their assigned cores to decode the encoded data units in parallel is disclosed. It is applied to the decoding of XML documents in the EXI format.
US08949191B2

Using a versioning feature of an authoring application to back up multiple versions of a stored object in single, version-enabled instance stored on backup media is disclosed. In some embodiments, an indication is received that a subsequent version data associated with an object an existing instance of which is stored in a backup storage location is to be backed up. A version control mechanism of an authoring application that created or updated the object as stored in a primary storage location is invoked to incorporate the subsequent version data into the existing instance of the object as stored in the backup storage location.
US08949184B2

A data collector may monitor a data source and identify updated data, which may be processed and prepared for inclusion into a search database. The data collector may have various handlers that may interact with a data source, which may be a database, web service, file system, collaboration system, or other source, and may store a identifying signature and content signature for each document or item. The signatures may be used to identify new, changed, or deleted items, and a payload may be created containing the updates.
US08949168B1

In one aspect, a method includes determining if a rule in a memory of an event-based analysis engine has been used by the event-based analysis engine within a predetermined period of time and moving the rule to a storage device if the rule in the memory of the event-based analysis engine has not been used by the event-based analysis engine within the predetermined period of time.
US08949166B2

A data rule is created and processed by receiving an expression defining a logic of a rule and at least one logical variable, creating a rule definition including the expression and the at least one logical variable for binding each logical variable of the rule with at least one column, associating a characteristic enabling comparison of columns with a first logical variable of the rule definition, and storing the characteristic as part of the rule definition.
US08949162B1

Disclosed herein are systems, devices, and techniques for using collective intelligence to improve a customer's experience when using network-based services. Data generated as a byproduct of one or more customer interactions with the network-based service may be repeatedly gathered, optionally stored, and analyzed to generate collective intelligence information. This collective intelligence information may be compared to various assessed parameters associated with a characteristic (i.e., a type and/or a configuration) of a computer resource(s), parameters associated with a state of the network-based service provider environment, and/or a customer experience criterion specified by the customer.
US08949161B2

A cache management system and method and a content distribution system. In one embodiment, the cache management system includes: (1) a content request receiver configured to receive content requests, (2) a popularity lifetime prediction modeler coupled to the content request receiver and configured to generate popularity lifetime prediction models for content that can be cached based on at least some of the content requests, (3) a database coupled to the popularity lifetime prediction modeler and configured to contain the popularity lifetime prediction models and (4) a popularity lifetime prediction model matcher coupled to the content request receiver and the database and configured to match at least one content request to the popularity lifetime prediction models and control a cache based thereon.
US08949157B2

A data processing method for an estimation of compound-protein interaction using both chemical substance information, such as a chemical property of the compound, and biological information, such as sequence information of genes to rationally and efficiently screen compounds. First space representing space coordinates of a first chemical substance group and second space representing space coordinates of a second chemical substance group are defined, and the first chemical substance group is characterized by a first characteristic amount and the second chemical substance group is characterized by a second characteristic amount, and map transformation of the coordinates of the first space and the coordinates of the second space results in the solution so as to increase the correlation between the first space and the second space using a multivariable analysis technique or a machine learning method.
US08949149B2

A novel and non-obvious method, system and apparatus for controlling inventory stocking and usage based on part attributes. A method for controlling inventory stocking and usage based on part attributes that can include establishing a stock footprint, which maps stocking locations to attributes on a part, establishing a usage strategy, which maps a prioritized list of attributes to a part request order type, establishing a usage characteristic set, which maps a set of usage characteristics to the usage strategy, receiving a request order, and, applying the established usage strategy to the received request order based on matching a characteristic set of the received request order with the usage characteristic set of the established usage strategy.
US08949147B1

Methods and systems for the efficient tracking of a product or service within the product or service's life cycle within a supply chain. Implementations of the present invention including at least one of a method, a process, a system, an apparatus, a computer-readable medium, and a data stream. The methods and systems of the present invention providing a user with the capability to track an item or order, shipment status, or to check an inventory quantity utilizing any one of a plurality of identification numbers. The methods and systems of the present invention also providing the user with the capability to track an item or order, shipment status, or to check an inventory quantity utilizing a partial identification number. The methods and systems of the present invention further providing for secure access via a globally-distributed computer network, such as the Internet. A graphical user interface is provided that is intuitive and user friendly.
US08949145B2

The present invention provides systems and methods for enabling a customer to sample content and select content for purchasing while the customer is in a retail store. Advantageously, the customer may be given one or more options for the delivery of the content.
US08949144B2

A point-of-sale (POS) terminal and a POS system, by which the cost spent for the establishment of the POS system is reduced. Ordering, payment and management of sales information can be conducted irrespective of location, thereby maximizing user convenience. The general functions of a POS terminal, such as barcode scanning, near-field communication (NFC), signing, and the like, can be performed based on a variety of functions of a mobile terminal in order to provide an optimum solution in any sales environment.
US08949143B2

The inventive system and method for processing transactional data in a point of sale environment that has a video device, a POS terminal and an end recording device comprises a configuration tool, and a filtering unit having a filter comprising subfilters for filtering transactional data, such that the configuration tool creates the filter. The configuration tool can create and/or modify the filter based on user input, and this input can be through a web interface. In the alternative, the system also has at least one pre-defined set of rules accessible through a web interface, such that the configuration tool uses one of the pre-defined sets of rules to create the filter.
US08949134B2

A diagnostic tool for speech recognition applications is provided, which enables a administrator to collect multiple recorded speech sessions. The administrator can then search for various failure points common to one or more of the recorded sessions in order to get a list of all sessions that have the same failure points. The invention allows the administrator to playback the session or replay any portion of the session to see the flow of the application and the recorded utterances. The invention provides the administrator with information about how to maximize the efficiency of the application which enables the administrator to edit the application to avoid future failure points.
US08949132B2

Disclosed is a method for training a spoken dialog service component from website data. Spoken dialog service components typically include an automatic speech recognition module, a language understanding module, a dialog management module, a language generation module and a text-to-speech module. The method includes selecting anchor texts within a website based on a term density, weighting those anchor texts based on a percent of salient words to total words, and incorporating the weighted anchor texts into a live spoken dialog interface, the weights determining a level of incorporation into the live spoken dialog interface.
US08949125B1

Systems and methods are provided to select a most typical pronunciation of a location name on a map from a plurality of user pronunciations. A server generates a reference speech model based on user pronunciations, compares the user pronunciations with the speech model and selects a pronunciation based on comparison. Alternatively, the server compares the distance between one the user pronunciations and every other user pronunciations and selects a pronunciation based on comparison. The server then annotates the map with the selected pronunciation and provides the audio output of the location name to a user device upon a user's request.
US08949122B2

A set of audio phrases and corresponding phrase characteristics can be maintained, such as in a database. The phrase characteristics can include a translation of speech in the associated audio phrase. A finite state grammar that includes a set of textual phrases can be received. A software algorithm can execute to compare the set of textual phrases against the translations associated with the maintained audio phrases. A result of the software algorithm execution can be produced, where the result indicates phrase coverage for the finite state grammar based upon the audio phrases.
US08949121B2

The inventive method provides for an encoder in a voice codec to be designed such that after a particular idle time (“Idle Period”) it recalculates the averaged energy and the autocorrelation function. Administrative points in the network inform the encoder about the idle time which has been set in the transmission network.
US08949116B2

A signal processing method is provided. The signal processing method includes extracting a first signal having a first frequency band from a sum signal of a left signal and a right signal, generating a second signal having a second frequency band by using the first signal, generating a third signal by using the first signal and the second signal, and applying a gain, generated by using a rate of a center signal included in the sum signal, to the third signal.
US08949086B2

Methods, an apparatus, and a computer program product for determining whether or not a particle belongs to free surface particles, in a calculation process of a particle method in which a continuum subjected to calculation analysis is collectively modeled with a free surface by a plurality of particles. One of the methods includes the steps of: determining whether any other particle exists within a predetermined range with respect to the particle by referencing to identification information stored in a memory, where the other particle belongs to the free surface, and storing in the memory near free surface identification information which is set as near free surface if the other particle belonging to the free surface exists and set as sufficiently inside if the other free surface particle belonging to the free surface does not exist.
US08949080B2

A method of designing an integrated circuit includes performing a pre-layout simulation of the integrated circuit. The pre-layout simulation is performed using a netlist generated from a process design kit (PDK) file. The PDK file includes a plurality of device model cards that are assigned to plurality of devices. The plurality of devices include a first device having at least one parasitic diode that is associated with at least one isolation well, the PDK file including information of the at least one parasitic diode. A design layout of the integrated circuit corresponding to a result of the pre-layout simulation is generated.
US08949075B2

Described is an apparatus and method for remotely controlling the call interval of an environmental instrument for a water quality monitoring apparatus based on environmental data obtained by one or more environmental instruments.
US08949074B2

Methods and systems for testing an ability of a Portable User Appliance (PUA) and/or a research data gathering system coupled therewith including a method for testing an ability of a PUA to carry out a research operation, comprises communicating a testing message to the PUA and/or research data gathering system coupled therewith, the testing message comprising one of a test command to test its ability to carry out a research operation, and test data to establish, enable or provide a capability thereof to test its ability to carry out a research operation.
US08949062B2

Provided is a test module comprising a specified pattern detecting section that detects a specified pattern output in response to a specified test pattern from a device under test outputting output patterns in response to test patterns; a timing detecting section that detects a timing at which the specified pattern is detected; and a phase adjusting section that adjusts phases of the output patterns to match phases of expected value patterns, which are expected from the device under test as responses to the test patterns, based on the timing detected by the timing detecting section.
US08949059B2

A method of deriving correction for instrument-to-instrument variations in the illumination band centroid wavelengths and wavelength band shapes of the optical systems of clinical chemistry instruments includes the steps of determining the centroid wavelength and wavelength band shape of a light source used in the optical system of a clinical chemistry instrument to provide a determined wavelength band shape and centroid wavelength, comparing the determined wavelength band shape and centroid wavelength with a known reflection density or absorbance wavelength spectrum of a specific type of chemical reagent test to provide a correction value, and calculating the correction value, which is to be used to modify a reflection density or absorbance measurement taken by the instrument of a reagent test of the a specific type of chemical reagent test.
US08949058B2

The present disclosure relates to a system for determining the load mass of a load carried by a hoist cable of a crane, said system comprising a measurement arrangement for measuring the cable load in the hoist cable and a calculation unit for determining the load mass on the basis of the cable force, wherein the calculation unit has a compensation unit which describes and at least partly compensates the effect of the indirect determining of the load mass via the cable force in a model.
US08949057B1

Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for reducing measurement error resulting from temperature variations across a wafer, without measuring the wafer temperature, the temperature gradient in the surrounding air, or the distribution of the index of refraction of the air.
US08949051B2

An apparatus and method for estimating resource consumption of a household device, e.g., an appliance. The method comprises determining a resource demand profile for a household device for a given time period, the resource demand profile associating, for the given time period, a device state of the household device with a total resource demand for the household. In one embodiment, the apparatus can be incorporated into an energy management system, where the apparatus collects data from each of the appliances in a household as well as from a resource meter.
US08949044B2

A control device includes a force detector configured to detect a force in a normal direction and a force in a shearing direction of fingertips of a robot hand device respectively as a normal force and a shearing force, and an object detector configured to calculate a friction coefficient using the normal force and the shearing force detected by the force detector and to detect whether or not a thin-film object having a maximum friction coefficient different from a maximum stationary friction coefficient between the fingertips is grasped between the fingertips on the basis of the calculation result.
US08949038B2

Described herein is a method of controlling bitumen quality in a process stream within a solvent-assisted bitumen extraction operation, for instance a hydrocarbon stream from a froth separation unit (FSU). Bitumen quality is a measure of the amount of selected contaminants in the process stream. Contaminants may include asphaltenes (comprising metal porphyrins), sulfur, and inorganic solids (comprising inorganic elements, e.g. Si, Al, Ti, Fe, Na, K, Mg, and Ca). First, the amounts of selected contaminants are measured. Next, these measured values are compared to maximum reference values. If one or more of these contaminants is higher than the maximum reference value, at least one variable of the solvent-assisted bitumen extraction is adjusted to improve bitumen quality.
US08949032B2

The invention provides a computer readable medium or media, having: (a) a first data structure relating a plurality of reactants to a plurality of reactions from a first cell, each of said reactions comprising a reactant identified as a substrate of the reaction, a reactant identified as a product of the reaction and a stoichiometric coefficient relating said substrate and said product; (b) a second data structure relating a plurality of reactants to a plurality of reactions from a second cell, each of said reactions comprising a reactant identified as a substrate of the reaction, a reactant identified as a product of the reaction and a stoichiometric coefficient relating said substrate and said product; (c) a third data structure relating a plurality of intra-system reactants to a plurality of intra-system reactions between said first and second cells, each of said intra-system reactions comprising a reactant identified as a substrate of the reaction, a reactant identified as a product of the reaction and a stoichiometric coefficient relating said substrate and said product; (d) a constraint set for said plurality of reactions for said first, second and third data structures, and (e) commands for determining at least one flux distribution that minimizes or maximizes an objective function when said constraint set is applied to said first and second data structures, wherein said at least one flux distribution is predictive of a physiological function of said first and second cells. The first, second and third data structures also can include a plurality of data structures. Additionally provided is a method for predicting a physiological function of a multicellular organism. The method includes: (a) providing a first data structure relating a plurality of reactants to a plurality of reactions from a first cell, each of said reactions comprising a reactant identified as a substrate of the reaction, a reactant identified as a product of the reaction and a stoichiometric coefficient relating said substrate and said product; (b) providing a second data structure relating a plurality of reactants to a plurality of reactions from a second cell, each of said reactions comprising a reactant identified as a substrate of the reaction, a reactant identified as a product of the reaction and a stoichiometric coefficient relating said substrate and said product; (c) providing a third data structure relating a plurality of intra-system reactants to a plurality of intra-system reactions between said first and second cells, each of said intra-system reactions comprising a reactant identified as a substrate of the reaction, a reactant identified as a product of the reaction and a stoichiometric coefficient relating said substrate and said product; (d) providing a constraint set for said plurality of reactions for said first, second and third data structures; (e) providing an objective function, and (f) determining at least one flux distribution that minimizes or maximizes an objective function when said constraint set is applied to said first and second data structures, wherein said at least one flux distribution is predictive of a physiological function of said first and second cells.
US08949031B2

A method for obtaining a volumetric image of a geological structure in the subsoil includes generating a plurality of seismic waves by plural seismic sources, acquiring signals or traces obtained by processing the seismic waves reflected by the geological structure for creating a seismic record or shot gather for the activation position of each seismic source, migrating, through a numerical processing, each shot gather to create a respective partial volumetric image of the geological structure, summing the single partial volumetric images to obtain the overall volumetric image of the geological structure, the summing of the single partial volumetric images being obtained by grouping the seismic sources into groups, grouping the groups of seismic sources into super-groups, and effecting N migrations for each super-group.
US08949030B2

A method for processing seismic data. The method includes receiving the seismic data acquired by at least two receivers that are disposed at different depths. The method may then time-align the seismic data, collect a portion of the time-aligned seismic data into a gather and sum the collected time-aligned seismic data in the gather. After summing the collected time-aligned seismic data in the gather, the method may widen a spectrum of the summed seismic data and generate an image of subsurface formations in the earth based on the widened spectrum.
US08949028B1

A route start point and a route end point are specified. Data is retrieved relating to a vehicle type for possible use on the route, and including at least one attribute of each of one or more possible route waypoints, the at least one attribute relating to at least parking availability for the vehicle type. A route is determined between the start point and the end point at least in part by applying the route parameter to the attribute.
US08949027B2

A system comprises a plurality of reference navigation systems, each reference navigation system configured to generate a respective reference navigation solution. The system also comprises a test navigation system, the test navigation system configured to generate a test navigation solution; and a processing unit configured to compare the test navigation solution to each of the respective reference navigation solutions to estimate one or more errors in the differences between the test navigation solution and the respective reference navigation solutions. The processing unit is further configured to update the respective reference navigation solutions to account for the corresponding one or more estimated errors. The processing unit is also configured to compare the test navigation solution to the updated reference navigation solutions to generate a performance score representative of the performance of the test navigation system.
US08948999B2

A method of stoichiometrically operating a diesel-fueled internal combustion engine. During a main (conventional) fuel injection event, fuel is injected into the cylinders. The air-fuel ratio during this main fuel injection event is stoichiometric. The cylinders are operated by either advancing the exhaust valve closing or modifying the phasing of the exhaust and intake valve lift events, to achieve a negative valve overlap period between the end of the exhaust phase and the beginning of the intake phase of the engine cycle. Fuel is injected into the cylinders during the negative valve overlap period, which results in highly reactive fuel and reduces ignition delay during the main fuel injection event.
US08948984B2

An operator interface assembly for a machine is disclosed. The operator interface assembly comprises a base, an operator input device operable to move in a first direction in relation to the base to a second position and a third position, a first biasing member including a first spring end, and operatively associated with the base and wherein the first spring end is operable to contact the operator input device at a first position and resist movement of the operator input device in the first direction, a second biasing member including a second spring end, and operatively associated with the base and wherein the second spring end is operable to contact the operator input device at the second position, the second position different than the first position, and resist movement of the operator input device in the first direction, and a position sensor.
US08948961B2

A method and an apparatus for detecting a pedestrian impact, at least three acceleration sensors being provided which are respectively mounted on the inner side of the bumper cladding and each generate a signal. The pedestrian impact is detected as a function of a time offset between at least two of the three signals. The impact location is identified on the basis of the at least one time offset.
US08948945B2

A hybrid vehicle is equipped with a required driving force acquiring element 22 which obtains a required driving force necessary to be output, and an electric motor driving force acquiring element 23 which acquires a maximum electric motor driving force Tm capable of being output by the force output from an electric motor MG according to each speed stage, taking into consideration a remaining capacity of an electric storage device BATT. When the required driving force Tq is equal to or smaller than the maximum electric motor driving force Tm, a highest speed stage in which the electric motor MG is capable of outputting the required driving force Tq is determined, an automatic transmission 1 is controlled so that the determined speed stage is set, and the vehicle is made to travel only by the force of the electric motor MG.
US08948943B2

A drive control system in a series-hybrid utility vehicle comprises a motor for driving a wheel; a battery; an engine electric generator for generating the electric power charged into the battery; and a controller configured to estimate an SOC value of the battery, and control the motor and the engine electric generator in accordance with an HV mode or an EV mode; wherein when the estimated SOC value is less than a predetermined low threshold, the controller stops electric power supply from the battery to the motor; and when the estimated SOC value is less than a predetermined medium threshold greater than the predetermined low threshold, the controller sets the HV mode, and controls the motor and the engine electric generator such that a driving power of the motor is suppressed in a state where the motor is supplied with the electric power from the battery.
US08948936B2

A system includes a plurality of actuators and a management system operably associated with the plurality electronic and mechanical devices. The management architecture includes interfaces configured to the entire electronics and mechanics to provide a parameter to a computer. The computer includes a control and management architecture using modular finite state flow designs configured to analyze the parameter. The computer with a plurality of finite state machines can conduct a plurality of control laws operably associated with one or more actuators for finite functions of mobility. The method includes matching the parameter with the finite state machine and controlling the actuator via control law operably associated with finite state machine. The method can therefore be achieved either manually, semi-autonomously and autonomously with seamless and switchless control using a central control computer with integration of electronic and mechanic sensors and devices.
US08948920B2

Temperature is controlled in a refrigerated transport container comprising a transport volume, a control unit, a cooling space, one or more fans providing air flow through the cooling space, where air passing through the cooling space passes a return air temperature sensor, a cooling unit, and a supply air temperature sensor. Supply air temperature (Tsup) is controlled to bring temperatures in the transport volume within a desired temperature range around a first temperature set point (Tset). The supply air temperature (Tsup) or a time-averaged function thereof is controlled to reach a temperature below the set point (Tset) during a first limited time period; and the supply air temperature (Tsup) is increased during a second limited time period following said first time period, so that the supply air temperature (Tsup) or a time-averaged function thereof at the end of said second time period is within said desired temperature range.
US08948898B2

A method for operating a gluing system (10) for gluing blanks for producing and/or packaging cigarettes or other smokable objects, in which the blanks are conveyed along glue valves (11) of the gluing system (10), in which case, in order to control and/or regulate the glue valves (11), a superordinate master controller (13) respectively transmits values of at least one control and/or regulation parameter to individual controllers (15) which are assigned to the glue valves (11), are subordinate to the master controller (13) and are each connected to the superordinate master controller (13) via a suitable data connection, the subordinate controller (15) using said values to control and/or regulate the glue valve (11) assigned to it.
US08948894B2

A method of processing audio signals in which an audio signature of a primary audio stream is compared to a set of audio signatures corresponding to a series of separate audio clips is disclosed. One of the audio clips from the series of separate audio clips is selected for insertion into the primary audio stream such that the selected audio clip has an audio signature that most closely matches the audio signature of the primary audio stream. The matching and selecting steps are performed by at least one signal processing electronic device.
US08948891B2

A multi-channel audio signal encoding and decoding method and apparatus are provided. The multi-channel audio signal encoding method, the method including: obtaining semantic information for each channel; determining a degree of similarity between multi-channels based on the obtained semantic information for each channel; determining similar channels among the multi-channels based on the determined degree of similarity between the multi-channels; and determining spatial parameters between the similar channels and down-mixing audio signals of the similar channels.
US08948890B2

Disclosed embodiments include methods of removing carbon dioxide from combustion gas from an engine of a vehicle, systems for removing carbon dioxide from combustion gas from an engine of a vehicle, vehicles, methods of managing carbon dioxide emissions from an engine of a vehicle, and computer software program products for managing carbon dioxide emissions from an engine of a vehicle.
US08948889B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for detecting a plurality of use cases of a communication device, determining an initial tuning state for each of a plurality of tuning algorithms according to the plurality of use cases, configuring each of the plurality of tuning algorithms according to their respective initial tuning state, executing a first tuning algorithm of the plurality of tuning algorithms according to an order of execution of the plurality of tuning algorithms, detecting a stability condition of the first tuning algorithm, and executing a second tuning algorithm of the plurality of tuning algorithms responsive to the detected stability condition of the first tuning algorithm. Each tuning algorithms can control one of a tunable reactive element, a control interface, or both of one of a plurality of circuit components of a radio frequency circuit. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08948880B2

A stimulation lead for connecting a pulse generator having a plurality of outputs to electrodes of an electrode array includes a flexible body and the electrode array. The electrode array is distal to the flexible body and the flexible body has a proximal portion and an interface portion. A selection circuit within the interface portion has a plurality of inputs, each input of the selection circuit connected to an output of the pulse generator and a plurality of outputs, each output of the selection circuit being coupled to a respective one of the electrodes of the electrode array. The plurality of outputs of the selection circuit are greater in number than the plurality of outputs of the pulse generator.
US08948878B2

A method and device for treating a condition aggravated by the presence of amyloid fibrils is disclosed. The method includes applying a plurality of ultra-short pulses to target tissue comprising amyloid fibrils. The plurality of ultra-short pulses produce an electric field in the target tissue sufficient to change a molecular structure of the amyloid fibrils without causing the death, destruction, or serious injury of healthy cells surrounding the target tissue. For example, the plurality of ultra-short pulses can be sufficient to change the molecular structure of amyloid fibrils without causing apoptosis or necrosis of surrounding cells. The ultra-short pulses can be applied using an electrode device or a wideband antenna. The ultra-short pulses can have a duration ranging from 1 ps to 10 ns, an amplitude ranging from 100 V to 1 MV, and can apply an electrical field to the target tissue ranging from 1 kV/cm to 1 MV/cm.
US08948870B2

Embodiments of the invention provide an energy harvesting mechanism comprising a central conductive element and a plurality of transductive elements. Each transductive element is positioned to be in contact with a corresponding peripheral length segment of the central conductive element. Also each transductive element is deformable in a characteristic radial direction to convert its deformation into a corresponding electrical signal. The plurality of transductive elements are arranged so that any one of the plurality of transductive elements is capable of being deformed in the characteristic radial direction to trigger the corresponding electrical signal. Embodiments of the mechanism can be used for harvesting energy from a variety of bio-kinetic events such as a heartbeat, respiration, muscle contraction or other movement. Such embodiments can be used for powering a variety of implanted medical devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators and various monitoring devices.
US08948869B2

Generally, the disclosure is directed one or more methods or systems of cardiac pacing employing a right ventricular electrode and a plurality of left ventricular electrodes. Pacing using the right ventricular electrode and a first one of the left ventricular electrodes and measuring activation times at other ones of the left ventricular electrodes. Pacing using the right ventricular electrode and a second one of the ventricular electrodes and measuring activation times at other ones of the left ventricular electrodes. Employing sums of the measured activation times to select one of the left ventricular electrodes for delivery of subsequent pacing pulses.
US08948863B2

The present invention relates generally to transscleral, transcorneal, and transocular delivery of biologically active substances through the tissues, blood vessels and cellular membranes of the eyes of patients without causing damage to the cellular surface, tissue or membrane. The invention provides compositions and methods for enhanced transscleral, transcorneal and transocular delivery of biologically active substances using pulsed incoherent light, and particularly the transcleral, transcorneal or transocular delivery of high molecular weight biologically active substances to a patient using pulsed incoherent light. The invention further provides a device for the application of the pulsed incoherent light to cellular surfaces and membranes of the eye of a subject using those compositions and methods.
US08948852B2

A method for tomographic imaging of diffuse medium includes directing waves into a diffusive medium, solving a surface-bounded inversion problem by forward field calculations through decomposition of contributions from the multiple reflections from an arbitrary surface within the diffusive medium or outside the diffusive medium into a sum of different orders of reflection up to an arbitrary order, and using contact or non-contact measurements of waves outside said diffusive medium to generate a tomographic image.
US08948842B2

Methods, and apparatuses are provided that include a first imaging element configured to generate a first observation of a first object, the first observation of the first object being generated at a first time, wherein the first object is associated with a volume of interest (VOI). The system further includes a second imaging element configured to generate a first observation of a second object, wherein the first observation of the second object is generated at a second time, and the second object is associated with the VOI. A first positioning of the VOI is determined based on the first observation of the first object and the first observation of the second object, a third time for the first imaging element is determined based on a positioning parameter associated with the first positioning of the VOI, and a second observation of the first object is generated at the third time.
US08948841B2

The present invention relates to a MR tracking method and device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a magnetic resonance tracking method and device, using a magnetic-susceptible object. A magnetic iso-surface induced by the object is selectively excited with a corresponding frequency offset; the magnetic iso-surface is then projected on three axes of a k-space, from which projections the spatial position of the object is calculated.
US08948832B2

Some embodiments provide a wearable fitness monitoring device including a motion sensor and a photoplethysmographic (PPG) sensor. The PPG sensor includes (i) a periodic light source, (ii) a photo detector, and (iii) circuitry determining a user's heart rate from an output of the photo detector. Some embodiments provide methods for operating a heart rate monitor of a wearable fitness monitoring device to measure one or more characteristics of a heartbeat waveform. Some embodiments provide methods for operating the wearable fitness monitoring device in a low power state when the device determines that the device is not worn by a user. Some embodiments provide methods for operating the wearable fitness monitoring device in a normal power state when the device determines that the device is worn by a user.
US08948828B2

An apparatus and a method for cooling a super conducting machine are disclosed, in which at least two condenser areas each make thermal contact with a cold head, and in which the at least two condenser areas each have a connecting line, via which the at least two condenser areas are connected fluidically to an evaporator area. A liquid cooling fluid can be moved or pumped from at least one condenser area into the evaporator area by way of a temperature difference, and a pressure difference associated therewith, in the at least two condenser areas.
US08948827B2

A mobile communication device includes a substrate, a metal frame, a feeding portion, and a parasitic portion. The substrate includes a ground plane and a non-ground area. The metal frame surrounds the substrate and includes a plurality of gaps to form a first frame element and a second frame element separated from each other. The first frame element is electrically connected to the ground plane. The feeding portion and the parasitic portion are located in the non-ground area. A first end of the feeding portion is configured to receive a feeding signal, and a second end of the feeding portion is an open end. The parasitic portion is electrically connected to the second frame element and the ground plane. The feeding portion, the second frame element, and the parasitic portion of the mobile communication device constitute a loop antenna.
US08948820B2

A portable electronic device includes a display unit; an input detection unit that detects an input to the display unit, and a lock control unit that sets or releases a locked state for a part or all of functions of the portable electronic device when a predetermined input is detected by the input detection unit, wherein the predetermined input includes inputs, in which a preset screen operation is continuously performed by a predetermined number of times in an area of the display unit.
US08948819B2

A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a touch screen; an input unit configured to generate input data; and a controller configured to activate a handwriting input function in response to the input data generated by the input unit, capture an image of a display screen being displayed on the touch screen, receive handwriting input received through the touch screen, generate output data corresponding to the received handwriting input, and generate a file including the generated output data and the captured image of the display screen.
US08948816B2

A distributed antenna system includes a host unit communicatively coupled to a first service provider interface which receives a first signal from the first service provider interface; and a first remote antenna unit communicatively coupled to the host unit, the first remote antenna unit having a first antenna. A base station to which the distributed antenna system is communicatively coupled is configured with a subscriber access timing window having a minimum allowed delay and a maximum allowed delay. The distributed antenna system is configured so that a first total delay between the host unit and the first remote antenna unit is equal to or greater than the minimum allowed delay. The first antenna of the first remote antenna unit is configured to communicate the first signal to a first subscriber unit.
US08948804B2

A virtual Slide-to-Lock feature for communication devices running a PTT application. When the Slide-to-Lock feature is activated, a PTT locking function on the communication device is activated. As a result, messages on the communication device may be created, without the need of the user to continuously hold or select a Hold-to-Talk or similar PTT feature. In one non-exclusive embodiment, the virtual Slide-to-Lock feature is activated when a finger is moved from a first region to a second region on a touch-sensitive display screen and de-activated with the opposite motion.
US08948798B2

A transmission control device may include an acquiring unit to acquire information indicating an orientation of a transmission apparatus. In addition, the device may include a control unit to control the transmission apparatus to transmit to a reception apparatus content of the transmission apparatus when an operation is performed to the transmission apparatus after the information indicating the orientation is acquired, the operation corresponding to the orientation.
US08948797B2

Registering a client computing device for online communication sessions. A registration server receives a message that has a push token that is unique to the client computing device and a phone number of the client computing device from an SMS (Short Message Service) transit device, which received an SMS message having the push token from the client computing device and determined the phone number of the client computing device from that SMS message. The registration server associates the push token and the phone number and stores it in a registration data store, which is used for inviting users for online communication sessions.
US08948795B2

A flexible, extensible, and dynamically configurable anti-spam facility that operates on a general quanta of data (such as for example a Short Message Service message, a Multimedia Message Service message, an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem message, a Wireless Application Protocol stream, an Electronic Mail message, an Instant Messaging exchange, streaming (audio, video, etc.) data, etc.), innovatively analyzes various attributes of same (such as for example originating address and destination address), and—when an instance of spam is identified—performs one or more remediation activities (such as for example updating a blacklist, updating a greylist, dropping a message, issuing an alert, etc.). The facility may optionally leverage the capabilities of a centrally-located Messaging Inter-Carrier Vendor.
US08948776B2

Cooperative spectral channel sensing techniques are applied in a cognitive radio network (CRN). Network characteristics and target parameter thresholds can be determined. An overall number of secondary users (SUs) assigned to sense a number of primary user (PU) channels can be determined. Further, it can be determined how many SUs to assign to sense each PU channel. In one aspect, SUs are allowed to access to PU channels based on spectrum opportunities determined by the cooperative spectral channel sensing techniques.
US08948761B2

Each entry in a prioritized measurement list defines a unique combination of frequency layer and radio access technology (RAT) for cells. Based on signal strength and/or signal quality of the serving cell, a set of entries for measuring is selected from a neighbor list according to the prioritized measurement list and according to a selection rule. The selection rule provides: for the case the at least signal strength or quality of the serving cell is higher than a respective strength/quality threshold, the selected set is a first set; and for the case the at least signal strength or quality of the serving cell is lower than a respective strength/quality threshold, the selected set is a different second set of the prioritized measurement list that excludes all frequency layers of the prioritized measurement list belonging to the RAT having a highest (or alternatively a lowest) priority.
US08948753B2

The present invention provides a method that includes generating, in response to a non-access stratum (NAS) message transmitted between a mobility management entity and a visiting location register, a response message including information indicating a message type, an identifier of a mobile unit associated with the NAS message, and a cause associated with generating the response message. The method also includes transmitting the response message.
US08948751B2

Improved systems and techniques for controlling access to network resources. A base station broadcasts extended access barring (EAB) and access class barring (ACB) information. Upon a determination by a user equipment that the user equipment requires service from the base station, the user equipment determines its EAB category and call type. The user equipment receives the EAB and ACB information broadcast by the base station and determines if it is subject to EAB based on its EAB category. If the user equipment is not subject to EAB, the user equipment determines if its call type is subject to ACB and, if the call type is subject to ACB, applies access class barring based on its call type.
US08948747B2

A system is provided for overlapping cells for wireless coverage in a cellular communication system. The system includes a beam-weight generator and beamformer coupled to the beam-weight generator. The beam-weight generator is configured to generate a plurality of beam weights including at least first and second sets of beam weights. And the beamformer is configured to apply the first and second sets of beam weights to signals in a cellular communication system. The cellular communication system provides coverage over a geographic region divided into cells arranged in overlapping first and second layers of cells having criteria optimized for communication by respective, distinct first and second types of user terminals. In this regard, the criteria are reflected in the first and second sets of beam weights.
US08948738B2

A method and system for generating alerts based on predicted wireless connection losses. A message is received that includes a first position of a mobile device, an indication of a service being provided to the mobile device via a wireless connection provided by a first bearer, and an mobile device identifier. A direction and speed of the mobile device is received. An amount of time elapsing before the mobile device moves to a second position at which the mobile device experiences a loss of the wireless connection via the first bearer is predicted. An alert that indicates that the loss is occurring in the amount of time is generated. The alert is sent to the mobile device as a response to the message.
US08948732B1

Various systems, methods, and computer program products for responding to service requests and facilitating communication between relevant parties are provided. The system may receive a request from a user, obtain a user location, identify a service provider such as an emergency response center based on the location, facilitate coordination of response efforts, and provide a page that is shared between various parties such as the user, contacts of the user, an operator, and a responder. The various parties may provide to the system inputs such as video to capture what is currently happening. The page may be updated with the inputs, include a status of the service request such as whether responders have been dispatched, and include a current location of the responders and other users. Using the page, various parties may obtain real-time situational awareness of an event that culminated in the service request and communicate with other users.
US08948731B2

Systems, methodologies, and devices are described that facilitate filtering content sent to a mobile device(s) by a content provider via a core network. A content provider can determine a content rating for content, and/or the core network and/or mobile device can determine or infer a content rating for unrated content from a content provider, based in part on predefined content rating criteria. A mobile device user can specify a desired content rating preference for the mobile device. A filter(s) respectively associated with the core network and/or mobile device can filter the content based in part on the content rating of the content and the content rating preference of the mobile device to which the content is being sent. Content that does not meet a content rating threshold can be filtered out and stored in a secure content folder accessible using a security code or discarded.
US08948729B2

A method for configuring a device includes receiving a first configuration profile comprising a first configuration and a first certificate and a second certificate, verifying the first configuration profile with the first certificate, receiving a user input indicating to accept the first configuration profile, configuring the device according to the first configuration, receiving a second configuration profile comprising a second configuration, verifying the second configuration profile with the second certificate and updating the device according to the second configuration, wherein the user is unaware of the updating.
US08948723B2

A system for broadcasting wireless data service in a mobile communication system includes sending a request call for a wireless data service from a mobile terminal to a mobile switching center, identifying whether the terminal is registered in the mobile switching center, transmitting authentication code information indicating that the terminal is registered in the base transceiver station, and releasing the corresponding call in the terminal receiving the authentication code information and receiving the wireless service data. The authentication code information may include a Walsh code and a long code necessary for allowing the terminal to reconstitute the data. Through this case information, the system can broadcast wireless service data throughout an entire region and be assured that only mobile terminals storing compatible code information will be able to access the data.
US08948721B2

Systems and methods for providing alerts to end users of networked enabled portable devices are provided so that the end users are made aware when broadcast emergency alerts are issued. In various embodiments, a portable device is enabled to receive information about an emergency alert broadcast of which the user should be aware, e.g., from the EAS, and to notify the user of the emergency alert. The user can be automatically taken to the emergency alert information by having the portable device automatically tune to the emergency broadcast information, the user can optionally retrieve the emergency information by tuning to the emergency broadcast channel, and/or the user can otherwise be presented with a reference to the emergency data, such as a link to the information.
US08948718B2

Systems and methods are described using a Hermetic Transform, as well as related transforms, for applications such as directional reception and/or transmit of signals using phased-array devices and systems. The systems and methods an include identifying a direction of arrival for a mobile communicating device.
US08948716B2

Various embodiments implement apparatuses and methods for conversion of radio frequency (RF) signals to intermediate frequency (IF) signals. More particularly, some embodiments are directed toward down conversion of RF signals to IF signals in a multi-band radio receiver, such as a satellite receiver, using a single oscillator for different frequency bands. For example, some of the apparatuses and methods presented are suitable for integration into monolithic RF integrated circuits in low-cost satellite receivers for home entertainment use.
US08948708B2

Radio-frequency (RF) apparatus includes receiver analog circuitry that receives an RF signal and provides at least one digital signal to receiver digital circuitry that functions in cooperation with the receiver analog circuitry. The receiver analog circuitry and the receiver digital circuitry are partitioned so that interference effects between the receiver analog circuitry and the receiver digital circuitry tend to be reduced.
US08948700B2

Aspects of a method and system for compensating for distortion in a transmitter by utilizing a digital predistortion scheme with a feedback mixer configuration are presented. Aspects of the system may include an RF transmitter that enables generation of an RF output signal in response to one or more generated input signals. One or more feedback signals may be generated by performing frequency downconversion on the RF output signal within a corresponding one or more feedback mixer circuits. The generated one or more feedback signals may be inserted at a corresponding one or more insertion points in an RF receiver. Each insertion point may be between a receiver mixer circuit and corresponding circuits that generate a baseband signal based on the corresponding one of the feedback signals.
US08948694B2

A shielding article is provided, for shielding a device enabled for proximity-based communications, for example, NFC-enabled devices. The shielding article comprises a shielding component configured to prevent operation of an antenna of the device used for conducting proximity-based communications, without preventing operation of at least one other antenna of the device when the shielding component is aligned with the antenna used for conducting proximity-based communications. The shielding article may be separate from, or included in an accessory or carrying article and may be fixed or detachably coupled thereto.
US08948686B2

Disclosed is a method for selecting a source transmit antenna in a cooperative multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communication system including a source node, a relay node and a destination node. The method includes determining a source transmit antenna selection metric such that a source-destination channel, a source-relay channel and a relay-destination channel are related to one another, and selecting a positive integer number of antennas such that the source transmit antenna selection metric is maximized.
US08948674B2

Provided is a fixing device including a transparent belt, a press roller that is rotated with being opposed to and contacting with the transparent belt, and transports a recording medium interposed therebetween, a press member-cum-optical system that contacts with the transparent belt from an opposite side to the press roller, forms a press region for pressing a toner image formed on the recording medium in cooperation with the press roller during transport of the recording medium, and collects laser light on the toner image in the press region in a transport direction of the recording medium, and a laser light irradiation unit that irradiates the press member-cum-optical system with laser light.
US08948667B2

An image forming apparatus and an auto color registration method of the same which prints a color image by single pass, the image forming apparatus including: a plurality of developing units which each develops a color image in a predetermined color; a transfer unit which transfers the color image developed by developing units to the print medium and include a transfer belt rotatably installed on a transfer path; a first detector provided in a predetermined location of the transfer belt to face the transfer belt and detects any defect from a surface of the transfer belt; a second detector provided in a predetermined location of the transfer belt to face the transfer belt and detects a test pattern of an auto color registration (ACR) error transferred to the transfer belt; and a controller which adjusts the ACR error based on data detected by the first detector and the second detector.
US08948658B2

A developing device comprises a first and a second developer conveyance path. A first conveyance member is provided in the first developer conveyance path in a freely rotatable manner and has a helical blade. A developing roller supplies the developer in the first developer conveyance path to a photoconductor drum. A developer collection path guides two-component developer left on a surface of the developing roller from the first developer conveyance path. A developer surface adjustment window comprises a predetermined level for allowing excess developer exceeding the level of the window to be guided from the first developer conveyance path to the developer collection path.
US08948651B2

An image forming apparatus having an improved structure of simply executing contact or separation between developing rollers and photoconductors is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a cover opening and closing a side of a main body, a photoconductor unit including a photoconductor, a laser scanning unit irradiating the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image and including a light source generating light and an optical window transmitting the light generated from the light source, a developing unit supplying a developer to the photoconductor and including a developing roller contacting or separated from the photoconductor, and a shutter unit operable in connection with the cover, opening the optical window when the cover closes the side of the main body, and closing the optical window when the cover opens the side of the main body.
US08948644B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member to bear a toner image on a surface thereof, a transfer unit including a transfer device to transfer the toner image onto a recording medium, disposed opposite the image bearing member, a direct current (DC) power source to apply, between the image bearing member and the transfer device, a DC bias to form a first transfer electric field to transfer the toner image onto the recording medium, and a power supply module detachably attachable relative to the image forming apparatus. The power supply module includes an AC-DC superimposed bias power source to apply, between the image bearing member and the transfer device, a superimposed bias in which an alternating voltage is superimposed on a DC voltage to form a second transfer electric field to transfer the toner image onto the recording medium.
US08948642B2

A high-voltage power-supply apparatus comprises a controller configured to output a control signal containing a pulse with a variable drive frequency; a switching unit configured to be switched by the control signal and output a drive signal; a piezoelectric transducer having a predetermined resonant frequency, and configured to be driven by the drive signal and output a high-voltage output voltage; a current detector configured to detect an electric current of a load connected to an output side of the piezoelectric transducer and output a current-detection result; and a lower-limit-value setup unit configured to set a frequency lower limit value for the drive frequency of the controller. The controller is configured to vary the frequency lower limit value in accordance with the current-detection result.
US08948639B2

A fixing device includes a pressurization member connected to a pressing rotary body to press the pressing rotary body against a fixing rotary body; a depressurization assembly interposed between the pressing rotary body and the pressurization member and movable between a reduced pressure position where the depressurization assembly causes the pressurization member to press the pressing rotary body against the fixing rotary body with reduced pressure therebetween and an enhanced pressure position where the depressurization assembly is free from pressure from the pressurization member to cause the pressurization member to press the pressing rotary body against the fixing rotary body with enhanced pressure therebetween; a positioner separatably contacting the depressurization assembly to immovably halt the depressurization assembly at the enhanced pressure position; and a position detector separatably contacting the depressurization assembly to detect the position of the depressurization assembly.
US08948638B2

An image forming apparatus includes a latent image carrier; a latent image writer to write a latent image on the latent image carrier; a developing unit including a toner carrier having first and second electrodes insulated via an insulator member and a voltage applying unit to apply voltages to the first and second electrodes having a potential difference to generate first electric fields to cause the toner to hop from the toner carrier to the latent image carrier to develop a toner image; and a transfer unit to transfer the developed toner image to a transferring member. When alternating voltages having a same phase and same amplitude are applied to the first and second electrodes to form second electric fields between the latent image carrier and the toner carrier, the toner is discharged from the toner carrier to the latent image carrier in a toner discharge mode.
US08948626B2

Provided is a cleaning device including a brush roll that removes residual toner remaining on a surface of a toner image carrier provided in an electrophotographic apparatus, and a pressure detector that contacts the surface of the brush roll with preload, and outputs a detected pressure value to a determination unit that is provided in the electrophotographic apparatus to determine the adhesion state of toner to the brush roll.
US08948623B2

A developing device includes a developer holding member that holds a developer on a surface thereof to transport the developer to a developing region in which a latent image is developed as a visible image, an accommodating section that accommodates the developer supplied to the developer holding member, a supply section that is connected to the accommodating section and disposed above the developer holding member in the direction of gravity to supply the developer to the developer holding member from above, and a first transport member that is disposed in the supply section to transport the developer, and transports a predetermined or greater amount of a developer in the developer accommodated in the supply section to the outside of a region corresponding to the developer holding member.
US08948622B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section including a developing section, a toner container mountable to and removable from the image forming apparatus, an intermediate hopper for replenishing toner supplied from the toner container to the developing section, a toner remaining amount detection sensor for detecting a remaining amount of the toner in the intermediate hopper, a cover to be opened and closed when the toner container is mounted and removed, an opening/closing detection sensor for detecting an operation of opening and closing the openable and closable cover, and a main control section. During a print job, the main control section continues image formation when the cover is opened and an amount of the toner is less than a predetermined amount. Further, the main control section halts the image formation when the cover is opened and the amount of the toner is the predetermined amount or more.
US08948621B2

A management apparatus communicates, via a communication network, with image forming apparatuses, and includes an information reception device that receives, from each of the image forming apparatuses via the network, prediction-use information useful for predicting a latent image carrier surface contamination level due to discharge products generated during charging, a contamination level prediction device that, on the basis of the received prediction-use information, predicts the latent image carrier surface contamination level of the image forming apparatus corresponding to the prediction-use information, and an instruction transmission device that, if the predicted latent image carrier surface contamination level exceeds a predetermined allowable range, transmits an execution instruction to execute a contamination reduction operation of reducing the contamination of the surface of the latent image carrier due to the discharge products to the image forming apparatus corresponding to the latent image carrier surface contamination level via the network.
US08948619B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier configured to carry an electrostatic latent image, a toner carrier configured to carry a toner and develop the electrostatic latent image, a switching member configured to perform a switching operation between a contact state where the toner carrier contacts the image carrier and a separation state where the toner carrier is separated from the image carrier, a first electrode member, a second electrode member arranged such that the electrostatic capacity between the first and second electrode members in the contact state is different from the electrostatic capacity therebetween in the separation state, a detection device configured to detect the electrostatic capacity between the first and second electrode members.
US08948614B1

This disclosure describes techniques to utilize pluggable photonics module in high data rates optical communications systems such as some coherent optical communications system. The pluggable photonics module plugs into a host board. The host board includes a processor that compensates for distortion caused by data streams traveling across the pluggable interfaces that the pluggable photonics module and host board use to couple to one another.
US08948610B2

Methods for receiving a signal and a detection circuit are disclosed. The detection circuit and related methods may be useful for the fast and accurate receiving of data signals. The detection circuit generally comprises a first circuit having a first time constant, a second circuit having (i) a common input with the first circuit and (ii) a second time constant, the second time constant being less than the first time constant, and a switch configured to (i) charge the first circuit with an input signal when the switch is in a first state, and (ii) charge or discharge the second circuit with the input signal when the switch is in a second state, the switch having the second state when the input signal is no longer received at the common input.
US08948609B2

According to a first aspect, techniques are provided to optimize a Mach-Zehnder modulator drive waveform by distorting the outer modulation levels of the waveform, thereby equalizing eye openings of the received optical field, and in particular creating a wider and more defined central eye opening of the received optical field. According to a second aspect, techniques are provided to adjust in-phase (I) modulation levels based on the imperfect performance of a Mach-Zehnder modulator allocated to modulate quadrature-phase (Q) modulation levels, and conversely to adjust the Q modulation levels based on the imperfect performance of an MZ modulator allocated to modulate I modulation levels.
US08948604B1

The present disclosure generally pertains to optical communication apparatuses having field-tunable power characteristics. In one exemplary embodiment, an optical communication apparatus has an optical transmitter. The optical transmitter is coupled to logic that receives a user input indicative of a desired transmit mode for the transmitter, and the logic then dynamically tunes the transmitter's output power according to the selected transmit mode. In addition, the optical communication apparatus may have an optical receiver for receiving optical signals. The sensitivity of the receiver is controlled by a bias voltage that is applied to the receiver by the logic. The logic is configured to receive a user input indicative of a desired receive mode and then to tune the receiver's sensitivity via the bias voltage according to the selected receive mode. Accordingly, both the transmitter and receiver of an optical communication apparatus can be tuned in the field to operate in a desired range, and a field technician can therefore utilize the same optical communication apparatus in any of a variety of applications.
US08948601B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and method for indoor wireless optical communication. The system may include a central unit and a plurality of user units. A bi-directional optical communication link may be established over a collimated invisible light beam to enable transmission of wireless communications between a remote communication device and a user unit. The central and user units include an optical transmitter. At least one of the user unit and the central unit comprises a visible light source configured to produce a collimated visible light beam to enable alignment of the user unit and the central unit upon establishment of the bi-directional optical communication link.
US08948599B2

A network architecture for integrating a 4G wireless mesh network (WMN) with a 3-G network in order to effectively support multimedia communication is described. In one embodiment of the present invention, a wireless mesh network system comprises a plurality of routers each having a wireless optical interface; at least one base station having Internet backhaul and connecting to a wireless optical device; a computer media storing instructions for assigning at least one of the plurality of routers to act as an Internet gateway via said base station; wherein said assigned router and said base station communicating via a link between wireless optical interface of said assigned router and the wireless optical device connected to said base station, and said link is line-of-sight.
US08948595B2

An optical line terminal includes the transmission rate control table for storing a minimum bandwidth for an emergency status for each of optical network units in addition to a maximum assigned bandwidth in a normal status. When a decrease in a supply power is detected, the optical line terminal calculates a transmission clock rate providing a minimum bandwidth required by each optical network unit with reference to the transmission rate control table. The optical line terminal determines change timing of downstream and upstream transmission clock rates, and change timing of upstream data for time-division multiplexing to instruct each of the optical network units. Both the optical line terminal and the optical network unit change the transmission clock rates with substantial synchronization therebetween.
US08948580B2

An apparatus includes an inner rim, a base wall, a side wall and an outer rim. The inner rim has a first opening formed therein. The base wall extends outward from an inner edge of the inner rim and is integral with the inner rim. The side wall extends outward from an outer edge of the inner rim and is integral with the inner rim. The outer rim has a second opening formed therein and an inner edge integral with the side wall. The inner rim, base wall, side wall and outer rim are formed to prevent liquid seepage to one or more surrounding components of an appliance in which the apparatus is installed.
US08948576B2

An air handler system comprising a cabinet housing a blower unit and a heat exchange unit. The blower unit and the heat exchange unit are located in a substantially same lateral dimension in the cabinet. The blower unit and the heat exchange unit are separated by a distance that provides for a substantially uniform flow of air through a vertically-orientated plane of the heat exchange unit when the blower unit is in operation.
US08948575B2

A time code signal is transmitted. An audio input is provided. An audio signal is received through the audio input. A first time code signal is generated. A value of the first time code signal is displayed on a display. A data stream including the audio signal with the first time code signal superimposed on the audio signal is generated. The data stream is transmitted to a first external device. An interruptible feedback signal is transmitted to the first external device or a second external device. A talkback signal is transmitted between a second external device and a third external device. A second time code signal is received from a second external device and the first time code signal is synchronized with the second time code signal. An interface is provided for noting the value of the first time code signal.
US08948574B2

A multimedia recording apparatus includes a receiving unit, a normal recording unit, a pre-recording unit and a combining unit. The receiving unit receives ongoing multimedia information. The normal recording unit generates first multimedia data under a normal recording mode. The pre-recording unit automatically records the ongoing multimedia information to generate a second multimedia data when the normal recording mode is not active. The combining unit adds content of the second multimedia data to the first multimedia data.
US08948573B2

When identification information of an appending start frame coincides with identification information of the final frame of moving image data of an existing moving image file, an image processing apparatus changes the appending start frame to another frame.
US08948558B2

Durable optical fiber ribbons are formed by promoting a strong bond between fiber ink layers and ribbon matrix material. During curing of the ink layer desired oxygen levels are maintained in the curing environment of the manufacturing process.
US08948557B2

A fiber optic cable has a cable core that includes at least one optical fiber coupled to a fiber optic connector. A cable adapter sleeve is axially mounted on the cable core to surround the cable core, the cable adapter sleeve including a body portion that has a first outer diameter, a collar that has a second outer diameter that is greater than the first outer diameter, and a stop that has a third outer diameter that is greater than the first outer diameter.
US08948554B2

A slot-line waveguide optical switch system and method are disclosed. An optical switch system can include a slot-line waveguide optical switch that includes a plurality of wall portions that are each formed from a high refractive-index material and that are arranged to form a channel portion comprising an electro-optic material interposed to extend between the plurality of wall portions. The channel portion can include an input channel to receive an input optical signal and plural output channels to receive the input optical signal from the input channel. A channel switching system can provide a voltage to an electrode coupled to a corresponding wall portion to change a relative refractive index in the output channels via the electro-optic material and thereby switch the input optical signal to one of the output channels.
US08948551B2

A core intersection in an optical waveguide formed of a plurality of cores and a clad that surrounds the cores is disclosed, the structure characterized in that the same material as that of the cores is added to two planes, upper and lower planes, of each of core intersection spaces where the plurality of cores intersect (instead of using a clad material). The structure of a core intersection in an optical waveguide formed of a plurality of cores and a clad is disclosed, the structure characterized in that four planes that divide (isolate) each of core intersection spaces where the plurality of cores intersect, that is, four discontinuity spaces between the core intersection space and the cores connected thereto, are filled with the same material as that of the clad (instead of using a core material so that the core intersection space is seamlessly connected to surrounding core intersection spaces).
US08948550B2

A sensing optical fiber comprising: a few-moded multi-segment core, said core comprising one core segment surrounded by another core segment, and at least one cladding surrounding said core; said core having an F factor (μm2) of 100 μm2 to 350 μm2, and is constructed to provide (i) an overlap integral between the fundamental optical guided mode and the fundamental acoustic guided mode of greater than 0.7 and (ii) the overlap integral between the LP11 optical guided mode and the fundamental acoustic guided mode at least 0.45.
US08948549B2

A polarization rotator assembly for rotating a polarization mode of an electromagnetic signal is provided. The polarization rotator assembly has a waveguiding structure of co-extensive first and second layers defining, successively, an input portion, a subwavelength composite portion and a polarization rotating portion. The subwavelength composite portion is formed by the first and second layers, where the second layer defines a subwavelength pattern. The polarization rotator portion is geometrically configured to rotate the polarization mode of the electromagnetic signal.
US08948547B2

The inventive chiral polarization preserving optical fiber utilizes a structure composed of specially positioned and configured single mode (SM) and conventional polarization maintaining (PM) fiber elements along with at least two novel circular chiral fiber polarizers (each operable to convert linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light), to preserve any arbitrary polarization state of light signals transmitted therethrough without the limitations and drawbacks of other polarization maintaining solutions. In another inventive embodiment thereof, the inventive chiral polarization preserving optical fiber is configured as an arbitrary polarization state maintaining light signal splitter.
US08948539B2

System and method for image improvement comprising providing a series of frames; summing pixel values to obtain frame intensity; computing average frame intensity; determining frame intensity deviation for each frame by subtracting average frame intensity from frame intensity; determining an array of average pixel values (AAPV) and subtracting AAPV from the pixel value arrays to determine positive or negative pixel deviation values; grouping frames in first or second groups depending positive or negative frame intensity deviation; selecting all pixel values having a positive or negative deviation value and creating subgroups of positive or negative pixel deviation value frames, multiplying the pixel deviation value frames in each subgroup by frame intensity deviation to create first product arrays, which are summed together and divided by total number of frames to obtain second product arrays for each subgroup; selecting one or more of second product arrays to generate an image.
US08948525B2

A transferring system for huge and high quality images on network and a method thereof are disclosed, wherein various individual image data are converted into high quality image data to be converted into layered image data, and classified into a plurality of sub cells, then stored in database as a compressed form. A client system connected to a server requires information, immediately downloads the required information, releases the compression, and then displays on a screen real time. In the present invention, a user can fast see only his wanted part since images of a newspaper and a magazine are converted as they were. Also, various additional information is provided with image, thereby providing multimedia digital publication services on wire or wireless network.
US08948523B2

The data processing method reversibly processing data information input to a data processing device by a processing unit including a data volume reducing unit reducing a data volume of the data information, and a developing unit reconstructing data information reduced in the data volume reducing unit. The processing unit is structured by overlaying processing layers formed of a plurality of cells. The data volume reducing unit performs unit processing on each of the plurality of cells having the data information. The unit processing performs identification processing by a weight according to equivalence and distance of data from a cell group adjacent to the cells, and reduces the cells by each of the processing layers in an order from a lower layer to an upper layer of the processing layers until a data position existing on a time axis of the cells stops to thereby reduces the data volume.
US08948519B2

A linear mark detection system includes a filter value calculation unit, a filter value threshold processing unit, and a feature value output unit. The filter value calculation unit calculates, for each pixel of an image, filter values corresponding to each of a plurality of linear mark widths using pixel values inside and outside the linear mark. The filter value threshold processing unit selects the most suitable value from filter values corresponding to each of the plurality of linear mark widths as a feature value. The feature value output unit outputs, for each pixel of the image, the feature value computed by the filter value threshold processing function as the feature value corresponding to the linear mark.
US08948511B2

An automated document processing system is configured to normalize zones obtained from a document, and to extract articles from the normalized zones. In one configuration, the system receives at least one zone from the document, and applies at least one zone-breaking factor, thereby creating normalized sub-zones within which text lines are consistent with the at least one zone-breaking factor. The normalized sub-zones may be evaluated to obtain a reading order. Adjacent sub-zones are joined if text similarity exceeds a threshold value. Weakly joined sub-zones are separated where indicated by a topic vectors analysis of the weakly joined sub-zones.
US08948509B2

In various example embodiments, a system and method are provided for blending a group of layers with multiple blend modes such that additional style layers are applied to the layer group's combined shape, and clipped as if the style layers were applied to a single layer with the combined transparency of the group's layers. In example embodiments, for each of a plurality of layers: a group background is blended behind a group buffer, one of the plurality of layers is blended on top of the group buffer while ignoring a transparency of the group buffer, and the background is factored out from the group buffer. When the blending is complete, a style or effect is applied to the blended layers, and the background is blended behind the group result such that the group result transparency such that the style is clipped to the group result.
US08948489B2

A paper-sheet recognition apparatus includes a paper-sheet information acquisition unit that acquires paper-sheet information including an image data of the paper sheet; a candidate narrowing-down unit that narrows down a number of type candidates of the paper sheet to a small number of types based on the image data included in the paper-sheet information; a type determining unit that determines one type from the type candidates narrowed down by the candidate narrowing-down unit based on the image data included in the paper-sheet information; authenticity recognition unit that recognizes authenticity of the paper sheet as to each type candidate narrowed down by the candidate narrowing-down unit; an execution instructing unit that issues an instruction such that the type determining unit and the authenticity recognition unit are operated concurrently; and a final judgment unit that performs a final judgment on the paper sheet by combining the type determined by the type determining unit and authenticity recognition result corresponding to the type from among authenticity recognition results of the candidate types recognized by the authenticity recognition unit.
US08948487B2

A method for non-rigid registration of digital 3D coronary artery models with 2D fluoroscopic images during a cardiac intervention includes providing a digitized 3D centerline representation of a coronary artery tree that comprises a set of S segments composed of QS 3D control points, globally aligning the 3D centerline to at least two 2D fluoroscopic images, and non-rigidly registering the 3D centerline to the at least two 2D fluoroscopic images by minimizing an energy functional that includes a summation of square differences between reconstructed centerline points and registered centerline points, a summation of squared 3D registration vectors, a summation of squared derivative 3D registration vectors, and a myocardial branch energy. The non-rigid registration of the 3D centerline is represented as a set of 3D translation vectors rs,q that are applied to corresponding centerline points xs,q in a coordinate system of the 3D centerline.
US08948475B2

A method for computing a color-coded analysis image of an examination area of an examination object from a temporal sequence of fluoroscopic images of the examination area comprising a vascular system containing arteries and/or veins is provided. An acquisition time instant has been assigned to each of the fluoroscopic images representing a given distribution of a material embolizing some of the vascular system. The fluoroscopic image spatially corresponds to an analysis image pixel by pixel. A computer receives the fluoroscopic images with a color attribute assigned to each pixel of the analysis image at an image point and a time instant. If a pixel differs from a pixel at a preceding time instant, the color attribute assumes a color attribute of the time instant and the difference. If a pixel corresponds to a background color of the analysis image, the color attribute assumes a background color.
US08948472B2

A device and method for capturing images of a specific part of an anatomical structure using a series of images, wherein an image is taken of the anatomical structure and is compared to a database of information is order to determine and optimize the imaging conditions used for taken subsequent images of the specific part.
US08948468B2

A method of modifying the viewing parameters of digital images using face detection for achieving a desired spatial parameters based on one or more sub-groups of pixels that correspond to one or more facial features of the face. Such methods may be used for animating still images, automating and streamlining application such as the creation of slide shows and screen savers of images containing faces.
US08948457B2

Methods and apparatus for determining a trajectory of a axisymmetric object in 3-D physical space using a digital camera which records 2-D image data are described. In particular, based upon i) a characteristic length of the axisymmetric object, ii) a physical position of the camera determined from sensors associated with the camera (e.g., accelerometers) and iii) captured 2-D digital images from the camera including a time at which each image is generated relative to one another, a position, a velocity vector and an acceleration vector can be determined in three dimensional physical space for axisymmetric object objects as a function of time. In one embodiment, the method and apparatus can be applied to determine the trajectories of objects in games which utilize axisymmetric object objects, such as basketball, baseball, bowling, golf, soccer, rugby or football.
US08948453B2

A method for detecting objects is provided. The method comprises the steps outlined below. An image having pixels is acquired. Image blocks each corresponding to one of the pixels are generated. A specific image block is filtered using N filtering parameters that gradually enhance the blurriness of the specific image block to generate N filtering results. N RMSE values are computed, in which the M-th RMSE value is computed according to the M-th and the (M−1)-th filtering results. A slope of an approximate line is computed according to the RMSE values as the blurriness value of the specific image block. The above steps are repeated to generate the blurriness values of all the pixels. The blurriness value is compared to a threshold value to detect sharp pixels which are parts of a sharp object and further detect an in-focus object.
US08948450B2

A method and system for automatic object detection and subsequent object tracking in accordance with the object shape in digital video systems having at least one camera for recording and transmitting video sequences. In accordance with the method and system, an object detection algorithm based on a Gaussian mixture model and expanded object tracking based on Mean-Shift are combined with each other in object detection. The object detection is expanded in accordance with a model of the background by improved removal of shadows, the binary mask generated in this way is used to create an asymmetric filter core, and then the actual algorithm for the shape-adaptive object tracking, expanded by a segmentation step for adapting the shape, is initialized, and therefore a determination at least of the object shape or object contour or the orientation of the object in space is made possible.
US08948449B2

A method provides for determining visible regions in a captured image during a nighttime lighting condition. An image is captured from an image capture device mounted to a vehicle. An intensity histogram of the captured image is generated. An intensity threshold is applied to the intensity histogram for identifying visible candidate regions of a path of travel. The intensity threshold is determined from a training technique that utilizes a plurality of training-based captured images of various scenes. An objective function is used to determine objective function values for each correlating intensity value of each training-based captured image. The objective function values and associated intensity values for each of the training-based captured images are processed for identifying a minimum objective function value and associated optimum intensity threshold for identifying the visible candidate regions of the captured image.
US08948444B2

A method for determining the tumbling motion of a vehicle wheel and/or a measurement object attached to the vehicle wheel in the context of an axle measurement. The tumbling motion is executed relative to the precise wheel axis of rotation of the vehicle wheel and at least one orientation value is determined between the precise wheel axis of rotation and a reference axis. Using at least one image recording unit, at least two wheel features that are present on the vehicle wheel or are attached for the measurement are acquired as the vehicle travels past and are evaluated by an evaluation device situated downstream. Using the wheel features recorded as the vehicle travels past, a wheel coordinate system and a feature coordinate system are determined. The wheel coordinate system and the feature coordinate system are set into relation to one another in order to determine the orientation value.
US08948443B2

A method comprises providing a change to apply to video; dividing video into blocks; creating propagation map which captures only specific changes to blocks that would be changed by the application of the change; evaluating the change based on a luminance criterion as being a perceptible change or an imperceptible change; for propagation maps of an imperceptible change, storing the propagation map to a list, wherein the propagation map is the principle data structure to be applied to the video. The propagation map can be created by using motion vector changes associated with the change.
US08948441B2

A planar speaker system may include a bottom frame having a cavity. Within this cavity a plurality of magnets may be arranged to form a substantially circular pattern. A diaphragm that includes a plurality of electrically conductive traces may be connected to the bottom frame and extend across the cavity of the bottom frame. When alternating current flows through the electrically conductive traces, the diaphragm may vibrate in response to the interaction between the current flowing in the electrically conductive traces and the magnetic field, thereby producing sound. The planar speaker system may include a top frame having a cavity, and a second set of magnets may be disposed in the cavity of the top frame.
US08948437B2

An audio speaker assembly for providing a 360° all around audio output. A speaker rod includes an upper audio output portion and a lower extending insertion tube portion. A holder includes a longitudinally extending inner passageway for receiving the rod in inserting fashion, with an electrical output signal representative of a succeeding audio output being communicated to the holder and rod.
US08948432B2

A microphone unit includes a case; a diaphragm arranged inside the case; and an electric circuit unit that processes an electric signal generated in accordance with vibration of the diaphragm. The case has a first sound introducing space that introduces a sound from outside of the case to a first surface of the diaphragm via a first sound hole; and a second sound introducing space that introduces a sound from outside of the case to a second diaphragm, via a second sound hole. A resonance frequency of the diaphragm is set in the range of ±4 kHz based on the resonance frequency of at least one of the first sound introducing space and the second sound introducing space.
US08948425B2

An improved multi-function hearing aid having in-situ testing, fitting and verification functions is disclosed which solves problems long standing in the art of hearing aid fitting dealing with individual size differences in the size of the pina and ear canal of the user, individual preference to sound level and frequency variation, and verification procedures.
US08948423B2

Disclosed herein is a micro speaker capable of having a high-pitched sound speaker unit and a low-pitched sound speaker unit and allowing the respective speaker units to clearly reproduce an inherent sound without interference. The micro speaker for converting an electrical signal into an acoustic signal includes: a high-pitched sound speaker unit disposed in an outer case; and a low-pitched sound speaker unit disposed in the outer case together with the high-pitched sound speaker unit, wherein the high-pitched sound speaker unit and the low-pitched sound speaker unit are disposed in the outer case so that a high-pitched sound vibrating plate of the high-pitched sound speaker unit and a low-pitched sound vibrating plate of the low-pitched sound speaker unit have directions opposite to each other.
US08948410B2

A noise canceling system comprises a microphone generating a captured signal and a sound transducer radiating a sound canceling audio signal in the audio environment. A feedback path from the microphone to the sound transducer includes a non-adaptive canceling filter and a variable gain and receives the captured signal and generates a drive signal for the sound transducer. A gain detector determines a secondary path gain for at least part of a secondary path of a feedback loop. The secondary path may include the microphone, the sound transducer, and the acoustic path therebetween but does not include the non-adaptive canceling filter or the variable gain. A gain controller adjusts the in of the variable gain in response to the secondary path gain. The system use simple gain estimation and control to efficiently compensate for variations in the secondary path to provide improved stability and noise canceling performance.
US08948404B2

Provided is an apparatus and method of encoding and decoding multiple channel signals based upon phase information and one or more residual signals.
US08948387B2

A communication system has a first and a second communicating device operable to send and receive data units through a communication channel. Some of the data are encrypted using a security key. The first device comprises a first key generator generating a first embodiment of the key independently of a second embodiment of the key generated by a second generator of the second device, the second embodiment being generated independently of the first, which depends on parameter(s) characterizing a first transmission quality of the channel when receiving a first set of unencrypted data sent by the second device. The second embodiment depends on parameter(s) characterizing a second transmission quality of the channel when receiving a second set of unencrypted data sent by the first device, the first set being different from the second set.
US08948377B2

The object is to enable cipher communication even when a cipher key in a one-time pad cipher (Vernam cipher) is running short. A one-time pad encrypting part encrypts communication data by the one-time pad cipher by sequentially using part of a one-time pad cipher key stored in a one-time pad cipher key storage part, to generate encrypted data. A block-encrypting part encrypts communication data by a block cipher by using a block-cipher key stored in a block-cipher key storage part, to generate encrypted data. An encryption control part controls whether the communication data is to be encrypted by the one-time pad encrypting part, or by the block-encrypting part, depending on a remaining bit count of the one-time pad cipher key stored in the one-time pad cipher key storage part.
US08948358B1

According to one or more embodiments, a telecommunication system includes a call routing circuit configured to receive and route calls and data transmissions from a plurality of telecommunication devices. The telecommunication system also includes a processing circuit for monitoring business and personal use of telecommunication devices associated with a client account. The processing circuit is configured to maintain a log of calls and data transmissions routed by the call-routing circuit for a the plurality of telecommunication devices. The processing circuit is further configured to use a set of classification functions in a policy of the client account to determine whether each of the identified first set of calls and data transmissions are business related or personal based on characteristics of each of the first set of calls and data transmissions.
US08948355B2

A method is disclosed for determining a technician to dispatch to a customer site requiring a service call. A first plurality of technicians assigned to a customer site requiring a service call is determined. A location of each of the technicians is also determined. A first plurality of distances is determined between each of the technicians and a plurality of locations at which is disposed equipment needed for the service call. A second plurality of distances is determined between each of the technicians and a plurality of service vehicles at which is disposed the equipment needed for the service call. One of the technicians is dispatched to the customer site based on the location of each of the technicians, on the first plurality of distances, and on the second plurality of distances. A system for implementing the method is disclosed.
US08948352B2

The current application is directed to a multi-channel interactive message response system that allows for interaction between users and the multi-channel interactive message response system through many different types of devices, communications protocols, and communications media. The multi-channel interactive message response system, in one implementation, is implemented within an automated communications system that organizes and facilitates information exchange between members of organizations and between organizations and individuals outside the organizations.
US08948343B2

In an arrangement and method for active vibration compensation of an x-ray radiator, a counter-vibration generation unit is arranged within the x-ray radiator to reduce a vibration arising during operation of the x-ray radiator. The counter-vibration generating unit is engaged in an active connection with the x-ray radiator and generates a counter-vibration that is phase-shifted by 180 degrees relative to the operational vibration. Operational vibrations generated by the x-ray radiator can be directly reduced at the point of origin by the application of active counter-vibrations in the immediate proximity of the vibration generator. Additional vibration transmission to other system parts (for example a C-arm) is thereby reduced or prevented.
US08948339B2

One object of this invention is to provide a radiation tomography apparatus for acquiring a tomographic image from a plurality of fluoroscopic images. The radiation tomography apparatus can acquire the tomographic image having superior visibility without being influenced by a shadow of a collimator appearing in the fluoroscopic image when radiation is applied only to a portion of an FPD through control of the collimator. In this invention, a boundary between a shadow area where the shadow of the collimator appears in the fluoroscopic image and a non-shadow area is identified, and the shadow area in the fluoroscopic image is complemented by the non-shadow area, etc., whereby a complement image is generated. Then the complement image is used for generating the tomographic image. According to this invention, an extremely dark area where the shadow of the collimator appears is removed and thereafter the tomographic image is generated. As a result, the tomographic image has superior visibility with no blurring due to the shadow of the collimator.
US08948334B2

A system and method for predicting acoustic loads expected on a boiling water reactor (BWR) may include a BWR scale model, a test fixture for generating air flow in the scale model, and one or measurement devices for monitoring system behavior to predict how acoustic loads may affect plant operation for the BWR being evaluated.
US08948329B2

Apparatus and methods for use in a wireless communication system are disclosed for recovery of timing tracking in a device, such as a wireless transceiver, after decoding errors occur due to incorrect timing tracking. In particular, the disclosed methods and apparatus recover timing tracking by monitoring a decoded signal in the transceiver for decoding errors occurring during a first frame, determining whether a number of decoding errors is greater than a predetermined amount, reacquiring a first pilot channel at a start of a subsequently received second frame when the number of decoding errors is determined to be greater than the predetermined amount, and resetting timing tracking of the transceiver based on the reacquired first pilot channel.
US08948327B2

A system for selectively and discretely amplifying or attenuating antennas in a hybrid multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radio distribution network (RDN) receiving system is provided herein. The system includes a MIMO receiving system comprising a MIMO baseband module having N branches; an RDN connected to the MIMO receiving system, the RDN comprising at least one beamformer fed by two or more antennas, so that a total number of antennas in the system is M, wherein M is greater than N, wherein each one of the beamformers include a passive combiner configured to combine signals coming from the antennas coupled to a respective beamformer into a combined signal, wherein the at least one beamformer is further configured to selectively amplify or attenuate in discrete steps, one or more of the signals coming from the M antennas, based on qualitative metrics measured by the MIMO baseband module.
US08948318B2

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides an incremental lattice reduction method comprising: receiving an input signal at a plurality of input terminals; evaluating a reliability assessment condition using a primary symbol vector estimate of at least a portion of the input signal; terminating the incremental lattice reduction method if the reliability assessment condition is satisfied; and if the reliability assessment condition is not satisfied, performing at least one iteration of a lattice reduction detection sub-method to obtain a secondary symbol vector estimate.
US08948317B2

A receiver apparatus includes a channel estimator (b106) to perform channel estimation. The channel estimator includes an interim channel impulse estimating unit (b106-1) that calculates an interim channel impulse response estimation value, a path extracting unit (b106-3) that extracts a path for use in calculation of a channel impulse response estimation value from among paths forming the interim channel impulse response estimation values, a channel impulse response estimating unit (b106-4) that calculates the channel impulse response estimation value using the path extracted by the path extracting unit, and a frequency response estimating unit (b106-5) that converts the channel impulse response estimation value into a frequency response estimation value by time-frequency transforming the channel impulse response estimation value. In this way, a receiver apparatus capable of performing accurate channel estimation results.
US08948315B2

A OFDM digital communication receiver having channel estimate and correction means and inter carrier interference cancellation means based on the use of a temporal digital filter comprising a set of digital coefficients. The receiver includes n Look-Up Tables LUT(n), each corresponding to a given set of digital coefficients and an entry pointer.
US08948314B2

A method of performing timing error detection includes receiving, by a multi-core processor, a data stream and up-sampling the data stream by a plurality of processing cores of the multi-core processor. The up-sampling is performed in parallel by the plurality of processing cores. The method includes selecting one sample per symbol of the data stream to generate a sampled data output. The method also includes performing symbol timing recovery based on the sampled data output to adjust a resampling point.
US08948307B2

According to one embodiment, an ASK signal generator includes a differential oscillator, a first modulator, a second modulator, a first transmission line, a second transmission line and an impedance adjustment circuit. The differential oscillator generates first and second signals having an opposite phase, and outputs the first and second signals from first and second output terminals. The first modulator connected to the first output terminal is set in the normally off state. The second modulator connected to the second output terminal is turned on or off according to a digital signal. The first and second transmission lines connected to the first and second output terminals have a length equal to a ¼ wavelength of the oscillation frequency of the differential oscillator. The impedance adjustment circuit is operated together with the second modulator according to the digital signal.
US08948295B1

A first calculator generates first computational data by reordering elements in at least one of either a real data sequence or an imaginary data sequence constituting a data sequence having a number of elements determined according to a number of elements in a preamble model. A second calculator generates second computational data in which elements of data obtained by applying a fast Fourier transform to the first computational data are spaced apart by a designated number of elements. A preamble generator generates a preamble by multiplying each element of the second computational data by an element of the preamble model at a same position as the each element. A preamble determiner determines on the preamble as a preamble of the transmit signal in a case in which a peak-to-average power ratio of data obtained by applying an inverse fast Fourier transform to the preamble matches a predetermined criterion.
US08948294B2

Present document is related with communication of synchronization signals between base station and terminal. The base station acquires a primary synchronization signal generated using a Constant Amplitude Zero Auto-Correlation (CAZAC) sequence having a root index M and having a length L, and a secondary synchronization signal informing a cell group ID. And, the base station transmits the primary synchronization signal at a last symbol of a specific time domain unit to one or more terminals, and the secondary synchronization signal at a second-to-last symbol of the specific time domain unit to the one or more terminals. Here, the root index M is one among a root index set comprising m0 and m1 meeting “m0+m1=(½*L)*n” or “m0−m1=±(½*L)*n”, where ‘n’ is an integer greater than 0.
US08948290B2

The present invention relates to a method and arrangement for symbol mapping in wireless communication systems utilizing OFDM transmission technology in combination with advanced coding schemes. In the method according to the present invention, adapted for use in a wireless communication system utilizing OFDM transmission technology, an OFDM grid is defined by at least a first dimension and a second dimensions from the dimensions time, frequency or space. The advanced coding scheme, for example Alamouti coding, outputs symbols that are related via the coding. At least some of the symbols, defining a code related symbol group should experience identical, or at least very similar, radio channels. According to one embodiment of the present invention, symbols from the same code related symbol group is placed as close together in the OFDM grid as possible.
US08948282B2

Embodiments include processes, systems, and devices for reshaping virtual baseband signals for transmission on non-contiguous and variable portions of a physical baseband, such as a white space frequency band. In the transmission path, a spectrum virtualization layer maps a plurality of transmission components associated with a transmission symbol produced by a physical layer protocol to sub-carriers of the allocated physical frequency band. The spectrum virtualization layer then outputs a physical transmission symbol composed of time-domain samples derived from the mapped frequency components and a cyclic prefix. In the receive path, a time-domain symbol received on the physical baseband is reshaped and equalized by the virtual spectrum layer in order to recompose a time-domain samples of a transmission stream in the virtual baseband.
US08948267B1

An embodiment of the present invention includes a multi-core processor that processes video data. The control core controls a first processing core to process a first set of data blocks of an image frame according to a stairstep pattern. The control core detects, while the first processing core is processing the first set, that a triggering data block has been processed in the first set. The control core controls, while the first processing core is processing the first set, a second processing core to process a second set of data blocks using information from the triggering data block. By processing data blocks in the stairstep pattern, cache hit rate is improved, resulting in improved video decoder performance.
US08948265B2

A motion vector derivation unit includes a comparison unit for comparing a parameter TR1 for a reference vector with a predetermined value to determine whether it exceeds the predetermined value or not; a switching unit for switching selection between the maximum value of a pre-stored parameter TR and the parameter TR1 according to the comparison result by the comparison unit; a multiplier parameter table (for multipliers); and a multiplier parameter table (for divisors) for associating the parameter TR1 with a value approximate to the inverse value (1/TR1) of this parameter TR1.
US08948260B2

This system adaptively assigns picture types used for temporal compression to frames of streaming video at the input. Based on threshold testing of two metrics that are measures of distance between the frames at the input, a frame may be assigned to be compressed as an I, P, or B frame or be skipped over by the system without being coded at all.
US08948247B2

In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a video server includes receiving a first video bitstream, storing the first bitstream in a memory, generating a second video bitstream from the first video bitstream, and storing the second video bitstream in the memory. The first video bitstream has a plurality of independently coded views and the second video bitstream has one of the plurality of independently coded views.
US08948245B2

Graphical output representing the activity of a plurality of monitoring detection devices over a region is displayed. The detection devices are represented as an array of regular polygons in an arrangement substantially analogous to the monitored region, and a characteristic of the graphical output is adjusted within a displayed polygon by a degree dependent upon the level of activity detected by its respective detection device.
US08948243B2

Disclosed is an image encoding device which is constructed in such a way as to include an encoding mode determining unit 4 for evaluating the degree of efficiency of encoding of a difference image A which is the difference between an image of a macroblock to be encoded, and a prediction image A generated by a motion-compensated prediction unit 2 in a motion prediction mode A, and also evaluating the degree of efficiency of encoding of a difference image B which is the difference between the image of the macroblock to be encoded, and a prediction image B generated by the motion-compensated prediction unit 2 in a motion prediction mode B, and for selecting a difference image having a higher degree of encoding efficiency.
US08948240B2

An adaptive receiver is disclosed for optimally receiving and processing signals. The receiver utilizes one or more memory blocks to store groups of incoming symbols. The groups of symbols are processed by a channel estimation subsystem to determine channel characteristics. The receiver determines the appropriate demodulation and decoding strategy to implement based on the determined channel characteristics. The receiver includes a plurality of demodulation and decoding schemes, one of which is selected based on the results of a channel estimation analysis.
US08948235B2

A intelligent backhaul radio is disclosed, which can operate by zero division duplexing for use in PTP or PMP topologies, providing for significant spectrum usage benefits among other benefits. Specific system architectures and structures to enable active cancellation of multiple transmit signals at multiple receivers within a MIMO radio are disclosed. Further disclosed aspects include the adaptive optimization of cancellation parameters or coefficients.
US08948232B2

A method and device are provided for transmitting a digital signal intended for a network having at least four nodes including two transmitters, a relay and a receiver separated from one another by non-orthogonal links, except between the relay and the destination, between which the link is orthogonal, implementing a spatially distributed network code. The method includes: encoding, in each transmitter, supplying a code word for every block of K bits of information; transmitting, in the transmitters, the code word during αN transmission intervals, αε[0,1]; jointly, iteratively detecting/decoding, in the relay, in order to separate interfering streams from the transmitters and to determine, for each stream, a vector representing the K bits of information associated with the code word; jointly encoding, in the relay, the two vectors in order to determine redundancy information, and scheduling the relays to transmit the redundancy information during the (1−α)N following transmission intervals.
US08948230B1

An IEEE 802.15.4 DSSS Offset-QPSK device is proposed that allows an existing system to transfer Offset-QPSK modulation signal into MSK modulation signal, then deliver the MSK modulation signal without DSSS to increase payload data transmission rate. On-the-fly detection of whether a low data rate or a high data rate encoding mode is used for a received frame is attained by the transmitter setting a predetermined bit in the frame length byte of a transmitting frame. Thus an extra high data rate transmission for IEEE 802.15.4 DSSS Offset-QPSK systems can be provided.
US08948225B2

An interband cascade laser amplifier medium (M) having a number of cascades (C) strung together along a transport direction (T) of charge carriers and each having an electron injector region (I), an amplifier region (V) and an electron collector region (K), wherein the amplifier region (V) has a hole quantum film (1) having a first semiconductor material and an electron quantum film (2) having a second semiconductor material, and wherein the electron collector region (K) has at least one collector quantum film (4) having a third semiconductor material and separated by a first barrier layer (3), and the electron injector region (I) has at least one injector quantum film (5) having a fourth semiconductor material and separated by a second barrier layer (3).
US08948217B2

An optical fiber which includes a core region embedded within a cladding. The core region of the optical fiber further comprises multiple sections, each doped with rare earth ions.
US08948209B2

A method and a system of multichannel transmission over a twin-wire bus including a data signal and a synchronization signal, data of a first channel being transmitted by a state coding of the data signal for a time period containing a first state of the synchronization signal, data of a second channel being transmitted by pulse coding outside of said period.
US08948199B2

A method for data storage includes mapping a queue pair (QP) of a channel adapter to a specified Fiber Channel (FC) exchange for communication with a storage device. Upon receiving at the channel adapter from a host computer a storage command directed to the storage device, the storage command is executed by transmitting data packets over a switched network from the channel adapter to the storage device using the specified exchange and performing a remote direct memory access (RDMA) operation on the channel adapter using the mapped QP.
US08948198B2

Methods and systems for signaling on a mixed-mode wireless network comprising a plurality of channels are provided. The mixed-mode wireless network includes high-throughput (HT) wireless devices and legacy wireless devices that use channels of the same width. The HT devices transmit data on at least two channels, while the legacy devices transmit on one channel. The distances between the HT channels and the distances between the legacy channels might differ, however, the channels used by the HT devices and the legacy devices may overlap. As a result, cooperation between the HT devices and legacy devices is provided to enable the devices to coexist on the same wireless network by minimizing collisions and interference. The HT devices are configured to send control information to the legacy devices to coordinate transmission by the HT devices with the legacy devices.
US08948192B2

A data switch for an integrated circuit comprising at least one link for receiving input data packets from an independently modulated spread spectrum clock (SSC) enabled source having predetermined spread spectrum link clock frequency characteristics, and at least one output for transmitting the data packets after passage through the switch, the switch further comprising at least one receive buffer having a link side and a core side for receiving the SSC modulated input data packets from the link, at least one transmit buffer and a core clock, wherein the core clock operates at a given frequency between predetermined error limits determined by oscillation accuracy alone and is not SSC-enabled, the core clock frequency being set at a level at least as high as the highest link clock frequency such that the receive buffer cannot be filled faster from its link side than it can be emptied from its core side.
US08948190B2

A method for performing alternate and therefore least cost routing in distributed H.323 Voice over IP (VoIP) networks is provided. With this method, the VoIP network consists of a hierarchy of gatekeeper (GK) functions to provide alternate routing, network element redundancy, and scalability. The alternate routing function is performed by a directory gatekeeper with route selection advancing from a first route to a second route by either of two conditions: (1) there are no resources available to terminate the call in the first zone; and (2) a lack of response to the directory GK request for such resources.
US08948165B2

In one embodiment, a method for providing voice communications in a packet switched network protocol through a home network is provided, the method comprising: receiving, at a first home network device, an incoming call in the packet switched network protocol; notifying a second home network device of the incoming call; receiving an indication from the second home network device that the second home network device accepts the call; and forwarding the incoming call to the second home network device.
US08948164B2

A terminal, method and system for providing a CS service, a SIP-based service, or a CSI service, are provided. According to an embodiment, the terminal includes a controller to receive a terminal capability version of at least one target terminal, to compare the received terminal capability version with a previously stored terminal capability version of the at least one target terminal, and to determine whether to request for terminal capability information of the at least one target terminal based on the comparison result, wherein the terminal capability version identifies a version of capabilities of the at least one target terminal.
US08948156B2

A mobile device coupled to a common system clock receives a signal comprising a primary synchronization sequence (PSS) and a secondary synchronization sequence (SSS) in a radio frame. Sample counts are generated for timed events based on corresponding operating bandwidths. The timed events are detected at modulo sample counts of the generated sample counts according to corresponding operating bandwidths. PSS symbol timing determined via the PSS synchronization is aligned to the generated sample counts based on corresponding operating bandwidth. The generated sample counts are bit-shifted relative to the aligned PSS symbol timing for other timed events based on corresponding operating bandwidths. The one or more timed events are determined via performing modulo counting after the bit-shifting. Timing operations are performed at the determined timed events and the determined one or more timed events are refined, accordingly.
US08948148B2

A data transmission apparatus in a communication system includes a reception unit configured to receive adjacent terminal information from a plurality of terminals through a new frequency band for transmission and reception of data between the terminals and one AP (access point); a verification unit configured to identify positions of the terminals within a service coverage of the AP through the adjacent terminal information, group the terminals into terminal groups through position-based grouping, and verify transmission possible times to the AP, in terminals included in the terminal groups; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the transmission possible times to the terminals included in the terminal groups through beacon frames in the AP, wherein, as the transmission possible times for the terminal groups, different time intervals are allocated in a beacon interval of the beacon frames.
US08948140B2

A base station (20) and a mobile station (10) preliminarily register a transmission cycle of a CQI associated with every free space, in which channelization codes are not defined in a channelization code set of an HS-SCCH. In the case of setting of the transmission cycle of the CQI, the base station (20) transmits identification information of the free spaces associated with the transmission cycle to be set up to the mobile station (10) by the HS-SCCH. When the identification information of the free space is received by the HS-SCCH, the mobile station (10) transmits the CQI to the base station (20) at the transmission cycle associated with the free space.
US08948138B2

A compression/decompression method for backhaul communication of a complex-valued radio signal between base stations and the network processing unit, such as a Central Processor of a Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) system, significantly reduces backhaul bandwidth. The spatial and temporal correlations of the wireless IQ signal are exploited in order to remove redundancy and substantially reduce signal bandwidth. Feature component signals of significance are extracted through linear transformation to form the radio signal, and are individually quantized, possibly at different bit rates in accordance with their relative importance. The transformation can either be pre-determined or computed in real-time based on the spatial and temporal statistics of the radio signal. In the latter case, the transformation matrix or matrices are also sent over the backhaul in order to allow the radio signal to be reconstructed at the receiving end. Different methods of generating the transformation matrices are proposed.
US08948130B2

The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method for supporting security during a handover performance through a zone switch and to a device performing same. According to one embodiment of the present invention, switching a zone by a terminal in a broadband wireless access system comprises the following steps: creating at least one service flow in a first zone that supports the legacy mode of a base station; receiving at the base station a first message, which indicates a zone switch to a second zone that supports an advanced mode; and performing the zone switch, wherein performing the zone switch may further comprise a step for receiving from the second zone a second message, which includes security association information that indicates the security association applied to at least one service flow in the second zone.
US08948125B2

A method and system for handover of a User Equipment (UE) from a source packet system to a target packet system in a packet switched domain of a wireless communications network while transferring the UE to a circuit switched domain. The target packet system includes a radio access network portion and a first core network portion. The circuit switched domain includes a second radio access network portion and a second core network portion. The UE performs an attachment/registration/update procedure towards the second core network portion and/or a signaling connection establishment before the handover between the source packet system and the target packet system is executed.
US08948121B2

A method for a base station to transmit a channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports includes mapping, in accordance with a predetermined pattern, the channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports onto a data region of a downlink subframe having an extended cyclic prefix (CP) structure, and transmitting the downlink subframe onto which the channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports has been mapped; and, in the predetermined pattern, the channel-state-information reference signal for up to 8 antenna ports in mapped onto 2 OFDM symbols on the data region of the downlink subframe, with a definition for mapping onto at least one of 4 subcarrier wave positions in each of the 2 OFDM symbols, and the 4 subcarrier wave positions defined in the predetermined pattern can be disposed at 3 subcarrier wave intervals.
US08948120B2

A method for determining an optimal network utilization maximization in a communication system with wireless links in which current and coarse channel state information CSI is available from all users, along with a limited amount of fine CSI by way of a frame based entails a scheduling and feedback under which a virtual queue is associated with each user with virtual rates being determined at start of each frame and policy of each frame being determined by solving a decision process.
US08948119B2

Provided are a method and a wireless device for transmitting an uplink. The wireless device transmits a random access preamble to a first serving cell through a first wireless resource, and transmits an uplink channel to a second serving cell through a second wireless resource. The first serving cell belongs to a first timing advance (TA) group, and the second serving cell belongs to a second TA group that differs from the first TA group. All or a portion of the first wireless resource and the second wireless resource overlap.
US08948115B2

The present invention relates to a terminal which controls uplink transmission power for transmitting a plurality of code words in a wireless communication system that supports a plurality of antennas, and a method in which the terminal performs the control. In a terminal which controls uplink transmission power for transmitting a plurality of code words in a wireless communication system that supports a plurality of antennas, a receiver receives, from a base station, an indicator that concerns the determination of the transmission power for each code word of the plurality of code words. A processor determines uplink transmission power for transmitting the plurality of code words on the basis of the indication value of the indicator. If the indication value is zero, the processor allocates the same uplink transmission power to each of the plurality of code words.
US08948104B2

Provided is a feedback method and apparatus in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. A terminal may determine a preferred pre-coding matrix for a neighboring terminal, based on a reference rank determined by a base station and a preferred pre-coding matrix of the terminal. The terminal may calculate a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on the preferred precoding matrix for the neighboring terminal, and may feed the CQI back to the base station.
US08948076B2

Methods and apparatus are provided for transmitting processing reference signals in a mobile communication system. A base station determines a reference signal pattern comprising at least one resource element, generates a bitmap indicator indicating whether zero transmission power is assigned to the at least one resource element of the reference signal pattern, and transmits the reference signal pattern and the bitmap indicator to a terminal. The terminal receives the reference signal pattern and the bitmap indicator, and processes a reference signal extracted according to the reference signal pattern and the bitmap indicator.
US08948075B2

An apparatus and method for supporting a different system in a broadband wireless communication system using a multi-hop relay scheme are provided. A DownLink/UpLink (DL/UL) frame of a Base Station (BS) includes a legacy access zone for communicating with a legacy Mobile Station (MS), a relay zone for communicating with a legacy Relay Station (RS), and a new zone for communicating with a new MS. A DL/UL frame of an RS includes a legacy access zone for communicating with a legacy MS and a legacy relay zone for communicating with a new BS by legacy standards.
US08948072B2

A method comprising providing a plurality of services to be transmitted over a common area by a plurality of nodes; and providing information relating to a quantity of data of said plurality of services for all of said services to said plurality of nodes.
US08948065B2

A handheld terminal 200 performs wireless communication with a game apparatus 103 and determines whether the wireless communication with the game apparatus 103 is possible. The game apparatus 103 performs wireless communication with the handheld terminal 200 and determines whether the wireless communication with the handheld terminal 200 is possible. The game apparatus 103 performs a return home determination process, based on the determination about whether the wireless communication is possible, when the wireless communication with the handheld terminal 200 has become, after having become disabled, enabled again.
US08948058B2

A method that includes: (1) transmitting, at a first transmit time point, a first probe packet over a network connection to a conferencing server immediately before transmitting a data packet, the first probe packet arriving at the conferencing server at a first receive time point; (2) transmitting, at a second transmit time point, a second probe packet over the network connection to the conferencing server immediately after transmitting the data packet, the second probe packet arriving at the conferencing server at a second receive time point, the first and second probe packets being smaller than the data packet; (3) receiving information encoding a first difference between the first and second transmit time points and a second difference between the first and second receive time points; and (4) based on the first and second differences, modifying a transmission parameter associated with data packets to be transmitted thereafter to the conferencing server.
US08948056B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a local database, a packet processor, a data management module, and a tree construction module. The packet processor extracts spanning tree information associated with a remote switch. The data management module stores the extracted spanning tree information in the local database. The tree construction module assigns an interface state associated with a spanning tree to a local interface based on the extracted spanning tree information.
US08948055B2

An Ethernet network, an Ethernet method, and an Ethernet node provide active-active dual-homed interworking between two Ethernet networks. The network, method, and node can include two nodes interconnected each to a Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) network and an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (E-VPN). The two nodes can utilize a same Ethernet Segment Identifier (ESI) for the E-VPN network to cause the dual-homed links to appear as a single link from an E-VPN perspective and a dummy node to advertise an extra node in the SPB network enabling two paths therein.
US08948051B2

A system, method and apparatus for source redundant MVPN in which a number of Interface Indices is reduced by leaf node Incoming Label Maps (ILM) including one or more Interface Indices common to multiple tunnels.
US08948045B2

A network element has one or more logical communication interfaces each of which has a data set defining parameters for the interface. A data storage medium stores a profile containing information for an interface, the profile having a profile identifier for identifying the profile. The data set associated with an interface includes a profile identifier for enabling the communication interface to access information in the profile by referring to the profile identifier. The profile may include information relating to neighbor discovery communications between one network element and another, and the same profile may be accessed by any number of interfaces.
US08948033B2

A communication apparatus forming a ring network sends a test frame that is not designed to be discarded at a block point in the ring network established to discard the user frame and that is configured to have a data size randomly selected from the data sizes permitted for the user frame, from a first communication port connected to a transfer channel in a first direction in the ring network. The communication apparatus determines that the transfer status of the user frame in the ring network is normal when the sent test frame is received via a second communication port connected to a transfer channel in a second direction in the ring network in a predetermined manner.
US08948026B2

Operator-controlled implementations of user preferences are provided when feasible. User preference data is obtained by the operator and compared to operational characteristics and parameters of a communication system, such as a DSL system, to determine whether one or more of the user preferences can be implemented in the communication system. When implementation of a user preference would violate operational rules of the system, or where implementation would adversely affect system operation, the preference need not be implemented. However, when a user preference can be implemented in the system without causing problems, the operator can implement (or permit another party to implement) the user preference to effect the user's desires. The user preference data can be obtained directly from users (for example, by surveys and other direct user feedback) or can be obtained indirectly (for example, by constructing a Hidden Markov Model that shows user preferences). The operator may collect the user preference data from a user set (for example, a single user or a plurality of users). The user preference data can be compared to 2 or more performance metrics that can be adjusted, to the extent feasible, to implement the user preference data.
US08948023B2

In one embodiment, a network device may receive an mtrace query, where the mtrace query identifies two or more multicast routing paths. The network device may generate two or more mtrace requests using at least a portion of information obtained from the mtrace query such that each of the two or more mtrace requests identifies a different one of the two or more multicast routing paths. The network device may send each of the two or more mtrace requests via a different one of the two or more multicast routing paths. The network device may then receive at least one response including information pertaining to the two or more multicast routing paths.
US08948020B2

A processor-implemented method for analyzing dropped or out of order data packets that are sent from an initiating device over a communications network is provided. The processor-implemented method may include receiving, by a processor, a predetermined plurality of test data packets from the initiating device over the communications network. At least one of the predetermined plurality of test data packets that are dropped or received out of order may be determined by the processor. A header portion corresponding to the at least one of the predetermined plurality of test data packets that are dropped or received out of order may then be accessed. The accessed header portion is sent, by the processor, to the initiating device, whereby the accessed header portion may include information associated with a device location at which the one or more of the predetermined plurality of test data packets are dropped or received out of order.
US08948015B2

Wireless mesh networks (or “meshes”) are enabled for arbitrary interconnection to each other and may provide varying levels of coverage and redundancy as desired. Interoperability between meshes having differing configurations, internal operations, or both, may be freely intermixed and inter-operated in unrestricted combination. Enhanced explicit inter-bridge control protocols operate using pre-existing control packets. Pre-existing broadcast packet floods are used to learn the best paths across interconnected meshes (termed a “multi-mesh”). Enhanced routing protocols operating within each mesh may optionally examine information limited to the respective mesh when forwarding traffic, thus enabling robust multi-mesh scaling with respect to memory and processing time required by the routing protocols. Communication scalability is improved by enabling frequency diversity across the multi-mesh by configuring meshes within interference range of each other for operation at a plurality of frequencies. Each mesh may operate at a respective non-interfering frequency.
US08948012B2

Systems and methods applicable, for instance, in interactive session provision. One or more nodes and/or other computers might, for example, provide to one or more other nodes and/or other computers the ability to employ certain software for an interactive session. A node and/or other computer providing the ability might, for instance, provide to a node and/or other computer receiving the ability software to be used in the interactive session, and/or one or more appropriate keys. A node and/or other computer that has received the ability might, for example, lose the ability with interactive session termination.
US08947989B2

A wobble determining apparatus is provided with: a calculating device for calculating (i) a first time required until reaching a number of revolutions of a motor which allows a predetermined linear velocity, and (ii) a second time required to move an optical head to a position which allows the predetermined linear velocity, on the basis of the number of revolutions of the motor and the position of the optical head; a judging device for judging whether to keep the optical head in accordance with the calculated first time and the calculated second time; and a controlling device for controlling a moving device not to move the optical head if it is judged to keep the optical head, and for controlling the moving device to move the optical head to the position which allows the predetermined linear velocity if it is judged not to keep the optical head.
US08947978B2

A system and method for estimating the direction of arrival of sounds. One method including the steps of: forming a reference signal; detecting sound with two or more spatially separated, directional or spatially separated directional, microphones to produce two or more output signals; calculating the relationships between each of the two or more output signals and the reference signal; and estimating the direction of arrival based on differences between the relationships.
US08947977B1

A proximity fuzing arrangement for fuzing warheads carried by missiles which reduces the likelihood of the missile being detonated prematurely by such cases as rain or enemy counter measures. The fuzing arrangement includes at least two channels responsive to target signals in different frequency bands and also includes means for comparing the signals in these channels to distinguish between spurious signals such as enemy counter measures or rain and so called “true target signals”.
US08947961B2

A method for programming a non-volatile memory including a plurality of blocks, each block including a plurality of sections, each section including at least one page, and each page including a plurality of memory cells. The method includes checking a current section of the plurality of sections against a damaged section table to determine whether the current section is damaged. The damaged section table records information about whether a section in the memory is good or damaged. The method further includes using the current section for programming if the current section is not damaged.
US08947957B2

A method for repairing a memory includes running a built-in self-test of the memory to find faulty bits. A first repair result using a redundant row block is calculated. A second repair result using a redundant column block is calculated. The first repair result and the second repair result are compared. A repair method using either the redundant row block or the redundant column block is selected. The memory is repaired by replacing a row block having at least one faulty bit with the redundant row block or replacing a column block having at least one faulty bit with the redundant column block.
US08947955B2

A memory system includes a semiconductor memory including a storage unit configured to store parameter information in response to a test mode signal and to output the stored parameter information in response to a parameter request signal, and a memory controller configured to provide the parameter request signal to the semiconductor memory and receive the parameter information from the semiconductor memory device.
US08947950B2

A semiconductor memory device includes a bit line connected to a memory cell; an input/output line configured to input a data signal to the memory cell during a writing operation and to output a data signal stored in the memory cell during a reading operation; and a column select transistor including a first source/drain connected to the bit line and a second source/drain connected to the input/output line, wherein a resistance of the first source/drain is smaller than a resistance of the second source/drain.
US08947940B2

A semiconductor device comprises an array of memory cells. Each of the memory cells includes a tunnel dielectric, a well region including a first current electrode and a second current electrode, and a control gate. The first and second current electrodes are adjacent one side of the tunnel dielectric and the control gate is adjacent another side of the tunnel dielectric. A controller is coupled to the memory cells. The controller includes logic to determine when to perform a healing process in the tunnel dielectric of the memory cells, and to apply a first voltage to the first current electrode of the memory cells during the healing process to remove trapped electrons and holes from the tunnel dielectric.
US08947927B2

A gated diode memory cell is provided, including one or more transistors, such as field effect transistors (“FETs”), and a gated diode in signal communication with the FETs such that the gate of the gated diode is in signal communication with the source of a first FET, wherein the gate of the gated diode forms one terminal of the storage cell and the source of the gated diode forms another terminal of the storage cell, the drain of the first FET being in signal communication with a bitline (“BL”) and the gate of the first FET being in signal communication with a write wordline (“WLw”), and the source of the gated diode being in signal communication with a read wordline (“WLr”).
US08947918B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a buffer configured to hold data input to an input/output circuit and to hold data read from the memory cell array, and a controller configured to receive a first command and an address from the outside and to read data, in response to the first command, from a memory cell group coupled to a selected word line designated by the address to the buffer. The controller receives a second command which is input after the first command and indicates a last command of a group of commands including write commands and/or read commands, and starts a write operation from the buffer to the memory cell array in response to the second command.
US08947911B1

A bit line power implementing circuit is provided, the bit line power implementing circuit has a bit line discharge oscillator to convert the supply voltage to a pulse; a decoder coupled to the bit line discharge oscillator to decode the pulse, and providing a first pulse with a first frequency and a second pulse with a second frequency; a first and a second counters, coupled to the decoder, and receiving the first and the second pulses respectively, and outputting a signal proportional to an average and a minimum read currents respectively; a divider outputting a read current ratio of the average read current to the minimum read current; and a multiplier for multiplying the supply voltage the read current ratio to output a bit line power consumption corresponding to the supply voltage.
US08947909B1

A resistive memory having a plurality of resistive elements, each having a resistance that changes with respect to a state of the resistive memory element. The resistive memory includes a substrate, a first memory access device formed on the substrate, a first contact formed on the first memory access device, and a first resistive memory element formed on the first contact. The first resistive memory element has a first polarity. The first memory access device provides read and write access to the state of the first resistive memory element. A second memory access device is formed on the substrate, a second contact formed on the second memory access device, and a second resistive memory element formed on the second contact. The second resistive memory element has a second polarity. The second memory access device provides read and write access to the state of the second resistive memory element.
US08947901B2

A content addressable memory chip which can perform a high speed search with less error is provided. A match amplifier zone determines coincidence or non-coincidence of search data with data stored in the content addressable memory cells in an entry of a CAM cell array, according to the voltage of a match line. The match amplifier zone comprises one or more NMOS transistors and one or more PMOS transistors. The match amplifier zone has a dead zone to an input of a voltage of the match line, and has a property that no flow-through current is present in the match amplifier zone.
US08947900B2

SRAM cells and SRAM cell arrays are described. In one embodiment, an SRAM cell includes a first inverter and a second inverter cross-coupled with the first inverter to form a first data storage node and a complimentary second data storage node for latching a value. The SRAM cell further includes a first pass-gate transistor and a switch transistor. A first source/drain of the first pass-gate transistor is coupled to the first data storage node, and a second source/drain of the first pass-gate transistor is coupled to a first bit line. The first source/drain of the switch transistor is coupled to the gate of the first pass-gate transistor.
US08947897B2

A current-source power converting apparatus in an embodiment includes a current-reference generating unit, a polarity determining unit, a PWM-pulse-signal generating unit, and a drive-signal generating unit. The current-reference generating unit outputs a phase current reference and a line-to-line current reference. The polarity determining unit determines a polarity of the phase current reference. The PWM-pulse-signal generating unit generates a PWM pulse signal by comparing the line-to-line current reference and a carrier signal. The drive-signal generating unit generates a drive signal that drives each of a plurality of switching elements, based on the PWM pulse signal and a polarity of the phase current reference.
US08947896B2

A switch bias system is provided that includes a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) switch comprising a base, emitter, and collector; a current sense circuit coupled to the emitter, the current sense circuit configured to sense current flow through the emitter of the BJT switch; and a proportional bias circuit configured to generate a bias current to the base of the BJT switch, the bias current set to a fixed proportion of the sensed current flow through the emitter of the BJT switch.
US08947894B2

A method and apparatus for controlling a flyback converter are presented. The flyback converter includes a transformer, a semiconductor switch coupled to a primary winding of the transformer, a current measurement circuit coupled to the semiconductor switch, a diode coupled in series to a secondary winding of the transformer, and a controller. The controller is configured to receive a feedback voltage, a reference signal, and the measured primary current and generate a control signal for the semiconductor switch dependent on the feedback voltage, the reference signal, and the measured primary current. The semiconductor switch switches on and off cyclically in CCM operation.
US08947892B1

Apparatus, systems and methods for electronic device protection are provided. A particular apparatus includes a non-conductive substrate and a plurality of cells including conductive members coupled to the non-conductive substrate. The conductive members are arranged to form a first discontinuous mesh. Regions between the conductive members of the first discontinuous mesh include a phase change material. The phase change material undergoes a phase transition from substantially non-conductive to substantially conductive responsive to a change of energy.
US08947890B2

A fixing component fixes a detachable component to a housing of an electronic apparatus. The fixing component includes a first operating portion, a first engaging portion and a second operating portion. The first operating portion is configured to receive a movement operation in a first direction and to permit movement in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The first engaging portion is connected to the first operating portion and is configured to release engagement with the detachable component when the first operating portion is moved in the second direction. The second operating portion is connected to the first engaging portion and is configured to receive a movement operation in the second direction.
US08947877B2

An expanding device for a portable electronic apparatus is disclosed. The expanding device includes a main body for placing the portable electronic apparatus and a sliding assembly disposed in the main body. The sliding assembly includes a slide track element disposed in the main body, a sliding element, and a cover. The sliding element is slidably coupled to the slide track element and slides between a receiving position and an extending position relative to the main body. The cover is pivotally connected to the sliding element and includes a fixing portion. When the sliding element is moved towards outside of the main body to the extending position, the cover can be rotated relative to the sliding element, and the portable electronic apparatus can be fixed on the main body via the fixing portion of the cover.
US08947872B2

A holding frame includes a base plate, a first resisting wall, a second resisting wall, two first elastic arms and two second elastic arms. The base plate includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The first resisting wall extends from the first surface, and the second resisting wall extends from the second surface. The two first elastic arms are formed on the first surface, and face the first resisting wall. The two first elastic arms and the first resisting wall define a first receiving space configured for receiving a first hard disk drive. The two second elastic arms are formed on the second surface, and face the second resisting wall. The two second elastic arms and the second resisting wall define a second receiving space configured for receiving a second hard disk drive.
US08947868B2

A protective cover includes an input operating unit and a cover unit. Through the input operating unit, an input operation to an electronic apparatus is performed. In the cover unit, the input operating unit is disposed. In the protective cover, the cover unit includes a folding section and two plate sections connected to the folding section. A connection terminal section is provided to which the electronic apparatus is connected. A wiring section which interconnects the input operating unit and the connection terminal section and which is bent attendantly on folding at the folding section is disposed inside the cover unit. Folding at the folding section into a predetermined shape enables setting of a cover mode in which the electronic apparatus is covered.
US08947863B2

According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a first main unit having a surface thereof provided with a display panel, a second main unit having a surface thereof provided with another display panel, a hinge mechanism coupling the first and second main units, and two operation buttons arranged symmetrical with respect to a center line passing through the respective centers of the first and second main units.
US08947859B2

A power distributor for use in vehicles is provided. The power distributor includes a base module having a central power feed and at least two universal modules, thereby forming a modular structure of the power distributor. The universal modules have defined geometries and are mechanically and electrically removably connectable to corresponding locations on the base module. Each universal module includes at least one electrical component. The base module includes a printed circuit board having at least one of current conducting paths and at least one bus bar. The base module comprises contact connectors for connection to loads of the vehicle. An electrical component is also provided as a semi-finished product for further processing in vehicles. The electrical component includes a bus bar and a lamellar contact attached thereto.
US08947851B2

The laminated ceramic capacitor has a laminate block made of alternately laminated ceramic dielectric layers and internal electrodes, a pair of cover layers, laminated on top and bottom of the laminate block, ceramic bodies formed on both side faces of the laminate block, and a pair of external electrodes that are electrically connected to the internal electrodes, wherein the average grain size of the ceramic dielectric grains constituting the ceramic body is smaller than the average grain size of the ceramic dielectric grains constituting the ceramic dielectric layer in the laminate block.
US08947849B2

There is provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component. The multilayer ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic main body including a dielectric layer, and first and second internal electrodes disposed to face each other within the ceramic main body and having the dielectric layer interposed therebetween. When an average roughness of center lines of the first and second internal electrodes is Ra, a maximum distance from a virtual line corresponding to Ra to a bottom of a pit (d) formed below the virtual line is 0.1 μm to 13 μm. The surface roughness of the internal electrode printed surface is improved to decrease the occurrence of electrical shorts.
US08947836B2

A test device includes a transformer, a loop analyzer, and a protection circuit. The protection circuit includes a control unit, a signal acquisition and amplification unit, and an electronic switch. When the loop analyzer outputs a signal, the signal acquisition and amplification unit acquires the signal output from the loop analyzer, amplifies the acquired signal, and outputs the amplified signal to the control unit. The control unit transforms the received signal from analog form to digital form, and compares the digital signal with a reference value. If the digital signal is greater than the reference value, the control unit outputs a control signal to the electronic switch, to turn off the electronic switch. The signal output from the loop analyzer cannot be transmitted to a buck circuit.
US08947833B2

A slider and a microactuator element are disposed on a gimbal portion of a flexure. The gimbal portion comprises a metal base, an electrically insulating resin layer, a conductor disposed on the resin layer, an electrically insulating adhesive block, and an electrically conductive paste. The adhesive block secures an end portion of the microactuator element to the metal base. The conductive paste is provided between the conductor and an electrode of the microactuator element. A first adhesive interface extending along the thickness of the resin layer, a second adhesive interface extending along a surface of the resin layer, and a corner portion are formed between the metal base and the conductive paste.
US08947815B2

According to one embodiment, a disk storage apparatus includes a disk, a detector, and a controller. The disk includes a first recording area for recording with a first track density, and a second recording area for recording with a second track density lower than the first track density. The detector is configured to detect a variation of an outside environment. The controller is configured to select a nonvolatile memory or the second recording area as a storage destination of write data transferred from a host, based on a content of the variation of the outside environment detected by the detector, and a state of capability or incapability of storage of the nonvolatile memory.
US08947811B1

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, wherein data is written to the disk comprising a first periodic pattern, a payload, and a second periodic pattern. The data is first read from the disk to generate a first read signal, and the first read signal is sampled asynchronously to generate first asynchronous signal samples. The first asynchronous signal samples representing the first periodic pattern are processed to measure a first phase, and the first asynchronous signal samples representing the second periodic pattern are processed to measure a second phase. A first phase error is generated based on a difference between the first phase and the second phase. The first asynchronous signal samples representing the payload are adjusted in response to the first phase error to generate first adjusted asynchronous signal samples.
US08947808B1

A read channel of a storage device. The read channel includes a data generator configured to generate a test symbol. An encoding circuit in a write path of the read channel is configured to encode the test symbol as a write signal and provide the write signal to a preamplifier circuit to be amplified by the preamplifier circuit. A decoding circuit in a read path of the read channel is configured to receive the write signal as amplified by the preamplifier circuit and decode the write signal as amplified by the preamplifier circuit to determine a received symbol corresponding to the encoded test symbol. A comparator is configured to compare the received symbol to the test symbol and output, based on the comparison of the received symbol and the test symbol, an indication of whether the preamplifier circuit is operational.
US08947807B2

A writer assembly having two separately driven write coils allows a combined write field generated by the writer assembly to be fine turned and optimized for a particular application. Two preamplifiers may be incorporated into a printed circuit board in order to separately drive the write coils. In other implementations, there may be more than two write coils and corresponding preamplifiers.
US08947806B1

A method of enhancing read performance in array-reader hardware includes generating, by the array-reader hardware, a plurality of signals, according to data read from a magnetic disk, and canceling at least a portion of cross-talk in the plurality of signals to generate a plurality of corrected signals.
US08947799B2

Light directing film is disclosed. The light directing film includes a first structured major surface and an opposing second major surface. The first structured major surface includes a plurality of unitary discrete structures. Each unitary discrete structure includes a light directing portion that is primarily for directing light and includes a plurality of first side facets. Each first side facet makes an angle with the plane of the light directing film in a range from about 35 degrees to about 55 degrees. Each light directing portion also includes a first base that is defined by the plurality of first side facets and has a first minimum dimension. Each light directing portion also has a first maximum height. Each unitary discrete structure also includes a bonding portion that is primarily for bonding the light directing film to a surface. The bonding portion is disposed on and between the plurality of first side facets and includes a plurality of second side facets. Each second side facet makes an angle with the plane of the light directing film greater than about 70 degrees. The bonding portion also includes a second base that is defined by the plurality of second side facets and has a second minimum dimension less than about 10% of the first minimum dimension. The bonding portion also has a second maximum height. The ratio of the second maximum height to the second minimum dimension is at least about 1.5.
US08947797B2

In one embodiment, an electrostatic actuator includes a generally planar fixed frame, a generally planar moving frame coupled to the fixed frame by a flexure for substantially coplanar, perpendicular movement relative to the fixed frame, a plurality of interdigitated teeth, a fixed portion of which is attached to the fixed frame and a moving portion of which is attached to the moving frame, and an elongated output shaft having opposite input and output ends, the input end being coupled to the moving frame.
US08947793B2

An inner focus lens system comprises, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit, an aperture stop, a second lens unit having a positive refractive power, a third lens unit having a negative refractive power, and a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power. The first lens unit has at least one negative lens and at least one positive lens, the second lens unit has at least one negative lens and at least one positive lens, the third lens unit has at least one negative lens, and the fourth lens unit has at least one positive lens. When focusing on an object at a short distance from an object at infinity, the third lens unit moves to lengthen a distance to the second lens unit and to shorten a distance to the fourth lens unit.
US08947791B2

A large aperture zoom optical system and an image pickup apparatus have a five-lens-group arrangement of positive-negative-positive-negative-positive refractive powers. At the time of zooming, the fifth lens group is fixed, and at least the second lens group, the third lens group and the fourth lens group are moved. The third lens group for use in focusing is composed of a single lens element.
US08947787B2

A lens barrel of the present invention comprises: first and second guide shafts arranged parallel to an optical axis X and provided in one of adjacent lens holding frames; first and second guide receiving holes formed in another of the adjacent lens holding frames for allowing the first and second guide shafts to be inserted therethrough and guided by the first and second guide shafts respectively; a first urging means of urging the one and the another of the adjacent lens holding frames along the direction of the optical axis; and a second urging means to rotate another of the adjacent lens holding frames in a circumferential direction of the first guide shaft. The first guide receiving hole is guided by the first guide shaft at two positions that are spaced apart from each other in the direction of the optical axis.
US08947782B2

A wavelength variable interference filter includes: a first movable mirror disposed on a first substrate; a second movable mirror disposed so as to be opposed to the first movable mirror with a predetermined gap interposed therebetween; and an electrostatic actuator which varies the length of the gap between the mirrors. The first substrate has a first movable portion on which the first movable mirror is disposed, and a first linkage portion which holds the first movable portion in such a manner that the first movable portion can shift in the thickness direction of the substrate. The second substrate has a second movable portion on which the second movable mirror is disposed, and a second linkage portion which holds the second movable portion in such a manner that the second movable portion can shift in the thickness direction of the substrate.
US08947775B2

A catadioptric optical system includes, in order from an object side to an image side and arranged along an optical axis, a first catadioptric unit, a second catadioptric unit disposed in axial alignment with the first catadioptric unit and with a space therebetween; and a lens group disposed in axial alignment with the first and second catadioptric optical units. Light rays arriving from an object plane undergo a first reflection at the image-side surface of the first catadioptric optical unit, a second reflection at the object-side surface of the first catadioptric optical unit, a third reflection at the image-side surface of the second catadioptric optical unit, and a fourth reflection at the object-side surface of the second catadioptric optical unit. Advantageously, the sum the outward Petzval curvatures is cancelled out by the sum of inward Petzval curvatures.
US08947764B1

An optical device includes a microdisk optical resonator element. The microdisk resonator element is formed on a substrate and has upper and lower portions respectively distal and proximal the substrate. An arcuate semiconductor contact region partially surrounds the microdisk resonator element. A first modulator electrode is centrally formed on the upper portion of the microdisk resonator element, and a second modulator electrode is formed on the arcuate contact region. A laminar semiconductor region smaller in thickness than the microdisk resonator element separates the arcuate contact region from the microdisk resonator element and is formed on the substrate so as to electrically connect the arcuate contact region to the lower portion of the microdisk resonator element.
US08947757B2

An electrochromic glazing containing: a substrate including a layer structure thereon, which contains a first and second electrode layer, between which a first and second electrochemically active layer are situated, which each reversibly incorporate ions, wherein the first active layer contains an electrochromic material and the two active layers are separated from each other by an electrolyte layer, the layer structure being subdivided into series-connected electrochromic cells by a transition zone comprising: a first trench; a second trench; and a third trench between the first and second trenches, wherein the first and second trenches subdivide the first and second electrode layers into first electrode sections electrically insulated from each other and second electrode sections electrically insulated from each other, respectively, and the third trench is filled with an electrically conductive material, by which the first and second electrode sections of the cells adjacent the transition zone are electrically connected.
US08947745B2

A imaging scanner identifies first and second locations in a first and second captured image of a document, analyzes each character in the identified locations, and produces a first and second string, each including a character and a confidence value. The device determines that a first measurement of the confidence values in each of the first and second string is beyond a range of a first threshold. The device compares the confidence value for each character in the first string with a corresponding confidence value in the second string, selects a character from one of the first or second string with a higher confidence value; and produces a combined string including the selected characters and the confidence value associated with each selected character.
US08947740B1

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus for adjusting a light intensity of a printhead are disclosed. For example, the method receives an image comprising a plurality of pixels, calculates a correction factor for each one of a plurality of pixels of the image by applying a filter to each one of the plurality of pixels of the image and summing a contribution of the light intensity of each one of a plurality of surrounding pixels to a pixel being analyzed to calculate an overlap value and comparing the overlap value to a development threshold range and adjusts the light intensity of a light source of the printhead in accordance with the correction factor of each one of the plurality of pixels of the image that require toner.
US08947737B2

An image processing device adjusts black separately from chromatic colors and applies density adjustment capable of controlling the amount of color material according to the density. Such image processing device, capable of communicating with an image recording device, includes a color conversion unit that converts image data expressed in a first color space to color material amount data expressed in a second color space used by an image recording device; a density adjustment unit that increases or decreases the color material amount data based on a specified adjustment value; a dot breakdown unit that converts the increased or decreased color material amount data to dot quantity data expressed as a dot quantity for each of different sizes of dots formed by the image recording device; and a halftone process unit that converts the dot quantity data to data denoting whether or not the dots are formed.
US08947736B2

A method for binarizing a scanned document images containing gray or light colored text printed with halftone patterns. The document image is initially binarized and connected image components are extracted from the initial binary image as text characters. Each text character is classified as either a halftone text character or a non-halftone text character based on an analysis of its topology features. The topology features may be the Euler number of the text character; a text character with a Euler number below −2 is classified as halftone text. The gray-scale document image is then divided into halftone text regions containing only halftone text characters and non-halftone text regions. Each region is binarized using its own pixel value statistics. This eliminates the influence of black text on the threshold values for binarizing halftone text. The binary maps of the regions are combined to generate the final binary map.
US08947733B2

Device color signals are converted such that a total amount of used color materials in the first image area, in which image granularity is more important, is not reduced from a total amount before the device color signals are converted, and/or such that a total amount of used color materials in the second image area, in which cost of the used color materials is more important, is not increased from a total amount before the device color signals are converted.
US08947729B2

There is provided a color processing apparatus comprising: a calculation unit configured to calculate, for each of a plurality of light sources, a first colorimetric value that is obtained by measuring a color having a spectral reflectance indicated by spectral reflectance information under the light source; a mapping unit configured to obtain, for each of the plurality of light sources, a second colorimetric value by mapping the first colorimetric value of the light source within a gamut under the light source; a color separation unit configured to obtain the output information from a plurality of the second colorimetric values, by adjusting the output information such that an error between a colorimetric value obtained by measuring a color output by the image output apparatus according to the output information under each of the light sources and the second colorimetric value for the light source is minimized.
US08947718B2

A data processing apparatus includes a display portion, a control portion including a display control portion for causing the display portion to display a preview image of output target data, a touch sensor for receiving, on the display portion, a user operation for performing output setting for the output target data concerning the preview image, an output portion for outputting the output target data based on the output setting, and a control portion for, in a state where the display control portion arranges objects in page unit sequentially to be displayed as the preview image, when the touch sensor receives a predetermined pinch operation for the objects, performing page setting concerning the objects to be operated.
US08947716B2

The present invention provides an information storage device and an image forming cartridge for an image forming apparatus. The information storage device comprises at least two communication interfaces, at least two storage units, a detection unit, a first control unit and a second control unit, wherein the communication interfaces are configured to connect with a controller in the image forming apparatus and establish an information communication path between the first control unit and the controller in the case of being connected with the controller; the storage units and the communication interfaces are arranged corresponding to each other; the detection unit is connected with each foregoing communication interface; the first control unit and the second control unit are respectively connected with each foregoing storage unit and the detection unit. By adoption of the information storage device, the quality of executing the task of the image forming apparatus can be improved.
US08947709B2

A printing apparatus, including a user input unit which receives a first user command to initiate a printing operation, a display unit which displays information relating to the printing operation, a printing unit which performs printing with respect to printing data, and a controller which controls the display unit to display reference information of the printing data before the printing, and which controls the printing unit to perform the printing according to a second user command.
US08947707B1

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method. The method includes allocating, by a host computer, a bandwidth of a communication port to a printer that shares the communication port of the host computer with other peripheral devices, generating, by the host computer, a raster page having a file size smaller than a maximum file size, and transferring, by the host computer, the raster page to the printer at the bandwidth to satisfy a print rate of the printer.
US08947706B2

An information processing system includes a setting unit and an identification information extracting unit. The setting unit obtains first identification information that is identification information of a user in an information system that performs first authentication, the identification information being input by the user for user authentication to an image forming apparatus connected to the information system, sends setting information including the first identification information to a print service system that performs second authentication, thereby establishing a logical printer in which the setting information is set in the service system, and sets, as identification information of a person who uses the logical printer, second identification information that is identification information of the user in the service system. The extracting unit receives, from the service system, print data to be printed by the image forming apparatus, and extracts and outputs the first identification information set in the received print data.
US08947705B2

This disclosure discloses a non-transitory recording medium storing a print processing program for executing steps comprising: an instruction determining step for determining whether or not there is an input of a printing instruction; an identification information determining step for determining whether or not there is a plurality of sets of the identification information registered; a first printer determining step for attempting to perform information transmission and reception with one first printer for which a printing operation history log that satisfies a predetermined condition, and determining whether or not information transmission and reception are possible with the first printer; and a first print data transmitting step for transmitting desired print data associated with the input of the printing instruction to the first printer in a case where the determination is made in the first printer determining step that information transmission and reception are possible with the first printer.
US08947698B2

One or more methods, systems and computer program products enables selectable management and queuing of print jobs across multiple available printers available to a device generating the print job. One or more embodiments present a smart print queue with document level view and printer-level transfer of queued print jobs.
US08947694B2

An application in an image processing apparatus presents information about ink installed in a peripheral device, such as the shape, color, size, arrangement direction, and a remaining ink level of an ink tank, in a visually realistic manner using accurate graphics. The image processing apparatus acquires ink information about, in particular, a remaining ink level, arrangement direction, and the order of the arrangement of the ink tank, and displays the information about the peripheral device in a user interface of the application using the acquired ink information.
US08947690B2

An image reading apparatus includes a carriage, a carriage detector, and a control unit. The carriage detector outputs a detection signal of the carriage when the carriage is at the home position, and outputs a non-detection signal of the carriage when the carriage is located closer to a document size reading position than a predetermined position between the home position and the document size reading position. The control unit moves the carriage to the home position when the image reading apparatus enters a sleep mode, keeps the carriage detained while performing initialization after the sleep mode is cancelled, and moves the carriage, upon receipt of a scanning instruction after the initialization is completed, toward the document size reading position in the case where the carriage detector outputs the detection signal of the carriage.
US08947684B2

A printing apparatus includes a first processor which is connected to a first memory and converts print data into an image data format based on a page description language, a second processor which is connected to a second memory and performs image processing for print data of the image data format to generate data of a format interpretable by a printing unit, and a communication control unit which externally receives print data and transfers the received print data to either the first memory or second memory based on a descriptor. The second processor determines the format of received print data. When the print data has the page description language format, the first memory is set as the transfer destination in the descriptor. When the print data has the image data format, the second memory is set as the transfer destination in the descriptor.
US08947682B2

An image forming apparatus which includes a plurality of operating modes, the apparatus including a main body, a scanning unit to move along the main body and obtains an image data from an object to be scanned, an operation state display unit to display a position of the scanning unit, and a controller to set a display mode corresponding to an operating state that includes at least one operating mode of the plurality of operating modes and controls the operation state display unit to display the display mode set corresponding to the operating state.
US08947679B2

A portable handheld device including a CPU for processing a script; a multi-core processor for processing an image; an input buffer for receiving data for processing by the multi-core processor, the input buffer being provided under the control of the multi-core processor to send data thereto; and an output buffer for receiving data processed by the multi-core processor, the output buffer being provided under the control of the multi-core processor to receive data therefrom. The multi-core processor comprises a plurality of micro-coded processing units. The CPU is configured with authority to clear and query the input and output buffers.
US08947672B2

Swept source designs that eliminate or significantly reduce artifacts in optical coherence tomography are presented. One embodiment of the present invention is a source design that frequency shifts the coherence revival interference signal to a frequency larger than the A/D detection bandwidth or the post-processing bandwidth. In another embodiment, the introduced frequency shift is large enough to introduce a Doppler shift of the modes of the laser, which causes a blurring of the comb function, and thus eliminates or reduces mode hopping. In another embodiment, adjusting the cavity optical path length prior to data acquisition depending on the given optical layout configuration to reduce or eliminate coherence revival artifacts is described.
US08947668B2

A for traceably determining an unknown optical path length of a sample in an optical measuring device comprises the steps of: providing a drop analyzer connected to a standard spectrophotometer; providing a certified reference material contained in first and second closed high accuracy cuvettes; measuring absorbance of the certified reference material to obtain a first absorbance measurement for the first specified path length; measuring absorbance of the certified reference material for a second path length to obtain a second absorbance measurement; using a dropping device to drop a specified volume of the solvent on an optical surface so that the path length of the specified volume can be determined by reference to the first and second absorbance measurement; and using the dropping device to drop the same volume of sample as the specified volume of solvent on the optical measuring device.
US08947667B2

The spectrophotometer of the present invention measures a spectral reflectance of an object to be measured to thereby determine a color value of the object to be measured based on a color-matching function of an XYZ color system and the spectral reflectance. The spectrophotometer includes an irradiation unit configured to irradiate the object to be measured with light having a spectral intensity distribution in which a relative intensity at a wavelength at which the value of z reaches its peak in the color-matching function is equal to or greater than 0.5.
US08947665B2

To perform high-speed and highly accurate measurement by setting desired measuring conditions for each measuring object. In an alignment sensor of exposure apparatus, in the case of performing position measurement for a plurality of sample shots, measurement is performed by changing the measuring conditions, in response to a measuring axis direction, a mark or a layer whereupon a mark to be measured exists. At that time, for the measuring objects to be measured under the same measuring conditions, for example, a position in a Y axis direction and a position in an X axis direction, measurement is continuously performed. When the measuring condition is changed, a baseline value is remeasured. The changeable measuring conditions are wavelength of measuring light, use and selection of a retarder, NA and σ of an optical system, a light quantity of measuring light, illumination shape, signal processing algorithm, etc.
US08947664B2

Structures of a backside of a wafer can be aligned to structures of a frontside of the wafer for a lithographic treatment of the backside. The wafer is transparent for electromagnetic radiation of a specific wavelength. The wafer is placed on a wafer stage such that the frontside is facing the wafer stage and the backside is facing alignment optics. The backside is illuminated with electromagnetic radiation of the specific wavelength in a dark-field configuration, such that the electromagnetic radiation propagates through the wafer towards three-dimensional structures of a three-dimensional alignment target located at the frontside or inside the wafer and is scattered at the three-dimensional structures. The scattered electromagnetic radiation is captured with the alignment optics, and the backside is aligned to the frontside of the wafer based on the scattered electromagnetic radiation.
US08947663B2

A dual-modulation Faraday rotation spectroscopic (FRS) system is disclosed. The FRS system uses an FRS sample cell configured to subject a sample to a low frequency modulated magnetic field. The system includes a polarized laser light source configured to generate a high frequency wavelength-modulated light beam incident on the sample, the high frequency wavelength-modulated light beam being modulated at a higher frequency than the low frequency modulated magnetic field. A polarizer is configured to receive from the sample a transmitted light beam having a modulated polarization having a polarization rotation and translate the modulated polarization of the transmitted light beam into an intensity modulated beam. A photodetector is configured to detect the intensity modulated beam and generate a photodetector signal. A dual demodulator is coupled to the photodetector and is configured to demodulate the photodetector signal.
US08947659B1

A time correlated single photon counting system having a time to digital converter triggered by a laser fire event detector and the reception of a single photon. The system may be used for chemical agent detection based on Rayleigh scattering using optical time domain reflectometry techniques. The system may also be used for Raman detection using frequency to time transformations.
US08947653B1

A method for detecting a coating on a bottle includes directing light at a first point of incidence on the bottle and detecting a first intensity of reflected light from the first point of incidence on the bottle. Further, light is directed at a second point of incidence on the bottle and a second intensity of reflected light from the second point of incidence on the bottle is detected. The first intensity is compared to the second intensity to determine whether the coating on the bottle has been uniformly deposited.
US08947652B2

The disclosure provides a photoelectric sensor that provides useful information to set measurement conditions. The photoelectric sensor includes a light emitting unit having a light emitting element configured to emit detection light toward a detection area, a light receiving unit having a light receiving element configured to receive the detection light from the detection area and to obtain a detection value corresponding to the amount of light received, and a display unit configured to display information about the detection value in the light receiving unit. When the detection value varies across a predetermined threshold, the display unit displays a transit time that is the time from when the detection value crosses the predetermined threshold until when it crosses the predetermined threshold again, and a variation amount of the detection value in the variation.
US08947636B2

A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam; a support constructed to support a patterning device, the patterning device being capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam; at least three substrate tables that are each constructed to hold a substrate; and a projection system configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate, wherein the substrate tables are moveable in a common moving area extending substantially in a plane perpendicular to the patterned radiation beam, the moving area comprising at least three working locations of which at least one working location is arranged for exposure of the substrate to the patterned radiation beam and at least one working location is arranged for non-exposure purposes.
US08947635B2

According to one embodiment, an illumination optical system is provided with an optical integrator which forms a predetermined light intensity distribution on an illumination pupil plane in an illumination optical path of the illumination optical system with incidence of exposure light from a light source device thereinto; a transmission filter arranged on the reticle side with respect to the optical integrator and in a first adjustment region set including the illumination pupil plane in an optical-axis direction of the illumination optical system, and having a transmittance characteristic varying according to positions of the exposure light incident thereinto; and a movement mechanism which moves the transmission filter along the optical-axis direction in the first adjustment region.
US08947634B2

An apparatus for supporting an optical element is provided. The apparatus includes a lens cell (1003) and a plurality of fingers (1000) coupled to the lens cell. Each finger includes a base (1012) configured to be coupled to the optical element when mounted therein, first (1006a) and second (1006b) flexures coupled at first respective ends to and extending from the base (1012) at a divergence angle between about 75 and 165 degrees, and a mounting member (1008) configured to couple together second respective ends of the first and second flexures. The mounting member thereby couples the base (1012) to the lens cell (1003).
US08947632B2

A lithographic apparatus includes a patterning subsystem for transferring a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate controlled in accordance with recorded measurements of level variations across a surface of the substrate. A level sensor is provided for projecting a level sensing beam of radiation to reflect from a location on the substrate surface and for detecting the reflected sensing beam to record the surface level at said location. The level sensor incorporates at least one moving optical element to scan the substrate surface by optical movement in at least one dimension to obtain measurements of surface level at different locations without mechanical movement between the level sensor and the substrate. Optical path length equalization measures may be employed, using shaped reflectors and/or additional moving mirrors, to avoid focus variation during the scan.
US08947616B2

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, which includes (1) providing a backlight module, a liquid crystal display panel, and a front bezel, wherein the liquid crystal display panel includes a TFT substrate, a CF substrate attached to the TFT substrate, and liquid crystal interposed between the substrates, an interval zone being formed between an edge of the TFT substrate and an edge of the CF substrate, flip chip films being mounted at intervals to the interval zone; (2) attaching cushioning tapes to the interval zone of the TFT substrate at locations other than the flip chip films; (3) assembling the liquid crystal display panel to the backlight module; and (4) assembling the front bezel to the liquid crystal display panel in such a way that the front bezel is positioned on the cushioning tapes of the liquid crystal display panel.
US08947607B2

A storage capacitor counter electrode (22) provided on an active matrix substrate (100) includes a first portion (22b) creating a storage capacitance with a storage capacitor bus line (12), a second portion (22a) interposed between the first portion (22b) and a drain electrode (24), and a third portion (22c) being provided opposite from the second portion (22a) with the first portion (22b) sandwiched therebetween and protruding from the first portion (22b). The third portion (22c) is disposed so as not to overlie any pixel electrode other than a pixel electrode (30) that is electrically connected to the drain electrode (24).
US08947602B2

According to one embodiment, television receiver includes: first component; second component; pressing member. The pressing member includes: two second fixing portions; pressing portion; first and second arms; first and second reinforcements. Pressing portion presses the first component. First and second arms extend between the pressing portion and the two second fixing portions, respectively. First reinforcement includes a first portion extended from one of the second fixing portions to a first middle point between the one of the second fixing portion and the pressing portion, and positioned away from one of the first fixing portions. Second reinforcement includes a second portion extended from other one of the second fixing portions to a second middle point between the other one of the second fixing portions and the pressing portion, and positioned away from other one of the fixing portions. Second fixing portions are positioned on one side of the first component.
US08947601B2

An image processing apparatus and image processing method are provided. The image processing apparatus includes a video processor which processes and displays an image; a receiver which receives a key signal of a color; and a controller which controls the video processor to display contents corresponding to the color when receiving the key signal of the color.
US08947595B1

A combined fingerprint is generated for a video that can match two near-identical videos that differ only in their aspect ratios or formats. A transformation strategy is selected by selecting a first and a second aspect correction method. A first transformed video is generated by applying the first aspect correction method to the video. A second transformed video is generated by applying the second aspect correction method to the video. A first fingerprint is generated using the first transformed video. A second fingerprint is generated using the second transformed video. The combined fingerprint is generated by combining the first half of the first fingerprint with the second half of the second fingerprint.
US08947585B2

An image capturing apparatus includes: an imaging element; a main lens that condenses light from a subject toward the imaging element; a micro lens array that is configured by a plurality kinds of micro lenses with different focal lengths that is disposed between the imaging element and the main lens and causes light transmitted through the main lens to form an image on the imaging element; and a CPU that, in response to receiving a designation of a distance to a side of a subject that is photographed, performs weighting for each image that is imaged by the plurality kinds of micro lenses of the imaging element based on the distance so as to constitute one captured image.
US08947579B2

In an imaging apparatus, an imager generates an imaged picture by converting incident light from a subject that is incident via a focus lens. A setting unit sets, as a movement range for the focus lens, a range of focus lens positions corresponding to imaging magnifications where the rate of change in the imaging magnification lies within a fixed range from a basis, the basis being an imaging magnification corresponding to the position of the focus lens. A focus controller configured to conduct focus control with respect to the subject by moving the focus lens in the set movement range.
US08947572B2

An apparatus for a dual-sided image sensor is described. The dual-sided image sensor captures frontside image data incident upon a frontside of the dual-sided image sensor within an array of photosensitive regions integrated into a semiconductor layer of the dual-sided image sensor. Backside image data incident upon a backside of the dual-sided image sensor is also captured within the same array of photosensitive regions.
US08947563B2

A method for reducing video crosstalk in a display-camera system includes capturing a first image of a local site while projecting an image of a remote site with a first intensity gain; capturing a second image of the local site while projecting the image with a second gain that is different from the first gain; capturing a first mixed image of the local site that includes the first image combined with the projected image having first gain and a second mixed image of the local site that includes the second image combined with the projected image having second gain; performing crosstalk reduction on the mixed images to create a reconstructed image of the local site, wherein performing crosstalk reduction of the mixed images includes determining whether a pixel value variation between the mixed images is affected by motion in the first and the second image of the local site.
US08947561B2

A capturing device includes an image sensor that generates an image signal by performing photoelectric conversion for light from a subject, a control unit that generates a setting value for setting a range where an image resulting from the image signal is cut, based on a first instruction input from a user, a setting value storage unit that stores the setting value generated by the control unit, an image conversion unit that reads the setting value from the setting value storage unit, and cuts a specific region specified by the setting value from the image and enlarges the cut region, when there is a second instruction input from the user, and an output unit that converts a signal of the image cut and enlarged by the image conversion unit into an image signal of a predetermined format and outputs the converted image signal.
US08947555B2

Systems and methods to improve the white balance of a high dynamic range image are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, an imaging device includes a camera sensor and a processor, the processor configured to capture a lighter image and a darker image of a scene. The processor is then configured to white balance the lighter image based on the lighter regions of the image, and to white balance the darker image based on the darker regions of the image. The two images can then be combined to produce a final image.
US08947548B2

A camera body at which an interchangeable lens, holding a plurality of sets of optical characteristics data, each expressing specific optical characteristics in one of a plurality of representation formats, can be detachably mounted, includes: an identification information reception unit that receives lens-side identification information from the interchangeable lens, which indicates the plurality of representation formats; an identification information storage unit in which body-side identification information indicating each representation format that the camera body is capable of recognizing among the plurality of representation formats, is stored; a selection unit that selects a single representation format included in both the lens-side and the body-side identification information, among the plurality of representation formats; a request unit that issues a request to the interchangeable lens for the optical characteristics data corresponding to the selected representation format; and an optical characteristics reception unit that receives the requested optical characteristics data from the interchangeable lens.
US08947539B2

The present invention provides an apparatus for evaluating video quality based on a hybrid type which, when bit stream data is received, extracts first evaluation parameters based on the received bit stream data to calculate a preliminary video quality score based on the first extracted evaluation parameters and then extracts second evaluation parameters, and calculates a final video quality score by adjusting the preliminary video quality score based on the second extracted evaluation parameters and methods thereof.
US08947534B2

A device for use with an imaging system that is operable to provide an image signal based on an object disposed at a first distance from the imaging system. The imaging system includes a first camera, a second camera and a display. The first camera is operable to generate a first image signal based on the object and includes a first optics system and a first detector. The first optics system has a focal length, whereas the first detector has a resolution. The second camera is operable to generate a second image signal based on the object. The second camera includes a second optics system and a second detector. The second optics system has the same focal length of the first optics system and the second detector has the same resolution as the first detector. The second camera is separated from the first camera by a second distance. The display is operable to display an image based on a modified image. The device comprises an image processor that is operable to establish a virtual separation membrane and to output a modified image based on the first image signal, the second image signal, the virtual separation membrane, the second distance, the focal length and the resolution.
US08947528B2

A classification of a container is identified using a mobile station including an image capture device and an RFID reader having a reader antenna. The container has two RFID tags affixed thereto at respective, different locations. Each tag has a directional antenna steered in a different direction, so that a reader location is defined in the intersection of the antenna propagation patterns. Using the image capture device, one or more images of the container are captured. A controller determines, using the captured image data, whether the mobile station is in a candidate reader location. When the mobile station is in the candidate reader location, the RFID reader attempts to read both tags. If both tags are read while the mobile station is in the candidate reader location, the controller determines the classification of the container is a classification corresponding to the candidate reader location.
US08947527B1

Zoom illumination system for use with closed circuit TV cameras in applications requiring long distance illumination, such as surveillance and night vision. The system includes multiple strings of LEDs, which may have additional lenses, with each LED string capable of providing illumination for a predetermined viewing angle. The LED strings can be switched on and off to provide illumination as desired.
US08947521B1

The invention may be embodied in a time delay integration (TDI) based sensor wafer inspection system that introduces controlled blur into the sampled image to suppress high spectral frequencies and thereby mitigate the occurrence of aliasing in the sampled image. Image blur may be introduced in the scan direction by desynchronizing the image motion (scan rate) from the charge transfer rate within the TDI sensor (sample clock rate). The scan rate may be desynchronized from the TDI sample clock rate by altering the speed of wafer movement, the sample clock rate, or the magnification of the imaging optics. Image blur may be introduced in the cross-scan direction by imparting a small alignment difference between the direction of image motion (image scan direction) and the direction that charges transfer within the TDI sensor (sensor direction).
US08947503B2

A video processing system may receive a first frame comprising pixel data for a first 3-D view of an image, which may be referred to as first 3-D view pixel data, and receive a second frame comprising pixel data for a second 3-D view of the image, which may be referred to as second 3-D view pixel data. The system may generate a multi-view frame comprising the first 3-D view pixel data and the second 3-D view pixel data. The system may make a decision for performing processing of the image, wherein the decision is generated based on one or both of the first 3-D view pixel data and/or the second 3-D view pixel data. The system may process the 3-D multi-view frame based on the decision. The image processing operation may comprise, for example, deinterlacing, filtering, and cadence processing such as 3:2 pulldown.
US08947499B2

Methods and systems for communicating with rate control. A communication is sent and received from a first device to a second device over a network, wherein the communication comprises at least one audio stream and a second communication stream. A capacity of the network is probed at the first device for the sending and receiving the communication. A presence of a voice in the at least one audio stream is detected at the first device via a voice activity detection of the at least one audio stream. A rate limit is set for the sending and receiving the communication at the first device based on the capacity of the network and the detection of the presence of the at least one audio stream.
US08947495B2

A telepresence device allows a remote meeting participant to establish a telepresence at a remote meeting location. The telepresence device provides a video image of the remote meeting participant on a video display screen at a meeting location To enhance the visual sensation that the remote person is present at the meeting location, the telepresence device may display the silhouette image of the remote meeting participant without the image of the background scene of the remote participant's location (e.g., office, home or home office). Further, the telepresence device may be equipped with a rear-facing camera that captures a video image of the background scene behind the telepresence device at the meeting location. The silhouette image of the remote meeting participant may be superimposed on the video image of the background scene at the meeting location, which is captured by the rear-facing camera.
US08947494B2

A pointer information processing device includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor executes a process including acquiring a position of a conference participant in a first image captured toward the conference participant, detecting a light-emitting point of a laser pointer, detecting a radiated point of the laser pointer, identifying the conference participant that is using the laser pointer having the light-emitting point by comparing a position of the detected light-emitting point within the first image to the acquired position of the conference participant, associating the detected light-emitting point with the detected radiated point, and recording respective position information of the detected light-emitting point and the detected radiated point associated with each other at the associating and information about the conference participant identified at the identifying in the memory in an associated manner.
US08947492B2

Video streams are generated using a combination of Multiple Bit Rate (MBR) encoding and Scalable Video Coding (SVC). Capabilities and requests of the clients are used in determining the video streams to generate as well as what video streams to deliver to the clients. The clients are placed into groups based on a resolution capability of the client. For each resolution grouping, MBR is used for generating spatial streams and SVC is used for generating temporal and quality streams.
US08947490B2

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for processing video. In one method, analog image information is acquired over an exposure period, and digital image information is generated from the analog image information at a frame period where the exposure period is greater than the frame period. In another method, stored characteristic information such as images of parties are compared to a received characteristic information. If there is a match, a communication link is established between the parties.
US08947480B2

The printer (1) includes a control unit (20) including a function reproducing multiple tones by outputting energization data that is dot control data in multiple cycles in line units to a head unit (10) including a plurality of dot generating elements disposed in a line. The control unit (20) includes: a thermal head control circuit (60) supplying the energization data of each cycle and a latch signal for the energization data of each cycle to the head unit (10); and a mask circuit (70) operable when the energization data of the current cycle is the same as the energization data of the previous cycle, to erase the current energization data and the signal for latching to be supplied to the head unit (10).
US08947476B2

A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel and a driving circuit that supplies display signals to a plurality of subpixels of the liquid crystal display panel. The plurality of subpixels are a red subpixel, a green subpixel, a blue subpixel, and a yellow subpixel. When achromatic colors of at least some gray levels among all gray levels are to be displayed by the pixel, display signals which are supplied to a first subpixel group composed of certain two subpixels are display signals of the same grayscale level, whereas display signals which are supplied to a second subpixel group composed of the other two subpixels are display signals of a different grayscale level from the grayscale level of the display signals supplied to the first subpixel group. The first subpixel group includes the yellow subpixel, and the second subpixel group includes the blue subpixel.
US08947474B2

An LCD device is discussed which includes: a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines arranged on a substrate; a data driver configured to apply data voltages the data lines; a gamma generator configured to apply a plurality of gamma voltages to the data driver, wherein the data line receives the data voltage which has an inverted polarity to those of data voltages on the adjacent data lines thereto, is inverted n times in polarity for every frame, and is over-driven for the gate lines opposite to time points of the polarity inversions.
US08947441B2

There is provided a system and method for database driven action capture. By utilizing low cost, lightweight MEMS devices such as accelerometers, a user friendly, wearable, and cost effective system for motion capture is provided, which relies on a motion database of previously recorded motions to reconstruct the actions of a user. By relying on the motion database, calculation errors such as integration drift are avoided and the need for complex and expensive positional compensation hardware is avoided. The accelerometers may be implemented in an E-textile embodiment using inexpensive off-the-shelf components. In some embodiments, compression techniques may be used to accelerate linear best match searching against the motion database. Adjacent selected motions may also be blended together for improved reconstruction results and visual rendering quality. Various perceivable effects may be triggered in response to the reconstructed motion, such as animating a 3D avatar, playing sounds, or operating a motor.
US08947435B2

Disclosed are a host apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus and an information displaying method thereof. An information displaying method of a host apparatus which receives a data of at least one image forming apparatus including: receiving a data of the image forming apparatus; displaying a User Interface (UI) screen including a data area displaying the data by item and a graphic area displaying a graph of the data in the data area; adding a data of an item in the data area to the graphic area; determining whether the data of the item added is graphicalizable; and graphicalizing and displaying the data of the item added in the graphic area according to the determination result. With this, the host apparatus provides a user with convenience in facilitating graph reprocessing and data expansion as the user needs with regard to a web solution or an application to control information of the image forming apparatus.
US08947433B2

An apparatus for visualizing data includes memory for storing sensor data and a processor. The processor is configured to generate a map of a geographic area, and to display at a first location on the map at least one icon graphically representing a measurement of the sensor at the first location over a period of time and graphically representing the period of time.
US08947430B1

A method for rendering a particle-based fluid surface includes generating a depth image of a plurality of particles which form a fluid surface, and smoothing the depth image to generate a smoothed depth image. From the smoothed depth image, a smoothed surface position and a smoothed surface normal for each of a plurality of pixels included within the smoothed depth image is determined, and a shaded surface of the fluid is rendered as a function of the smoothed surface positions and the smoothed surface normals.
US08947426B2

A display control apparatus of the present invention displays a plurality of images on a display device capable of performing three-dimensional representation by laying out the images at a predetermined interval in a depth direction of three-dimensional representation, and includes a determination unit configured to determine a display interval between the plurality of images belonging to an identical group depending on the number of images contained in the group, a layout unit configured to lay out the plurality of images in a depth direction based on the display interval of each group determined by the determination unit, and a display control unit configured to display the images laid out by the layout unit on the display device.
US08947424B2

A stereoscopic digital projection system that projects stereoscopic images including first-eye images and second-eye images onto a display surface. The first-eye images are formed using red, green and blue first-eye light emitters having corresponding spectral bands with red, green and blue first-eye central wavelengths, λR1, λG1 and λB1. The second-eye images are formed using red, green and blue second-eye light emitters having corresponding spectral bands with red, green and blue second-eye central wavelengths, λR2, λG2 and λB2. The central wavelengths are arranged such that λB1<λB2<λG2<λG1<λR1<λR2. An image forming system including at least one spatial light modulator is used to form first-eye and second-eye modulated images by modulating light from the first-eye and second light emitters. Projection optics are used to deliver the first-eye and second-eye modulated images to a display surface.
US08947405B2

An electromagnetic stylus includes a hollow body, a pen-nib device, an energy transforming device, a circuit board, and an electricity storage device. The pen-nib device is disposed at one end of the hollow body. The energy transforming device is disposed in the hollow body for converting variations in a physical quantity into electrical signals. The circuit board is disposed in the hollow body and electrically connected to the energy transforming device for rectifying the electrical signals transformed by the energy transforming device. The electricity storage device is disposed in the hollow body and electrically connected to the pen-nib device, for receiving the electrical signals transmitted from the circuit board to generate electrical energy and providing the electrical energy to the pen-nib device to generate electromagnetic signals.
US08947398B2

A capacitive touch panel sequentially has a first glass substrate, a lower touch sensitive layer, a lower insulation ink layer, a lower conductor layer, a lower insulation layer, a lower conductive adhesive layer, a flexible circuit board, a transparent insulation adhesive layer, an upper insulation layer, an upper conductive adhesive layer, an upper conductor layer, an upper insulation ink layer, an upper touch sensitive layer and a second glass substrate. The aforementioned structure allows fabrication of the capacitive touch panel to be separated into a lower panel fabrication process and an upper panel fabrication process. The two independent fabrication processes prevent the capacitive touch panel from being damaged in one of the processes when the process is completed so as to increase the yield in production and further facilitate producing large-size touch panel.
US08947397B2

According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a display detects a position of a first contact in which an area of contact with an object is equal to or smaller than a first threshold value, and a position of a second contact in which an area of contact with an object is equal to or larger than a second threshold value, a corrector corrects the position in which the first contact is sensed, and a drawing module draws at least one of a locus of a position corrected by the correction module, and a locus of the position of the first contact. The corrector corrects the position in which the first contact is sensed, by using at least one of whether the second contact is sensed, and a positional relationship between the first contact and the second contact.
US08947390B1

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a touch sensor that includes a mesh of conductive material configured to extend across a display that includes multiple pixels that each include sub-pixels. The mesh includes multiple first and second lines of conductive material. The first lines are substantially parallel to each other, and the second lines are substantially parallel to each other. Each of the pixels has a first pixel pitch (PPx) along a first axis and a second pixel pitch (PPy) along a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis. The first pixel pitch is a distance between corresponding features of two adjacent pixels along the first axis, and the second pixel pitch is a distance between corresponding features of two adjacent pixels along the second axis. The first lines extend across the display at a first angle relative to the first axis.
US08947385B2

Disclosed is a method of interactive display that includes providing a touch-based display screen capable of stereoscopic displaying of object images that further includes displaying a plurality of object images on the display screen, wherein at least a first of the object images is selectable and displayed so as to appear to be located at least partially in a zero-plane of the display screen, wherein at least a second of the object images is displayed so as to appear to be located at least one of inwardly and outwardly of the zero-plane, receiving a first input at a location of the display screen substantially corresponding to the first of the object images, and identifying the first input as corresponding to the first of the object images that is selectable and taking at least one further action upon the identification.
US08947382B2

An electronic device can include detectors for altering the presentation of data on one or more displays. In a wearable electronic device, a flexible housing can be configured to enfold about an appendage of a user, such as a user's wrist. A display can disposed along a major face of the flexible housing. A control circuit can be operable with the display. A gaze detector can be included to detect a gaze direction, and optionally a gaze cone. An orientation detector can be configured to detect an orientation of the electronic device relative to the user. The control circuit can alter a presentation of data on the display in response to a detected gaze direction, in response to detected orientation of the wearable electronic device relative to the user, in response to touch or gesture input, or combinations thereof. Secondary displays can be hingedly coupled to the electronic device.
US08947377B2

A system and method for synchronization of touch-panel devices is described. In one embodiment, the system includes a first controller device configured to control operations of a first portion of a touch-panel device such that the first controller device is further configured to generate a single master timing signal. The single master timing signal is configured to synchronize operation of the first controller device and a second controller device that is configured to control operations of a second portion of a touch-panel device.
US08947376B2

A dual-screen user device and methods for revealing a combination of desktops on single and multiple screens are disclosed. Specifically, a determined number of desktops is displayed to at least one of the screens of the device conditioned upon input received and the state of the device. Where a screen of the device is determined to be inactive, the desktop is not displayed to the screen, but is stored in a virtually displayed state by the device. Upon receiving input that the inactive screen is active, the device can actually display the desktop to the screen.
US08947373B2

A method and apparatus for reducing influence of noise for touch screen controllers employing noise listening synchronization, delay lines, filtering and sensing selected touch screen electrodes.
US08947368B2

A touch screen panel includes a transparent substrate; a plurality of first sensing patterns at a first side of the transparent substrate and coupled to each other along a first direction; a plurality of second sensing patterns at the first side of the transparent substrate and coupled to each other along a second direction, the second sensing patterns being alternately arranged with the first sensing patterns not to overlap with the first sensing patterns; and a phase difference compensating layer at the first side of the transparent substrate and adapted to compensate for a birefringence phase difference of a liquid crystal layer in a liquid crystal display panel at a second side of the transparent substrate.
US08947359B2

An information processing apparatus includes: an apparatus body including a body having a keyboard and a display unit attached to the body so as to be opened and closed; an acceleration sensor mounted on the apparatus body; a gesture motion determination unit mounted on the apparatus body and determining a reference posture of a holding state of the apparatus body taken when a user executes a given gesture function while holding the apparatus body based on acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor as well as determining a gesture motion executed by the user by detecting posture change of the apparatus body from the reference posture based on acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor; and an operation execution unit mounted on the apparatus body and executing a given operation corresponding to the gesture motion executed by the user based on the determination result in the gesture motion determination unit.
US08947353B2

Photosensor array gesture detection techniques are described. In one or more embodiments, a computing device includes an array of photosensors. The photosensor array can be configured in various ways to measure changes in the amount of light that occur based upon a user's hand position above the photosensor array. In at least some embodiments, capacitance associated with the photosensors is charged and data regarding discharge rates for the sensors is collected that is indicative of the amount of incident light. Sequential changes in the amount of light that is measured across the array of photosensors can be used to determine positioning and/or movement of the user's hand in three dimensions (e.g., track position/motion in three-dimensional (3D) space relative to the computing device.) Accordingly, various gestures can be defined in terms of input obtained via the photosensor array and recognized to trigger corresponding operations by the computing device.
US08947352B2

An image processing apparatus which is capable of preventing the display of an operation item, such as an icon, from hindering user's viewing an image which the user desires to view. A distance and position-detecting section and a system controller detect a distance between a screen and an operation element. The system controller displays at least one operation candidate item on the screen when the detected distance becomes not larger than a first threshold distance. Further, when the detected distance becomes not larger than the first predetermined threshold distance, the system controller changes a display form of the operation candidate item depending on the detected distance and displays the operation candidate item as an operable item.
US08947350B2

A system and method, in a television control device, for generating screen pointing information, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.
US08947342B2

A method and apparatus for controlling a backlight unit of a three-dimensional (3D) display apparatus receiving a 3D video sequence is provided. The method includes determining the image brightness level of the 3D video sequence displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit, for each of a plurality of partial regions of the LCD unit to which a plurality of sub-blocks of the backlight unit emit light; determining turn-on times of the plurality of sub-blocks of the backlight unit, based on the image brightness of each of the partial regions of the LCD unit; and determining turn-on periods of the plurality of sub-blocks of the backlight unit by synchronizing with a switching period between a set including a left visual point frame and a right visual point frame of the 3D video sequence.
US08947339B2

A method for displaying an input image on a display includes receiving the input image to be displayed on the display. The image is modified with a first process to determine a driving signal for a two-dimensional backlight array of independently selectable light emitting elements of the display. The first modified image is modified with a second noise reducing process to determine a driving signal for a two-dimensional liquid crystal layer defining pixels of the display. The two-dimensional backlight array has a different density of light emitting elements than the two-dimensional liquid crystal layer defining the pixels of the display.
US08947336B2

A display driving method comprises the steps of: determining a first target-level voltage and a second target-level voltage of a signal of the scan line; determining a first switch time and a second switch time according to an RC loading of the scan line; determining at least one first precharge-level voltage and at least one second precharge-level voltage according to the first target-level voltage, the second target-level voltage, the first switch time, and the second switch time; and outputting the first precharge-level voltage, the first target-level voltage, the second precharge-level voltage, and the second target-level voltage to drive the display panel, wherein the first precharge-level voltage is switched to the first target-level voltage after the first switch time, and the second precharge-level voltage is switched to the second target-level voltage after the second switch time.
US08947322B1

Exemplary methods and systems relate to a wearable computing device determining a user-context and dynamically changing the content of a user-interface based on the determined user-context. The device may determine a user-context based on digital context; such as a text document a user is reading or a current website the device is accessing. User-context may also be based on physical context; such as the device's location or the air temperature around a user. Once a user-context is determined, a device may identify content that is related to the user-context and add objects representing this related content to a user-interface.
US08947317B2

A reflective impedance element is connected to a port of a composite right/left-handed transmission line, and operates at a predetermined operating frequency so that an impedance when the reflective impedance element is seen from the port becomes a pure imaginary number jB. A reflective impedance component is connected to a port of the composite right/left-handed transmission line, and operates at the predetermined operating frequency so that an impedance when the reflective impedance element is seen from the port becomes −jB.
US08947301B2

A planar antenna for wireless information transfer can include a planar loading portion electrically coupled to a driven node of a wireless communication circuit, and a folded conductive strip portion coupled to the planar loading portion, the folded conductive strip portion comprising at least two segments laterally offset from each other and at least partially laterally overlapping with each other. The planar loading portion can be configured to establish a specified bandwidth of a second operating frequency range, leaving a first specified operating frequency range substantially unchanged.
US08947296B2

A system includes a radar antenna and a radar controller. The radar controller generates two narrowband radar signals, each narrowband radar signal having substantially constant frequency, the frequencies of the two narrowband radar signals differing from one another. The controller operates the radar antenna to transmit each of the generated narrowband radar signals as a transmitted signal, each transmitted signal being characterized by a transmitted power. The controller also measures a received power of received signals that are received by the radar antenna, each received signal including a portion of a corresponding one of the transmitted signals that was returned from an object or from a calibration surface at a known calibration range. A processor operating in accordance with programmed instructions calculates a range to the object on the basis of the transmitted and received powers.
US08947280B2

An integrated-circuit, continuous-time, sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter has a single-ended analog input, a converter reference input, and a ground connection. The converter has a resistor-capacitor integrator arranged to receive the single-ended analog input. The integrator comprises a differential amplifier. The converter also has a clocked comparator connected to an output from the integrator, and circuitry arranged so that reference inputs to the amplifier and to the comparator can be maintained at a common voltage derived from the converter reference input.
US08947275B2

A high-quality Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) is used to calibrate a difference attributable to a capacitor mismatch in a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). The present invention is advantageous in that it can fabricate a low-power high-resolution ADC by calibrating an error attributable to a capacitor mismatch through a digital background calibration apparatus and method using a Successive Approximation Register (SAR).
US08947273B2

An encoder for encoding a sequence of symbols is described which has an assigner configured to assign a number of parameters to each symbol of the sequence of symbols based on information contained within previous symbols of the sequence of symbols; a plurality of entropy encoders each of which is configured to convert the symbols forwarded to the respective entropy encoder into a respective bitstream; and a selector configured to forward each symbol to a selected one of the plurality of entropy encoders, the selection depending on the number of parameters assigned to the respective symbol.
US08947268B2

An instrument panel for a rotorcraft having two pilot seats, said instrument panel being arranged under an anti-glare shield (4) and including display means (2), at least some of the display means (2) being suitable for acting as communications means, said display means (2) comprising a first set (5) of display means (2) arranged on the instrument panel, and a second set (6) of display means (2) arranged on the instrument panel, wherein the instrument panel includes, symmetrically relative to a longitudinal axis, a central dashboard (3), and at least two lateral dashboards arranged on either side of the central dashboard (3), the dashboards being mutually parallel and presenting a forward longitudinal offset from one dashboard to the next starting from the central dashboard (3).
US08947263B2

A computer-implemented method for assessing traffic status with sensors is provided. The method includes receiving sensor readings from a plurality of mobile sensors for detecting a traffic parameter and obtaining traffic information associated with the received sensor readings. The method also includes identifying a change in traffic based on the obtained traffic information and the received sensor reading, and determining whether a traffic incident has occurred based on the identified change. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.
US08947256B2

An intelligent monitoring system for a sucker rod including a monitor center, a remote wireless communication equipment communicating with the monitor center and connected with a movement detection and storage equipment of the sucker rod, a radio frequency reader/writer, and a radio frequency storage chip. The movement detection and storage equipment of the sucker rod is connected with the radio frequency reader/writer. The radio frequency storage chip is disposed on the sucker rod to store the information of the sucker rod. The monitoring system can detect and record reciprocating or circumvolving movement of the sucker rod as well as the motion state of the sucker rod in an oil well.
US08947254B2

There is disclosed methods and systems for managing drop boxes. Events reflecting outputs from one or more sensors are detected. Information that is a function of the detected event is forwarded to a drop box management system. This information, along with additional information received by the drop box management system, is utilized to generate instructions including display instructions for each drop box. Displays of drop boxes are then updated based on the instructions.
US08947225B2

A method and system for providing information about mobile communication devices with respect to an area of interest is disclosed. Initially, information about an event having an area of interest is received. A request is provided to one or more communications providers that cover the area of interest for a listing of any mobile communication devices located within the area of interest. The listing of any mobile communication devices located within the area of interest is utilized to establish an approximate number of persons in the area of interest.
US08947223B2

A lighting system for use with an emergency vehicle comprises at least one elongated lighting bar mounted to an exterior surface of the emergency vehicle, the lighting bar comprises a plurality of lighting elements operable to emit light, the at least one lighting bar operable to be placed in a first substantially horizontal lowered position and a second substantially vertical raised position, and a controller electrically coupled to the at least one lighting bar and configured to receive user input and controllably place the at least one lighting bar in one of a raised and lowered positions in response to the user input, the controller further configurable to operate the plurality of lighting elements in a predetermined repeating on/off sequence involving increasing number of lit lighting elements and increasing light intensity over time.
US08947221B2

A system includes a processor configured to determine if a vehicle computing system (VCS) has been placed in a monitoring mode. The processor is also configured to detect and log the connection or disconnection of any remote devices. The processor is further configured to flag logs if the VCS is in a monitoring mode. Also, the processor is configured to detect the presence of a known vehicle driver or the termination of the monitoring mode and report any flagged logs upon known driver detection or monitoring mode termination.
US08947217B2

A human machine interface (HMI) for an automotive vehicle comprises an instrument cluster and at least one head-up display for displaying information. The HMI includes at least one picture generation unit, each of which includes a laser for generating a modulated laser beam and a micro-electromechanical scanning minor arranged in the optical path of the laser beam for sweeping the laser beam over a diffuser in a two-dimensional Lissajous pattern. The HMI further comprises a central control unit that may be interfaced with a vehicle's on-board computer and/or another on-board device. A processor of the central control unit is configured to determine the pictures to be generated by the at least two picture generation units and to calculate, for each picture generation unit, the two-dimensional Lissajous pattern and the modulation of the at least one laser beam, the combination of which results in the respective picture to be displayed.
US08947207B2

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a first assembly, a second assembly, and a coupling element coupled to the first assembly and the second assembly. The first assembly includes a processor, a memory, and a radiator module, the processor operatively coupled to the memory and the radiator module. The second assembly includes a radiator operatively coupled to the radiator module. The second assembly is movable relative to the first assembly about the coupling element between a first configuration and a second configuration. The processor is configured to interrogate a radio-frequency identification module via the radiator module and the radiator when the second assembly is in the second configuration.
US08947204B1

A system and method for identifying an object are provided. An encoded substrate includes at least one layer of material having a matrix of zones arranged on surface thereof to represent optically coded information. At least one zone of the matrix of zones is configured to absorb a predetermined first wavelength of an electromagnetic radiation. A scanner is configured to receive a reflected electromagnetic radiation associated with the matrix of zones. The optically coded information is extracted from the reflected electromagnetic radiation.
US08947202B2

A primary portable device can access a vehicle by transmitting an activation message including a vehicle access credential to the vehicle. The primary portable device can additionally enable a secondary portable device to access the vehicle by transmitting the vehicle access credential to the secondary portable device. The connections between the primary portable device, secondary portable device, and vehicle can be based on a short-range wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE.
US08947200B2

An authentication server for a wireless lock system comprising a wireless lock and a key device is configured to receive and authenticate a validation message. The validation message is created at the wireless lock from a secret key contained in the wireless lock. The authentication server receives the validation message from the key device, receives a certificate of ownership provided by the user, and authenticates the validation message and key device using copies each stored in a database of the authentication server. The authentication is configured to associate the user with the lock ID upon successfully authenticating the validation message, thereby enabling the authorizations server to provide the user with digital credentials to open the lock.
US08947190B2

The present invention relates to a planar transformer, the transformer including a core provided to induce formation of a magnetic field, a bobbin coupled to a core, at least one primary winding interposed between the core and the bobbin to supply a power signal, a first insulation unit provided to the at least one primary winding to insulate the at least one primary winding, at least one secondary winding provided to the first insulation unit and insulated by the first insulation unit to transform the power signal, and a second insulation unit provided to the at least one secondary winding to insulate the at least one secondary winding.
US08947188B2

The invention relates to a tap changer for the interruption-free switchover between winding taps of a tap-changing transformer. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a novel vacuum interrupter which is particularly suitable for such a tap changer. The tap changer according to the invention is based on the general concept of combining in each case one main contact (V1) and one mechanical switching means (U1), connected in series therewith, of a first load branch and an additional resistive contact (V3) of a second load branch in only a single vacuum interrupter (1) with a common housing (5). The vacuum interrupter (1) according to the invention is furthermore based on the general inventive concept of replacing the functionalities of two required vacuum interrupters in accordance with the prior art and an additional mechanical switching means with a single vacuum interrupter (1) according to the invention by virtue of combining the design of a vacuum interrupter (1) with a plurality of moveable contact systems (I, II, III), which are arranged in separate vacuum interrupter chambers (2, 3, 4) which are sealed with respect to one another.
US08947175B2

A low pass filter includes a laminate including a plurality of insulating layers stacked in a z-axis direction and a mounting surface on a negative side in the z-axis direction. An external electrode is disposed on a lower surface of the laminate and is grounded. The laminate houses a substantially spiral coil having a central axis extending in the z-axis direction. Via-hole conductors extend from the end on the positive side in the z-axis direction of the coil toward the negative side in the z-axis direction. The external electrode and the end on the positive side in the z-axis direction of the coil are electrically coupled to each other through the via-hole conductors.
US08947173B2

A ferrite element for a circulator comprises a first segment extending in a first direction from a center portion of the ferrite element; a second segment extending in a second direction from the center portion of the ferrite element; and a third segment extending in a third direction from the center portion of the ferrite element. Each of the first segment, the second segment, and the third segment has a respective width and include a channel located at a respective distance from a center point of the ferrite element. At least one of the respective width of each segment or the respective distance from the center point for the channel in each segment is different for each respective segment such that the first segment operates over a first frequency sub-band, the second segment operates over a second frequency sub-band, and the third segment operates over a third frequency sub-band.
US08947169B2

An oscillating device includes an atomic oscillator, an oven controlled crystal oscillator, a correcting unit configured to correct an output signal of the oven controlled crystal oscillator on the basis of an output signal of the atomic oscillator, a housing configured to house the atomic oscillator and the oven controlled crystal oscillator, and a temperature adjusting unit configured to adjust the temperature in the housing to a predetermined temperature.
US08947166B2

A radio frequency power amplifier includes: an amplifying element which amplifies an input signal and outputs the signal from an output terminal; and an output load circuit which includes a first resonant circuit and a second resonant circuit that are connected to the output terminal. The first resonant circuit has a resonance frequency higher than the frequency of the second harmonic of the input signal, and the second resonant circuit has a resonance frequency lower than the frequency of the third harmonic of the input signal. The output load circuit has such an impedance looking from the output terminal that a phase of a reflection coefficient at the second harmonic of the input signal is greater than 180 degrees and less than 360 degrees, and a phase of a reflection coefficient at the third harmonic of the input signal is greater than 0 degrees and less than 180 degrees.
US08947165B2

The present invention relates to a Doherty power amplifier in which a new operation mode for accomplishing high efficiency at a lower output power level is added to operation of a conventional Doherty power amplifier, thereby achieving high efficiency at various output power levels of the power amplifier. The multi-mode Doherty power amplifier to which a second power mode is added may be reduced in size so as to be integrated into a chip.
US08947160B2

A Lange coupler having a first plurality of lines on a first level and a second plurality of lines on a second level. At least one line on the first level is cross-coupled to a respective line on the second level via electromagnetic waves traveling through the first and second plurality of lines. The first and second plurality of lines may be made of metal, and the first level may be higher than the second level. A substrate may be provided into which the first and second plurality of lines are etched so as to define an on-chip Lange coupler.
US08947155B2

A solid-state relay is provided, which includes a first transistor, a second transistor, a first transmission circuit, and a second transmission circuit. A gate of the first transistor is connected to one of a source and a drain of the second transistor, one of a source and a drain of the first transistor is connected to a first terminal, and the other of the source and the drain of the first transistor is connected to a second terminal. The first transmission circuit supplies a first signal to the gate of the first transistor. The second transmission circuit supplies a second signal to a gate of the second transistor. The first terminal is connected to the second terminal when the first transistor is turned on by the first signal.
US08947143B2

The duty cycle corrector for correcting a system clock signal comprises a duty cycle detector and a duty cycle adjuster. The duty cycle detector is configured for detecting a system duty cycle of the system clock signal and generating the first control signal and the second control signal, wherein the first control signal and the second control signal are complementary to each other. The duty cycle adjuster comprises an inverter and the duty cycle adjuster is configured for delaying a change in an input status of the inverter and adjusting of the inverter in accordance with the first control signal and the second control signal.
US08947141B2

A differential amplifier may be configured to have a duty cycle and/or gain that is adjustable, such as by adjusting the switch points of circuitry in the differential amplifier. The differential amplifier may alternatively or additionally have a hysteresis function by, for example, using a signal feedback from the output of the amplifier to adjust the switch points of circuitry in the differential amplifier. The differential amplifier may be used for a variety of purposes, such as in an input buffer or delay line, either of which may be used, for example, in a clock generator circuit.
US08947138B2

In a phase adjustment circuit, a first phase adjuster has a plurality of parallel-connected first inverters that receives an input signal to be phase-adjusted, wherein a first inverter to be activated is selected by a first control signal. A second phase adjuster has a plurality of parallel-connected second inverters that receives the input signal with a predetermined delay time, wherein a second inverter to be activated is selected by a second control signal. An output circuit receives output signals of the first and second phase adjusters and outputs a signal whose phase is adjusted within a range of the delay time. The second phase adjuster further includes transistors connected to the second inverters. During the delay time, these transistors block a current path between the first and second phase adjusters, under the control of the input signal.
US08947135B2

An output circuit includes: a first PMOS transistor and a second PMOS transistor connected in series between a high potential side power supply and an output node; a first NMOS transistor and a second NMOS transistor connected in series between a low potential side power supply and the output node; a bias voltage generation circuit outputting a first bias voltage to a first bias node connected to a gate terminal of the second PMOS transistor and a second bias voltage to a second bias node connected to a gate terminal of the second NMOS transistor; first and second bias voltage stabilization circuits suppressing fluctuations in the first and second bias voltages; and a control circuit detecting a change in a signal that fluctuates the first bias voltage and the second bias voltage and controlling the first and second bias voltage stabilization circuits.
US08947129B2

The preferred embodiments of the present invention use low voltage transistors to support high voltage switching circuits by connecting low voltage circuits in a stacking configuration. High voltage switching signals are divided into a plurality of small amplitude switching signals before sending into transformers, filters or other circuits. The resulting circuits can support high voltage applications while achieving cost and performance advantages of low voltage circuits.
US08947114B2

An inspecting method for an object to be inspected is provided to bring probes of a probe card into electrical contact with a predetermined number of devices of target devices of the object at a time to inspect electrical characteristics of the target devices by moving a mounting table for mounting thereon the object under the control of a control unit. Upon completion of the inspection of the target devices, if inspection errors have occurred in specific devices of the target devices in a regular pattern, the target devices are re-examined, and when the re-examination is carried out, a contact position between the probe card and the object is displaced from a contact position in a previous inspection by a distance of at least one device to inspect electrical characteristics of the number of devices of the target devices at a time.
US08947112B2

Provided is a switching apparatus that switches a connection state between two terminals, comprising a switch that switches the connection state between the two terminals according to a control voltage supplied thereto; a driving section that provides the switch with the control voltage corresponding to a control signal supplied thereto; and a changing section that changes the control voltage output from the driving section, according to a designated switching time. The changing section may change power supplied as a power supply to the driving section, according to the designated switching time. The changing section may change the control voltage output from the driving section prior to switching of the switch.
US08947110B2

Embodiments of suspension clamps for use in testing membrane samples used in fuel cells are provided. One example of a suspension clamp comprises a frame, a clamp member, a plurality of electrodes, and a suspension component. The clamp member is hingedly attached to one end of the frame. Each of the plurality of electrodes extends along a membrane-facing surface of at least one of the clamp member and the frame. A suspension component is attached to at least one of the clamp member and the frame and is configured to suspend the suspension clamp during testing of a membrane sample. The suspension clamp can be used to measure one or more of resistance, impedance, conductance, proton permeability and through-thickness of the membrane sample.
US08947109B2

A device is provided for protecting an electronic payment terminal, which includes at least one printed circuit and one casing. The device includes at least one capacitive detector having a first part electrically connected to the printed circuit and a second part mounted within the casing of the electronic payment terminal without being electrically connected to the first part. The at least one capacitive detector is configured to deliver a reference capacitance when it is mounted in the electronic payment terminal. The device also includes a capacitive measurement microprocessor electrically connected to the at least one capacitive detector and configured to detect a variation in capacitance of the at least one capacitive detector. The device includes a transmitter for transmitting a piece of information representing the variation in capacitance when an absolute value of a difference between the measured capacitance and the reference capacitance exceeds a predetermined threshold.
US08947104B2

A method for in situ monitoring of a membrane of a membrane separation system comprises measuring a complex impedance of the membrane at a plurality of frequencies to provide an indication of the electrical conduction and electrical polarization properties of the membrane. The membrane based separation system for removing or reducing the concentration of materials carried in a fluid including a separation membrane has a first pair of electrodes separated by the membrane and arranged for measurement of the complex impedance of the membrane at a plurality of frequencies to provide the indication of the membrane properties. There may also be a second pair of electrodes separated by the membrane for injecting the stimulus current such that the injecting and monitoring functions are separated.
US08947095B2

Multi-array laterolog tool systems and methods acquire a set of array measurements sufficient to provide laterolog tool measurements of differing array sizes. Such systems and method offer multiple depths of investigation while offering greater measurement stability in borehole environments having high resistivity contrasts. In at least some system embodiments, a wireline or LWD tool body has a center electrode positioned between multiple pairs of guard electrodes and a pair of return electrodes. The tool's electronics provide a current from the center electrode to the pair of return electrodes and currents from each pair of guard electrodes to the pair of return electrodes. Each of the currents may be distinguishable by frequency or distinguishable by some other means. This novel arrangement of currents provides a complete set of measurements that enables one tool to simultaneously emulate a whole range of laterolog tools.
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